Search results for "Forming"

ARE LAC COOPERATIVE AND COMMERCIAL BANKS SO DIFFERENT IN THEIR MANAGEMENT OF NON‐PERFORMING LOANS?

2018

This paper assesses technical efficiency in the management of non‐performing loans (NPLs) in the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) banking industry. To that end, Data Envelopment Analysis techniques are employed with data from the years 2013 to 2016 on a sample of 307 LAC cooperative and commercial banks. Our main contribution to existing literature is that differences of efficiency between cooperative banks and commercial banks are assessed as the result of the different capacities of their managers – managerial efficiency – and the so‐called programme efficiency, which represents differences in the technology used by these two categories of entities. Our principal result suggests that th…

Geographic diversification and credit risk in microfinance

2019

Abstract This paper examines the relation between geographic diversification and credit risk in microfinance. The empirical findings from the banking industry are mixed and inconclusive. This study extends the discussion into a new international setting: the global microfinance industry with lenders having both social and financial objectives. Using a large global sample of microfinance institutions (MFIs), we find that geographic diversification comes with more credit risks. However, this finding is more pronounced among non-shareholder MFIs like NGOs and cooperatives, compared to shareholder-owned MFIs. Moreover, the results show that MFIs can mitigate the effect of geographic diversifica…

Excessive Focus on Risk? Non-performing Loans and Efficiency of Microfinance Institutions

2021

Discrimination by microcredit officers: Theory and evidence on disability in Uganda

2015

This paper studies the relationship between a microfinance institution (MFI) and its loan officers when officers discriminate against a particular group of micro-entrepreneurs. Using survey data from Uganda, we provide evidence that loan officers are more biased than other employees against disabled micro-entrepreneurs. In line with the evidence, we build an agency model of a non-profit MFI and a biased loan officer in charge of granting loans. Since incentive schemes are costly and the MFI's budget is limited, the MFI faces a trade-off between combating discrimination and granting loans. We show that the optimal incentive premium is a non-decreasing function of the MFI's budget. Moreover, …

Diseño gráfico para formar al profesorado de primaria

2021

Educar en diseño es probablemente la base para una predisposición social hacia la creatividad y la innovación. Presentamos los resultados de una investigación desarrollada en la práctica universitaria, formulada metodológicamente como estudio de caso. Incorporamos la práctica del diseño gráfico al currículum formativo de Maestro/a en Educación Primaria. Si queremos que la ciudadanía aprecie el diseño, conviene preparar al profesorado. Para lograr este acercamiento al diseño gráfico planteamos un taller en el que cada participante elabora su propio exlibris. Los resultados positivos nos animan a continuar con este tipo de iniciativas que aglutinan diseño, patrimonio, identidad e inclusión. E…

Monstrous Hybrids in Shakespeare’s King Lear

2017

ABSTRACT: This article seeks to present the different languages (emblems, Renaissance translations of classical myths, biblical exegesis) that inform the images of monsters which, as hybrid creatures blending human and animal characteristics, serve a dramatic function in Shakespeare’s King Lear . It means to question the ways in which the play links filial ingratitude with female monstrosity and Lear’s madness. Tracing the classical and medieval lineage of the monstrous bestiary (serpent, tiger, vulture) in King Lear and connecting it to emblematic readings of Shakespeare’s time, it explores how Shakespeare provides a dynamic characterisation of Goneril and Regan through their bestialisatio…

TGF-beta as a T cell regulator in colitis and colon cancer

2005

TGF-beta is a pleiotropic cytokine with powerful immunosuppressive functions. Mice deficient for TGF-beta1 show a dramatic phenotype with severe multiorgan inflammation and die shortly after birth. Recent investigations have highlighted the role of TGF-beta in suppression of T cell mediated autoimmune inflammation and anti-tumor immunity. In addition to its direct anti-inflammatory effects on T cells, TGF-beta has been implicated as central regulator of regulatory T cells. TGF-beta not only mediates the suppression of effector T cells by Tregs, recent evidence also reveals a role for TGF-beta along with TCR stimulation in the peripheral induction of regulatory T cells from naïve CD4+CD25- c…

Lactate adversely affects the in vitro formation of endothelial cell tubular structures through the action of TGF-beta1.

2006

When lactate accumulation in a tumor microenvironment reaches an average concentration of 10-20 mM, it tends to reflect a high degree of malignancy. However, the hypothesis that tumor-derived lactate has a number of partially adverse biological effects on malignant and tumor-associated host cells requires further evidence. The present study attempted to evaluate the impact of lactate on the process of angiogenesis, in particular on the formation of tubular structures. The endothelial cell (EC) network in desmoplastic breast tumors is primarily located in areas of reactive fibroblastic stroma. We employed a fibroblast-endothelial cell co-culture model as in vitro angiogenesis system normally…

Energy Efficiency of Sheet Metal Working Processes: Where do we stand today?/Energieeffizienz in Prozessen der Blechumformung – eine aktuelle Standor…

2014

Due to increasing energy and resource costs at the one hand and upcoming regulations on energy and resource efficiency at the other, a growing interest of machine tool builders to the environmental performance of their machine tools can be observed today. The last decade, academic as well as industrial research groups started to assess the energy demand of discrete part manufacturing processes and indicated a significant potential for improvement [1]. In contrast to conventional machining processes (e.g. milling, turning…), (sheet) metal forming processes are still less well documented in terms of their energy demand [2]. In consequence, potential energy efficiency improvement measures for …

ROUGHNESS CONTROL OF PARTS OBTAINED THROUGH INCREMENTAL SHEET FORMING

2007

Abstract The present paper adresses the issue of controlling the quality of surface in the case of a new sheet metal forming process by which various curved shells are formed without the help of expensive dies. The roughness of the surface which comes in direct contact with the punch at incremental sheet forming suffers an obvious worsening compared to the initial blank surface roughness. The present paper discusses the measuring of the roughness of parts obtained through the previously mentioned process and highlights the factors that influence it. There were taken into account the initial roughness of the punch, the punch diameter and the friction coefficient between the punch and the bla…