An Examination of the Maturity Effect in the Indian Commodities Futures Market

This paper has examined the Samuelson’s hypothesis which states that the price volatility increases as the contract nears its maturity. It has also examined the BCSS hypothesis which provides that negative covariance between the spot price and net cost of carry explains the maturity effect. The study has examined these hypotheses on the data for wheat and pepper futures contract traded at NCDEX from the date of listing of the contract to 31st March 2007 and the maturity effect has been examined for each contract individually. The study has indicated that maturity effect is present in around 45 per cent of the wheat and pepper contracts. Evidence supporting the BCSS hypothesis is present more strongly in the case of wheat as compared to pepper and 79 per cent of the contracts having maturity effect have depicted negative covariance in the case of wheat. Thus, it can be concluded that maturity effect is present and it is explained to a large extent by the negative co-variance between spot price and net carry cost. The study has observed that there is further scope for research in this area in relation to other agricultural commodities and also metals. Further studies can also be undertaken to find the informational efficiency and the reaction of informational flow to identify the reasons for the presence or absence of maturity effect.Agricultural and Food Policy,

Self-organized Nano-lens Arrays by Intensified Dewetting of Electron Beam Modified Polymer Thin-films

Sub-100 nm polymeric spherical plano-convex nano-lens arrays are fabricated using short electron beam exposures to selectively modify the ultrathin (< 30 nm) polymer films, followed by their intensified self-organized dewetting under an aqueous-organic mixture. A short exposure to e-beam locally modifies the polymer chains to effectively change the viscosity of the film in small domains, thus bringing in the dynamical dewetting contrast in the film that produces aligned and ordered dewetted nanostructures. Both negative and positive e-beam tone polymers are thus used to produce array of nano-lenses. The intensified self-organized dewetting under a water-organic solvent mixture overcomes the limitations on surface tension and dewetting force and thus facilitates the formation of sub-100 nm diameter polymer nanolenses of tunable curvature. By varying the extent of e-beam exposure, various configurations from isolated to connected nano-lens arrays can be fabricated.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figure

Study on Visco-Elastic Fluid and Heat Radiation on the Flow of Walter�s Liquid

This thesis manages the limit layer flow and warmth move in a visco-flexible fluid flow an extending sheet within the sight of radiation. Two distinctive temperature are considered here, (I) PST, that is the sheet with endorsed surface temperature (ii)PHF, that is the sheet with recommended warm transition. The fundamental limit layer equations for momentum and warmth exchange which are non-linear partial differential equation are changed over into non-linear common differential equation utilizing comparability transformation. The subsequent non-linear equation is fathomed utilizing numerical shooting technique for three obscure beginning conditions with fourth request Runge-Kutta strategy. To know the material science of the issue, numerical outcomes are talked about with the assistance of charts for different of parameters, for example, fluid consistency parameter, visco-versatile parameter, Prandtl number, Eckert number, warm source/sink parameter and radiation parameter

Ultrafast Large Area Micropattern Generation in Non-absorbing Polymer Thin-Films by Pulsed Laser Diffraction

We report an ultrafast, parallel and beyond-the-master micro-patterning technique for ultrathin (30 nm-400 nm) non-absorbing polymer films by diffraction of a laser light through a two dimensional periodic aperture. The redistribution of laser energy absorbed by the substrate causes self-organization of polymer thin-film in the form of wrinkle like surface relief structures caused by localized melting and freezing of the thin-film. Unlike the conventional laser ablation and laser writing processes, low laser fluence is employed to only passively swell the polymer as a pre-ablative process without the loss of material, and without absorption/reaction with the incident radiation. Self-organization in the thin polymer film aided by the diffraction pattern produces micro-structures made up of thin raised lines. These regular microstructures have far more complex morphologies than the mask geometry and very narrow line widths that can be an order of magnitude smaller than the openings in the mask. The microstructure morphology is easily modulated by changing the film thickness, aperture size and geometry and by changing the diffraction pattern, e.g., by changing the aperture-substrate distance.Comment: 23 page

Comparative evaluation of pre and post operative functional outcomes determined by Lysholm knee score of patients undergoing arthroscopic anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction

