BioMed Central Blog
Technology in the developing world
eLearning Africa has announced that next year's conference, the fifth in the highly successful series of pan-African gatherings, will take place in Zambia from May 26th-28th, 2010. The Call for Papers deadline has now been extended to Friday, January 15th, 2010.
According to a recent article in InfoWorld, netbooks are gaining popularity in Africa.
Portability, low cost and minimal power demands are driving the trend as more Africans get Internet access. Major suppliers include Dell, Samsung, Asus, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Acer and the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC).
W3C recently released their "Mobile Web for Social Development Roadmap" a comprehensive document which sits at the heart of the wider work of the Mobile Web for Development Interest Group (MW4D).
Meanwhile, Mike Kellett and Joe Morgan, co-founders of IP2, a UK based joint venture which aims to provide a low-cost international mobile technology service, recently launched their global mobile platform at CES 2010. Unlike other similar services, IP2 is taking a different approach according to Kellett, "We have a system that doesn't depend on government intervention." IP2 will launch a cellular service based on the concept of VMSP, or virtual mobile service provider. Anyone can start a VMSP and sell services and handsets. Usually, a license to operate as a local mobile service provider can cost up to $5 million, but IP2 will be selling VMSP licenses for only $41,200.
Still on mobile phone technology, an report recently published on Zimbabwejournalists.com presented an African campaign which is using cell phone technology to expose stock-outs of essential medicines at public health facilities and put pressure on governments to address the issues.
The UN Foundation/Vodafone Foundation Partnership report published last week outlines examples of new technologies that mitigate conflicts and save lives worldwide. A report author said it reveals that aid agencies "fail to take advantage" of new tools available. It says a number of challenges remain to maximise the tools' potential. The report concludes that social networking tools such as Ushahidi, FrontlineSMS, Twitter, and Facebook, should become a primary and trusted source of information in situations such as natural disasters.
In other technology news, new communications applications are being pioneered across Africa with a view to eventual profit and based on meeting vital social needs. A new partnership launched in June between Google, MTN and the Grameen Foundation is facilitating small-scale enterprise by through the launch of a mobile-based 'Google Trader' application to all MTN customers in Uganda. Alongside a suite of four other applications, including a text service giving tips on sexual health or farming, subscribers will be able to use their phones to search and buy anything from a sack of bananas to a new house.
Last week saw the launch of MultiLearn, a system developed at the UW, which connects multiple keypads to a single computer. Early tests demonstrates that elementary school students using the tool are able to share a single screen while working on problems at their own pace, effectively quadrupling the number of computers available for math exercises.
In an ArsTechnica article, multi-hop mesh networking technologies are reviewed, particularly in developing countries. The author concludes that mesh networks may provide a cheap way to get villages in the developing world online, whilst not posing a serious threat to large telecommunication organisations in the developed world.
Finally, the Universidad de Los Andes in Venezuela has been described as a 'technology mecca' after the establishment and progress of its Institutional Repository over the past decade. Starting in 2000, the IR now holds some 19,000 records and has attracted 40,000,000 visits to its portal.
Posted by Charlotte Webber at 17:58 Comments (0)
Traumatic brain injury – a new approach to data standardisation
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a serious but variable disease, leading to difficulties analysing related studies. In a commentary published in Critical Care, Dr Andrew Maas, University Hospital Antwerp, Brussels, describes how pooling data from several sources can provide a cost-efficient way of comparing cases of TBI.
The IMPACT (International Mission on Prognosis and Clinical Trial Design in TBI) project incorporated individual patient data from a variety of study designs and has lead to increased understanding of differences in the way trauma centres deal with TBI.
But key to sharing of results is standardisation of data collection and coding, and this work by the IMPACT study group has contributed to a broader US initiative – the National Institute of Neurological Disorders & Stroke (NINDS) Common Data Elements – that will soon be releasing its draft recommendations and templates.
To read all commentaries and reviews, non-subscribers to Critical Care can register for a free 30-day trial.
Surayya Johar
In-house Editor, Critical Care
Posted by Iain Hrynaszkiewicz at 14:46 Comments (0)
BioMed Central journals continue to rank highly in SCImago journal rankings
SCImago have recently published their 2008 journal rankings with BioMed Central journals continuing to rank highly within their fields.
The SCImago Journal Rank (SJR) is a measure of a journals' citation impact and is calculated in a similar manner to Google's Page Rank. This approach calculates a journal rank by weighting citations from journals according to how highly cited the journal is itself. (Full details on the SJR algorithm are available here). The data used for calculation of the SJR is drawn from Scopus.
Highlights for BioMed Central journals among SCImago's 2008 rankings include:
- Arthritis Research & Therapy (SJR = 0.629) ranking 2nd of 35 journals in the Rheumatology category.
- BMC Complementary & Alternative Medicine (SJR = 0.151), which is positioned 2nd of the 46 journals in the Complementary & Alternative Medicine category.
- BMC Systems Biology (SJR = 0.373) which tops the Applied Mathematics category, beating 219 journals to the number one spot. The journal is also placed 2nd of 72 journals in the Modelling and Simulation category.
- International Journal of Behavioural Nutrition and Physical Activity (SJR = 01.84) comes 2nd of 53 titles in the Physical Therapy, Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation category. This journal, Nutrition & Metabolism and Nutrition Journal continue to feature highly in the Nutrition and Dietetics category occupying 3 of the top 7 spots.
- Journal of Biology (SJR = 2.42) is in the top 0.5% of all journals listed in SCImago, ranked 74th out of all 17,124 listed journals, placing it in a elite group of top-tier journals.
- For the second year running Molecular Pain (SJR = 0.520) tops the Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine category, which consists of 88 journals.
- Neural Development (SJR = 1.405) is another chart topper, leading the 12 journals in the Developmental Neuroscience category.
- Saline Systems (SJR = 0.100) also features highly in its field, placed 2nd of 100 journals in the Water Science and Technology category.
BMC Plant Biology (SJR = 0.670) also continues to perform strikingly well, with an SJR better than 97% of journals in the Plant Science category.
Posted by Charlotte Hubbard at 07:08 Comments (0)