Review

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Volume 8|Issue I January 2019

Inside

Trinity SciTech & Mgmt

Casting Your Net WideOpportunity & ChoiceA key event, the Trinity SciTech-&-Mgmt Expo emphasizes the connection between science, technology, and management. Students from top institutions of the Valley, work together or individually for constructive application that is socially relevant. Held every year, the occasion fosters the right milieu for youngsters and provides an opportunity for the passionate to pursue their passion in SciTech & Management as they harness the immense soft-power of blended interdisciplinary learning in their creative projects.

Essentially, this event promotes science & technology. Today, the corporate world where we live and work is so challenge-ridden that it demands the careful integration of scientific knowledge and managerial skills. Integrated knowledge becomes a powerful tool for problem-solving. Educated adolescents must be aware of this valuable interconnectivity with its implications for their education, careers, and lives. Further, the judicious utilization of resources of raw materials teaches them about environmental sustainability alongside futuristic engineering. Produced from essentials, participants’ outstanding exhibits have included a wind power generator and vehicle using drone technology. Additionally, the latest trends in global science such as robotics figure in this Expo with the involvement of the National Robotics League.

This Expo, furthermore, focuses on the appreciation of scientific knowledge applicable to management practice. It believes that such practice needs to be based on science-based management as well as collaboration. It aims at enhancing scholars’ understanding of the fundamental concepts of modern management, marketing, finance, and business strategy through fruitful application. Through shared platforms and creative engagement, the youth begin affirmative action in this action-based event of ours. Young scholars integrate their knowledge of pure science, social sciences, and management meaningfully tackling real world issues like alternative energy, sustainable agriculture, green technology, traffic management, or quake-proof architecture through projects.

Nurturing learning beyond a definitive curriculum, the event helps in skill-building like good oral and written communication along with entrepreneurship & leadership. Scholars get to look at learning from outside the box. The student community comes to grips with the scientific method to produce meaningful projects, and deepens its understanding of STEM subjects. Also, the Expo creates an engaging atmosphere for collaboration amongst different students and academic institutions. Personally rewarding, it leads to achievements in different national and international competitions. This exhibition disseminates the basics of SciTech and Management to all. Above all, the Expo is a welcome experience with helpful everyday tips for visitors.

• Tradition of the Short Story: Transforming “Lies” into “Delightful Spectacle” 2 • Healthy Living Through Herbal Remedies 4 • Bank in your Palm 7 • Recommendation System, Similarity Measure and Collaborative Filtering 9

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Tradition of the Short Story: Transforming “Lies” into “Delightful Spectacle”

Prof. Dr. Amma Raj Joshi

“A fictional work ventilates personal views of the world based on realistic observation, engages the readers in meditation or personal creation and enables them to think and understand the deeper meaning of the life and the world”

This article deals with the tradition of the short story and highlights how this genre makes use of "lies" and yet accurately reflects on life (Charters 3) or in the words of Henry James, how the writers of this genre successfully apply art to give "a delightful spectacle"(855) with an accurate rendering of individuals and events. Dwelling upon the aforementioned ideas, I have shaped the title"Tradition of the Short Story: Transforming "Lies" into Delightful Spectacle." I will primarily reflect upon the historical evolution and emergence of the short story and then tryto observe how the fictional art presents an accurate image of a thing, an event, an individual and society and pleasantly makes an appeal to the human heart by delineating them more accurately than truth itself.

Reason and imagination are two dominant human faculties, and they guide and shape human life to a large extent. History reveals that human beings have tried to bring delight and comfort to their lives through the unprecedented use of intellect and reason, but it appears that happiness is an unlikely bed fellow of human life. Despite advanced scientific innovations aiming at human comfort and happiness, humans have to dwell upon resources other than those guided by scientific optimism, rationality and deeper philosophical inquiry. They need a few creations, a few impulses, a few symbols and images, a few imaginative detours, a few illusions, a few distractions, a few memorable events, a few fantastic journeys into the unknown landscapes of human mind and heart even for bringing a transitory smile on human face and for making an appeal to human emotions, heart and mind alike. Only factual delineation of things fails to offer that happiness because facts (literal truths) are too limited to spell out what type of knowledge delights the human heart. Speaking on the possibility of knowledge of the world that fiction/story provides with poetic precision, the French woman writer, Germane Necker De Stael, in her "Essay on Fiction"states: ". . . nothing gives such an intimate knowledge of the human heart . . . (600). She thinks that only fictions, through the "lies" they present, accurately reflect the lives humans live; it may sound paradoxical though. She considers that only the fiction/story does have the power to distract humans, to suspend their passions substituting independent pleasure for them; human passions lead

to attachment--the source from where human worries originate.Talking about the pleasure, De Stael says:

. . . I take pleasure in fictions whose only effects might be to comfort this heart by capturing its interest. In this life, which we pass through rather than feel, the distributor of the only real happiness of which human nature is capable would be someone who distracts man from himself and others, suspending the action of the passions by substituting independent pleasure for them--if the influence of his talent could only last. (604)

The story writers achieve self pleasure or supply pleasure to readers without any preconceived purpose and goal. Fictions attract or charm readers. If they write with moral or philosophical motivation, they are likely to hurt readers and themselves as well. In “The Writer's Goal”, Guy De Maupassant aptly states:

[The serious writer's] goal is not to tell us a story, to entertain or to move us, but to make us think and to make us understand

the deep and hidden meaning of events. By virtue of having seen or meditated, he views the universe, objects, facts,

and human beings in a certain way which is personal, the result of combining his observations and

reflections. It is this personal view of

the world that he tries to communicate

to us by reproducing it in fiction. To move us, as he has

been moved himself by

the spectacle of life, he must reproduce it

before our eyes with scrupulous accuracy.

