scholarly journals Bio-Based Value Chains Potential in the Management of Cacao Pod Waste in Colombia, a Case Study

Agronomy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 693
Author(s):  
Diana C. Meza-Sepúlveda ◽  
Ana M. Castro ◽  
Annie Zamora ◽  
Jorge W. Arboleda ◽  
Adriana M. Gallego ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Crop Production ◽  
Agricultural Waste ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Research Direction ◽  
Added Value ◽  
Value Chains ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Industrial Processing ◽  
Biomass Resources

Agriculture generates 11.4 billion tons of biomass worldwide, including residues from crop production and industrial processing. Improper disposal of agricultural residues results in environmental pollution and the waste of valuable biomass resources. Management of agricultural waste is particularly suboptimal in developing countries where low added-value traditional practices to manage the residues are commonplace. A bioeconomy approach to better manage agricultural waste is to use renewable biological resources from land and sea to produce new materials and energy, allowing the development of bio-based value chains (BBVC). This study explored the potential of BBVC in the management of cacao pod husk (CPH), the primary residual biomass generated from the production of cacao in Colombia. Thus, a literature review on cacao pod husk (CPH) management strategies and a survey for farmers from Caldas State in Colombia between August and November of 2020 were performed to identify the potentials and limitations of BBVC in the management of CPH. Assessment of CPH management strategies suggested variable uses for CPH categorized in energy, food, and miscellaneous. Analysis of surveys indicated farmers are keen to implement strategies to better manage their agricultural waste, but that information is not available to them. Finally, an approach to develop a BBVC from cacao was proposed, which we plan to implement as a future research direction. We expect to impact the economic growth positively in the region with bio-based products in the market.

scholarly journals Staffing System Management: Evidences from Singapore

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 136
Author(s):  
Mussie T. Tessema ◽  
Kubilay Gok ◽  
Alex Ngoma ◽  
Mengsteab Tesfayohannes ◽  
Gerry V. Fernando
Keyword(s):  
Public Service ◽  
Research Direction ◽  
Future Research ◽  
System Management ◽  
Critical Factors ◽  
Organization Level ◽  
The World ◽  
Practical Implications

This paper uses Singapore as a case study to illustrate how staffing policies and practices affect the quality of the workforce which ultimately influence performance at employee and organization level. It reveals that Singapore public service has been able to put in place most of the ‘critical factors’ for an effective staffing system management. The presence of those critical factors have played an important role in making Singapore to be one of the most effective public services in the world. Finally, it forwards theoretical and practical implications of the study and future research direction.

Modeling and Prediction of Foreign Currency Exchange Markets

2006 ◽  
pp. 139-151
Author(s):  
Joarder Kamruzzaman ◽  
Ruhul A. Sarker ◽  
Rezaul K. Begg
Keyword(s):  
Neural Network ◽  
Foreign Currency ◽  
Performance Metrics ◽  
Network Models ◽  
Research Direction ◽  
Global Market ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Neural Network Models ◽  
Currency Exchange

In today’s global market economy, currency exchange rates play a vital role in national economy of the trading nations. In this chapter, we present an overview of neural network-based forecasting models for foreign currency exchange (forex) rates. To demonstrate the suitability of neural network in forex forecasting, a case study on the forex rates of six different currencies against the Australian dollar is presented. We used three different learning algorithms in this case study, and a comparison based on several performance metrics and trading profitability is provided. Future research direction for enhancement of neural network models is also discussed.

scholarly journals Biomass Potential from Agricultural Waste for Energetic Utilization in Greece

Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 1095 ◽  
Author(s):  
Spyridon Alatzas ◽  
Konstantinos Moustakas ◽  
Dimitrios Malamis ◽  
Stergios Vakalis
Keyword(s):  
Agricultural Waste ◽  
Combined Heat And Power ◽  
Biomass Energy ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Energy Potential ◽  
Annual Basis ◽  
Mediterranean Countries ◽  
Biomass Resources ◽  
Gasification Technology

