An Optimization Technique for Ranch Management

Water is a scarce resource; it is a vital resource in the production of crops for livestock that will directly impact supply chain costs. Many costs occur in poorly deployed irrigation systems that don’t fully utilize land potential, thereby, not produce the proper yield of crops for livestock. An irrigation system can not only reduce initial set up and maintenance costs but reduces land waste while increasing yield of dry matter feed. This research presents a cost benefit analysis approach to determine the practicability of installing an irrigation system onto 54 acres of ranch land by employing the use of linear programming. Specifically, by examining factors that impact costs and production, a generalized model was developed to better understand how this system works on any ranch. These results indicate by optimizing land to its fullest capacity for dry matter, one can then maximize profits generated. This research found the profitability of employing an irrigation system is beneficial even at lower production yields when compared to land with no irrigation system

Freedom Of Speech And Censorship In The Internet

Internet censorship or internet content filtering is used to protect people from harmful materials, such as child pornography, as well as defamation and fraud, which are easily perpetrated on the internet. However, implementing censorship creates technical and social issues, such as over-blocking or false detection, decreased network performance, and freedom of speech. This paper describes internet content filtering approaches and technical difficulties to implementation. This paper also discusses censorship and freedom of speech with actual examples

Developing Early Risk Detection and Preparedness System with Risk Analysis and Contingency Plan

PresentationWhen the natural or human-made disasters, such as hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, wildfires and gas leaks, threaten a populated area, mass casualties and property losses may be followed. To avoid, minimize or eliminate the risks for public safety, a well-organized early risk detection and preparedness system is needed in order to save lives and minimize losses. To make this early detection system efficient yet effective, a mobile app, risk preparedness aid, was developed. This aid system can communicate with sensors, location information, and disaster management server. The aid was designed using the concepts of location based service and risk management and it includes gas leak detection, warning and emergency evacuation procedure with routing. Based on the identified risks and preparing procedure, various contingency plans were developed. The contingency plans should be very clear so that it is easy for public and employee to follow. Because each system has unique infrastructure its contingency plan must be unique. This paper also shows an evacuation process in the form of a flowchart for ease of use in the event of an emergency

Minimizing Response Time with Optimal Fire Station Allocation

Quick response time in emergency situation is critical to protect human lives. In the fast-growing cities, fire departments can fall behind the standard response time due to cities’ expansion. This research focuses on ways to improve the response time of a city’s emergency situation. A Non-linear Programming model is used to determine the locations of fire stations, so that they can cover the maximum number of residents, in terms of the geographical area and population. The model is applied to the city of Kingsville, Texas to check the practicability. The results of the research indicate that optimized locations make population coverage increment up to 15% and geographic coverage increment up to 21% with two fire stations. With three fire stations including a newly added fire station, the population coverage goes up to 48% increment and the geographic coverage increased up to 71%, which covers 88% of total city population