ADVOCACY ISSUES AND IMPACTS OF GAMING IN INDIAN COUNTRY

Community/Rural/Urban Development,

A method to estimate power parameter in Exponential Power Distribution via polynomial regression

The Exponential Power Distribution (EPD), also known as Generalized Error Distribution (GED), is a flexible symmetrical unimodal family belonging to the exponential family. The EPD becomes the density function of a range of symmetric distributions with different values of its power parameter B. A closed-form estimator for B does not exist, so the power parameter is usually estimated numerically. Unfortunately the optimization algorithms do not always converge, especially when the true value of B is close to its parametric space frontier. In this paper we present an alternative method for estimating B, based on the Normal Standardized Q-Q Plot and exploiting the relationship between B and the kurtosis. It is a direct method that does not require computational efforts or the use of optimization algorithms.Exponential Power Distribution, kurtosis, normal standardized Q-Q plot.

Woman Entrepreneurs and the Credit Market in Italy

[En] Bank of Italy Central Credit Register provides information on the whole Italian micro enterprises population having loans with the Italian banking system. By these data we investigate if female owned firms are discriminated or not in accessing the credit market in Italy. [It] La Centrale dei Rischi di Banca d'Italia fornisce informazioni sull’intera popolazione di ditte individuali aventi debiti con il sistema bancario italiano. Utilizzando questi dati si è studiato se le aziende con proprietario donna sono discriminate o meno nell’accesso al mercato del credito. [Fr] La Centrale des Risques de la Banque d'Italie fournit des informations sur l'entière population des entreprises individuelles ayant des dettes avec le système bancaire italien. Par ces données on a étudié si les entreprises avec une femme comme propriétaire sont discriminées ou non relativement à l'accès au marché du crédit.Small Business Credit; Lending Discrimination

Non-bank finance for firms. The role of private equity funds in north-western Italy

Using fund-, firm- and bank-level data we investigate the investments of private equity (PE) funds in the north-western regions of Italy. Both the private equity fund managers and the PE investments are heavily concentrated in this most developed area of the country. The average size of the portfolios is small by international standards and their concentration by firm has been growing after the 2008 crisis. The average duration of investments is rather short (about 3.4 years) and just 10 per cent of them target firms which are both young and innovative. PE investments are more significant for north-western firms than for those in the rest of the country, relative to traditional bank credit. We find that being participated by a PE fund increases the amount of credit obtained by the target firm and (weakly) reduces its cost. However, this effect is exclusively related to the entry of the fund in the firm's capital, as it fades away as soon as the fund exits from the capital, thus suggesting a weak signalling role of PE towards banks

Mammary gland biopsy of Sahiwal-Friesian cows

Mammary biopsy method facilitates assessment of mammary morphology and function from relatively large number of cows. In many mammary gland experiments, this approach would be a viable alternative in obtaining tissue postslaughter. A technique for mammary biopsy in Sahiwal-Friesian cows is described using sedation and local anaesthesia. The technique involves approximately 5 g taking of tissue samples from the quarters of the udder with the use of the scalpel blade. The cow was casted on the ground with the head supported to prevent regurgitation of ruminal fluid into the respiratory tract. Preventive measures were taken to ensure minimal haemostasis with ligation. Adequate antibiotic cover (long acting antibiotic) was given intramuscularly following surgery. Post-operative recovery was uneventful and rapid. No clinical mastitis was observed in any of the biopsied cows throughout the remainder of the lactation. The loss of milk yield was no greater in biopsied glands than in control glands of the same cows. The milk yield and composition were rapidly and completely restored to pre-biopsy levels in the biopsied cows and from the normal quarters of the same cows were unaffected. Biopsy of a single quarter usually took about 20 minutes with adequate sedation

Effets comparés du vieillissement naturel et accéléré sur les semences d'orge (Hordeum vulgare L.)

Les effets d'un vieillissement accéléré (VA) sont étudiés avec des semences d'orge (#Hordeum vulgare$ L.) et comparés à ceux d'un vieillissement naturel au cours d'un stockage à 4°C depuis une trentaine d'années. Le vieillissement accéléré (42°C et 100% d'humidité relative) se manifeste, après 4 jours de traitement, par une diminution de la vitesse et du taux de germination, un ralentissement de la croissance des plantules et l'apparition de plantules anormales. Les semences de sept variétés, conservées depuis trente ans à 4°C et 30% d'humidité relative, ont gardé une très bonne aptitude à la germination (supérieure à 95%). Seule, la variété Atlas à grain nu a perdu 30% de faculté germinative et réagit le plus au VA. Le vieillissement accéléré n'entraîne aucune modification biochimique qualitative et quantitative des isozymes de peroxydases. En revanche, les zymogrammes de peroxydase des semences conservées depuis trente ans sont différents de ceux des semences récentes. Pour certaines variétés, un électromorphe s'exprime avec une intensité plus faible et disparaît pour les autres variétés. L'utilité des tests de VA comme prédicteurs de la capacité à la conservation est discutée. (Résumé d'auteur

Transcriptional changes in trichothiodystrophy cells

Mutations in three of the genes encoding the XPB, XPD and TTDA components of transcription factor TFIIH can result in the clinical phenotype of trichothiodystrophy (TTD). Different mutations in XPB and XPD can instead cause xeroderma pigmentosum (XP). The completely different features of these disorders have been attributed to TTD being a transcription syndrome. In order to detect transcriptional differences between TTD and XP cells from the XP-D complementation group, we have compared gene expression profiles in cultured fibroblasts from normal, XP and TTD donors. Although we detected transcriptional differences between individual cell strains, using an algorithm of moderate stringency, we did not identify any genes whose expression was reproducibly different in proliferating fibroblasts from each type of donor. Following UV-irradiation, many genes were up- and down-regulated in all three cell types. The microarray analysis indicated some apparent differences between the different donor types, but on more detailed inspection, these turned out to be false positives. We conclude that there are minimal differences in gene expression in proliferating fibroblasts from TTD, XP-D and normal donors