Object Of Desire Research Articles

Sexuality and Objectification in Dastan Narratives: Women as Objects of Desire in Hoshruba, the Land and the Tilism (Book 1)


 
 
 The writers of dastan narratives reflect their age-old contextual desire(s) in fictional experiences. The never-ending popularity of these ideologically romantic tales is significant in the history of Urdu language and literature. Metonymically, the dastan, Tilism-e-Hoshruba, encompasses the much celebrated theme of Dastan-e-Amir Hamza—an eternal battle between virtue and vice—in its narrative discourse, but the quickness of the fantasized actions makes this dastan phantasmagorically more thrilling. Despite being enormous source(s) of narrative pleasure in the Subcontinent, these classical discursive practices prove to be an explicit reflection of the textual and sexual politics traditionally perpetuated in the Indo-Islamic patriarchal structures. The rendition of female characters, for instance, in the narrative discourse of Hoshruba, depends on the patriarchal modes of production and re- presentation pre-existing in classical cultural contexts. Presented as alluring objects of the ideological syntax, many of the women in these fictional texts customarily remain victim to the patriarchal narrative gaze. The narrators of dastan employ an evocatively figurative language in sensationalizing the graphic description of the female characters in Hoshruba. From seductions to submissions, all of their acts are pre-eminently destined to serve the phallogocentric desires of their authors, audience and chivalrous heroes. This paper, therefore, is the critical study of the patterns of desire(s) with reference to sexuality and the culture of objectification in Dastan Hoshruba, the Land and the Tilism, Book 1.1 By intersecting romance and sexuality, it also aims at exploring the narrative units of desire that objectify the sexuality of female characters through the mechanics of fantasy and gaze.
 
 

Why Medieval Allegory?

Why Medieval Allegory?

Are Avoidance Goals the Right Prescription For a Pandemic? A COVID-19 Case Study

Background: Motivation scientists study goals, self-regulatory tools that are used to help people approach or avoid objects of desire or disdain. Purpose: Using these tools, motivation science can offer insights to guide behaviour and help individuals maintain optimal health and well-being during pandemics, including COVID-19. Results: Avoidance goals help guide behaviour away from negative objects like COVID-19, and are necessary in situations where survival is at stake. Formulating the goal of avoiding COVID-19 is therefore recommended during the pandemic. However, avoidance goals have inherent limitations, in that they tax one’s energy and well-being. To minimize these costs, the pursuit of approach sub-goals may be recommended, such as increasing social connection online or exercising outdoors (particularly prior to widespread vaccination). Conclusion: Adhering to the goal of avoiding COVID-19 prevents infection and saves lives when safe and effective vaccines and treatments are lacking. But avoidance goals have known costs that must be acknowledged and addressed. One solution is to pair avoidance goals with approach sub-goals to bolster mental and physical health while adhering to the ultimate goal of avoiding COVID-19, viral variants, and future contagions. Doi: 10.28991/SciMedJ-2021-0304-7 Full Text: PDF

Recognition and calculation of objects in images using YOLOv3 architecture

Program that searches for five types of fruits in the images of fruit trees, classifies them and counts their quantity is presented. Its creation took into account the requirement to be able to work both in the background and in real time and to identify the desired objects at a sufficiently high speed. The program should also be able to learn from available computers (including laptops) and within a reasonable time. In carrying out this task, the possibilities of several existing approaches to the recognition and identification of visual objects based on the use of convolutional neural networks were analyzed. Among the considered network archi-tectures were R-CNN, Fast R-CNN, Faster R-CNN, SSD, YOLO and some modifications based on them. Based on the analysis of the peculiarities of their work, the YOLO architecture was used to perform the task, which allows the analy-sis of visual objects in real time with high speed and reliability. The software product was implemented by modifying the YOLOv3 architecture implemented in TensorFlow 2.1. Object recognition in this architecture is performed using a trained Darknet-53 network, the parameters of which are freely available. The modification of the network was to replace its original classification layer. The training of the network modified in this way was carried out on the basis of Transfer learning technology using the Agrilfruit Dataset. There was also a study of the peculiarities of the learning process of the network under the use of different types of gradient descent (stochastic and with the value of the batch 4 and 8), as a result of which the optimal version of the trained network weights was selected for further use. Tests of the modified and trained network have shown that the system based on it with high reliability distin-guishes objects of the corresponding classes of different sizes in the image (even with their significant masking) and counts their number. The ability of the program to distinguish and count the number of individual fruits in the analyzed image can be used to visually assess the yield of fruit trees

