A Postcolonial Reading of George Orwell’s Shooting an Elephant With Special Reference to Edward Said’s Orientalism and Binary of the Self and the Other

Edward Said in his groundbreaking work Orientalism, which later becomes a bible for Postcolonialists, elucidates how the Western scholars, writers, scientists, philologists, administrators among others take it for granted the binary distinction between the West and its Other. He underscores the special place of the Orient in the Western canon. The arbitrary and fabricated line between the Self (Occident) and the Other(Orient) in which the former is privileged and grasps the upper hand to define, reconstruct andre-present the latter, comes at the center of Postcolonialism. Orwell as a Western writer with firsthand experience -he was born in India and served as a cog in British imperial machine for five years-never managed to disconnect wholeheartedly with his deep imperial roots. One of Orwell’s major concerns during his life was the issue of imperialism and colonialism which is reflected in many works such as Burmese Days, Shooting an Elephant, Marrakech, and Hanging. One characteristic which is shared among these works is the author’s conflicting feelings within them about the Orient and Orientals from European’s lens. In this study, the relationship between the representer or Westerners and the represented or Easterners is expounded in Shooting an Elephant according to Said’s Orientalism

COVID-19 news announcements and the foreign exchange markets

This thesis entails an empirical study investigating the intraday effects of corona-virus pandemic news announcements on FX market price diffusion components, return, and volatility. The study examines explicitly the major foreign exchange market response to the COVID-19 news release, including pandemic figures related to new confirmed cases, number of deaths, progress of vaccine development and administration, government intervention measures to mitigate virus spread, and the World Health Organization senior official speech about pandemic progress. In addition, this paper investigates the context-specific effects of macroeconomic news. In other words, it examines the effects of important macroeconomic news on currency price components prior to and during the pandemic period. The reason behind this is that the literature has reached a clear consensus about macroeconomic news’s significant effects over time. The findings of this research contribute to both the empirical finance literature and the financial industry because they include insights into the behavior of foreign exchange market participants and international finance portfolio managers when analyzing the effects of unprecedented health, social and economic crises. Previous literature shows that the stability of a country’s foreign trade and its external environments impacts the exchange rate return and volatility. COVID-19 made financial markets more volatile as the pandemic increased uncertainty in foreign trade and foreign investment and intensified financial market risks. To have a clear picture of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on FX markets, we incorporate all the essential COVID 19 announcements in this study. Our analysis documents that COVID-19 pandemic indicators and government response policies profoundly impact FX market volatility than a return. Also, regarding vaccine development news, there is strong evidence of FX market reaction to phase 3and emergency approval news related to COVID-19 vaccine development news. There is no evidence of market reaction to WHO official speeches about the COVID-19 pandemic in FX markets. The findings reveal that the FX market reacts to fewer macroeconomic news during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the market reaction to US macroeconomic news is still state-dependent

Psychoanalytical Analysis of Gerald’s Three Coverts to Perpetrate Violence in D.H. Lawrence’s Women in Love

D. H. Lawrence is well known for creating psychologically deep characters. Since contemporaneous with Sigmund Freud, he has been familiar with his groundbreaking theories about unconscious mind. Moreover, he utilizes them for creating his characters in his novels. For instance in his Women in Love, Freud’s impact on him is striking. Freud holds that human beings are primitive by nature and their primitive attitudes can emerge anytime. In this regard, this paper aims to draw on Freud’s idea of unconsciousness to analyze Gerald, one of main characters in the novel in question. To do so, it will primarily focus on his violence. According to Freud, human beings aspire for the violence in their unconsciousness; nonetheless, they cannot answer their psychological need easily because of social norms. However, from the view point of Freud, there are some coverts through which people can meet/justify their urge for violence. Thus, the present study endeavors to bring into light these coverts by focusing on the life of Gerald in D.H. Lawrence’s Women in Love

Influence of Salicylic Acid on the Antimicrobial Potential of Stevia (Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni, Asteraceae) Leaf Extracts against Soybean Seed-Borne Pathogens

Purpose: To investigate the effect of salicylic acid (SA) on the antimicrobial profile of Stevia leaf extracts against soybean seed-borne pathogens.Methods: Stevia seeds were planted in a greenhouse and SA foliar applied after six weeks on the whole plant at concentrations of 0 and 0.1 g L-1. The extracts of the plant leaf were separately obtained using four different solvents (water, acetone, ethanol and chloroform), and the oil composition of the extracts determined by gas chromatography-mass spectrophotometry (GC-MS). The antibacterial and antifungal potentials of each of the extracts were examined against 11 selected pathogens responsible for soybean seed and seedling diseases.Results: Chloroform extracts had the highest amount of α-cadinol, spathulenol, caryophyllene oxide, methyl salicylate and safranal in the SA-treated plants, and were 8, 10, 18, 14 and 11 %, respectively, higher than the non-SA treated control. In the anti-microbial tests, chloroform extract exhibited the highest diameter of inhibition zone (max 18 mm) against all the tested microorganisms while water extract showed the least effect (max 9 mm), with no effect at all on two fungi (Phomopsis spp and Cercospora kikuchii) and two bacteria (Pseudomonas syringae and Xanthomonas campestris). All extracts with or without SA had no effect on Xanthomonas campestris. SA treatment enhanced the antimicrobial potential of all extracts in the pathogenicity test compared with untreated plant extracts.Conclusion: Stevia leaf extract has antimicrobial effect against soybean seed-borne disease if applied on the seed before planting. Application of SA on the Stevia plant substantially enhances the antimicrobial activity of the leaf extract thus affording the seeds greater protection.Keywords: Stevia, Antimicrobial, Salicylic acid, Soybean, Pathogens

