Media Contact Research Articles

Role of Opinion Leaders in Technology Transfer among the Farmers in Bangladesh

The agriculture of Bangladesh is progressing by using new technologies for production. This can be obtained by transferring technology to the farmers. Opinion leaders (OLs) are used as role models in the adoption of technology. The purpose of the study was to determine the role of OLs played regarding technology transfer. The study was conducted at Dumuria upazila under Khulna district. The data were collected from October 20, 2021 to January 5, 2022, from randomly selected 70 farmers and purposively selected 25 opinion leaders. A Role Extent Index (REI) was used to make a comparison among the selected 25 roles of OLs and 15 roles of the farmer as recipient of the extension service provided by the OLs. A Problem Severity Index (PSI) was also incorporated to make a comparison among the problems faced by the OLs. Correlation Coefficient (r) was used to ascertain the relationship between the focus issue and personal characteristics of the respondents. The Opinion Leaders majority (60%) of the OLs play important role and the majority (72%) faced moderate problem and majority (80%) of the farmers play an important role as a recipient. Farmers also assumed that majority (87.1%) of OLs play an important role. ‘Remain unbiased to share information’ became the first ranked role of the OLs in technology transfer. Family income, training received and extension media contact had a positive significant relationship with the extent of role played by the opinion leaders in extension services. Opinion leaders are important determinants and their role became the bridge between farmers and technology, thus, necessary steps should be taken to involve, train and supervise the opinion leaders.

Capacity strengthening of fish farmers for improving their livelihood in Mymensingh district of Bangladesh

This study examines the capacity strengthening status for improving the livelihood of fish farmers of Muktagacha upazila (sub-district) of Bangladesh. A mix method research design was used to collect data from 70 fish farmers of the study area. Nine selected demographic characteristics of the respondents were age, level of education, household size, farm size, fish farming experience, training received on fish farming, access to credit, extension media contact and organizational participation. Findings reveal that half of the respondents (50%) had moderate level of capacity strengthening score while considerable portion of the respondents (36%) had high level of capacity strengthening score. The livelihood status of fish farmers improved to a great extent in five aspects of livelihood (human, social, natural, physical and financial) due to the creation of income generating opportunities after their involvement in fish farming. This study concludes that fish farming has major contributions for the capacity strengthening of fish farmers for improving their livelihood status.

Investigation of the Nature of the Interaction of Me-MeN-(Me,Mo,Al)N Coatings (Where Me = Zr, Ti, or Cr) with a Contact Medium Based on the Ni-Cr System

This paper discusses the results of a study focused on the nature of the interaction of Me-MeN-(Me,Mo,Al)N coatings (where Me = zirconium (Zr), titanium (Ti), or chromium (Cr)) with a contact medium based on the Ni-Cr system. The studies were carried out during the turning of nickel–chromium alloy at different cutting speeds. The hardness of the coatings was found, and their nanostructure and phase composition were studied. The experiments were conducted using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and selected area electron diffraction (SAED). According to the studies, at elevated cutting speeds, the highest wear resistance is demonstrated by the tools with the ZrN-based coating, while at lower cutting speeds, the tools with the TiN- and CrN-based coatings had higher wear resistance. At elevated cutting speeds, the experiments detected the active formation of oxides in the ZrN-based coating and less active formation of oxides in the CrN-based coating. No formation of oxides was detected in the TiN-based coating. The patterns of cracking in the coatings were also studied.

China’s Domestic Image and Media Use: A Case Study and Empirical Analysis of China’s Post-90s Generation

A study of the relationships between the image of a country and media use is one of the most appropriate methods to gain knowledge on various stakeholders’ different perceptions of the country’s sustainability. Through an online survey of China’s post-90s generation, this paper first studies the respondents’ domestic image of China (including social, political, economic, and cultural images), second, their media use behaviors, and third, the relationships between their perceptions of China’s image and their behaviors. Based on the CFA model, with 16 items obtained from the survey data, the results of the empirical analysis indicated that China’s domestic image, as well as its political, economic, and cultural images, were generally neutral for the respondents, while they tended to disagree with the social image. Furthermore, neither traditional media use time nor new media use time of the respondents had any statistically significant influence on their perceptions of China’s image, where the latter was significantly more than the former. However, the type of media contact had a significant influence on their perceptions of political image and on their perception of some items concerning economic and cultural images.

