Decision support tools for site-specific fertilizer recommendations and agricultural planning in selected countries in sub-Sahara Africa

Recommendations and decisions of crop management in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are often based on traditional field experimentation. This usually ignores the variability of production factors in space and time, and hence invalidates such decisions and recommendations outside of the experimental sites. Yet, the use of alternative or complementary decision support approaches such as crop modelling is limited. In this paper, we reviewed the state of the use of crop modelling in informing site specific fertilizer recommendations in some countries in SSA. Even though nitrogen fertilizer recommendations in most countries across Africa are blanket, the limited employment of models show that optimum nitrogen application should be differentiated according to soil types, management and climate. A number of studies reported on increased fertilizer use efficiency and reduced crop production risks with the use of decision support tools (DST). The review also showed that the gross limitation of the use of models as agricultural decision-making tools in SSA could be attributed to factors such as low capacity due to limited training opportunities, and the general lack of support from national governments for model development and application for policy formulation. Proposals identified to overcome these limitations include (1) introduction of the science of DST in the curricula at the tertiary level, (2) encouragement and support for the adoption of model use by governmental and non-governmental organizations as additional tools for decision making and (3) simplifying DSTs to facilitate their use by non-scientific audience to scale uptake and use for farm management.     

Eutectoid scaffold as a potential tissue engineer guide

Biphasic scaffolds were prepared according to the eutectoid composition from subsystem silicocarnotite-tricalcium phosphate by the polymeric replica method. Two polyurethane templates were used to explore the possibility of fabricating the scaffold on demand. The obtained scaffolds were characterized mineralogically by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), the chemical groups analyzed by Attenuated Total Reflectance-Fourier Transformed Infrared Spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), microstructurally by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) fitted with Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (EDS), and additionally by field emission SEM (FESEM) for the topography study. Finally, the mercury porosimetry analysis was performed for the microporosity study. The obtained results confirmed the possibility of controlling macro- and microporosity on the scaffold, which allowed their synthesis for specific needs.     

Sociometric status as a predictor of onset and progression in adolescent cigarette smoking.

The relation between sociometric status and adolescent cigarette smoking was examined in a 1-year longitudinal study. Students in 6th, 7th, and 8th grades (N=1,630) were asked to nominate peers in their grade at school whom they liked and peers whom they disliked. These nominations were used to classify participants into one of five sociometric categories (popular, rejected, controversial, neglected, and average). Participants also reported their lifetime cigarette use at two measurements in consecutive school years. The results indicated that rejected and controversial adolescents were more likely than average adolescents to (a) report lifetime smoking at time 1 (T1) and (b) report onset of smoking at time 2 (T2). However, among adolescents who had already tried cigarettes at T1, rejected and controversial youth were not at increased risk for progression in total lifetime cigarette smoking (i.e., higher levels of total lifetime cigarette use at T2). Thus the results confirm that controversial youth are similar to rejected youth in their risk for onset of cigarette smoking during adolescence.     

Experiences with SoftToken: a token‐based coordination layer for WLANs

This paper presents our experiences with SoftToken protocol, a new contention‐free medium access control protocol for wireless local area network. This new mechanism adds a token‐passing procedure on top of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers 802.11 for coordinating transmissions and avoiding collisions. With this extension, it becomes possible to offer differentiated services in a deterministic manner. In this paper, we provide a thorough performance evaluation of SoftToken in terms of its scalability, robustness and efficiency in comparison with Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers 802.11 and a time division multiple access (TDMA)‐based Wi‐Fi extension called Soft‐TDMA. Our evaluation is based on experiments run on different test beds covering different scenarios in a wired virtual network environment and practical wireless environments supporting different types of traffic. The results show that SoftToken indeed provides better QoS performance in scenarios that require service differentiation (e.g. mixed voice over Internet protocol and best effort traffic scenarios). Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Modeling light scattering from Diesel soot particles

The Mie model is widely used to analyze light scattering from particulate aerosols. The Diesel particle scatterometer, for example, determines the size and optical properties of Diesel exhaust particles that are characterized by the measurement of three angle-dependent elements of the Mueller scattering matrix. These elements are then fitted by Mie calculations with a Levenburg-Marquardt optimization program. This approach has achieved good fits for most experimental data. However, in many cases, the predicted complex index of refraction was smaller than that for solid carbon. To understand this result and explain the experimental data, we present an assessment of the Mie model by use of a light-scattering model based on the coupled-dipole approximation. The results indicate that the Mie calculation can be used to determine the largest dimension of irregularly shaped particles at sizes characteristic of Diesel soot and, for particles of known refractive index, tables can be constructed to determine the average porosity of the particles from the predicted index of refraction.     