He should compose his work so adroitly, and with such dissimulation and apparent

simplicity, that it is impossible to uncover its plan or to perceive his intentions. (1456)

Describing the writer's goal, Maupassant has stated mainly four things: (I) writers not only aim at telling a story for entertaining or moving the readers but for making them think and understand the deeper meaning of events; (II) they create a truthful view of the universe, objects, facts and human beings by seeing or meditating in a certain personal way; (III) they reproduce the personal views of the world in fiction scrupulously and move readers; and (IV) this reproduction is made with so much dexterity and simplicity that it is impossible for the readers to understand the writer's plans and intentions.

A fictional work ventilates personal views of the world based on realistic observation of the world and engages one in meditation or personal creation to move the readers. But the main focus of a fictional work is not on moving, influencing or impressing readers but to make them think and understand the deeper meaning of the

Amma Raj Joshi, Ph. D., is a Professor of English at Tribhuvan University. He is also a poet, critic and short story writer.

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world, and that too with such plans and intentions which are not readily perceivable, intelligible and accessible to the readers. Is Mrs. Mallard's exalted whisper "free, free, free!" on hearing the news of her husband's death from her sister Josephine readily perceivable? Is the concluding remark of the story, "The Story of an Hour," "When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease--of joy that kills" readily perceivable? Not really! But the presentation of the state of Mrs. Mallard's mind and her death evoke a great sense of curiosity and lead readers to a state of exultation the way short stories normally do.

Tradition of Short Story as a GenreHuman history is accompanied by the wonders of storytelling since creation.Mythical stories of creation and destruction, of divine and humans, of war and peace, of heroes and battles, of witches and fairies, of the fight between good and evilextend far back long beforethe invention of printing press. Stories appeared mainly in factual form—historical or factual narratives about battles or heroic deeds—and in fictional forms—stories meant to entertain or to instruct. The first tales were that of the oral tradition like creation myths which were inherent to every human culture.

The next phase of storiesis that of the beast fables intended to give a moral lesson. The fables of Aesop, where animal characters were largely used, are popular, and the form of fables are at times used by the modern writers. Later brief stories got space in The Bible as religious parables.

In the long narratives of the classical and postclassical literature of Greece and Rome, short tales were included. Stories from Asian cultures like Panchatantra and Arabian Nights provided to Europe folk and traditional material for storytelling. Hindu epics have been the reservoirs of narratives.

In the Medieval period in Europe, short stories were mostly written in verse form with heroic and comic form for devotional or instructive purposes. In the fourteenth century, secular tales both in prose and verse became popular; specially prose stories of Italian writer Giovanni Boccaccio. In English, Chaucer's the Canterbury Tales included both religious and secular narratives in verse. Both Boccaccio and Chaucer wanted to ensure that their stories gave pleasure and moral instruction. The stories were distrusted as entertainment in the Medieval period. Most of the Renaissance storytellers followed Boccaccian tendency of upholding stories for religious and moral values. It was only in the 18th century that fictional narratives evolved in the forms of modern stories and novels with secular themes. With the publication of various periodicals, with the rapid growth of readers and with the growing market for professional story writers, story writing took a leap. Gothic tales, rogue stories, satires, adventure stories and sentimental stories were published in the periodicals. The spirit of the romantic period in Europe in the 19th century which emphasized originality and imagination further popularized stories. Periodical writers paved way for the short story that we know now.

Most people hold that the short story did not develop until the 19th century although novel had begun a century before. German writers like Goethe (1749-1832) primarily developed imaginative narratives we call short stories. Grim brothers assembled tales based on the folk material. On reading these stories, Washington Irving wrote the American versions of European folktales. Back in England, Walter Scott published the English modern short stories thereafter. Later this trend spread all over Europe and America. Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allan Poe and Nikolai Gogol emerged as influential writers of short fiction during the Romantic period. In the mid 19th century, romantic mode gave way to realism and realistic short stories like

that of Gustave Flaubert and Leo Tolstoy. Making an arduous journey from romantic, realistic, detective and modern psychological archetypes, short story writing has come to a phase where authors have explored a variety of patterns, forms and thematic subjects of short stories. Many story writers explore the inner workings of the characters' mind and use the stream of consciousness technique. Maupassant and Anton Chekhov were the most influential short fiction writers writing realist stories inventing new content and form of the short story. As they did not follow any religious, philosophical and political beliefs but pondered over ordinary human existence, they were considered the modern short story writers. Maupassant's tightly plotted stories end with decisive action whereas Chekhov's plots are less detailed, and lack decisive action. The next generation experimental writers of stories more influenced by Chekhov wereJoseph Conrad, James Joyce, Franz Kafka, D. H. Lawrence, Virginia Woolf, Katherine Mansfield and the like. The American writers, Sherwood Anderson, William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, Katherine Anne Porter and Richard Wright were influenced both by Maupassant and Chekhov.Short story writers have explored a variety of patterns since the end of the modernist period. Some writers choose tight plots with decisive ending; others choose less tightly plotted stories with less decisive ending.

At present, stories are categorized in two forms by literary critics: “traditional stories” and “Modern stories”. Traditional stories are plotted and closed as written by writers ranging from Poe to Maupassant and modern stories are less plotted and mostly open as written by writers like Chekhov and Joyce. The contemporary short story is flexible and can be mostly examined on a thematic and aesthetic range. South African writer, Nadine Gordimer, has said that the short story is so flexible that it may be suited to "convey the quality of human life, where contact is more like the flash of fire flies, in and out, now here, now there, in darkness. Short story writers see by the light of the flash; theirs is the art of the only thing one can be sure of--the present moment" (qtd. in Charters1605).The modern short story writers capture the present time; what determines the short story are not simply historical and geographical determinants but the writer's attitude towards life that decides the writer's sense of reality and the literary style or technique of expression. In other words, it can be said that the modern short story is mostly determined by the attitude of the writer and his perception of reality. Even the style is influenced by the attitude of the writer. Historical and geographical determinant may shape the writer's attitude and in that sense they are also significant.