OS LUTOS REAL E SIMBÓLICO EM TEMPOS DE PANDEMIA DA COVID-19 SOB O OLHAR DA PSICANÁLISE

OBJECTIVE: This study presents reflections from a psychoanalytic point of view about real and symbolic grief in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: A qualitative approach was adopted with an exploratory objective to review the literature, with the aim of updating the discussion in psychoanalytic studies about the phenomenon of grief in the pandemic period. RESULTS: The publications found still present an embryonic view of the facts, however, despite this, it was possible for us to shed light on the psychic implications arising from absences, especially of funeral rituals, making difficult the libidinal disinvestment in a given object, so that the ego can seek other objects of desire. CONCLUSION: The conclusion of this study points to the need for further research, considering that the implications of a psychic order will only be perceived and, probably, clarified in a few years' time. However, it is possible to anticipate that a significant part of the population, faced with losses and the impossibility of experiencing the farewell ritual, has been overwhelmed by discouragement. The risk is, then, in the death of desire.

Acute reduction of erector spinae muscle cross-sectional area is associated with ICU-AW and worse prognosis in patients with mechanical ventilation in the ICU: A prospective observational study.

Background:To investigate the values of erector spinae muscle cross-sectional area (ESMcsa) loss for diagnosing intensive care unit-acquired weakness (ICU-AW) and predicting the 60-day survival status in patients with mechanical ventilation.Methods:Patients who were admitted into the intensive care unit (ICU) and received invasive mechanical ventilation therapy from June 2018 to June 2020 were selected. And they were divided into an ICU-AW group and a non-ICU-AW group, which were compared based on the ESMcsa and The British Medical Research Council muscle strength score (MRC-score) on the 1st and 7th day of ICU admission. The receiver operating characteristic curve was employed to measure the values of the ESMcsa Loss and ESMcsa Loss Ratio on the 7th day in order to diagnose ICU-AW in patients with mechanical ventilation. The survival curves of the patients were plotted to analyze the ESMcsa Loss Ratio values for predicting the 60-day survival status.Results:A total of 104 patients were enrolled, they were divided into the ICU-AW group (n = 56) and the non-ICU-AW group (n = 48). The mechanical ventilation time, ICU stay time, and hospital stay time of the ICU-AW group were all significantly higher than those of the non-ICU-AW group. On the 1st day, no significant difference in the ESMcsa or MRC-score between the 2 groups of patients was observed. On the 7th day, the ESMcsa and MRC-score of the ICU-AW group were significantly lower than those of the non-ICU-AW group. The ESMcsa Loss and ESMcsa Loss Ratio were both significantly negatively correlated with the MRC-score. The ESMcsa Loss and ESMcsa Loss Ratio on the 7th day were both valuable for the prediction of ICU-AW in patients with mechanical ventilation (areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve = 0.904, 0.835, and 0.889, P < .001). The survival rate of the patients in the high- and low-ESMcsa Loss Ratio groups were 60.0% and 80.0% (P < .05).Conclusions:As suggested by the ESMcsa Loss Ratios of the patients with mechanical ventilation on the 7th day of ICU admission, it offers a desirable objective indicator for the diagnosis of ICU-AW, and provides certain values for predicting the 60-day survival status of patients with mechanical ventilation in the ICU.

Cold war, hot stuff. The official critical discourse and the desirability of film stars in socialist Romania

This article examines the ways in which Romanian socialist politics and state-sanctioned film journalism intersected around film sexuality and foreign film stardom, in order to reinforce the official discourse on sexual morality in the 1960s and 1970s. The ‘60s represented a decade of political and ideological semi-relaxation in socialist Romania. Film audiences retained some access to Western productions, and foreign film stars carried significant erotic appeal to viewers. The state-funded Cinema magazine aimed to disrupt these tendencies either by arguing that the objects of desire were representative of lower quality cinema, or, in full-on Cold War style, by building the case for the decline of Western capitalism through pinpointing all manifestations of sexuality as a symptom of it. This article looks at the ways in which ideological arguments to “redact” film sexuality, while failing to repurpose it, managed to redirect it and reposition it as alien to socialist culture. The article also explores the continuation of this trend during the 1970s, when film stardom and the seductive appeal of film stars were validated by their conformation to political and historical ideologies directly linked to the concerns of the Romanian Communist Party.

