Adapting Cinematic and Theatrical Lighting to Virtual Reality Storytelling

When immersed in a 3-dimensional virtual world story, viewers may become distracted because the virtual world affords them freedom to navigate and look around. This also means that the story plot is open to different interpretations. This raises the question of how to best guide viewer experience in virtual world story scenarios. To address this issue, our methodology has been to study the use of lighting in cinema and theater to direct attention and explore how these techniques can be adapted to virtual world scenarios. Some of the techniques studied and analyzed include the use of light contrast, colored lights, moving lights, staged lighting, fading lights, pulsing lights and follow spotlights. Since lighting serves a similar purpose in both theater and cinema, we discuss and propose with examples how these lighting techniques may be used to direct attention in virtual reality storytelling. The focus in this thesis is on translating principles of cinematic and theatrical lighting into virtual world narratives. From this exploration, we developed applicable approaches and created illustrative examples. A detailed discussion is documented on the process, production and implementation of cinematic and theatrical lighting approaches into VR. From this we gained insights into the effective use of lighting to guide viewer attention. For each lighting technique, the most important function is its ability to selectively direct viewer attention while supporting the narrative. A set of guidelines on how to effectively direct viewer attention using lighting in virtual world scenarios is presented. The purpose of these guidelines is to aid storytellers in creating lighting to direct viewer attention in virtual world story scenarios. This is achieved by providing information on what to consider when evaluating the story needs, developing the lighting design and its implementation

The Case for Long-Term Land Leasing: A Review of the Empirical Literature

Publication history: Accepted - 24 February 2021; Published - 1 March 2021.Land, as a factor of production, has a vital role within the agricultural sector compared with other sectors. However, in recent years, land mobility has become a significant issue around the world with increased concentration and competition for land ownership, limiting the overall competitiveness of the agri-food sector and constraining the potential opportunities for new entrant farmers to access land. While land leasing is increasingly being embraced as a common form of land tenure serving as an alternative to the purchase of land for agriculture, the length of lease has been shown to have a significant impact on land productivity and sustainability. In this study, we provide a comprehensive and systematic review exploring the benefits of longer-term land leasing with a particular focus on developed countries and some selected developing countries in the context of commercial farming with more formal arrangements. Specifically, we highlight the barriers to longterm land leasing and identify potential incentives that might be adopted to encourage long-term land leasing for both landowners and farmers who seek to rent land.This research was funded by Department of Agriculture Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA), Northern Ireland as part of the Evidence and Innovation Programme (DAERA E&I, 19/1/05)

Investigating the Factors Influencing the Intention to Adopt Long-Term Land Leasing in Northern Ireland

Publication history: Accepted - 7 March 2023; Published - 9 March 2023.Short-term land rental agreements such as the traditional conacre system in Northern Ireland offer flexibility between the landowners and the farmers renting the land. However, the uncertainty of tenure linked to such short-term land rental systems does not allow for farmers renting the land to make longer-term investment planning and decisions, particularly around sustainable land management practices. Long-term tenancy agreements have been identified as a viable option to cope with short-term uncertainties and improve the environmental management of the land. In this study, we analysed the factors influencing farmers’ intention to adopt long-term land leasing with and without income tax incentives in Northern Ireland. To achieve our objective, we employed ordered logistic regression models complemented with qualitative analysis. The results of our analyses showed that varying factors including risk attitude, pro-environmental behaviour, profit consciousness, having a dairy enterprise, the area of farmland owned, the presence of a successor, and the age and education of the farmer influence farmers’ intention to adopt long-term land leasing. However, variability exists depending on the farmers’ rental status and availability of income tax incentives. It can be concluded from the study that policies aimed at encouraging long-term land leasing should take a holistic approach that incorporates environmental and socioeconomic factors.This research was funded by the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) as part of the Evidence and Innovation Programme (DAERA E&I), grant number 19-1-05

Understanding the drivers and motivations of farm diversification: 1 Evidence from Northern Ireland using a mixed methods approach