After reflecting over the tradition of short story in its historicity, it is pertinent to explore how creative writers in general and short story writers in particular transform with poetic precision"lies"into "delightful spectacle." The short story writers indiscriminately make use of material from folk reservoir of the collective memory of a society, religion, history and place for their writing. With their imagination, they shape the material accurately so as to make an appeal to the emotions and reflect upon human life. Ann Charters, therefore, says: ". . .in a sense all fiction whether short story, long story or novel-- is "lies." Paradoxically, however, the measure of success for all fiction is how true it is to our emotions, how accurately it reflects the life we all live" (3). She is right to say that short stories rely on resources that may not be factual, but the power of the stories lies on their accurate representation of a person or event so as to appeal and shock the reader with its delineation. When the writers are capable of doing that, they can make the fictional more trustworthy than the factual and give delight to the reader. Because good stories have power to emotively move the readers and power to transform the human societies not by force but by way

4

Healthy Living Through Herbal RemediesRajendra Gyawali, MSc, PhD

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“Despite unprecedented leap in medical science, herbal remedies are still ‘an alternative treatment’ for alleviating and preventing a number of chronic and acute health issues.”

Background Plants are reliable source of major foods such as cereals, tubers, legumes, vegetable oils, vitamins, minerals etc. They are also the source of a wide range of products used in industries, raw material precursor of traditional and modern medicines and dietary supplements. It is estimated that 2500 plant species have been domesticated worldwide, with over 160 plant families contributing one or more crop species. Following the development of herbal remedies, several physicians have contributed to develop crude drugs with the potential to cure diseases. Currently plants are well researched, formulated and manufactured in modern framework as food, medicine, cosmetic and dietary supplements rather than in the form of traditional preparations or conventional dosage forms. Many ancient documents reveal that plants were used medicinally in China, India, Egypt and Greece long before the beginning of Christian era. About 200 years ago, the first pharmacologically active pure compound, morphine, was produced from opium extracted from seed pods of the poppy plant. This discovery showed that drugs from plants can be purified and administered in precise dosages as medicine. Many conventional drugs have plant origin. A century ago, most of the few effective drugs were plant-based. Contribution of such natural products in drug discovery shows that some were recently approved as drug while some of the natural product based drugs are in clinical studies. About 25% of the drugs prescribed worldwide are derived from plants such as morphine (Opium plant – as analgesic medicine), reserpine (Ephedra plant – as bronchodilator in asthma), digoxin (Digitalis plant – heart failure), vincristine (Vinca plant – blood cancer), taxol (Taxus plant – breast cancer).

Herbs as Home RemediesThe consumption of herbs is increasing steadily throughout the world as an alternative treatment for alleviating and preventing number of health issues. Herbal remedies are naturally occurring, plant-derived substances that are used to treat illnesses within local or regional healing practices. Large populations in developing countries still rely on traditional practitioners and herbs for their primary care. There are multiple reasons patients still use herbs throughout the world for health promotion and treatment of diseases. Patients use home remedies or natural products for illness because they are locally available, cost effective, pure, and with less side effects. Currently, herbs are also applied for the treatment of chronic and acute conditions and various ailments & problems such as cardiovascular disease, prostate problems, depression, inflammation, and to boost the immune system, to name but a few. Beside medicine, usage of traditional remedies is also found to increase advanced and new infectious type of diseases. Scientists have now recognized that even mild nutritional deficiencies can create subtle disease symptoms and these deficiency signs can be eased through detoxification, dietary improvements and nutritional supplementation. These days, herbs are widely available to all, and with the increase in consumption of traditionally used herbs as key ingredients within their regular foods. Herbs can be consumed in different ways and forms such as whole herb, teas, syrup, essential oils, ointments, rubs, powder, capsules, and tablets that contain an extract or powdered form of a raw herb. During inhalation of essential oils the molecular structure of an essential oil goes to lungs, diffuse across tiny air sacs into the surrounding blood capillaries and eventually find their way into the systemic circulation from where they exert their therapeutic effect. An aroma therapy massage, bath, vapor, compresses etc are effective ways of treating many local complaints including headaches, anxiety and insomnia. There are

