Ananda Devi\u27s Narrative Strategies and Subversions.

This dissertation proposes a feminist narratological study of texts by Ananda Devi, a contemporary Francophone writer from Mauritius. I examine three principle narrative strategies that allow Devi to challenge the dominant androcentric discourses. These discourses ignore the feminine world of domesticity and impose images of submission on women, thereby curbing feminine expression and quest. Inspired by the efforts of critics such as Alison Case, Robyn Warhol, Susan Lanser to study narrative structures in the context of cultural constructions of gender, I argue that Devi employs narrative strategies that allow her marginalized narrators to intervene in dominant structures of narrative construction and create hybrid magical spaces for feminine expression. In the first chapter I analyze how Devi subverts the romance plot to bring to the fore alternative models of romance and sexuality that go beyond the binary man-woman opposition. Furthermore, drawing upon Susan Lanser’s notion of “plotlessness,” I argue that Devi’s plotless novels not only valorize feminine space but also allow the narrator to connect with her narratees, creating a sense of feminine solidarity. The second chapter analyses how she questions the Western notion of linear temporality by privileging cyclical narratives that create space for feminine dialogue as her works connect women across time. This chapter also examines Devi’s transgression of narrative boundaries by introducing multiple narrators through narrative metalepsis, thus introducing multiple consciousnesses by inviting different voices to construct the narrative. The third chapter probes Devi’s non-Western techniques as she merges Western reality with the magic of the Orient and allows her characters accessibility to extra-real and magical spaces that become tools for them. In this section I also examine how Hindu myths and folktales intervene in the reality of Devi’s novels, influencing her characters and narrators. In the process, however, Devi also scrutinizes the myths themselves by questioning their representations of women. In this way Devi has effectively used different strategies to create a hybrid space where the West meets the non-West, the feminine meets the androcentric, the real meets the extra-real and the traditional distinctions between these categories are challenged for alternate and new possibilities

Correlation of microelements like plasma copper and zinc concentrations with female infertility

Background: The aim of present study was to determine the role of trace elements copper and zinc and impairment of infertility.Methods: The study was a randomized, comparative, clinical trial where study group included 74 patients with primary or secondary infertility and control group included 20 patients who were fertile females of reproductive age group having no gynaecological or systemic disease. Venous blood samples were taken and plasma copper and zinc concentrations were measured.Results: In the normal fertile non-pregnant healthy female’s plasma copper ranged from 98.78 - 169.2 mcg% (mean 124.72 mcg%). In patients of unexplained infertility plasma copper was found to be low. It ranged from 63.0 - 145.14 mcg% (mean 95.5 mcg%) difference being statistically significant, (P0.05).Conclusions: Our results show that copper deficiency might have a role to play in the etiogenesis of otherwise unexplained infertility. We can also conclude that zinc deficiency may not play a significant role in female infertility

PHYTOCHEMICAL SCREENING AND PHARMACOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF DIFFERENT EXTRACTS OF PLANT CASEARIA TOMENTOSA LEAVES

Objective: In present study different extracts of the leaves of plant Casearia tomentosa was investigated for the phytochemical screening, total phenolic content and various pharmacological activities like antioxidant, antidiabetic, antibacterial.Methods: Leaves of C. tomentosa were successively extracted by soxhlet extraction method using petroleum ether, chloroform, ethyl acetate and ethanol. The preliminary phytochemical investigation of different extracts was carried out according to standard methods. Antioxidant activity evaluated by 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging assay and ferric reducing antioxidant potential (FRAP) method. Total phenolic content was evaluated by Folin-ciocalteau method. Antidiabetic activity estimated by α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibitory assay while antibacterial activity was performed by disk diffusion method.Results: C. tomentosa leaves show the presence of various phytochemicals like alkaloids, flavonoids, carbohydrates, glycosides, protein etc. Results of antioxidant studies revealed that the ethanol extract possessed highest 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picryl-hydrazyl (IC50 31.87±0.65 μg/ml) activity, ferric reducing antioxidant power (43.78±0.65μM/ml, FRAP value=2.30). Among different extracts, ethanol extract shows highest (228.17±0.63 mg gallic acid equivalents (GAE)/gram of dry mass) amount of total phenolic content. The ethyl acetate extract exhibited highest inhibition on α-amylase (IC50 262.08±1.26 μg/ml) and α-glucosidase (IC50 459.25±1.80 μg/ml) enzymes. Results of antibacterial activity revealed that all extracts show inhibition against selected bacterial strains like Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumonia and Salmonella typhi.Conclusion: The present study suggests that Casearia tomentosa leaves can be used as a potential source of natural antioxidant and natural antidiabetic, antibacterial agents

