20 research outputs found
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No full textThere is already a copy of this book in the collection. It is signed by the author. This copy is not signed. As I wrote there, this book represents a curious find. The Kalilah and Dimnah story is treated here, to the author's knowledge for the first time, as a play. The play seems talky; it contains plenty of aphorizing and a few fables. Still, this text includes music for three dances. And there are delightful colored illustrations: four early introduce the main personages, and sixteen with the English text show scenes along the way. Five black-and-white illustrations ornament the Arabic text that runs from the back to the middle. The colored illustrations present human form and clothes, animal faces, and Persian costume of the nineteenth century. Dimnah is pure Iago here, betraying both Lion and " Shatrebeh. " Leopard happens to overhear Kalilah upbraiding Dimnah after the fact; his testimony leads to Dimnah's punishment of imprisonment without food or water.There is already a copy of this book in the collection. It is signed by the author. This copy is not signed. As I wrote there, this book represents a curious find. The Kalilah and Dimnah story is treated here, to the author's knowledge for the first time, as a play. The play seems talky; it contains plenty of aphorizing and a few fables. Still, this text includes music for three dances. And there are delightful colored illustrations: four early introduce the main personages, and sixteen with the English text show scenes along the way. Five black-and-white illustrations ornament the Arabic text that runs from the back to the middle. The colored illustrations present human form and clothes, animal faces, and Persian costume of the nineteenth century. Dimnah is pure Iago here, betraying both Lion and " Shatrebeh. " Leopard happens to overhear Kalilah upbraiding Dimnah after the fact; his testimony leads to Dimnah's punishment of imprisonment without food or water.This is a hardbound book (hard cover)Language note: Bilingual: English/ArabicLanguage note: Bilingual: English/ArabicAli R. Amir-MoezAli R. Amir-Moe
Purposeful Art Between Television Preachers and the State
Get PDFFor two of the most popular Egyptian television preachers, Amr Khaled and Moez Masoud, art is central to the project of Islamic Revival. For them, art is a special means of bringing people closer to God, making them more cultured, and building the ummah. The author argues that, intriguingly, their focus on art overlaps with that of the Egyptian state’s nation-building and civilizing art projects
Economic Growth and Human Development in the Republic of Korea
Get PDFhuman development, poverty, empowerment
Condition assessment of pressurized pipelines using transient waves and time-reversal technique
No full textThe time-reversal (TR) of water hammer (WH) waves in a viscous fluid bounded by a visco-elastic pipe is studied analytically and numerically. The quasi-steady part of friction is represented by the Darcy–Weisbach relation while the unsteady part is represented by the Vardy–Brown relation. The visco-elastic damping is represented by the Generalized Kelvin–Voigt model. It is shown that damping does not hinder the refocusing property of the time-reversed WH waves. In addition, it is analytically shown that (i) refocusing of WH waves reaches the well-known diffraction limit in physics, and (ii) TR is optimal in the sense of maximum signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for white noise. Moreover, the TR technique is used to develop noise-tolerant (i) model-based method (method 1), and (ii) model-free method (method 2) for condition assessment of pressurized pipes. Method 1 is a one-dimensional technique that decouples the search for the location and strength of a defect (e.g., leak or blockage). The applicability of method 1 to diagnose multiple defects in both elastic and polymeric (visco-elastic) pipe systems is demonstrated numerically and experimentally. The results confirm that the proposed TR technique successfully detects defects with a resolution equal to half-wavelength (i.e., achieves the theoretical diffraction limit of waves). Method 1 is also successfully applied to localize real leaks in (i) a fire sprinkler system, located in HKUST, and (ii) a transmission main, located in Yuen Long, Hong Kong. Method 2 uses TR to identify differences (if any) between a baseline transient signal and a current (post-baseline) transient signal to localize the defects responsible for the difference between the two signals. That is, method 2 detects the defects that have emerged between the time the baseline measurements was conducted and the current time. The applicability of method 2 is demonstrated using numerical examples and experimental test cases in two laboratory-scale systems, a field-scale transmission-like pipeline system, and using real-field data collected from a district