Myopic investment view of the Indian mutual fund industry

This paper examines the investment behavior of Indian mutual fund industry. Since the majority of investors who invest in mutual funds are salaried individuals or individuals that own SMEs, the Indian Mutual Fund industry should have a long term investment horizon. However, the data from all mutual funds for the periods December 2007 to May 2008 and December 2008 to May 2009 reveals that the mutual fund industry has adjusted its position on a short term basis in tandem with the short term volatility of the market. The findings substantiate the SEBI Chairman’s observation that there is an urgent need to set up investment norms with regard to the holding period for stocks owned by the Indian mutual fund industryMutual Fund, short term volatility, asset under management, investment churn.

On spatial birth-death and matching processes, and Poisson shot-noise fields

In this dissertation we deal with certain spatial stochastic processes that are closely related to Spatial birth-death (SBD) processes. These processes are stochastic processes that model the time-evolution of interacting individuals in a population, where the interaction between individuals depends on their relative locations in space. In this dissertaion, we consider three models of such processes with births and deaths that are amenable to long-term analysis. A common feature of all these models is that the particles in the system interact at a distance of oneMathematic

Ideal child in the ideal nation : gender, class and work in a school lesson

The influence of schooling on shaping childhood identity is a relatively under-researched area, especially within the Indian context. Although it is acknowledged that schools form significant sites of secondary socialisation, they tended to be treated as 'black boxes', leaving little scope for ethnographic and other inquiry into school processes which form a critical part of the lifeworld of the school child. These processes are distinguished by social markers like gender, class, caste, religion and location, which make the study of identity formation in childhood through schooling complex and challenging. Textbooks play a crucial role in school socialisation. Embodying a selection of knowledge deemed to be worthy of teaching and learning, or what some refer to as 'official' knowledge, textbooks frame and normativise notions of childhood, citizenship and nation within the institutional space of the school. Socialisation into citizenship through textbook knowledge involves explicit and implicit references to the duties and responsibilities of the child as citizen to the modern nation state. This paper attempts to ethnographically capture the process of socialisation of children into the ideal of labour in the modern nation, through examination of one lesson in a textbook for Grade 4, and its transaction in a classroom in an urban government primary school in a city in Gujarat, India. Textual analysis, classroom observations and interviews with children and teachers were used in a larger study of which this paper is a part. The text and classroom discussion discursively produce the nation and the importance of 'kadi mehnat' to its progress, through the elaboration of different areas of work and labour and their significance to the project of the modernising nation-state. The manner in which textbooks function to socialise children into normative notions of work in the nation are highly gendered and distinctly marked by class, as well as caste and urban/rural location. The ideal child of the ideal nation is discursively produced through narratives of valour, discipline and dedication. Gender pervades the discourse of the ideal nation, with women represented as key agents in its moral reproduction. Children from poor communities take part in the ritual performance of classroom participation, in which subjectivity and the real conditions of their lives find no place, and knowing that structural realities will not allow for the realisation of these ideals. This paper problematises the assumptions underlying the pedagogical aims of official school knowledge and shows how these are profoundly gendered. It argues for incorporation of insights from school ethnographies that examine constructions of the normative learnersubject from a gender perspective into the sociology of contemporary Indian childhood

