Research pick: Farming and climate studies - "Methodologies used to assess the impacts of climate change in agricultural economics: a rapid review"

The understanding and response to the impact of climate change on agriculture will have repercussions for many years to come in terms of food security and the ongoing climate crisis itself. It is important that we can assess and validate the studies taking place so that policymakers can be informed in a timely and useful manner. Within the European Union, for instance, there has been much effort put into assessing the impact of many studies. However, as is pointed out in the International Journal of Sustainable Agricultural Management and Informatics, impact assessment has always presented difficulties.

A research team from Greece presents a rapid literature review of studies into climate change and agricultural economics. Thomas Bournaris, Christina Moulogianni, and Ioannis Georgilas of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, and George Vlontzos of the University of Thessaly, Volos, Greece, carried out a two-stage analysis. In the first stage, they classified a decade’s worth of studies published from 2010 to 2020 using pertinent criteria. In the second stage, they analysed the methods used in those papers to assess the impact of climate change on agriculture.

Fundamentally, the team found that for this research period, researchers were mainly using mathematical modelling and scenario analysis as standalone methods or in combination with other methods. The use of lots of different mathematical models, the team suggests, was helpful in the strategic analysis of the effects of climate change on agricultural economics. Using mathematical modelling in combination with an understanding of multiple drivers allowed researchers to see details and trends in farming practices as they respond, or otherwise do not respond, to policy and climate change.

The team also showed that the density of studies did not change much during the period they examined, there were approximately 21 studies in each of the years. Authors represented some 66 nations across the globe although half of the authors were from the USA or the EU. A third finding revealed that the papers were published in journals covering the areas one would expect rather than there being lots of outliers in broader or inappropriate journals. Most of the work was in journals covering agricultural and biological sciences, environmental science, economics, econometrics and finance, and social sciences.

“The results of this literature review will provide useful information to the researchers that want to apply an impact assessment analysis for measuring impacts of climate change in agricultural economy,” the team concludes.

Bournaris, T., Moulogianni, C., Vlontzos, G. and Georgilas, I. (2021) ‘Methodologies used to assess the impacts of climate change in agricultural economics: a rapid review’, Int. J. Sustainable Agricultural Management and Informatics, Vol. 7, No. 4, pp.253-269.

Research pick: Detecting distributed denial of service attacks - "Deep learning-based distributed denial-of-service detection"

The distributed denial-of-service (DDOS) attack may well be familiar to anyone who has spent time running online services, such as websites. It is a malicious attack on the servers running the system that simply bombards the computers with requests that overwhelm it and prevent legitimate users from accessing the resources.

The DDOS attack is used by malicious third parties for various reasons. The aim may well be to simply block any legitimate use and may be done to sabotage a company, organisation, or government in some way. The DDOS attack might also be used by third parties hoping to gain access to normally hidden information. The attack and the organisation’s response to it, can often allow breaches of firewalls and other security measures allowing those third parties to steal information from the servers or even take control of the systems.

DDOS attacks can be carried out by mass coordinated activity of individuals running computers with that intention. They can also be carried out by a malicious third party with control of a botnet (a network of hijacked computers). New work in the International Journal of Networking and Virtual Organisations, is using deep learning to detect DDOS attacks and so allow service providers to ameliorate their effects.

Hanene Mennour and Sihem Mostefai of the University Abdelhamid Mehri in Constantine, Algeria, explain that DDOS are unremitting and given the current state of world affairs, there is an increasingly pressing need to find ways to detect and block these attacks. The researchers have built and tested a built a deep convolutional neural network (CNN), a stacked long short-term memory (S-LSTM) neural network which they explain is a distinct artificial recurrent neural network (RNN), and a third system that is a hybrid of the CNN and the LSTM systems.

The team tested against three benchmarking tools – CICIDS2017, CICDDoS2019, and BoT-IoT. They found, perhaps not surprisingly, that the scaleable hybrid tool was the most effective in detecting a DDOS attack than either of the separate modules. Moreover, comparison with other approaches shows that this novel tool has lower computational complexity and can also outperform earlier approaches in almost all metrics.

