253 research outputs found
Gender Inequality and Traditional Social Norms as Predictors of Risky Sex among Men in the North Indian States of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand: Quantitative and Qualitative Analyses
No full textQuantitative data from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3) and qualitative data from an NIH-funded study in the north Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand were used to examine the relationship between men's risky sex (non-marital and unprotected sex) and their gender equality attitudes and expressed social norms. Gender equality dimensions in the quantitative analysis were developed based on men's attitudes towards wife-beating, feelings regarding wives ability to refuse sex, history of family violence, and views on whether women had the right to make household decisions and have financial autonomy. Logistic regression models were fit to explore the influence of gender equality dimensions on reported non-marital sex and condom use. Qualitative analysis explored how men's gender attitudes and expressed social norms were related to their risky sex. Quantitative analysis indicated that men who were more likely to report non-marital sex were those who had a history of family violence [OR=1.83; 95% CI=(1.05-3.17) for married men; OR=1.93; 95% CI=(1.44-2.59) for unmarried men], felt that wifebeating was acceptable [OR=1.93; 95% CI=(1.10-3.38) for married men], and felt that women should not have the right to refuse sex [OR=2.17; 95% CI=(1.05-4.48) for married men]. Men who were more likely to report using condoms during non-marital sex were those who felt that wife-beating was never acceptable, compared to men who felt that wife-beating was acceptable [OR=2.13; 95% CI=(1.35-3.36)]. Qualitative analysis revealed that men felt that women are sexually insatiable, should have no say over their own sexual needs, and be dependent on men to be sexually gratified. Men also indicated that certain restrictive social norms drove them to more, rather than less, non-marital sex. Men who reported no or inconsistent condom use felt that condoms prevented them from having "real" sex, that women did not have the right to request men to use condoms or to purchase condoms, and that men had the right to force women to have unprotected sex. Interventions that seek to curb the spread of STIs and HIV in India through reducing men's risky sex should promote a redefinition of men's traditional masculinity norms to incorporate acceptance of gender equality and prevention of violence against women
Writing Self, Writing Empire
No full textWriting Self, Writing Empire examines the life, career, and writings of the Mughal state secretary, or munshi, Chandar Bhan Brahman (d. ca. 1670), one of the great Indo-Persian poets and prose stylists of early modern South Asia. Chandar Bhan’s life spanned the reigns of four emperors: Akbar (1556–1605), Jahangir (1605–1627), Shah Jahan (1628–1658), and Aurangzeb ‘Alamgir (1658–1707), the last of the “Great Mughals” whose courts dominated the culture and politics of the subcontinent at the height of the empire’s power, territorial reach, and global influence. Chandar Bhan was a high-caste Hindu who worked for a series of Muslim monarchs and other officials, forming powerful friendships along the way; his experience bears vivid testimony to the pluralistic atmosphere of the Mughal court, particularly during the reign of Shah Jahan, the celebrated builder of the Taj Mahal. But his widely circulated and emulated works also touch on a range of topics central to our understanding of the court’s literary, mystical, administrative, and ethical cultures, while his letters and autobiographical writings provide tantalizing examples of early modern Indo-Persian modes of self-fashioning. Chandar Bhan’s oeuvre is a valuable window onto a crucial, though surprisingly neglected, period of Mughal cultural and political history. “Adds significant depth to our understanding of the intellectual and cultural atmosphere of the Mughal court at its height.” -RICHARD M. EATON, author of A Social History of the Deccan, 1300–1761 “The fullest study so far of the understudied phenomenon of Hindu writers of Persian. Through the prism of Chandar Bhan’s writings, Rajeev Kinra presents a holistic treatment of the cultural concerns of the Mughal empire’s Hindu ‘men of the pen.’” -NILE GREEN, author of Making Space: Sufis and Settlers in Early Modern India RAJEEV KINRA is Assistant Professor in the Department of History at Northwestern University
Writing Self, Writing Empire
