DEVELOPMENT AND TEST OF CORN STRAW KNEADING AND CONVEYING DEVICE

Aiming at the low comprehensive utilization rate of corn straw resources, a straw kneading and cutting conveyor suitable for corn harvester was designed to improve the utilization rate of corn straw resources. The workbench module of ANSYS is used to carry out modal analysis of the two blades, and it is determined that the vibration frequency will not cause damage to the blade sweeping bore. By changing the structure of the movable blade shaft, the speed of the blade shaft can be reduced while ensuring the effect of straw crushing and collecting. In order to determine the best working parameters, three-factor and three-level orthogonal test was carried out with blade arrangement, blade shaft speed and length of feed straw as test factors, and the crushing rate of straw as evaluation index. The results show that the main factors influencing the crushing rate of straw are blade shaft speed, blade arrangement and the minor factor is the length of feed straw. Finally, the optimum combination parameters, blade arrangement, blade shaft speed 400 r/min and whole plant feed with straw, were determined. The corresponding straw crushing rate was 96.39%. The research meets the requirements of straw crushing and can provide technical scheme for comprehensive utilization of corn straw.

Quality of carcasses and meat from male and female rabbits

Meat from rabbits offers high nutritive properties as it has high levels of essential amino acids, minerals and vitamins. Rabbit meat is also regarded lean, since it contains less fat than many other meat types. The composition of rabbit meat lipids is also favourable due to higher contents of unsaturated fatty acids compared to other types of meat. The aim of the present study was to examine and compare meat quality from male and female rabbits. A total of 24 rabbits (12 males and 12 females) were used. The rabbits were slaughtered at an age of 17–18 weeks. The following parameters were studied: slaughter traits, colour, pH, cooking loss, tenderness, total fat content and water holding capacity (WHC). Interestingly, the ultimate pH was significantly lower in male compared to female rabbits (p = 0.008). Moreover, cooking losses were higher in the meat from male rabbits (p = 0.001). No other relevant differences were found between meat from male and female rabbits suggesting that sex might be regarded as a minor factor in the production of rabbit meat at the chosen slaughter age.

PENERAPAN KAIZEN UNTUK MENGURANGI LOSS TIME DALAM PENINGKATAN PRODUKTIVITAS MESIN INFRARED WELDING (STUDI KASUS PT. MITSUBA INDONESIA)

PT Mitsuba Indonesia is a factory engaged in the manufacture of electrical automotive spare parts. The LED winker lamp is the newest product whose production demand is always increasing. The large demand for LED winker lamp products must of course be balanced with the readiness of production machines which are always in good condition. But in practice, the results of the production achievement are still low, this is due to the high machine loss time, especially in infrared welding machines. This study discusses the application of kaizen which aims to find the causes of loss time, make improvements in order to reduce loss time and determine loss time and productivity after repairs are made. The method used to analyze the causes of loss time is to calculate the value of six big losses and analysis of the cause and effect diagram. The analysis results showed that the idling minor factor and stoppages losses caused by part drop error and the set up and adjustment losses factor caused by a change in the type of production jig. Improvements made to the part drop error were adding 1 set of regulators. Meanwhile, the change in the production jig type is to modify the locking system on the lower and upper heater jig. Based on these improvements, it was able to reduce the loss time to 4.86% and productivity to increase 7.50% in July. Loss time fell 4.70% and productivity increased 7.90% in August.Keywords: LED winker lamp, infrared welding machine, loss time, six big losses, productivity.

Watershed-scale forest biomass distribution in a perhumid temperate rainforest as driven by topographic, soil, and disturbance variables

Temperate rainforests are the most carbon dense forest ecosystem on the planet, with C stocks several times higher than most other forested biomes. While climatic and disturbance drivers of these C stocks are relatively well explored, the spatial distribution of those stocks at the scale of entire watersheds is less well known, particularly in perhumid rainforests where research has been minimal. This study explored biomass distributions across an entire watershed simultaneously, from ocean to glacial icefields, in Southeast Alaska. Utilizing LiDAR and ground surveys, biomass was modelled throughout the landscape and distributions are described statistically. The dominant driver of biomass distributions at this scale (controlling for elevation) was the flow of water through the landscape: areas of higher water accumulation typically had low biomass (often <10 Mg·ha–1), whereas well-drained areas supported biomass approaching 950 Mg·ha–1. This relationship was strong at all elevations; only riparian locations (typically well-drained soils) maintained high biomass at low slopes. Exposure to stand-replacing disturbances, often a dominant driver, was only a minor factor. This work emphasizes the importance of water in temperate rainforests and the potentially significant impacts of changes to biomass given changes in precipitation (both increasing and decreasing) due to global climate change.

