It is worthwhile to understand farming strategies of smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa, especially those of farmers who are in transition from traditional to alternative agriculture in terms of adoption of innovative technologies. In a case study of inland valleys in central Nigeria, we...

Shortage of organic matter hinders agricultural production in the Sahel, and this lack of enough organic matter is more severe for peri-urban horticulture, which depends heavily on it. Alternative sources of organic matter that offer new options for peri-urban horticulture can help reduce the...

SUMMARY We propose a method for detecting changes in the order balance in stock markets by applying a stochastic model to the feature vectors extracted from the order‐book data of stocks. First, the data are divided into training and test periods. Next, a Gaussian mixture model is estimated...

A power router has been recently developed for both AC and DC applications that has the potential for smart-grid applications. This study focuses on three-phase power switching through the development of an experimental setup which consists of a three-phase direct AC/AC matrix converter with a...

We investigate a simple system of two coupled discrete stochastic resonators in the following two cases, to clarify the role of coupling. Case A: an oscillating force is applied to the whole system. Case B: an oscillating force is applied to one of the coupled resonators. We have obtained...

In recent years, shade coffee certification programs have attracted increased attention from conservation and development organizations. The certification programs offer an opportunity to link environmental and economic goals by providing a premium price to producers and thereby contribute to...

This study estimates the effect of farmer field schools in rural Ethiopia on income from agriculture. The farmer field schools were established in association with participatory forest management associations for forest protection funded by Japanese aid. We employ a difference-in-differences...

This study uses remote sensing data to quantitatively examine the impact of establishing participatory forest management associations in Ethiopia. The results indicate that where there is a forest association, forest area declines more in the year the association is established than it does in a...

The dispatching properties of power packets in indoor power line channel were investigated. A power packet is physically composed of a power payload and information signals. For evaluation, the arrival power ratio and the bit error rate were calculated by numerical simulation. The results are...