The Socio‐Political Implications of the 20th Century Narratives on Indian Dances

From mentions of dance in treatises as old as 2nd century to regional variations around 13th century to the 20th century ‐ dance has travelled, traversedand evolved. When the agenda of Nationalism was in vogue during pre and post‐independence periods, there was a necessity to produce somethingunique to the nation and make a point about its rich heritage. Dance was one effective medium that served as a cultural symbol. This very notion modifiedthe course of dance, its form and structure. The ancient practices were modified and tailor‐made to suit agendas of the time and popular choices. This paper attempts to understand this phenomenon of how the socio‐political ideologies have affected the Indian classical dances. The focus would be on the political affiliations specific to the Kūcipūḍi form of dance

Duhemian Good Sense and Agent Reliabilism

Stump (2007) argues for a virtue epistemological reading of Duhem's good sense: according to him Duhem advanced good sense as a source of justified beliefs about theory choice and as a mark of the cognitive character of the physicist. Ivanova (2010) argues that Duhem proposed good sense as a post hoc explanation of theory choice rather than as a justification of it. Fairweather (2011) has advanced a "hybrid position" combining Stump's and Ivanova's views. I contend that Ivanova’s reading of Duhem is inaccurate and that good sense can indeed be accommodated within virtue epistemology. However Stump’s account is incomplete: I propose that within virtue epistemology, agent reliabilism best accommodates Duhemian good sense. Moreover, no hybrid reading is required: I argue that agent reliabilism fully accommodates Duhem's position on good sense. Finally I also explore the relevance of a reliabilist reading of Duhem to the debate on how to deal with the Problem of Induction in scientific practice

Duhemian Good Sense and Agent Reliabilism

Stump (2007) argued for a virtue epistemological reading of Duhem's good sense: according to him Duhem advanced good sense as a source of justified beliefs about theory choice and as a mark of the cognitive character of the physicist. Ivanova (2010) argues that Duhem proposed good sense as a post hoc explanation of theory choice rather than as a justification of it. I contend that Ivanova’s reading of Duhem is inaccurate and that good sense can indeed be accommodated within virtue epistemology. However Stump’s account is incomplete: I propose that within virtue epistemology, agent reliabilism best accommodates Duhemian good sense

To Study the Current Distributions of an Antenna in Magnetized Collisional Plasma via PFFDTD Simulations

This thesis paper talks about the study of current distributions on dipole antenna immersed in collisional plasma. Analytical models like Balmain’s[6] one dimensional triangular current distribution, Staras[8] proposed and developed by Nikitin’s[10] threedimensional exponential current distribution and the PF-FDTD (Plasma Fluid- Finite Difference Time Domain) model[11] are compared against the Auroral Space Structure Probe (ASSP) flight data in order to show how data analysis can benefit. PF-FDTD model is used to study the antenna in weakly collisional plasma and the comparisons of the analytical and numerical solutions show that numerical model match better for data analysis of flight data sweeps than the analytical models. Advantages and disadvantages of these different models are discussed

Duhemian Good Sense and Agent Reliabilism

Stump (2007) argues for a virtue epistemological reading of Duhem's good sense: according to him Duhem advanced good sense as a source of justified beliefs about theory choice and as a mark of the cognitive character of the physicist. Ivanova (2010) argues that Duhem proposed good sense as a post hoc explanation of theory choice rather than as a justification of it. Fairweather (2011) has advanced a "hybrid position" combining Stump's and Ivanova's views. I contend that Ivanova’s reading of Duhem is inaccurate and that good sense can indeed be accommodated within virtue epistemology. However Stump’s account is incomplete: I propose that within virtue epistemology, agent reliabilism best accommodates Duhemian good sense. Moreover, no hybrid reading is required: I argue that agent reliabilism fully accommodates Duhem's position on good sense. Finally I also explore the relevance of a reliabilist reading of Duhem to the debate on how to deal with the Problem of Induction in scientific practice

Ozone as a selective disinfectant for nonaseptic fungal cultivation on corn-processing wastewater

