In Service Training for Library Professionals in the Changing Environment

This article describes the training needs for informational growth. The changes in the technological world are very important in a global scenario. Therefore, persons who are involved in the library profession need to be continuously trained about the emerging trends, technology and information centre. Without providing training to the library professionals, in the recent scenario, libraries will remain dumb and mute. Similar to its importance in this domain, it is an essential part of the profession of each individual of any organization

Life and the World Around: Theme of Subjugation of the Downtrodden and Approaches in Indian culture as Revealed in My India

This paper is a descriptive work and is an attempt to study Jim Corbett’s approach, as an Indo-Anglian writer, towards the theme of caste related subjugation in the colonial era. Jim Corbett is one of the few Anglo-Indian writers, who through his non-fictional narrative reveals minute observation of the customs, traditions and rituals of Indian culture. Short stories based on real-life characters offer, as one of the major themes, a glimpse of the suffering and subjugation and taboo associated with the life of the untouchables. He understands the role of caste system in India and is aware of its relevance in shaping the destiny of a person. Corbett’s concern is not only class and caste conscious, but also socially relevant and the delineation of the anguish of the underprivileged is poignant and significant. He is sensitive towards their struggle and gives the message of equality and humanity. He is a moralist, who preaches the lesson of humanity

Age and growth of Jhinga prawn Metapenaeus affinis Milne Edwards (Decapoda, Penaeidae) in Mumbai waters

The results of the studies on age and growth of Metapenaeus affinis, one of the dominant species of penaeid shrimps in the coastal waters off Maharashtra are presented. From monthly size-frequency data, the growth parameters for males and females were estimated employing modal progression and computer based FiSAT software package using ELEFAN program, Bhattacharya method, Gulland-Holt plot, Faben’s method, Appeldoorn’s method and von Bertalanffy plot. The estimates obtained by Bhattacharya analysis and Gulland-Holt plot were: L� = 162 mm, K = 2.25 for males and L� = 204 mm, K = 1.91 for females. Males and females were found to attain 145 mm and 174 mm at the end of one year and their life spans were 1.16 and 1.4 years respectively

The ambient air and noise quality in India during diwali festival: A Review

This study deals with the effects of fireworks on the air quality over the major cities of India during the festival of light known as “Diwali”. The effects of firecrackers during the festival was assessed from the ambient concentrations of various air pollutants such as sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and particulate matter (PM) with diameter less than 10 µm. The concentrations of gaseous pollutants such as SO2 and NO2 as well as particulate pollutants such as PM10 and PM2.5 was found about 2-6 times higher during the day of festival because of the use of huge quantity of firecrackers that emits a large amount of pollutants into the atmosphere. Previous studies indicated that the concentrations of above air pollutants during Diwali festival was found several folds higher as compared to the 24-h standard of National Ambient Air Quality Standards of India (NAAQS) given by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), India. Concentrations of metallic elements analysed in fireworks aerosol samples in previous studies in India reported its higher contribution during Diwali festival as compared to the limit value of NAAQS of India. The noise levels in the Indian cities during the night of Diwali festival were also found to be higher. The deterioration of ambient air quality due to the anthropogenic activity such as the use of firecrackers in the megacities of India has significant impacts on human health on a regional scale. This review suggested the development of serious strategies to control the use of firecrackers during the festival of light in the major cities of India to protect human health.    &nbsp

Fishery and population dynamics of the spider prawn, Nematopalaemon tenuipes Henderson along the Saurashtra coast

Nematopalaemon tenuipes Henderson forms about 20% of the non-penaeid catch by dol nets operating along the Saurashtra coast. The length-weight relationships were obtained with, a = 2.153x10-5 and b = 2.699 for males and a = 1.905x10-5 and b = 2.783 for females. The von Bertalanffy growth equation was derived as Lt = 73 [1-e-1.38(t+ 0.02)] for males and Lt = 78.6 [1-e-1.32(t+ 0.04)] for females. The lengths attained at the end of 0.5 to 1.5 year/s were estimated as 37.3, 55.1 and 64 mm for males and 40, 59.2 and 69.5 mm for females. The mortality coefficients Z, M and F were 6.31, 3.23, 3.08 and 5.97, 3.08, 2.89 for males and females respectively. The annual exploitation rate U was 0.49 for males and 0.48 for females. The MSY was estimated to be 1,678 t and 5,346 t for males and females respectively, and 7,024 t for the species in Saurashtra. With an average annual production of 5,600 t, the resource does not appear to be under threat of over fishing at present

