The Role of Extension support to irrigation farmers in Lesotho

Lesotho has plenty of water resources which could be used to improve the livelihoods of Basotho as a nation in many aspects. However, this seems not to be the case as Lesotho suffers from food security mostly during severe droughts, to an extent of seeking support from international communities. The purpose of this paper is to elaborate on the very important role extension support should play in the practising of sustainable irrigation farming by smallholders. A structural questionnaire was administered amongst 153 irrigation farmers and 31 extension officers randomly in the four southern districts of Lesotho, namely Maseru, Mafeteng, Mohale’s Hoek and Quthing. Extension credibility is highly questionable as 70% of irrigation farmers do not regard extension as important for irrigation management decisions. Although extension workers are generally well qualified, no in-service training is offered to help with the skilling of extensionists regarding irrigation management. Consequently the extension workers consider them not competent to provide support for irrigation farming. These results suggest the need for greater political and institutional input in irrigation farming; in particular there is a need to revisit institutional policy instruments and institution for extension, technical assistance, training and credit services that will facilitate performance of irrigation farming in Lesotho.S.Afr. Tydskr. Landbouvoorl./S. Afr. J. Agric. Ext., Vol. 39, Nr 2, 2011: 104 – 11

Personalisation and recommender systems in digital libraries

Widespread use of the Internet has resulted in digital libraries that are increasingly used by diverse communities of users for diverse purposes and in which sharing and collaboration have become important social elements. As such libraries become commonplace, as their contents and services become more varied, and as their patrons become more experienced with computer technology, users will expect more sophisticated services from these libraries. A simple search function, normally an integral part of any digital library, increasingly leads to user frustration as user needs become more complex and as the volume of managed information increases. Proactive digital libraries, where the library evolves from being passive and untailored, are seen as offering great potential for addressing and overcoming these issues and include techniques such as personalisation and recommender systems. In this paper, following on from the DELOS/NSF Working Group on Personalisation and Recommender Systems for Digital Libraries, which met and reported during 2003, we present some background material on the scope of personalisation and recommender systems in digital libraries. We then outline the working group’s vision for the evolution of digital libraries and the role that personalisation and recommender systems will play, and we present a series of research challenges and specific recommendations and research priorities for the field

Symbiodinium biogeography tracks environmental patterns rather than host genetics in a key Caribbean reef-builder, Orbicella annularis

This is the final version of the article. Available from the Royal Society via the DOI in this record.The physiological performance of a reef-building coral is a combined outcome of both the coral host and its algal endosymbionts, Symbiodinium While Orbicella annularis-a dominant reef-building coral in the Wider Caribbean-is known to be a flexible host in terms of the diversity of Symbiodinium types it can associate with, it is uncertain how this diversity varies across the Caribbean, and whether spatial variability in the symbiont community is related to either O. annularis genotype or environment. Here, we target the Symbiodinium-ITS2 gene to characterize and map dominant Symbiodinium hosted by O. annularis at an unprecedented spatial scale. We reveal northwest-southeast partitioning across the Caribbean, both in terms of the dominant symbiont taxa hosted and in assemblage diversity. Multivariate regression analyses incorporating a suite of environmental and genetic factors reveal that observed spatial patterns are predominantly explained by chronic thermal stress (summer temperatures) and are unrelated to host genotype. Furthermore, we were able to associate the presence of specific Symbiodinium types with local environmental drivers (for example, Symbiodinium C7 with areas experiencing cooler summers, B1j with nutrient loading and B17 with turbidity), associations that have not previously been described.This project was funded primarily by an NERC grant, no. NE/E010393/1 (J.R.S. and P.J.M.), European Union FP7 project Future of Reefs in a Changing Environment (FORCE) under grant agreement no. 244161 (P.J.M. and J.R.S.) and a University of Exeter studentship (E.V.K.)

