Market assessment of photovoltaic power systems for agricultural applications in Nigeria

The market potential for stand-alone photovoltaic systems in agriculture was studied. Information is presented on technical and economically feasible applications, and assessments of the business, government and financial climate for photovoltaic sales. It is concluded that the market for stand-alone systems will be large because of the availability of captial and the high premium placed on high reliability, low maintenance power systems. Various specific applications are described, mostly related to agriculture

Interpretation Biases in Pain: Validation of Two New Stimulus Sets

Adults with chronic pain interpret ambiguous information in a pain and illness related fashion. However, limitations have been highlighted with traditional experimental paradigms used to measure interpretation biases. Whilst ambiguous scenarios have been developed to measure interpretation biases in adolescents with pain, no scenario sets exist for use with adults. Therefore, the present study: i) sought to validate a range of ambiguous scenarios suitable for measuring interpretation biases in adults, whilst also allowing for two response formats (forced-choice and free response); and ii) investigate paradigm efficacy, by assessing the effects of recent pain experiences on task responding. A novel ambiguous scenarios task was administered to adults (N = 241). Participants were presented with 62 ambiguous scenarios comprising 42 that could be interpreted in a pain/pain-illness or non-pain/non-pain illness manner: and 20 control scenarios. Participants generated their own solutions to each scenario (Word Generation Task), then rated how likely they would be to use two researcher-generated solutions to complete each scenario (Likelihood Ratings Task). Participants also rated their subjective experiences of pain in the last three months. Tests of reliability, including inter-rater agreement and internal consistency, produced two ambiguous scenario stimulus sets containing 18 and 20 scenarios, respectively. Further analyses revealed adults who reported more recent pain experiences were more likely to endorse the pain/pain-illness solutions in the Likelihood Ratings Task. This study provides two new stimulus sets for use with adults (including control items) in pain research and/or interventions. Results also provide evidence for a negative endorsement bias in adults

Exploring Critical Success Factors in Agile Analytics Projects

Via updating Chow and Cao’s list of success factors for agile projects, attributes of potential critical success factors (CSF’s) for agile analytics projects were identified from the literature. Ten new attributes were added to Chow and Cao’s original list. Seven new attributes from the general agile project literature address: risk appetite, team diversity and availability, engagement, project planning, shared goals, and methods uncertainty. Three attributes specific to analytics projects were added: data quality, model validation, and building customers’ trust in model solution. The potential validity of the various CSF’s and attributes was explored via data from case studies of two analytics projects that varied in deployment success. The more successful project was found to be stronger in almost all the factors than the failed project. The findings can help researchers and analytics practitioners understand the environmental conditions and project actions that can help get business value from their analytics initiatives

Thinking after Drinking: Impaired Hippocampal-Dependent Cognition in Human Alcoholics and Animal Models of Alcohol Dependence

Alcohol use disorder currently affects approximately 18 million Americans, with at least half of these individuals having significant cognitive impairments subsequent to their chronic alcohol use. This is most widely apparent as frontal cortex dependent cognitive dysfunction, where executive function and decision making are severely compromised, as well as hippocampus dependent cognitive dysfunction, where contextual and temporal reasoning are negatively impacted. This review discusses the relevant clinical literature to support the theory that cognitive recovery in tasks dependent on the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus is temporally different across extended periods of abstinence from alcohol. Additional studies from preclinical models are discussed to support clinical findings. Finally, the unique cellular composition of the hippocampus and cognitive impairment dependent on the hippocampus is highlighted in the context of alcohol dependence

Full and Partial Knowledge Sharing on Intra-Organizational Broadcast Media

Knowledge sharing, along with its potential predictors, has been a popular research topic. This research extends prior research by examining potential predictors of knowledge sharing together within a more comprehensive model with two additional contexts: the type of recipient of the knowledge is the recipients of intraorganizational broadcast media, and the type of knowledge sharing behavior (full knowledge sharing and partial knowledge sharing). The results of this study suggest that what predicts knowledge sharing behaviors depends on the type of knowledge sharing behavior when considering why people share their knowledge through intra-organizational broadcast media. We explore theoretical implications and future research avenues