Looking forward to the first ever LSE Pakistan Summit

As the Pakistan @ 70: LSE Pakistan Summit 2017 approaches, Shema Bhujel reflects on LSE’s long-standing ties with Pakistan and introduces the four core topics that will be discussed as key issues which are shaping the future of this burgeoning nation

Current status of diurnal breeding raptors in the greater Athi-Kaputiei Ecosystem, southern Kenya: an assessment of abundance, distribution and key areas in need of conservation

I document the current abundance and distribution of breeding and resident raptors in the greater Athi-Kaputiei Ecosystem of southern Kenya. Data were drawn primarily from field surveys and supplemented with secondary data from other observers’ records, and open-source databases. A total of 138 nests were recorded, of which 103 belonged to globally threatened and near threatened species. A total of 135 resident pairs of raptors were recorded in the area, belonging to 20 species. An additional 26 non-resident raptor species were observed in the area with varying levels of frequency. Results indicate key areas that need to be prioritized for conservation as major development projects — including a standard gauge railway, wind energy facilities, and an expressway — are implemented in the wildlife-rich Athi-Kaputiei area.Keywords: raptors, Athi Plains, Nairobi National Park, sustainable development, human-wildlife co-existenc

Do altmetrics correlate with citations? Extensive comparison of altmetric indicators with citations from a multidisciplinary perspective

An extensive analysis of the presence of different altmetric indicators provided by Altmetric.com across scientific fields is presented, particularly focusing on their relationship with citations. Our results confirm that the presence and density of social media altmetric counts are still very low and not very frequent among scientific publications, with 15%-24% of the publications presenting some altmetric activity and concentrating in the most recent publications, although their presence is increasing over time. Publications from the social sciences, humanities and the medical and life sciences show the highest presence of altmetrics, indicating their potential value and interest for these fields. The analysis of the relationships between altmetrics and citations confirms previous claims of positive correlations but relatively weak, thus supporting the idea that altmetrics do not reflect the same concept of impact as citations. Also, altmetric counts do not always present a better filtering of highly cited publications than journal citation scores. Altmetrics scores (particularly mentions in blogs) are able to identify highly cited publications with higher levels of precision than journal citation scores (JCS), but they have a lower level of recall. The value of altmetrics as a complementary tool of citation analysis is highlighted, although more research is suggested to disentangle the potential meaning and value of altmetric indicators for research evaluation

The prevalence, profile, and prognosis of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction: A South African tertiary hospital experience

Background. There is limited data on heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) in Sub-Saharan Africa. We therefore aimed to describe the prevalence, profile and outcomes of HFpEF patients admitted to a South African tertiary hospital. Methods. We retrospectively reviewed all consecutive de novo heart failure admissions to Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town between January 2016 and December 2017. The socio-demographic profile, clinical characteristics and outcomes were analysed. Poor outcome was defined as death or readmission to hospital within the first twelve months after the index diagnosis. Results. Of the 315 admissions for de novo acute heart failure, 42 patients (13.3%) had HFpEF. This female preponderant (81.0%) cohort had a median age of 55.5 years (interquartile range (IQR) 47-66 years). Hypertension (85.7%), chronic kidney disease (CKD) (40.5%) and diabetes (40.5%) were common comorbidities. The most frequent electrocardiographic (ECG) abnormalities included abnormal T wave inversion (38.1%), left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) (16.7%) and left bundle branch block (LBBB) (11.9%). Atrial fibrillation (2.4%) and atrial flutter (2.4%) were uncommon. The main echocardiographic abnormalities were concentric LVH (81.0%), left atrial enlargement (45.2%) and evidence of diastolic dysfunction (92.9%). Within the first year after diagnosis, 35.7% of patients were readmitted to hospital for heart failure and 11.9% died. Conclusion. The prevalence of HFpEF in our population was much lower than what has been reported elsewhere. In this cohort, HFpEF predominantly affected middle-aged females with hypertension, diabetes and CKD. Almost half of the cohort (47.6%) had a poor outcome within the first year after diagnosis

Design knowledge capture for a corporate memory facility

Currently, much of the information regarding decision alternatives and trade-offs made in the course of a major program development effort is not represented or retained in a way that permits computer-based reasoning over the life cycle of the program. The loss of this information results in problems in tracing design alternatives to requirements, in assessing the impact of change in requirements, and in configuration management. To address these problems, the problem was studied of building an intelligent, active corporate memory facility which would provide for the capture of the requirements and standards of a program, analyze the design alternatives and trade-offs made over the program's lifetime, and examine relationships between requirements and design trade-offs. Early phases of the work have concentrated on design knowledge capture for the Space Station Freedom. Tools are demonstrated and extended which helps automate and document engineering trade studies, and another tool is being developed to help designers interactively explore design alternatives and constraints

