AN APPRAISAL OF FERENBACH AND PINNEY’S ‘NEW SOCIAL CONTRACT’

This paper offers an outline of a ‘new’ social contractenvisaged by Ferenbach and Pinney (2012), and establishes itscritical appraisal elucidating the inaccuracy of their assertionsincluding the one, which is erroneously dubbed as a ‘new’ socialcontract, purportedly, not based on any ideology. Thus, the discreetembeddedness of the ‘new’ social contract in ideological and politicalperspectives is explicitly exposed. In fact, the suggested ‘new’ socialcontract is more or less a continuation or an extension of the pervasiveneoliberal ideology. The proposed social contract may at the most beviewed as a new variant of neoliberal ideology. It is also observedthat the proposed integration of CSV (creating shared value) withbusiness in the context of proposed social contract is on the whole adisguised strategic CSR (corporate socia

Enduring Resilience of Capitalist Power: The Role of Capitalist Education as a Technology of Governance

Capitalism has experienced several crises since its emergence but its present global dominance apparently remains unassailable. This paper argues that capitalism’s resilience is grounded in the systemic hegemony of capitalist individuality—an individuality, committed to freedom as an ultimate end and seeking abundance in this world. It has been argued that the successful manufacturing of capitalist subjectivity is significantly dependent on the inculcation of capitalist values to the subject of capital through capitalist education. Section one focuses on freedom as capitalism’s telos and sketches the historical emergence of capitalist subjectivity formed by processes of capitalist governance. Section two investigates the formational role of capitalist education as a technology of capitalist governance. It analyzes capitalist education as a means for the construction of capitalist individuality. Section three argues that capitalism’s main antagonists, especially Marxist socialism, cannot effectively challenge capitalist hegemony in the lifeworld or at the level of the state because they (i.e. main antagonists) endorse freedom (the core capitalist value) as an ultimate end in itself. Socialism does not propose to alter the subjectivity of an individual that the capitalist education constructs

Pneumoperitoneum, pneumoretroperitoneum, pneumomediastinum and extensive subcutaneous emphysema in a patient with ulcerative colitis: a case report.

Abstract INTRODUCTION: Pneumo-mediastinum and subcutaneous emphysema are rare presentations of lower gastrointestinal tract perforation. PRESENTATION OF CASE: We are presenting the case of a middle aged man diagnosed with UC who presented with dyspnea and subcutaneous emphysema, attributed to multiple perforations including the stomach and colon. CASE DISCUSSION: Patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) are at an increased risk of perforations due to friability of colonic mucosa given the chronic inflammation and relapsing flares. Chronic use of steroids further predisposes to stress ulcers. These pathologies sometimes coexist and identification of each is crucial for the appropriate treatment plan. CONCLUSION: The case allows for a learning opportunity focusing on coexisting pathologies which may be differentiated based on anatomical knowledge and patient presentation. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserve

Kernohan–woltman notch phenomenon:Case report and Review of literature

Subdural hematoma (SDH) is usually secondary to mechanical trauma. Spontaneous subdural hematoma is still rare with unclear pathophysiology. The classic findings of subdural hematoma is sudden drop in mental status, an ipsilateralmydriasis with contralateral hemiparesis. However SDH can sometimes compress the contralaterl corticospinal tract resulting in ipsilateral motor weakness, this phenomenon is known as Kernohan-Woltman Notch Phenomenon

SecureSurgiNET:a framework for ensuring security in telesurgery

The notion of surgical robotics is actively being extended to enable telesurgery, where both the surgeon and patient are remotely located and connected via a public network, which leads to many security risks. Being a safety-critical application, it is highly important to make telesurgery robust and secure against active and passive attacks. In this article, we propose the first complete framework, called SecureSurgiNET, for ensuring security in telesurgery environments. SecureSurgiNET is primarily based on a set of well-established protocols to provide a fool-proof telesurgical robotic system. For increasing the efficiency of secured telesurgery environments, the idea of a telesurgical authority is introduced that ensures the integrity, identity management, authentication policy implementation, and postoperative data security. An analysis is provided describing the security and throughput of Advanced Encryption Standard during the intraoperative phase of SecureSurgiNET. Moreover, we have tabulated the possible attacks on SecureSurgiNET along with the devised defensive measures. Finally, we also present a time complexity analysis of the SecureSurgiNET through simulations. © The Author(s) 2019

Overcrowding in the emergency departments: challenges and opportunities for improvement

