Die Rolle von Kommunikationskanälen für die Nahrungsmittelproduktion und die Wohlfahrt der Haushalte: Empirische Evidenz aus Nord-Ghana

Lack of information on innovative agricultural technologies continue to be a major constrain and cause of low technology adoption and productivity among farmers in sub-Saharan Africa. The emergence of new communication channels such as ICTs offer some prospects to boost agricultural extension delivery and lower the barriers to information diffusion among farmers. However, not much is known about the impact of the new communication channels on food production and welfare via its role in improving farmers’ technology adoption. This study in chapter two contributes to literature by employing copula functions, to examine the impact of participation in ICT-based extension channels on improved technology adoption, specifically the new Rhizobia inoculant technology, and its impact on farmers’ technical knowledge, yields and farm net returns. Low technology adoption persist among smallholder farmers in developing countries. This has been attributed to lack of understanding about the adoption decision-making behavior of farmers, leading to inability to develop appropriate extension policies that can enhance technology adoption. In chapter three, this study contributes to knowledge by employing dynamic treatment effect model to analyze farmers’ adoption decision-making as a dynamic process, one that comprises a series of multiple decisions made over several stages or periods. The inability to develop appropriate extension policies has also been attributed to the disconnection between empirical studies that examine adoption of technological packages and studies that analyze management practices of those packages. Chapter four of this study attempts to bridge the knowledge gap by employing the stochastic frontier treatment effect with endogenous mediator model to simultaneously estimate the impact of technology adoption and extension participation and decompose their interaction effect into direct and indirect effects. The use of farmers’ egocentric information or social networks to diffusion information about new technologies leading to adoption is voluminous in the literature. However, the impact of the egocentric information networks on the technical efficiency of farmers appears to be over looked in the literature. This study in chapter five contributes to literature by employing spatial stochastic frontier analysis to investigate the impact of egocentric information networks on farmers’ technical efficiency, productivity and its distributive mechanisms among farmers in the network. The findings in chapter two reveal that ICT-based extension channels are equally effective as the conventional extension channels, and in some instances, outperform them. The study found that ICT extension channels lead to higher yields, farm net returns, and knowledge gained, relative to conventional extension channels and non-participation in extension programs. The study in chapter three further reveal the existence of significant impact heterogeneities across different adoption stages, with the long-term benefits of adoption outweighing the short-term benefits. The study found that there exist unrealized potential gains at some stages in the adoption process, in particular, at knowledge acquisition and trial stages, which extension policymakers can target in order to maximize adoption impacts and save resources to expand extension outreach to benefit more farmers. Chapter four of the results show that the direct impact of technology adoption alone contributes 72% to farm productivity and 73% indirectly due to improvement in farmers’ efficiency, leading to overall welfare improvement of 77%. Similarly, the direct impact of extension participation alone contributes 28% to farm productivity and 27% indirectly due to improvement in farmers’ efficiency, resulting in 23% improvement in farmers’ welfare. The findings suggest that, it is insufficient and less beneficial to provide extension services to farmers without the provision of improved technology. Finally, the study in chapter five reveal that 19% of farmers’ technical inefficiency depend on the inefficiency of the farmers from whom they seek farming advice. The results also show that inefficient farmers tend to depend on efficient farmers in their egocentric information networks to improve their level of efficiency. In general, the study provides empirical evidence to inform effective extension service delivery policies, towards attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular goal two and five, which seek to achieve zero hunger and equal access to extension services by all for enhance agricultural productivity

The Interaction of Virtual Reality, Blockchain, and 5G New Radio: Disrupting Business and Society

The three cutting-edge technologies virtual reality, blockchain, and 5G have increasingly attracted public attention. While virtual reality became a popular concept in the 1990s, recent technological advances and decreased costs have created a resurgence in the technology. With significant funding and early adoption, blockchain and 5G have begun to make their mark on the world. Each technology alone may disrupt business and society, but, together, they provide multiple opportunities. In this paper, we summarize a 2018 Association for Information Systems Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS) panel session with IS researchers and industry practitioners that tackled important topics related to these technologies. In particular, the panel made the case for IS research that focuses on topics that emerge when these technologies intersect. Each panelist presented their perspectives based on their experience and knowledge along with current issues and future directions. This topic has significant business implications as practitioners continue to note their advancements and develop strategies to adapt in a rapidly changing environment. The topic also has implications for future research as these technologies continue to become more prevalent

