THE MODUS OPERANDI OF CREATING AN ONLINE DIRECTORY OF LIS PROFESSIONALS OF TAMILNADU, INDIA : A LIVE WEB PROJECT IN WORDPRESS DOMAIN

The present study is an online endeavour by the researchers to create a web directory to give a brief account of library and information science professionals working in different institutions in Tamilnadu. The researchers have chosen Wordpress – an open source blogging software and domain – to create an online directory of LIS professionals because of its simplicity and powerful features. The researchers who have a good understanding of Wordpress blogs, collected data about 50 LIS professionals working in universities and arts and science colleges of about 10 districts. They have created the online directory with the URL www.tnlisdirectory.wordpress.com. First of all they chose theme for the blog and decided upon its layout. Then, they customized the blog with various options like site title, tagline, font style, font colour, background colour and custom header. After customization, widgets required for the blog were added. Home page was designed as a static page. The data for about 25 LIS professionals – both teaching and practicing – of higher educational institutions of Tamilnadu are uploaded in the form of posts. Links were created for about 15 LIS professionals. Interesting quotes on Librarians were also included. Six galleries to showcase the photos of about 100 LIS professionals were created to add a colourful look of the blog. Text widget and image widget were used to give ‘about information’ and ‘motivating pictures’. Search option is provided in the blog to enable the online users to search for LIS professionals. A video about the life of Dr.S.R.Ranganathan is placed in the footer sidebar along with the archives option and calendar option. The feedback received from 15 diverse LIS professionals on the design, layout and content of the blog was quite welcoming, motivating and positive. This endeavour was a different, fruitful, online learning experience for the researchers

MAPPING OF THE RESEARCH OUTPUT ON ‘WIRELESS COMMUNICATION (2010 - 2018)’: A WEB OF SCIENCE BASED SCIENTOMETRIC EVALUATION

The present study aimed at examining the quantitative and qualitative aspects of literature output on Wireless Communication as available and indexed in Web of Science database covering a nine year period i.e from 2010 to 2018. A total of 8482 records were downloaded from Web of Science core collection database. The downloaded records, in txt format, were exported to Bibexcel software for analyzing the data for certain quantitative and qualitative indicators. MS Excel programme was used to do all the necessary calculations and preparation of cross tables with Pivot Table options. The findings were presented under the major heads as basic metrics, author metrics, quality metrics, institution and publisher metrics, future metrics and geo metrics. The findings reveal that there is a gradual growth of publications on WLC during the study period. An exponential growth pattern was found. The Relative Growth Rate shows a decreasing trend and the Doubling time shows an increasing trend. Rather than single authored publications, multi-authored publications are more in numbers. The authors preferred to work in very small / small teams. The Degree of collaboration kept on growing throughout the study period. The researchers in WLC preferred to publish their research findings in the form of Journal articles. English is the preferred language of publications among the WLC researchers. China and USA lead the world in WLC research followed by India in the third place. Intra-county collaboration was found to be more in numbers than inter-country collaboration in WLC research output. The journals publishing research papers in WLC research do not fall in Bradford’s law of scattering. The time series analysis shows that the growth of WLC research output will be in better prospects in the years to come

Association between placental vitamin D receptor expression and cord blood vitamin D level and its effect on the birth weight of newborns

Background: Vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy affects fetal growth and development. The present study explored the association between vitamin D levels in cord blood and placental vitamin D receptor expression.Methods: A total of 54 subjects with live-born singleton deliveries were included in SRM Medical College Hospital and Research Centre, Kattankulathur, India. Cord blood and placenta was obtained at the time of delivery.      Results: The mean newborn vitamin D level was 20.07 ng/mL (13-27.50). The mean of relative vitamin D receptor (VDR) expression was 1.45Ct (range 0.10-2.6). Mean comparison of cord serum 25(OH) D3 and VDR revealed significant at p<0.05 by student’s t-test. The newborn anthropometric measurement of head circumference 31.44±3.99 cm, Chest circumference 28.88±4.30 cm, Body length 45.52±8.05 cm, Birth weight 2660.61±353.27 g had significant association with mean VDR expression at p <0.05 level by student t-test analysis. Further, Pearson correlation coefficient also revealed strong positive correlation of placental VDR and cord serum vitamin D (r=0.853, p <0.05).Conclusions: The present study indicates that there was a high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in the south Indian newborns and the study suggested that VDR had crucial role in maternal to fetal nutrient transfer mechanism. Vitamin D status in cord blood is associated with the birth weight of newborns. Hence, Vitamin D levels during gestation may affect fetal growth and development

Correlation between maternal and neonatal blood vitamin D levels and its effect on the newborn anthropometry