Food processing wastewater is commonly treated using conventional aerobic treatment such as activated sludge processes that produces excess bacterial biomass having a low economic value. On the other hand, the fungal biomass derived through wastewater purification of food processing wastewater, could be the source of valuable biochemicals, which has a high economic value. Moreover, the better settleability of the fungal filaments permits a low-cost separation and recovery of various fungal by-products. One of the most prevailing problems in utilizing food-processing wastewater as organic substrate for fungal cultivation is the bacterial contamination. Therefore, there is a need for cost-effective method to control bacterial growth under non-aseptic conditions. The selection mechanisms create an environment for the proliferation of fungi, making fungal cultivation much simpler during food processing wastewater treatment. This research focused mainly on improving fungal selection under non-aseptic conditions through selective disinfection in addition to microscreen for retaining fungi and pH adjustment to about 4. Ozone was used to limit bacterial competition and promote fungal growth. Different ozone dosages were continuously applied to continuous stirred tank reactors treating corn-processing wastewater from Archer Daniels Midland plants at Cedar Rapids. The effects of different ozone dosages on fungal biomass production, soluble chemical oxygen demand (SCOD) and bacterial contamination in the bioreactor were evaluated. Ozone dosage of about 57 mg/L provided maximum fungal biomass production and SCOD removal among the tested ozone dosages (from 0 to about 76 mg/L). Total biomass concentration (sum of fungal and bacterial biomass) increased from about 1,450 mg VSS/L (control reactor without ozonation) to about 1,750 mg VSS/L at around 57 mg/L ozone dosage. Maximum SCOD removal of about 90% was achieved at around 57 mg/L ozone dosage. Statistical analysis revealed that the SCOD removal, fungal biomass production and bacterial biomass at about 18 and 29 mg/L ozone dosage did not differ from that of control significantly. Bacterial population measurements using flow cytometry indicated that about one log reduction could be achieved at around 47 mg/L and greater ozone dosages

Enhancement of performance of micro direct ethanol fuel cells by structural modification

“Direct Ethanol Fuel Cells (DEFC’s) are becoming more important in current energy conversion devices because of their higher efficiency compared to other fuel cells. However, the performance of current DEFC’s is not efficient in providing energy to meet increasing energy demand. The objective of this work is to make the cell compact and at the same time improve performance. For this purpose, we have removed gasket and endplates to make structure compact and increased surface area by developing a new corrugated structure. This work also uses 3D printing technology Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) to make pocket backing case to improve sealing and production time. Studies of flow rate effects and elevated temperature impact on the performance of new cells have been made by comparing conventional cells. With the avoidance of the endplates and gaskets by using the proposed pocket model of assembly, the weight of the fuel cell decreases significantly. The corrugated structure has a surface area that is nearly 30% greater than conventional designs, which allows the use of membranes for wider catalytic coatings. Increased surface area greatly improves cell performance by enhancing available reaction sites. 3D printing cells can seal the better than the general structure of the cell and also reduce weight by removing the bolts. In summary, the proposed cells exhibit improved performance under all loading conditions, including increased flow rate and increased temperature”--Abstract, page iii

A deep learning approach to real-time short-term traffic speed prediction with spatial-temporal features

In the realm of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), accurate traffic speed prediction plays an important role in traffic control and management. The study on the prediction of traffic speed has attracted considerable attention from many researchers in this field in the past three decades. In recent years, deep learning-based methods have demonstrated their competitiveness to the time series analysis which is an essential part of traffic prediction. These methods can efficiently capture the complex spatial dependency on road networks and non-linear traffic conditions. We have adopted the convolutional neural network-based deep learning approach to traffic speed prediction in our setting, based on its capability of handling multi-dimensional data efficiently. In practice,the traffic data may not be recorded with a regular interval, due to many factors, like power failure, transmission errors,etc.,that could have an impact on the data collection. Given that some part of our dataset contains a large amount of missing values, we study the effectiveness of a multi-view approach to imputing the missing values so that various prediction models can apply. Experimental results showed that the performance of the traffic speed prediction model improved significantly after imputing the missing values with a multi-view approach, where the missing ratio is up to 50%

Functional and radiological outcome following operative skeletal stabilisation with bone grafting in distal femur non-unions: a study of 21 patients

Background: The study was done to assess the functional and radiological outcome after operative skeletal stabilisation with bone grafting in 21 patients who presented to us with distal femur non-unions.Methods: Between August 2008 and October 2015, 21 patients (M:F- 14:7)  with established non-unions of the distal femur were included. All patients presented to us with established non-union following treatment with a native bone setter using splints.  There were 16 patients with AO Type A, 4 with AO Type B and one patient with Type C. All patients underwent open reduction, internal fixation with plate and screws and bone grafting. Serial follow-ups were done at 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24 weeks and 6 monthly thereafter.Results: All 21 patients had complete fracture healing at average of 19 weeks (Range 16-24). Knee flexion (ROM) improved from an average 16® pre-op to 66® post-operatively. There were no implant failure, infection or non-unions in our study. The Knee Society score improved from 54 pre-operatively to 74 post-operatively at last follow-up. Conclusions: Even in established non-unions, good results can be expected if good surgical technique is followed and with bone grafting satisfactory union rated can be achieved. Knee ROM also improves with dedicated postoperative rehabilitation