Energy use and energy access in relation to poverty

This paper looks at how access and use of energy are related to poverty. Different approaches to how energy poverty might be measured are presented. One approach involves the estimation of basic energy needs of a household based on engineering calculations and certain normative assumptions. The second looks at poverty in relation to access to different energy sources. An alternative approach is then provided that combines the elements of access and consumption of energy in order to examine how these relate to the well being of households. Examining well being in terms of both these dimensions – access to clean and efficient energy sources; and sufficiency in terms of the quantity of energy consumed, could be an important complementary measure of poverty. The consumption dimension includes non-commercial consumption and thus includes self-produced and bartered products. The access dimension can serve as an indicator of the extent of market integration, or more specifically, as an indicator of the opportunity to join the modern market economy.

Reentrant classicality of a damped system

For a free particle, the coupling to its environment can be the relevant mechanism to induce quantum behavior as the temperature is lowered. We study general linear environments with a spectral density proportional to {\omega}^s at low frequencies and consider in particular the specific heat of the free damped particle. For super-Ohmic baths with s>=2, a reentrant classical behavior is found. As the temperature is lowered, the specific heat decreases from the classical value of k_B/2, thereby indicating the appearence of quantum effects. However, the classical value of the specific heat is restored as the temperature approaches zero. This surprising behavior is due to the suppressed density of bath degrees of freedom at low frequencies. For s<2, the specific heat at zero temperature increases linearly with s from -k_B/2 to k_B/2. An Ohmic bath, s=1, is thus very special in the sense that it represents the only case where the specific heat vanishes at zero temperature.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

PURSUING EFFICIENCY WHILE MAINTAINING OUTREACH: BANK PRIVATIZATION IN TANZANIA

Profitability improvements after the privatization of a large state-owned bank might come at the expense of reduced access to financial services for some groups, especially the rural poor. The privatization of Tanzania's National Bank of Commerce provides a unique episode for studying this issue. The bank was split into the "new" National Bank of Commerce, a commercial bank that assumed most of the original bank's assets and liabilities, and the National Microfinance Bank, which assumed most of the branch network and the mandate to foster access to financial services. The new National Bank of Commerce's profitability and portfolio quality improved although credit growth was slow, in line with privatization experiences in other developing countries. Finding a buyer for the National Microfinance Bank proved very difficult, although after years under contract management by private banking consultants, Rabobank of the Netherlands emerged as a purchaser. Profitability has since improved and lending has slowly grown, while the share of non-performing loans remains low.access to banking; access to banking services; access to financial services; access to services; Accounting; Agricultural Bank; asset allocation; asset portfolio; ATMs

Activité physique, indice de masse corporelle, masse graisseuse par impédance: lequel de ces facteurs est le plus associé au risque cardiovasculaire pour nos patients?

Contexte: Les maladies cardiovasculaires représentent la première cause de mortalité en Suisse et dans le reste du monde depuis des années. Pourtant, elles sont le plus souvent causées par des facteurs de risque évitables et modifiables comme le tabac, l'inactivité physique, le surpoids, le stress, etc. Un dépistage est recommandé dès l'âge de 40 ans et chaque 5 ans chez toutes personnes asymptomatiques afin de pouvoir traiter au plus vite l'apparition d'un nouveau facteur de risque et ainsi diminuer le taux de mortalité lié à ces maladies cardiovasculaires. But et objectifs : Vue les conséquences des maladies cardiovasculaires, il paraît primordial de dépister au mieux et le plus tôt possible les facteurs de risque chez les patients, pour une meilleure prise en charge, avant même que des symptômes n'apparaissent. Pour se faire, nous nous demandons alors quel serait le facteur, entre l'indice de masse corporelle, la masse graisseuse par impédance et l'activité physique, le plus associé au risque cardiovasculaire chez des patients à bas risque désirant faire un dépistage. Méthodologie : 54 participants en excellente santé et travaillant à la Policlinique Médicale Universitaire de Lausanne effectuent tout d'abord un bilan de santé sanguin effectué par les Ligues de la Santé. A partir de ces données, nous avons pu calculer leur score de risque du GSLA ainsi que leur IMC. Puis, ils ont rempli un questionnaire sur leur activité physique dans le cadre du travail, des déplacements et des loisirs. Pour terminer, nous avons mesuré leur composition corporelle par bio- impédance électrique afin de connaître leur taux de graisse corporelle entre autre. Résultats : Dans cette population à bas risque cardiovasculaire, seul l'IMC aurait une influence sur le score de risque cardiovasculaire du GSLA et sur sa perception des risques et inquiétudes face au développement de maladies cardiovasculaires. Conclusion : Il serait intéressant de donner plus d'importance à l'IMC lors des dépistages de maladies cardiovasculaires dans les populations sans facteur de risque

LITTLE v IN INUKTITUT: ANTIPASSIVE REVISITED

This paper provides an in-depth examination of the distribution of the Antipassive morpheme -si- in Mittimatalik, a dialect of !nuktitut spoken in North Baffin. It is demonstrated that the occurrence of the overt Antipassive marker in Mittimatalik correlates with the argument structure of the verb. The analysis of the Antipassive takes into account the fact that only inherently transitive verbs and causativized verbs require the Antipassive marker in the Antipassive construction. It is proposed that the Antipassive morpheme -si- occupies v and is responsible for accusative assignment to the patient argument. Assuming that v is the focal point of transitivity, the differences in argument structure lie therefore in the feature make-up of v. The proposal accounts for the fact that the distribution of the Antipassive morpheme coincides with the argument structure of the verb. Moreover, the analysis is able to predict the occurrence of the Antipassive morpheme in Mittimatalik

Troubling Talk: A Politics and History of Indistinction in the Upper Sorbian Community

The article focused on the cultural processes that affect speakers of Upper Sorbian, an endangered Slavic community in Eastern Germany. Through an anthropological approach, language choices emerge as a complex negotiation of linguistic identity evidenced in critique of other Sorbs and language use as well as choosing to distance oneself from the community. Prispevek se osredinja na kulturne procese, ki vplivajo na govorce gornje lužiščine, ogrožene slovanske skupnosti v Vzhodni Nemčiji. Antropološki pristop razkriva, da se jezikovna izbira pojavlja kot kompleksno pogajanje z jezikovno identiteto, kar se potrjuje v kritiki drugih Srbov in rabe jezika ter v distanciranju posameznika od skupnosti

On the monotonicity of saturation orders of saturated matrix methods

AbstractIn the definition of saturation, some authors require the saturation orders to be monotonically decreasing, while others do not. In this paper, we do not require monotonicity, and give an example of a saturated method having no monotonic saturation order. Further, we present a class of methods having monotonic saturation orders provided they are saturated. We begin by quoting some related results partially known