metered area (DMA), located in Ngau Tau Kok, Hong Kong. This technique successfully detected a change in the DMA that was unbeknown to the author and the water authority. This test case demonstrates the real-field applicability of method 2. Both methods are non-iterative; hence, computationally efficient. Additionally, their computational time increases linearly with the number of defects for both methods; thus, they are scalable to large systems and are easily amenable to automation — a fact that is demonstrated in the Water Research Resources Laboratory of HKUST. The use of metamaterials to manipulate and control WH wave propagation and ultimately achieve higher defect detection resolution is also explored. Metamaterial structures are modeled by imposing periodic variation of the impedance along the length of the pipe, where the modulation period is much smaller than the typical wavelength of the WH waves. It is shown that the transient wave propagation in a pipe made of metamaterial (named meta-pipe) is dispersive (i.e., nonlinear wavenumber-frequency relation) and produces sub-wavelength resonance as well as spectral band-gaps. For source localization using the TR technique, it is shown that the meta-pipe produces a far superior resolution than the normal pipe.</p
WITHDRAWN: Influence of different single crystal substrates on the structure, optical properties and dielectric results of Y0.225Sr0.775CoO3 thin films prepared by Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) method
No full textThis article has been withdrawn at the request of the author(s) and/or editor. The Publisher apologizes for any inconvenience this may cause. The full Elsevier Policy on Article Withdrawal can be found at http://www.elsevier.com/locate/withdrawalpolicy
Camus dans ses lettres : de la correspondance à l'oeuvre
No full textSituées entre le biographique et le littéraire, les lettres de Camus jettent un éclairage nouveau sur sa personnalité, sur ses relations avec ses correspondants et sur la genèse de son style et de son œuvre. Sa correspondance éclaire son rapport avec la maladie ainsi que son attachement à la famille et à la beauté méditerranéenne de son pays natal. Son admiration pour Jean Grenier le pousse à suivre ses leçons et à les revendiquer dans ses missives, leur attribuant ainsi un aspect didactique. L’exploration de l’interface correspondance / œuvre trace un mouvement d’élargissement, un passage de l’intime au littéraire. Les lettres ouvertes de Camus empruntent à la littérature plusieurs caractéristiques. Certains correspondants de l’écrivain sont de véritables interlocuteurs qui évaluent ses œuvres et qui lui font des remarques, de manière à le conduire à les rectifier et même à les réécrire. Ses lettres constituent une précieuse mine d’informations susceptible de jeter une nouvelle lumière sur la réécriture de son premier recueil d’essais Les Voix du quartier pauvre et de Caligula. En accompagnant la plupart de ses textes depuis qu’il en conçoit le projet jusqu’à leur publication, ses missives élucident ses choix littéraires et infléchissent l’évolution de son œuvre. Elles révèlent les détours d’une production littéraire hétérogène. Sur les conseils de certains correspondants dont Grenier et Malraux, Camus abandonne la grandiloquence d’un style lyrique qui rend compte de sa passion de vivre dans ses premiers écrits. Le style dépouillé de L’Étranger ainsi que l’objectivité de la chronique de La Peste témoignent de l’influence des lettres sur l’évolution de l’œuvre. La persistance de quelques passages grandiloquents dans ces œuvres neutres, où le style dépouillé rejoint des soubassements poétiques, est le signe d’un combat entre le penchant originel de Camus à l’exaltation des sentiments et à l’emphase d’un côté, et les recommandations de son maître qui l’incite à la raideur et à l’écriture neutre. Camus dépasse cette dichotomie qui divise son œuvre en se mettant à la recherche d’un équilibre entre neutralité et emphase dans Les Justes. Il s’agit d’un équilibre entre l’objectivité d’une lucidité cartésienne et les excès d’un débordement sentimental. L’étude de l’ethos de l’épistolier qu’Aristote définit comme « la représentation de son caractère par l’orateur » révèle trois images de soi dans la correspondance de Camus : celle de l’écrivain émerveillé, celle de l’écrivain engagé et celle du journaliste honnête. Mais la question épineuse de la guerre d’Algérie condamne l’auteur de La Peste au silence et crée un décalage entre l’ethos préalable du journaliste et l’ethos discursif qu’il tient à mettre en place dans ses lettres. L’examen de l’ethos d’auteur, en particulier l’image de soi littéraire qui se construit dans L’Hôte, semble important dans la mesure où il est susceptible d’éclairer l’image de soi épistolaire d’un intellectuel indécis tiraillé entre son affection pour son pays natal, où il craint de perdre sa place et celle des siens, et sa foi en les valeurs de la liberté, de l’égalité et de la justice. Dans