Held Devices Research Articles

Utility of augmented breast self-examination as an education and screening tool in Rural India for early detection of breast cancer

Background: Breast cancer contributes 19-34%, the percentages vary according to the region. There is an immense need for the structured breast cancer screening, which should start with education of breast self-examination (BSE). However due to poor literacy and education, we thought of augmenting the same (aBSC) with use of hand held device across various camps and compared with clinical breast examination (CBE) and conducting feasibility study.Methods: Data from screening camps between 2018-2020 using standardized AV tools (15 minutes duration) were analysed followed by a question answer section to elicit the understanding with 20:1 random check. For BSE and a aBSE we did verification for the understanding and adoption of techniques as per instruction manual. The participants were observed and supervised by trained personal during the process followed by CBE. The results BSE, aBSE and CBE were documented.Results: We trained 7214 women 2018-2020. Of the total trained persons, 93.8% of women understood accurately. aBSE was done for 1085. Comparison was done between the aBSC and CBE. aBSE could detect 92.6% of all the lumps identified by CBE, which is much better than 68% of BSE. There are 23.4% more suspicious lumps were unearthed after aBSE after conventional BSE. Of all the camps we detected 356 new lumps and malignancies were confirmed in 142 participants, which indicated high impact of such training programs in Rural India.Conclusions: BSE and aBSE are quite useful in clinical detection of lump and is easy to implement. With detection rate of 1.9%, which is quite high especially in the rural areas where medical facilities are poor, we feel that aBSE can be adopted in large scale and is well accepted among rural women and can improve on conventional breast self-examination and is comparable with clinical breast examination.

Prelaunch Matching Architecture for Distributed Intelligent Image Recognition

The paper presents a multi-agent solution for dynamic combination of several artificial neural networks used for image recognition. As opposed to the existing methods there is introduced a dispatcher agent that provides prelaunch matching of possible pro-active identification algorithms through competition. The proposed solution was implemented to solve a problem of stream processing of photo images produced by a number of distributed cameras using an intelligent mobile application. It was probated and utilized in practice to capture the results of electrical meters that are manually monitored by a group of patrol personnel inspectors using hand held devices. Prelaunch matching architecture allowed increasing the quality of digits recognition using various neural networks depending on the operating conditions.

P6540Opportunistic screening for atrial fibrillation in an ambulatory geriatric population with a hand held single lead ECG device

Abstract Introduction Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia and its incidence rises with age. Especially geriatric patients are at high risk for the development of AF as well as its complications. These high risk patients might benefit the most of oral anticoagulation. AF is however often asymptomatic in these patients and might stay undiagnosed. Purpose To assess the outcomes of opportunistic screening on AF on a geriatric outpatient clinic with a hand held single lead ECG device. Methods All consecutive patients 60 years and older that visited the outpatient clinic between the 1st of June 2017 and the 1st of June 2018 were eligible. Patients who were not able or willing to give informed consent, or had a pacemaker (PM) or internal cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) were excluded. Patients were screened 2 or 3 times at every visit with the MyDiagnostick©, a hand held single lead ECG device with inbuilt algorithm that identifies AF [1]. At baseline all patients underwent a comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA), including a 12 lead ECG, physical, cognitive and functional assessment and medication review. All baseline ECGs were reviewed by 1 cardiologist and all measurements with the single lead device were reviewed by 2 independent cardiologists. Disagreement about the rhythm on the measurements was resolved by discussion between the cardiologists. Results 498 consecutive patients were eligible for inclusion. We excluded 39 patients: 20 patients had a PM or ICD, 17 did not want to participate and of 2 the medical files were incomplete. A total of 459 patients participated in this study. The mean age was 78±7.3 years and ranged from 60 to 100 years, 245 patients (53%) were female. Patients were known with 5±3 morbidities and used 6±4 different drugs. At baseline 88 (19%) patients were known with AF and AF was first diagnosed in 24 (5%) patients, constituting to an overall prevalence of 23% within this ambulatory geriatric population. Of these 24 patients, 4 (1%) showed AF on their baseline ECG and in 20 (4%) patients AF was found using the handheld device. A total of 1345 measurement with the handheld device were performed, 14 measurements (1%) were of too low quality to use, 32 (2%) were of poor quality, 148 (11%) acceptable and 1151 (86%) were of good quality. Sensitivity of the hand held device for detecting AF is 83.9%, specificity 99.2%, negative predictive value 99.6%, and positive predictive value 72.2%. Conclusions Opportunistic screening for AF with a hand held ECG device has a 5 times higher yield than the standard CGA with an 12 lead ECG at the first visit only. Also, AF can be reliably excluded after a negative measurement. Because of the potential benefit of OAC we advocate screening geriatric patients for AF at every doctor's visit. However, considering the positive predictive value, a confirmatory ECG remains necessary to confirm the diagnosis of AF. Acknowledgement/Funding None

