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The aim of this study is to investigate university students' understanding of referencing conventions and terminological denotations associated with the ethical use of information. A questionnaire survey was conducted to collect data from the final year undergraduate and master's students at a public university in Bangladesh. In addition to demographic and academic information, students were asked to respond to 13 task-based statements to indicate whether referencing are required for them. They were also asked to write down the definitions for 10 terms related to ethical practices of information use. For referencing and definitional tasks, each correct answer or definition was given a score of 1, while each incorrect answer was given a score of 0. The item difficulty index was used for analyzing the correctness score for each referencing and definitional answer. Finally, a negative binomial regression model was used on the total referencing and definitional scores to predict the students' correctness scores. A total of 189 students participated in the survey. It was found that the majority of students never attended library orientations, information literacy instructions and academic writing workshops. The findings showed that students' correctness score for the referencing tasks was relatively high, but their correctness score was poor for the definitional answers. It appeared that students from the engineering and technology faculty and those who were enrolled in the master's programs had significantly higher correctness score. The most common form of unethical practices by students included allowing assignments to be copied by their peers or vice versa. While academic pressure was regarded as one of the main reasons for unethical practices, the majority of students felt guilty for such wrongdoings and committed to be more careful in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Iron in groundwater provides a good source of absorbable iron for humans and can contribute to optimal iron and haemoglobin (Hb) status among populations. We aimed to examine the relationship between the iron content of groundwater and anaemia status among 12‐ to 23‐month‐old children in a rural area of Bangladesh. Method: A cross‐sectional study was conducted in 80 randomly selected unions (the lowest administrative unit) in Sylhet and Moulvibazar districts of Bangladesh. A total of 800 children aged 12–23 months were selected via a systematic random sampling method. The child's age, sex, stunting status, consumption of iron‐rich or iron‐fortified food, maternal age and maternal body mass index (BMI) and the type of terrain were subjected to multiple logistic regression analysis to observe the independent relationships between groundwater iron content and anaemia in children. Results: In total, 50.4% of children were anaemic. The odds of children being anaemic were 1.51‐fold higher [OR: 1.51 (95% CI: 1.09, 2.09)] among households consuming water with an iron content <2 mg/L than in households consuming water with an iron content ≥2 mg/L. Childhood stunting, child's sex, child's age and the type of terrain were also significantly associated with anaemia among children. Conclusion: Groundwater with a high iron concentration was significantly associated with a decreased risk of childhood anaemia. This study provides evidence of the importance of groundwater iron to protect impoverished young children from anaemia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adequate maternal healthcare practices are crucial to both maternal and infant nutrition outcomes. The Sylhet region of Bangladesh is vulnerable and performs poorly, as maternal and child health indicators are falling behind compared to other areas. Suchana, a large‐scale intervention programme aims to improve the health and nutritional status of mothers and children in this region. The objective of the present analysis is to assess the changes in indicators related to maternal healthcare practices among Suchana beneficiaries. We obtained data from the Suchana baseline and endline evaluation survey. Descriptive statistics were employed to summarize data. The following maternal healthcare practices were considered: if a Suchana beneficiary mother received antenatal care (ANC) from skilled service providers, took day time resting during pregnancy, consumed additional diet during pregnancy, took at least 100 iron‐folic acid (IFA) tablets during pregnancy and took a vitamin A capsule after delivery. Logistic regression analysis was performed to assess the impact of the Suchana intervention on maternal healthcare practices. The prevalence of the outcome variables at endline in the intervention area were as follows: 40% of mothers received at least four ANC from skilled service providers, 50% practiced daytime resting during pregnancy, 51% consumed additional diet during pregnancy, 41% took at least 100 iron‐folic acid tablets during pregnancy, 39% received postnatal care and 30% took a vitamin A capsule after delivery. The Suchana intervention significantly, positively improved indicators related to maternal healthcare practices; these findings support future larger‐scale programmes to improve maternal healthcare practices among vulnerable people in rural Bangladesh. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Malnutrition among women is a long‐standing public health concern that has significant adverse consequences on the survival and healthy development of children. Maternal mid‐upper arm circumference (MUAC) could potentially represent a simpler alternative to traditional nutritional indicators. This study aimed to investigate the factors associated with low maternal MUAC (as an indicator of being underweight) and address the research question of whether maternal MUAC is significantly associated with children's nutritional status among poor and very poor households in rural Bangladesh. Data on 5,069 households were extracted from the Suchana programme baseline survey, which was carried out in 80 randomly selected unions (the lowest administrative unit of Bangladesh) in Sylhet and Moulvibazar districts between November 2016 and February 2017. The outcome variables were three child nutritional status indicators: wasting, stunting and underweight. Mothers were classified as underweight if their MUAC was less than 23 cm. Separate multiple logistic regression analyses were used to determine the factors potentially associated with maternal underweight status and explore whether maternal underweight status is significantly associated with children's nutritional status. The prevalence of maternal underweight status was 46.7%, and the prevalence of wasting, stunting and underweight among children under two were 10.5%, 44.4% and 31.9%, respectively. After controlling for various socio‐economic and demographic characteristics, maternal MUAC was significantly associated with children's nutritional status in rural Bangladesh. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the current status of IT facilities, access to online resources in the universities and the level of faculty satisfaction with university subscribed e-resources in Bangladesh. It employed two structured questionnaires for collecting data. The first questionnaire was sent to the library heads to obtain data about the current IT facilities, access to the online resources and the constraints faced by them in accessing e-resources. The second questionnaire was distributed to faculty member at public and private universities to assess their satisfaction and the difficulties that they encountered while accessing university's online resources. Descriptive statistics were obtained with regard to university IT facilities, access to digital resources and the difficulties faced by the university libraries. Non-parametric statistical tests, such as Mann–Whitney and Kruskal–Wallis were carried out to identify the significant differences between and among faculty groups. Finally, an ordinal regression model was used to analyze the effects of demographic variables and computer experience level on faculty satisfaction. The library survey found that large university libraries had adequate IT facilities but the majority of the library heads stated they had problems such as inadequate financial support and lack of trained manpower. On the other hand, the faculty survey revealed that faculty members were not satisfied with the current level of e-resources that were subscribed by the libraries. Faculty members had difficulties in finding relevant information, access to e-resources from home and limited number of titles. There were no significant differences in the level of faculty satisfaction in terms of gender and designation but significant differences were found in case of university type. Few significant differences were found in terms of faculty age and teaching experience. However, significant differences were found in faculty satisfaction with regard to computer proficiency levels for several variables. The results of ordinal regression also showed university type and computer proficiency level do affect faculty satisfaction with university e-resources. This current study is significant as universities in Bangladesh are provided with better ICT facilities with access to new online resources and services. The paper proposes ways of enhancing access to e-resources and recommends appropriate corrective or regulatory measures to be taken. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main aim of this paper is to empirically examine the information skills of public university librarians and whether attending a short training on navigation to e-resources results in improvements in their knowledge base. A group of 33 librarians working at different public university libraries participated in this study. They were participants in a 90-min long training program on navigation to e-resources conducted at University Grants Commission of Bangladesh. The survey questionnaire, consisted of 12 information tasks, was distributed and answered before the training. The same tasks were repeated at the end of the training session to see the improvement of information skills. It was found that librarians did not have adequate knowledge of information skills; in fact, a major proportion of university librarians demonstrated inappropriate and insufficient knowledge before the training. The training helped improve their performance score significantly in six out of 12 tasks. The study concluded that the provision of systematic and regular training will improve the skills of librarians and it will positively affect their service outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Community orientation in medical education, which prepares medical students to become more effective practitioners, is now a global movement. Many medical schools around the world have adopted the concept as the main curricular framework in order to align learning programs with the needs of the community and the learner. Despite many changes over the past few decades, many improvements are still needed in medical education in Bangladesh. This study investigated medical students' perceptions of the community-based learning experiences incorporated into the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) degree at Uttara Adhunik Medical College, Dhaka (UAMC), Bangladesh. Methods: A total of 135 students from three undergraduate year levels of the MBBS degree at UAMC, Dhaka, Bangladesh, undertook study tours (community-based teaching, CBT) as a part of a community medicine course and visited a medical college, two rural health centres and a meteorology centre in the Cox's Bazar district, 400 km from Dhaka city. A questionnaire was used to assess the perceptions of students regarding the administration, organisation and learning experiences of the study tours. Students were required to write reports, present their findings and answer questions in their examinations related to the study tours and CBT. Results: The majority of the students agreed or strongly agreed that the tour was a worthwhile (93%) and enjoyable (95%) learning experience that helped them to understand rural health issues (91%). More than half of the students reported that the study tours increased their awareness about common rural health problems (54%) and provided a wider exposure to medicine (61%). Only 41% of students reported that the study tour increased their interest in undertake training in a rural area. A substantial number of students also expressed their concerns about the planning, length, resources, finance and organisation of the study tours. Conclusions: Overall, the study tours had a positive effect, enhancing students' awareness and understanding of common rural health problems. As study tours failed to increase the motivation of the students (approximately 60%) to work in rural areas, CBT in the medical curriculum should be reviewed and implemented using effective and evidence-based models to promote interest among medical students to work in rural and underserved or unserved areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose This paper aims to explore the use of Bostick’s (1992) Library Anxiety Scale (LAS) in a developing country perspective to find out the level of anxiety among university students and to identify the underlying factors that contribute to this phenomenon.Design/methodology/approach A slightly modified 43-item LAS was used to collect data from 350 students at Dhaka University. For data analysis, negatively worded statements were reverse-scored so that all the statements are scored in the same direction. The statistical significance is measured using Mann–Whitney (M-W) and Kruskal–Wallis (K-W) tests. The M-W tests were conducted to examine the differences in students’ library anxiety scores in terms of their age and educational levels. The K-W tests were conducted to examine the differences in students’ ratings on LAS items in terms of their age and faculty enrolment. