Submit the MJCLibrary Feedback Form

Dear All Users,

We're looking for ways to improve our library services and would love to hear from you. Tell us what you like, what you don't like. Submit your feedback and  suggestions.

Please use the form here MJCLibrary Feedback Form

This library is ours and it takes concerted effort from every stakeholder to improve its functionality, utility. 

Kanchi V S

These are all considered different forms of Plagiarism....be cautious!

(Courtesy QuotePixel.com)

Digilocker A Very Useful Digital Repository

I happened to receive a WhatsApp message a few days ago informing that there is a government of India initiative to provide digital locker facility to all the citizens of India so that they could safely store their educational and work related certificates in digital form online.

However my instincts warned me to check the veracity of the link sent before I recommend it to others.  As I checked it I found that the information was not only true but is also very useful.  And so here is my attempt to provide the information in a nutshell to all the followers of this blog.

1.  You can now scan your documents and store them electronically in a safe digital locker which is offered by the Government of India.

2.  You will be provided with a username and password so that all your certificates are well protected and secured.

3.  Now, you no longer have to submit photostat copies of the certificates to any agency while applying for a job or whatever.  You could simply give them a link to access your certificates online.

4.  This is a very good environment friendly initiative as it would considerably reduce unwelcome use of papers for photocopying.  You see, for a single post lets assume there are about 50 applicants.  All these applicants in the present setup have to attached photocopies of all their relevant documents to their applications, whereas only one candidate will be selected and so only his certificates will finally be relevant.
However unfortunately all the fifty candidates toil to make photocopies of their documents and everybody on a average attaches 50-100 photocopies.  this is a blatant wastage of resources and misuse of environment.

But for you to make use of this facility you need to authenticate yourself either with a biometric device or your Adhar card needs to be associated with your mobile number.  I found the second option easier and so got my Adhar card associated with my mobile number. Now all my certificates have a secured and meaningful place in the virtual world.

The link you can use is www.digilocker.gov.in.
 Let us make use of the above facility and  become less burdensome on the environment!!


Kanchi

Life and books

Some interesting thoughts

...

e RESOURCES - THAT'S THE FUTURE !!!

Dear All,

Here is some interesting newspaper clipping... Have a look

Hope you all enjoyed reading it.

take care!
signing off,

Kanchi

PM outlines science R and D projects with an outlay of Rs 9K crore

Dear all,

This will certainly cause major boost to science and technology development in our country.  All faculty members of science faculty must be very happy with this development.

I am pasting a very important news item that I came across today. Please read on.

Kanchi

Press Trust of India
Feb 03, 2014 at 05:30pm IST

Jammu: In major boost to scientific research and development, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday announced projects including a National Mission on High Performance Computing and a Neutrino-based Observatory in Tamil Nadu with an outlay of about Rs. 9,000 crore.

Asserting that government has invested in several areas to ensure that India remains at the cutting edge of science, he also announced that India is joining the CERN Institute, a premier Europen Organisation for Nuclear Research, as an associate member. Addressing the Indian Science Congress for the tenth year in succession, Singh said India needs to leverage the ability of modern science to deliver value to society.
"We must also seek global leadership in at least some research and development areas. Affordable innovations for human healthcare, sustainable agriculture, clean energy and total solutions for water-related challenges are some areas where Indian science can seek global leadership," he said delegates to the Congress.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said, India needs to leverage the ability of modern science to deliver value to society.

