Because of an increasing demand for animal-source foods, an increasing desire to reduce poverty and an increasing need to reduce the environmental impact of livestock production, tropical farming systems with livestock must increase their productivity. An important share of the global human and livestock populations are found within smallholder mixed-crop-livestock systems, which should, theref...

the purpose of this study was to investigate economic impacts (including production costs, mechanization growth, changes in productivity per area, changes in the size of the cultivated area and productivity of production inputs) and ecological impacts (including protecting the environment from degradation and soil erosion as well as sustainable use of chemical fertilizers) of rural agricultural...

Developing the concept of soil quality may help identify the soil and crop management practices required for environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable agriculture. Objectives of this paper are (1) to review current efforts to define soil quality, (2) to discuss factors and processes which influence soil quality, (3) to identify, soil and crop management practices that affect proce...

Productivity is the ability to create a quality software product in a limited period with limited resources. The software engineering community advocates that the future of productivity lies in the field of domain engineering. However, existing domain engineering approaches suffer from the tension between productivity and applicability. In this paper we propose an approach that reduces this ten...

Global increases in consumption of chemical nutrients, application of pesticides, and water withdrawal to enhance agricultural yield have resulted in degraded water quality and reduced water availability. Efforts to safeguard or improve environmental conditions of agroecosystems have usually focused on managing on-farm activities to reduce materials loss and conserve habitat. Another management...

The requirement for higher quality drinking water necessitates the application of more efficient water treatment techniques. Nanofiltration is one promising option for enhanced water treatment, for example, in enhanced organic matter removal. The characteristics of different nanofiltration membranes vary remarkably, and the selection of a membrane has to be made according to the requirements of...

CONTEXT Our cytology laboratory, like many others, is under pressure to improve quality and provide test results faster while decreasing costs. We sought to address these issues by introducing new technology and lean principles. OBJECTIVE To determine the combined impact of the FocalPoint Guided Screener (GS) Imaging System (BD Diagnostics-TriPath, Burlington, North Carolina) and lean manufac...

Soil erosion is a worldwide environmental problem leading to low agricultural productivity and water quality degradation. Improving soil control measures essential. This study reports the results of survey 75 farmers, using structured interviews, field observations, focus groups analyze farmers’ perceptions concerning current future efforts adopt Erosion Control (SEC) in Sebeya catchment locate...