Development of the financial sector and growth of microfinance institutions: The moderating effect of economic growth

ABSTRAC: This article analyzes the moderating effect the degree of economic growth has on the relationship between the development of the financial system and the microfinance industry activity. The hypotheses proposed establish that the influence of the development of the financial system on the activity of the microfinance sector will be different depending on the level of economic growth. The estimates were made using the System-GMM methodology for panel data, which allows controlling the unobservable heterogeneity and the problems of endogeneity. We find that the degree of economic growth affects the relationship between the financial sector development and microfinance activity. Under negative economic growth conditions, the development of the financial sector has a negative impact on the activity of the microfinance sector, but when economic growth is high, the development of the financial sector positively influences the activity of the microfinance sector

Análisis del impacto de la explotación de los campos geotérmicos orientado a la generación de energía eléctrica y su repercusión en los compromisos adquiridos por la República de Guatemala en la Conferencia de las Naciones Unidas sobre Cambio Climático firmados en 2016

Analizar el impacto de la explotación de los campos geotérmicos orientados a la generación de energía eléctrica, así verificar el cumplimiento de los compromisos adquiridos en la Conferencia de las Naciones Unidas sobre Cambio Climático

Education bilingue et interculturelle chez les Mayas au Guatemala : quel curriculum et quelle pédagogie ? Deux cas d'études

Cette recherche s'articule autour des questions concernant le curriculum et la pédagogie à développer dans une approche d'éducation bilingue et interculturelle en milieu indigène. Elle apporte dans ce sens, une synthèse de ce qui est le paradigme interculturel dans l'actualité, tant en Europe qu'en Amérique Latine, ainsi qu'un regard critique sur deux cas étudiés dans le contexte de Réforme Educative au Guatemala. Il s'agit de l'Education Bilingue et Interculturelle (EBI) développée par l'Etat à travers la Direction d'Education Bilingue Interculturelle (DIGEBI), d'une part, et de l'Education Maya Q'eqchi' développée par Xch'ool Ixim, une ONG locale, d'autre part. La recherche est basée principalement sur l'analyse à trois niveaux. La question du paradigme interculturel a été explorée au niveau épistémologique. La question autour des programmes et du curriculum en général ainsi que des approches pédagogiques a été analysée tant au niveau du dispositif qu'au niveau de l'activité enseignante. La démarche de la recherche s'est articulée autour du paradigme compréhensif avec lequel les deux cas mentionnés ont été étudiés. Ainsi, pour vérifier les hypothèses émises et répondre aux questions, en plus de la revue de la littérature et de la lecture et l'analyse des documents spécifiques, des entretiens ont été réalisés avec les responsables de deux projets, un entretien avec deux formateurs de Xch'ool Ixim et des entretiens avec les enseignants, quelques enfants et parents dans les trois écoles visitées. Dans ces écoles, des classes ont été également observées dans le but de répondre spécifiquement à la question pédagogique..

The effect of 22Ne diffusion in the evolution and pulsational properties of white dwarfs with solar metallicity prgenitors

© 2016. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. Because of the large neutron excess of 22Ne, sedimentation of this isotope occurs rapidly in the interior of white dwarfs. This process releases an additional amount of energy, thus delaying the cooling times of the white dwarf. This influences the ages of different stellar populations derived using white dwarf cosmochronology. Furthermore, the overabundance of 22Ne in the inner regions of the star modifies the Brunt-Väisälä frequency, thus altering the pulsational properties of these stars. In this work we discuss the impact of 22Ne sedimentation in white dwarfs resulting from solar metallicity progenitors (Z = 0.02). We performed evolutionary calculations of white dwarfs with masses of 0.528, 0.576, 0.657, and 0.833 derived from full evolutionary computations of their progenitor stars, starting at the zero-Age main sequence all the way through the central hydrogen and helium burning, the thermally pulsing asymptotic giant branch (AGB), and post-AGB phases. Our computations show that at low luminosities (), 22Ne sedimentation delays the cooling of white dwarfs with solar metallicity progenitors by about 1 Gyr. Additionally, we studied the consequences of 22Ne sedimentation on the pulsational properties of ZZ Ceti white dwarfs. We find that 22Ne sedimentation induces differences in the periods of these stars larger than the present observational uncertainties, particularly in more massive white dwarfs.Peer Reviewe

Characterization of SNF472 pharmacokinetics and efficacy in uremic and non-uremic rats models of cardiovascular calcification

End-stage renal disease is strongly associated with progressive cardiovascular calcification (CVC) and there is currently no therapy targeted to treat CVC. SNF472 is an experimental formulation under development for treatment of soft tissue calcification. We have investigated the pharmacokinetics of SNF472 administration in rats and its inhibitory effects on CVC. SNF472 was studied in three rat models: (1) prevention of vitamin D3-induced CVC with an intravenous SNF472 bolus of 1 mg/kg SNF472, (2) inhibition of progression of vitamin D3-induced CVC with a subcutaneous SNF472 bolus of 10 or 60 mg/kg SNF472, starting after calcification induction, (3) CVC in adenine-induced uremic rats treated with 50 mg/kg SNF472 via i.v. 4h -infusion. Uremic rats presented lower plasma levels of SNF472 than control animals after i.v. infusion. CVC in non-uremic rats was inhibited by 60-70% after treatment with SNF472 and progression of cardiac calcification completely blocked. Development of CVC in uremic rats was inhibited by up to 80% following i.v. infusion of SNF472. SNF472 inhibits the development and progression of CVC in uremic and non-uremic rats in the same range of SNF472 plasma levels but using in each case the required dose to obtain those levels. These results collectively support the development of SNF472 as a novel therapeutic option for treatment of CVC in humans

Dynamics of copy number variation in host races of the pea aphid

Copy number variation (CNV) makes a major contribution to overall genetic variation and is suspected to play an important role in adaptation. However, aside from a few model species, the extent of CNV in natural populations has seldom been investigated. Here, we report on CNV in the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum, a powerful system for studying the genetic architecture of host plant adaptation and speciation thanks to multiple host races forming a continuum of genetic divergence. Recent studies have highlighted the potential importance of chemosensory genes, including the gustatory and olfactory receptor gene families (Grs and Ors, respectively), in the process of host race formation. We used targeted re-sequencing to achieve a very high depth of coverage, and thereby revealed the extent of CNV of 434 genes, including 150 chemosensory genes, in 104 individuals distributed across eight host races of the pea aphid. We found that CNV was widespread in our global sample, with a significantly higher occurrence in multigene families, especially in Ors, and a decrease in the probability of complete gene duplication or deletion (CDD) with increase in coding sequence length. Genes with CDD variants were usually more polymorphic for copy number, especially in the P450 gene family where toxin resistance may be related to gene dosage. We found that Grs were over-represented among genes discriminating host races, as were CDD genes and pseudogenes. Our observations shed new light on CNV dynamics and are consistent with CNV playing a role in both local adaptation and speciation.Duvaux, Ludovic et al. (2015), Data from: Dynamics of copy number variation in host races of the pea aphid, Dryad, Dataset, https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.jf29