IMPACT OF DAIRY SUPPORT SERVICES AND STRATEGIES ON REDUCTION OF COST OF MILK PRODUCTION IN DIFFERENT DAIRY PRODUCTION SYSTEMS IN BANGLADESH: IMPLICATIONS FOR RURAL LIVELIHOOD IMPROVEMENT

The objective of this study was to analyse the impact of set of dairy supporting policies within the framework of the government ‘National Livestock Development Policy (NLDP)’ on the potential for reduction of cost of milk production in small-scale dairy farmers under different production systems. This study further aims at identifying the link among increasing household income and rural livelihoods-thus reducing poverty. This study applies the method developed by the International Farm Comparison Network (IFCN). The underlying principle of this method is the application of the concept of ‘Typical Farm Approach (TFA)’ and Technology Impact Policy Impact Calculations (TIPI-CAL) model. Three typical farms from three production systems (e.g. extensive, intensive and traditional) were selected from three agro-ecological zones. The required data collection was done in two steps: first, the data were collected from three baseline typical farms (status quo) operating without policy by applying the ‘Panel Approach’. In the second step, 10 different dairy supporting policy scenarios and technologies were simulated and applied in each of the base line farms in each production system and data were collected from 30 farms using the base farm as the status quo farm. The data were analysed by utilizing the extended version of TIPI-CAL (Technology Impact Policy Impact Calculations) model (TIPI-CAL software version 5.1). The results showed that improved dairy support services: improved veterinary services (IM-VHS), improved marketing access (IM-MKS), improved feeding and nutritional services (IM-FNS), community based fodder production system (CB-FPS), national breeding programme (NL-BRP) showed the highest impact on increasing milk productivity, decreasing milk production cost, increasing income from dairy and overall household income in all three production systems compared with base line farms. However, the magnitude of the impacts substantially differs among the production systems. This study also reveals that that there is a direct link among increasing income and reducing poverty since the household income increases as a result of implementing dairy support services to a level above the poverty line (1.9 US$/day equivalent to 147.96 BDT). This study results could be useful for prioritizing the policies on delivery of support services and technology and are expected to be helpful as a benchmark to implement the ‘draft policy proposal’ by the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock (MOFL) in Bangladesh

WDARS: A Weighted Data Aggregation Routing Strategy with Minimum Link Cost in Event-Driven WSNs

Realizing the full potential of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) highlights many design issues, particularly the trade-offs concerning multiple conflicting improvements such as maximizing the route overlapping for efficient data aggregation and minimizing the total link cost. While the issues of data aggregation routing protocols and link cost function in a WSNs have been comprehensively considered in the literature, a trade-off improvement between these two has not yet been addressed. In this paper, a comprehensive weight for trade-off between different objectives has been employed, the so-called weighted data aggregation routing strategy (WDARS) which aims to maximize the overlap routes for efficient data aggregation and link cost issues in cluster-based WSNs simultaneously. The proposed methodology is evaluated for energy consumption, network lifetime, throughput, and packet delivery ratio and compared with the InFRA and DRINA. These protocols are cluster-based routing protocols which only aim to maximize the overlap routes for efficient data aggregation. Analysis and simulation results revealed that the WDARS delivered a longer network lifetime with more proficient and reliable performance over other methods

A cache-based approach toward improved scheduling in fog computing

Fog computing is a promising technique to reduce the latency and power consumption issues of the Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem by enabling storage and computational resource close to the end-user devices with additional benefits such as improved execution time and processing. However, with an increase in IoT devices, the resource allocation and job scheduling became a complicated and cumbersome task due to limited and heterogeneous resources along with the locality restriction in such computing environment. Therefore, this paper proposes a cache-based approach for efficient resource allocation in fog computing environment, while maintaining the quality of service. The proposed algorithm is realized using iFogSim simulator and a comprehensive comparison is presented with the traditional First Come First Served and Shortest Job First policies. The performance evaluation revealed that with the proposed scheme the execution time, latency, processing delays and power consumption decreased by 38%, 11.1%, 6%, and 17.8%, respectively, as compared to those of the traditional schemes

Spin asymmetry A_1^d and the spin-dependent structure function g_1^d of the deuteron at low values of x and Q^2

We present a precise measurement of the deuteron longitudinal spin asymmetry A_1^d and of the deuteron spin-dependent structure function g_1^d at Q^2 < 1 GeV^2 and 4*10^-5 < x < 2.5*10^-2 based on the data collected by the COMPASS experiment at CERN during the years 2002 and 2003. The statistical precision is tenfold better than that of the previous measurement in this region. The measured A_1^d and g_1^d are found to be consistent with zero in the whole range of x.Comment: 17 pages, 10 figure

Physicochemical Characterization of Passive Films and Corrosion Layers by Differential Admittance and Photocurrent Spectroscopy