Background: Vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy has important implications for the new born and infant. In India, there were few data about the prevalence of hypovitaminosis D in pregnancy and in new-born and its correlation. Hence, this study aim was to determine vitamin D deficiency in pregnant women and their new-borns and to assess the correlation between maternal and new born serum levels of the vitamin D3 and also to study its effect on the newborn anthropometry.Methods: This cross-sectional, hospital based study was conducted with 54 consecutive women in labour presenting with a singleton term pregnancy at a large tertiary centre in Tamilnadu, India. Data were recorded on a special form and 25-hydroxy vitamin D3 was assessed before delivery in mothers and after delivery in their infant’s umbilical cord blood.Results: The mean vitamin D levels were 20.21 ng/mL for the participants and 20.07 ng/mL for the newborns. Vitamin D severe deficiency was noted in 3 (6%), deficiency 31 (57%), insufficiency 12 (22%) and sufficiency in 8 (15%) of 54 participants whereas severe deficiency, insufficiency and sufficiency respectively, were noted in 4 (7%), 30 (56%), 11 (20%) and 9 (17%) of the newborns. Maternal vitamin D level significantly associated with socioeconomic status, term of delivery and type of delivery respectively were p=0.000, p=0.000 and p=0.038 whereas age (p=0.081), BMI (p=0.085) and parity (p=0.038) was not significant at p <0.05 level by chi-square analysis. Similarly, the new born characteristics of birth weight (p=0.000), birth length (p=0.016), head and chest circumference (p=0.001, p=0.000) exists significant association at p<0.05 level by analysis of variance (ANOVA) method and also there was a strong positive correlation between the vitamin D levels in maternal and cord blood (r=0.898; P <0.05).Conclusions: There was a high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in the south Indian pregnant women and their newborns. Vitamin D deficiency increased the risk of low birth weight neonate and it also had an effect on the length of the baby, head circumference and chest circumference. This public health problem needs urgent attention

USE OF LEGAL INFORMATION SOURCES AND SERVICES BY THE UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS OF GOVERNMENT LAW COLLEGE, COIMBATORE, TAMILNADU STATE, INDIA : A STUDY

The present study is undertaken to investigate the use of legal information sources and services by the undergraduate students of Government Law College, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu State, India. It is a descriptive research study which employed questionnaires to collect data from 200 students who are pursing III, IV and V year of undergraduate law courses. The findings of the study reveal that : A majority of 83 students need human rights information and 78 students need academic information. A majority of 62 (93.94%) students know and use textbooks, 50 (75.76%) know and use law books and 49 (74.24%) know and make use of Bye-Laws. Updates of court rules (33, 41.25%) and Statutes (25, 30.12%) are the sources which are not known to most number of IV year students. A majority of them are aware of Internet and legal databases and they make use of such resources. The website of Supreme Court of India is widely known and used among them. A majority of them browse internet, read books/journals, ask faculty members and use mass media to access legal information. Reading books / journals, cyber café, trial and error method and instruction from library staff are the methods used by most of the students to learn to use legal information resources. More than 80% of them know and use JUDIS. Inadequate number of journals, non-availability of latest journals, difficulty in finding relevant information and erratic power supply are the major problems faced by the male students in accessing library resources. A majority of the students want the library to conduct demos of online legal sources by external experts, expect the library to provide more electronic resources and online legal databases and want the library to provide index to law reports and more current legal materials

DOES THE GENDER INFLUENCE THE READING HABITS, PREFERENCES AND ATTITUDES OF SCHOOL STUDENTS? : A CASE STUDY

The present study aims at investigating the effect of gender on the reading habits, reading preferences and attitudes towards reading among the school students. Survey research with a well-structured questionnaire was employed by the researchers. Five matriculation schools of Madurai City, Tamil Nadu State, India are the unit of study. The secondary and higher secondary students form the sample of the study. Out of 250 questionnaires distributed, 200 duly filled questionnaires were received back. The study reveals that : More boys than girls prefer non-fiction, prefer science fiction, crime and fantasy stories, prefer biographies and autobiographies and essays, spend 1-2 hours per week on reading, prefer Tamil language materials to read, read to pass time and get a job, prefer lips reading, decide to read a book based on table of contents, depend on school library, prefer to read in the early morning, spend 5-10 minutes to read newspaper every day, read GK magazines, visit the library daily, visit the library to borrow books and read newspapers, prefer to visit the library during lunch breaks and read e-magazines. More girls than boys prefer horror stories, motivational books, spend 3-4 hours per week on reading, read to improve knowledge and relax, decide to read a book based on authors, depend on own collection, prefer to read before bed hours, read comics, visit the library once in a week, visit the library to read books, prefer to visit the library during library hours and read e-newspapers. Both boys and girls prefer both fiction and non-fiction, prefer to read English language materials, prefer silent reading, prefer to read at home, prefer Tamil newspapers, prefer to read newspapers in the morning, look for local news and entertainment news in the newspaper, prefer Dinamalar newspaper, prefer Tamil magazines, read subject magazines, prefer to use laptops and desktops, spend less than one hour, read e-books, use search engines to access required e-materials, e-read for time pass, prefer PDF files. Thus, there are instances where gender influences and there are few instances where gender does not influence the reading habits and preferences of the school students

