Status of College Library Services in Barak Valley, Assam: A Study

The aim of the present paper is to know the current status of various library services provided by different Under Graduate (U. G). College libraries of Barak valley, Southern Assam. The tremendous development in Information Communication Technology and their application in the various aspects of libraries have opened a new door for the libraries and users alike. In the age of Information Technology, there is a huge change in the methods and techniques of seeking the information and way of information dissemination on the other hand. The College Library System is a type of information system which is supposed to provide equity access to information and the world of knowledge to its user community. The seekers of knowledge and information are general public irrespective of their sex, caste, religion, age and wealth. Primary Mission of every library is not only to provide information and knowledge from its own resources but also from other institutions. But, unfortunately the College libraries of Assam are not fully automated, due to the lack of Library building space efficient IT infrastructure as well as insufficient and skilled library staffs. So college libraries of are not able to satisfy their users. The present study was carried out during last quarter of year 2019. For that purpose, survey method has been adopted, which comprises of structured questionnaire filled up by college librarian / library in charge of different colleges and a set of users questionnaire responded by different users of the colleges. On the basis of filled up questionnaire received from the respondents, data has been analysed and tabulated using Microsoft Excel Software. For data analysis percentage technique, has been adopted. The paper highlights the important survey findings in respect of status of various library services provided by different U. G. College libraries of Barak valley of Assam

Knowledge of physical therapy students regarding acute care physical therapy

Introduction: Acute care is a branch of secondary health care which involves short term but seriously active treatment for a serious injury or episode of disease Application and utilization of physical therapy services in the care of acutely and critically ill patients has been recognized with defined evidence to be effective and beneficial for such patients. It ensures early and better achievement of goals and better level of independence and function. Objective: The objective of the study was to determine the knowledge of physical therapy students of Karachi regarding acute care physical therapy. Material and methods: This was a cross-sectional study using convenient non-probability sampling technique performed in different physical therapy colleges and institutes of Karachi. A validated and modified questionnaire was distributed in 100 physical therapy students of fourth and final year. Data was analyzed by SPSS version 20 to calculate descriptive statistics. Results: The results indicated that most of the students (70%) had good knowledge regarding basic concepts and aspects of acute care physical therapy services according to their own perception. But the knowledge of some specific concepts and techniques was found poor for example 69% students did not know what Heimlich maneuver is. Similarly, 44% students did not know about the term pulse oximetry. Conclusion: Overall knowledge of physical therapy students regarding acute care was found to be good. Students considered themselves confident to work in acute care settings. But knowledge of a few advanced techniques was found to be poor

Virologic and clinical characteristics of HBV genotypes/subgenotypes in 487 Chinese pediatric patients with CHB

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The association of hepatitis B virus (HBV) genotypes/subgenotypes with clinical characteristics is increasingly recognized. However, the virologic and clinical features of HBV genotypes/subgenotypes in pediatric patients remain largely unknown.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Four hundred and eighty-seven pediatric inpatients with CHB were investigated, including 217 nucleos(t)ide analog-experienced patients. HBV genotypes/subgenotypes and reverse transcriptase (RT) mutations were determined by direct sequencing. The stage of fibrosis and degree of inflammatory activity were evaluated by the Metavir score system.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Among 487 enrolled pediatric patients, HBV genotype C2 and B2 were the most two prevalent (73.7% and 21.1%). Comparing with HBV/B2 infected patients, no significant difference was observed in the incidence rate and mutant patterns of lamivudine- or adefovir-resistant mutations in HBV/C2 infected patients (<it>P </it>> 0.05). Importantly, we found that the degree of hepatic inflammation degree, fibrosis stage and ALT level were significantly higher in HBV/C2-infected HBeAg positive patients than it was in HBV/B2-infected ones.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The pediatric patients with HBV/C2 infection might be more susceptible to develop severe liver pathogenesis.</p

