The Historical Role of the European Shadow Banking System in the Development and Evolution of Our Monetary Institutions

When we hear about the 2008 Lehman Brothers crisis, immediately we relate it to the concept of "shadow banking system"; however, the credit intermediation involving lightly regulated entities and activities outside the traditional banking system are not new for the European Financial Systems, after all, many innovations developed in the past, were adopted by European nations and exported to the rest of the world (i.e. coinage and central banking), and European innovators unleashed several financial crises related to "shadowy" financial intermediaries (i.e. the Gebroeders de Neufville crisis of 1763). However, despite not many academics, legislators and regulators even agree on what "shadow banking" is, this latter does not refer exclusively to the functions of credit intermediation and maturity transformation. This concept also refers to the creation of assets such as digital media of exchange which are designed under the influence of Friedrich Hayek and the Austrian School of Economics. This lack of a uniform definition of "shadow banking" has limited our regulatory efforts on key issues like the private money creation, a source of vulnerability in the financial system that, paradoxically, at the same time could result in an opportunity to renovate European institutions, heirs of the tradition of the Wisselbank and the Bank of England which, during the seventeenth century, faced monetary innovations and led the European monetary revolution that originated the current monetary and regulatory practices implemented around the world

Should the teaching of biological evolution include the origin of life?

The development of mainstream research on the origin of life as an outcome of Darwinian evolution is discussed. It is argued that prebiotic evolution and the origin of life should not be excluded from the syllabus and should be part of classes on biological evolution, and that the transition from non-living to living matter is best understood when seen as part of evolutionary biology. The wide acceptance of evolutionary approaches to the study of the emergence of life in European and Latin American countries is discussed

Thermal Mass Effect on the Solution Cooling Rate and on HIPped Astroloy Component Properties

Astroloy is a Ni-based superalloy with high-volume fraction of γ′, which gives high temperature properties but reduces its forgeability. Therefore, powder metallurgy manufacturing processes such as Near Net Shape HIPping are the most suitable manufacturing technology for Astroloy. However, NNSHIP has its own drawbacks, such as the formation of prior particle boundaries (PPBs), which usually tend to decrease material mechanical properties. The detrimental effect of PPBs can be reduced by optimizing the entire HIP processing route. Conventional HIP cycles have very low cooling rates, especially in big components from industry, and thus a series of post-heat treatments must be applied in order to achieve desirable microstructures and improve the mechanical properties. Standard heat treatments for Astroloy are long and tedious with several steps of solutioning, stabilization and precipitation. In this work, two main studies have been performed. First, the effect of the cooling rate after the solutioning treatment, which is driven by the materials’ thermal mass, on the Astroloy microstructure and mechanical properties was studied. Experimental analyses and simulation techniques have been used in the present work and it has been found that higher cooling rates after solutioning increase the density of tertiary γ′ precipitates by 85%, and their size decreases by 22%, which leads to an increase in hardness from 356 to 372 HB30. This hardness difference tends to reduce after subsequent standard heat treatment (HT) that homogenizes the microstructure. The second study shows the effect of different heat treatments on the microstructure and hardness of samples with two different thermal masses (can and cube). More than double the density of γ′ precipitates was found in small cubes in comparison with cans with a higher thermal mass. Therefore, the hardness in cubes is between 4 and 20 HB 30 higher than in large cans, depending on the applied HT

Fasting enhances pyroglutamyl peptidase II activity in tanycytes of the mediobasal hypothalamus of male adult rats

Fasting down-regulates the hypothalamus-pituitary-thyroid (HPT) axis activity through a reduction of TRH synthesis in neurons of the parvocellular paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVN). These TRH neurons project to the median eminence (ME), where TRH terminals are close to the cytoplasmic extensions of β2 tanycytes. Tanycytes express pyroglutamyl peptidase II (PPII), the TRH-degrading ectoenzyme that controls the amount of TRH that reaches the anterior pituitary. We tested the hypothesis that regulation of ME PPII activity is another mechanism by which fasting affects the activity of the HPT axis. Semiquantitative in situ hybridization histochemistry data indicated that PPII and deiodinase 2 mRNA levels increased in tanycytes after 48 hours of fasting. This increase was transitory, followed by an increase of PPII activity in the ME, and a partial reversion of the reduction in PVN pro-TRH mRNA levels and the number of TRH neurons detected by immunohistochemistry. In fed animals, adrenalectomy and corticosterone treatment did not change ME PPII activity 72 hours later. Methimazole-induced hypothyroidism produced a profound drop in tanycytes PPII mRNA levels, which was reverted by 3 days of treatment with T4. The activity of thyroliberinase, the serum isoform of PPII, was increased at most fasting time points studied. We conclude that delayed increases in both the ME PPII as well as the thyroliberinase activities in fasted male rats may facilitate the maintenance of the deep down-regulation of the HPT axis function, despite a partial reactivation of TRH expression in the PVN

Trends and Perspectives of the Energy Sector in Latin America

This article discusses the perspectives of the development of the energy sector in Latin America, based on its own internal demand and the potential of the region

Bolivia and it’s Path to Become the Energy Heart of South America

This article discusses some big changes that Bolivia has had in the energy sector since Evo Morales took power in 2006 and all the challenges and opportunities which now the country has trying to make Bolivia "the energy heart of south America”

Mechanics of milling 48-2-2 gamma titanium aluminide

Accurate and fast prediction of cutting forces is important in high-performance cutting in the aerospace industry. Gamma titanium aluminide (gamma-TiAl) is a material of choice for aerospace and automotive applications due to its superior thermo-mechanical properties. Nevertheless, it is a difficult to machine material. This article presents the prediction of cutting forces for Ti-48Al-2Cr-2Nb (48-2-2) gamma-TiAl in milling process using orthogonal to oblique transformation technique. The novelty of this paper lies in reporting the orthogonal database of 48-2-2 gamma-TiAl. Fundamental cutting parameters such as shear stress, friction angle and shear angle are calculated based on experimental measurements. Friction coefficients are identified for two different coating conditions which are AlTiN, and AlCrN on carbide tools. Predicted results are validated with the experimental cutting forces during end milling and ball-end milling operations for different cutting conditions. The simulated results showed good agreement with the experimental results, which confirms the validity of the force modelWOS:000568177300002Scopus - Affiliation ID: 60105072Science Citation Index ExpandedQ2ArticleUluslararası işbirliği ile yapılan - EVETAğustos2020YÖK - 2019-2

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