321 research outputs found

    Study of Pakistan pilot project farmer-leaders to Nepal

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    Farmer participation / Irrigation management / Farmer managed irrigation systems / Irrigated farming / Sustainable agriculture / Institution building / Pakistan

    Development of Hypervideo Platform Using Object Databases

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    Web users are seizing on interactive capabilities that software suppliers have developed so far, and are eagerly awaiting new interactive capabilities now being demonstrated. This paper focuses the development of rich information environment based on a customized platform enabling hyperlinks on objects within a digital video. With the help of such environment, the viewer is able to view multiple videos concurrently and browse them temporally as well as spatially with the help of an object database. Specifically, the platform enables to traverse through that object by linking, and such links have been explored and created. The link may connect to within a video, or multiple running videos and/or World Wide Web object. The issues such as open hypermedia link base (static, generic or dynamic) and object database versus multiple videos are also investigated

    Hydraulic simulations to evaluate and predict design and operation of the Chashma Right Bank Canal

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    Irrigation systems / Irrigation canals / Flow control / Velocity / Canal regulation techniques / Hydraulics / Simulation models / Design / Operations / Crop-based irrigation / Distributary canals / Water delivery / Policy / Protective irrigation / Water allocation / Water requirements / Sedimentation / Water distribution / Equity / Water conveyance / Pakistan / Chashma Right Bank Canal

    Are Two Interviews Better Than One? Memory across Repeated Cognitive Interviews.

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    Eyewitnesses to a filmed event were interviewed twice using a Cognitive Interview to examine the effects of variations in delay between the repeated interviews (immediately & 2 days; immediately & 7 days; 7 & 9 days) and the identity of the interviewers (same or different across the two repeated interviews). Hypermnesia (an increase in total amount of information recalled in the repeated interview) occurred without any decrease in the overall accuracy. Reminiscence (the recall of new information in the repeated interview) was also found in all conditions but was least apparent in the longest delay condition, and came with little cost to the overall accuracy of information gathered. The number of errors, increased across the interviews, but the relative accuracy of participants' responses was unaffected. However, when accuracy was calculated based on all unique details provided across both interviews and compared to the accuracy of recall in just the first interview it was found to be slightly lower. The identity of the interviewer (whether the same or different across interviews) had no effects on the number of correct details. There was an increase in recall of new details with little cost to the overall accuracy of information gathered. Importantly, these results suggest that witnesses are unlikely to report everything they remember during a single Cognitive Interview, however exhaustive, and a second opportunity to recall information about the events in question may provide investigators with additional information

    False claims about false memory research

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    Pezdek and Lam [Pezdek, K. & Lam, S. (2007). What research paradigms have cognitive psychologists used to study “False memory,” and what are the implications of these choices? Consciousness and Cognition] claim that the majority of research into false memories has been misguided. Specifically, they charge that false memory scientists have been (1) misusing the term “false memory,” (2) relying on the wrong methodologies to study false memories, and (3) misapplying false memory research to real world situations. We review each of these claims and highlight the problems with them. We conclude that several types of false memory research have advanced our knowledge of autobiographical and recovered memories, and that future research will continue to make significant contributions to how we understand memory and memory errors

    Diagnosis of hepatoma using grayscale and Doppler ultrasound in patients with chronic liver disease

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    Wasim A Memon, Zishan Haider, Mirza Amanullah Beg, Muhammad Idris, Tanveer-ul-Haq, Waseem Akhtar, Sidra IdrisRadiology Department, Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan Every author contributed equally to the workObjective: To determine the diagnostic accuracy of liver ultrasound for the detection of hepatoma in chronic liver disease (CLD) patients by either taking histopathology or serum α-fetoprotein levels or a biphasic computed tomography (CT) scan (whichever is available) as the gold standard.Study design: Cross-sectional.Place and duration of study: Radiology Department, The Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan, from January 2007 to January 2010.Methods: A total of 239 patients (156 males and 83 females) with clinical suspicion or surveillance of hepatoma in CLD referred to the radiology department for ultrasound evaluation followed by either liver biopsy and histopathology or serum α-fetoprotein level or biphasic CT scan.Results: The sensitivity of ultrasound for hepatoma detection in CLD was 65%, specificity was 85%, and accuracy was 70%, and positive predictive value and negative predictive value were 92% and 45%, respectively.Conclusion: Ultrasound is a relatively quick, safe, reasonably accurate, and noninvasive imaging modality for the detection of hepatoma in CLD and can be complemented with clinical assessment of screening high-risk patients.Keywords: hepatoma, ultrasound, radiology, chronic liver diseas

    Group multi-criteria supplier selection using combined grey systems theory and uncertainty theory

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    Supplier selection in supply chain is critical strategic decision for organization's success and has attracted much attention of both academic researchers and practitioners. Supplier selection problem consists of stochastic and recognitive uncertainties. However, the requirement of large sample size and strong subject knowledge to build suitable fuzzy membership function restrict the applicability of probability and fuzzy theories in supplier selection problem. In response, this study proposed a new tool for supplier selection. In this paper, we applied the combination of grey system theory and uncertainty theory which neither requires any probability distribution nor fuzzy membership function. The objective of this paper is to develop framework for reducing the purchasing risks associated with suppliers. The proposed supplier selection method not only selects the most appropriate supplier(s) but also allocate optimal purchase quantity under stochastic and recognitive uncertainties. An example is shown to highlight the procedure of the proposed model at the end of this paper. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.This research was supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (2012R1A1B3000631 and 2014R1A1A2056338)

    Returns to Facilitating Farmers’ Organisations for Distributary Maintenance: Empirical Results from a Pilot Project in Southern Punjab

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    Institutional reforms currently underway in Pakistan’s irrigation and drainage sector require that farmers take over the operation and maintenance responsibilities of their secondary canals. However, the farmers need to be organised first, for which investments are a prerequisite. A great deal of skepticism about the farmers’ collective ability and willingness to undertake the needed tasks exists, even now when they are actually organised. This skepticism originates from past experiences when direct subsidies were offered to induce collective action. Theoretically, collective action can be more sustainable if investments are made in capacity building for the tasks that the farmers have to perform to improve the service delivery. Farmers are being organised for distributary operation and maintenance. So far, the delay in formulation of an appropriate legal framework has prevented the irrigation departments from formally transferring the operation and maintenance responsibilities to farmers. Self-help-based maintenance has been the only avenue for farmers to participate in the management of the irrigation system. The paper uses data pertaining to the cost of facilitation and estimates the amount of resources mobilised for two successive years from a pilot project. The analysis shows that investments made for facilitation do pay off. Investment in facilitation returns 69 percent higher than the actual investment per year during the initial years. In the short-run, the returns to facilitation indicate an increasing trend. The paper argues that when compared to previous approaches adopted in Pakistan, investments for facilitation and capacity building have a greater chance of prompting sustainable collective action for irrigation and drainage management.

    A Paradigm Shift in Education Systems Due to COVID-19: Its Social and Demographic Consequences

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    The pandemic of COVID-19 has caused a serious effect on health, economic, social, political, demo- graphic, and all other various aspects of the economy. It has given a huge impact on the education system in a worldwide manner that leads to the closure of universities, colleges, and schools. This study aims to assess the impact of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic on the education sector in special reference to India. The loss of learning was majorly pronounced among students from a disadvantaged prospec- tus. The authors conducted a qualitative document analysis of all the published articles that explained the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the education system from 2019-2021. The study provides an insight on the barriers in education due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The result shows the evolution of technology-enabled education in the learning sector. Finally, the challenges articulated by the learners during online learning include external as well as internal factors and causes
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