Factors Affecting the Productivity of Coffee in Gulmi and Arghakhanchi Districts of Nepal

Coffee is one of the major potential cash crops with lucrative export value grown in mid-hills of Nepal. Nepalese coffee production has suffered long by low productivity. Research was conducted from February to May, 2019 to analyze the factors affecting the productivity of coffee in Arghakhanchi and Gulmi districts of Nepal. These two districts were, purposively selected for this study taking account of comparative advantage and past studies recommendations for coffee sector. Altogether, 100 coffee growing households 50 from each, Arghakhanchi and Gulmi, were sampled by using multistage sampling technique. A pre-tested semi-structured interview schedule was used to collect the primary information while secondary information was collected reviewing the relevant publications. Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression model was used to determine the factors affecting the productivity of coffee. The study revealed that the number of active family members involved in coffee production (0.000), adoption of income diversification through intercropping (0.005), training (0.072) and technical assistance (0.021) had positive and significant effect on coffee productivity. Encouraging the household to have coffee production as their primary occupation, providing technical assistance on rational land utilization and intercropping and strengthening the skill and knowledge of farmers through trainings could significantly support in increasing the productivity of coffee

Eagle Syndrome: A Rare Case of Atraumatic, Painful Cervical Neck Swelling

Introduction: Painful neck swelling is a common emergency complaint but can present diagnostic challenges. Eagle syndrome is a rare clinical entity in which a pathologically elongated styloid process or ossified stylohyoid ligament produces a constellation of symptoms in the head and neck region.Case Report: We present the case of a 50-year-old male with a spontaneous, atraumatic fracture of an elongated styloid process associated with hematoma formation and radiological findings of airway impingement.Discussion: The classic triad for Eagle syndrome consists of unilateral cervicofacial pain, globus sensation, and dysphagia. Diagnosis of Eagle syndrome should be made based on a combination of physical examination and radiological findings. Treatment options vary based on severity of symptoms.Conclusion: Although more likely to be an indolent and progressive complaint, providers in the acute care setting should be familiar with Eagle syndrome due to the potential for a spontaneous fracture of an elongated styloid process to cause acute, painful neck swelling and life-threatening airway compromise

The Significance of Urban Gardening on the Household Economy: A Case of Minority Urban Gardeners

Urban gardening (UG) is an emerging approach to increase the consumption of fresh produce in the homestead. The objective of this exploratory case study was to enhance the technical and economic efficiency of small, socially disadvantaged, and minority (SSDM) urban gardeners in Maryland. Twenty-two SSDM producers engaged in UG participated in the study. The findings showed that farmers were operating rationally, and cultivating diversified specialty, medicinal, and ethnic crops, with an average of twenty specialty/ethnic crops on 1.2 acres. The farmers reported six primary reasons for sustaining urban gardening: family consumption (79%), outdoor and physical activity (79%), supplemental household income (57%), leisure (50%), experiential learning for family members (14%), and tax benefits (7%). Findings revealed that 96% of the farmers strengthened knowledge in reducing production costs, increasing farm income (86%), enhancing entrepreneurial skills (82%), improving farm management practices (73%), mitigating risk (59%), and changing UG behaviors and actions (100%)

Characterizing the Variability of Physical and Chemical Properties across the Soil Individuals Mapped as Amy Silt Loam Soils in Southeastern Arkansas

Knowledge of physical and chemical properties of soil is relevant for landowners, researchers, and foresters, so that appropriate crop species and management practices to maximize site productivity can be selected. In addition to issues of plant productivity, the need for assessing soil properties has been expanded due to public interest in determining the consequences of management practices on soil quality relative to sustainability of crop ecosystem functions. The USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) delineated soil mapping units to provide information about physical and chemical properties of soil in each soil series. However, soil mapping units do not provide details about the variability of soil properties within a single soil series. To determine the variability of physical and chemical properties within Amy soil series, 200 soil samples were collected to a depth of 0–15cm and 15–30cm from soil individuals mapped as the Amy silt loam soils in five different locations in southeastern Arkansas. Comparisons of soil texture, bulk density, carbon, nitrogen, Mehlich III extractable macronutrients, and micronutrients revealed significant differences among soil individuals/ locations for both depth increments. Additionally, all nutrients except potassium, magnesium, and copper differed between the two soil depths. The results suggest inherent variation in biogeochemical and geochemical cycling in the surface horizons of soils mapped as the Amy series

Relation between geometric phases of entangled bi-partite systems and their subsystems

