Problem Of Low Productivity Research Articles

Performance of Cheura, Diploknema butyracea (Roxb) Lamb in nursery under lower-and mid-Himalayan conditions of Himachal Pradesh

The area below apple belt ie below 1800 m particularly between 600 and 1800 m in Himachal Pradesh is characterized by unique problems of low productivity, high male out migration, high reliance on women in agriculture, pressure to expand cultivated land at the cost of forest land, undulating terrains, small and scattered holdings, limited irrigation facilities, large number of animals both domestic and wild to compete with human beings for the same resources, severe erosion due to deforestation, erratic rainfall and more susceptibility to climate change. For increasing the overall productivity of the state the vast tracks of this region hold the key. To improve the productivity of these areas an integrated approach is required that includes diversification in traditional agricultural practices, judicious use of available irrigation water and large scale rain water harvesting for gradually shifting from rainfed to commercial production. Even some additional farm income should be ensured from marginal land or grassland by commercializing already existing resources or through introduction of new set of species etc. From forestry point of view tree-borne oilseed species namely Cheura, Diploknema butyracea (Roxb) Lamb has great potential to provide some additional income to hill farmers of the region falling in between 300 to 1500 m elevation in Himachal Himalayas. In Uttarakhand this species occurs abundantly in a wild state in the Pithoragarh district near Kali river between altitude of 300–1500 m in hot humid climate. It is right time now for the introduction of this species in lower and mid-Himalayan regions of Himachal Pradesh for testing the suitability of the species. Therefore in the present investigations nursery performance of Cheura was studied under lower-and mid-Himachal Himalayas to eventually popularize this species in the state. It was found that the Cheura planting stock could be easily grown in the nurseries in the foot-hills of Himachal Himalayas provided nursery stock during winter was kept in polyhouse for three months (15 December to 15 March) to avoid frost damage.

Effect of Foliar Application of Zinc Sulphate on Onion

A preliminary survey was conducted in the district and to gather information on problems faced by farmers in the cultivation of onion crop. The results revealed that farmers were facing problem of low productivity of onion. It was found that soils of district are deficit in zinc and due to this, the productivity of the crop was not up to the mark. To overcome this problem, an On Farm Trial (OFT) was conducted by KVK at 10 farmer's field during 2014–15 and 2015–16 to evaluate the effect of foliar application of zinc sulphate on bulb yield of onion in addition to recommended doses of NPK. Foliar application of zinc sulphate @0.5 per cent at 45 and 60d after transplanting was given along with NPK@100: 50: 50 kg/ha, respectively. For raising of the crop, recommended package of practices were followed. The data of the trial revealed that foliar application of zinc sulphate along with recommended dose of NPK (T1) gave maximum yield of onion (275 q/ha) along with the maximum B: C ratio (2.63: 1) compared to the recommended practice (T2) which gave 231.25 q/ha yield along with B: C ratio of 2.19: 1 and Farmers’ practice (T3) where yield of 187.5 q/ha was recorded along with B: C ratio of 2.16: 1 pooled over the two years. Foliar application of zinc sulphate in addition to recommended doses of NPK can be effective practice to deal with low productivity of the crop due to zinc deficiency.

Diversity amongst farm households and achievements from multi-stakeholder innovation platform approach: lessons from Balaka Malawi

BackgroundUnderstanding diversity of smallholder farm households is of critical importance for the success of development interventions. Farming households often will devise livelihood strategies that provide the best guarantee for survival and based on their socioeconomic vulnerability. This study examines how achievements from the Integrated Agricultural Research for Development (IAR4D) approach through participation in innovation platform activities accrue to smallholder farming households of diverse socioeconomic status. The study is based on a representative sample of smallholder farmers from Balaka innovation platform found in Balaka district of Malawi. Balaka innovation platform was formed in 2009 with the aim of addressing key farmer problems of low crop productivity, lack of input and output markets, limited access to agricultural credit, low incomes and poverty in general. Through multi-stakeholder dialogue, the platform proposed activities meant to improve livelihoods of participants. Some of the activities include conservation agriculture adoption, crop diversification, improved communication through the platform, linking farmers to microfinance institutions and markets, collective market participation, joining farmer groups organised by the platform and various other activities. The main aim was to improve crop productivity, household incomes and food security.ResultsA multivariate study that combines principal component analysis for essential data reduction and cluster analysis to classify typical farm households based on their socioeconomic characteristics and reported achievements from innovation platform activities was used. It is evident from the results that achievements from innovation platform activities are not uniform across farmer groups of different socioeconomic status.ConclusionsThe upshots call for segregated approaches in promoting adoption of various livelihood improving activities, technologies and approaches through the innovation platform approach in smallholder farming areas such as the ones in Balaka, Malawi. Tactics selected by development partners to fight against smallholder farmer problems of low productivity low incomes and food insecurity should conform to farmer socioeconomic vulnerability for greater success.

