A PRAGMATIC SURVEY OF HINDI IMPERATIVES

International audienceThe paper deals with different types of Hindi imperatives and aims at providing a pragmatic framework that can account for various ways of expressing commands. Although the paper is a sort of descriptive survey of Hindi imperatives, it indirectly argues, in particular, that any formal semantic theory which intends to study the phenomenon will have to take into account many of those elements of meaning of non-declarative sentences which cannot be properly dealt with in any truth-conditional analysis. A truth-conditional analysis of imperatives remains incomplete in that it does not have the necessary tools to study all the elements of meaning of imperative utterances. While a declarative sentence can be studied giving a characterization in which a sentence S is said to be true if its truth-conditions are met, an imperative sentence, in pragmatic terms, has two directional fits: first, an imperative sentence S can be thought to be true if its command is carried out by the hearer, and secondly, an imperative sentence S can be thought to be true if the speaker really intends that the hearer carry out the action. Nevertheless, none of the cases is potentially truth-conditional. They tend to be non-truth-conditional in that they carry the speaker's various commands rather than some definite state of affairs to which truth-values can be attached. The difference in meanings of various types of Hindi imperatives has been studied here in the light of pragmatic theories of meaning that take into account the speaker's intended meaning in making an imperative utterance

Negative modality in Hindi

International audienceThe paper deals with different kinds of negative modality expressed through three negative markers in Hindi, namely, nahi, mat, and na. The paper rejects the idea of considering these markers in terms of the degree of the illocutionary strenght they are supposed to carry and proposes that they are employed by the speaker to express different kinds of epistemic and deontic negative modalities in Hindi. Hence they are not synonomous, Nahi is employed mainly to express negative epistemic necessity whereas mat is used exclusively to express negative deontic necessity. Na, on the other hand, is employed to express both the negative epistemic possibility as well as negative deontic possibility

Essays on Insurance Regulation

Insurance industry is an important component of the US economy. In 2013, the industry sold policies worth $ 1.8 trillion and employed 2 million people. Most of the US population has exposure to different kinds of insurance like automobile, health, life etc. which makes the sector politically sensitive. The incentives that various stakeholders face will be critical for the sector. Hence, I use my dissertation as an opportunity to explore how the political and regulatory processes affect the policy outcomes. In the first chapter, I examine how two different selection systems for state insurance regulators, election and appointment, affect policy outcomes in a market with multiple competing firms. In the United States, in some states, insurance regulators are elected (by ballot) while in other states they are appointed (by the Governor). Traditional theory suggests that elected regulators are pro-consumers while appointed regulators are pro-industry. I collected data on premiums paid by an individual on an auto insurance policy across 48 states to show that elected regulators choose policies salient for most consumers (e.g. lower premiums) in contrast to appointed regulators (higher premiums). This impact is larger and statistically significant in the counties where a majority of state’s population is concentrated. This is because the marginal cost of reaching out to voters is much lower in areas with higher concentration of population. State level data confirms that premiums per capita written by auto insurance firms is much lower in states with elected regulators as compared to states with appointed regulators. Different states have given insurance regulators varying degrees of regulatory powers to fix premiums on automobile insurance premiums. The second chapter captures the response of the industry to arbitrary fixing of premiums on auto insurance policies. Elected regulators tend to prefer lower premiums on auto insurance policies as compared to appointed regulators. Since the premiums are regulated, insurance firms compete on the unregulated aspects of the market. Competition between firms ensure that the extra revenue earned by charging higher premiums (in states with appointed regulators) is used to other a better product (higher payments on claims filed by policyholders). Hence, an elected regulatoroffers a bundle of lower prices and inferior product. And an appointed regulator does not ensure pro-industry outcomes as there are no systematic differences in profits in states with elected or appointed regulators (as shown by previous research). The third chapter of the thesis examines the influence of interest groups on effective insurance premium tax rate. I focus on market concentration as a proxy for the ability of the firms in an industry to organize into an interest group to capture regulation. I find that states with a higher degree of market concentration in the insurance industry tend to have lower effective insurance premium tax rate. To establish causality, I use the coast to area ratio in the state as a source of exogenous variation in the market concentration. This is because exposure to the coast increases the probability of catastrophic events such as hurricanes which leads to the exit of several insurance firms. I find empirical evidence that a 1 percent increase in market concentration is associated with a 0.6 percent reduction in the effective insurance premium tax rate

