Increase In Average Productivity Research Articles

Recent advances and fundamentals of microalgae cultivation technology.

Microalgae are considered to be a promising group of organisms for fuel production, waste processing, pharmaceutical applications, and as a source of food components. Unicellular algae are worth being considered because of their capacity to produce comparatively large amounts of lipids, proteins, and vitamins while requiring little room for growth. They can also grow on waste and fix CO2 and nitrogen compounds. However, production costs limit the industrial use of microalgae to the most profitable applications including micronutrient production and fish farming. Therefore, novel microalgae based technologies require an increase of the production efficiencies or values. Here we review the recent studies focused on getting strains with novel characteristics or cultivating techniques that improve production's robustness or efficiency and categorize these findings according to the fundamental factors that determine microalgae growth. Improvements of light and nutrient delivery, as well as other aspects of photobioreactor design, have shown the highest average increase in productivity. Other methods, such as an improvement of phosphorus or CO2 fixation and temperature adaptation have been found to be less effective. Furthermore, interactions with particular bacteria may promote the growth of microalgae, although bacterial and grazer contaminations must be managed to avoid culture failure. The competitiveness of the algal products will increase if these discoveries are applied to industrial settings.

Effect of Foliar Fertilization on the Physiological Parameters, Yield and Quality Indices of the Winter Wheat

The main purpose of the paper is to highlight the impact of foliar fertilization during the various growth stages of winter wheat and its role in achieving high-quality and superior production. Foliar fertilizers play a crucial role in calibrating and forming active growth intervals correlated with productivity factors. The research was conducted over a two-year period using the Andrada winter wheat variety. It involved the application of four different foliar fertilizers: basic mineral fertilization, FoliMAX Orange (two treatments and three treatments), FoliMAX CerealsMIX (two treatments and three treatments), and Microfert U (three treatments). Depending on the treatment, two or three applications of foliar with foliar fertilizers were carried out at various stages of winter wheat development, including pre-flowering and grain formation. The research method used to record physiological parameters was non-destructive (the leaves were not detached from the plant) and was based on the use of the CIRAS-3 foliar gas analyzer, which simultaneously determines several physiological and environmental indicators. As an indicator read by the device, photosynthesis was chosen for leaf temperature and leaf transpiration, correlated with production and quality indices. By applying the foliar fertilizer treatments to the wheat culture, we managed to increase production and improve the quality. After using different foliar fertilizers, the assimilation and physiological parameters had higher values of over 30 μmolm−2·s−1. Foliar fertilization applied to the winter wheat variety resulted in an average production increase between 450 and 765 kg·ha−1 and quality indices with a protein percentage between 11.5 and 12.6%, gluten content between 21.5 to 24.0% and the Zeleny index between 29.0 and 39.0%, and the mass of one thousand grains was between 48.0 and 50.5 g.

A reassessment of the potential for loss-framed incentive contracts to increase productivity: a meta-analysis and a real-effort experiment

Substantial productivity increases have been reported when incentives are framed as losses rather than gains. Loss-framed contracts have also been reported to be preferred by workers. The results from our meta-analysis and real-effort experiment challenge these claims. The meta-analysis’ summary effect size of loss framing is a 0.16 SD increase in productivity. Whereas the summary effect size in laboratory experiments is a 0.33 SD, the summary effect size from field experiments is 0.02 SD. We detect evidence of publication biases among laboratory experiments. In a new laboratory experiment that addresses prior design weaknesses, we estimate an effect size of 0.12 SD. This result, in combination with the meta-analysis, suggests that the difference between the effect size estimates in laboratory and field experiments does not stem from the limited external validity of laboratory experiments, but may instead stem from a mix of underpowered laboratory designs and publication biases. Moreover, in our experiment, most workers preferred the gain-framed contract and the increase in average productivity is only detectable in the subgroup of workers (~ 20%) who preferred the loss-framed contracts. Based on the results from our experiment and meta-analysis, we believe that behavioral scientists should better assess preferences for loss-framed contracts and the magnitude of their effects on productivity before advocating for greater use of such contracts among private and public sector actors.