Development of electronic textiles to support networks, communications, and medical applications in future U.S. military protective clothing systems.

The focus of this paper is on the development of textile-based wearable electronics that can be integrated into military protective clothing. A materials and manufacturing survey was conducted to determine the best performing and most durable materials to withstand the rigors of textile manufacturing and potential military use. Narrow woven technology was selected as one of the most promising textile manufacturing methods. A working wearable narrow fabric version of the Universal Serial Bus (USB), as well as a radiating conductor, were successfully developed and fabricated. A circular knit T-shirt with an integrated spiral bus was also developed. Military products developed include components of a personal area network providing data and power transport, and a body-borne antenna integrated into a load-bearing vest.     

Poverty and environmental impacts of electricity price reforms in Montenegro

The creation of the Energy Community of South Eastern Europe in 2005 committed countries in South Eastern Europe to liberalize their energy markets in accordance to EU regulations. The Government of Montenegro is thus in the process of reforming its energy sector, which includes an electricity tariff reform. This paper analyzes the environmental and social impacts of an increase in residential electricity tariffs contemplated – which is expected to range anywhere from 40 to over 100% increase. As this analysis shows, such a significant price rise will impose a heavy burden on the poor households and it may adversely affect the environment. In an ex ante investigation of the welfare impact of this price increase on households in Montenegro, we show that the anticipated price increase will result in a very significant increase in households' energy expenditures. A simulation of alternative policy measures analyzes the impact of different tariff levels and structures, focusing on the poor and vulnerable households. Higher electricity prices could also significantly increase the proportion of households using fuelwood for space heating. Thus the level of fuelwood consumption should be carefully monitored under the electricity tariff reforms and the Government of Montenegro should combine the tariff reforms with a carefully evaluated set of policy measures to mitigate the effect of the electricity price increase on the poor.     

A Longitudinal Study of Gendered Vocabulary and Communicative Action in Young Children.

Development of children's vocabularies for gender-typed words and communicative actions was investigated longitudinally from 13 to 36 months and in a group of 9.5-month-olds. Vocabularies of gendered words were assessed using lists of adult-rated gender-typed words from the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories (CDI; L. Fenson et al., 1994). At 24 to 36 months, girls' and boys' productive vocabularies contained more same-gender-typed words than other-gender-typed words. Receptive vocabulary gender-differential effects were apparent among boys at 18 months. At 13 and 18 months, gender-typed differences were apparent in communicative actions. The research reveals the utility of unobtrusive, nonexperimental measures for assessing gender-related knowledge and behavior in young children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Participation, Barriers, and Opportunities in PFI: The United Kingdom Experience

Private finance initiative (PFI) projects play an increasingly important role for both the United Kingdom government and the construction sector. It is still a relatively new form of procurement that requires a wide range of specialist advice during the bidding stage and in-depth knowledge of how the facility will perform in the long term. This paper investigates the level of participation in PFI projects in the United Kingdom, the opportunities available for the construction sector, the types of problems experienced, and the challenges for the future. It achieves this by analyzing the results of a questionnaire survey of a large number of client and construction organizations. The study finds that there is a wide gap in the level of PFI experience between client and construction organizations, affordability of PFI projects, and high bidding costs are key issues for client and construction organizations, respectively, and, given the nature of PFI projects, there is considerable scope for knowledge transfer both during the project and between different PFI projects.     

Review of My journey with Jake: A memoir of parenting and disability.

Reviews the book, My journey with Jake: A memoir of parenting and disability by Miriam Edelson (see record 2000-16338-000). Jake was born with lissencephaly, a rare genetic disorder (1 in 300,000 births) in which the brain stops developing between 12 and 14 weeks after conception. Seizures, low muscle tone, sucking and swallowing problems are common. Such children are given a very guarded prognosis, with feeding problems and aspiration pneumonia often leading to death. Edelson traces her journey from Jake's birth through traumatic days at Toronto's Sick Children's Hospital and then at home, and describes her struggles with decisions about heroic measures and her battles to find sympathetic doctors. In addition to highlighting her own experiences as a parent, Edelson provides figures regarding the numbers of children with disabilities in Ontario, and information about service delivery and policy issues. She describes the battles that parents continue to fight to maintain residential facilities for children with disabilities, using the move to close Thistletown Regional Centre in Toronto as an example. Edelson's experiences with health professionals provide important information for educators and clinicians about the ways in which families can be either thwarted or empowered when dealing with extremely difficult decisions about a child's care. This book provides valuable insights relevant to clinicians, policy makers, educators, researchers, and families with a particular interest in developmental disability. In addition, it includes a useful list of resources for parents, as well as some suggestions for parents and professionals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)