Frontiers and perspectives on research strategies in grassland technology

2014 ◽  
Vol 65 (6) ◽  
pp. 508 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Schellberg ◽  
E. Verbruggen

Grassland scientists and farmers are increasingly faced with emerging new technologies and information systems that have been primarily developed in engineering sciences, in particular, precision agriculture, remote sensing, geographic information and biotechnology. Judgment upon whether the implementation of any of these technologies may be beneficial in economic and ecological respects is challenging, especially to those who have to make on-farm decisions. New technologies have been applied on grassland only partially and with some delay compared with arable land. However, as we will show here, there is scope for successful implementation of new technologies in various climatic regions and for a wide range of applications. The paper presents the most important recent developments of new technologies in agriculture that have scope for application in grasslands. It defines the relevant terms and processes, provides examples of successful implementation, and discusses future directions and research needs.

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan J. Haywood ◽  
Benton H. Schaub ◽  
Chris M. Pappas

The use of ride control systems on high speed vessels has become the norm within many industries, producing better seakeeping that in turn provides a more comfortable and operationally effective vessel. Commercial ferry designers have been at the forefront of adoption of new technologies notably with early adoption of T-foils and interceptors. These devices have been taken up by others, for example offshore crew boats and frontline naval warships. The range of vessel types has also expanded with more industries adopting different hull designs including catamarans and trimarans. Ride control systems have developed alongside innovative designers producing for example combined lifting foil and ride control systems, lifting T-foil systems, retractable T-foils. This paper will review the different ride control devices including fins, trim tabs, interceptors, T-foils (including retractable T-foils) and lifting foils. As well as technical aspects, the discussion will consider costs, ease of installation, operational and maintenance requirements and material choice. Extensive examples from a wide range of industries will be presented. By the end of the talk, delegates will have a broad understanding of the options available to them in improving the seakeeping of their vessels.


Author(s):  
Preeti Rana ◽  
Durgesh Pandey

In recent years we have seen a number of changes in banking sector of India. Main objective of banks is to create more value for customers; that is why most of the banks have begun to take an innovative approach for this purpose. In the world of banking and finance, nothing stands still. Now a day's banking activities is not limited to deposit and lending money to customers Apart from traditional business, banks provide a wide range of services to satisfy the needs of all types of customers whether it is financial or non-financial needs from the smallest account holder to the largest company and in some cases of non-customers. As a result of recent developments, the entire banking industry has restructured and new technologies are also introduced to make it competitive. Revolution of Information Technology has made it possible to provide ease and flexibility in operations to customers thus making life simpler and easier so bank can provide a variety of products and services to the customers. The E-Banking process has changed the way of working of banks across the world. In the chapter, the author reviews the literature on “The issues and challenges of e-banking service operation” what is the perception of people towards E-Banking in different developing countries?” As E-Banking is an emerging concept in the field of commerce and banking. This paper furnishes the study of E-banking in developing countries through an analysis of content & existing literature that focused on developing countries. The main purpose of the study is to present the current level of research on E-banking in developing countries. Electronic banking (e-banking) is the new technology in banking environment that allows the bank customers to do banking activities at any time and from any place.


2020 ◽  
pp. 21-30
Author(s):  
Agbakoba Augustine Azubuike ◽  
Ema Idongesit Asuquo ◽  
Agbakoba Victor Chike