Mechanical properties of β-HMX

Background: For a full understanding of the mechanical properties of a material, it is essential to understand the defect structures and associated properties and microhardness indentation is a technique that can aid this understanding. Results: The Vickers hardness on (010), {011} and {110} faces lay in the range of 304-363 MPa. The Knoop Hardnesses on the same faces lay in the range 314-482 MPa. From etching of three indented surfaces, the preferred slip planes have been identified as (001) and (101). For a dislocation glide, the most likely configuration for dislocation movement on the (001) planes is (001) [100] (|b| = 0.65 nm) and for the (101) plane as (101) 101~(|b| = 1.084 nm) although (101) [010] (|b| = 1.105 nm) is possible. Tensile testing showed that at a stress value of 2.3 MPa primary twinning occurred and grew with increasing stress. When the stress was relaxed, the twins decreased in size, but did not disappear. The twinning shear strain was calculated to be 0.353 for the (101) twin plane. Conclusions: HMX is considered to be brittle, compared to other secondary explosives. Comparing HMX with a range of organic solids, the values for hardness numbers are similar to those of other brittle systems. Under the conditions developed beneath a pyramidal indenter, dislocation slip plays a major part in accommodating the local deformation stresses. © 2015 Gallagher et al.; licensee Springer

The effects of competition on management practices in New Zealand–a study of manufacturing firms

© 2019, © 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Competition is a key factor in driving performance improvements across a range of firm activities including reductions in costs, increasing the levels of productivity, promoting entrepreneurial efforts, fostering innovation, driving better management practices, and exercising strategic managerial decisions. The questions of how and why competitive market forces influence management practices are the focus of this paper. Using data on management practices from 152 New Zealand manufacturing firms, and competition data obtained for various industries of the NZ economy, we examine the association between different dimensions of competition and management practices. Notably, we find little or no association between better management practices and competition when utilising simpler measures of competition, namely the number of competitors, industry concentration measured by HHI and the price-cost margin are used. However, using a more refined measure of competition, competition intensity characterised by profit elasticity, has a positive and significant association with the quality of management practices adopted by firms

Towards DNS of the Ultimate Regime of Rayleigh--B\'enard Convection

In this contribution we have briefly introduced the problem of turbulent thermal convection with a particular look at its transition to the ultimate regime and the resolution requirements needed for the direct numerical simulation of this flow.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figure

Beyond the Refugee Crisis how the UK news media represent asylum seekers across national boundaries

Migration is one of the most pressing, divisive issues in global politics today, and media play a crucial role in how communities understand and respond. This study examines how UK newspapers (n = 974) and popular news websites (n = 1044) reported on asylum seekers throughout 2017. It contributes to previous literature in two important ways. First, by examining the ‘new normal’ of daily news coverage in the wake of the 2015 ‘refugee crisis’ in Europe. Second, by looking at how asylum seekers from different regions are represented. The content analysis finds significant variations in how asylum seekers are reported, including terminology use and topics they are associated with. The paper also identifies important commonalities in how all asylum seekers are represented - most notably, the dominance of political elites as sources across all media content. It argues that Entman’s ‘cascade network model’ can help to explain this, with elites in one country able to influence transnational reports

Elbow Joint Loads during Simulated Activities of Daily Living:Implications for Formulating Recommendations after Total Elbow Arthroplasty.

Background: Overloading of the elbow joint prosthesis following total elbow arthroplasty can lead to implant failure. Joint moments during daily activities are not well-contextualized for a prosthesis' failure limits and the effect of the current postoperative instruction on elbow joint loading is unclear. This study investigates the difference in elbow joint moments between simulated daily tasks and between flexion-extension, pronation-supination, varus-valgus movement directions. Additionally, the effect of the current postoperative instruction on elbow joint load is examined.Methods: Nine healthy participants (age 45.8 ± 17 years, 3 males) performed eight tasks; driving a car, opening a door, rising from chair, lifting, sliding, combing hair, drinking, emptying cup, without and with the instruction "not lifting more than 1 kg". Upper limb kinematics and hand contact forces were measured. Elbow joint angles and net moments were analyzed using inverse dynamic analysis, where the net moments are estimated from movement data and external forces.Results: Peak elbow joint moments differed significantly between tasks (p &lt; 0.01) and movement directions (p &lt; 0.01). The most and least demanding tasks were, rising from a chair (13.4 Nm extension, 5.0 Nm supination, 15.2 Nm valgus) and sliding (4.3 Nm flexion, 1.7 Nm supination, 2.6 Nm varus). Net moments were significantly reduced after instruction only in the chair task (p &lt; 0.01).Conclusion: This study analyzed elbow joint moments in different directions during daily tasks. The outcomes question whether postoperative instruction can lead to decreasing elbow loads. Future research might focus on reducing elbow loads in the flexion-extension and varus-valgus directions.<br/