65 research outputs found
Supplemental_Material – Supplemental material for Exploring Association Between Individuals’ Stature and Type 2 Diabetes Status: Propensity Score Analysis
No full textSupplemental material, Supplemental_Material for Exploring Association Between Individuals’ Stature and Type 2 Diabetes Status: Propensity Score Analysis by Ashis Talukder, Najiba Akter and Taslim Sazzad Mallick in Environmental Health Insights</p
The corruption of a republic
No full textEminent Indian psychoanalyst and social commentator Dr Ashis Nandy found himself in the middle of a controversy recently after he made a few remarks on corruption at a session entitled ‘The Republic of Ideas’ at the Jaipur literary festival, 24– 28 January 2013. Author and publisher of Tehelka magazine Tarun Tejpal spoke of corruption as an equalising force, to which Dr Nandy said:
Just a response to this part, very briefly. He’s not saying the most important part of the story, which will shock you and it will be a very undignified and, how should I put it, almost vulgar statement on my part. It is a fact that most of the corrupt come from the OBCs (Other Backward Classes) and the Scheduled Castes and now increasingly Scheduled Tribes and as long as this is the case, the Indian republic will survive.
A journalist present at the panel took up this statement, which was later endlessly replayed on a 24-hour television news channel. Dalit organisations and activists protested against Dr Nandy. Not surprisingly, considering the upcoming elections in some key states, some politicians jumped into the fray and called for Dr Nandy’s arrest. In India anti-Dalit speech is punishable under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989, and is a non-bailable offence. There were demonstrations and police complaints were filed against him in three different locations. Fearing physical harm and the possibility of imprisonment, Dr Nandy and his family went to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court of India did grant a stay order on the arrest warrants against him, but at the same time the Chief Justice of India told Dr Nandy’s lawyer ‘Whatever your intent, you can’t go on making statements. Tell your client he has no license to make such comments.’
The Indian social media and blogsphere exploded, with various arguments emerging on behalf of and against Dr Nandy. The most common complaint against Dr Nandy is that he was casteist, and that he had stereotyped Dalits. Such complaints came even from those defending him. A passionate critique by Anoop Kumar outlined Dalit oppression in India and accused specific media personalities of defending Dr Nandy instead of interrogating ‘upper caste anxieties’. There are blogs that, while disagreeing with Dr Nandy, argue for his right to express his opinion and to ‘be wrong’. There are those who argue that his remarks were made in humour, and lament the dearth of an understanding of wit, satire or irony.6 While the case seems to be closed after the Supreme Court judgment, there is still debate about whether this was a victory for freedom of speech or another instance of the way in which the upper castes in India can get away with any derogatory statement against the lower castes.
The freedom of speech argument is unsatisfying. The difference between ‘provocative speech that forces you to think’ and ‘provocative speech that is intended to hurt, denigrate or provoke’ is very context dependent. The intention of any speaker is not only difficult to prove, but also difficult to know. I would like to base my defence of Dr Nandy neither on his right to say what was on his mind, nor on his intention. Instead, I would suggest that his remarks should be understood through a discussion of corruption, and the way in which Dr Nandy uses the term.
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Shvetal Vyas is a PhD student in the International Centre for Muslim and non-Muslim Understanding, University of South Australia
Improvement of Mechanical Properties in Light Weight Mg-based Materials
No full textAbstractSome of the important mechanical properties, mainly strength and ductility of magnesium- based structural material can be improved by alloying element; grain size refinement of the alloy and reinforced with nano-particles. Each processing techniques have their own mechanism of strengthening and fracture. In this study, bulk monolithic Mg material and their alloy and composite were synthesised by powder metallurgy technique. The process involved consolidation of powders through iso-static compression followed by sintering and hot extrusion. The microstructural studies were conducted on the extruded sample through XRD test and microscopic observation. In order to measure the strength and ductility, the tensile tests for all the samples were carried out at room temperature. Significant improvement in strength and ductility are observed in the samples of alloys and composite when compared with the sample of pure Mg. Further improvement can also be seen in the refined grain size sample. The possible strengthening mechanisms for each case are discussed. It is speculated that the deformation mechanism in all the cases are controlled mainly by the mechanism of grain boundary movements. The fracture surfaces were examined to identify the possible fracture mode of the samples
Tensile properties of ultrafine grained Mg-3%Al alloy studied at elevated temperature
No full textAbstract