The recent push for precision agriculture has resulted in the deployment of highly sophisticated Information and Communication Technology (ICT) gadgets in various agricultural practices and methods. The introduction of ICT devices has been linked to significant improvements in agricultural activities. These devices have been shown to enhance the optimal management of critical resources such as water, soil, crop and arable land. Again, ICT devices are increasingly attractive due to their flexibility, ease of operation, compactness and superior computational capabilities. Especially when in comparison to the mundane methods previously used by most small- and large-scale farmers. For instance, ICT devices such as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) also referred to as drones, are increasingly being deployed for remote sensing missions where they capture high quality spatial resolution images. The data generated by these UAVs provide much needed information that aids in early spotting of soil degradation, crop conditions, severity of weed infestation and overall monitoring of crop yield variability. This enables farmers to acquire on-the-spot information that will enhance decision making within a short period of time, which will in turn contribute to reduction in running cost and potentially increase yield. It is safe to say that full potentials of drones are yet to be fully utilized in the Nigerian agricultural sector. This is due to several factors; most notably are the numerous challenges that accompany the introduction and adoption of much new technologies. Other factors; include high cost of technology, inadequate or total lack of skilled labour, poor awareness and low-farmer literacy. Therefore, this review work highlights the global progress recorded as a result of the recent application of drones for soil management and efficient crop production. Furthermore, key discussions surrounding the application of drones for precision agriculture and the possible drawbacks facing the deployment of such technology in Nigeria has been covered in this work.


Author(s):  
Anik Hanifatul Azizah

[Id]Berkembangnya penggunaan mesin e-voting dan meningkatnya penerapan pemilu dalam jaringan (daring) mengindikasikan bahwa masyarakat percaya akan performansi teknologi informasi dalam meningkatkan proses pemilu. Kesuksesan implementasi teknologi informasi mutlak dibutuhkan, Sebagai dukungan kesuksesan tersebut diperlukan analisis yang mendalam. Sebelum mengimplementasikan teknologi e-voting, pemerintah perlu mengetahui tingkat kesediaan (willingness) masyarakat untuk menggunakan teknologi baru. Tingkatan tertentu bahwa ekspektasi seseorang dapat terpenuhi dengan baik adalah definisi dari kepercayaan (trust). Kepercayaan masyarakat teridentifikasi sebagai faktor utama untuk mempengaruhi niat/ kemauan masyarakat menggunakan sebuah teknologi. Penelitian ini menganalisis pengaruh dari faktor kepercayaan terhadap niat untuk menggunakan e-voting. Penelitian ini mengusulkan sebuah model yang menggambarkan niat masyarakat untuk menggunakan e-voting (Intention to use) dengan mengidentifikasi kepercayaan masyarakat terhadap teknologi (trust of technology). Trust dibagi menjadi beberapa faktor yang lebih spesifik. Kuisioner kertas disebarkan kepada 370 masyarakat negara Indonesia dan 346 di antaranya valid. Kuisioner disebarkan secara langsung oleh surveyor kepada masyarakat yang telah memiliki hak pilih dan disebar secara merata kepada golongan umur yang bervariasi, serta tingkat Pendidikan maupun profesi yang beragam. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa semakin tinggi Trust of Technology (TOT) dapat meningkatkan niat masyarakat untuk menggunakan e-voting (Intention to Use E-voting - ITU). Ditemukan juga beberapa faktor dapat mempengaruhi pengaruh positif terhadap kepercayaan masyarakat terhadap teknologi. Hasil dari penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa pemerintah diharapkan untuk memperhatikan fakto-faktor yang mempengaruhi kepercayaan masyarakat yang berujung niat dan kemauan masyarakat untuk menggunakan e-voting sebelum menerapkan e-voting tersebut.Kata Kunci: Kepercayaan, Keinginan, Keamanan, Validitas, Pemilu.[En]Increasing adoption of the electronic voting machine and rising pilot testing of internet voting suggests people believe that ICT can improve the electoral process. Since every new technology adoption needs to achieve successful implementation, deeper analysis on several sides was needed to support it. Before implementing a particular e-voting technology, the government needs to know the level of citizen willingness to adopt those new technologies. The expectancy that promise of an individual or group can be relied upon is defined as trust. The citizen trust can be identified by certain factors that lead to intention to use actual system. This study analyzes the impact of trustworthiness on citizen intention to use e-voting system in a developing country. The research proposes a model of e-voting adoption intention by investigating citizen trustworthiness from trust of technology (TOT). The trust was expanded to more specific unique factors. Offline questionnaires were spreaded to 370 respondents and 346 of them were valid. Questionnaires were distributed directly by surveyors to people who have the right to vote and distributed equally for a wide range of ages, as well as varying levels of education and professions. The results indicate that higher TOT increase citizen intention to use e-voting, and also several key determinants have positive influence on the citizen trust. This result suggested that government should first comply with several factors in citizen trustworthiness before conducting an e-voting system.


