EXAMINES ACADEMIC LIBRARY USERS’ EXPERIENCE TOWARDS LIBRARY PATRONAGE IN STATE UNIVERSITIES IN SRI LANKA

Libraries and information centers are service units held with the responsibility of providing varied information services based on a number of resources. It covers tangible assets, namely library building, equipment, furniture, information resources and staff. The intangible element has been the information services provided by the libraries. The tangible assets and intangible services of libraries are changing greatly due to the development and changes in the area of information technology. The purpose of this study is to empirically investigate to accomplish the relationship between Service Quality dimensions, customer experience (CE) library patronage (LP) and library user attitude (LUA) in the context of university library service quality in Sri Lanka. In addition, it investigates the mediating effect of customer experience in the relationship between dimensions of library service quality and the library patronage.  Article visualizations

Solar energy for all? Understanding the successes and shortfalls through a critical comparative assessment of Bangladesh, Brazil, India, Mozambique, Sri Lanka and South Africa

Lanterns, homes systems, hot water systems and micro-grids based on small-scale solar have become prominent ways to address the energy access challenge. As momentum grows for this form of energy transition this paper draws together research on small-scale solar in six different countries – Bangladesh, Brazil, India, Mozambique, Sri Lanka and South Africa – to argue for a need to understand how, when, and for whom solar provides energy access. It argues that an assemblage perspective can provide vital insights into the diversity and dynamism of energy access. The paper demonstrates that the diverse ways in which solar provides energy access is a function of the flexibility/fixity of the socio-technical assemblage and the de/centralisation of agency. The central thesis of this paper is that energy access is fluid and ever changing and we need fluid, easily maintainable, locally modifiable ‘assemblages’ for providing such access. Using this perspective, we find three common features of solar energy access across our case studies. First, there are significant gaps between what solar projects are designed to achieve and what they deliver, which are highly contingent on the flexibility of their structure and the decentralisation of agency within them. Second, access needs to endure continuously. Third, to foster enduring access, projects should embed logics of improvisation. This paper is based on six separate qualitative research projects conducted during 2010–2016. It draws data from 482 interviews, 91 home tours and 12 group discussions

Quantification of temporal fault trees based on fuzzy set theory

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014. Fault tree analysis (FTA) has been modified in different ways to make it capable of performing quantitative and qualitative safety analysis with temporal gates, thereby overcoming its limitation in capturing sequential failure behaviour. However, for many systems, it is often very difficult to have exact failure rates of components due to increased complexity of systems, scarcity of necessary statistical data etc. To overcome this problem, this paper presents a methodology based on fuzzy set theory to quantify temporal fault trees. This makes the imprecision in available failure data more explicit and helps to obtain a range of most probable values for the top event probability

Masters and Doctor of Philosophy admission prediction of Bangladeshi students into different classes of universities

Many Bangladeshi students intend to pursue higher studies abroad after completing their undergraduate degrees every year. Choosing a university for higher education is a challenging task for students. Especially, the students with average and lower academic credentials (undergraduate grades, English proficiency test scores, job, and research experiences) can hardly choose the universities that could match their profile. In this paper, we have analyzed some real unique data of Bangladeshi students who had been accepted admissions at different universities worldwide for higher studies. Finally, we have produced prediction models based on random forest (RF) and decision tree (DT) techniques, which can predict appropriate universities of specific classes for students according to their past academic performances. Two separate models have been studied in this paper, one for Masters (MS)students and another for Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)students. According to the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings, the universities where the students got admitted have been divided into 9 classes for MS students and 8 classes for PhD students. Accuracy, precision, recall and F1-Score have been studied for the two machine learning algorithms. Numerical results show that both the algorithm DT and RF have the same accuracy of 89% for PhD student data and 86% for MS student data

A reinforcement-learning-based model for resilient load balancing in Hyperledger Fabric

Blockchain with its numerous advantages is often considered a foundational technology with the potential to revolutionize a wide range of application domains, including enterprise applications. These enterprise applications must meet several important criteria, including scalability, performance, and privacy. Enterprise blockchain applications are frequently constructed on private blockchain platforms to satisfy these criteria. Hyperledger Fabric is one of the most popular platforms within this domain. In any privacy blockchain system, including Fabric, every organisation needs to utilise a peer node (or peer nodes) to connect to the blockchain platform. Due to the ever-increasing size of blockchain and the need to support a large user base, the monitoring and the management of different resources of such peer nodes can be crucial for a successful deployment of such blockchain platforms. Unfortunately, little attention has been paid to this issue. In this work, we propose the first-ever solution to this significant problem by proposing an intelligent control system based on reinforcement learning for distributing the resources of Hyperledger Fabric. We present the architecture, discuss the protocol flows, outline the data collection methods, analyse the results and consider the potential applications of the proposed approach

Community engagement interventions for communicable disease control in low- and lower- middle-income countries : evidence from a review of systematic reviews