AI-Based Efficient WUGS Network Channel Modeling and Clustered Cooperative Communication

Wireless underground sensor networks (WUSNs) are sub-ground-surface sensor node networks designed to establish real-time tracking capacities in diverse underground ecosystems composed of soil, water, oil, and other materials. The contact medium is the key distinction between USNs and terrestrial wireless sensor networks. The communication properties of electromagnetic (EM) waves in underwater resources like mud, water, oil, and other materials, as well as major variations between propagation in air, make classification of the underground wireless channel difficult. From the transmission of data, the channels modelling is involved to remove the noise and reduce the energy. After that Multi-driven Clustering Algorithm (MCA) method is used to cluster the channel based on the EDT method (Energy, Distance, and Time). Completing the transmission, the data can be transmitted to the destination. The experimental portion of the proposed method is analyzed by varying parameters such as energy, throughput, channel response, and time duration of the data transmission. From the experimental analysis, it is observed that 55% and 45% more energy levels can be saved with the proposed MCA method than with the LEACH methods for DR and SW media methods, respectively. The throughput of the proposed method is proven with 45% and 42% improvement over the time horizon in the median under the frequency for soil of the LEACH and LEACH-CO2 methods, correspondingly.

Taxim: An Example-Based Simulation Model for GelSight Tactile Sensors

Simulation is widely used in robotics for system verification and large-scale data collection. However, simulating sensors, including tactile sensors, has been a long-standing challenge. In this letter, we propose Taxim, a realistic and high-speed simulation model for a vision-based tactile sensor, GelSight W. Yuan <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">et al</i> . A GelSight sensor uses a piece of soft elastomer as the medium of contact and embeds optical structures to capture the deformation of the elastomer, which infers the geometry and forces applied at the contact surface. We propose an example-based method for simulating GelSight: we simulate the optical response to the deformation with a polynomial look-up table. This table maps the contact geometries to pixel intensity sampled by the embedded camera. In order to simulate the surface markers’ motion that is caused by the surface stretch of the elastomer, we apply the linear displacement relationship and the superposition principle. The simulation model is calibrated with less than 100 data points from a real sensor. The example-based approach enables the model to easily migrate to other GelSight sensors or its variations. To the best of our knowledge, our simulation framework is the first to incorporate <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">marker motion field simulation</i> that derives from elastomer deformation together with the <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">optical simulation</i> , creating a comprehensive and computationally efficient tactile simulation framework. Experiments reveal that our optical simulation has the lowest pixel-wise intensity errors compared to prior work and can run online with CPU computing. Our code and supplementary materials are open-sourced at <uri xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">https://github.com/CMURoboTouch/Taxim</uri> .

Information Needs and Information Support Services of Women Entrepreneurs in Telangana State

Entrepreneurship plays an essential role in stimulating the economic growth and generating employment opportunities. Information is required to establish and eff ective running of an enterprise. The present study was aimed at fi nd out information needs and information support services among women entrepreneurs. The study was conducted in three districts of Telangana state i.e Adilabad, Sangareddy and Rangareddy districts. A total of 180 respondents constituted the sample of the study. Data was collected through structured schedule and scale. The results found that most of the women entrepreneurs need technical information need and managerial information needs. The results also revealed that majority (54.44%) of the respondents had medium level information support services followed by low (23.89%) and high (21.67%) level information support services. Correlation analysis of information support services with independent variables revealed that education, annual income, socio-economic status, extension support, information seeking behaviour, mass media contact and ICT usage showed a positive signifi cant relationship.

Inconclusive Findings in Studies of the Link Between Media Coverage of Mass Trauma and Depression in Children.

Purpose of ReviewThis paper reports a review of the empirical research examining the association between mass trauma media contact and depression in children, the factors that may influence the association, and the difficulties encountered in the study of media effects on depression.Recent FindingsAll of the included studies assessed general population samples. Pre-COVID-19 research focused primarily on television coverage alone or on multiple media forms including television, while COVID-19 media studies examined various media forms including social media. Most studies used cross-sectional design and non-probability sampling. The review revealed inconclusive findings across studies.SummaryThe study of mass trauma media effects on depression in children is complicated by a number of potential confounding factors and by the relatively high prevalence of depression in the general population. Media contact was a relatively minor consideration among other interests in the extant studies which failed to explore numerous issues that warrant attention in future research.

