Weibull Distribution and the multiplicity moments in pp (ppˉ)pp\,(p\bar{p}) collisions

A higher moment analysis of multiplicity distribution is performed using the Weibull description of particle production in $pp\,(p\bar{p})$ collisions at SPS and LHC energies. The calculated normalized moments and factorial moments of Weibull distribution are compared to the measured data. The calculated Weibull moments are found to be in good agreement with the measured higher moments (up to 5$^{\rm{th}}$ order) reproducing the observed breaking of KNO scaling in the data. The moments for $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV are also predicted.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Price and Volatility Spillovers across North American, European and Asian Stock Markets: With Special Focus on Indian Stock Market

<div align=justify>This paper investigates interdependence of fifteen world indices including an Indian market index in terms of return and volatility spillover effect. Interdependence of Indian stock market with other fourteen world markets in terms of long run integration, short run dependence (return spillover) and volatility spillover are investigated. These markets are that of are Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong-Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore, Taiwan, United Kingdom and United States. Long run and short run integration is examined through Johansen cointegration techniques and Granger causality test respectively. Vector autoregressive model (VAR 15) is used to estimate the conditional return spillover among these indices in which all fifteen indices are considered together. The effect of same day return in explaining the return spillover is also modeled using univariate models. Volatility spillover is estimated through AR-GARCH in which residuals from the index return is used as explanatory variable in GARCH equation. Return and volatility spillover between Indian and other markets are modeled through bivariate VAR and multivariate GARCH (BEKK) model respectively. It is found that there is greater regional influence among Asian markets in return and volatility than with European and US. Japanese market, which is first to open, is affected by US and European markets only and affects most of the Asian Markets. Also, high degree of correlation among European indices namely FTSE, CAC and DAX is observed. US market is influenced by both Asian and European markets. Specific to Indian context, it is found that Indian market is not cointegrated with rest of the world except Indonesia. This may provide diversification benefits for potential investors. However, strong short run interdependence is found between Indian markets and most of the other markets. Indian and other markets like US, Japan, Korea, and Canada positively affect each others conditional returns significantly. Indian market also has significant effect on Malaysia, Pakistan, and Singapore return. This study found that there is significant positive volatility spillover from other markets to Indian market, mainly from Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, and Singapore and US market. Indian market affects negatively the volatility of US and Pakistan. It is interesting to note that Chinese and Pakistan markets are less integrated with other Asian, European and US markets.</div>

The Dynamic Relationship between Price and Trading Volume:Evidence from Indian Stock Market

This study investigates the nature of relationship between price and trading volume for 50 Indian stocks. Firstly the contemporaneous and asymmetric relation between price and volume are examined. Then we examine the dynamic relation between returns and volume using VAR, Granger causality, variance decomposition (VD) and impulse response function (IRF). Mixture of Distributions Hypothesis (MDH), which tests the GARCH vs. Volume effect, is also studied between the conditional volatility and volume. The results show that there is positive and asymmetric relation between volume and price changes. Further the results of VAR and Granger causality show that there is a bi-directional relation between volume and returns. However, the results of VD imply weak dynamic relation between returns and volume which becomes more evident from the plots of IRF. On MDH, our results are mixed, neither entirely rejecting the MDH nor giving it an unconditional support.

Community Participation in Public Schools: The Impact of Information Campaigns in Three Indian States

This study evaluates the impact of a community-based information campaign on school performance from a cluster randomized control trial. The campaign consisted of eight to nine public meetings in each of 340 treatment villages across three Indian states to disseminate information to the community about its state mandated roles and responsibilities in school management. The findings from the first follow-up 2-4 months after the campaign show that providing information through a structured campaign to communities had a positive impact in all three states. In two states there was a significant and positive impact on reading (14-27 percent) in one of the three grades tested; in the third state there was a significant impact on writing in one grade (15 percent) and on mathematics in the other grade tested (27 percent). The intervention is associated with improvement in teacher effort in two states. Some improvements occurred in the delivery of certain benefits entitled to students (stipend, uniform, and mid day meal) and in process variables such as community participation in each of the three states. Follow-up research needs to examine whether there is a systematic increase in learning when the impact is measured over a longer time period and whether a campaign sustained over a longer time is able to generate greater impact on school outcomes.annual grants; attendance requirements; average treatment effect; basic education; blackboards; call; civil service; civil service teachers; classroom; Community Participation; competencies

Public Participation, Teacher Accountability, and School Outcomes:Findings from Baseline Surveys in Three Indian States

