348,596 research outputs found
The Creator of Nanakshahi Calendar: S. Pal Singh Purewal Remembered
No full textA renowned Sikh scholar and internationally recognized expert on Calendrical Science, S. Pal Singh Purewal's outstanding contribution to Sikh history has been the Nanakshahi calendar. In the old Bikrami calendar, some gurpurabs (Sikhs' sacred days for commemorating certain events) came twice a year, and some gurpurabs did not come even once a year. Taking cognizance of these anomalies, Pal Singh Purewal took the initiative to remedy the situation. For nearly fifteen years, he toiled hard to sort out the problem. His endeavor led to the creation of the Nanakshahi calendar. Announcing its release, he opined: "All communities and faiths have their own calendar as a mark of their distinct cultural identity. So, just as the Islamic world has the Hijri calendar and Hindus have the Bikrami calendar, the Sikhs will have a Nanakshahi calendar along with the common era (CE) calendar, which is in use throughout the world.
The Creator of Nanakshahi Calendar: S. Pal Singh Purewal Remembered
No full textA renowned Sikh scholar and internationally recognized expert on Calendrical Science, S. Pal Singh Purewal's outstanding contribution to Sikh history has been the Nanakshahi calendar. In the old Bikrami calendar, some gurpurabs (Sikhs' sacred days for commemorating certain events) came twice a year, and some gurpurabs did not come even once a year. Taking cognizance of these anomalies, Pal Singh Purewal took the initiative to remedy the situation. For nearly fifteen years, he toiled hard to sort out the problem. His endeavor led to the creation of the Nanakshahi calendar. Announcing its release, he opined: "All communities and faiths have their own calendar as a mark of their distinct cultural identity. So, just as the Islamic world has the Hijri calendar and Hindus have the Bikrami calendar, the Sikhs will have a Nanakshahi calendar along with the common era (CE) calendar, which is in use throughout the world.
Plastid Genotyping Reveals the Uniformity of Cytoplasmic Male Sterile-T Maize Cytoplasms
No full textCytoplasmic male-sterile (CMS) lines in maize (Zea mays) have been classified by their response to specific restorer genes into three categories: cms-C, cms-S, and cms-T. A mitochondrial genome representing each of the CMS cytotypes has been sequenced, and male sterility in the cms-S and cms-T cytotypes is linked to chimeric mitochondrial genes. To identify markers for plastid genotyping, we sequenced the plastid genomes of three fertile maize lines (B37, B73, and A188) and the B37 cms-C, cms-S, and cms-T cytoplasmic substitution lines. We found that the plastid genomes of B37 and B73 lines are identical. Furthermore, the fertile and CMS plastid genomes are conserved, differing only by zero to three single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in coding regions and by eight to 22 SNPs and 10 to 21 short insertions/deletions in noncoding regions. To gain insight into the origin and transmission of the cms-T trait, we identified three SNPs unique to the cms-T plastids and tested the three diagnostic SNPs in 27 cms-T lines, representing the HA, I, Q, RS, and T male-sterile cytoplasms. We report that each of the tested 27 cms-T group accessions have the same three diagnostic plastid SNPs, indicating a single origin and maternal cotransmission of the cms-T mitochondria and plastids to the seed progeny. Our data exclude exceptional pollen transmission of organelles or multiple horizontal gene transfer events as the source of the mitochondrial urf13-T (unidentified reading frame encoding 13-kD cms-T protein) gene in the cms-T cytoplasms. Plastid genotyping enables a reassessment of the evolutionary relationships of cytoplasms in cultivated maize.Peer reviewe
Using IT Support to improve the quality of Peer Assisted Learning
No full textPeer assisted learning (PAL) is one way to increase the empowerment of students through their learning practices and, hence, enhance their learning journey. PAL involves students mentoring groups of academically less experienced students; develops the quality and diversity of student learning, and enables students to become active partners in their learning experience. PAL supports student transition into higher education and there is evidence that it can aid retention in the early weeks of degree study. Retention is becoming a key issue for universities and one of the key performance indicators (KPIs) of quality education under the strategy for higher education set out by the current government.