The inaguration of the 5-day meet was attended among others by Union Science and Technology Minister S Jaipal Reddy and Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. With "Innovations in Science and Technology for Inclusive Development" as its theme for this year's Congress, the five-day meet is being attended by around 500 scientists from India and abroad, two Nobel laureates Lee YT and Ferid Murad. Former President APJ Abdul Kalam and Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India Avinash Chander will be among those who deliver lectures. The Prime Minister said the National Mission on High Performance Computing with an outlay of Rs.4,500 crore and considering establishment of National Geographical Information System with an outlay of Rs,3,000 crore.
Announcing that India will partner the international scientific community in the establishment of some of the world's major R and D projects, he said in the Gravitational Wave experiment, India intends to host the third detector. A Neutrino-based observatory is proposed to be set in Tamil Nadu at a cost of Rs.1450 crore. India is also joining the famous CERN Institute as an associate member. After some controversy over the proposal to locate the Neutrino Observatory in the Nilgiris following fears of environmental damage, the observatory is now proposed to be set up in the West Bodi hills of Tamil Nadu.
Indian Neutrino Observatory (INO) is a proposed particle physics research project to study atmospheric neutrinos. Singh said India intends to host the third detector in the Gravitational Wave Experiment. He also said Indian nuclear scientists were attracting global in their effort to develop a Fast Breeder Reactor. "I expect the prototype under construction in Kalpakkam to be completed this year." It will be a great day for Indian science and technology because we will be one of the few countries in the world with leadership in a completely new area of nuclear technology that can contribute non-polluting electrical power."
Pitching for more funds to promote science, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the country's annual expenditure on science and technology should be at least two per cent of the GDP. "To do science, someone must pay for it. We must increase our annual expenditure on science and technology to at least 2 per cent of GDP. This has to come from both government and industry.
"In countries such as South Korea, where a high percentage of the GDP goes to science, the contribution of industry is significant," Singh noted. Lauding Indian scientists working in the fields of atomic energy, space and earth science, the Prime Minister said India has occupied an "enviable position" in these fields.
"The launch of our Moon and Mars Mission are a testimony of the giant strides we are making in space. We have now the ability to issue alerts within 13 minutes of a tsunami-genic event," he noted. "Our decision to set up a new Ministry of Earth Sciences following the Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004 and to invest in world-class tsunami forewarning systems in 2007 has been amply rewarded", the Prime Minister said.
He said the country's advances in meteorology were evident during the cyclone in Odisha, when "we received accurate forecasts of landfall point that were more accurate than the forecasts of well known international bodies. I would also like to see continuous improvement in our monsoon prediction capability through the recently launched Monsoon Mission so that we can avert the kind of calamities that we saw in Uttarakhand last year", he said.
Batting for Bt crops, Singh said while safety must be ensured we should not succumb to unscientific prejudices. "To ensure food security and to improve and water productivity, we have to launch a national drive for an ever-green revolution." Singh also announced institution of 25 Jawaharlal Nehru Fellowships, under which eminent scientists from abroad will be invited to work in India for 12 months over a period of three years.

WHat to Do with Indian Currency Issued prior to 2005?!

Dear All,

You might also be wondering about the news that is circulating in the past few days about the RBI's decision to withdraw currency notes issued prior to 2005 as I was.  I came across this informative missive published by livemint.com  and thought this is useful for one and all.  SO I am just posting this info by copying and pasting from their site.

Here is the info:

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to completely withdraw all currency notes issued prior to 2005. The central bank announced this on 22 January through a notification in which it stated that after 31 March, it will completely withdraw from circulation all banknotes issued prior to 2005. The notification didn’t elaborate the reason behind such a move, but it did mention that RBI has appealed to the public not to panic and requested the general public to actively co-operate in the withdrawal process.

So, what do you do about the notes that you have which were issued prior to 2005? Mint Money answers this and other questions.

Which notes will be withdrawn from circulation?

RBI aims to withdraw banknotes that were issued prior to 2005, but there is no time limit. So, if you have an old note that was issued before 2005, RBI advises you to exchange it at banks for a more recently designed one.

How to identify such notes?

It is very simple to identify these notes. All you have to do is check for the year of printing at the bottom on the reverse side of your note. If there is no year of issue printed there, it means the note was issued prior to 2005 and you need to exchange it for a newer note.

Will these notes become useless after 31 March?

The answer is, no. The central bank has clearly said that these currencies will continue to be legal tender. This means that the currencies issued prior to 2005 will have monetary value. So, these will still be acceptable, but only at banks. Till 31 March, you can use these notes as you have been using them till now—paying the newspaper vendor, the taxi driver, donation at a place of worship, in an envelope as a wedding gift, and the many other things that currency notes are used for.

However, from 1 April, you can’t do all this using pre-2005 notes. This doesn’t mean these notes will become useless after that—you will have to approach banks to exchange the older notes for new ones.

Banks will provide exchange facility. If you have a currency note that doesn’t have the year of printing on it, from 1 April, banks will be the only place that will accept it.

Banks are required to exchange the notes for everybody—customers and non-customers.

Why are pre-2005 notes being eliminated?