Mennour, H. and Mostefai, S. (2022) ‘Deep learning-based distributed denial-of-service detection’, Int. J. Networking and Virtual Organisations, Vol. 26, Nos. 1/2, pp.80–103.

International Journal of Powertrains to invite expanded papers from 6th Conference on Vehicle Control and Intelligence (CVCI 2022) for potential publication

Extended versions of papers presented at the 6th Conference on Vehicle Control and Intelligence (CVCI 2022) (28-30 October 2022, Nanjing, China) will be invited for review and potential publication by the International Journal of Powertrains.

Research pick: What a load of rubbish! - "Management of household hazardous waste: a review on global scenario"

Humanity continues to generate waste at unimaginable levels and very little the world over is recycled, it is simply dumped with vast quantities ending up in the wider environment and the oceans or it is burned producing unprecedented levels of atmospheric pollution.

A review of the global scenario with respect to hazardous household waste fits this picture, according to a paper in the International Journal of Environment and Waste Management. The conclusions of this review serve as a stark warning that we must do better with our waste management around the world.

Nisansala Abeysinghe Mudiyanselage and Sunil Herat of Griffith University (Nathan Campus) in Queensland, Australia, point out that rapid urbanisation and changes in lifestyles are to blame for the growing problem of hazardous household waste. They point out that although this particular classification of waste represents only a small proportion of the gross domestic waste, it is that qualification as “hazardous” that means it represents a more worrying problem in terms of environmental impact and the health risks to people and animals.

Limited awareness of the problems associated with hazardous household waste, a lack of infrastructure to deal with it, and an absence of well-defined legislation to reduce it and combat it are to blame for this growing crisis. The team explains that much of the hazardous waste is generated by everyday activities in the home and beyond, such as the use of self-care products (hairspray, nail polish, nail polish removers), home maintenance products (adhesives, detergents, cleaning agents, paints, thinners), pesticides, chemical fertilisers, mercury-containing lamps and thermometers, fluorescent lights, automotive maintenance products (oil, grease), medicine and electrical equipment. The risks and hazards associated with these products accumulate where there is no way to dispose of them safely. Indeed, much of the waste is beyond processing as it simply ends up in the drainage systems, on our gardens and land or in the atmosphere in use or after use. The remainder is dealt with in different ways in various parts of the world.

The developed world, on the other hand, makes some effort towards processing and recycling of components of the waste stream. However, there is much less capacity for such processing in the developing world. Improving awareness of the problems, better infrastructure, and new laws could eventually improve matters. We need to tackle this as a matter of urgency.

Mudiyanselage, N.A. and Herat, S. (2022) ‘Management of household hazardous waste: a review on global scenario’, Int. J. Environment and Waste Management, Vol. 29, No. 2, pp.230–240.

Research pick: Driving electric vehicle purchases - "Electric vehicles purchase perceptions. Effect on environmental awareness"

The shift away from the internal combustion engine to electric vehicles holds great promise for reducing noxious pollution in our towns and cities. It will also reduce the carbon footprint of transport if the electricity is generated from sustainable and renewable sources, such as wind and solar. The shift will also reduce our dependency on the limited resource that is oil. Research published in the International Journal of Energy Technology and Policy looks at the public perception of electric vehicles and environmental awareness.

Noelia Araújo-Vila and José Antonio Fraiz-Brea of the Business and Tourism Faculty at the University of Vigo in Ourense, Spain and Lucília Cardoso of the Instituto Politécnico de Leiria in Peniche, Portugal have surveyed 463 individuals to determine EV purchase intention and to see what pros and cons these people see with EVs when compared to conventional vehicles. Fundamentally, relatively high vehicle prices, limited range between charges and the scarcity of charging stations and specialised workshops are still deterring a lot of drivers from making the shift to an EV.

The researchers suggest that society itself needs to adapt urgently to replace the internal combustion engine with the electric motor. In order for the necessary changes to be made, the advantages to individual drivers and to the environment need to be made more apparent. There is a very pressing need to combat pollution and climate change and in some regions, legislation is forcing the internal combustion engine out of the market and off the roads. At the moment, the team writes, a mere 7 in every 1000 cars driven in Spain is an EV. Fewer than one in five drivers report an intention to switch to an EV with their next purchase.

