Utilization of selected Information Technology Enabled Systems (ITES) by agricultural extensionists of Kerala

Several information technology enabled systems (ITES) are available for providing valuable information to agricultural extensionists which in turn would help them to assist famers, and increase crop production. The present study was aimed at assessment of knowledge and extent of use of selected ITES among agricultural extensionists of Kerala. Data were collected from randomly selected 60 computer literate agricultural officers and 60 computer literate agricultural assistants of Kerala State. The study revealed that knowledge of agricultural extensionists on web browsing and agricultural portals was comparatively higher. The knowledge of agricultural expert system and digitized databases was found to be very low, with 79 percent and 81 percent respectively falling in the low category. On the other hand the extent of use of all the selected ITES was found low among the agricultural extensionists. This points figures towards the need of sensitizing agricultural extensionists on the importance and value of ITES

Performance and Security of Group Signature in Wireless Networks

A Group signature protocol is a cryptographic scheme that decouples a user identity and location from verification procedure during authentication. In a group signature scheme, a user is allowed to generate signatures on behalf of other group members but identity and location information of the signer is not known by a verifier. This ensures privacy, authentication and unlinkability of users. Although group signature is expensive to implement, its existential anonymity, non-repudiation and untraceablility properties make it attractive especially for resources-constrained devices in wireless network. A general group signature scheme usually contains six basic phases: setup (or key generation), join, message signing (or signature generation), signature verification, open and user revocation. In this paper, an evaluation of the performance of group signature based on three of the phases mentioned above is considered and its security in wireless networks examined. The key generation, signing and verification algorithms are implemented in Java 8. A proof of security of group signature by implication is also presented

Training Needs of Farmers and Agricultural Extensionists on Selected Information Technology Enabled Systems for Agriculture

The study analyses the training needs of farmers and agricultural extensionists of Kerala,India on selected Information Technology Enabled Systems (ITES) such as web browsing, agricultural portals, agricultural expert systems, digitized databases and on line trading in agriculture. Computer literate farmers and agricultural extensionists from the districts of Thrissur, Idukki and Malappuram of Kerala consisting of 300 farmers and 120 agricultural extensionists were the respondents of the study. Training on agricultural portals was identified as the highest training need among both farmers and agricultural extensionists. The study points to the need of imparting IT oriented training to both farmers and agricultural extensionists which would enable them to get right information at the right time for the overall development of agriculture

Street Mobility Project: Toolkit

This toolkit provides a set of tools that can be used by practitioners, local communities, and others, to assess and value the costs of the 'barrier effect' of roads, also known as 'community severance'

Anatomical study of serotonergic innervation and 5-HT1A receptor in the human spinal cord

Serotonergic innervation of the spinal cord in mammals has multiple roles in the control of motor, sensory and visceral functions. In rats, functional consequences of spinal cord injury at thoracic level can be improved by a substitutive transplantation of serotonin (5-HT) neurons or regeneration under the trophic influence of grafted stem cells. Translation to either pharmacological and/or cellular therapies in humans requires the mapping of the spinal cord 5-HT innervation and its receptors to determine their involvement in specific functions. Here, we have performed a preliminary mapping of serotonergic processes and serotonin-lA (5-HT1A) receptors in thoracic and lumbar segments of the human spinal cord. As in rodents and non-human primates, 5-HT profiles in human spinal cord are present in the ventral horn, surrounding motoneurons, and also contact their presumptive dendrites at lumbar level. 5-HT1A receptors are present in the same area, but are more densely expressed at lumbar level. 5-HT profiles are also present in the intermediolateral region, where 5-HT1A receptors are absent. Finally, we observed numerous serotonergic profiles in the superficial part (equivalent of Rexed lamina II) of the dorsal horn, which also displayed high levels of 5-HT1A receptors. These findings pave the way for local specific therapies involving cellular and/or pharmacological tools targeting the serotonergic system

Test Bench Of The Barrel Calorimeter Modules

A systematic procedure to qualify the barrel calorimeter modules is an essential step to guarantee a 0.7% constant term, which is the collaboration objective. The procedure detailed in this note consists of quality monitoring during mechanical assembling and of a set of electrical tests such as electrical continuity, cell and cross-talk capacitance measurement, and high-voltage behaviour. For the whole test, it has been necessary to develop dedicated electronic boards, to develop measurement methods, and the whole operation software. Making the procedure automatic will guarantee the quality of each module during assembling, cabling, and test in liquid argon

Defining and measuring the impact of community severance on local accessibility

Community severance (or the “barrier effect”) arises when transport infrastructure (e.g. railways and motorways) or roads bearing high volume or speed of motorized traffic cut through communities, disrupting access to goods, services, and people. The impact is especially severe on older people, who are more vulnerable to losses in walking mobility, and spend more time in their home area. Despite the growing awareness of its potential impact on the health and social wellbeing of local communities, severance is not usually assessed quantitatively or assigned a monetary value in transport scheme appraisal, which tends to rely on subjective qualitative scales. There is a growing need for objective indicators that can be used in a consistent way for understanding the nature, incidence and intensity of the problem. This paper reviews critically the existing methods for quantifying severance , exploring the reasons for the slow integration of these methods into actual transport plans. A conceptual framework is proposed for decomposing the severance problem into a series of questions: a) what are the barriers restricting mobility? b) how do people move? c) where do they go? and d) who is affected? These questions are then used as a base to review the existing literature. The objective was to consolidate the knowledge that has been produced since the 1970s in several countries and which is scattered in governmental guidance documents, technical reports, and academic studies which in many cases have had limited dissemination and applications. The review revealed a tendency for the simplification over time of the methods in official guidance documents for transport appraisal. However, the concept of severance used by researchers has become wider. Several methodological issues are also unresolved. Indicators are sensitive to inputs such as the set of pedestrian destinations, the traffic volumes and speed thresholds that define severance, the walking distances and speeds, and the measurement of pedestrian routes. Severance also depends on the spatial context (urban, suburban or rural), the distance to the barriers and on how long the barrier has been present in a community. The valuation of severance using methods based on people’s stated or revealed preferences poses additional challenges, as it is also difficult to disentangle the value of severance from those of other nuisances of transport such as noise and collision risk. Despite the challenges, there is great potential for the integration of quantitative measures of severance in appraisal methods such as cost-benefit analysis, multi-criteria analysis and environment and community impact assessments. However, this potential can only be realized if the development of tools by researchers adopts a multidisciplinary approach and involves the stakeholders on the problem