Essays on Strategies for Increasing Repayment Rates of Digital Microloans

Access to credit can act as a highly effective tool for poverty reduction and economic growth. The ability to borrow increases the propensity of low-income people to start and maintain businesses, educate their children and withstand financial shocks. These factors, in turn, can help them to move out of poverty and lead to more sustainable economic development. However, traditional financial institutions have inherent limitations that have impeded their ability to serve the poor. Digital lenders are able to leverage the widespread adoption of mobile phones and mobile money to extend credit quickly and conveniently to more people, especially in developing countries. However, due to a lack of credit bureaus and available financial histories of borrowers, digital lenders frequently need to amass vast amounts of data in order to screen borrowers and experiment to find the appropriate loan amount by gradually increasing credit limits based on past repayment. This can lead to high user default rates and over-indebtedness. The lack of collateral during loan applications also means that digital lenders have limited mechanisms for enforcing repayment of loans. Both of these challenges threaten to limit further adoption of digital credit. Through three experimental studies conducted with an airtime lender, I explore theoretical and empirical mechanisms for reducing default rates of digital loans. In the first study, I demonstrate that limited mobile phone data contain enough signals for creating effective credit assessment methods that minimize privacy risks to borrowers. In the second study, I find that increasing credit limits negatively impacts repayments and future borrowing, and offer recommendations for increasing credit limits while minimizing the drawbacks. In the final study, I draw on theories from psychology and consumer behavior to develop vivid repayment reminders. This study found that vivid reminders had limited effectiveness for increasing loan repayment and reducing loan duration. Taken together, these three studies propose new avenues for digital lenders to reduce default rates. The hope of this dissertation is that these proposed methods would lead to a reduction in interest rates, that would ultimately benefit the borrowers

Safety of Premature Loading on Reinforced Concrete Slabs

The provision of safe structural systems has always been the object of any structural design formulation and practice. This paper investigates the safety of premature loading on reinforced concrete slabs in a more rational manner. The slab was designed to BS8110 (1985; 1997) provisions. The moment of resistance of a prematurely loaded slab was simulated and safety indices corresponding to the probability of failure of the slab were determined. From results obtained, it was observed that a reinforced concrete slab may be safely loaded prematurely if it has attained at least two-thirds of its characteristic strength. The reliability indices of a prematurely loaded reinforced concrete slab in flexure are directly proportional to the characteristic strength of concrete. Therefore in practice, due consideration must be given to early-age strength development in reinforced concrete slabs before loading

E-Payment System and Financial Performance of Telecom Companies in Rwanda: Case Study of MTN Rwanda MOMO Service

The purpose of the study was to investigate the impact of e-payment system and financial performance of telecommunication companies and the study carried out in MTN Rwanda, MOMO service. E-payment system as independent variable and financial performance as dependent variable. This study has the following specific objectives: To examine the money transfer services on financial performance of MTN Rwanda; to evaluate the financial key performance indicators of MTN Rwanda; to investigate the e-payment services on the financial performance of MTN Rwanda; to assess the role of mobile banking on financial performance of MTN Rwanda between 2016 and 2019; and to establish the relationship between e-payment system and financial performance. The study shows findings shows that 31 (53.4%) of Respondents strongly agreed that sending and receiving money between two subscribers of MOMO service highly affect profitability Ratio of MTN Rwanda. It Indicates that 26 (44.8%) of Respondents strongly agreed that buying airtime with MOMO service affect an increase in Sales volume of MTN Rwanda. It indicates that 27 (46.6%) of Respondents strongly agreed that paying TV with MOMO service positively affect long term investment of MTN Rwanda. It indicates that 32 (55.2%) of Respondents strongly agreed that depositing and withdrawing money on bank account with MOMO service highly affect profitability Ratio. The findings prove that there is a positive correlation between money transfer services and long term investment (p=.774 and sig=.000); between payment and profitability (p=.972 and sig=.000); between mobile banking services and improved sales volume (p=.866and sig=.000); between money transfer services and payment services (p=.785 and sig=.000); between payment service and mobile banking services (p=.781 and sig=.000); long term investment and profitability (p=.986 and sig=.000). Hence, the results indicate that e-payment systems have a positive and significant relationship with financial performance of MTN Rwanda MOMO services. Keywords: E-payment, Money transfer, Mobile banking, Mobile money, financial performance DOI: 10.7176/JESD/11-16-18 Publication date:August 31st 202

Short communications: Desert Wheatear Oenanthe deserti at Lake Turkana—the fourth record of the species for Kenya

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