A Capra hircus chromosome 19 locus linked to milk production influences mammary conformation

BackgroundEconomically important milk production traits including milk volume, milk fat and protein yield vary considerably across dairy goats in New Zealand. A significant portion of the variation is attributable to genetic variation. Discovery of genetic markers linked to milk production traits can be utilised to drive selection of high-performance animals.A previously reported genome wide association study across dairy goats in New Zealand identified a quantitative trait locus (QTL) located on chromosome 19. The most significantly associated single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) marker for this locus is located at position 26,610,610 (SNP marker rs268292132). This locus is associated with multiple milk production traits including fat, protein and volume. The predicted effect of selection for the beneficial haplotype would result in an average production increase of 2.2 kg fat, 1.9 kg protein and 73.6 kg milk yield.An outstanding question was whether selection for the beneficial allele would co-select for any negative pleiotropic effects. An adverse relationship between milk production and udder health traits has been reported at this locus. Therefore, a genome wide association study was undertaken looking for loci associated with udder traits.ResultsThe QTL and production associated marker rs268292132 was identified in this study to also be associated with several goat udder traits including udder depth (UD), fore udder attachment (FUA) and rear udder attachment (RUA). Our study replicates the negative relationship between production and udder traits with the high production allele at position 19:26,610,610 (SNP marker rs268292132) associated with an adverse change in UD, FUA and RUA.ConclusionsOur study has confirmed the negative relationship between udder traits and production traits in the NZ goat population. We have found that the frequency of the high production allele is relatively high in the NZ goat population, indicating that its effect on udder conformation is not significantly detrimental on animal health. It will however be important to monitor udder conformation as the chromosome 19 locus is progressively implemented for marker assisted selection. It will also be of interest to determine if the gene underlying the production QTL has a direct effect on mammary gland morphology or whether the changes observed are a consequence of the increased milk volume.

Analysing the Pattern of Productivity Change in the European Energy Industry

For an industry to succeed in a competitive market, it should continuously take care of not only its stakeholders but also its technical efficiency and productivity. In this paper, data envelopment analysis was combined with Malmquist productivity analysis to investigate the pattern of multifactor productivity changes in the European energy industry over the period from 2005–2016. The results showed that the whole industry was technically inefficient and had large potential for improvement. A slight average increase in productivity that was observed over the studied period proved to be sensitive to the financial and economic situation and equally sensitive to technological and efficiency advances. As for efficiency gains, they reflected the nature of the energy industry, implying that they were due to scale efficiencies rather than human resource improvements. Although technological innovation and the optimal scale of production increased productivity, the slow pace at which this occurred and the negative outlook highlighted by the observed trends call for more serious consideration of the future productivity deployment of the European energy industry, particularly in the context of its decarbonisation, diversification, and modernisation.

Application of chelated fertilizers on irrigated vegetable crops in the Saratov Zavolzhye

The effect of chelated fertilizers that produced by the NPO "Power of Life" on the productivity of the main vegetable crops was studied in field experiments on irrigated terraced dark chestnut soils of the Saratov Zavolzhye (Trans-Volga region). It was established that the yield of the vegetable crops under study increases with the use of fertilizers based on humic acids. The increase in yield due to reasil micro hydro mix was: 35.8% of cucumber, 28.3% of red beet roots, 22.6% of tomato, 20.9% of late white cabbage, 9.1% of onion, 6.8% of carrot roots. The reasil micro hydro mix was more effective than potassium-sodium humate with trace elements, for all the studied vegetable crops under study. The average increase in productivity was 20.6% versus 16.0%. The effect of chelated microfertilizers on the yield of vegetable crops was ambiguous. A significant reliable increase in yield due to all the studied chelated microfertilizers, used both together with reasil micro hydro mix, and together with potassium-sodium humate with trace elements, was established only when growing onions. An additional increase in the yield of red beet roots 4.42 t / ha was obtained only when treated with reasil humic N on the background of potassium-sodium humate with trace elements. An additional increase in the yield of late white cabbage was 9.23 and 8.15 t / ha when treated with reasil Mg, respectively, against the background of reasil micro hydro mix and potassium-sodium humate with trace elements. On tomatoes, chelated microfertilizers were effective only against the background of potassium-sodium humate with trace elements. Cucumber responded positively to all chelated microfertilizers on the background of potassium-sodium humate with trace elements, as well as to reasil humic N and reasil Ca/Mg/B on the background of reasil micro hydro mix. On carrots, a significant increase in yield was obtained when treated with reasil Ca, reasil Ca/ Mg/ B and reasil humic N against the background of reasil micro hydro mix.

