Mobile money and financial inclusion: an analytical review

Book description: Inclusive Financial Development provides theoretical and empirical analyses of the nature of financial inclusion. The contributing authors explore the impediments to inclusion that exist around the world, the macro and stability implications, and the regulation dimension

Mobile money, financial inclusion and poverty: key results from two new surveys in Ghana

We investigate mobile money adoption, and how it affected household behaviour and financial inclusion in Ghana. We first provide an overview of mobile phone and mobile money development in Ghana. Then we present results of two household surveys carried out in 2017 and 2019 and conducted in all regions of Ghana, each survey covering 1000 households. In 2019 more than 90% reported that they use mobile money reflecting its widespread adoption in Ghana by that time. Different socio-economic characteristics are important in the take-up and use of mobile money. Mobile money users tend to make greater use of formal financial services than non-users and may therefore be more financially included. Mobile money is used for a range of transactions especially remittances, but also payments for goods and services, including financial services and savings. Mobile money may also impact social networks insofar as face-to-face meetings may be replaced by mobile phone interactions

Organocatalytic Chemo- and Regioselective Oxyarylation of Styrenes via a Cascade Reaction: Remote Activation of Hydroxyl Groups

The first organocatalytic oxyarylation of styrenes has been established through a cascade of vinylogous Michael addition/alkoxyl transfer reactions of <i>o</i>- or <i>p</i>-hydroxylstyrenes with quinone imine ketals. The process leads to a highly chemo- and regioselective oxyarylation of styrenes and provides access to <i>m</i>-alkylated anilines in generally high yields and excellent diastereoselectivity (up to 99% yield, >95:5 dr). An investigation of the reaction pathway revealed that the existence and position of the hydroxyl group of styrene played crucial roles in the cascade reaction, suggesting that the two reactants were simultaneously activated by binaphthyl-derived phosphoric acid via hydrogen bonding interactions and long-distance conjugative effects. In addition, the activating group of the hydroxyl functionality in the products can be easily removed or transformed, demonstrating the applicability and utility of this strategy in styrene oxyarylation and in the synthesis of styrene-based compounds

Two DNA Aptamers against Avian Influenza H9N2 Virus Prevent Viral Infection in Cells

<div><p>New antiviral therapy for pandemic influenza mediated by the H9N2 avian influenza virus (AIV) is increasingly in demand not only for the poultry industry but also for public health. Aptamers are confirmed to be promising candidates for treatment and prevention of influenza viral infections. Thus, we studied two DNA aptamers, A9 and B4, selected by capillary electrophoresis-based systemic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (CE-SELEX) procedure using H9N2 AIV purified haemagglutinin (HA) as target. Both aptamers had whole-virus binding affinity. Also, an enzyme-linked aptamer assay (ELAA) confirmed binding affinity and specificity against other AIV subtypes. Finally, we studied aptamer-inhibitory effects on H9N2 AIV infection in Madin–Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells and quantified viral load in supernatant and in cell with quantitative PCR (qPCR). Our data provide a foundation for future development of innovative anti-influenza drugs.</p></div

Determination of the aptamer collection window.

<p>(a) Whole graph of capillary electrophoregrams for determining the collection window. Curve 1, 2.5 μM library DNA; curve 2, 20 μM purified H9-HA; curve 3, 0.635 mM library DNA with 20 μM protein. (b) Details of (a). The arrow indicates the peak of the complexes, and a collection window from 7 min to 10 min was determined. CE conditions: running buffer, 50 mM Tris-HCl at pH 8.3; injection, 0.5 psi (3,447.5 Pa) for 5s; separation voltage +20 kV. The purified protein solution was detected by UV_{280 nm} and the solutions with aptamers were detected by UV_{254 nm}.</p

Catalyst-Controlled Chemoselective and Enantioselective Reactions of Tryptophols with Isatin-Derived Imines

Catalyst-controlled chemoselective and enantioselective reactions of tryptophols with isatin-derived imines were demonstrated. Under catalysis with a chiral phosphoric acid, diastereoselective and enantioselective dearomative cyclization occurred, while, in the presence of a chiral squaramide-tertiary amine, enantioselective addition occurred. Both reactions afforded 3-substituted 3-amino-oxindoles in generally good yields (up to 99%) and excellent stereoselectivities (up to >95:5 dr, 99:1 er)

Testing web applications through layout constraints : tools and applications

With businesses trying to minimize cost, web applications are becoming increasingly useful by providing cross-platform applications that can be easily ported to desktop and mobile. However, testing these applications is much more arduous than testing desktop applications due to the lack of tools. In this thesis, we aim to describe a web application testing tool called Cornipickle which uses an expressive layout specification. The specification language for Cornipickle makes statements on applications’ layouts but we show that it can also test behaviours. With it, we effectively achieve to detect the bugs found with our survey of 35 real-world web applications. We also show Cornipickle’s versatility by using it in multiple applications and tools, notably pairing it with a crawler. Puisque les entreprises tentent de minimiser leurs coûts, les applications web deviennent de plus en plus utiles en fournissant des applications multiplateformes qui peuvent être facilement portées aux appareils mobiles et environnements de bureau. Par contre, tester ces applications est beaucoup plus ardu que de tester des applications de bureau en raison du manque d’outils. Dans ce mémoire, nous décrivons un outil de test d’applications web, Cornipickle, qui utilise une spécification expressive sur la mise en page. Le langage de spécification de Cornipickle fait des affirmations sur la mise en page des applications mais nous montrons qu’il permet aussi de tester des comportements. Grâce à lui, nous réussissons à détecter efficacement les bogues identifiés dans une étude de 35 applications webs. Nous montrons aussi la polyvalence de Cornipickle en l’utilisant dans une multitude d’applications et outils, notamment en l’associant à un robot d’indexation

Catalyst-Controlled Chemoselective and Enantioselective Reactions of Tryptophols with Isatin-Derived Imines

Catalyst-controlled chemoselective and enantioselective reactions of tryptophols with isatin-derived imines were demonstrated. Under catalysis with a chiral phosphoric acid, diastereoselective and enantioselective dearomative cyclization occurred, while, in the presence of a chiral squaramide-tertiary amine, enantioselective addition occurred. Both reactions afforded 3-substituted 3-amino-oxindoles in generally good yields (up to 99%) and excellent stereoselectivities (up to >95:5 dr, 99:1 er)

Microscopic analysis of A9 and B4 binding to the whole virus.

<p>The FAM-labeled aptamers (A9 and B4) were detected binding directly to the whole H9N2 AIVs which were absorbed to the RBC surfaces. ConS, Control Sequence labeled with FAM at 5’ terminus (5’-FAM-AGT CCG TGG TAG GGC AGG TTG GGG TGA CT-3’).</p

Primers used for amplification of EF-Tu and HSP70 genes by overlap extension PCR.

<p>Primers used for amplification of EF-Tu and HSP70 genes by overlap extension PCR.</p