From Nizam to Nation: The Representation of Partition in Literary Narratives about Hyderabad, Deccan

This dissertation examines literary representations of the Partition of India in 1947 as it affected the southern princely state of Hyderabad, Deccan. Through my focus on Hyderabad, I interrogate and reject the assumption generally made in scholarly analyses of Partition that this momentous, life-changing event did not significantly affect South India. In doing so, I also question the origins of the self-professed secular, egalitarian, and democratic Indian nation by shedding light on the invasion of Hyderabad and the subsequent erasure of this event from Indian historiography and mainstream culture. Different literary texts respond differently to this fraught, suppressed history. Engaging with questions about gendered and classed violence, trauma, and silence, I study three literary texts written several decades after Partition: Anita Desai’s novel Clear Light of Day (1980, English), Samina Ali’s novel Madras on Rainy Days (2004, English), and Kishorilal Vyas “Neelkanth’s” short story “Durga” (2005, Hindi). In my analysis, I utilize the theorizations of Partition scholars such as Jill Didur and Nandi Bhatia about how literature destabilizes the hegemony of mainstream and official narratives of cataclysmic historical events such as Partition. I also draw on Didur’s argument that literature not only has the power to upturn such historical narratives, which silence alternative narratives, but that literature itself must also be scrutinized as a narrative, ideologically motivated and politically interested. Retrospectively engaging in different measures with Partition, Hyderabad, and communalism, each literary text in my corpus points to the ongoing impact of Partition on Hyderabadis and throws crucial light on the issues of citizenship, class, gender, and narrative in the context of Partition and Hyderabad. In the process, they demonstrate/expose the implicit as well as explicit assumption in Partition Studies that the South was immune to the cartographic cracking of India

An Investigation of the ‘Island of Bujan’ Motif in Russian and Scandinavian Tradition

This thesis focuses on the ‘Island of Bujan’ motif in Russian tradition and studies it with reference to the Yggdrasill myth in Scandinavian tradition. It examines some scholarly claims that state that owing to contacts between the Slavs and the Scandinavians during the early Middle Ages, myths and beliefs may have traversed geographical boundaries. The thesis begins with a detailed account of the proposed interaction between the Slavs and the Scandinavians and includes a brief summary of the Normanist controversy and the evidence that supports and negates it. It then proceeds to study Bujan in Russian incantations and Yggdrasill in the Scandinavian Eddaic texts to define the current state of information on them and to isolate similarities between them. In the process, the thesis also highlights the fragmentariness of the primary material available, which ensures that some questions relating to influence between cultural constructs of the two traditions are left unanswered

Physiochemical Characterization and Dematerialization of Coal Class F Flyash Residues from Thermal Power Plant

Class F flyash has a low percentage content of lime and is considered as a leading category of flyash generated in India with an average utilization of nearly 55% of flyash produced by the coal-burning power plant. The coal Class F flyash residue sample has been collected from Harduaganj, Thermal Power Station India. The paper illustrates the outcome of the study carried out to examine all the relevant features of the chemical and physical properties of Class F flyash sample. Elementary quantitative results from point analysis, SEM/EDS, FTIR, and pH analysis have been done in the chemical analysis of the study. The physical characterization of the sample is done by several experimental approaches to compare all the relevant features of Class F flyash sample and common soil. The main objective of this study is to evaluate whether the locally available Class F flyash from Harduaganj Thermal Power Station India, will provide satisfactory performance in fully or partially replacement of common soil. The performance evaluation of flyash and soil in different test results included bulk density, specific gravity, plasticity, maximum dry density, optimum moisture content, and permeability in accordance with the relevant IS or ASTM standards. Finally, the reported research recommended the selection of Class F flyash sample with low-lime content that provided the close correlation of its physical properties to the common soil

Flyash as a Resource Material in Construction Industry: A Clean Approach to Environment Management

The maximum amount of electricity is produced by most of the thermal power plants by burning coal at their operating facilities. Due to this activity, various types of secondary materials are generated. Any material resulting from coal-combustion processes may be called as a coal-combustion product (CCP). Among different CCPs reported worldwide by coal-burning power plants, flyash is the most common one. As per the characterization report, flyash is considered as a powdery material being collected by dust collectors installed in the thermal power plants with the use of coal as fuel. There are different problems related to flyash like requirement of large area of land for disposal and toxicity caused by flyash which leach to groundwater. The study has established flyash as air and water pollution source. It is considered as waste that may act as a resource material in construction industry, thereby acting as a resource for waste and environment management. Till a decade back, flyash was treated as waste material worldwide, but now it is developed as an environment savior

