1,111 research outputs found
Short-Term Hourly Ozone Concentration Forecasting Using Functional Data Approach
No full textAir pollution, especially ground-level ozone, poses severe threats to human health and ecosystems. Accurate forecasting of ozone concentrations is essential for reducing its adverse effects. This study aims to use the functional time series approach to model ozone concentrations, a method less explored in the literature, and compare it with traditional time series and machine learning models. To this end, the ozone concentration hourly time series is first filtered for yearly seasonality using smoothing splines that lead us to the stochastic (residual) component. The stochastic component is modeled and forecast using a functional autoregressive model (FAR), where each daily ozone concentration profile is considered a single functional datum. For comparison purposes, different traditional and machine learning techniques, such as autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA), vector autoregressive (VAR), neural network autoregressive (NNAR), random forest (RF), and support vector machine (SVM), are also used to model and forecast the stochastic component. Once the forecast from the yearly seasonality component and stochastic component are obtained, both are added to obtain the final forecast. For empirical investigation, data consisting of hourly ozone measurements from Los Angeles from 2013 to 2017 are used, and one-day-ahead out-of-sample forecasts are obtained for a complete year. Based on the evaluation metrics, such as R2, root mean squared error (RMSE), and mean absolute error (MAE), the forecasting results indicate that the FAR outperforms the competitors in most scenarios, with the SVM model performing the least favorably across all cases
Women leaders in trade unions of Pakistan : stories of struggle and leadership
No full textFriedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Pakistan Office ; author: Saba Gul Khattak ; illustrators Abdullah Shahid, Aiman Saleem, Areeban Shaukat Qureshi [und weitere
Differential associations between body composition indices and neurodevelopment during early life in term-born infants: findings from the Pakistan cohort: Multi-Center Body Composition Reference Study
No full textObjective: we examined associations between fat free mass (FFM) and fat mass (FM) accretion during the first 1000 days of life and neurodevelopment in term-born, low-risk infants from Karachi, Pakistan.Design: prospective, observational study nested within the larger Multi-Center Body Composition Reference Study. FFM, FM, and fat% were estimated using measured deuterium dilution method. Neurodevelopmental outcomes were assessed at 24 months on the INTER-NDA (INTERGROWTH-21st Project Neurodevelopment Assessment) (n = 132).Results: children with gross motor delays had significantly lower FFM at 18 months (8.01 ± 0.97 kg vs. 7.55 ± 0.20 kg). Children with positive and negative behavior problems had significantly higher fat% at 24 months (20.62 ± 4.30% vs. 18.23 ± 5.46%) and 20.89 ± 4.24% vs. 18.54 ± 5.38%). No associations remained significant after adjusting for covariates. Trajectory modeling showed that between 12 and 18 months, negative behavior scores changed by 13.8 points for every standard deviation change in fat accretion.Conclusions: our findings highlight the importance of balancing neurodevelopment and metabolic risk when designing nutritional interventions for young children.</p
Masters of red terror (Felix Dzerzyhinsky and Vyacheslav Menzhinsky) in literary drafts of emigrant Roman Gul)
No full textIn the article, works of Roman Gul - a writer, a literary critic, a historian and memuaristof the first wave of the Russian emigration are examined. His literary work in Poland is littleknownand examined. As the research material there are two drafts about F. Dzerzyhinsky and V.Menzhinsky, Poles, noblemen. Gul, showing main stages of the life and revolutionary activityof Dzerzhinsky (“red executioner”, “father of terror”) is focusing his attention on portrait andpsychological characteristics this fanatic, author of Bolshevik terror. The author of sketches iscomparing “the lion of the revolution” with the Tomas de Torquemada Inquisitor and with activistsof the Great French Revolution Isidore de Robespierre and Antoine Quentin Fouquier deTinville. Convincingly and accurately he is reconstructing the portrait of Menzhinsky. He is alsocreating characteristics of intellectual and spiritual mediocrity
Rational Legal Decision-Making, Value Judgment and Efficient Precaution in Tort law
No full textBy reinterpreting Savage axioms as axioms of the social rationality over resource allocations, we derive a social welfare function encompassing individual social values and a social attitude towards distributional inequality. Wealth maximization becomes the purpose of law only if individuals have equal social values and the society does not care about distributional inequality. In tort law, when the injurer is less socially valued than the victim, the society imposes a stricter due precaution level, and punitive damages will be awarded. Tort law also implicitly transfers wealth from the less socially valued party to the more socially valued party.rationality; value judgement; tort law; punitive damage
The avoidance of statutory benefits to employees by Hong Kong employers
No full textAuthor name used in this publication: Gul, Reza Jashen.Author name used in this publication: Sun, Sunny.2012-2013 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalVersion of RecordPublishedPublisher permissio
Language Features of the Epic "BULBUL VA GUL"(Nightingale and Flower)
