878 research outputs found
Body on the Barricades is a book of hope amidst curtailment of rights and freedom
No full textK. Kalyani interviews Brahma Prakash, author and academician, on his new book, Body on the Barricades: Life, Art and Resistance in Contemporary Indi
Buoyancy considerations in a fluidized bed of ground particles:
No full textThe research conducted for this thesis determines and quantifies the forces acting on a large submerged object in a gas-solid fluidized bed of Geldart A ground particles at the onset of bubbling. In particular, the additional load from the previously reported de-fluidized region of particles found above submerged objects in fluidized beds is quantified. A force model was developed and comparisons between this and the experimental data yielded properties of the de-fluidized region, such as the shape and height of the hood, and the angle to which it rises. Drag is measured by comparing forces on objects of different geometries subject to the same conditions. Buoyancy was measured by summing the pressure force acting to push the submerged object out of the bed and the counteracting pressure force of the bed over the submerged object pushing it deeper into the bed. The de-fluidized region is found to have a significant impact on the buoyancy of the object by creating an additional weight force above the object thus increasing the pressure in this region. Explanations for the hood shape and size are made through phenomenological results obtained through visual observations. Particle transport through voidage collapses at the surface, i.e. “bubbling”, create a secondary particle circulation within the bed adding particles to the top of the hood. The size of the bubbles appears to determine the extent of the hood.M.S.Includes bibliographical references (p. 78-79)by Prakash R. Ra
Beyond Modernity : Narrative Strategies in Hindi Short Stories of Uday Prakash
No full textThis thesis explores different genres and modes of writing in short stories of the contemporary Indian author Uday Prakash, such as magical realism, the fantastic, regionalism, postcolonial and postmodern writing. It poses the question: “In which literary genre should Uday Prakash’s writings best be categorised?” The study is based on a reading of Prakash’s collection, 10 Pratinidhi kahāniyāṃ – Ten Representative Stories, consisting of ten stories of the author’s own choice. Critics have often understood Uday Prakash as a writer of magical realism. This thesis, however, argues that the author fits better in the category of the fantastic since his narratives often are characterised by the “hesitation” before the supernatural, a central feature of this literary mode. The thesis further suggests that regionalism is present in his writings in the portrayal of both the rural and urban landscapes of India. Above all, Prakash portrays a “public landscape,” in which India as a whole is reflected in the local—rural or urban—regions he depicts and in which any Indian can identify himself. The postmodern perspective is also prevalent in his writings, evident through literary tropes such as metafiction, historiographic metafiction, intertextuality, self-reflexivity and extended use of metaphor. Central to his writing is a social or postcolonial critique. Together his stories write an alternative national history of India, focusing on the subaltern and the downtrodden, depicting how the old colonial structure and oppression have now re-emerged among the elite and political leadership of independent India. I have, in this thesis, understood Uday Prakash as a postcolonial experimentalist (uttaropaniveśvādī prayogvādī), standing in the tradition of the prayogvād of the 20th-century Hindi literary field since the characteristics of his authorship are the concoction of multiple literary modes or genres, the breaking with traditional forms of narration and the formation of creative and original narratives, all in the service of social and civilisational criticism
Characterization of the flow field and shape of de-fluidized regions in the wake of large submerged objects in small particle fluidized beds
No full textThe structure of the de-fluidized hood, an area of un-fluidized material found in the wake downstream of submerged objects, is studied with special interest on the internal fluidization structure and shape of the hood. Previously, the structure of the region was determined based on indirect photographic evidence rather than direct measurement. Also, the wake region had been considered to be entirely packed and focus had only been on the de-fluidized region in the near wake. In the present study, an experimental set-up was created which allowed for spheres and disks of various radii to be suspended within a fluidized bed of Geldart A particles. The force imparted by the wake region at various depths on a submerged object was measured providing insight into the downstream extent of the region, as well as the nature of the fluidization within the wake. Additionally, bed collapse with an object near the surface was studied to gain insight into particle mobility within the