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An attempt has been made in this paper to examine the existence of causality relationship between stock market and economic growth based on the time series data for the year 1988 to 2005 using Granger causality test. The study finds the empirical evidence of long-run integration and causality of macroeconomic variables and stock market indicators even in a small capital market of Nepal. The causality has been observed only in real terms but not in nominal variables. In econometric sense, it depicts that the stock market plays significant role in determining economic growth and vice versa. Interestingly, the causation is evident with a lag of 3 to 4 years. Also, the paper reveals the importance of stock market development for fostering economic development. Journal of Nepalese Business Studies 2006/III/1 pp. 36-44

Tropical mountains are hot spots of biodiversity and endemism,but the evolutionary origins of their unique biotas are poorlyunderstood. In varying degrees, local and regional extinction,long-distance colonization, and local recruitment may all contribute to the exceptional character of these communities. Also, it isdebated whether mountain endemics mostly originate from locallowland taxa, or from lineages that reach the mountain by long-range dispersal from cool localities elsewhere. Here we investigatethe evolutionary routes to endemism by sampling an entire tropical mountain biota on the 4,095-metre-high Mount Kinabalu inSabah, East Malaysia. We discover that most of its unique biodiversity is younger than the mountain itself (6 million years), andcomprises a mix of immigrant pre-adapted lineages and descendants from local lowland ancestors, although substantial shiftsfrom lower to higher vegetation zones in this latter group wererare. These insights could improve forecasts of the likelihood ofextinction and ‘evolutionary rescue in montane biodiversity hotspots under climate change scenarios.

The comprehension of fundamental electrochemical behavior and sodiation mechanism is critical for the design of high-performance electrode materials for sodium-ion (Na-ion) batteries. In this paper, the electrochemical sodiation process and microstructure evolution of individual Co9S8-filled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been directly visualized and studied using in situ transmission electron microscopy. Upon the first sodiation, a reaction front propagates progressively along the filling nanowire, causing the filled CNT to inflate. The filled CNTs behave differently depending on their structures and the magnitude of the sodiation voltage. For a Co9S8-filled CNT with an open end, the sodiated Co9S8 filler shows a substantial axial elongation of 120.8% and a small radial swelling due to the extrusion of CNT walls. In contrast, the closed CNT shows a major radial expansion of 40.6% and a small axial elongation because of the mechanical confinement of the carbon shells. After sodiation, the spacing between the carbon shells increases from 3.4 to 3.8 Å due to the Na(+)-ion insertion and the single-crystalline Co9S8 filler converts to numerous Co nanograins dispersed in a Na2S matrix. Compared with the gentle microstructure evolution of the CNT under small charging voltage, a strong electrochemical reaction accompanying drastic swelling and fracturing of CNT shells is observed for the CNT electrode under large charging voltage. Our observations provide direct evidence and important insights for the electrochemical process of CNT-based composite materials in Na-ion batteries.

Vertically aligned carbon nanotube (CNT) array was synthesized directly on stainless steel (SS) substrates with or without chemical etching or catalyst deposition via plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition method. The effect of chemical etching on the SS substrates resulted in CNTs with uniform diameter and length. Electron field emission properties of CNT arrays synthesized on pristine SS and Ni/Cr coated SS substrates were measured. The results indicated that CNTs synthesized on pristine SS substrate exhibited lower turn-on electric field, lower threshold electric field, and a higher field enhancement factor as compared to the CNTs synthesized on Ni/Cr coated SS. The robust contact between the CNTs and the SS substrate resulted in the improved stability during the field emission.

This paper investigates the investment decision of IPO investors when equipped with information on both the quality of the firm and the market sentiment. The unique regulatory provisions allow IPO investors in India to have access to the independent assessment of firm quality and information on the participation of other investors, including institutional investors. At the same time, an active grey market reveals market sentiment before the application for subscription is closed. The results, which are robust to alternative model specifications, suggest that the institutional investors’ decision is guided almost exclusively by firm quality while the retail investors’ decision to participate in IPOs is strongly influenced by the market sentiment even in a highly transparent market where both sets of information are freely available.

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have become one of the most interesting allotropes of carbon since the discovery of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) by Iijima [1] in 1991. It took almost 2 more years until Iijima and Ichihashi [2] and Bethune et al. [3] synthesized simultaneously single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs). Ever since, steady progress has been made to successfully synthesize vertically and horizontally aligned arrays of CNTs over a wide range of substrates by employing different techniques. CNTs have shown promising mechanical, electrical, optical, and thermal properties, rendering their applications in new structural and functional materials, electrical circuitry, energy storage, drug delivery, and many other devices of the future generation.

Anisotropic diamagnetism of pristine graphite and graphene is well known. Here, evidence of significant induced ferromagnetism in multilayer graphene (MLG) decorated with ferrimagnetic Fe3O4 particles is reported. This MLG-Fe3O4 nano-composite was prepared by a one-step ultrasonic treatment at 75 °C in the surfactant sodium dodecyl-benzene-sulfonate. To verify the phase structure and morphology of the composite, X-ray diffraction, scanning and transmission electron microscopy, scanning tunneling electron microscopy, and Raman spectroscopy were employed. Room temperature data of magnetization versus magnetic field showed that the saturation magnetization MS = 58.6 emu/gm for pristine Fe3O4 increased to MS = 158.4 emu/gm for a 1:1 composite of Fe3O4 to MLG. These results lead to induced MS = 253 emu/gm in MLG resulting from its proximity to Fe3O4. Similar experiments on Fe3O4 to single walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT) composite did not show any induced magnetism in SWNT.

We observed that nanowires of Fe grown in the lumens of multi-walled carbon nanotubes required four times higher magnetic field strength to reach saturation compared to planar nanometric thin films of Fe on MgO(100). Nanowires of Fe and nanometric thin films of Fe both exhibited two fold magnetic symmetries. Structural and magnetic properties of 1-dimensional nanowires and 2-dimensional nanometric films were studied by several magnetometery techniques. The θ-2θ x-ray diffraction measurements showed that a (200) peak of Fe appeared on thin film samples deposited at higher substrate temperatures. In these samples prepared at higher temperatures, lower coercive field and highly pronounced two-fold magnetic symmetry were observed. Our results show that maximum magnetocrystalline anisotropy occurred for sample deposited at 100 °C and it decreased at higher deposition temperatures.

The study utilizes a unique set of IPOs data in Thailand post Asian Financial crises to identify the relationship between initial market adjusted underpricing and the ownership concentration. We find that a weak but a negative relationship exists between the two and therefore to certain extent refuting the signaling hypothesis of high ownership and high underpricing. We employ a rank correlation to identify the association between the two variables. A regression model using the widely used proxies of information asymmetry model fails to up hold the information asymmetry model in the context of Thai IPOs.