555several home remedies but few common useful herbal medicines are described below:Ginger: Ginger naturally relieves nausea, loss of appetite, motion sickness, and pain. Combining ginger, honey, & lemon in tea to ease an upset stomach. Mentha: Mentha has carminative & weight loss property, provides relief from nausea, depression, fatigue & headache. It can be mixed with green tea leaves for a restorative drink.Turmeric: Turmeric prevents heart disease, metabolic syndrome, Alzheimer’s, and alternative cancer treatment. It is antiseptic in nature & also is useful for skin conditions like psoriasis, acne, and eczema. Garlic: It is useful to reduce bad cholesterol, improves immune system, reduces blood pressure & prevents risk of cardiovascular diseases. Camomile: Flower heads relieve indigestion and colic, anxiety, tension, skin inflammations & irritations.Lavender: Even smelling calms and relaxes mind & promotes restful sleep. It also eases pain and when applied to cuts & bruises functions as an antiseptic.Tamarind: Alone, or in combination with lime juice, honey, milk, the pulp is effective as a digestive, remedy for bile disorders. In native practice, the pulp is applied on inflammations. Used in a gargle for sore throat mixed with salt, as a liniment for rheumatism.Sesame: Sesame oil is rich in unsaturated fatty acids which are useful for antioxidant property. It reduces the risk of heart attack & stroke. Olive: Olive oil is rich in unsaturated fatty acids. It is used to reduce the bad cholesterol, good for heart.Isabgol: Isabgol cures chronic constipation & reduces strain during bowel movements. It regulates the blood glucose level & insulin. It reduces the absorption of fats & glucose. Lemongrass: Lemongrass tea is useful to reduce cholesterol. Oil helps to combat diuretic & nervous stress-related conditions, muscle pain & headaches. Aloe: Leaf juice with water is useful as laxative. It is also useful as anti-inflammation & wound healing agent.Capsicum: Used as an analgesic in topical form. It also cures colds & sore throats, improves digestion. Liquorice: Mainly used to treat peptic ulcers. It has demulcent & expectorant properties.Saffron: Traditionally used to cure various diseases. Coffee: Caffeine has hypoalgesic property.Ginger: It has analgesic property. It also helps digestion, used in cold, soothing sore throat.Cinnamon: It is antioxidant and anti-inflammatory. It also has antidiabetic property. Pomegranate: Peel is good for teeth and gums. It possesses anti-proliferative activities against different cancer cells.Chamomile: Used for its sedative & antispasmodic, antiseptic, and anti-inflammatory effects. Watermelon: A fruit rich of l-Citrulline, a precursor for arginine which detoxifies ammonia. Contains high concentration of lycopene, a carotenoid that may have beneficial effects on the risk of cancer & cardiovascular disease. Geranium: In all of its forms help to balance hormones in women and is good for the skin. This plant and its aroma can be both relaxing & uplifting as well as antidepressant.

Pepper: Piperine is the major constituent of the oil extracted from

black pepper, and is the main compound that gives black pepper its pungency. An isomer of piperine, chavicine, also contributes in various ailments.

Basil: Natural remedy that helps improve our stress response, reduce inflammation & pain related to inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, and fights off disease.

Herbs as Green Dietary Food SupplementsDietary supplement are sources of vitamin, mineral, added chemical substance, herbal product, botanicals, amino acids, or other ingestible preparation that are added to the diet to benefit human health. These represent a broad category of ingestible products that are distinguishable from conventional food & drug. Products made from botanicals, or plants that are used solely for internal use are called herbal supplements. Herbal supplements come in all forms – dried, chopped, powdered, capsule, or liquid – and can be used in various ways; however they cannot be referred to treating specific medical conditions. Dietary supplements can be beneficial to human health under certain conditions, but cannot replace complete & balanced daily meals. The most commonly used products are calcium products for bone health, antioxidants for heart health, omega fatty acids for brain, lignans to lower cholesterol, protein supplements to enhance body function in sports etc. Some common dietary supplements are described below:

Moringa: Leaf contains rich source of protein, vitamin A, C & E, calcium, potassium & iron. It is useful for healthy blood circulations, anti-ageing, anti-inflammation and protects the cardiovascular system.Alfaalfa: It is a rich source of vitamins A, C, E & K4; and minerals calcium, potassium, phosphorous & iron. Alfalfa seems to prevent cholesterol absorption in the gut.Carrot: A good source of several vitamins & minerals, especially vitamin A (from beta-carotene), biotin, vitamin K, potassium & vitamin B6. Beta-carotene is useful for cancer prevention and possible risk of stroke. Tomato: It is a great source of Carotenoids, vitamin C, potassium, folate & vitamin K. Lycopene is major component that enhances the expression of a gene and acts as anticarcinogeneic agent.Wheat grass: Fresh juice offers almost all the nutrients present in it i.e. minerals, enzymes, chlorophyll, vitamins & amino acids. Wheat grass vitality drink chemicals might have antioxidant properties and also cleanse the digestive system. Ginseng: Rhizome contains vitamins and & minerals. It is referred to as a general well-being medication, because its polyphenolics affect different systems of the body. Ginkgo: Ginkgo seems to control high blood pressure, which might help the brain, eyes, ears, and legs function better. It may act as an antioxidant to slow down Alzheimer's disease.Spirulina: It is rich in β-Carotene which is converted to vitamin A inside our body. Protein, enzymes & minerals are also obtained from spirulina. Garcinea: It contains an active ingredient called hydroxycitric acid which boosts fat-burning and cuts back appetite in studies. It also works as a sliming herbal supplement.

Green coffee beans: They have higher levels of chlorogenic acid. Green coffee extract, because of its chlorogenic acid content, inhibits fat accumulation by regulating stress biomolecules. The extract also modulates glucose metabolism.

Green tea: The active components of green tea that are associated with weight loss are caffeine and catechins, primarily

6epigallocatechin gallate are strong antioxidant agents which are beneficial for longevity.

Chia Seed: It is useful for brain, heart, muscle-building & bone health.

Linseed: Linseed contains Omega-3 essential fatty acids that have been shown to help heart-health. Each tablespoon of ground flaxseed contains about 1.8 grams of plant omega-3s. Lignans, which have cholesterol lowering & antioxidant qualities.

Bottle gourd: Bottle gourd is high in dietary fibre, vitamin C, riboflavin, zinc, thiamine, iron, magnesium, manganese etc. It is also low in saturated fat & cholesterol. It is considered to be useful in conditions of constipation, urinary disorders, excessive thirst due to severe diarrhea, and diabetes.

Guar Gum: Guar gum dietary fiber helps to promote weight loss by acting as a bulking agent in the gut, delaying gastric emptying, increasing feelings of satiety, and, theoretically, decreasing appetite and food intake.

