The Impacts of Commercialization on Depth, Breadth, Scope, and Quality of Outreach in Mozambique: A Case-Study

In today’s microfinance, scholars and policy-makers across the world have emphasized the importance of financial sustainability, or the ability of a microfinance institution (MFI) to finance its operations. In order to reach financial sustainability, MFIs embrace commercialization, a process where an MFI undergoes restructuring in order to open up avenues to capital. Yet, scholars are concerned that this emphasizes on financial sustainability will cause the social good objective to suffer, a phenomenon known as “trade-off.” Indeed, studies have found that commercialization impacts MFI outreach in various ways. To my knowledge, no research has attempted to understand the impacts of commercialization on microfinance outreach in Mozambique. Therefore, interviews of 24 experts in the microfinance field in Mozambique were conducted and a survey was used to gather quantitative data. A descriptive analysis and cross-tabulation analysis were used to examine the survey data. The research supports previous findings that when an MFI undergoes commercialization it moves up-market loaning to less poor clients indicated by an increase in minimum capital requirements. This demonstrates that commercialization has a negative impact on depth of outreach. This study also supports the claims that commercialization increases the number of clients reached by MFIs, increases the diversity of products available to MFI clients, and decreases the cost to clients demonstrating that commercialization has a positive impact on breadth, scope, and quality of outreach respectively. This study suggests that the trade-off phenomenon takes place when social good is measured as depth of outreach. However, when social good considers all dimensions of outreach, a negative trade-off is not significant. For future research, this suggests that to understand the impact of commercialization, financial sustainability should be balanced against all dimensions of outreach. For policy-makers and MFIs in Mozambique, these findings suggest that commercialization can be used as a tool to increase breadth, scope, and quality of outreach but cautions against commercialization if the social mission of the MFI is predominately depth of outreach

A Profile of Top Performers on the Uniform CPA Exam

The Elijah Watt Sells Award, one of the most prestigious professional awards in the US, honors top performers on the Uniform CPA Examination. This article provides statistics by state and by gender of past award winners, from the first CPA exam in 1923 through the most recent available exam results for 2012. In addition, it presents a profile of the top performers based on the results of a survey administered by the authors to recent Sells Award winners. Specifically, the survey examined the recipient\u27s educational level, the amount and type of preparation, and the impact of the award on the winner\u27s career. It is hoped that future candidates and state boards of accountancy will find this information useful and that this discussion will further promote the award\u27s prestige. This discussion focused on winners of the Elijah Watt Sells Award for outstanding performance on the CPA exam, providing data by state and by gender for the period from 1924 through 2012

Dietary Sodium and Blood Pressure in Older Adults

Given the proportion of older adults who are hypertensive and the population of older adults who are at risk for hypertension, the U.S. must mobilize public health efforts aimed at prevention. Scientific evidence has demonstrated the efficacy of sodium reduction to lower blood pressure. Translating this evidence into practice involves knowledge about the food sources of sodium so effective interventions can be designed and implemented. The purpose of this essay was to examine major food group sources of sodium in a cohort of older adults, with and without high blood pressure, in an urban community in Southwestern Pennsylvania. The University of Pittsburgh's "Center for Healthy Aging" promotes healthy aging in the community with the "10 Keys to Healthy Aging" campaign. One of the keys aims to lower systolic blood pressure to ≤140 mmHg. A low sodium intervention was implemented by the CHA project in hypertensive individuals. The sodium intake of the 521 community volunteers, mean age 74.5 years, 60% male, 94.1% white, who completed a FFQ, was compared to a sub-sample of hypertensives (n=214) who, in addition, collected one 24-hour urinary sodium. Mean baseline dietary sodium for the entire cohort was 1,796 mg per day compared to 1,821 mg per day in hypertensives. Urinary sodium was 1.8 times higher (141 mmol/24 hrs [3,240 mg]) than self-reported intake and decreased to 130 mmol/24 hrs (2,990 mg) at 6-months. The correlation between dietary and urinary sodium at baseline was weak (r=0.16) and remained weak (0.23) at 6-months. Major food sources of sodium were soups, breads, tomato sauce, salad dressings, and prepared cereals. Data indicate that the sodium intake of the group exceeds the 2005 Dietary Guidelines of ≤1500 mg per day by approximately 200% for individuals at increased risk using urinary sodium values. Even the most successful dietary interventions to reduce sodium intake to the recommended levels would be ineffective without the food industry’s help in reducing sodium added to foods during processing. This prevention strategy, in combination with stronger public health messages, would help to reduce the sodium intake in the population and help to achieve reductions in blood pressures

Principal Perceptions: The Impact of Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports on Discipline Disproportionality

This study explored the impact of the Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) framework on discipline disproportionality in an Eastern Virginia school division. Nationally, African American students are suspended and expelled at a much higher rate than their peers (Skiba et al., 2016). This study explored the impact PBIS had on this rate. The work is valuable to those interested in introducing the PBIS framework in their school division or school. A phenomenological, qualitative study was conducted with the first research question using discipline data from the division to track trends. The second research question was answered by interviewing principals within the division. The results of this study showed that PBIS did not impact the rate of disproportionality in the schools in this study; however, principals perceived that PBIS did have a positive impact on student behavior, school culture, and the overall discipline program of their school. This work adds to the body of research that PBIS does have a positive impact on school culture and school discipline. On the other hand, PBIS will require a more concerted focus on equity in order to make strides against impacting discipline disproportionality

In the flesh

This thesis is written in two parts: Part one discusses the history of artistic swimming and its correlation to understanding the fluidity of gender. I adapt the analysis to interpret the underlying theme of critical theory. Tying to my work, I use the notion of the fountain to justify the theory of abjection towards the body and the suppression of natural bodily behaviors within society. Furthermore, the fountain explores water as a symbolic place of equality and gathering. Part two was written during quarantine of the Coronavirus pandemic. It describes my inability to complete my original thesis and how my practice evolved within a home studio setting. Resulting from a thorough investigation of available materials, a new body of work was produced.

Tragedy of the common canal

This paper uses laboratory experiments to investigate the effects of alternative solutions to a common-pool resource with a unidirectional flow. The focus is on the comparative economic efficiency of communications, bilateral “Coasian” bargaining, auctions and price-based allocations. All treatments improve allocative efficiency relative to a baseline environment. Communication and bilateral bargaining are not generally as effective as market allocations. An exogenously imposed, optimal fee results in the greatest efficiency gain, followed by auction allocations that determine the usage fee endogenously.externalities, experiments, auctions, Coasian bargaining, common pool resource

Light the Way to Meeting Success!

A great opportunity exists for organizations to improve meeting efficiency. There are approximately 11 million meetings everyday in the United States. Meetings accomplish most business. Lack of a clear agenda, lack of 100% engagement by all participants, and lack of decisions are common problems plaguing most meetings. Biss Enterprises, a human resource support company in Dallas, Texas, will achieve these goals through a workshop, “Light the Way to Meeting Success,” which teaches a systematic curriculum