Determinants of fixed investment : a study of Indian private corporate manufacturing sector

This paper analyses the determinants of fixed investment in the Indian Private Corporate Manufacturing sector for the period 1973-2002, using Annual Survey of Industries Data. It is argued that economic policy of a nation is crucial in determining the investment behaviour in developing countries rather than the traditional factors like output and profit. Against the background of the financial sector deregulation initiated in India since 1991, this study makes an attempt to analyse whether the traditional factors or the economic policy variables plays a major role in determining investment behaviour. A reduced form equation derived from the neoclassical investment theory is used for the empirical analysis. Financial Liberalisation Index is constructed for India for the analysis. The results show that, the traditional determinants like output and profit still plays a major role in determining corporate investment rather than the policy variables. Though aggregate financial liberalisation, and more prominently domestic financial liberalisation produced an environment conducive for investment, it could not succeed in creating a sustained increase in capital formation in the post reform period. In other words, firms consider the demand factor, internal liquidity position and past investment decisions etc as the major indicators for future investment. Only index shows strong positive association with corporate investment is index of money market liberalisation. It is also found that there is significant negative association between index of capital account liberalisation and corporate investment. The negative and significant relationship with index of capital account liberalisation and investment raises many concerns over the credibility of external (international) financial reforms. Keywords: Investment, Manufacturing JEL Classification: E22, O1

Age Assessment of White Bass from Otoliths, Dorsal Spines and Scales

Otoliths, dorsal spines, and scales of 85 white bass collected in1987 from a pre-spawning group were used forage assessment. Agreement between spine and otolith ages were 78.3%, between scale and otolith ages was 68.2%. Unlike spine ages, percent agreement of scale ages with otolith ages decreased from small to large fish. Length-frequency analysis in conjunction with ages assessed by the three calcified structures showed that dorsal spines and scales underestimated white bass ages compared to the otoliths. Clarity of the otolith annuli, even of the older fish, makes them a reliable source for white bass age assessment

The cephalopod fishery at Cochin, Kerala

The Cochin Fisheries Harbour is a major fish landing centre in Kerala. Cephalopod landings at this centre contribute about 11-23% of Kerala's annual cephalopod catch. They are landed as bycatch by shrimp trawlers which operate off Cochin upto 60 m depth. On an average, about 200 trawlers of 8-13m length range operate every day from Cochin base

Lesions mimicking lacrimal gland pleomorphic adenoma

Aim: To report a series of patients with lacrimal gland lesions simulating the clinicoradiological features of lacrimal gland pleomorphic adenoma (LGPA). Methods: Multicentre retrospective, interventional case series. Clinical records of all patients with lesions mimicking LGPA seen in five orbital units were reviewed. Results: The study included 14 patients (seven men and seven women) with a mean age of 50.9 years. The diagnosis of LGPA was made in all cases by experienced orbital surgeons, based on clinicoradiological features, and lacrimal gland excision was performed. Postoperative histology revealed lymphoma (four patients), chronic dacryoadenitis (three patients), adenoid cystic carcinoma (two patients), Sjogren's syndrome (two patients), cavernous haemangioma (one patient), benign lymphoid hyperplasia (one patient) and granulomatous dacryoadenitis (one patient). Comparison with the total number of histologically confirmed LGPA cases seen during the study period revealed that 22.6% of cases of suspected LGPA were misdiagnosed based on clinicoradiological criteria. Conclusions: Many different lesions may mimic the clinicoradiological features of LGPA. The accepted clinicoradiological criteria used for the diagnosis of LGPA have a high false-positive rate, even in experienced hands. Based on this study, the authors believe that fine-needle aspiration biopsy or intraoperative biopsy and frozen section diagnosis may help reduce unnecessary lacrimal gland excision.Venkatesh C Prabhakaran, Paul S Cannon, Alan McNab, Garry Davis, Brett O’Donnell, Peter J Dolman, Raf Ghabrial, Dinesh Selv

PRABHA - A New Heuristic Approach For Machine Cell Formation Under Dynamic Production Environments