Structural & biochemical characterisation of Cdc25C: a dual specificity phosphatase

The dual specificity Cdc25 phosphatases regulate mitosis and are expressed in eukaryotes. Cdc25 phosphatases have an active site motif, HCX5R, in common with other phosphatases. However, unlike the classical tyrosine phosphatases, they can dephosphorylate phospho-threonine in addition to phospho-tyrosine and have a much shallower active site. Increased expression of Cdc25 is correlated with poor prognosis in a range of cancers. In particular, increased expression of Cdc25C has been associated with prostate cancer making this protein an attractive target for drug discovery. However, drug discovery for these proteins has been hampered due to the shallow nature of the active site, difficulty in identifying specific inhibitors and toxicity. The thesis aim was to structurally and biochemically characterize Cdc25C using a range of techniques which include NMR, SAXS and X-ray crystallography in order to aid future drug design. The Characterisation of the Cdc25C full length revealed the regulatory domain to be intrinsically disordered and flexible. Construct and solution conditions were optimised to improve the solubility of the Cdc25C catalytic domain. Although, the $^1$H, $^1$$^5$N HSQC was well dispersed backbone assignments proved to be refractory. From a panel of inhibitors tested a few were shown to bind via WaterLOGSY and $^1$H-$^1$$^5$N HSQC

DETERMINANTS OF MANUFACTURED GOODS EXPORTED FROM PAKISTAN:

This study determined the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) along with other factors on exports of manufactured goods in Pakistan. The study employed time series data from 1990 to 2010. We applied ARDL approach to estimate the determinants of manufactured goods exported from Pakistan. Results showed that FDI, agriculture value added and technology have positive and significant impact on manufactured exports of Pakistan, while real effective exchange rate showed in negative and significant impact on manufactured exports from Pakistan. So, better environment for attracting FDI, investing in agriculture, value addition and introducing the latest technology in the country would further improve the exports of manufactured goods from the country

Burden of Hepatitis B Virus at a Tertiary Care Hospital, Doda, Jammu and Kashmir, India: A Cross-sectional Study

Introduction: Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) causes most frequent chronic liver disease of infectious origin in human beings worldwide, with more than 600,000 deaths caused by end-stage liver disease complications per year. The most used test for identifying acute HBV infections and carriers is the detection of HBsAg. Immunochromatography assays have been suggested for routine use in clinical microbiology laboratories for the detection of HBsAg since they are easy to use, affordable, don’t need specialised equipment, and are straightforward to run. Compared to commercially available HEPA card kit for the detection of the same markers, Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) was shown to be more sensitive for the detection of HBsAg. This study is first of its kind in District Doda, Jammu and Kashmir, India. Aim: To know the burden of HBV in a Tertiary Care Hospital, Government Medical College, Doda using HEPA card kit and ELISA method. Materials and Methods: The present hospital-based crosssectional study was carried out in the Department of Microbiology, Government Medical College and Hospital, Doda Jammu and Kashmir, India during the period from January 2020 to December 2020. The study comprised blood samples from all age groups referred by clinical departments for testing HBsAg. Tests were performed using an immunochromatographic technique (HEPA card Diagnostic enterprises) for the qualitative detection of HBsAg, and results were interpreted in accordance with the manufacturer’s guidelines. The collected data was analysed in Microsoft excel sheet using Chi-square test to know the burden of HBV infection. Results: Among total number of 5,448 samples tested, 50 (0.92%) were positive for HBsAg which comes under low epidemicity (<2%) as per World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines. The number of positive females and males were 30 (0.84%) and 20 (1.07%), respectively. Females were predominate over males and majority of the positive patients (N=29) were younger than 40 years though prevalance (2.1%) was higher in age group above 40 years. All samples which shows positive by rapid test were also shown positive by ELISA test. Conclusion: Overall prevalence of HBV was 0.92% which comes under low epidemicity (<2%) as per WHO guidelines. It can be an alternate option for community based studies and also helps to improve the public health and to prevent the spreading of disease in the local population

What type of leadership is more effective for managing change during force majeure? Achieving organizational effectiveness during the pandemic

