Self-citations in IASLIC Bulletin

The basic purpose of this study is to investigate the self-citations appearing in IASLIC Bulletin during 2005-2017. It was found that more than 30% of the articles carry self-citations. The rate of self-citations is 5.81% only. The per-cent of author self-citations, author/journal self-citations and journal self-citations was 53.89%, 2.59% and 43.52% respectively. There were 36 authors who had self-cited only once. The highest self-citing author was P Mukhopadhyay with 10 self-citations followed by A K Bandhopadhyay and B Roy with 8 self-citations each, all from University of Burdwan, West Bengal. Journals (62.7%) were the most self-cited documents. Most of the self-citations (40.93%) were from the period 1998-2007. It is suggested that self-citation indicators should be used as supplementary indicators for evaluative bibliometrics

How individuals experience and make sense of their problematic mephedrone use : an interpretative phenomenological analysis

There has been a significant increase in the number of people using club drugs and entering treatment for problematic club drug use in the United Kingdom. It has been suggested, based on socio-demographics, that the treatment needs of such users are different from those of users of traditional drugs, and consequently specialist club drug clinics were introduced. However, to date no research has explored the subjective experience of problematic club drug use to substantiate an understanding of users’ psychological treatment needs or the subjective psychological motivations to use club drugs, or how such users self-identify rather than being categorised in terms of socio-demographics. This research aims to answer these questions, with a focus on mephedrone, one of the most newly identified and popularly used club drugs in the United Kingdom. Semi-structured interviews with six male users of mephedrone were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Findings suggested that the subjective experience of mephedrone use is like that of traditional drug use, and consequently that corresponding users’ psychological treatment needs are similar. The subjective motivation to use mephedrone was primarily concerned with a want to appease identity distress, a common precursor to substance misuse. Users of mephedrone appeared to make sense of their problematic use by progressing through the stages of change. Moreover, findings implied that stigmatising beliefs operated within the drug-using community, which facilitated the social construction of mephedrone as harmless in comparison to traditional drugs. This perception was found to be further propagated by terminology such as “club drugs” that are used within the professional arena and represent mephedrone as “fun”. Not only did the socially constructed image of mephedrone as harmless and fun encourage its use, it appeared to prevent users self-identifying with the stereotypical identity of problematic substance misuse commonly associated with traditional drug use. This potentially acted as a barrier against users of club drugs seeking treatment from generalised services based on the needs of traditional drug use, thus highlighting the necessity for specialised club drug clinics. Implications of this research include introducing the under-represented area of problematic substance misuse to counselling psychology to promote the applicability of counselling psychologists to work in this field. This research fills the imperative training gap experienced by healthcare professionals based in the United Kingdom in relation to the understanding of problematic club drug use, and does so by providing subjective knowledge of the experience of problematic mephedrone use in order to develop the psychological treatments delivered. Furthermore, this research advocates the introduction of policies that would reduce the harm caused by mephedrone and demystify its socially constructed image. One such policy would be to suggest interventions to distribute information concerning the harms associated with mephedrone. Another would be to reframe the professional language used to describe club drugs. Lastly, this study highlights the need for further investigation into the stigmatising beliefs operating within the drug-using community that potentially act as a barrier preventing users of mephedrone from seeking treatment

Effect of growth stages and fertility levels on growth, yield and quality of fodder oats (Avena sativa L.)

A field experiment was conducted to evaluate the yield and quality parameters of oats (Avena sativa L.) at forage research farm in Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. Four different nitrogen levels viz. 0 (control), 50, 75 (recommended) and 100 Kg N/ha were applied in the form of urea. Samples were collected at three different growth stages i.e. 30, 45 and 60 DAS. As the growth of plant continued decrease in total nitrogen (45%), non protein nitro-gen (37%), ether extract (13%), ash content (24%) and digestibility (23%) was observed. But increase in free amino acids (48%) and cell wall constituents i.e. ADF (19%), NDF (31%) and CF (34%)with plant’s growth was reported. The interactive effect of varying levels of inorganic fertilizer application on the chemical composition of the plant at various growth stages revealed an increase in total nitrogen (18%), non protein nitrogen (26%), ether extract (18%), free amino acids (32%), ash content (13%) and digestibility (7%) with increase in fertilizer level however ADF (7%), NDF (2%) and CF (3%)content decreased with increased levels of nitrogen fertilization. Correlation studies showed that significant negative correlation was present forin vitro dry matter digestibility with acid detergent fiber (r= -.861**), neutral detergent fiber (r= -.891**) and crude fiber (r= -.740**) at recommended dose of N fertilization. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of different doses of nitrogen fertilization at different growth stages on quality components in oats fodder

