58,234 research outputs found

    Ontology-based collaborative framework for disaster recovery scenarios

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    This paper aims at designing of adaptive framework for supporting collaborative work of different actors in public safety and disaster recovery missions. In such scenarios, firemen and robots interact to each other to reach a common goal; firemen team is equipped with smart devices and robots team is supplied with communication technologies, and should carry on specific tasks. Here, reliable connection is mandatory to ensure the interaction between actors. But wireless access network and communication resources are vulnerable in the event of a sudden unexpected change in the environment. Also, the continuous change in the mission requirements such as inclusion/exclusion of new actor, changing the actor's priority and the limitations of smart devices need to be monitored. To perform dynamically in such case, the presented framework is based on a generic multi-level modeling approach that ensures adaptation handled by semantic modeling. Automated self-configuration is driven by rule-based reconfiguration policies through ontology

    Strengthening Climate-Resilient Agricultural Systems in South Asia: CCAFS South Asia Regional Meeting Report

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    State of the art discourse on agriculture and climate change, lays emphasis on the dual role of agriculture in adapting to and mitigating climate change. Recognising the same, many countries are laying emphasis on agriculture while preparing their national adaptation plans (NAPs). In congruence with the world’s agenda to facilitate sustainable agricultural practices, while reducing poverty and hunger, CCAFS has been working for last 10 years to generate innovative solutions to promote more adaptable and resilient agriculture and food systems. South Asia regional office of Climate Change Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) has been: generating research based knowledge, mainstreaming climate variability and climate change issues into development strategies and institutional agendas; enhancing people's understanding of climate change issues; and facilitating informed decisions on policies and actions based on the best available information and data in India, Nepal and Bangladesh, with extended research and knowledge based services extended onto Bhutan and Sri Lanka. With the vision of drawing learnings from the work done so far to elucidate the strategy of the coming years, a regional meeting titled “Strengthening Climate-Resilient Agricultural Systems in South Asia” was organised by CCAFS- South Asia in Bali- Indonesia from 6th to 7th Oct 2019. The meeting also aspired to build as well as further strengthen already existing institutional partnership. The two-day agenda included thematic sessions on topics such as developing and evaluating alternative policy and institutional models for scaling-up climate smart food system in South Asia, big-data analytics to identify and overcome scaling limitations to climate-smart agricultural practices in South Asia, capacity building for scaling up CSA via South- South collaboration among others. The meeting culminated with an agreement on the need for revisiting CCAFS research approach to build science based evidence, to facilitate formulation of better policies and programs, for a food secure world

    Designing knowledge-matching facilities for scaling climate-smart agriculture: A proposal for accelerating food systems’ transformation in a changing climate

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    The brief talks about designing knowledge-matching facilities for scaling climate-smart agriculture. This is a priority discussed in the International Workshop on Scaling up and out of Climate-smart Technologies and Practices for Sustainable Agriculture (an initiative initiating from 2019-MACSG20), as well as of numerous CCAFS partners in the governments, research, donor, financial and policy institutions, civil society and private sectors. CCAFS proposes to join efforts, and outlines a way forward to develop and/or shape knowledge matching facilities for accelerating food systems transformation in a changing climate. This document is intended to be a living document that informs members and interested stakeholders about intermediate results and the planned or next steps

    Effectiveness of a Faith-placed Cardiovascular Health Promotion Intervention for Rural Adults

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    Introduction: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of mortality in the US. Further, rural US adults experience disproportionately high CVD prevalence and mortality compared to non-rural. Cardiovascular risk-reduction interventions for rural adults have shown short-term effectiveness, but long-term maintenance of outcomes remains a challenge. Faith organizations offer promise as collaborative partners for translating evidence-based interventions to reduce CVD. Methods: We adapted and implemented a collaborative, faith-placed, CVD risk-reduction intervention in rural Illinois. We used a quasi-experimental, pre-post design to compare changes in dietary and physical activity among participants. Intervention components included Heart Smart for Women (HSFW), an evidence-based program implemented weekly for 12 weeks followed by Heart Smart Maintenance (HSM), implemented monthly for two years. Participants engaged in HSFW only, HSM only, or both. We used regression and generalized estimating equations models to examine changes in outcomes after one year. Results: Among participants who completed both baseline and one-year surveys (n = 131), HSFW+HSM participants had significantly higher vegetable consumption (p = .007) and combined fruit/vegetable consumption (p = .01) compared to the HSM-only group at one year. We found no differences in physical activity. Conclusion: Improving and maintaining CVD-risk behaviors is a persistent challenge in rural populations. Advancing research to improve our understanding of effective translation of CVD risk-reduction interventions in rural populations is critical

    Smart Conversational Agents for Reminiscence

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    In this paper we describe the requirements and early system design for a smart conversational agent that can assist older adults in the reminiscence process. The practice of reminiscence has well documented benefits for the mental, social and emotional well-being of older adults. However, the technology support, valuable in many different ways, is still limited in terms of need of co-located human presence, data collection capabilities, and ability to support sustained engagement, thus missing key opportunities to improve care practices, facilitate social interactions, and bring the reminiscence practice closer to those with less opportunities to engage in co-located sessions with a (trained) companion. We discuss conversational agents and cognitive services as the platform for building the next generation of reminiscence applications, and introduce the concept application of a smart reminiscence agent

    5th Annual Progress Reporting and Coordination Meeting on CCAFS Projects and Regional Activities in Southeast Asia

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    The proceedings document the results of the 5th Annual Progress Reporting and Coordination Meeting on CCAFS Projects and Regional Activities in Southeast Asia. The report tackles the progress of activities in the CSV sites and on CCAFS project implementation in 2019; the significant outputs and outcomes of FP/CSV implementation; and the knowledge, learning, and experiences across projects
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