Rise of the Veil: Islamic Modernity and the Hui Woman

The Hui are a familiar sight in most cities in China; famed for their qingzhen restaurants and their business acumen. Known usually as the “Chinese speaking Muslims,” they are separated from the nine other Muslim xiaoshu minzu by a reputation for assimilation and adaptability that is a matter of pride for Hui in urban areas. A conversation with Hui women at Nancheng Mosque in Kunming revealed that they believed Hui to be at an advantage compared to other xiaoshu minzu because of their abilities to adapt and assimilate, “we are intelligent; we know what to do in order to survive in any environment.” Yet, the Hui of Yunnan also have a history of dissimilation- the Panthay Rebellion of 1856 took the shape of a Sultanate in Dali as Hui forces led a province-wide revolt against the Qing Empire. Defeated in 1873, the Hui hero Du Wenxiu was executed, and a massacre against the Hui ensued. This history is considered a vital essence to the heritage and identity of Yunnanese Hui, who, despite their greater assimilation within Chinese society compared to the Uighurs or the Salar, maintain that they are “different” from the Han. Despite being told that the “position of Hui and Han women is exactly the same,” I resolved to explore this delicate interplay of assimilation and dissimilation through the lens of gender; an angle rarely made use of in observations of the Hui. Famous female figures in history, such as Lady Du- Du Wenxiu’s twenty year old daughter- have all but faded from memory. Lady Du was a general in her father’s army, and commanded regiments of men, leading a siege in Kunming in 1869. Stories of her valor and leadership include her tireless efforts to save a village from a flood that wiped away livestock, and she was famed for working without rest. Captured by Ma Rulong in 1870, she was imprisoned and murdered as she led a second invasion to Kunming. Although she remains largely forgotten, she proves to create a fascinating treatise for the role of women in the creation of Hui history, limited though it may have been. It begs the question, however, of what role women have today in creating ideas of “Huiness” and “Muslimness.” An informant in Kunming, a translator by profession, lamented that “Hui women in the city are too much like the Han- they care only about how much money a man has in his pocket, and not enough about the faith (xinyang) in his heart.” I was told that if I wanted to see a “real Hui woman,” I should go to the rural Hui settlements of Shadian, Najiaying or Dali prefecture. Women there, apparently, were untouched by the corrupting stain of the Han, “prayed five times a day and wear the gaitou.

Conceptual data sampling for image segmentation- an application for breast cancer images

At the present time data analytics have become a buzzword for the in- formation technology sector. In an attempt to analyze data; one may follow various paths. Be it deploying sophisticated technologies to process big data or using commodity hardware while applying data reduction/sampling techniques to draw meaningful insights from a data. In this thesis, we aim to reduce data size in terms of th e number of tuples/objects for a given data. Our method has driven its roots from formal concept analysis (FCA); which is a mathemat- ical framework for data analysis. The proposed transformation is preserving functional dependencies/implications in a database. Consequently, we can gen- erate a much smaller data sample that is able to help in making decisions. In this study, we analyze a variety of reduction methods in order to recognize the best one(s), including randomized object selection procedures. The accu- racy of the decision s made on generated sample is comparable to accuracy of the decision made of whole/original data. To illustrate the concept we have chosen data from medical image domain. The data used for experimentation contains microscopic images of breast cancer that need to be segmented into two categories; i.e. benign or malignant. Extensive set of experiments have been performed to show the strength of the proposed reduction method

An Evaluation Framework For Digital Image Forensics Tools

The boom of digital cameras, photography, and social media has drastically changed how humans live their day-to-day, but this normalization is accompanied by malicious agents finding new ways to forge and tamper with images for unlawful monetary (or other) gains. Disinformation in the photographic media realm is an urgent threat. The availability of a myriad of image editing tools renders it almost impossible to differentiate between photo-realistic and original images. The tools available for image forensics require a standard framework against which they can be evaluated. Such a standard framework can aid in evaluating the suitability of an image forensics tool for use in a criminal investigation, commercial operation, or academic research. This paper proposes an evaluation framework designed for image forensics tools based on the conformance methodology of testing that employs test assertions and test cases. It is then used to evaluate four image forensics tools namely FotoForensics, Ghiro, Imago Forensics, and Exif Reader. The comparative insight of test results produced by the framework provides a ground for ranking the tools from best to least comprehensive. The results also provide information necessary for users to make intelligent choices about tools and help vendors shortlist areas of improvement in their tools

Effect of Intraumbilical Oxytocin on Duration of Third Stage of Labour

Background:To determine the efficacy of intraumbilical oxytocin in reducing duration of third stage of labor, compared to routine active management of third stage of labor(AMTSL).Methods: In this randomized controlled trial one hundred parturient women were divided in two groups consisting of 50 each. Active management of third stage was done in both the groups. The study group in addition to active management, received oxytocin 10 international units( IU) diluted in 10ml normal saline through the umbilical vein and control group received equal volume of normal saline as placebo .The mean time taken for the completion of third stage was calculated for both groups in terms of minutes. The mean time “t” between the two groups was compared using Independent sample- t test. P value<0.05 was taken significant.Results: The mean duration of third stage of labor was 4.38±0.88 minutes in the study group, compared to 5.12±1.32 minutes in the control group which was significant statistically p=0.001. There was no incidence of retained placenta and none of placenta remain undelivered beyond 15 minutes in both groups.Conclusion: Intraumbilical oxytocin when given along with active management significantly reduces the mean duration of third stage of labour, compared to active management alone

