Author! author!: creating a digital archive of publications in a hospital library setting

Baptist Hospital of Miami has been honoring its staff authors annually during National Library Week since 1979, at the time the library was relocated. Upon "doing the math" and realizing that twenty-five years had passed, a special event was planned to celebrate the occasion in 2004. A merger of four hospitals in 1995 to form Baptist Health South Florida, and an addition of a fifth hospital in 2003 added into the complexity of these publications. Organizing the event led to the conclusion that there had to be a "better way" to manage the publication archive. This paper will include a look back at the event's past, present efforts to develop an archival database, and future plans to make articles available electronically to users, copyright permitting.     

Carrying out organic chemistry within crystalline solids

Since organic solid state reactions must take place within the organised medium of the crystal lattice, their course and outcome can often be controlled and exploited. Although their major application is not in the area of organic synthesis, they are far from being academic curiosities. They have been involved in situations as diverse as observing the approach of reacting molecules, determining the absolute configurations of chiral molecules, and establishing crystallisation patterns for organic solids.     

Library Automation in Indian Central Universities: Issues and Challenges

The purpose of this article is to highlight the status and application of an automated cataloging system in central university libraries in north India. Data has been collected using questionnaires. Interview and observation techniques have also been used to bring objectivity in the present study. Results show that varying levels of progress have been made with respect to implementation of a cataloging system. Results also show that with the help of automation, libraries have satisfied user communities by way of easy retrieval. It has removed discrepancies and set a trend for standardization. Furthermore, staff morale has been boosted up in an automated environment.     

A simple laboratory experiment for studying the relaxation oscillations in a diode laser

Conclusion We have demonstrated the modulation of laser around threshold for the observation of relaxation oscillations in a semiconductor diode laser. The oscillations frequency for the diode laser D₁ was 1.5 kHz whereas the oscillations frequency corresponding to the laser from laser pointer D₂ was 227 kHz. We have also observed the variation in damping time and relaxation frequency of both the lasers as a function ofx. In fact a classroom exercise can be taken up easily to do the parametric characterisation.     

Microprocessor-based simulation of sampled data systems with/without a hold device using a set of sample-and-hold functions and Dirac delta functions

In the present work, Dirac delta function (DF) set and sample-and-hold functions (SHF) set are used for microprocessor-based simulation of discrete time as well as sample-and-hold systems. Such simulations are useful for identification of control systems with known input and output sequence. The presented method utilizes operational matrices of different orders in the DF and SHF domain to develop different operational transfer functions. A few open-loop as well as closed-loop systems have been studied and the simulation results obtained are compared with exact solutions derived with the help of z-transform analysis. Experiments have also been carried out to establish the validity of the proposal.     

An Ecological Inventory Approach to Developing Curricula for Rural Areas of Developing Countries

The paper describes a curriculum development pilot study in a rural village in India. The purpose of the study was to develop and test application of an ecological inventory approach to curriculum development integrating academic and functional skill training. Ecologically valid curricula teach the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values required by students to function effectively in current and future environments (e.g., urban and/or rural, academic, vocational, domestic, community and recreational) in which the students perform. The discussion illustrates application of ecological inventories and describes several related data collection instruments and procedures. The paper also describes an Integrated Core Curriculum Structure (ICCS) as a guide for designing curricula based on ecological inventories. An example is provided of a practical Thematic Unit Plan derived from the ICCS and integrating a variety of functional and academic skills into a guide for instruction and evaluation. The discussion provides a clear insight into many of the problems faced by students, school leavers and graduates in rural areas of developing countries, both in their daily lives and as they plan for their futures.     

A Comparison of Chained Linear and Poststratification Linear Equating Under Different Testing Conditions

In this study I compared results of chained linear, Tucker, and Levine-observed score equatings under conditions where the new and old forms samples were similar in ability and also when they were different in ability. The length of the anchor test was also varied to examine its effect on the three different equating methods. The three equating methods were compared to a criterion equating to obtain estimates of random equating error, bias, and root mean squared error (RMSE). Results showed that, for most studied conditions, chained linear equating produced fairly good equating results in terms of low bias and RMSE. Levine equating also produced low bias and RMSE in some conditions. Although the Tucker method always produced the lowest random equating error, it produced a larger bias and RMSE than either of the other equating methods. As noted in the literature, these results also suggest that either chained linear or Levine equating be used when new and old form samples differ on ability and/or when the anchor-to-total correlation is not very high. Finally, by testing the missing data assumptions of the three equating methods, this study also shows empirically why an equating method is more or less accurate under certain conditions .     

The Wilsonian revolution in statistical mechanics and quantum field theory

We describe how Wilson’s concept of the renormalization group revolutionized our understanding of the physics of phase transitions, and of quantum field theory in general. We underline the key ideas of Wilson, based on earlier ideas of Landau, Ginzburg, Kadanoff and many others, which gave us an insight into the observed universality of diverse physical phenomena, and the remarkable efficacy of a few simple models to describe them.     

(4) Royal Scientific Society Course in Librarianship

The author supports the opinion that full benefit may be derived from the technological potential on condition that serious attention is given to the social, political and ethical aspects, which are often barriers to the free and multi-directional access to information, especially in developing countries. Causes of these barriers — “disarticulations” within a society — are listed and their importance in developing countries emphasized. Possible different communication structures in a society and their effects are examined. The author concludes that the traditional, principle of free flow of information is not sufficient in the advancing information society; there is a need for a, principle which deals more specifically with the “activation”, “mediation”, and “networking” of the needs and opinions at the different levels of society.