Enhanced One Dimensional Modeling for Predicting Concentration of BOD in rivers

To maintain the river water quality it is necessary to predict the concentration of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) in rivers. Various one dimensional models that  are developed so far  are applicable only after complete mixing of the pollutant across the cross-section is over which may take longer time for rivers with large width. Such type of situations is not represented effectively by the existing one dimensional model. Moreover, many of these one dimensional models do not account for the settle able part of BOD that invariably takes place when partially treated/ untreated waste enters these water bodies. A model is developed that is not more complicated than a one dimensional model but rationally predict the transport of BOD causing pollutant in almost 80% of initial period. The presented model can be used in conditions when partially treated/untreated waste is discharged in rivers with large width. Keywords: Mathematical Model, BOD, Water Pollutio

Effect of doping of 8-hydroxyquinolinatolithium on electron transport in tris(8-hydroxyquinolinato)aluminum

Effect of doping of 8-hydroxyquinolinatolithium (Liq) on the electron transport properties of tris(8-hydroxyquinolinato)aluminum (Alq3) has been investigated as a function of temperature and doping concentration by fabricating electron only devices. It has been observed that current density in the devices increases with the doping of Liq up to a doping concentration of 33 wt. % and then decreases. Current density-voltage (J-V) characteristics of 0, 15, and 33 wt. % Liq doped Alq3 devices were found to be bulk limited and analyzed on the basis of trap charge limited conduction model. The J-V characteristics of 50 and 100 wt. % Liq doped Alq3 devices were found to be injection limited and were analyzed using the Fowler-Nordheim model. The increase in current density with doping up to 33 wt. % was found to be due to an increase in electron mobility upon doping, whereas the decrease in current density above 33 wt. % was due to the switching of transport mechanism from bulk limited to injection limited type due to an increase in barrier height. Electron mobility and variance of energy distribution have been measured by using transient electroluminescence technique to support our analysis. Electron mobility for pure Alq3 was found to be 1 × 10−6 cm2/V s, which increased to 3 × 10−5 cm2/V s upon doping with 33 wt. % Liq. The measured values of variance were 95, 87.5, 80, 72, and 65 meV for 0, 15, 33, 50, and 100 wt. % Liq doped Alq3 respectively. The increase in electron mobility upon doping has been attributed to a decrease in energetic disorder upon doping as evidenced by the decrease in variance. The increase in barrier height for the higher doping concentration was due to the disorder related correction σ2/2kT in the barrier height, which decreases with the increase in doping concentration

An n-type, new emerging luminescent polybenzodioxane polymer for application in solution-processed green emitting OLEDs

Herein, we report polybenzodioxane polymer (PIM-1), a multifunctional n-type emitter with strong green luminescence, and its suitability as an electron transport layer for OLEDs devices. The Brunauer-Emmett- Teller (BET) test and photo-electrical properties of as-synthesized PIM-1 confirm the presence of large microporosity and excellent electron mobility. The photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy shows the intense green emission at 515 nm upon 332 nm excitation wavelength. Moreover, the Hall effect study reveals the negative Hall resistivity, which indicates that PIM-1 possesses n-type semiconductor characteristics. It enables the highly-efficient polymer-based green LEDs with configuration; ITO (120 nm)/PEDOT: PSS (30 nm)/PIM-1 (100 nm)/LiF (1 nm)/Al (150 nm), which are fabricated by the sequential solution-processing method. The OLED incorporating PIM-1 thin layer achieves maximum current efficiency of 1.71 Cd A(-1) and power efficiency of 0.49 lm W-1. Additionally, the electron mobility is found to be 4.4 x 10(-6) cm(2) V-1 s(-1). Hence, these results demonstrate that PIM-1 could be an ultimate choice as an n-type emitter for the next generation of advanced electronic devices

Greater Skeletal Gains in Ovary Intact Rats at Maturity Are Achieved by Supplementing a Standardized Extract of Butea monosperma

With a longitudinally designed study, we tested whether an acetone soluble fraction (ASF) from the stem bark of Butea monosperma resulted in maximizing bone gain in rats during growth and maturation and thus protected against osteopenia following ovariectomy (OVx) with concomitant treatment withdrawal. Female rats at weaning were given ASF (100 mg/kg/d) or vehicle for 12 weeks, and baseline skeletal parameters (micro-CT) and total plasma antioxidant status (TAS) were measured. At this stage, one group was OVx and the other group was sham operated. Vehicle group (untreated) after OVx was given E2 or continued with vehicle (OVx control). ASF group after OVx was given vehicle (ASF withdrawn, ASFW). After another 12 weeks, all groups were killed and various skeletal parameters were determined. ASF resulted in substantially better skeletal parameters and higher plasma TAS over control at maturity. Rats treated with ASF before OVx had reduced rates of bone loss compared to OVx control. Twelve weeks after OVx, the ASFW group exhibited better trabecular microarchitectural preservation, bone turnover profiles, increased cortical deposition, and biomechanical strength over the OVx control, and the effects were comparable to OVx + E2 group. ASF supplementation during skeletal growth could maximize bone accrual and could confer increased resistance to post-OVx osteopenia despite treatment withdrawal