Hydrodynamics and Mass Transfer in Bubble Columns

Bubble columns and slurry bubble columns are multiphase reactors used for a wide range of applications in the biochemical, chemical, petrochemical, and metallurgical industries. In spite of their widespread usage, the scale-up of bubble columns remains an ongoing challenge. Various scale-up approaches, based on concepts ranging from ideal mixing to complex 3-D multiphase CFD models, have been used for assessing the effect of column size and gas and liquid flow rates on column hydrodynamics and reactor performance. Among these approaches, phenomenological models based on either single-class or multi-class bubbles that were validated on cold flow systems have been successful in predicting the residence time distributions of gas and liquid in pilot-scale bubble columns (Chen et al., 2004) (Gupta, 2002). However, such models are not entirely predictive, since they are validated using columns having the same size as hot operating units. To provide better predictive capability, we need prior knowledge of local hold-up, transport coefficients, and bubble dynamics. This dissertation provides an improved understanding of the key design parameters (gas hold-up, volumetric mass transfer coefficients, gas-liquid interfacial area, and their spatial distribution) for predictive scale-up of bubble columns. In this work, a 4-point optical probe is used to estimate local gas hold-up and bubble dynamics (specific interfacial area, frequency, bubble velocity, and bubble chord-lengths) and their radial profiles in a cold-flow slurry bubble column and a bubble column photo-bioreactor. Along with local bubble dynamics, the effect of superficial gas velocity on volumetric mass transport coefficients in several sizes of bubble columns, with and without internals, and in slurry bubble columns and photo-bioreactors are studied. Key findings: In the bubbly flow regime, bubble dynamics in photo-bioreactors with suspended algae were dominated by the physicochemical properties of the liquid, as distinguished from the churn-turbulent flow regime in the slurry bubble columns, where bubble dynamics were mainly affected by turbulent intensities. In the bubbly-flow regime, volumetric mass transfer coefficients increased with an increase in superficial gas velocity. However, in the churn-turbulent flow regime, they approached a constant value with an increase in the superficial gas velocity. A new methodology was proposed to identify the flow regime from optical probe signals based on the support vector machine algorithm, which can uniquely classify flow regimes for various systems on a single flow regime map. A new model for the liquid phase mixing, that with a proper choice of the mass transfer coefficients enables a good match of the predicted and measured tracer response is described. This model provides a better prediction of volumetric mass transfer coefficients than the currently used well mixed model for the liquid phase (CSTR). The dissertation improves the fundamental understanding of the connection between bubble dynamics and mass transfer. Using the 4-point optical probe as a tool, it demonstrates a connection between bubble dynamics and volumetric mass transfer coefficients. Present work addresses the need of industries to have a method that can be used as an online process control tool to identify flow regime, this method has been tested at cold flow conditions and needs to be implemented at hot flow conditions. The parameters (radial distributions of gas hold-up, bubble velocities, and volumetric mass transfer coefficient) that are evaluated in the present work can be used to validate phenomenological models and CFD results at cold flow conditions, which can later be combined with process chemistry to accomplish scale-up (Chen et al., 2004). The open literature on multiphase reactors is mainly limited to cold flow condition, and techniques such as the optical probe need to be extended to hot flow conditions. The optical probe described here can withstand high temperature and pressure, but for hot flow conditions it requires a better binding agent to hold the probe tips together, one that will not dissolve in industrial solvents

Effective and Cost Effective Stabilization of Various Soils by Using Subnano Molecules

Rains, floods, landslides and other natural disasters result in the loss of lives and property. Buildable stable land with natural load bearing capacity is scarce in most cities and construction on poor soils results in failures and devastation of structures. Soil stabilization is the process of maximizing the suitability of soil for construction purposes. Chemical Grouting is the process of injecting a solution or a mix of solutions into the soil for in situ soil stabilization. It improves stability, strength, compressibility, permeability, durability and load carrying capacities of the soil. By adopting appropriate chemical engineering and chemistry, grouts with nano particle sizes in the range of 5 to 10 nanometers have been prepared in our laboratory. These nano particles behave as a fluid and penetrate deep into the soil and then later react to form a solid, semisolid or a gel at a predetermined time. This gel is a precipitated binder of high quality at lower concentrations of reaction components. These nano particles are amorphous and since they have higher specific areas (120 - 260 m2/g) they distribute themselves evenly and bind the entire soil matrix. Laboratory tests of various combinations of the grout have been done, followed by field tests to determine the best engineering properties for soil stabilization. These nano particle grouts enhance the stability of the soils. This saves land, structures and human lives as well

The roles of emotional eating and emotional awareness in weight loss: a treatment outcome study

Given the high prevalence rates of obesity and associated psychopathology and physiological problems, there is a need for effective interventions promoting weight loss. In the present study we aimed to develop and test intervention approaches for weight loss that are extremely accessible, as well as examine psychological factors that moderate engagement and treatment outcomes. Specifically we: (a) developed two low-contact intervention approaches—delivered in-person, over the phone, and via the Internet—targeting either emotional awareness (EF approach) and emotional eating or problem-solving competencies (PS approach; both promoted physical activity and caloric reduction); (b) compared weight loss outcomes and engagement from each of the two intervention approaches; and (c) examined whether baseline levels of individual difference variables were associated with weight loss outcomes and engagement regardless of treatment approach. Both interventions lasted 10 weeks and participants were 132 adult females experiencing overweight or obesity. Analyses revealed that participants in both groups experienced significant weight loss on average, although type of intervention did not influence outcomes differentially. Furthermore, lower baseline levels of attention to emotion and extraversion were found to be associated with greater weight loss, treatment engagement, and treatment completion. The findings from this study have implications for future research on the development and refinement of weight loss interventions

Kinetics of Aldehyde Oxidation on Platinum Anode In Aqueous Perchloric Acid & Sulphuric Acid

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