Scholarly Open Access Publishing: Growth of LIS Open Access Journals visible through Directory of Open Access Journals

Open access is an effective way for the dissemination of the scholarly publishing. Open access opens new vistas of access and dissemination of scholarly communication to wider readers. Library and Information Science field also witnessed the ever growing trends of open access and its growth in the form of Open Access Journals (OAJ), Open Access Repositories (OAR), Open Source Software (OSS), Open Educational Resources (OER) and MOOC’s. The present study highlights the position of LIS open access journals indexed in DOAJ. Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) is an indexing service indexes high quality peer-reviewed journal of Science & technology, Social Sciences and Humanities. About 119 LIS Journals are indexed in DOAJ in the month of September, 2017. These journals are analysed on the different parameters set as objectives

Beyond the Obvious: Standardization and Interoperability Issues in Mobile Banking in India

Objectives Study aims to explore interoperability and standardization issue in mobile banking and to identify gaps in regulatory framework. Prior Work Many studies exist which reflects that there are problems in adopting mobile banking in India. There are couple of conceptual research which focus on issues in adopting mobile banking, from those research work a conceptual framework was developed which helps in identifying the standardization and interoperability issues. Approach Survey method was adopted where data was collected using multiple entry non-discriminatory snow ball sampling. Data was checked for statistical assumptions followed by one sample t test, Friedman Test, Kendall's W Test and Wilcoxon signed rank test. Results Both interoperability and standardization issues were critical. It was found that interoperability was more critical than standardization. Implications There is need of mutual understanding among banks and telecom operators; and up to some extent among mobile handset manufacturers also. Further regulators should issue regulatory guidelines to standardized short code for a particular type of transaction. Value Paper dealt with interoperability and standardization issues, not studied empirically before from regulators’ and practitioners’ perspective in India.   JEL Classification: M

Issues & Challenges in Mobile Banking In India: A Customers' Perspective

Mobile banking is a revolution that is driven by the world's one of the fastest growing sectors mobile communication technology. Like in any emerging technology, there exist barriers to the adoption of mobile banking services. This study explores the issues in mobile banking perceived critical for adoption by both mobile banking users as well as non-users. The study identified certain issues pertaining to banks, mobile handsets and telecom operators viz. mobile handset operability, security/privacy, standardization of services, customization, Downloading & installing application software and Telecom services quality. For this a descriptive design was adopted to empirically explore the selected issues. Study suggests that from consumers' perspective mobile handset operability, security/privacy and standardization of services are the critical issues. Although the research has its limitations, the implications of the results provide practical recommendations to the all concerned parties

Minimum Redundancy Maximum Relevance(mRMR) Based Feature Selection Technique for Pattern Classification System

Feature Selection is an important hurdle in classification systems. We study how to select good features by making the covariance matrix of each sample data set and extracting the features from it .Then, we try to find out the length of each sample by finding the error rate .We perform experimental comparison of our algorithm and other methods using two data sets(binary and functional) and three different classifiers(support vector machine, linear discriminant analysis and naïve Bayes).The results show that the MRMR features are less correlated with each other as compared to other methods and hence improves the classification accuracy

Effects of Child Abuse and Neglect on Oral Hygiene and Nutrition in North Indian School Students: A Cohort Study

This study investigated the relationship between dental hygiene and child maltreatment, malnutrition, and overall development. The researchers examined 900 students aged 5-15 years from government schools in Lucknow district, Uttar Pradesh. The study observed nutritional status by assessment of the physiological status of the body based on its height and weight and signs of abuse/neglect. The results showed that 260 abused students had poor dental hygiene, and 236 of them were mild to moderately malnourished. In comparison, 362 non-abused students had dental neglect, and 232 were moderately malnourished. These findings highlight a significant association between dental care neglect, child maltreatment, and malnutrition. It is crucial to address the social stigma surrounding this issue, normalize discussions, and encourage dentists to identify signs of abuse and inform relevant authorities about potential discrepancies

An Efficient CRT based Digital Image Watermarking using Double Density Wavelet Transform

Digital Watermarking is an unpretentious and effective approach to afford copyright fortification. Watermark transparency is obligatory primarily for copyright protection. The challenge is to introduce a digital watermark that is both transparent and highly robust to common signal processing and possible attacks. The two basic requirements for an effective watermarking scheme, robustness and transparency, conflict with each other.This paper proposesa watermarking technique for digital gray scale images that is based on utilizing congruence’s in number theory and its generalizations in abstract algebra which have been developed in the context of image compression. Watermarking scheme is based on a Chinese Remainder Theorem along with Double Density Discrete Wavelet Transform framework individually which allows for the possibility of directly watermarking the Image bitstream, Watermark region selection is based on transformation level. In proposed scheme, initially, the cover image and watermark are transformed into spatial domain using Double Density Wavelet Transform and then singular values of these transformed images are combined using CRT coefficients. Our scheme is shown to provide very good results both in terms of image transparency and robustness. An optimal watermark embedding method is developed to achieve minimum watermarking distortion. Experimental results are provided in terms of Peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR), Mean Squared Error (MSE), Correlation and Weighted Peak signal to noise ratio (WPSNR) to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm

Development of Theory and Methodologies to Assess Adaptive Resilience in Infrastructure Systems

With the growing frequency, intensity, and consequences of disasters, developing resilience in infrastructure systems is increasingly recognized as critical to maintaining and enhancing system performance. Evolving trends in climate change, population growth, and urbanization make it essential to build adaptive capacity as a critical element of resilience, to enable systems to re-organize or adapt to changing future conditions. This research focuses on answering two questions: (1) What capabilities of transportation systems foster adaptive resilience, how are they connected to system goals, and how can they be incorporated in planning for more resilient systems? (2) How can we evaluate the benefits of applying adaptive resilience approaches in planning for transportation systems? The overall research methodology follows a mixed-methods sequential approach, where qualitative methods are applied to identify, define, and categorize the adaptive resilience capabilities of transportation systems, followed by a quantitative methodology developed to assess the benefits of adaptive resilience initiatives over the life cycle of infrastructure systems. An Adaptive Resilience Capability Maturity Model (AR-CMM) is developed using a quasi-grounded theory approach, involving iterative literature reviews and expert interviews to identify the adaptive resilience capabilities of transportation systems and their connections with system goals. The AR-CMM assesses the maturity level of any transportation agency on 16 identified adaptive resilience (AR) capabilities of transportation systems. The capabilities are categorized into three themes and assessed over a five-level maturity scale. To enable benefits quantification of initiatives that can enhance the maturity levels of the identified AR capabilities, a Modified Resilience Triangles (MRTs) approach is developed, which can be used to evaluate the long-term benefits of adaptive resilience investments in infrastructure systems under future uncertainty. The application of the MRTs approach is demonstrated using three case studies, where investments have focused on different aspects of adaptive resilience enhancement in various infrastructure systems. The results from all three case studies demonstrate the increasing benefits of adaptive resilience strategies over a long time frame due to deep uncertainty, ongoing learning, and the evolving nature of resilience strategies. This research expands existing infrastructure resilience theory by developing a portfolio of capabilities of transportation systems that enable adaptive resilience in the systems; and by developing the Modified Resilience Triangles approach, thereby extending the theory on resilience assessment to include impacts of adaptive resilience on the long-term resilience of infrastructure systems. The AR-CMM provides a framework for transportation agencies to evaluate and enhance their adaptive resilience maturity levels. Application of the MRTs approach provides practitioners in any infrastructure field with an enhanced approach for assessing the value of resilience investments, thereby offering a tool that can be used to demonstrate the business case for adaptive resilience to uncertain future conditions. The AR-CMM along with the MRTs approach can be used to incorporate adaptive resilience formally in transportation system planning frameworks, enabling more reliable and cost-effective performance.Ph.D

Lithofacies and Sequence Stratigraphic framework of the Barnett Shale, Northeast Texas

The Barnett Shale, Northeast Texas, is a self-contained petroleum system (Jarvie, 2005). The Newark East field (Barnett Shale, TX) is the second largest producing field of natural gas in the U.S (EIA 2006 Annual Reserve Reports) and the Barnett Shale, Fort Worth Basin is projected for 374 bcf of annual production by 2010 (EIA, 2004). The depositional history and sequence stratigraphy of the Barnett Shale is not fully known. This dissertation establishes Barnett Shale sequence stratigraphy based on observations of continuous cores and wireline logs, integrated with analytical data.Four continuous long cores from Denton, Wise, and Parker counties, Texas have been studied to document the detailed internal stratigraphy and architecture of the Barnett Shale. Visual, petrographic and mineralogic analysis reveals nine distinct lithofacies within the Barnett Shale in the study area. The study indicates significance of depositional processes which have constrained the vertical facies successions and cyclicity in the study area.The identification of a systematic and cyclic stratal stacking pattern of the lithofacies coupled with the gamma-ray log patterns led to identification of three parasequence types: upward-increasing Gamma Ray Parasequence, upward-decreasing Gamma Ray Parasequence and intervals of constant Gamma Ray Parasequence. A typical upward-decreasing Gamma ray parasequence is composed of upward-decreasing amounts of clay and phosphatic sediments accompanied by increasing allochthonous calcite grains, and capped with a reworked shelly deposit. This pattern is indicative of upward-shoaling of the depositional environment during a very gradual fall in relative sea level. An upward-increasing Gamma Ray Parasequence consists of upward-decreasing amounts of calcareous sediments and increasing amounts of clay and phosphatic sediments which are indicative of a rise in relative sea level. These parasequences stack systematically to form parasequence sets which constitute systems tracts.The Lower Barnett Shale is composed of nine and the Upper Barnett Shale is composed of five Gamma Ray parasequences and parasequence sets in the `core area'. Their comparison and correlation between different locations suggests the lateral facies variability which has been explained as a function of sediment source area distance and accommodation space. Thickness maps of these Gamma Ray parasequences and parasequence sets reveal changing thickness trends.Thus, by integrating several attributes and scales of observations, from logs to subsurface cores to thin sections and incorporating geochemical parameters, this study establishes the sequence stratigraphy of the Barnett Shale. The study also provides a workflow for systematically constructing a sequence stratigraphic framework for mudstones of similar setting