A review of the efficacy of the dietary intervention in autism spectrum disorder

BACKGROUND: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is an early-onset neurodevelopmental disorder with 1 in 68 children prevalence. The key symptoms of ASD include social deficits, verbal and non-verbal communication deficits, and restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities. For unknown reasons, gastrointestinal symptoms are related to ASD. The aim of the current paper is to review the available literature on dietary interventions in children with ASD and provide up-to-date evidence. METHODS: Searches in online databases, using the search terms’ dietary intervention, “autism spectrum disorders,” and “autism” were conducted. The search targeted publications ranging from 2010 to 2020. RESULTS: Twenty-six studies with different study designs which evaluated the effectiveness of specific dietary interventions in children with ASD were included in our review. Several dietary interventions were of popular practice in the management of children with ASD, including elimination (gluten-/casein-free diet and oligoantigenic diet), modification (modified ketogenic diet), supplementation (minerals, vitamins, omega 3, and omega 6), and exclusion (food additives). Studies showed different results with varying degrees of evidence. Overall, data were inadequate to make accurate conclusions. CONCLUSION: There is little evidence to support the use of dietary interventions for children with ASD. Additional high-quality studies and further research are, therefore, needed

Measuring Push, Pull And Personal Factors Affecting Turnover Intention: A Case Of University Teachers In Pakistan

It has been observed that professional and qualified teacher’s retention become a challenge for Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in Pakistan as the turnover rate has been significantly increased in recent years. The main objective of this paper is to access personal, push and pull factors and to find out that which factors contribute more to turnover intention. Primary data were collected from 100 teachers of 5 HEIs using questionnaire methods. The results indicate that all factors (personal, pull and push) have contributed in the employees’ turnover intentions. However, some facets of personal factor have significantly contributed in turnover intentions.Turnover, Higher Education Institution, Job Quit, Personal Factors, Push Factors, Pull Factors

Restructuring of WAPDA: A Reality or a Myth

Serious financial crisis in Pakistan energy sector, mainly due to poor governance, rising fuel prices and rampant corruption, led to the decision of corporatisation of Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) in 1992. However, this decision has been highly debated in the context of its socio economic benefits as the energy crises continues unabated. This study, by using semi-structured interview from energy experts in the power sector, attempts to find the factors that withheld the positive effects of this decision. The objective is to provide useful input to frame future energy policy to overcome critical energy crises in Pakistan. The study concludes that the decision of corporatisation of WAPDA was a forced decision without proper homework recommended by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which worked as an obstacle to achieve required targets in context of energy crises. However, expert opinion shows that unbundling of WAPDA if managed adequately in line with the ground realities would help bring in the competition in market and support the neoliberal theory which calls for deregulation of businesses and privatisation of publicly owned assets, thus minimising the state intervention. Therefore, the only choice for the government is to move forward with the reforms to frame efficient and effective power policy. Chile, with successful power reforms, is the example quoted by the experts to be followed by Pakistan to overcome load shedding and black outs. JEL Classification: H7 Keywords: Energy, Pakistan Energy Sector, WAPDA, Neoclassical Theory, Corporatisation, Privatisation, Restructuring, Governanc

Achieving urban sustainability by revitalizing the performance of Islamic geometric pattern on residential façades

Cultural awareness is becoming increasingly important in an effort to reinvigorate local urban heritage into modern production. Considering that, one of the most significant aspects of sustainability is preserving socio-cultural and environmental specificities and restoring local heritage. The aim is influencing the local identity by promoting sustainability through the revival of Islamic geometric patterns (IGP) and their performance as effective components in local urban facades. A set of indicators related to the purposes for reusing IGP in facades within three main performances (decorative, structural, and functional). Their sustainability was studied and extrapolated, and a checklist has developed and tested by Likert scale on fifty residential facades in Baghdad's districts. The findings demonstrated the feasibility of measuring urban sustainability by evaluating the effectiveness of Islamic geometric patterns on residential facades. Furthermore, it has clearly achieved in the decorative performance of the IGP. It has also attained functional performance on the Socio-Cultural side, with a weakness in its environmental performance. In contrast, the checklist revealed a flaw in its structural performance

The revival of the historic Islamic geometric pattern on the gate of The Al-Sharabeya School in Wasit City using the Grasshopper program

There is a lack of knowledge that is required for using computer programs (parametric computing) to generate and derive new Islamic geometric patterns locally. This study focuses on the application of parametric modeling using the Rhinoceros 6 Grasshopper program on an Islamic geometric historical pattern, which decorated the gate of the School in Wasit, where the search imposes a spatial approach. This program is applied with the help of the algorithmic parameters used by the parametric design technique to generate and derive new Islamic geometric patterns from an extinct reference pattern used in contemporary urbanism. The goal is to enhance and impart an attribute of cultural inclusion and architectural originality to the local architecture of cities. The results demonstrate that the program was able to generate a new Islamic geometric pattern that did not previously exist, by finding the associative relationships and a hidden network between the tessellations of the Islamic geometric pattern, through algorithmic relationships, which was not visible. Therefore, the Rhinoceros 6 Grasshopper program can be used by architects and urbanites to devise distinctive design alternatives based on historical patterns and heritage models that can be applied in the future design of urban areas and cities that belong to the Islamic civilization

Offline signatures matching using haar wavelet subbands

The complexity of multimedia contents is significantly increasing in the current world. This leads to an exigent demand for developing highly effective systems tosatisfy human needs. Until today, handwritten signature considered an important means that is used in banks and businesses to evidence identity, so there are many works triedto develop a method for recognition purpose. This paper introduced an efficient technique for offline signature recognition depending on extracting the local feature by utilizing the haar wavelet subbands and energy. Three different setsof features are utilized by partitioning the signature image into non overlapping blocks where different block sizes are used. CEDAR signature database is used asa dataset for testing purpose. The results achieved by this technique indicate a high performance in signature recognition