Currently there are currency notes of many designs in circulation. According to international best practices, it is advisable to reduce the clutter. Since prior to 2005, notes had fewer security features, RBI has been decided to weed out the notes printed before that year.

What happens if an automated teller machine (ATM) dispenses such notes?

The central bank has been working silently with banks toward mopping up the old design notes issued prior to 2005. Therefore, ideally you should not be getting any notes issued before 2005 from ATMs. However, if you do get one (or more) such note, you will have to go to a bank to exchange it.

What happens if you go to the bank after 1 July to exchange these notes?

You can exchange the old notes with any bank from 1 April till 30 June. If you go after 30 June to exchange more than 10 notes of denominations Rs.500 and Rs.1,000, you will have to furnish proof of identity and residence.

Now, if you are a customer of that bank, these proofs are not needed; if you are not a customer, the proofs are needed. If you go with fewer than 10 notes (of Rs.500 and Rs.1,000), you don’t have to give any proof.

If you decide to not exchange the older notes and keep them with you, the currency will still hold monetary value. Those notes will still be acceptable.

Can you transact at multiple branches on the same day?

You can exchange the notes in as many branches as you want on the same day. There is no limit on this.

Will RBI’s move help in flushing out black money?

The move has been widely interpreted as a step against black money. RBI says the number of notes in circulation that were issued prior to 2005 is not very large. RBI has not used the word “demonetize”, which would mean that after the prescribed timeline, the notes will lose their value.

Why is RBI involving people this time?

Removing the old-design banknotes is a continuous process. RBI has over time weeded out most of the old notes through banks. Now, it is approaching the public for the remaining stock. The central bank believes that the volume of notes bearing the old designs may not be large enough to cause inconvenience to the public.

Why this rush to withdraw the currency notes?

RBI says there is no rush. It has prescribed no dates for banks to stop accepting the older notes. These will be accepted freely at bank branches. The central bank has asked people not to panic.

What about those people who are not aware of this new notification—those staying in remote areas, or those who do not have ready access to news?

The central bank says it is considering a proposal to communicate the message through various channels.

 

Kanchi

Hi all,

We are happy to announce the launch of a new course in our college library.  Here is the banner designed for it. 

Google Chromebook School Programme Extends To India

Hi all,

It has been quite sometime that any new post appeared on this blog.  But here is some interesting news that caught my attention.  Sure you all will like it.

Kanchi

After successfully running Chromebook programme in over 3000 schools spanning US, Singapore and Malaysia, Google is now planning to initiate the same global programme in Indian schools as well. The company shall be popularizing the use of its Chromebook laptops in schools, and shall pilot with four schools in Andhra Pradesh. Google is yet to officially announce the plan.



The search giant shall grant 25 Chromebooks to each school and train the teachers and instructors to use and run the required software and applications. Ponnala Lakshmaiah, Andhra's minister for information technology, said- "The school instructors will teach core subjects using applications and software. We believe with interactive learning, the student will understand better and will take interest in the subjects." This programme shall hugely benefit students from class 9th and 10th. 

Chromebooks need constant internet connection, and a majority of data like the files users work on, are stored on Google's storage network connected to the internet. To facilitate this, the state's IT department will provide the schools with Wi-Fi connection of 1Mbps and much required backups. Mentors shall be assigned to each school to train the teachers and instructors on how to use Google's online learning services, Google Apps Training Center.

A company spokesperson reported- "Google aims to increase access to information and knowledge for all students, and encourages tools that support effective teaching and learning in the classroom, but we have nothing to announce at this time."

Soon, new gen-next washable and foldable e-devices

This is really wonderful!  Now we are going to have such gadgets that are paper thin and can be folded and kept in our pockets....They are so tough and water resistant as well... read on the fully story......!!!