BACKGROUND: Community engagement (CE) interventions include a range of approaches to involve communities in the improvement of their health and wellbeing. Working with communities defined by location or some other shared interest, these interventions may be important in assisting equity and reach of communicable disease control (CDC) in low and lower-middle income countries (LLMIC). We conducted an umbrella review to identify approaches to CE in communicable disease control, effectiveness of these approaches, mechanisms and factors influencing success. METHODS: We included systematic reviews that: i) focussed on CE interventions; ii) involved adult community members; iii) included outcomes relevant to communicable diseases in LLMIC; iv) were written in English. Quantitative results were extracted and synthesised narratively. A qualitative synthesis process enabled identification of mechanisms of effect and influencing factors. We followed guidance from the Joanna Briggs Institute, assessed quality with the DARE tool and reported according to standard systematic review methodology. RESULTS: Thirteen systematic reviews of medium-to-high quality were identified between June and July 2017. Reviews covered the following outcomes: HIV and STIs (6); malaria (2); TB (1); child and maternal health (3) and mixed (1). Approaches included: CE through peer education and community health workers, community empowerment interventions and more general community participation or mobilisation. Techniques included sensitisation with the community and involvement in the identification of resources, intervention development and delivery. Evidence of effectiveness of CE on health outcomes was mixed and quality of primary studies variable. We found: i) significantly reduced neonatal mortality following women's participatory learning and action groups; ii) significant reductions in HIV and other STIs with empowerment and mobilisation interventions with marginalised groups; iii) significant reductions in malaria incidence or prevalence in a small number of primary studies; iv) significant reductions in infant diarrhoea following community health worker interventions. Mechanisms of impact commonly occurred through social and behavioural processes, particularly: changing social norms, increasing social cohesion and social capacity. Factors influencing effectiveness of CE interventions included extent of population coverage, shared leadership and community control over outcomes. CONCLUSION: Community engagement interventions may be effective in supporting CDC in LLMIC. Careful design of CE interventions appropriate to context, disease and community is vital

Prognostic factors for outcomes of idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss: protocol for the SeaSHeL national prospective cohort study

INTRODUCTION: The mainstay of treatment for idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) includes oral steroids, intratympanic steroid injections or a combination of both. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, in their recent hearing loss guidelines, highlighted the paucity of evidence assessing the comparative effectiveness of these treatments; and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment Programme has since released a commissioned call for a trial to identify the most effective route of administration of steroids as a first-line treatment for idiopathic SSNHL. For such trials to be run effectively, reliable information is needed on patients with SSNHL: where they present, numbers, demographics, treatment pathways, as well as outcomes. This study will collect these data in a nationwide cohort study of patients presenting with SSNHL across 97 National Health Service (NHS) trusts. The study will be delivered through ear, nose and throat (ENT) trainee networks, the NIHR Clinical Research Network (CRN) Audiology Champions and the NIHR CRN. Importantly, this study will also provide a dataset to develop a prognostic model to predict recovery for patients with idiopathic SSNHL. The study objectives are to: (1) map the patient pathway and identify the characteristics of adult patients presenting to NHS ENT and hearing services with SSNHL, (2) develop a prognostic model to predict recovery for patients with idiopathic SSNHL and (3) establish the impact of idiopathic SSNHL on patients' quality of life (QoL). METHODS AND ANALYSIS: Study design: national multicentre prospective cohort study across 97 NHS trusts. INCLUSION CRITERIA: adult patients presenting to NHS ENT and hearing services with SSNHL. OUTCOMES: change in auditory function; change in QoL score. ANALYSIS: multivariable prognostic model, using prespecified candidate predictors. Mean change in QoL scores will be calculated from initial presentation to follow-up. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Health Research Authority and NHS Research Ethics Committee approved the study. Publication will be on behalf of study sites and collaborators. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ClinicalTrials.gov Registry (NCT04108598)

Contamination of Fresh Produce with Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria and Associated Risks to Human Health: A Scoping Review.

Fresh produce, when consumed raw, can be a source of exposure to antimicrobial residues, antimicrobial-resistant bacteria (ARB) and antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs) of clinical importance. This review aims to determine: (1) the presence and abundance of antimicrobial residues, ARB and ARGs in fresh agricultural products sold in retail markets and consumed raw; (2) associated health risks in humans; and (3) pathways through which fresh produce becomes contaminated with ARB/ARGs. We searched the Ovid Medline, Web of Science and Hinari databases as well as grey literature, and identified 40 articles for inclusion. All studies investigated the occurrence of multidrug-resistant bacteria, and ten studies focused on ARGs in fresh produce, while none investigated antimicrobial residues. The most commonly observed ARB were E. coli (42.5%) followed by Klebsiella spp. (22.5%), and Salmonella spp. (20%), mainly detected on lettuce. Twenty-five articles mentioned health risks from consuming fresh produce but none quantified the risk. About half of the articles stated produce contamination occurred during pre- and post-harvest processes. Our review indicates that good agricultural and manufacturing practices, behavioural change communication and awareness-raising programs are required for all stakeholders along the food production and consumption supply chain to prevent ARB/ARG exposure through produce