cette nouvelle, la conduite du héros et les choix de l’écrivain génèrent une image d’auteur placée sous le signe de l’inquiétude et de la perplexité d’un être tiraillé entre l’admiration des combattants et la condamnation de leur violence.Partly biographical and partly literary, Albert Camus’ letters shed new light on his personality, his relationship with his correspondents, his style’s genesis and that of his writings. His correspondence gives more insight into his illness as well as his commitment to the family and the Mediterranean beauty of his native country. Being fond of Jean Grenier, Camus not only follows his instructions but also asks him for some advice in the letters, giving them a didactic dimension. Examining the interface between Camus’ letters and his writings is a shift from the intimate to the literary, widening the scope of my research. Camus’ open letters borrow many literary features. Some of his correspondents are real interlocutors evaluating his books and providing him with insightful feedback and comments generating modification or even rewriting of some of them. Such letters are a valuable source of information shedding new light on the rewriting of his first collection of essays, Les Voix du quartier pauvre as well as Caligula. His letters, accompanying most of his writings from their conception to publication, elucidate his literary choices and affect the progress of writing, revealing turns of a heterogeneous literary production. On the advice of some of his correspondents including Grenier and Malraux, Camus abandons the bombast of a lyrical style reflecting his passion for life in his early writings. The stripped style of L’étranger along with the objectivity of the chronicle of La Peste are evidence of the letters’ impact on the evolution of Camus’ writing process. The persistence of some emphatic passages in these neutral writings, where the simple style joins the poetic underpinnings, reveals a struggle between Camus’ innate tendency for exalting feelings and emphatic style on the one hand, and the master’s recommendations inciting neutral writing on the other hand. Camus goes beyond this dichotomy dividing his writings by questioning equilibrium between neutrality and emphasis in Les Justes, an equilibrium between an objectivity of a Cartesian lucidity and excesses of a sentimental overflow. The study of the writer’s ethos defined by Aristotle as “the representation of his character by the orator” shows three self images in Camus’ letters : that of the marveled writer, that of the committed writer and that of the honest journalist. But the thorny issue of the war in Algeria silenced the author of La Peste, creating a gap between the journalist’s preexisting ethos and the discursive ethos set up in his letters. Studying the author’s ethos, especially the literary self image built in L’Hôte seems important as it is likely to illuminate the epistolary self image, that of an indecisive intellectual torn between his love for his homeland, where he is afraid of losing his place and that of his family, and his faith in the values of freedom, equality and justice. In this novel, the hero's conduct and the writer’s choices create an image of an anxious and perplexed author torn between admiring the fighters and condemning their violence
Post-liberalisation Efficiency and Productivity of the Banking Sector in Pakistan
Get PDFIt has been long debated in economic literature whether financial markets play a significant role in economic growth and development. [For review see Gertler (1988) and Levine (1997)]. Findings of some recent empirical literature show that well-functioning financial system plays an instrumental role in economic growth, and the causality runs from finance to growth [for cross country evidences see King and Levine (1993, 1993a); Levine and Zervos (1998); Levine, Loayza and Beck (1999); Beck, Levine, and Loayza (1999)]. This, in turn, has led to a search for the key factors that determine the better functioning financial markets. Within the banking sector, efficiency is the core concern of both academics and bank officials. A number of studies have sought to measure the efficiency of financial institutions, to identify the factors that contribute to efficiency of financial system, and to recommend the ways to attain the peer group efficiency levels [Berg (1993); Leaven (1999); Berger and Mester (1997); Miller and Noulas (1996)]. These empirical findings suggest a healthy competitive financial market pave the way for efficient market participants that leads to overall efficiency of the system and hence productivity. Following this notion, liberalisation of financial markets has been initiated to improve the performance of financial institutions both in developed and developing countries. Some empirical tests have been carried out to measure the effects of liberalisation and deregulation of financial institutions on the efficiency and productivity of banking sector.
