This study has been conducted as a Minor Field Study (MFS). It focuses on solar water pumping for small-scale farmers in the Kilimanjaro Region of Tanzania. The purpose is to investigate the possibilities for rural farmers to operate their irrigation with solar power instead of their current option: fossil fuels, primarily petrol. The study was conducted in three phases, starting with pre-study in Sweden, followed by field study in Tanzania from January to March 2015 and finishing with summarizing and calculating in Sweden. Fuel powered water pumping has a cheap capital cost; however, it is expensive and problematic to maintain and operate. Solar powered water pumping is almost completely opposite. It has a higher initial cost; however, it is considerably cheaper to run. The results indicate that the investment in solar power might be too expensive for the farmers, as long as they do not receive external financial and educational support. Assuming that the farmers are able to obtain a solar water pumping system, results show that they will benefit and save a considerably amount of money over a long period of time. Also, solar water pumping is environmentally friendly compared to the systems in Tanzania today.

There is a growing interest in straw bale construction for its low embodied energy and insulation value. Early studies of its structural behaviour and fire resistance have shown it to be a viable alternative to traditional building techniques. However, the biggest remaining obstacle to widespread acceptance is the moisture behaviour within the straw bale walls, especially as it concerns mould growth. The uncertainty of this behaviour leads to the hesitation of building officials and insurance providers to freely accept straw bale construction. Therefore, this study investigates the moisture, temperature and mould growth in straw bale walls, through a combination of analysis, dynamic modeling and field studies. A study of mould is presented along with the current methods available for predicting mould growth. Moisture is the primary controllable factor to mould growth in buildings. Therefore, an understanding of moisture accumulation within straw bale walls is necessary to provide a safe design that precludes mould growth. This study compiles the current state of knowledge of the hygrothermal properties of the materials used in straw bale walls. Then a parametric steady-state analysis is conducted to show the expected behaviour of vapour diffusion and the effects of the material properties. Two 14”thick x 6’ wide x 8’ high straw bale test walls were constructed: one was rendered with a typical cement-lime plaster and the other with a clay plaster. Temperature and moisture were monitored throughout the walls for over a year. These test walls provide more information on the macro behaviour of the walls to both vapour diffusion and, more importantly, rain. Hygrothermal computer modeling was conducted and compared to the test data to assess its accuracy. Thermal modeling was successful, while moisture modeling was found to be more difficult due to a lack of accurate rain data. With better climate data it is expected that accurate hygrothermal modeling of straw bale walls is possible. The result of this work is a general starting point for more detailed studies of the hygrothermal behaviour of straw bale walls with the ultimate goal of assessing the mould risk for various construction techniques and locations.

Libraries are filled with indistinct landmarks, such as rows of identical bookshelves, which make it difficult for patrons to navigate and locate books. Call numbers are the primary resource that can be utilized while locating books, and these consist of letters and digits that are incomprehensible to many library users. With libraries increasingly offering both physical and digital resources and mobile devices being more common, we aimed to investigate the potential for mobile devices to assist in locating books within the complex physical spaces of libraries.

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This case study aims at showing how longer field studies can influence the design process. The design case is a redesign of the GUI of software for cell phone network simulation. The study explores the potential of a long field study, presenting it in a way that makes it possible for the reader to follow every step of the process and thus evaluate the merits of this long fieldstudy, and of longer field studies, in general. Data for the study was collected and an initial analysis performed during a four weeks field study. Participant observation was the primary method, but other methods were also used. After the field study was completed, further analysis led to the formation of a design rationale, sorted according to three identified usage groups and one general category. This study argues that a long field study, with design measurements, informs the design significantly. Week one was needed for creating the necessary rapport with the users/informants, while new information decreased during week four. This confirms the argument of earlier studies that the time span of field studies for focused design cases may be shorter than for more wide-aiming social research. However, one main finding is that the most significant data for the design rationale was unevenly collected, mainly in weeks two and three. Thus, the study argues that design cases may benefit from longer fieldstudies than is the standard within the design community of today.