Using sport media exposure to promote gender equality: Counter-stereotypical gender perceptions and the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup

By relying on literature on counter-stereotypes and media contact, we investigated whether media exposure is associated with counter-stereotypical gender perceptions. Focusing on the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, we recruited samples ( N = 2,228) from eight competing countries (China, France, Germany, Italy, Scotland, Spain, England, US) across three continents. We hypothesized that exposure to media coverage of the competition’s counter-stereotypical female exemplars would be associated with increased counter-stereotypical perceptions of women. Results revealed that media exposure was associated with greater communion and agency attributed to women. In turn, communion and agency were associated (negatively and positively, respectively) with attribution of stereotypically male abilities (abilities to engage in stereotypically male academic disciplines and jobs) to women compared to men. No effects emerged for perceptions of stereotypically female characteristics. Gender moderated these effects, with associations being stronger among male than among female respondents. Theoretical and practical implications of findings are discussed.

Influence of an External Electric Field and Dissipative Tunneling on Recombination Radiation in Quantum Dots.

The effect of an external electric field and dissipative tunneling on the spectral intensity of recombination radiation in a quantum dot with an A+ + e impurity complex (a hole localized on a neutral acceptor interacting with an electron localized in the ground state of the quantum dot) is studied in the zero-radius potential model in the adiabatic approximation. The probability of dissipative tunneling of a hole is calculated in the one-instanton approximation. A high sensitivity of the recombination radiation intensity to the strength of the external electric field and to such parameters of the surrounding matrix (dissipative tunneling parameters) as temperature, the constant of interaction with the contact medium (or the heat-bath), and the frequency of phonon modes, has been revealed. It is shown that an external electric field leads to a shift of the recombination radiation threshold by several tens of meV, and a change in the parameters of dissipative tunneling has a noticeable effect on the spectral intensity of recombination radiation. It is shown that the resonant tunneling effect manifests itself in the form of “dips” in the field dependence of the spectral intensity of recombination radiation, which occur at certain values of the external electric field strength and temperature. This opens up certain prospects for the use of the considered system “quantum dot—impurity complex A+ + e” under conditions of dissipative tunneling for the study and diagnostics of biological objects.

FORENSIC EVIDENCE AS A MEAN OF PROOF IN DEVELOPING PRIMA FACIE CASE IN TAKHBIB CRIMINAL OFFENCE

A third party’s intervention has been one of the most significant factors in Malaysian divorce cases. Third parties may come from family members and non-family members. This interference is called takhbīb. Within the scope of Malaysian Syariah criminal law, tahkbib is regarded as a criminal offence. However, it is difficult to prove this criminal offence. None of the Syariah law journals reported cases that could be used as reference or case studies. This article proposes a method of proof, which is practical and can be carried out in the Syariah courts to prove the criminal offence of takhbīb. In gathering and compiling the necessary data and related materials, this qualitative study embraced document analysis as a research method. These data are inductively evaluated by implementing qualitative content analysis. This study showed several obstacles in the development of a prima facie prosecution by the Syarie Public Prosecutor, including the absence of eyewitnesses present as evidence. Third-party intrusion is commonly committed through social networks such as WhatsApp, Telegram, WeChat, and Facebook Messenger. The use of such media networks as a medium of contact may also be brought as part of the evidence before the Syariah courts. The best mechanism to be implemented in this case is by using digital forensics and expert opinion. The digital forensic investigator will track or archive the communications from the social media, and deliver them in the form of a written text. In terms of proving the commission of takhbīb criminal offence, this study contributes to the improvement of the Syariah legal system. In short, the law still provides a method of proving criminal offences. Any legal practitioner should make good use of statutory provisions instead of suggesting amendments to it.

Images Made by Contagion: On Dermatological Wax Moulages

Moulages are contact media – images made by contagion in the most literal sense: their production relies on a process in which the object to be reproduced is touched by the reproducing material. In the case of dermatological moulages, the plaster touches the infected skin of the sick and, once dried, serves as the negative form for the waxen image of a disease. Focussing on the collection of the Hôpital Saint-Louis in Paris, the article situates the production of dermatological moulages within the visual culture of 19th-century medicine and raises the question how an ancient technique of image production could become such a prevalent tool for the documentation of skin diseases during a period usually associated with the rise of scientific medicine and a reconsideration of theories of contagion in medical aetiology.

