The Social and Political Life of a Relic: The Episode of the \u3ci\u3eMoi-e-Muqaddas\u3c/i\u3e Theft in Kashmir, 1963-1964

The present article is focused on the relationship between a sacred object: the moi-e-muqaddas (the Prophet’s hair), housed in the Hazratbal shrine in Kashmir, and the Kashmiri Muslim community. The relic, which was stolen from the shrine on 27 December 1963, lead to a massive protest in the Kashmir valley and in other parts of the subcontinent, as people demanded its immediate recovery. Such thefts, which have been reported from across the world and across centuries, point to the extreme value of the relics, and the additional value they generate when they are stolen. Similarly, the Hazratbal relic theft became a vehicle for reifying certain Kashmiri Muslim social and political sentiments. The incident also catapulted the issue of Kashmir’s political accession, which emerged in 1947 at the time of the partition of the subcontinent, to the forefront, alarming the Indian government. The Hazratbal relic episode is also reflective of the role of religious ideas and symbols in political action in South Asia

The Social and Political Life of a Relic

The present article is focused on the relationship between a sacred object: the moi-e-muqaddas (the Prophet’s hair), housed in the Hazratbal shrine in Kashmir, and the Kashmiri Muslim community. The relic, which was stolen from the shrine on 27 December 1963, lead to a massive protest in the Kashmir valley and in other parts of the subcontinent, as people demanded its immediate recovery. Such thefts, which have been reported from across the world and across centuries, point to the extreme value of the relics, and the additional value they generate when they are stolen. Similarly, the Hazratbal relic theft became a vehicle for reifying certain Kashmiri Muslim social and political sentiments. The incident also catapulted the issue of Kashmir’s political accession, which emerged in 1947 at the time of the partition of the subcontinent, to the forefront, alarming the Indian government. The Hazratbal relic episode is also reflective of the role of religious ideas and symbols in political action in South Asia

\STATMOND: A Peer-To-Peer Status And Performance Monitor For Dynamic Resource Allocation On Parallel Computers

This thesis presents a decentralized tool STATMOND - to monitor the status of a peer-to-peer network. STATMOND provides an accurate measurement scheme for parameters such as CPU load and memory utilization on Linux clusters. The services of STATMOND are ubiquitous in that each computer measures and for- wards its data over the network and also maintains the data of other nodes in memory. The data are periodically updated, and users on any node can ‘see‘ the status and performance of the network based on these parameters. This thesis describes the problems confronting cluster computing, the necessity of monitoring tools and how STATMOND can be a step towards better allocation of resources for dynamic computing

Analysis and Life Cycle Assessment of Printed Antennas for Sustainable Wireless Systems

Siirretty Doriast

Master of Science

thesisSalt Lake City, located at the base of the Wasatch mountain range in Utah, receives a majority of its potable water from a system of mountain creeks. Snowmelt runoff from mountain watersheds provides the city a clean and relatively inexpensive water supply, and has been a key driver in the city's growth and prosperity. There has been keen interest recently on the possible impact of the deposition of darkening matter, such as dust and black carbon (BC) on the snow, which might lead to a decrease in its `albedo' or reflective capacity. Such a decrease is expected to result in faster melting of the snow, shifting springtime streamflows to winter. This study aimed to develop a modeling framework to estimate the impact on snowmelt-driven runoff due to various BC deposition scenarios. An albedo simulation model, Snow, Ice, and Aerosol Radiation (SNICAR) model, was used to understand the evolution of albedo under different BC loadings. An Albedo-Snow Water Equivalent (A-SWE) model was developed using a machine learning technique, `Random Forests', to quantify the effect on the state of snowpack under various albedo-change scenarios. An Albedo-Snow Water Equivalent-Streamflow (A-SWE-S) model was designed using an advanced statistical modeling technique, `Generalized Additive Models (GAMs)', to extend the analysis to streamflow variations. All models were tested and validated using robust k-fold cross-validation. Albedo data were obtained from NASA's MODIS satellite platform. The key results found the snowpack to be depleted 2-3 weeks later with an albedo increase between 5-10% above current conditions, and 1-2 weeks earlier under albedo decrease of 5-10% below current conditions. Future work will involve improving the A-SWE-S model by better accounting for lagged effects, and the use of results from both models in a city-wide systems model to understand water supply reliability under combined deposition and climate change scenarios