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Table of contents for the month of February 2017

The impact caused by microfinance on growth of the economy has always been a debatable issue. Ample researches have been conducted to determine whether it helps poor masses to get out of the poverty trap or it further deteriorates the financial position of the masses at individual level and the economy in aggregate. It is quite surprising that the results and findings of these researches vary. This study is aimed at excogitating whether microfinance actually proves to be a blessing or is an additional burden for the poor. It is a conceptual study based on meta-analysis. Existing literature based on studies conducted by researchers, analysts, scholars, institutions and policy makers around the world has been reviewed to determine the impact of microfinance and to conclude whether it is a burden or a blessing. Six different aspects through which the growth of the economy can be measured have been taken into consideration. These include women empowerment, SME/entrepreneurs, rural transportation, poverty alleviation, health and education. Findings indicate that overall microfinance proves to be a blessing for the users but it poses certain challenges that hamper its performance up to the desired optimal level. Policy makers in this regard should play a positive role in formulating a clear roadmap and designing strategies for microfinance.

Recent developments in the quantitative analysis of brain functional complex networks, based largely on graph theory, have been rapidly translated to studies of modeling. The brain functional complex network models have features of small-world topology --- such as short average path length, high clustering coefficient and modularity. In this article, we discuss the investigate methods about the modeling to brain functional network in diverse process and provide an accessible introduction to the basic principles of modeling. We also highlight some of the technical challenges and key questions to be addressed by future developments in this rapidly moving field.

The CENTURY 4.0 Model have many variables that can be simulated. One of them is microbial respiration. In soil carbon studies there are three principal parts: total organic carbon, CO2-C and CO2. They are used to quantify soil carbon storage, microbial biomass and microbial respiration respectively. Soil total carbon comes from photosynthesis, translocation, decomposition, mineralisation processes. Soil CO2-C gives basic mass of microbial communities while soil CO2 is indicator of microbial respiratory activities. They are complimentary and supplementary approaches to virtual soil health. They are strong indicators of life in the soil media. The CENTURY 4.0 Model has additional benefit of simulating microbial respiration. In this study measured and simulated soil microbial respiration was compared in a Hanslope Soil under different land management practices. The simulated results started with ages record of 59.6 g m-2 y-1 soil respiratory rate to as low as 0.001 g m-1 y-1 in other periods of perturbations and human civilisation that impinged on natural processes of soil regeneration.

Intracavitary brachytherapy is a procedure in which radioactive sources are placed in the body cavities close to or inside the target volume to deliver radiation at short distances. In this mode of treatment, high radiation dose can be delivered to the tumour volume with rapid dose fall-off into the surrounding normal tissues. In brachytherapy, the dosimetry in biological tissues is a complex process. Dosimetric parameters such as the dose to critical organs and the total dose to the reference points as in the case of Manchester system are critical for patients undergoing intracavitary brachytherapy treatment. In this study, the finite element method has been utilized to solve Boltzmann Transport Equation (BTE) to determine the distribution of angular photon fluxes at various positions in the cervix of cancer patients and the dose distribution calculated for the organs of interest. Results from the study indicate doses to the rectum and the bladder to be in the range of 21.5-90.10cGy and 25.60-110.02cGy respectively for stage I to stage IV cancer patients. Comparison of the results from this model with data from published articles and dose prescriptions from the treatment planning system of the Radiotherapy Centre of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Ghana for different cancer stages indicate good agreement.

Classification is an important task in data mining and machine learning, in which a model is generated based on training dataset and that model is used to predict class label of unknown dataset. Today most real-world data are stored in relational format. So to classify objects in one relation, other relations provide useful information. Relational data are the popular format for structured data which consist of tables connected via relations (primary key/ foreign key). Relational data are simply too complex to analyze with a propositional (single table learning) algorithm of data mining. So to classify from relational data there is a need of multi relational classification which is used to analyze relational data and predict unknown pattern automatically. This paper contains Multi Relational Classification with weighted voting algorithm for learning from relational data which result in increase accuracy. Also to decrease the running time voting technique is used compared to stacking as a combination method. The experimental study along with results demonstrate the effectiveness of algorithm respect to other existing techniques.

