Creativity, Psychoanalysis and Eugene O’Neill’s Creative Process

O’Neill is undisputedly one of the most autobiographical artists in modern literature. His creativity consistently moves around subjective exploration and autobiographical representation in his art. Therefore drama for him involves primarily dramatization of self and close relations such as mother, father and brother, and this association between life and art goes back to early amateur plays. This factor has exposed the artist to discreet psychoanalytic explorations and analysis. Clearly a depressive and predominantly oedipal pattern emerges in his writings that could be traced in the whole range of his plays. However, preoccupation with the self and pervasive obsession to dramatize peculiar relationships and psychic conditions create its own archeology of limitations in his art that have remained unaddressed so far. The study debates on creativity, psychoanalytic traditions of creativity, O’Neill’s creative process and highlights some of the limitations that pertain to representative and intellectual aspects of his ar

Mixed Metal Oxides for Sustainable Fuel Production via Solar Thermochemical Routes

The overall solar-to-fuel efficiency of the synthesis gas production via solar-driven thermochemical splitting of CO2 and H2O reactions is highly dependent on the energy required to break down the strong molecules such as CH4, CO2 and H2O. To maximize the syngas production yields, designing new redox materials and optimizing the reactor designs and receiver models are of great importance. Redox materials mediate the thermochemical process by exchanging oxygen with the reactant gases and their performance is mainly assessed by the oxygen exchange capacity, syngas yields and structural stability. In this thesis, a range of redox materials including LaSrMnO3 perovskites and cerium-vanadium mixed/doped metal oxides are studied for syngas production via cyclic H2O and CO2 splitting coupled with methane partial oxidation and high temperature inert gas reduction. The effects of reducing atmospheres such as Ar and CH4 on the structural features in LaxSr1-xMnO3 perovskites are investigated. The La0.5Sr0.5MnO3 powders composed of nano-crystalline particles are considered as the best performing Perovskites with premium structural stability and a 117% higher initial syngas production rate than that of pure SrMnO3 and LaMnO3 structures. The overall syngas production rates are 9 times faster during the chemical looping reforming of methane when compared to those of inert gas reduction. It is demonstrated that lanthanum incorporation prevents the structural breakdown caused by CH4 and up to 65-100% of the initial perovskite structure is regenerated. Notably, H2 purity of up to 93% is achieved by lanthanum-rich LSM structures during the H2O splitting redox cycles coupled with an efficient methane reforming reaction. These findings provide a robust set of physiochemical properties of LaSrMnO3 systems that can be utilized for enhanced solar fuel production via thermochemical redox cycles. The effects of vanadium (V) and cerium (Ce) concentrations (each varying in the 0-100% range) in CeO2-CeVO4 mixed-phase, Ce4+-doped V2O5 and V5+-doped CeO2 redox materials are explored for synthesis gas production via thermochemical redox cycling of CO2 and H2O splitting coupled to methane partial oxidation reactions. In particular, an optimum mixture of CeO2 and CeVO4 is achieved by 25 wt% of vanadium incorporation in the CeO2 powders, which produce up to 68% higher syngas yields than that of pure ceria. It is observed that V5+ provides more reducing states for the hydrocarbon oxidation, while cerium ions act as an oxygen buffer for the re-oxidation reaction. Notably, doping of vanadium increases the cycle capacity of ceria by 400% and the activation temperature of the methane reforming reaction is lowered by up to 178C, while doping the V2O5 lattice with large cerium cations results in a V2O5-to-V2O3 phase transition and produces up to 100 times higher syngas production rates when compared to the pure V2O5. Finally, these findings suggest that a facile combination of the extraordinary catalytic properties of vanadia and superior oxygen ion mobility of ceria can be a powerful approach for an efficient and effective solar thermochemical fuel production

Does Stress affect job performance of male and female employees differentially? A study of the perceptions of employees of Sungi in Hazara Region of Pakistan

This study was carried out to find how stress affects the performance of male and female employees in the NGO sector in Pakistan. The authors have used a case study approach. The data was collected using in-depth interviews of the employees of Sungi foundation in district Abbottabad of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. Our results suggest that stress differentially impacts both male and female employees in the NGO sector in Pakistan. Although both males and females thought they experienced a drop in performance due to stress, the female employees felt they were affected more. This is due to their family responsibilities in addition to job duties. The study does not seek to generalize to all the other settings and the authors strongly suggest further studies to replicate the findings. The use of rigorous quantitative methodologies will lend more rigors to the results

Synthesis of 4, 4 '-Stilbene Dicarboxylic Acid and Aniline Modified Graphene Oxide and Its Electrochemical Performance for Supercapacitors

