Re-engineering and Re-defining University Libraries in the context of modern Information and Communication Technologies: a study with special reference to the University Libraries in Kerala

Information and communication technologies are the tools that underpin the emerging “Knowledge Society”. Exchange of information or knowledge between people and through networks of people has always taken place. But the ICT has radically changed the magnitude of this exchange, and thus factors such as timeliness of information and information dissemination patterns have become more important than ever.Since information and knowledge are so vital for the all round human development, libraries and institutions that manage these resources are indeed invaluable. So, the Library and Information Centres have a key role in the acquisition, processing, preservation and dissemination of information and knowledge. ln the modern context, library is providing service based on different types of documents such as manuscripts, printed, digital, etc. At the same time, acquisition, access, process, service etc. of these resources have become complicated now than ever before. The lCT made instrumental to extend libraries beyond the physical walls of a building and providing assistance in navigating and analyzing tremendous amounts of knowledge with a variety of digital tools. Thus, modern libraries are increasingly being re-defined as places to get unrestricted access to information in many formats and from many sources.The research was conducted in the university libraries in Kerala State, India. lt was identified that even though the information resources are flooding world over and several technologies have emerged to manage the situation for providing effective services to its clientele, most of the university libraries in Kerala were unable to exploit these technologies at maximum level. Though the libraries have automated many of their functions, wide gap prevails between the possible services and provided services. There are many good examples world over in the application of lCTs in libraries for the maximization of services and many such libraries have adopted the principles of reengineering and re-defining as a management strategy. Hence this study was targeted to look into how effectively adopted the modern lCTs in our libraries for maximizing the efficiency of operations and services and whether the principles of re-engineering and- redefining can be applied towards this.Data‘ was collected from library users, viz; student as well as faculty users; library ,professionals and university librarians, using structured questionnaires. This has been .supplemented by-observation of working of the libraries, discussions and interviews with the different types of users and staff, review of literature, etc. Personal observation of the organization set up, management practices, functions, facilities, resources, utilization of information resources and facilities by the users, etc. of the university libraries in Kerala have been made. Statistical techniques like percentage, mean, weighted mean, standard deviation, correlation, trend analysis, etc. have been used to analyse data.All the libraries could exploit only a very few possibilities of modern lCTs and hence they could not achieve effective Universal Bibliographic Control and desired efficiency and effectiveness in services. Because of this, the users as well as professionals are dissatisfied. Functional effectiveness in acquisition, access and process of information resources in various formats, development and maintenance of OPAC and WebOPAC, digital document delivery to remote users, Web based clearing of library counter services and resources, development of full-text databases, digital libraries and institutional repositories, consortia based operations for e-journals and databases, user education and information literacy, professional development with stress on lCTs, network administration and website maintenance, marketing of information, etc. are major areas need special attention to improve the situation. Finance, knowledge level on ICTs among library staff, professional dynamism and leadership, vision and support of the administrators and policy makers, prevailing educational set up and social environment in the state, etc. are some of the major hurdles in reaping the maximum possibilities of lCTs by the university libraries in Kerala. The principles of Business Process Re-engineering are found suitable to effectively apply to re-structure and redefine the operations and service system of the libraries. Most of the conventional departments or divisions prevailing in the university libraries were functioning as watertight compartments and their existing management system was more rigid to adopt the principles of change management. Hence, a thorough re-structuring of the divisions was indicated. Consortia based activities and pooling and sharing of information resources was advocated to meet the varied needs of the users in the main campuses and off campuses of the universities, affiliated colleges and remote stations. A uniform staff policy similar to that prevailing in CSIR, DRDO, ISRO, etc. has been proposed by the study not only in the university libraries in kerala but for the entire country.Restructuring of Lis education,integrated and Planned development of school,college,research and public library systems,etc.were also justified for reaping maximum benefits of the modern ICTs.