Kanchi


You may soon be able to fold up your iPad and even wash it without causing it any damage!
Researchers have came closer to developing new gen-next washable and foldable e-devices with zero pixel borders, thanks to the development of a electrofluidic imaging film.
The device will require low power to operate since it will charge via sunlight and ambient room light.
The devices using electrofluidic imaging film will be so "tough" and only use wireless connection ports, such that you can leave it in the rain without being damaged, the researchers claimed.
In fact, you'll be able to wash it or drop it without damaging the thin, highly flexible casing and screen, they said in a UC statement.
Researchers at the University of Cincinnati said one challenge in creatingfoldable e-Paper devices has been the device screen, which is currently made of rigid glass.
However, UC research experimentally verified that a screen of paper-thin plastic, what the researchers refer to as "electrofluidic imaging film" has revolutionised their
finding.
The breakthrough is a white, porous film coated with a thin layer of reflective electrodes and spacers that are then subjected to unique and sophisticated fluid mechanics in order to electrically transport the colored ink and clear-oil fluids that comprise the consumer content (text, images, video) of electronic devices.
"This is the first of any type of electrowetting display that can be made as a simple film that you laminate onto a sheet of controlling electronics," UC researcher Matthew Hagedon said.

The followers of this blog must be aware about the features and advantages of Amazon's Kindle.  (You may visit the previous posts of this blog, in case you want to know what is Kindle).  This little device is entering the Indian markets and promises to transform the reading habits of people of this part of the globe. Here is the news:

Croma brings in Amazon's Kindle to India Published: Wednesday, Aug 22, 2012, 21:11 IST Place: Mumbai | Agency: PTI

The durables retailer from the Tatas, Croma, on Wednesday roped in the world's largest online retailer Amazon to bring in the latter's Kindle to the domestic market. The partnership involves Amazon expanding its Kindle Store, under which, Croma will hawk the Kindle hardware. The store will be featuring over a million books, including 70 of 100 Nielsen Bestsellers and allow consumers to purchase e-books by paying rupees. Along with the Nielsen Bestsellers, Amazon will also offer works of local authors like Chetan Bhagat, Ashwin Sanghi, Ravinder Singh and Amish Tripathi, among others. Croma will make the Kindle e-readers available to consumers across the country through its stores as well as through its online platform cromaretail.com. "We are excited to be the first retailer here to offer the latest generation Kindle to our customers. This product will be launched exclusively in all Croma stores at an introductory price of Rs6,999," managing director and chief executive of Infiniti Retail that owns Croma Ajit Joshi said in Mumbai. Amazon also launched Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) for independent authors and publishers here. "We are excited to work with Croma to make Kindle available at retail outlets across the country," Amazon vice-president for Kindle Content Russ Grandinetti said.

Aakash 2 to be launched soon!

Dear all,

At last it seems there is some light at the end of the tunnel!  The HRD Minister claims the Aakash 2 tablet will be made available to all the stakeholders of higher education soon whith some upgraded features... Here is the news:

Hyderabad: An upgraded version of Aakash — the low cost tablet billed as the cheapest computer in the world for students and the teaching community, is set to be launched “very soon”, HRD Minister Kapil Sibal said today.
The improved version is fitted with a faster processor and enhanced battery life among other features.

“Now, Aakash 2 has been rolled out with battery life of three hours, 800MHz processor, providing internet access everywhere and it has a capacitive screen. The process to distribute this device has begun and it would be formally launched very soon,” Sibal said here.

Sibal had announced in June that 100,000 upgraded Akash-2 tablets will be given to engineering colleges, for which deliveries were expected to begin in July.

Soon after its launch in October 2011, Aakash faced many a hiccup. Following this, IIT-Bombay was handed over the responsibility of the first phase of the project.

Kanchi

KNOW YOUR LIBRARY

Khandesh College Education Society’s

Moolji Jaitha College, Jalgaon

KNOW YOUR LIBRARY

A pamphlet published by the Library for user education

Welcome to Moolji Jaitha College Library.  First let’s take an overview of this library.  Your college library is the largest and one of the oldest academic libraries in North Maharashtra region.  Since 1945, the year of establishment of the college, your college library has been steadily enhancing the book collection over the years and now, at present, the library has over 1, 30,000 books in its repository.  The library also subscribes to over 240 periodicals that include national and international journals and magazines.  Apart from these, the college library is also a subscriber to NLIST service of INFLIBNET and so the college library has access to over 52,000 e books and 2,200 e journals of high standard.

Library Layout:  Your library is housed in a huge building spread in two floors and a mezzanine floor in between.  The ground floor is where the library administrative office and the book issue counters for the faculty members and undergraduate students are located. Reading room for the undergraduate students with a seating capacity of 200 is also located in the ground floor. The mezzanine floor is where the books on various subjects for undergraduate programs are housed.  The first floor which is above the mezzanine floor is the post-graduate library.  This floor also has the Soham Knowledge Centre with a seating capacity of 125, which is the reading room for the postgraduate students.  Occasionally this facility is also used for screening audio-visuals and for hosting programs. 