Potential of Tannin Ferrous Plants to Improve Efficiency of Sheep Production in Dry Areas

ABSTRACTKeywords: Acacia saligna – Cassava – Economic efficiency- Growing SheepINTRODUCTIONFeed resources deficiency considers one of the basic constraints to improve animal production in arid and semi-arid regions of Egypt. Improving nutritional status of livestock graze in desert (sheep, camels and goats), particularly during the prolonged dry seasons, could increase the average annual animal production by approximately 27%. Attention directed towards the necessity of utilizing the marginal resources, i.e. saline soils and underground water for producing unconventional animal feeds. The native natural rangelands constitute the principal feed resources in the Egyptian deserts. They are widely distributed throughout several regions of Egypt due to presence of numerous salines along the Mediterranean and Red Seas shores and inlands). Halophytes represent a major part of the natural range, particularly perennials and shrubby ones. The less and unpalatable plant species represent approximately 70% of the total coverage. Several attempts made towards utilization of such low value or unpalatable halophytic plants through proper processing methods to improve their palatability and nutritional utilization. Under semi-arid area condition, small ruminant fed on trees and shrubs such as Cassava and Acacia to solve the attendant problems of low productivity (El ShaerThis research was performed to study the effect of feeding ammoniated wheat straw and its mixture with Cassava or/and Acacia Saligna on methane emission and growth performance of Barki lambs under semi-arid condition. The study conducted at Animal Production Research Station, Borg El Arab, belonging to Animal Production Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, Egypt. A total number of twenty five Barki lambs were randomly allocated into six groups. These animals often depend on low quality crop residues and limited feed supplement. Egyptian desert consider a source of tannin-ferrous plants (TFP) along the year. These plants had lot of nutritive problems need to solve before depending on them as a fodder. In vitro experiments conducted to evaluate the effect of several mixtures of TFP with urea treated wheat straw (TWS) on dry matter degradation, ammonia-N and methane production. Six treatments were examined(G1) CFM+ Acacia Saligna (A): TW Sat (50:50), (G2) CFM+ Prosopis Juliflora (P): TWS at (50:50), (G3) CFM+ Cassava (C): TWS at (50:50), (G4) CFM+ A: P: TWS at (25: 25: 50), (G5) CFM+ A: C: TWS at (25: 25: 50) and (G6) CFM+ P: C: TWS at (25: 25: 50), respectively. Samples of each forage type collected after 0, 3, 6, 12 and 24 h of incubation for determination of cumulative gas production. In addition, thirty growing male Barki lambs, aged average 3 months were used to study the effect of the tested rations on growth performance. The results showed that the condensed tannin (CT) content ranged from 20 (A: C: TWS –G5) to 30 g/kg DM (Acacia saligna). Methane production per unit of fermented DM was inversely related to protein solubility. G1showed a lower (P<0.01) ruminal NH3-N concentration which associated with the decrease (P<0.01) in rumen protein degradability. After 24 h of in vitro incubation, CH4 production was17, 18, 17, 15, 13 and 14 ml, for all groups, respectively. Daily body gains were significantly affected by tested rations. The highest values recorded with G 5. Consequently, consumption of combination of TFP containing various classes of secondary components with resource of NPN leads to reduce CH4 emission from ruminants and improve lamb growth performance.