Herbs as Cosmetic AgentHerbs as cosmetic agents improve the functioning/texture of the skin by boosting collagen growth, eradicating harmful effects of free radicals, maintaining keratin structure in good condition and making the skin healthier. Ayurveda has numerous natural medications for dandruff treatment wherein the most common herbs include neem, kapoor, henna, curcuma, Indian gooseberry, bhringraj. Herbs such as green tea, calendula, turmeric, coconut oil, jojoba oil, olive oil, and aloe are used for skin care treatment. Similarly, golden root, carrot, papaya, gingko etc are used for anti-ageing purpose in cosmetic formulations.

Shikakai: It contains vitamin C & D, along with other properties that make it ideal for hair care, removes dandruff, makes hair softer, thick & shiny, and prevents dry scalp.

Amala: Amala contains vitamins and phytochemicals which nourish hair from root, repair and make it shiny.

Olive: Oil is useful for skin moisturizing, skin elasticity & its regenerative purposes.

Almond: Oil soothes skin irritation & inflammation, lightens dark circles below eye, relieves dry & itching skin, cures chapped lips & body rashes, and nourishes hair.

Aloe: Aloe has very good effect in skin diseases. It is also found effective in treating wrinkles, stretch marks & pigmentations.

Neem: Leaf extract is applied externally on boils & anti-acne for the betterment of face skin. Oil with its natural anti-bacterial properties deep cleanses the skin.

Beetroot: Ingestion of beet root can be one of the useful means to prevent skin cancer.

Calendula: The flowers have been used as remedies for burns, inflammatory skin diseases, which improvises the collagen synthesis tissue.

Green tea: Green tea polyphenolics can rejuvenate aged skin cells to start reproducing, keeping the skin younger looking.

Cannabis: Powder of the leaves used as a dressing for diseases dermatitis, eczema, scabies, psoriasis, and acne.

Saffron: Flower is effective in treatment of psoriasis & useful for glowing skin.

Lavender: It has been reported to inhibit the histamine release from the inflammated cells.

Chamomile: It aids in skin cell regeneration & acts as an antioxidant, fighting free radical damage on the skin.

Rosemary: It is effective in preventing cutaneous photo damage of skin by UV radiations of sun light as well as stimulates hair growth.

Papaya: Papaya is one the best fruit for incorporating in skin care regime because it has an enzyme papain that is responsible for skin whitening, reducing unwanted hair, exfoliating dead skin, repairing ageing skin etc.

Turmetic: It is used in skin care preparations because of its antioxidant and antiaging activity. Turmeric powder paste is used for treatment of inflammation & skin injury and also as an antiseptic mainly due to high curcumin content.

Henna: Leaf is used as a natural hair colorant; eliminates dandruff; strengthens splitting nails; improves hair growth, prevents hair loss & early graying.

Onion: Onion extract gel improves the appearance of scars following excision, scar softness, redness, texture and global appearance of skin.

Centella: Centella significantly improves hair length & make hair dense. It is used in facial care for anti-wrinkle, hydration, cleansing & exfoliation purposes.

Lemon: Lemon fruit juice is often touted in the world of skin care as a natural option for brightening skin & hair care.

Orange Peel: Orange peels are rich in hesperidin – good for skin as well as help to lower high blood pressure & cholesterol.

ConclusionConsuming herbs can help to prevent diseases and manage a regular wellness routine thereby boosting general health, longevity and comfort. Since many components in each plant work synergistically, the whole plant or extract is the best to administer as remedy drugs. While we often speak of nutritional deficiency causing illness, excess nutrition caused by overeating can also cause obesity and atherosclerosis, and their attendant problems are due to excess or inappropriate nutrition. We can keep our ‘self’ in tip top condition for longevity and vitality using botanicals to support mind, body and soul in a state of harmony.

ReferencesTabassum N and Hamdani M. Plants used to treat skin diseases.

Pharmacogn Rev. 2014. 8(15): 52–60.

Abdel-Aziz S.M., Aeron A., and Kahil T.A. Health Benefits andPossible Risks of Herbal Medicine. Microbes in Food and Health2016. 97-116.

Joshi LS, Pawar HA. Herbal Cosmetics and Cosmeceuticals: AnOverview. Nat Prod Chem Res 2015. 3: 170. doi: 10.4172/2329-6836.1000170.

Dirzo R, Raven PH. Global state of biodiversity and loss. AnnualReview of Environment and Resources 2003. 28: 137–167.

Shan B, Cai Y, Brooks JD, Corke H . The in vitro antibacterialactivity of dietary spice and medicinal herb extract. Int J Food Microbiol2007. 117:112–119.

Gyawali R. Hand Book of Pharmacognosy, Published by HamroNabodhit Pustak, Putalisadak. 2013.

Rajendra Gyawali, Ph. D., is an Associate Professor, Department of Pharmacy, Kathmandu University.

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Bank in your PalmYagya Banjade

“E-banking in today’s hypercompetitive world has become a cost cutting measure to improve on efficiency, to build up customer loyalty & satisfaction, and hence profitability of the Banks & Financial Institutions in the long run.”

The obligation to be physically present at the bank counter for banking transaction has become the thing of past. Customers can make and get information about banking transactions immediately from any locations. In addition to that, they can order for the cheque book and transfer money and make deposits with the help of their hand-held devices. With the development of Information Technology (IT) and adoption of digital and internet-based services by the Banks and Financial Institutions (BFIs), customers have got the facility to make online transactions and get real-time banking updates. IT-based services have become popular in a very short time span. This technology-enabled modern banking system has transformed the cumbersome physical process into a swift exercise and saved the time & expenses of the customers as the transactions can be made without queuing up for hours at the bank counters in a paperless way.

With the expansion of mobile technology, number of the Nepalese having cell phone has reached 92 percent of the population. It has inspired the BFIs to aggressively extend their mobile & internet banking facilities across the country. As a result, people are accustomed to paying their utility bills through mobile & internet banking from their homes and & offices.