Measuring citizens' preferences for protecting environmental resources: applications of choice experiment surveys, social network analysis and Deliberative Citizens' juries

2017 Spring.Includes bibliographical references.Many reasons have been suggested as explanation for observed differences in citizens' environmental conservation projects policy choices and willingness-to-pay (WTP) values. Some people attribute this distinctive decision behavior to contrasts in the overall policy outcome expectations (preference heterogeneity) and/or differences in reactions to the changes in the environmental attributes (response heterogeneity). Others attribute this to differences in individual choice rationales, personalities, encounters, and past and present experiences. In other words, regardless of the possibility that outcomes are the same, people do not have the same emotions, convictions, disposition, or motivations. In three separate essays, I investigate the possible reasons for the observed differences in citizens' environmental conservation policy choices and examine how preference and response heterogeneity arise. In the first essay, I ask if a priori environmental damage perception is a source of heterogeneity affecting conservation option choice decisions. In the second, I investigate if social networks (interactions among decision-making agents) affect choice decisions. In the third, I investigate if preferences change when decision making agents are allowed to deliberate among peers. For the first essay, I conducted an on-line choice experiment (CE) survey. The survey asked questions that help to measure citizen preference for protecting environmental public goods, ascertain the value local residents are willing-to-pay (WTP), and determine how preference heterogeneity arises. CE attributes included groundwater use (measured by share of total water use from groundwater), aquatic habitat (measured by count of spawning kokanee salmon return), natural habitat health (measured by the sensitive ecosystem area reclaimed), and rural character (measured by a decrease in urban sprawl and/or a decrease in population density in rural areas). I used a special property levy as the vehicle of payment. Random parameter logit (RP) and latent class (LC) models were estimated to capture response and preference heterogeneity. The results suggest that (1) both preference and response heterogeneities were found for the choices and all environmental attributes respectively (2) respondents who have a higher value for one environmental good will have a higher value for other environmental goods, and (3) a priori damage perception could be one of the sources of response and preference heterogeneity. In the same survey, I included people's egocentric networks, interactions, environment related activities and perceptions to empirically evaluate whether social network effect (SNE) is a source of systematic differences in preference. I estimate consumer preferences for a hypothetical future environmental conservation management alternative described by its attributes within a Nested Logit Model: nesting broader and distinct conservation options within choices impacted by individual's network structure. The results show that some network centrality measures capture preference heterogeneity, and consequently the differences in WTP values in a systematic way. Third, I compare the value estimated based on the traditional choice experiment (CE) with the results obtained using the citizen jury (CJ) approach or a group-based approach or also called the "Market Stall" in some literature. I estimate the effect of deliberation on conservation choice outcomes by removing any significant differences between the people who participated in the CJ (people who volunteered to be contacted again after deliberation treatment) and those people who did the survey twice but did not volunteer for CJ (control group) in terms of their socioeconomic status and be able attribute the changes in preferences to deliberation treatment only. CJ approach involved two 90 minute deliberations held over two days to discuss and consider their preferences and WTP values with other household members. Results show that deliberation improves individuals' valuation process and there is observed difference in choice outcomes between the deliberation treatment and control groups. Both preference and response heterogeneity relatively vanish when people were allowed to deliberate among peers

The Development of Theory of Mind and Pragmatics in Adolescents

Theory of Mind (ToM) or ‘mentalising’ is our human ability to attribute the beliefs, thoughts, desires, intentions and feelings to others, and predict or explain behaviour in terms of these mental states. In the last couple of decades research has shown that brain areas involved in ToM (the ‘Social Brain’), undergo changes not only during childhood, but also during adolescence. Numerous studies have provided evidence for structural and functional changes in the Social Brain during childhood and adolescence. Recent findings from behavioural studies suggest a protracted development of ToM through middle childhood and adolescence. However, what factors constrain performance during middle childhood and adolescence are yet to be determined. The current thesis investigates the development of ToM in adolescence and explores what cognitive processes might be developing in parallel to the brain changes that are occurring in the ToM network, through four online ToM tasks. Chapter 2 examines how children, adolescents and adults apply ToM in real time while performing a variant of the Director task, and the role of inhibitory control in that process. Chapter 3 uses a false-belief task to examine whether adolescents can reliably infer others’ (false) beliefs as spontaneously and early as adults. Chapter 4 investigates whether adolescents can use knowledge about a character’s basic preferences and higher order desires, even when they are in conflict, to make complex ToM inferences and predict that character’s subsequent behaviours as quickly as adults. Chapter 5 examines how adolescents’ brain process irony comprehension in real time in comparison to adults’ using an ERP paradigm. Additionally, the study explores whether individual differences in empathy are associated with irony processing. Overall, the findings show that ToM is further developing during adolescence and make a theoretical advance as to what specific cognitive processes are still maturing as these brain changes are occurring

