OPEC meetings, oil market volatility and herding behaviour in the Saudi Arabia stock market

We investigate the influence of oil market volatility and hand‐picked OPEC meetings data on herding tendency in the Saudi equity market. Our results show the presence of significant herding behaviour in the Saudi market; surprisingly this herding behaviour is independent of oil market volatility. Importantly, we find herding on and around the OPEC meeting days however this is only limited to a period of high global uncertainty that is, during the Global Financial Crisis period (GFC) of 2008–2010. However, when we filter out factor‐based herding in the Saudi equities, we also find persistent herding in the post GFC period. These results are consistent when we assess the impact of OPEC meetings using event windows of one to 5 days before and after the announcement. In consideration of the crucial role of OPEC in determining the oil prices, we explain our results of Saudi market herding on and around OPEC meeting days for the prior announcement ambiguity and corrections before, on and after the announcements on global supply. Our results show that this tendency has originated during the GFC, has persisted in the post‐GFC in the Saudi equities and surprisingly, is largely found absent in the periods when the Saudi equity market witnessed bullish market conditions. Our results are robust after accounting for common factor return variations in equity returns, the unconditional and conditional estimates of the volatility in oil prices and several event windows around OPEC meeting days

Combining PPB and marker-assisted selection: strategies and experiences with rice

Participatory plant breeding should not preclude the use of modern biotechnological techniques

Are nonwoven synthetic pollination bags a better choice for sorghum breeding?

This work investigated the effects of seven pollination bag treatments on three varieties of sorghum for: grain loss to birds; total weight of five panicles (g); total grain weight of five panicles (g); average grain weight per panicle (g); germination per cent; and occurrence of grain mold during 2016. Varieties were: 1167048 hybrid (brown seeded); BR007B (red seeded); and P9401 (white seeded). The bag treatments were: 1. No bagging; 2. Kraft paper; 3. Kraft paper + plastic bag screen; 4 Used duraweb® SG1; 5. Used duraweb® SG2; 6. New duraweb® SG1; 7. New duraweld® SG2. High bird pressure resulted in 100% seed loss on uncovered panicles and 75% under Kraft paper pollination bags. Birds preferred white seeded P9401, which led to no seed recovery under Kraft paper bags. There was virtually no bird damage with all other pollination bags. For panicle and grain yields the varieties performed in the order 1167048>BR007B>P9401. Unprotected panicles and paper bag treatments had the lowest yields. Panicles covered with the new synthetic bags exhibited 195 to 652% higher yields compared to Kraft paper bags. Varieties x bag type interactions were not important as they contributed 4 to 6% to the total sum of squares for yield traits. Germination test under normal and stress conditions showed no significant adverse effect of bag treatments on seed health. Reused bags performed as well as new bags for all of these traits. Varieties differed significantly for the occurrence of five grain mold pathogens, with highest occurrence of Alternaria, up to 40%, on 1167048 hybrid. Of the five pathogens, bag types differed significantly for Phoma with the highest occurrence of 9% on re-used duraweb®SG2 bags. Thus bags require disinfecting and cleaning before re-use. It is concluded that nonwoven synthetic bags are a better choice than the Kraft paper pollination bags for increasing the grain yield and virtually eliminating the bird damage in sorghum

Plant breeding can be made more efficient by having fewer, better crosses

BACKGROUND: Crop yields have to increase to provide food security for the world’s growing population. To achieve these yield increases there will have to be a significant contribution from genetic gains made by conventional plant breeding. However, the breeding process is not efficient because crosses made between parental combinations that fail to produce useful varieties consume over 99% of the resources. RESULTS: We tested in a rice-breeding programme if its efficiency could be improved by using many fewer, but more judiciously chosen crosses than usual. In a 15-year programme in Nepal, with varietal testing also in India and Bangladesh, we made only six crosses that were stringently chosen on complementary parental performance. We evaluated their success by the adoption and official release of the varieties they produced. We then modelled optimum cross number using assumptions based on our experimental results. Four of the six crosses succeeded. This was a fifty-fold improvement over breeding programmes that employ many crosses where only about one, or fewer, crosses in 200 succeed. Based on these results, we modelled the optimum number of crosses by assuming there would be a decline in the reliability of the breeder’s prediction of the value of each cross as more crosses were made (because there is progressively less information on the traits of the parents). Fewer-cross programmes were more likely to succeed and did so using fewer resources. Making more crosses reduced the overall probability of success of the breeding programme. CONCLUSIONS: The efficiency of national and international breeding programmes would be increased by making fewer crosses among more carefully chosen parents. This would increase the number of higher yielding varieties that are delivered to farmers and hence help to improve food security

A Clinical Masquerader: Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Eyelid Previously Diagnosed as an Eye Bump

Malignant eyelid tumors are often difficult to diagnose at early stage growth, and can be clinically challenging. Due to the high prevalence of periocular skin cancers, clinicians must be very attentive in their assessment of skin lesions amongst their patients. This case report highlights an early non-healing eyelid lesion transforming into squamous cell carcinoma. An 83-year-old male with no history of malignancy presented with a non-healing and rapidly growing lesion of the left lower eyelid. He first noticed this lesion one-month prior and was treated with oral antibiotics without improvement by his primary care provider. Our slit lamp examination of the left eyelid revealed a large ulcerated mass with white mucoid discharge draining from the center of the lesion. After an oculoplastics referral, the patient was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma confirmed by biopsy. Computed tomography(CT) showed no metastasis or invasion to deep layer tissue. The management decision in this case required exenteration of the left eye socket followed by radiation therapy. This case illustrates the clinical course and invasive nature of periocular squamous cell carcinoma. It can present in a variety of different appearances, but are mostly painless, hyperkeratotic lesions that progressively change and ulcerate. An extensive history and careful clinical examination are vital in order to detect malignancy in a timely manner

Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection: A Case Series of 9 Patients With Literature Review.