An Adaptive Color Image Segmentation

A novel Adaptive Color Image Segmentation (ACIS) System for color image segmentation is presented. The proposed ACIS system uses a neural network with architecture similar to the multilayer perceptron (MLP) network. The main difference is that neurons here uses a multisigmoid activation function. The multisigmoid function is the key for segmentation. The number of steps i.e. thresholds in the multisigmoid function are dependant on the number of clusters in the image. The threshold values for detecting the clusters and their labels are found automatically from the first order derivative of histograms of saturation and intensity in the HSV color space. Here, the main use of neural network is to detect the number of objects automatically from an image. The advantage of this method is that no a priori knowledge is required to segment the color image. ACIS label the objects with their mean colors. The algorithm is found to be reliable and works satisfactorily on different kinds of color images. Experimental results show that the performance of ACIS is robust on noisy images also

Accurate estimations of circumstellar and interstellar lines of quadruply ionized vanadium using the coupled cluster approach

Accurate {\it ab initio} calculations have been carried out to study the valence electron removal energies and oscillator strengths of astrophysically important electromagnetic transitions of quadruply ionized vanadium, $V^{4+}$. Many important electron correlations are considered to all-orders using the relativistic coupled-cluster theory. Calculated ionization potentials and fine structure splittings are compared with the experimental values, wherever available. To our knowledge, oscillator strengths of electric dipole transitions are predicted for the first time for most of the transitions. The transitions span in the range of ultraviolet, visible and near infrared regions and are important for astrophysical observations.Comment: Submitted in Astrophysical

Carrier Transport in High Mobility InAs Nanowire Junctionless Transistors

Ability to understand and model the performance limits of nanowire transistors is the key to design of next generation devices. Here, we report studies on high-mobility junction-less gate-all-around nanowire field effect transistor with carrier mobility reaching 2000 cm2/V.s at room temperature. Temperature-dependent transport measurements reveal activated transport at low temperatures due to surface donors, while at room temperature the transport shows a diffusive behavior. From the conductivity data, the extracted value of sound velocity in InAs nanowires is found to be an order less than the bulk. This low sound velocity is attributed to the extended crystal defects that ubiquitously appear in these nanowires. Analyzing the temperature-dependent mobility data, we identify the key scattering mechanisms limiting the carrier transport in these nanowires. Finally, using these scattering models, we perform drift-diffusion based transport simulations of a nanowire field-effect transistor and compare the device performances with experimental measurements. Our device modeling provides insight into performance limits of InAs nanowire transistors and can be used as a predictive methodology for nanowire-based integrated circuits.Comment: 22 pages, 5 Figures, Nano Letter

Index tracking with utility enhanced weighting

Passive index investing involves investing in a fund that replicates a market index. Enhanced indexation uses the returns of an index as a reference point and aims at outperforming this index. The motivation behind enhanced indexing is that the indices and portfolios available to academics and practitioners for asset pricing and benchmarking are generally inefficient and, thus, susceptible to enhancement. In this paper we propose a novel technique based on the concept of cumulative utility area ratios and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to construct enhanced indices from the DJIA and S&P500. Four main conclusions are forthcoming. First, the technique, called the utility enhanced tracking technique (UETT), is computationally parsimonious and applicable for all return distributions. Second, if desired, cardinality constraints are simple and computationally parsimonious. Third, the technique requires only infrequent rebalancing, monthly at the most. Finally, the UETT portfolios generate consistently higher out-of-sample utility profiles and after-cost returns for the fully enhanced portfolios as well as for the enhanced portfolios adjusted for cardinality constraints. These results are robust to varying market conditions and a range of utility functions