PERFORMANCE OF ROOFTOP PHOTOVOLTAIC SYSTEM WITH ADDITIONAL WATER COOLING SYSTEM

Improving solar power plant performance is considered quite important for existing and prospective users of rooftop solar power plants in Indonesia due to its unattractive economic value. One of the efforts to optimize the performance is the application of an additional cooling system on the plant's photovoltaic module. This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of temperature reduction of the applied cooling system on solar panel productivity. The research was performed on the existing rooftop solar power plant with a capacity of 3 kWp, located in Depok City with coordinates of 6°38'03.40" South Latitude and 106°82'03.49" East Longitude.The results showed that the additional water cooling system with a closed-loop pumping method on the installed solar module’s entire surface could improve the rooftop solar power plant performance with an average production increase of 15.7% in 7 days of study. Meanwhile, from an economic point of view, this cooling system installation payback period was 2 years.

ANALISIS PENINGKATAN PRODUKSI DENGAN RANCANG BANGUN ALAT PEMOTONG PADA PROSES PACKING

Improving company productivity and efficiency in empowering human resource assessment is fulfilled to achieve company goals. one factor that can be done is the development of more effective equipment. Plastic cutting tools in the product packaging process are still simple, less efficient and less effective. The value engineering method is used as a method for selecting an alternative modification to a modified cutting tool and analyze it. At the analysis stage, two alternative modifications were modified from the improvement engine, where the initial design is used as a benchmark in performance evaluation. The result of tool design is the reduction in the number of defective products by 20.68% to 3.1% and The result of the cutting tool design is that there is an average increase in production 246 products per day.

The productivity development of total hip arthroplasty in Sweden: a multiple registry-based longitudinal study using the Malmquist Productivity Index

ObjectiveThe increasing demand for total hip arthroplasty (THA) combined with limited resources in healthcare puts pressure on decision-makers in orthopaedics to provide the procedure at minimum costs and with good...

Analisis Kontribusi Tuna Cakalang Tongkol (TCT) terhadap Pendapatan Domestik Regional Bruto Kabupaten Tulungagung

The objectives of this research: 1) to analyze the contribution of tuna, tuna and skipjack to gross regional domestic income, 2) to estimate the development of tuna, tuna and skipjack tuna production. The method used in this study is quantitative and secondary data types sourced from BPS and DKP with data collection techniques documentation. Quantitative data analysis in this research is contribution analysis and quadratic trend. The average contribution of TCT fish to PDRB of Tulungagung Regency is 0.0006%. Estimated production from 2017-2026 tuna has an average production increase of 32%, skipjack tuna has an average production increase of 31% and tuna has an average production increase of 43%.The increased production of TCT fish expected sees the sustainability of ecology by the use of the think that environmentally friendly and considers value optimal the use of commodities TCT fish.

Genetic progress with selection of Coffea canephora clones of superior processed coffee yield

ABSTRACT: The aim of this study was to select Coffea canephora clones of superior processed coffee productivity based on the estimates of the genetic parameters and of genetic progress with the plant selection. For this, the production of processed coffee from 130 clones was evaluated from 2014 to 2016 in a clonal test, installed in randomized complete blocks with four plants per plot and six replications, spaced 3 × 2m at the experiment station Embrapa Rondônia in the municipality of Ouro Preto do Oeste - RO. The estimation of genetic parameters and prediction of genotypic values were performed using REML/BLUP procedure (Restricted Maximum Likelihood/Best Unbiased Linear Prediction). Estimates of the genetic parameters confirmed the predominance of the genetic component in the expression of this trait, indicating the possibility of obtaining gains with the plant selection. Genetic progress of processed coffee productivity from the selection of 10% of the best clones was 49.88%, which is equivalent to an increase in average productivity from 42.57 bags.ha-1 to 66.95 bags.ha-1. The use of the harmonic mean of the genetic values helped to identify the clones of superior performance, with higher adaptability and stability for the northern region of Brazil.

