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The idea of the subject as a construct, of various external influences, was not new to the cultural and literary circles in the 1980s when DeLillo published White Noise. In the second half of the twentieth century, post-structuralist and postmodern theories unsettled the established ideas of the humanist tradition like the concept of the subject. The idea that the subject is constituted by external factors posed a challenge to the modernist notion of the subject as authentic and independent consciousness. Influenced by post-structuralist and postmodern theories, novelists in post-war America, especially during and after the 1980s, portrayed their protagonists (the subjects) as textual constructs rather than authentic heroic figures we often find in modernists’ works of art. DeLillo engages with technological developments and sociocultural changes in post-war America and explores how such developments/changes influence an individual’s subjectivity. Critics have described Jack Gladney, the protagonist of White Noise, as a late-modernist displaced to negotiate the postmodern landscape. This study, which is purely of scholarly interest, attempts to show how Gladney vacillates between the notions of modernist authentic subject and the de-centred postmodern subject created textually. This article also attempts to explore how DeLillo’s fiction engages with the idea of the subject during the 1980s.

This work aims to introduce a novel approach for auxiliary task guidance (ATG). In this approach, our goal is to achieve effective guidance from a suitable auxiliary task by utilizing the uncertainty in calculated gradients for a mini-batch of samples. Our method calculates a probabilistic fitness factor of the auxiliary task gradient for each of the shared weights to guide the main task at every training step of mini-batch gradient descent. We have shown that this proposed factor incorporates task specific confidence of learning to manipulate ATG in an effective manner. For studying the potency of the method, monocular visual odometry (VO) has been chosen as an application. Substantial experiments have been done on the KITTI VO dataset for solving monocular VO with a simple convolutional neural network (CNN) architecture. Corresponding results show that our ATG method significantly boosts the performance of supervised learning for VO. It also out performs state-of-the-art (SOTA) auxiliary guided methods we applied for VO. The proposed method is able to achieve decent scores (in some cases competitive)compared to existing SOTA supervised monocular VO algorithms, while keeping an exceptionally low parameter space in supervised regime.

The aim of this work is to investigate the influence of Arrhenius activation energy and variable thermal conductivity with EMHD fluid flow over a nonlinearly radiating stretching sheet in a porous medium. The main objective of this research is to study the effects of variable electromagnetohydrodynamic (EMHD) on fluid flow motion. The significance of the combined effects of electric and magnetic fields is useful where one can create a strong Lorentz force for industry applications. The fundamental laws, that is, conservation of mass, momentum, and energy equations, are given in the form of partial differential equations (PDEs). The current fluid flow problem is not similar, which means that the presented solution is local. The introduction of nonsimilarity variables transforms PDEs into a set of coupled ODEs. The resultant ODEs are not only solved computationally by MATLAB built-in solver bvp4c but the solution is also obtained with other numerical schemes that include the shooting method and the finite element method (FEM). In applying FEM, we choose the Galerkin method in which the weight function is equal to the shape function. The aforementioned numerical methods are implemented and programmed in MATLAB. Graphs illustrate the effects of various parameters on the velocity, temperature, concentration, and microorganism profiles. Physical parameters measure the roughness of the sheet (skin friction coefficient), heat transfer rate at the sheet (local Nusselt number), the mass transfer rate of the concentration gradient (local Sherwood number), and transfer rate of microorganisms at the sheet (density of motile microorganism). The skin friction coefficient increases for higher values of (Kp) and magnetic parameters (M). The local Sherwood number decreases for different values of activation energy. An excellent agreement of FEM results with other numerical methods, shooting method, and bvp4c has been achieved. Moreover, for particular cases, the current results have a good agreement with the published work.

