Trauma of displacement in V. S. Naipaul's The Mimic Men

This research considers displacement in Naipaul’s The Mimic Men as a traumatic experience. Taking an interdisciplinary approach to the subject of my study, it explores the historical and psychological dimensions of the displacement in the novel, as well as its literary representations. In the first step, I depicted the displacement as a traumatic experience for the protagonist by the illness which displacement causes Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. In the second step, I suggested two ways the protagonist goes through to remember their trauma. These ways are two different kinds of memory, namely, “acting out” and “working through”. I take “acting out” and “working through” as different but not opposite processes. “Acting out” and “working through” may never be totally separated from each other, and the two may always mark or be implicated in each other. In the third step, I also looked at the impacts of trauma of displacement on the structural and formal components of The Mimic Men

Valores morales de la organización basados en patrones morales comerciales y requisitos legales para presentar el modelo en la administración tributaria

The purpose of this research was to analyze and explain the organization's ethical values ​​based on ethical business models and legal requirements to present a model to the Kerman Tax Administration (Iran). The present investigation is descriptive and exploratory, and of a combined type (quantitative, qualitative). Therefore, the orientation of this research was first to determine and identify the components of the organization's ethical values, in addition to reviewing the literature and the research background. The exploratory qualitative sampling method and the sample size due to access limitations are considered for this stage 11 people. This group includes managers and employees of the Kerman Tax Administration. According to statistics, there are 727 managers and employees of the Kerman Tax Administration. Because the type of research requires information from specific individuals, that is, specific types of people such as managers (19) and employees (708) who can provide the desired information in the research, they were selected as a statistical sample. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis and the reliability of the questionnaire was confirmed by Cronbach's alpha. In this research, ethical values ​​include organizational justice, organizational commitment, corporate moral culture, and social responsibility of an organization. Patterns of work morale include professional morale, social morale, and individual morale, and legal requirements include appropriate services, quality of services, and trust. In the case of the ethical values ​​measurement model based on ethical standards and legal requirements in the Kerman province, the correlation between variables is not more than 0.9. Therefore, there is no need to merge or remove them. Furthermore, all factor loads are greater than 0.5, indicating that all dimensions have good factor validity. Regarding the structural model of ethical values ​​based on ethical patterns and legal requirements in the tax administration of the Kerman province, the relationship between the variable of organizational ethical models and the corporate moral values ​​is positive and significant. There is also a positive and significant relationship between the variable of legal requirements and the ethical values ​​of the organization.El propósito de esta investigación fue analizar y explicar los valores éticos de la organización basados en modelos éticos comerciales y requisitos legales para presentar un modelo en la Administración Tributaria de Kerman (Irán). La presente investigación es descriptiva y exploratoria, y de tipo combinado (cuantitativo, cualitativo). Por lo tanto, la orientación de esta investigación fue primero determinar e identificar los componentes de los valores éticos de la organización, además de revisar la literatura y los antecedentes de la investigación. El método de muestreo cualitativo exploratorio y el tamaño de la muestra debido a las limitaciones de acceso se consideran para esta etapa 11 personas. Este grupo incluye gerentes y empleados de la Administración Tributaria de Kerman. Según las estadísticas, hay 727 gerentes y empleados de la Administración Tributaria de Kerman. Debido a que el tipo de investigación requiere información de individuos específicos, es decir, tipos específicos de personas como gerentes (19) y empleados (708) que pueden proporcionar la información deseada en la investigación, fueron seleccionados como muestra estadística. La validez del cuestionario fue confirmada por análisis factorial exploratorio y confirmatorio y la confiabilidad del cuestionario fue confirmada por el alfa de Cronbach. En la presente investigación, los valores éticos incluyen justicia organizacional, compromiso organizacional, cultura moral empresarial y responsabilidad social de una organización. Los patrones de la moral del trabajo incluyen la moral profesional, la moral social y la moral individual, y los requisitos legales incluyen los servicios apropiados, la calidad de los servicios y la confianza. En el caso del modelo de medición de valores éticos basado en patrones éticos y requisitos legales en la provincia de Kerman, la correlación entre variables no es más de 0.9. Por lo tanto, no es necesario fusionarlos o eliminarlos. Además, todas las cargas de factor son mayores que 0.5, lo que indica que todas las dimensiones tienen una buena validez de factor. Con respecto al modelo estructural de valores éticos basado en patrones éticos y requisitos legales en la administración tributaria de la provincia de Kerman, la relación entre la variable de modelos éticos organizacionales y los valores morales empresariales es positiva y significativa. También existe una relación positiva y significativa entre la variable de requisitos legales y los valores éticos de la organización. The purpose of this research was to analyze and explain the organization's ethical values ​​based on ethical business models and legal requirements to present a model to the Kerman Tax Administration (Iran). The present investigation is descriptive and exploratory, and of a combined type (quantitative, qualitative). Therefore, the orientation of this research was first to determine and identify the components of the organization's ethical values, in addition to reviewing the literature and the research background. The exploratory qualitative sampling method and the sample size due to access limitations are considered for this stage 11 people. This group includes managers and employees of the Kerman Tax Administration. According to statistics, there are 727 managers and employees of the Kerman Tax Administration. Because the type of research requires information from specific individuals, that is, specific types of people such as managers (19) and employees (708) who can provide the desired information in the research, they were selected as a statistical sample. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis and the reliability of the questionnaire was confirmed by Cronbach's alpha. In this research, ethical values ​​include organizational justice, organizational commitment, corporate moral culture, and social responsibility of an organization. Patterns of work morale include professional morale, social morale, and individual morale, and legal requirements include appropriate services, quality of services, and trust. In the case of the ethical values ​​measurement model based on ethical standards and legal requirements in the Kerman province, the correlation between variables is not more than 0.9. Therefore, there is no need to merge or remove them. Furthermore, all factor loads are greater than 0.5, indicating that all dimensions have good factor validity. Regarding the structural model of ethical values ​​based on ethical patterns and legal requirements in the tax administration of the Kerman province, the relationship between the variable of organizational ethical models and the corporate moral values ​​is positive and significant. There is also a positive and significant relationship between the variable of legal requirements and the ethical values ​​of the organization

