Search results for "Extern"
showing 10 items of 646 documents
International Debt Financing and Performance of Microfinance Institutions
2013
Using data from 319 microfinance institutions (MFIs) in 68 developing countries, we study the degree to which international debt investments are related to the financial and social performances of MFIs. We find that commercial investments are mainly related to financial performance and level of professionalisation of the MFIs. The targeting of women is not a priority, even though international commercial investors target MFIs that provide small loans. Subsidised investments, however, are mainly driven by the targeting of women, while financial performance and the level of professionalisation of the MFI is not a priority.
Alternative Financing of SMEs in the Baltic States: Myth or Reality?
2014
Abstract Alternative financing for small business can help companies whose owners can’t get traditional financing resources as small business loans, overdrafts and personal credit cards. New companies typically seek alternative financing when their companies have not been in business long enough to establish credit profiles with financial institutions. Access to alternative financing together with traditional financial resources represents one of the most significant challenges for new SMEs not only in the Baltic States but all over the world. Ensurance of new SMEs creation, existence and growth asks understanding of SMEs’ financing needs and alternative funding is one of them. Alternative …
On the Relevance of Agency Conflicts in SME Debt Maturity Structure
2015
Previous theoretical research asserts that an optimal policy of debt maturity structure mitigates the various agency conflicts that arise through debt contracts. We test this hypothesis on Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs), which are very sensitive to agency problems. Such problems mainly arise between owners and debt providers, due to SMEs recording high growth and having few fixed assets and informational asymmetry. We provide evidence on the relevant effect of underinvestment, asset substitution, and overinvestment problems on SME debt structure. Results appear to be robust to both the endogeneity problem of explanatory variables and the censored dependent variable.
The international debt problem: An analysis of the Brady plan
1989
Recently the American Treasury Secretary, Nicholas Brady, launched a new initiative in which he proposed reducing the developing countries’ bank debt. What are the elements of the plan, and which countries would benefit? What problems does it entail? Can it bring about a decisive improvement in the international debt situation of the developing countries? The following two articles attempt to answer these questions.
SmartResource Platform and Semantic Agent Programming Language (S-APL)
2007
Although the flexibility of agent interactions has many advantages when it comes to engineering a complex system, the downside is that it leads to certain unpredictability of the run-time system. Literature sketches two major directions for search for a solution: social-level characterization of agent systems and ontological approaches to inter-agent coordination. Especially the latter direction is not yet studied much by the scientific community. This paper describes our vision and the present state of the SmartResource Platform. The main distinctive features of the platform are externalization of behavior prescriptions, i.e. agents access them from organizational repositories, and utiliza…
Study of mycotoxin calibration approaches on the example of trichothecenes analysis from flour
2012
The aim of this study was to evaluate the applicability of different calibration approaches in trichothecenes analysis from wheat flour. Concretely eight trichothecenes (five type B trichothecenes and three type A trichothecenes) were analyzed by matrix solid-phase dispersion (MSPD) and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). In the first set of experiments the presence of matrix effects was evaluated; values ranged between 59% and 79%. In the second set of experiments, solutions to compensate these signal suppressions were examined. Different calibration methods showed to tackle matrix effects obtaining values between 69% and 85% for external matrix matched calibration a…
Asymptotic regime in N random interacting species
2005
The asymptotic regime of a complex ecosystem with \emph{N}random interacting species and in the presence of an external multiplicative noise is analyzed. We find the role of the external noise on the long time probability distribution of the i-th density species, the extinction of species and the local field acting on the i-th population. We analyze in detail the transient dynamics of this field and the cavity field, which is the field acting on the $i^{th}$ species when this is absent. We find that the presence or the absence of some population give different asymptotic distributions of these fields.
MALIGNANT EXTERNAL OTITIS. A CASE SERIES FROM AN ITALIAN TERTIARY-CARE HOSPITAL
2014
Objectives: Malignant external otitis (MEO) is an. aggressive and potentially fatal disease that affects the external. auditory canal (EAC) it occurs almost exclusively in elderly, diabetic patients or immune compromised ones. The aim of this study was to describe epidemiological and clinical characteristics of a consecutive series of patients affected by malignant external otitis (MEO) and to conceive a flow-chart for its management. Material and methods: Adult patients diagnosed with and treated for MEO at the University Hospital of Messina, Italy between 2003 and 2013 were identified. Charts were reviewed for history, clinical presentation, laboratory data treatment, and outcomes. Result…
Is R&D Enough to Take Advantage From External Knowledge?: Focusing on Coordination Mechanisms
2014
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the role of research and development (R&D) and coordination mechanisms (such as decentralization in decision-making and formalization of organizational processes) in the transformation of external knowledge into innovation results. We use survey data for performing standard ordinary least squares regressions in a representative sample of firms from the Spanish Ceramic Tile Industry. The results suggest that R&D is an important moderator influencing the relationship between acquiring external knowledge and innovation outcomes. Second, formalization tends to have a detrimental effect in the transformation of external knowledge into innovation outputs. T…
Évaluation de l'efficacité externe de la formation des agriculteurs
1997
International audience; Ce texte examine dans quelle mesure les agriculteurs plus formés (formation générale et formation professionnelle, initiale et continue) réalisent de meilleures performances i) dans le choix des caractéristiques de leur exploitation (spéculation, taille, mobilisation de moyens matériels et humains), et ii) dans la conduite de celle-ci. Les résultats indiquent peu d'influence de la formation, bien que les études générales soient associées à des performances économiques plus élevées. External assessment of farmer's training This paper examines the extent to which more trained farmers (general education, initial and adult training) get better economic outcomes i) in cho…