728 research outputs found
Being a Critical Social Scientist: An Interview with David Fasenfest
No full textAn interview with David Fasenfest, editor of Critical Sociology and author of Marx Matters by Raju Das and Robert Latham from 2023
Dharma and Polity Through the Character of Raju in R.K Naraayan’s “The Guide”
No full textDharma is a distinct quality that leads one to explore knowledge. In the novel ‘The Guide’, there are characters who reflect the concept of Dharma in a true sense of words. So, Dharma is a key concept. In the Western countries, the concept of Dharma is taken as a religion which appears to be a limited and incomplete as compared to the Indian concept of Dharma. Dharma indeed signifies patterns of behaviour considered to be accord of Rta that makes life in the universal possible. It includes duties, law, conduct, virtues and right way of life. R. K Narayana is a classical author in Indian fiction. Narayan is a true Indian both in spirits and thoughts. He has always been claimed as a novelist par excellence. Incidentally little has been written on how Narayan incorporates the profoundest Indian thoughts, philosophies and spiritualism in general and theory of Karma in particular in his novels. He is widely known for his lucid and natural writing style, often compared to William Faulkner. Most of his works show his deep interest in Hindu Religion and Myth. He does not modify or revise the myths through their symbolic representation. “To be a good writer anywhere, you must have roots - both in Religion and family. I have these things.”(Stephen Graubart) As a great writer, he translated and published shortened prose versions of the two great Indian epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata and a few Hindu mythical tales in Gods, Demons and others. His familiarity of Indian classical literature, philosophy, religion and ethics permeates his writing but a simple man that he was; he does not unnecessarily burden his readers with discourses on abstract philosophy and metaphysics. As an English writer, he depicted Dharma spirituality and ethics or the concept of religion in his novels. Through The Guide, we have come know how a fraudulent tourist guide, Raju playing the central role as a saint. Theoretically, morally, honorably, legally and ethically a tourist guide is not preferred to misguide the tourists. Raju changed his life from an ordinary guide to a sage and unfolds the concept of Dharma, finally realized his self and sacrificed his life for the sake of Dharma and Polity. The present paper deals with the role of dharma in ‘The Guide’ through Raju. The concept of dharma found in Indian philosophy is artistically incorporated in the ‘The Guide’. He himself mentioned that there is “a nucleus of absolute truth in all my novels.” He reveals this truth in different ways with the aim to regenerate the consciousness of malgudains. In one of his interview Narayan told that one should have root in the family and religion or Dharam. William wash praise Narayan for embodying this pure concept of dharma in his novels. The thoughtful concept of dharma with sincerity is deeply found in ‘The Guide’ R.K. Narayan has given a true common image of India through in ‘The Guide’ The central character, Raju, goes to the Mangala village on the Sarayu River and he stays in a temple on the sea shore. There he meets Velan. Raju narrates his past life as a successful tourist guide ‘Railway Raju’ and a rail road station food seller. Raju, the tourist guide is initially entrapped in the illusory world when the materialistic Charvaka philosophy guides and governs his life. Raju has been described as a spiritual martyr, one who finds himself in a insecure situation on account of the misunderstanding of a village idiot. Martyrdom is thus imposed upon him under certain unavoidable circumstances. But a close study of Raju’s actions, thoughts and behaviour significantly indicates a change in Raju. The sacrifice of Raju followed by the rains in Mangla village could very well be treated as a justification of Indian philosophy and its various paradigms. Once Raju, as a tourist, guide happened to meet Marco and Rosie. Marco concentrated more on other worldly affairs and gives less attention towards his gorgeous wife Rosie. Raju helped both Marco and Rosie to recognize her desire of becoming a dancer. Raju becomes very close to her. He was much impressed by Rosie. He ignored his friend Gaffur’s warning and even his mother’s advice. He turned a hard of hearing even to the voice of his own soul. The only truth in my existence was Rosie. All my psychological powers were now turned to keep her within my reach, and keep her cheery all the time, neither of which was at all easy. I would deliberately have kept at her side all the occasion, as a sort of scrounger. His over associate with a married lady becomes a serious burden to his tragedy. Raju helped Rosie in making her dreams come true. Rosie became a professional dancer. Raju forged her signature and mailed the document for which he was caught and sent to jail for two years. After coming out of the jail he has been accepted as a saint of Mangala. The villagers approached Raju to undertake a fast to please the rain God and this made him to confess his past life to Velan. Even after listening to the past life of Raju, Velan continued to acknowledge him as Swami; he took Raju’s confession as a mark of humility and godliness. He persuaded Raju for a fast and Raju finally agreed to fast ‘If by avoiding food I should help the trees bloom, and the grass grow, why not do it thoroughly?’ and that became his final decision. He slowly changed himself without his knowledge as a real sage. Sharan comments that: In the course of his ordeals, he changes himself thoroughly and accepts the challenges of reality. He plays his role of a holy man with a ring of sincerity and embraces death at the end of the novel. Thus, ‘Railway Raju’, the guide becomes a ‘spiritual guide’ and all his imperfection and impersonation turn into a real act of self-sacrifice. Raju has no other way but to undergo the fast though reluctantly he gained power to undertake the fast for real and through this power he sacrificed. After the twelve day Raju’s physical condition was very poor. He bows his head for prayer and said to Velan, ‘Velan it’s raining in the hills. I can feel it coming up under my feet, up legs –He sagged down. Thus the swami Raju’s was dedicated to the betterment for the poor people of the Mangala as a divine saint. It is true that R.K. Narayan has depicted that Indian belief and feelings can be articulated in foreign language without demanding to reproduce the native speakers of English. He gave his characters Indian thoughts and expressed it in his scenes and backgrounds. Indian culture and tradition is rich and it is not easy to summarize through few situations or characters. But Narayan made it exuberant and all his characters share Indianness. A close reading of the novel explores that Raju is not very bad person. Though he made affairs with Rosie, a married woman, his heart warns him of being in an Indian society and he is not at ease and peace. In his own words he establishes his fear: “My thoughts dwelt on her golden touch. A part of my mind went on saying. ‘No, no. It is not right. Marco is her husband, remember. It’s not to be thought of.’ Rosie, besides her modern –type relationship with Raju, regards Marco as her husband. Raju’s mother is portrayed as a woman born and bred up in an orthodox, conservative class of Indians
Cyber-Physical Co-Simulation Testbed for Real-Time Reactive Power Control in Smart Distribution Network
No full textExisting electric power distribution systems are evolving and changing as a result of the high renewable energy sources integration. Hence, future smart distribution networks will involve various technical challenges; one of them is real-time monitoring and controlling the network to operate it effectively and efficiently. This paper develops and analyzes a cyber-physical co-simulation testbed for real-time reactive power control in the smart distribution network. The testbed is a two-layer system, with Typhoon HIL 604 representing the physical layer and the other layer as a cybernetic layer. The cybernetic layer is used to model a test system and control reactive power from smart inverters in real-time. The implementation of real-time reactive power control of smart inverters on a CIGRE MV distribution network is shown in this study. The proposed testbed's usefulness in real-time reactive power control is demonstrated through simulation results.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository 'You share, we take care!' - Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Intelligent Electrical Power Grid
Między sentymentem a sceptycyzmem. Jana Józefa Szczepańskiego doświadczenie Wschodu (na podstawie książki Do raju i z powrotem)
No full textThe purpose of this article is to present the reflections and remarks of the writer Jan Józef Szczepański contained in his book Do raju i z powrotem [To Paradise and Back], which resulted from his 1961 trip to the Middle East and the western India. Szczepański, an author, screenwriter and Indianist by education (he graduated in Oriental studies from Jagiellonian University), confronts his ideas about the Orient with the reality he observes on the spot. He focuses on the signs of modernization in Arab countries on the one hand, and Islamic orthodoxy and religious fundamentalism on the other. This becomes an opportunity to compare the sources of civilizational and cultural differences between secularized Europe and the still religious East.Celem artykułu jest przedstawienie zawartych w książce Do raju i z powrotem refleksji i uwag autora, Jana Józefa Szczepańskiego, będących efektem jego podróży w 1961 r. na Bliski Wschód i do zachodnich Indii. Szczepański, pisarz, scenarzysta, a z wykształcenia indianista (ukończył orientalistykę na Uniwersytecie Jagiellońskim), konfrontuje swoje wyobrażenia o Oriencie z realiami, jakie obserwuje na miejscu. Swoją uwagą obejmuje przejawy modernizacji krajów arabskich z jednej strony, z drugiej zaś – islamskiej ortodoksji i fundamentalizmu religijnego. Staje się to okazją do porównań dotyczących źródeł różnic cywilizacyjnych i kulturowych między zlaicyzowaną Europą a nadal religijnym Wschodem
"Transcranial direct current stimulation for upper extremity spasticity rehabilitation in stroke survivors: A systematic review of randomized controlled trials"
No full textObjectives: This review aimed to examine the impacts of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on upper extremity spasticity post-stroke and to define the most effective tDCS parameters.
Literature survey: Systematic review in the following databases: PubMed, SCOPUS, PEDro, CINAHL, MEDLINE, REHABDATA, AMED, and Web of Science databases. Studies up to June 2020 were included.
Methodology: Studies were included if the sample was composed of individuals with stroke, the intervention followed a tDCS intervention (alone or combined with another intervention), and the study was a randomized controlled trial including at least one measurement assessing upper extremity spasticity. Two authors independently screened the included studies. Conflicting decisions between authors were resolved by discussion with the third author. The methodological quality was assessed using the Cochrane Collaboration’s tool. The authors determined that the meta-analysis was not feasible due to the heterogeneity in the protocols among the included studies.