“We used to have problems while paying the school fee of our

less complex. Another reason behind the rapid expansion of digital banking is the facility to make transactions from foreign countries. Most of the individuals opt for mobile banking while companies and organizations choose internet banking. Mobile and internet banking has greater importance in urban and busy lifestyle.

The BFIs generally collect deposits and mobilize loans. But with the help of e-banking, they are offering other many facilities to their customers. One can buy goods from shopping malls, book cinema and bus tickets, pay taxi and restaurant bills and make other payments through the new digital facilities. Babin Singh Gadtaula, Deputy Director General of Sanima Bank says that the customers need not to go to the banks to check the balance amount in their account, get information about transactions, top-up their mobile phone and transfer money. Customers are obtaining financial as well as non-financial facilities from the mobile and internet banking.

Interbank Electronic PaymentCustomers now have the facility of inter-BFI electronic payment system. This recently implemented system allows them to transfer money or make payments from their account in a bank to another bank and financial institution. Before the new system was implemented, customers could only transfer the money to an account in the same bank. However, customers need to pay additional charges to make an inter-bank transfer.

The electronic system is launched to make the financial transactions fast, transparent and minimize risks. Nepal Clearing House Limited

children because of our busy schedule. But now I don’t go to the bank to pay the fee, I do it via internet,” says Sita Rayamajhi, an Assistant Professor in a private college in Kathmandu. The modern banking has simplified the payment of utility bills like water, electricity and telephone. People had to spend at least a day at each of the utility service offices while traffic congestion, long queues and slow processing would add woe to the delay.

Businessman Deepak Kharel says that the modern IT-based banking facilities have offered much relief to his busy schedule. He teaches in a college in the morning and operates a grocery shop in the afternoon. “Mobile and internet banking has saved my time. Now I can pay the bills or transfer money from my mobile phone,” he said.

According to the bankers, since the mobile and internet banking offers transactions and information facility at the low cost, customers are attracted towards the digital banking. This is fast, simple and

(NCHL) is managing this system which allows the customers to transfer money, pay the dividends, return the money after the Initial Public Offering (IPO), and pay the bills, premiums, social security allowance, pension/salary and remittance.

Low costCustomers are getting maximum facilities at low cost. However, service charges vary according to the BFIs as they charge the fee based on the service quality and effectiveness. Most of the banks charge Rs. 100 to Rs. 500 for the modern banking service. Experts say that the expansion of the technology and service and growing competition will force the BFIs to lower such charges and more people will use the IT-based banking services.

Online Share TransactionShares can be bought or sold online now. Share investors had to go to the securities brokers to make such transactions until recently.

Yagya Banjade is a Sub-editor of Kantipur National Daily. He is also a Senior Lecturer of Economics at Trinity International SS & College.

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of making an appeal, Leslie Marmon Silko, in Ceremony,attributes to story reading more values than mere entertainment; she takes them as shields that protect, preserve and promote human health, happiness, culture and civilization. She views:

I will tell you something about stories, [he said]They aren't just entertainment.Don't be fooled.They are all we have, you see,all we have to fight offillness and death.you don't have anything if you don't have stories.Their evil is mightybut it can't stand up to our stories. So they try to destroy the storieslet the stories be confused or forgotten.They would like thatThey would be happyBecause we would be defenseless then. (3)

All this power to protect and give delight that the "lies" possess is because they are so intimately accurate; because the storytellers "try and catch the color of life itself" (James 866); because they successfully apply art of writing, they can make stories delightful as well. Henry James views that "The successful application of any art is a delightful spectacle" (855) and assumes that bad application of any art cannot supply delightful experience because there is no possibility of helping the "soul gain an astonishing sense of freedom" (Woolf). Until writers create a situation where an individual gains a sense of freedom, a type of liberation from any type of domination or imposition, the possibility of providing delight is rare. Isabel Allende in "The Short Story" opines, "Writers, painters, musicians, poets--each one imagining reality and reinventing the past in original ways-- have been able to invent a choir of diverse but harmonious voices" (23). The harmonious voices that the artistic works create lead the work of art towards a delightful spectacle. Stories are about fictional characters, events, incidents, but they represent them in such a life like manner that they give a more truthful impression and that is what moves the readers.

Let me conclude with a reminder: How many of you have taken a big

sigh or even wept or remained untouched when Tagore's Cabuliwallah showed the ink smeared print of her daughter's hand he had kept in his pocket next to his heart as her memory and revealed that he used to come to meet Mini because he saw his daughter in her? What do the mother and the son in "The Rocking Horse Winner" make you think? Have you met women (or people) like the one in "Luncheon" who reiterates "I don't take more than one thing at a time?" Have you ever encountered a girl who had the same predicament similar to that of Julie in "Debdie and Julie who is compelled to deliver a baby in a derelict shed with only a stray dog as the witness"? Have you ever tried to see your face on their faces? Read more stories; you will see your face on their faces; their wounds will be your wounds and their smiles will be your smiles. And you will find ways to heal the wounds and muster the smiles in stories you read.

Works Cited Allende,Isabel. "The Short Story." Journal of Modern Literature, vol.20,

No. 1 (Summer, 1996, pp. 21-28.Charters, Ann. Introduction. The Story and Its Writer: An Introduction

to Short Fiction,Bedford Books, Boston, 1995, p. 3.Chopin, Kate. "The Story of an Hour." Ann Charters, pp. 320-321.De Stael, Germaine Necker. "From Essay on Fictions." The Norton

Anthology of Theory and Criticism, edited by Vincent B. Leitch et al., Norton, New York and London, 2001, pp. 594-604.

Hunter, Adrian. The Cambridge Introduction to the Short Story inEnglish. Cambridge. New York,CUP,2007.