Southeast Asian SMEs and Regional Economic Integration

The economic importance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is widely recognized and acknowledged by researchers and policymakers in Southeast Asia. This is not surprising as SMEs typically account for about 97-99 per cent of total enterprises and 60-80 per cent of total employment in Southeast Asian countries (Lee and Zhang 2016). Such statistics notwithstanding, SMEs are often viewed as suffering from many disadvantages compared to large firms in the form of the lack of scale economies and resource constraints (Harvie 2015). In the theoretical and empirical trade literature on heterogeneous firms, these disadvantages translate into the problem of low productivity which affects SMEs' exporting behaviour. For countries in Southeast Asia, this is a serious problem given the fact that many, if not all, countries in the region are committed to achieving greater intra- and inter-regional economic integration. This is to be achieved via the formation of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) as well as participation in bilateral and regional free trade agreements (FTAs). The question that follows is then this: Can manufacturing SMEs participate effectively in economic integration given the disadvantages they experience? It was with this question in mind that the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA) and ISEAS--Yusof Ishak Institute (ISEAS) collaborated to undertake a research project to better understand the current state of manufacturing SMEs' participation in economic integration. (1) The two-year project, henceforth the ERIA-ISEAS project, involved the collection of primary micro-data in a few selected Southeast Asian countries. This special issue of the Journal of Southeast Asian Economies presents key empirical country papers from the project. These countries include Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, (2) Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.Several methodological challenges were encountered from the inception of the project. These affected the sampling approach to be adopted for the surveys. First, due to financial constraints, the project could only cover 200-300 firms per country. Due to this relatively small sample size, it made sense to focus on a few key industries. The main criteria for the choice of these industries was that they be important for the country (see Table 1). A second methodological problem relates to the lack of a single definition of SMEs amongst Southeast Asian countries. To overcome this problem, a single definition (based on OECD discussion notes) was used to guide the sampling of firms by firm size. (3) A third methodological decision was to include large-sized firms in the surveys. This was important in order to compare between SMEs and large firms and identify factors that uniquely affect the former group's participation in economic integration. The guide for sample size distribution given to country researchers was as follows: * 30-40 per cent of sample: firms with 11-49 workers; * 40-50 per cent of sample: firms with 50-249 workers; * 20 per cent of sample: firms with 250 or more workers Finally, the questionnaire used for the survey comprised forty questions organized into ten key sections: (1) general information; (2) sales and exports; (3) production and inputs; (4) employment and human resources; (5) technology and innovation; (6) the AEC; (7) the utilization of free trade agreements; (8) government support to SMEs; (9) other comments; and (10) risk preferences. The questionnaire was designed to generate data that could be used to econometrically test the determinants of participation in regional integration. From the onset of the project, the project coordinators made no effort to impose standardized econometric specifications. This encouraged the country paper writers to experiment with a variety of specifications which include determinants of: (i) export participation; (ii) import participation; (iii) FTA utilization; and (iv) participation in production networks. …

Organizational Development action: Induction program

The following dissertation aims to demonstrate if the lack of an induction process for employees in a marine industry company hinders their productivity. Also, an induction programis presented as an intervention proposal of organization development, on the premise that this program is a first step in the solving of the existing low productivity problem. By means of observation and casual interviews with the employees as research methods, it was found that the studied company personnel never went through a formal induction process and thereby, have many knowledge gaps that hinder their performance and that can be resolved by an induction program for employees.

Characterization of the Value Chain of Rice Cultivation in Ecuador

The purpose of the research was to identify and characterize the links in the production chain of rice. The study is descriptive, in which a diagnostic tool that was validated by the MAGAP where he summoned the chain links and participatory manner a plan to improve competitiveness chain was applied was determined. The actors of the links were identified, showing serious situation; They are related to climatic anomalies and pest attack snail; However, behind these problems juncture that absorb the attention of private actors and sector authorities, persistent structural problems of low productivity, lack of infrastructure, insufficient financing, market distortions, excessive intermediation difficulties export surplus and potential vulnerability to imports, weak association between producers and conflict between the links, tensions with the state and lack of coordination between the national level.

Organizational Developmentaction: Inductionprogram

The following dissertation aims to demonstrate if the lack of an induction process for employees in a marine industry company hinders their productivity. Also, an induction programis presented as an intervention proposal of organization development, on the premise that this program is a first step in the solving of the existing low productivity problem. By means of observation and casual interviews with the employees as research methods, it was found that the studied company personnel never went through a formal induction process and thereby, have many knowledge gaps that hinder their performance and that can be resolved by an induction program for employees.

Microbial transformation of ginsenosides extracted from Panax ginseng adventitious roots in an airlift bioreactor

Background: Ginsenoside is the most important secondary metabolite in ginseng. Natural sources of wild ginseng have been overexploited. Although root culture can reduce the length of the growth cycle of ginseng, the species number of ginsenosides is reduced and their contents are lower in adventitious roots of ginseng than in ginseng cultivated in the field. Results: In this study, 147 strains of β-glucosidase-producing microorganisms were isolated from soil. Of these isolates, strain K35 showed excellent activity in converting major ginsenosides into rare ginsenosides, and a NCBI BLAST of its 16S rDNA gene sequence showed that it was most closely related to Penicillium sp . (HQ608083.1) . Strain K35 was used to ferment the adventitious root extract and the fermentation products were analyzed by HPLC. The results showed that the content of the rare ginsenoside CK was 0.253 mg mL - 1 under the optimal converting conditions of 9 d of fermentation at pH 7.0 in LL medium which was significantly higher than that in the adventitious roots of ginseng. Conclusion: These findings may not only solve the problem of low productivity of metabolite in ginseng root culture but may also result in the development of a new valuable method of manufacturing ginsenoside CK. Normal 0 false false false EN-US ZH-CN X-NONE st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:Tabla normal; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; font-family:Calibri,sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family:Times New Roman; mso-font-kerning:1.0pt; mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN;}

