Developing An Improved Heart Rate Monitor With Work-Out Training Android Application And Real Time Audio Coaching

TechnoHeart is a digital way of monitoring heart rate using a Heart Rate Monitor device and an android phone. Moreover, this is made more special through its work-out training which is designed to help users set and achieve their target heart rate and monitor at what training intensity they are during a strenuous exercise. The training is made more interactive as the application has its real-time audio coaching. The need for this application comes from three sources; First, some athletes, non-athletes and even doctors are still using the traditional way of getting the heart rate; Second, training intensity is not monitored and target heart rate is not achieved; Third, most mobile developments do not tailor the need of users who undergo work-out training. With the following needs, objectives were set; First, to connect an HRM (Heart Rate Monitoring) device to an android mobile device and display individual’s heart rate in digital form through mobile; Second, to create a work-out training program using the Karvonen Formula; Third, to enable users know one’s target heart rate by using a Karvonen calculator; Fourth, to notify users in real time with every sudden change and the needed action in order to keep an effective training exercise. The project is to explore this and other similar concepts to develop a design that optimally satisfies all of these objectives. The project addresses all of these objectives while meeting the constraints given. The project was deployed in three different sets of users: The University of Mindanao Athletes, The elderly users aging from 50-80 years old and the other users aging from 12-49 years old. The researchers recommend the use of TechnoHeart for athletes and non-athletes who are aiming for an effective cardiovascular training. And for the next researchers, they can focus on the compatibility of the said application to other mobile platforms like iOS, Blackberry, Windows and etc. And also, they may upload application in the internet such as in social networking sites or any features that would make this project more usable.

Comparative Effectiveness of Public and Private Extension Services in Capacity Building of Rice Growers in the Punjab: A Case Study of District Gujranwala

Rice is the most significant crop in Pakistan. Its export brings main foreign exchange, generates employment for rural people and is the main food crop in the country. Unfortunately, its cultivated area and production is dwindling day by day due to technical inefficiency and lacking in built capacity of farmers. As public and private agricultural extension organizations are working to build capacity of farmers in the Punjab so this study focused on comparative effectiveness of public and private extension services in capacity building of rice growers in the Punjab, Pakistan. The study was conducted in the district Gujranwala, being the largest rice producing district in the Punjab province. There were six specific objectives outlined for the study: 1) to identify the demographic characteristics of the respondents; 2) to assess the knowledge level of the respondents; 3) to examine the contribution of public and private sectors in increasing the knowhow and skills of the respondents; 4) to determine the effectiveness of extension methods used by public and private organizations; 5) to ascertain the level of satisfaction of rice growers with public and private sectors; and 6) after gaining information about all these objectives develop an extension strategy for effective extension work in the Punjab. The research population was consisted of rice growers, served by both public and by private extension organizations. The sample of 342 out of 2,365 rice growers was selected by using Table developed by Fitz-Gibbon and Morris (1987). An interview schedule was developed and used as research instrument for quantitative assessment. To gauge the 19 quality of extension work in the area, focus group discussions (FGDs) and personal observation methods were employed. A suitable Likert Scale was used to compare performance of public and private. The data were analyzed through Statistical Package for Social Sciences 24 (SPSS). It was found that about twenty-nine percent (28.7%) respondents were older than 50 years of age and a big number (46%) of rice growers had primary level education or less. About thirty six percent (35.9%) of the rice growers were smallholder farmers (5 acres or 2 hectares of land). One-fourth (25%) of the respondents were not aware about recommended nursery raising practices. It was also found that increase in technical knowhow and skills by public sector regarding nursery raising appeared leading area with mean value of 3.29 followed by sowing time (3.28), plant spacing (3.22) and harvesting (3.03) heading towards medium. Increase in technical knowhow and skills by private sector in nursery raising was also ranked 1st with mean value of 3.29 followed by irrigation scheduling (3.26), weeds/insect-pest/disease management (3.18), and maintenance of plant population (3.12) were ranked 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. Regarding use of extension methods, result demonstration used by public sector appeared the most effective extension method with mean value of 2.78 followed by farm & home visit (2.64), group discussions (2.49) and farmer days (2.39) which were ranked 2nd and 3rd, respectively. Private sector was leading in use of farmer days with mean value of 3.16 followed by lecture (2.86) and method demonstration (2.71) which was ranked 2nd and 3rd heading towards medium. The growers were highly satisfied with public sector regarding use of various extension methods (3.71), follow up visits (3.37) and farmer-extension linkage (3.25) while with private sector regarding provision of training facilities was ranked 1st with mean value of 3.65 followed by farmer-extension linkage (3.46) and follow up visits (3.35). It was concluded that generally, the growers were old; less educated; smallholder growers; unaware about latest varieties as well as about recommended production technologies. The contribution of public and private sector is better in specific areas. For example, public sector is doing better in crop management; and private sector in plant protection. The last but not the least, farmers were very less satisfied with public and private sector.