A New Shoulder Surfing and Mobile Key-Logging Resistant Graphical Password Scheme for Smart-Held Devices

In globalization of information, internet has played a vital role by providing an easy and fast access of information and systems to remote users. However, with ease for authentic users, it has made information resources accessible to unauthorized users too. To authorize legitimate user for the access of information and systems, authentication mechanisms are applied. Many users use their credentials or private information at public places to access their accounts that are protected by passwords. These passwords are usually text-based passwords and their security and effectiveness can be compromised. An attacker can steal text-based passwords using different techniques like shoulder surfing and various key logger software, that are freely available over internet. To improve the security, numerous sophisticated and secure authentication systems have been proposed that employ various biometric authentication systems, token-based authentication system etc. But these solutions providing such high-level security, require special modification in the design and hence, imply additional cost. Textual passwords that are easy to use but vulnerable to attacks like shoulder surfing, various image based, and textual graphical password schemes are proposed. However, none of the existing textual graphical passwords are resistant to shoulder surfing and more importantly to mobile key-logging. In this paper, an improved and robust textual graphical password scheme is proposed that uses sectors and colors and introducing randomization as the primary function for the character display and selection. This property makes the proposed scheme resistant to shoulder surfing and more importantly to mobile key-logging. It can be useful for authentication process of any smart held device application.

English

Poultry has been identified by the World Bank funded Commercial Agricultural Development Program (CADP) as a value chain in the agricultural sector of Enugu State and thus has the potential for commercial agriculture. This work has investigated poultry farms in three production cluster areas in Enugu State namely: Emene (in Enugu East) located on 6.523815°N, 7.4151535°E and 1236 ft; Ngwo (in Enugu North/Udi) located on 6.523815°N, 7.57528°E and 572 ft and Nsukka located on 6.234754°N, 7.326473°E and 3422 ft. The study identified the position of each farm using Global Positioning System (GPS) hand held device; their specific mechanization needs and challenges limiting the performances of the farms using structured questionnaire, oral interviews and on-the-spot assessments. Position and mechanization data were represented in a map using ArcGIS version 10.3. The farms visited produce eggs, broilers or layers or combinations of them, and the sizes of the farms range from unit of thousands to tens of thousands of birds; these generally are commercial poultry farms but of low or medium scale levels. The survey reveals that most of the poultry farms are having the following mechanization needs: Power supply, egg handling, road network, waste handling, feed mill, pelleting machine, battery cage, automatic drinker, water pump, and automatic feeder; however the need depends on the level of production. Other problems or challenges facing the farms visited as observed during the survey are classified as management problems quantified as 60%, technical problems 30% and the problem of cost 10%. Result of this work is a step further in developing and building up the much talked about commodity-specific data base system for agribusiness decision support and development in the local area. Key words: Mapping, poultry farms, mechanization needs, Global Positioning System (GPS), Geographical Information System (GIS).