Many countries and states are reluctant to accelerate the implementation of the necessary laws and so public awareness, opinion and thus purchase intention need to be driven in the right direction towards a sustainable future for personal transportation. Measures need to be put in place that reduce or even eliminate the roadblocks that are preventing from buying EVs. For instance, research must be done to find a better type of rechargeable battery to allow the vehicle range between charging to be extended considerably. The charging network must also be expanded and we must increase the number of specialist mechanics needed to maintain and repair EVs. The potential market is enormous but with too little awareness among the public, the industry and legislators may have to kickstart the process to help navigate the public in the right direction.

Araújo-Vila, N., Cardoso, L. and Fraiz-Brea, J.A. (2022) ‘Electric vehicles purchase perceptions. Effect on environmental awareness’, Int. J. Energy Technology and Policy, Vol. 18, No. 1, pp.32–56.

Research pick: New media art goes public

Can new media art in public spaces have a positive impact on people’s lifestyle and wellbeing? Research from China published in the International Journal of Computer Applications in Technology tackles this question.

Zhigang Wang and Ye Wang of the Academy of Arts & Design at Tsinghua University in Haidian, Beijing, and Yu Sun of the College of Arts and Design at Beijing Forestry University also in Haidian, suggest that public art can have an impact on art communication and appreciation as well as having commercial benefits for business in the public spaces where the art is installed. The evolution of new media art, of course, adds new dimensions to the traditional conception of art as static and non-interactive. Engaging new media artworks have the advantages of giving the people enjoying the art novel ways to experience it and interact with it.

In some senses new media art offers a new form of mass communication, combining as it does experience design and display design. It brings together our cultural lives and the technological world and can be inspirational, enjoyable, and even informative. Moreover, it allows the public consciousness to evolve in the public spaces in which installations are placed in a way that conventional art in galleries and exhibition halls may not.

The team reports that there are many novel and diverse ways in which artistic culture, design, and technology are now being brought together in new media artworks in public spaces. “The ultimate significance is to enhance the cultural communication ability of commercial space, and promote people’s cultural consumption level,” the team writes. We can perceive new media art in commercial public spaces as an upgrade to those spaces in terms of cultural and artistic communication.

Indeed, the team adds, the development of commercial public spaces is critical to the evolution of cities and their citizens. New media art design fits precisely with the futuristic view we could have for the development of commercial public spaces that benefit those citizens and the commercial concerns that use them.

Wang, Z., Wang, Y. and Sun, Y. (2021) ‘New media art design in commercial public space’, Int. J. Computer Applications in Technology, Vol. 67, Nos. 2/3, pp.244–251.

Research pick: Scrum to tackle musical concerts - "Adopting scrum methodology in the project of organising a concert"

There are two approaches to the management of a project. The traditional waterfall, or cascade, model involves creating a detailed plan for the sequences of steps that must be carried out to take the project from inception to manifestation. Such a linear approach can be compromised when problems arise that require changes that can have a knock-on effect further down the line.

An alternative approach to managing a project is the agile approach. A project is considered to be a collection of relatively small stages, known as cycles or iterations, that are interconnected rather than a complete process that runs from beginning to end in a linear manner. This more modular approach to project management allows changes to be made and problems to be addressed by adjusting the components of a small stage without necessarily disturbing the flow of the other stages and so, as is the name suggests is more adaptable. While agile project management initially emerged from the world of information technology it finds application in many disparate areas and itself now takes many different forms each suited to those areas where agile project management is needed.

Writing in the International Journal of Project Organisation and Management, a team from Poland has looked at a particularly popular form of agile project management – Scrum – originally devised by Jeff Sutherland and Ken Schwaber as a tool for managing complex software development. The team, Ewa Marchwicka, Paulina Tusz, and Jan Betta of the Wroclaw University of Science and Technology in Poland suggest that the Scrum approach is well suited to organizing a musical concert.

