Towards a Sovereign Debt Work-out System;

In a future sovereign debt crisis, debt restructurings are inevitable simply because there is no alternative. Private lending becomes simply unavailable. The commercial banks were asked to lend to Mexico in early 1995 as part of the U.S. Government rescue plan, but the money never materialized.3 The banks\u27 experience of involuntary lending during the 1980s debt crisis was so unpleasant that they are unlikely to increase exposure to a troubled debtor in a crisis today. Other sources of finance are no more likely to yield support. Mexico was unable to return to the capital markets until six months after the crisis blew up.4 For political and practical reasons, the U.S. government is unlikely to lend again as it did to Mexico. Despite recent increases in the IMF\u27s power to lend to countries in emergencies, multilateral funds remain insufficient to cope with large scale crises. In any case, just as it did in the 1980s, the IMF would probably condition any finance upon some debt restructuring agreement between the debtor and its creditors. Coupled with the absence of new money, this means that countries will have to try to reach some agreement with their creditors. However, the current legal and institutional framework is embarrassingly unprepared to handle a sovereign debt restructuring

Towards a Sovereign Debt Work-out System;

In a future sovereign debt crisis, debt restructurings are inevitable simply because there is no alternative. Private lending becomes simply unavailable. The commercial banks were asked to lend to Mexico in early 1995 as part of the U.S. Government rescue plan, but the money never materialized.3 The banks\u27 experience of involuntary lending during the 1980s debt crisis was so unpleasant that they are unlikely to increase exposure to a troubled debtor in a crisis today. Other sources of finance are no more likely to yield support. Mexico was unable to return to the capital markets until six months after the crisis blew up.4 For political and practical reasons, the U.S. government is unlikely to lend again as it did to Mexico. Despite recent increases in the IMF\u27s power to lend to countries in emergencies, multilateral funds remain insufficient to cope with large scale crises. In any case, just as it did in the 1980s, the IMF would probably condition any finance upon some debt restructuring agreement between the debtor and its creditors. Coupled with the absence of new money, this means that countries will have to try to reach some agreement with their creditors. However, the current legal and institutional framework is embarrassingly unprepared to handle a sovereign debt restructuring

The “Evolution” of Regulation in Uganda’s Mobile Money Sector

Uganda’s mobile money sector has grown rapidly since its introduction in 2009. As at the last quarter of 2015, there were 21.1 million registered mobile money users in the country, representing a penetration of about 54%. As well as providing a convenient, cheap and safe means of money transfer, mobile money has spurred increased financial inclusion, which grew from 28% in 2009 to 54% in 2013. The rapid growth has happened under conditions of “light touch” regulation of the sector, which allows the first mover to reap the rewards of investments made, but raises potential competition issues. The mobile money sector, much like the telecommunications sector, is characterised by network externalities, lock-in effects and high barriers to entry that can give rise to a concentrated sector with a single dominant player. This article considers the effect of light touch regulation on the competitive dynamics in the mobile money market in Uganda and contrasts this with the experience in Tanzania, where regulation evolved from a light touch style to a more comprehensive framework as the sector grew.CA2016www.wits.ac.za/linkcentre/aji

Exposing the Interplay Between Enzyme Turnover, Protein Dynamics and the Membrane Environment in Monoamine Oxidase B

There is an increasing realization that structure-based drug design may show improved success rates by understanding the ensemble of conformations and sub-states accessible to an enzyme and how the environment affects this ensemble. Human monoamine oxidase B (MAO-B) catalyzes the oxidation of amines and is inhibited for the treatment of both Parkinson’s disease and depression. Despite its clinical importance, its catalytic mechanism remains unclear and routes to drugging this target would be valuable and relevant. Evidence of a radical in either the transition state or resting state of MAO-B is present throughout the literature, and is suggested to be a flavin semiquinone, a tyrosyl radical or both. Here we see evidence of a resting state flavin semiquinone, via absorption redox studies and electron paramagnetic resonance, suggesting that the anionic semiquinone is biologically relevant. Based on enzyme kinetic studies, enzyme variants and molecular dynamics simulations we find evidence for the crucial importance of the membrane environment in mediating the activity of MAO-B and that this mediation is related to effects on the protein dynamics of MAO-B. Further, our MD simulations identify a hitherto undescribed entrance for substrate binding, membrane modulated substrate access, and indications for half-site reactivity: only one active site is accessible to binding at a time. Our study combines both experimental and computational evidence to illustrate the subtle interplay between enzyme activity, protein dynamics and the immediate membrane environment. Understanding key biomedical enzymes to this level of detail will be crucial to inform strategies (and binding sites) for rational drug design for these drug targets

Advancing dispute resolution in the telecommunication sector

Aborda a relevância das decisões judiciais provenientes de conflitos relacionados a serviços de telecomunicações para a identificação e resolução de futuras controvérsias no setor

{N,N-Bis[2-(trimethylsilylamino)ethyl]-N′-(trimethylsilyl)ethane-1,2-diaminato(3–)-κ4N}methylzirconium(IV)

The title compound, [Zr(CH3)(C15H39N4Si3)], is a unique example of a triamidoamine-supported zirconium–methyl complex that crystallized as a monomer with trigonal–bipyramidal geometry at zirconium, featuring a Zr—C bond of 2.2963 (16) Å