How are books arranged in the Library?:  Your library follows Dewey Decimal Classification system for stacking the books in the book shelves and admirals.  This is a popular system adopted in most of the libraries in India and elsewhere, where books are classified under various subject heads and stacked together.  Each book is given a unique number consisting of the first three letters of the author’s last name, classification number and accession numbers.  These details are printed on label which is pasted on the spine of each book.  Now all the books are arranged sequentially based on these unique numbers. If for any reason you take out a book from the shelf, please remember it to place back in the exact place.  Should you have any confusion about where it was, do not place it randomly; instead leave the book on the sorting tables.  This will help to maintain the sequence of the books which in turn helps in easily locating the book in the shelf.  Your library adopts the use of surrogate cards in the PG library where Open Access system allows the students to directly approach the book shelves and choose the book they desire. For more details on the use of Surrogate Cards, refer to the section with that heading in the leaflet.

How to Know which books are available in the library?:  Whether you are looking to know the entire collection of the library or searching for a specific book, the best way to begin with is to search the computerized catalogue.  Your library provides Online Public Access Cataloguing (OPAC) facility.  Simply put, it is searching the entire collection of library through a computer interface, just as you search any information on WWW using the Google search engine.  There are specially designated computer systems available in the library for this purpose.  Just enter in the details of the desired book and you get the list of books available in the library.  You can not only search a book by keying in the title of the book but also by entering the author’s name.  In such a scenario, all the books of that author available in the library are displayed.  You can just search the entire collection of books under a particular subject head by simply choosing ‘subject’ from the menu.  Searching a book using OPAC is very easy and instinctive.  Yet, if you have any problem you can always ask for help at the library counters.  We will be glad to assist you.

How to get your books issued in your name?: Your library has two sections, the UG library and the PG library in the top floor.  While the books in the PG library are open for access for the PG students, the UG library is not. 

For UG students: If you are a student of any undergraduate program of the college, you should first search for the book you need through OPAC note down its details such as book number, title of the book, and name of the author and fill in a library slip (available at the issue counters in the ground floor) and drop it in the drop box on any day from Monday to Friday before the time deadline.  The library staff in turn would collect all the slips, take out the books from their locations and keep it ready at the counters for you.  The next day you could collect your book at the counter.  You are entitled to collect one book at a time.

Penalty: You should return the book within eight days, lest a penalty of Rs.2/- per day will be levied on you. You can always take another book by returning the book issued on your name.  Please note that it is vitally important to properly care for the book/s issued in your name.  The library will not accept books in torn or worn out condition.  Hence check the book for any lost pages before you accept the book on your name.  In case a book is lost by you, you are either to replace that book with another copy by procuring it from the market or you have to pay five times the price of the book as penalty.

For PG Students:  The PG library of the college is an open access system.  That is to say the postgraduate students are permitted to directly approach the bookshelves and choose the book they desire. This is apart from the OPAC feature that is also equally available in the PG section.  The PG students are issued maximum two books at a time.  The rules for penalty are same as above.

Surrogate Cards:   As you are briefed earlier, the arrangement of books in the book racks is done based on library science principles and each book is assigned an exact place in the racks.  Should you disturb the order and sequence it would be very difficult to locate the book the next time.  Hence you should always place the book in its proper place.  To assist you remember the place where the book is taken out from, you are provided with surrogate cards at the very entry of PG section at the book issue counters.  Collect one or two cards before you enter the open access library.  Place the surrogate card in the exact place where from you have taken out the book for perusal.  If the book taken out by you from the book shelve does not suit you, place the book back in its place where your surrogate card is present.  This way you will always maintain the proper order and sequence of the books.

Periodicals: Your library subscribes to over 240 periodicals.  While some provide you with the latest on current affairs, other journals throw light on the current research findings in various scientific and technical laboratories.  You are not permitted to carry these periodical to home.  However you can always get them issued on your name take them to the reading room and read.  Remember, you should return the periodical (magazine/ Journal) before 5pm on the same day, lest you would be fined Rs.50/- as penalty.