This paper presents findings from baseline surveys on student learning achievement, teacher effort and community participation in three Indian states, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. Results indicate low teacher attendance and poor student learning. Parents and school committees are neither aware of their oversight roles nor participating in school management. However, there is substantial heterogeneity in outcomes across states. Karnataka has better student and teacher outcomes as well as higher levels of community awareness and participation than the other two states. We find substantial variation in teacher effort within schools, but most observable teacher characteristics are not associated with teacher effort. One reason for low teacher effort may be lack of accountability. Regression analysis suggests low rates of teacher attendance are only part of the problem of low student achievement. The gains in test scores associated with higher rates of attendance and engagement in teaching are small in the states of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, suggesting teachers themselves may not be effective. Ineffective teaching may result from lack of accountability as well as poor professional development of teachers. Further research is needed to examine not only issues of accountability but also professional development of teachers.Academic Achievement; annual grants; average class size; basic competencies; basic education; basic services; blackboards; call; civil service; civil service teachers; class size; class sizes

Learning levels and gaps in Pakistan

The authors report on a survey of primary public and private schools in rural Pakistan witha focus on student achievement as measured through test scores. Absolute learning is low compared with curricular standards and international norms. Tested at the end of the third grade, a bare majority had mastered the K-I mathematics curriculum and 31 percent could correctly form a sentence with the word"school"in the vernacular (Urdu). As in high-income countries, bivariate comparisons show that higher learning is associated with household wealth and parental literacy. In sharp contrast to high-income countries, these gaps decrease dramatically in a multivariate regression once differences between children in the same school are looked at. Consequently, the largest gaps are between schools. The gap in English test scores between government and private schools, for instance, is 12 times the gap between children from rich and poor families. To contextualize these results within a broader South Asian context, the authors use data from public schools in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. Levels of learning and the structure of the educational gaps are similar in the two samples. As in Pakistan, absolute learning is low and the largest gaps are between schools: the gap between good and bad government schools, for instance, is 5 times the gap between children with literate and illiterate mothers.Primary Education,Education For All,Tertiary Education,Secondary Education,Teaching and Learning

Structure and applications of chemically modified graphene

Owing to its extraordinary electrical, optical, and mechanical properties, graphene has emerged as a promising material for a variety of applications in the future. However, not all these applications will be able to employ or require pristine graphene; hence several alternative methods have developed for the mass production of graphene and related materials. Graphene oxide (GO), a material closely related to graphene, allows engineering of its chemical composition by means of chemical, thermal, and electrochemical methods. This provides an opportunity to tune physical and chemical properties of graphene. This work reports on investigations of the structure of chemically modified graphenes (CMGs) derived from GO, interactions of metals and organic thin films with CMG, and application of metal-CMG as a hydrogen gas sensor. GO was fabricated by a modified Hummers method. GO, being insulating, was reduced by hydrazine and thermal annealing to produce reduced graphene oxide (rGO). The CMG sheets were deposited on TEM grids and on Si/SiO2 substrates for characterization by atomic force microscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), xray photoelectron spectroscopy, and Raman spectroscopy. The structural analysis of GO performed by TEM revealed that in GO, on average, the underlying carbon lattice maintains the symmetry and lattice-spacings of graphene. Compositional analysis disclosed that the as-produced GO is actually made of oxidized graphene like sheets strongly attached with oxidative debris that make the as produced GO hydrophilic and insulating. In the TEM, both GO and reduced GO (rGO) were nearly transparent and stable under the electron beam and hence they made excellent supports to study the growth of thin organic and metal films deposited by physical vapour deposition. The study revealed the interactions of organic molecules, fluorinated copper phthalocyanine, with CMG and packing of the molecules in the crystal structure. Film-thicknesses from sub-monolayer to tens of monolayers were analysed. In the study of metal thin film growth, the factors determining the growth and morphology of different metals-on-CMG were studied. Fine control over the size and coverage of nanoparticles were achieved. This control was used to combine Pd nanoparticles and rGO to design selective, highly sensitive, and practical hydrogen gas sensor

L(t, 1)-Colouring of Cycles

For a given finite set T including zero, an L(t, 1)-colouring of a graph G is an assignment of non-negative integers to the vertices of G such that the difference between the colours of adjacent vertices must not belong to the set T and the colours of vertices that are at distance two must be distinct. For a graph G, the L(t, 1)-span of G&nbsp; is the minimum of the highest colour used to colour the vertices of a graph out of all the possible L(t, 1)-colourings. We study the L(t, 1)-span of cycles with respect to specific sets