What do faculty and students really think about e-books?

Purpose - The purpose of this article is to report on a large-scale survey that was carried Out to assess academic users' awareness, perceptions and existing levels of use of e-books. The survey also seeks to find out about the purposes to which electronic books were put, and to obtain an understanding of the most effective library marketing and communication channels.Design/methodology/approach - An e-mail invitation to participate in the survey was distributed to all UCL staff and students (approximately 27,000) in November 2006, and 1,818 completions were received, an effective response rate of at least 6.7 per cent. Statistical analyses were carried out on the data using Software Package for Social Sciences (SPSS).Findings - The survey findings point to various ways in which user uptake and acceptance of e-books may be encouraged. Book discovery behaviour, a key issue for publishers and librarians in both print and electronic environments, emerges as a critical focus for service delivery and enhancement.Originality/value - The survey is part of an action research project, CIBER's SuperBook, that will further investigate the issues raised in this initial benchmarking survey using deep log analysis and qualitative methods. The paper partly fills the gap in the literature on e-books which has mainly focused on usage and not the users

Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access for FSO Backhauling

We consider a free space optical (FSO) backhauling system which consists of two base stations (BSs) and one central unit (CU). We propose to employ non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) for FSO backhauling where both BSs transmit at the same time and in the same frequency band to the same photodetector at the CU. We develop a dynamic NOMA scheme which determines the optimal decoding order as a function of the channel state information at the CU and the quality of service requirements of the BSs, such that the outage probabilities of both BSs are jointly minimized. Moreover, we analyze the performance of the proposed NOMA scheme in terms of the outage probability over Gamma-Gamma FSO turbulence channels. We further derive closed-form expressions for the outage probability for the high signal-to-noise ratio regime. Our simulation results confirm the analytical derivations and reveal that the proposed dynamic NOMA scheme significantly outperforms orthogonal transmission and existing NOMA schemes.Comment: This paper has been submitted to IEEE WCNC 201

Statistical Modeling of FSO Fronthaul Channel for Drone-based Networks

We consider a drone-based communication network, where several drones hover above an area and serve as mobile remote radio heads for a large number of mobile users. We assume that the drones employ free space optical (FSO) links for fronthauling of the users' data to a central unit. The main focus of this paper is to quantify the geometric loss of the FSO channel arising from random fluctuation of the position and orientation of the drones. In particular, we derive upper and lower bounds, corresponding approximate expressions, and a closed-form statistical model for the geometric loss. Simulation results validate our derivations and quantify the FSO channel quality as a function of the drone's instability, i.e., the variation of its position and orientation.Comment: This paper has been submitted to ICC 201

Studying inhomogeneity of organic coatings using wire beam multielectrode and physicomechanical testing

The effect of thickness, curing temperature and solvent on the structural inhomogeneity of several types of organic coatings has been investigated. The local distribution of electrochemical resistance was studied using a wire beam multielectrode array, while the inhomogeneity at a larger scale was examined using ∼3 cm2 area detached coatings. Physicomechanical tests were also employed to address the structural changes occurring because of variation in curing temperature and the type (or absence) of solvent. Results acquired by wire beam electrode and from the detached coatings showed that increasing the thickness and curing temperature improves the homogeneity of the coating as does elimination of solvent. Waterborne coatings exhibited a relatively homogeneous low resistance with a resistance lower than the threshold required for effective corrosion protection. Results of physicomechanical examination suggest that unreacted functional groups and water absorption are of the main causes of formation of structural defects in organic coatings

China’s “weaponized” vaccine: intertwining between international and domestic politics

