The Changing Contours of the Indian Public Sphere: Courtesans, Culture, and the British Invasion of Oudh in Kenizé Mourad’s In the City of Gold and Silver

The article explores the role of women in the Indian freedom struggle, particularly Begam Hazarat Mahal of Lucknow through Kenizé Mourad’s In the City of Gold and Silver (2010). The text explicitly and implicitly foregrounds the role of tawaifs (courtesans) in the culture and the literature of the public sphere prior to 1857 or the first Indian freedom struggle. Their participation in the freedom struggle was a response to the British attempt to reduce their role to strictly economic and sexual purposes. The article imbricates the issues of nationalism, gender, and sexuality by mining the invisible contributions of various groups of Indian women throughout the freedom movement. We focus specifically on the case of tawaifs whose status fell from being the epitome of cultural manners to the role of a prostitute, partially because they posed a threat to the British expansion and partially because of the patriarchal setup of the Oudh society. The political significance of numerous women who contributed within the domestic sphere was completely neglected and unrecorded, while those who actively participated risking their lives and honor, such as the courtesans, were demeaned or given labels such as prostitutes. The writers, journalists, and historians who were mostly men ignored their sacrifices and struggles resulting in a scarcity of literature concerning them. The article references the theoretical framework of the public sphere, proposed by Jürgen Habermas in his seminal work, The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere, and critiques the imposition of European, patriarchal, monolithic, bourgeois notions on the public sphere. The study concludes that apart from the British intervention, the patriarchal and moral stand of successive leaders of the Indian freedom struggle has also been responsible for the non-representation of women in general and tawaifs in particular as freedom fighters

Hemichorea-hemiballismus as a rare presentation of non-ketotic hyperglycemia: a case report

Hemichorea-hemiballismus is a hyperkinetic movement disorder on one side of the body resulting from involvement of the contralateral basal ganglia and striatum mainly. A 50-year-old female presented with a 5-days history of choreiform movements affecting the left upper and lower limb along with hemiface. Her plasma glucose was 576 mgl/dl and her urinary ketones were negative suggesting non-ketotic hyperglycemia. Computed tomography revealed hyper-density in right caudate and putamen consistent with diabetic striatopathy. Non-ketotic hyperglycemia is a rare cause of hemichorea-hemiballismus syndrome. Hemichorea-hemiballismus can be an unusual and rare presentation of diabetic elderly population especially females. Early diagnosis and treatment of hyperglycemia yields an excellent prognosis

Optimization of electroless Ni-Co-P coating with hardness as response parameter: A computational approach

This paper reports the effects of the coating parameters on the hardness of the coating with the application of Taguchi method. The three factors viz. concentration of Cobalt sulphate, concentration of Sodium Hypophosphite and the temperature of electroless bath with three different levels each are fitted into L27 orthogonal arrays to optimize the coating conditions. The optimized results were obtained for 10 g/L concentration of Cobalt Sulphate, 25 g/L concentration of Sodium Hypophosphite and 85̊C temperature. The micro hardness of this coating was 1790 VHN10g. With the help of annealing at 400̊C the micro-hardness increased to 2027 VHN10g. Analysis of variance was applied to find the significant factors and the interactions. It has been investigated that concentration of Cobalt Sulphate and concentration of Sodium Hypophosphite were the most significant factors in determining the hardness of the Ni-Co-P coating. Presence of different phases (Co2P and Ni3P) in the coating was found using X-Ray diffraction analysis and composition of the coating was investigated using Energy-dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (EDAX). It showed high percentage of Cobalt (13.27%) and Phosphorus (8.85%) along with Nickel. Scanning Electron Microscopy analysis was used for observing the micro-structure of the substrate, optimized coating and annealed optimized coating

