64,357 research outputs found
An integrated socio-cyber-physical system framework to assess responsible digitalisation in agriculture: A first application with Living Labs in Europe
No full textMetta, M., Ciliberti, S., Obi, C., Bartolini, F., Klerkx, L., & Brunori, G. (2022). An integrated socio-cyber-physical system framework to assess responsible digitalisation in agriculture: A first application with Living Labs in Europe. Agricultural Systems, 203, 103533
Modeling biomedical experimental processes with OBI
No full text© 2010 Soldatova et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Background: Experimental descriptions are typically stored as free text without using standardized terminology, creating challenges in comparison, reproduction and analysis. These difficulties impose limitations on data exchange and information retrieval. Results: The Ontology for Biomedical Investigations (OBI), developed as a global, cross-community effort, provides a resource that represents biomedical investigations in an explicit and integrative framework. Here we detail three real-world applications of OBI, provide detailed modeling information and explain how to use OBI. Conclusion: We demonstrate how OBI can be applied to different biomedical investigations to both facilitate interpretation of the experimental process and increase the computational processing and integration within the Semantic Web. The logical definitions of the entities involved allow computers to unambiguously understand and integrate different biological experimental processes and their relevant components. Availability: OBI is available at http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/obi/2009-11-02/obi.owlThe National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, National Human Genome Institute, the Intramural Research Program of the NIH and NIEHS, the Bio-Informatics Research Network
Coordinating Center, EC FELICS, MUGEN, BBSRC, RC UK, NERC-NEBC, EU IP CarcinoGenomics, EU NoE NuGO, CARMEN project EPSRC, NERC-NEBC, EU IP CarcinoGenomics, EU NoE NuGO, the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research, and the Public Health Agency of Canada/Canadian Institutes of Health Research Influenza Research Network
Digitalization and migration: the role of social media and migrant networks in migration decisions. An exploratory study in Nigeria
No full textPurpose: This paper aims to explore the connectivity between social media use, access to migrant networks, information asymmetry and migration intentions. Design/methodology/approach: The study was conducted using data from individuals living in Nigeria and analysed with a generalized structural equation model, which is rare for this kind of research. Findings: The authors find a dual mediating role of the social media and the migrant networks in facilitating migration, i.e. reducing the threshold cost required to migrate and introducing a bias in terms of information asymmetry. While social media and access to migrant networks directly increase migration intentions, this changes when incomplete information is provided. People who use social media and their migrant networks for information are more likely to have information about destination countries than information on the transit risk. Social implications: The study adds valuable insights for designing awareness campaigns aimed at reducing irregular migration. Originality/value: This study contributes to the understanding of the intersection of migration and digitalizatio
International migration, remittance and food security during food crises : the case study of Nigeria
No full textThe paper argues for the need to integrate the linkages between migration, remittances and food crises in the migration-food security literature. Food crises that are exacerbated by erratic climatic changes, violence and other uncertainties are important drivers of international migration. Research on the impact of migration and remittances on food security has grown lately, but it is arguably not comprehensive in its approach. The role of remittances in improving household food security experience during food crises is a vital stream being neglected, and the impact of remittances on food security over a long-term is yet to be studied comprehensively. To fill this gap, we analysed the case study of Nigeria using a World Bank Living Standards dataset, and followed an instrumental variable approach. Our results showed that remittance is valuable in meeting both short and long-term food security, and it is a veritable instrument for meeting household food security during food crises. It is particularly crucial for female-headed households who are more vulnerable to food insecurity. Although it does not significantly improve dietary diversity, households receiving remittances are less likely to adopt unhealthy coping practices such as eating less nutritious food, and less likely to be worried about meeting household food requirements due to lack of money. We conclude that remittances do not only smoothen consumption; it also places households on higher food security equilibrium during food crises
How does international migration impact on rural areas in developing countries? A systematic review
