Knowledge Management and Sustainable Agriculture:the Italian Case

The contemporary knowledge-based economy requires global usage of information in all aspects of modern society. Pertinent information is an important asset for successful business, therefore an application of knowledge management in organisational practice has become a crucial factor for the viability and sustainable development of enterprises. This is particularly relevant for the agricultural context, which needs modern practices for enhancement and development. However, information and knowledge, due to their intangible character, seem difficult to manage and organize. Therefore the paper targeted at developing sustainable organizational model of knowledge management for small and medium enterprises. Italian agriculture is considered as a context for this study, and knowledge management was offered as a tool for facilitating agricultural performance and increasing competitiveness of agricultural sector. A wide concept of knowledge management and specified agricultural context require a theory-based approach to research and a survey. Thus, the research methodology includes the next four parts. The first one contains literature review and examines definitions, strategies, approaches and models of sustainable knowledge management. The second part includes content analysis of 105 scientific publications. The third part of methodology is based on the results of the two previous parts and includes creating the model of knowledge management. Verification of this model is the last part of the research. Verification was executed through on-line questionnaire distributed to Italian agricultural enterprises throughout the country on their intentions and awareness towards knowledge management and developed model of knowledge management. The results of the survey have demonstrated farmer’s incentives to implement the developed knowledge management model with flexible approach in its organisation

Foot-pad dermatitis in broilers and turkeys

Foot-pad dermatitis is a condition characterised by lesions on the ventral foot-pads of poultry. It is a type of contact dermatitis, which in an early stage results in hyperkeratosis, erosions and discoloration of the skin. The erosions can develop into ulcers. In severe cases, the foot-pad lesions may cause pain which together with a deteriorated state of health constitutes a welfare issue. It has also been indicated that broilers with severe foot-pad dermatitis show slower weight gain. The aim of the present work was to improve the knowledge concerning the epidemiology of foot-pad dermatitis in meat-type poultry in Sweden. The studies were focused on surveying the occurrence of foot-pad dermatitis on Swedish commercial broiler and turkey farms, identifying endogenous and exogenous risk factors for foot-pad dermatitis in meat-type poultry and to evaluate the function of foot health as an indicator of management, hygiene and housing standards. The prevalence of foot-pad dermatitis in Swedish broilers at time of slaughter was estimated at 5-10 % for severe lesions and 10-35 % for mild lesions. The corresponding prevalence of foot-pad dermatitis in turkeys was estimated at approximately 20 % for severe lesions and 78 % for mild lesions. A significantly higher prevalence of foot-pad dermatitis was found in flocks reared on wet litter than on dry litter. In broilers, a significantly higher prevalence of lesions was found in flocks reared on thick layers of litter material than on thinner layers. There was an association between litter material and turkey foot-pad dermatitis. Type of drinker system, which is related to both water spillage and water consumption, was significantly associated with the prevalence of foot-pad dermatitis in both broilers and turkeys. There was a significant seasonal effect on the prevalence of broiler foot-pad dermatitis, with the highest prevalence found during October to January. The prevalence and severity of foot-pad dermatitis in broilers decreased over time when a surveillance programme was initiated and executed. In summary, foot-pad dermatitis in both broilers and turkeys was shown to be linked to a number of management, hygiene and housing factors, and can thus be used as an indicator of the standard of these factors. Surveillance and advisory programmes can be used successfully to decrease the incidence of foot-pad lesions in broiler and turkey populations and thus improve the health and welfare of the birds

Video prototyping of dog-inspired non-verbal affective communication for an appearance constrained robot

Original article can be found at: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org “This material is presented to ensure timely dissemination of scholarly and technical work. Copyright and all rights therein are retained by authors or by other copyright holders. All persons copying this information are expected to adhere to the terms and constraints invoked by each author's copyright. In most cases, these works may not be reposted without the explicit permission of the copyright holder." “Copyright IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or to reuse any copyrighted component of this work in other works must be obtained from the IEEE.”This paper presents results from a video human-robot interaction (VHRI) study in which participants viewed a video in which an appearance-constrained Pioneer robot used dog-inspired affective cues to communicate affinity and relationship with its owner and a guest using proxemics, body movement and orientation and camera orientation. The findings suggest that even with the limited modalities for non-verbal expression offered by a Pioneer robot, which does not have a dog-like appearance, these cues were effective for non-verbal affective communication

