Determinants of sovereign borrowing choices in Sub-Saharan Africa

There is a growing and legitimate concern about sovereign debt increasing to unsustainable levels among the Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. Understanding the determinants of external debt to these countries influenced the direction of this study. The existing literature that was examined shed light mostly on the qualitative determinants of sovereign borrowing. In addition to existing empirical literature, there is a complimentary need to examine further the quantitative determinants of external debt. The researcher seeks to establish the extent to which the cost of borrowing (proxied by interest rate) explains the changes in the borrowing behaviour (proxied by external debt) among SSA countries. To achieve this objective, data from 36 SSA countries for the period 2009–2017 was used. The data were collected from International Debt Statistics compiled by the World Bank. External debt has been regressed against interest rate and other predictor variables. Hausman tests, robustness tests and collinearity tests were carried out to ascertain the validity of results. Interest rate is found to have a positive determining impact on external debt for all SSA countries aggregated: SSA countries excluding South Africa (SA); SSA excluding Nigeria; SSA excluding Nigeria and SA; SSA excluding debt-distressed countries, middle income and oilexporting countries. It does not have predictive power over changes in external debt for SSA excluding countries at high risk of distress; countries with low to moderate risk of distress; heavily indebted poor countries (HIPC) initiative post-implementation recipient countries; low income, other resource intensive and non-resource-intensive countries. External debt is also found to respond to changes in: gross national income (GNI); exports-to-imports ratio; primary income on foreign direct investment (FDI); reserves-to-imports ratio; FDI-to-GNI ratio; debt service-to-GNI ratio; interest arrears on long-term debt; short-term-to-total-debt ratio; and reserves-to-debt ratio for different country groupings. Different country groupings are found to have unique combinations of external debt determinants

Análisis de los resultados de la política de cobertura escolar en el Resguardo Indígena de Catrú, Institución Educativa Agropecuaria Mario Chamorro entre los años 2008 - 2013

En el siguiente trabajo se busca analizar la evolución de la política de cobertura educativa en las veitiuna sedes educativas indígenas Embera que integran la Institución Educativa Agropecuaria “Mario Chamorro” del Resguardo Indígena de Catrú, Municipio del Alto Baudó (Chocó, Colombia), con el objetivo de poder comprender en su amplitud el funcionamiento del sistema educativo -- Para ello se revisa y analizan los indicadores resultados de la política de cobertura educativa y se propone generar recomendaciones de atención diferencial de la política de cobertura educativa para las comunidades indígena

Applications of Reverse and Forward Osmosis Processes in Wastewater Treatment: Evaluation of Membrane Fouling

Although reverse osmosis (RO) process is widely used for wastewater reclamation, it requires high amount of energy that has a major effect on the economic effectiveness of the process. Furthermore, RO membranes are susceptible to fouling, which further limits their effectiveness and increases the costs due to the need for frequent cleaning. Consequently, the use of osmotically driven membrane separation processes such as forward osmosis (FO) has gained increasing consideration, although its uptake in wastewater remediation is still low. This is because the FO process, unlike the RO process, is operated by the osmotic gradient between the feed and draw solutions; therefore, it requires minimal or no hydraulic pressure. Hence, it has unique advantages, such as possibility of low fouling, and high water recovery. Nonetheless, the long-standing problem of membrane fouling still remains a major challenge even in the performance of FO processes especially when treating raw wastewaters, which have various contaminants. Furthermore, the mechanism of fouling in FO process has been found to be different from an RO process, and there is need for further studies to elucidate the differences of FO and RO fouling. These aspects are evaluated in this review

Constraints to Linkages Between Formal and Informal Financial Institutions in South Eastern Nigeria

The study determined major constraints to linkages between formal and informal financial institutions in South Eastern Nigeria.  Multistage random sampling procedure was used to get 36 formal and 38 informal financial institutions for the study.  Two sets of structured questionnaire were employed to generate data.  The study was guided by one null hypothesis.  Data generated were analyzed using descriptive statistics and probit regression.  Formal financial institutions had 4 major constraints in linking with the informal viz: poor legal and regulatory systems, lack of confidence, problem of communication and poor capacity building in the informal sector.  Similarly the informal financial institutions’ major constraints in linking with the formal were: institutional rigidities, poor capacity building and inadequacies of regulatory systems.  Based on the constraints to linkages, the following recommendations were made; providing effective judicial system for protecting property rights and facilitating networking of all informal financial; institutions

KELANJUTAN EKSISTENSI KERAJINAN BAMBU DESA GINTANGAN DENGAN MODEL MATEMATIKA SEBAGAI DAYA TARIK PARIWISATA BANYUWANGI

Bamboo woven craft of Gintangan Village is one of the tourist attractions in Banyuwangi which has become a characteristic of Gintangan Village, Banyuwangi Regency and should be preserved. By interviewing the managers, sellers, craftsmen and the young generation, several real conditions were obtained which were then interpreted in the form of mathematical models and systems of differential equations. Furthermore, by analyzing the critical point of the system of differential equations, the condition of the existence of the Gintangan Village bamboo woven craft is obtained. The critical point showed that by providing the birth number that was greater than death number, the number of incoming residents was greater than the number of outgoing residents, and the conversion number of non-craftsmen to craftsmen was greater than number of craftsmen who decided to stop, it was found that at one time the number of non-craftsmen was little than the number of craftsmen. This situation has a good impact on the existence of bamboo woven craft of Gintangan Village in Banyuwangi

Transformaciones de la industria española en el contexto de la globalización.

