Objectives and methods of a world health survey

Many developing countries are trying to improve the routine collection of health information by strengthening surveys, censuses, and registration systems. At the international level, too, efforts are underway to provide information on health and health interventions, including statistical reporting programs of the U.N. and the World Bank. In view of the limited financial resources in the developing countries, would a world health survey complement these health information systems and contribute to long-term health care? This paper finds that although a series of coordinated country health studies could be valuable, there are many tradeoffs. Considering the variety of health problems and priorities in developing countries, it is probably more important to develop the expertise to conduct and analyze health studies than to devise a standard questionnaire to collect health data. As for the cost effectiveness of health programs, a world health survey is not the appropriate vehicle for such evaluations, but it could address such concerns as access, coverage, patient costs, and financing systems.Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Health Systems Development&Reform,Agricultural Knowledge&Information Systems,Housing&Human Habitats,Gender and Health

Impact of cooperative membership on farmers’ uptake of technological innovations in Southwest Nigeria

© 2014 The Author(s). Published by Routledge. The underutilization of agriculture in Nigeria with attendant low yield per hectare is generally attributed to lack of innovation to cope with the challenges of climate change and land degradation. In this study, using information from 326 farmers in Southwest Nigeria, we examined the relative impact of cooperative membership compared with the effects of other socioeconomic factors on farmers’ adoption of technological innovations. Cooperative membership has a high impact compared to other socioeconomic factors such as land access, gender, and educational status. It is recommended that intervention programs in the agricultural sector should focus more attention on strengthening and expanding farmers’ cooperatives for better diffusion and use intensity of innovations and better linking social capital with extension agencies, banks, markets, and agricultural value chains

Idaho Earthquakes of 1905, 1913, and 1916: Intensity, Location, and Magnitude Inferred from Newspaper Accounts

The purpose of this project is to better understand the epicentral location, magnitude, and effects of three southern Idaho earthquakes which occurred in 1905, 1913, and 1916. The three earthquakes are of considerable interest to seismologists owing to their reported proximity to large power dams, multistory buildings, and the nuclear facilities at Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL) in south-central Idaho. structures were built in previous years without assessment of the potential for earthquake damage. Therefore, an understanding of these three earthquakes is important for future development, and for the reevaluation of potential earthquake hazard and adequacy of building codes. The 1905 earthquake is reported to have occurred near the town of Shoshone, on the Snake River Plain. It caused significant damage in Shoshone and was felt throughout the southern half of Idaho and into parts of Utah. This epicentral location has caused considerable interest due to the relative aseismicity of the Snake River Plain (Figure 1) (Pelton, et. al., 1990). Some facilities at INEL, also located on the plain, were built with design criteria for areas distant from a zone of active seismicity. If the earthquake did occur at Shoshone, it could indicate that earthquakes of sufficient magnitude to cause damage have historically occurred on the plain, and the seismic designs at INEL may need to be reviewed. The 1913 earthquake was reported to have occurred in the Hells Canyon area. This was the strongest shock known to have occurred in this region. An important observation regarding this earthquake is its long duration at Landore, Idaho reported to be over one minute. Increased duration is known to increase the destructive capability for even moderately strong earthquakes (Page and others, 1975). Although this earthquake occurred in an area that is still remote and sparsely populated, it is of considerable interest due to the near vicinity of large power dams on the Snake River. The 1916 earthquake was reported to have occurred near Boise, affecting an area of 50,000 square miles (Woodward-Lundgren and Assoc., 1972). Mann (1989) believes the epicenter was actually to the northwest of Boise near Brownlee Dam in Hell\u27s Canyon. If the earthquake did occur in the vicinity of a large dam, the seismic risk and adequacy of design may need to be evaluated. However, if the event occurred near Boise, existing buildings and building codes may need to be reevaluated

Integrated Environmental Modelling – What is the Vision? Is it Achievable?

Keynote Lecture

Impact of cooperative membership on farmers' uptake of technological innovations in Southwest Nigeria

Open access journalThe underutilization of agriculture in Nigeria with attendant low yield per hectare is generally attributed to lack of innovation to cope with the challenges of climate change and land degradation. In this study, using information from 326 farmers in Southwest Nigeria, we examined the relative impact of cooperative membership compared with the effects of other socio- economic factors on farmers’ adoption of technological innovations. Cooperative membership has a high impact compared to other socioeconomic factors such as land access, gender, and educational status. It is recommended that intervention programs in the agricultural sector should focus more attention on strengthening and expanding farmers’ cooperatives for better diffusion and use intensity of innovations and better linking social capital with extension agencies, banks, markets, and agricultural value chains

A linked data approach to publishing complex scientific workflows

Past data management practices in many fields of natural science, including climate research, have focused primarily on the final research output - the research publication - with less attention paid to the chain of intermediate data results and their associated metadata, including provenance. Data were often regarded merely as an adjunct to the publication, rather than a scientific resource in their own right. In this paper, we attempt to address the issues of capturing and publishing detailed workflows associated with the climate/research datasets held by the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia. To this end, we present a customisable approach to exposing climate research workflows for the effective re-use of the associated data, through the adoption of linked-data principles, existing widely adopted citation techniques (Digital Object Identifier) and data exchange mechanisms (Open Archives Initiative Object Reuse and Exchange)

Institutional barriers to successful innovations: perceptions of rural farmers and key stakeholders in southwest Nigeria

Diffusion studies in sub-Saharan Africa have typically focused on the impact of traditional adoption factors on uptake of technological innovations. This study draws on semi-structured interviews of rural farmers and in-depth interviews of stakeholders in southwest Nigeria to examine the impact of institutional factors on the success of technological innovations. The findings indicate that government policies, markets, financial institutions, infrastructure and other institutional conditions play significant role on the success of technological innovations. A successful innovation package should integrate institutional reforms with promotion of innovative inputs, and vibrant farmers’ cooperatives can be at the heart of such agrarian reform