Identification of Gendered Discourses in a Fictional Text with a special focus on Gender Construal in Our Lady of Alice Bhatti

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The present study draws on the interpretative framework of Sunderland (2004) for the identification of gendered discourses permeating a fictional text. Our Lady of Alice Bhatti by Muhammad Hanif is a fascinating work of fiction that narrates the story of a Christian nurse and her tumultuous and impoverished journey from a janitor’s daughter to a married woman, assuming healing powers to cure diseased people in a Christian Hospital of Karachi, until her life is cut short by none other than her own husband. The present study aims to identify myriad of gendered discourses by taking into account the linguistic traces, through a systematic and principled analysis of selected extracts. This paper primarily seeks to reveal the subtle and implicit workings of discursive means, reflected and constituted, in myriad of gendered discourses by carrying out a feminist critical discourse analysis for better understanding of varied forms of patriarchal practices and structures, aimed at subjugating and oppressing women. The findings indicate that by identifying multitude of dominant and contesting discourses with a critical focus on the selected extracts, the meticulous construal of gender in the fictional narrative can be analysed in the different overriding and contesting discourses of the novel, to reveal the prevalence of patriarchal dominance and the resistant feminist struggle, respectively.</p

The competing status of Urdu and English after declaration of Urdu as official langauge in Pakistan

The current research aims at exploring the status of Urdu and English in Pakistan. There has always been a rift between Urdu and English in order to stay dominant language in the spheres of power like education, law and bureaucracy in Pakistan. There were many steps taken to replace English practically and the latest of the plans was initiated in 2015 to replace Urdu with English as an official language. This necessitated the current research to re-assess the role of Urdu and English in this phase of transition. The data for the current research was collected by using interview protocol. A sample of 60 participants selected through purposive sample took part in the collection of data. The interview protocol comprised questions on the aspects like the importance of the language, the academic value of the language and the future of that language. The study concludes that the people understand the role of Urdu in the context of nation-wide connection while English is source of connecting with the world. English enjoys better academic value as well as better future prospects in comparison with Urdu.</p

Application of Elzaki Transform Method on Some Fractional Differential Equations

In the paper, we begin by introducing the origin of fractional calculus and the consequent application of the Elzaki transform on fractional derivatives. The Elzaki transformation may be used to solve mathematical problems without resorting to a new frequency domain. Once we establish this connection firmly in the general setting, we turn our attention to the application of the Elzaki transform method to some non-homogeneous fractional, ordinary differential equations. Ultimately, we acquire the graphical solution of the problem by using Matlab 2013a, developed by MathWorks Key Words: Elzaki Transform, Fractional Differential Equation, Linear and Non-linear, Initial Value Problem, Non-homogenou

Solving linear and nonlinear klein-gordon equations by new perturbation iteration transform method

We present an effective algorithm to solve the Linear and Nonlinear KleinGordon equation, which is based on the Perturbation Iteration Transform Method (PITM). The Klein-Gordon equation is the name given to the equation of motion of a quantum scalar or pseudo scalar field, a field whose quanta are spin-less particles. It describes the quantum amplitude for finding a point particle in various places, the relativistic wave function, but the particle propagates both forwards and backwards in time. The Perturbation Iteration Transform Method (PITM) is a combined form of the Laplace Transform Method and Perturbation Iteration Algorithm. The method provides the solution in the form of a rapidly convergent series. Some numerical examples are used to illustrate the preciseness and effectiveness of the proposed method. The results show that the PITM is very efficient, simple and can be applied to other nonlinear problems.Publisher's Versio

A Study of the Organizational Stress among Public Sector Secondary School Teachers in Punjab

The aim of the study was to find out the factors which create stress among public sector secondary school teachers to determine the stressors being faced by the secondary school teachers. The study was related to the secondary schools of public sector in Punjab. Punjab province is comprised of 9 divisions. Due to limited time and resources, the study was delimited to public sector secondary schools of Lahore division. The study adopted descriptive survey design using a sample of 1000 teachers drawn from 100 secondary schools from public sector in Lahore division. From each school 10 teachers were randomly selected. One rating scale was developed to collect data for the study. The percentage, mean, standard deviation and t-test were applied as descriptive and inferential statistics to analyze the collected data. In the light of the results and conclusions of the study, it may be recommended that unwanted sounds and noise may be minimized in the school environment, trainings be imparted to the staff, workload should be equally distributed and necessary facilities should be provided at schools

A Study of the Organizational Stress among Public Sector Secondary School Teachers in Punjab

The aim of the study was to find out the factors which create stress among public sector secondary school teachers to determine the stressors being faced by the secondary school teachers. The study was related to the secondary schools of public sector in Punjab. Punjab province is comprised of 9 divisions. Due to limited time and resources, the study was delimited to public sector secondary schools of Lahore division. The study adopted descriptive survey design using a sample of 1000 teachers drawn from 100 secondary schools from public sector in Lahore division. From each school 10 teachers were randomly selected. One rating scale was developed to collect data for the study. The percentage, mean, standard deviation and t-test were applied as descriptive and inferential statistics to analyze the collected data. In the light of the results and conclusions of the study, it may be recommended that unwanted sounds and noise may be minimized in the school environment, trainings be imparted to the staff, workload should be equally distributed and necessary facilities should be provided at schools