No full textIn this article the linguistic features of the epic "Bulbul va Gul" (Nightingale and Flower) written by Salahiddin Salahi, who lived in the 18th century, are discussed, in particular, the image tools used in the work, monologue, dialogue, proverb, antonym, synonym, repetition, and the language of the author and character. This shows the poet's ability to use the lexical layers of the language. In addition, with the help of this article, we can get information about the state of the literary language of the 18th century
The role of conflict & negotiation in the complexity of projects
No full textProjects are pervasive and disparate spanning a plethora of domains. Most projects are unified by certain characteristics regardless of the sector or industry to which they belong i.e. time & budget limitedness, a concern for quality, and a goal orientation. Although, projects have been around for a longtime, the phenomenon of conflict in projects gained interest around the 1960s with the introduction of the matrix form of organization. However, out of all the research papers on project centric conflict between 1960 to 1980 time period, only one is empirically grounded and that too focused on IT projects. Surprisingly, the findings put forward during this time period are to date considered valid and propagated by most project literature as universally true. Several other studies have contributed peripheral contributions to the project conflict literature, however, no study has focused on building an understanding of why and how conflicts arise on projects, how they are managed, and affects they create within projects.Recent concerns pertaining to project failures, despite the existence of well-defined problems and toolsets, gave birth to an ESRC funded research network named `Rethinking Project Management'. Whose members in examining the ontological groundings of project management identified several areas of interest for future research in project management; one of which is complexity. The present study therefore focuses on integrating the concerns of conflict & negotiation within the context of project complexity.Every research has its philosophical bearings. This study is ontologically objectivist and epistemologically subjectivist (consequently the axiology is subjectivist as well). This study accepts a Critical Realist view of the world and perceive the conceivable knowledge about this world to be subjective in nature. As the study is concerned about understanding the processes through which conflict & negotiation reify and interplay within a project the objective is not to find generalizations but rather to seek out patterns of occurrences and to build explanations. The methodology followed in the study is mixed, borrowing from both positivistic and constructivist ideologies. The survey methodology is used to, in loose terms, cast a net and capture the status quo. Results of the survey supplement the literature review driven a priori assumptions and seek out context embedded variables that the literature has not touched upon. Findings from the survey contribute to the succeeding case study methodology, which inquired into their detail through the use of interviews.Data for the study was collected between March through August 2010. During the first phase of the study 86 questionnaires were filled from 73 different projects. The survey data was analyzed using aggregate statistical techniques and a thesaurus based automated coding software named Leximancer. Results of the survey indicate that all projects surveyed had experienced some form of conflict and used at least one type of negotiation technique. A large number of projects faced conflicts related to land access, political pressures, time, interdepartmental relationships, and availability of resources. Project behavior when experiencing conflict exhibits a theme of delay, slowness, and work stoppages; there are also negative effects on group cohesion and productivity. The respondents described projects experiencing conflict as challenging, time consuming, delayed, and difficult. The data also revealed several useful patterns within projects experiencing conflicts. Additionally, baseline data for project complexity was captured using Shenhar and Dvir's Diamond Approach from all the projects surveyed. Findings, from the survey contributed to the study by providing preliminary answers to each of the research questions asked. Data gathered as a result of the survey contributed significantly to the design and orientation of the case study interviews.The second phase of the data collection involved implementation of the case study methodology. Personnel at various levels of nine projects, one government consultant, and a tribal elder were interviewed, for a total of thirty interviews. Additionally, six meetings on one of the projects, and two movie filming sequences were observed. Published and non-published reports on all the projects were examined. Interviews were captured using causal-maps (a cognitive mapping technique) and short notes. The causal-maps were captured using Banxia Decision Explorer and later refined using Cmap (an open-source mapping software). Each project's complexity measurements were taken and compared against the complexity baseline developed as a result of the survey.Results from the case study reveals certain patterns of behavior on the projects, specifically in the interactions taking place between a project and its principle organization, peers, and subordinates. Additionally, I find that quality plays the most active role in project conflict & negotiation and contributes significantly to project complexity because of its interconnection to other concepts and the recursive nature of the connections it spawns. Some factors that were reported by the survey as contributing significantly to project complexity and project conflict & negotiation were disqualified and a foundation laid for further inquiry into the role played by conflict & negotiation in project complexity.In concluding the study the data is first discussed through the lens of Jurgen Habermas' (1984) Theory of Communicative Action (TCA) and is followed by a general discussion on the data. The study concludes with a discussion on the possible future work that could result from this work