Correlates of biodynamic compost method on its beneficiary farmers

The present study was undertaken in 16 villages of Telhara Panchayat samiti of Akola district in Maharashtra state.For the present study, 112 beneficiary farmers were purposively selected from 16 villages and the data from selected 112 beneficiary farmers were collected. An exploratory research design was used for the present study. The findings of the present study revealed that majority of beneficiary farmers were from middle age group, had education upto high school level, belonging to small land holding, the annual income was observed above Rs.2,00,000/-, had medium level of animal possession (5-8 animal), had medium level of sources of information, had medium level of extension contact, had medium levels of scientific orientation, had medium levels of risk preference and innovativeness. The per cent change in annual income after use of biodynamic compost method was 11.76 per cent. Soybean and cotton crops showed change in average productivity in positive direction i.e. increase in productivity. Soybean showed maximum increase in average productivity (16.71%) over base year followed by cotton (10.76%). The variables viz ., livestock possession, sources of information, scientific orientation, risk preference and innovativeness were found to be significant at 0.05 per cent level of probability with change in annual income, whereas independent variable extension contact had positive and highly significant relationship with change in productivity at 0.01 per cent level of probability. However, age and education had shown non-significant relationship with the change in annual income and change in productivity, respectively.

HIGH-MILK PRODUCTIVITY OF HIGH-PRODUCING COWS AND THEIR OFFSPRINGS OF INTERBREED PRECARPATHIAN TYPE OF UKRAINIAN RED-AND-WHITE DAIRY BREED

The studies were conducted on high-producing cows of Precarpathian innerbreed type of Ukrainian Red-and-White Dairy cattle and their progeny, according to zootechnical accounting in private farm enterprise "Mamayivske" in Kytsman district of Chernivtsi region. It was established that during the period from 1995 to 2010 the farm had 20 cows with milk yields over 8000 kg. The highest milk production by the best lactation had cows Maratka 3235, Vorovka 5982 and Chaika 3839, their milk yields were 10586; 9380 and 9008 kgrespectively, fat content in milk – 3.61, 3.79 and 3.77% and fat yield – 382.2, 355.5 and 339.6 kg. The cows had the highest milk yields mostly during the third lactation, and milk yields on average reached record in 3.85 lactations.
 High-yielding cows belonged to 5 bloodlines: R. Sovering 198998, P. Astronaut 1458744, R. Citation 267150, Rigel 352882 and Hanover 1629391. The most numerous one was Astronaut bloodline (11 cows). Daughters of Tyulpan 7451 (R. Sovering bloodline) had the highest level of milk production during the best lactation. They predominated in milk yield during the best lactation over Gybrid’s daughters (Citation bloodline) by 156 kg, T. Tourist’s daughters (Rigel bloodline) by 401 kg, Sekret’s daughters (P. Astronaut bloodline) by 473 kg and M. G. Horizont’s daughters (Hanover bloodline) by 812 kg , by fat yield – by 4.6, 8.6, 9.9 and 26.8 kg, respectively but they were inferior by fat content in milk by 0.02, 0.07, 0.09 and 0.04%. Sekret’s daughters had higher fat content in milk. By this trait, they predominated over Hybrid’s daughters by 0.07, T. Tourist’s daughters – by 0.02 and M. G. Horizont’s daughters – by 0.05%. The average breeding value of bulls, daughters of whom had milk productivity of more than 8000 kg, was +276 kg.
 The highest milk yields were in cows whose mothers belonged to P. Astronaut and Hanover bloodlines and fathers – to R. Sovering bloodline (daughters’ milk yield was 9303 and 9008 kg respectively). High milk yield (8842 kg) also was in cows whose mothers belonged to P. Astronaut bloodline and fathers – to R. Citation bloodline. The best cows by fat content in milk were obtained from a combination of bloodlines V. Ideal – P. Astronaut (3.80%), Rigel – Rigel (3.80%), V. Ideal – Rigel (3.78%) and V. Ideal – Rigel (3.78%).
 Coefficients of repeatability for milk production decreased with increase in period between the comparable lactations. By milk yield for I-VI and the best lactations they were within 0.206-0.495, and by fat content in milk – within 0.337-0.469.
 The better daughters by milk yield not always were obtained from high-yielding cows and, on the contrary, the worse ones – from low-yielding cows. Most cows with high milk yields were from mothers with yields not exceeding 6000 kg of milk, and only with average milk performance of mothers not more than 7281 kg of milk, their daughters predominated in milk yields. With the increase in average productivity of mothers to 8456 kg of milk or more, daughters were inferior to their mothers by1180-3454 kg of milk, but, in all cases, they had a higher milk yield than the average for the herd.
 Positive correlations were found between mothers' milk yield and milk yield, fat content in milk and fat yield of their daughters, but their values partly depended on mothers’ productivity. The highest correlation coefficients between productivity of daughters and mothers were observed at the mothers’ yields not higher than 6999 kg (r = 0.221-0.273), and the lowest – at mothers’ yields over 9,000 kg (r = 0.155-0.182).
 It was found that bull Arbat 1577, estimated on milk production in 69 daughters, had the highest breeding value. The rank of its breeding value was P5 (improver "excellent"). Cows Maratka 3235 (+3204 and +1860 kg), Krona 8490 (+2202 and +1315 kg) Vorovka 5972 (+1710 and +1121 kg), Kava 5450 (+1626 and +1004 kg) Shchoka 5870 (+1602 and +937 kg) had the highest breeding value in terms of best lactation and based on three sources of information, respectively.

