The Power of Conflict—A Clinical Example

A clinical experience with a hard conversation about the importance of vaccination. Tough conversations are often the most important

Adoption of ICT to support rural small-holder farmers : A Systematic Review

Access to Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are slowly becoming more available to rural communities given a number of innovative approaches over recent years such as the implementation of Community Networks (CNs). Consequently, ICTs are able to become more meaningful in support of livelihoods of these communities, such as in agriculture production. Potential benefits to smallholder farmers include increase yields and reduced effort. However, there is very little evidence of smallholder farmers integrating ICTs into their livelihood activity. In this paper a Systematic Literature Review is used to explore the challenges faced in this sector. A total of 83 articles were initially identified, and after a screening process 28 articles were subjected to further scrutiny using a qualitative coding process. Codes were assigned to the constructs of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology. The findings indicate that effort expectancy, performance expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, price value and perceived trust as factors that are potentially relevant to smallholder farmers’ intentions to adopt ICTs. The findings are important in that they inform how digital ecosystems in rural areas, post the deployment of CN network infrastructure, can become conducive for smallholder farmers to utilise ICTs

Low-Pressure Measurement using an Extrinsic Fiber-Based Fabry-Perot Interferometer for Industrial Applications

The development of an extrinsic fiber-based Fabry-Perot interferometer (EFFPI) for low-pressure measurement in the industry applications has been studied in this work. Monochromatic light from a laser diode with a wavelength of 1310 nm is operated as a source for illuminating the EFFPI sensor. A 30 mm diameter PVC pipe is utilized as a target, of which one end is sealed with a rubber balloon and the end is connected to the air pressure flow controlling system. Furthermore, the center point of the balloon is secured with a reflective thin film, which has a reflectance of ~55%. For the performance validation of the fiber sensor, a low-pressure range from 5 to 50 mBar is released onto the target. With 12 rounds repeatability, the experimental results reported that the average measured pressure values from the EFFPI sensor are 4.915 – 50.988 mBar. When compared to the reference instrument, the maximum and average errors in percentage terms are, however, 3.77% and 1.45%, respectively. In addition, results showed that the measured pressure value is directly proportional to the number of interference fringes, giving a sensitivity in the pressure measurement of the EFFPI sensor of 0.248 mBar/fringe

NDЁRTESЁ E BANIMIT KOLEKTIV – AFARISTO / BANESORE

Duke marrë si faktor rritjen e kërkesave për njësi të banimit me hapsira të mjaftueshme për banim dhe kosto më të favorshme,dhe duke marrë faktor konzervimin apo ruajtjen e sipërfaqes tokësore, ruajtjen e ambientit etj. Zgjidhja më e qëndrueshme do të ishte ndërtimi i ndërtesave të banimit kolektiv. Banimi si funksion kryesor i ndërtesave kolektive më dha arsye që si temë studimi të marrë projektimin e një ndërtese të banimit kolektiv - afaristo / banesore , temë kjo e cila edhe sot është një ndër temat më sfiduese të kohës bashkëkohore. Koncepti kryesor që kam pasur gjatë zhvillimit të projektit ka qenë përshtatja e ndërtesës me lokacionin e përzgjedhur, projektimi i një ndërtese që i plotëson kriteret për banim esencial,dhe që projekti të jetë lehtë i realizueshëm, më konkretisht projektimi i një ndërtese me arkitekturë të qëndrueshme