Studying the Common Themes of Two Surahs of Shu’ara and Qisas in terms of identical Huruf Muqatta’eh

Twenty-nine Surah’s of the Qur'an are started with Huruf Muqatta’eh that have always remained an undisclosed issue, and commentators on the Qur'an have come up with different views concerning them. One suggestion is that there is a particular relationship between Huruf Muqatta’eh of the beginning of each surah and the themes of that surah. By paying attention to the surahs that have the same Huruf Muqatta’eh,it becomes clear that they are similar in content and style. Based on this theory, the content of the two surah of Shu’ara and Qisas from the qroup of Tavasin which have identical letters are examined here and some commonalities are found between them such as the same Huruf Muqatta’eh ( طسم), same sequencing and order in seding down the verses and comlipation, the story of Moses and Pharaoh, proving the Prophet's Mission and the righteousness of the holy Quran, proving Divine Rububiyyat and Prudence,invitation to Monotheism,guiding believers,irrational complaints of polytheists, polytheists and infidels’ attachment to the world, piety and destiny of pious people, corruption and destiny of corrupt people

Integrated TOD and Urban Land Use Planning: Evidence from Iran, Kashan

Ignoring mobility in urban development policies leads to social and environmental costs. Therefore, reviewing these policies, in order to reach sustainable mobility, is necessary. This means that urban development programs should be directed towards strategies where walking, cycling and transit are key elements. This approach which is known as transit-oriented development (TOD), focuses on developing communities that push away from the car-oriented urbanism and mobility toward urban forms and land uses that are closely integrated with active, efficient, low-impact and people-oriented urban travel modes: walking, cycling and transit. The focus of this paper is on urban land use planning to shape sustainable mobility in cities, according to TOD principles. First, based on experts and practitioners’ opinions and using a Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) model, most important variables and criteria were determined in order to effective TOD-based urbanism planning. Results showed that criteria related to land use are most important factors from experts’ point of view. Then, as the case study from Iran, four bus stations in main squares of the city of Kashan were considered. Information about land use factors around these squares was extracted and analyzed using ArcGIS software, and those stations that are more prone to transit-oriented development, were determined. According to results, 15-Khordad square is an appropriate location for future development. Results can be of help to urban planners in future planning and policies, in order to achieve the sustainable mobility in urban environments

Journey to the Loss and Fixation of Western Identity in Bernardo Bertullocci’s Movie Adaptation of Sheltering Sky

Bertullocci in his film adaptation of Sheltering Sky portrays Kit, Port, and Tunner who make a journey to Morocco to escape dehumanizing ambience of post war America. In this movie, Port and Kit’s identities undergo drastic change while the Tunner does not. As a professional writer and the devotee of travel himself, Port immerses himself in traditional Oriental space and gradually melts in it, and his death is the culmination of this process. His wife, Kit who is initially unable to understand the depth of his relation the Orient, later succumbs to it, and this finds its full expression in her love of the young Belquassim, her psychosis, and her final decline of returning to American Embassy. By contrast, Tunner’s identity remains unchanged because his main object of travel has been winning Kit’s heart rather than seeking philosophical solutions for his soul in the traversed world. Accordingly the current article argues that travel is interconnected to the concept of identity, depending on the characters’ participation and response to the source culture and its environment. Thus, Port and Kit’s identities experience metamorphosis albeit violently for their receptiveness and deep involvement with the alien culture while Tunner’s disengagement and obsession to retrieve Kit from the Orient does not lead to his identity transition

Seismic performance of mid-rise code-conforming X-braced steel frames

Prolixity and complexities inherent in the nonlinear dynamic analysis (NDA) impel engineers to lean towards nonlinear static analysis (NSA) in practice. This paper partly explores differences and similarities in responses obtained from these two simulation techniques. The scope of the study is narrowed down to ubiquitous regular code-conforming mid-rise steel X-braced frames. Different common lateral load patterns are coupled with NSA to study their interactive effects on responses. The modal nonlinear static analysis is also carried out, where deemed necessary. NDA using three different earthquake records are conducted as well, to validate NSA results. Results of nonlinear analyses are undertaken to compare provisions of seismic rehabilitation code with those of seismic design codes. Base shear, story drift, lateral displacement profile obtained for each model are independently thoroughly discussed. Eventually, some suggestions to improve design code requirements are accordingly provided, as applicable