Synthesis: After the screening of 1204 records, a total of seven studies met the specified inclusion criteria and involved 320 participants (Mean age= 60.28), 31.1% of whom were females. Patients with ischemic stroke comprised 77.2% of the total patients, and 42.2% were with right hemispheric stroke. Six studies exhibited “high” quality and one exhibited “moderate” quality. Five of the selected studies that combined the tDCS intervention and other traditional interventions showed a significant reduction in upper extremity spasticity post-stroke following tDCS intervention. The other two studies that delivered tDCs alone did not show a significant difference.
Conclusion: The evidence for the effect of tDCS on upper extremity spasticity post-stroke was limited. The optimal tDCS treatment dosage remains unclear. Additional studies with large sample sizes and long-term follow-up are strongly warranted.
Keywords: Stroke; spasticity; neurological disorders; movement disorders; brain injury
Experiences in a Cyber-Physical Co-Simulation Testbed Development for a Smart-er Distribution Network
No full textWith the rise of the integration of renewable energy sources, the operating characteristics of existing electric power distribution systems are evolving and changing. As a result, the digitalisation of the distribution network is gaining attention for effective real-time monitoring and control. Cyber-Physical cosimulation is one of the options for implementing and testing novel concepts and ideas before actual implementation on the distribution network. Therefore, this paper presents some experiences on the cyber-physical testbed in the distribution network. Moreover, the methodology, possible challenges and mitigation techniques are also presented for a cyber-physical cosimulation testbed of optimal reactive power control in smarter distribution network (SDN). The cyber-physical co-simulation testbed is analysed using a Typhoon HIL 604 and OpenDSS on a CIGRE MV distribution
Does child labor always decrease with income ? an evaluation in the context of a development program in Nicaragua
No full textThis paper investigates the relationship of household income with child labor. The analysis uses a rich dataset obtained in the context of a conditional cash transfer program in a poor region of Nicaragua in 2005 and 2006. The program has a strong productive emphasis and seeks to diversify the work portfolio of beneficiaries while imposing conditionalities on the household. The author develops a simple model that relates child labor to household income, preferences, and production technology. It turns out that child labor does not always decrease with income; the relationship is complex and exhibits an inverted-U shape. Applying the data to the model confirms that the relationship is concave when all children (8-15 years of age) are included in the sample. Expanding the analysis by stratifying the sample by age and gender shows that the relationship holds only for older children, both genders. The author investigates the effect of the conditional cash transfer program on child labor. The results show that the program has a decreasing effect on total hours of work for the full sample of children. Disentangling labor into two types - physically demanding labor and non-physical labor - reveals that the program has opposite effects on each type; it decreases physically demanding labor while increasing participation in non-physical (more intellectually oriented) tasks for children.Street Children,Youth and Governance,Labor Policies,Children and Youth,Labor Markets
Pelota regulates the development of extraembryonic endoderm through activation of bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signaling
No full textPelota (Pelo) is ubiquitously expressed, and its genetic deletion in mice leads to embryonic lethality at an early post-implantation stage. In the present study, we conditionally deleted Pelo and showed that PELO deficiency did not markedly affect the self-renewal of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) or their capacity to differentiate in teratoma assays. However, their differentiation into extraembryonic endoderm (ExEn) in embryoid bodies (EBs) was severely compromised. Conversely, forced expression of Pelo in ESCs resulted in spontaneous differentiation toward the ExEn lineage. Failure of Pelo-deficient ESCs to differentiate into ExEn was accompanied by the retained expression of pluripotency-related genes and alterations in expression of components of the bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signaling pathway. Further experiments have also revealed that attenuated activity of BMP signaling is responsible for the impaired development of ExEn. The recovery of ExEn and down-regulation of pluripotent genes in BMP4-treated Pelo-null EBs indicate that the failure of mutant cells to down-regulate pluripotency-related genes in EBs is not a result of autonomous defect, but rather to failed signals from surrounding ExEn lineage that induce the differentiation program. In vivo studies showed the presence of ExEn in Pelo-null embryos at E6.5, yet embryonic lethality at E7.5, suggesting that PELO is not required for the induction of ExEn development, but rather for ExEn maintenance or for terminal differentiation toward functional visceral endoderm which provides the embryos with growth factors required for further development. Moreover, Pelo-null fibroblasts failed to reprogram toward induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) due to inactivation of BMP signaling and impaired mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition. Thus, our results indicate that PELO plays an important role in the establishment of pluripotency and differentiation of ESCs into ExEn lineage through activation of BMP signaling
Benefit-risk analysis for decision-making: An approach
No full textThe analysis of benefit and risk is an important aspect of decision-making throughout the drug lifecycle. In this work, the use of a benefit-risk analysis approach to support decision-making was explored. The proposed approach builds on the qualitative US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approach to include a more explicit analysis based on international standards and guidance that enables aggregation and comparison of benefit and risk on a common basis and a lifecycle focus. The approach is demonstrated on six decisions over the lifecycle (e.g., accelerated approval, withdrawal, and traditional approval) using two case studies: natalizumab for multiple sclerosis (MS) and bedaquiline for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB)
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