Technical Efficiency-Food Security Nexus in Kaduna State, Nigeria: A Case Study of Poultry Egg Farmers

This study analysed the technical efficiency of poultry egg production for sustainable food security in the study area using primary data. The data were analysed using stochastic frontier, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) food security measurement, and correlation analysis to determine the relationship between technical efficiency and food security. The result of the study revealed that the poultry egg farmers had a very low technical efficiency of 23%, which implies that the poultry egg farmers have a chance of improving their technical efficiency by 77% using their available resource efficiently. The result also revealed that few of the households (10%) were food secure while most of them (90%) were food insecure at different levels of food insecurity. The result of the study further indicated a direct relationship between technical efficiency and food security at 1% level of probability, implying that as average productivity increases, food security increases. The policy implication is that food security among the poultry egg farmers is linked with improving their farm efficiency. If food security is to be ensured among the poultry egg farmers, their farming activities must be efficient. The study recommended that the poor food security status of the poultry egg farmers be improved by addressing their low level of technical efficiency through ensuring the efficient utilization of their available resources. This calls for emphasis on extension activities to focus on training poultry egg farmers on improved production management practices. Author’s Note This study was borne out of the need to address the issue of food security among poultry egg farmers in the study area in a bid to ensure sustainable development. However, the pertinent question of interest which formed the basis for this study was whether the efficiency of production of the farmers has a significant link with their food security and what policy implication can be drawn from the outcome of such a link.

Aspects of the use of shading in grasslands

The lack of incentives to promote research and projects that show the importance of maintaining trees or build shelters in the pasture for livestock is a problem to be solved in the area of animal production. Recently several studies were made on the gain in livestock production due to the use of shade or shelter. In one study it was found a 20% increase in average production of dairy cattle that had access to shade. In all cases the high temperature associated with a high relative humidity, as well as the solar radiation and other environmental factors, components are considered too stressful climatic dairy cattle in order to reduce the growth performance of animals, since, that dairy cows, especially those of high production, are sensitive to heat stress. Various regions of the planet there is a lack of trees to provide adequate shade for the animals that are raised on pasture, in these cases the best thing to do is enjoy of shading, whether mobile or fixed, which is important for animal welfare and improve their reproductive performance. Some researchers observed the effect of shade provided by pickets in lactating dairy cows and concluded that cows with access to shade had higher total daily milk production than those who did not benefit from shade. Therefore, it is important to keep the trees and build shelters for the flocks of creation can withstand the high incidences of sunlight and improve their reproductive performance.

Rates of return on capital across the world: are they converging?

