Methodologische Probleme der Kooperation von Rechts- und Wirtschaftswissenschaft

Recent developments in economics and the science of law emphasize their cooperation for a better understanding of social structures and interactions, an effective application of social scientific knowledge and a rational evaluation and implementation of social norms. There are, however, difficult methodological problems in this project : Whereas economics is mainly (with the exception of welfare economics) an empirical science which collects information about economic activities and the functioning of the economic system, the science of law is a normative discipline aiming at solving social conflicts and establishing rational principles for judicial decisions. This paper elaborates on a three level-scheme for the interdisciplinary cooperation of law and economics addressing the different problems positive and normative economics face when applying economic knowledge on legal matters. The economic analysis of law is proposed as a model for a general transformation of the traditionally hermeneutical jurisprudence into an analytic - normative science of law based on theoretical explanation and rational evaluation of the consequences of legal rules and principles

A flow-shop problem formulation of biomass handling operations scheduling

Currently, the planning of the biomass collection operations is performed relying on the contractor's experience without the use of any dedicated planning tool. It is expected that more explicitly formulated planning tools would provide benefits on securing the supply chain of biomass feedstock. In this study, the problem of finding a permutation schedule for a number of geographically dispersed fields where biomass handling operations have to be carried out involving a number of sequential tasks, was formulated as a flow shop with sequence depended set up times scheduling problems as known in the industrial domain. By applying the approach to a case study involving experimental recording of the operations executions, the execution of an optimal schedule was found to give a reduction of 9.8% in the total time as compared to a schedule based on the tacit knowledge of the operations manager. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Performance of cotton residue collection machinery

Cotton is an important crop in Greece, covering more than 255,000 ha every year. Apart from the lint and seed, cotton produces large amounts of residues that can be used for energy production. The aim of this work was to study the performance of the machinery used for harvesting cotton residues. Conventional hay harvesting machinery was used for harvesting cotton residues in Central Greece. A mower, a rake and a baler were used for cutting, windrowing and baling cotton stalks, respectively. Data were collected from 41 fields. The performance of the farm machinery was recorded using low cost Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers, which also acted as data loggers, placed on each tractor. Data analysis was performed using the MATLAB (R) technical programming language. The effective time and the field capacity were estimated for each operation. The effective time was 69% for cutting, 68% for windrowing and 60% for baling. The measured average field capacities were 2.64 ha h(-1) (3.38 t h(-1)), 2.1 ha h(-1) (2.76 t h(-1)), and 3.71 ha h(-1) (4.47 t h(-1)), for the cutting, windrowing, and baling operations, respectively. These results are considerably different from the corresponding estimations for hay handling operations using existing available databases and software tools. This deviation reveals that average norms for the prediction of machinery performance during hay handling cannot be used for the scheduling of handling operations for cotton residues within the bioenergy production supply chain. (C) 2014 IAgrE. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Importance of measuring tillage implement forces for reduced fuel consumption and increased efficiency without affecting tillage depth

Tillage and especially ploughing is the most energy and cost demanding field operation. The cost of tillage operations in arable farming sometimes exceeds 50% of the total fuel costs for completing all field operations during the growing season. The objective of this study was to investigate the importance of measuring tillage implement forces at spatial scale for reducing fuel consumption and increasing efficiency without affecting the tillage depth. The results showed a reduction of 60% of fuel consumption in shallow tillage compared to deep tillage. Working with a heavy duty cultivator, up to 15% fuel consumption decrease was recorded by increasing working velocity from 5 to 7 km/h and up to 65% fuel consumption reduction was recorded by reducing engine speed from 2,200 rpm to 1,300 rpm, driving at 5 km/h

Soil spatial variability and site-specific fertilization maps in an apple orchard

In the present study, the spatial variability of some soil physical and chemical properties in a 0.8 ha apple orchard were studied. Sixty soil samples were taken from two sampling depths: 0-0.3 m and 0.3-0.6 m. The soil samples were analyzed for the following soil properties: soil texture, pH, cation exchange capacity and NO(3)-N, NH(4)-N, P, K, Na, Ca, Mg, Fe, Zn, Mn, Cu, B and organic matter content. Data analysis indicated that most of the nutrients were at sufficient levels. The site-specific application map for N was created based on the amount of N that was removed from the soil with the yield of the previous year. By applying N site-specifically, 38% of N could be saved compared to uniform application