The alignment of the Greek national legislation with the corresponding EU legislation has enhanced the national efforts to pursue renewable Combined Heat and Power (CHP) projects. The scope of the present study has been the identification of the available biomass resources and the assessment of their potential. In this paper, we present the results from the administrative regions of Crete, Thessaly, and Peloponnese. The levels of lignocellulosic biomass in Greece are estimated to be 2,132,286 tonnes on an annual basis, values that are very close to the cases of other Mediterranean countries like Italy and Portugal. In respect to the total agricultural residues, Crete produces 1,959,124 tonnes/year and Thessaly produces 1,759,457 tonnes/year. The most significant streams are identified to be olive pits, olive pruning, and cotton ginning remnants, with more than 100,000 tonnes/year each. In the latter part of this manuscript, a case study is presented for the development of a CHP gasification facility in Messenia. The biomass energy potential of the area is very promising, with about 3,800,000 GJ/year. The proposed small-scale gasification technology is expected to utilize 7956 tonnes of biomass per year and to produce 6630 MWh of electricity and 8580 MWh of thermal energy.

scholarly journals Towards a web-based GIS for teaching geo-informatics at under-graduate level in developing countries: a case study of Iran

2014 ◽  
Vol XL-6 ◽  
pp. 67-71
Author(s):  
A. Mobasheri ◽  
H. Vahidi ◽  
Q. Guan
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Online Education ◽  
Transformative Learning ◽  
Education System ◽  
Research Direction ◽  
Web Gis ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Graduate Level ◽  
Web Based

In developing countries, the number of experts and students in geo-informatics domain are very limited compared to experts and students of sciences that could benefit from geo-informatics. In this research, we study the possibility of providing an online education system for teaching geo-informatics at under-graduate level. The hypothesis is that in developing countries, such as Iran, a web-based geo-education system can greatly improve the quantity and quality of knowledge of students in undergraduate level, which is an important step that has to be made in regard of the famous "Geo for all" motto. As a technology for conducting natural and social studies, geo-informatics offers new ways of viewing, representing and analysing information for transformative learning and teaching. Therefore, we design and present a conceptual framework of an education system and elaborate its components as well as the free and open source services and software packages that could be used in this framework for a specific case study: the Web GIS course. The goal of the proposed framework is to develop experimental GI-services in a service-oriented platform for education purposes. Finally, the paper ends with concluding remarks and some tips for future research direction.

scholarly journals Towards Full Utilization of Biomass Resources: A Case Study on Industrial Hemp Residue and Spent Mushroom Substrate

Processes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. 1200
Author(s):  
Wubliker Dessie ◽  
Xiaofang Luo ◽  
Jiachen Tang ◽  
Wufei Tang ◽  
Meifeng Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Raw Materials ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Spent Mushroom Substrate ◽  
Research Directions ◽  
Biomass Resources ◽  
Future Research Directions ◽  
Industrial Hemp ◽  
Full Utilization

This was early-stage, proof-of-concept research on the full utilization of biomass resources. The current study considered industrial hemp residue (IHR) and spent mushroom substrate (SMS) to demonstrate the initial upstream steps towards the total valorization of biomass. Accordingly, different pretreatment methods such as autohydrolysis, thermal hydrolysis, and thermochemical hydrolysis methods were employed against individual and various mix ratios of IHR and SMS. To this end, raw materials, hydrolysates, and residual solids were analyzed to gain some insights, identify gaps, and suggest future research directions in this area. Implementation of the full utilization of biomass resources is, in fact, not only a matter of transforming the resources into valuable products, but it is also a plausible waste management strategy in the quest towards the development of a circular bioeconomy and sustainable future.

Digital Twin of manufacturing systems: a case study on increasing the efficiency of reconfiguration

2020 ◽  
Vol 68 (6) ◽  
pp. 435-444 ◽  
Author(s):  
Behrang Ashtari Talkhestani ◽  
Michael Weyrich
Keyword(s):  
Manufacturing Systems ◽  
Manufacturing System ◽  
Added Value ◽  
Future Research ◽  
System Availability ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative ◽  
Digital Twin ◽  
System A ◽  
Set Up

AbstractThe added value of a Digital Twin for reconfiguring manufacturing systems promises an increase in system availability, a reduction in set-up and conversion times and enables the manufacturing of customer-specific products. To evaluate this claim, this paper selects an architecture of the Digital Twin and realizes it on the basis of an application scenario for a cyber-physical manufacturing system. A case study is used to test the reconfiguration of a manufacturing system by comparing two different methods, one without and one with use of the Digital Twin. In this paper, the process steps of both reconfigurations are described and discussed in detail and a qualitative and quantitative evaluation of the reconfiguration results is presented. Finally, this paper gives an outlook on future research on intelligent automation of manufacturing systems using the Digital Twin.

scholarly journals A Bibliometric Visualization Review of the MODIS LAI/FPAR Products from 1995 to 2020

