“in that black or luminous square”: Windows as Sites of Imagination in the Writings of Proust and Beckett

This paper looks at Proust’s À la recherche du temps perdu andBeckett’s Malone Dies, investigating the figure of the diseasedwriter persona, confined and localised within the bed space,who gazes out the window as a way of telling stories. Looking at Walter Benjamin’s essay on Proust and life-writing, I examine representations of windows in Proust’s novel as a way of framing the distance and proximity between fact and fiction, self (who narrates) and other (who is narrated). Beckett’s narrator, on the other hand, unearths the anxiety of death implicit in Proust’s project of life-writing, threatening to silence speech and leave the author’s work incomplete. Here, windows are markers of blockage, calling to mind Lacan’s conception of the mirror stage, whereby Malone regresses and submits to a claustrophobic, bed-ridden existence, aligned by his narcissism. I argue, then, that both writers distend the narrative form of the novel, but whereas Proust’s narrator-I sees writing as a way of recovering life, Beckett’s post-modern narrative is haunted by an urgency to encode absence, negation and death

Study the Performance of the Combined Gas Turbine-Steam Cycle for Power Generation

In this research, a theoretical and analytical study of gas turbine-steam turbine combined cycle for power generation was carried out to improve the performance of the thermal power plant. A thermodynamic analysis of the combined cycle through a typical pattern was done. Appropriate assumptions were made for two kinds of combined cycles, simple gas turbine-steam turbine and reheat gas turbine-steam turbine combined cycles, such that the results obtained would closely approximate actual data. Then the equations of the combined cycle calculations were derived. Four cases were studied to choose the optimum gas turbine and steam turbine conditions for the combined cycle. The reheat gas turbine-steam turbine combined cycle is better as compared to the simple gas turbine-steam turbine combined cycle, because the output per unit mass of air flow is significantly improved by 35-41%, and the efficiency is higher by 4 % for the combined cycle utilizing the reheat gas turbine, which points to potential cost saving for such a cycle. It was found that the optimum conditions of the gas turbine cycle in the combined cycle mode occur at the maximum net work conditions. The efficiency of the waste heat boiler for high exhaust temperature ranges (maximum ?B= 87%) is comparable to the efficiency of the conventional boilers. The waste heat boiler has the added advantage of simplicity, therefore this type of combined cycle using waste heat boiler has great promise for power generation. Keywords: Combined gas-steam cycle, gas turbine cycl

OCCUPATIONAL INJURIES AND EMPLOYEES TURNOVER INTENTION: A MODERATING EFFECT OF SAFETY CULTURE

Occupational health and safety aims at promotion and maintenance of physical, mental and social health of employees.Unfortunately the conditions in a developing country like Pakistan are worse regarding safety at work. This study examines the effect of Occupational Injuries and Turnover Intention among workers in Pakistan with moderating role of Safety Culture. The study was done on a sample of111 workers belonging to safety sensitive areas. Three hypotheses were developed, two of them were accepted and one was rejected. Results showed that occupational injuries has an effect on turnover intention among employees and the safety culture does not lessen the extent of turnover due to non-prevalence of safety environment in Pakistan. It was concluded that due to differences in cultural context, concept of safety culture does not prevail in Pakistan, and evils like poverty and unemployment reduce chances of turnover intention

Potential Triggers of Mental Distress in Cardiovascular Disease Patients

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a major cause of death among Americans. There are many comorbidities that exist with CVD, such as insulin-dependent diabetes, hypertension, obesity, and others. Mental distress such as anxiety and depression are comorbidities associated with CVD as well. The purpose of this study is to investigate the potential factors that could possibly affect mental health in CVD patients. A de-identified database obtained from United Health Services - Cardiology Department in Binghamton, New York included medical records of 68,647 patients. Using Chi-Square statistical analysis, many variables were associated with anxiety and depression in CVD patients. These variables included gender, age, insulin-dependent diabetes, hypertension, cancer malignant, obesity, heart failure, coronary artery disease, and long-term use of antibiotic. To our knowledge, no study has investigated the combination of these factors in association with mental distress in CVD patients. Findings from this study will have the potential to contribute to better predictive ability of mental distress in CVD patients

Factors Effecting Employee Turnover in Banking Sector

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to measure the factors that cause the employee turnover by discussing variables such as work environment, career growth, compensation and job satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach: Being descriptive study, survey method was adopted for data collection to find out the factors. A sample of 150 private and public banks of Bahawalpur was selected for the survey. Data was analysed by using Cronbach’s Alpha, correlation and regression in SPSS software. Findings: The independent variable work environment and job stress having large correlated with dependent variable employee turnover. While career growth and compensation have less influence on employees turnover. Originality/value: The paper reveals their existing relationship between the employee turnover and factors affecting in the banks in Bahawalpur. Keywords: Employee turnover, compensation, work environment, career growth, job stress, bank

