How Beautiful! If I Get Back My Childhood Days!

In the present poetry the poet speaks about the days which were gone in 1980s those are the beautiful days and how one could live like a butterfly, playing very freely without bothering about time, whether it is day or night, boy or girl, caste or religion ignoring all these one could live amicably with everyone. In those days one could reach schools by bullock carts or cape carts and few on foot from far places with barefoot. In 1980s one could play in the rain with paper boats and making toys with clay and playing with all these toys. In those days one wouldn’t have any kind of attracted gadgets like smart phones or tabs, electronic gadgets so, one could enjoy freely without any hurdles. Here,the poet has expressed, how one could enjoyed during the summer at grand mother’s home and what kind of games were played, how one could chase the wild rabbits and bores during the summer days at orange grove and what kind of drinks were taken to quench thirst at chasing time and so on. In those days one could pray for the God for others too because people were very affectionated and lovable. That is why, the poet wishes to get back those beautiful childhood days once again. Because the present generation does not have all the above said things and it is like a mechanical or robotic life what they have been having.

Combining Satellite Images and Cadastral Information for Outdoor Autonomous Mapping and Navigation: A Proof-of-Concept Study in Citric Groves

The development of robotic applications for agricultural environments has several problems which are not present in the robotic systems used for indoor environments. Some of these problems can be solved with an efficient navigation system. In this paper, a new system is introduced to improve the navigation tasks for those robots which operate in agricultural environments. Concretely, the paper focuses on the problem related to the autonomous mapping of agricultural parcels (i.e., an orange grove). The map created by the system will be used to help the robots navigate into the parcel to perform maintenance tasks such as weed removal, harvest, or pest inspection. The proposed system connects to a satellite positioning service to obtain the real coordinates where the robotic system is placed. With these coordinates, the parcel information is downloaded from an online map service in order to autonomously obtain a map of the parcel in a readable format for the robot. Finally, path planning is performed by means of Fast Marching techniques using the robot or a team of two robots. This paper introduces the proof-of-concept and describes all the necessary steps and algorithms to obtain the path planning just from the initial coordinates of the robot.

Could Photovoltaic Parks be More Profitable as an Investment Compared to Tree Crops in Mediterranean Water Scarce Regions?

Food security and access to electricity are considered core elements forthedevelopment of modern societies. In some cases, energy supplies are prioritized and therefore may compete with food resources. Since 2009, the sudden increase of photovoltaic system investments in Greece and particularly in Crete, as an effort to comply with the European directives on sustainable energy sources, led tothe replacement of many fieldsof traditional agricultural cultivations (such as olive and orange trees) with photovoltaic parks.The aim of this paper is to estimate the economic benefit of the investment of photovoltaic parks on farmlands compared to the cultivation of olive and citrus crops.To this end, two different scenarios were investigated. In the first scenario, the replacement of a 1000 m2 olive grove area,located in highly productive land, witha small photovoltaic park of 25 kW was investigated. The second scenarioconsidersa much larger photovoltaic park of 100 kW which replaces an orange grove of 3500 m2 at highly productive land. It was found that in both cases,the profitability of the investment, for a time span of 20 yrs, was highly dependent on the time when the power purchase agreement was signed. As a general rule, investments made before 2013 can be characterized as profitable. After 2013, the situation became more complex and the financial success of the investments is not guaranteed.

Farmers’ Experiences with the Giant African Snail Infestation: A Case Study in the Orange Grove Farming District, Trinidad West Indies

The giant African snail was confirmed to be present in Trinidad in October, 2008. The study presents a case study on the farmers’ experiences with the giant African snail in Orange Grove, an active agricultural district in Trinidad which confirmed the presence of the snail in 2016, eight years after it was confirmed on the island. A qualitative approach was undertaken for this investigation. A semi-structured survey instrument was administered to thirty (30) participants who were impacted by the presence of the snail in their crop production fields. A purposive and convenience sampling strategy was used to select the participants for the study. Additionally, prolonged engagement and persistent observation techniques were used to capture the farmers’ experiences with the snail infestation in their crop fields for a period of ten (10) months. The information gathered from the study was analyzed using thematic analysis. The main themes derived from the analysis were “crop production practices influence on the giant African snail infestation”, “unmanaged and excessive weed growth” and “current approaches for controlling the giant African snail”. The study concluded that uncoordinated approaches for the management of the snail population and the lack of collective action among the members of the farming community could sustain the pest population in this farming area. Strategic planning and collective synchronized action among the farmers are crucial to containing, suppressing and eradicating the snail population within this crop farming area.

