Abstract

A read-only transaction (ROT) does not modify any data. The main issues regarding processing ROTs are correctness, data currency and performance. Two-phase Locking (2PL) protocol is widely used for concur-rency control with serializabilty as correctness criteria. Even though 2PL processes ROTs correctly with no data currency related issues, the performance deteriorates as data contention increases. To improve the performance, an approach has been proposed in the literature by considering “Snapshot Isolation (SI)” as correctness criteria to process ROTs. At SI-level, ROTs are processed by reading from a snapshot of the committed data and ignoring the modifications produced by the concurrent active transactions. Even though SI-based algorithms improve the performance of ROTs, data currency of ROTs and correctness (serializability) are compromised. In this paper, we propose an approach by extending the notion of speculation to improve the performance of ROTs without com-promising data currency of transactions and correctness. Speculation-based approach improves the performance of ROTs by trading extra computing resources without violating serializability as correctness criteria. The simula-tion results show that with the proposed protocol the throughput performance is improved significantly over 2PL and the data currency of ROTs is improved significantly over SI-based ap proaches with manageable extra re-sources.

Abstract

In this paper, we explain a personalized agricultural advisory system called eSagu, which has been developed to improve the performance and utilization of agriculture technology and help Indian farmers. In eSagu, rather than visiting the crop in person, the agricultural expert delivers the expert advice at regular intervals (once in one or two weeks) to each farm by getting the crop status in the form of digital photographs and other information. During 2004-06, through eSagu, agricultural expert advices delivered for about 6000 farms covering six crops. The results show that the expert advices helped the farmers to achieve savings in capital investment and improved the crop yield. Mainly, the data warehouse of farm histories has been developed which is providing the crop related information to the agricultural expert in an integrated manner for generating a quality agricultural expert advice. In this paper, after explaining eSagu and its advantages, we discuss how data warehouse of farm histories is enabling agricultural expert to deliver a quality expert advice. We also discuss some research issues to improve the performance of eSagu.

Abstract

A read-only transaction (ROT) does not modify any data. The main issues regarding processing ROTs are correctness, data currency and perform-ance. Two-phase Locking (2PL) protocol is widely used for concurrency con-trol with serializabilty as correctness criteria. Even though 2PL processes ROTs correctly with no data currency related issues, the performance deteriorates as data contention increases. To improve the performance over 2PL, snapshot iso-lation (SI)-based protocols have been proposed. SI-based protocols process ROTs by reading from a snapshot of the committed data and ignoring the modi-fications produced by the concurrent active transactions. Even though SI-based algorithms improve the performance of ROTs, both data currency of ROTs and correctness (serializability) are compromised. In this paper, we propose an ap-proach to improve the performance of ROTs using speculation without compromising data currency of transactions and correctness. The proposed approach improves the performance of ROTs by trading extra computing re-sources without violating serializability as correctness criteria. The simulation results show that with the proposed protocol the throughput performance is im-proved significantly over 2PL and SI-based approaches with manageable extra resources.

Abstract

To bridge the information gap between the agricultural expert and the farmer, International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), Hyderabad has built the eSagu (“Sagu” means cultivation in Telugu language) system, which is an IT-based personalized agricultural extension system to improve agricultural productivity by disseminating a fresh expert agricultural advice to the farmers, both in a timely and personalized manner. In e-Sagu, the agricultural experts generate the expert advice based on the information about the crop situation received in the form of both text and digital photographs. In Kharif2 2004, a prototype was developed and implemented with 1051 farms. In the prototype, a team of agricultural experts stayed at IIIT, Hyderabad (India) and delivered 20,000 pieces of agricultural expert advice to 1051 cotton farms of three villages (Oorugonda, Gudeppad and Oglapur) in Atmakur Mandal of Warangal district in Andhra Pradesh state, India, by looking at digital photographs and other farm information supplied by some educated and experienced farmers (coordinators) in these villages. The pilot project was implemented successfully. In this article, an analysis of 51 registered farmers’ regarding compliance of advices and corresponding effect is reported. The following of expert advice on pest and disease management and IPM practices were analyzed by giving appropriate scores based on their effect on yield and input cost. The analysis showed that about fifty percent of farmers have followed the practices which increase yield and reduce input cost. A high positive correlation (r=0.46**) was observed between the compliance rate and the yields. Though some farmers obtained same yield as the farmers who have followed the advices, their input costs were significantly higher.

Abstract

Timely agro-advisory service and efficient risk mitigation mechanisms can provide stableincome to the farmers. To provide timely agro-advisory service, e-Sagu systemhas beendeveloped by IIIT-Hyderabad and Media Lab Asia. It is an IT-based personalized agro-advisorysystemwhich is being developedto provide high-qualitypersonalized (farm-specific) agricultural expert adviceto each and everyfarmin a timely manner at thefarmer’s door-step without farmer asking a question. The results show that significantbenefits have flowntothe farmers interms of reducedinputs andenhancedyield.Regarding risk mitigation, the agri-insurance schemes around the worldwhether anadvanced or a developing nation like India are suffering due to catastrophic losses,covariate risks, asymmetric information and lack of quality data. These problems maypose a serious threat to the survival of the implementing agencies unless the there is aneffective monitoring systemin place, with enough man power and robust infrastructure.In this paper we explain how agri-insurance schemes can be effectively implemented ontop of eSagu system. The agri-insurance scheme can bevery cost-effective as it can useresources and processes of eSagu system. Also, as eSagu provides quality and reliabledata at farmlevel,the problemof asymmetric information can be effectively hedged.Most important, eSagualsoimproves the performance offormal risk mitigationmechanisms through farm-specific agro-advisory and monitoring system.