wake. Experiments were conducted to measure the maximum normal force supported by the wake region, as well as the shear and drag, at various depths above the submerged object surface providing an indirect measure of the velocity within the wake and its effect on neighboring structures. The results show the region to have several fluidization states: a dead region, a stagnant percolating region, a large percolating region of mobile particles, and an expanding region. The overall shape is found to resemble cylinder with a rounded top. Voids generated at the hemisphere of the submerged objects and particle circulation into and out of the region were found to play a key role in determining the shape and height of the hood, as well as playing a key role in the re-fluidization of the region. Using the data collected from the experiments, a model of the weight force imparted by the de-fluidized region on a submerged object was developed.Ph. D.Includes bibliographical referencesby Prakash R. Ra
Political economy of conflict and peace: governmentality of participation and strategic veto in Bihar and Jharkhand, India
No full textThis chapter analyzes dynamics of conflict in Bihar and Jharkand, and explores patterns which shape governance policies, especially in terms of political economy. The author claims that all actors involved in the conflict have the power to exercise a strategic veto, however they cannot structure the outcomes. Naxals on the one side, and state actors on the other, can exercise a strategic veto on each other’s operational activities and at the same time they limit each other in terms of policies pursued. However, the state can exercise more power in this case, as it sets terms of engagement. Prakash highlights the importance of the distribution of developmental benefits and claims that they play a central role in protracting the Naxal conflict. In order to break out of this perpetuation of the conflict, local institutions have to be strengthened, especially in terms of their ability to prioritise issues that they deem important, argues Prakash.</p
Dynamics of finite-sized light spheres in turbulence
No full textWe report experimental results on the Lagrangian dynamics of finite-size light particles in turbulence. Using an orthogonal camera setup and 3D particle tracking, we study the velocity and acceleration statistics of rigid light spheres in a water tunnel with nearly homogeneous and isotropic turbulence. The Reynolds number (ReY) is varied from 180 to 300, and the study covers a range of size ratios (4 < D/η < 16) for marginally light spheres. We find that the normalised acceleration PDF decreases in intermittency with increasing size ratio - in qualitative agreement with the predictions of the Faxén corrected model. We also present preliminary results on the rotational dynamics of large light spheres in turbulence
Another reason science and the imagination of modern India
No full text"Another Reason is a bold and innovative study of the intimate relationship between science, colonialism, and the modern nation. Gyan Prakash, one of the most influential historians of India writing today, explores in fresh and unexpected ways the complexities, contradictions, and profound importance of this relationship in the history of the subcontinent. He reveals how science served simultaneously as an instrument of empire and as a symbol of liberty, progress, and universal reason - and how, in playing these dramatically different roles, it was crucial to the emergence of the modern nation." "Throughout, Prakash draws on major and minor figures on both sides of the colonial divide, including Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, the nationalist historian and novelist Romesh Chunder Dutt, Prafulla Chandra Ray (author of A History of Hindu Chemistry), Rudyard Kipling, Lord Dalhousie, and John Stuart Mill."--BOOK JACKET
A Framework for Consistency Algorithms
No full textWe present a framework that provides deterministic consistency algorithms for given memory models. Such an algorithm checks whether the executions of a shared-memory concurrent program are consistent under the axioms defined by a model. For memory models like SC and TSO, checking consistency is NP-complete. Our framework shows, that despite the hardness, fast deterministic consistency algorithms can be obtained by employing tools from fine-grained complexity.
The framework is based on a universal consistency problem which can be instantiated by different memory models. We construct an algorithm for the problem running in time ^*(2^k), where k is the number of write accesses in the execution that is checked for consistency. Each instance of the framework then admits an ^*(2^k)-time consistency algorithm. By applying the framework, we obtain corresponding consistency algorithms for SC, TSO, PSO, and RMO. Moreover, we show that the obtained algorithms for SC, TSO, and PSO are optimal in the fine-grained sense: there is no consistency algorithm for these running in time 2^{o(k)} unless the exponential time hypothesis fails
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