Book Review: Gender in the Hindu Nation: RSS women as Ideologues

Review of Gender in the Hindu Nation: RSS women as Ideologues by Paola Bacchett

A Libertarian Perspective on Peace Enforcement by the United Nations

Most analysts view the United Nations as a positive stabilising force in international affairs. In this paper, I critically assess this opinion of the UN’s peace enforcement actions using the case studies of the Korean War and the Gulf War while relying on the non-aggression axiom of libertarian philosophy. In the process, I shed light on some of the moral considerations at play when deciding on UN-sanctioned military intervention

Dynamics and challenges of microgrids implementation

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2013.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 64-69).Microgrids have the capability of operating on an island mode as well as an integrated mode with the smart grid, depending on the requirement and objectives. Recently, microgrids projects have gained popularity both in developed world and developing world because of their ability to lower cost, increase resiliency and overall power quality. However, most of the studies on microgrids till now have focused on the technological challenges associated with design and implementation of microgrids. This study tries to develop an industry perspective on the recent development of microgrids. Several case studies from both developed world and developing world are explained to understand drivers, constraints and challenges of microgrid implementation. A generic model used by Weil and Utterback (2005) forms the basis for this study to develop a conceptual model, mapping different social, technological, market and regulatory factors which influence technology and industry evolution. The same model is used to develop a scenario analysis to predict future development of microgrids as a technology and as an industry.by Vikalp Pal Sabhlok.S.M

Executive functions and academic achievement in children and adolescents across socioeconomic and historical contexts

Executive functions (EFs) are highly heritable higher-order cognitive processes that govern goal-directed thoughts and behaviors and enable individuals to self-regulate. EFs are strongly related to academic achievement during childhood and adolescence. Equally, the quality of students’ social environments, including schools, is tied to student achievement. This dissertation aimed to answer two main questions: (1) Under typical circumstances, to what extent are students’ EFs tied to their performance on high-stakes, state-mandated academic tests across different socioeconomic contexts; and (2) To what extent did EF abilities and academic skills change over time during the coronavirus pandemic, an atypical period of prolonged disruption to formal schooling and related social and learning environments? In Study 1, using both phenotypic and genetic modeling approaches, we found that performance on state-mandated tests of math and reading was moderately heritable and closely linked with EF skills and processing speed, across a variety of environmental contexts. Moreover, EF and processing speed were more strongly related to high-stakes math and reading achievement than socioeconomic con-texts and, controlling for general EF, associations between high-stakes test performance and socioeconomic contexts were attenuated. In Study 2, comparing performance following pandemic-related disruption (peri-COVID) to longitudinal change during a pre-pandemic period (pre-COVID), we observed mean-level decline in cognitive (EF and processing speed) and academic (math and reading) task performance and increased individual variability in math and reading skills. While the rank-order stability of math decreased in the peri-COVID group, there was no significant reordering of child and adolescent performance over time across reading and cognitive tasks in either group. Similarly, the magnitude of association between baseline socio-economic status and change in performance on cognitive and academic tasks did not significantly differ between the pre-COVID and peri-COVID groups. The implications of these findings are discussed in the context of genetically-influenced differences, potential targets for instructional intervention, the role of EF in driving mechanisms of change, and utility of individual, relative, and population-level metrics of learning and development in childhood and adolescence. These studies contribute to the growing body of research that informs education policy and intervention related to individual differences in learning and achievement.Psycholog

The relationship between executive function, processing speed, and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in middle childhood

ADHD is a heterogeneous disorder that is highly impairing. Early, accurate diagnosis maximizes long-term positive outcomes for youth with ADHD. Tests of executive functioning (EF) are potential tools for screening and differential diagnoses for ADHD; however, previous research has been inconsistent regarding the specificity and magnitude of EF deficits across ADHD subtypes. Here we overcome these limitations by: (1) employing more rigorous methods to conceptualize ADHD in a way that better captures heterogeneity of expression, and (2) by applying a more comprehensive, reliable battery of EF tasks to this association. We tested 1548 children and adolescents (ages 7-15 years) from the Texas Twin Project, a population-based cohort with a diverse socioeconomic and ethnic composition. EF and processing speed were measured in-laboratory with a comprehensive test battery, while ADHD and sociodemographic characteristics were assessed via parent report. We show that EF deficits are isolated to the inattention domain of ADHD. Moreover, we found that the association between EF task performance and inattention remains stable across sociodemographic groups. Our results demonstrate that failures of executive control are selectively manifested as covert inattentive symptoms, such as trouble with organization, forgetfulness, and distractedness, rather than overt symptoms, such as inappropriate talkativeness and interruption. We anticipate that EF tests could be widely useful in clinical and educational settings due to their specificity regarding particular subtypes of ADHD behaviors and their broad predictive validity across key demographic subgroupsPsycholog

Cold Mode Gas Accretion on Two Galaxy Groups at z∼\sim2

We present Keck Cosmic Web Imager (KCWI) integral field spectroscopy (IFS) observations of rest-frame UV emission lines $\rm Ly\alpha$, C IV $\lambda \lambda$ 1548 \AA, 1550\AA and He II 1640 \AA observed in the circumgalactic medium (CGM) of two $z=2$ radio-loud quasar host galaxies. We detect extended emission on 80-90 kpc scale in $\rm Ly\alpha$ in both systems with C IV, and He II emission also detected out to 30-50 kpc. All emission lines show kinematics with a blue and redshifted gradient pattern consistent with velocities seen in massive dark matter halos and similar to kinematic patterns of inflowing gas seen in hydrodynamical simulations. Using the kinematics of both resolved $\rm Ly\alpha$ emission and absorption, we can confirm that both kinematic structures are associated with accretion. Combining the KCWI data with molecular gas observations with Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and high spatial resolution of ionized gas with Keck OSIRIS, we find that both quasar host galaxies reside in proto-group environments at $z=2$. We estimate $1-6\times10^{10}$M$_\odot$ of warm-ionized gas within 30-50 kpc from the quasar that is likely accreting onto the galaxy group. We estimate inflow rates of 60-200 M$_\odot$yr$^{-1}$, within an order of magnitude of the outflow rates in these systems. In the 4C 09.17 system, we detect narrow gas streams associated with satellite galaxies, potentially reminiscent of ram-pressure stripping seen in local galaxy groups and clusters. We find that the quasar host galaxies reside in dynamically complex environments, with ongoing mergers, gas accretion, ISM stripping, and outflows likely playing an important role in shaping the assembly and evolution of massive galaxies at cosmic noon.Comment: 24 pages, 11 figures, 6 tabes. Accepted for publication in MNRA