Ever since China has formally joined the WHO-backed global COVID-19 vac- cine initiative known as COVAX, there is a presumed notion that China’s vaccine diplomacy will make a significant contribution to the international public good and thus uplift Beijing’s role as the rule-maker of international order. To scrutinize this, the paper asks if China succeeded in proliferating its weaponized vaccine policy to obtain maximum diplomatic gains and soft power projection to intensify its inter- national image, geopolitical power, and domestic politico legitimacy. The authors argue that despite its vaccine diplomacy demonstrated the robust governance capac- ity and responsibility to be a great power. Yet, Beijing’s geopolitical influence and international image are significantly overrated and not enough to play a more promi- nent role in the global power fulcrum/equilibrium. On the contrary, China enjoys a leading position on the domestic political front. Its successful portrayal of China’s vaccine provision in the global market and remarkable configuration to leverage a deep-rooted nationalism has fundamentally provided China with a powerful ration- ale to divert its public’s attention from Beijing’s earlier inadequate handling of the outbreak. The evaluation of the paper reveals that China’s vaccine diplomacy’s influ- ence in promoting international image and geopolitics is limited but has successfully stabilized its domestic political environment and enhanced its domestic legitimacy.Asian Studie

Analysis of Emerging Reputation and Funding Mechanisms in the Context of Open Science 2.0

This report covers the outcomes of two studies funded by JRC IPTS to explore emerging drivers for Open Science 2.0. In general, Open Science 2.0 is associated with themes such as open access to scientific outputs, open data, citizen science and open peer evaluation systems. This study, however, focused on less explored themes, namely on alternative funding mechanisms for scientific research and on emerging reputation mechanisms for scholars resulting from Web 2.0 platforms and applications. It has been demonstrated that both are providing significant new opportunities for researchers to disseminate, share, explore and collaborate with other researchers, but it remains to be seen whether they will be able to bring about more disruptive change in how science and research systems function in the future. They could well do so, especially if related changes being considered by the European Commission on ‘Science 2.0: Science in Transition’ are taken into account.JRC.J.3-Information Societ

Short photoperiod-induced decrease of histamine H3 receptors facilitates activation of hypothalamic neurons in the Siberian Hamster

Nonhibernating seasonal mammals have adapted to temporal changes in food availability through behavioral and physiological mechanisms to store food and energy during times of predictable plenty and conserve energy during predicted shortage. Little is known, however, of the hypothalamic neuronal events that lead to a change in behavior or physiology. Here we show for the first time that a shift from long summer-like to short inter-like photoperiod, which induces physiological adaptation to winter in the Siberian hamster, including a body weight decrease of up to 30%, increases neuronal activity in the dorsomedial region of the arcuate nucleus (dmpARC) assessed by electro physiological patch-clamping recording. Increased neuronal activity in short days is dependent on a photoperiod-driven down-regulation of H3 receptor expression and can be mimicked in long-day dmpARC neurons by the application of the H3 receptor antagonist, clobenproprit. Short-day activation of dmpARC neurons results in increased c-Fos expression. Tract tracing with the trans-synaptic retrograde tracer, pseudorabies virus, delivered into adipose tissue reveals a multisynaptic neuronal sympathetic outflow from dmpARC to white adipose tissue. These data strongly suggest that increased activity of dmpARC neurons, as a consequence of down-regulation of the histamine H3 receptor, contributes to the physiological adaptation of body weight regulation in seasonal photoperiod

Common Problems of Library and Information Science Education in Asian Developing Countries: A Review Article

Education of Library and Information Science (LIS) has several problems that are caused by the changing nature of the discipline and the social, economic and cultural contexts in which LIS departments function. The aim of this article is to enumerate and discuss some of the common problems of LIS education in developing countries of Asia and suggest solutions. We show that as Asian developing countries share some of the social, economic and cultural elements, they have similar problems in LIS education. Therefore, the same solutions could be recommended such as setting up limited number of independent LIS schools, establishing or empowering accreditation agencies, flexibility in educational systems, more emphasis on research, developing in-service training, relocating the departments in new faculties, equipping the departments with new facilities, employing new and skillful staff, encouraging collaboration among faculty members and departments, diversifying courses and degrees, updating syllabi in an ongoing manner, taking advantage of IT, and creating and publishing LIS literature in native language