Publication history: Accepted - 28 October;Farmers are increasingly required to become more productive and innovative to ensure effective 9 management of farm resources and to improve their livelihoods. Farm diversification has been 10 identified as a viable strategy that can be adopted by farm businesses to achieve these objectives 11 in order to reduce their reliance on agricultural production as the main source of household 12 income. In this study, we employ a mixed methods approach to analyse the factors influencing 13 farm diversification and diversification strategies in Northern Ireland. The challenges of setting 14 up a farm diversification enterprise were also explored. Data collection and analysis were 15 undertaken by combining both quantitative and qualitative approaches in a two-stage process 16 using primary data obtained from a survey of farm businesses and interviews with key 17 stakeholders involved in the Northern Ireland agricultural sector. The study results show that the 18 primary motivating factor in pursuing farm-level diversification is the need to generate additional 19 income. The analysis has shown that farm level diversification has the capacity to contribute to 20 both the sustainability of family farms and the wider rural economy. The study results support 21 the need for governments to explore the development of policy measures to support 22 diversification at farm level

Toward a Resilient Future: The Promise of Microbial Bioeconomy

Publication history: Accepted - 19 April 2023; Published - 27 April 2023.Naturally occurring resources, such as water, energy, minerals, and rare earth elements, are limited in availability, yet they are essential components for the survival and development of all life. The pressure on these finite resources is anthropogenic, arising from misuse, overuse, and overdependence, which causes a loss of biodiversity and climate change and poses great challenges to sustainable development. The focal points and principles of the bioeconomy border around ensuring the constant availability of these natural resources for both present and future generations. The rapid growth of the microbial bioeconomy is promising for the purpose of fostering a resilient and sustainable future. This highlights the economic opportunity of using microbial-based resources to substitute fossil fuels in novel products, processes, and services. The subsequent discussion delves into the essential principles required for implementing the microbial bioeconomy. There is a further exploration into the latest developments and innovations in this sub-field. The multi-sectoral applications include use in bio-based food and feed products, energy recovery, waste management, recycling, and cascading. In multi-output production chains, enhanced microbes can simultaneously produce multiple valuable and sustainable products. The review also examines the barriers and facilitators of bio-based approaches for a sustainable economy. Despite limited resources, microbial-based strategies demonstrate human ingenuity for sustaining the planet and economy. This review highlights the existing research and knowledge and paves the way for a further exploration of advancements in microbial knowledge and its potential applications in manufacturing, energy production, reduction in waste, hastened degradation of waste, and environmental conservation.This research received no external funding

Unraveling the impact of variable external input use on the cost efficiency of dairy farms in Europe

Publication history: Accepted - 11 October 2020; Published online - 12 October 2020There has been a global shift towards intensification in the dairy sector in recent years which may have considerable impact on the cost efficiency and economic returns of farms. Considering this, the goal of this study is to offer an empirical analysis of the effect of variable external input use on dairy farms. Employing a novel Activity Analysis Model (AAM), the study analysis was conducted in two distinct but complementary steps. In the first step, we discriminated two technologies (low and high inputs) which allow us to classify a sample of dairy farms according to their level of intensification, while in the second step, we evaluated two cost efficient frontiers instead of assessing individual farm inefficiency scores. With this approach, we explore different technologies within a sample of EU dairy farms. Our results, on average, shows that agricultural practices using low inputs dominates the high input ones for farms operating on a large scale while a slight dominance of high input over low inputs exist for small scale farmers. While we reckon that low input can be cost competitive with their high input counterparts, we also note that regional differences do exist. Thus, showing that the significant gap between the two discriminating frontiers depends not only on farm size but also on farm region. We found that increased cost efficiency can reduce the negative environmental impact of EU-dairy farms while simultaneously reducing farmers’ production costs. The results of the study can therefore provide a direction to policymakers and dairy farmers alike as regards the efficient use of external inputs which may consequently reduce environmental burdens associated with dairy farms.This work was supported by the European Commission project Sustainable Organic and LI Dairying (SOLID) funded Framework 7 Contract no. 266367

Assessing the impact of participatory extension programme membership on farm business performance in Northern Ireland.