L'enunciazione letteraria secondo Ānandavardhana

International audienceThe paper deals with the concept of literary meaning developed by Ānandavardhana (9th century A.D.) in his monumental book "Dhvanyāloka" (Light on or Doctrine of Dhvani). In literary enunciation, according to him, the most important role of signification is played by a process called vyañjanā ("implicitation") which is quite different from the concept of "implication" as used in logic but very similar to the concept of meaning developed by P. Grice (1975 in 1989) under the term "implicature", although "implication" and "implicature" are operational on two different levels of signification. Implicature is speaker's meaning which is besed on the "shared knowledge" between speaker and hearer, while "implicitation" is a process of signification intended by the writer to communicate an "implicited" meaning which is an open-ended process of signification

Sul concetto del presumptive tense in hindi/urdu e la sua resa in italiano

International audienceThe paper tries to estabilish that in Hindi the tenses which are obtained by utilizing the future form of the verbe honā, "to be" (either employed as a simple verb or attached to imperfective or perfective participles as an auxiliary) carry a presumptive mood (hence called "presumptive tenses") and express a modal necessity rather than modal possibility. It is therefore wrong to label these Hindi tenses as "tempo dubitativo" in the Italian language as they do not carry any speaker "doubt". As far as the modal meaning of these tenses is concerned a parallel can be drawn between Hindi and Italian: both languages express this tense/mood employing a future form of the verb, although the tenses obtained through the use of the future form of the verb in Italian are entitled "futuro semplice" (simple future) or "futuro anteriore" (anterior future)

Aspetti semantico-pragmatici della teoria del rasa

International audienceThe paper argues for a non-mystical interperation of the theory of rasa and deals in particular with the semantico-pragmatic aspects of literary meaning as conceived by it. In an attempt to interpret the process of the aesthetic experience during the reading of a piece of literary work as revealed by Bharata in his aphorism, the four commentators (Bhaṭṭalollaṭa, Śaṅkuka, Bhaṭṭa Nāyaka, Abhinavagupta) have taken into consideration different questions of literary meaning that require semantico-pragmatic explanations for the way in which literary meaning becomes perceptible to the reader. The paper aims at providing a few hints only of investigating various aspects of the epistemological foundation of a common ground between the writer and the reader, between different characters of a literary work, and at te same time discusses also the nature of semantic "reference" in literary enunciation

Bioresource management for improvement of soil chemical and biochemical quality in arid environment | Manejo de los biorecursos para el mejoramiento de la calidad química y biológica de los suelos en ambientes áridos