Tea small holders’ perceptions and experience with tea small holdings development societies (TSHDS) in Matara district of Sri Lanka

Tea Small Holdings Development Societies (TSHDS) have been established under the guidance of Tea Small Hold-ings Development Authority (TSHDA) in Sri Lanka. These Societies were expected to act as bridges among the tea small holders and other relevant organizations including TSHDA and to provide necessary services to the tea small holders in effective and efficient way and to identify the tea small holders actual needs and opportunities through feedbacks. However, with all the reforms in the tea small holdings sector and the institutional interven-tion, it is not clear that the objectives of the TSHDS have been achieved. Matara district is purposively selected for the study as it contributes more than 13 % of the total tea production in the country and about 17 % of the total tea small holders are residing in Matara. We used a structured questionnaire to interview randomly selected six-hundred tea small-holders selected from six DS. Thi is in addition, to focus group discussions, direct observations and discussions with relevant stakeholders. Descriptive Statistical Tools, Chi-square test, ‘t’ test and Wilcoxon Sign Rank Test were used to analyze and to present data. The study revealed that the TSHDS has not addressed the needs of the tea small-holders in addition to the conventional activities such as advisory services and the gov-ernment subsidies of TSHDA and other government authorities. Out of the total number of small holders in the sample only 15% were highly satisfied about the TSHDS and another 12% were partially satisfied. The results proved that there is no significant improvement of the tea small holdings sector due to implementation of Tea So-cieties. The study suggests to strengthen TSHDS through continuous training and providing other necessary assis-tances to enable them to improve advisory and extension services. In addition, distribution of tea cultivation subsi-dy more efficiently and effectively to their members with the assistance of the TSHDA to improve the productivity of the tea small holdings. The study also recommends reviewing the structure and function of the TSHDS in order to revitalize the Societies which may be crucial to face the problems of low productivity, degradation of the quality and other emerging issues in the future.

Impact Assessment of Nerica Rice Production in Southwestern Nigeria

Nigeria has a population of about 150 million people, which increases annually. This makes her rank among the fastest growing population in the world. Rice is the most staple food for Nigerians and most people all over the world. There is a huge competition for rice consumption. In recent years, rice production has been expanding at the rate of 6% per annum in Nigeria. With 70 percent of the production increase been attributed to land expansion and only 30 percent been attributed to increase in productivity. The New Rice for Africa (NERICA) was specifically bred by scientist of West Africa Rice Centre (WARDA)) to address the problem of low productivity of upland rice in Sub-saharan Africa. It was introduced to Nigeria in 2002 and the rice has unique characteristics such as shorter duration, high yields, tolerant to major stress, higher protein and good taste compare to the traditional rice varieties. The study was carried out to evaluate farmers' adoption of NERICA rice production and its impact on productivity of upland rice. Purposive sampling procedure was used to select 120 respondents for the study. The socio-economic characteristics and perceived constraints to increase productivity were ascertained using descriptive statistics to analyse the data. The effect of attitude on productivity was also derived in the course of the study. The result showed that NERICA has a high yield compared to other form of varieties with a significant value of 1% and t-value of 2.065. The Pearson product moment correlation analysis shows that the coefficient between productivity (income) and attitude of respondents towards NERICA is 0.661 at a significant value of 0.000 (1%).