Mine tailings pose a health risk for populations and ecosystems in the Southwest; this is why effective, and low-cost solutions for the long term are needed. This work is groundbreaking since little information is available with regards to applying greenhouse studies of phytostabilization to the field for mine tailing remediation. Mine tailings from Iron King Mine and Humboldt Smelter Superfund (IKMHSS) site can be considered one of the worst scenarios due to the extreme conditions which prevent the growth of a vegetation cap. The high concentration of metals, such as arsenic and lead, highly acidic, lack of the nutrients carbon and nitrogen in the soil structure, and low microbial communities are factors that negatively affect plant growth. This project provides practical field-scale applications for the use of phytostabilization, which uses plants to create a vegetation cap that stabilizes metals in the root zone while preventing wind and water erosion in mine tailings. The project is divided into three main studies: (1) the assessment of the translation of successful greenhouse results to the field of phytostabilization using compost-assisted direct planting. This includes the use of different rates of compost as an amendment and different desert native plant species in addition to some potential parameters that could be used as indicators of a successful modification of biochemical and physical environment from a disturbed soil towards a more healthy soil when compost assisted direct planting phytostabilization is used; (2) the second study aims to evaluate the effect of the phytostabilization strategy on reducing windborne transport of particle and metal(loids) following the establishment of the vegetation cap. The results indicate that the vegetation resulted from direct planting decreases dust emissions from IKMHSS mine tailings; and (3) the third study focuses on one of the most important requirements for phytostabilization application in the field, the performance of the different plant species selected from the greenhouse studies. This performance was evaluated as the metal accumulation in aerial plant tissue based on metal concentration guidelines from the National Research Council as well as changes in the composition of plant species and canopy cover with time. The results derived from the translation of compost–assisted direct plating based on successful greenhouse results are showing the capacity of this technology on a field scale by maintaining a canopy cover over time that decreases mobilization by not hyper-accumulating metals in the aerial tissue and by preventing windborne particle dispersion with the potential of disrupting contamination pathways.

Abstract The aim of this study was twofold: to develop a method for collecting voice data from natural working environments; and to study loading changes. Changes caused by loading were approached from two perspectives: the relationship between subjective complaints and objectively measured voice features, and the changes of objective variables during one working day. Subjects consisted of female teachers from primary and secondary schools. Six separate studies were carried out, the number of subjects for each one ranging from 3 to 33. The subjects were 33 - 59 years old. Recordings were made of their voices both during breaks and lessons with a portable DAT recorder. The recordings made during the breaks were collected on three days of one week, and four times on each week. The speech samples of the lessons were taken from the first and last lesson of the day. Subjects filled in a questionnaire about their voice, which divided them into two groups: those with few complaints (the FC group) and those with many complaints (the MC group). In addition, three subjects performed a laboratory voice loading task. The speech sample recorded during breaks was a maximally sustained [a], from which fundamental frequency (F0), jitter and shimmer were analyzed. The lesson samples were analyzed for F0, its standard deviation (F0 SD), sound pressure level (SPL), its standard deviation (SPL SD), F0 time ( = active vibration time of the vocal folds) and long-time average spectrum (LTAS). The laboratory samples (a simple reading task) were measured for F0. Additionally, an index (F0 x F0 time/ 1000) for assessing voice loading is presented. The results showed that voice complaints correlated with objectively measured voice features: the more the complaints, the higher the F0 and SPL, the larger the F0 SD and the steeper the tilt of the LTAS, the latter indicating that the voices of the MC group had a tendency towards a hypofunctional voice usage. In addition, at the end of the working week the shimmer values of the MC group were lower than those of the FC group. During the working day, the F0 rose, F0 SD and SPL SD increased and the LTAS levelled out (changes towards a hyperfunctional voice usage). Some of these changes are caused by the classroom situation, some by the teachers themselves, and some (obviously the changes of the F0 and the LTAS) by physiological alterations. Interestingly, the main changes, which were the F0 rise and levelling of the spectrum, occurred in the FC-group. The changes possibly reflect a normal adaptation of the human body, and they may act as an alarm system for avoiding excessive strain and exhaustion. The voice loading index correlated with the voice complaints. The experiment showed that the used method is well suited for the measurement of voices in working places. The maximally sustained phonation proved to be a suitable voice task for the measurement of the voice in working places where subjects have to do a task independently. The results also showed that F0 yields different values in different conditions and with different voice tasks. This deserves attention when defining standards for acoustic variables.