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted on the survey data to examine the factors contributing to students’ anxiety. Finally, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to test the convergent validity of the measures chosen to represent each factor construct.Findings The result of this study indicated that library anxiety exists amongst Dhaka University students, as most LAS scores fell above 3 on a 5-point Likert scale. The individual differences in terms of gender, age, educational level and frequency of library visit were not significant for most of the items. The EFA, after several iterations, yielded a five-factor solution for library anxiety constructs although only two factors were found to have met the required reliability scores. The CFA, however, failed to produce any meaningful results. This paper made several recommendations to the university library administration to alleviate the problems that appear to have triggered library anxiety.Originality value This is a pioneering study of the use of Bostick’s LAS in Bangladesh. It is hoped that the findings of this study will encourage researchers to develop anxiety scales which would address the need for library services in developing country context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the use of smartphones for academic purposes by students at Dhaka University, the top-ranked university in Bangladesh.Design/methodology/approach Students currently using smartphones answered a questionnaire survey, which focused on whether or not students used smartphones for academic works and, if so, for what purposes they used them and their opinion on the advantages of using smartphones for academic purposes. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze demographic and academic characteristics of the students in relation to their smartphone usage. Non-parametric analyses were performed using Mann–Whitney and Kruskal–Wallis tests to compare between students’ demographic and academic variables and their opinion on the advantages of academic use of smartphones.Findings The findings indicate that a vast majority of university students used smartphones for academic purposes. They, on average and across the board, had a positive perception toward academic use of smartphones. Although there were some differences in terms of gender, age, place of origin and duration of smartphone use, these differences were largely due to fact that a smartphone is a relatively new addition to the life of most students who participated in this study.Originality/value Research investigating the academic use of smartphones in the perspective of developing countries is virtually non-existent. This is the first time an effort has been made to examine the use of smartphones by a large sample of university students in Bangladesh. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The aim of this paper was to compare university students’ preferences for searching the library catalogue via the library’s Koha online public access catalogue (OPAC) or its discovery tool VuFind.Design/methodology/approach A total of 175 students responded to a questionnaire-based survey through which their demographic data, duration (years) of computer use and their self-reported levels of computer skills were obtained. Students were asked what interfaces they use for catalogue searching and to rate their opinion on the relevant interfaces on a seven-point Likert scale. Mann–Whitney and Kruskal–Wallis tests were conducted to statistically compare the differences between students’ demographic/individual characteristics and their ratings on the respective interfaces. For those students who used both systems, differences between their Likert ratings were assessed using a one-tailed Wilcoxon signed rank test.Findings The results showed that there were no significant differences among students in terms of their ratings on either the OPAC or VuFind interfaces. Wilcoxon signed ranks test indicated that significantly more students thought that VuFind was more usable than the Koha OPAC.Originality/value This is a pioneering study of the current use of the OPAC and discovery tools by university students and their preferences for searching catalogue information through these systems. It is hoped that the findings of this study will encourage researchers to conduct task-based usability studies with various cataloguing tools and this could yield new and improved interaction designs for library catalogue searching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides an overview of the expectations and perceptions of library service quality from university students in Bangladesh. A modified version of the five dimensional SERVQUAL instrument was used to collect data from the universities. Respondents were asked to indicate their opinion on three columns, i.e., desired, minimum, and perception of service performance using 28 service items. It was found that the students' desired expectation for services is unreasonably high. The study, therefore, made an effort to examine the sources of their expectation to develop and validate an alternative item-scale for service quality assessment. The results indicate that the students' expectation sources had a significant impact on their opinion on service quality. A large proportion of students felt that their expectation for quality services is their right. This led them to rate higher desired expectation score for services. It suggests that user's desired service expectation is unrealistic and is not reliable for quality measurement. Based on this, the study argues that the prior scales of service quality assessment, particularly the calculation of the gap difference between perception of service performance and desired service expectation cannot produce a realistic result. An alternative item-scale, called real service expectation, was developed to calculate the gap score between perception of service performance and real service expectations. The computation of real service expectation, and the corresponding gap analysis could provide a new strategic direction for service quality assessment in academic libraries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of a bibliometric analysis of nutrition literature of Bangladesh. A list of periodical articles on various aspects of nutrition research of Bangladesh published during 1972 - 2006 was compiled for analysis. A total of 636 articles by 998 authors were identified. The articles were published in 100 local and foreign journals. The five-yearly distribution of nutrition literature shows that there is a rapid growth of nutrition literature from 1987 onwards. Lotka's law is found to be applicable to nutrition literature of Bangladesh. Bradford-Zipf distribution also appears to be applicable to the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]