Response of Eastern Arabian Sea to Extreme climatic Events with Special Reference to Selected Pelagic Fishes

The thesis attempts to study the changes in oceanographic parameters associated with extreme climatic events,the influence of oceanographic as well as meteorological parameters on fishes.The characteristics of major pelagic fishes of southwest coast of India(Oil sardine and Indian mackerel) have been described here.A description on study area and period of study is also described .The impact of extreme climatic events on the oceanographic variability of Eastern Arabian Sea.The extreme climatic event,the Indian Ocean Dipole associated with EI Nino Southern Oscillation is taken into consideration.The variability in oil sardine and mackerel landings of southwest coast of India during the study period.The trend analysis of the landings has been done and also a prediction model is applied for the landings.The influence of environmental parameters on oil sardine as well as mackerel fishery has been explained .With regression analysis ,the significant relation between environmental parameters and fish landings are also been recognized.The prediction of landings is done with these environmental parameters.

Long term trends of seasonal and monthly rainfall in different intensity ranges over Indian subcontinent

In general Indian summer monsoon rainfall did not show any significant trend in all Indian summer monsoon rainfall series, however, it was reported that the ISMR is subjected to spatial trends. This paper made an attempt to bring out long term trends of different intensity classes of summer monsoon rainfall in different regions of Indian subcontinent. The long term trend of seasonal and monthly rainfall were also made using the India Meteorological Department gridded daily rainfall data with a spatial resolution of 1° × 1° latitude-longitude grid for the period from 1st January, 1901 to 31st December, 2003. The summer monsoon rainfall shows an increasing trend in southeast, northwest and northeast regions, whereas decreasing trend in the central and west coastal regions. In monthly scale, July rainfall shows decreasing trend over west coastal and central Indian regions and significant increasing trend over northeast region at 0.1% significant level. During the month August, decreasing trend is observed in the west coastal stations at 10% significant level. In most of the stations, mean daily rainfall shows an increasing trend for low and very high intense rainfall. For the moderate rainfall, the trend is different for different regions. In the central and southern regions the trend of moderate and moderately high classes show increasing trend. And for the high and very high intensity classes, the trend is decreasing significantly. In the northeastern regions, above 10 mm/day rainfall shows significantly increasing trend with 0.1% significant level.

SPATIAL CLUSTERING ALGORITHMS-AN OVERVIEW.

An Overview of known spatial clustering algorithms The space of interest can be the two-dimensional abstraction of the surface of the earth or a man-made space like the layout of a VLSI design, a volume containing a model of the human brain, or another 3d-space representing the arrangement of chains of protein molecules. The data consists of geometric information and can be either discrete or continuous. The explicit location and extension of spatial objects define implicit relations of spatial neighborhood (such as topological, distance and direction relations) which are used by spatial data mining algorithms. Therefore, spatial data mining algorithms are required for spatial characterization and spatial trend analysis. Spatial data mining or knowledge discovery in spatial databases differs from regular data mining in analogous with the differences between non-spatial data and spatial data. The attributes of a spatial object stored in a database may be affected by the attributes of the spatial neighbors of that object. In addition, spatial location, and implicit information about the location of an object, may be exactly the information that can be extracted through spatial data mining

International Trade and Cochin Port A Historical. and statistical Analysis -- 1881-1980

The overall focus of the thesis involves the International trade and cochin port a historical and statistical analysis 1881-1980.Analysing the trend of exports and imports through cochin port during the course of the last hundred years .This analysis has brought to light some very pertinent facts which , in our opinion,deserve serious consideration of the policy makers,the partise involved in trade and those who are interested in the development of the cochin port.Our study is restricted to twelve commodities -ten commodities of exports and two commodities of imports.The study reveals that the commodities that were exported from cochin are subjected to fluctuations -some mild and others wild. The projections only indicate the potential and unless we are very cautious the chance will be taken away by our competitors .With reference to the development of the port in particular and the states economy in general we would like to make a suggestion .This suggestion relates to declaring cochin as a free port .This will go a long way in the develppment of the port and the state's economy.The sooner it is done the better for the port and the state.

Analysis discrete function theory

There is a recent trend to describe physical phenomena without the use of infinitesimals or infinites. This has been accomplished replacing differential calculus by the finite difference theory. Discrete function theory was first introduced in l94l. This theory is concerned with a study of functions defined on a discrete set of points in the complex plane. The theory was extensively developed for functions defined on a Gaussian lattice. In 1972 a very suitable lattice H: {Ci qmxO,I qnyo), X0) 0, X3) 0, O < q < l, m, n 5 Z} was found and discrete analytic function theory was developed. Very recently some work has been done in discrete monodiffric function theory for functions defined on H. The theory of pseudoanalytic functions is a generalisation of the theory of analytic functions. When the generator becomes the identity, ie., (l, i) the theory of pseudoanalytic functions reduces to the theory of analytic functions. Theugh the theory of pseudoanalytic functions plays an important role in analysis, no discrete theory is available in literature. This thesis is an attempt in that direction. A discrete pseudoanalytic theory is derived for functions defined on H.

