Funding Financial Inclusion: Institutional Logics and the Contextual Contingency of Funding for Microfinance Organizations

Microfinance is a promising tool for addressing the grand challenge of global poverty. Yet, while many studies have examined how microfinance loans affect poor borrowers, we know little about how microfinance organizations (MFOs) themselves finance their lending activities. This is a significant oversight because most MFOs do not self-fund their lending, but, rather, rely on loans from external funders. To better understand microfinance funding, we apply and extend the institutional logics perspective to analyze the lending practices of commercial and public funders, who together provide most of the capital for global microfinance. We argue that these funders adhere to financial and development logics, respectively, and that this leads them to invest in different types of MFOs. Yet, in the face of uncertainty, we suggest that the practices motivated by these logics will start to converge in ways that are problematic for a nation’s microfinance sector. Using a proprietary database of all traceable loans to MFOs from 2004 to 2012, we find strong support for our hypotheses. In particular, our findings show that the relationship between institutional logics and organizational practices is contextually contingent, and this insight contributes important understanding about the efficacy of microfinance as a poverty-reduction tool

In situ characterisation of size distribution and rise velocity of microbubbles by high-speed photography

Using microbubbles has gained significant interest in many domestic and industrial applications due to bubble stability in solution and increased mass transfer area. The characterisation of microbubble populations is therefore important and aids in the understanding of their behaviour. Microbubble characterisation remains challenging, particularly at high bubble densities. We have developed an in situ and automated method, based on image analysis, to determine bubble size distributions and bubble rise velocity at bubble densities of up to approximately 7 bubbles mm−2. The method uses image analysis of a side-stream viewing slit and was tested using air bubbles in water at diameters between 20 and 150 µm under a range of different conditions. The developed system enables fast, simple and accurate size determination for microbubbles, including continuous sampling and observation.</p

In situ characterisation of size distribution and rise velocity of microbubbles by high-speed photography

Using microbubbles has gained significant interest in many domestic and industrial applications due to bubble stability in solution and increased mass transfer area. The characterisation of microbubble populations is therefore important and aids in the understanding of their behaviour. Microbubble characterisation remains challenging, particularly at high bubble densities. We have developed an in situ and automated method, based on image analysis, to determine bubble size distributions and bubble rise velocity at bubble densities of up to approximately 7 bubbles mm−2. The method uses image analysis of a side-stream viewing slit and was tested using air bubbles in water at diameters between 20 and 150 µm under a range of different conditions. The developed system enables fast, simple and accurate size determination for microbubbles, including continuous sampling and observation.</p

Multiplexed, rapid detection of H5N1 using a PCR-free nanoparticle-based genomic microarray assay

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>For more than a decade there has been increasing interest in the use of nanotechnology and microarray platforms for diagnostic applications. In this report, we describe a rapid and simple gold nanoparticle (NP)-based genomic microarray assay for specific identification of avian influenza virus H5N1 and its discrimination from other major influenza A virus strains (H1N1, H3N2).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Capture and intermediate oligonucleotides were designed based on the consensus sequences of the matrix (M) gene of H1N1, H3N2 and H5N1 viruses, and sequences specific for the hemaglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA) genes of the H5N1 virus. Viral RNA was detected within 2.5 hours using capture-target-intermediate oligonucleotide hybridization and gold NP-mediated silver staining in the absence of RNA fragmentation, target amplification, and enzymatic reactions. The lower limit of detection (LOD) of the assay was less than 100 fM for purified PCR fragments and 10³TCID₅₀units for H5N1 viral RNA.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The NP-based microarray assay was able to detect and distinguish H5N1 sequences from those of major influenza A viruses (H1N1, H3N2). The new method described here may be useful for simultaneous detection and subtyping of major influenza A viruses.</p

Human Parechovirus Infections in Monkeys with Diarrhea, China

Information about human parechovirus (HPeV) infection in animals is scant. Using 5′ untranslated region reverse transcription–PCR, we detected HPeV in feces of monkeys with diarrhea and sequenced the complete genome of 1 isolate (SH6). Monkeys may serve as reservoirs for zoonotic HPeV transmissions and as models for studies of HPeV pathogenesis

Neurological Soft Signs Are Not "Soft" in Brain Structure and Functional Networks: Evidence From ALE Meta-Analysis

Background: Neurological soft signs (NSS) are associated with schizophrenia and related psychotic disorders. NSS have been conventionally considered as clinical neurological signs without localized brain regions. However, recent brain imaging studies suggest that NSS are partly localizable and may be associated with deficits in specific brain areas. Method: We conducted an activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis to quantitatively review structural and functional imaging studies that evaluated the brain correlates of NSS in patients with schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders. Six structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI) and 15 functional magnetic -resonance imaging (fMRI) studies were included. Results: The results from meta-analysis of the sMRI studies-indicated that NSS were associated with atrophy of the precentral gyrus, the cerebellum, the inferior frontal gyrus, and the thalamus. The results from meta-analysis of the fMRI studies demonstrated that the NSS-related task was significantly associated with altered brain activation in the inferior frontal gyrus, bilateral putamen, the cerebellum, and the superior temporal gyrus. Conclusions: Ourfindings from both sMRI and fMRI meta-analyses further support the conceptualization of NSS as a manifestation of the &quot;cerebello-thalamo-prefrontal&quot; brain network model of schizophrenia and related psychotic disorders

Magnetoplasmons in quantum rings

We have studied the structure and dipole charge density response of nanorings as a function of the magnetic field using local-spin density functional theory. Two small rings consisting of 12 and 22 electrons confined by a positively charged background are used to represent the cases of a narrow and a wide ring. The results are qualitatively compared with experimental data existing on microrings and on antidots. A smaller ring containing 5 electrons is also analyzed to allow for a closer comparison with a recent experiment on a two electron quantum ring.Comment: Typeset using Revtex, 13 pages and 11 Postscript figure

Optical cooper pair breaking spectroscopy of cuprate superconductors

The photon energy dependence of the optical Cooper pair breaking rate (CPBR) is studied for compressibly strained La1.85Sr0.15CuO4 (LSCO) films and YBa2Cu2.92Zn0.08O7-&#948; (YBCZO) thin films, and compared to that in YBa2Cu3O7-&#948; (YBCO). Unlike YBCO, the CPBR for LSCO does not show an obvious photon energy dependence. In YBCZO, the CPBR shows a strong energy dependence similar to YBCO, but with a redshift in the peak position. Analysis of these results strongly favors a physical picture based on electronic phase separation in high-Tc superconductivity