777 research outputs found

    Ayad Akhtar: A Conversation

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    On October 25, Pakistani-born artist and RISD alumna Shahzia Sikander, the Painting Department\u27s 2016 Kirloskar Fellow, organized a lecture and conversation with playwright and author–and her frequent collaborator–Ayad Akhtar, at the RISD Metcalf Auditorium.https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/painting_kirloskarvisitingscholarlectures/1000/thumbnail.jp

    Akhtar Munir (1949-2020)

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    Obituary of Mr Akhtar Munir, chief restorer and field officer of the Italian Archaeological Mission in Pakista

    Akhtar Raza Saleemi as a Poet

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     Akhtar Raza Saleemi was brought into the world on 16 June 1974, at Kekot Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. He accepted his primer schooling in his own town and learnt Urdu, Persian and so on at an early age. Later he moved to Karachi for where he rehashed his registration and Intermediate. He moved to Islamabad for higher examinations and finished his graduation from the renowned Allama Iqbal College. Akhtar was basically a writer of the ghazal custom anyway he confined himself from being a generalization and examination his abilities in other sort of writing like nazam, fiction, novel and so forth. His verse assortments \u27Khawab Daan\u27 has been applauded by the pundits. Akhtar Raza saleemi is a perceived writer of both ghazal and nazm. He has distributed a few verse books and has been valued for his work by pundits. He remained in the class of verse till 2008 and afterward began exploring different avenues regarding the style of novel composition. His verse being viewed as a particular mix of dream and reality. As well as getting Joined Bank\u27s Best Fiction Author grant, he has two times won the Abasin Expressions Chamber Grant. Craftsman Wasi Haider made a thousand and one compositions for the front of his Saleemi\u27s clever Wake Up in a Fantasy, so the front of each duplicate of the primary version of this novel was unique

    Apparent bias: the inclusion of police officers on the jury and Article 6.1 of the Human Rights Act

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    In this article Zia Akhtar (Barrister, Grays Inn) looks at the jury trial and the inclusion of members of the police force that may lead to a breach of Article 6 of the Human Rights Act 1998. The author explains tests for determination of bias, the role of judicial discretion and the consideration of conflicts of interest

    Concerning Begum Akhtar: ''Queen of Ghazal''

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    Item marked as restricted to the 'UIUC Users [automated]' Group (id=2) by Howard Ding ([email protected]) on 2011-05-07T14:53:57Z Item is restricted indefinitely.Restriction data tranferred 2014-07-01T11:25:01-05:00 Original Data Group with Access UIUC Users [automated] Release Date: none Reason: ETDs are only available to UIUC Users without author permissionThis thesis focusses on the life and work of one of India's most famous female singers, Begum Akhtar (1914-1974). On the one hand, it provides a brief biography and a summary of her musical accomplishments; particular attention is paid to her contributions to the genre for which she was most renowned, a musical-poetic form known as the underbar ghazal. Further to this, however, the thesis examines the manner in which the establishment of and alterations in gender roles and hierarchies, in coordination with other power relationships-- particularly those involving class and patronage shifts, moral issues, ethnic/religious concerns, and nationalist versus colonialist ideologies--affected her life and work, as well as attitudes regarding the woman and her art.Akhtar lived through a period of rapid and structural change in Indian society. Her life overlapped the transitional period in India from the pre-independence era of anti-colonial struggle to the early years of independence. Like other professional women of her class she was, coincidentally, a product of these changing times, an agent of transformation, and one of the victims. Throughout the latter part of her life Begum Akhtar bore the anguish of being caught between two moral standards, one consistent with her early role as a bai (courtesan singer) under nawabi feudal patronage, and the other with her later status as a begam in democratic India. Her dilemma, while personal, was at the same time that of a nation which, under the burden of colonial influence--in the quest for a new image and a socio-cultural, political, economic and moral restructuring--was attempting the excision of a crucial component of its own artistic self."This work presents both the dominant discourse and an alternate reading regarding a transitional period in the history of modern India, and the role that women (and particularly ""professional"" women) played within that; and it does so through a focus on the life and art of one of the leading female musical figures of the era."Made available in DSpace on 2011-05-07T13:22:37Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license.txt: 4922 bytes, checksum: 910b249b4beec47e7ab768910c8f966f (MD5) 9717320.pdf: 21348474 bytes, checksum: 4b8376c47c3a25930b6c35fb1b90718d (MD5) Previous issue date: 1996ETDs are only available to UIUC Users without author permissionU of I Onl

    X-efficiency Analysis of Commercial Banks in Pakistan: A Preliminary Investigation

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    The emergence of a fast-paced dynamic environment in the business world in general, and in the financial services sector in particular, has highlighted the significance of competition and efficiency. The need for deregulation has become a touchstone of success in fostering both competition and efficiency especially in the economies, which are exposed to structural reforms. In addition to that, intense competition both among domestic and foreign banks, rapid speed of innovations and introduction of new financial instruments, changing consumer’s demands and desire for product augmentation have changed the way a bank conducts business and services its customers. Larger the degree of competition, it is perceived that the firms would become more efficient. However, when the structure of an industry is product of the government regulations, the degree of competition is impaired markedly implying that the efficiency suffers negatively. Banking industry acts as life-blood of modern trade and commerce acting as a bridge to provide a major source of financial intermediation. Thus, appraisal of its efficiency is vital in context of an efficient and competitive financial system. Study of x-efficiency is believed to be important in particular as Berger, et al. (1993) found that x-inefficiencies account for around 20 percent or more of banking costs. Similarly, recent drive among banks towards downsizing, rightsizing and rationalisation of banking costs also implicates for the assessment of x-efficiency analysis of banks. It becomes vital in Pakistani context as there appears to be no study in literature on efficiency or x-efficiency analysis of banks in Pakistan. “A great deal more work is needed on x-efficiency research in banking. Managerial efficiency, the concept of x-efficiency, appears to be a much more important strategic and policy consideration” [Molyneux, et al. (1960), p. 273]. Given