The PAL³ project is funded by Learn Higher and is an on going project investigating the use of IT support to improve the quality of Peer Assisted Learning. The project has set up a learning environment for students, and a knowledge base for PAL student mentors and PAL and other academic staff.
This paper reports on initial findings from the project which can be divided into two strands. Firstly, the compilation of a staff knowledge base has highlighted the fact that PAL is known by different names and has different meanings in different places. We provide an initial classification. Secondly, the PAL student environment, which has been implemented and used by the student cohort and their PAL student mentors, has highlighted issues that were not envisaged at the beginning of the study and this has implications for future work
On Axiomatizations of PAL
No full textIn the literature, different axiomatizations of Public Announcement Logic (PAL) were proposed. Most of these axiomatizations share a 'core set' of the so-called reduction axioms. In particular, there is a composition axiom which stipulates how two consecutive announcements are composed into one. In this paper, by designing non-standard Kripke semantics for the language of PAL, we show that without the composition axiom the core set does not completely axiomatize PAL. In fact, most of the intuitive 'axioms' and rules we took for granted could not be derived from the core set. The non-standard semantics we proposed is of its own interest in modelling realistic agents. We show that with the help of different composition axioms we may axiomatize PAL w.r.t. such non-standard semantics.Computer Science, Artificial IntelligenceComputer Science, Theory & MethodsMathematics, AppliedEICPCI-S(ISTP)
Pal Interpolation of Integral Types
No full textIn this paper, the author(s) discuss existence and uniqueness results of three so-called integral types of Pal interpolation schemes which are interesting extensions/ generalizations of classical Hermite-Fejer Interpolation problem. The results are of interest to approximation theory
Librarians and Statistics: Thoughts on a Tentative Relationship
No full textLibrarians are not trained as original researchers during library school. As a result, librarians as authors may succumb to common statistical misconceptions and use errors, thus it is important for librarians to know how to recognize them. A quick discussion of what a researcher should be aware to avoid poor methods and inaccurate use of statistics is included. A review of statistics and research methods courses currently offered in library and information science programs helps determine if the lack of training observed in earlier studies has changed. A list of recommendations for authors and reviewers of LIS literature is presented
PAL SINGH PUREWAL: The Architect of the Nanakshahi & Hijri Calendars
No full textA renowned Sikh scholar and internationally recognized expert on Calendrical Science, S. Pal Singh Purewal's outstanding contribution to Sikh history has been the Nanakshahi calendar. In the old Bikrami calendar, some gurpurabs (Sikhs' sacred days for commemorating certain events) came twice a year, and some gurpurabs did not come even once a year. Taking cognizance of these anomalies, Pal Singh Purewal took the initiative to remedy the situation. For nearly fifteen years, he toiled hard to sort out the problem. His endeavor led to the creation of the Nanakshahi calendar. Announcing its release, he opined: "All communities and faiths have their own calendar as a mark of their distinct cultural identity. So, just as the Islamic world has the Hijri calendar and Hindus have the Bikrami calendar, the Sikhs will have a Nanakshahi calendar along with the common era (CE) calendar, which is in use throughout the world.
PAL SINGH PUREWAL: The Architect of the Nanakshahi & Hijri Calendars
No full textA renowned Sikh scholar and internationally recognized expert on Calendrical Science, S. Pal Singh Purewal's outstanding contribution to Sikh history has been the Nanakshahi calendar. In the old Bikrami calendar, some gurpurabs (Sikhs' sacred days for commemorating certain events) came twice a year, and some gurpurabs did not come even once a year. Taking cognizance of these anomalies, Pal Singh Purewal took the initiative to remedy the situation. For nearly fifteen years, he toiled hard to sort out the problem. His endeavor led to the creation of the Nanakshahi calendar. Announcing its release, he opined: "All communities and faiths have their own calendar as a mark of their distinct cultural identity. So, just as the Islamic world has the Hijri calendar and Hindus have the Bikrami calendar, the Sikhs will have a Nanakshahi calendar along with the common era (CE) calendar, which is in use throughout the world.
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