AN ANALYSIS OF STUDENTS’ AND TEACHER’S PERCEPTION ON ENGLISH ONLINE LEARNING

This research was aimed to find out the students’ and teacher’s perceptions of English online learning. This research was conducted by using Descriptive Qualitative Research. The technique of analyzing data researcher used three steps, there are: 1) data reduction, 2) data display, 3) conclusion.. The findings from the data analysis shows that students gave positive perception of English online learning where students said that the process of learning English is easier with online learning and English online learning can foster students’ independent learning attitudes but students found problem in implementing online English learning because limited of internet quota during this pandemic, not everyone has enough money to buy an internet quota. Teacher also gave a positive perception of English online learning in case of the process of learning. English online learning is not effective because teacher teach virtually in one place and students follow learning from other computers in different places, it will make it difficult for students to accept and achieve learning objectives. Therefore, in their opinion,s learning will be more effective if learning is carried out face-to-face, the delivery of learning materials is carried out directly by the teacher to students and will also be more easily accessible by students so that they can achieve the desired learning objectives.

Adaptive output-feedback robust active disturbance rejection control for uncertain quadrotor with unknown disturbances

PurposeIn this research paper, an adaptive output-feedback robust active disturbance rejection control (RADRC) is designed for the multiple input multiple output (MIMO) quadrotor attitude model subject to unwanted uncertainties and disturbances (UUDs).Design/methodology/approachIn order to achieve the desired control objectives in the presence of UUDs, the low pass filter (LPF) and extended high gain observer (EHGO) methods are used for the estimation of matched and mismatched UUDs, respectively. Furthermore, for solving the chattering incurred in the standard sliding mode control (SMC), a multilayer sliding mode surface is constructed. For formulating the adaptive output-feedback RADRC algorithm, the EHGO, LPF and SMC schemes are combined using the separation principle.FindingsThe findings of this research work include the design of an adaptive output-feedback RADRC with the ability to negate the UUDs as well as estimate the unknown states of the quadrotor attitude model. In addition, the chattering problem is addressed by designing a modified SMC scheme based on the multilayer sliding mode surface obtained by utilizing the estimated state variables. This sliding mode surface is also used to obtain the adaptive criteria for the switching design gain parameters involved in the SMC. Moreover, the requirement of high design gain parameters in the EHGO is solved by combining it with the LPF.Originality/valueDesigning the flight control techniques while assuming that the state variables are available is a common practice. In addition, to obtain robustness, the SMC technique is widely used. However, in practice, the state variables might not be available due to unknown parameters and uncertainties, as well as the chattering due to SMC reduces the performances of the actuators. Hence, in this paper, an adaptive output-feedback RADRC technique is designed to solve the problems of UUDs and chattering.

Revolutionary Violence and the Rise of the Art Novel

Revolutionary Violence and the Rise of the Art Novel

A Win-Win for all? A Qualitative students’ perspective about online Case-based Learning in clerkship Gynaecology and Obstetrics

Introduction: Clinical teaching is a complex entity that poses many challenges to medical educators. During the COVID-19 pandemic, medical education saw a major shift towards online pedagogical methods which led to a significant query regarding their effectiveness. In order to ensure effective clinical teaching, case-based learning was adopted as the major educational tool in most Institutes. However, not much data is available regarding the effectiveness and student perceptions about such online case-based learning.Objective: The objective of the study is to explore and analyze perceptions of medical students regarding the effectiveness of case-based learning and how does this perception compare with similar studies done for face-to-face case-based learning.Method: The qualitative explorative research design was used to explore the perceptions of 21 medical graduates who had attended online case-based learning sessions during 8 weeks of their clerkship in Gynecology and Obstetrics. The study was conducted at The University of Lahore from June 2020 to August 2020. Sampling was done through purposive, non-probability sampling. Participants underwent Semi-structured interviews, that were audio-taped and manually transcribed. Thematic analysis was done using the constant comparative method through open and axial coding.Results: Findings from the participants’ responses converged on three main themes, through which case-based learning helps students. Students reported that online case-based learning provided them with “Cognitive Avails”, helped them with providing“Efficient Patient Care” and created an enhanced “Sense of Commiseration”.Conclusion: This study provides evidence that the online case-based learning sessions were perceived to be equally effective as face-to-face case-based learning by students. In light of the study findings, it is concluded that well-constructed and interesting clinical cases can be efficiently delivered online and can result in achieving desired learning objectives by students.&#x0D; KEYWORDS: Online learning, case-based learning, Perception, Medical Students

