EFFICIENCY AND PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH IN INDIAN BANKING

This paper attempts to examine technical efficiency and productivity performance of Indian scheduled commercial banks, for the period 1979-2008. We model a multiple output/multiple input technology production frontier using semiparametric estimation methods. The endogenity of multiple outputs is addressed by semi parametric estimates in part by introducing multivariate kernel estimators for the joint distribution of the multiple outputs and correlated random effects. Output is measured as the rupee value of total loans and total investments at the end of the year. The estimates provide robust inferences of the productivity and efficiency gains due to economic reforms.Banking, Frontier efficiency, Productivity

A Monte Carlo study of random surface field effect on layering transitions

The effect of a random surface field, within the bimodal distribution, on the layering transitions in a spin-1/2 Ising thin film is investigated, using Monte Carlo simulations. It is found that the layering transitions depend strongly on the concentration $p$ of the disorder of the surface magnetic field, for a fixed temperature, surface and external magnetic fields. Indeed, the critical concentration $p_c(k)$ at which the magnetisation of each layer $k$ changes the sign discontinuously, decreases for increasing the applied surface magnetic field, for fixed values of the temperature $T$ and the external magnetic field $H$. Moreover, the behaviour of the layer magnetisations as well as the distribution of positive and negative spins in each layer, are also established for specific values of $H_s$, $H$, $p$ and the temperature $T$. \\Comment: 5 pages latex, 6 figures postscrip

Global shifts in mammalian population trends reveal key predictors of virus spillover risk.

Emerging infectious diseases in humans are frequently caused by pathogens originating from animal hosts, and zoonotic disease outbreaks present a major challenge to global health. To investigate drivers of virus spillover, we evaluated the number of viruses mammalian species have shared with humans. We discovered that the number of zoonotic viruses detected in mammalian species scales positively with global species abundance, suggesting that virus transmission risk has been highest from animal species that have increased in abundance and even expanded their range by adapting to human-dominated landscapes. Domesticated species, primates and bats were identified as having more zoonotic viruses than other species. Among threatened wildlife species, those with population reductions owing to exploitation and loss of habitat shared more viruses with humans. Exploitation of wildlife through hunting and trade facilitates close contact between wildlife and humans, and our findings provide further evidence that exploitation, as well as anthropogenic activities that have caused losses in wildlife habitat quality, have increased opportunities for animal-human interactions and facilitated zoonotic disease transmission. Our study provides new evidence for assessing spillover risk from mammalian species and highlights convergent processes whereby the causes of wildlife population declines have facilitated the transmission of animal viruses to humans

Random spread on the family of small-world networks

We present the analytical and numerical results of a random walk on the family of small-world graphs. The average access time shows a crossover from the regular to random behavior with increasing distance from the starting point of the random walk. We introduce an {\em independent step approximation}, which enables us to obtain analytic results for the average access time. We observe a scaling relation for the average access time in the degree of the nodes. The behavior of average access time as a function of $p$, shows striking similarity with that of the {\em characteristic length} of the graph. This observation may have important applications in routing and switching in networks with large number of nodes.Comment: RevTeX4 file with 6 figure

Molecular Dynamics Simulation of Dipalmitoylphosphatidylserine Bilayer with Na+ Counterions

AbstractWe performed a molecular dynamics simulation of dipalmitoylphosphatidylserine (DPPS) bilayer with Na+ counterions. We found that hydrogen bonding between the NH3+ group and the phosphate group leads to a reduction in the area per headgroup when compared to the area in dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine bilayer. The Na+ ions bind to the oxygen in the carboxyl group of serine, thus giving rise to a dipolar bilayer similar to dipalmitoylphosphatidylethanolamine bilayer. The results of the simulation show that counterions play a crucial role in determining the structural and electrostatic properties of DPPS bilayer

Edge wetting of an Ising three-dimensional system

The effect of edge on wetting and layering transitions of a three-dimensional spin-1/2 Ising model is investigated, in the presence of longitudinal and surface magnetic fields, using mean field (MF) theory and Monte Carlo (MC) simulations. For T=0, the ground state phase diagram shows that there exist only three allowed transitions, namely: surface and bulk transition, surface transition and bulk transition. However, there exist a surface intra-layering temperature $T_{L}^{s}$, above which the surface and the intra-layering surface transitions occur. While the bulk layering and intra-layering transitions appear above an other finite temperature $T_{L}^{b} (\ge T_{L}^{s})$. These surface and bulk intra-layering transitions are not seen in the perfect surfaces case. Numerical values of $T_{L}^{s}$ and $T_{L}^{b}$, computed by Monte Carlo method are found to be smaller than those obtained using mean field theory. However, the results predicted by the two methods become similar, and are exactly those given by the ground state phase diagram, for very low temperatures. On the other hand, the behavior of the local magnetizations as a function of the external magnetic field, shows that the transitions are of the first order type. $T_{L}^{s}$ and $T_{L}^{b}$ decrease when increasing the system size and/or the surface magnetic field. In particular, $T_{L}^{b}$ reaches the wetting temperature $T_{w}$ for sufficiently large system sizes.Comment: 11 Pages latex, 12 Figures P

Condensation of Silica Nanoparticles on a Phospholipid Membrane

The structure of the transient layer at the interface between air and the aqueous solution of silica nanoparticles with the size distribution of particles that has been determined from small-angle scattering has been studied by the X-ray reflectometry method. The reconstructed depth profile of the polarizability of the substance indicates the presence of a structure consisting of several layers of nanoparticles with the thickness that is more than twice as large as the thickness of the previously described structure. The adsorption of 1,2-distearoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine molecules at the hydrosol/air interface is accompanied by the condensation of anion silica nanoparticles at the interface. This phenomenon can be qualitatively explained by the formation of the positive surface potential due to the penetration and accumulation of Na+ cations in the phospholipid membrane.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure