When AAA Means B: The State of Credit Rating in India

As in many other countries, India five year old credit rating industry has grown rapidly amidst persistent doubts about the quality of the rating service. This paper evaluates the ratings given by India leading credit rating agency, CRISIL. We find that CRISIL ratings are not only too liberal by international standards but also internally inconsistent. We argue that to improve the quality of credit rating in India, there must be more competition; credit rating must be opened up to the private sector; and raters must provide unsolicited ratings.

Research on the Indian Capital Market: A Review

In this paper we present a review of research done in the field of Indian capital markets during the fifteen years from 1977 to 1992. The research works included in the survey were identified by two search procedures. Firstly, we wrote to 118 Indian university departments and research institutions requesting information on the works done in this field in their department/institution. After three reminders, we obtained responses from 53 institutions. Simultaneously, we searched through various Indian journals in our library, located books listed in the library catalogue and traced through the list of references provided in various research works. Considering the size, vintage and development of the Indian capital market, the total volume of research on it appears to be woefully modest - about 0.1 unit of work per institution per year! Moreover, a large number of works are merely descriptive or prescriptive without rigorous analysis. Certain areas such as arbitrage pricing theory, option pricing theory, agency theory, and signalling theory are virtually unresearched in the Indian context. Besides, very little theoretical work has been done by researchers in India. However, with improved availability of databases and computing resources, and with increasing global interest in Indian markets, we expect an explosion of work in the near future.

Narasimham Committee Report - Some Further Ramifications and Suggestions

This paper while agreeing with the general thrust of the Narasimham Committee Report. Calls attention to some logical corollaries of the Report and analyses some possible fallout from implementing the Report. We agree with the view that control of banking system should be under an autonomous body supervised by the RBI. However at the level of individual banks, closer scrutiny of lending procedures may be called for than is envisaged in the Report. In a freely functioning capital market the potential of government bonds is enormous, but this necessitates restructuring of the government bond market. The government bonds may then also be used as suitable hedging mechanisms by introducing options and futures trading. We recommend freeing up the operation of pension and provident fund to enable at least partial investment of such funds in risky securities. In the corporate sector, we believe that the current 2:1 debt equity norm is too high and not sustainable in the long term. We envisage that high debt levels and higher interest rates, combined with higher business risk may result in greater incidence of corporate sickness. This may call for various schemes for retrenched workers and amendment to land laws for easy exit of companies. On account of interdependencies across different policies, any sequencing of their implementation may be highly problematic. We therefore suggest a near simultaneity in the implementation of various reforms in order to build up a momentum which would be irreversible if people are to have confidence that the reforms will endure, and if we are to retain our credibility with international financial institutions.

Runtime monitoring of timing constraints in distributed real-time systems

Embedded real-time systems often operate under strict timing and dependability constraints. To ensure responsiveness, these systems must be able to provide the expected services in a timely manner even in the presence of faults. In this paper, we describe a run-time environment for monitoring of timing constraints in distributed real-time systems. In particular, we focus on the problem of detecting violations of timing assertions in an environment in which the real-time tasks run on multiple processors, and timing constraints can be either inter-processor or intra-processor constraints. Constraint violations are detected at the earliest possible time by deriving and checking intermediate constraints from the user-specified constraints. If the violations must be detected as early as possible, then the problem of minimizing the number of messages to be exchanged between the processors becomes intractable. We characterize a sub-class of timing constraints that occur commonly in distributed real-time systems and whose message requirements can be minimized. We also take into account the drift among the various processor clocks when detecting a violation of a timing assertion. Finally, we describe a prototype implementation of a distributed run-time monitor.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/48087/1/11241_2005_Article_BF01088521.pd

Disease flare of ankylosing spondylitis presenting as reactive arthritis with seropositivity: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Concurrent rheumatoid factor seropositivity is occasionally detected in ankylosing spondylitis and often causes confusion in clinical routine. Overlap between various seronegative arthritides is a known but uncommon association. Differentiation of spondyloarthropathy from rheumatoid arthritis is important, since the natural history, complications, treatments and prognosis of the two diseases differ significantly.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>Here, we report the case of a 47-year-old Sri Lankan man who had a long history of intermittent joint pains worsening following a recent episode of self-resolving non-bloody diarrhea. Subsequently, he developed a skin rash suggestive of keratoderma blenorrhagica and circinate balanitis. He had classical radiological evidence of ankylosing spondylosis (previously undiagnosed) associated with human leukocyte antigen B27 antigen, but was positive for rheumatoid factor.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>A disease flare of ankylosing spondylitis prompted by a minor diarrheal illness showing well documented features of reactive arthritis is remarkable. The prognostic implications of seropositivity in spondyloarthritis are discussed.</p

Moduli Stacks of Vector Bundles and Frobenius Morphisms

We describe the action of the different Frobenius morphisms on the cohomology ring of the moduli stack of algebraic vector bundles of fixed rank and determinant on an algebraic curve over a finite field in characteristic p and analyse special situations like vector bundles on the projective line and relations with infinite Grassmannians.Comment: 19 page

A pre-post evaluation of OpenMinds:A sustainable, peer-led mental health literacy programme in universities and secondary schools

Engaging young people in the design and delivery of mental health education could lead to more effective interventions; however, few of these interventions have been evaluated. This study aimed to gain preliminary evidence with regards to the efficacy and acceptability of OpenMinds: a peer-designed and facilitated mental health literacy programme for university and secondary school students. The programme involves a structured programme of education and training for university medical students, who then deliver workshops in secondary schools. Pre- and post-surveys were completed by 234 school students who received two workshops and 40 university medical students who completed the OpenMinds programme and delivered the workshops. The main outcomes in both groups were components of mental health literacy (non-stigmatising attitudes, knowledge, social distance and helping attitudes). Perceived teaching efficacy and interest in mental health careers (university medical students) and workshop acceptability (school students) were also examined. University and school student participation in OpenMinds was associated with significant improvements in three of four mental health literacy elements in both samples. Knowledge and attitudes improved in both samples, social distance improved only in the university sample and knowledge of helping behaviours increased in the school sample. University students' perceived teaching efficacy improved but there was no change in their reported interest in pursuing psychiatry in their career. Acceptability was high; over 70% of the school students agreed that they enjoyed the workshops and liked being taught by a university student. This study provides preliminary evidence for the acceptability and efficacy of OpenMinds as a sustainable peer-led model of mental health education for young people. The OpenMinds programme is ready for efficacy testing in a randomised trial