Credit information in emerging markets: the rating agencies and credit risk reports, Peruvian experience

This paper seeks to develop a literature review within the main aspects of credit information in emerging markets, important aspect considering that several companies, including the small enterprises, are looking forward to “go” to capital markets. Thus, we will analyze the role of rating agencies and credit bureaus (credit risk report) in the Peruvian market, considering the current state of economic growth that comes through and, the potential of capital market that comes with MILA (Integrated Latin American Market). Besides, this information will become relevant in the following months, because the actual financial crisis in several countries all over the world (focus in Europe, but it could move to some BRICS – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – or Latam Countries) has generated a new map in “rating scores” (Note 1) so the questions that we tried to answer is if this unique change is relevant? Or it should be complemented in order to have a significant impact in the market and for the investors

Emerging markets portfolio creating a Latin American portfolio peruvian case study

The case study seeks to identify the most important issues encountered in developing a new portfolio in a Latin America country, exploring several alternatives which include not only stock and sovereign bonds but also more sophisticate products such as American Depositary Receipt (ADR) or Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) from emerging countries, and determine what are the risks involved in the process following not only Basil III standards, but also the local best practice recommend by the local regulators. The study at the beginning used historical information (normal distribution formulas) of several equities and bonds (n = 142) and then selected five Peruvian instruments (one of this involved at least 25 equities, N = 5, n = 30) and then other 30 (one of this include an ETF, N = 30, n = 55) in order to determine the best return and risk combination for an emerging market portfolio. Besides, the additional objective is to examine and introduce the reader in some statistics formulas used in finance and risk management. Senior management must evaluate the issues associated with the new portfolio and strategy developed

Extrapolating demography with climate, proximity and phylogeny: approach with caution

Plant population responses are key to understanding the effects of threats such as climate change and invasions. However, we lack demographic data for most species, and the data we have are often geographically aggregated. We determined to what extent existing data can be extrapolated to predict population performance across larger sets of species and spatial areas. We used 550 matrix models, across 210 species, sourced from the COMPADRE Plant Matrix Database, to model how climate, geographic proximity and phylogeny predicted population performance. Models including only geographic proximity and phylogeny explained 5-40% of the variation in four key metrics of population performance. However, there was poor extrapolation between species and extrapolation was limited to geographic scales smaller than those at which landscape scale threats typically occur. Thus, demographic information should only be extrapolated with caution. Capturing demography at scales relevant to landscape level threats will require more geographically extensive sampling

Electric Switching of the Charge-Density-Wave and Normal Metallic Phases in Tantalum Disulfide Thin-Film Devices

We report on switching among three charge-density-wave phases - commensurate, nearly commensurate, incommensurate - and the high-temperature normal metallic phase in thin-film 1T-TaS2 devices induced by application of an in-plane electric field. The electric switching among all phases has been achieved over a wide temperature range, from 77 K to 400 K. The low-frequency electronic noise spectroscopy has been used as an effective tool for monitoring the transitions, particularly the switching from the incommensurate charge-density-wave phase to the normal metal phase. The noise spectral density exhibits sharp increases at the phase transition points, which correspond to the step-like changes in resistivity. Assignment of the phases is consistent with low-field resistivity measurements over the temperature range from 77 K to 600 K. Analysis of the experimental data and calculations of heat dissipation suggest that Joule heating plays a dominant role in the electric-field induced transitions in the tested 1T-TaS2 devices on Si/SiO2 substrates. The possibility of electrical switching among four different phases of 1T-TaS2 is a promising step toward nanoscale device applications. The results also demonstrate the potential of noise spectroscopy for investigating and identifying phase transitions in materials.Comment: 32 pages, 7 figure

Entorno de Desarrollo Ptolemy

Dentro del diseño digital, el Codiseño de Hardware (HW) / Software (SW) permite el desarrollo simultáneo de sistemas con componentes hardware y componentes software, buscando explotar las ventajas que ofrece cada alternativa y permitiendo fácilmente el rediseño de forma natural. El papel que juega Ptolemy en la problemática del Codiseño, es que gracias a sus características jerárquicas se presenta como un marco especial para el modelado, simulación y síntesis de software de sistemas embebidos, de tiempo real y concurrentes. En este trabajo se realiza el estudio detallado de un entorno de programación para su utilización en diseño de sistemas digitales

Winter drought impairs xylem phenology, anatomy and growth in Mediterranean Scots pine forests

39 páginas, 5 tablas, 6 figuras, 2 figuras suplementarias. -- This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced version of an article accepted for publication in Tree Physiology following peer review. The version of record [J. J. Camarero, G. Guada, R. Sánchez-Salguero, E. Cervantes; Winter drought impairs xylem phenology, anatomy and growth in Mediterranean Scots pine forests. Tree Physiol 2016; 36 (12): 1536-1549] is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/treephys/tpw077Continental Mediterranean forests face drought and cold stress. Drought and cold spells are climate extremes which can impair the recovery and resilience capacity of some Mediterranean forests. Climate warming could amplify the negative effects on forests of climate extremes by altering phenology phases (premature dehardening) and by magnifying drought stress. Here we capitalize on a winter-drought induced dieback triggered by a cold spell which occurred in December 2001 and affected Scots pine forests in E. Spain. We assessed post-dieback recovery by quantifying and comparing radial growth and xylem anatomy of non-declining (crown cover > 50%) and declining (crown cover ≤ 50%) trees in two sites (VP, Villarroya de los Pinares; TO, Torrijas). We also characterized aboveground productivity in site VP and xylogenesis in both sites during 2005. Dieback caused legacy effects since needle loss, a 60% reduction in aboveground biomass and radial-growth decline characterized declining trees three years after these dieback symptoms started in spring 2002. Declining trees formed collapsed tracheids in the 2002-ring earlywood, particularly in the most affected VP site where xylogenesis differences between non-declining and declining trees were most noticeable. The lower growth rates of declining trees were explained by a shorter duration of their major xylogenesis phases. In the site VP the radial-enlargement and wall-thickening of tracheids were significantly reduced in declining trees as compared to non-declining trees, and this was because these phases tended to start earlier and end later in non-declining than in declining trees. Gompertz models fitted to tracheid production predicted that maximum growth rates occurred 11-12 days earlier in non-declining than in declining trees. The formation of radially-enlarging tracheids was enhanced by longer days in both study sites and also by wetter conditions in the driest TO site, but this xylogenesis sensitivity to climate was reduced in declining trees. Winter-drought induced dieback impairs xylem anatomy and phenology, aboveground productivity, xylogenesis and growth in Mediterranean Scots pine populations. Affected stands show a costly post-dieback recovery challenging their resilience ability.JJC acknowledges the support of the Excellence Network “Red de Ecología Terrestre para afrontar los retos del Cambio Global—ECOMETAS” (CGL2014-53840-REDT) of the Spanish Ministry of Economy.Peer reviewe