A clinical study of foreign bodies in air passages

Background: Foreign body in the airways is a serious event and fatal if not managed properly in time. Accident resulting from the inhalation of the foreign body continues to take formidable toll of lives every year.Objecti ve: This study was undertaken to find out the incidence of foreign bodies in air passages in this part of the country and types of foreign bodies, to establish the role of radiological investigations, and to find out the effective measures which are valuable in decreasing the post endoscopic complications and morbidity. Methods: This retrospective study was conducted in all suspected cases of foreign body in the air passages attending as well as referred to the Department of Otolaryngology of a Medical College of Rajasthan from January 2014 to December 2015. In each case, a procedure like direct laryngoscopy or bronchoscopy was done depending on the site of the foreign body. Results: Out of 100 cases, 58 were males and 42 were females. 88% of the patients were children below the age of 12 years. The most common foreign body extracted was betel nut in 47% of the cases. Commonest sign observed was decreased air entry in the lung (83%). Commonest radiological finding was obstructive collapse (37%). 48% of the total foreign bodies were present in right bronchus while 32% were lodged in the left bronchus and 3% at the carina. Conclusion: A diagnostic bronchoscopy should always be done in refractory cases of chronic respiratory infection, allergy or pneumonia. A negative radiological examination does not exclude a foreign body

Optimization of process parameters for electroless Ni–Co–P coating deposition to maximize micro-hardness

The present study investigates optimisation of microhardness of electroless Ni–Co–P alloy coating over copper substrate. The microhardness of the coating was significantly higher compared to the substrate. Three different design factors i.e., the concentration of cobalt sulphate, concentration of sodium hypophosphite and bath temperatures were used as the process parameters which were optimised by using Box Behnken Design (BBD) and coating micro hardness was taken as a response factor. Vickers' hardness test was conducted to obtain the micro hardness values of the coated samples. From the model analysis results, it was found 15 g L−1 of cobalt sulphate, 25 g L−1 of sodium hypophosphite and a bath temperature of 85 °C were the optimum conditions for the coating deposition in order to obtain the hardness value of 1921 HV10g. After annealing at 350 °C the hardness value was further enhanced to 1990 HV10g. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was carried out to find the graphical relationship between the different process parameters. The detail surface morphology of the Ni–Co–P coating was studied by using an optical microscope and a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). The phase and elemental compositions were determined by x-ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis and Energy Dispersive x-ray analysis (EDX)

Optimisation & minimisation of corrosion rate of electroless Ni-Co-P coating

Electroless Ni-Co–P alloy coatings were deposited to decrease the corrosion rate of the copper substrate. Central Composite Design (CCD) was employed through Design Expert Software to establish optimised deposition parameters, which produces a coating having high corrosion resistance. CCD has also been employed to determine the effect of various process parameters namely concentration of cobalt sulphate (CoSO4.7H2O) solution (10–20 gm/cc), concentration of sodium hypophosphite (NaH2PO2.H2O) solution (20–30 gm/cc) and bath temperature (80-90°C). The corrosion rate was determined by the Potential Dynamic test in 3.5% NaCl solution and the Tafel plot was used to determine the corrosion current density for each coated substrate. On the corrosion response of the coatings, the most significant interactions and important factors were identified using ANOVA analysis. The regression analysis showed a good fit of the experimental data through the second-order polynomial model with a coefficient of determination (R2) value of 0.9531 and a model F-value of 22.57. 15 g/L of Cobalt Sulphate, 30 g/L of Sodium Hypophosphite and 80°C of bath temperature were found out to be the optimum conditions of bath deposition to obtain a corrosion rate of 0.535 µm/Y

Deep phenotyping and genomic data from a nationally representative study on dementia in India

The Harmonized Diagnostic Assessment of Dementia for the Longitudinal Aging Study in India (LASI-DAD) is a nationally representative in-depth study of cognitive aging and dementia. We present a publicly available dataset of harmonized cognitive measures of 4,096 adults 60 years of age and older in India, collected across 18 states and union territories. Blood samples were obtained to carry out whole blood and serum-based assays. Results are included in a venous blood specimen datafile that can be linked to the Harmonized LASI-DAD dataset. A global screening array of 960 LASI-DAD respondents is also publicly available for download, in addition to neuroimaging data on 137 LASI-DAD participants. Altogether, these datasets provide comprehensive information on older adults in India that allow researchers to further understand risk factors associated with cognitive impairment and dementia.Peer reviewe