Background: The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is the primary stabilizer of the knee joint and prevents the knee against anterior translation. After ACL tears, most patients experience recurrent episodes of instability (give way), pain and decreased function. Purpose of our study was to comparative evaluation of functional outcomes of pre and post operative patients after arthroscopic ACL reconstruction by using Lysholm knee score and its complications.Methods: This is a prospective interventional study which were included total 45 patients undergoing arthroscopic ACL reconstruction by using hamstring autograft. Postoperatively patients were followed up at 6, 9 and 12 months for functional assessment by using Lysholm knee score.Results: After ACL reconstruction increment in mean Lysholm knee score during follow up from 69.33 to 96.03 at final followup (p&lt;0.001) which indicate that significant improvement in functional status of patients.Conclusions: Reconstruction of ACL leads the patient to return to a normal activity level and prevent the occurrence of associate meniscal injury and post-traumatic osteoarthritis. A regular followup based and well-organized rehabilitation program provide a key role in functional outcome of knee after ACL reconstruction

Assessment Of Pattern, Practice And Wastage Of Medicine-Use Among Undergraduate Students Of Universiti Sains Malaysia

Medicines are boon when used responsibly but irresponsible uses are cause for concern. Another health risk is associated with inappropriate drug use. This irrational practice often associated with risk on health and economic burden. The increase in the cost of drugs is also linked to factors such as irrational drug use and consumer behavioural aspects that lead to wastage. Majority of drug wastage is due to sub-consumption of medicine when consumers do not finish the medications prescribed by their doctors. In Malaysia as reported by National Survey on Use of Medicine (2012 and 2015), more than half of the population does not understand the proper use of medicine where a large proportion is young and studying

Macro and micro-morphological characteristics of Plantago seeds and its implication for species identification

Seed morphology of five species of Plantago (P. psyllium, P.ovata, P. lanceolata, P. major and P. arenaria) was examined under scanning electron microscope. Macro- and micro-morphological characters, including seed shape, colour, size, shape of cavity, surface ornamentation and epidermal cell shape are presented.  Marked difference among the species noted with respect of considered traits and a key for the identification of the investigated taxa based on seed characters is provided. Â

APPLICATION OF QUALITY BY DESIGN APPROACH FOR THE OPTIMIZATION OF ORODISPERSIBLE FILM FORMULATION

Objective: The present study was done to understand the effect of formulation variables on the quality of orodispersible films using quality by design (QbD) approach as mentioned in ICH Q8 (R2) guideline.Methods: A definitive screening design of experiments (DoE) was used to identify and classify the critical formulation variables affecting critical quality attributes (CQA) using 2×2 factorial design. Based on prescreening study, the critical formulation variables, i.e. concentration of film-forming polymer and plasticizers (propylene glycol and polyethylene glycol 400 [PEG 400]) were kept in the range of 1.5–2.5% w/w and 0.5–1% v/v, respectively. A total of eight laboratory-scale formulations were prepared which were provided by DoE using solvent casting method. These batches were evaluated for CQA's, i.e. mechanical properties such as folding endurance (FD) and disintegration time (DT). Data were analyzed for elucidating interactions between two variables and for providing a predictive model for the process. Finally, the drug was incorporated into optimized batches, and these were evaluated for in vitro dissolution study in simulated saliva (pH 6.8) as well as their mechanical properties.Results: The results suggested that the concentration of film-forming polymer and plasticizer was critical to manufacture orodispersible film with desired CQA, i.e. mechanical property (FD [&gt;150 folds]) and DT (&lt;60 s). The percent drug release, FD, and DT of optimized Formulation I (hydroxypropyl methylcellulose [HPMC] E5 (2%) and propylene glycol [0.15 mL]) were found to be 82.13%±0.260 (in 15 min), 164±2, and 49±1.5 s, respectively, and for optimized Formulation II (HPMC E5 [2%] and PEG 400 [0.15 mL]) was found to be 64.26%±2.026 (in 15 min) and 218±6 and 55±4 s, respectively.Conclusion: From the results, it has been found that the percentage drug release of naratriptan hydrochloride containing propylene glycol as a plasticizer was greater than the formulation containing PEG 400 as plasticizer. From this, we concluded that QbD is very much useful approach to get an optimized formulation in an economic and faster way in comparison to traditional method (hit and trail methods). The futuristic application of the film will involve the management of an acute migraine

NLization of Nouns, Pronouns and Prepositions in Punjabi With EUGENE

Abstract Universal Networking Language (UNL) has been used by various researchers as an Interlingua approach for AMT (Automatic machine translation). The UNL system consists of two main components/tools, namely, EnConverter-IAN (used for converting the text from a source language to UNL) and DeConverter -EUGENE (used for converting the text from UNL to a target language). This paper highlights the DeConversion generation rules used for the DeConverter and indicates its usage in the generation of Punjabi sentences. This paper also covers the results of implementation of UNL input by using DeConverter-EUGENE and its evaluation on UNL sentences such as Nouns, Pronouns and Prepositions