536 research outputs found
“Even the hardest stone can fracture:” Racialization, Reproductive Control, and the Wake of Slavery in N.K. Jemisin’s The Fifth Season
No full textWhen the science fiction and fantasy novel The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin won the Hugo Award in 2016, Jemisin became the first Black author to win the prestigious literary science fiction award. A departure from similar novels at the time, The Fifth Season has a strong understanding of systems of oppression and how they are built and upheld. This thesis argues that The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin follows the conventions of the neo-slave/meta-slave narrative to explore themes of racialization and reproductive control under enslavement and oppression. I conduct a feminist literary of the novel, focusing on these themes, and ground my analysis firmly in Black feminist thought and the study of Black science fiction. Using authors such as Dorothy E. Roberts and Angela Y. Davis, I explore the ways in which Black women in America had their reproduction controlled for dehumanization and profit, as well as how they resisted such control. Using this historical context to read The Fifth Season, I demonstrate how Jemisin’s neo-/meta-slave narrative incorporates these themes of reproductive control and racialization, using the genre of science fiction to re-discover and re-imagine the personal experiences of enslaved women lost to history
Strachan-Scott Syndrome: Ayurvedic Perspective
No full textStrachan Scott Syndrome also known as Tropical Ataxic Polyneuropathy (TAN) is a rare neurological disorder characterized by the lesions involving skin and mucous membrane, optic neuropathy and peripheral neuropathy, likely to be caused due to chronic cyanide intoxication following dependency to single plant component, cassava. It is considered as a disease of poor tropical populations but lacks a clear statistics on how many people are affected worldwide, but in affected population prevalence have been noted in more than a quarter. A very little is known about its incidence in India. The clinical spectrum of the syndrome ranges from oculo-oro-genital skin manifestations to severe neurological deficits. This has no direct correlation in classics, though Kalayakhanja which is one of the neurological disorders mentioned under Vatavyadhi, but clinically different in presentation to Strachan Scott Syndrome. This is a disease caused as a result of chronic intoxication of cyanide so etiologically it could be considered under the concepts of Dooshivisha. The signs and symptoms can be considered as the sequential involvement of the Dhatus and Upadhatus, manifesting as a Vatavyadhi as it progresses to involve the nervous system. Being a disease with a very few diagnosed cases and available literatures, this is an attempt in understanding the mechanism of the syndrome from Ayurvedic point of view and the probable management strategies which could be adopted to turn into a manageable one
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Estranging Allegory through Worldbuilding in the Works of N.K. Jemisin
No full textN.K. Jemisin has become an important voice in the genres of science fiction, fantasy, and speculative fiction writers, using her storyworlds to reflect on the world through a post-colonial lens that reveals and critiques issues of race, racism, white supremacy, and other aspects of destructive whiteness. Science fiction and fantasy are literatures of estrangement, and they use that framework to interrogate complicated ideas and issues. The worldbuilding of these genres is essential to this process, providing the mechanism to create unfamiliar conditions and circumstances that facilitate estrangement and defamiliarization. Worldbuilding is a collaborative process between the author and the reader, with the author’s worldbuilding informing how the reader subsequently recreates the imagined world. Building on previous scholarship that explores the allegorical nature of Jemisin’s works and defamiliarization in her writing, I propose that a key aspect of Jemisin’s worldbuilding is that she takes the critical elements of the allegory or theme and builds them each into the storyworld independent of each other. Estranging the allegory in the storyworld this way creates space between the elements in the reader’s worldbuilding that reinforces defamiliarization, and can circumvent alienating associations from the real-world context. Ultimately, reconciling the estranged allegory may increase understanding of and empathy for experiences outside of their own in the reader. This thesis examines how the themes in two of Jemisin’s novels, The Fifth Season and The City We Became, are estranged and defamiliarized through the worldbuilding, with an interest in how the key elements of the thematic allegory are estranged from one another and defamiliarized independently in the text, and how the level of estrangement of the storyworld affects how this dynamic
On Cyclic Functions in Weighted Hardy Spaces
No full textThe author is grateful to N.K. Nikolskii who supported the author's intention to publish this paper and to B. Vinnitskii (= Vynnytskyi) for his attention paid to this paper
On Cyclic Functions in Weighted Hardy Spaces
No full textThe author is grateful to N.K. Nikolskii who supported the author's intention to publish this paper and to B. Vinnitskii (= Vynnytskyi) for his attention paid to this paper
Synthesis of impedance using switching converters
No full textAuthor name used in this publication: Chi K. TseAuthor name used in this publication: Franki N.K. PoonAuthor name used in this publication: M.H. PongRefereed conference paper2005-2006 > Academic research: refereed > Refereed conference paperVersion of RecordPublishedVoR allowe
«…And still there are lights in front of us»: the reformatory demo-cratism of V. Korolenko
No full textThe article gives a seaway of the social political views of a well known Russian writer V. Korolenko. The author of the article proves that the political doctrine of Korolenko is very close to reformatory democratism of N.K. Mikhailovsky
Implementing inter-organisational service systems: An approach for emerging networks in volatile contexts
No full textPublic organizations in the developing world are undergoing a gradual but irreversible change, due to innovations in information and communications technologies. The emergence of business networks, among such organizations, indicates an increasing interdependence and a search for solutions to regain waning strategic relevance and competitive advantage. In this research we note that, the emerging public organizational networks in the developing world, work in unpredictable environments with resource scarcity. The environment is volatile and a potential obstacle to improving implementation practices for emerging networks. To find solutions that can improve the reliability and efficiency of the implementation practices, we focus on the implementation challenges that emerging inter-organizational networks currently face in implementing service systems for business collaboration. We define solutions that use repeatable processes for inter-organizational business IS implementation, avoiding the need to change the focus of the core business processes.Technology, Policy and Managemen