The smartphone fallacy – when spatial data are reported at spatial scales finer than the organisms themselves

Author(s): Meiri, Shai | Abstract: Thankfully, the days when specimen localities could be described in extremely vague terms such as “Peru” or “Indochina” are long gone. But the pendulum has swung too far the other way. Latitude and longitude data of specimens and study areas (such as small nature reserves) are nowadays commonly reported to the 0.000001 of a degree (or 0.01 of a second) or even more “precisely”. This is done either because of converting across measurement systems or because hand-held devices and internet sources provide this kind of precision. We probably report this degree of precision because we are reluctant to round – feeling it would make the data better and more “scientific”. I point out the scale referred to by different degrees of geographic precision (e.g., ~10cm for 6 decimal places) and argue that such degree of precision is false for two reasons: first, it is finer than actually achievable by hand held devices such as smartphones and GPS receivers (and much finer than we can tell from a map). Second, for large animals, such precision can refer to one part of the organism, and not another. I urge scientists to use simple reality checks when reporting latitude and longitude data and report precision at meaningful scales.

Wireless power transmission system using magnetic resonant coupling to operate low power devices

In recent years technology is evolving day by day and it has changed the entire world. Recently we have observed a major technological revolution, everyone including kids have cell phones, tablets etc. With the extensive use of technology, power requirement also increases. In some condition, where electricity is not available and there is an urgent need of power for small application such as cell phone, laptop or any other hand held device, a need of such technology is necessary to charge these devices wirelessly. In this regard, we propose a method of Wireless Transmission of power, it is a kind of technology that is used to power the device without a wire and it is useful where electrical wires are hazardous or inconvenient. This technology is compatible for reducing heavy line loses. Wireless Power Transmission is also applicable for Automotive area i.e., electric cars to avoid range anxiety in a convenient manner. This technology is also applicable for producing electricity with the help of solar cells. It is also applicable in biomedical instruments i.e., wearable pacemaker, ECG monitoring through wireless power. In our proposed work, we have designed a system based on transmission of power wirelessly to operate electronic devices such as mobile phone, laptop, LED bulbs, etc. through magnetic resonant coupling. Two coils are used, one is transmitter and other is receiver, magnetic flux is generated this causes EMF to induce in receiving coil. Magnetic resonance coupling is a phenomenon where transfer of power is highly efficient between the transmitter and receiver. In conventional inductive coupling, efficiency drops off.

A FRAMEWORK FOR COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF WSN ATTACKS AND COUNTER MEASURES RECOMMENDATIONS

Abstract— The growth in the need for customized services in hand held devices and sensor based applications are continuously motivating the wireless networks, wireless communications and wireless infrastructures. In the last decade the wireless communication has evolved around the MANETs and IoT devices. Nevertheless, the demands for wireless sensors have not decreased due to less costly and simple deployments measures. The wireless networks especially running on the tiny operating systems are designed and programmed to perform very specific tasks. Also, the processing capabilities of these devices are limited. Henceforth, it is difficult to incorporate additional services into the devices such as routing management, data processing or security. The routing management protocols or the data processing frameworks are often the essential part of the framework. Nevertheless, due to the bottleneck between performance and service availability, the service providers ignore the security issues. Considering the wide use of the wireless sensors ranging from healthcare to tactical usage, it is the demand of the modern research to re-address the security measures of the wireless sensor network. In the recent past, the researchers and practitioners have witnessed a number of attacks on WSN infrastructures and policies. The attacks were diversified in terms of distortions of the information, damage to the network or sometimes vulnerability to the user identifications. Hence, none of the single frameworks are capable of detect all types of attacks on WSN. It is been observed that during any attacks on the WSN, the parametric values related to power, energy and response time changes drastically. Henceforth, any measure of the changes and continuous monitoring may lead to finding a pattern in the data tenting to standard formulations. Thus this work proposes a novel framework to detect the behavioural malfunction of the wireless sensor networks based on the energy, power consumption and response time of the nodes. This is proposed to be the major outcome of this work. Yet another novel outcome of this work is to associate the detection model with the attack response knowledge base in order to generate timely recommendations to avoid the damages. The objective of this work is to create a responsive system for controlling the damages caused by any attack on wireless sensor network for making the world of wireless communication more trustable.