Entropic Analysis of Votes Expressed in Italian Elections between 1948 and 2018

open access articleIn Italy, the elections occur often, indeed almost every year the citizens are involved in a democratic choice for deciding leaders of different administrative entities. Sometimes the citizens are called to vote for filling more than one office in more than one administrative body. This phenomenon has occurred 35 times after 1948; it creates the peculiar condition of having the same sample of people expressing decisions on political bases at the same time. Therefore, the Italian contemporaneous ballots constitute the occasion to measure coherence and chaos in the way of expressing political opinion. In this paper, we address all the Italian elections that occurred between 1948and2018. Wecollectthenumberofvotesperpartyateachadministrativelevelandwetreateach electionasamanifestationofacomplexsystem. Then,weusetheShannonentropyandtheGiniIndex to study the degree of disorder manifested during different types of elections at the municipality level. A particular focus is devoted to the contemporaneous elections. Such cases implicate different disorder dynamics in the contemporaneous ballots, when different administrative level are involved. Furthermore, some features that characterize different entropic regimes have emerged

Prevalence and ethnic distribution of helicobacter pylori infection among endoscoped patients in north eastern peninsular Malaysia

There exists significant difference in prevalence of H. pylori infection among different societies and ethnic groups, even within the same country. Malaysia with its multiracial population provided a valuable opportunity to study the racial distribution of this infection.The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and ethnic distribution of Helicobacter pylori infection in an endoscoped population in the North Eastern Peninsular Malaysia.Pathology records of 400 consecutive gastric biopsies received at the pathology laboratory in a university hospital were reviewed. Demographic data of patients including their ethnic groups were documented. H. pylori infection was ascertained by histological evaluation of the gastric biopsies. Univariate and multivariate analysis were applied to determine the prevalence of H.pylori infection in the sampled population and the difference in prevalence among the ethnic groups. The overall H. pylon infection prevalence rate was unusually low at 13 .5%) (54 of 400) in this region. The prevalence among the races were as follows: Malay 6.6% (17/256). Chinese 24.1% (27/112) and Indian 2R.6(% (6/21). Gender and age were not significant risk factors for 1-1. pylon infection. However there was an increased risk of H. pylon infection in Chinese (OR= 4.46, 2.3-8.6) and Indians (0R=5.6,1.9-16.3) compared to Malays.The difference in prevalence of H. pylori infection between the three major ethnic groups concurs with other studies done in Malaysia. The reason for this interesting finding is uncertain and is suspected to be due to different environmental, genetic and socio-cultural practices in the various races

Evaluation of genotoxicity of acetamiprid using PCR technique on mosquito genome

The present studies deal with the evaluation of the genotoxic potential of acetamiprid at LD40 on a mosquito Culex quinquefasciatus by adopting polymerase chain reaction technique (PCR). This technique was used for detecting DNA damage by amplifying ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS 2) regions. The amplified products were sequenced and the results of treated and non-treated controls were compared using Clustal W software programme. The results were studied in the form of deletions, additions, transitions and transversions of the bases. The DNA band amplified from control stocks consisted of 444 bases while those from LD40 treated individuals were comprised of 448 bases. The total number of mutations caused in the treated stock was 230 out of which 84 were transitions, 117 transversions, 13 deletions and 16 additions. Thus, it was evident that acetamiprid has a potential to promote gene mutations in the individuals exposed to its semilethal doses

