Stock And Bond Price Dynamics-Evidence From An Emerging Economy

The motivation for this study is that real stock prices are observed to overreact to changes in interest rates. The real stock prices drop when long-term interest rates rise.  It has been observed that bonds and stock prices are typically studied in isolation. The present paper attempts to analyze the dynamic linkages between stock and bond prices in India.   One of the important contributions of this study is that in India, very little/almost no work has been done to understand the dynamics of the stock and bond prices after the recent recession. The present study examined the bivariate causal relationship between stock prices and bond prices.  In the long term; i.e., periods from 2004 to 2007 and 2008 to 2009, there is no causality from stock market to bond market and vice versa. However, it is found that the bond and stock prices had a bivariate causality in the year 2009 and univariate causality in 2010. The results are interesting and support the view that excess volatility causes granger between the stock and bond markets. This can be inferred as a result of recession investors moving to bond markets and after the signs of recovery the investors might be returning to the stock markets.   It is also evident that short-term interest rates have power to forecast short-term stock returns and risk premiums on observation of co-movement between stock and bond prices. This is reiterated by many empirical studies that have shown that the term “structure of nominal interest rates” contains information potentially useful for the conduct of monetary policy

A Study on Strengthening the Operational Efficiency of Dairy Supply Chain in Tamilnadu, India

AbstractThe main objective of this paper is to study the issues in improving the operational efficiency of the dairy supply chain in Tamil Nadu, India. Dairy Farming is a major occupation of the people of Tamil Nadu, India and it contributes a significant amount to the growth of our country. In this paper, Tamil Nadu dairy development department's objectives and its three-tier structure were studied. Through SWOT analysis its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats were analyzed. In our study Tamil Nadu Cooperative Milk Producers Federation is compared with Gujarat Cooperative Milk Producers Federation (AMUL). The major issues influencing the dairy farming are studied through literature survey, field study and researchers experience. They are presented in this paper. There were three major important field studies conducted at various time periods. The data has been collected through a questionnaire method and these interactions were recorded by a video camera. Based on the research work carried out on dairy supply chain in Tamil Nadu, India, some key recommendations are made for the attention of policy makers to strengthen the operational efficiency. There are five areas of focus. They are, creation of special dairy zone, implementing dynamic milk procurement method, strengthening cooperative societies, creation of feed bank and increasing fodder productivity, integrated animal health plan and information technology

In-car distractions and automated driving: A preliminary simulator study

As vehicles with automated driving features become more common, drivers may become ever more tempted to engage in secondary in-car tasks. We report on the results of a driving simulator study that investigated whether the presence of an in-car video would make drivers more likely to switch on an automated driving system so that they can watch the video. Results show an increase in automated driving mode usage when a video was playing compared to when it was not playing. The presence of this in-car video also made participants slower at reacting to frequent red traffic lights, which the automated driving mode did not detect and were the responsibility of the driver to respond to. These results suggest that in-car distractions are a critical concern for the safe and responsible use of automated driving systems

Identity-Based Blind Signature Scheme with Message Recovery

Blind signature allows a user to obtain a signature on a message without revealing anything about the message to the signer. Blind signatures play an important role in many real world applications such as e-voting, e-cash system where anonymity is of great concern. Due to the rapid growth in popularity of both wireless communications and mobile devices, the design of secure schemes with low-bandwidth capability is an important research issue. In this paper, we present a new blind signature scheme with message recovery in the ID-based setting using bilinear pairings over elliptic curves. The proposed scheme is unforgeable with the assumption that the Computational Diffie-Hellman problem is hard. We compare our scheme with the related schemes in terms of computational and communicational point of view

Assessment of insecticides and Cry2AB toxin resistance development in Karnataka population of Plutella xylostella (Linn.)

Insecticidal resistance studies against third instar larvae of DBM (Plutella xylostella L.) were carried out to know the rate of development of resistance from F1 to F3 generations in Karnataka population. The third instar larvae obtained from field were subjected to bioassay studies with tested against acephate, cypermethrin, spinosad, cartap hydrochloride and Cry2Ab toxin using leaf dip method to calculate LC50 values. The LC50 values of the insecticides were further used to quantify the resistance in P. xylostella of parental generation (F0) from Karnataka field population. The survivals from F0 generation were reared to next generation (F1). Resistance development studies was assessed from F1 to F3 generation with third instar larvae in every generation with a concentration that caused 80.00 % mortality for all the test insecticides and Cry2Ab toxin. Results revealed that ((0.17 folds) no resistance was developed against acephate in F3 generation. In case of cypermethrin 2.33 folds. Resistance studies further revealed that 1.50 folds resistance was developed against spinosad, 2.28 folds against cartap hydrochloride and Cry2Ab toxin 1.49 folds resistance was recorded in F3 generation. The rate of development of resistance from F1 to F3 generations increased in all the test insecticides and Cry toxin, except against acephate in Karnataka population. This data will be useful in the development of insecticide resistance management approach for DBM