Integration of palliative care into oncology: A curriculum development project.

202 Background: Program Directors of Oncology Fellowships cite lack of adequate faculty to teach communication skills, prognostication and symptom management to oncology fellows as a barrier to ensuring oncologists integrate palliative care into their own practice. We partnered with ASCO and its Training Program directors to develop, evaluate and disseminate a PC curriculum using an innovative format. Methods: All of the fellows in a program were randomized as a single group to one of 3 cohorts: digital education, digital education plus a 4-week palliative care rotation or delayed digital education (control). In the intervention, each fellow received 2 MCQs (on their phones or other device) focused on a particular teaching point, every other day. If answered incorrectly, focused education material was forwarded to the learner and the testing point was retested at a later date. Fellows in cohort 2 also participated in a clinical rotation at an ACGME approved PC program. Cohort 3 received the same training as cohort one, but beginning fellowship year 2, as a delayed control. Fellows’ PC knowledge was assessed during the in-training exam pre- and post-intervention. Opioid prescribing behavior was tracked after graduation and compared with a control group( group 4). Results: 283 fellows from 71 programs were quasi-randomized. The average ITE score of PC MCQs ranged from 70-73% correct across all groups and all years, for pre- and post-test scores. All fellows randomized to the PC rotation, completed it. Prescribing data was based on NPI numbers and available for all providers. 72% of cohort 1 prescribed opioids appropriately, 57% cohort 2, 72% cohort 3, 46% in a group 4 (1 vs 4, p=.0008; 2 vs 4, p=.2231; 3 vs l, p=.0011). Conclusions: Spaced education via a hand held device is acceptable, efficient and cost-effective. All groups showed acceptable knowledge on the in-training examination. Yet, opioid prescribing behavior improved as a result of the education intervention. The favorable impact on opioid-prescribing behavior was extinguished by the PC rotation, raising the question about the role of a PC clinical rotation.

Protective effects of a locally-manufactured device on electromagnetic radiation-induced cellular alterations in rats exposed to mobile phone radiation

Aim/background: There is worldwide concern on the possible health hazards induced by electromagnetic fields (EMFs) emitted by hand held devices and laptops. The present study therefore investigated the effect of a locally manufactured anti-electromagnetic radiation device in rats exposed to mobile phone radiation. Methods:Thirty two rats were acclimatized for 2 weeks and randomized into four groups; group I was the control (not exposed to radiation or device), groups II-IV were exposed to phone only, device only and phone and device respectively. The rats were exposed to continuous electromagnetic fields for 1 hour daily (totaling 50/missed calls) for a period of 28 days. Results showed that electromagnetic field exposure caused a significant decrease (p

Hardware Implementation of Intrusion Detection System for Ad-Hoc Network

<p>New technologies have been developed in wireless adhoc network need more security. To widespread the adhoc networks we turn in the attention of wireless hand held device mobile phones communicate with short distance using wireless lan card or Bluetooth. The performance of mobile phone are improved greatly for last few years .so security is more important for mobile networks In this paper hardware implementation of single hop ad-hoc network is implemented and analysed using microcontroller. The protocol implemented in this paper is primarily based on, Ad hoc On-Demand Distance Vector routing. We adopt On Demand Distance Vector routing solely based on source routing and “On Demand” process, so each packet does not have to transmit any periodic routing information. We implemented intrusion detection system with five different nodes and the performance parameters like packet delivery ratio, throughput, delay are computed with attacker and without attacker and on demand distance vector routing protocols is proposed to implement in hardware using Zigbee</p>

Energy Efficient Reconfigurable Architecture for Motion Estimation in Video Coding

