1,720,955 research outputs found
Design and implementation of a farmer's digital information system for sustainable agriculture among smallholder farmers in Tanzania
No full textThesisSustainable agriculture among smallholder farmers has the potential to ensure food security and
alleviate extreme poverty in a rapidly growing population and the face of global climate change.
Additionally, smallholder farmers contribute 70% of the world's food and employ more than one
billion people, the majority of whom live in rural and semi-urban areas. However, this group of
farmers faces various challenges in adopting sustainable agriculture. We conducted a literature
review and a survey of key agricultural stakeholders in Tanzania to identify common challenges
of smallholder farmers. It was revealed that smallholder farmers lack access to essential
services, including subsidies, credit, insurance, government services, markets, and farming
information.
In this thesis, we aim to design and implement a digital framework for smallholder farmers to
access all essential services (subsidies, credit, insurance, government services, market,
warehouse services, logistics services, quality farm inputs, and farming information) under one
roof. Indeed, digital technology can play a significant role in digitizing the agricultural value chains
(AVCs) of small-scale farmers in countries of the Global South. The use of advanced digital
technologies in agriculture, including artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT),
blockchain, robotics, and big data, has enabled sustainable farming through increased
production and income, as well as enhanced environmental conservation. However, these
technologies are not accessible to smallholder farmers (the majority of whom reside in countries
in the global South) as they require high investment capital, expertise, and well-established
infrastructure. Although various digital services are available for smallholder farmers, the existing
services often lack sustainability in the agricultural context and fail to meet their needs.
We employed the Design Science Research (DSR) method to design and provide a proof of
concept of a digital platform that brings together all key agricultural stakeholders, enabling
farmers to access all essential services throughout the complete farming cycle. Moreover, we
conducted a literature review using the PRISMA guidelines to establish the state-of-the-art
technology in agriculture and the use of ICT-based services by smallholder farmers in Tanzania.
A survey method was employed as part of the DSR to collect stakeholders’ opinions on the
proposed digital artifact solution. The study follows the theories of Information and
Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D), which posits that technological
advancements should have a positive impact on people’s lives by developing solutions that work
well within the local context, rather than simply copying and pasting technology from other
contexts, such as from developed to developing countries.
As a research contribution, we identified common challenges of smallholder farmers, designed
and provided a proof of concept of a Farmers' Digital Information System (FDIS) that integrates
services from different stakeholders, including farmers, agro-dealers, warehouses, logistics
companies, subsidies, advisory services, market, credit, insurance, and government(permit)
services. We expect our findings will help governments, the private sector, and policymakers to
adopt and implement FDIS. This will make the agriculture sector more dynamic and help
smallholder farmers participate in sustainable agriculture.wiss Government Excellence Scholarship, Fondation Ernst et Lucie
Schmidheiny, and Fonds Généra
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
No full textWe have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
Author-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.
No full textAuthor-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.</p
Author Under Sail The Imagination of Jack London, 1893-1902
No full textIn Author Under Sail, Jay Williams offers the first complete literary biography of Jack London as a professional writer engaged in the labor of writing. It examines the authorial imagination in London's work, the use of imagination in both his fiction and nonfiction, and the ways he defined imagination in the creative process in his business dealings with his publishers, editors, and agents. In this first volume of a two-volume biography, Williams traverses the years 1893 to 1902, from London's "Story of a Typhoon" to The People of the Abyss. The Jack London who emerges in the pages of Author Under Sail is a writer whose partnership with publishers, most notably his productive alliance with George Brett of Macmillan, was one of the most formative in American literary history. London pioneered many author models during the heyday of realism and naturalism, blurring the boundaries of these popular genres by focusing on absorption and theatricality and the representation of the seen and unseen. London created an impassioned, sincere, and extremely personal realism unlike that of other American writers of the time. Author Under Sail is a literary tour de force that reveals the full range of London as writer, creative citizen, and entrepreneur at the same time it sheds light on the maverick side of machine-age literature.Intro -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1. Spirit Truth -- 2. From Absorption to Theatricality and Back Again -- 3. "I Will Build a New Present" -- 4. Sons as Authors -- 5. Fathers as Publishers -- 6. The Daughter as Author -- 7. Lovers as Authors -- 8. At Sea with the Family -- 9. Yellow News, Yellow Stories -- 10. The Return Home -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- About Jay WilliamsIn Author Under Sail, Jay Williams offers the first complete literary biography of Jack London as a professional writer engaged in the labor of writing. It examines the authorial imagination in London's work, the use of imagination in both his fiction and nonfiction, and the ways he defined imagination in the creative process in his business dealings with his publishers, editors, and agents. In this first volume of a two-volume biography, Williams traverses the years 1893 to 1902, from London's "Story of a Typhoon" to The People of the Abyss. The Jack London who emerges in the pages of Author Under Sail is a writer whose partnership with publishers, most notably his productive alliance with George Brett of Macmillan, was one of the most formative in American literary history. London pioneered many author models during the heyday of realism and naturalism, blurring the boundaries of these popular genres by focusing on absorption and theatricality and the representation of the seen and unseen. London created an impassioned, sincere, and extremely personal realism unlike that of other American writers of the time. Author Under Sail is a literary tour de force that reveals the full range of London as writer, creative citizen, and entrepreneur at the same time it sheds light on the maverick side of machine-age literature.Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, YYYY. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries
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