Knowledge platforms and local-level knowledge sharing - IISD

With case study contributions from Michelle Laurie, Ben Akoh and Leslie PaasThe International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) reports on international negotiations and shares knowledge from collaborative global research and development projects. This paper focuses on how locally-generated knowledge can be shared, as well as providing three case studies of how local actors are using traditional and online approaches. It identifies eight lessons from local knowledge sharing that are applicable to web-based knowledge management. More work is needed to understand the process of institutional cultures and their engagement with, or creation of barriers to outside knowledge

Public policy influence of international development networks: review of IDRC experience (1995-2005)

French version available in IDRC Digital Library: Influence des réseaux de développement international sur les politiques publiques : compte rendu de l’expérience du CRDI (1995-2005)This report focuses on public policy influence of IDRC-supported networks, which are intended to improve the utilization of research in policymaking by enhancing policy capacities, broadening policy horizons, and supporting advocacy work. For research to have impact, three strategies encompass relationship management, knowledge management, and opportunities management. The evaluation provides network coordinators with: a primer on public policy and policy influence; several case studies demonstrating the variety of network policy approaches, and; lessons learned on planning and supporting activities which influence policy

KariaNet : knowledge access for rural interconnected people; a regional knowledge network for the near East and North Africa - devolution study

KariaNet: Knowledge Access for Rural Interconnected People: A Regional Knowledge Network for the Near East and North Africa was founded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) in 2005 to enhance the effectiveness of development projects and programmes that serve the rural poor. KariaNet is in its second phase, with a primary focus on sharing knowledge and innovation to enable rural and agricultural development practitioners to improve the performance of projects across the region. Central to phase two is planning for the longer term sustainability of KariaNet. The “KariaNet Devolution Study” has had as its starting premises that a) KariaNet would no longer be hosted through the MENA regional office of IDRC after 2013, and b) that financial support from the founding partners would no longer be provided. The Study was therefore designed to: Secure evidence and consent for the future of KariaNet among the key stakeholders and participants in KariaNet, and Ensure that the knowledge and capacities that have been fostered by KariaNet have mechanisms for continuing to be developed in future, regardless of whether KariaNet itself, as currently constituted, continues..

Influence des réseaux de développement international sur les politiques publiques : compte rendu de l’expérience du CRDI (1995-2005)

Version anglaise disponible dans la Bibliothèque numérique du CRDI: Public policy influence of international development networks: review of IDRC experience (1995-2005

Collage 2019

An exciting highlight each season, Collage is the signature production of the School of Music and a major fundraising event for supporting scholarships for music students. This special performance features over 200 student and faculty performers and includes jazz, orchestra, choir, band, percussion, and opera selections for soloists, chamber groups, and ensembles. Special lighting effects and stage design combine with the diverse and exciting program presented as rapid-fire, flowing vignettes to create a truly unique performance.https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/musicprograms/2161/thumbnail.jp

Brain multiplexes reveal morphological connectional biomarkers fingerprinting late brain dementia states

Accurate diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) before conversion to Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is invaluable for patient treatment. Many works showed that MCI and AD affect functional and structural connections between brain regions as well as the shape of cortical regions. However, ‘shape connections’ between brain regions are rarely investigated -e.g., how morphological attributes such as cortical thickness and sulcal depth of a specific brain region change in relation to morphological attributes in other regions. To fill this gap, we unprecedentedly design morphological brain multiplexes for late MCI/AD classification. Specifically, we use structural T1-w MRI to define morphological brain networks, each quantifying similarity in morphology between different cortical regions for a specific cortical attribute. Then, we define a brain multiplex where each intra-layer represents the morphological connectivity network of a specific cortical attribute, and each inter-layer encodes the similarity between two consecutive intra-layers. A significant performance gain is achieved when using the multiplex architecture in comparison to other conventional network analysis architectures. We also leverage this architecture to discover morphological connectional biomarkers fingerprinting the difference between late MCI and AD stages, which included the right entorhinal cortex and right caudal middle frontal gyrus

Multimodal and Multiscale Deep Neural Networks for the Early Diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease using structural MR and FDG-PET images

Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease where biomarkers for disease based on pathophysiology may be able to provide objective measures for disease diagnosis and staging. Neuroimaging scans acquired from MRI and metabolism images obtained by FDG-PET provide in-vivo measurements of structure and function (glucose metabolism) in a living brain. It is hypothesized that combining multiple different image modalities providing complementary information could help improve early diagnosis of AD. In this paper, we propose a novel deep-learning-based framework to discriminate individuals with AD utilizing a multimodal and multiscale deep neural network. Our method delivers 82.4% accuracy in identifying the individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) who will convert to AD at 3 years prior to conversion (86.4% combined accuracy for conversion within 1–3 years), a 94.23% sensitivity in classifying individuals with clinical diagnosis of probable AD, and a 86.3% specificity in classifying non-demented controls improving upon results in published literature

The impact of PICALM genetic variations on reserve capacity of posterior cingulate in AD continuum

Phosphatidylinositolbinding clathrin assembly protein (PICALM) gene is one novel genetic player associated with late-onset Alzheimer’s disease (LOAD), based on recent genome wide association studies (GWAS). However, how it affects AD occurrence is still unknown. Brain reserve hypothesis highlights the tolerant capacities of brain as a passive means to fight against neurodegenerations. Here, we took the baseline volume and/or thickness of LOAD-associated brain regions as proxies of brain reserve capacities and investigated whether PICALM genetic variations can influence the baseline reserve capacities and the longitudinal atrophy rate of these specific regions using data from Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) dataset. In mixed population, we found that brain region significantly affected by PICALM genetic variations was majorly restricted to posterior cingulate. In sub-population analysis, we found that one PICALM variation (C allele of rs642949) was associated with larger baseline thickness of posterior cingulate in health. We found seven variations in health and two variations (rs543293 and rs592297) in individuals with mild cognitive impairment were associated with slower atrophy rate of posterior cingulate. Our study provided preliminary evidences supporting that PICALM variations render protections by facilitating reserve capacities of posterior cingulate in non-demented elderly