Evaluation of Integrated Farming of Rice and Duck on Rice Grain Yield in Gilan, Iran

In order to evaluate integrated farming of rice and duck on rice grain yield, an experiment was performed on Oryza sativa L. in Gilan, Iran in 2013. This experiment was performed based on factorial split and it was also according to plan of randomized complete block (RCB) in three replications. In this experiment the main factor of duck was between two levels (by presence of duck and without presence of duck) and the minor factor was the factorial combination of weeding levels (weeding on the releasing day of ducks and not weeding on the releasing day of ducks); and also the planting spaces were 20×20 cm, 25×25 cm, 30×30 cm.The results of the analysis of variance show that the presence of duck in a rice field causes increasing in plant height, the number of grains per panicle, the number of filled grains per panicle, weight of thousands grains, harvest index (HI) and grain yield. In total, results and statistics show that using duck in rice fields causes increasing in grain yield and consequently it increases farmer’s income and also reduction of using agricultural pesticides and protecting the environment.

EFEK SISA ASAM HUMAT DARI KOMPOS ALANG-ALANG DAN PENGELOLAAN AIR DALAM MENGURANGI KELARUTAN BESI (FE) PADA TANAH SAWAH BUKAAN BARU

The research about residue effect of humic acid from imperata compost and water management to decrease the dissolved of iron (fe) on recently used ricefield had been conducted from march till august 2007. The objective is to study residue effect of humic acidity aplication and water management to controlling Fe and to increase rice production on recently used ricefield. The experiment using design factorial 2 x 4 with three replication wich is place as the split plot. The major factor is water management consisted of two treatment, thos were continously flooded (P1) and flooded and dried (intermittence) with two week interval (P2). The minor factor are four level from residue effect of humic acid (0, 200, 400, 600 ppm). The result of this study can provided the information that residue effect of humic acid at 600 ppm can reduce solubility of Fe2+ from 327,91 to 37,53 ppm for continously flooded and from 173,51 to 38,13 ppm for intermitten flooded. And the yield of rice (dry weight of 1000 grain ad straw) increase as much as 4,9 and 5,38 g with residue effect of humic acid at 600 ppm combination with intermittence flooded.Key word : humic acid, iron, recently used ricefield, intermittence, flooded.

Individual differences in reasoning: Implications for the rationality debate?

Much research in the last two decades has demonstrated that human responses deviate from the performance deemed normative according to various models of decision making and rational judgment (e.g., the basic axioms of utility theory). This gap between the normative and the descriptive can be interpreted as indicating systematic irrationalities in human cognition. However, four alternative interpretations preserve the assumption that human behavior and cognition is largely rational. These posit that the gap is due to (1) performance errors, (2) computational limitations, (3) the wrong norm being applied by the experimenter, and (4) a different construal of the task by the subject. In the debates about the viability of these alternative explanations, attention has been focused too narrowly on the modal response. In a series of experiments involving most of the classic tasks in the heuristics and biases literature, we have examined the implications of individual differences in performance for each of the four explanations of the normative/descriptive gap. Performance errors are a minor factor in the gap; computational limitations underlie non-normative responding on several tasks, particularly those that involve some type of cognitive decontextualization. Unexpected patterns of covariance can suggest when the wrong norm is being applied to a task or when an alternative construal of the task should be considered appropriate.

Teaching Deficit Disorder

This letter is in regard to the letter to the editor titled "Teaching Deficit Disorder" by Daniel L. Zeidner, MD, which appeared in the August 1995 edition of Pediatrics. It is disappointing that the editors would chose to publish this letter, which appears to be a backhanded swipe at the diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Dr Zeidner appears to be casting doubt on the validity of the diagnosis. It is agreed that boring teachers do cause fidgetiness, but this is such a minor factor that it is not worth emphasizing.