Fauna-induced litter decomposition and associated changes in soil organic carbon (SOC), total soil nitrogen (TSN), soil ammonium nitrogen (SAN), soil nitrate nitrogen (SNN) and soil available phosphorous (SAP), soil respiration (SR) and soil dehydrogenase activity (SDA) were studied in Tecomella undulata (T) tree based silvipature system integrated with Cenchrus ciliaris (CC) and Lesiurus sindicus (LS) grasses in dry region of India. The litter bag experiment was performed using tree and grass litters. The faunal association was maximum in T+LS litter. Whereas the litter decomposition was maximum in T + CC litter. Thus decomposition was influenced by litter mixtures and associated soil fauna. Faunal population and litter decomposition were highest inside the canopy of tree at 5 cm depth defining preferred faunal niche. SOC, TSN, SNN, SR and SDA were significantly (P < 0.05) higher in the mixture of tree and grass litters than tree litter alone at all decomposition periods. TSN, SAN, SNN, SAP, SR and SDA were significantly (P < 0.05) higher under the canopy zone. The higher nutrient enrichment and biochemical activities in the mixture of litters under the tree canopy at 5 cm depth may be due to the mixing and decomposition of greater volume of litters by soil biota. However, SOC was significantly (P < 0.05) higher at surface and minimum at 5 cm depth. It may be due to the loss of carbon as CO2 by higher microbial population at 5 cm. A positive and significant correlation and interaction among litter-associated soil fauna, litter decomposition, soil chemical and biochemical properties clearly demonstrate the importance of soil fauna in organic resource management in dry areas. Key words: Dry region, soil fauna, litter decomposition, soil nutrients, silvipasture system. RESUMEN Se estudiaron la descomposición inducida por la fauna de la hojarasca y los cambios asociados en el carbono orgánico del suelo (COS), nitrógeno total del suelo (NTS), nitrógeno amónico del suelo (NAS), nitrógeno en forma de nitrato del suelo (NNS), fósforo disponible del suelo (FDS), respiración del suelo (RS) y la actividad de la deshidrogenasa del suelo (ADS) en árboldes de Tecomella undulate (T) basado en un sistema silvipasture integrado con las gramíneas Cenchurus cilliaris (CC) y Lesiurus sindicus (LS) en la región seca de la India. El experimento en bolsas con hojarasca se realizó usando hojarascas de arboles y gramíneas. La asociación faunística fue máxima en T + LS, mientras la descomposición de la hojarasca fue máxima en T + CC. Así, la descomposición estuvo influenciada por la calidad de la hojarasca y asociada con la fauna del suelo. La población de la fauna y la descomposición de la hojarasca fueron mayors dentro del dosel del árbol a 5 cm de profundidad definiendo el nicho preferido de la fauna. COS, NTS, NNS, RS y ADS fueron significativamente (

Acute bilirubin encephalopathy in term neonates: a hospital-based study

Background: Acute Bilirubin Encephalopathy and kernicterus is an important cause of cerebral palsy, developmental delay and hearing impairment in low-middle income countries. Interventions such as universal screening for neonatal jaundice, Rhesus immunoglobulins, intensive phototherapy and exchange transfusion have made kernicterus rare in high income countries, but in our set up such cases continue to be reported.  Methods: Retrospective observational study where case records of term neonates brought to the neonatal ICU with signs and symptoms of acute bilirubin encephalopathy during the years 2016 and 2017 were sought and analysed.Results: A total of ten term babies reported to the neonatal unit with severe hyperbilirubinemia along with signs and symptoms of bilirubin encephalopathy of which 60% were females. 90% had a birth weight of more than 2.5 kg and mean birth weight was 2.7±0.25 kgs. All the babies were out born. A 4 babies were born at home of which 3 pregnancies were completely unsupervised during the antenatal period. 90% of the babies were from the rural areas, 6 of the cases were from the districts Rajouri, Poonch and Reasi where the terrain is hilly, 2 from rural areas of Jammu and 1 from Kathua. Only 1 was from the Jammu city. The age at admission ranged from 3-9 days and serum bilirubin from 24 to 43.3 mg %. A 5 babies had ABO incompatibility, 1 Rh incompatibility, 1 sepsis, while no cause could be found in 3.Conclusions: Neonatal jaundice is often not easily appreciated by mothers and caregivers in the home setting until it becomes severe enough, at which point neurological damage may have already occurred. There is an urgent need to train the primary health care personnel in assessment and early identification of risk factors for severe neonatal hyperbilirubinemia. They can help the families to seek prompt treatment for this preventable cause of cerebral palsy and mental retardation

Differential power algorithm based maximum power point tracking for a standalone solar PV system

We report on an improved maximum power point tracking (MPPT) system based on a differential power algorithm. In the proposed algorithm, which is a modified form of a perturb and observe (P&O) algorithm, differential powers, as well as voltages at different time, are compared. The proposed algorithm has been implemented with a highly efficient boost converter, in which duty cycle of a switch is varied in such a way, that the power reaches a maximum at any instant of the day, irrespective of the environmental conditions. The improved MPPT is able to reduce the number of oscillations and tracking time significantly before reaching the maximum power point (MPP). The simulated I-V and P-V characteristic curves (individual and combined) of a solar PV module were generated in MATLAB