Farmers’ Use of Improved Practices in Potato Cultivation

The main purpose of the study was to determine the extent of use of the improved practices by the farmers in potato cultivation, and to explore the relationships between selected characteristics of the farmers and their use of improved practices. The study was carried out in Nandigram Upazila of Bogura District of Bangladesh. Data are collected via face-to-face interview from 94 randomly selected farmers by using structured interview schedule. Descriptive statistics was used for measuring the frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation. Pearson’s product moment correlation co-efficient(r) was performed to determine the relationships between the selected characteristics and use of improved practices. Findings indicated that majority (70.2%) of the farmers had medium use of improve practices compared to 16.0% low and 13.8% had high use of improve practices. Among the selected characteristics; education, farm size, organizational participation and extension media contact had positive significant relationship with their use of improved practices in potato cultivation, while age showed the negative significant relationship. Hence, use of improved practices in potato cultivation was significantly affected by these significant characteristics. According to Use Index (UI), ‘ridge and furrow method’ and ‘ploughing with power tiller’ were the first ranked improved practices used by the farmers in potato cultivation having similar use index. On the other hand, the bottom ranked improved practices in the potato cultivation was ‘vermicomposting’. Further research on attitude and perception of the farmers towards improved practices in potato cultivation might be considered in same or other location of the country.

Change in local conformation of polymer chains at film surface attached to solid surface.

Adhesion is a molecular event where polymer chains contact with a material surface to form an interfacial layer. To obtain a better understanding of the adhesion on a molecular scale, we herein examined the conformational change of polystyrene (PS) chains at the film surface after contacting with hydrophobic or hydrophilic surfaces using sum-frequency generation (SFG) spectroscopy. Chains altered their local conformations with a quartz surface more quickly than a hydrophobic alkyl-functionalized one. A full-atomistic molecular dynamics simulation showed that these results, which were coupled with the contact process of PS chains with the solid surface, could be explained in terms of the Coulomb interaction between them.

Determinants of Women’s Entrepreneurial Performance in Kerala

Women entrepreneurs have significant impact on the economic development in global aswell as national context. Capacitating women with entrepreneurial qualities have remainedkey to social transformation especially in developing countries. The paper presents theresults of a study conducted in Kerala during 2020-21 to analyse the determinants ofwomen’s entrepreneurial performance related to agricultural enterprises. Seventy womenentrepreneurs involved in agricultural ventures randomly selected from the 14 districts ofKerala formed the study sample. Analysis of data collected based on a pretested structuredinterview schedule indicated mushroom and value addition enterprises as the most successfulenterprises among women. It was estimated that these enterprises took three and six monthsrespectively and production levels of 1872 kg and 1462 kg each in the order to reach break-even points. Mass media contact and stage of enterprise were the factors which weredelineated as the factors that contributed significantly to the period taken to achieve thebreak-even point by the women led enterprises.

FARMERS’ ATTITUDES TO CHEMICAL PESTICIDE USE IN NORTHWEST REGION OF BANGLADESH

Although it is obvious that chemical pesticides may have adverse effects on health and the environment, farmers in our nation frequently use chemical pesticides in crop fields to manage pests. This research work focuses on analyzing farmers’ attitudes towards chemical pesticide application. Using a prepared questionnaire, the study was carried out in several Chapainawabganj sites, and information was gathered from 50 randomly chosen farmers. Appropriate scales were developed to measure the variables. Descriptive statistics, such as mean, standard deviation, range, and percentage, were used to characterize the variables. According to the findings, the bulk of the respondents in the research area was old aged 46%. The findings also reveal that 54% of the respondents do not have a primary school education, 62% of the respondents have a medium-sized farm, 52% of the respondents have high annual income, 90% of the respondents do not have organizational training and 84% of the total respondents have high farming experience of crop cultivation. The study indicates that 76% of respondents had medium knowledge of pesticide application and the use of pesticides was viewed with a moderate attitude by 76% of the respondents. In this study, we find a positive significant relationship between farmers’ knowledge about chemical pesticides and the use of pesticides. Besides, there is also another positive significant relationship between extension media contact and the use of pesticides. Farmers in the research region were found to be more likely to use chemical pesticides to increase productivity by controlling pest attacks. Therefore, the current study could subsidize improving better guidelines aim at applying fewer pesticides in the crop field and improving farmers’ knowledge of the balanced use of pesticides. The extension service providers might educate farmers on the responsible use of chemical pesticides, raise their level of knowledge on the control of insects, and provide alternative ways for insect pest management in the research area.