In this paper, numerical performance analysis of jet compressor’s has been carried out using irreversibility characteristics. The various losses that occur in different regions of jet compressor have been quantified and an attempt has been made to increase the efficiency of jet compressor by reducing the losses based on minimization of entropy method. In the present work, new technique has been identified to minimise the momentum difference between the motive and the propelled fluid. This was carried out by forcing the propelled stream using a blower. The geometrical design parameters were obtained by solving the set of governing equations, a CFD package; FLUENT and it has been effectively used to evaluate the optimum entrainment ratio for a given set of operating conditions.

Most of the world’s population spend about one-third of their adult life at work, and with work-place injuries and fatalities remaining at unacceptably high levels. This study was carry out to determining occupational hazard awareness and safety practices among cement factory workers in community in Nigeria. A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out and data were collected using pre-tested semi-structured questionnaires. Using multi-stage sampling technique, 283 questionnaires were administered to workers who consented to the study. Two hundred and seventy-one questionnaires were fully completed and used for analysis. Most of the respondents were males, 265(97.8%), between 31-35 years in age, 88(32.5%) and had tertiary education, 181(66.8%). Majority of the respondents, 266(98.2%) were aware of hazards associated with their jobs. Two hundred and sixty two (96.7%) of the respondents accepted that their occupation was hazardous. The most commonly known hazard by the respondents was dust, 206(77.4%), followed by noise 83(31.2%). Most of the respondents, 263(97.0%) had pre-employment medical examination done before starting work while only 106(39.1%) had ever done periodic medical examination. Most of the respondents, 265(97.8%) used protective equipments and nearly all the respondents 268(98.9%) were interested in updating their knowledge about hazards prevention. In the last 1 year preceding the study, 53(19.6%) of the respondents had suffered injuries while at work and forty six (17%) had been absent from work due to work related injuries. In conclusion, the level of awareness about occupational hazards and compliance with safety measures was very high, but the rate of periodic medical examination was low among respondents. It is recommended that periodic medical examination policy be adopted by management.

The global liberalization and integration of financial markets has created new investment opportunities, which, in turn, require the development of new instruments that are more efficient to deal with the increased risks which is a characteristic feature of any investment. Derivatives products provide certain important economic benefits such as risk management or redistribution of risk away from risk-averse investors towards those more willing and able to bear risk. These functions of derivatives help in efficient capital allocation and price discovery in the economy. Since its inception in June 2000, derivatives market has exhibited exponential growth as the market turn-over has boosted from Rs. 40180 million in 2000-2001 to Rs. 474308323 Million in 2013-2014 .Within a short span of fourteen years, derivatives trading in India has surpassed cash segment in terms of turnover and number of traded contracts. The present study attempts mainly to focus on growth and performance of derivative market in India during post liberalization era. This paper also attempts to analyze sector wise classification of derivative market like stock, index, currency etc. Some space is also devoted for a brief discussion of basic concepts and fundamentals of derivatives. The paper concludes by pointing out trends of derivatives and factors affecting the growth of same. This work can serve as a source of guide for the study related to derivatives.

Allegory is a device in which characters or events represent or symbolize ideas and concepts. Allegory has been used widely throughout the history of literature, and in all forms of artwork. A reason for this is that allegory has an immense power of illustrating complex ideas and concepts in a digestible, concrete way. Therefore, in allegory a message is communicated by means of symbolic figures, actions or symbolic representation. One of the contemporary Iranian authors who wrote stories benefited allegorical structure was Samad Behrangi. Although his stories seemingly suit for children, they are in fact deep in thematic meaning in a sense that makes them interesting for adults. As a writer sensitive to social, political and cultural situations, he used animals as the characters of some stories. One of the most eminent short stories written by him is Little Black Fish. This article attempted to demonstrate that this short story was a social and political allegory by focusing on its potential allegorical features.