The Canadian Society of Biblical Studies: Whither and whence?

In 1933 nine scholars from the University of Toronto and its affiliated colleges met to establish the Canadian Society of Biblical Studies (CSBS), which thus became the oldest academic society in Canada. This article examines the CSBS’s early history with a special focus on its purpose and intellectual stance. From there it moves to chart an impression of the Society’s current achievements, activities and intellectual character. This leads to a brief assessment of the challenges that face the CSBS in the future.

SOCIAL IMAGES OF EYE DONATION:THE PATHWAY TOWARDS MAKING A 'GIFT OF SIGHT'

Stupendous possibility of scientific and technological advancement in the field of health care services, the corneal transplantation emerges as a mechanism to enhance the life of a corneal blind person. The number of corneal transplantation has increased with the decrease in graft failure.The institutionalization of corneal transplantation and eye donation has blurred the line between human and machine.This brings a transformation in the outlook of people towards body and eye in the society.The body is considered as a machine and cornea (part of eye anatomy) is regarded as spare part which can be exchanged to replace the healthy donated cornea with the damage cornea of a recipient.The paper seeks to understand the perception towards dead body and willingness for eye donation in the society. The symbolic meaning attached with body and eye in the society is also outlined in the paper.The aim of the paper is to describe the representation of eye and willingness for eye donation among students of Panjab University and its affiliated colleges in Chandigarh,India.

Records and Archives Management Education and Training Opportunities in Bangladesh

The main aim of this chapter is to contextualize the records and archives management (RAM) education and training opportunities in Bangladesh with a view to identify the opportunities and challenges ahead in this endeavour. Some public and private universities and National University affiliated colleges and institutions are providing RAM education and National Library, National Archives, National Museum of Bangladesh, etc. are providing RAM training opportunities hands on practice in Bangladesh. The author discusses the current curriculum of different academia and need for RAM education and training opportunities as a subset of information management, with an acknowledged impact on the systematic and efficient management of Bangladeshi institutions. The author shows how the focus of RAM have shifted over the recent past from the archival management of unwanted documents, to the management of electronic systems, giving records managers an equal standing with other professionals in the field of information management or knowledge management. The result reveals that training opportunities on RAM have increased the professionals' development in Bangladesh. The author feels this chapter may encourage more such research on RAM system in Bangladesh and beyond.

Market Orientation of Tribhuvan University Colleges

Tribhuvan University is the largest university in Nepal. The marketing of educational services is still a debatable issue in Nepal. This study analyzes the market orientation of Tribhuvan University’s constituent colleges and affiliated colleges. The relationship among various dimensions of market orientation like customer focus, addressing student employer need, competition-oriented strategies, integration of organizational activities were examined and the impact of these dimensions was measured in terms of student satisfaction. This study is a quantitative causal analysis. Students of Tribhuvan University affiliated colleges were surveyed on the market orientation of the college. The study found that most of the colleges were not market-oriented. The study showed a positive correlation among student orientation, employer orientation and integrated activities. Further studies could analyze the market orientation of other Nepalese universities and the market orientation of particular faculty of the university.

Prevalence and associated factors of computer vision syndrome among the computer engineering students of Pokhara University affiliated colleges of Kathmandu valley

Background: The increasing use of computers and electronic devices is rapidly increasing the related health issues of computer vision syndrome. Studies have identified longer use of computers, ergonomic practices as lighting condition of room, incorrect distance between eye and computer, refresh rate, use of spectacles were associated with computer vision syndrome (CVS) symptoms as back pain, tension, headache and others. The objective of this study was to find out the prevalence of CVS among computer engineering students of Pokhara University affiliated colleges of Kathmandu Valley and identify the associated factors and preventive measures being practiced by the students.Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out using self-administered questionnaire among 234 undergraduate computer engineering students of Kathmandu Valley. Chi-square test was used to identify the association with computer vision syndrome and its determinants.Results: The prevalence of computer vision syndrome among the computer engineering students was found to be 76.50%. Only 39.3% were found to be using computer in upright with straight back posture and 73.5% were using computer at distance less than or equal to 50 cm. The 81.2% of participants were not following the 20/20/20 rule. During age, use of vision aid lens and use of protective eye glasses and artificial eye drops were found associated with CVS.Conclusions:The study revealed that the prevalence of computer vision syndrome was significantly high. Individuals using vision aid lens were found to be at risk of developing CVS and use of protective eye glass and artificial tears were found protective.