Purpose – Leaders have been facing serious challenges in managing organizations during COVID-19, which has brought the need for implementing sudden technological change across the globe. Hence, it was important to identify effective leadership styles to successfully manage the transformational process during the period. Therefore, the current study aims to explore and compare the effectiveness of transformational and ethical leadership (EL) in terms of achieving organizational goals during COVID-19 in public and private sector organizations in Pakistan. Design/methodology/approach – Comparative research was carried out to find out the effectiveness of transformational and EL during and pre-COVID-19 in public and private sector organizations using the lens of social exchange theory. Data was collected from 214 respondents representing 67.6% of public and 32.4% of private sector organizations of Pakistan at two different points in time. Detailed comparative analyses were conducted in AMOS version 24 to assess the effectiveness of leadership styles before and during COVID-19 times. Findings – On the whole, transformational leadership (TL) was found to have a greater impact on organizational effectiveness (OE) in comparison with EL in both pre-and during COVID-19 situations. Moreover, the effectiveness of TL significantly increased and the same decreased for EL during COVID-19. Additional analyses indicated that TL was effective for the private sector and EL for public sector organizations during COVID-19. Research limitations/implications – The study has not considered the mediating mechanisms of employee motivation, engagement and performance in the relationship between transformational and EL styles and OE, which can be explored in the future. Practical implications – These results have important implications for private and public sector organizations and suggest that the adoption of a TL style will generate better results in the private sector and an EL style in public sector organizations to achieve OE in uncertain situations such as COVID-19. Social implications – The study shows that leadership with more care and concern for humanity tends to perform better in terms of generating results for OE. Therefore, both transformational and EL are based on individualized consideration for employees and are effective during COVID-19 in private and public sector organizations in Pakistan. Originality/value – The study has carried out the comparative analyses in three different ways, including leadership styles (transformational and ethical), type of organization (private and public) and time frames (pre and during COVID-19), which is a true contribution of the research in the Pakistani context

Molecular Typing of Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus using coa Gene Polymerase Chain Reaction-Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism: A Cross-sectional Study

Introduction: The need for fast, precise diagnostic tests to identify active tuberculosis is essential, mainly in endemic nations such as India. An automated real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) method for pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) detection known as the Cartridge Based Nucleic Acid Amplification Test (CBNAAT) or GeneXpert assay shows great promise as a complement to the TrueNat and conventional sputum microscopy techniques. Aim: To compare sensitivity, specificity, Positive Predictive Value (PPV), and Negative Predictive Value (NPV) of CBNAAT with TrueNat and smear microscopy in the detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional comparative study on 175 patients with suspected pulmonary TB was conducted from June 2021 to November 2021 in a tertiary care hospital at Government Medical College, Doda District of Jammu and Kashmir, India. The sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV, and diagnostic accuracy for the diagnosis of tuberculosis were calculated for Acid Fast Bacilli (AFB) smear microscopy, TrueNat, and the GeneXpert and compared with each other. Statistical analysis of the data was conducted with Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) version 20.0. Results: Out of the total 175, 168 (96%) patients were TB positive by CBNAAT, 162 (92.6%) by TrueNat, and 148 (84.6%) as per smear microscopy. Sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV, and accuracy of Ziehl-Neelsen (ZN) stain in the detection of pulmonary TB in sputum samples were 86.31%, 57.14%, 97.97%, 14.81%, and 85.14%, respectively. Whereas in the case of the TrueNat technique sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV, and accuracy were 94.05%, 42.86%, 97.53%, 23.08%, and 92.00%, respectively. In the case of CBNAAT sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV, and accuracy in the detection of pulmonary TB in sputum samples were 97.02%, 28.57%, 97.02%, 28.57%, and 94.29%, respectively. Conclusion: In respiratory samples, CBNAAT is more sensitive than ZN smear microscopy and TrueNat. Positive CBNAAT, but TrueNat and AFB microscopy negative results should be read cautiously and be well correlated with the clinical and treatment history of the patien

Cortical synaptogenesis and excitatory synapse number are determined via a Neuroligin-1-dependent intercellular competition

Members of the neuroligin (NL) family of cell-adhesion proteins are found at excitatory and inhibitory synapses and are mutated in some familial forms of autism spectrum disorders. Although they display synaptogenic properties in heterologous systems, a function of NLs in vivo in regulating synapse formation and synapse number has been difficult to establish. Here we show that neuroligin-1 (NL1), which is located at excitatory post-synaptic densities, does regulate activity-dependent synaptogenesis as well as mature synapse number on cortical layer 2/3 pyramidal neurons in vivo. However, synapse number is not sensitive to absolute NL1 levels but rather to transcellular differences in the relative amounts of NL1. These effects are independent of the cell-autonomous regulation of NMDA-type glutamate receptors by absolute levels of NL1. Our data indicate that transcellular competitive processes govern synapse formation and number in developing cortex and that NL1 plays a central function in these processes