Spontaneous coronary artery dissection is an increasingly recognized nonatherosclerotic cause of acute coronary syndrome. Reports regarding the prognosis and natural history of this disease are limited. In addition to the diagnostic difficulty, this condition poses a significant therapeutic challenge due to the lack of specific management guidelines. We present here a case series of 9 patients with spontaneous coronary artery dissection. Additionally, this article reviews the incidence, clinical characteristics, risk factors, diagnostic modalities, therapeutic approaches, and patterns of recurrence in patients with spontaneous coronary artery dissection

Toward a structural understanding of turbulent drag reduction: nonlinear coherent states in viscoelastic shear flows

Nontrivial steady flows have recently been found that capture the main structures of the turbulent buffer layer. We study the effects of polymer addition on these "exact coherent states" (ECS) in plane Couette flow. Despite the simplicity of the ECS flows, these effects closely mirror those observed experimentally: Structures shift to larger length scales, wall-normal fluctuations are suppressed while streamwise ones are enhanced, and drag is reduced. The mechanism underlying these effects is elucidated. These results suggest that the ECS are closely related to buffer layer turbulence.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, published version, Phys. Rev. Lett. 89, 208301 (2002

Study of optical band gap and carbon cluster sizes formed in 100 MeV Si8+ and 145 MeV Ne6+ ions irradiated polypropylene polymer

A wide variety of material modifications in polymers have been studied by using ion irradiation techniques. Extensive research has focused on to Swift Heavy Ions (MeV's energy), probably because of good controllability and the large penetration length in polymers. High energy ion irradiation tends to damage polymers significantly by electronic excitation and ionization. It may result into the creation of latent tracks and can also cause formation of radicals such as ablation, sputtering, chain scission and intermolecular cross-linking, creation of triple bonds and unsaturated bonds and loss volatile fragments. Polypropylene polymer films of thickness 50 μm were irradiated to the fluences of 1 × 1010, 3 × 1010, 1 × 1011, 3 × 1011, 6 × 1011 and 1 × 1012 ions/cm2 with Si8+ ions of 100 MeV energy from Pelletron accelerator at Inter University Accelerator Centre (IUAC), New Delhi and Ne6+ ions of 145 MeV to the fluences of 108, 1010, 1011, 1012 and 1013 ions/cm3 from Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre, Kolkata. Optical modifications were characterized by UV towards the red end of the spectrum with the increase of the fluence. Value of optical band gap Eg shows a decreasing trend with ion fluence irradiated with both kinds of ions. Cluster size N, the number of carbon atoms per conjugation length increases with increasing ion dose. Cluster size also increases with the increase of electronic stopping power.Rajesh Kumar1*, S Asad Ali1, A. H. Naqvi1, H. S. Virk2, Udayan De3, D K Avasthi4 and Rajendra Prasad1 1Department of Applied Physics, Z. H. College of Engineering & Technology, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh-202 002, Uttar Pradesh, India 2360 Sector-71, SAS Nagar (Mohali), Chandigarh-160 071, Punjab, India 3Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre, 1/AF, Bidhan Nagar, Kolkata-700 064, India 4Inter-University Accelerator Centre, Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, New Delhi-110 067, India E-mail : [email protected] of Applied Physics, Z. H. College of Engineering & Technology, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh-202 002, Uttar Pradesh, India 2360 Sector-71, SAS Nagar (Mohali), Chandigarh-160 071, Punjab, India Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre, 1/AF, Bidhan Nagar, Kolkata-700 064, India Inter-University Accelerator Centre, Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, New Delhi-110 067, Indi

Excessive folate synthesis limits lifespan in the C. elegans: E. coli aging model

Background: Gut microbes influence animal health and thus, are potential targets for interventions that slow aging. Live E. coli provides the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans with vital micronutrients, such as folates that cannot be synthesized by animals. However, the microbe also limits C. elegans lifespan. Understanding these interactions may shed light on how intestinal microbes influence mammalian aging. Results: Serendipitously, we isolated an E. coli mutant that slows C. elegans aging. We identified the disrupted gene to be aroD, which is required to synthesize aromatic compounds in the microbe. Adding back aromatic compounds to the media revealed that the increased C. elegans lifespan was caused by decreased availability of para-aminobenzoic acid, a precursor to folate. Consistent with this result, inhibition of folate synthesis by sulfamethoxazole, a sulfonamide, led to a dose-dependent increase in C. elegans lifespan. As expected, these treatments caused a decrease in bacterial and worm folate levels, as measured by mass spectrometry of intact folates. The folate cycle is essential for cellular biosynthesis. However, bacterial proliferation and C. elegans growth and reproduction were unaffected under the conditions that increased lifespan. Conclusions: In this animal:microbe system, folates are in excess of that required for biosynthesis. This study suggests that microbial folate synthesis is a pharmacologically accessible target to slow animal aging without detrimental effects

Micro-augmentations: situated calibration of a novel non-tactile, peripheral museum technology

Micro-augmentations provide novel ways to interact directly with the past. This is a new concept that uses minimum stimulation to achieve maximum effects in spaces of cultural heritage. We experiment with new implicitly interactive and almost transparent museum technologies to create a holistic emotional visitor experience and solve a number of museum problems (i.e. misconceptions, intra-group communications, and visitor engagement). The paper presents the rationale for the design decisions, as well as the technical challenges faced during implementation. Audio micro-augmentations were firstly used at the UCL Grant Museum of Zoology. Initial user testing data from the system's calibration phase at that museum revealed the entertaining and learning potential of the application, together with issues for future development