E-RESOURCES AND ITS ADOPTION AMONG ENGINEERING COLLEGE FACULTY MEMBERS PERTAINING TO KERALA STATE

Matching with the many strides made in higher education, the engineering institutions in our country are devoting heavily on academic resources, specifically e-resources, since the quality of engineering institutions are also assessed in terms of availability of quality library references, collections, repositories and ICT tools for facilitating knowledge proliferation and its usage. An extensive study has been conducted among the Faculty of Engineering colleges in Kerala aimed to find the availability, infrastructure support and consumption status of various types of e-resources. As part of study predesigned and well-structured questionnaire was distributed among the librarians and faculty members of the selected engineering colleges. Gathered data were analyzed and results were compliant with the proposed hypothesis. The results give insights on availability e-resources in the engineering colleges, its usage and the associated and to rectify the problems faced by the users while accessing e-resources thereby making the library service more beneficial for the academic community of the engineering colleges under study

INFRASTRUCTURE AND FACILITY READINESS FOR PROVIDING E-LEARNING AND ALLIED SERVICES IN THE ENGINEERING COLLEGE LIBRARIES OF KERALA

Over the last decade, rapid reforms have been undertaken in the higher education sector such as policy framing, pedagogical transformations, accreditations, faculty standardisations and, most importantly, e-learning. Institutions, especially engineering colleges were quick and steady to admit the concepts of e-learning and its applications in the teaching and learning process. Online repositories and subscribed contents are no more an unfamiliar notion among the concerned users in engineering colleges. Though the majority of colleges are willing to embrace the new changes, academic circles are quite sceptic on the adequacy and suitability of infrastructural facilities available in the respective colleges. Many are concerned about the possible gap between the availability of e-resources and the mechanisms for effective accession and use of the e-content; for the teaching and learning process. This paper discusses on, the study conducted among the librarians of engineering college libraries in Kerala state, about the infrastructural support available for the accession and usage of e-resources

Newcastle Disease Virus in Madagascar: Identification of an Original Genotype Possibly Deriving from a Died Out Ancestor of Genotype IV

In Madagascar, Newcastle disease (ND) has become enzootic after the first documented epizootics in 1946, with recurrent annual outbreaks causing mortality up to 40%. Four ND viruses recently isolated in Madagascar were genotypically and pathotypically characterised. By phylogenetic inference based on the F and HN genes, and also full-genome sequence analyses, the NDV Malagasy isolates form a cluster distant enough to constitute a new genotype hereby proposed as genotype XI. This new genotype is presumably deriving from an ancestor close to genotype IV introduced in the island probably more than 50 years ago. Our data show also that all the previously described neutralising epitopes are conserved between Malagasy and vaccine strains. However, the potential implication in vaccination failures of specific amino acid substitutions predominantly found on surface-exposed epitopes of F and HN proteins is discussed

Caracterização de tubo e adesivo utilizados em tubulações de plástico reforçado com fibras de vidro aplicados em plataformas marítimas Characterization of pipes and adhesives of glassfiber reinforced plastics used in offshore platforms

Na indústria de exploração e produção de petróleo, principalmente no setor offshore, os plásticos reforçados por fibras de vidro (PRFV) têm apresentado grande destaque. Isso se deve à intrínseca capacidade destes de resistir à corrosão em ambientes salinos, bem como serem materiais que apresentam elevada resistência mecânica específica. O presente trabalho buscou caracterizar tubo e adesivo utilizados em plataformas marítimas. Para tanto, as técnicas utilizadas foram: espectroscopia na região do infravermelho com transformada de Fourier (FTIR), análise termogravimétrica (TGA), análise termodinâmico-mecânica (DMTA) e temperatura de amolecimento de Vicat. Amostras do tubo de PRFV e dos componentes do adesivo (denominados de A e B) foram estudadas individualmente. Além disso, foram confeccionadas misturas, em massa, nas seguintes proporções: 40%A-60%B, 50%A-50%B e 60%A-40%B. Foi possível determinar a composição e a estrutura química dos materiais, além do comportamento mecânico à degradação térmica. Foi verificado que adesivo e tubo apresentaram desempenho satisfatório à temperatura ambiente quanto à degradação e à rigidez. Por outro lado, quando submetido ao calor, principalmente os adesivos, apresentaram queda brusca de desempenho.<br>Glassfiber reinforced plastics (GFRP) have been applied in the offshore industry owing to their high resistance to corrosion and high specific mechanical strength. The present work aimed at characterizing pipes and adhesives used in offshore platforms in order to evaluate the thermo-mechanical performance of these materials. The techniques used were: Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetry analysis (TGA), dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) and Vicat softening temperature. Specimens of GFRP pipe and adhesive components (referred to as A and B) were evaluated individually. The adhesive samples were made in the following ratios (% weight): 40%A-60%B, 50%A-50%B and 60%A-40%B. The results showed it to be possible to determinate the composition and structure of the materials, as well as the mechanical behavior regarding thermal degradation. The adhesive and pipe exhibited satisfactory performance at room temperature, with regard to degradation and stiffness. Nevertheless, at higher temperatures, both materials, especially the adhesives, presented abrupt strength reduction