Status of College Library Services in Barak Valley, Assam: A Study

The aim of the present paper is to know the current status of various library services provided by different Under Graduate (U. G). College libraries of Barak valley, Southern Assam. The tremendous development in Information Communication Technology and their application in the various aspects of libraries have opened a new door for the libraries and users alike. In the age of Information Technology, there is a huge change in the methods and techniques of seeking the information and way of information dissemination on the other hand. The College Library System is a type of information system which is supposed to provide equity access to information and the world of knowledge to its user community. The seekers of knowledge and information are general public irrespective of their sex, caste, religion, age and wealth. Primary Mission of every library is not only to provide information and knowledge from its own resources but also from other institutions. But, unfortunately the College libraries of Assam are not fully automated, due to the lack of Library building space efficient IT infrastructure as well as insufficient and skilled library staffs. So college libraries of are not able to satisfy their users. The present study was carried out during last quarter of year 2019. For that purpose, survey method has been adopted, which comprises of structured questionnaire filled up by college librarian / library in charge of different colleges and a set of users questionnaire responded by different users of the colleges. On the basis of filled up questionnaire received from the respondents, data has been analysed and tabulated using Microsoft Excel Software. For data analysis percentage technique, has been adopted. The paper highlights the important survey findings in respect of status of various library services provided by different U. G. College libraries of Barak valley of Assam

Prevalence of obesity in a rural Asian Indian (Bangladeshi) population and its determinants

Background Obesity has reached epidemic proportions worldwide including Bangladesh. To assess the prevalence and associated factors of general and central obesity in a rural Bangladeshi population based on newly proposed cut off level for Asian population. Methods 2293 subjects aged ≥20 years from rural Bangladesh were randomly recruited to participate in a population-based, cross sectional survey, conducted in 2009. Both socio-demographic and anthropometric measurements were recorded. Age adjusted data for anthropometric indices were examined. Results The age standardized prevalence of overweight (BMI 23-24.9 kg/m2) and obesity (BMI ≥25 kg/m2) were 17.7 (95 % confidence interval (CI): 16.1, 19.2 %) and 26.2 % (95 % CI: 24.4, 27.9 %), respectively. The age standardized prevalence of central obesity based on WC (M ≥90 & F ≥80 cm) and WHR (M ≥0.90 & F ≥0.80) were 39.8 % (95 % CI: 37.9, 41.7 %) and 71.6 % (95 % CI: 69.8, 73.4 %) respectively. The result shows that prevalence of central obesity was more in female than male. Study shows middle age, medium and high socioeconomic status (SES), low education levels, physical inactivity, high consumption of carbohydrate, protein and fat, were significant risk indicators for general and central obesity. Smoking was shown as protective factor for both general and central obesity. Conclusions In rural Bangladeshi population, the prevalence of both general and central obesity was high among both sexes with the use of newly proposed cut off points for Asian population. Gender, diet, physical activity, education levels and SES were associated with the increase prevalence of obesity

Erratic Behavioral Attitude Leads to Noncommunicable Diseases: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background. The burden of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) in the Arab world has reached an alarming level. Behavioral risk factors including consumption of fast food, inadequate sleep, and skipping meals are pervasive. This study aims at establishing the association between NCDs and modernized behavioral risk factors among populations. Methods. A cross-sectional study was carried out with 1070 respondents who were 18 years old. The data were collected using a structured questionnaire with the help of the WHO STEPS approach with some modifications regarding NCD risk factors. Results. 30% of respondents had cardiovascular diseases (CVD) followed by respiratory diseases (23%) and diabetes (3%) while the habit of smoking was found among 52% of respondents followed by physical inactivity (49%), skipping meals (24%), and inadequate sleep (30%). Consumption of fast food was found to be a significant risk factor for obesity (odds ratio (OR) = 2.72, 95% confidence interval (CI) [1.50, 4.92]), CVD (OR = 1.52, 95% CI [1.20, 1.94]), and respiratory disease (OR = 2.13, 95% CI [1.58, 2.86]). Significant linkages were found between CVD and smoking (OR = 0.69, 95% CI [0.54, 0.88]), diet pattern (OR = 1.86, 95% CI [1.44, 2.39]), fast food (OR = 1.52, 95% CI [1.20, 1.94]), and sleep hours (OR = 0.57, 95% CI [0.42, 0.79]). Conclusions. Undesirable behavioral risk factors pose a considerable threat to public health with a high prevalence rate of NCDs. Reducing the NCD burden and promoting healthy lifestyle formation of suitable strategies and their smooth implementation is the need of the hour