Over the past three decades, Cellular Manufacturing Systems (CMS) have attracted a lot of attention from manufacturers because of its positive impacts on analysis of batch-type production and also a wide range of potential application areas. Machine cell formation and part family creation are two important tasks of cellular manufacturing systems. Most of the current CMS design methods have been developed for a static production environment. This paper addresses the problem of machine cell formation and part family formation for a dynamic production requirement with the objective of minimizing the material handling cost, penalty for cell load variation and the machine relocation cost. The parameters considered include demand of parts in different period, routing sequences, processing time and machine capacities. In this work a new heuristic approach named PRABHA is proposed for machine cell formation and the part family formation. The computational results of the proposed heuristics approach were obtained and compared with the Genetic Algorithm approach and it was found that the proposed heuristics PRABHA outperforms the Genetic Algorithm

Quantitative determination of loss in yield of black pepper (Piper nigrum L.) in Kannur District (Kerala, India)

A method for estimation of yield loss (including stand loss) in black pepper (Piper nigrum) due to various factors was developed. The method was applied for estimating the loss in yield of black pepper due to incidence of pests, diseases and drought in Kannur District (Kerala, India) during 1989-1992. The average annual yield loss in black pepper due to these factors was around 33 per cent. The major contributors towards stand loss, was foot rot caused by Phythopthora capsici contributing to 9 per cent loss followed by drought. Among the causal factors contributing to yield loss the most disastrous was incidence of poilu beetle (Longitarsus nigripennis) which accounted for about 13 per cent loss followed by fungal poilu caused by Colletotrichum gleosporioides. The percentage avoidable loss in yield by adopting plant protection measures was estimated to be around 43 per cent. &nbsp

Age and Growth of Redear Sunfish Lepomis microlophus (Gunthur), from Bob Kidd Lake

Total lengths (62-285mm) and body scales from 75 redear sunfish collected by electroshocking from Bob Kidd Lake during October and November 1985 were used for this study. The length-frequency distribution yielded five age groups, however, the body scale analysis revealed eight age groups. The total length scale radius relationship was estimated as, TL = 17.98 + 0.92 Sr . Lengths attained at earlier ages were estimated by the Fraser-Lee method and the Bertlanffy growth model was fitted to the lengths for ages five through ten, and the resulting equation, L₁ = 295 [1 - exp — 0.29 (t - 1.83)], estimated lengths similar to the back- calculated lengths (r = 0.98)

Investigating the Blood Oxygenation Level-Dependent Functional MRI Response to a Verbal Fluency Task in Early Stroke before and after Hemodynamic Scaling

Background and objectiveBlood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) functional MRI (fMRI) has been extensively used as a marker of brain dysfunction and subsequent recovery following stroke. However, growing evidence suggests that straightforward interpretation of BOLD fMRI changes with aging and disease is challenging. In this study, we investigated the effect of calibrating task fMRI data by applying a hemodynamic calibration method using the resting-state fluctuation amplitude (RSFA). Task fMRI responses were obtained during a covert verbal fluency task in a group of early stage stroke patients and matched healthy normal controls.MethodsFifteen acute left hemisphere stroke patients (less than 7 days from stroke; aged 44–84 years, average ~64 years) and 21 healthy controls (aged 55–77 years, average ~61 years) were prospectively studied. All subjects completed a 3-min covert verbal fluency task, and a 10-min eyes-closed resting-state fMRI scan, from which the calibration factor (RSFA) was computed. A behavioral measure on the verbal fluency task was also collected outside the scanner. Whole brain activation volumes and region-of-interest (ROI)-wise percent signal change and activation volumes before and after calibration were computed.ResultsBetween-group differences in whole brain activation volumes, although statistically significant before calibration failed to be significant after calibration. There were significant within-group differences before and after calibration with RSFA. Statistically significant between-group differences on ROI-wise measures before calibration also significantly reduced after calibration. Exploratory brain-behavior correlations revealed a similar pattern: significant correlations before calibration failed to survive after calibration.Discussion and conclusionBOLD fMRI changes with aging and disease is confounded by changes in neurofunctional coupling leading to challenges in the straightforward interpretation of task fMRI results. Application of the hemodynamic calibration using the RSFA technique in the current study appeared to mitigate any differences between stroke and age-matched healthy controls. Our study indicates that estimating neural activity after applying hemodynamic scaling is important for studies of aging and for studies tracking post-stroke changes. We recommend that further investigation of hemodynamic calibration with RSFA in healthy subjects and in stroke in larger samples is necessary