Penerapan Model Pembelajaran Kolaboratif Untuk Peningkatan Hasil Belajar Muatan Pelajaran PPKn Dan Sikap Sosial Siswa Kelas II SD Negeri 1 Tumbu

This study aims to improve learning outcomes and social attitudes of second grade students in the odd semester of the 2017/2018 academic year through the application of a collaborative learning model in the content of Civics lessons. This research was conducted in two learning cycles. The learning model used in this study is a collaborative learning model. The object of research is social attitudes and student learning outcomes. To measure students' social attitudes, observational guidelines were used. To measure student learning outcomes used test learning outcomes. The data analysis used in this research is descriptive analysis. The results of data analysis showed that: 1) The application of the collaborative learning model can improve the learning outcomes of class II SD Negeri 1 Tumbu. There was an increase in student learning outcomes of Civics from the first cycle of 73.91 to the second cycle of 86.96 this indicates an increase in learning outcomes of Civics learning content of 17.65%. 2) The application of the collaborative learning model can improve the social attitudes of the second grade students of SD Negeri 1 Tumbu. The average value of students' social attitudes increased from 66.09 in the first cycle with the medium category to 80.96 in the second cycle with the high category. This indicates an increase in students' social attitudes by 22.50%. Learning outcomes in learning will be better if before carrying out the learning process prepare the required learning tools carefully and planned in advance in order to achieve the desired learning objectives.

A line under the past: Performative temporal segregation in transitional justice

After human rights violations, states frequently employ the discourse of “closure” or “drawing a line under the past” as an exculpatory device that situates the wrongdoing in an ontologically discreet and normatively inferior past, a maneuver I term “performative temporal segregation.” Recognizing the United Kingdom’s 2010 apology for Bloody Sunday as an example of temporal segregation, I draw on interviews with relatives of Bloody Sunday victims and other stakeholders to examine how the apology’s recipients have variously resisted and embraced the performative segregating of time. Although many relatives remain enthusiastic about the apology, temporal segregation is challenged by others in three ways: (1) by deriding the apology, (2) by framing it as a stepping stone toward justice rather than an endpoint, and (3) by critically reassessing it over time. I thereby demonstrate that victims and governments can have irreconcilable conceptions of the purpose of apology as a transitional justice mechanism. Nevertheless, participants almost universally embraced closure as a desirable and achievable objective, primarily through prosecutions. This, ironically, entails recognizing that the colonial state can dispense justice and arbitrate on temporality.

Circulation and Contacts in Sixteenth Century New Cartography: Spain, Portugal and Italy

Cartographic information was highly coveted in sixteenth century Europe, especially when it came from Portugal or Spain. Maps and nautical charts produced in the Iberian Peninsula were loaded with sensitive information about the new lands discovered, which made them the object of desire of rival or curious powers. Faced with this, the Spanish and Portuguese institutions tried to limit the excessive dispersion of cartographic material, using several legislative instruments. In theory, the circulation of cartographic information beyond Iberian imperial boundaries was strictly controlled, so the possibility of leakages or exchanges seemed very unlikely. In practice, both leaks and contact occurred constantly. The objective of this article is to illustrate this idea from the identification and analysis of concrete historical events in which the circulation of cartographic information took place. The chronological framework chosen is the sixteenth century, with Spain, Portugal and Italy as the main sites.

How Damsels Love: The Transgressive Pleasure of Romance

In this article, I look at contemporary romances as a source of transgressive pleasure that may inspire its audience to reject patriarchy. I focus solely on romances between a man and a woman with emphasis on the psychological dimension of the female character upon her trajectory from an object of desire to the man’s ideal partner. I argue that the pleasure of romance is, indeed, a means towards the dismissal of patriarchy. Drawing on feminist theory, I contend that romance constitutes a nucleus of a feminine ideal that women may use as a comparative reference point for their real-life relationships, revealing any problematic and inadequate behavior of real-life partners. Even though romance pertains to the prescripts of patriarchy, I argue that it can be seen as an intertext: a product of the interlanguage used to translate the male discourse to the female bodily experience. In producing and consuming the romance, women can contrast this experience of the feminine ideal with the lack of pleasure patriarchy entails for them. In this respect, the romance possesses a transgressive power that may facilitate women’s realization of their dissatisfaction and the refusal of their role as emotional labor.