Background/Objectives: Reconfigurable architecture has ability to dynamically allocate the hardware resources during runtime. It can be effectively used in computationally intensive application like media processing. As the motion estimation in video coding consumes large amount of computational time and resources, it can be mapped into reconfigurable architecture to effectively manage the power utilization by dynamic reconfiguration. Methods/Statistical Analysis: A systolic array based reconfigurable architecture for motion estimation which can be configured based on the properties of input video is proposed. A dynamically reconfigurable hardware is designed which can be worked on different search regions based on the level of motion in frames of input video. For the input video, the level of motion among the adjacent frames is determined by motion analyzer. Based on the level of motion between the frames of video, the search window size for block search is selected and this selection will enable the optimum number of processing elements for processing. This dynamic selection of hardware resources based on the search window reduces the power dissipation and computational complexity. Findings: Two search windows have been fixed for analysis 8 × 8 and 7 × 7. For power dissipation analysis, the total logic elements, total registers and fan-out for each design is taken. The performance is analysed by enabling selective number of processing elements for different size of search window. It is observed that power dissipation is high for the search window 8 × 8, because the resource utilization is higher than 7 × 7 search window. Instead of using the same fixed search window for performing block batching, different sized search windows can be used based on the level of motion of the video. After analysis, it is positively found that the proper selection of search window will lead to the optimum utilization in terms of power and resources. Application/Improvements: The context-aware reconfigurable hardware design for highly computationally intensive applications like video processing would be helpful in optimizing the power and resource utilization in hand held devices like smart phones, cam-coders etc.

Associations between Screen-Based Sedentary Behaviour and Anxiety Symptoms in Mothers with Young Children.

ObjectivesAnxiety is a serious illness and women (including mothers with young children) are at particular risk. Although physical activity (PA) may reduce anxiety risk, little research has investigated the link between sedentary behaviour and anxiety risk. The aim of this study was to examine the association between screen-based sedentary behaviour and anxiety symptoms, independent of PA, amongst mothers with young children.MethodsDuring 2013–2014, 528 mothers with children aged 2–5 years completed self-report measures of recreational screen-based sedentary behaviour (TV/DVD/video viewing, computer/e-games/hand held device use) and anxiety symptoms (using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, HADS-A). Linear regression analyses examined the cross-sectional association between screen-based sedentary behaviour and anxiety symptoms.ResultsIn models that adjusted for key demographic and behavioural covariates (including moderate- to vigorous-intensity PA, MVPA), computer/device use (B = 0.212; 95% CI = 0.048, 0.377) and total screen time (B = 0.109; 95% CI = 0.014, 0.205) were positively associated with heightened anxiety symptoms. TV viewing was not associated with anxiety symptoms in either model.ConclusionsHigher levels of recreational computer or handheld device use and overall screen time may be linked to higher risk of anxiety symptoms in mothers with young children, independent of MVPA. Further longitudinal and intervention research is required to determine temporal associations.

Wireless vital sign telemetry to hand held computers.

Most physicians and other health care providers share/access patient information via hard copy chart records, telephone conversations, or through hospital computer networks. These modalities are cumbersome when physicians are away from the hospital and ground wiring infrastructure is not readily available. In a prior study, we used wireless in-flight telephony and the Internet to transmit vital signs from an airborne Boeing 757 to three remote locations on the ground. However, because all recipient stations relied on an institutional network to receive the information, it was not possible to transfer data to a given location beyond the hospital campus. We now propose an innovative system capable of transmitting telemetry information from any location in the globe to a single portable computer using Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) technology for the Internet. Medical data including blood pressure, pulse, respiratory rate, end tidal CO2, oxygen saturation and EKG tracings were transferred from a G2 (digital cellular) phone linked to a hand held computer to a remote hand held device and were viewed in real time using customized software. Cellular Digital Packet Protocols (CDPD) enabled data transfer speeds up to 19,200 bps. Advances including the Internet and wireless computer technology may revolutionize the way medical information is shared, making it possible for physicians and health allies to directly access patient data from anywhere at any time.