Departmental Libraries:  Almost all departments have their own departmental libraries where the books most frequently required for undergraduate/postgraduate students are stacked.  You can also take advantage of your departmental library.  Contact your department head in this regard.

Reading Room:  The college library has two reading rooms one for the Undergraduate students and another for the PG students. The UG Reading Room is open from 7:30am to 12midnight on all week days.  During peak examination time, the Reading room is kept open even on Sundays! The reading room has a good collection of books pertaining to your course programs which you could use for your study.  Remember reading room is a facility for serious study and no gossiping, chatting is permitted.  Keep your mobile phones in silent mode when you are in the reading room.  You should return the reading room books on the same day before you leave the reading room.  Failing to do so would attract a penalty of Rs.50/-.  The Reading Room also stacks past five year question papers of all the subjects.

Knowledge genie: Your College runs a unique reference service to benefit all knowledge seekers.  Each year, one bright student each from each department is appointed as Knowledge Genie who would work two hours a day during 4pm to 6pm in the library.  If you have any query regarding your subject or a research problem is troubling you, you can avail this service by leaving the query with the Knowledge Genie during the above mentioned timings and the Knowledge genie will search and locate the desired information for you.  This service is also absolutely free!!  By the way should you desire to work as a Knowledge Genie contact your department head and the Librarian?

New Arrivals:  The latest arrivals into the library are showcased in the library.  You should periodically visit the new arrival showcase to keep yourself abreast with the latest additions to the college library’s wealth.

Library Blog: One important source of information about various developments taking place in your library is to visit the library blog on the internet at http://mjcollegelibrary.blogspot.com. Here various topics of interest concerning your library, modern technologies introduced and adopted in the libraries world over are featured.

Web OPAC: Another interesting feature of your library is that you don’t have to personally come all the way to the library.  Instead, you can now search the availability of a particular book in the library, seated in your cozy chair in your home.  Visit the college website http://mjcollege.kces.in where you will find a link for college library Web OPAC.  By clicking on the link you can conveniently search the library collection.

Ebooks and Ejournals:  Through the NLIST service of INFLIBNET the college has access to over 2,200 ejournals of international eminence and over 53,000 ebooks on various subjects.  Post graduate students are provided conditional access to these resources.  For this, you need to provide your name and the email id to your department head that in turn will submit the list to the Librarian, and obtain the username and passwords for you.  Contact your department head immediately.  There is no charge for this and is offered free!

Aakash Tablet:  As you must be aware, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India has embarked on a massive project of providing digital tablets named ‘Aakash’ for all the students of higher education in the country.  Your college library is making all the necessary arrangements to to purvey the students with this digital gadget as and when that project takes off. 

Digital Learning Resource Access Centre (DLRAC):  Another unique feature of your college library is the Digital Learning Resource Access Centre.  In short, it is a digital reading room facility of the college where instead of relying only on the conventional information sources such as books and periodicals, you can now access digitized versions of library resources.  What’s more! You can now access information resources on the internet as well.

Audio Video CDs:  The college library has a rich collection of Audio and Videos on various topics of interest.  By depositing appropriate caution deposit you can get one CD issued on your name at a time.  Contact the librarian to more about this.

Library facility for Outsiders: The college library also provides reading room facility to the past students of the college, students preparing for professional competitive examinations such as CA, ICWA etc.  Those pursuing their Ph.D. program are also provided limited access to the library resources by charging appropriate caution deposit and term fees. 

Dnyanranjan Granthalay: In an effort to move closer to the society and provide access to the rich collection of books on literature to the general public the college library has initiated a unique service by the name Dnyanranjan Granthalay.  Depending on the Membership Plan chosen, members are allowed 1-2 books and 1-2 periodical to take home.  Contact the Librarian for more details.

Reprography Services: You can also avail the reprography service of the college library for getting any reading material photocopied for a nominal charge of 50 paisa per copy.  This facility is offered only for photocopying only a section or part of a book and not the entire book as it is volatile of Copyrights Act.

Security: Before you enter the PG section or any other part of the library where books are stacked you are required to deposit your bag and other belongings at the security/reception counter.  Your library campus is under CCTV surveillance.  Any attempt to mishandle the property of the library will be viewed with severity and stringent action will be initiated against the offenders.