We have investigated the behaviour of change of molar conductivity of mixtures of two crown ethers (CE) (18-Crown-6; 18C6 and 24-Crown-8; 24C8) and metal ions (Mn+) (Zn2+ and Cu2+) and the complexation between CE and Mn+ in water + acetonitrile binary solvent system (20, 40, 60 and 80%; v/v) at 298.15 K to 328.15 K by conductometric technique. Kf values for all complexes were found to be decreased with enhancement of temperature. Complexes associated with Zn2+ exhibit a trend of Kf: 24C8 + Zn2+ > 18C6 + Zn2+ in 20% solvent composition (water-acetonitrile) and order of 18C6 + Zn2+ > 24C8 + Zn2+ was found for 80% solvent composition. However, logarithm values of Kf for the Cu2+ complexes were found to obey the order of 24C8 > 18C6 almost for all compositions except with a few exceptions. ��Go was found to be negative indicating spontaneous complexation between CE and Mn+.

The publication of the European League Against Rheumatism/American College of Rheumatology (EULAR/ACR) 2017 classification criteria for adult and juvenile idiopathic inflammatory myopathy is a landmark with 186 citations as of date.1 Patients with dermatomyositis (DM) and polymyositis (PM) differ with respect to clinical features, autoantibody profile and treatment response and have been subgrouped for a long time now.2 We studied 26 consecutive adult patients over 1 year seen in a tertiary teaching hospital in south India, satisfying either the 2017 criteria or 1975 Bohan-Peter criteria for idiopathic inflammatory myositis (IIM). Patients were subclassified using the 2017 criteria subclassification tree. Those with typical skin rash (heliotrope, Gottron papule or Gottrons sign) were classified as DM (n=14) and the rest as PM (n=12). There were no patients satisfying the criteria for IBM. Overlap myositis was excluded. …

The aim is to optimise the usage of resources, so that more customers can be accommodated and each can pay less in return.

The present study investigates the effect of (yttrium, terbium) ions codoping on structural and optical properties of sodium bismuth titanate (Na0.5Bi0.5TiO3 or NBT) with the possible practical application as a multi-luminescence material in optoelectronic devices such as light-emitting diodes. The polycrystalline samples of Na0.5(Y/TbxBi1-x)0.5TiO3 (x = 0.00, 0.04, 0.06, and 0.08) were synthesized using solid-state reaction (mixed oxide) technique. Stoichiometric amounts of metal compounds (Na2CO3, Y2O3, Tb4O7, Bi2O3, and TiO2) were mixed via ball milling at 250 rpm for 2 h, and the ground powders were calcined at 700 °C for 2 h. The powders were pressed under uniaxial pressure of 6.87 MPa to obtain green pellets, which were later sintered at 1,000 °C for 2 h to obtain the Na0.5(Y/TbxBi1-x)0.5TiO3 samples. X-ray diffraction analysis suggests that the perovskite phase is established for all (Y3+, Tb3+)-codoped NBT compositions (x = 0.00–0.08). The presence of NBT functional groups was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Raman spectra indicate that (Y3+, Tb3+) ions induce minor changes to the crystal lattice structure, with no disturbance to the long-range order. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results reveal the presence of all the constituent elements in the NBT samples. Scanning electron microscopy confirms the polycrystalline nature of the samples with uniform distribution of multifacetted or nearly spherical grain structures. Transmission electron microscopy and selected area electron diffraction (SAED) images show the presence of nanocrystals in the samples. Ultraviolet diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-DRS) and photoluminescence results illustrate that Na0.5(Y/TbxBi1-x)0.5TiO3 possess wider optical energy band gap (Eg = 3.23–3.27 eV) with promising luminescence applications in the optoelectronic industry.

A growing body of research has applied intelligent transportation technologies to reduce traffic congestion at signalized intersections. However, most of these studies have not considered the systematic integration of traffic data collection methods when simulating optimum signal timing. The present study developed a three-part system to create optimized variable signal timing profiles for a congested intersection in Dhaka, regulated by fixed-time traffic signals. Video footage of traffic from the studied intersection was analyzed using a computer vision tool that extracted traffic flow data. The data underwent a further data-mining process, resulting in greater than 90% data accuracy. The final data set was then analyzed by a local traffic expert. Two hybrid scenarios based on the data and the expert’s input were created and simulated at the micro level. The resultant, custom, variable timing profiles for the traffic signals yielded a 40% reduction in vehicle queue length, increases in average travel speed, and a significant overall reduction in traffic congestion.