Comparison of physiochemical properties and colour of wheat flour

The present work was planned to investigate the influence of milling speed, packaging material and variety on quality parameters of wheat flour during storage. The wheat grains of two varieties (HD3086 and PBW725) were milled at different speeds of 80, 125 and 1440 rpm and the flours were analyzed for milling parameters and proximate composition. The samples were packed in high density polyethylene, low density polyethylene, ethylene vinyl alcohol/ polyethylene multilayer bags, vacuum packaged in laminated aluminium bags and stored at ambient conditions for 90 days. Free fatty acid, moisture and color parameters were recorded during storage. The proximate composition of samples decreased significantly (p≤ 0.05) during milling, but this decrease was more pronounced at commercial milling speed of 1440 rpm as compared to milling in domestic mill at 80 and 125 rpm. The change in moisture, free fatty acid and color was observed to be significantly lower in flour obtained from HD3086 wheat variety at 80 rpm, vacuum packed in laminated aluminium bags after 90 days of storage. Thus, low speed milling and vacuum packaging or ordinary packaging in multilayer bags can be suggested as a suitable solution for maintaing quality of wheat flour for longer duration

Nitrate Accumulation and Utilization in Fodder Oats Varieties as Affected by Different Nitrogen Levels

Importance of fodder crops in agriculture needs no emphasis because of the fact that regular fodder availability is basic requirement for livestock production. The area under fodder in Punjab is 2.03 million hectares with total production of 45 million tons, which is not sufficient to meet the maintenance requirements of livestock. To improve the quality of milk production it is important that animals are fed with good quality of fodder. Nitrogen is an essential primary nutrient for plant growth and plays an important role in productivity of forage crops. The application of N at various growth stages is one of the ways to increase forage productivity of crops. The excessive use of nitrogen can lead to deteriorate soil health and accumulation of nitrate-N in fodders above the permissible limit (\u3e 5000 ppm) which is toxic to animals. Some of the crops such as Sudan grass, pearl millet and oats are potent accumulators of nitrate. Oats is the most important winter cereal crop grown in northern, western and central India. Oats is gaining importance throughout the world due to its uses as human food, animal feed and fodder crop. One of reasons of nitrate toxicity in oats is high input of fertilizer. When growing conditions are favorable, plants take up nitrogen in form of nitrate. The nitrate is rapidly converted into ammonia which is incorporated into the plant protein. Unfavorable growing conditions can interfere with nitrate use and cause it to accumulate in the plant. Nitrate toxicity arises when nitrate conversion into nitrite is faster than its utilization into ammonia Nitrate reductase (NR) is considered a key enzyme in nitrogen metabolism. It is not only rate limiting enzyme in inorganic nitrogen assimilation but also the major regulatory step in N metabolism (Young et al., 2009). NR is considered to catalyze the NO3 - assimilation because it initiates the reaction when NO3 - is available. NR activity is modified rapidly in response to level of nitrate, CO2, light, carbon skeletons and nitrogen metabolites. In the present study inter relationship between crude protein level, nitrate-N value and NR activity in relation to N inputs has been worked out

SELF-EFFICACY TO USE ELECTRONIC INFORMATION RESOURCES. A STUDY ON THE USERS OF RESEARCH INSTITUTES OF PUNJAB

The major change in the way library stores and maintains knowledge came with the advent of computers and new technologies. Further, origin of Internet and the development of World Wide Web (WWW) have opened up new vista for communication of scholarly information and helping Libraries to create and maintain information through Libraries’ Websites, Blogs to its users. As a result, more institutions are equipped themselves with new technology and their employees are challenged to be advanced with new technologies to complete their tasks. However, employees are sometimes express less enthusiastic response to adopt new technologies, even if it may helpful to complete their tasks. At this stage, Self-efficacy plays important role in mediating the impact of computer anxiety on the use of computer and related technologies. Present study covers three aspects i.e. computer anxiety, self-efficacy and ease of use of resources

Attitude and Satisfaction of Users regarding Electronic Information Resources in the Libraries of Research Institutes of Jalandhar

This paper is an attempt to study the issues like attitude, usage and satisfaction of electronic information resources of users. A questionnaire based survey was used for data collection. Total no of 100 questionnaire were distributed among both scientific and non scientific respondents. It was found that the scientific respondents are overall satisfied with electronic resources. But it further found that electronic resource are not being fully utilized by non scientific respondents. Based on these findings, it was recommended that a comprehensive information literacy program should be conducted to promote awareness and use of electronic information resources among non scientific staff. It was also recommended that the library should increase bandwidth to improve the speed of accessing e resource