James, Henry. "The Art of Fiction." Vincent B. Leitch et al., pp. 851-869.

Johnson, Samuel. "On Fiction." Vincent B. Leitch et al., pp. 458-466.Lessing, Doris. "Debbie and Julie." Ann Charters, 833-847.Maupassant, Guy De. The Writer's Goal." Translated by Mallay

Charters. Ann Charter, pp. 1456-1458.Pasco, Allan H. "On Defining Short Stories." New Literary History,

Vol. 22, No. 2, Probings: Art, Criticism, genre (Spring 1991), pp. 407-422.

Scofield, Martin. The Cambridge Introduction to the American ShortStory. Cambridge/New York,CUP,2007.

Silko, Leslie Marmon. Ceremony. New York, Penguin Books, 1977.

Investors can make investment in the stock market from anywhere in the world. The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) Limited had launched fully automated system from last November.

To make an online share transaction, an investor should be registered at a securities broker and get user name and password which allow him to enter the NEPSE’s online system and make transactions himself.

5.8 Million Users of Mobile BankingNepal Rastra Bank statistics up to December 2018 shows that there are 5.8 million mobile banking users – 5.4 million customers of commercial banks, 400,000 of development banks and a few thousands of finance companies. Likewise, 792,000 use internet banking of which 760,000 are the customers of commercial banks, 27,000 of development banks and the rest are of finance companies. BFIs are providing branchless banking through 1,320 units across the country.

Similarly, there are 2,991 ATMs in the country – of which 2,654 are of commercial banks, 230 development banks and 35 finance companies. The number of debit card holders has reached 5.85 million while 85,000 use credit cards. Number of pre-paid card users has crossed 61,000.

Tradition of . . .

RisksThe modern online banking is not all about the facilities and speed; it has also become the cause of risks in the financial sector. Online-system induced risk is comparatively large and fatal. Therefore, the users of modern banking should be aware. A small negligence can cause a huge loss. Many people share ATM password, bank account number and log-in ID with their family members, relatives and friends. There are instances of fraud committed by the relatives. To be safe from the theft of password and money, email and ATM passwords and bank account should not be shared with any other person unless there is an immediate need. Likewise, noting down passwords in a diary or cell phone can only maximize the risk as they can be stolen or lost.

Safe and ManagedThere have been efforts to make the modern banking and payment system safe and well-managed. The financial sector regulator, Nepal Rastra Bank, has established a dedicated department – Payment System Management - to supervise and regulate the IT-based banking system. It aims at bringing all electronic payments in the regulatory framework.

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Recommender systems or Recommendation Systems are globally used subclasses of information filtering systems that seek to predict the “rating” or “preference” that a user would give to an item. These systems deal with the problem of information overload by filtering vital information fragment out of large amount of dynamically generated information according to user’s preferences, interest, or observed behavior about item.

Recommender systems are beneficial to both service providers and users. They reduce transaction costs of finding and selecting items in an online shopping environment. Recommendation systems have also proved to improve decision making process and quality. In e-commerce setting, recommender systems enhance revenues, for the fact that they are effective means of selling more products. In scientific libraries, recommender systems support users by allowing them to move beyond catalog searches. Therefore, the need to use efficient and accurate recommendation techniques within a system that will provide relevant and dependable recommendations for users cannot be over-emphasized.

Recommender systems typically produce a list of recommendations in one of two ways through collaborative and content-based filtering or the personality-based approach . Collaborative filtering

Recommendation System, Similarity Measure and Collaborative Filtering

Bijaya Thapa

approaches build a model from a user’s past behavior (items previously purchased or selected and/or numerical ratings given to those items) as well as similar decisions made by other users. This model is then used to predict items (or ratings for items) that the user may have an interest in. Content-based filtering approaches utilize a series of discrete characteristics of an item in order to recommend additional items with similar properties. These approaches are often combined to form hybrid recommender systems.

Similarity MeasuresRecommender systems recommend us items that are similar to the ones that the user has already liked or that are liked by other users with similar interest as us. In any case, the notion of similarity is required between users or items. In statistics and related fields, a similarity measure (or similarity function) is a real-valued function that quantifies the notion of similarity between two objects. Although no single definition of a similarity measure exists, usually such measures are in some sense the inverse of distance metrics: they take on large values for similar objects and either zero or a negative value for very dissimilar objects. There are various similarity or distance measures for various types of objects. In this project, the main concern is with the objects that are vectors or real numbers. For such objects, following popular measures are available:

Bijaya Thapa is a BSc CSIT VIII Semester Student at Trinity International College.

10I. Cosine Similarity Given two vectors of attributes, A, B ∈ ℝn, the cosine similarity, cos (θ), is represented using a dot product and magnitude as:

Sim (A, B) = cos(θ)=

II. Pearson Correlation SimilarityThe Pearson correlation similarity of two users x, y is defined as:

Collaborative FilteringCollaborative filtering also referred to as social filtering, filters information by using the recommendations of other people. It is based on the idea that people who agreed in their evaluation of certain items in the past are likely to agree again in the future. A person who wants to read a book for example, might ask for recommendations from friends. The recommendations of some friends who have similar interests are trusted more than recommendations from others. This information is used in the decision on which book to read.In the newer, narrower sense, collaborative filtering is a method of making automatic predictions (filtering) about the interests of a user by collecting preferences or taste information from many users (collaborating). The idea of collaborative filtering is in finding users in a community that share appreciations .If two users have same or almost same rated items in common, then they have similar tastes.