Background: Sleep deprivation is considered a stress factor in the perioperative period. There are several studies on sleep disturbance after surgery but very limited literature available on preoperative sleep patterns, predictors of sleep disturbance and its effect on surgical outcome. Methodology: Patients scheduled for thoracic surgery were asked to fill out a written Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) questionnaire. The primary investigator explained this form to all the patients. This was filled out before premedication for subjective assessment of sleeping pattern at two different time point. Only those patients included who spent the previous night at home. Participants were asked to respond to the questions regarding their baseline sleeping pattern and compare it with last night. Results: Total eighty-three patients with a mean age of 47.83 ± 17.88 were included in the study. Overall mean PSQI scores were significantly higher (p-value < 0.01) during the night before surgery (6.94 ± 2.115) when compared with baseline (3.88 ± 1.877). Sleep latency was also significantly affected when last night-1 (the night before admission) was compared with usual sleep latency. Twenty patients were unable to sleep more than 5 hrs at night before admission which was significant when compared with their last month status (20 vs 3). Logistic regression model demonstrated the age and Timing of surgery as a strong predictors of poor sleep (defined as PSQI ≥ 5). Conclusion: Quality of sleep was profoundly affected at night before thoracic surgery, mainly due to a significant change in sleep latency and sleep duration. Although age and Timing of surgery were strong predictors of poor sleep we were unable to find any association between quality of sleep and type of surgery.

Introduction Noise-induced hearing loss results from accumulated repetitive noise exposure of high amplitude. Grass-trimming workers are exposed to a noisy motorized machine that is carried on their back. We studied the prevalence of noise-induced hearing loss and its characteristics among the workers. Methods A comparative cross sectional study was conducted on a group of grass-trimming workers. Ear examination was conducted, followed by pure tone audiometry in a soundproof room at least 48 h after the subjects were free from the noise exposure. Noise-induced hearing loss was defined as failed definitive threshold at frequencies 3, 4 or 6 kHz of more than 20 dB with the loss at the two nearest frequencies on both sides of the dip amounting to at least 5 dB less. The intensity levels of the grass-trimming machines were measured by using a sound level meter by putting the probe near the external ear of the worker about 12 cm apart from his pinna. Results A total of 75 grass-trimming workers and a similar number of clerks participated in this study. The range of noise level of the machines was in between 91.3 dB and 100.7 dB with the mean of 95.0 dB. There was a significant correlation of noise-induced hearing loss in the grass-trimming workers (p value = .010) with the prevalence of 82.6%. The dip in PTA at 3, 4 and 6 kHz significantly occurred in the subjects with the p value of 0.001, 0.009 and 0.036 respectively. Conclusion It is warranted to give continuing education on the grass-trimming workers about the risk and how to protect them from noise-induced hearing loss. While the diagnosis should be made in the presence of exposure, the possibility of noise-induced hearing loss is highest when the dip occurs at 3 kHz followed by 4 and 6 kHz.

The sub-barrier pairs of energy levels of a Hermitian one-dimensional symmetric double well potential are known to merge into one, if the inter-well distance ($a$) is increased slowly. The energy at which the doublets merge are the ground state eigenvalues of independent wells ($\epsilon_0$). We show that if the double well is perturbed mildly by a complex PT-symmetric potential the merging of levels turns into the coalescing of two levels at an exceptional point $a=a_*$. For $a>a_*$, the real part of complex-conjugate eigenvalues coincides with $\epsilon_0$ again. This is an interesting and rare connection between the two phenomena in two domains: Hermiticity and complex PT-symmetry., Comment: Some typos corrected and Ref. [3] is completed

The discovery of RNA silencing mechanisms has transformed research into gene function and has also allowed novel traits to be developed in plants, including some for industrial applications. To silence the expression of an undesirable gene, RNA silencing may be preferable over direct gene mutation as it leads to a dominant trait. This helps in straightforward screening of the desirable phenotypes. Moreover, RNA silencing is useful in tissue, organ and time-specific silencing of the genes that may play essential roles in plant life and, therefore, direct gene mutation may not be effective. This chapter summarizes the implication of RNA silencing in improving plant traits for industrial applications. Plants developed after RNA silencing of genes that act on cellular organization or metabolism are emerging as convenient and renewable raw materials for industries producing fuels, oils, pharmaceuticals, fibres, papers, seeds and processed foods. Several genetically modified plants, which may not have use in human consumption, have nevertheless been developed for specific industrial applications and await commercial-scale cultivation. Many more industrial crops are under different stages of development by industry and research organizations.