Sustainable Solid Waste Management Solutions To Kochi City, India, Through The Environmental Management Tool Ecological Footprint Analysis

Solid waste management nowadays is an important environmental issue in country like India. Statistics show that there has been substantial increase in the solid waste generation especially in the urban areas. This trend can be ascribed to rapid population growth, changing lifestyles, food habits, and change in living standards, lack of financial resources, institutional weaknesses, improper choice of technology and public apathy towards municipal solid waste. Waste is directly related to the consumption of resources and dumping to the land. Ecological footprint analysis – an impact assessment environment management tool makes a relationship between two factors- the amount of land required to dispose per capita generated waste. Ecological footprint analysis is a quantitative tool that represents the ecological load imposed on the earth by humans in spatial terms. By quantifying the ecological footprint we can formulate strategies to reduce the footprint and there by having a sustainable living. In this paper, an attempt is made to explore the tool Ecological Footprint Analysis with special emphasis to waste generation. The paper also discusses and analyses the waste footprint of Kochi city,India. An attempt is also made to suggest strategies to reduce the waste footprint thereby making the city sustainable, greener and cleaner

Ecological Foot Print Analysis-A Sustainable Environmental Management Tool for Kochi City

Kochi, the commercial capital of Kerala and the second most important city next to Mumbai on the Western coast of India, is a land having a wide variety of residential environments. The present pattern of the city can be classified as that of haphazard growth with typical problems characteristics of unplanned urban development. This trend can be ascribed to rapid population growth, our changing lifestyles, food habits, and change in living standards, institutional weaknesses, improper choice of technology and public apathy. Ecological footprint analysis (EFA) is a quantitative tool that represents the ecological load imposed on the earth by humans in spatial terms. This paper analyses the scope of EFA as a sustainable environmental management tool for Kochi City

Export performancecof Indian spices in the WTO regime: a disaggregated analysis

Export has assumed an important place in the development of any country and considered as the engine of economic growth. India requires huge amount of foreign exchange for its essential import and for achieving rapid growth. Millions of job opportunities have to be created to utilise the youth for nation building. Even though the country has different sources of foreign exchange, export earning is the safe way of obtaining it in the long run. Export of high valued traditional products not only gives foreign exchange, but also employment to large number of people. Spices are the traditional products of India whose production process is highly intensive in semi and unskilled labour, and high domestic and foreign market prices compared to other traditional products. The new world trade scenario with the establishment of WTO has affected India’s spices export considerably. The study examines the export performance of Indian spices in the WTO regime taking the export of major spices from 1985 to 2013 using the growth of export, trend and instability in growth rate, changes in the composition and direction of spices, export performance ratio and the prospects of spices in earning foreign exchange during the WTO period and Pre-WTO period. The analysis reveals that the overall performance of Indian spices exports during the WTO regime are satisfactory. Export volume and value increased much during this period. But the decrease in market share of spices export during the WTO period reflects that, the favourable conditions in the international market are not exploited by India. High Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) and Value Elasticity (EV) of major spices amidst the low export shares shows that export performance of Indian spices during the WTO regime was not mainly affected by external demand factors as suggested by Ragnar Nurkse in his Demand Deficiency Thesis, but because of internal supply factors as suggested in Supply Deficiency Thesis, (supported by K.S Dhinsha, Dacosta, Goddamwar,etc.). But the fluctuations of export during the recession and prosperity periods show that external demand is also a determinant of Indian spices export. From this one can conclude that both the domestic supply factors and foreign demand factors influence the export performance of Indian spices. The long term performance of Indian spices exports are mainly influenced by domestic supply factors as suggested by Supply Deficiency Thesis and short term performance is mostly influenced by external demand factors as suggested by Demand Deficiency Thesis.