Domestic kitchen design strategies to reduce food waste

This research aimed to understand how the domestic kitchen design can help the user to reduce their food waste. From this, we had the objective to define strategies and principles directed to professionals who develop domestic kitchen designs. To accomplish this goal, we approached the themes of sustainable development and design for sustainability as the basis for proposing solutions, focusing on the user phase, that create ruptures in the current system and instigate more responsible behaviours in terms of economy, environment and society. In this sense, we investigated the problem of food waste, mainly in the Portuguese scenario, to understand its dimension, what is actually wasted and what are the factors related to this behaviour. So we presented strategies and design projects to induce behavioural change, focusing both on sustainability and food waste. From that, we systematized those that can be transported to the kitchen scenario. About the kitchen space, we presented brief chronological evolution and the design rules and parameters existing in the literature, in order to define key moments in the design process for implementation of the selected strategies. Finally, we established a set of nine strategies and their principles, which were evaluated by a sample of professionals in the sector, through online survey. From all the data and information gathered in the research, we concluded this dissertation with the design of a kitchen model, in which we implemented the established guidelines, which meant a practical evaluation of our result.Esta investigação buscou compreender como o desenho das cozinhas domésticas pode auxiliar o usuário a diminuir seu desperdício de alimentos. A partir disso tivemos o objetivo de definir estratégias e princípios direcionados a profissionais que desenvolvem desenhos de cozinhas domésticas. Para cumprir este objetivo, abordamos os temas do desenvolvimento sustentável e do design para a sustentabilidade como a base para a proposição de soluções, com foco na fase do usuário, que criem ruturas no sistema atual e que instiguem comportamentos mais responsáveis em termos de economia, meio ambiente e sociedade. Neste sentido, investigamos o problema do desperdício de alimentos, principalmente no cenário português, a fim de compreender qual a sua dimensão, o que é de fato desperdiçado e quais são os fatores relacionados a este comportamento. Apresentamos, então, estratégias e projetos de design para induzir mudança de comportamento, com foco, tanto na sustentabilidade, quanto no desperdício de alimentos. A partir disso, sistematizamos aquelas que podem ser transportadas ao cenário da cozinha. Sobre o espaço da cozinha, apresentamos breve evolução cronológica e as regras e parâmetros de projeto existentes na literatura, a fim de definir momentos chave no processo de desenho para implementação das estratégias selecionadas. Por fim, estabelecemos um conjunto de nove estratégias e seus princípios, que foram avaliadas por uma amostra de profissionais do setor, por meio de inquérito online. A partir de todos os dados e informações colhidas na investigação, concluímos esta dissertação com a criação de uma proposta de projeto modelo de cozinha, no qual implementamos as guidelines estabelecidas, o que significou uma avaliação prática do nosso resultado

Information Entropy Theory Based Recognition of the Validity of Contextual Information of Restaurants: An Empirical Study

Contextual information plays a key role in personalized recommendations. However, not all contextual information plays a positive role in personalized recommendations. Therefore, it is critical to identify the effective contextual information to realize personalized recommendations. This study aims to develop a set of feasible context importance calculation methods that can identify effective contextual information in different application scenarios. The information entropy of each contextual dimension is calculated, and the validity of the context compared according to the magnitude of its entropy is determined based on the informational entropy theory. Subsequently, this approach is applied to hotel and catering service data to determine the valid context in the dining domain. The experimental results indicate that location, work-rest condition, weather, mood and companionship considerably influence consumers’ behaviour and decisions in a catering environment, and the user preference in such contexts should be carefully considered

Guidelines for the scoping and environmental assessment of water resources projects. The environment and water resources projects - Volume 2

In its role as protector of the water environment, the Environment Agency requires significant water resources abstraction applications and schemes such as drought orders, drought permits, time limited licences, and river transfers to be environmentally assessed leading to the production of an environmental report or statement. This may not take the form of a formal Environmental Assessment, but is required to provide environmental information to support applications. (See Volume 1 - Guidance for Scoping and Environmental Assessment for Water Resources Projects in North East Region). This second volume concentrates on the environmental monitoring component of environmental assessments

Persuasive Social Support Features in Diabetes Self-Management mHealth Applications

Diabetes self-management is a challenging task and mobile health (mHealth) applications are one of the options that can assist and support the users in that process. The aim of this paper is to identify the social support features presented in these mHealth applications. Ten applications were selected and analysed based on the literature review and search of the phrase ‘The Best Diabetes Apps of 2018’ with the Google search engine. The results indicated that some social support features have been implemented in these applications however, its presence is sporadical. There is a need for further development of these apps, introducing and utilising features for social support such as social facilitation, cooperation, competition and recognition

Consumers’ Acceptance of a Bio-circular Automotive Economy: Explanatory Model and Influence Factors

Sustainability in the automotive sector and appropriate end-of-life (EOL) management options for car tyres are important and constitute global issues. There is currently an oversupply of EOL tyres and the potential of circular economy (CE) tyres and for bio-based (BB) tyres warrants further investigation. Likewise, BB and CE tyres might be an interesting approach to improve the overall sustainability of the tyre life cycle. Research on drivers for the acceptance of CE and BB tyres is currently missing. In 1989, a socio-economy model was created to understand the acceptance of various products. This model is still popular in many areas but does not address sustainability questions of the 21st century appropriately. This article aims to provide a better understanding of the factors which drive acceptance of sustainable tyres. It presents an acceptance model and related influence factors in three areas: variables related to the consumers, perceived product characteristics and stimulating moderator variables. The third aspect refers in particular to labels and certification influencing consumer views on existing product characteristics. This article ends by discussing how availability of such labels could be promoted through eco-labelling of tyres and related standardization, addressing the industry and policy makers to make the automotive sector more sustainable.BMBF, 033R236E, ReziProK - Verbundvorhaben: ConCirMy - Entwicklung eines stufen- und kreislaufübergreifend vernetzten Konfigurators zur Gewährleistung geschlossener Material- und Komponentenflüsse im Rahmen der zirkulären Ökonomie, Teilvorhaben 4: Sozioökonomische Analysen und GeschäftsmodelleDFG, 414044773, Open Access Publizieren 2019 - 2020 / Technische Universität Berli