Bound to Impact: a best practices guide to term sheets in African Impact Investing deals

This study focuses on the Impact Investing industry in sub-Saharan Africa through a comparative analysis of three industry-leading institutions' term sheets. A key output of this exploratory research is the development of a best practices guide to social and environmental covenants (clauses included in the term sheet). The researcher has compiled primary data through practitioner interviews; secondary data was compiled by analysing executed legal documents and templates. The process was conducted with academic rigour in order to categorise and compare specific information. Preliminary research involved the researcher exchanging with a DFI and two commercial Impact Investors. The DFI provides both equity and debt, whereas one of the commercial Investors specialises in private equity and the other in private debt. The institutions are industry agnostic. The study has the objective to test two linked null hypotheses: Impact Investors do not align their terms sheets to their values; and Impact Investors do not require that certain clauses be systematically included in order to protect their interests Through case studies, the research initially develops on the key elements of an equity term sheet and provides a fictitious debt term sheet as a reference. Equity and debt legal documents are compared and analysed independently. After having isolated and analysed social and environmental covenants, the researcher concludes that neither hypothesis can be rejected. Further research is recommended limiting the scope to a specific industry or a specific asset class. Understanding and comparing Development Finance Institutions' methods would be of value. A quantitative analysis would isolate the success factors and appropriate constraints on the legal documentation in order to maximise financial and social and environmental returns

UQ and AI: data fusion, inverse identification, and multiscale uncertainty propagation in aerospace components

A key requirement for engineering designs is that they offer good performance across a range of uncertain conditions while exhibiting an admissibly low probability of failure. In order to design components that offer good performance across a range of uncertain conditions, it is necessary to take account of the effect of the uncertainties associated with a candidate design. Uncertainty Quantification (UQ) methods are statistical methods that may be used to quantify the effect of the uncertainties inherent in a system on its performance. This thesis expands the envelope of UQ methods for the design of aerospace components, supporting the integration of UQ methods in product development by addressing four industrial challenges. Firstly, a method for propagating uncertainty through computational models in a hierachy of scales is described that is based on probabilistic equivalence and Non-Intrusive Polynomial Chaos (NIPC). This problem is relevant to the design of aerospace components as the computational models used to evaluate candidate designs are typically multiscale. This method was then extended to develop a formulation for inverse identification, where the probability distributions for the material properties of a coupon are deduced from measurements of its response. We demonstrate how probabilistic equivalence and the Maximum Entropy Principle (MEP) may be used to leverage data from simulations with scarce experimental data- with the intention of making this stage of product design less expensive and time consuming. The third contribution of this thesis is to develop two novel meta-modelling strategies to promote the wider exploration of the design space during the conceptual design phase. Design Space Exploration (DSE) in this phase is crucial as decisions made at the early, conceptual stages of an aircraft design can restrict the range of alternative designs available at later stages in the design process, despite limited quantitative knowledge of the interaction between requirements being available at this stage. A histogram interpolation algorithm is presented that allows the designer to interactively explore the design space with a model-free formulation, while a meta-model based on Knowledge Based Neural Networks (KBaNNs) is proposed in which the outputs of a high-level, inexpensive computer code are informed by the outputs of a neural network, in this way addressing the criticism of neural networks that they are purely data-driven and operate as black boxes. The final challenge addressed by this thesis is how to iteratively improve a meta-model by expanding the dataset used to train it. Given the reliance of UQ methods on meta-models this is an important challenge. This thesis proposes an adaptive learning algorithm for Support Vector Machine (SVM) metamodels, which are used to approximate an unknown function. In particular, we apply the adaptive learning algorithm to test cases in reliability analysis.Open Acces

Resonant transmission through an open quantum dot

We have measured the low-temperature transport properties of a quantum dot formed in a one-dimensional channel. In zero magnetic field this device shows quantized ballistic conductance plateaus with resonant tunneling peaks in each transition region between plateaus. Studies of this structure as a function of applied perpendicular magnetic field and source-drain bias indicate that resonant structure deriving from tightly bound states is split by Coulomb charging at zero magnetic field.Comment: To be published in Phys. Rev. B (1997). 8 LaTex pages with 5 figure

Neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin prior to cardiac surgery predicts acute kidney injury and mortality.

