The Implementation of Social Media Based Library Services at the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO), Nigeria.

Academic libraries are faced with the challenge of meeting the varied demands of users stemming from the ever-increasing different formats of information resources. These libraries around the world have thus adopted the use of social media -to render the required services to library users. FUTO library is experiencing serious challenges in the effort to accommodate the needs of its users - including the increasing number of users small reading spaces compared to the rising student population and the fact that many students live off-campus. This study investigates the possibility of adopting social media-based library services at the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO), to overcome the library’s challenges

Building Strong Academic Libraries and Library Professionals in Uganda Through the University of Pretoria Carnegie CPD Programme

Academic libraries are encountering numerous changes due to the emerging Information Communication Technological trends and the ever-changing information-seeking behaviour of their users. For the librarians to effectively implement these trends and remain competitive, they need to be regularly equipped with knowledge and skills through Continuing Professional Development. The study aimed to find out the factors that influenced the motivation to participate in the University of Pretoria (UP) Carnegie Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programme and the potential impact on service delivery of the selected academic libraries in Uganda as represented in the programme. The study applied a qualitative research design with an interpretive research approach. Exponential non-discriminative snowball sampling was used to recruit participants. The sample size of the study included eight Academic Librarians who attended the UP Carnegie CPD programme between 2014 and 2018. These were from Makerere University, Islamic University in Uganda (IUIU), Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST) and Muni University. Data was collected using face to face semi-structured interviews and electronically using ZOOM (online platform). The findings of this study show that most UP Carnegie CPD participants mainly attended the programme due to its rich content; they were intrigued by the hands-on subject coverage and new ICT trends, and the need to build their professional networks. The findings further revealed that the participants’ expectations were fulfilled by the various practical sessions held. This explains the reasons for the high applicability of the knowledge and skills acquired by the participants when they went back to their institutions. Finally, the study revealed the following challenges that were encountered by the participants during the implementations of the various initiatives drawn from the CPD knowledge and skills: difficulty in managing social media platform, lack of IR back-end support, limited data analysis skills required in providing research support, library users’ lack of interest in IL training, limited collaboration between Faculty and Librarians, and technophobia from some library staff who frustrate implementation efforts. The study provides recommendations on how to address these challenge

The role of the academic library in providing outreach services to prison inmates by means of mobile tools and technologies

This study investigated the role of academic library in providing outreach services to prison inmates by means of mobile tools and technologies in Nsukka prison library. The research adopted qualitative inquiry approach for the processes and procedures of the research. It was guided by five objectives which includes – the outreach services provided by the academic library to the prison inmates by means of mobile tools and technologies, the mobile tools and technologies used for the provision of outreach services to the prison inmates by means of mobile tools and technologies, the benefits of outreach services as provided by prison inmates by means of mobile tools and technologies, problems encountered in the provision of outreach services to prison inmates by means of mobile tools and technologies and strategies for enhancing the provision of outreach services to prison inmates by means of mobile tools and technologies. Data obtained from the questionnaire was analysed using mean and percentages while the ones obtained from focus group discussion was analysed in prose narrative. Among other things, the findings revealed that outreach services are provided to the prison inmates by the academic library. Other findings from the research revealed that mobile tools and technologies are being introduced to the delivery of outreach services in the prison library, the prison inmates support the delivery of outreach services to them by means of mobile tools and technologies, the prsion authority/administration permits the academic librarian’s provision of outreach services to the prison inmates. However, inadequate fund, personnel and mobile tools forms the major part of the problems encountered in the delivery of outreach servises to the inmates. Based on the findings, it was recommended among other things that there should be provision of adequate mobile tools and technologies for the delivery of outreach services, there should be integration of outreach services with other educational programmes, there should be training and retraining of both the prison inmates and the academic library on the use of mobile devices among others. More importantly, there should be provision of a functional prison library to accommodate resources – tool, technologies, personnel for the provision of library services to the inmates

A Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Dengue Fever Transmission in Yogyakarta City, Indonesia