For many engineering applications, vibrations and sound can cause a multitude of issues. Several methods for damping out these vibrations are utilised today such as insulation foam used in walls or heavy granite bases for machinery and optical equipment. More recently, the development of acoustic and elastic metamaterials has shown the possibility to manipulate propagating waves in ways that were not previously possible, such as wave attenuation at an exponential rate. Locally Resonant Metamaterials (LRMs) have been shown to attenuate waves with wavelengths two orders of magnitude greater than the lattice constant of the LRM, making them well suited for low frequency applications. They typically consist of a core, an elastic lining, and a matrix material. Much of the research into LRMs is modelling based, with fewer experimental results to correctly verify different designs. One reason for this is that the manufacture of LRMs can be difficult as they require multiple material properties, and design consistency, particularly as the LRM geometries become more complex. Additive manufacturing (aka 3D printing) promises the ability to make complex shapes reliably and repeatedly. Hence, 3D printing techniques could be used to make LRMs. In this project, a custom built 3D printer is developed, which utilises different deposition techniques to allow it to manufacture an LRM. This facilitates the fabrication of more varied designs of metamaterial, which would have been too impractical otherwise to manufacture. The printer is fully customisable in LabVIEW and utilises a unique `point-cloud' method to process part geometry. More recently, active applications of LRMs have been explored to achieve behaviours that passive metamaterials cannot. One subset of active metamaterials is the growing field of metamaterial energy harvesting. This is the principle that metamaterials can be used to convert vibrations and sound into another form of usable energy, such as electricity. Two concepts are introduced which use an LRM type design with a magnetic core. By the phenomenon of electromagnetic induction, as a propagating wave induces a periodic displacement on the core, a current is induced in adjacent wires which could potentially be stored for later use in an application. Open Access

We draw attention to the fact that a Hermitian matrix is always diagonalizable and has real discrete spectrum whereas the Hermitian Schr{\"o}dinger Hamiltonian: $H=p^2/2\mu+V(x)$, may not be so. For instance when $V(x)=x, x^3, -x^2$, $H$ does not have even one real discrete eigenvalue. Textbooks do not highlight this distinction. However, if $H$ has real discrete spectrum, by virtue of the expansion theorem, one can convert the eigenvalue problem $H\psi_n=E_n \psi_n$ into a matrix and get eigenvalues $E_n$ by diagonalizing the matrix. We show, that the thus obtained $E_n$ could be accurate, provided $H$ is devoid of scattering states. We suggest that this could be a simple and apt way to introduce the method of Linear Combination of Atomic Orbitals (LCAO) for finding the spectra of molecules. In textbooks, usually the method of matrix-diagonalization appears meagerly as a degenerate perturbation theory for more than one dimensions., Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures and 1 Table

We draw attention to the fact that a Hermitian matrix is always diagonalizable and has real discrete spectrum whereas the Hermitian Schr{��}dinger Hamiltonian: $H=p^2/2��+V(x)$, may not be so. For instance when $V(x)=x, x^3, -x^2$, $H$ does not have even one real discrete eigenvalue. Textbooks do not highlight this distinction. However, if $H$ has real discrete spectrum, by virtue of the expansion theorem, one can convert the eigenvalue problem $H��_n=E_n ��_n$ into a matrix and get eigenvalues $E_n$ by diagonalizing the matrix. We show, that the thus obtained $E_n$ could be accurate, provided $H$ is devoid of scattering states. We suggest that this could be a simple and apt way to introduce the method of Linear Combination of Atomic Orbitals (LCAO) for finding the spectra of molecules. In textbooks, usually the method of matrix-diagonalization appears meagerly as a degenerate perturbation theory for more than one dimensions., 10 pages, 3 figures and 1 Table