The Scrum website itself describes the approach as “a lightweight yet incredibly powerful set of values, principles, and practices.” It relies on cross-functional teams that can deliver products and services in short cycles, which means it offers fast feedback, quicker innovation, continuous improvement, and rapid adaptation to change. The team hopes these benefits will be applicable to organising concerts under the auspices of The National Forum of Music in Poland. Indeed, their initial investigations and interviews, although not definitive at this point, do suggest that music institutions would benefit enormously from adopting the Scrum approach to managing their projects.

Marchwicka, E., Tusz, P. and Betta, J. (2022) ‘Adopting scrum methodology in the project of organising a concert’, Int. J. Project Organisation and Management, Vol. 14, No. 1, pp.1–19.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Services and Operations Management

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Services and Operations Management are now available here for free:

• Superiority of fuzzy AHP-VIKOR approach in an agile environment
• Systematic literature review on application of business analytics and information technology in supply chain performances
• Factors predicting employee engagement in Indian manufacturing sector
• A heuristic and GRASP algorithm for three-dimensional multiple bin-size bin packing problem based on the needs of a spare-part company
• A Pareto-based optimisation algorithm for a multi-objective integrated production-distribution planning problem of a multi-echelon supply chain network design
• A comparative study of online review management in hospitality services
• Economic ordering model for multiple items with stochastic demand and budget constraint

Research pick: Legal indifference to refugees - "Legal silos and indifference: the wrongful prosecution of refugees and asylum-seekers in the UK"

A new analysis of the prosecutions of refugees and asylum-seekers in the UK suggests that there are three main reasons why they do not fare will. Work published in the International Journal of Migration and Border Studies, suggests that there is only a ‘patchwork’ of protections to safeguard refugees and asylum-seekers from unwarranted prosecution. There is also a major problem in that state and legal institutions operate in policy silos and fail to communicate with each other. Finally, there is a significant indifference among legal institutions to the plight of desperate people and moreover, they are deeply hostile towards them.

John R. Campbell of the Department of Anthropology & Sociology at SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies), University of London, UK, explains that the UK government has consistently prosecuted and convicted asylum-seekers. This he suggests is in contravention of the government’s obligations under the 1951 Refugee Convention. The underlying terms of the pertinent Article of the convention say that people ‘coming directly’ from a country of persecution cannot be punished by the receiving state on the basis of their entry or presence in that state as being deemed ‘illegal’ by the host government. Indeed, it says that ‘as far as possible states should facilitate the assimilation and naturalization of refugees’. There is a caveat in that those who have gained nominally illegal entry to a country under these circumstances should present themselves to the authorities in a timely manner.

The UK is not the only country to flout the Convention, Campbell adds, but in so doing repeatedly, the UK has also then felt at liberty to adopt numerous measures and pass laws that are, he suggests, aimed explicitly at criminalising and demonising refugees and asylum-seekers. The legislation also sanctions ‘carriers’ – the airlines and shipping companies, for instance. The UK now enforces passport and visa obligations on refugees and asylum-seekers that allow prosecutions to take place in order to reduce the number entering the country. The penalties have been maintained over years and have been buttressed by additional restrictive laws.

Campbell suggests that the UK not only fails in the context of the 1951 Refugee Convention but its legal actions can be seen as an attempt to end the right of asylum. He writes that the British government needs to revise existing legislation so that refugees and asylum-seekers are given immunity from prosecution and it must rein in the tendency of the Home Office to undermine international law. In addition, it must reject the proposed Nationality and Borders Bill 2021, which criminalises asylum-seeking.

Campbell, J.R. (2022) ‘Legal silos and indifference: the wrongful prosecution of refugees and asylum-seekers in the UK’, Int. J. Migration and Border Studies, Vol. 7, No. 1, pp.35–50.