This paper focuses on the geometric phase of entangled states of bi-partite systems under bi-local unitary evolution. We investigate the relation between the geometric phase of the system and those of the subsystems. It is shown that (1) the geometric phase of cyclic entangled states with non-degenerate eigenvalues can always be decomposed into a sum of weighted non-modular pure state phases pertaining to the separable components of the Schmidt decomposition, though the same cannot be said in the non-cyclic case, and (2) the geometric phase of the mixed state of one subsystem is generally different from that of the entangled state even by keeping the other subsystem fixed, but the two phases are the same when the evolution operator satisfies conditions where each component in the Schmidt decomposition is parallel transported

Enhanced encryption technique for secure iot data transmission

Internet of things is the latest booming innovation in the current period, which lets the physical entity to process and intervene with the virtual entities. As all the entities are connected with each other, it generates load of data, which lacks proper security and privacy standards. Cryptography is one of the domains of Network Security, which is one such mechanism that helps the data transmission process to be secure enough over the wireless or wired channel and along with that, it provides authenticity, confidentiality, integrity of data and prevents repudiation. In this paper, we have proposed an alternate enhanced cryptographic solution combing the characteristic of symmetric, asymmetric encryption algorithms and Public Key Server. Here, the key pairs of end points (User’s Device and IoT device) are generated using Elliptic Curve Cryptography and the respective public keys are registered in Public Key Server along with their unique MAC address. Thereafter, both the ends will agree on one common private secret key, which will be the base for further cryptographic process using AES algorithm. This model can be called as multi-phase protection mechanism. It will make the process of data transmission secure enough that no intermediate can tamper the data

The physiological effects of Transcranial Electrical Stimulation do not apply to parameters commonly used in studies of Cognitive Neuromodulation

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and transcranial random noise stimulation (tRNS) have been claimed to produce many remarkable enhancements in perception, cognition, learning and numerous clinical conditions. The physiological basis of the claims for tDCS rests on the finding that 1 mA of unilateral anodal stimulation increases cortical excitation and 1 mA of cathodal produces inhibition. Here we show that these classic excitatory and inhibitory effects do not hold for the bilateral stimulation or 2 mA intensity conditions favoured in cognitive enhancement experiments. This is important because many, including some of the most salient claims are based on experiments using 2 mA bilateral stimulation. The claims for tRNS are also based on unilateral stimulation. Here we show that, again the classic excitatory effects of unilateral tRNS do not extend to the bilateral stimulation preferred in enhancement experiments. Further, we show that the effects of unilateral tRNS do not hold when one merely doubles the stimulation duration. We are forced to two conclusions: (i) that even if all the data on TES enhancements are true, the physiological explanations on which the claims are based are at best not established but at worst false, and (ii) that we cannot explain, scientifically at least, how so many experiments can have obtained data consistent with physiological effects that may not exist

Effectiveness and Acceptability of a Mobile Phone Text Messaging Intervention to Improve Blood Pressure Control (TEXT4BP) among Patients with Hypertension in Nepal: A Feasibility Randomised Controlled Trial

Background: Uncontrolled blood pressure (BP) is the leading cause of preventable deaths in low- and middle-income countries. mHealth interventions, such as mobile phone text messaging, are a promising tool to improve BP control, but research on feasibility and effectiveness in resource-limited settings remains limited. Objective: This feasibility study assessed the effectiveness and acceptability of a mobile phone text messaging intervention (TEXT4BP) to improve BP control and treatment adherence among patients with hypertension in Nepal. Methods: The TEXT4BP study was a two-arm, parallel-group, unblinded, randomised controlled pilot trial that included 200 participants (1:1) (mean age: 50.5 years, 44.5% women) with hypertension at a tertiary referral hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal. Patients in the intervention arm (n = 100) received text messages three times per week for three months. The control arm (n = 100) received standard care. The COM-B model informed contextual co-designed text messages. Primary outcomes were change in BP and medication adherence at three months. Secondary outcomes included BP control, medication adherence self-efficacy and knowledge of hypertension. A nested qualitative study assessed the acceptability of the intervention. Results: At three months, the intervention group had greater reductions in systolic and diastolic BP vs usual care [-7.09/-5.86 (p ≤ 0.003) vs -0.77/-1.35 (p ≥ 0.28) mmHg] [adjusted difference: systolic β = -6.50 (95% CI, -12.6; -0.33) and diastolic BP β = -4.60 (95% CI, -8.16; -1.04)], coupled with a greater proportion achieving target BP (70% vs 48%, p = 0.006). The intervention arm showed an improvement in compliance to antihypertensive therapy (p < 0.001), medication adherence (p < 0.001), medication adherence self-efficacy (p = 0.023) and knowledge on hypertension and its treatment (p = 0.013). Participants expressed a high rate of acceptability and desire to continue the TEXT4BP intervention. Conclusion: The TEXT4BP study provides promising evidence that text messaging intervention is feasible, acceptable, and effective to improve BP control in low-resource settings