ABSTRACT
Coronaviruses are responsible for various diseases ranging from the common cold to severe infections like the Middle East syndromes and the severe acute respiratory syndrome. However, a new coronavirus strain known as COVID-19 developed into a pandemic resulting in an ongoing global public health crisis. Therefore, there is a need to understand the genomic transformations that occur within this family of viruses in order to limit disease spread and develop new therapeutic targets. The nucleotide sequences of SARS-CoV-2 are consist of several bases. These bases can be classified into purines and pyrimidines according to their chemical composition. Purines include adenine (A) and guanine (G), while pyrimidines include cytosine (C) and tyrosine (T). There is a need to understand the spatial distribution of these bases on the nucleotide sequence to facilitate the development of antivirals (including neutralizing antibodies) and epitomes necessary for vaccine development. This study aimed to evaluate all the purine and pyrimidine associations within the SARS-CoV-2 genome sequence by measuring mathematical parameters including;Shannon entropy, Hurst exponent, and the nucleotide guanine-cytosine content. The Shannon entropy is used to identify closely associated sequences. Whereas Hurst exponent is used to identifying the auto-correlation of purine-pyrimidine bases even if their organization differs. Different frequency patterns can be used to determine the distribution of all four proteins and the density of each base. The GC-content is used to understand the stability of the DNA. The relevant genome sequences were extracted from the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) virus database. Furthermore, the phylogenetic properties of the COVID-19 virus were characterized to compare the closeness of the COVID-19 virus with other coronaviruses by evaluating the purine and pyrimidine distribution.
ABSTRACT
In an academic set up the 'library' plays a pivotal role. It stores, analyses, interpret and disseminate information among the users to fulfil their information needs. It has been observed that recent technological advancement has revolutionised library services to a great extent. Now libraries are providing both physical as well as web-enabled library services to their users. In this context, library websites act as a major gateway in providing web-enabled library services. The sudden outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the physical mode of library services. However, to support the ongoing teaching and learning process, libraries need to continue their services despite the lockdown. Therefore, the present study seeks to find out whether academic libraries are ready and adequately equipped to perform basic services during this critical juncture. The present study was directed towards exploring the readiness among the academic libraries by assessing their websites based on selected evaluation criteria. Hence, in this study top, 100 NIRF ranked institutes websites were examined by adopting 30-point evaluation criteria. These criteria were selected from the extant literature. These criteria were grouped into 04 categories i.e., basic website information, resource discovery, availability of resources and reference services. The readiness index of each library was calculated based on the availability and non-availability of the said criteria. The findings of the study reveal that 64 per cent of the libraries have failed to secure their score of 50 per cent on predefined criteria. It was also found that the preparedness index is independent of NIRF ranking. Overall findings of the study make it clear that academic libraries need to improve and up to date their web-based services to play a proactive role in the present and post-pandemic situation.