Bursting out of the corset: physical mobility as social transgression and subversion in Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles

The dissertation is based on Hardy's representation of Victorian working-class women's experience, exemplified by the heroine of Tess of the D'Urbervilles (1891), in the radically gendered nineteenth-century society. Physical mobility as metaphor and metonymy in the novel stands for the transgression and subversion of patriarchal influence and is revealed as having a complex significance in relation to gender distinction. Hardy subverts Victorian norms of femininity through Tess's movements from one physical space to another in her struggle for freedom and autonomy. However, Hardy's inability to transcend completely the conventions of his society is apparent in the way Tess is literally destroyed in her quest for autonomy, respect and contentment. A study of the novel reveals Tess as a victim of the wearing and destructive impact of social and economic realities that Hardy does not adequately questioned. Finally, the novel follows the conventional realist pattern where the transgressive heroine is punished in the end.English StudiesM.A. (English

Robot mediated communication: Enhancing tele-presence using an avatar

In the past few years there has been a lot of development in the field of tele-presence. These developments have caused tele-presence technologies to become easily accessible and also for the experience to be enhanced. Since tele-presence is not only used for tele-presence assisted group meetings but also in some forms of Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), these activities have also been facilitated. One of the lingering issues has to do with how to properly transmit presence of non-co-located members to the rest of the group. Using current commercially available tele-presence technology it is possible to exhibit a limited level of social presence but no physical presence. In order to cater for this lack of presence a system is implemented here using tele-operated robots as avatars for remote team members and had its efficacy tested. This testing includes both the level of presence that can be exhibited by robot avatars but also how the efficacy of these robots for this task changes depending on the morphology of the robot. Using different types of robots, a humanoid robot and an industrial robot arm, as tele-presence avatars, it is found that the humanoid robot using an appropriate control system is better at exhibiting a social presence. Further, when compared to a voice only scenario, both robots proved significantly better than with only voice in terms of both cooperative task solving and social presence. These results indicate that using an appropriate control system, a humanoid robot can be better than an industrial robot in these types of tasks and the validity of aiming for a humanoid design behaving in a human-like way in order to emulate social interactions that are closer to human norms. This has implications for the design of autonomous socially interactive robot systems

Analysis of Felder-Solomon Index of Learning Styles of Students from Management and Engineering at the University of Mauritius

No prior investigations have been made on the learning styles of students from different fields studying the same module at the University of Mauritius. Techniques have to be explored to depict their learning styles, which can lead to a more effective teaching. In this work, students from faculty of management and faculty of engineering studying one of the Information Technology modules at the University of Mauritius were being studied and their learning styles were being deduced through FelderSolomon index of learning (ILS) questionnaire. The data obtained from the questionnaire has been analyzed and it was concluded that students from both faculties have different learning styles. While understanding these differences, there is a better chance to meet diverse learning needs of both groups of students

Plasma-cell-rich infiltrates in paediatric renal transplant biopsies are associated with increased risk of renal allograft failure

BACKGROUND: Increased plasma cell infiltration in renal allograft biopsies is a rare finding associated with poor outcome in adult renal transplant recipients. The clinical impact of increased plasma cell infiltrates in paediatric renal transplant recipients (pRTR) remains unknown. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective case-control study from April 1996 to March 2014 comparing the outcome of pRTR with increased (>10 % of infiltrate) plasma cells in renal transplant biopsies to a control cohort of pRTR without increased plasma cell infiltration but similar grade of rejection according to Banff classification. RESULTS: Increased plasma cell infiltrates were present in 14 of 162 (9 %) reviewed pRTR aged 3.2-17.5 (median 13.4) years at time of transplantation. Compared with 14 pRTR renal transplant biopsies without significantly increased plasma cells, there were no significant differences in mismatch and baseline estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR). Plasma cells were present in case biopsies at a maximal density of 14-116 (median 33) plasma cells/HPF. Increased plasma cells were associated with decreased eGFR at biopsy (22 vs. 49 ml/min/1.73 m(2); p < 0.001) and 4 weeks post-biopsy (26 vs. 56 ml/min/1.73 m(2); p < 0.001) despite comparable eGFR 4 weeks prior to biopsy. Increased plasma cells were further associated with significantly increased frequency of renal allograft loss (71 % vs. 7 %; p < 0.001) at 0-27 (median 2) months after biopsy. CONCLUSION: Increased plasma cell infiltrates in pRTR are uncommon but associated with significantly reduced renal allograft survival as well as significantly reduced allograft function in surviving grafts

The unilateral spatial autogressive process for the regular lattice two-dimensional spatial discrete data

This paper proposes a generalized framework to analyze spatial count data under a unilateral regular lattice structure based on thinning type models. We start from the simple spatial integer-valued auto-regressive model of order 1. We extend this model in certain directions. First, we consider various distributions as choices for the innovation distribution to allow for additional overdispersion. Second, we allow for use of covariate information, leading to a non-stationary model. Finally, we derive and use other models related to this simple one by considering simplification on the existing model. Inference is based on conditional maximum likelihood approach. We provide simulation results under different scenarios to understand the behaviour of the conditional maximum likelihood. A real data application is also provided. Remarks on how the results extend to other families of models are also given