Community Detection Using Inter Contact Time and Social Characteristics Based Single Copy Routing in Delay Tolerant Networks

Delay Tolerant Networks (DTNs) where the node connectivity is opportunistic and end-to-end path between any pair of source and destination is not guaranteed most of the time. Hence the messages are transferred from source to destination via intermediate nodes on hop to hop basis using store-carry-forward paradigm. Due to quick advancement in hand held devices such as smart phone and laptop with support of wireless communication interface carried by human being, it is possible in coming days to use DTNs for message dissemination without setting up infrastructure. The routing task becomes challenging in DTNs due to intermittent network connectivity and the connection opportunity arises only when node comes in transmission range of each other. The performance of the routing protocols depend on the selection of appropriate relay node which can deliver the message to final destination in case of source and destination do not meet at all. Many social characteristics are exhibited by the human being like friendship, community, similarity and centrality which can be exploited by the routing protocol in order to take the forwarding decisions. Literature shows that by using these characteristics, the performance of DTN routing protocols have been improved in terms of delivery probability. The existing routing schemes used community detection using aggregated contact duration and contact frequency which does not change over the time period. We propose community detection through Inter Contact Time (ICT) between node pair using power law distribution where the members of community are added and removed dynamically. We also considered single copy of each message in entire network to reduce the network overhead. The proposed routing protocol named Social Based Single Copy Routing (SBSCR) selects the suitable relay node from the community members only based on the social metrics such as similarity and friendship together. ICTs show power law nature in human mobility which is used to detect the community structure at each node. A node maintains its own community and social metrics such as similarity and friendship with other nodes. Whenever node has to select the relay node then it selects from its community with higher value of social metric. The simulations are conducted using ONE simulator on the real traces of campus and conference environments. SBSCR is compared with existing schemes and results show that it outperforms in terms of delivery probability and delivery delay with comparable overhead ratio.

Functional Analysis of EAP-CRA

Wireless communications have made today’s busy world even busier. The use of hand held devices such as iPads, tablets, notebooks etc. is increasing exponentially. The wireless nature of these devices makes them flexible and opportune. However, wireless devices encounter numerous security problems compared to their wired counterpart. The lack of physical connectivity (anchor-attachment) from the wireless device to the wired network makes the wireless devices more vulnerable and hard to protect against security threats. In this view we have proposed EAP-CRA protocol to counter the security threats during the security association between a wireless device and the wired network. Our protocol leverages the advantages of Public Key Infrastructure to provide a secure connectivity to the network in a multi agent environment. As with many security protocols, in the early stages, formal verification plays a vital role, particularly when the process of implementing the protocol is time consuming. We have used Symbolic Analysis Laboratory tools to formally verify the functionality of the EAP-CRA protocol. In this paper we present a number of Linear Temporal Logic formulas that we have established to prove the integrity of our proposal. By examining all possible execution traces of the proposed protocol we have proved that our protocol is complete and consistent.

Architectural and Qos Issues in Mobile Cloud Computing Environment for Real-Time Video Streaming

this paper state the issue related to mobile cloud computing for real-time video streaming. Recently the media streaming particularly video streaming becoming very popular among the users of hand held devices. Due to exponential growth in mobile device users, mobile network is facing large traffic of video signals. Due to this growth of users, video streaming especially real-time video streaming is now an interesting area of research. To increase the streaming speed and quality of real- time video a lot of work and progress is being done in hardware architecture of mobile devices. We have multi-core processors and enough memory space in modern mobile devices. The concept of GPU is also introduced in mobile devices to overcome the problem of speed in video data processing. But very less work is done to utilize the capability of these devices through parallel architecture development for real-time video streaming process. So it is the matter of discussion and research that how the computational and memory power of these devices can be utilized through parallel computations to speed up the process of video data up to ultra high speed. Mobile cloud computing environment can play an important role in this field. So In this paper, the review of architectural and QoS issues in mobile cloud computing environment for real time video steaming are being presented. There are many real-time video streaming techniques for mobile devices, some possible parallel architecture and QoS (Quality of Services) issue to leverage the architecture capability of the mobile cloud computing environment for these real-time video streaming is being discussed in this paper. Keywords—QoS; Video streaming; Mobile cloud computing; A mobile device; GPU; Parallel algorithms I. INTRODUCTION

