Involving users in OPAC interface design: Perspective from a UK study

This is the post-print versoin of the Article. The official published version can be accessed from the link below - Copyright @ 2007 SpringerThe purpose of this study was to determine user suggestions for a typical OPAC (Online Public Library Catalogue) application’s functionality and features. An experiment was undertaken to find out the type of interactions features that users prefer to have in an OPAC. The study revealed that regardless of users’ Information Technology (IT) backgrounds, their functionality expectations of OPACs are the same. However, based on users’ previous experiences with OPACs, their requirements with respect to specific features may change. Users should be involved early in the OPAC development cycle process in order to ensure usable and functional interface

Thermodynamics of Relativistic Fermions with Chern-Simons Coupling

We study the thermodynamics of the relativistic Quantum Field Theory of massive fermions in three space-time dimensions coupled to an Abelian Maxwell-Chern-Simons gauge field. We evaluate the specific heat at finite temperature and density and find that the variation with the statistical angle is consistent with the non-relativistic ideas on generalized statistics.Comment: 12 pages, REVTe

Identification of 181Hg and shape coexistence in odd-A Hg isotopes

In-beam γ-ray transitions in 181Hg, the lightest odd-A Hg isotope known thus far, have been identified from fragment mass-γ and γ-γ coincidence measurements. Five prolate deformed rotational bands were placed in the level scheme. A decoupled band built on the strongly prolate deformed 1/2-[521] ground state was observed up to 29/2-. A 5/2-[512] configuration is suggested for a pair of strongly coupled bands displaying no signature splitting. The other two bands are also signature partner bands. They are populated with the largest intensity and exhibit splitting. They have been associated with the mixed neutron i13/2 orbitals and are proposed to decay to an i13/2 isomeric state associated with an oblate state

Rising rural body-mass index is the main driver of the global obesity epidemic in adults

Body-mass index (BMI) has increased steadily in most countries in parallel with a rise in the proportion of the population who live in cities 1,2 . This has led to a widely reported view that urbanization is one of the most important drivers of the global rise in obesity 3�6 . Here we use 2,009 population-based studies, with measurements of height and weight in more than 112 million adults, to report national, regional and global trends in mean BMI segregated by place of residence (a rural or urban area) from 1985 to 2017. We show that, contrary to the dominant paradigm, more than 55 of the global rise in mean BMI from 1985 to 2017�and more than 80 in some low- and middle-income regions�was due to increases in BMI in rural areas. This large contribution stems from the fact that, with the exception of women in sub-Saharan Africa, BMI is increasing at the same rate or faster in rural areas than in cities in low- and middle-income regions. These trends have in turn resulted in a closing�and in some countries reversal�of the gap in BMI between urban and rural areas in low- and middle-income countries, especially for women. In high-income and industrialized countries, we noted a persistently higher rural BMI, especially for women. There is an urgent need for an integrated approach to rural nutrition that enhances financial and physical access to healthy foods, to avoid replacing the rural undernutrition disadvantage in poor countries with a more general malnutrition disadvantage that entails excessive consumption of low-quality calories. © 2019, The Author(s)

DTCWT based high capacity steganography using coefficient replacement and adaptive scaling

The steganography is used for secure communication. In this paper we propose Dual Tree Complex Wavelet Transform (DTCWT) based high capacity steganography using coefficient replacement and adaptive scaling. The DTCWT is applied on cover image and Lifting Wavelet Transform2 (LWT2) is applied on payload to convert spatial domain into transform domain. The new concept of replacing HH sub band coefficients of DTCWT of cover image by LL sub band coefficients of payload is introduced to generate intermediate stego object. The adaptive scaling factor is used based on entropy of cover image to scale down intermediate stego object coefficient values to generate final stego object. It is observed that the capacity and security are increased in the proposed algorithm compared to existing algorithms

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Not AvailableOil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) having chromosome number 2n=32 and belongs to the family Arecaceae and it is a rich source of perennial vegetable-oil in India. To sustain the edible oil requirement in the country, oil palm is one of the best options due to its high oilyield (4-6 t/ha) potential compared to other annual oil-yielding crops. Polymorphic simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers play an important role in genetic diversity and mapping studies in a crop like oil palm. In the present study, total eight genotypes were screened using 110 SSR markers. With of these, 42 were found to be polymorphic and 68 were monomorphic and the number of alleles ranged from two to six. The highest Polymorphism Information Content (PIC) value was observed with the primer, mEgCIR0779 (0.76), while the lowest with mEgCIR3288 (0.11), at an average value of 0.38. Genetic diversity ranged from 0.12 (mEgCIR3288) to 0.79 (mEgCIR0779), with an average value of 0.45. Based on PIC and other genetic parameters, four highlypolymorphic markers, viz., mEgCIR0779, mEgCIR0782, mEgCIR2347 and mEgCIR2595 were identified. The identified polymorphic SSR loci can be effectively used in mapping and genetic diversity studies of oil palm crop improvement programme. Totally 42 polymorphic SSRs identified and grouped the eight genotypes into two major clusters and the clustering pattern observed was that based on geographical origin.Not Availabl