Special issue published: "Operational Excellence in Services"

International Journal of Services and Operations Management 41(1/2) 2022

• Assessing the degree of perceived risk in adoption of mobile payment system by retailers in India
• Quality assessment of Brazilian fast-food business services
• Markov analysis of academic performance of students in higher education: a case study of an engineering institution
• The impact of total quality management by mediator's compliance and information technology on education performance in secondary schools Iraq
• Completion time variance and the product rate variation problem
• A multi-objective mathematical model for the design of a closed cycle green distribution network of mass consumption products
• Distribution channel coordination in green supply chain management in the presence of price premium effects
• Analysis of post-harvest supply chain impediments for rural employability and waste reduction
• Supply chain contracts with price and effort dependent demand

Additional papers

• Using time motion study to identify the determinants of patient satisfaction and impact of long appointment wait time: an empirical case of radiology department
• Modelling a multi-objective problem for emergency response in disaster management: emphasising on mitigating the impact of the delay in the crisis severity

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Migration and Border Studies

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Migration and Border Studies are now available here for free:

• Engaging migrant careworkers: examining cases of exploitation by recruitment agencies in Quebec, Canada
• Freedom, technology and surveillance: everyday paradoxes on the EU-Morocco border
• The interoperability controversy or how to fail successfully: lessons from Europe
• The socio-genesis of a guild of 'digital technologies' justifying transnational interoperable databases in the name of security and border purposes: a reframing of the field of security professionals?
• The power elite of security research in Europe: from competitiveness and external stability to dataveillance and societal security
• The civil paradox: Swedish arms production and export and the role of emerging security technologies
• The crafting of a paradox: Schengen inside and out

Special issue published: "Simulation and Process Modelling in Industry and Logistics: New Advances in Theory, Methods and Applications"

International Journal of Simulation and Process Modelling 17(2/3) 2021

• Systems of distributed artificial intelligence for analysis of oil product transportation processes: evidence from Russia
• Simulation-based cost optimisation of a risk mitigation strategy in an assembly job manufacturing process: a case study from the offshore wind industry
• A fuzzy cognitive map-based approach to prioritise environmental objectives in the environmental management systems of ports
• Discrete event simulation for the investment analysis of offshore wind manufacturing processes
• Discrete-event modelling of the capacity of the toll collection exit point and the formation of congestion
• Robotic process automation and reengineering using Bizagi and UiPath: case study on mortgage request process
• Society 5.0: a simulation optimisation study of dynamic scheduling for a grocery store
• Human factor and entropy evaluation in collaborative workplace environment
• Dynamic characteristics and fatigue life analysis of key parts of ring die pellet mill
• Multi-lane trajectory control for autonomous vehicle convoy based on a longitudinal and lateral control coupled approach

Free open access article available: "Greek and European consumer behaviour towards beef, lamb and mutton meat safety and quality: a review"

The following paper, "Greek and European consumer behaviour towards beef, lamb and mutton meat safety and quality: a review" (International Journal of Agricultural Resources, Governance and Ecology 17(2/3/4) 2022), is freely available for download as an open access article.

It can be downloaded via the full-text link available here.

Special issue published: "Artificial Intelligence for Edge Computing in the Internet of Things"

International Journal of Ad Hoc and Ubiquitous Computing 39(4) 2022

• Application of artificial intelligence technology in CNC system
• Functional feature-aware APP recommendation with personalised PageRank
• Development of internet finance industry with the core of e-commerce platform services optimised by the edge computing of the internet of things based on artificial intelligence
• Artificial intelligence technology in internet financial edge computing and analysis of security risk
• Reducing the internet traffic in IoT-based monitoring and control system through a combination of WSN and LoRaWAN networks

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Business Continuity and Risk Management

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Business Continuity and Risk Management are now available here for free:

• Factors influencing the risk propensity of Malaysian project managers in the construction industry
• Case study: development of an integrative approach to assess municipalities' resilience potential
• Management of nuclear power plant emergency: a case of Korea
• Assessing the risk reducing effect of measures against intelligent attacks: review and discussion of some common approaches
• Driving excellence in credit risk management practices in commercial lending - an empirical analysis of Indian public sector banks

Research pick: Growing low-hanging fruit - "Development of horticulture in arid conditions of Kazakhstan with the use of innovative technology to hydrogelision ‘AQUASORB’ in the soil"