No full textThis study is a systematic review of literature on the impact of international migration on rural areas. We examined this impact on six rural welfare indicators, including labour, livelihood activities, income, food security, land use, and rural development. We selected 44 papers from a pool of 1544 articles published from 2007 to 2018. We found that the impact of international migration on selected indicators varies and are highly context-specific. The results point to the existence of heterogeneity in impacts, capable of creating a space of losers and winners among migrants and non-migrants households. The immediate impact is the loss labour effect, which leads to a process of feminisation of agriculture and the use of child labour. In the intermediate, this trend changes the power relationship in rural areas, briefly increasing the opportunities for the non-migrants household to control land. However, remittance helps the migrant household to move up in the income ladder, improving their food security, enabling the repurchase of land and causing a transition away from agriculture. We submit that international migration from developing countries could create a dynamic process of structural and functional transformations in rural areas, which may ultimately lead to a transition away from agriculture. We provide several policy implications and identified some research gaps for future studies
A New Bent-Toed Gecko of the Cyrtodactylus marmoratus Group Reptilia: Gekkonidae) from Obi Island, Indonesia
No full textBased on phylogenetic and morphological evidence, we describe a new species of Cyrtodactylus from Obi Island in the northern Moluccas, Indonesia. The new species is genetically and morphologically allied to the Melanesian species Cyrtodactylus papuensis but is distinguished by its larger body size, fewer midbody scale rows, deep precloacal groove in males, and enlarged nonpored femoral scales and pored precloacal scales arranged in a continuous series. The new species is also genetically divergent from C. papuensis (p-distances of 19.0%–20.1% in the mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 gene). Four species of Cyrtodactylus are now known from the northern Moluccas, but it is likely additional species remain unrecognized.No Full Tex
Understanding Integration Experience and Wellbeing of Economic-Asylum Seekers in Italy: the Case of Nigerian Immigrants
No full textThe literature on migrants’ integration and wellbeing is ample, but the case of economic-asylum seekers in a protracted asylum application system is yet to receive sufficient attention. The economic-asylum seekers are a unique group who migrate with an economic motive but apply for asylum to achieve economic integration in the host country. We use the aspiration-capability framework and a mixed-method approach: participant observation, focus group discussion, and field survey, to study a group of economic-asylum seekers from Nigeria when they were waiting for their asylum decisions in Italy. We find that they evaluate their wellbeing by reflecting on their premigration aspirations, integration constraints, and capabilities. They report lower life satisfaction compared to their satisfaction in Nigeria, and were affected by several barriers including structural, psychological, economic, and social constraints. Our study generally describes what it is like to live in limbo and frustration, with a limited assurance for a better tomorrow. It gives voice to the economic-asylum seekers and contributes to the integration literature by examining their perceptions of integration constraints
Role of occult hepatitis B virus infection in chronic hepatitis C
No full textThe development of sensitive assays to detect small amounts of hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA has favored the identification of occult hepatitis B infection (OBI), a virological condition characterized by a low level of HBV replication with detectable levels of HBV DNA in liver tissue but an absence of detectable surface antigen of HBV (HBsAg) in serum. The gold standard to diagnose OBI is the detection of HBV DNA in the hepatocytes by highly sensitive and specific techniques, a diagnostic procedure requiring liver tissue to be tested and the use of non-standardized non-commercially available techniques. Consequently, in everyday clinical practice, the detection of anti-hepatitis B core antibody (anti-HBc) in serum of HBsAg-negative subjects is used as a surrogate marker to identify patients with OBI. In patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC), OBI has been identified in nearly one-third of these cases. Considerable data suggest that OBI favors the increase of liver damage and the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in patients with CHC. The data from other studies, however, indicate no influence of OBI on the natural history of CHC, particularly regarding the risk of developing HCC
OBI reduction method using optical carrier suppression
No full textOptical Beat Interference (OBI) can adversely affect passive optical networks that employs Multiple Optical Carrier Subcarrier Multiplexing (MOC-SCM). The authors propose an OBI reduction method employing carrier suppressed MOC-SCM system. A mathematical model is developed and an experiment is carried out to analyze the performance of the proposed system. The experimental results are in agreement with the mathematical model, which demonstrate an improvement of 27.8 dB in the carrier-to-interference ratio. (C) 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc
Modeling biomedical experimental processes with OBI
No full textMotivation: Experimental metadata are stored in many different formats and styles, creating challenges in comparison, reproduction and analysis. These difficulties impose severe limitations on the usability of such metadata in a wider context. The Ontology for Biomedical Investigations (OBI), developed as part of a global, cross community effort, provides an approach to represent biological and clinical investigations in an explicit and integrative framework which facilitates computational processing and semantic web compatibility. Here we detail two real-world applications of OBI and show how OBI satisfies such use cases
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