Experimental and numerical investigation on crack propagation for a zigzag central cracked Brazilian disk
No full textThis study examines the influence of zigzag joint configuration on crack propagation in centrally cracked Brazilian disks subjected to diametric forces, employing a 2-dimensional Particle Flow Code (PFC2D). An 80-mm-diameter disk specimen was used, featuring a single zigzag joint positioned at its center. The angles between the zigzag joint walls varied (45°, 90°, 135°), and the angle between loading and joint direction ranged from 0° to 90°. Testing was conducted under Brazilian indirect tensile (Splitting tensile test) conditions, with Acoustic Emission (AE) data utilized to analyze fracture progression. The movements of the boundary rate were kept at 0.005 mm/s. Brazilian tensile strength and uniaxial compression strength of samples were 0.8MPa and 7.4 MPa, respectively. The failure strengths were found to be contingent on the specific failure mechanism, which, in turn, was influenced by the geometric attributes of the flaws considered. The maximum failure force correlated with the number of tensile cracks, which increased as the zigzag notch angle decreased. Initial loading exhibited few AE events, but subsequently, AE hits escalated prior to reaching peak force, with the number of hits increasing as the zigzag notch angle decreased. The failure pattern and maximum force observed in specimens closely mirrored results obtained through both numerical simulations and experimental methods. © The Author(s) under exclusive licence to OWZ 2024
Rethinking the EU Budget: Three Unavoidable Reforms. CEPS Paperbacks. November 2007
Get PDFThis study consider the main weaknesses of the EU’s financial framework and what needs to be done to reinforce the legitimacy and added value of the EU’s actions. The author, an official at the European Court of Auditors, argues that the review of the EU budget represents an opportunity to put in place three unavoidable reforms: a revenue system that, in whatever form, is applicable to all member states in the same way; the funding of policies with verifiable objectives and sufficient resources, making the EU’s action meaningful and visible; and a clear identification of responsibilities as to the use of taxpayers’ money
Using Artificial Intelligence for Text Screening in a Systematic Review of Cardiotoxicity
No full textAcknowledgments: Under the guidance of the authors, Sweta Samantaray (PhD) provided writing support for this manuscript, Sonia Philipose (PhD) provided editorial assistance, and Subrata Kar (PhD) provided QC support (all are employees of Pfizer Inc.). Author contributions: Steven E. Canfield had full access to all the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis. Study concept and design: Canfield, Aziz, Omar, N’Dow, Schijvenaars, Ghith, Molony, Stenzl. Acquisition of data: Aziz, Schijvenaars, Molony. Analysis and interpretation of data: Schijvenaars, Ghith, Riaz Ahmed, Stenzl. Drafting of the manuscript: Omar, Schijvenaars, Ghith, Riaz Ahmed. Critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content: All authors. Statistical analysis: None. Obtaining funding: Ghith. Administrative, technical, or material support: Canfield, Aziz, Omar, N’Dow, Schijvenaars, Ghith, Riaz Ahmed, Molony, Stenzl. Supervision: N’Dow, Ghith, Riaz Ahmed, Stenzl. Other: None.Peer reviewe