Band Ligation VersusGlue Injection for Bleeding Gastric Varices

Background : To compare endoscopic variceal sclerotherapy with N-butyl-2-cyanoacrylate- Histoacryl (EVS) and endoscopic variceal band ligation (EBL) for treatment of bleeding gastric varices (GV).Methods: In this  randomized control trial 140 patients  with bleeding gastric varices were included.Bleeding GV patients diagnosed endoscoically were treated with EVS or EBL in two equal groups after randomization. Bleeding control or otherwise was confirmed during the procedure. Patients were followed for 1 month for re-bleeding. Comparison of the patients undergoing EVS or EBL was done in terms of bleeding control and re-bleeding during follow up period. Chi2 test was used to seek statistically significant association in this regard. Results: Endoscopic bleeding control was confirmed in all except 1 of EBL patients who expired. 4 (5.7%) of EVS 10 (14.28%) EBL patients had re-bleeding (P &gt;0.05).Conclusion: EVS and EBL are comparative procedures for treatment ofbleeding GV for control of active bleeding and re-bleeding over one month follow up

The 2022 symposium on dementia and brain aging in low- and middle-income countries: highlights on research, diagnosis, care, and impact

Two of every three persons living with dementia reside in low- and middle-incomecountries (LMICs). The projected increase in global dementia rates is expected toaffect LMICs disproportionately. However, the majority of global dementia care costsoccur in high-income countries (HICs), with dementia research predominantly focus-ing on HICs. This imbalance necessitates LMIC-focused research to ensure thatcharacterization of dementia accurately reflects the involvement and specificities ofdiverse populations. Development of effective preventive, diagnostic, and therapeu-tic approaches for dementia in LMICs requires targeted, personalized, and harmonizedefforts. Our article represents timely discussions at the 2022 Symposium on Demen-tia and Brain Aging in LMICs that identified the foremost opportunities to advancedementia research, differential diagnosis, use of neuropsychometric tools, aware-ness, and treatment options. We highlight key topics discussed at the meeting andprovide future recommendations to foster a more equitable landscape for dementiaprevention, diagnosis, care, policy, and management in LMIC

Significant impact of +105 A>C promoter polymorphism in IL-18 cytokine in patients with kidney stone disease

Background: Inflammation may be one cause of nephrolithiasis and the interleukin-18 (IL-18) encoding gene   polymorphisms at +105 A>C has been implicated in several inflammation related diseases. The aim of this study was to test whether IL-18+105 A>C polymorphisms could act as genetic marker for renal stone disease. A case-control study was conducted to observe the genotype distribution of IL-18+105 A>C, to elucidate the possible role of this SNP as risk factor in renal stone development and to examine its correlation with the clinico-pathologic variables.Methods: Using the Polymerase Chain Reaction-Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) technique, we tested the genotype distribution of 160 nephrolithiasis patients in comparison with 200 disease free controls from the same geographical region.  Results: We observed significant differences of IL-18+105 A to C between the controls and patients with odds ratio 5.4 (P = 0.001). The prevalence of the variant genotypes AC + CC in the patients was higher than that in the controls (45% v/s 30%) and showed a significant association (P = 0.003). Moreover, the frequency per copy of the C allele of IL-18+105 A>C was found to be implicated more in patient group 0.27 as against only 0.16 in controls (P = 0.0003). Further, males and subjects with C is implicated in renal stone disease, and that the rare, C related allele is connected with higher susceptibility to nephrolithiasis.

A review of emerging technologies enabling improved solid oral dosage form manufacturing and processing

Tablets are the most widely utilized solid oral dosage forms because of the advantages of self-administration, stability, ease of handling, transportation, and good patient compliance. Over time, extensive advances have been made in tableting technology. This review aims to provide an insight about the advances in tablet excipients, manufacturing, analytical techniques and deployment of Quality by Design (QbD). Various excipients offering novel functionalities such as solubility enhancement, super-disintegration, taste masking and drug release modifications have been developed. Furthermore, co-processed multifunctional ready-to-use excipients, particularly for tablet dosage forms, have benefitted manufacturing with shorter processing times. Advances in granulation methods, including moist, thermal adhesion, steam, melt, freeze, foam, reverse wet and pneumatic dry granulation, have been proposed to improve product and process performance. Furthermore, methods for particle engineering including hot melt extrusion, extrusion-spheronization, injection molding, spray drying / congealing, co-precipitation and nanotechnology-based approaches have been employed to produce robust tablet formulations. A wide range of tableting technologies including rapidly disintegrating, matrix, tablet-in-tablet, tablet-in-capsule, multilayer tablets and multiparticulate systems have been developed to achieve customized formulation performance. In addition to conventional invasive characterization methods, novel techniques based on laser, tomography, fluorescence, spectroscopy and acoustic approaches have been developed to assess the physical-mechanical attributes of tablet formulations in a non- or minimally invasive manner. Conventional UV-Visible spectroscopy method has been improved (e.g., fiber-optic probes and UV imaging-based approaches) to efficiently record the dissolution profile of tablet formulations. Numerous modifications in tableting presses have also been made to aid machine product changeover, cleaning, and enhance efficiency and productivity. Various process analytical technologies have been employed to track the formulation properties and critical process parameters. These advances will contribute to a strategy for robust tablet dosage forms with excellent performance attributes