Medical Students' Awareness and Interest towards Family Medicine at a Private Medical College in Karachi
No full textNot Availabl
Rewriting the body in the novels of contemporary Syrian women writers
No full textIn the present essay I explore the different representations of the body in a selection of Arabic novels, published by Syrian contemporary women writers: Ḥurrās al-hawā’ by Rosa Yāsīn Ḥasan, Rāʼiḥat al-qirfa by Samar Yazbik and Imrāʼa min haḏā al-ʽaṣr by Hayfāʼ Bīṭār. I rely on a plural methodology able to integrate the tools of comparative literature with the theoretical framework of gender and feminist criticism, in the attempt to analyze the role that the body plays in representing and questioning the key issues of contemporary Syrian society. I specifically refer to the theme of political repression, minorities, the gap between social classes, the division between the two sexes and the broader relationship between tradition and modernity. Each of these novels examines a different aspect of Syrian society that is represented through the body. I incorporated in my methodology the interviews I have conducted with the authors, to establish a dialogue between the voice of the literary text and that of the author herself. These two agents interact with each other by providing a complete picture of the society in which they co-exist. In Ḥurrās al-hawāʼ, Rosa Yāsīn Ḥasan deals with the themes of political repression and of minorities, represented through the love story between a young Alawite woman and her Druze partner, detained in prison for having participated in illegal political activities against the repressive regime. The author puts in the foreground sexuality, in that it represents the characters' evolution, through the dimensions of pleasure and violence. The erotic body is not only the place of the encounter with the other, but also the space of the search for self-assertion. The body is the medium through which the character reveals himself to the other, and, in addition to that, it is the space in which he discovers himself. The separation of the two lovers, due to his detention, is told through the stories of their bodies, which, after years of distance, no longer recognize each other. Identity, rooted in memory, disintegrates in the present, therefore becoming unrecognizable. Thus, in a community-oriented society, the body is no longer the place of the relationship with the other, but it becomes the place of a self-seeking process. On the other hand, memory loses its function of connection between the individual and the community. In Rāʼiḥat al-qirfa, Samar Yazbik deals with the division between sexes and the gap between social classes in contemporary Syria, through the homosexual relationship between the two female protagonists. As Samar Yazbik says: “Actually I wanted to talk about the change of Syrian society, the disappearance of the middle class and the great difference between the world of upper classes and that of lower classes [...]. I wanted to make a comparison between the world of the rich and the poor through the lives of two women, even to say that woman is oppressed everywhere.” (Interview with Samar Yazbik). One of the central aspects of Rāʼiḥat al-qirfa is the representation of the body in the dimension of sexuality that becomes violence in heterosexual relationships, while it acquires an erotic appearance in the homosexual ones. Women shelter in homosexual relationships whenever they cannot find satisfaction in the relationships with men. The author uses sexuality in her novel in a bid to express the crisis of a society that does not allow freedom for the individual. Women suffer such a repression twice, although men are victims as well. In Imrāʼa min haḏā al-ʽaṣr, the body is represented in the dimension of illness and suffering. The chemotherapy of the main character, suffering from breast cancer, generates a memory process that becomes part of the treatment. The protagonist begins seeking for her femininity through the exploration of her past experiences with men. The relationship between sexes is problematic, clamped between the community logic tied to tradition and the claim for individual liberation. Through the choice of this female troubled character, the author aims at criticizing her society, divided between the desire to conform to a stereotypical idea of modernity and the commitment to tradition. In a nutshell, the body is the place where the tension between these two aspects appears. Through a comparative analysis of these three novels, I noticed how they dialogue with each other, contributing to the representation of a society in the throes of the dialectical tension between the drive for collective control and individual claims. The body is used to represent human relationships ‒ heterosexual and homosexual ‒ and their changes. The body is the point of contact between individuals and, as such, it ends up being the place of negotiation between individual and collective dimensions. Besides, it becomes a metaphor of the individual as a “desiring subject”, in opposition to the concept of “subdued”. The fact that women writers deal with the male body shows that they prioritise the matter of the individual rather than women's emancipation. The emphasis on the body symbolizes the need to affirm the individual beyond the distinctions of sex and gender. Through a twofold process of liberation ‒ both from the pressures of the patriarchal system and from political censorship ‒ Syrian women writers, by narrating female and male bodies, do not merely advocate for their own liberation, yet for the liberation of the whole society
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