Agricultural Growth, Poverty Reduction and Millennium Development Goals in Africa: Outcomes of AAAE Conference

This report is a summary of emerging issues affecting African agriculture, recent experiences and policy proposals that can guide interventions in improving the sector’s productivity. Agriculture is at the centre of rural poverty reduction in Africa and urgent measures are needed to increase farm yields and incomes in order to stem collapse of economies and societies.AAAE, African Association of Agricultural Economists, millennium development goals in Africa, agricultural policies, agricultural research systems, poverty reduction, agricultural productivity, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Farm Management, Food Security and Poverty, Production Economics, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Q010, Q130, Q170, Q180, Q560,

Fabrication of Polymeric Multimode Waveguides for Application in the Local Area Network and Optical Interconnects.

We report the fabrication of multimode polymeric waveguides using spin coating, photolithography, and reactive ion etching. Different layer structures have been used, e.g., a UV curable resin is used as a core layer and PMMA as a lower and upper cladding. The layer systems can be spun with good uniformity with thicknesses matching multimode fiber dimensions, and smooth waveguide side-walls have been obtained after etching. The measured performance of these waveguides demonstrates that low-loss waveguides can be fabricated cheaply. The waveguides are used in the realization of novel compact multimode power splitters and star couplers

Timing and correction of stepping movements with a virtual reality avatar

Research into the ability to coordinate one’s movements with external cues has focussed on the use of simple rhythmic, auditory and visual stimuli, or interpersonal coordination with another person. Coordinating movements with a virtual avatar has not been explored, in the context of responses to temporal cues. To determine whether cueing of movements using a virtual avatar is effective, people’s ability to accurately coordinate with the stimuli needs to be investigated. Here we focus on temporal cues, as we know from timing studies that visual cues can be difficult to follow in the timing context. Real stepping movements were mapped onto an avatar using motion capture data. Healthy participants were then motion captured whilst stepping in time with the avatar’s movements, as viewed through a virtual reality headset. The timing of one of the avatar step cycles was accelerated or decelerated by 15% to create a temporal perturbation, for which participants would need to correct to, in order to remain in time. Step onset times of participants relative to the corresponding step-onsets of the avatar were used to measure the timing errors (asynchronies) between them. Participants completed either a visual-only condition, or auditory-visual with footstep sounds included, at two stepping tempo conditions (Fast: 400ms interval, Slow: 800ms interval). Participants’ asynchronies exhibited slow drift in the Visual-Only condition, but became stable in the Auditory-Visual condition. Moreover, we observed a clear corrective response to the phase perturbation in both the fast and slow tempo auditory-visual conditions. We conclude that an avatar’s movements can be used to influence a person’s own motion, but should include relevant auditory cues congruent with the movement to ensure a suitable level of entrainment is achieved. This approach has applications in physiotherapy, where virtual avatars present an opportunity to provide the guidance to assist patients in adhering to prescribed exercises

Internet Privacy

The benefits of the Internet have come at some cost, one of which is a loss of privacy, which is often regarded as a moral right or a legal right. Internet privacy is primarily concerned with protecting user information. It is widely acknowledged as the top consideration in any online interaction. New threats to privacy and civil liberties are emerging daily and privacy practices are not one size fits all. This paper provides a brief introduction to online privacy

Finite Element Approach of Shielded, Suspended and Inverted Microstrip Lines

In this paper, we present finite element method (FEM) to investigate the electromagnetic analysis of two-dimensional (2D) shielded, suspended and inverted microstrip lines for microwave applications. In the proposed method, we specifically determine the values of capacitance per unit length, inductance per unit length, and characteristic impedance of the microstrip lines. Extensive simulation results are presented and some comparative results are given with other methods and found them to be in excellent agreement. We extend the analysis by designing our new model of shielded, inverted microstrip lines and compared it with shielded, suspended microstrip lines; we found them to be very close. Also, we determine the quasi-TEM spectral for the potential distribution of these microstrip lines

Usulan Perbaikan Fasilitas Kerja Yang Ergonomis Pada Stasiun Perakitan Cover Assy 24dc (Studi Kasus PT. Sanwa Engineering Batam)

PT. Sanwa Enginering Batam merupakan Perusahaan yang bergerak dalam bidang Molding dan Perakitan . Perusahan ini berlokasi dikawasan industry Batamindo. Berdasarkan hasil penelitian yang dilakukan distasiun perakitan cover assy 24DC, terdapat keluhan yang sering dialami operator, yaitu rasa sakit dan nyeri pada punggung dan kaki. Hal ini dikarenakan adanya fasilitas kerja yang tidak ergonomis distasiun tersebut, sehingga menimbulkan rasa sakit dan nyeri dibeberapa anggota tubuh.Penelitian bertujuan untuk melakukan perbaikan fasilitas kerja yang ergonomis berdasarkan prinsip –prinsip antropometri, sehingga dapat memberikan kepuasan kepada Perusahaan, karena dalam penelitian ini Perusahaan dapat mengetahui fasilitas kerja yang seharusnya dipakai, sehingga dapat mengurangi keluhan rasa sakit angdi alami operator.Penelitian dilakukan pada stasiun cover assy 24DC sebagai pembatasan masalah dari penelitian. Model penelitian yang digunakan adalah penelitian kuantitatif yang mana dituntut untuk menggunakan angka mulai dari pengumpulan dan pengolahan data sampai pada pembahasan. Data yang digunakan untuk usulan fasilitas berdasarkan hasil pengukuran lansung, dan data yang diambil hanya lah data yang diperlukan dalam melakukan perbaikan fasilitas. Kmemudian data yang telah didapatkan akan diolah dengan mencari nilai rata - rata, standar deviasi, selanjutnya data tersebut akan diuji keseragaman dan kecukupanya dan mencari nilai persentilnya.Hasil akhir yang didapat pada penelitian ini adalah usulan perbaikan fasilitas kerja yang dapat mengurangi keluhan rasa sakit operator distasiun perakitan cover assy 24DC