Sustainable and conventional banking in Europe

At the end of the 20th century a new banking model, the so-called ethical banking, emerged becoming the maximum exponent of a socially responsible investment. The financial crisis in 2008 led to a distrust of the conventional financial system and consequently investors began to look with interest this new banking, which only invests in ethical activities and products, with social and environmental criteria, total transparency and a democratic management. The aim of this article is to analyze the economic structure of ethical banking, compared to that of conventional banking, by paying attention to its liquidity, coverage and solvency. Specifically, We compare the financial statements of Triodos Bank, the main European ethical bank belonging to the Global Alliance for Banking on Values, with two of the main conventional banks of each of the five countries in Europe in which it operates. To do this, we apply a financial and economic analysis to the period from 2015 to 2018, the means difference test and analysis of variance on an array of financial ratios and, finally, probit regressions. The results reveal that ethical banking is growing more than conventional banking and it presents greater liquidity and solvency, although, in general terms, its profitability is not higher. In conclusion, both savers and investors have guarantees that their savings are invested not only in a responsible but also in a confident way in ethical banking

Eocene intra-plate shortening responsible for the rise of a faunal pathway in the northeastern Caribbean realm

Intriguing latest Eocene land-faunal dispersals between South America and the Greater Antilles (northern Caribbean) has inspired the hypothesis of the GAARlandia (Greater Antilles Aves Ridge) land bridge. This landbridge, however, should have crossed the Caribbean oceanic plate, and the geological evolution of its rise and demise, or its geodynamic forcing, remain unknown. Here we present the results of a land-sea survey from the northeast Caribbean plate, combined with chronostratigraphic data, revealing a regional episode of mid to late Eocene, trench-normal, E-W shortening and crustal thickening by ∼25%. This shortening led to a regional late Eocene–early Oligocene hiatus in the sedimentary record revealing the location of an emerged land (the Greater Antilles-Northern Lesser Antilles, or GrANoLA, landmass), consistent with the GAARlandia hypothesis. Subsequent submergence is explained by combined trench-parallel extension and thermal relaxation following a shift of arc magmatism, expressed by a regional early Miocene transgression. We tentatively link the NE Caribbean intra-plate shortening to a well-known absolute and relative North American and Caribbean plate motion change, which may provide focus for the search of the remaining connection between ‘GrANoLA’ land and South America, through the Aves Ridge or Lesser Antilles island arc. Our study highlights the how regional geodynamic evolution may have driven paleogeographic change that is still reflected in current biology

Genetic Relations Between the Aves Ridge and the Grenada Back-Arc Basin, East Caribbean Sea

The Grenada Basin separates the active Lesser Antilles Arc from the Aves Ridge, described as a Cretaceous‐Paleocene remnant of the “Great Arc of the Caribbean.” Although various tectonic models have been proposed for the opening of the Grenada Basin, the data on which they rely are insufficient to reach definitive conclusions. This study presents, a large set of deep‐penetrating multichannel seismic reflection data and dredge samples acquired during the GARANTI cruise in 2017. By combining them with published data including seismic reflection data, wide‐angle seismic data, well data and dredges, we refine the understanding of the basement structure, depositional history, tectonic deformation and vertical motions of the Grenada Basin and its margins as follows: (1) rifting occurred during the late Paleocene‐early Eocene in a NW‐SE direction and led to seafloor spreading during the middle Eocene; (2) this newly formed oceanic crust now extends across the eastern Grenada Basin between the latitude of Grenada and Martinique; (3) asymmetrical pre‐Miocene depocenters support the hypothesis that the southern Grenada Basin originally extended beneath the present‐day southern Lesser Antilles Arc and probably partly into the present‐day forearc before the late Oligocene‐Miocene rise of the Lesser Antilles Arc; and (4) the Aves Ridge has subsided along with the Grenada Basin since at least the middle Eocene, with a general subsidence slowdown or even an uplift during the late Oligocene, and a sharp acceleration on its southeastern flank during the late Miocene. Until this acceleration of subsidence, several bathymetric highs remained shallow enough to develop carbonate platforms

Fish consumption and the risk of gastric cancer: systematic review and meta-analysis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Gastric cancer is the fourth most frequently occurring malignancy after lung, breast, and colorectal cancer, and the second most common cause of death from cancer worldwide. Epidemiologic studies have examined the possible association between fish consumption and gastric cancer, but the results were inconclusive. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to examine the association between fish intake and the risk of gastric cancer.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>PubMed was searched for studies published in English-language journals from 1991 through 2009. We identified 17 epidemiologic studies (15 case-control and 2 cohort studies) that included relative risks (RRs) or odds ratios (ORs) estimates with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of the relationship between gastric cancer and fish consumption. Data were extracted using standardized data forms. Summary RRs or ORs for the highest versus non/lowest fish consumption levels were calculated using random-effects model. Heterogeneity among studies was examined using Q and I²statistics.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In this study, 5,323 cases of gastric cancer and over 130,000 non-cases were included. The combined results from all studies indicated that the association between high fish consumption and reduced gastric cancer risk was not statistically insignificant (RR = 0.87, 95% CI = 0.71-1.07).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Current evidence indicated that the association between fish consumption and risk of gastric cancer remains unclear.</p

