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Ensuring Water Supply Amid Extreme Weather
No full textA comprehensive, long-term strategy is essential for managing water supply, wastewater collection, and treatment during flooding and antecedent periods.
Natural and engineered hydro systems must align with environmental and climate change strategies, using dual-function reservoirs and flood-resilient measures. Implementing practical strategies can ensure uninterrupted water supply in Caribbean communities during natural disasters.
Floods and droughts pose significant challenges to water supply systems, disrupting access to clean water and threatening public health. To address this, innovative strategies for critical infrastructure are needed to ensure uninterrupted water supply during flood events and droughts
Exploring inclusion in UK agricultural robotics development: who, how, and why?
Get PDFThe global agricultural sector faces a significant number of challenges for a sustainable future, and one of the tools proposed to address these challenges is the use of automation in agriculture. In particular, robotic systems for agricultural tasks are being designed, tested, and increasingly commercialised in many countries. Much touted as an environmentally beneficial technology with the ability to improve data management and reduce the use of chemical inputs while improving yields and addressing labour shortages, agricultural robotics also present a number of potential ethical challenges – including rural unemployment, the amplification of economic and digital inequalities, and entrenching unsustainable farming practices. As such, their development is not uncontroversial, and there have been calls for a responsible approach to their innovation that integrates more substantive inclusion into development processes. This study investigates current approaches to participation and inclusion amongst United Kingdom (UK) agricultural robotics developers. Through semi-structured interviews with key members of the UK agricultural robotics sector, we analyse the stakeholder engagement currently integrated into development processes. We explore who is included, how inclusion is done, and what the inclusion is done for. We reflect on how these findings align with the current literature on stakeholder inclusion in agricultural technology development, and suggest what they could mean for the development of more substantive responsible innovation in agricultural robotics
Measuring and modelling the impact of outdoor pigs on soil carbon and nutrient dynamics under a changing climate and different management scenarios
Get PDFA mixed agricultural system that integrates livestock and cropping is essential to organic, agroecological, and regenerative farming. The demand for improved welfare systems has made the practice of outdoor rearing of pigs very popular; it currently makes up 40% of the UK pig industry and has also been integrated into arable rotations. Besides the benefits of outdoor production systems, they also potentially pose environmental risks to farmlands, such as accumulation of nitrogen and phosphorus in the soil, soil erosion and compaction and carbon loss. Despite this, the impact of outdoor pigs and arable crop rotations on soil health has been under-researched relative to other livestock species. This study was conducted at the University of Leeds Research Farm from 2018 to 2020 using a combined experimental and modelling approach to understand the impact of outdoor pigs on soil carbon and nutrient dynamics. The physio-chemical properties of arable soil were measured prior to the introduction of the pigs and after introducing the pigs at the end of first and second years, consecutively. There was assessment of control sites (without pigs, mowing once a year) and pig pens (pigs in a rotation with arable crops). The soil was sampled at two different depths, 0–10 cm and 10–20 cm. It was observed that measured soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks in the soil depths of 0–10 cm and 10–20 cm layer were decreased by 7% and 3%, respectively, in the pig pens from 2019 to 2020, and total available nitrogen and phosphorus were significantly higher in pig pens than the control sites. Hence, at a depth between 0 and 20 cm, the average total available nitrogen was 2.51 and 2.68 mg kg−1 in the control sites and 21.76 and 20.45 mg kg−1 in the pig pens in 2019 and 2020, respectively. The average total available phosphorus at 0–20 cm was 26.54 and 37.02 mg kg−1 in control sites and 48.15 and 63.58 mg kg−1 in pig pens during 2019 and 2020, respectively. A process-based model (DayCent) was used to simulate soil carbon and nitrogen dynamics in the arable rotation with outdoor pigs and showed SOC stock losses of – 0.09 ± 0.23 T C ha−1 year−1 using the future climate CMIP5 RCP 8.5 scenario for 2020 to 2048. To reduce this loss, we modelled the impact of changing the management of the pig rotation and found that the loss of SOC stock could be decreased by shortening the period of pig retention in the field, growing grass in the field, and leguminous crops in the crop rotation
Wildflower strips in polytunnel cherry orchard alleyways support pest regulation services but do not counteract edge effects on pollination services