First record of Aphis citricola van der Goot (Homoptera: Aphididae) on citrus in Southern Greece

The green citrus aphid, Aphis citricola van der Goot, known also as spiraea aphid, Aphis spiraecola Patch, was first noticed in an orange grove, cv Washington Navel, in Korinthia southern Greece during spring 1986. It was collected from tender shoots as early as about mid March and was also found in large numbers in samples taken during April and May and in lesser numbers in October and November of the same year. It was also collected from clementine trees during May. During 1987 this species was also present in samples taken from another orange grove, cv Washington navel, located in the Co. Korinthia as well. It was found later in the season, in May, as compared with the previous year. That was due to the snow and the extremely cold weather that occurred during March, which resulted in the destruction of young growth and hence in the delay of the aphid appearance. A. citricola has been previously recorded in Greece on Matricaria chamomilla L., Crataegus pyracantha Pers. and Solanum tuberosum L., on Zinnia elegans.Jacq. and on Prunus armeniaca L. and Pimpinella anisum L. A. citricola is a small aphid with 1.2-2.2 min length and body yellowish green to apple green. Siphunculi and cauda are dark brown and the head is brown in apterac. It is very similar to Aphis pomi De Geer and is often confused with it in the literature, especially on Rosaceae. A. pomi has lateral tubercles on abdominal segments 2-4, rarely fewer than 14 hairs on cauda and length of the last rostral segment more than 130µm. A. citricola has no lateral tubercles on abdominal segments 2-4, usually fewer than 12 hairs on cauda, and last rostra] segment less than 120µm in length. One more difference concerns the shape of the cauda which is more elongate and visibly notched at base in A. citricola than in A. poini. A. citricola causes curling and distortion of the leaves, especially of those near apices of tender shoots of the host plants. This is very characteristic in certain citrus such as orange and clementine trees. It is a highly polyphagus species that occurs on hosts belonging to more than 20 families, including Amaranthaccae, Caprifoliaccae, Compositae, Euphorbiaccac, Rosaccae, Rubiaccae, Rutaceae, Urticaceae and Verbenaceac but is of particular importance on citrus. A. citricola is considered the most harmful aphid species for orange, mandarins and clementine trees in Italy and in other citrus growing countries of the Mediterranean basin. This species was known in North America at least since 1907 and was introduced to the Mediterranean region in about 1931. A. citricola appeared in citrus groves in Mediterranean countries almost 20 years ago, while it was first recorded in Israel in 1970 and became a major pest in citrus groves in 1973. It is a vector of citrus tristeza virus but its ability for transmitting this virus is much lower than that of Toxoptera citricidus (Kirkaldy). A. citricola may reproduce either anholocyclically or holocyclically. Anholocyclic reproduction occurs in many parts of the world and is considered as more frequent. Nevertheless, holocyclic reproduction also occurs, and in this case, the genus Spiraea of Rosaccae is the primary host, although oviposition may take place on the same citrus trees in Japan. The intrinsic rate of natural increase of the aphid attained its maximum at a constant temperature near 27°C. The numbers of A. citricola found in the samples from cv Washington navel were large and higher than those of Toxoptera aurantii (Boyer de Fonscolombe), when the latter species was present. With the assumption that such large numbers occur also in other areas of the country, A. citricola should be the dominant and most harmful aphid species on citrus in Greece, as this is the case in other Mediterranean countries.

Factors affecting faculty use of learning object repositories

Purpose – The purpose of this study was to identify factors that motivate or impede faculty use of learning object repositories (LORs). The unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) served as the theoretical framework for this study. Design/methodology/approach – The study used both quantitative and qualitative approaches to explore two research questions relating to factors affecting faculty use of LORs. Research subjects were faculty users in two- or four-year colleges or universities from two LORs: Orange Grove and Wisconsin Online Resource Center (Wisc-Online). Two phases of the study were conducted. Phase I of the study collected data by semi-structured interviews, and data were analyzed by a content analysis method. Based on the results of Phase I, Phase II collected data by a survey instrument, and data were analyzed by descriptive statistics and analysis of variance. Findings – The study identified 22 factors as motivators for faculty use of LORs and 13 factors as barriers for faculty use of LORs. Research limitations/implications – The research policies of Orange Grove and Wisc-Online limited the selection of study participants. Lack of a random sample and a small sample size limited the generalizability of the results and findings of the study. However, as an exploratory research, the results and findings of the study are still valuable for LOR builders and managers to get a better understanding of factors affecting faculty use of LORs, and to develop strategies to recruit more faculty members to use LORs. Practical implications – The findings and results of the study can inform designers and managers of LORs about what positively or negatively influences faculty use of LORs, and serve as a basis to develop strategies to recruit faculty members to use LORs. Originality/value – First, this study identified the factors that motivate or impede faculty use of LORs from actual faculty users’ perspectives, so these factors more accurately reflect LORs’ values to faculty in teaching and course design and the barriers for faculty use of LORs in a practical environment. Second, this study is among the first known to explore these factors using UTAUT as the theoretical framework, and the results of the study also validate UTAUT in the context of faculty use of LORs.