No full textWriting Self, Writing Empire examines the life, career, and writings of the Mughal state secretary, or munshi, Chandar Bhan Brahman (d. ca. 1670), one of the great Indo-Persian poets and prose stylists of early modern South Asia. Chandar Bhan’s life spanned the reigns of four emperors: Akbar (1556–1605), Jahangir (1605–1627), Shah Jahan (1628–1658), and Aurangzeb ‘Alamgir (1658–1707), the last of the “Great Mughals” whose courts dominated the culture and politics of the subcontinent at the height of the empire’s power, territorial reach, and global influence. Chandar Bhan was a high-caste Hindu who worked for a series of Muslim monarchs and other officials, forming powerful friendships along the way; his experience bears vivid testimony to the pluralistic atmosphere of the Mughal court, particularly during the reign of Shah Jahan, the celebrated builder of the Taj Mahal. But his widely circulated and emulated works also touch on a range of topics central to our understanding of the court’s literary, mystical, administrative, and ethical cultures, while his letters and autobiographical writings provide tantalizing examples of early modern Indo-Persian modes of self-fashioning. Chandar Bhan’s oeuvre is a valuable window onto a crucial, though surprisingly neglected, period of Mughal cultural and political history. “Adds significant depth to our understanding of the intellectual and cultural atmosphere of the Mughal court at its height.” -RICHARD M. EATON, author of A Social History of the Deccan, 1300–1761 “The fullest study so far of the understudied phenomenon of Hindu writers of Persian. Through the prism of Chandar Bhan’s writings, Rajeev Kinra presents a holistic treatment of the cultural concerns of the Mughal empire’s Hindu ‘men of the pen.’” -NILE GREEN, author of Making Space: Sufis and Settlers in Early Modern India RAJEEV KINRA is Assistant Professor in the Department of History at Northwestern University
Community mental health practices in Kerala: challenges and opportunities for social work practice
No full textThis paper is based on community practice experience and a reflection on the community Mental Health well-being initiatives implemented in Kerala, the southernmost State of India as a collaborative effort of Australian Mental Health Practitioners and Indian Professionals in 2012. With the support of collaborating Australian partners, an International Centre for Wellbeing was started to initiate community mental health practices. Mental Health wellbeing is viewed as experiencing healthy or positive self esteem and contributing positively to the society with a sense of worthwhile. The major elements of mental health wellbeing initiatives encompass mental health promotion activities, which aim at increasing wellbeing, competence and resilience by creating conducive living environment and conditions. Decreasing mental health disorders are also included as the secondary result of mental health promotion activities. Partnerships in mental health practice between the professionals of two different nations, where human development indices are in two extremes, demand a synchronization of many professional attributes. Evidence based practices are inevitable in working with communities to enhance the wellbeing of people in a developing country. In this paper, the authors discuss the very nature of establishing collaboration, the design of community mental health programs and the delivery of services to people in Kerala. Further, based on the field evaluations and evidences gathered from the service by the first author, the presentation will explore the challenges and opportunities for social work practice in Kerala context
Advanced mechanics : from Euler's determinism to Arnold's chaos / S.G. Rajeev, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Department of Mathematics, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627.
No full textengineering bookfair2015Includes bibliographical references (page 159) and index.xiii, 163 pages
Representation learning for non-sequential data
No full textThesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2018.This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (pages 85-90).In this thesis, we design and implement new models to learn representations for sets and graphs. Typically, data collections in machine learning problems are structured as arrays or sequences, with sequential relationships between successive elements. Sets and graphs both break this common mold of data collections that have been extensively studied in the machine learning community. First, we formulate a new method for performing diverse subset selection using a neural set function approximation method. This method relies on the deep sets idea, which says that any set function s(X) has a universal approximator of the form f([sigma]x[xi]X [phi](x)). Second, we design a new variational autoencoding model for highly structured, sparse graphs, such as chemical molecules. This method uses the graphon, a probabilistic graphical model from mathematics, as inspiration for the decoder. Furthermore, an adversary is employed to force the distribution of vertex encodings to follow a target distribution, so that new graphs can be generated by sampling from this target distribution. Finally, we develop a new framework for performing encoding of graphs in a hierarchical manner. This approach partitions an input graph into multiple connected subgraphs, and creates a new graph where each node represents one such subgraph. This allows the model to learn a higher level representation for graphs, and increases robustness of graphical encoding to varying graph input sizes.by Rajeev Parvathala.M. Eng
Rhinophis roshanpererai Wickramasinghe, Vidanapathirana, Rajeev & Gower, 2017, sp. nov.
