The creditworthiness of the poor: a model of the Grameen Bank

This paper analyzes the role of expected income in entrepreneurial borrowing. We claim that poorer individuals are safer borrowers because they place more value on the relationship with the bank. We study the dynamics of a monopolistic bank granting loans and taking deposits from overlapping generations of entrepreneurs with different levels of expected income. Matching the evidence of the Grameen Bank we show that a bank will focus on individuals with lower expected income, and will not disburse dividends until it reaches all the potential borrowers. We find empirical support for our theoretical results using data from a household survey from Bangladesh. We show that various measures of expected income are positively and signficantly correlated with default probabilities.

Investigation of Acetaminophen and Caffeine Removal Using Manganese Oxides and Granular Activated Carbon in Column Experiments

This study was conducted to investigate the application of manganese dioxide (MnOx(s)) and granular activated carbon (GAC) media for the removal of the acetaminophen and caffeine. Treatment of emerging micropollutants has become a concern due to their effects on environmental health. Manganese oxides can be a viable alternative for water treatment due to their abundance in the environment. Laboratory scale flow through column experiments were performed using different combinations of commercial MnOx(s) and GAC to assess the removal of caffeine and acetaminophen, and the release of Mn due to the reductive dissolution of MnOx(s). Results from high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analyses indicate that the removal of acetaminophen was measured in all media combinations investigated. Removal of caffeine only occurred with columns containing combinations of GAC media. There was no removal of caffeine in columns containing MnOx(s) media. Effluent Mn concentrations analyzed with inductively coupled plasma - mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) increased in column experiments with MnOx(s) media, but effluent Mn were below secondary standard of 50 µg L-1 set by the US Environmental Protection Agency. The results of this investigation are relevant for implementation of MnOx(s) in combination with GAC for water treatment processes due to the commercial accessibility of these mineral oxides. The research contributes to a better understanding of alternative applications for the removal of micropollutants in water treatment

Maternal photoperiodic programming enlightens the internal regulation of thyroid‐hormone deiodinases in tanycytes

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/147851/1/jne12679.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/147851/2/jne12679_am.pd

Infrared excesses in stars with and without planets using revised WISE{\it WISE} photometry

We present an analysis on the potential prevalence of mid infrared excesses in stars with and without planetary companions. Based on an extended database of stars detected with the ${\it WISE}$ satellite, we studied two stellar samples: one with 236 planet hosts and another with 986 objects for which planets have been searched but not found. We determined the presence of an excess over the photosphere by comparing the observed flux ratio at 22 $\mu$m and 12 $\mu$m ($f_{22}/f_{12}$) with the corresponding synthetic value, derived from results of classical model photospheres. We found a detection rate of 0.85$\%$ at 22 $\mu$m (2 excesses) in the sample of stars with planets and 0.1$\%$ (1 detection) for the stars without planets. The difference of the detection rate between the two samples is not statistically significant, a result that is independent of the different approaches found in the literature to define an excess in the wavelength range covered by ${\it WISE}$ observations. As an additional result, we found that the ${\it WISE}$ fluxes required a normalisation procedure to make them compatible with synthetic data, probably pointing out a revision of the ${\it WISE}$ data calibration.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, 3 tables. Accepted for publication in MNRA

Identifying the Crack Nature Using b-Value Acoustic Emission Signal Analysis

Concrete is an important constituent of structures. The strength performance of the concrete decrease due to several factors. Concrete suffers from deterioration at a later stage. Early and constant identification of concrete deterioration is necessary. Nowadays, non-destructive testing (NDT) is widely used especially on continuous real-time monitoring system with minimum labor involvement. It could also be used to discriminate the different types of damage occurring in reinforced concrete (RC) beam and real structure. In this research was monitored by using Acoustic Emission testing and it have several analysis such as RA-value, b-value, intensity signal analysis and historical index. To determine the acoustic emission signals for concrete structures and cracking identification this research using b-value analysis. b-value signals analysis contain useful information about damage mechanisms. A high b-value arises due to a large number of small AE hits, it representing new crack formation and slow crack growth, whereas a low b-value indicates faster or unstable crack growth accompanied by relatively high amplitude AE in large number. Reinforced concrete beams measuring of size 150 mm 250 mm 1500 mm were used during the acoustic emission test. A four-point load test was carried out on specimens until cracking occurred. The signals generated from the equipment were used for the analysis process, and the values are compared to define and summarise type of cracking and cracking processes

Number processing dissociations: Evidence from a case of dyscalculia.

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