Biofertilizers from Rhodopseudomonas palustris strains to enhance rice yields and reduce methane emissions

Flooded rice fields either organic or saline share common problems of low productivity and emission of methane (CH4) that contributes to global warming. Among various biofertilizers, purple nonsulfur bacteria (PNSB) are of good candidates to solve such problems since they could promote rice growth and yield, and also compete with methane producing bacteria for substrates. The goals of this work were to investigate the potential of Rhodopseudomonas palustris strains TN114, PP803 and TK103 identified as a biofertilizer to enhance rice yield and reduce CH4 emissions in both types of the rice fields. The efficiency of each PSNB biofertilizer were compared with a commercial organic fertilizer (COF), a carrier control (carrier with no added PNSB), and control without the addition of any fertilizer (control). In both paddy fields, no significant difference in the growth of rice was found based on the maximal height of plants, but there was a significant difference in rice grain yields. In saline paddy field, all PNSB biofertilizers produced higher grain yield at statistically significant level; however, in the organic paddy field only TN114 biofertilizer showed a promising result at 48% increase followed by COF treatment. The lowest grain yield was observed in both controls. COF treatment generated the highest CH4 emissions followed by both controls, and the least was in PNSB biofertilizer treatments, particularly PP803 which was 24% and 28% lower than COF in organic and saline paddy fields, respectively. Both paddy fields showed a strong negative correlation between PNSB cell density and CH4 emissions (rp=−0.90). It can be concluded that all biofertilizers from the selected R. palustris were able to enhance rice yields in both the organic and saline flooded paddy fields and concurrently reduce CH4 emissions.

Investigations on Competition in Sugarcane-Garlic Intercropping Systems

Increasing area under food crops is not possible due to limited availability of agricultural land owing to ever growing human population. The sole option is to enhance food production on the available land. Intercropping, if properly managed, can go in a long way to solve the problems of low productivity per unit area and sustainability of a production system. A field experiment was conducted on sugarcane and garlic based inter-cropping systems during autumn season of 2009–10 and 2010–11 at Punjab Agricultural University, Regional Research Station, Faridkot. Sugarcane was planted by conventional flat method at 90 cm row spacing and paired row trench planting (90: 30 cm). Two and three rows of garlic as an intercrop were planted in sugarcane and were compared with their sole crops. Paired row trench planting sugarcane either sole or intercropped with garlic, recorded higher cane equivalent yield and economic returns than sugarcane planted in furrows on flat beds. Inter-cropping system of two and three rows of garlic with autumn sugarcane recorded similar cane yield. However, economic returns were better than sole sugarcane crop under both the planting methods. Three rows of garlic, when intercropped in conventional flat planted sugarcane, gave 50 and 41% higher B: C than sole sugarcane during 2009–10 and 2010–11, respectively. The corresponding values for paired row trench planted sugarcane were 27 and 20%, respectively, for both the seasons. This was mainly due to higher price of garlic.

LABOR PRODUCTIVITY IMPROVEMENT IN A CONSTRUCTION PROJECT: PROBLEM BASED APPROACH

Construction labor productivity is an important aspect of a construction project. However, low productivity problems have had a significant impact on construction project timeframes resulting in over budget expenditure. The objective of this study was to determine the factors affecting labor productivity in Thai construction projects. A structured questionnaire survey was employed, completed by 54 executive managers from leading companies in Thailand. The five highest importance ranking factors affecting labor productivity were found to be: lack of workers, financial shortages, incomplete drawings, labor skill and experience, and incompetent construction management team. It is hoped that the results of this research will lead to improved productivity and effectively in project work. The study is an initial investigation about labor productivity and examines the improvements necessary to make the Thai construction industry more competitive and profitable.

High‐performance filaments by melt spinning low viscosity nylon 6 using horizontal isothermal bath process

Several techniques and treatments have been developed for the production of high‐performance nylon‐6 fibers. The inherent problems of low productivity, high production cost, and high energy consumption, complexity of chemical reaction, mass transfer, and waste recovery systems make most of them inappropriate for industrial application. Horizontal isothermal bath (hIB) is an alternative ecofriendly simple treatment that can be used during melt spinning process for production of technical textile fibers. The efficacy of hIB in improving the mechanical properties of multifilament nylon‐6 yarn is studied in this research. The results showed that such treatment can increase the molecular orientation of the amorphous and crystalline functions up to 0.54 and 0.983, respectively, and raised both the amorphous isotropy and fiber birefringence by 67 and 45%, respectively. Hot drawing of the yarn at a very low draw ratio of 1.38, increased the tenacity and modulus up to 10 and 43.9 g/den, respectively, and decreased the elongation to 27%. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 55:2457–2464, 2015. © 2015 Society of Plastics Engineers