The relationship between dietary fat intake and risk of colorectal cancer: evidence from the combined analysis of 13 case-control studies

The objective of this study was to examine the effects of the intakeof dietary fat upon colorectal cancer risk in a combined analysis of datafrom 13 case-control studies previously conducted in populations withdiffering colorectal cancer rates and dietary practices. Original datarecords for 5,287 cases of colorectal cancer and 10,470 controls werecombined. Logistic regression analysis was used to estimate odds ratios (OR)for intakes of total energy, total fat and its components, and cholesterol.Positive associations with energy intake were observed for 11 of the 13studies. However, there was little, if any, evidence of anyenergy-independent effect of either total fat with ORs of 1.00, 0.95, 1.01,1.02, and 0.92 for quintiles of residuals of total fat intake (P trend =0.67) or for saturated fat with ORs of 1.00, 1.08, 1.06, 1.21, and 1.06 (Ptrend = 0.39). The analysis suggests that, among these case-control studies,there is no energy-independent association between dietary fat intake andrisk of colorectal cancer. It also suggests that simple substitution of fatby other sources of calories is unlikely to reduce meaningfully the risk ofcolorectal cancer.Facultad de Ciencias Médica

Long-term relationships, group lending, and peer monitoring in microfinance: Experimental evidence

International audienceMicrofinance is generally associated with high repayment rates. However, it is not clear what drives such high repayment rates? Does the success of microfinance results only from the use of group lending, peer sanctioning or long-term relationships that typically characterize microfinance contracts? In this paper, we aim to contribute to the existing literature by using a laboratory experiment to disentangle the effect of these different potential mechanisms. Our experiment involves both students and real bankers in the role of lenders. We find that group lending alone, in absence of peer sanctioning mechanisms induces free riding and is not sufficient to mitigate the problems of ex ante and ex post moral hazard. In sharp contrast, we find that individualized long-term relationships perform significantly better than either form of group lending with or without peer sanctioning. Consequently, borrowers’ final payoffs are lower in the group lending schemes than in the individual lending scheme due to the fact that borrowers receive on average fewer loans from lenders in the group lending schemes. Our study also sheds light on the social cost of peer pressure mechanisms. © 202

Upper Triassic limestones in the Sinta Ridge (Banda Sea - Indonesia)

Upper Triassic rocks dredged on the Sinta Ridge in the Banda Sea during the BANDA SEA I cruise with the R. V. Baruna Jaya III in 1992 are consistent with the existence of an isolated Upper Triassic continental block including Buru, Seram and East Sulawesi, and now dispersed

Upper Triassic carbonate deposits of Seram (Indonesia): palaeogeographic and geodynamic implications

The Upper Triassic limestones of central and western and Seram, were deposited on an extensive carbonate platform, already identified in various localities all around the Banda Sea: Sinta Ridge, central–east Sulawesi, Buru, Misool and the Wombat Plateau (off NW Australia). The Triassic deposits are found in the parautochthonous, as well as in the allochthonous series of Seram; the facies of the two series are of Gondwanian–Australian type in the Parautochthonous and of Laurussian–Asian type in the Allochthonous. The Asinepe Limestone (=Manusela Formation), on which this study is based, has been considered as part of the allochthonous series. The Triassic reefal lithotypes can be divided into four main facies, as follows: (1) the boundstone facies forming the buildup cores; (2) the oncolitic grainstone-rudstone facies, indicating high energy conditions; (3) foraminiferal packstone-grainstone facies, characteristic of moderate to high energy conditions; and (4) the foraminiferal-megalodont mudstone facies, inferred to have accumulated in a quiet lagoonal environment. Forming the buildup cores of about 4 m long, 2 m high; they are separated by depressions filled with reef detrital sands; The Asinepe Limestone was deposited during the Late Triassic (Carnian–Norian to Rhaetian). This range is corroborated by foraminiferal and palynological data, and the coral framebuilders give evidence for a Norian–Rhaetian age. There is a some consensus that Seram and the Island of Buru, located west of Seram, belong to the same tectonic block (Seram-Buru Block). According to geochemical and geodynamic interpretations, the Seram-Buru Block is derived from Irian Jaya or from Papua New Guinea. The palynological results are consistent with reconstructions that place the Seram-Buru Block in a palaeogeographic zone distinct from that of Sulawesi, and therefore from the Kolonodale Block. For these reasons, it is here proposed that, during the Upper Triassic, the Seram-Buru Block and the Kolonodale Block were two separated entities, the former located in a more tropical position than the latter. In addition, the Seram palynological association shows a composite microflora of the warm Onslow and the cold Ipswich-types, suggesting that the Seram microcontinent moved progressively to the north and crossed the boundary between the temperate and the warm subequatorial belts at one point in the Late Triassic–Early Jurassic

Messinian events : new constraints from sedimentological investigations and new 40Ar/39Ar ages in the Melilla-Nador basin (Morocco)

Sedimentary Geology, v. 151, n. 1, p. 127-147, 2002. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0037-0738(01)00193-2International audienc