The Belarusian Case of Transition : Whither Financial Repression?

The present paper examines the financial development of Belarus, with special emphasis on 1996-2002, when the financial sector was restrained by pervasive government controls. Belarus is of particular interest, as, despite no economic restructuring, annual growth has averaged seven per cent since 1997. It has been argued that monetary stimulation of investment activity through interest rate ceilings, directed credit and preferential loans revived growth. This article investigates whether a repressive financial policy, adopted by the authorities in the late 1990s, led to financial deepening and increased the share of savings allocated to investment.financial sector; financial repression; financial depth

The Belarusian Case of Transition: Whither Financial Repression?

The present paper examines the financial development of Belarus over the past decade with a particular focus on 1996-2002, when the financial sector was restrained through pervasive government controls in the form of interest rate ceilings, directed credit and preferential loans schemes, high reserve requirements, multiple exchange rates and capital controls. Belarus is of particular interest, as, despite no economic restructuring, the growth has averaged seven per cent per annum since 1997. While explanations of this ‘miracle’ abound, no empirical work has been done on the role of the financial system, particularly on the effects of pervasive government intervention. It has been argued that monetary stimulation of investment activity through interest rate ceilings and directed credit and preferential loans revived growth. This paper investigates whether financial policy led to financial deepening and increased the share of savings to be allocated to investment.

14. The Effect of Leaf Species on Insect Oviposition Preference and Colonization

Some insects are known to be common vectors of disease, which is an important public health issue. As such, diverse studies on the ecology of vectors are needed for effective management. Aedes albopictus (Asian tiger mosquito) is the 2nd most important vector of human diseases, and is a common carrier for dengue fever, yellow fever, and encephalitis viruses. It is commonly found in most areas of the central and eastern U.S., can have oviposition sites that occur close to human settlements (e.g., buckets, tires), and is an invasive species in the U.S. Our study aims to examine the influence of vegetation in deterring insect oviposition in a neighborhood landscaping environment, which is a breeding ground for this insect when standing water is present. This experiment used 18 buckets filled with water in a suburban neighborhood in Ruston, LA as available oviposition sites. Leaf treatments of loblolly pine, post oak, and southern magnolia were added to the buckets. Twice a week in May and June, we collected immature insects, which were preserved, counted and identified. Preliminary results using Poisson regression showed no significant differences in numbers of A. albopictus or other immature insects among leaf litter treatments, though this data set included a very limited time period during the experiment. Continued analyses will be conducted to provide more robust results

Interview with Jean Lawson Stelsel

In this interview with Julia Stringfellow, Jean Lawson Stelsel, LU class of 1944, discusses her time as a student.https://lux.lawrence.edu/oralhistories/1035/thumbnail.jp

The crystal structure of Escherichia coli TdcF, a member of the highly conserved YjgF/YER057c/UK114 family

BACKGROUND: The YjgF/YER057c/UK114 family of proteins is widespread in nature, but has as yet no clearly defined biological role. Members of the family exist as homotrimers and are characterised by intersubunit clefts that are delineated by well-conserved residues; these sites are likely to be of functional significance, yet catalytic activity has never been detected for any member of this family. The gene encoding the TdcF protein of E. coli, a YjgF/YER057c/UK114 family member, resides in an operon that strongly suggests a role in the metabolism of 2-ketobutyrate for this protein. RESULTS: We have determined the crystal structure of E. coli TdcF by molecular replacement to a maximum resolution of 1.6 Å. Structures are also presented of TdcF complexed with a variety of ligands. CONCLUSION: The TdcF structure closely resembles those of all YjgF/YER057c/UK114 family members determined thus far. It has the trimeric quaternary structure and intersubunit cavities characteristic of this family of proteins. We show that TdcF is capable of binding several low molecular weight metabolites bearing a carboxylate group, although the interaction with 2-ketobutyrate appears to be the most well defined. These observations may be indicative of a role for TdcF in sensing this potentially toxic metabolite

Connecticut Educator Insights on Building a More Effective, Diverse Educator Workforce

Teachers are the strongest school-based determinant of student success. Yet at the start of the 2022-23 school year, across the state of Connecticut, over 1,200 certified staff member positions were vacant. The educator shortage was particularly acute in upper-level math and science, special education, and bilingual education. Despite growing demand for educators in those subject areas, the number of pre-service educators pursuing those endorsements has generally remained constant or decreased between 2015-2021, suggesting that absent meaningful change, shortages will persist. Educators, administrators, and policymakers hypothesize that the state’s current educator preparation and certification process contributes to the state’s twin challenges of addressing its educator shortage and diversifying its educator workforce. This study explores that hypothesis, investigating the qualitative effects of the state’s current educator preparation and certification processes on aspiring and current educators and on education leaders seeking to deploy their staff to best meet student needs