A New System with a Self-Excited Fully-Quadratic Strange Attractor and Its Twin Strange Repeller

In nonlinear dynamics, the study of chaotic systems has attracted the attention of many researchers around the world due to the exciting and peculiar properties of such systems. In this regard, the present paper introduces a new system with a self-excited strange attractor and its twin strange repeller. The unique characteristic of the presented system is that the system variables are all in their quadratic forms; therefore, the proposed system is called a fully-quadratic system. This paper also elaborates on the study of the bifurcation diagram, the interpretation of Lyapunov exponents, the representation of basin of attraction, and the calculation of connecting curves as the employed method for investigating the system's dynamics. The investigation of 2D bifurcation diagrams and Lyapunov exponents indicated in this paper can better recognize the system's dynamics since they are plotted considering simultaneous changes of two parameters. Moreover, the connecting curves of the proposed system are calculated. The system's connecting curves help identify the system's different behaviors by providing general information about the nature of the flows.Arthanari Ramesh and Karthikeyan Rajagopal have been partially funded by the Research grant of Center for Nonlinear Systems, Chennai Institute of Technology, with reference number CIT/CNS/2021/RP-017.Scopu

Critical slowing down indicators in synchronous period-doubling for salamander flicker vision

Many dynamical systems, particularly biological ones, exhibit different regimes in which the dynamics of the system vary from one regime to another through a critical transition. These transitions are critical points (CPs). The CPs can be observed with a critical slowing down phenomenon in which the attractor gets fragile. Due to the importance of CPs, different indicators such as variance, autocorrelation, kurtosis, and skewness have been studied over the years. In this paper, four reputed CP indicators are investigated on electroretinograms (ERGs), recorded from the salamander’s eyes. To investigate the capability of these famous indicators for anticipating the changes in the system’s dynamics of salamander’s ERGs bifurcation, first, different dynamics of the system are detected using manual thresholding. Then the early warning signals are implemented using the four indicators. The results indicate the promising ability of the variance indicator as a trustworthy index that can be considered as an early warning signal. Moreover, it turns out that the kurtosis and skewness are the least promising indicators since they are so sensitive to noise, which is an intrinsic property of the real data. Although autocorrelation leads to accurate results as variance does, it includes many false-positives, which reduce this indicator’s reliability to be considered as an early warning signal of CPs. Furthermore, it is specified that the proper length of data in each bifurcation parameter will lead to a more credible early warning signal

A New Circumscribed Self-Excited Spherical Strange Attractor

Studying new chaotic flows with specific characteristics has been an open-ended field of exploring nonlinear dynamics. Investigation of chaotic flows is an area of research that has been taken into consideration for many years; thus, it helps in a better understanding of the chaotic systems. In this paper, an original chaotic 3D system, which has not been investigated yet, is presented in spherical coordinates. A unique feature of the proposed system is that its velocity becomes zero for a specific value of the radius variable. Hence, the system’s attractor is expected to be stuck on one side of a plane in spherical coordinates and inside or outside a sphere in the corresponding Cartesian coordinates. It means that the attractor cannot pass through the sphere or even touch it. The introduced system owns two unstable equilibria and a self-excited strange attractor. The 1D and 2D system’s bifurcation diagrams concerning the alteration of two bifurcation parameters are plotted to investigate the system’s dynamical properties. Moreover, the system’s Lyapunov exponents in the corresponding period of bifurcation parameters are calculated. Then, two 2D basins of attraction for two different third dimension values are explored. Based on the basin of attraction, it can be found that the sphere has attraction itself, partially, and some initial conditions are led to the sphere, not to the strange attractor. Ultimately, the connecting curves of the proposed system are explored to find an informative 1D set in addition to the system’s equilibria