Country Creditor Rights, Information Sharing, and Commercial Banks’ Profitability

The authors analyze commercial banks’ profitability (return on equity, ROE) at different levels of creditor rights and an aggregate score of information sharing in terms of credit bureaus. After controlling for bank size and some macroeconomic variables, the results indicate that profitability is higher and more persistent when creditors are well protected. Furthermore, the presence of a (public or private) credit bureau increases the persistence of ROE, but higher levels of information sharing foster competition and erode future profitability.return on equity (ROE), commercial banks, creditor rights, information sharing, predictive ability of accounting

UT Health RGV COVID-19 Testing Report

Purpose: This health surveillance project\u27s goal was to organize de-identified data received from UT Health RGV with the intent to provide timely reporting to testing sites and health affairs directors. We aimed to explore how testing rates differ between counties, testing sites and age groups from March 30 through August 7, 2020. We looked at different demographics and compared the positivity rates for each testing site. For this report, we will detail information for the pediatric population (ages 0-18). Materials and Methods: A codebook and database were created with information about COVID-19 test data to formulate reports to the testing sites and directors. We used SPSS software to run descriptive statistics and preliminary analysis to help visualize the data. Results: Based on the American Academy of Pediatrics report on August 13, 2020, Texas only provides pediatric age distribution for 8% of their test results. Based on our data from the Rio Grande Valley, we can aid in reporting test results that included pediatrics demographics. We found that 40.6% (N=1016) of patients 18 or younger at time of testing tested positive (compared to the national average of 3.6-18.3%), 5.7% of total tests were done on patients 18 or younger (compared to 3-12% nationally), and 7.8% of our positive cases were in patients 18 or younger (compared to 9.1% nationally). By county, the positivity rates for COVID-19 testing were as follows: Cameron = 29.8% (N=6379), Hidalgo = 29.3% (N=11249), Starr = 14.3%(N=63), Willacy = 27.3% (N=99), Other TX = 14.3% (N=112), Out of state = 16.7% (N=54). Test positivity by testing site was: Edinburg = 28.7% (N=9637), Mercedes = 30.3% (N=2840), Harlingen = 31.6% (N=3377), Brownsville = 26.8% (N=2102). Limitations: Not all data is from unique individuals; this database includes retested individuals. Therefore, data results should be interpreted with caution. Additionally, when patients selected their race and ethnicity, the race options included all of the major races, yet ethnicity was limited to the Hispanic/Latino race and a blanket option for “non-Hispanic/Latino”, without the ability to choose other ethnicities. Interpreting data about ethnicity is therefore limited. Discussion: Further analysis is needed to identify patients retested. A data subset of retested individuals will provide accurate test positivity rate. Overall, the database can provide insightful pediatric data to establish rates of pediatric COVID-19 infections in South Texas. We hope that the data and analysis provided can help inform legislative decision making

Mecanismos de evasión del sistema del complemento utilizados por Trypanosomacruzi

Trypanosomacruzi es el agente causal de la enfermedad de Chagas, la infección parasitaria más importante deLatinoamérica. Se considera una enfermedad crónica, que causa discapacidad, para la cual no existe tratamientoefectivo. Para poder establecer una infección de manera exitosa, T. cruzi cuenta con múltiples mecanismos para evadirla respuesta inmune del hospedero. Entre estos múltiples mecanismos, los tripomastigotes, formas infectantes delparásito, cuentan con mecanismos que los hacen resistir el ataque del sistema del complemento. Por el contrario, losepimastigotes son altamente susceptibles. Para resistir la lisis mediada por el complemento, T. cruziutilizadiversosfactores que interfieren con las funciones de la ruta clásica o alterna en distintos puntos de la cascada. Sin embargo,estos mecanismos no son del todo comprendidos. Entre las proteínas que participan en la resistencia a la lisis están elfactor acelerador del decaimiento de las convertasas de T. cruzi(T-DAF), la proteína reguladora del complemento de T.cruzi (CRP), calreticulina de T. cruzi(TcCRT), factor H, entre otras. A continuación revisaremos el rol de estasproteínas en la evasión del sistema del complemento del hospedero por T. cruzi.  