EDIS ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (5) ◽  
pp. 5
Author(s):  
Ian M. Small ◽  
David L. Wright

Precision agriculture or site-specific management is a knowledge-based technical management system, where sensing, information technologies, and mechanical systems enable sub-field crop management that can help optimize farm profits and minimize agriculture's impact on the environment. This technology has been developed over several decades through private sector and university research efforts, with new technologies and applications available every year. Information about a field can be obtained and continuously updated to refine management strategies or solve production issues through the season. Stated another way, it is the determination of optimal inputs needed for profitable production. This article discusses precision agriculture, recent developments in technology and factors to consider when adopting these technologies, particularly as they relate to row crop production in Florida. Original publication date October 2002. Revised July 2006, October 2013, December 2016. September 2020 revision by Ian Small


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 3765 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luís Loures ◽  
Alejandro Chamizo ◽  
Paulo Ferreira ◽  
Ana Loures ◽  
Rui Castanho ◽  
...  

While the world population continues to grow, increasing the need to produce more and better-quality food, climate change, urban growth and unsustainable agricultural practices accelerate the loss of available arable land, compromising the sustainability of agricultural lands both in terms of productivity and environmental resilience, and causing serious problems for the production-consumption balance. This scenario highlights the urgent need for agricultural modernization as a crucial step to face forthcoming difficulties. Precision agriculture techniques appear as a feasible option to help solve these problems. However, their use needs to be reinvented and tested according to different parameters, in order to define both the environmental and the economic impact of these new technologies not only on agricultural production, but also on agricultural sustainability. This paper intends, therefore, to contribute to a better understanding of the impact of precision agriculture through the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV)/remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS) and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) techniques in small Mediterranean farms. We present specific data obtained through the application of the aforementioned techniques in three farms located along the Portuguese-Spanish border, considering three parameters (seeding failure, differentiated irrigation and differentiated fertilization) in order to determine not only the ecological benefits of these methods, but also their economic and productivity aspects. The obtained results, based on these methods, highlight the fact that an efficient combination of UAV/RPAS and NDVI techniques allows for important economic savings in productivity factors, thus promoting a sustainable agriculture both in ecological and economic terms. Additionally, contrary to what is generally defended, even in small farms, as the ones assessed in this study (less than 50 ha), the costs associated with the application of the aforementioned precision agriculture processes are largely surpassed by the economic gains achieved with their application, regardless of the notorious environmental benefits introduced by the reduction of crucial production inputs as water and fertilizers.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabur Safi ◽  
Thomas Thiessen ◽  
Kurt JG Schmailzl