Towards Effective Communication Technique for Energy Efficient Internet of Things

Internet of thing is concept and significant in emerging global Internet based wireless paradigm and empowering the Machine view of this present reality and consistent association. Internet of Things (IoT) is envisioned to bring together smart objects connected through Internet and exchange information in efficient communication techniques. Smart objects enabling integration and interconnection of the devices and cyberspace. IoT is a sophisticated technology ,as it is broad inter-disciplinary technology. And hence there arises continuous problem of limited source forcing us to use hand held devices with preserved battery charged smart devices. Energy Efficient Internet of Things(EEIOT) method could change and enable internet of things more encouraged to communicate information to the cyber world in better way.

Review of the Paradigm Shift in Rural Agricultural Farming towards Agricultural Technologies in Africa: The Hoe Must Go!

Most of the people of Africa depend directly on the land for their living. Although Africa's cities are growing at 5.3% per year, the fastest rate in the world, 71% of the people still lived in the rural areas in 1980. Nearly all these people depended for their livelihood on smallholdings of less than 10 ha (Harrison 1987, p. 23). In the past, most of Africa was not densely populated, so cultivators were able to use the land extensively. They could choose the most fertile land, grow their crops for a few years and, when the soil fertility and crop yields declined, move to more fertile land. These farming systems, often described as "shifting cultivation" or "slash and burn" systems, were able to provide sufficient food and other products to satisfy the cultivators' needs in most seasons while maintaining soil fertility over the long term.Agriculture is one of the main contributors of economic growth in Africa. In fact, Africa is seen to be at its turning point and emerging as one of the fastest growing developing regions in the world, registering economic growth levels ranging from 2% - 11% per annum and hosting some of the world’s fastest growing economies, in spite of challenging global macro-economic conditions.Agriculture continues to be an important engine of regional growth, source of employment, and source of food security. Importantly, it is a main contributor to pro-poor growth and poverty reduction because it focuses on the parts of the economy in which the poor are active. The sector employs 65 % of Africa’s labour force, accounts for about 32 % of GDP, and in some countries provides up to 80 % of foreign exchange earnings (World Bank, Fact Sheet) and is notably a main sector of work for women.With the realization of the need for intuition towards modern and dynamic farming and agriculture, agricultural technologies have in the current times picked on a high note with farmers all over the world employing modern technologies, from cultivation, processing and post-harvest. Several technologies including value addition technologies have been employed in this regard and information platforms have been developed with hand held devices enabling access to information on agriculture everywhere and in real times.

Computational Basis for Human Relations

In this paper, we present a seminal step into thescience of social programmingfor computer and communication systems. Most human relations though frail and fragile, have scientific basis and methodology t hat are programmable behind them. Relations progress through incremental stages and become reflective gemstones in the emotional human bondage between people. Transactions, events, episodes and relations evolve and sparkle as desires and sentiments that b ecome living memories and longings. Such short-and long-term stages mould human feelings into masterpieces of passion, poetry and art. These states of mind, that linger as winding pathways in the psyche are amenable to computational techniques and canact as AI based self learning programs and as leading indicator of the impending curvature of relations. These pathways have an origin, a destination and numerous contours in between. Path finding and routing algorithms are applicable and the software and database techniques become applicable to the content-management and to the relationships between the numerous aspects of the personalities of any interacting social object(s) with the other or many others. Based on the two adjoining disciplines of social and computer sciences, it becomes feasible to define the constructs and designs of social machines that analyze, follow and guide social transactions, events, episodes and relations to one or more desired conclusion. The processing and storage of personaltraits and their influences on the future interactions are well accommodated in PDA or iPOD type of hand held device and acts as a global social positioning system in the various social norms and cultural environment of individuals, corporations and nation s. Such a system would serve as a computer aided social GPS of the future, particularly useful for immature adults, new students, hospital patients and cultural transplants. Original Research Article