With the advent of Emergency Medicine, one can observe an increase in the number of Emergency Departments (ED) across the country. However, most EDs struggle due to an overwhelming number of patients. Overcrowding can lead to delays in patient care. For a city like Karachi which is an active disaster zone, preemptive preparedness is required in the face of terror threats and such overcrowding needs to be decreased to a bare minimum. The most frequent causes of prolonged length of stay (LOS) in the ED include non-availability of in-hospital beds, delays in response to subspecialty consultations and escalating medical expenses. All of these can negatively impact patient care by putting patient safety at risk and patient care in jeopardy. There is an increased risk of unintentional medical errors and a concomitant increase in unwanted lawsuits. A few simple interventions which may help alleviate this situation to some extent have been discussed

Skills of ICTs among Library Professionals of South Punjab

The study aimed to explore the skills, knowledge, abilities, and competencies of library professionals working in the academic libraries of public sector universities and private sector universities located in south Punjab. Library professionals working in the libraries of public sector universities and private sector universities were the population of the study. Convenience sampling technique was used to meet the objectives of the study. Quantitative research technique followed by the questionnaire as a data collection tool was used to accomplish the research. The findings of the study revealed that ICT is an essential part of the libraries and librarians are there to perform library operations to facilitate the library users of their respective libraries. It is the basic necessity of the present age to learn new skills, abilities, and competencies related to ICTs to survive in the profession of librarianship. Training courses about ICT are an effort to enhance the skills of library professionals. Library associations can play an important role in uplifting the trainings regarding ICTs

Psychological distress and its associated factors among informal care givers of disabled young adults with traumatic brain injuries

Objective: To measure the psychological distress among the informal caregivers of disabled young adults with traumatic brain injuries (TBI) and to identify its associated factors.Methods: An analytical cross sectional study was conducted with 76 informal caregivers of young adults (19 - 50 years) with TBI, using admission records of one of the tertiary care hospitals in Karachi, Pakistan from 2015 to 2016. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire comprising a general demographic questionnaire and the General Health Questionnaire- 28. The effect of the predictors on the psychological distress was determined by applying multiple linear regression analysis.Results: The mean score of the psychological distress was found to be 23.5±14.28. The findings indicated that anxiety and insomnia, and social dysfunction were the most affected domains of psychological distress; whereas, depression was the least affected. Factors including the management of finances, number of children, patient\u27s gender, and patient\u27s level of disability and lack of socialization were positively associated with the level of distress. As reported by participants, religious beliefs served as a coping mechanism for most of them.Conclusions: The study showed a high level of distress among informal caregivers of young adults with TBI. For recognizing the psychological effects of TBI in patients and their informal caregivers, it is important to initiate and ensure the provision of psychological support to the patients and their families

Rice Seedling Characteristics of Various Genotypes Influenced by Different Sowing Dates in Swat-Pakistan

To study the effect of different sowing dates on rice nursery rising and to evaluate their effect on yield and yield components of rice genotypes, an experiment was conducted at Agriculture Research Institute (N) Mingora Swat, Pakistan, during summer 2011. The experiment was laid out in randomized complete block design with four replications. Seven genotypes (PARC 403, OM5627,IR64,IR8225-9-3-2-3, CIBOGO,GA-5015, and FakhreMalakand) and 5 sowing dates (D1= 25th April, D2= 10th May, D3= 25th May, D4= 9th June, and D5= 24th June) were used. Each genotype was sown in six rows in dry bed nursery. The germination percentage was above 90%. The nursery reached its optimum size up to 30 days and was ready for transplantation.Sowing on either D5 (24th June) or D4(9th June)gave maximum leaf area(9.6 and 9.1 cm2) followed by D3 (7.2 cm2), maximum leaves seedling-1 produced by D3 (5.3) followed by D2 (5.0). Maximum seedling height was gave by sowing on D5 (23.5 cm) followed by D4 (19.9 cm), maximum biomass gave by sowing on D4 (15.3 gm) and D5 (13.8 gm) followed by D2 and D3 (12.8 and 12.2 gm), highest root number gave by D4 (13.0) followed by D2 and D3 (11.3 and 11.5) and highest root length gave by D1 and D2 (10.7 and 10.7 cm) followed by D3 (9.6 cm). Among the rice genotypes FakhreMalakand produced highest seedling height (21.9 cm), highest biomass (14.0 gm), highest root length (12.9 cm) followed by GA-5015 while maximum leaf area gave by genotype PARC 403 (9.8 cm2) and number of leaves (4.9) followed by FakhreMalakand (8.3 cm2 and 4.6) respectively. Later data showed that highest paddy yield (6.49 t ha-1) was produced by FakhreMalakand sown on either D2 or D3 while the other genotypes were at par valued in this order. On the basis of the above results, it is recommended that rice nursery rising should be either D2 or D3May10th or 25th in the agro-ecological conditions of swat valley. Keywords: Rice (Oryza sativa L.), genotypes, sowing dates, biomass, seedlin