BACKGROUND This study discusses the acceptance of new medical technologies in health care settings and resistance to these technologies from hospitals, doctors’ surgical centers, electronic health (eHealth) centers, and related institutions. We suggest a novel method of identifying factors that influence the acceptance of, and resistance to, new technologies by medical staff and patients. OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to determine and evaluate the factors that influence acceptance and resistance to achieve a successful implementation of new technologies. METHODS The target group was patients residing in Brandenburg and major stakeholders in the local health care structure, for instance, medical institutions and medical professionals. The process relies on 3 models: the technology acceptance model, the unified technology acceptance and use of technology model, and the theory of technical innovation diffusion. Qualitative methodology was employed in this study, and an exploratory design was adopted to gain new insights into a poorly understood phenomenon in the German context. This enabled the researcher to take a flexible approach toward exploring a wide range of secondary data and to choose a different approach when unexpected information emerged. Content analysis was used to identify and interpret the data, and the researcher assured that the meaning associated with the information has concurred with that of the original source. RESULTS This study confirmed that adoption of new technologies in health care depended on individual opinions of the factors relating to them. Some medical professionals believed that technology would interfere with their ability to make independent diagnoses and their relationships with patients. Doctors also feared that technology was a means of management control. In contrast, other medical staff welcomed technology because it provided them with more opportunities to interact with patients and their carers. Generally, patients were more enthusiastic about technology than medical professionals and health care managers because it allowed them to have greater autonomy in selecting health care options. The need for all groups to be involved in the development of the new health care approach was an important outcome, otherwise resistance to it was likely to be greater. In other words, the strategy for change management was the indicator of success or failure. Therefore, following our analysis, a number of practical precepts emerged that could facilitate user acceptance of digital solutions and innovative medical technologies. CONCLUSIONS The acceptance of digital solutions and innovative medical technology by patients and professionals relies on understanding their anxieties and feelings of insecurity. The process will take time because individuals accept change at different rates. Hence, the development of an extensive user community to fully and successfully implement eHealth is less likely in the short term; however, this should not prevent the push for changes in health care technology.


Agriculture ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matheus Cardim Ferreira Lima ◽  
Maria Elisa Damascena de Almeida Leandro ◽  
Constantino Valero ◽  
Luis Carlos Pereira Coronel ◽  
Clara Oliva Gonçalves Bazzo

Many species of insect pests can be detected and monitored automatically. Several systems have been designed in order to improve integrated pest management (IPM) in the context of precision agriculture. Automatic detection traps have been developed for many important pests. These techniques and new technologies are very promising for the early detection and monitoring of aggressive and quarantine pests. The aim of the present paper is to review the techniques and scientific state of the art of the use of sensors for automatic detection and monitoring of insect pests. The paper focuses on the methods for identification of pests based in infrared sensors, audio sensors and image-based classification, presenting the different systems available, examples of applications and recent developments, including machine learning and Internet of Things. Future trends of automatic traps and decision support systems are also discussed.


Processes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 646
Author(s):  
Anamaria Todea ◽  
Diana Maria Dreavă ◽  
Ioana Cristina Benea ◽  
Ioan Bîtcan ◽  
Francisc Peter ◽  
...  

New technologies for the conversion of biomass into high-value chemicals, including polymers and plastics, is a must and a challenge. The development of green processes in the last decade involved a continuous increase of the interest towards the synthesis of polymers using in vitro biocatalysis. Among the remarkable diversity of new bio-based polymeric products meeting the criteria of sustainability, biocompatibility, and eco-friendliness, a wide range of polyesters with shorter chain length were obtained and characterized, targeting biomedical and cosmetic applications. In this review, selected examples of such specialty polymers are presented, highlighting the recent developments concerning the use of lipases, mostly in immobilized form, for the green synthesis of e-caprolactone co-polymers, polyesters with itaconate or furan units, estolides, and polyesteramides. The significant process parameters influencing the average molecular weights and other characteristics are discussed, revealing the advantages and limitations of biocatalytic processes for the synthesis of these bio-based polymers.


2014 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 279-287 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Hey ◽  
Panagiota Anastasopoulou ◽  
André Bideaux ◽  
Wilhelm Stork

Ambulatory assessment of emotional states as well as psychophysiological, cognitive and behavioral reactions constitutes an approach, which is increasingly being used in psychological research. Due to new developments in the field of information and communication technologies and an improved application of mobile physiological sensors, various new systems have been introduced. Methods of experience sampling allow to assess dynamic changes of subjective evaluations in real time and new sensor technologies permit a measurement of physiological responses. In addition, new technologies facilitate the interactive assessment of subjective, physiological, and behavioral data in real-time. Here, we describe these recent developments from the perspective of engineering science and discuss potential applications in the field of neuropsychology.


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