Trente ans de lutte contre l’onchocercose en Afrique de l’Ouest. Traitements larvicides et protection de l’environnement

La lutte contre l'onchocercose, ou cécité des rivières, une maladie parasitaire endémique, fut entreprise en Afrique de l'Ouest dans une perspective do développement durable. Tous les moyens technologiques disponibles ont de ce fait été mobilisés pour le contrôle du vecteur, une simulie, puis du parasite responsables de cette maladie, par le Programme de Lutte contre l’Onchocercose en Afrique de l'Ouest (OCP). La lutte antivectorielle consistant en épandages d’insecticides chimiques sur les sites de développement de la simulie dans les rivières, il est apparu indispensable d’assurer la sauvegarde de l’environnement aquatique qui fournit aux communautés riveraines eau et ressources biologiques. Les technologies les plus modernes ont été mises en œuvre dès leur mise au point, pour combattre la maladie, contribuant ainsi à la protection de ce milieu. Le programme de surveillance écologique des rivières traitées par des larvicides anti-simulies a été mis en place dès le lancement d’OCP. et assuré par des spécialistes de I' hydrobiologie des pays africains participants du Programme, sous la supervision d’un groupe international d’experts indépendants, le Groupe Écologique. OCP est incontestablement un succès aussi bien pour ce qui est du contrôle de la maladie que de la protection de l'environnement. Il est l'exemple unique au monde d’un programme de santé publique de longue durée qui depuis son origine a mis en œuvre tout ce qui était possible pour harmoniser les enjeux de l’amélioration de la santé et ceux de la protection de l’environnement. Il s'est achevé avec la satisfaction de laisser aux générations montantes un environnement non dégradé et des vallées libérées de l’onchocercose, qui permettront d’accroître la productivité agricole des pays africains.The control of onchocerciasis, or river blindness, an endemic parasitic disease, was implemented in West Africa in the perspective of sustainable development AH the available technological means to fight this disease, by way of the control of its blackfly vector, then its parasite, were therefore implemented by the Onchocerciasis Control Programme in West Africa (OCP). Vector control being achieved through applications of chemicals on its river breeding sites, it was necessary, at the same time, to fight for the preservation of the aquatic environment, which supplies the communities that live along the rivers with water and biological resources. This was the spirit in which the OCP was set up and implemented, and the most modem technologies were used as they become available to fight the disease, thus facilitating the preservation of the aquatic environment. This Programme has indisputably been a success as regards the control of the disease as also from the point of view of the preservation of the environment The aquatic monitoring programme of the rivers under treatment with anti-simulid larvicides was set up right from the very beginning, and performed by national experts of the Participating Countries of the Programme, under the aegis of a group of international independent experts, the Ecological Croup The Onchocerciasis Control Programme in West Africa is an unique example in the world of a long-term public health programme which has made every effort possible from its inception to adequately combine health and environment issues. It ended with the satisfaction of bequeathing to the coming generations a non degraded environment and valleys freed from onchocerciasis which would increase the agricultural productivity of the countries

Opportunistic infections and AIDS malignancies early after initiating combination antiretroviral therapy in high-income countries

Background: There is little information on the incidence of AIDS-defining events which have been reported in the literature to be associated with immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS) after combined antiretroviral therapy (cART) initiation. These events include tuberculosis, mycobacterium avium complex (MAC), cytomegalovirus (CMV) retinitis, progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), herpes simplex virus (HSV), Kaposi sarcoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), cryptococcosis and candidiasis. Methods: We identified individuals in the HIV-CAUSAL Collaboration, which includes data from six European countries and the US, who were HIV-positive between 1996 and 2013, antiretroviral therapy naive, aged at least 18 years, hadCD4+ cell count and HIV-RNA measurements and had been AIDS-free for at least 1 month between those measurements and the start of follow-up. For each AIDS-defining event, we estimated the hazard ratio for no cART versus less than 3 and at least 3 months since cART initiation, adjusting for time-varying CD4+ cell count and HIV-RNA via inverse probability weighting. Results: Out of 96 562 eligible individuals (78% men) with median (interquantile range) follow-up of 31 [13,65] months, 55 144 initiated cART. The number of cases varied between 898 for tuberculosis and 113 for PML. Compared with non-cART initiation, the hazard ratio (95% confidence intervals) up to 3 months after cART initiation were 1.21 (0.90-1.63) for tuberculosis, 2.61 (1.05-6.49) for MAC, 1.17 (0.34-4.08) for CMV retinitis, 1.18 (0.62-2.26) for PML, 1.21 (0.83-1.75) for HSV, 1.18 (0.87-1.58) for Kaposi sarcoma, 1.56 (0.82-2.95) for NHL, 1.11 (0.56-2.18) for cryptococcosis and 0.77 (0.40-1.49) for candidiasis. Conclusion: With the potential exception of mycobacterial infections, unmasking IRIS does not appear to be a common complication of cART initiation in high-income countries