Suggestions and Complaints: Should you have any suggestions or complaints in respect of facilities or services offered in the library, you are always welcome to be in touch with the librarian to sort out the problems, if any.  You also have the option of dropping your suggestions and complaints in the suggestion box located at the ground floor. 

Please Remember that it is vitally important to bring in your

Identity Card with you, every time you enter the library.

Madras University bans scholar for plagiarism

Dear all,

Here is a news item that awakens us all about being authentic in our research publications.  Read the news item for yourself.




CHENNAI: The University of Madras has rejected a research scholar's doctoral thesis on charges of plagiarism and has banned the student from re-registering for the degree at the university.
"Plagiarism has affected the quality of research papers. Quality is very important. With this action, we want to send out a strong message that the University of Madras will not stand by such practices and ask colleges and guides to be very careful while selecting projects," vice-chancellor G Thiruvasagam said.
Declining to reveal the name of the candidate or his guide, Thiruvasagam said, "The foreign examiners who looked through the candidate's thesis refused to recommend a PhD saying some passages were copied from other articles. Local examiners had cleared the thesis." He said action would also be taken against the guide. "It is the guide's responsibility to be cautious while checking the thesis for such issues," Thiruvasagam said.
The vice-chancellor said the university had been receiving several complaints about plagiarized research papers when he was attending a public event in February. He said the university was considering procuring a software called Turnitin for Rs 15 lakh to check for plagiarized passages in research papers.
Speaking to TOI on Saturday, Thiruvasagam said the university would use software that can be accessed through Inflibnet, an autonomous body of the University Grants Commission that allows sharing of library and information resources among academic and research institutions, to check for plagiarised titles or passages in a research paper.
Plagiarism reared its ugly head in February when a top scientist and advisor to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, CNR Rao, had to apologize to a leading scientific journal for reproducing work by other scientists in a research paper.
"The corresponding authors sincerely apologize to the readers, reviewers, and editors for this oversight and for any miscommunication," Rao and his co-author S B Krupanidhi had said in an apology. to Advanced Materials, a peer-reviewed journal covering materials science.

Source | Times of India | Chennai | 20 May 2012

Now Google Creates New Search Engines That Think Like Humans!!!

Google announced a major revamp of its web domineering search engine on Wednesday, just days after Microsoft’s rival Bing service announced upgrades of its own.

Google’s new search powers are encapsulated in what the company calls a Knowledge Graph, in which the new algorithms attempt to understand exactly what people are looking for and present basic answers on the results page, without users needing to click on any secondary links.

“We’ve always believed that the perfect search engine should understand exactly what you mean and give you back exactly what you want,” blogged Amit Singhal, Google’s senior vice-president of engineering. “And we can now sometimes help answer your next question before you’ve asked it, because the facts we show are informed by what other people have searched for.”

Using what Mr. Singhal called the “collective intelligence of the web,” the Knowledge Graph shows results for Tom Cruise, for example, that manage to answer 37 per cent of the next questions that people usually ask.

“This used to be the stuff of dreams because we didn’t really know how to accomplish it,” Mr. Singhal said. “The dream has always been to understand things like you and I do, so this really feels like a sea change.” The new information will be contained in a special panel next to the traditional search results, Google said, and will be rolled out to users in the United States in the coming days before going international.

Jack Menzel, director of product management at Google, said that the initial version of Knowledge Graph has information on 500 million people, places and things and uses 3.5 billion defining attributes and connections to create categories for them.

Microsoft is investing billions of dollars in Bing in an attempt to close the search gap with Google, which serves some two thirds of all U.S. web searches compared to 15 per cent on Microsoft’s Bing.

Upgraded Aakash tablet to be launched next month: Sibal

A faster and enhanced version of low-cost tablet PC, Aakash, would be launched next month, Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal said on Tuesday.

“The second version of Aakash will be launched in May,” Mr. Sibal told reporters on the sidelines of World IT forum 2012 in New Delhi.

The tablet will be produced domestically, and in this regard the government is talking to various manufacturers from across the world.

“After freezing the technology, we will start manufacturing it. We are calling people from across the world to manufacture it and some people have shown interest,” Mr. Sibal said.

The new tablet would have a better 3200m AH battery with a three-hour backup, a 700 MHz Cortex A8 processor and a capacitive touch screen which would get over the earlier issues observed in the tablets, Mr. Sibal had said earlier.