    Combating land degradation and desertification and enhancing food security: towards integrated solutions

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    This paper seeks to provide an overview of the relationships between food insecurity, land degradation and desertification, and its antithesis, food security and sustainable land management. It places particular focus on the worlds drylands (i.e. arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas), but situates the review within the wider context of global food systems and the macro-processes that drive land degradation and desertification. It is revealed that food insecurity can be attributed to a range of demand-side and supply-side causes, which include political, economic, social and environmental factors. Land degradation and desertification are shown to be exogenous issues that can amplify and aggravate food insecurity. Addressing desertification, including land, soil, water and plant degradation, can facilitate or ease the food security dilemma, but may not completely solve it in the presence of other underlying causes.Fil: Stringer, Lindsay C.. University Of Leeds; Reino UnidoFil: Akhtar Schuster, Mariam. Universitat Hamburg; AlemaniaFil: Marques, Maria Jose. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid; EspañaFil: Amiraslani, Farshad. University Of Tehran; IránFil: Quatrini, Simone. International Fund for Agricultural Development; ItaliaFil: Abraham, Elena Maria. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas. Provincia de Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas; Argentin

    Changing Demographic, Social, and Economic Conditions in Karachi City, 1959–94: A Preliminary Analysis

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    Kingsley Davis (1961) had argued that the reason that the ancient cities failed to survive was that they were too deadly. He suggested that “three of their (cities) main traits....the crowding of many people in little space, their dependence on widespread contacts (due to in-migration), and their wealth...laid them open to contagious diseases, environmental contamination, occasional starvation and warfare”. Even in the medieval age, some European cities provide examples of such problems; but especially so following the Industrial Revolution. Do the events of the 1980s and the 1990s in Karachi suggest that the city may be heading in the same direction. Recently, The Times London in a lead article in November 1994, labelled Karachi as a “City of Riches and Shattered Dreams”. It further said that Karachi had grown into a megalopolis where life moved fast and street violence had become a norm. Indeed, more than 65 percent of Pakistan’s industries and 80 percent of its finance, banking, and business are concentrated in the city and people come to it from all over the country to find jobs and fulfil their dreams [Husain (1994)]. During the past decade, street violence in the form of ethnic clashes has become a sort of regular event in Karachi. At times, these clashes have been more frequent and even bloodier than the ones before. According to the local newspaper accounts, between 1985 and 1988 (in four years), about 400 people died in Karachi due to violence, which has increased substantially over time. Thus, while the number of violent deaths remained between 350–500 during 1991–93, in 1994 alone the number exceeded 1,100, and during the first three months of 1995, over 300 persons have died due to violence.

    Co-Cr-Fe-Mn-Ni Oxide as a Highly Efficient Thermoelectric High-Entropy Alloy

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    Among the existing materials for heat conversion, high-entropy alloys are of great interest due to the tunability of their functional properties. Here, we aim to produce single-phase high-entropy oxides composed of Co-Cr-Fe-Mn-Ni-O through spark plasma sintering (SPS), testing their thermoelectric (TE) properties. This material was successfully obtained before via a different technique, which requires a very long processing time. Hence, the main target of this work is to apply spark plasma sintering, a much faster and scalable process. The samples were sintered in the temperature range of 1200–1300 °C. Two main phases were formed: rock salt-structured Fm3̅m and spinel-structured Fd3̅m. Comparable transport properties were achieved via the new approach: the highest value of the Seebeck coefficient reached −112.6 μV/K at room temperature, compared to −150 μV/K reported before; electrical properties at high temperatures are close to the properties of the single-phase material (σ = 0.2148 S/cm, σ ≈ 0.2009 S/cm reported before). These results indicate that SPS can be successfully applied to produce highly efficient TE high-entropy alloys in a fast and scalable way. Further optimization is needed for the production of single-phase materials, which are expected to exhibit an even better TE functionality.Validerad;2023;Nivå 2;2023-05-10 (joosat);Funder: Swedish Foundations Consolidator Fellowship;Licens fulltext: CC BY License</p

    CG32803 is the fly homolog of LDAF1 and influences lipid storage in vivo

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    The Seipin protein is a conserved key component in the biogenesis of lipid droplets (LDs). Recently, a cooperation between human Seipin and the Lipid droplet assembly factor 1 (LDAF1) was described. LDAF1 physically interacts with Seipin and the holocomplex safeguards regular LD biogenesis. The function of LDAF1 proteins outside mammals is less clear. In yeast, the lipid droplet organization (LDO) proteins, which also cooperate with Seipin, are the putative homologs of LDAF1. While certain functional aspects are shared between the LDO and mammalian LDAF1 proteins, the relationship between the proteins is under debate. Here, we identify the Drosophila melanogaster protein CG32803, which we re-named to dmLDAF1, as an insect member of this protein family. dmLDAF1 decorates LDs in cultured cells and in vivo and the protein is linked to the fly and mouse Seipin proteins. Altering the dmLDAF1 abundance affects LD size, number and overall lipid storage amounts. Our results suggest that the LDAF1 proteins thus fulfill an evolutionarily conserved function in the biogenesis and biology of LDs
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