15 research outputs found
Changing Demographic, Social, and Economic Conditions in Karachi City, 1959–94: A Preliminary Analysis
No full textKingsley Davis (1961) had argued that the reason that the ancient cities failed to survive was that they were too deadly. He suggested that “three of their (cities) main traits....the crowding of many people in little space, their dependence on widespread contacts (due to in-migration), and their wealth...laid them open to contagious diseases, environmental contamination, occasional starvation and warfare”. Even in the medieval age, some European cities provide examples of such problems; but especially so following the Industrial Revolution. Do the events of the 1980s and the 1990s in Karachi suggest that the city may be heading in the same direction. Recently, The Times London in a lead article in November 1994, labelled Karachi as a “City of Riches and Shattered Dreams”. It further said that Karachi had grown into a megalopolis where life moved fast and street violence had become a norm. Indeed, more than 65 percent of Pakistan’s industries and 80 percent of its finance, banking, and business are concentrated in the city and people come to it from all over the country to find jobs and fulfil their dreams [Husain (1994)]. During the past decade, street violence in the form of ethnic clashes has become a sort of regular event in Karachi. At times, these clashes have been more frequent and even bloodier than the ones before. According to the local newspaper accounts, between 1985 and 1988 (in four years), about 400 people died in Karachi due to violence, which has increased substantially over time. Thus, while the number of violent deaths remained between 350–500 during 1991–93, in 1994 alone the number exceeded 1,100, and during the first three months of 1995, over 300 persons have died due to violence.
Variation in ectotherm thermal tolerances with elevation and temperature across biological scales
No full text•Aim: Variation in thermal tolerances along environmental gradients is assumed to follow similar patterns across different biological scales, including within and between species, and across communities. However, this assumption has yet to be tested using comprehensive datasets collected through standardised methodologies.
•Location: Southern Asia.
•Time Period: 2017–2019.
•Major Taxa Studied: Ants, beetles, grasshoppers, and spiders.
•Methods: We quantified the associations between thermal tolerance traits and elevation or temperature at three biological scales (community, broad taxonomic group, and species) along two distinct elevational transects in Southern Asia. In total, we measured thermal tolerances of over 15,000 individuals from 114 arthropod species belonging to four invertebrate taxa (ants, beetles, grasshoppers, and spiders). We compared the relationships at each scale using mixed‐effects models.
•Results: At the community scale, across all individuals of all species, we found a consistent decline in the values of three thermal tolerance traits (upper tolerance, lower tolerance, and tolerance breadth) with elevation along the Himalayan transect but an increase in the values of upper and lower tolerance along the Sulaiman transect. The relationships of thermal tolerance traits and elevation/temperature varied among the groups and species between the Himalayan and Sulaiman transects. This suggests that factors beyond elevation, including vegetation composition, microclimate, landscape features, and local adaptation, drive observed variation in thermal tolerance traits among and within species.
•Conclusion: Our study highlights the interplay between thermal physiology and the environment across different habitats and biological scales. Our findings indicate that predicting biodiversity responses to environmental change based on thermal tolerance–environment relationships requires careful consideration of group‐ and species‐level variation. This is essential for improving the accuracy of climate change impact assessments on biodiversity
Dr Ishrat Husain calls for empowerment of local govts
No full textThis news piece is about the launch and subsequent panel discussion on ‘Unravelling Gordian Knots: The Works and Worlds of Dr. Ishrat Husain’ held at the Institute of Business Management (IoBM) attended by IoBM President Talib Karim, Javed jabbar, Dr. Mehtab Karim, the author Sibtain Naqvi and Dr. Ishrat Husain himself
Patient controlled analgesics for post operative patients: In post-operative patients, how do PCA devices compared with traditional analgesic methods affect pain management during their hospital stay?