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Kai Yan ◽  
Dongxiao Zou ◽  
Guangjian Yan ◽  
Hongliang Fang ◽  
Marie Weiss ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Crop Production ◽  
Environmental Science ◽  
Scale Effects ◽  
Estimation Algorithm ◽  
Research Direction ◽  
Research Field ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Average Growth ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Modis Lai

The MODIS LAI/FPAR products have been widely used in various fields since their first public release in 2000. This review intends to summarize the history, development trends, scientific collaborations, disciplines involved, and research hotspots of these products. Its aim is to intrigue researchers and stimulate new research direction. Based on literature data from the Web of Science (WOS) and associated funding information, we conducted a bibliometric visualization review of the MODIS LAI/FPAR products from 1995 to 2020 using bibliometric and social network analysis (SNA) methods. We drew the following conclusions: (1) research based on the MODIS LAI/FPAR shows an upward trend with a multiyear average growth rate of 24.9% in the number of publications. (2) Researchers from China and the USA are the backbone of this research area, among which the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) is the core research institution. (3) Research based on the MODIS LAI/FPAR covers a wide range of disciplines but mainly focus on environmental science and ecology. (4) Ecology, crop production estimation, algorithm improvement, and validation are the hotspots of these studies. (5) Broadening the research field, improving the algorithms, and overcoming existing difficulties in heterogeneous surface, scale effects, and complex terrains will be the trend of future research. Our work provides a clear view of the development of the MODIS LAI/FPAR products and valuable information for scholars to broaden their research fields.

scholarly journals Global Crop Value Chains: Shifts and Challenges in South-North Relations

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 85
Author(s):  
Stefan Nier ◽  
Oliver Klein ◽  
Christine Tamásy
Keyword(s):  
Crop Production ◽  
Distribution Systems ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Value Chains ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Crucial Feature ◽  
Food Standards ◽  
Production And Distribution ◽  
Global North

The worldwide importance of crop production is undisputed due to its function for basic nutrition of billions of people. Yet, the emergence of global forces implies severe consequences for the organization of crop value chains. These forces particularly include processes of liberalization and deregulation, the dominance of large retail groups as well as ever-changing consumer demands, leading to continuous reconfigurations of crop value chains. Based on a literature review, this paper aims at thematically ‘organizing’ and differentiating the key findings of relevant empirical studies on global crop value chains, with a particular focus on South-North relations. Thereby, current shifts and challenges are identified and analysed with special attention paid to spatio-relational dimensions. The spatial perspective is important since crop value chains both shape and are shaped by specific geographical settings which is, among others, considered in the growing literature on food geographies. Overall, we could extract three strands of literature on global crop value chains: the integration of smallholders; the role of food standards; and the effect of ‘hidden’ dynamics. These issues especially reveal the interdependencies between the Global South and the Global North as a crucial feature of contemporary crop production and distribution systems. These are A further outcome of the literature analysis is the derivation of suggestions regarding future research and areas of needed progress.

scholarly journals Management strategies for aflatoxin risk mitigation in maize, dairy feeds and milk value chains—case study Kenya

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vesa V Joutsjoki ◽  
Hannu J Korhonen
Keyword(s):  
Risk Mitigation ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Aflatoxin Contamination ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Value Chains ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Food And Feed

Abstract Widespread aflatoxin contamination of a great number of food and feed crops has important implications on global trade and health. Frequent occurrence of aflatoxin in maize and milk poses serious health risks to consumers because these commodities are staple foods in many African countries. This situation calls for development and implementation of rigorous aflatoxin control measures that encompass all value chains, focusing on farms where food and feed-based commodities prone to aflatoxin contamination are cultivated. Good agricultural practices (GAP) have proven to be an effective technology in mitigation and management of the aflatoxin risk under farm conditions. The prevailing global climate change is shown to increase aflatoxin risk in tropical and subtropical regions. Thus, there is an urgent need to devise and apply novel methods to complement GAP and mitigate aflatoxin contamination in the feed, maize and milk value chains. Also, creation of awareness on aflatoxin management through training of farmers and other stakeholders and enforcement of regular surveillance of aflatoxin in food and feed chains are recommended strategies. This literature review addresses the current situation of aflatoxin occurrence in maize, dairy feeds and milk produced and traded in Kenya and current technologies applied to aflatoxin management at the farm level. Finally, a case study in Kenya on successful application of GAP for mitigation of aflatoxin risk at small-scale farms will be reviewed.

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