2. Infer the tastes of the current user by examining the matrix and matching that user’s data

Collaborative filtering is a domain-independent prediction technique for content that cannot easily and adequately be described by metadata such as books and music. Collaborative filtering technique works by building a database (user-item matrix) of preferences for items by users. It then matches users with relevant interest and preferences by calculating similarities between their profiles to make recommendations. Such users build a group called neighborhood. A user gets recommendations to those items that he has not rated before but that were already positively rated by users in his neighborhood. The output produced by CF can be either predictions or list of recommendation. Prediction is a numerical value, Pij, expressing the predicted score of item j for the user i, while Recommendation is a list of top-N items that the user will like the most. The technique of collaborative filtering can be divided into two categories:

Memory Based TechniqueThe items that were already rated by the user before play a relevant role in searching for a neighbor that shares appreciation with him. Once a neighbor of a user is found, different algorithms can be used to combine the preferences of neighbors to generate recommendations.Due to the effectiveness of these techniques, they have achieved widespread success in real life applications. Memory-based CF can be achieved in two ways—through user-based and item-based techniques. User based collaborative filtering technique calculates similarity between users by comparing their ratings on the same item, and it then computes the predicted rating for an item by the active user as a weighted average of the ratings of the item by users similar to the active user where weights are the similarities of these users with the target item. If certain majority of the customers has the same taste then they join into one group. Recommendations are given to user based on evaluation of items by other users form the same group, with whom he/she shares common preferences. If the item was positively rated by the community, it will be recommended to the user Item based filtering techniques compute predictions using the similarity between items and not the similarity between users. It builds a model of item similarities by retrieving all items rated by an active user from the user-item matrix, it determines how similar the retrieved items are to the target item, then it selects the k most similar items and their corresponding similarities are also determined. Prediction is made by taking a weighted average of the active users rating on the similar items .

Model Based TechniqueThis technique employs the previous ratings to learn a model in order to improve the performance of Collaborative filtering Technique. The model building process can be done using machine learning or data mining techniques. These techniques can quickly recommend a set of items for the fact that they use pre-computed model and they have proved to produce recommendation results that are similar to neighborhood-based recommender techniques. Examples of these techniques include Dimensionality Reduction technique such as Singular Value Decomposition, Matrix Completion Technique, Latent Semantic methods, and Regression and Clustering. Model-based techniques analyze the user-item matrix to identify relations between items they use these relations to compute the list of top-N recommendations. Model-based techniques resolve the sparsity problems associated with recommendation systems. Some model-based algorithms for recommendations are frequent pattern mining, clustering, regression, and many other.

The underlying assumption of the collaborative filtering approach is that if a person A has the same opinion as a person B on an issue, A is more likely to have B’s opinion on a different issue x than to have the opinion on x of a person chosen randomly. Collaborative filtering systems have many forms, but many common systems can be reduced to two steps:1. Look for user who shares the same rating patterns with the

active user (the user whom the prediction is for).2. Use the ratings from those like-minded users found in step 1 to

calculate a prediction for the active user.Alternatively, item-based collaborative filtering (users who bought x also bought y), proceeds in an item-centric manner:1. Build an item-item matrix determining relationships between

pairs of items.

Figure: Collaborative Filtering

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lPentagon International College 2013, 16, 17, 18, 19

lSainik Awasiya Mahabidhyalaya 2015, 17 , 18, 19

lSaipal Academy 2012

lSOS Hermann Gmeiner H S School 2013, 16, 19

lSouthwestern State College 2012 – 19

lSt. Lawrence College 2015, 17, 19

lSt. Xavier’s College 2012 –19

lSt. Xavier’s School 2015, 16, 18

lTimes International College 2017, 18

lTrinity International College 2012 – 19

lTriyog High School 2018, 19

lTriton International College 2018, 19

lUniglobe HSS/College 2016, 18, 19

lUniversal College 2012, 13

lVS Niketan College 2014, 15

lXavier International College 2013

Welcome to the Expo 2019!

Blended Learning & InnovationREVIEW

l Budhanilkantha School 2012, 15

l Campion Academy 2013, 14

lCanvas International College 2012, 15, 19

lGEMS Institute of Higher Education 2014, 16, 18

lGolden Gate International College 2013 – 19

lGrammer Public H S School 2013, 17

lHimalayan WhiteHouse Int’l College 2012, 14, 18, 19

lKanjirowa National School 2012, 15, 17, 18, 19

lKathmandu BernHardt College 2014

lKathmandu Model H S School 2012, 13, 14,15, 16, 17

lKIST College 2016, 17, 18, 19

lLiverpool International College 2014

lNASA International College 2013, 14, 17, 18, 19

lNepal Mega College 2013

lNobel Academy 2012, 13, 16

lNIST College 2019

lOxbridge International College 2019

Participating Colleges in the Trinity Inter-College SciTech Exhibition-cum-Competition 2012-2019

The SciTech-&-Mgmt Expo is a unique blend of science, technology, and management. It furthers Trinity’s culture of excellence in education by correlating curricular, co-curricular, and extracurricular activities. The Expo focuses on the need for coupling scientific knowledge to managerial practice. Deeper knowledge about science & management disseminated through such events helps students to understand concept and find ways to tackle contemporary issues relating to green technology, infrastructural development, or natural resource management with a view to develop the nation. Open to all +2 and A level colleges in the valley, the Seventh Trinity SciTech-&-Mgmt Expo was held on 30 January 2018 (Magh 16,

2074). The event, incorporating participation of six Colleges for National Robotic League, fifteen Colleges for Inter-College SciTech Exhibition-cum-Competition, thirteen Projects for Intra-College SciTech Exhibition-cum-Competition and twenty four projects for Intra-College Management Exhibition-cum-Competition, was inaugurated by Prof Dr Chandra Mani Paudel, Chairman, National Examinations Board, Nepal, who keenly inspected all the projects. Thousands of visitors graced this splendid occasion. We expect greater participation this year and hope to draw outthe best from all the participating youngsters.