A Methodology for Design and Adaptation of Infrastructure Under Deep Climate Uncertainty

Proper decision-making in design, and adaptation management of infrastructure is essential, in the face of environmental uncertainties. As and example, current climate change models yield a range of widely diverging projections, rendering the allocation of climate change readiness investments increasingly complicated. While a severe climate change scenario may necessitate extensive adaptation investments, realization of a mild or moderate environment after costly system modifications or early adoption of costly adaptation measures would also result in a sense of loss. An alternative approach is resorting to adaptive solutions that commence with reduced costs until the environmental circumstances become more evident. With the goal of minimizing the sense of loss associated with decision-making, this research integrates the concept of regret into a decision-making framework. Regret serves as a quantifiable metric, capturing decision-makers' desire to mitigate the sense of loss resulting from making incorrect choices. Additionally, the framework incorporates the potential of gaining information over time about climate as it occurs through a dynamic programming scheme. The research encompasses three studies. Firstly, common design and decision-making approaches are evaluated within the context of climate change. Specifically, an investigation into the nonstationary effects of wind load on structural reliability under the impact of climate change was conducted using several methods. The findings reveal that, under the worst scenario, the lifetime probability of failure can be around twice as high as the baseline without climate change. However, such a scenario-based analysis is not conclusive in decision-making. To facilitate decision-making in the face of deep climate uncertainty, an innovative methodology is developed and then tested in a second study on bridge corrosion management. In this study, the methodology offers a straightforward decision-making approach when considering the implementation of costly corrosion protection measures in an unknown environment. Additionally, a sensitivity analysis aids in discerning project types and determining the optimal course of action, whether it involves waiting or investing in field testing. Finally, the third study is an application of the methodology in the context of climate change by addressing the design and managed adaptation of a river-crossing bridge exposed to climate change-induced scour. The study showcases how the methodology can assess trade-offs among different design options and determine the optimal course of action, given the uncertainties surrounding future climate scenarios. By evaluating the trade-offs between inaction and costly adaptations, the research identifies conditions under which a wait-and-see approach is effective and when incorporating design flexibilities for future adaptations is warranted. Furthermore, the method's performance is evaluated, and a comparison of various decision-making methods for adaptation is presented. The analysis demonstrates that in the case study, incorporating the potential for information arrival can yield up to $3.5 million in benefits, where an indirect cost of failure amounts to$10 million. Consequently, this framework empowers designers and asset managers to navigate the uncertainties of climate change in their decision-making processes effectively. The outcomes of this research contribute to the advancement of decision-making approaches for infrastructure design and adaptation in the face of climate uncertainties. By integrating deep uncertainties into decision-making processes and proposing an innovative methodology, this research assists infrastructure owners, managers, and policymakers in enhancing the resilience and long-term sustainability of infrastructure systems in an uncertain future climate

Ballast Stabilization with Polyurethane for Use in Desert Areas

Sand dune accumulation in the railways passing through desert areas leads to ballast softening and settlement, which is one of the major challenges in the ballast maintenance operation. In this regard, ballast infilling with polyurethane could be mentioned as a novel solution that has been less attentional in previous studies. In this matter, in present study using a domestic cost-effective polyurethane, the ballast stabilization has been accomplished and the relevant shear strength parameters have been investigated via a series of large-scale direct shear tests. Since the utilized polyurethane has composed of two different components, in the first stage, the best weight ratios of components have been investigated via a series of compression tests. In this matter, the ratio of 1.5 units polyol to 1 unit isocyanate has been adopted as the best composition. Then, the resulting polyurethane was injected into the ballast to perform large-scale direct shear tests. According to the measurement results, the maximum shear stress, the internal friction angle, and the cohesion coefficient increased by 109%, 9.5%, and 162.5% with respect to the non-stabilized ballast (NSB), respectively. In addition, the dilation angle decreased by 66.4% with the injection of polyurethane into the ballast. Hence, the results indicate increased shear strength and lateral track resistance in the presence of polyurethane, which can prevent lateral deflection and improve track safety. In other words, the mentioned polyurethane has improved the shear parameters of the ballast more significantly than other polyurethanes and has shown its performance in increasing the bearing capacity

