Trade and investment linkages and coordination in Nepal: Impact on productivity and exports and business perceptions

This research paper intends to analyse: (a) the impacts of ASEAN trade liberalization on the macroeconomy variables – gross domestic product (GDP), Terms of Trade (ToT), balance of trade, inflation and real wage – and agricultural industries (output, exports and imports) in the ASEAN 6 countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, and Viet Nam); and (b) the impact of trade liberalization on income distribution in Indonesia. A multi-country and multi-commodity computable general equilibrium (CGE) GTAP model has been used as the main tool of analysis.Trade and Investment, Nepal, Impact on productivity

Lives, Livelihoods & Diaspora: The Migration Experiences & Livelihood Strategies of Professional Nepali Migrants & Their Families in the UK

This doctoral research is designed around two interrelated aims: Firstly, it aims to explore the livelihood opportunities and strategies of professional first and second generation Nepali migrants and their families in the UK, in order to understand the importance of education, knowledge, social networks and employment in shaping their social mobility and other livelihood outcomes. Secondly, it examines how a small sample of return migrants have transferred their qualifications, knowledge, labour market experiences and social and professional networks to develop new livelihood strategies in Nepal and the research considers how this knowledge transfer may contribute towards the future development prospects of Nepal. Drawing on qualitative in-depth interviews with 40 Nepali participants, 30 residents in the UK and 10 returnees in Nepal, the research draws on livelihoods approaches to explore how the everyday lives and social mobility of professional Nepali migrants are shaped by both tangible improvements in higher education and professional knowledge, as well as more intangible assets, such as entrepreneurism, that have the potential to contribute to Nepali development on return. The research also assesses the important contributions migrants’ make towards the future development prospects of Nepal and it concludes with suggestions for further research and recommendations to support the Nepali diaspora. It is hoped that this research will fill a much needed gap in the empirical research and published scholarship on the professional Nepali diaspora community in the UK

Study on the Solutions of Kawahara, and Complex-valued Burgers and Kdv-burgers Equations

The KdV equation is a nonlinear partial differential equation. The real-valued as well as complex-valued KdV equations have wide physical applications and very rich mathematical theory. The work in this dissertation studies two important problems. First, the initial- and boundary-value problem for the Kawahara equation, a fifth-order KdV type equation, is studied in weighted Sobolev spaces. This functional framework is based on the dual-Petrov-Galerkin algorithm, a numerical method proposed by Shen to solve third and higher odd-order partial differential equations. The theory presented here includes the existence and uniqueness of a local mild solution and of a global strong solution in these weighted spaces. If the L^2-norm of the initial data is sufficiently small, these solutions decay exponentially in time. Numerical computations are performed to complement the theory. Second, spatially periodic complex-valued solutions of the Burgers and KdV-Burgers equations are studied in detail. It is shown that for aDepartment of Mathematic

Effect of Different Edible Coatings on Postharvest Quality of Mandarin Orange (Citrus reticulata Blanco)

Although Nepal produces a large amount of mandarin it faces huge postharvest losses due to improper postharvest practices. Treating fruits with different edible coatings can minimize postharvest losses. The experiment was carried out in the horticulture lab of Prithu Technical College, Dang, Nepal to evaluate the effects of different edible coating materials on the postharvest quality of mandarin. The experiment was laid in Complete Randomized Design (CRD) with three replications and seven treatments  in each replication. Mandarins were coated with different edible coating materials i.e. paraffin wax (100%, 75% and 50%), mustard oil, Aloe vera, turmeric paste and control (non-coated). After coating with different edible materials, mandarins were kept at ambient room conditions (18±2℃ and 52.41±14.35%). The lowest physiological loss in weight at 7, 14and 21 days was recorded in mandarin coated with 75% paraffin wax which was 3.10%, 4.83% and 10.33%, respectively. The highest titratable acidity (0.68%), juice content (46.33%) and marketable fruit percentage (81.73%) were recorded in 75% paraffin wax. The highest total soluble solid (14.00 ˚Brix) was recorded in control. Based on the result obtained from our research, it is suggested to use 75% paraffin wax for the storage of mandarin at ambient room conditions (18±2℃ and 52.41±14.35% RH) as it gives a high percentage of marketable fruits and juice content and also minimizes the physiological loss in weight

Technology, Chemistry and Bioactive Properties of Large Cardamom (Amomum Subulatum Roxb.): An Overview.

Large cardamom (Amomum subulatum Roxb.) is an aromatic and medicinal spice native to Eastern Himalayas belonging to the family Zingiberaceae. It is used as flavoring and preservative to different types of coffee, liquors, confections, beverages and tobacco. Volatile oil (2-4%) is the principal aroma-giving compound in large cardamom and 1,8- cineole is the major active compound in an extent 60 to 80% of the total volatile oil. Alcohol and aqueous extract of large cardamom have been reported to contain allopathic, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antioxidant, antiulcer, cardio-adaptogenic and hypolipidaemic activities. Large cardamom and its powder, oleoresin and essential oils have many culinary and therapeutic uses. Objective of this review is to give short overview on the processing technology, chemistry, bioactivity and uses of large cardamom and its components

MATHEMATICS EDUCATORS’ PERSPECTIVES ON CULTURAL RELEVANCE OF BASIC LEVEL MATHEMATICS IN NEPAL

The main purpose of this paper was to explore mathematics educators’ perception of the cultural relevance of basic level mathematics in Nepal. The design of this study involved an interpretive qualitative approach by administering in-depth interviews with five purposively selected mathematics educators teaching at five higher education institutions in the Kathmandu valley. Each interview was audio-recorded and transcribed for coding and constructing themes. The major themes that emerged were teaching in a mother language, contextualized Ethnomathematics, and the local knowledge in the curriculum as a teaching approach. The findings of the study can be helpful to curriculum designers and teachers at the basic level of mathematics. The study also adds to the literature of cultural aspects of mathematics teaching and learning and curriculum design