Publication history: Accepted - 26 September 2021; Published online - 30 September 2021.This paper evaluates the impact of membership of the Business Development Groups (BDG), a participatory extension programme in Northern Ireland on the economic performance of participating farmers for dairy and sheep enterprise groups. The study employs the conditional difference-in-differences approach which combines a non-parametric matching estimator with a difference-in-differences analytical technique to obtain a credible best-estimates of the causal effect of BDG membership on farmers’ economic performance assuming that BDG participation is as good as random after controlling for observable farm characteristics and that the parallel trends assumption holds between BDG participants and non-participants. The results of the analyses showed that membership in the BDG programme has a statistically significant impact on the economic performance of participating farmers. Specifically, the results showed that farmers who are members of the dairy and sheep BDGs increased their gross margin by £109.10 and £17.10 per head respectively compared to farmers that are non-members of the BDGs. The results of the study provide robust evidence to inform policy development around the area of participatory extension programmes. It also supports the design of efficient agricultural education and extension systems that incorporates the ideas of the farmers themselves through peer-to-peer learning thereby maximising the economic and social benefits accruable from such programmes.This research was undertaken as part of the Northern Ireland Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs Evidence and Innovation Programme (DAERA E&I 18/1/01)—Impact of RDP: Evaluation of the Rural Development Programme 2014–2020, Farm Business Improvement Scheme-Longitudinal Stud

Analysis of the effect of alternative agri-environmental policy instruments on production performance and nitrogen surplus of representative dairy farms

peer-reviewedNitrogen (N) surplus is an important environmental problem on the island of Ireland (Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland), and the dairy sector has been identified as contributing more to this problem compared to other agricultural sectors. As a result, there has been increased demand for efficient policy measures to improve the economic and environmental performance of dairy farms in the region. In this study, we employed the positive mathematical programming (PMP) optimization modelling framework to simulate the economic and environmental impact of two alternative agri-environmental policy instruments on different dairy farm types. Specifically, the study considers the effects of an N surplus tax and an agri-environmental nutrient application standard on the production performance and N surplus of representative dairy farms using scenario analyses. The results of the analyses showed that the effects of the agri-environmental policy instruments vary across the two countries and clusters of dairy farms, resulting in clear differential effects on farm structure and N surpluses. The study concluded that in situations where the nutrient surplus is already high, as with the large farms clusters in this study, the use of manure application standards will be more effective in limiting nutrient surplus to soils compared to the use of nutrient surplus tax

Gamma and Beta functions

U ovom radu prezentirana su neka osnovna svojstva gama i beta funkcija te iskazan Bohr-Mollerupov teorem. Osim toga, razmatrane su primjene gama i beta funkcija pri računanju integrala koje nije moguće izračunati uobičajenim metodama.In this paper, some properties of gamma and beta functions are given and the Bohr-Mollerup theorem is presented. Applications of gamma and beta functions in calculating integrals that cannot be solved by conventional methods are also considered

EFFICIENCY DIFFERENTIALS OF FOREIGN AND LOCAL FARMERS IN KWARA STATE, NIGERIA

ABSTRACT The Nigerian agricultural sector is dominated by small scale farmers who by virtue of their low income have dwindling capacity to access and procure capital, labour and modern inputs. In theory, it is believed that foreign direct investment in agriculture is essential to ameliorate this problem of inadequate capital faced by the farmers and consequently raise agricultural productivity. However, debate relating to the veracity of this statement and the sustainability of the concept still rages on. This study therefore attempted to examine issues of productive efficiencies between foreign and domestic farmers in Kwara State, Nigeria. The study was conducted in Shonga, Edu Local Government Area of Kwara State. A two stage random sampling technique was used to obtain data from 50 domestic farmers and the enumeration of all the foreign commercial farmers from Zimbabwe in the study area. Major tools of analysis used for the study include: Descriptive Statistics and Data Envelopment analysis. Results of the study revealed a higher mean Technical Allocative and Economic Efficiencies for the New Nigerian farmers (Foreign Commercial Farmers) compared to that of the domestic farmers with a significant difference in the means of the overall Economic Efficiency between the two groups. It was therefore established in the study that foreign commercial farmers are more efficient than the domestic farmers. In line with the result of the study, it is recommended that the government should design policy strategies that would encourage private sector participation and technology transfer as well as ensure the use of modern farming techniques to increase efficiency of agricultural production in the country