MAPPING OF THE RESEARCH OUTPUT ON ‘WIRELESS COMMUNICATION (2010 - 2018)’: A WEB OF SCIENCE BASED SCIENTOMETRIC EVALUATION

The present study aimed at examining the quantitative and qualitative aspects of literature output on Wireless Communication as available and indexed in Web of Science database covering a nine year period i.e from 2010 to 2018. A total of 8482 records were downloaded from Web of Science core collection database. The downloaded records, in txt format, were exported to Bibexcel software for analyzing the data for certain quantitative and qualitative indicators. MS Excel programme was used to do all the necessary calculations and preparation of cross tables with Pivot Table options. The findings were presented under the major heads as basic metrics, author metrics, quality metrics, institution and publisher metrics, future metrics and geo metrics. The findings reveal that there is a gradual growth of publications on WLC during the study period. An exponential growth pattern was found. The Relative Growth Rate shows a decreasing trend and the Doubling time shows an increasing trend. Rather than single authored publications, multi-authored publications are more in numbers. The authors preferred to work in very small / small teams. The Degree of collaboration kept on growing throughout the study period. The researchers in WLC preferred to publish their research findings in the form of Journal articles. English is the preferred language of publications among the WLC researchers. China and USA lead the world in WLC research followed by India in the third place. Intra-county collaboration was found to be more in numbers than inter-country collaboration in WLC research output. The journals publishing research papers in WLC research do not fall in Bradford’s law of scattering. The time series analysis shows that the growth of WLC research output will be in better prospects in the years to come

USE OF LEGAL INFORMATION SOURCES AND SERVICES BY THE UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS OF GOVERNMENT LAW COLLEGE, COIMBATORE, TAMILNADU STATE, INDIA : A STUDY

The present study is undertaken to investigate the use of legal information sources and services by the undergraduate students of Government Law College, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu State, India. It is a descriptive research study which employed questionnaires to collect data from 200 students who are pursing III, IV and V year of undergraduate law courses. The findings of the study reveal that : A majority of 83 students need human rights information and 78 students need academic information. A majority of 62 (93.94%) students know and use textbooks, 50 (75.76%) know and use law books and 49 (74.24%) know and make use of Bye-Laws. Updates of court rules (33, 41.25%) and Statutes (25, 30.12%) are the sources which are not known to most number of IV year students. A majority of them are aware of Internet and legal databases and they make use of such resources. The website of Supreme Court of India is widely known and used among them. A majority of them browse internet, read books/journals, ask faculty members and use mass media to access legal information. Reading books / journals, cyber café, trial and error method and instruction from library staff are the methods used by most of the students to learn to use legal information resources. More than 80% of them know and use JUDIS. Inadequate number of journals, non-availability of latest journals, difficulty in finding relevant information and erratic power supply are the major problems faced by the male students in accessing library resources. A majority of the students want the library to conduct demos of online legal sources by external experts, expect the library to provide more electronic resources and online legal databases and want the library to provide index to law reports and more current legal materials

DOES THE GENDER INFLUENCE THE READING HABITS, PREFERENCES AND ATTITUDES OF SCHOOL STUDENTS? : A CASE STUDY

The present study aims at investigating the effect of gender on the reading habits, reading preferences and attitudes towards reading among the school students. Survey research with a well-structured questionnaire was employed by the researchers. Five matriculation schools of Madurai City, Tamil Nadu State, India are the unit of study. The secondary and higher secondary students form the sample of the study. Out of 250 questionnaires distributed, 200 duly filled questionnaires were received back. The study reveals that : More boys than girls prefer non-fiction, prefer science fiction, crime and fantasy stories, prefer biographies and autobiographies and essays, spend 1-2 hours per week on reading, prefer Tamil language materials to read, read to pass time and get a job, prefer lips reading, decide to read a book based on table of contents, depend on school library, prefer to read in the early morning, spend 5-10 minutes to read newspaper every day, read GK magazines, visit the library daily, visit the library to borrow books and read newspapers, prefer to visit the library during lunch breaks and read e-magazines. More girls than boys prefer horror stories, motivational books, spend 3-4 hours per week on reading, read to improve knowledge and relax, decide to read a book based on authors, depend on own collection, prefer to read before bed hours, read comics, visit the library once in a week, visit the library to read books, prefer to visit the library during library hours and read e-newspapers. Both boys and girls prefer both fiction and non-fiction, prefer to read English language materials, prefer silent reading, prefer to read at home, prefer Tamil newspapers, prefer to read newspapers in the morning, look for local news and entertainment news in the newspaper, prefer Dinamalar newspaper, prefer Tamil magazines, read subject magazines, prefer to use laptops and desktops, spend less than one hour, read e-books, use search engines to access required e-materials, e-read for time pass, prefer PDF files. Thus, there are instances where gender influences and there are few instances where gender does not influence the reading habits and preferences of the school students