Why Good Consumers Love Bad Brands: Assertive Language Makes Consumers Care for Brands

Thesis (Ph.D.) - Indiana University, Kelley School of Business, 2015In social media settings, many firms issue commands to consumers—to post, share or like content—often using forceful and direct (vs. polite) language. However, prior research has shown that commands issued with assertive language elicit negative responses and reactance and also reduce the probability of compliance (Brown and Levinson 1987; Dillard and Shen 2005; Kellerman and Shea 1996; Quick and Considine 2008). In the present research, I show that brands benefit from using assertive language, specifically in the form of increased care and concern from consumers. This is because assertive language communicates an intention to control, and intentionality is one indication of a humanlike mind (Epley and Waytz 2009; Kozak Marsh, and Wenger 2006; Waytz et al. 2010b). Five experiments demonstrate the relationship between assertive language, mind attribution, and care and concern for the brand. Both statistical and experimental evidence of the mediating role of mind attribution are presented. Finally, a boundary effect of this relationship is also explored by examining the role of mind valence, which decouples the link between mind attribution and brand care and concern when a threatening or malevolent mind is attributed to a brand. Thus, this research contributes to the brand anthropomorphism literature by showing that mind attribution, which not only suggests the brand is humanlike but the specific manner in which it is humanlike, can be elicited with subtle linguistic cues and has beneficial effects for the brand. This work is unique in showing a benefit to assertive language. It also offers insights to the mind perception and brand relationship literatures. Finally this work is managerially useful as assertive language can be readily implemented by firms and fits with a wide variety of brand traits and associations. Additionally the outcome of brand care and concern is beneficial to firms

Measuring user experience for virtual reality

In recent years, Virtual Reality (VR) and 3D User Interfaces (3DUI) have seen a drastic increase in popularity, especially in terms of consumer-ready hardware and software. These technologies have the potential to create new experiences that combine the advantages of reality and virtuality. While the technology for input as well as output devices is market ready, only a few solutions for everyday VR - online shopping, games, or movies - exist, and empirical knowledge about performance and user preferences is lacking. All this makes the development and design of human-centered user interfaces for VR a great challenge. This thesis investigates the evaluation and design of interactive VR experiences. We introduce the Virtual Reality User Experience (VRUX) model based on VR-specific external factors and evaluation metrics such as task performance and user preference. Based on our novel UX evaluation approach, we contribute by exploring the following directions: shopping in virtual environments, as well as text entry and menu control in the context of everyday VR. Along with this, we summarize our findings by design spaces and guidelines for choosing optimal interfaces and controls in VR.In den letzten Jahren haben Virtual Reality (VR) und 3D User Interfaces (3DUI) stark an Popularität gewonnen, insbesondere bei Hard- und Software im Konsumerbereich. Diese Technologien haben das Potenzial, neue Erfahrungen zu schaffen, die die Vorteile von Realität und Virtualität kombinieren. Während die Technologie sowohl für Eingabe- als auch für Ausgabegeräte marktreif ist, existieren nur wenige Lösungen für den Alltag in VR - wie Online-Shopping, Spiele oder Filme - und es fehlt an empirischem Wissen über Leistung und Benutzerpräferenzen. Dies macht die Entwicklung und Gestaltung von benutzerzentrierten Benutzeroberflächen für VR zu einer großen Herausforderung. Diese Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit der Evaluation und Gestaltung von interaktiven VR-Erfahrungen. Es wird das Virtual Reality User Experience (VRUX)- Modell eingeführt, das auf VR-spezifischen externen Faktoren und Bewertungskennzahlen wie Leistung und Benutzerpräferenz basiert. Basierend auf unserem neuartigen UX-Evaluierungsansatz leisten wir einen Beitrag, indem wir folgende interaktive Anwendungsbereiche untersuchen: Einkaufen in virtuellen Umgebungen sowie Texteingabe und Menüsteuerung im Kontext des täglichen VR. Die Ergebnisse werden außerdem mittels Richtlinien zur Auswahl optimaler Schnittstellen in VR zusammengefasst