The aim of this paper is to present an overview of the tensile behavior of ultrafine grained Mg-3%Al alloy. The bulk ultrafine grained Mg alloy was synthesized via consolidation of mechanical alloying. The grain size of the sample was calculated from X-ray diffraction line profile analysis. Tensile properties of ultrafine grained samples tested at temperatures of 25°C to 250°C are compared with that of a coarse grain microcrystalline sample. Plastic deformation of the ultrafine grained sample exhibits a combination of work hardening (15–48% plastic strain) and perfect plastic behavior characterized by a constant flow stress. At room temperature, the sample showed a gain in strength of about two times and enhanced ductility compared to the microcrystalline sample. The strain rate sensitivity was observed to be three times higher in the present ultrafine grained sample. A stress drop with increasing test temperatures was observed in both the samples. The effect of temperature on flow behavior in terms of work hardening rate, temperature sensitivity, ductility, yield strength, and tensile strength are also examined precisely. The present results show important evidence of the temperature dependence of the mechanical properties of the ultrafine grained Mg-3%Al alloy in comparison to the microcrystalline sample.</jats:p
A Critical Analysis of the Post-structuralist Thought with Reference to ‘The Death of the Author’ by Roland Barthes
No full textRoland Barthes in his famous essay “The Death of the Author” from a post-structuralist position took a stand against the notion of authority in a text. He while referring to the myth of Sarrasine in Balzac asks certain essential question regarding the position of authorship. For him the author only is a participant in the existing discourse of the time—a mere explorer of the existing symbols and pre-existing linguistic and literary systems. One the other hand he only narrates the events through the existing codes but never participates in it. It is here where Barthes connotes that the author might be praised for his mastery over the existing codes but not for his genius. Likewise, Barthes explores various concepts of post-enlightenment to give his concept of the death of the author not in a literary sense where the work is found importance rather than the author who is the product of the industrial strategy and his position changes over time according to the changes in society
Thermal analysis of straight rectangular fin using homotopy perturbation method
No full textAbstractIn this study a simple and accurate semi-analytical method called Homotopy Perturbation Method (HPM) is used for solving nonlinear energy equation in a straight rectangular fin. The thermal conductivity and surface emissivity are considered as temperature dependent with some constant source of internal heat generation. The problem is solved for two main cases of thermo geometric fin parameter Nc=1 and for Nc=0.25. The results are presented for the temperature distribution, efficiency and optimum dimensionless parameters are effective and convenient for practical fins. Also it is found that this method can achieve more suitable results as compared to the other methods available in the literature
Thermo-mechanical analysis of a radiative annular fin
No full textThe thermo-mechanical reliability is a critical issue in a radiative fin. The radiative dissipation pertaining to enhance heat rejection from the fin surfaces. Due to the temperature gradient, the non-uniform thermal deformation occurs in the fin material. Thermal deformation may cause various defects such as crack propagation, creep, delamination, fatigue failure, erosion and warping. In this study, an analytical model for thermal stresses in an annular radiative fin is presented. The non-linear heat transfer equation with variable thermal parameters has been solved using the homotopy perturbation method (HPM). The comprehensive closed form solution for thermal stresses are obtained from the HPM based temperature field coupled with the classical theory of elasticity. The effects of radiation on the temperature field and thermal stress field are investigated. In addition to forward solution, an inverse analysis has been carried out for estimating the thermal parameters for a reference stress field.Published versio
A decomposition method for convective–radiative fin with heat generation
No full textAbstractThis work is aimed at studying the effect of environmental temperature such as radiation sink temperature, convection sink temperature and heat generation number on the temperature distribution and efficiency of a convective–radiative stationary fin. The Adomian Decomposition Method (ADM) being one of the efficient numerical methods for highly non linear equations, the local temperature field and efficiencies are obtained using ADM in which Newton–Rapson method is used to estimate the fin temperature for insulated boundary conditions. It is found that the present ADM results are good agreement with the results available in literature using Galerkin Method (GM) and Boundary Value problem Method (BVP)
Enhancing significantly the strength and tribological response of Al7075 alloy using nano-ZrO2 reinforcement
No full textBall milling is an effective method for developing a homogenous and refined microstructure for composites. In this study, we synthesized ultrahigh strength Al7075/xZrO2 alloy nanocomposites. These nanocomposites were specially fabricated by the in-situ powder metallurgy technique from high-purity elemental powders through a multi-step process, which included ball milling, uniaxial cold compaction, traditional sintering in an inert atmosphere, and hot extrusion. The ZrO2 nanoparticles with varying volume percentages (x vol.% = 0, 1.25, 2.53, 3.84, and 5.19) were used as a reinforcement. Ball milling was performed to mechanically alloy the elemental powders that reduce the grain size of the powder and homogeneously disperse the nano ZrO2 in the matrix. The physical, mechanical, microstructural, and tribological properties of the nanocomposites were determined. The results showed that adding 2.53 vol.% ZrO2 nanoparticles considerably improved the mechanical and tribological properties. The tensile strength and yield strength of the 2.53 vol.% alloy nanocomposites increased significantly. The wear resistance of the nanocomposite increased up to 5.19 vol.% ZrO2. The results obtained from the newly developed composites were compared with those of Al7075 alloy composites produced earlier
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