Staying Sharp: A case study in virtual health education for aging brain health

AbstractBackgroundAARP's Staying Sharp program is a digital platform dedicated to educating users on how to learn, practice, and apply holistic, lifestyle‐based behaviors that may impact cognitive aging. The Staying Sharp program has been active for several years, and currently has a userbase of over 800,000 members. This past year, COVID necessitated a massive shift in the way we live our lives; this particularly impacted older adults, who are especially vulnerable to COVID. Consequently, Staying Sharp pivoted in several ways in order to best serve as a valuable health education tool. Here, we will (1) discuss the lessons learned during this COVID‐driven pivot; and (2) present preliminary data analyses of the impact of COVID / social distancing on measures of behaviors in the domains of sleep, stress, and social interaction.MethodA retrospective analysis of &gt;200,000 self‐reported lifestyle surveys from the platform evaluated responses regarding sleep hygiene, social isolation, and stress management. Responses were categorized across three periods: prior to April 1, 2020 (pre‐social distancing), from April 1 ‐ August 1 2020 (acute social distancing), and from August 1 2020 ‐ January 1 2020 (chronic social distancing). Demographic factors were also analyzed for potential correlation with self‐reported changes in lifestyle behaviors.ResultPreliminary results indicate age‐associated changes in sleep hygiene habits and stress management over the chronological progression of pandemic‐driven social distancing. Furthermore, changes in self‐reported habits of social media use and contact with family / friends were associated with total time elapsed since April 1; these behavior changes were also associated with age.ConclusionThe Staying Sharp platform carried out a significant pivot at the beginning of the COVID pandemic in order to best serve its userbase. With a cultural shift towards virtual health education, the digital Staying Sharp platform became positioned as an optimal source for health education related to cognitive aging. A preliminary analysis of retrospective data indicates pandemic‐associated shifts in self‐reported habits in sleep, stress, and social interaction as a function of age. These findings may represent an interesting line of future investigation in older populations, who are particularly affected by social distancing during the COVID era.

The Impact of Political Identity and Outgroup Partisan Media Contact on Intergroup Bias and Unwillingness to Compromise with the Opposing Party: An Intergroup Threat Approach

ABSTRACT Drawing on the assumptions of intergroup threat theory, this study explored the influence of political identity and outgroup partisan media use on intergroup attitudes (intergroup bias and unwillingness to compromise with the opposing party) during the 2018 U.S. mid-term election and how perceptions of threats posed by the opposing party mediated these relationships. We found that political identity was positively associated with intergroup bias and unwillingness to support compromise, whereas outgroup media exposure was negatively associated with such attitudes. Perceptions of realistic threats posed by the opposing party partially mediated the relationships between party identity and intergroup bias, but not between party identity and unwillingness to support compromise. The practical and theoretical implications of these results are discussed.

A software package for modeling the propagation of dynamic wave disturbances in heterogeneous multi-scale media

The paper considers a software package designed to simulate the propagation of dynamic wave disturbances in heterogeneous media. One of the main features of the considered software package is numerical algorithms with an explicit selection of inhomogeneities. Within the framework of the work, such inhomogeneities as pores, fractures and interfaces between media (contact boundaries) are considered. The considered algorithms make it possible to perform calculations in different scale settings in micro and macro sizes. The mathematical model is based on the equations of the linear theory of elasticity. For the calculation, block structural meshes are used. The software package is parallelized using MPI and OpenMP technologies. Separate parts of the algorithm are parallelized using graphics accelerators such as GPGPU. The paper describes the features of the algorithms under consideration and provides examples of calculations that demonstrate the capabilities of the algorithm.

Visualization of Media Contact Areas in Drop Impact Flows with Chemical Reactions

Visualization of Media Contact Areas in Drop Impact Flows with Chemical Reactions