Sin resume

Management in Action: Managing the HIV/AIDS Curriculum in Kenya

Curriculum management can only be effective when the curriculum content and expected learning outcomes are clearly stated for the actual implementers. The implementers on their side especially the teachers and the school administration must ensure that the stated contents, instructional methodologies and the time lines are followed appropriately. This paper examines the extent at which the HIV/AIDS curriculum is being implemented at the Secondary School level in Kenya. The key objectives were to identify the policy dimensions of HIV/AIDS education curriculum and to determine the level of implementation of HIV/AIDS education curriculum in public secondary schools. Structured questionnaire, observation and in-depth interviews were used for data collection from selected school students and the curriculum implementers. The study concluded that HIV/AIDS aspects are taught in public secondary schools through infusion and integration into carrier subjects, though not allocated any specific time in the curriculum. The level at which these aspects are taught is very low, and when taught lecture method, which is a rather passive way of teaching, is the predominant method employed by the teachers. It is recommended that the teachers should be more creative and devise other forums that would ensure that these aspects are amply taught. Also the teachers should collect and avail more learning materials to their learners, including use of the internet to supplement what is provided in the text books. Keywords:Management, HIV/AIDS Education, Healthcare Service

Sistemas productivos locales e industrialización rural en Castilla-La Mancha

Tesis de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Facultad de Geografía e Historia, Departamento de Geografía Humana, leída el 19-12-2002En el nuevo contexto territorial creado por la globalización económica de las actividades industriales, se plantean nuevos retos y limitaciones para los espacios rurales. El estudio de esta nueva situación se aborda a través de la intersección de tres temáticas de gran actualidad en la bibliografía nacional e internacional: la industria rural, los sistemas productivos locales y los medios innovadores, que giran en torno a las ideas de cooperación interempresarial e innovación en el espacio rural. En este sentido, utilizando como unidad geográfica de análisis la región de Castilla-La Mancha, y como metodología de trabajo las técnicas cualitativas de investigación, la presente tesis plantea como hipótesis de capacidad que presentan las actividades industriales organizadas en sistemas productivos locales para generar innovación y, por tanto, desarrollo territorial en el espacio rural. A través del estudio de 8 casos de territorios rurales de la región, especializados en diferentes sectores industriales maduros (madera-mueble, calzado, textil-confección, vino, mazapán), se llega a establecer una tipología de sistemas productivos locales y medios innovadores más o menos dinámicos, que verifica la hipótesis y permite establecer propuestas de actuación para las políticas industriales y de desarrollo territorial en el espacio rural.Depto. de GeografíaFac. de Geografía e HistoriaTRUEpu

Associations between Social Support Dimensions and Resilience Factors and Pathways of Influence in Depression and Anxiety Rates in Young adults

Emerging adulthood is an important developmental period, associated to mental health risk. Resilience research points to both social and personal protective factors against development of psychopathology, but there is paucity with their comprehensive study in young adults. This study provides and initial integrative approach to model multiple dimensions of perceived social support (i.e., from family, friends, significant others) and personal factor of trait resilience (i.e., coping and persistence during stress, tolerance to negative affect, positive appraisals, trust) and their hypothesized contributions to reducing depression and anxiety rates. The study was conducted with a sample of 500 Spanish emerging adults (18 to 29 years old). Regression analyses and multiple mediation models were performed to test our hypotheses. Results showed that social support from family was the dimension with the highest strength relating individual differences in resilience. Furthermore, analyses supported a differential mediating role of specific resilience factors (coping and persistence during stress, tolerance to negative affect, positive appraisals, trust) in partially accounting for the association between higher social support from family and lower depression and anxiety levels in young adults. These results may inform new programs of mental health during emerging adulthood via the promotion of different sources of social support and their related resilience pathways contributing to low emotional symptomatology at this stage of development

A Study of the Robustness Against SEUs of Digital Circuits Implemented with FPGA DSPs

In this paper we present an experimental validation of the reliability increase of digital circuits implemented in XilinxTMFPGAs when they are implemented using the DSPs (Digital Signal Processors) that are available in the reconfigurable device. For this purpose, we have used a fault-injection platform developed by our research group, NESSY [1]. The presented experiments demonstrate that the probability of occurrence of a SEU effect is similar both in the circuits implemented with and without using embedded DSPs. However, the former are more efficient in terms of area usage, which leads to a decrease in the probability of a SEU occurrence