BACKGROUND: Dengue fever remains a major health problem in tropical countries. Some measures had been implemented by the government to control this disease. Apparently, however, these measures were not effective. Therefore, there is a need for a study that provides information to aid the control program. This study aimed at investigating the space-time clustering of dengue fever transmission in Yogyakarta. SUBJECT AND METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort study using surveillance data on dengue fever cases in all subdistricts, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, from January to July 2014. This secondary data was obtained from the Municipality Health Office, Yogyakarta City. The space-time clustering of dengue fever case transmission was analyzed using SaTScan permutation model. RESULT: Dengue fever case transmission was clustered temporarily in several spots during the study period. The clustering of dengue fever transmission differed significantly among sub-districts with Mergangsan sub-district showing the highest cluster (p=0.005). CONCLUSION: There is a significant difference in dengue fever transmission clustering among sub-districts in Yogyakarta City with the highest cluster occurring in Mergangsan sub-district. This finding can be used to guide future study into intervention priority of dengue fever control in Yogyakarta City. Keywords: dengue fever, cluster, space-time analysis, urban, SaTSca

Validating Search Protocols for Mining of Health and Disease Events on Twitter

BACKGROUND: Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to read and share information with user and media communities in messages no longer than 140-character. In the year of 2016, there were more than 24 million Indonesian twitter users sharing news, events, as well as personal feelings and experiences on Twitter. This study seeks to validate a search protocol of health related terms using real-time Twitter data which can later be used to understand if, and how, twitter can reveal information on the current health situation in Indonesia. In this validation study of mining protocols, we: 1) extracted geo-located conversations related to health and disease postings on Twitter using a set of pre-defined keywords, 2) assessed the prevalence, frequency and timing of such content in these conversations, and 3) validated how this search protocol was able to detect relevant disease tweets. SUBJECT AND METHODS: Groups of words and phrases relevant to disease symptoms and health outcomes were used in a protocol developed in the Indonesian language in order to extract relevant content from geo-tagged Twitter feeds. A supervised learning algorithm using Classification and Regression Tree´s (CART) was used to validate search protocols of disease and health hits comparing to those identified by a team of human experts. The experts categorized tweets as positive or negative in respect to health events. The model fit was evaluated based on prediction perfor-mance. RESULTS: 390 tweets from historical Twitter feeds and 1,145,649 tweets from Twitter stream feeds during the period July 26th to August 1st, 2016. Only twitter hits with health related keywords in the Indonesian language were obtained. The accuracy of predictions of mined hits versus expert validated hits using the CART algorithm showed good validity with AUC beyond 0.8. CONCLUSION: Monitoring of public sentiment on Twitter, combined with contextual knowledge about the disease, can detect health and disease tweets and potentially be used as a valuable real-time proxy for health events over space and time. Keywords: social networking, disease detection, disease early warning, digital epidemiology, big data analysi

Individuals with Le(a+b−) Blood Group Have Increased Susceptibility to Symptomatic Vibrio cholerae O1 Infection

Cholera remains a severe diarrheal disease, capable of causing extensive outbreaks and high mortality. Blood group is one of the genetic factors determining predisposition to disease, including infectious diseases. Expression of different Lewis or ABO blood group types has been shown to be associated with risk of different enteric infections. For example, individuals of blood group O have a higher risk of severe illness due to V. cholerae compared to those with non-blood group O antigens. In this study, we have determined the relationship of the Lewis blood group antigen phenotypes with the risk of symptomatic cholera as well as the severity of disease and immune responses following infection. We show that individuals expressing the Le(a+b−) phenotype were more susceptible to symptomatic cholera, while Le(a–b+) expressing individuals were less susceptible. Individuals with the Le(a–b−) blood group had a longer duration of diarrhea when infected, required more intravenous fluid replacement, and had lower plasma IgA antibody responses to V. cholerae LPS on day 7 following infection. We conclude that there is an association between the Lewis blood group and the risk of cholera, and that this risk may affect the outcome of infection as well as possibly the efficacy of vaccination

Both El Tor and classical cholera toxin bind blood group determinants

Cholera is a disease which shows a clear blood group profile, with blood group O individuals experiencing the most severe symptoms. For a long time, the cholera toxin has been suspected to be the main culprit of this blood group dependence. Here, we show that both El Tor and classical cholera toxin B-pentamers do indeed bind blood group determinants (with equal affinities), using Surface Plasmon Resonance and NMR spectroscopy. Together with previous structural data, this confirms our earlier hypothesis as to the molecular basis of cholera blood group dependence, with an interesting twist: the shorter blood group H-determinant characteristic of blood group O individuals binds with similar binding affinity compared to the A-determinant, however, with different kinetics