scholarly journals Fabrication and performance evaluation of vertical farming structures

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (SI) ◽  
pp. 55-62
Author(s):  
Shaheemath Suhara K K ◽  
Priya G Nair

This study was undertaken to fabricate Vertical Farming Structures (VFS) suitable for homestead and evaluate the performance of fabricated vertical farming structures. The experiment was conducted in Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology (KCAET), Tavanur, in Malappuram district, Kerala. Two vertical farming structures DVFS 1 (Developed vertical farming structure 1) and DVFS 2 (Developed vertical farming structure 2) were designed and fabricated. The drip irrigation system was adopted to irrigate the plants to reduce the wastage of water. Amaranthus seedlings of variety ‘Kannara local’ was taken for the trial. Climatic parameters and biometric observations were analyzed to compare and evaluate the performances of vertical farming structures. Correlation analysis was done using IBM SPSS statistics 25 software. The analysis of trials revealed that DVFS 1 showed better performance in every aspect compared to DVFS 2. The biometric observations like plant height and number of leaves were more in T1 at the right side and followed by T3 at the right side of DVFS 1. The plant characteristics are highly correlated with the light intensity. This was the reason for more growth was observed on the right side of DVFS 1. The maximum yield was obtained from the DVFS 1 (58%) than DVFS 2 (42%).  The study recommended that usage of the platform like structure with triangular cross-section was more advantageous than the structure with tiers one over the other with Poly Vinyl Chloride (PVC) splits.

Author(s):  
Nora Augustien ◽  
Pawana Nur Indah ◽  
Purnawati Arika ◽  
Irsyad Irsyad ◽  
Hadi Suhardjono

Indian mustard plants are the main vegetable crops consumed by urban communities. The need for this vegetable increases along with the increase in culinary tourism in each region and the government's appeal on sustainable food home. One effort made to meet the needs of vegetable mustard in urban areas can be cultivated using polybags. The main problem of vegetable cultivation on polybags is the availability of soil media. To overcome the limitations of soil media it is attempted to substitute it with organic litter enriched with MOL (local microorganisms). The purpose of research is to find the right combination of planting media for mustard plants. The results showed that the composition of K7 = soil: compost: litter of hay: litter of maize (2: 1: 1: 1) best on plant length, number of leaves, length of root leaves and number of roots while the wet weight of mustard plant (g) K7 = soil: compost: litter of maize: litter of corn (2: 1: 1: 1) and K8 = soil: compost: litter of maize: litter of maize: cocopeat (2: 1: 1: 1: 1) or soil: compost + urea. Increased weights of wet mustard by 63% compared to soil media and 20% compared to soil composition: compost + urea. Organic straw in the form of straw: litter of corn stalk: cocopeat enriched with MOL are able to become ready-made planting media on the cultivation of indian mustard plants in polybags.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-71
Author(s):  
Nurhaeda Abbas ◽  
Anggraini Sukmawati ◽  
Muhammad Syamsun

Today the performance measurement of Muhammadiyah Luwuk uUniversity’s performance has not formulated yet based on University’s vision and mission. It will affect the strategic steps needed and performance improvement efforts in the future.  Human resource scorecard is the right system to be applied in Muhammadiyah Luwuk University. The purpose of this study is to designed a performance measurement system at Muhammadiyah Luwuk University using the Human Resource Scorecard with four perspectives: stakeholder, academic management and kemuhammadiyaan, operational and innovation, as well as and learning. Data was analyzed by analytical hierarchy process method. This research was conducted by distributing questionnaires, focus group discussions and in-depth interview with stakeholders at Muhammadiyah Luwuk University. The results showed that there were 14 strategic objectives and 33 key performance indicators to be achieved by the priority objectives, which are: empowerment and development of faculty, increased administrative process quality, improved sound budget performance and, improvement of the relationship with stakeholders.