No full textRhinophis roshanpererai sp. nov. Figs. 1–5; Table 1 Holotype. NMSL 2016.08.0 1 NH (Figs. 2–3; Table 1), adult male, 207.9 mm SVL, Galkanda, Beragala, Badulla District, Uva Province, Sri Lanka (6° 45’ 07.98” N, 80° 57’ 20.23” E, elevation 940 m). Collected by L.J. Mendis Wickramasinghe, Dulan Ranga Vidanapathirana, and M. D. Gehan Rajeev, 10 May 2010. Paratypes. DWC 2016.05.0 3, adult female, 205.2 mm SVL (Fig. 4 A); DWC 2016.05.0 4, adult female, 218.2 mm SVL (Fig. 4 B–5). Collection data as for holotype. Diagnosis. A Rhinophis restricted to the Central Highlands of Sri Lanka with 17 dorsal scale rows at midbody, more than 160 and fewer than 175 ventral scales, a small tail shield with spines, three or four of which prominent, and lacking yellowish markings laterally or dorsally. Identification. The new uropeltid species is referred to Rhinophis because it has an eye that lies within an ocular scale (not so in Platyplectrurus Günther, 1868), has a clearly discrete tail shield, lacks a mental groove (present in Melanophidium Günther, 1864), lacks supra- or postoculars or temporals (at least one of which is present in Brachyophidium Wall, 1921, Platyplectrurus, Plectrurus Duméril, 1851, and Teretrurus Beddome, 1886), lacks midline contact between the nasals (present in Brachyophidium, Melanophidium, Platyplectrurus, Plectrurus, Pseudoplectrurus Boulenger, 1890, Teretrurus, and Uropeltis), and it has midbody dorsal scales in 17 rows (15 in Brachyophidium, Melanophidium, Platyplectrurus, Plectrurus, Pseudoplectrurus, Teretrurus). Rhinophis roshanpererai sp. nov. differs from all four Indian species of Rhinophis by having a very small tail shield with spines (versus relatively much larger tail shield without spines). It differs further in having a ventral count of 168 or 169 (versus more than 200 in R. goweri Aengals and Ganesh, 2013, fewer than 150 in R. travancoricus Boulenger, 1893, and more than 170 in R. fergusonianus Boulenger, 1896); and in having 17 midbody dorsal scale rows (versus 15 in R. sanguineus Beddome, 1863). Among Sri Lankan congeners, Rhinophis roshanpererai sp. nov. differs from R. saffragamus (Kelaart, 1853) in not having a large and flat tail shield or midline contact between the opposite nasal shields, and by having dorsal scales in 17 rather than 19 rows at midbody. The new species differs from R. dorsimaculatus Deraniyagala, 1941, R. homolepis (Hemprich, 1820), R. lineatus, R. oxyrynchus (Schneider, 1801), R. porrectus Wall, 1921, R. punctatus Müller, 1832 and R. zigzag by having fewer than 175 ventral scales (versus more than 180), and by having a very small tail shield with spines (versus relatively much larger tail shield without spines). Rhinophis roshanpererai sp. nov. differs from R. phillipsi (Nicholls, 1929) in having fewer than 190 ventrals and in lacking yellow lines on the dorsum. Rhinophis roshanpererai sp. nov. resembles R. melanogaster in having a small tail shield, but the new species has a shield surface with four (or three) notably prominent spines, one pair above the other (versus two slightly larger spines ventrally); absence of yellowish lines laterally (versus present); perhaps more ventral scales (168–169 versus 152–166); and a distinct geographical distribution (central highlands of Badulla District vs Knuckles Range, Matale and Kandy Districts). The ventral scale count in R. roshanpererai sp. nov. is similar to or overlapping with those for R. blythii Kelaart 1853, R. drummondhayi Wall, 1921, R. philippinus (Cuvier, 1829), and R. tricolorata Deraniyagala, 1975, but the new species differs from these four Sri Lankan congeners by having a smaller tail shield with spines, three or four of which are prominent (versus large tail shield without notable spines). The new species differs from R. erangaviraji by having more than 165 ventrals (versus fewer than 155), a smaller tail shield, and by lacking substantial yellow areas on the lateral surface of the body and tail. Description of holotype. See Table 1 for morphometric and meristic data. A preserved specimen in good condition; 20 mm long left of ventral incision into coelom extending anteriorly from 10 mm anterior to vent; outer layer of scales loose and missing in parts; a few flank scales more profoundly damaged on left at approximately midbody. Head small, snout pointed (Figs. 2–3). Rostral pointed, longer than wide, without dorsal crest; widest at level of anterior superior corner of first supralabials. Rostral several times longer (in dorsal view) than rostralfrontal gap (Fig. 3). Frontal irregularly hexagonal, longer than wide, lateral (ocular) margins slightly converging posteriorly, posterolateral margins straight to very slightly concave; lateral (ocular) margin shortest, posterolateral edges longest. Frontal