Abstract

Ranking the search results is an important research problem in WWW. HITS, PageRank and variations of these algorithms are widely used approaches for ranking. In this paper we proposed a new ranking algorithm to rank the search results by introducing the concept of “leader-page”. The notion of “leader-page” is defined by extending the concept of “leader” from leadership theory. In leadership theory, a leader is defined as a person, who has more contacts with the other members of the group, both initiates and receives communication, and whose characteristics are the most similar to the group’s own characteristics. Similarly, in WWW, the proposed approach identifies leader-pages and assigns “leadership score” to them based on several kinds of cyclic and similarity relationships it establishes with other web pages. Given a set of key words (search query), the proposed approach ranks the related pages based on the corresponding “leadership score”. The experiment results show that the proposed approach gives high leadership score to resourceful pages as compared to the results of the HITS algorithm and the Google search engine

Abstract

With the rapid growth of the Internet, most of the textualdata in the form of newspapers, magazines and journals tend to be avail-able on-line. Summarizing these texts can aid the users access the in-formation content at a faster pace. However, doing this task manuallyis expensive and time-consuming. Automatic text summarization is asolution for dealing with this problem. For a given text, a text summa-rization algorithm selects a few salient sentences based on certain fea-tures. In the literature, weight-based, foci-based, and machine learningapproaches have been proposed. In this paper, we propose a popularity-based approach for text summarization. A popularity of the sentence isdetermined based on the number of other sentences similar to it. Usingthe notion of popularity, it is possible to extract potential sentences forsummarization that could not be extracted by the existing approaches.The experimental results show that by applying both popularity andweight-based criteria it is possible to extract effective summaries.

Abstract

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Abstract

The growing trend towards commercial crops with ever changing technology packages necessitate a transformation in the existing agricultural extension system with emerging technologies like IT.In this context IIIT , Hyderabad has developed and implemented eSagu, a Web Based Agricultural Expert Advice Dissemination System in Atmakur mandal, Warangal district during 2004-05 covering 1,051 cotton farms. eSagu system of extension has succeeded in acquisition of infrastructure and human resources as envisaged and proved its organizational ability in coordinating different branches for a smooth functioning on proposed lines. Wholistic information in the form of clear images of crop (through digital photographs and zooming) and other information i.e. soil, weather, crop history has helped scientists to provide effective advice. The system was able to offer collective expert advice from one place with in 24 hours of response time to the farmers at the other end. Further, it is only the information that moved, while the farmers and scientists remained at their respective working places. The system has proved its technical efficiency in terms of pest identification and prediction with appropriate advices based on IPM practices to all sections of farmers. In the process of information dissemination, the system was able to provide 20,000 advices and accumulated 1,11,000 crop photographs in a period of one year. In the field of research it was able to identify new pests like stem borer and early detection of Gray Mildew disease and share the information with other research agencies. As an experiment, the project has tested feasibility and acceptability of IT for tapping its potential as an alternative to the existing extension system. It also offers scope for further reduction in the cost of delivery of advice provided a cluster based approach is adopted in the future

Abstract

In view of technology/extension gaps in Indian agriculture and to exploit ICT revolution, International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad, A.P., India had developed eSagu model of extension system and implemented it for the cotton crop in three villages of Oorugonda, Gudeppad and Oglapur covering 749 farmers and 1041 farms during 2004-05 crop season. The main objective is to build a cost effective and scalable agricultural expert advice dissemination system to all the farmers. The three-tier system consists of farmers as end users, coordinators as intermediaries to obtain crop status through digital photographs and text and communicate the advice to the farmers. The scientists with knowledge system prepare farm advices. The evaluation study clearly brings out the feasibility and acceptability of ICT based model of eSagu. The crop status, the zooming facility of digital photographs, weather data, crop history, soil data, all have enabled the scientists in advice making and prediction. The advices were provided to the farmers in 24-36 hours. eSagu operation has improved the access, knowledge and technology adoption rate as compared to their counter parts in non-project area. It further established that the acquired technology has been quite useful and reflected in increased production by 1.5 quintals per acre, saved fertilizers by 0.76 bags, pesticides by 2.3 sprays per acre. This has resulted in a net gain of Rs. 3820.0 per acre. Farmers’ response to the utility of the project is quite positive and they want the project to continue in the future. In conclusion, the evaluation study reveals that accomplishments of the project are impressive, the system is generally accepted and throws a promise for wider application in the future.