Participatory approaches, local stakeholders and cultural relevance facilitates an impactful community-based project in Uganda

Sanitation is a major global challenge that is often addressed at national and international levels, while community opinions and beliefs are neglected. To promote water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) we organized a cross-cultural knowledge -exchange workshop to assess participatory methods for engaging local stakeholders. The workshop included 22 participants from all sectors of society. Practical solutions to sanitation challenges were identified and later shared with a local community. Qualitative and quantitative analyses were used to assess impact and showed participatory methods were highly valued to encourage information sharing among widely varied stakeholders, and that video was a particularly successful approach when engaging with local communities. An 8-month follow-up survey of village members revealed excellent information recall, positive behaviour changes and a desire for future visits. Our evidence suggests that community-based participation helped identify solutions to WASH issues affecting rural communities in resource-poor settings. Engaging in a multicultural knowledge- share was particularly valuable as it enabled participants to recognize they have common challenges and allowed them to share low-cost solutions from their different communities. Our use of video was widely viewed as an ideal means of circulating findings, as it communicated information to people with a wide variety of community roles and to all age groups. Its relevance was increased by adopting a culturally appropriate context by involving local communities in workshop activities. We recommend that research in low- and middle-income countries should be mindful of the environmental context in which WASH is implemented, and encourage acceptance by engaging with communities through the use of varied participatory methods.An Impact Acceleration Award from the Economic and Social Research Council primarily funded this project. Project Title: ‘Using metagenomics to better understand waste treatment in low cost sanitation’. Grant number: ES/M500409/1. Dr. Ankur Mutreja is part supported by funding from the National Institute for Health Research [Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre at the Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust]

Reservoir capacity for periodic-stochastic input and periodic output

September 1976.Bibliography: pages 34-35

PAC Verification of Statistical Algorithms

Goldwasser et al. (2021) recently proposed the setting of PAC verification, where a hypothesis (machine learning model) that purportedly satisfies the agnostic PAC learning objective is verified using an interactive proof. In this paper we develop this notion further in a number of ways. First, we prove a lower bound of $\Omega\left(\sqrt{d}/\varepsilon^2\right)$ i.i.d.\ samples for PAC verification of hypothesis classes of VC dimension $d$. Second, we present a protocol for PAC verification of unions of intervals over $\mathbb{R}$ that improves upon their proposed protocol for that task, and matches our lower bound's dependence on $d$. Third, we introduce a natural generalization of their definition to verification of general statistical algorithms, which is applicable to a wider variety of settings beyond agnostic PAC learning. Showcasing our proposed definition, our final result is a protocol for the verification of statistical query algorithms that satisfy a combinatorial constraint on their queries

Prothrombin gene mutations do not cause recurrent pregnancy loss in the Indian population

This is a Letter to the Editor and does not have an abstract

Impact of 50% ethanolic extract of Calendula officinalis (flower) on the reproductive function of male albino rats (Rattus norvegicus)

Oral administration to male rats of 200mg kg-1 body weight of an extract of Calendula officinalis flowers every day for 60 days did not cause loss of body weight, but decreased significantly the weight of the testis, epididymis, seminal vesicle and ventral prostate. Sperm motility as well as sperm density were reduced significantly, resulting in 80% loss of fertility.Serum testosterone levels showed highly significant reduction. Total protein and sialic acid in the testis, epididymis, seminal vesicles and ventral prostate decreased significantly, and testicular cholesterol was elevated. All measured haematological parameters were unchanged

Jukebox: An Adaptive Collaborative Open Application Development Ecosystem

In this day and age products are expected to be delivered to the right consumer at the right time through the right channel, in a way that inspires, informs and excites them. An adaptive, collaborative, open, and flexible mobile application solution has been designed for implementation. This solution undertakes to promote a broad level of inter and intra industry inclusivity, increase efficiency and efficacy, reduce total cost of operations, secure high transactional revenues, optimally channelize investments for better returns with minimum data pilferage and stimulates value for the end-users. The solution uses a jukebox metaphor and proposes conceptual workflows, architectures, protocols, and an application development ecosystem. These artefacts are a call for standards that could potentially evoke a paradigm change in mobile app development and operations

GLOBOIDS for a Seamless Cross Border Mobility Experience

The Covid-19 pandemic has brought the global border management issue to the surface. Policymakers are deliberating on mitigating the situation by employing measures for immediate resolution and are working on future sustainability. The purpose of this research is to address the scale, scope, and complexity of border governance that not only entails minimal human intervention but also global collaborative action. A design science research methodology was utilized to design the proposed artefacts, to enable a high-level understanding of the global border affairs, and to introduce a potential solution for deliberation, discussion, and future digital. A global border management intelligent distributed system has been conceptualized to be contactless and concerted. It also envisions improving efficiency, performance, and seamless and secure cross-border mobility in the post-pandemic new normal

Design for Immersion: Immersive System Affordances and Aspects

The concept of immersion, characterised by absolute engagement in an activity or task, undergoes a transformative evolution as the boundaries between real and virtual realms blur. Immersive systems aim to transform users\u27 perception of reality. Motivated by the capabilities of these systems, advancing technologies, promising developments, and a notable research gap, the purposeful design and implementation of immersive systems emerge. Addressing the research question, What are the conceptual foundations for designing immersive systems? this research aims to understand these foundations through the design science research approach. It involves literature observation, theorising concepts, integrating immersion affordances with information systems’ affordances, proposing an Immersive System Aspects Model, and subsequent evaluation. This article further explores co-creating experiences and discusses the dual role of immersive system aspects as enablers and disablers of immersion. The research contributes to a deeper understanding of immersive systems\u27 affordances and elemental aspects crucial for their design and implementation

Robustness for Space-Bounded Statistical Zero Knowledge

We show that the space-bounded Statistical Zero Knowledge classes SZK_L and NISZK_L are surprisingly robust, in that the power of the verifier and simulator can be strengthened or weakened without affecting the resulting class. Coupled with other recent characterizations of these classes [Eric Allender et al., 2023], this can be viewed as lending support to the conjecture that these classes may coincide with the non-space-bounded classes SZK and NISZK, respectively