Information Revolution: How INFORMATION MANAGEMENT is CHANGING the Lives of Rural People

This book is about successes. It is about how certain individuals or organizations are changing the way communication works, how they are making a difference to the lives and livelihoods of rural people. We have chosen as examples about 40 organizations in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific. Given time, we could have covered more: if your organization is not covered, please don’t feel slighted. Paul Mundy; Jacques SultanThis book is about successes. It is about how certain individuals or organizations are changing the way communication works, how they are making a difference to the lives and livelihoods of rural people..

Disseminating Crop Variety Trial Results Via Agricultural Newspaper Supplements

This study evaluated disseminating annual crop variety trial results through supplements in agricultural newspapers

Innovation platforms to support natural resource management

Available in Chinese, English, Hindi, Thai and Vietnames

Do the peak and mean force methods of assessing vertical jump force asymmetry agree?

The aim of this study was to assess agreement between peak and mean force methods of quantifying force asymmetry during the countermovement jump (CMJ). Forty-five men performed four CMJ with each foot on one of two force plates recording at 1000 Hz. Peak and mean were obtained from both sides during the braking and propulsion phases. The dominant side was obtained for the braking and propulsion phase as the side with the largest peak or mean force and agreement was assessed using percentage agreement and the kappa coefficient. Braking phase peak and mean force methods demonstrated a percentage agreement of 84% and a kappa value of 0.67 (95% confidence limits: 0.45 to 0.90), indicating substantial agreement. Propulsion phase peak and mean force methods demonstrated a percentage agreement of 87% and a kappa value of 0.72 (95% confidence limits: 0.51 to 0.93), indicating substantial agreement. While agreement was substantial, side-to-side differences were not reflected equally when peak and mean force methods of assessing CMJ asymmetry were used. These methods should not be used interchangeably, but rather a combined approach should be used where practitioners consider both peak and mean force to obtain the fullest picture of athlete asymmetry

Facilitating innovation platforms

Available in Chinese, English, Hindi, Thai and Vietnames

AGREEMENT AMONG COUNTERMOVEMENT JUMP FORCE-TIME VARIABLES OBTAINED FROM A WIRELESS DUAL FORCE PLATE SYSTEM AND AN INDUSTRY GOLD STANDARD SYSTEM

The purpose of this study was to explore the agreement between a wireless and portable dual force plate system, and an in-ground force plate system, which is an industry gold standard. The countermovement jump (CMJ) was compared across the two systems because it is the most popular force plate test in sports settings. Recreationally active adults (n=20) performed three maximal-effort CMJs on the portable force plates which were placed atop two adjacent in-ground force plates to enable simultaneous collection of raw force-time data (1000 Hz) over five seconds. Popular CMJ force-time variables were analysed for each system using a custom Microsoft Excel spreadsheet using criterion methods. Ordinary least products regression (OLPR) showed no fixed or proportional bias between the force plate systems for all variables. Thus, the portable force plate system may be considered a valid alternative to an industry gold standard for the assessment of CMJ force-time variables

Beyond the hype: Mobile phones and the web to improve agricultural value chains

A smartphone is a wonderful thing. This miniature computer in our pockets is changing the way we live, how we get information and communicate with each other. Each phone comes loaded with “apps” – programs that do specific things, like finding out how much something costs (and buying it), sending photos to friends, finding our way in an unfamiliar town. And if we don’t have the right app, we can easily download one with a couple of taps on the screen. Mobile phones are already surprisingly common in many parts of the developing world, and they, and the network of cables and transmitter masts that are needed to carry all that data, are spreading fast. The service in many places is still patchy and intermittent: people have to climb the nearest hill to get a signal. Many still have basic mobile phones that allow simple text messages and voice calls, rather than the latest smartphone with a colour screen and the latest gizmos. But both mobile phone services and the availability of smartphones are improving, and quickly

Data Processing For Atomic Resolution EELS

The high beam current and sub-angstrom resolution of aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopes has enabled electron energy loss spectroscopic (EELS) mapping with atomic resolution. These spectral maps are often dose-limited and spatially oversampled, leading to low counts/channel and are thus highly sensitive to errors in background estimation. However, by taking advantage of redundancy in the dataset map one can improve background estimation and increase chemical sensitivity. We consider two such approaches- linear combination of power laws and local background averaging-that reduce background error and improve signal extraction. Principal components analysis (PCA) can also be used to analyze spectrum images, but the poor peak-to-background ratio in EELS can lead to serious artifacts if raw EELS data is PCA filtered. We identify common artifacts and discuss alternative approaches. These algorithms are implemented within the Cornell Spectrum Imager, an open source software package for spectroscopic analysis

Sleep problems increase the risk of musculoskeletal pain in boys but not girls : a prospective cohort study

Adults with sleep problems are at higher risk for onset of musculoskeletal pain, but the evidence is less clear for children. This prospective cohort study investigated whether children with sleep problems are at higher risk for onset of musculoskeletal pain and explored whether sex is a modifier of this association. In a prospective cohort study of Australian schoolchildren (n = 1239, mean age 9 years), the associations between sleep problems at baseline and new onset of both musculoskeletal pain and persistent musculoskeletal pain (pain lasting > 3 months) 1 year later were investigated using logistic regression. The potential modifying effect of sex was also assessed. One-year incidence proportion for musculoskeletal pain onset is 43% and 7% for persistent musculoskeletal pain. Sleep problems were associated with musculoskeletal pain onset and persistent musculoskeletal pain onset in boys, odds ratio 2.80 (95% CI 1.39, 5.62) and OR 3.70 (1.30, 10.54), respectively, but not girls OR 0.58 (0.28, 1.19) and OR 1.43 (0.41, 4.95), respectively. Conclusions: Rates of musculoskeletal pain are high in children. Boys with sleep problems are at greater risk of onset of musculoskeletal pain, but girls do not appear to have higher risk. Consideration of sleep health may help prevent persistent musculoskeletal pain in children.What is Known:center dot Sleep problems are associated with the onset of musculoskeletal pain in adults.center dot It is not clear if the association between sleep problems and the onset of musculoskeletal pain is present also in children and if sex plays a role in this association.What is New:center dot This is the first large population-based study that has prospectively investigated the relationship between sleep problems and onset of musculoskeletal pain in school-aged children.center dot Children, especially boys with sleep problems, were at increased risk for the development of persistent musculoskeletal pain.Peer reviewe