This article estimates levels and identifies trends in the profitability of capital in a broad sample of developed, developing and post-communist transition economies making up over 80% of global output. The underlying distributional and efficiency determinants of profitability are considered in the Marxian analytical framework. For the period of 1995–2007 leading to the Great Recession, our estimates indicate a trend towards convergence of national profit rates largely driven by the convergence of profitability in developing and transition economies. During this period, the level of profit rates in all groups of countries experienced growth with the global capital-weighted rate of profit increasing by approximately 50%. The main contributor to this growth in all groups of countries was the increase in average productivity of capital, measured by output-capital ratio. In developed and transition economies, the increase in profit shares of national income and the decline in the relative price of capital goods also contributed to profitability growth. In the same period for developing countries, profit shares and relative prices were relatively stable.

Influence of Seasons and Inoculum Dosages on the Production Efficiency of <i>Corcyra cephalonica</i> Stainton

Corcyra cephalonica is a laboratory host used for multiplication of parasitoids, predators and entomopathogens. The present study is aimed to understand the effect of seasons and inoculum dosages of Corcyra eggs on the production efficiency. Egg production ranged from 3.1 to 5.8 cc per box during the different seasons and minimum production being recorded during dry months. The dosages tested were 0.5, 0.25 and 0.125 cc of Corcyra eggs / rearing box. Maximum per cent moth emergence (83.5%), shorter developmental duration (40.4 days) and higher fecundity (467 no.) of emerged moths were recorded in the boxes with 0.125 cc (2000 eggs) inoculum. Validation of experiments indicated that compared to the boxes with 0.5 cc inoculum, a 2.15, 1.44, 1.35 and 1.49 times increase in average production per box from 0.125cc infested boxes more during monsoon, post monsoon, dry and summer months, respectively. The data generated can be utilized for improving the protocol for mass rearing of Corcyra cephalonica .

Influence of Seasons and Inoculum Dosages on the Production Efficiency of Corcyra cephalonica Stainton

Corcyra cephalonica is a laboratory host used for multiplication of parasitoids, predators and entomopathogens. The present study is aimed to understand the effect of seasons and inoculum dosages of Corcyra eggs on the production efficiency. Egg production ranged from 3.1 to 5.8 cc per box during the different seasons and minimum production being recorded during dry months. The dosages tested were 0.5, 0.25 and 0.125 cc of Corcyra eggs / rearing box. Maximum per cent moth emergence (83.5%), shorter developmental duration (40.4 days) and higher fecundity (467 no.) of emerged moths were recorded in the boxes with 0.125 cc (2000 eggs) inoculum. Validation of experiments indicated that compared to the boxes with 0.5 cc inoculum, a 2.15, 1.44, 1.35 and 1.49 times increase in average production per box from 0.125cc infested boxes more during monsoon, post monsoon, dry and summer months, respectively. The data generated can be utilized for improving the protocol for mass rearing of Corcyra cephalonica .

Efficiency and productivity of the food and beverage listed firms in the pre-recession and recessionary periods in Greece

This study uses data envelopment analysis to examine the liquidity and sales efficiency of the Food and Beverage listed firms in Athens Exchange in the period 2006–2012. The liquidity efficiency of the firms is higher than the sales efficiency but the results indicate that there are not statistical significant differences in the rankings estimated by the two models in each period. The Malmquist Productivity Index reveals that over the period of the study, firms have experienced an annual average increase in productivity of 0.5% (a slight progress). On examining the components of this productivity change, it becomes evident that firms have experienced an annual average of 2% increase in technology combined with a decrease in technical efficiency of –1.5%. The results indicate that 52.4% of the firms experienced productivity gains in the examined period, and this was mainly the result of technological gain rather than efficiency improvement. More than 90% of the firms in the sample shift the efficiency frontier and only 33.3% of the firms are catching up, improving their productivity by reducing inefficiency. Moreover, the empirical study reveals that the overall technical inefficiencies of the firms are primarily caused by pure technical inefficiencies rather than scale inefficiencies.

Agricultural Prices, Selection, and the Evolution of the Food Industry

AbstractWe present a model that explains the relationship between low input prices, high exit rates, and industrial concentration. We argue that falling input prices force less productive firms to exit the market, and lead to the expansion of more efficient incumbents at the expense of less productive producers. Our model helps reconcile some well‐established empirical results regarding the food processing industry. Indeed, agricultural prices fell between the early 1900s and 2006, and over the same period there was a trend towards higher concentration in the food industry, with an increase in average productivity.