Immutable and Privacy Protected E-Certificate Repository on Blockchain

Fake education certificates or fake degree is one of the major concerns in higher education. This fraud can be minimized if there is a tamper-proof and confidential registry of certificates wherein not one but multiple certified authorities verifies and stores the issued certificate in immutable repositories with proper privacy maintained. Secondly, there should be a mechanism for retrieving the authentic certificate without much cost and time. Blockchain is an immutable, shared, distributed ledger without the control of a single centralized authority that fits very well for the discussed use case. The proposed work, PrivateCertChain, has implemented the idea for university having multiple affiliated colleges, by deploying and verifying digitally signed e-certificate on Ethereum Blockchain. Multiple affiliated colleges can serve as the miners for verifying the signature of the issuer. For privacy concerns, the content of the certificate will be hashed and this hashed value will be stored in Blockchain along with the roll number of the certificate holder. Once the transaction hash is generated, it will be converted to QR code. The QR code is shared with the respective owner of the certificate and it will also serve as the credential of the certificate. Thus, anyone having the credential can view the authentic certificate which is kept on the blockchain, by scanning QR through the dedicated application designed for verification. The proposed solution can be a foolproof mechanism against all frauds as it guards for integrity, confidentiality, authenticity, and privacy of educational certificates.

Teaching sociology in large classes

This study attempts to explore a major issue of higher education in Bangladesh that is, problems related to large size classes. The objectives of the study are to identify the problems faced by the students and the teachers; and to find out the ways of teaching effectively in large Sociology classes. This is a literature review article which has investigated the current teaching practices in the Sociology Classes at the affiliated colleges of the National University of Bangladesh. This paper also discussed the issue from the global perspective. It identified that large classes create a lot of problems for the students and the teachers resulting in the lower quality of higher education. Finally the paper concluded that teachers’ training, appointing supporting stuffs and ensuring necessary logistic support can be the possible solution of this great problem.

Use of N-List Resources Among the Faculty Members of Affiliated Colleges of Bharathiar University, India

Library consortium is an umbrella term that covers the concept. With cooperation it was possible for sharing of union catalog, document delivery services, storage facilities, collection development, and human resources at local, national, and regional levels. It is the single solution of these concepts. Consortium gives the freedom for a library having less collection as they can access any product at the nominal price. Out of 335 respondents, 232 (69.3%) respondents were aware of N-LIST resources, whereas 103 (30.7%) of them somewhat aware of N-LIST resources. This study shows that majority of the respondents were aware of N-LIST resources. All the respondents, 335 (100%), were utilizing the N-LIST resources. 177 (52.8%) respondents were spending ‘1-2 hours' for accessing N-LIST resources, 101 (30.1%) respondents were spending ‘3-4 hours', 30 (9%) of them spent ‘below 1 hour', and 27 (8.1%) of them spent ‘more than 5 years'. This analysis shows that nearly 53% of the respondents were spending ‘1-2 hours' to access N-LIST Resources in a day. 111 (60.3%) assistant professors and 66 (45.7%) associate professors were spending ‘1-2 hours' in a day to access N-LIST resources. The authors were made to aware about N-LIST resources the respondents have given ‘guide by the librarian' as first priority, followed by ‘orientation programme', ‘trial and error method', ‘through YouTube tutorial', ‘online user guide', and ‘guide by friends and colleagues' is the least priority.

An Assessment on Managerial Skills Among Library Professionals Working in Affiliated Colleges of Bharathidasan University

The changing environment of academic libraries in India demands new skills and competencies for future academic library professionals. This chapter discusses the managerial skills for the library professionals in the present scenario. The main objective is to highlights the managerial skills for practicing library professionals. It also discusses the functions of library management, how it is benefited to library professionals. It is also discussed that library professionals who have the managerial skills perform and maintain the library.