1996 ◽  
Vol 35 (4I) ◽  
pp. 399-417 ◽  
Author(s):  
John W. Mellor

The right to the flow of income from water is vigorously pursued, protected, and fought over in any arid part of the world. Pakistan is of course no exception. Reform of irrigation institutions necessarily changes the rights to water, whether it be those of farmers, government, or government functionaries. Those perceived rights may be explicit and broadly accepted, or simply takings that are not even considered legitimate. Nevertheless they will be fought over. Pakistan has a long history of proposals for irrigation reform, little or none being implemented, except as isolated pilot projects. Thus, to propose major changes in irrigation institutions must be clearly shown to have major benefits to justify the hard battles that must be fought and the goodwill of those who might win those battles for reform. Proponents of irrigation institution reform have always argued the necessity of the reforms and the large gains to be achieved. Perhaps, however, those arguments have not been convincing. This paper will briefly outline the failed attempts at irrigation reform to provide an element of reality to the discussion. It will then proceed to make the case of the urgency of reform in a somewhat different manner to the past. Finally, current major reform proposals will be presented. This paper approaches justification of irrigation reform by focusing on the agricultural growth rate. It does so because that is the critical variable influencing poverty rates and is a significant determinant of over-all economic growth rates. The paper decomposes growth rates and suggests a residual effect of deterioration of the irrigation system that is large and calls for policy and institutional reform. The data are notional, suggesting the usefulness of the approach and paves the way for more detailed empirical analysis and enquiry for the future.


Author(s):  
Emanuela Gualdi-Russo ◽  
Natascia Rinaldo ◽  
Alba Pasini ◽  
Luciana Zaccagni

The aims of this study were to develop and validate an instrument to quantitatively assess the handedness of basketballers in basketball tasks (Basketball Handedness Inventory, BaHI) and to compare it with their handedness in daily activities by the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory (EHI). The participants were 111 basketballers and 40 controls. All subjects completed the EHI and only basketballers filled in the BaHI. To validate the BaHI, a voluntary subsample of basketballers repeated the BaHI. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported a two-factor model. Our results show that: (i) Handedness score (R) in daily actions did not differ between basketball players (R by EHI = 69.3 ± 44.6) and the control group (R by EHI = 64.5 ± 58.6); (ii) basketballers more frequently favored performing certain sport tasks with the left hand or mixed hands (as highlighted by R by BaHI = 50.1 ± 47.1), although their choice was primarily the right hand in everyday gestures; and (iii) this preference was especially true for athletes at the highest levels of performance (R by BaHI of A1 league = 38.6 ± 58.3) and for those playing in selected roles (point guard’s R = 29.4 ± 67.4). Our findings suggest that professional training induces handedness changes in basketball tasks. The BaHI provides a valid and reliable measure of the skilled hand in basketball. This will allow coaches to assess mastery of the ball according to the hand used by the athlete in the different tasks and roles.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 376
Author(s):  
Carmelo Mario Vicario ◽  
Gabriella Martino ◽  
Alex Marcuzzo ◽  
Giuseppe Craparo

Neuroscience research links alexithymia, the difficulty in identifying and describing feelings and emotions, with left hemisphere dominance and/or right hemisphere deficit. To provide behavioral evidence for this neuroscientific hypothesis, we explored the relationship between alexithymia and performance in a line bisection task, a standard method for evaluating visuospatial processing in relation to right hemisphere functioning. We enrolled 222 healthy participants who completed a version of the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), which measures alexithymia, and were asked to mark (bisect) the center of a 10-cm horizontal segment. The results document a significant rightward shift in the center of the line in participants with borderline and manifest alexithymia compared with non-alexithymic individuals. The higher the TAS-20 score, the greater the rightward shift in the line bisection task. This finding supports the right hemisphere deficit hypothesis in alexithymia and suggests that visuospatial abnormalities may be an important component of this mental condition.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rita Shakouri ◽  
Maziar Salahi

Purpose This paper aims to apply a new approach for resource sharing and efficiency estimation of subunits in the presence of non-discretionary factors and partial impacts among inputs and outputs in the data envelopment analysis (DEA) framework. Design/methodology/approach First, inspired by the Imanirad et al.’s model (2013), the authors consider that each decision-making unit (DMU) may consist of several subunits, that each of which can be affected by non-discretionary inputs. After that, the Banker and Morey’s model (1996) is used for modeling non-discretionary factors. For measuring performance of several subunits, which can be considered as DMUs, the aggregate efficiency is suggested. At last, the overall efficiency is computed and compared with each other. Findings One of the important features of proposed model is that each output in this model applies discretionary input according to its need; therefore, the result of this study will make it easier for the managers to make better decisions. Also, it indicates that significant predictions of the development of the overall efficiency of DMUs can be based on observing the development level of subunits because of the influence of non-discretionary input. Therefore, the proposed model provides a more reasonable and encompassing measure of performance in participating non-discretionary and discretionary inputs to better efficiency. An application of the proposed model for gaining efficiency of 17 road patrols is provided. Research limitations/implications More non-discretionary and discretionary inputs can be taken into consideration for a better analysis. This study provides us with a framework for performance measures along with useful managerial insights. Focusing upon the right scope of operations may help out the management in improving their overall efficiency and performance. In the recent highway maintenance management systems, the environmental differences exist among patrols and other geotechnical services under the climate diverse. Further, in some cases, there might exist more than one non-discretionary factor that can have different effects on the subunits’ performance. Practical implications The purpose of this paper was to measure the performance of a set of the roadway maintenance crews and to analyze the impact of non-discretionary inputs on the efficiency of the roadway maintenance. The application of the proposed model, on the one hand, showed that each output in this model uses discretionary input according to its requirement, and on the other hand, the result showed that meaningful predictions of the development of the overall efficiency of DMUs can be based on observing the development level of subunits because of the impact of non-discretionary input. Originality/value Providing information on resource sharing by taking into account non-discretionary factors for each subunit can help managers to make better decisions to increase the efficiency.