IMPROVEMENT OF CONSTRUCTION LABOR PRODUCTIVITY IN CHAMBAL REGION

In construction industry labor cost 30 to 50% of total cost of project. In Chambal Region (M.P.) construction industry is facing the problems of low productivity. The aim of this study, therefore, is to identify and rank the relative importance of factors perceived to affect labor productivity on construction sites. To achieve this objective, professional such as Project Manager, Project Engineer, Site Engineer, Architect, Assistance Project Manager, Assistance Project Engineer and other who work on the project from management to execution level, were invited to participate in a questionnaire survey. In questionnaire, factors were divided in four primary groups such as (1) management; (2) technological; (3) human/labor; and (4) external. After the analysis of questionnaire we find top ten following factors which effect on construction labor productivity in Chambal Region such as : (1) Clarification in Technical Specifications; (2) Labor Supervisions; (3) Method of construction; (4) Delay in Payment; (5) Labor Fatigue; (6) lack of construction managers leadership; (7) extents of variations/change order during executions; (8) late arrival, early quit, and frequent unscheduled breaks; (9) Labor Skill; and (10) Availability of Experienced Labor. The results obtained can be used by construction professional to take care of labor productivity in construction projects. --------------------------------------------------------------------***------------------------------------------------------------------

Research on Cell Production Layout of TV Assembly Line

Traditional TV assembly line production mode faced with the problem of low productivity in response to the varieties of small batch orders. The paper studies Cell production mode, combined with television assembly process characteristics, to explore the Cell production layout mode that is suitable for TV assembly line.

A comparison of two theoretical methods of the materials transportation in the vibrating screen machines and improve the significance of their experimental results

Problem statement: This study was made to increase productivity of separating process in many industries, to achieve the required aim, understanding the relationship between designed arithmetic methods on two and three coordinate planes to choose the parameters of the separating machine and computing additional factors including characteristics of materials and type of screen. Approach: The design of these types of separating machines did not include the addressed factors during the design; the study of these new factors will provide better understanding of the process and increase the abilities for improvement. Study made to define the right parameters of the operating surface, amplitude and vibration frequency that provide necessary productivity, efficient parameters of material. Results: The improvement included the machine design which consisted of screen; the screen design includes size, angle of inclination and taking into consideration the effect of the vibration trajectory. After applying primary data and the standard computation, the dynamic parameters are set and then the geometric parameters. According to the mathematical computation the design was made and then the verifying of the elements of speed of material motion. These mathematical equations can solve the problem of low productivity and high power consumption if implemented correctly and taking into consideration the dynamic and geometric elements of each case. Conclusion: The results of this study can be implemented in many fields of the industry where separation machine were used, the application of the mathematical relations can improve the revenue by increasing productivity and lowering power consumption for industry. For further study, the effect of wavy surface on the movement of particles will be advised.

Prediction of Surface Crack in Hot Forging by Numerical Simulation

This paper focuses on a technique for predicting surface cracks in hot free forging. These surface cracks occur at the side on which strains concentrate when a round bar is compressed by hot free forging. A final product has hardly any surface cracks because they are removed by gas scarfing. These conventional manufacturing processes have an industrial problem of low productivity with a waste of time. The suppression of the surface cracks is required. The mechanism and criteria for the surface cracks are not clear. In this paper, the mechanism of surface cracking was estimated, compared with the actual forging process. The mechanical property was evaluated by a high temperature tensile test. Various numerical simulations which changed the damage parameter (C value) were carried out. The critical value (C1) is calculated by shape comparison between the tensile test and the numerical simulation. It is possible to predict the surface cracking in the hot forging process by using this parameter.

Study of reduction behaviour of prefabricated iron ore–graphite/coal composite pellets in rotary hearth furnace

In the present study, the reduction kinetics of prefabricated iron ore–graphite/coal composite pellets of different shapes has been studied in a rotary hearth furnace (RHF). Commercial processes involving the RHF such as ITmk3/FASTMET have major problems of low productivity owing to significant heat and mass transfer resistance through the multilayer bed and consequently limited pellet layers over the hearth. In the present investigation, an attempt has been made to improve the heat and mass transfer in such system by increasing the specific surface area of individual pellets. Both the iron ore–graphite and iron ore–coal composite pellets have been reduced in an RHF at a maximum temperature of 1200°C. The ore–coal composite showed much higher degree of reduction (81%) over ore–graphite composite pellets (61%). The tablet shaped pellet with the highest specific surface area displayed a higher degree of reduction than the cylinder or sphere shaped pellets. Although no physical slag metal separation was visible, X-ray diffraction and SEM/EDX of reduced particles indicated separation at the microlevel. Higher amount of reduction and liquid silicate formation for tablet shaped pellets, in comparison with spherical and cylindrical shaped pellets, lay the foundation of a novel process flow scheme involving the use of prefabricated pellets in the RHF.