Theory stranded at the borders,or, Cultural Studies from the southern fringes

ABSTRACT

Isolating certain critical blind spots that one encounters in studying lifeworlds of the global South, this essay calls for: (1) a grasp of the irreducible singularity of each historical formation as an essential aspect of southern Cultural Studies, so that its lessons are not readily erased, dismissed as signs of failure, or bracketed as idiosyncratic exceptions to universalized standards; and (2) the recognition of volatile and illicit forms of popular agency—emerging in friction with the security-obsessed governmentality of the borderlands, the exclusionary institutions of civil society, and the normativities of citizenship—as legitimate heralds of a global political futurity.     

Underdogs of Performance Improvement Transformations

A key facet of performance improvement transformation is team effectiveness. Often projects fail because we are not able to get the best out of all the team members. As a result, the effort becomes centered around a few so‐called high‐performing individuals while the others languish. The team members who often are not used are branded as ‘dysfunctional,’ ‘inconsequential,’ or ‘inoperative.’ While it is easy to negatively brand such people as ‘incompetent,’ seeking the positive contribution from them is key to success. The author refers to these people as ‘underdogs of performance improvement’ who have lot to offer. All we need to do it to look at them differently.     

Life and work of Sambhu Nath De

??When discoveries are published in scientific literature, they are presented in a form which does not tell us very much about how things really happened...?? (Arne Tiselius in?? Priorities in Scientific Research?? Commentarii, Vol.11, N.26) quoted by S N De in his opening remarks at the 43rd Nobel Symposium, on?? Cholera and related diarrhoeas??, 1978.     

Cystatin C—A novel marker of glomerular filtration rate: A review

Glomerular filtration rate is routinely assessed by measuring the serum markers such as urea nitrogen and serum creatinine. Although these markers are widely used to assess renal function but they do not perform optimally in certain clinical settings. There is thus a practical need for an easily automated alternative to plasma creatine, which would be more specific, sensitive and reliable from the analytical and clinical view point. Compared with the above endogenous markers, and time consuming laborious tests, Cystatin C facilitates the recognition of abnormal renal function in children, as its reference range is constant beyond the 1^st year of life. This review mainly focuses on the diagnostic performance of Cystatin C against other renal markers in the pediatric population and in specific subpopulations of patients.     

Effect of Copper on <Emphasis Type="SmallCaps">l</Emphasis>-Cysteine/<Emphasis Type="SmallCaps">l</Emphasis>-Cystine Influx in Normal Human Erythrocytes and Erythrocytes of Wilson’s Disease

Wilson’s disease is a disease of abnormal copper metabolism in which free serum copper level is raised. The objective of the study was to determine, whether in Wilson disease, l-cysteine/l-cystine influx into RBC was decreased or not and the specific amino acid transporter affected by copper in normal human RBC. For l-cysteine/l-cystine influx, ten untreated cases, ten treated cases and ten age and sex matched healthy controls were recruited. To study the effect of copper on l-cysteine/l-cystine influx in RBC, 15 healthy subjects were selected. RBC GSH and l-cysteine/l-cystine influx were estimated by Beautler’s and Yildiz’s method respectively. In untreated cases, l-cysteine/l-cystine influx and erythrocyte GSH level were decreased showing that elevated level of free copper in serum or media decreased l-cysteine/l-cystine influx in human RBC. Copper treatment inhibited L amino acid transporter in normal RBC specifically.     

Norms and the conservation of biodiversity

The aim of this article is to discuss the various ways in which norms enter into discussions of biodiversity and its conservation. It will treat both conservation policy and the science behind biodiversity.     

Untangling the mystery of Alzheimer’s disease

Alzheimer’s disease is one of the most common neurodegenerative disorders amongst the elderly, leading to dementia. Current studies of its molecular basis reveal various factors culminating in the cytotoxic cascade associated with the disease. Progress in understanding these events has led to the identification of novel therapeutic targets. This article is an attempt to understand the global scientific efforts in deciphering the mystery of this disease for a possible cure. All are postgraduate students at School of Biotechnology, Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai. Sovan Sarkar’s research interests are gene therapy, apoptosis in cancer treatment and therapeutic approaches for neurodegenerative disorders. Anupam Choudhury is interested in the study of cytoskeleton and motor proteins, specifically kinesins. T N Avinash is deeply interested in neuroscience, especially in learning and memory.     

Microprocessor-based simulation of sampled data systems with/without a hold device using a set of sample-and-hold functions and Dirac delta functions

In the present work, Dirac delta function (DF) set and sample-and-hold functions (SHF) set are used for microprocessor-based simulation of discrete time as well as sample-and-hold systems. Such simulations are useful for identification of control systems with known input and output sequence. The presented method utilizes operational matrices of different orders in the DF and SHF domain to develop different operational transfer functions. A few open-loop as well as closed-loop systems have been studied and the simulation results obtained are compared with exact solutions derived with the help of z-transform analysis. Experiments have also been carried out to establish the validity of the proposal.     

External and Internal Irreversibility

The article attempts to clarify the meaning of internal and external irreversibility using the example of a heat engine. It has been proved that the efficiency of an internally reversible but externally irreversible engine is almost 50% of the efficiency of a totally reversible engine.