2018 ◽  
Vol 115 (48) ◽  
pp. 12289-12294 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiroki Oishi ◽  
Hiromasa Takemura ◽  
Shuntaro C. Aoki ◽  
Ichiro Fujita ◽  
Kaoru Amano

Stereopsis is a fundamental visual function that has been studied extensively. However, it is not clear why depth discrimination (stereoacuity) varies more significantly among people than other modalities. Previous studies have reported the involvement of both dorsal and ventral visual areas in stereopsis, implying that not only neural computations in cortical areas but also the anatomical properties of white matter tracts connecting those areas can impact stereopsis. Here, we studied how human stereoacuity relates to white matter properties by combining psychophysics, diffusion MRI (dMRI), and quantitative MRI (qMRI). We performed a psychophysical experiment to measure stereoacuity and, in the same participants, we analyzed the microstructural properties of visual white matter tracts on the basis of two independent measurements, dMRI (fractional anisotropy, FA) and qMRI (macromolecular tissue volume; MTV). Microstructural properties along the right vertical occipital fasciculus (VOF), a major tract connecting dorsal and ventral visual areas, were highly correlated with measures of stereoacuity. This result was consistent for both FA and MTV, suggesting that the behavioral–structural relationship reflects differences in neural tissue density, rather than differences in the morphological configuration of fibers. fMRI confirmed that binocular disparity stimuli activated the dorsal and ventral visual regions near VOF endpoints. No other occipital tracts explained the variance in stereoacuity. In addition, the VOF properties were not associated with differences in performance on a different psychophysical task (contrast detection). These series of experiments suggest that stereoscopic depth discrimination performance is, at least in part, constrained by dorso-ventral communication through the VOF.


Water ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 1579 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmed Elshaikh ◽  
Shi-hong Yang ◽  
Xiyun Jiao ◽  
Mohammed Elbashier

This study aims to offer a comprehensive assessment of the impacts of policies and institutional arrangements on irrigation management performance. The case study, the Gezira Scheme, has witnessed a significant decrease in water management performance during recent decades. This situation led to several institutional changes in order to put the system on the right path. The main organizations involved in water management at the scheme are the Ministry of Irrigation & Water Resources (MOIWR), the Sudan Gezira Board (SGB), and the Water Users Associations (WUAs). Different combinations from these organizations were founded to manage the irrigation system. The evaluation of these organizations is based on the data of water supply and cultivated areas from 1970 to 2015. The measured data were compared with two methods: the empirical water order method (Indent) that considers the design criteria of the scheme, and the Crop Water Requirement (CWR) method. Results show that the MOIWR period was the most efficient era, with an average water surplus of 12% compared with the Indent value, while the most critical period (SGB & WUAs) occurred when the water supply increased by 80%. The other periods of the Irrigation Water Corporation (IWC), (SGB & MOIWR), and (WUAs & MOIWR) had witnessed an increase in water supply by 29%, 63%, and 67% respectively. Through these institutional changes, the percentage of excessive water supply jumped from 12% to 80%. Finally, the study provides general recommendations associated with institutional arrangements and policy adoption to improve irrigation system performance.


1995 ◽  
Vol 81 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 1115-1118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Misaki Iteya ◽  
Carl Gabbard ◽  
Morihiko Okada

Foot preference and performance characteristics of gross-motor lower-limb speed of tapping were examined in 606 4- to 6-yr.-olds. Analysis indicated no effect for gender; however, speed of foot tapping increased significantly across the three ages, suggesting an association with selected developmental (neuromuscular) processes. Contrary to earlier reports on handedness, there was no statistical evidence that mixed- or left-footers were at a performance disadvantage compared to right-footers. All groups performed best with the right foot, limb differentiation (right versus left) being significant for the right- and mixed-footed groups. Speculation about maturational and environmental influences is given.


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