Arid regions of the world have always struggled to grow crops but climate change and drought coupled with stronger winds can lead to a greater rate of soil erosion exacerbating the problem. Work in the International Journal of Agricultural Resources, Governance and Ecology, looks at how the problems facing horticulture might be addressed with the use of innovative technology

Alevtina Danilova, Andrey Vinokurov, and Elena Isakova of the Altai Botanic Garden part of the Kazakh Academy of Sciences in Leninogorsk, and Naziya Suleimenova and Yerzhan Abildaev of Kazakhstan National Agricultural University in Almat, Kazakhstan, have focused on a group of fruit trees and other trees and shrubs grown in the arid South-East and East Kazakhstan. They have investigated the water-saving potential of an absorbent hydrogel polymer ‘AQUASORB’, which can improve the agrophysical properties of soil. Aquasorb is a polyacrylamide that can absorb 400 times its own weight in water. The soluble material has been used elsewhere to flocculate irrigated soil, which improves water penetration, soil aeration, and reduces soil erosion.

In their experiments, with test growing sites, the team found that the use of granules of this polymer at up to just 2 kilograms per cubic metre of soil, increases the total and productive moisture reserves in the soil. This in turn leads to a significant (11 per cent) increase in the holding capacity of the leaves of the trees and shrubs. Species tested included Thuja occidentalis (white cedar), Berberis iliensis (barberry), Crataegus oxyacantha (hawthorn), Padus virginiana (bird cherry), Ribes (currant), Malus (apple tree), Picea obovata (Siberian spruce), Betula pendula (silver birch), and Acer platanoides (Norway maple). This increase in holding capacity, the team explains, boosts their potential to cope with dry periods.

Danilova, A., Suleimenova, N., Vinokurov, A., Isakova, E. and Abildaev, Y. (2021) ‘Development of horticulture in arid conditions of Kazakhstan with the use of innovative technology to hydrogelision ‘AQUASORB’ in the soil’, Int. J. Agricultural Resources, Governance and Ecology, Vol. 17, Nos. 2/3/4, pp.225–237.

Special Issue published: "IoT in Agriculture" (includes free open access article)

International Journal of Agricultural Resources, Governance and Ecology 17(2/3/4) 2021

• Practical IoT application review on the innovation activity: industrialised agriculture of Russian experience
• Use of open platform communications for water resources management in the internet of things platform
• Socio-economic aspects of innovative enterprises management in a digital agricultural system
• Key aspects of the formation of a single information space in the context of sustainable development of business structures in the agro-industrial complex
• Upgrading agricultural mechanisation by smart technological shredders of roughage and grain feeds for a mobile mini feed-centre
• IOT process for sugar beet productivity by long-term use of phosphorus fertilisers on irrigated light chestnut soil
• Analysis of the state of breeding in dairy cattle breeding by digital technologies
• Creating a phenological database using electronic information and IOT in the Mangyshlak experimental botanical garden
• Study of the hydraulic technology in smart agrian machines for cleaning shaft wells in the mobile unit
• Development of horticulture in arid conditions of Kazakhstan with the use of innovative technology to hydrogelision 'AQUASORB' in the soil
• IoT-based fully automatic smart providing aseptic materials for vitro and cryogenic collections of wild Juglans regia L. for genetic resources preservation
• Measuring spatial-temporal regularities of river flow based on IoT technology
• Smart handling dynamic process of seed treatment for sowing within the digital transformation concept
• Obtaining pesticides and fertilisers for hyper production of citric acid application in smart agriculture system
• Digitalisation effect on the microclimate and functional characteristics of the artificial insemination point for mobile sheep
• Experimental results of functional characteristics of IoT for free range sheep breeding
• Research of technological parameters of colour sorting of alfalfa seed mixture
• Analysis of wireless technology in monitoring the current state of well waters
• Review of the future smart farmers among industry, social conflict and lost of agricultural land in Indonesia
• Prevalence and surgical treatment of swelling occurring in Syrian Awassi sheep based on the IoT technology
• Modern harvesting in precision agriculture by wrapping mechanism of haylage rolls' packager with stretch film in a line
• Real-time forests monitoring system based on IOT for forest and grassland primary production and biodiversity conservation

