Precision Agriculture Technology for Crop Farming

This book provides a review of precision agriculture technology development, followed by a presentation of the state-of-the-art and future requirements of precision agriculture technology. It presents different styles of precision agriculture technologies suitable for large scale mechanized farming; highly automated community-based mechanized production; and fully mechanized farming practices commonly seen in emerging economic regions. The book emphasizes the introduction of core technical features of sensing, data processing and interpretation technologies, crop modeling and production control theory, intelligent machinery and field robots for precision agriculture production

Precision Agriculture Technology for Crop Farming

This book provides a review of precision agriculture technology development, followed by a presentation of the state-of-the-art and future requirements of precision agriculture technology. It presents different styles of precision agriculture technologies suitable for large scale mechanized farming; highly automated community-based mechanized production; and fully mechanized farming practices commonly seen in emerging economic regions. The book emphasizes the introduction of core technical features of sensing, data processing and interpretation technologies, crop modeling and production control theory, intelligent machinery and field robots for precision agriculture production

The Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse

The Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse (SKAD) has reoriented research into social forms, structuration and processes of meaning construction and reality formation; doing so by linking social constructivist and pragmatist approaches with post-structuralist thinking in order to study discourses and create epistemological space for analysing processes of world-making in culturally diverse environments. SKAD is anchored in interpretive traditions of inquiry and allows for broadening – and possibly overcoming – of the epistemological biases and restrictions still common in theories and approaches of Western- and Northern-centric social sciences. An innovative volume, this book is exactly attentive to these empirically based, globally diverse further developments of approach, with a clear focus on the methodology and its implementation. Thus, The Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse presents itself as a research program and locates the approach within the context of interpretive social sciences, followed by eleven chapters on different cases from around the world that highlight certain theoretical questions and methodological challenges. Presenting outstanding applications of the Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse across a wide variety of substantive projects and regional contexts, this text will appeal to postgraduate students and researchers interested in fields such as Discourse Studies, Sociology, Cultural Studies and Qualitative Methodology and Methods

Selected Papers from the 8th Annual Conference of Energy Economics and Management

This collection represents successful invited submissions from the papers presented at the 8th Annual Conference of Energy Economics and Management held in Beijing, China, 22–24 September 2017. With over 500 participants, the conference was co-hosted by the Management Science Department of National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Chinese Society of Energy Economics and Management, and Renmin University of China on the subject area of “Energy Transition of China: Opportunities and Challenges”. The major strategies to transform the energy system of China to a sustainable model include energy/economic structure adjustment, resource conservation, and technology innovation. Accordingly, the conference and its associated publications encourage research to address the major issues faced in supporting the energy transition of China. Papers published in this collection cover the broad spectrum of energy economics issues, including building energy efficiency, industrial energy demand, public policies to promote new energy technologies, power system control technology, emission reduction policies in energy-intensive industries, emission measurements of cities, energy price movement, and the impact of new energy vehicle

Fighting Irrelevance: The Role of Regional Trade Agreements in International Production Networks in Asia

This publication brings together the main research outputs delivered under a common theme "Regional trade agreements and international production networks" of the Asia-Pacific Research and Training Network on Trade (ARTNeT) research programme, Phase II (2008-2010). The study was divided into three parts. The introduction to part I presents the research questions that were explored in the study and describes the structure of the book. Chaper 2 summarizes the literature on determinants for existence and evolution of global value chains and international production networks, the impact of changes in trade policy and, more specifically, regional trade liberalization. Chapter 3 provides a synthesis of the findings under each of the sectoral case studies in selected Asian countries: (a) the automobile industry in China, India and Indonesia; (b) the computer hard drive sector in Thailand; and (c) the textile and clothing sector in Bangladesh. Part II contains the sectoral papers (chapters 4 to 8). Part III focuses on identifying some recommendations to policymakers on how to approach trade liberalizatiion under regional trade agreements in order to benefit existing production networks and promote the development of new ones.trade liberalization, international production network, regional trade agreements, value chain, Asia, automotive, hard disk drive, textile and clothing

Earth Resources: A continuing bibliography, with indexes, issue 31

This bibliography lists 505 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system. Emphasis is placed on the use of remote sensing and geophysical instrumentation in spacecraft and aircraft to survey and inventory natural resources and urban areas. Subject matter is grouped according to agriculture and forestry, environmental changes and cultural resources, geodesy and cartography, geology and mineral resources, hydrology and water management, data processing and distribution systems, instrumentation and sensors, and economic analysis

Responsibility Accounting in China: Towards an Exploratory Framework

One of the economic reforms started in the People's Republic of China since 1979 is to enhance the productivity and profitability of the State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) which still accounted for over 40% of the National Industrial Output and over 60% of the working population in 1996. However, over one-third of all the SOEs in China have incurred financial losses since the early 1990s and how to revive their efficiency and profitability has become one of the most important work plans for the Chinese government in recent years. In July 1992, the State Council of China implemented the "Regulations for State-Owned Industrial Enterprises Operation Mechanisms Transformation" whose major aim is to delegate more autonomy to the SOEs to ensure that they are self-financed, self-managed, self-regulated and selfdeveloped. In addition, the promulgation of the "Socialist Market Economy" by the 14th People's Congress held in October 1992 would make the SOEs more market driven in planning, operation and control. Furthermore, in the same year more SOEs on a selective basis were allowed by the central government to be transformed into "Shareholding Enterprises" where boards of directors have been empowered by the authorities to manage their own businesses. The focus of this doctoral research is to study the actual impact of the above legislation, economic and ownership changes on "Responsibility Accounting" which is the most widely used management accounting technique employed by the large- and medium-sized SOEs in China since 1987 The non-existence of systematic empirical research on this management accounting aspect in China justifies the use of an "Exploratory Case Study" approach to investigate a sample of 20 SOEs through repeated interviews over a period from 1991 to 1995. This type of longitudinal field study has verified that there have been significant changes in the responsibility accounting styles and the associated planning and control systems in these 20 SOEs before and after 1992. Further minor variables or factors have also been identified to explain these changes. This research provides observations, findings and comparisons with the literature which can generate ideas and hypotheses on many aspects related to the responsibility (management) accounting development in China which can be subject to rigorous empirical testing by the researcher and other academics or practitioners in the future

Rangeland Systems: Processes, Management and Challenges

environmental management; environmental law; ecojustice; ecolog