Recently, Datawind, the maker of Aakash, and Quad Electronics, which is the contract manufacturer of the tablet, have been trading charges against each other.

Quad has said it has not been paid for its work by the tablet maker alleging the letter of credit issued by Datawind was dishonoured and it has not received any payment for its work.

However, Datawind has been claiming that all the payments that was due to Quad have been cleared, except for the 600 units that remain unpaid by IIT-Rajasthan.

Aakash Tablets

Dear all,

There have been many number of students coming to the Librarian's desk asking for information regarding availability of Aakash tablets in our college.

To dispel certain misconceptions in this regard and to provide you with some basic information, this post is being written in the FAQ format:

1.  When are the Aakash tablets going to be available in the college?

A. Well, as of now, we have no specific date mentioned either by the HRD ministry or NMU.  But according to their communique received last, we are likely to get them in our college by the first week of April 2012.  In effect, it is likely that they will be distributed to the students and put to use from the next academic year 2012-13.

2.  How much are we to pay?

Dear students, at this point of time the college is making efforts to procure 1000 tablets on its own, without levying any financial burden on the students.  So it is your own dear college which is going to pay for the procurement and you don't have to pay a penny in this regard, at least at this point of time.

3.  Then how will we be getting access to these gadgets?

Just as the book bank facility, where you get your courseware on loan basis from the college, you will be issued Aakash tablets by the college which you will have to return before a specific date to  the library.  Only then you will be able to appear for your annual examinations. 

4.  Will every student get his tablet from the college?

Well, at the outset, the college is procuring one tablet for every five students.  So the distribution of tablets to the students will be decided by the college authorities primarily based on socio-economic factors.  That is to say poorer students will get priority in this regard.  However, once more tablets are procured, it is likely that every student may also receive his tablet on loan basis by the college.

5. Do we need to register ourselves to get our Aakash Tablet?

No.  At the moment you don't have to.

6.  Can I purchase my own Aakash tablet without relying on the college's?

Yes.  But for that you need to register yourself at www.ubislate.com and pay Rs.2999/-.

7.  Can we get our private tablet on discounted rates from the college?

At the moment, it is not possible.  If you want a private tablet on your own, you have to directly register yourself with the above web address and pay the full price and the college has no role to play in this regard.

8.  But we came to know that other colleges in the region are registering the names of interested students?

May be.  But at present, there is no such activity going on in your college.  If there is any decision in this regard, you will be notified through notice board messages.  Keep watching the notice boards!

Is the early version of Aakash disappointing?!

New Delhi: Montreal-based DataWind, the makers of the world's cheapest computer tablet, agreed to upgrade the tablet without increasing the cost, a day after reports of the HRD Ministry deciding to put its agreement with the company on hold.

After the deal, college students will be able to get an enhanced version of Aakash tablet without paying extra cost.

As per reports, the company was initially reluctant to upgrade the tablet without increasing the cost. However, the company agreed when ministry officials threatened to cancel the order, a daily newspaper reported.

The after-sales reports of the Aakash Tablet are extremely disappointing and those who have bought the low cost gadget have only one reason to be happy- they are the privileged early users of the gadget.

According to experts, the new version will have a look similar to the Chinese tablets and have the SIM card option.

The upgraded version of Aakash, Ubislate 7+ tab will be available in the Indian market by last week of January, 2012.

Specifications of Aakash LCAD Tablet

Specifications of Aakash LCAD Tablet –

• Developed by – Datawind
• Cost – Rs 2,276 (approximately $50) – Approximately Rs. 1500 for students
• Size – 190.5×118.5×15.7mm
• Screen size – 7” resistive
• Weight – 350gms
• Operating System – Android 2.2(Android Marketplace is missing, instead Getjar is installed)
• Processor -366 MHz, plus Graphics Accelerator and HD Video Co-processor
• Memory -256 MB RAM
• Storage –2GB Micro SD card expandable up to 32GB
• Connectivity – 2 USB ports (full sized)
• Battery – 2100mAh
• Camera – External USB
• Network – Wi-Fi Enabled
• Web Browser – DataWind Accelerated Browser
• Modem – Inbuilt cellular and Subscriber Identity Module (SIM)