Beating noise with abstention in state estimation

We address the problem of estimating pure qubit states with non-ideal (noisy) measurements in the multiple-copy scenario, where the data consists of a number N of identically prepared qubits. We show that the average fidelity of the estimates can increase significantly if the estimation protocol allows for inconclusive answers, or abstentions. We present the optimal such protocol and compute its fidelity for a given probability of abstention. The improvement over standard estimation, without abstention, can be viewed as an effective noise reduction. These and other results are exemplified for small values of N. For asymptotically large N, we derive analytical expressions of the fidelity and the probability of abstention, and show that for a fixed fidelity gain the latter decreases with N at an exponential rate given by a Kulback-Leibler (relative) entropy. As a byproduct, we obtain an asymptotic expression in terms of this very entropy of the probability that a system of N qubits, all prepared in the same state, has a given total angular momentum. We also discuss an extreme situation where noise increases with N and where estimation with abstention provides a most significant improvement as compared to the standard approach

Comparacion en la capacidad de memoria operativa y elaboracion de inferencias entre adultos mayores y adultos jovenes

80 p.Hacer inferencias o concluir sobre algo se refiere a la existencia de información que está implícita o la que podemos inferir. Esto significa que la información no siempre es clara pero de algún modo la utilizamos para hacer un juicio o concluir sobre algo. Los adultos mayores con envejecimiento típico presenta un enlentecimiento de las funciones cognitivas, como es en la memoria operativa y la capacidad para elaborar inferencias. Por ello el propósito de este trabajo es estudiar la diferencia que existe entre la capacidad de memoria operativa y la capacidad de elaborar inferencias entre los adultos mayores y los adultos jóvenes. Se utilizó una muestra de 60 sujetos, los cuales se asignaron a dos grupos: 30 sujetos adultos mayores con envejecimiento típico entre 60 y 80 años de edad correspondiente al grupo de estudio y 30 sujetos adultos jóvenes entre 20 y 30 años de edad correspondiente al grupo control. A ambos grupos se le aplicó en primera instancia una prueba para medir la capacidad de memoria operativa y posteriormente una prueba para medir la capacidad de la elaboración de inferencias elaborativas y puentes. Los resultados mostraron que la capacidad de memoria operativa y la elaboración de inferencias se ven disminuidas con la edad en comparación con los adultos jóvenes

The Detection of Outflows in the IR-Quiet Molecular Core NGC 6334 I(North)

We find strong evidence for outflows originating in the dense molecular core NGC 6334 I(North): a 1000 Msol molecular core distinguished by its lack of HII regions and mid-IR emission. New observations were obtained of the SiO 2-1 and 5-4 lines with the SEST 15-m telescope and the H2 (1-0) S(1) line with the ESO 2.2-m telescope. The line profiles of the SiO transitions show broad wings extending from -50 to 40 km/s, and spatial maps of the line wing emission exhibit a bipolar morphology with the peaks of the red and blue wing separated by 30". The estimated mass loss rate of the outflow is comparable to those for young intermediate to high-mass stars. The near-IR images show eight knots of H2 emission. Five of the knots form a linear chain which is displaced from the axis of the SiO outflow; these knots may trace shock excited gas along the path of a second, highly collimated outflow. We propose that I(N) is a rare example of a molecular core in an early stage of cluster formation.Comment: 4 pages, LaTeX, 3 ps figures, accepted by ApJ

Multiple copy 2-state discrimination with individual measurements

We address the problem of non-orthogonal two-state discrimination when multiple copies of the unknown state are available. We give the optimal strategy when only fixed individual measurements are allowed and show that its error probability saturates the collective (lower) bound asymptotically. We also give the optimal strategy when adaptivity of individual von Neumann measurements is allowed (which requires classical communication), and show that the corresponding error probability is exactly equal to the collective one for any number of copies. We show that this strategy can be regarded as Bayesian updating.Comment: 5 pages, RevTe