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to investigate whether preoperative serum neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (sNGALpre-op) predicted postoperative acute kidney injury (AKI) during hospitalisation and 1-year cardiovascular and all-cause mortality following adult cardiac surgery. METHODS: This study was a post hoc analysis of the Effect of Remote Ischemic Preconditioning on Clinical Outcomes in Patient Undergoing Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery trial involving adult patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft. Postoperative AKI within 72 hours was defined using the International Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes classification. RESULTS: 1371 out of 1612 patients had data on sNGALpre-op. The overall 1-year cardiovascular and all-cause mortality was 5.2% (71/1371) and 7.7% (105/1371), respectively. There was an observed increase in the incidence of AKI from the first to the third tertile of sNGALpre-op (30.5%, 41.5% and 45.9%, respectively, p220 ng/L) had an estimated twofold increase risk of cardiovascular and all-cause mortality at 1 year. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT101247545; Post-results

Wharton’s jelly-derived mesenchymal stromal cells and fibroblast-derived extracellular matrix synergistically activate apoptosis in a p21-dependent mechanism in WHCO1 and MDA MB 231 cancer cells in vitro

The tumour microenvironment plays a crucial role in tumour progression and comprises tumour stroma which is made up of different cell types and the extracellular matrix (ECM).Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) are part of the tumour stroma and may have conflicting effects on tumour growth. In this study we investigated the effect of Wharton’s Jelly-derived MSCs (WJ-MSCs) and a fibroblast-derived ECM (fd-ECM) on esophageal (WHCO1) and breast (MDAMB 231) cancer cells in vitro. BothWJ-MSCs and the fd-ECM, alone or in combination, downregulate PCNA, cyclin D1, Bcl-2, Bcl-xL, and MMPs and upregulate p53 and p21. p21 induction resulted in G2 phase cell cycle arrest and induced apoptosis in vitro. Our data suggest that p21 induction is via p53- dependent and p53-independent mechanisms inWHCO1 andMDA MB 231 cells, respectively. Vascular endothelial growth factor, Akt, and Nodal pathways were downregulated in cancer cells cocultured with WJ-MSCs. We also demonstrate that WJ-MSCs effects on cancer cells appear to be short-lived whilst the fd-ECM effect is long-lived. This study shows the influence of tumour microenvironment on cancer cell behaviour and provides alternative therapeutic targets for potential regulation of tumour cells.The International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), the South African Medical Research Council, the National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa, theUniversity of Pretoria, and the University of Cape Town. Karlien Kallmeyer and Michael S. Pepper’s work was funded by the South African Medical Research Council (University Flagship award and Extramural Stem Cell Unit).http://www.hindawi.com/journals/sci/am2016Immunolog

Remote Ischemic Preconditioning and Outcomes of Cardiac Surgery.

BACKGROUND: Whether remote ischemic preconditioning (transient ischemia and reperfusion of the arm) can improve clinical outcomes in patients undergoing coronary-artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery is not known. We investigated this question in a randomized trial. METHODS: We conducted a multicenter, sham-controlled trial involving adults at increased surgical risk who were undergoing on-pump CABG (with or without valve surgery) with blood cardioplegia. After anesthesia induction and before surgical incision, patients were randomly assigned to remote ischemic preconditioning (four 5-minute inflations and deflations of a standard blood-pressure cuff on the upper arm) or sham conditioning (control group). Anesthetic management and perioperative care were not standardized. The combined primary end point was death from cardiovascular causes, nonfatal myocardial infarction, coronary revascularization, or stroke, assessed 12 months after randomization. RESULTS: We enrolled a total of 1612 patients (811 in the control group and 801 in the ischemic-preconditioning group) at 30 cardiac surgery centers in the United Kingdom. There was no significant difference in the cumulative incidence of the primary end point at 12 months between the patients in the remote ischemic preconditioning group and those in the control group (212 patients [26.5%] and 225 patients [27.7%], respectively; hazard ratio with ischemic preconditioning, 0.95; 95% confidence interval, 0.79 to 1.15; P=0.58). Furthermore, there were no significant between-group differences in either adverse events or the secondary end points of perioperative myocardial injury (assessed on the basis of the area under the curve for the high-sensitivity assay of serum troponin T at 72 hours), inotrope score (calculated from the maximum dose of the individual inotropic agents administered in the first 3 days after surgery), acute kidney injury, duration of stay in the intensive care unit and hospital, distance on the 6-minute walk test, and quality of life. CONCLUSIONS: Remote ischemic preconditioning did not improve clinical outcomes in patients undergoing elective on-pump CABG with or without valve surgery. (Funded by the Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation Program [a Medical Research Council and National Institute of Health Research partnership] and the British Heart Foundation; ERICCA ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01247545.)