longer, wider than rostral. A pair of nasals, separated from each other by posterior half of rostral. External naris small, subcircular, slightly countersunk within small depression, located in anteroventral corner of nasal. Nasal in contact with first and second supralabials. Prefrontals (for most of their length) in contact with each other along midline (left overlapping right), separating frontal from rostral. Prefrontals wider than long, shorter than frontal. Supralabials four, first smallest, making the least contribution to margin of mouth; fourth much the largest. Ocular in contact with third and fourth supralabials. Eye distinct, diameter approximately one third length of ocular, located near anteroventral corner of ocular, bulging slightly from ocular surface, pupil circular. Paired parietals longer than wide, shorter, very slightly wider than frontal, posteriorly broadly rounded, angle between postermedial and posterolateral edges approximately 90°. Opposite parietals in brief midline contact, left overlapping right. Each parietal contacts four scales other than head shields. No mental groove; mental wider than long, smaller than infralabials, contacting first infralabials and single postmental (= first ventral); three pairs of infralabials, second largest, first smallest. First and second ventrals longer than wide, third approximately as long as wide, fourth and subsequent ventrals wider than long. Six or seven maxillary and approximately seven mandibular teeth on each side. Teeth simple, pointed, distinctly retrorse, straight, evenly spaced. Body cylindrical. Body scales generally evenly sized on dorsum and along body except for those involved in dorsal scale row reductions. Midline ventral scales between mental and anal of even size though anteriormost ones gradually narrow. Ventrals 168, posteriormost ventral notably smaller, penultimate ventral paired. Dorsal scale rows 19 anteriorly, reducing to 17 by level with 30th ventral and maintained along most of body; scale row reduction formula: 3 + 4 (30) 19 --------------- 17 3 + 4 (30) Dorsal scale rows approximately 14 at base of tail. Head and body scales macroscopically smooth, lacking keels. Inconspicuous keels on scales on posteriormost portion of body and on tail, increasingly prominent posteriorly, more obvious ventrally (including on anals) and ventrolaterally. Paired anal scales (right overlying left) considerably larger than posteriormost ventrals and subcaudals. Distal margin of each anal overlaps three other scales in addition to anteriormost subcaudals. Seven right and seven left subcaudals. Tail 'shield' mildly conical, forming tip of tail, small, longer than wide in dorsal view, shorter than the frontal in dorsal view, visible from below and especially above, base (much narrower than base of tail) surrounded by last pair of subcaudals and 6 other scales. In posterior view shield oval to slightly egg-shaped, wider ventrally than dorsally (Fig. 3). Shield surface sparsely spinose, most spines small, inconspicuous but four (arranged in two pairs, one above the other) much longer and substantial, pointing straight backwards; ventral pair of larger spines notably longer than dorsal pair (Fig. 3). Colour in life. Dorsum and lateral background uniform black, with sparse, very small yellow flecks (Fig. 2). Ventral background dark brown for most of length, gradually paler anteriorly, darker posteriorly (similar to dark colour of dorsum). Anterior and underside of snout paler than rest of head. Venter with conspicuous yellow blotching, blotches notably larger than on dorsum and lateral surfaces of body; ventral blotching absent on tail, head and anteriormost and posteriormost of body. Colour in alcohol. Colour pattern remains with a little fading, black to dark brown, yellow to off white and brown to a paler brown (Fig. 3). Paratypes and variation. Paratype DWC 2016.05.0 3 is slightly longer (218.2 mm SVL) than the holotype and the other paratype (DWC 2016.05.04) slightly shorter (205.2 mm SVL), both are female. The two paratypes are very similar to the holotype with respect to the description presented above, including identical scale row reductions (19 to 17 rows by level of 30th ventral). DWC 2016.05.0 3 differs from the holotype in having: parietals more notably wider than frontal (Fig. 4 A); seven rather than six scales plus last pair of subcaudals surround base of tail shield; posteriormost ventral paired; supernumerary scale between second pair of subcaudals (Fig. 4 A). DWC 2016.05.0 4 differs from the holotype in having six rather than seven subcaudals on right side, and in having three rather than four major spines on the tail shield, two posteroventrally and one posterodorsally (Fig. 5). Both paratypes appear to have seven maxillary teeth on each