The Hindu Confrontation with the Jaina and the Buddhist. Saint Tirunacampantar's Polemical Writings

The seventh century A.D. was a period of religious conflict when Hinduism, especially the Saiva Bhakti movement came to collusion with Jainism and Buddhism in Tamilnadu. Saint Tiruñanacampantamurtti (Campantar) is a dominating figure in Tamil Saivism, who seems to reflect a unique blend of Vedic tradition, Saiva faith and Tamil culture. Campantar's outbursts against the Jains and the Buddhists were one of the underlying themes throughout his career. He seems to have made admirable use of Tamil nationalism in his confrontation with Jainism and Buddhism. It was probably the most important factor that favoured the success of the Saiva bhakti movement. He was able to bring out a synthesis of the interests of his caste along with those of  Saivism. The Jains and the Buddhists could not withstand the movement launched by Campantar. Islam and Christianity came to Tamilnadu later but still the main stream among the Tamils continues to be Saivite

Interference cancellation schemes for STBC multiuser systems

Master'sMASTER OF ENGINEERIN

Cooperative Diversity and Partner Selection in Wireless Networks

Next generation wireless communication systems are expected to provide a variety of services including voice, data and video. The rapidly growing demand for these services needs high data rate wireless communication systems with reliability and high user capacity. Recently, it has been shown that reliability and achievable data rate of wireless communication systems increases dramatically by employing multiple transmit and receive antennas. Transmit diversity is a powerful technique for combating multipath fading in wireless communications. However, employing multiple antennas in a mobile terminal to achieve the transmit diversity in the uplink is not feasible due to the limited size of the mobile unit. In order to overcome this problem, a new mode of transmit diversity called cooperative diversity (CD) based on user cooperation, was proposed very recently. By user cooperation, it is meant that the sender transmits to the destination and copies to other users, called partners, for relaying to the destination. The antennas of the sender and the partners together form a multiple antenna situation. CD systems are immuned not only against small scale channel fading but also against large scale channel fading. On the other hand, CD systems are more sensitive to interuser (between sender and partner) transmission errors and user mobility. In this dissertation, we propose a bandwidth and power efficient CD system which could be accommodated with minimal modifications in the currently available direct or point-to-point communication systems. The proposed CD system is based on quadrature signaling (QS). With quadrature signaling, both sender’s and partners’ information symbols are transmitted simultaneously in his/her multiple access channels. It also reduces the synchronization as well as the interference problems that occur in the schemes reported in the literature. The performance of the proposed QS-CD system is analyzed at different layers. First, we study the bit error probability (BEP) of the QS-CD system for both fixed and adaptive relaying at the partner. It is shown from the BEP performance that the QS-CD system can achieve diversity order of two. Then, a cross-layer communication system is developed by combing the proposed QS-CD system at the physical layer and the truncated stop-and- wait automatic repeat request (ARQ) at the data link layer. The performance of the cross-layer system is analyzed and compared with existing schemes in the literature for performance metrics at the data link layer and upper layers, i.e., frame error rate, packet loss rate, average packet delay, throughput, etc. In addition, the studies show that the proposed QS-CD-ARQ system outperforms existing schemes when it has a good partner. In this respect, the proposed system is fully utilizing the communication channel and less complex in terms of implementation when compared with the existing systems. Since the partner selection gives significant impact on the performance of the CD systems, partner selection algorithms (PSAs) are extensively analyzed for both static and mobile user network. In this case, each individual user would like to take advantage of cooperation by choosing a suitable partner. The objective of an individual user may conflict with the objective of the network. In this regard, we would like to introduce a PSA which tries to balance both users and network objectives by taking user mobility into consideration. The proposed PSA referred to as worst link first (WLF), to choose the best partner in cooperative communication systems. The WLF algorithm gives priority to the worst link user to choose its partner and to maximize the energy gain of the radio cell. It is easy to implement not only in centralized networks but also in distributed networks with or without the global knowledge of users in the network. The proposed WLF matching algorithm, being less complex than the optimal maximum weighted (MW) matching and the heuristic based Greedy matching algorithms, yields performance characteristics close to those of MW matching algorithm and better than the Greedy matching algorithm in both static and mobile user networks. Furthermore, the proposed matching algorithm provides around 10dB energy gain with optimal power allocation over a non-cooperative system which is equivalent to prolonging the cell phone battery recharge time by about ten times

Some diophantine equations

For positive integers x, y, the equation x4 + (n2-2)y - z always has the trivial solution x - y. In Chapter 1, we discuss the conditions under which the above equation cannot have any non-trivial solutions in positive integers. We also prove that if the above equation has no non-trivial solutions, then the 1st, 3rd, (n+1)th, (n+3)th terms of an arithmetical progression cannot each be square. In Chapter 2, we prove that any set of positive integers, with the property that the product of any two integers increased by 2 is a perfect square, can have at most three elements. We also prove that there exist infinitely many sets of four positive integers with the property that the product of any two increased by 1 is a perfect square. Although in general we could not-prove that a fifth integer cannot be added to these sets without altering the property, we prove it for a particular set {2, 4, 12, 420}. We also give an algebraic formula to find the fourth member of the set, if any three members are given. In Chapter 3, we prove that the only positive integer solutions of the equation (x(x - 1))2 = 3y(y - l) are (x, y) = (1, 1) (3, 4). In Chapter 4, we prove that the only positive integer solution of the equation 3y(y + 1) = x(x+1)(x+2)(x+3) is (x,y) = (12,104).<p

A Comparative Observational Study of the Use of Saline Uterine Hydrosonography for the Diagnosis and Assessment of Uterine Cavity Lesions in Women

Aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of saline hydrosonography (HSGM) (also known as saline infusion sonography (SIS)) against transvaginal ultrasound scan (TVS) and hysteroscopy in the diagnosis of uterine cavity lesions. Diagnostic hysteroscopy with biopsy is considered as the “gold standard” to diagnose intrauterine abnormalities. The introduction of HSGM has improved the diagnostic capability of ultrasound. It is important to establish the efficacy and safety of HSGM before it is widely recommended for use. This retrospective observational data was collected from all 223 patients who underwent TVS, HSGM, and hysteroscopy as part of their gynaecological investigations from 1 January 2008 to 31 December 2010 at Central Middlesex Hospital, London. Endometrial Polyps. TVS: sensitivity 60.53%, specificity 97.06%, positive predictive value (PPV) 95.83%, and negative predictive value (NPV) 68.75% and HSGM: sensitivity 95%, specificity 97.14%, PPV 97.44%, and NPV 94.44%. Submucous Leiomyoma. TVS: sensitivity 57.14%, specificity 93.48%, PPV 84.21%, and NPV 78.18% and HSGM: sensitivity 96.55%, specificity 100.00%, PPV 100.00%, and NPV 97.92%. Diagnostic efficacy of HSGM is superior to TVS for the diagnosis of endometrial polyps and submucous fibroids. HSGM should be considered as an intermediate investigation after TVS to assess intracavity pathology and to confirm the diagnosis; hysteroscopy should become a therapeutic intervention

Track A Basic Science

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/138319/1/jia218438.pd

Development of an Open Source GIS Interface to the USDA Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) Watershed Model

The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) is a physically-based watershed and landscape simulation model developed by the USDA-ARS and particularly suited to nonpoint source pollutant analysis. Major components of the model include hydrology, weather, erosion, soil temperature, crop growth, nutrients, pesticides and agricultural management. SWAT also has the ability to predict changes in sediment, nutrients - such as organic and inorganic nitrogen and organic and soluble phosphorus, pesticides, dissolved oxygen, bacteria and algae loadings from different management conditions in large ungauged basins. Several graphical user interfaces are available for the SWAT model including GIS based interfaces that operate in both ArcView 3.x and ArcMap 9.1 software. As SWAT has grown in popularity among international users a demand has arisen for an alternative GIS interface. This presentation will describe active work at the Idaho State University Geospatial Software Lab to develop an interface to SWAT using MapWindow GIS which is a free and open source product that can be redistributed to both modelers, developers, and end-users free of charge. It is expected that this new GIS interface will support 1) the continued further distribution and use of SWAT in developing countries; and 2) the future integration of SWAT with the new version of EPA’s BASINS (Better Assessment Integrating Point and Nonpoint Sources) watershed modeling system which is also built on the MapWindow GIS platform

Traduire le Tēvāram ou la bosse du roi pāṇḍya

International audienceSecondary literature often treated Shaiva Tamil texts of the first millennium through a hagiography of the XIIth century, the Periyapurāṇam. Our approach is the opposite. The project on the history of Tamil Shaivism we present in this paper is based on our translation of the Tēvāram conducted in a critical and informative way. We illustrate our reconstruction of "the mechanism of the continuity fabrication" with the exploration of the humpback of the pāṇḍya king who, in the legend, was converted from Jainism and impaled 8000 Jains in Maturai

Cikali : hymns, heroes, history. Spread of a Shaiva sacred place in Tamilnad

Cıkali est le site le plus célébré dans le Tevaram, corpus de poèmes de la bhakti shivaïte composés en tamoul dans la seconde moitié du premier millénaire : soixante-et-onze hymnes lui sont dédiés. Lieu de naissance de Campantar, un des trois auteurs du Tevaram, Cıkali aurait été chanté, selon la tradition, sous douze toponymes différents. Notre travail de type monographique porte sur l’histoire religieuse du site de Cıkali qui n’a jamais été étudié alors qu’il représente un haut lieu de la tradition des textes de bhakti shivaïte tamoule. Nos sources sont constituées de trois corpus textuels appartenant à trois genres différents de diverses périodes qui permettent de rendre compte du rayonnement continu de ce site : le corpus du Tevaram sur Cıkali (partie i), généralement daté des viie-ixe siècles, le corpus des hagiographies sur Campantar (partie ii) attribuées à des poètes des xie-xiie siècles, et le corpus des inscriptions du temple de Cıkali (partie iii) qui forme une documentation inédite du xiie au xvie siècle.À travers une approche « archéologique » de ces sources qui permettent de reconstituer, de manière générale,l’histoire du site de Cıkali, nous proposons une étude historique des textes du Tevaram sur Cıkali, nous retraçons l’histoire de la légende de l’enfant Campantar et nous éditons le corpus épigraphique de ce temple au rayonnement local.Cıkali is the most celebrated temple in the Tevaram, a corpus of Shaiva bhakti poems composed in Tamil inthe second half of the first millennium : 71 hymns are dedicated to it. The birth place of Campantar, one of thethree authors of the Tevaram, Cıkali has been praised, according to tradition, under 12 names.Our monographic study deals with the religious history of the Cıkali temple which has never been studiedalthought it is a highly traditional place for Tamil bhakti texts. Our sources are three corpuses of different genresand periods which highlight the continuous spread of this site : the Tevaram corpus on Cıkali (part i), which canbe dated in the viith-ixth centuries, the hagiographical corpus on Campantar (part ii) attributed to poets of thexith-xiith centuries, and the unpublished epigraphical corpus of the Cıkali temple (part iii) from the xiith to thexvith century.. On the basis of our archaeological approach of these sources, we reconstruct the history of the Cıkali temple.Further, we propose a historical study of the Tevaram on Cıkali, we investigate the history of the child Campantar’slegend and we edit the epigraphical corpus of this localy spread site