DC grid controller for optimized operation of voltage source converter based multi-terminal HVDC networks

Generally, multi-terminal dc grids provide full control over the dc powers that converter terminals exchange with their respective host ac grids. Nevertheless, the same level of controllability does not exist over the power flow in the individual dc lines of a highly meshed HVDC network, and this increases the risk of overloading the dc cables that present lower resistances. To address the highlighted shortcoming, this paper presents a generic dc grid controller that uses nonlinear constrained optimization to optimize the performance of multi-terminal HVDC networks for any desirable operational objective, within system physical constraints such as dc cable and converter thermal limits, and minimum and maximum dc voltage limits. The presented dc grid controller performs online optimization at regular intervals to dynamically estimate and update the set-points of the converter terminals as system operating conditions vary. The technical viability of the proposed controller is assessed using a generic seven-terminal HVDC network that uses voltage sourced modular multilevel converters. Simulations from the scenarios that prioritize dc grid power loss or operational cost minimization show that the presented dc grid controller exhibits good performance during normal operation as converter terminals set-points vary, and during dc grid reconfiguration following simulated successive outages of the dc cables. It has been shown that the performance of the proposed DC grid control is not affected by the parameter variation such as changes of resistance with temperature.

Et la science créa… la femme virtuelle

In the film by Spike Jonze, Her (2013), Theodore, the main character, who becomes single after a painful separation, “meets” a woman's voice. It is a voice whose timbre and words sound just like a young woman’s. In reality, it is the voice of software programmed to answer the user's requests. But this voice arouses Theodore's desire and love. In this article, we will study within a psychoanalytical perspective what this film teaches us about the contemporary issue of new addictions to connected objects. What place, what function do these objects take in the character’s relationship to the body, to drive and to language? It will more particularly focus on the voice as an object, the “most original” object of desire according to Lacan.

Tracking water for human activities: From the ivory tower to the ground

Water policy requires well established metrics for success. Precise metrics allow for quantifying progress and adjusting processes to produce the desired outcomes. We analyze the different schools of thought, nomenclatures and indicators developed for tracking water for human activities. After comparing a variety of terms related to water accounting used to serve the different purposes (environmental vs. ecological economics), we found that the different approaches to water tracking utilize identical terms to refer to distinctive concepts. The characterization of widely used terms such as 'water use' varies across different branches of literature. Different approaches to water measurement and its efficiency have an impact on water allocation. Our paper points out that the current definitions and methods for tracking water for human activities may offer contradictory advice over whether progress is being made towards desirable objectives, which may differ across stakeholders. This review aims at helping the transfer of academic results to empirical decision-making by discerning the differences among the variety of indicators available in the literature and their empirical implications. The ambiguity in the water terminology should be clarified before policy decisions can be useful in practice for guiding actions.

The Prisoner of Gender: Panopticon, Persuasion, and Surveillance of Women in Kavita Kané’s Menaka’s Choice

In the mythology-inspired novel Menaka’s Choice (2016), Kavita Kané discovers that the female body is continuously perceived both as an object of sexual desire and as an individual being by disrupting the conventional understanding of Apsara Menaka. Using Foucault’s concept of docile bodies and organic individuality the paper studies how power, in the form of ‘system’, imposes docility on women’s bodies. The paper weaves the potential for feminist thought as the novel rediscovers the recondite experiences that have been shrouded for centuries by giving central position to silent agents of Hindu mythology. Eventually, it attempts to analyse the act of seduction from the context of gender and how the individual tries to resist that disciplinary system.

АПОГЕЙ ТІЛЕСНОСТІ В АКАДЕМІЧНОМУ РОМАНІ ДЕВІДА ГАЛЕФА «ПЛОТЬ»

In the article the results of studying a problem of corporeal in a work of contemporary American writer David Galef, a professor of English at Montclair State University (New Jersey), are presented. Since Galef is little known in Ukraine, a short review of his life and works is given. On a basis of theoretical and literary critical works, devoted to a problem of corporeal in fiction, a representation of a body and corporeal is analyzed in a novel Flesh (1995). The key images and metaphors are defined. The important image is an overweight female body – Max’s object of desire. A story is narrated by his friend Don Shapiro, a professor of literature in “Ole Miss”. For a more precise interpretation, the functions of paratextual elements of original and translated texts are also studied. A novel is specified with its autobiographical character. According to a list of necessary features, this work is classified as an academic novel – a satirical comedy about university life with the elements of parody and erotic. In Galef’s novel there are many naturalistic and even pornographic descriptions. Satirically and ironically depicting an academic life, Galef creates a small copy of a contemporary world, in which people are very concentrated on matters of body and appearance, but not a soul and moral values.