Time trends in treated incidence, sociodemographic risk factors and comorbidities : a Finnish nationwide study on anxiety disorders

Background There has been a lack of research about the time trends and socio-demographic risk factors for children and adolescents who receive treatment for anxiety disorders. This study aimed to fill these gaps in our knowledge by examining a nationwide sample of Finnish children and adolescents diagnosed in specialized healthcare settings. Methods This study comprised national register data of all singleton children born in Finland from 1992-2006 who were diagnosed with anxiety disorders from 1998-2012. The changes in time trends in incidence were studied by dividing the study sample into three cohorts by birth years: 1992-1996, 1997-2001 and 2002-2006, who were followed up until the age of 20, 15 and 10 years, respectively. The 22,388 individuals with anxiety disorders were age and gender matched with 76,139 controls from the general population. Logistic regression was used to examine the socio-demographic risk factors and anxiety disorders in the entire sample. Comorbid disorders were examined in the oldest birth cohort (1992-1996 born). Results Comparing the 1992-1996 and 2002-2006 cohorts showed that the cumulative incidence of treated anxiety disorders at the age of 10 increased from 0.3 to 1.2% among females and 0.46 to 1.9% among males. Subjects had higher likelihood for being diagnosed with an anxiety disorder if their mothers had low maternal socio-economic status class at birth (OR 1.53, 95% CI 1.45-1.61) compared to higher SES class, and marital status was single at the time of birth (OR 2.02, 95% CI 1.87-2.17) compared to married or in a relationship. They had lower risk of anxiety disorders diagnosis if born in rural (OR 0.82, 95% CI 0.79-0.86) or semi-urban areas (OR 0.79, 95% CI 0.76-0.82) when compared to urban residence. There was a wide range of psychiatric comorbidities, and unipolar depression was the most common (31.2%). Conclusion Anxiety disorders diagnosed by specialized Finnish services increased from 1998-2012 in both genders. This could indicate a real increase in overall anxiety disorders or an increase in treatment seeking. The findings on maternal socioeconomic status and single parenting improve the recognition of the environmental risk factors for anxiety disorders among children and adolescents.Peer reviewe

‘MATRI-SUMAN’ a capacity building and text messaging intervention to enhance maternal and child health service utilization among pregnant women from rural Nepal: study protocol for a cluster randomised controlled trial

Background Capacity development of health volunteers and text messaging to pregnant women through mobile phones have shown improved maternal and child health (MCH) outcomes and is associated with increased utilisation of MCH services. However, such interventions are uncommon in Nepal. We aim to carry out an intervention with the hypothesis that capacity building and text messaging intervention will increase the MCH service utilisation. Method/design MATRI-SUMAN is a 12-month cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT). The trial involves pregnant women from 52 clusters of six village development committees (VDCs) covering 66,000 populations of Dhanusha district of Nepal. In the intervention clusters, Female Community Health Volunteers (FCHVs) will receive capacity development skills through reinforcement training, supervision and monitoring skills for the promotion of health seeking behaviour among pregnant women and study participants will receive periodic promotional text messaging service about MCH components through mobile phones. A sample of 354with equal numbers in each study arm is estimated using power calculation formula. The primary outcomes of this study are the rate of utilization of skilled birth attendants and consumption of a specified diversified meal. The secondary outcomes are: four antenatal (ANC) visits, weight gain of women during pregnancy, delivery of a baby at the health facility, postnatal care (PNC) visits, positive changes in child feeding practices among mothers, performance of FCHVs in MCH service utilization. Discussion The intervention is designed to enhance the capacity of health volunteers for the promotion of health seeking behaviour among pregnant women and text messaging through a mobile phone to expecting mothers to increase MCH service utilization. The trial if proven effective will have policy implications in poor resource settings. Trial registration ISRCTN60684155, (https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN60684155). The trial was registered retrospectively

Effects of different rates of nitrogen and pinching on yield and yield attributes of African marigold (Tagetes erecta L.)

Proper pinching practice and the optimum rate of nitrogen (N) enhance the production of marigold. An experiment was conducted at a farmer’s field in Gadawa-4, Gangaparaspur, Dang, Nepal from July 2018 to November 2018 to investigate the effects of different rates of nitrogen and pinching on yield and yield attributes of African marigold (cv. Kolkata Local). Two factorial experiment was laid in the Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. There were eight treatments, consist of four rates of nitrogen (0, 50, 100 and 150 kg/ha) and two levels of pinching (pinching and non-pinching). The maximum plant height (89.70 cm), the diameter of flower (4.29 cm) and the fresh weight per flower (4.32 g) and early days to 50% flowering (61.58) were obtained at non- pinching. The highest number of flowers (60.66), yield per plant (237.49 g) and yield per hectare (9.89 t/ha) were obtained with pinching. The highest plant height (92.20 cm) was recorded at 150 kg/ha of N but the highest yield per plant (238.18 g) and yield per ha (9.91 t/ha) was obtained at 50 kg/ha of nitrogen application. No significant effect was noted on the days to 50% flowering, number of flowers per plant, fresh weight per flower and diameter of flowers by different rates of nitrogen. The interaction of pinching and different rates of nitrogen showed non- significant effect on yield per plant and yield per ha. But, the combination of pinching and nitrogen rates at 50 kg/ha recorded the maximum yield per plant (249.20 g) and yield per ha (10.36 t/ha). Hence it is suggested to use pinching practice with optimum application of nitrogen @ 50 kg/ha to obtain high yield of marigold