Inference of ventricular activation properties from non-invasive electrocardiography

The realisation of precision cardiology requires novel techniques for the non-invasive characterisation of individual patients' cardiac function to inform therapeutic and diagnostic decision-making. The electrocardiogram (ECG) is the most widely used clinical tool for cardiac diagnosis. Its interpretation is, however, confounded by functional and anatomical variability in heart and torso. In this study, we develop new computational techniques to estimate key ventricular activation properties for individual subjects by exploiting the synergy between non-invasive electrocardiography and image-based torso-biventricular modelling and simulation. More precisely, we present an efficient sequential Monte Carlo approximate Bayesian computation-based inference method, integrated with Eikonal simulations and torso-biventricular models constructed based on clinical cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging. The method also includes a novel strategy to treat combined continuous (conduction speeds) and discrete (earliest activation sites) parameter spaces, and an efficient dynamic time warping-based ECG comparison algorithm. We demonstrate results from our inference method on a cohort of twenty virtual subjects with cardiac volumes ranging from 74 cm3 to 171 cm3 and considering low versus high resolution for the endocardial discretisation (which determines possible locations of the earliest activation sites). Results show that our method can successfully infer the ventricular activation properties from non-invasive data, with higher accuracy for earliest activation sites, endocardial speed, and sheet (transmural) speed in sinus rhythm, rather than the fibre or sheet-normal speeds.Comment: Submitted to Medical Image Analysi

A tiered approach to the marine genetic resource governance framework under the proposed UNCLOS agreement for biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ)

Credit for icons Icons from ‘The Noun Prjoect’: Bell by Vectors Point, Carrot vege- tables by CHARIE Tristan, Computer by ArmOkay, Shake hand by Wing, Drug by adindar, Coral by Nook Fulloption, Label by AB Designs. Declaration of competing interest The ideas and content from this article formed the basis of the In- ternational Council of Environmental Law’s Information Paper of March 25, 2019 and August 30, 2019 that were written by the first two authors and distributed publicly to delegates for the third negotiating session of the proposed UNCLOS implementing agreement on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in areas beyond national juris- diction. The Tiered Approach concept was also presented to the ‘One Ocean’ Symposium on August 24, 2019 in New York for feedback from delegates. Marcel Jaspars is founder of, shareholder of, and consultant for ‘GyreOx Ltd’ which uses marine and terrestrial enzymes for the rapid production of complex molecules to target protein-protein interactions involved in disease. CRediT authorship contribution statement Fran Humphries: Conceptualization, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing. Hiroko Muraki Gottlieb: Conceptualiza- tion, Writing - review & editing. Sarah Laird: Conceptualization, Writing - review & editing. Rachel Wynberg: Conceptualization, Writing - review & editing. Charles Lawson: Conceptualization, Writing - review & editing. Michelle Rourke: Conceptualization, Writing - review & editing. Morten Walløe Tvedt: Writing - review & editing. Maria Julia Oliva: Writing - review & editing. Marcel Jaspars: Conceptualization, Writing - review & editing.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The epidemiology of lymphatic filariasis in Ghana, explained by the possible existence of two strains of Wuchereria bancrofti

Introduction Lymphatic filariasis is a debilitating disease caused by the filarial worm Wuchereria bancrofti. It is earmarked for elimination by the year 2020 through the Global Program for the Elimination of LF (GPELF). In Ghana, mass treatment has been on-going since the year 2000. Earlier studies have revealed differing epidemiology of LF in the North and South of Ghana. This study was therefore aimed at understanding the possible impacts of W. bancrofti diversity on the epidemiology and control of LF in Ghana. Methods The Mitochondrial, Cytochrome C Oxidase I gene of W. bancrofti samples was sequenced and analyzed. The test sequences were grouped into infrapopulations, and pairwise differences (Π) and mutation rates (θ) were computed. The amount of variance within and among populations was also computed using the AMOVA. The evolutionary history was inferred using the Maximum Parsimony method. Results Seven samples from the South and 15 samples from the North were sequenced, and submitted to GenBank with accession numbers GQ479497- GQ479518. The results revealed higher mutation frequencies in the southern population, compared to the northern population. Haplotype analyses revealed a total of 11 haplotypes (Hap) in all the 22 DNA sequences, with high genetic variation and polymorphisms within the southern samples. Conclusion This study showed that there is considerable genetic variability within W. bancrofti populations in Ghana, differences that might explain the observed epidemiology of LF. Further studies are however required for an in-depth understanding of LF epidemiology and control