Efficacy of progesterone supplementation during early pregnancy in cows: a meta-analysis

Progesterone is a critical hormone during early pregnancy in the cow. As a result, a number of studies have investigated the effects of progesterone supplementation on pregnancy rates. In this study, a meta-analysis using a univariate binary random effects model was carried out on 84 specific treatments reported in 53 publications involving control (n = 9905) and progesterone-treated (n = 9135) cows. Although the results of individual studies showed wide variations (−40% to +50% point changes), progesterone treatment resulted in an overall increase in pregnancy rate odds ratio (OR = 1.12; P < 0.01). Improvements in pregnancy rate were only observed in cows treated at natural estrus (OR = 1.41, P < 0.01) and not following synchronization of estrus or ovulation. Although treatment between Days 3 to 7 postinsemination was beneficial (OR = 1.15; P < 0.01), treatment earlier or later than this was not. Progesterone supplementation was beneficial in cows of lower fertility (<45% control pregnancy rate) but not in cows with higher fertility. These results indicated that the benefit of progesterone supplementation on fertility of cows required exogenous progesterone supplementation to start between Day 3 to 7 and the appropriate reproductive status (i.e., lower fertility, natural estrus) of the treated cows

Trauma of displacement in V.S. Naipaul's selected fictions

V.S. Naipaul's obsession with displacements has been considered as a melancholic sign of his sense of unbelonging by most of his critics. A permanent exile, a refugee, a homeless citizen of the world, and an extranational writer, are some of the assorted terms used to articulate the dominant perception of him. Some critics embrace him as simultaneously coming from nowhere and everywhere, and other critics consider his prose, or perhaps more precisely, the action of writing them as Naipaul’s home. Naipaul’s obsession by displacement in his works implies that displacement is a traumatic experience for him, an issue which has been ignored by his critics. This research considers displacement in Naipaul’s fictions as a traumatic experience. Taking an interdisciplinary approach to the subject of my thesis, it explores the historical and psychological dimensions of the displacement experience, as well as its literary representations. This study addresses displacement in the fictions from different phases of Naipaul’s writing and focuses on The Mimic Men (1967), In a Free State (1971), and The Enigma of Arrival (1987) through character analysis. In the first step, I depicted displacement as a traumatic experience for the characters by the illness which displacement causes Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. In the second step, I suggested two ways the characters go through to remember their trauma. These ways are two different kinds of memory, namely, “acting out” and “working through”, which are related to repetition. “Acting out” or melancholia is related to repetition compulsion, which is the tendency to repeat something compulsively. There are many different ways a person can “act out” his or her traumatic experiences. Flashbacks, nightmares and compulsive behaviour and words are some common ways of “acting out” trauma by traumatised people. “Working through” or mourning involves repetition with significant difference — “working through” is a controlled, explicit, critically controlled process of repetition. In “working through”, the person tries to gain critical distance on a problem and to distinguish between the past, present and future. Generating countervailing forces to “acting out” and testimony are the ways a traumatised person can “work through” her trauma. I take “acting out” and “working through” as different but not opposite processes. “Acting out” and “working through” may never be totally separated from each other, and the two may always mark or be implicated in each other. Finally, I stated that Naipaul’s trauma of displacement is the symptom of historical displacement of his indentured ancestors. I further argued that Naipaul’s writing is a means of representing the “unclaimed” experiences of his ancestors

Genomic sequencing of freshwater mussel unio tumidus using the minion

Freshwater mussels are aquatic organisms that are involved in nutrient cycling and water purification. Freshwater mussels have filtering activity and transfer nutrients and energy-rich organic compounds from the water column to the sediments. Besides this activity, freshwater mussels are among the most important water pollution indicators due to their ability to concentrate many environmental contaminants such as heavy metals. The genome of most freshwater mussels has not yet been sequenced. The knowledge about the genome of the freshwater mussel's species can be useful to develop a multi-biomarker panel for early indication of water pollution. This study aimed to sequence the whole genomic DNA of freshwater mussel Unio tumidus using the MinION device. In this study, a total of 6 Gb data and 194 contigs with a total length of 825,486bp were generated while the length of the largest contig was 35,755 and the GC content 37.66% and N50 11647 bp was obtained. The generated data was not enough to assemble the whole genome of the mussels' species, and just a partial sequence could be obtained because of many challenges during the DNA extraction and library preparation. However, to obtain the whole DNA composition of these species making more effort, such as performing more library preparation and sequencing runs, are required, but the finding of this study can be used for the generation of more sequencing data for the assembly of the full genome