THE ROLES AND MECHANISMS OF SEMAPHORINS ACTIVITY IN CANCER

Throughout embryonic and fetal development, semaphorins communicate via Plexin receptors to serve as directional cues. Their modulation of tumor angiogenesis, tumor development, cancer cell invasiveness, and metastasis is a relatively new discovery in the context of cancer. It is intriguing that activated plexins may Trans activate receptor tyrosine kinases including MET, ERBB2, FGFR2, and VEGFR2, resulting in different consequences depending on the cellular environment. In addition, several semaphorins simultaneously target endothelial and cancer cells, resulting in impressive suppression of angiogenesis and tumor development and anti-metastatic action. Taken together, these results support the idea that semaphorin signals are a viable therapeutic target for cancer treatment

Prevalence of delirium among older adults in a tertiary care referral hospital in Kerala

Background: Delirium is a common neuropsychiatric condition in older adults in medical and surgical settings. It is important to identify cognitive impairment in the elderly population early in their stay at the hospital to reduce morbidity and mortality. The literature on the prevalence of delirium in the elderly population shows that the occurrence of delirium is associated with patient factors and clinical settings. Delirium may affect the outcome of the primary medical condition in addition to the occurrence of poor compliance to treatment and long-term psychological sequela. Aim: The study aims to identify the prevalence of clinical delirium among patients at the age of 60 years or above, admitted in medical and surgical units of Government Medical College Hospital, Kozhikode, Kerala. The study also looked into the related factors and management aspects of the condition. Methods: A cross-sectional observational method was used in a sample of 300 older adult patients who were selected using a census approach from medical and surgical inpatient units of the hospital. Clinical and personal details were collected in addition to the assessment of the participants with the Confusion Assessment Method (CAM) and Nursing Delirium Screening Scale(Nu-DESC). Results: Findings of the study revealed the prevalence of delirium in older adult patients at 16%. The study also shows a significant association between the prevalence of delirium and selected clinical variables and area of admission.  Conclusion: Early identification and prompt medical and psychiatric care, and environmental manipulation will reduce the development of complications in older adults

Antibacterial Activity of Certain Members of Chlorophyceae From Warangal District, Telangana State, India

Abstract Chloroform and Methanol extracts of three genera of algae (Oedogonium crispum (Hassal) Wittrock, Rhizoclonium hieroglyphicum (Ag)Kuetz. and Spirogyra biformis C-C.Jao.) from fresh water of Warangal District were tested in vitro for their antibacterial activities against two strains of gram positive bacteria (Bacillus cereus and Staphylococcus aureus) and two strains of gram negative bacteria (Klebesiella pneumonia and Samonella typhi) by the disc diffusion method. Chloroform was the best solution for extracting the effective antibacterial materials from the algae used in this investigation, with the exception of O.crispum, for which methanol was the most effective extraction solution. Chloroform extracts of fresh S.biformis and R.heiroglyphicum showed effective results against all test organisms. For control sample observations the gentamycin was used. A significant difference between in an antibacterial activity evaluated chloroform and methanol extracts of each alga under investigation was not observed. In addition, as a result of dried and fresh extract antibacterial activity comparison, it was found that all test organisms were more sensitive to fresh extracts of the algae

Can Agronomy provide potential eco- friendly pest management options groundnut: a case study

Agronomic practices in agriculture have wellestablished history about their role in insect-pest management. There have been several case studies documenting their positive role as pest reducers, During this process the importance of improved technology including, chemical fertilizers, hybrids, plant protection chemicals has been well established. The results from this phase were excellent and several countries have achieved self-sufficiency in food grains incl4ding India. Though this approach brought stability in food production across the world, several disadvantages such as residues in food chain, secondary pest out breaks, loss in bio- diversity followed by increased cost of inputs with eroded profits (Rao and Rao, 2010) were encountered. Considering the present situation to put agriculture back in to a profitable platform, one has to look into potential alternatives to improve and stabilize the productivity and to sustain the agro"ecosystem..