Effect of Remote Ischaemic preconditioning on Clinical outcomes in patients undergoing Coronary Artery bypass graft surgery (ERICCA study): a multicentre double-blind randomised controlled clinical trial

BackgroundNovel cardioprotective strategies are required to improve clinical outcomes in higher-risk patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) with or without valve surgery. Remote ischaemic preconditioning (RIPC) in which brief episodes of non-lethal ischaemia and reperfusion are applied to the arm or leg has been demonstrated to reduce perioperative myocardial injury (PMI) following CABG with or without valve surgery.ObjectiveTo investigate whether or not RIPC can improve clinical outcomes in this setting in the Effect of Remote Ischaemic preconditioning on Clinical outcomes in patients undergoing Coronary Artery bypass graft surgery (ERICCA) study in patients undergoing CABG surgery.DesignMulticentre, double-blind, randomised sham controlled trial.SettingThe study was conducted across 30 cardiothoracic centres in the UK between March 2010 and March 2015.ParticipantsEligible patients were higher-risk adult patients (aged &gt; 18 years of age; additive European System for Cardiac Operative Risk of ≥ 5) undergoing on-pump CABG with or without valve surgery with blood cardioplegia.InterventionsPatients were randomised to receive either RIPC (four 5-minute inflations/deflations of a standard blood pressure cuff placed on the upper arm) or the sham control procedure (simulated RIPC protocol) following anaesthetic induction and prior to surgical incision. Anaesthetic management and perioperative care were not standardised.Main outcome measuresThe combined primary end point was the rate of major adverse cardiac and cerebral events comprising cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, coronary revascularisation and stroke within 12 months of randomisation. Secondary end points included perioperative myocardial and acute kidney injury (AKI), intensive care unit and hospital stay, inotrope score, left ventricular ejection fraction, changes in quality of life and exercise tolerance.ResultsIn total, 1612 patients (sham control group,n = 811; RIPC group,n = 801) were randomised in 30 cardiac surgery centres in the UK. There was no difference in the primary end point at 12 months between the RIPC group and the sham control group (26.5% vs. 27.7%; hazard ratio 0.95, 95% confidence interval 0.79 to 1.15;p = 0.58). Furthermore, there was no evidence for any differences in either adverse events or the secondary end points of PMI (72-hour area under the curve for serum high-sensitivity troponin T), inotrope score, AKI, intensive therapy unit and hospital stay, 6-minute walk test and quality of life.ConclusionsIn patients undergoing elective on-pump CABG with or without valve surgery, without standardisation of the anaesthetic regimen, RIPC using transient arm ischaemia–reperfusion did not improve clinical outcomes. It is important that studies continue to investigate the potential mechanisms underlying RIPC, as this may facilitate the translation of this simple, non-invasive, low-cost intervention into patient benefit. The limitations of the study include the lack of standardised pre-/perioperative anaesthesia and medication, the level of missing and incomplete data for some of the secondary end points and the incompleteness of the data for the echocardiography substudy.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT01247545.FundingThis project was funded by the Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation programme, a MRC and NIHR partnership, and the British Heart Foundation.</jats:sec

KELT-8b: A highly inflated transiting hot Jupiter and a new technique for extracting high-precision radial velocities from noisy spectra

We announce the discovery of a highly inflated transiting hot Jupiter discovered by the KELT-North survey. A global analysis including constraints from isochrones indicates that the V = 10.8 host star (HD 343246) is a mildly evolved, G dwarf with $T_{\rm eff} = 5754_{-55}^{+54}$ K, $\log{g} = 4.078_{-0.054}^{+0.049}$, $[Fe/H] = 0.272\pm0.038$, an inferred mass $M_{*}=1.211_{-0.066}^{+0.078}$ M$_{\odot}$, and radius $R_{*}=1.67_{-0.12}^{+0.14}$ R$_{\odot}$. The planetary companion has mass $M_P = 0.867_{-0.061}^{+0.065}$ $M_{J}$, radius $R_P = 1.86_{-0.16}^{+0.18}$ $R_{J}$, surface gravity $\log{g_{P}} = 2.793_{-0.075}^{+0.072}$, and density $\rho_P = 0.167_{-0.038}^{+0.047}$ g cm$^{-3}$. The planet is on a roughly circular orbit with semimajor axis $a = 0.04571_{-0.00084}^{+0.00096}$ AU and eccentricity $e = 0.035_{-0.025}^{+0.050}$. The best-fit linear ephemeris is $T_0 = 2456883.4803 \pm 0.0007$ BJD$_{\rm TDB}$ and $P = 3.24406 \pm 0.00016$ days. This planet is one of the most inflated of all known transiting exoplanets, making it one of the few members of a class of extremely low density, highly-irradiated gas giants. The low stellar $\log{g}$ and large implied radius are supported by stellar density constraints from follow-up light curves, plus an evolutionary and space motion analysis. We also develop a new technique to extract high precision radial velocities from noisy spectra that reduces the observing time needed to confirm transiting planet candidates. This planet boasts deep transits of a bright star, a large inferred atmospheric scale height, and a high equilibrium temperature of $T_{eq}=1675^{+61}_{-55}$ K, assuming zero albedo and perfect heat redistribution, making it one of the best targets for future atmospheric characterization studies.Comment: Submitted to ApJ, feedback is welcom