<p>Starter fertilizer applied with or near the seed at planting often enhances early season maize growth (<i>Zea mays</i> L.) but does not always result in higher grain yield. Other responses to starter fertilizer, such as reduced thermal time to reach silking, which suggests accelerated plant development, have been documented. The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between dry matter production and accelerated plant development with respect to 5x5 cm starter (ST) and in-furrow popup (PU) fertilizer. A field experiment was conducted in 2016 with three at-planting treatments consisting of one single rate and formulation of ST (53 N and 21 P kg ha^-1) or PU (4 N and 6 P kg ha^-1), and an untreated control. In 2018, the study included four additional site-years with treatments consisting of an intermediate (ST) or high (STH) starter fertilizer rate, and an untreated control. For ST treatments, depending on location, nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) fertilizer rates ranged between 26-28 and 6-10 kg ha^-1, respectively, and for STH treatments N and P fertilizer rates ranged between 47-56 and 12-20 kg ha^-1, respectively. In 2016, as new leaf collars appeared, dry matter increased exponentially, but at an equal number of leaf collars ST and PU had similar dry matter as the control. In 2018, dry matter for ST, STH, and control was also similar when normalized for leaf collar number at each site. Overall, these results suggest that enhanced dry matter at a given point in time from ST, STH, or PU was a function of accelerated leaf development as opposed to physically more robust plants of the same leaf collar number. Grain yield was unaffected by ST, STH, or PU treatments at any site-year.</p> <p>Methods used to study roots in crop fields have included extracting soil cores, excavating entire root systems, using radioactive and non-radioactive chemical tracers, or using mini-rhizotrons. However, due to the intensive nature, level of difficulty, and cost associated with these methods, their use in crop fields has been minimal. We developed an alternative method to quantify maize rooting density over time. The method involved perforated cylinders installed vertically into the soil at different distances from the row, which made roots growing into the cylinder voids visible from the soil surface and possible to count [root number density (RND)] at different depths using a video recording device (1m-long borescope). The objective of this study was to determine if the cylinder method could quantify rooting density throughout the growing season (V3, ~V7, and R2-R3) similar to the more intensive soil core method, compared in two starter fertilizer trials [continuous maize (M/M) and maize/soybean (M/S) rotation]. Cylinders were constructed with perforated (49% voids) polypropylene resin to an inside diameter of 2.58 cm and a length of 30 cm. Cylinders were painted with red and green alternating markings (5 cm) on the outside and inside walls to visually aid in identifying depth from the soil surface. After plants emerged, cylinders were inserted vertically into the soil after drilling a 3.5 cm diameter borehole. Ten perforated cylinders were installed in a parallel line 13 or 25 cm away from, and on both sides of, the planted row. Soil cores were also collected at the same relative locations for conducting root extractions and subsequent calculation of length density (RLD). At V3, methods frequently resulted in the same significant (<i>p≤</i>0.10) or insignificant (<i>p></i>0.10) main and interaction effects in both fields, whereas at ~V7 and R2-R3, there were several instances where the cylinder method failed to detect the same effects as the soil core method. At times both the cylinder method and the soil core method detected significant main or interaction effects, but the direction of the effect was opposite.</p> <p>In-furrow biological (BIO) and plant growth regulator (PGR) products, otherwise known as biostimulants, are becoming increasingly available in the commercial maize market. The objective of this study was to compare the effects of several commercially available in-furrow biostimulant products on maize growth and development, nutrient uptake, and grain yield to starter fertilizer in large-plot field trials. The study was conducted across five locations in 2016, and three locations each in 2017 and 2018 at Purdue University research farms. At each location, treatments consisted of four different BIO or PGR products plus starter fertilizer, starter fertilizer only, and an untreated control. Compared to the control, starter-only increased grain yield at 7 of 8 site-years in 2016 and 2018 ranging from 125 to 753 kg ha^-1, depending on location, but no increase was found at any of the 3 locations in 2017. Grain yield was increased (3 of 11 site-years) or decreased (2 of 11 site-years) by some of the BIO or PGR products, but in 6 of 11 site-years none of the products affected yield compared to starter-only.</p>

Recent trends in the global business market point to the increasing importance of technology and technical innovations to gain and maintain competitive business strategic advantage. However, the marketing of technical innovations throughout the supply chain is still governed by traditional strategies and practices. Such strategies and practices are ineffective in a highly technologically advanced marketplace. As a result the marketers of technologically innovative products and concepts are left with many questions and very few practical answers. This research offers a practical, integrated approach to marketing technical innovations. The approach offered is presented within an organisational, people and technology strategic context. A field study is utilised to illustrate the utility of the proposed approach.

No description available.