Piezoelectric and dielectric properties of polymer-ceramic composites for sensors
No full textThe main objective of this PhD thesis is to develop new routes and concepts for manufacturing piezoelectric ceramic-polymer composites with adequate piezoelectric properties while retaining ease of manufacturing and mechanical flexibility and explore new possibilities to maximize especially the voltage sensitivity while taking into account environmentally relevant issues such as avoiding the use of the chemical element Lead in the piezoelectric ceramics. The starting status of the field and the targets are described in Chapter 1. The production of structured Lead Zirconium Titanate (PZT)–epoxy composites, fabricated using dielectrophoresis, is described in Chapter 2. The resulting thread-like arrangement of the PZT particles in the composites was found to enhance the piezoelectric and dielectric constants of the structured composites. The piezoelectric and dielectric properties of the composites as a function of PZT volume fraction were investigated and compared with the corresponding properties of unstructured composites. The experimentally observed piezoelectric and dielectric constants of the structured and unstructured composites could be described by existing theoretical models. It was found that an attractive combination of decent flexibility and good piezoelectric voltage sensitivity could be obtained for structured composites at around 10 vol.% PZT particles loading. In Chapter 3, a Zn based ionomer was used as the new polymer matrix because of its high flexibility, decent electrical conductivity, excellent adhesion to the ceramic phase and most importantly its self-healing potential. The effective poling conditions for PZT-Zn ionomer composites were investigated and the results were compared with those for the reference PZT-EMAA (ethylene methacrylic acid copolymer) composites and monolithic PZT ceramic. The experimentally observed dielectric and piezoelectric coefficient were compared with Yamada’s model. The tensile properties and high cycle fatigue of the composites for large strain levels were also studied. It was demonstrated that the partial loss of sensorial functionality of the composites after high cyclic tensile fatigue could be recovered by thermal healing, due to the self-healing character of the polymer matrix. The goal of Chapter 4 was to develop an approach to quantify the state of poling of the PZT granules inside the Zn-ionomer matrix by using high energy synchrotron X-ray diffraction. For this study, we used a 30 vol.% Zn-ionomer PZT composite which was optimally poled as described in Chapter 3. The poling efficiency, crystallographic texture and lattice strain of the PZT particles inside the polymer matrix were determined and compared with the values for corresponding bulk ceramics reported in literature. It was shown that for an applied macroscopic field of 15 kVmm-1 the PZT particles are effectively poled, leading to a maximum ?(002) domain reorientation volume fraction, of around 0.70. It is also found that a significant tensile lattice strain, ?{111}, of 0.6% occurs in the direction of the applied electric field, indicating the occurrence of residual stresses within the 2-4 µm size diameter particles. The PZT particles within the polymeric matrix were found to experience significant elastic constraints. In Chapter 5 the processing window of PZT based piezoelectric composites was unveiled over the entire phase diagram composition range and a material selection criterion for high g33 composites was formulated. The piezoelectric and dielectric properties for the complete set of PZT ceramics were reported and correlated to their microstructure, polarisation and strain hysteresis loops. The effect of the dielectric and piezoelectric properties of the filler particles on the effective properties of their composites was studied using theoretical models. It was demonstrated that the combination of low dielectric constant and moderately high d33 of the ceramic filler can lead to lead-free piezoelectric composites having sensorial properties not having been reported ever before for composite materials. Finally, in Chapter 6 we describe the preparation of regular single phase cubic Lead- free (K, Na)xLi1-xNbO3 (KNN) piezoceramic particles using a new solid state double calcination processing route. These particles were subsequently used to create random and structured KNN-epoxy composites. Using dielectrophoresis, these cubical KNN particles were structured into one dimensional chains in an epoxy matrix. Composites produced with these powders showed piezoelectric properties about a factor of 2 higher than those of composites processed with conventionally calcined powder. The dielectrophoretically structured KNN-epoxy composites with optimized particle size and morphology showed excellent piezoelectric properties which can replace lead -containing piezoelectric composite for sensor applications in future. In Figure S.1, we present an overview of the properties of the new composites created in the course of this graduation project and note with pleasure that in many cases the properties fall outside the domains of systems known at the start of the thesis project to yield attractive properties.Aerospace Structures and Materials (ASM)Aerospace Engineerin
Mobile integrons encode phage defense systems
No full textAuthor contributions: Conceptualization:
J.A.E.; Investigation: N.K., A.H., L.O.M., P.B., T.D., P.V., F.M.O., T.J., M.G.-Q., A.C., P.D.-C.; Funding acquisition: J.A.E.; Project administration: J.A.E.; Supervision: M.G.-Q., P.D.-C., J.A.E.; Writing — original draft: N.K., A.H., J.A.E.; Writing — review & editing: N.K., A.H., D.J., P.D.-C., M.G.-Q., J.A.EIntegrons are bacterial genetic elements that capture, stockpile,and modulate the expression of genes encoded in integroncassettes. Mobile integrons (MIs) are borne on plasmids, actingas a vehicle for hundreds of antimicrobial resistance genesamong key pathogens. These elements also carry genecassettes of unknown function (gcus) whose role and adaptivevalue remain unexplored. In this work, we show that gcusencode phage resistance systems, many of which are newlydiscovered. Bacteriophage resistance integron cassettes(BRiCs) can be combined and mixed with resistance cassettesto produce multiphage or drug and phage resistance. Thefitness costs of BRiCs are variable and dependent on thegenetic context and can be modulated by changing the order ofcassettes in the array. Hence, MIs act as highly mobile, low-costdefense islands.European CommissionUniversidad ComplutenseMinisterio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (España)Instituto de Salud Carlos IIIDepto. de Sanidad AnimalFac. de VeterinariaTRUEpu
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