No full textPatient-controlled analgesia (PCA) is a portable, computerized infusion pump that releases a regulated amount of analgesics typically intravenously or subcutaneously when a patient presses the button (Perry, Potter, Stockert, Hall, Ross-Kerr, Wood, Astle, and Duggleby, 2014).The purpose of a PCA is to give the patient the control to manage
their own pain before the pain gets intolerable, keep a steady level of comfortability and prevent complications that can arise from untreated pain. The button should be pressed on the earliest sign of pain or before a pain provoking activity (Perry et al., 2018). Notable strengths of the PCA are patient control for quicker pain relief, overall safe pain management with minimal risks of overdose or inappropriate use (Perry et al., 2014). Conclusion: patients will have less post-op complications due to pain
while using the PCA. Patient education is an important factor in the effectiveness of the PCA delivery system. Research suggests PCA is effective with pain management
and comfort is improved compared with conventional methods of opioid analgesia.Not peer reviewedStudent Research Day Poster (2018
Development of Intranet Messaging Application for Larger Enterprises
No full textThis Dissertation / Report is the outcome of investigation carried out by the creator(s) / author(s) at the department/division of Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), Mysore mentioned below in this page
Knowledge sharing and transfer through Tableeghi Jamaat among Muslims in India
No full textHaving had a humble beginning with the efforts
in a small region known as Mewat in India,
Tableeghi Jamaat had now make the presence
felt in almost all the continents.In the absence of any publicity material this is indeed a remarkable achievement.The present paper attempts to describe the efforts of Jamaat in the most populous state of India namely Uttar Pradesh.It is unfortunate that not enough material has been produced related to Tableeghi Jamaat. Furthermore, whatever has been written, most of it, is not free from malice and prejudice.As a matter of fact, this kind of study needs participation on the part of any author to present a balance picture.The present author has spent a considerable amount of time to get familiarity with the ideology of Jamaat. Besides outings, the author also participates in the local activities concerning the daily and weekly programmes. The present paper is thus an outcome of this indoor and outdoor participation.It states that how the Jamaat played significant role in the knowledge sharing and transfer and to what extent the Muslim community had been benefitted in India
Embracing Absurdity: A SixMonth Self Study
No full textThis self-study is based on a six-month-long personal experiment in applying the philosophy of absurdism as a healing framework for a period of depression, insomnia, and existential restlessness. Drawing on the ideas of Camus, Nietzsche, and Kierkegaard, the author rejects the search for metaphysical meaning and instead embraces the meaninglessness of existence as a means toward psychological liberation. This self-study narrates the evolution of minor, stabilizing rituals-most important among these, smoking and night-time reading-as a method for managing anxiety, determining sleep, and reshaping everyday life. Eventually, social withdrawal yields to interpersonal re-engagement, and despair gives over to a quiet, sustainable strain of contentment. This narrative would support that acceptance of life's absurdity can loosen the noose of existential pressure, diminish the fear of judgment, and foster one's sense of freedom rooted less in purpose than in presence. Not a universal model of therapy, this story does attest to the fact that lived philosophy and simple ritual can help establish emotional recovery and personal growth
Embracing Absurdity: A SixMonth Self Study
No full textThis self-study is based on a six-month-long personal experiment in applying the philosophy of absurdism as a healing framework for a period of depression, insomnia, and existential restlessness. Drawing on the ideas of Camus, Nietzsche, and Kierkegaard, the author rejects the search for metaphysical meaning and instead embraces the meaninglessness of existence as a means toward psychological liberation. This self-study narrates the evolution of minor, stabilizing rituals-most important among these, smoking and night-time reading-as a method for managing anxiety, determining sleep, and reshaping everyday life. Eventually, social withdrawal yields to interpersonal re-engagement, and despair gives over to a quiet, sustainable strain of contentment. This narrative would support that acceptance of life's absurdity can loosen the noose of existential pressure, diminish the fear of judgment, and foster one's sense of freedom rooted less in purpose than in presence. Not a universal model of therapy, this story does attest to the fact that lived philosophy and simple ritual can help establish emotional recovery and personal growth
Effect of pre-existing microstructural defects on elastic and fracture properties of composites
No full textThe objective of this research is to explore the effect of microstructural defects on the mechanical properties of fiber reinforced composites. In particular, two kinds of defects are considered in the study, namely, matrix pores and interface precracks. Three-dimensional (3-D) finite element analyses are conducted on Representative Volume Elements (RVE) to predict the effective elastic properties of the transversely isotropic unidirectional composite with a random distribution of the pore defects and the results are reported. With regards to fracture properties, cohesive zone-based two-dimensional (2-D) finite elements are employed to simulate fracture in the microstructure, where the cohesive elements are embedded throughout the FE mesh to simulate arbitrary crack initiation and propagation. The results of the simulations are reported in terms of the fracture pattern and quantified using the effective stress-strain response for various volume and area fractions of matrix pores and interface cracks respectively. It is shown that the presence of defects has a noticeable influence on the elastic properties, but severely influences the fracture properties of the composite.Aerospace Structures & Computational Mechanic
The role of thermal tolerance in determining elevational distributions of four arthropod taxa in mountain ranges of southern Asia
No full textUnderstanding the role of thermal tolerances in determining species distributions is important for assessing species responses to climate change. Two hypotheses linking physiology with species distributions have been put forward—the climatic variability hypothesis and the climatic extreme hypothesis. The climatic variability hypothesis predicts the selection of individuals with broad thermal tolerance in more variable climatic conditions and the climatic extreme hypothesis predicts the selection of individuals with extreme thermal tolerance values under extreme climatic conditions. However, no study has tested the predictions of these hypotheses simultaneously for several taxonomic groups along elevational gradients.
Here, we related experimentally measured critical thermal maxima, critical thermal minima and thermal tolerance breadths for 15,187 individuals belonging to 116 species of ants, beetles, grasshoppers, and spiders from mountain ranges in central and northern Pakistan to the limits and breadths of their geographic and temperature range.
Across all species and taxonomic groups, we found strong relationships between thermal traits and elevational distributions both in terms of geography and temperature. The relationships were robust when repeating the analyses for ants, grasshoppers, and spiders but not for beetles. These results indicate a strong role of physiology in determining elevational distributions of arthropods in Southern Asia.
Overall, we found strong support for the climatic variability hypothesis and the climatic extreme hypothesis. A close association between species' distributional limits and their thermal tolerances suggest that in case of a failure to adapt or acclimate to novel climatic conditions, species may be under pressure to track their preferred climatic conditions, potentially facing serious consequences under current and future climate change