Additional paper

• Greek and European consumer behaviour towards beef, lamb and mutton meat safety and quality: a review [OPEN ACCESS]

Special issue published: "Nanocomposite Materials: Synthesis Properties and Applications"

International Journal of Microstructure and Materials Properties 15(5/6) 2021

• Detection of grinding surface damage of nanocrystalline optical glass based on wavelet transfinite learning machine
• Thermochemical reaction characteristics of degradable active materials under high temperature conditions
• The measurement of SH-CCT curve and analysis on microstructure and performance of heat-affected zone of Q690 high-strength bridge steel
• Durability evaluation modelling of rebar Al2O3 nano-particles epoxy coating
• Study on hydrophilic properties of transparent conductive nano silver films in ionic liquids
• Preparation and photocatalytic performance of fly ash based nanocomposites
• A fuzzy control method of nano material forming temperature based on PLC
• Analysis of microscopic properties of fibre reinforced polymer composites
• Study on compression moulding characteristics of carbon fibre materials in sports equipment

Additional papers

• Investigation of microstructure and mechanical properties of commercial aluminium processed after ECAP
• Influence of fibre volume on the structural behaviour of ultra-high-performance fibrous concrete

Research pick: It’s sheep we’re up against - "Digitalisation effect on the microclimate and functional characteristics of the artificial insemination point for mobile sheep"

There are numerous methods of sperm acquisition in livestock rearing when artificial insemination of females is required. A team writing in the International Journal of Agricultural Resources, Governance and Ecology, explains that “voluntary collection by positive mammalian encouragement” is commonly used with sheep. They point out that proper organization of herd reproduction is one of the key issues of sheep breeding and describe how ensuring a suitable microclimate in a particular location can improve lambing yields from gimmers (two-year-old ewes).

R.A. Omarov, K.M. Kuder, and D.R. Omar of the Research and Production Centre of Agricultural Engineering, in Almaty, J.M. Alikhanov Kazakh of the National Agrarian Research University, and B.I. Musabayev and T.E. Kenzhebayev of the Medeubekov Research Institute of Sheep Breeding of the Kazakh Research Institute of Animal Husbandry, explain how they have compared acceptable approaches that involve microclimate-managed static or mobile insemination pens and found that the operating costs of a mobile pen in the pasture can undercut the static pen approach by 20 to 25 per cent. Part of the benefit of using a mobile pen is reducing the number of sheep that require handling at the same time in the same place when a static pen approach is used. There are thus hygiene benefits with a mobile pen. Also, it is the only option for many farms that do not have a suitable site nor the resources to construct and use a static pen.

Natural insemination may well be favoured among livestock holders with small flocks or specialist breeders of rare breeds. However, for very large farms with huge flocks putting a tup (breeding ram) to the ewes has several disadvantages regardless of the enthusiasm of the tup. Artificial insemination allows the breeder to obtain sperm from a specific high-value breeding stock from a supplier. The sperm will be quality controlled. Artificial insemination also reduces the risk of spreading infectious diseases through a flock. It also allows the farmer to control the timing of insemination so that the birth of the lambs can be coordinated to fit favourable weather conditions and even the markets.

Omarov, R.A., Alikhanov, J.M., Musabayev, B.I., Kenzhebayev, T.E., Kuder, K.M. and Omar, D.R. (2021) ‘Digitalisation effect on the microclimate and functional characteristics of the artificial insemination point for mobile sheep’, Int. J. Agricultural Resources, Governance and Ecology, Vol. 17, Nos. 2/3/4, pp.287–300.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Manufacturing Research

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Manufacturing Research are now available here for free:

• Multi-objective optimisation of friction stir welding parameters: integration of FEM and NSGA-II
• Experimental and statistical investigation into micro-EDM of Hastelloy-X using PVD diamond-coated and AlTiN-coated tungsten carbide electrodes
• A numerical investigation of friction stir welding parameters in joining dissimilar aluminium alloys using finite element method
• Effects of injection moulding parameters on pattern performance of in-mould decorative product
• Machine learning algorithms benchmarking for real-time fault predictable scheduling on a shop floor