side; mandibular counts are more difficult but are estimated at six or seven on each ramus. Paratypes closely resemble holotype in colour pattern. Etymology. The species epithet roshanpererai is named for the late Roshan Perera, who was an Instructor of the Reptiles group of the Young Zoologist’s Association of Sri Lanka, Department of National Zoological Gardens, in recognition of his dedicated services to wildlife conservation in Sri Lanka. The species name roshanpererai is a noun in the genitive case. Suggested vernacular names. Roshan Pererage thudulla, Roshan Pereravin nilakael pambu, Roshan Perera’s sheildtail (or Roshan Perera’s Rhinophis) in Sinhala, Tamil, and English, respectively. Distribution, habitat and threats. The first author first encountered the new species as a single roadkill specimen at the type locality in 1999. In five or six subsequent visits to the type locality approximately 30 individuals of Rhinophis roshanpererai sp. nov. have been observed, including a second roadkill specimen. The type series of R. roshanpererai sp. nov. was found within a 1 m radius, dug during the day from soil ca. 150 mm deep among banana plants in a home garden. Other specimens have been seen at or close to (within a couple of kilometers) of this site in a wide range of habitats, including shaded patches of grassland, tea plantations, and disturbed riverine forest, always dug from soil or leaf litter during the day. A few specimens have been seen moving on the surface, only at night. Several other individuals of the new species were dug from soil in disturbed riverine forest in 1999 from Uda Diyaluma, approximately 10 km away (6° 44’ 08.55” N, 81° 01’ 57.10” E, elevation 750 m), and from Haldummulla, approximately 6 km from the type locality (6° 45’ 39.95” N, 80° 54’ 05.73” E, elevation 938 m). Despite a substantial amount of fieldwork (including digging through soil and leaf litter) at similar altitudes, we have not observed this species outside this region, including at, for example, Haputale, less than 2 km North of the type locality but approximately 400 m higher in elevation. Rhinophis roshanpererai sp. nov. has not been found in sympatry with other uropeltid species. The nearest observation of other species that we know of (L.J.M.W., pers. obs.) is for R. drummondhayi at 960 m elevation at Kubalwela, approximately 16 km to the northeast by north (bearing of 30°) of the type locality of R. roshanpererai sp. nov.. We suspect that the vertical and horizontal distributional range of the new species is small, and that substantial human disturbance in the form of intensive agriculture and urbanization represent the likely greatest conservation threats.Published as part of Mendis Wickramasinghe, L. J., Vidanapathirana, Dulan Ranga, Gehan Rajeev, M. D. & Gower, David J., 2017, A new species of Rhinophis Hemprich, 1820 (Serpentes: Uropeltidae) from the central hills of Sri Lanka, pp. 153-164 in Zootaxa 4263 (1) on pages 155-161, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4263.1.7, http://zenodo.org/record/57259
Justicia básica procedimental: herramienta de transición hacia sociedades mínimamente decentes
No full textFrom the reconstruction of the approaches of Rodrigo Uprimny, Rajeev Bhargava and Stuart Hampshire on transitional justice models, it will be posed that the minimally decent society concept, coined by the second author, sheds new lights on the discussionsA partir de la reconstrucción de los enfoques de Rodrigo Uprimny, Rajeev Bhargava y Stuart Hampshire sobre los modelos de justicia transicional, se planteará que el concepto de sociedad mínimamente decente, acuñado por el segundo autor, arroja nuevas luc
Finding Interesting Associations without Support Pruning
No full textAssociation-rule mining has heretofore relied on the condition of high support to do its work efficiently. In particular, the well-known a-priori algorithm is only effective when the only rules of interest are relationships that occur very frequently. However, there are a number of applications, such as data mining, identification of similar web documents, clustering, and collaborative filtering, where the rules of interest have comparatively few instances in the data. In these cases, we must look for highly correlated items, or possibly even causal relationships between infrequent items. We develop a family of algorithms for solving this problem, employing a combination of random sampling and hashing techniques. We provide analysis of the algorithms developed, and conduct experiments on real and synthetic data to obtain a comparative performance analysis. Topical Preferences: 1. Data Mining & Knowledge Discovery 2. Advanced Query Processing Contact Author: Rajeev Motwani Department..
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