The Mature Adults Cohort of the Malawi Longitudinal Study of Families and Health (MLSFH-MAC)

Cohort purpose: The Mature Adults Cohort of the Malawi Longitudinal Study of Families and Health (MLSFH-MAC) contributes to global aging studies by providing a rare opportunity to study the processes of individual and population aging, the public health and social challenges associated with aging and the coincident shifts in disease burdens, in a low-income, high HIV prevalence, sub-Saharan African (SSA) context. Design and Measures: The MLSFH-MAC is a population-based cohort study of mature adults aged 45 years and older living in rural communities in three districts in Malawi (Mchinji, Balaka and Rumphi). Initial enrollment at baseline is 1,266 individuals in 2012. MLSFH-MAC follow-ups were in 2013, 2017, and 2018. Survey instruments cover aging-related topics such as cognitive and mental health, NCDs and related health literacy, subjective survival expectations, measured biomarkers including HIV, grip strength, hypertension, fasting glucose, BMI, a broad range of individual- and household-level social and economic information, a 2018 qualitative survey of mature adults and community officials, 2019 surveys of village heads, health care facilities and health care providers in the MLSFH-MAC study areas. Unique features: MLSFH-MAC is a data resource that covers 20 years of the life course of cohort members and provides a wealth of information unprecedented for aging studies in a low-income SSA context that broadly represents the socioeconomic environment of millions of individuals in south-eastern Africa. Among these are the longitudinal population-based data on depression and anxiety using clinically-validated instruments. MLSFH-MAC is also vanguard in measuring longitudinal changes in cognitive health among older individuals in SSA. Complemented by contextual and qualitative information, the extensive MLSFH-MAC data facilitate a life-course perspective on aging that reflects the dynamic and distinct settings in which people reach older ages in SSA LICs. Across many domains, MLSFH-MAC also allows for comparative research with global aging studies through harmonized measures and instruments. Collaboration and data access: Public-use version of the 2012 (baseline) MLSFH-MAC data can be requested at http://www.malawi.pop.upenn.edu. Sharing of additional MLSFH-MAC data is currently possible as part of collaborative research projects (if not overlapping with ongoing research projects, and subject to a Data Use Agreement)

Tightly-coupled manipulation pipelines: Combining traditional pipelines and end-to-end learning

Traditionally, robot manipulation tasks are solved by engineering solutions in a modular fashion --- typically consisting of object detection, pose estimation, grasp planning, motion planning, and finally run a control algorithm to execute the planned motion. This traditional approach to robot manipulation separates the hard problem of manipulation into several self-contained stages, which can be developed independently, and gives interpretable outputs at each stage of the pipeline. However, this approach comes with a plethora of issues, most notably, their generalisability to a broad range of tasks; it is common that as tasks get more difficult, the systems become increasingly complex. To combat the flaws of these systems, recent trends have seen robots visually learning to predict actions and grasp locations directly from sensor input in an end-to-end manner using deep neural networks, without the need to explicitly model the in-between modules. This thesis investigates a sample of methods, which fall somewhere on a spectrum from pipelined to fully end-to-end, which we believe to be more advantageous for developing a general manipulation system; one that could eventually be used in highly dynamic and unpredictable household environments. The investigation starts at the far end of the spectrum, where we explore learning an end-to-end controller in simulation and then transferring to the real world by employing domain randomisation, and finish on the other end, with a new pipeline, where the individual modules bear little resemblance to the "traditional" ones. The thesis concludes with a proposition of a new paradigm: Tightly-coupled Manipulation Pipelines (TMP). Rather than learning all modules implicitly in one large, end-to-end network or conversely, having individual, pre-defined modules that are developed independently, TMPs suggest taking the best of both world by tightly coupling actions to observations, whilst still maintaining structure via an undefined number of learned modules, which do not have to bear any resemblance to the modules seen in "traditional" systems.Open Acces