Graphene oxide obtained through liquid ex-foliation of graphite flakes by improved Hammer's method have been functionalized with stilbene-4, 4'-dicarboxylic acid and aniline and electrochemical performance of covalently functionalized graphene oxide was investigated. All samples were characterized through FTIR, XRD, FESEM, UV-Vis and electrochemical performance was measured through cyclic voltammetry (CV) analyzer. High level of oxidation was observed in graphene oxide and 002 plane of graphene oxide was confirmed at 10.30. It was found that with the functionalization of graphene oxide, the capacitance increased up to four and two times for stilbene-4, 4'-dicarboxylic acid and aniline modified graphene oxide respectively. The optical absorption was red shifted as high as 104 nm wavelength, showing higher conjugation effect in stilbene-4, 4'-dicarboxylic acid modified graphene oxide as compared to 45 nm in the case of aniline modified graphene oxide

Cathodoluminescence Spectroscopy of Complex Dendritic Au Architectures for Application in Plasmon‐Mediated Photocatalysis and as SERS Substrates

Complex 3D metallic nanostructures with large surface areas and broadband absorption are attractive candidates for efficient photocatalysis and spectroscopy. Here, hierarchical Au dendrites are self-assembled over centimeter-scales by electrodeposition and the plasmon modes are locally mapped using cathodoluminescence spectroscopy. A correlation between the spatial and spectral distribution of the plasmonic “hot-spots” and the morphology of these structures are demonstrated. Electrodynamic simulations show that the spectra of the plasmon modes are determined by the local geometry of sharp features. Their performance as both surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrates and as photocatalysts for the N-demethylation reaction of methylene blue is investigated. High hot-spot densities result in larger SERS enhancement, while the sample with the lowest hot-spot density has a reaction yield 136% larger than the sample with the highest density. These findings indicate that maximizing the hot-spot density is not sufficient to optimize plasmonic substrates for all applications. The spectral and spatial distribution of the plasmon resonances will modify the hot electron generation efficiency and need to be considered for plasmon-enhanced photocatalysis. This work extends the understanding of light–matter interactions in complex 3D structures and provides direction for the rational design of plasmonic architectures for different applications.The authors acknowledge the financial support by the Australian Reasearch Council (ARC). F.J.B. gratefully acknowledges the support of the ARC DECRA Fellowship (DE180100383) and META-ACTIVE—International Research Training Group (IRTG 2675)

ORGANIZATIONAL JUSTICE AND WORKPLACE DEVIANCE: EVIDENCE FROM BANKING SECTOR OF LAHORE, PAKISTAN

Organizational justice is considered to be a pivotal factor for the success of an organization. Its impact on citizenship behavior, job satisfaction and employee productivity has been studied wide in literature. This study emphases on exploring the impact of organizational justice and its types on workplace deviance in a novel context of Pakistani banking sector which augments the originality of this research. The respondents of the study were individual employees, of banks located in Lahore, selected through convenience sampling; a non-probability sampling technique. Further, the data was collected from 280 respondents through self-administered questionnaires and analyzed by using linear regression analysis. The findings of study emphasize a significant yet, inverse correlation between organizational justice and workplace deviant behavior. The organizations practicing distributive, procedural and interactional justice face fewer odds of workplace deviant behaviors among their employees. On the contrary, unfair means, bias anddisrespect at workplace may deviate the employees by allowing aggressiveness and politically influenced negative attitudes

Does Stress affect job performance of male and female employees differentially? A study of the perceptions of employees of Sungi in Hazara Region of Pakistan

This study was carried out to find how stress affects the performance of male and female employees in the NGO sector in Pakistan. The authors have used a case study approach. The data was collected using in-depth interviews of the employees of Sungi foundation in district Abbottabad of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. Our results suggest that stress differentially impacts both male and female employees in the NGO sector in Pakistan. Although both males and females thought they experienced a drop in performance due to stress, the female employees felt they were affected more. This is due to their family responsibilities in addition to job duties. The study does not seek to generalize to all the other settings and the authors strongly suggest further studies to replicate the findings. The use of rigorous quantitative methodologies will lend more rigors to the results

Response of Some Biochemical Components in Phosphine Susceptible and Resistant Populations of 4th Instar Larvae of Trogoderma Granarium (Coleoptera: Dermestidae)

Stored grain pests are controlled by a number different pesticides and fumigants. This study, investigated the effect of phosphine on khapra beetle (Trogoderma granarium) which is a notorious pest in stored grain godowns in Pakistan and a significant trade pest around the world. For this purpose, the LC50 of phosphine against 4th instar larvae of two different strains of T. granarium (collected from different cities of Punjab, Khaniwal (Khw) and Chishtian (Chi) were determined. The LC50 values shown by these strains were 3.8 and 7.0 ppm respectively. On the basis of LC50 the Chishtian strain was considered as resistant to phosphine, whereas Khaniwal strain was regarded as a susceptible strain. The effect of sub lethal doses (LC10, LC20, and LC30) on the larval stages of two T. granarium strains were evaluated. The toxic effect of phosphine was observed on glucose, glycogen, total lipid, FAA, protein and trehalose of the strains after 24 hours of exposure. The treatment showed significant increase in glucose content in Khaniwal (susceptible) and decrease in resistant strains throughout the treatment. Lipid content showed a highly significant increase for all doses of phosphine in both strains. Glycogen, Trehalose, protein and FAA contents depicted highly significantly increases in the resistant strain at LC10, LC20, and LC30