A Comprehensive Study on Present State of Underground Pipeline Infrastructure in Developed Countries

This paper provides a comprehensive overview of existing state of underground pipelines in developed countries like the United States (US) and focus on history, performance, and barriers to long-term planning. Most of the pipeline infrastructure construction in the United States was done in 1950’s and 1960’s due to population and economic growth (Najafi, 2005). The Pipelines built during this period were by using cast iron and steel material.  The Pipes that are buried during this period are more than 70 years old, which needs to be replaced / renewed. According to ASCE 2017 Infrastructure report card, water and the wastewater pipelines received a grade D and D+ respectively, which states that there is a significant need in improving these infrastructure conditions. The main objective of this paper is to provide an overview of underground pipeline infrastructure in the developed countries with focus on the US. To study pipelines construction or renewal which is been done by traditional open-cut method or latest Trenchless technology. The scope of this paper is limited to water, wastewater and liquid and gas transmission pipeline infrastructure of underground utilities in the United States. The methodology of this paper discusses about the infrastructure needed for the operation and maintenance of pipeline infrastructure, the construction and renewal of the pipelines using traditional open-cut and Trenchless technology methods, the risks associated in constructing, renewing and operating the pipelines. It can be concluded, that the present scenario of water, wastewater, liquid and gas transmission pipelines are not meeting the required standards. This problem can be addressed through strategic planning for the nation’s economic and overall developmen

Creativity in machines: Music composition using artificial intelligence

In this paper we propose a framework to take the next step towards making creative machines. Taking cue from Turing’s Mind Paper (1950) to more recent studies by Riedl in ‘’The Lovelace 2.0 test of artificial creativity and intelligence’ we try to examine a very creative area of human creativity – music. We have summarized the different works published on artificial intelligence and machine learning implemented for algorithmic music composition. Comparison of different algorithms-techniques including key features, advantages, disadvantages, common issues, trade-off and future aspects are discussed in detail. We then propose our own framework of how machines can be made to learn creativity

Using Decision-making Criteria Approach for the Selection of Trenchless Construction Method: A Review Study

Trenchless technologies (TTs) are used to install new pipes or repair and replace the old pipes classified in two categories: construction and rehabilitation/ replacement methods. Due to rapid urbanization, new pipe network should be established proportional to the population growth. On other hand, due to issues such as corrosion and aging, a major part of storm sewer, waste sewer, gas, water pipes must be replaced/ rehabilitated every year. Traditional open-cut methods are not applicable anymore disruption to traffic, unsafety, environmental impacts, high cost and so on while the trenchless construction methods are able to address these issues. The construction trenchless methods include horizontal earth boring (no worker entry), pipe jacking and utility tunneling (worker entry). The first one is subcategorized to horizontal auger boring, horizontal directional drilling, pipe ramming, microtunneling, pilot tube microtunneling and compaction method. In the first part of the current study, the design criteria needed for horizontal auger boring, horizontal directional drilling, pipe jacking, pipe ramming and micro tunneling will be reviewed and discussed. Considering these requirements which are unique for each individual project, the optimum trenchless technology can be proposed for that project. In the second part of this research, based on a concept given in the literature, a hierarchical algorithm is proposed by the author that is defined based on the design requirements and can be used as a decision-making tool to select an optimum trenchless construction method. Sometimes more than one method can be proposed. The best one will be selected based on availability of equipment and skillful team, budget and sustainability principles. Although the trenchless renewal methods are not in the scope of the present study, their respective design criteria are given in the appendices in order to provide a complete collection of design requirements for the all trenchless technologies