Get PDFSweet cherry (Prunus avium) production relies on modern growing practices like polytunnel coverings to improve yields but this may interrupt arthropod-mediated ecosystem services. The distribution of beneficial arthropods (natural enemies and flower visitors) and the ecosystem services they provide may be affected under polytunnel systems, especially at orchard edges. Across 10 commercial cherry orchards grown in polytunnels, we explored how wildflower strips mitigated edge effects on beneficial arthropods and pest regulation and pollination services. In each orchard, we established a standard wildflower strip (SWS; single cut at the end of the season) and an actively managed wildflower strip (AMWS; regularly cut at 20 cm height) between tree rows and compared this to a conventional control strip (CS). We recorded natural enemies in alleyways and cherry trees post-cherry anthesis (flowering) and flower visitors during and post-cherry anthesis at different distances from the orchard edge (2017-2019). In 2019, we deployed insect prey bait cards in trees to measure pest regulation services and recorded fruit quality (2017-2019) and fruit set (2018-2019) to measure pollination services. Distance from the orchard edge did not affect natural enemy density or diversity in any year or under any alleyway treatment, but pest regulation services decreased towards orchard centres with CS (by 33.0% reduction). Flower visitor density (-34% individuals) and diversity declined with distance from the edge during cherry anthesis. For post-cherry anthesis, marginal negative edge effects were observed for flower visitor density and diversity and behaviour. Overall, fruit set decreased towards the orchard centre while fruit quality increased. Our results suggest that wildflower strips are an effective tool to mitigate edge effects on pest regulation services but have limited effects on flower visitors and pollination
Supplementary material for K. Hemmings and P. Rollings. 'This disagreeable weed': arable plant conservation may benefit from historic publication insights, Environment and History (2025)
Get PDFEvaluating machine learning-based elephant recognition in complex African landscapes using drone imagery
Get PDFThis paper evaluates a machine learning-based approach for identifying and analyzing African bush elephants within complex terrains using high-resolution drone imagery. With human-wildlife conflict posing a significant threat to elephants worldwide, accurate and efficient monitoring techniques are crucial, yet challenging in diverse landscapes. Our study utilizes approximately 3,180 drone-captured images from Kasungu National Park in Malawi, encompassing various terrains including dense forests
and open bushlands. These images were systematically preprocessed and analyzed using three distinct ML algorithms: Faster R-CNN, RetinaNet, and Mask R-CNN, each fine-tuned for identification of elephants across different age groups. Comparative performance metrics revealed nuanced strengths and limitations: Faster R-CNN showed notable proficiency in detecting adult elephants, particularly
in dense foliage. Mask R-CNN, while less precise overall, demonstrated increased effectiveness in identifying juveniles and infants. RetinaNet, optimized for larger images, showed particular adeptness with adult elephants but less so with younger ones. Despite these promising results, overall recognition rates were lower than ideal, highlighting the complexities of wildlife identification in natural settings. This study not only facilitates the identification and counting of individual elephants but also provides insights into the challenges of applying ML in complex ecological contexts. The derived insights can
assist conservationists and park officials in making informed decisions related to wildlife protection
and habitat preservation. Furthermore, the study offers a valuable blueprint for integrating AI and machine learning technology into wildlife conservation strategies, presenting a scalable model with potential applications for different species and geographic regions, while acknowledging the need for further refinement to enhance accuracy and reliability in diverse ecological settings
The impact of the Nigerian oil and gas local content policy on the development of its Higher Education Industry
No full textPsychological capital and the entrepreneurial performance of migrant workers: intermediary role of entrepreneurial opportunity identification
Get PDFPurpose – There is a pressing need for research on the difference in entrepreneurial performance influenced by
the integration of migrant workers’ psychological capital and entrepreneurial opportunity identification. In
addition, there is limited research on the association of entrepreneurial performance with different dimensions of
psychological capital and how these dimensions affect the entrepreneurial performance of migrant workers. This
research will partially address this gap in knowledge by assessing the influence of psychological capital and
entrepreneurial opportunity identification on the entrepreneurial performance of migrant workers in China.
Design/methodology/approach – This paper conducts a theoretical analysis of psychological capital,
entrepreneurial opportunity identification and entrepreneurial performance and proposes a theoretical model of
entrepreneurial opportunity identification acting as the intermediary role between psychological capital and the
entrepreneurial performance of migrant workers. Based on the data collected from 899 rural households in
Shaanxi Province, a structural equation model and a bootstrap method are used to verify the association between
psychological capital, entrepreneurial opportunity identification and entrepreneurial performance.
Findings – Both entrepreneurial opportunity identification and psychological capital are conducive to the
improvement of entrepreneurial performance. However, the entrepreneurial opportunity identification is found
to exert a more significant impact on the entrepreneurial performance of migrant workers than psychological
capital does. Findings have also revealed that the intermediary role of entrepreneurial opportunity identification
is more prominent in the relationship between adventure and innovation and the entrepreneurial performance of
migrant workers than that of self-confidence and optimism and entrepreneurial performance of migrant workers.
Originality/value – Based on the results of empirical analysis, the paper proposes corresponding policy
recommendations for guiding migrant workers to capitalize on their psychological capital, identify entrepreneurial
opportunities, weigh up entrepreneurial risks and ultimately improve their entrepreneurial performance