A questionnaire based institutional assessment of ‘knowledge’, ‘attitude’ and ‘practice’ about bio-ethics in clinical research among postgraduate residents

Background: Research ethics govern the standards of conduct for scientific researchers. Post graduate residents are one of the key stakeholders in clinical research. Therefore, the present study is designed to assess the Knowledge, Attitude and Practice about bio-ethics in clinical research among post-graduate residents.Methods: A self-administered pretested questionnaire was given to 40 students selected on the basis of convenience sampling. The questionnaire consists of questions related to knowledge and attitude toward principles and practice of bioethics in clinical research, informed consent, and role of the ethics committee in the institution. Descriptive statistics was used to analyse the results.Results: 70% of the students have formally taken Hippocratic Oath. Knowledge, attitude, and practice regarding Institutional Ethics Committee, and informed consent were more among final year students when compared to their juniors. Source of knowledge of bioethics were multiple. Department lectures were not a preferred mode of learning.Conclusions: There is an urgent need to include practical education of ethics to bridge the gap in the knowledge, attitude, and practices regarding ethics in clinical practice and research

Immediate changes in hemodynamics and gas exchange after initiation of noninvasive ventilation in cardiac surgical patients

Introduction: Cardiac surgery is associated with pulmonary dysfunction and complications such as prolonged intubation and reintubation. Bilevel positive airway pressure (BiPAP) machine has been used in the clinical settings to improve oxygenation, reduce work of breathing, and avoid reintubation. The effect of BiPAP on cardiovascular parameters is not well established, and very few studies have targeted hemodynamic changes. The aim of the study was to assess the immediate effect of BiPAP on respiratory and hemodynamic parameters in post-cardiac surgery patients.Materials and methods: This quasi-experimental study was done on 33 adult cardiac surgery patients. Ethical review committee approval was sought and consent was taken. All patients who were in respiratory distress with respiratory rate of \u3e30/min and/or PaO2:FiO2 ratio of variables, PaO2:FiO2 ratio.Results: A total of 33 patients were included in the study. The average age of the patients was 60.97 ± 10.8, of which 23 (69.7%) were males and 10 (30.7%) females. BiPAP application leads to statistically significant improvement in ventilator parameters including SaO2 29 (87.7%), PaO2 29 (87.8%), PaCO2 21 (63.6%), and PaO2:FiO2 ratio in 27 (81.8%).Conclusion: Ventilatory parameters were significantly improved after BiPAP application in this study, but hemodynamic parameters showed no statistically significant change. BiPAP application was also able to decrease the need for reintubation in post-cardiac surgery patients

Sleeping pattern before thoracic surgery: A comparison of baseline and night before surgery

Background: Sleep deprivation is considered a stress factor in the perioperative period. There are several studies on sleep disturbance after surgery but very limited literature available on preoperative sleep patterns, predictors of sleep disturbance and its effect on surgical outcome.Methodology: Patients scheduled for thoracic surgery were asked to fill out a written Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) questionnaire. The primary investigator explained this form to all the patients. This was filled out before premedication for subjective assessment of sleeping pattern at two different time point. Only those patients included who spent the previous night at home. Participants were asked to respond to the questions regarding their baseline sleeping pattern and compare it with last night.Results: Total eighty-three patients with a mean age of 47.83 ± 17.88 were included in the study. Overall mean PSQI scores were significantly higher (p-value \u3c 0.01) during the night before surgery (6.94 ± 2.115) when compared with baseline (3.88 ± 1.877). Sleep latency was also significantly affected when last night-1 (the night before admission) was compared with usual sleep latency. Twenty patients were unable to sleep more than 5 hrs at night before admission which was significant when compared with their last month status (20 vs 3). Logistic regression model demonstrated the age and Timing of surgery as a strong predictors of poor sleep (defined as PSQI ≥ 5).Conclusion: Quality of sleep was profoundly affected at night before thoracic surgery, mainly due to a significant change in sleep latency and sleep duration. Although age and Timing of surgery were strong predictors of poor sleep we were unable to find any association between quality of sleep and type of surgery

Situs ambiguous

The case of a female child is described who presented with recurrent respiratory infections and recurrent right subphrenic abscess. Detailed radiological work-up identified situs ambiguous abdominis with bronchiectasis, duodenal malrotation, umbilical hernia and spina bifida