To save an ecology less-explored

The Eastern Ghats are one of the least explored natural landscapes of India. Stretching about 1,750 km north to south, the range begins from central Odisha, continues through Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, before culminating at the Sirumalai hills facing the Western Ghats near Madurai in southern Tamil Nadu

Eastern Ghats tragedy: If the mines don’t get them… the dams will

“We hunt the leopard. I can show you how we track them too,” said the Konda Reddi tribal villager. We were at Villarthi village, in a remote forested stretch between the towns of Upper Sileru and Donkarayi in the northern Eastern Ghats of Andhra Pradesh’s Visakhapatnam district. Across the border lay Odisha. Historically this region supported a rich floral diversity, but in recent decades the Eastern Ghats have largely been ignored in favour of other hill regions across India. The rediscovery of the Indian golden gecko Calodactylodes aureus and the Jeypore ground gecko Geckoella jeyporensis, earlier presumed locally extinct has caused some resurgence of public interest, but not enough to make a significant difference. Several researchers have begun to study the faunal diversity of this incredible region, but the hazards confronting this landscape seem almost insurmountable

The Growth and Limits of Arbitrage: Evidence from Short Interest

We develop a novel methodology to infer the amount of capital allocated to quantitative equity arbitrage strategies. Using this methodology, which exploits time-variation in the cross section of short interest, we document that the amount of capital devoted to value and momentum strategies has grown significantly since the late 1980s. We provide evidence that this increase in capital has resulted in lower strategy returns. However, consistent with theories of limited arbitrage, we show that strategy-level capital flows are influenced by past strategy returns as well as strategy return volatility, and that arbitrage capital is most limited during times when strategies perform best. This suggests that the growth of arbitrage capital may not completely eliminate returns to these strategies

Are There Too Many Safe Securities? Securitization and the Incentives for Information Production

We present a model that helps explain several past collapses of securitization markets. Originators issue too many informationally insensitive securities in good times, blunting investor incentives to become informed. The resulting endogenous scarcity of informed investors exacerbates primary market collapses in bad times. Inefficiency arises because informed investors are a public good from the perspective of originators. All originators benefit from the presence of additional informed investors in bad times, but each originator minimizes his reliance on costly informed capital in good times by issuing safe securities. Our model suggests regulations that limit the issuance of safe securities in good times

Export Licensing of Advanced Technology to Communist Countries: Problems and Prospects

The Export Administration Act of 1969 restricted efforts of United States industry to expand sales of non-strategic advanced technology goods to Communist countries. The author examines the significance of the Export Administration Amendments of 1977 and the procedure and criteria by which an export application is evaluated. The author suggests certain reforms which would help attain the goal of trade promotion

Detection of a glitch in the pulsar J1709-4429

We report the detection of a glitch event in the pulsar J1709$-$4429 (also known as B1706$-$44) during regular monitoring observations with the Molonglo Observatory Synthesis Telescope (UTMOST). The glitch was found during timing operations, in which we regularly observe over 400 pulsars with up to daily cadence, while commensally searching for Rotating Radio Transients, pulsars, and FRBs. With a fractional size of $\Delta\nu/\nu \approx 52.4 \times10^{-9}$, the glitch reported here is by far the smallest known for this pulsar, attesting to the efficacy of glitch searches with high cadence using UTMOST.Comment: 3 pages, 1 figur

Money Creation and the Shadow Banking System

Many explanations for the rapid growth of the shadow banking system in the mid-2000s focus on money demand. This paper asks whether the short-term liabilities of the shadow banking system behave like money. We first present a simple model where households demand money services, which are supplied by three types of claims: deposits, Treasury bills, and asset-backed commercial paper (ABCP). The model provides predictions for the price and quantity dynamics of these claims, as well as the behavior of the banking system (in terms of issuance) and the monetary authority (in terms of open market operations). Consistent with the model, the empirical evidence suggests that the shadow banking system does respond to money demand. An extrapolation of our estimates would suggest that heightened money demand could explain up to approximately half the growth of ABCP in the mid-2000s

Cor-pulmonale: a rare presentation in a case of middle lobe syndrome

Brock’s syndrome or middle lobe syndrome (MLS) is chronic or recurrent collapse of right middle lobe due to causes which may be obstructive or non obstructive. The pathogenesis is not completely understood. An expert committee of the world health organization defined cor pulmonale as hypertrophy of the right ventricle resulting from diseases affecting the function and/or structure of the lungs.” Cor pulmonale is a common heart disease and a leading cause of disability and death. We are reporting this association in a 65y old female who presented to the emergency with acute exacerbation of COPD with SpO2=64% room air. Chest X-ray and HRCT thorax showed features suggesting MLS and ECG shows features suggesting P pulmonale /right atrial enlargement. BNP too was elevated. Patient was resuscitated and put on mechanical ventilation after ABG showed respiratory acidosis. Appropriate treatment with bronchodilators and antibiotics was given

Effects of Herbal Hair Oil on Promoting Hair Growth in Wistar Albino Rats

The study investigates effect of VCO and FSO on hair growth activity on Wistar albino rats. The herbs used in formulating VCO and FSO have some medicinal properties which act in reducing inflammation and stress. The formulations were made by mixing two parts.one made up of herb in oil by simple maceration and second one of dried hydroalcoholic extract of herbs. The formulations were then applied on Wistar albino rats whose dorsal side had been shaved. Both VCO and FSO showed promising hair growth activity. The VCO displayed much faster growth of hair than marketed formulation. The herbs remained the same in both formulations. So, it can be concluded that VCO has a better extraction of herbs and VCO is a much better formulation. Apart from this marketed formulation was in fact a less effective than VCO. Hair growth activity showed an incrementally response over a period of 4 weeks and histopathological studies corroborate with the fact

Mammals of Papfikonda Hfills, northern Eastern Ghats, Indfia

Papikonda National Park covering an area of 1,012km2 holds high conservation value as the only national park in the geographically vast northern Eastern Ghats. The tropical moist deciduous forests support species assemblages characteristic of the Eastern Ghats. We conducted the first comprehensive assessment of the mammal diversity in Papikonda National Park using camera traps, sign surveys and community interviews between October 2014 and March 2015, combined with a comprehensive literature review of research articles, field guides and IUCN species range reports. A total of 55 species from 46 genera belonging to 24 families were enumerated. There was a high diversity of carnivores (15 species), followed by chiropterans (13 species) and rodents (11 species)