Does the Informal Sector Thrive Under Democracy or Autocracy?: The Case of Nepal

Our paper investigates the size and development of the informal sector in Nepal using aggregate data over the period 1991 to 2009. Our estimation using the Multiple Indicator Multiple Cause (MIMIC) model shows that the average size of the informal sector has been about 44%. Nepal has been classified as having a hybrid political regime, so we show the effect that autocracy and democracy has had on the growth of the informal sector. Our results shows that a high degree of autocracy reduced the size of the informal sector by about 2% while greater direct democracy reduced the informal sector by about 10%

Study of thermal conductivity design for thermal loaded geomaterials.

Soil thermal conductivity plays preponderant role in many geoengineering projects involving thermal effects, such as high voltage underground power cables, oil and gas pipelines, nuclear waste disposal facilities, ground heat energy storage and heat exchanger piles. A thorough understanding of thermal conductivity is necessary in heat transfer modelling. Depending upon the application and desired purpose of such projects, materials with either high or low thermal conductivity are used. Materials with high thermal conductivity are desirable in cases such as high voltage underground power cables to dissipate the generated heat rapidly to the surrounding soil. On the other hand, ground heat energy storage needs materials with low thermal conductivity and high heat capacity to hinder the heat energy loss. In this study, high conductive backfill materials for underground power cables were analysed based on existing knowledge of heat transfer mechanism in granular media and models of soil thermal conductivity in both dry and wet conditions (Yun and Santamarina, 2007, Cortes and Santamarina, 2009). Several researchers have developed theoretical, empirical and semi-empirical models to estimate the thermal conductivity of natural soils and crushed rock materials based on various factors such as particle shape and size, particle distribution, mineral composition, dry density, and wate

Is Investment in Maize Research Balanced and Justified? an Empirical Study

The objective of this study was to investigate whether the investment in maize research was adequate and balanced in Nepalese context. Resource use in maize research was empirically studied with standard congruency analysis by using Full Time Equivalent (FTE) of researchers as a proxy measure of investment. The number of researchers involved in maize was 61 but it was only 21.25 on FTE basis, indicating that full time researchers were very few as compared to the cultivated area of maize in the country. Statistical analysis revealed that the investment in maize research was higher in Tarai and lower in the Hills. Congruency index on actual production basis was found low across the eco-zones and even lower across the geographical regions indicating that the investment in maize research was a mismatch and not justified. While adjusted with the equity factor and the research progress factor in the analysis substantial difference was not found in congruency index. This study recommends that substantial increase in investment in maize research is needed with balanced and justified manner across the eco-zones and the geographical regions. Hills need special attention to increase the investment as maize output value is higher in this eco-zone. Eastern and western regions also need increased investment in maize according to their contribution in the output value

Multichannel parametrization of \pi N scattering amplitudes and extraction of resonance parameters

We present results of a new multichannel partial-wave analysis for \pi N scattering in the c.m. energy range 1080 to 2100 MeV. This work explicitly includes \eta N and K \Lambda channels and the single pion photoproduction channel. Resonance parameters were extracted by fitting partial-wave amplitudes from all considered channels using a multichannel parametrization that is consistent with S-matrix unitarity. The resonance parameters so obtained are compared to predictions of quark models