Two different electrochemical techniques, differential admittance and photocurrent spectroscopy, for the characterization of electronic and solid state properties of passive films and corrosion layers are described and critically evaluated. In order to get information on the electronic properties of passive film and corrosion layers as well as the necessary information to locate the characteristic energy levels of the passive film/electrolyte junction like: flat band potential (Ufb), conduction band edge (EC) or valence band edge (EV), a wide use of Mott-Schottky plots is usually reported in corrosion science and passivity studies. It has been shown, in several papers, that the use of simple M-S theory to get information on the electronic properties and energy levels location at the film/electrolyte interface can be seriously misleading and/or conflicting with the physical basis underlying the M-S theory. A critical appraisal of this approach to the study of very thin and thick anodic passive film grown on base-metals (Cr, Ni, Fe, SS etc..) or on valve metals (Ta, Nb, W etc..) is reported in this work, together with possible alternative approach to overcome some of the mentioned inconsistencies. At this aim the theory of amorphous semiconductor Schottky barrier, introduced several years ago in the study of passive film/electrolyte junction, is reviewed by taking into account some of the more recent results obtained by the present authors. Future developments of the theory appears necessary to get more exact quantitative information on the electronic properties of passive films, specially in the case of very thin film like those formed on base metals and their alloys. The second technique described in this chapter, devoted to the physico-chemical characterization of passive film and corrosion layers, is a more recent technique based on the analysis of the photo-electrochemical answer of passive film/electrolyte junction under illumination with photons having suitable energy. Such a technique usually referred to as Photocurrent Spectroscopy (PCS) has been developed on the basis of the large research effort carried out by several groups in the 1970’s and aimed to investigate the possible conversion of solar energy by means of electrochemical cells. In this work the fundamentals of semiconductor/electrolyte junctions under illumination will be highlighted both for crystalline and amorphous materials. The role of amorphous nature and film thickness on the photo-electrochemical answer of passive film/solution interface is reviewed as well the use of PCS for quantitative analysis of the film composition based on a semi-empirical correlation between optical band gap and difference of electronegativity of film constituents previously suggested by the present authors. In this frame the results of PCS studies on valve metal oxides and valve metal mixed oxides will be discussed in order to show the validity of the proposed method. The results of PCS studies aimed to get information on passive film composition and carried out by different authors on base metals (Fe, Cr, Ni) and their alloys, including stainless steel, will be also compared with compositional analysis carried out by well-established surface analysis techniques

Epstein-Barr virus: clinical and epidemiological revisits and genetic basis of oncogenesis

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is classified as a member in the order herpesvirales, family herpesviridae, subfamily gammaherpesvirinae and the genus lymphocytovirus. The virus is an exclusively human pathogen and thus also termed as human herpesvirus 4 (HHV4). It was the first oncogenic virus recognized and has been incriminated in the causation of tumors of both lymphatic and epithelial nature. It was reported in some previous studies that 95% of the population worldwide are serologically positive to the virus. Clinically, EBV primary infection is almost silent, persisting as a life-long asymptomatic latent infection in B cells although it may be responsible for a transient clinical syndrome called infectious mononucleosis. Following reactivation of the virus from latency due to immunocompromised status, EBV was found to be associated with several tumors. EBV linked to oncogenesis as detected in lymphoid tumors such as Burkitt's lymphoma (BL), Hodgkin's disease (HD), post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorders (PTLD) and T-cell lymphomas (e.g. Peripheral T-cell lymphomas; PTCL and Anaplastic large cell lymphomas; ALCL). It is also linked to epithelial tumors such as nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), gastric carcinomas and oral hairy leukoplakia (OHL). In vitro, EBV many studies have demonstrated its ability to transform B cells into lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs). Despite these malignancies showing different clinical and epidemiological patterns when studied, genetic studies have suggested that these EBV- associated transformations were characterized generally by low level of virus gene expression with only the latent virus proteins (LVPs) upregulated in both tumors and LCLs. In this review, we summarize some clinical and epidemiological features of EBV- associated tumors. We also discuss how EBV latent genes may lead to oncogenesis in the different clinical malignancie

KCNV2-associated retinopathy: detailed retinal phenotype and structural endpoints-KCNV2 study group report 2

PURPOSE: To describe the detailed retinal phenotype of KCNV2-associated retinopathy.STUDY DESIGN: Multicenter international retrospective case series.METHODS: Review of retinal imaging including fundus autofluorescence (FAF) and optical coherence tomography (OCT), including qualitative and quantitative analyses.RESULTS: Three distinct macular FAF features were identified: (1) centrally increased signal (n = 35, 41.7%), (2) decreased autofluorescence (n = 27, 31.1%), and (3) ring of increased signal (n = 37, 44.0%). Five distinct FAF groups were identified based on combinations of those features, with 23.5% of patients changing the FAF group over a mean (range) follow-up of 5.9 years (1.9-13.1 years). Qualitative assessment was performed by grading OCT into 5 grades: (1) continuous ellipsoid zone (EZ) (20.5%); (2) EZ disruption (26.1%); (3) EZ absence, without optical gap and with preserved retinal pigment epithelium complex (21.6%); (4) loss of EZ and a hyporeflective zone at the foveola (6.8%); and (5) outer retina and retinal pigment epithelium complex loss (25.0%). Eighty-six patients had scans available from both eyes, with 83 (96.5%) having the same grade in both eyes, and 36.1% changed OCT grade over a mean follow-up of 5.5 years. The annual rate of outer nuclear layer thickness change was similar for right and left eyes.CONCLUSIONS: KCNV2-associated retinopathy is a slowly progressive disease with early retinal changes, which are predominantly symmetric between eyes. The identification of a single OCT or FAF measurement as an endpoint to determine progression that applies to all patients may be challenging, although outer nuclear layer thickness is a potential biomarker. Findings suggest a potential window for intervention until 40 years of age. (C) 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc.Ophthalmic researc