A Half Bound State (HBS) $��_*(x)$ can be defined as a single, conditional, zero-energy, continuous solution of the one dimensional Schr{��}dinger equation for a scattering potential well $V(x)$ ($s.t ~ V(\pm \infty)=0$). The non-normalizable and solitary HBS of a potential satisfies Neumann boundary condition that $��'_*(\pm \infty)=0$ and it can have $n$ (= 0,1,2,...) number of nodes indicating $n$ number of bound states in $V(x)$ below $E=0$. Here we show that starting with a nodeless HBS, we can construct a (supersymmetric) pair of finite potentials (well, double wells, well-barrier): $V_{\pm}(x)$ having no bound state and they enclose positive area on $x$-axis. On the contrary their negative counterparts $(-cV_{\pm}(x)),c>0$ do have at least one bound state for any arbitrary positive value of $c$. Furthermore, $c V_{\pm}(x),~ c >0$ which binds positive area on x-axis in conformity with Simon's theorem can have at least one bound state only conditionally for instance when $c>1$ or $c>>1$., 7 pages, 3 figures, an important change regarding at least one bound state in one dimension

We provide the first fully polynomial time approximation scheme (FPTAS) for computing an approximate mixed-strategy Nash equilibrium in tree-structured graphical multi-hypermatrix games (GMhGs). GMhGs are generalizations of normal-form games, graphical games, graphical polymatrix games, and hypergraphical games. Computing an exact mixed-strategy Nash equilibria in graphical polymatrix games is PPAD-complete and thus generally believed to be intractable. In contrast, to the best of our knowledge, we are the first to establish an FPTAS for tree polymatrix games as well as tree graphical games when the number of actions is bounded by a constant. As a corollary, we give a quasi-polynomial time approximation scheme (quasi-PTAS) when the number of actions is bounded by the logarithm of the number of players., Comment: A shorter version of this paper (without the refinement results) appeared at AAAI 2017

Reliability is a software quality characteristic that refer to the probability a system will work correctly over a period of time. Reliability prediction is important as it can be used to plan deployment, maintenance and test activities. This study assesses the efficiency of several techniques in software reliability model (SRM) selection and aims to find out the possible enhancement to improve software reliability accuracy. The result of the survey shows most of the SRM selection technique does not optimizes the model parameter.

This book is a collection of papers presented by eminent economists and social scientist during the two days national conference under the title "Socio-Economic Challenges Faced by Pakistan" held on 2nd & 3rd June 2008 at the Convention Centre of the International Islamic University (IIU), Islamabad. The conference was organized by the International Institute of Islamic Economics (IIIE) with the objective to provide an appropriate forum for debate and policy discussions on the emerging issues faced by the economy and to facilitate the governmental efforts, in the upcoming budget to address the emerging issues faced by the economy at the critical juncture which according to some was characterized as economic "melt down". That this national conference was indeed a success is manifest from overwhelming participation of the eminent economists from all parts of the country who either presented scholarly papers or took part in the dialogue by chairing various sessions of the conference and contributing their valuable suggestions.

Over two fifths of our population appears to be poor in the sense that their basic needs are not met by the resources at their disposal. This level of pauperism is roughly similar if not higher to what was our experience to begin with, at the time of independence in 1947. During some periods of the Pakistan’s history of over five decades, poverty was brought under some control however. But numbers of poor today are more than the total population in 1947. Emergence of poverty and deprivation in a society or community in general has evoked a response in terms of provisions and transfers as well as modification in growth pursuits to improve the situation. These measures may take variety of forms in terms of institutional structures and organisations. Social Safety Nets (SSN) for instance currently are opted throughout the developing world including Pakistan to address the issues of poverty and deprivation. This study aims at examination of varying levels of poverty overtime and description and evaluation of existing social safety nets. In the first section of this study a brief discussion of inter-temporal poverty profile is made. The nature of SSN currently in vogue will be assessed in the second section of the report, wherein, their coverage, the contents and other qualitative dimensions will be described in detail. In addition, there will be a discussion of private philanthropy and transfers as well as their impact on the well-being of poor. In the concluding section SSN will be assessed with a major focus on highlighting the inadequacies of the existing approaches to alleviate poverty.