To Exclude or Not to Exclude? The Question of Nationality as a Category in Queer Studies

This paper will try to look at some of the problems of categorisation through the prism of my own reservations and concerns when researching the novel Babyji (2005) by Abha Dawesar. The paper will examine whether categories and classifications are capable of including all the exclusions that they purport to remedy. In particular, this paper will examine the usefulness of the term ‘queer’ and the category of the nationality ‘Indian’, as well as the simultaneous problems that arise from using the category of nationality in conjunction with queerness. Moreover, it does not implicitly entail that the more categories sprout in the world, the more inclusive the world will be toward queer individuals. The paper will therefore interrogate if there is a way out at all from this conundrum of labelling and binding oneself to these categories. This interrogation is done by challenging the idea that it is easier to think of Dawesar’s novel from a monolithic perspective of nationality, while the novel’s other facets are conveniently allowed to fade by critics and researchers. To think of Babyji as more than just a nationalistic novel, the paper applies Gayatri Spivak’s concept of “foreclosure” (“The Intervention Interview” 125). Spivak, borrowing the term from Lacanian psychoanalysis, differentiates foreclosure from exclusion and conceptualises the former “to mean the interested denial of something”. By using this term, the paper thus explores other interpretations of Babyji, concluding that thinking beyond categories (despite them being a necessary evil) is quite possible

Novel Contract Signature based on Key Exchange

A contract signature is a particular form of digital multi-signature that only involves two signers. Contract signing plays a critical role in any business transaction, particularly in situations where the involved parties do not trust each other. One of the most significant concerns in exchange signatures is the fraudulent and unfair exchange, which occurs when one party gets the signature of another party without giving his own signature. In the view of these security concerns, this thesis presents a secure and fair contract signature scheme based on key exchange protocol. The security and protection of the proposed scheme is based on solving hard computational assumptions such as discrete logarithm problem (DLP). The proposed protocol is abuse-free. The proposed scheme targets to have lesser computational overhead and high-security features than existing scheme[1]. The proposed scheme has wide application in real life scenarios, such as in electronic cash system

Reflections on Queer Literary Representations in Contemporary Indian Writing in English

This reflective piece explores the importance of thinking beyond labels and categories for queer desires and queer expressions of love. Knowability and visibility of these desires through labels and categories has the potential to create much-needed awareness. This visibility, however, can inadvertently also create borders and perpetuate rigidity about queer desires, confining them to certain norms and limitations. The piece then reflects on mass media’s role in creating these borders, particularly through the coverage of Pride Parades in India. Then by examining contemporary texts such as Amruta Patil’s Kari (2008), Himanjali Sankar’s Talking of Muskaan (2015), and Parvati Sharma’s short story, “The Quilt,” (2010) the piece argues how nuanced literary representations in contemporary Indian writing can allow readers to look beyond those labels and imagine myriad possibilities, leading to what Spivak calls, “sustained uncoercive rearrangement of desires”. However, the article then concludes that existence of a body of literary work mustn’t lead to complacency but to broadening of horizons and forging avenues for the formation of queer literary writing in India through diverse forms: one example of this is bringing intersectional queer political themes within the ambit of literature as well

Reflections on Queer Literary Representations in Contemporary Indian Writing in English

This reflection piece explores the importance of thinking beyond labels and categories for queer desires and queer expressions of love. Knowability and visibility of these desires through labels and categories has the potential and indeed does create awareness. This visibility, however, can inadvertently also create borders and perpetuate rigidity about queer desires, confining them to certain norms and limitations. The piece then reflects on mass media\u27s role in creating these borders, particularly through the coverage of Pride Parades in India. Then by examining contemporary texts such as Amruta Patil\u27s Kari (2008), Himanjali Sankar\u27s Talking of Muskaan (2015) and Parvati Sharma\u27s short story, “The Quilt,” (2010) the piece argues how nuanced literary representations in contemporary Indian writing can allow readers to look beyond those labels and imagine myriad possibilities, leading to what Spivak calls, “sustained uncoercive rearrangement of desires”. However, the article then concludes that existence of a body of literary work mustn\u27t lead to complacency but to broadening of horizons and forging avenues for formation of queer literary writing in India through diverse forms: one example of this is bringing intersectional queer political themes within the ambit of literature as well

Design of Congestion Controller for TCP Networks Based on LMI Formulation

In this paper, a state feedback H221E; controller has been proposed in order to design an active queue management (AQM) system based on congestion control algorithm for networks supporting TCP protocols. In this approach, the available link bandwidth is modeled as a time-variant disturbance. The objective of this paper is to design controller which capable of achieving the queue size and guarantee asymptotic stability in the present of disturbance. An important feature of the proposed approach is that the performance of system, including the disturbance rejection and stability of closed-loop system, are guaranteed for all round-trip times that are less than a known value. The controller design is formulated in the form of some linear matrix inequalities, which can efficiently solved numerically. The simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of proposed methods in comparison with other conventional methods

Magnetization dynamics study on low-symmetry magnetic multi-layers

In this thesis we study magnetization dynamics in different systems comprising of single-layer, multi-layer ferromagnetic and synthetic-antiferromagnetic (SyAF) thin films using techniques of ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) spectroscopy and spin transfer torque (STT) based FMR. In the first part, magnetic relaxation processes following the dynamical excitation of the spin systems are investigated using half-Heusler NiMnSb, a ferromagnet with the zinc-blende (inversion broken) crystal structure, as a prototype system. The experiments, performed at several different microwave frequencies and static magnetic field directions, enabled to observe a strong in-plane anisotropy of the linewidth. We attribute the linewidth anisotropy contribution to intrinsic Gilbert damping, extrinsic inhomogeneous broadening and two-magnon scattering process, supporting this by calculations of possible linewidth broadening mechanisms. In the second part magnon-magnon coupling is studied in SyAFs and synthetic ferrimagnets (SyFs). We demonstrate the control of coupling in SyAFs via intrinsic and extrinsic symmetry breaking (SB) in symmetrical and asymmetrical SyAF structures. In symmetrical SyAF there is an apparent mode crossing resulting from degeneracy of two non-interacting modes which is protected by a two-fold rotational symmetry. By tilting the external field we break this symmetry and an anticrossing gap appears demonstrating the extrinsic SB. The coupling strength can be controlled by interlayer exchange field strength modification through growth and is demonstrated experimentally. We also study asymmetrical SyAF structures referred to as SyFs. An inherent SB exists in the SyF system which opens a gap even for an in-plane field condition. We generalize a theoretical model in the macro-spin limit to describe the microwave absorption spectroscopy for the SB induced coupling in SyAFs and SyFs. In the last part we use technique of STT-FMR to study dynamics in SyAF and multi-stack structures of Ni/Pt. Due to opposite polarization in two FM layers we observe change in parity of two spin wave modes in SyAF. Spin orbit torques are quantified in multi-stack structures of Ni/Pt and we show linewidth modulation with current in these multi-stack structures