Impact of Genetic Improvements of Rice on Its Water Use and Effects of Climate Variability in Egypt

Developing and disseminating resilient rice cultivars with increased productivity is a key solution to the problem of limited natural resources such as land and water. We investigated trends in rice cultivation areas and the overall production in Egypt between 2000 and 2018. This study identified rice cultivars that showed potential for high productivity when cultivated under limited irrigation. The results indicated that there were significant annual reductions in both the rice-cultivated area (−1.7% per year) and the production (−1.9% per year) during the study period. Among the commonly cultivated varieties, Sakha101 showed the highest land unit productivity, while Sakha102 showed the highest water unit productivity. The impact of deploying new cultivars was analyzed by substitution scenarios. The results showed that substituting cultivars Giza179 and Sakha107 has the potential to increase land productivity by 15.8% and 22.6%, respectively. This could result in 0.8 million m3 in water savings compared to 2018 water consumption. Long-term impacts of climate variability on the minimum and maximum temperature, relative humidity, and average precipitation during on- and off-season for rice productivity were also analyzed using an autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model. The results indicated that climate variability has an overall negative impact on rice productivity. Specifically, minimum temperature and on- and off-season precipitation had major long-term impacts, while higher relative humidity had a pronounced short-term impact on rice yields. The study revealed that short-duration cultivars with higher yields provided greater net savings in irrigation resources. These analyses are critical to guide the development of strategic management plans to mitigate short- and long-term climate effects on overall rice production and for developing and deploying improved rice varieties for sustainable rice production.

METHODOLOGY OF THE ANALYTICAL MODELING AND FACTOR ANALYSIS OF THE PRODUCTION EQUIPMENT PRODUCTIVITY

The article deals with the methodology of modeling and factor analysis of a production equipment unit productivity. It is emphasized that the productivity is an important generalizing indicator, that reflects the efficiency of the production equipment use. The final results of any enterprise’s activity directly depend on its absolute value and growth rates. The change of this indicator is influenced by various factors, that characterize the availability, structure and use of the production equipment in terms of time and capacity. In this regard, the factor analysis of the given indicator, i.e. the study of the influence of any individual factors on its change, has a relevant importance. The article emphasizes that the mathematical modeling of this indicator is an important way of solving any economic and statistical tasks, in particular, of studying the influence of the most important factors on the change in the productivity of a production equipment unit. The calculation of the quantitative influence of the mentioned factors on the change in the productivity of a production equipment unit is proposed to be carried out on the basis of the chain substitutions method. In the process of modeling of the factor systems of this indicator it is proposed to implement a phased factor analysis of a production equipment unit productivity, i.e. to consistently decompose the value of this index into a number of its initial indicators, which depending on the goals and objectives of the enterprise, gives the possibility to calculate the influence of those factors, that are the most significant and relevant at the moment. The methodology of the analytical modeling and factor analysis of production equipment productivity, given in the article, allows to present this indicator in the form of some deterministic multiplicative models, to determine the influence of the most important factors on its change, to investigate the regularities of such an influence, to justify the appropriate management decisions regarding the further development of the enterprise. Keywords: methodology, modeling, productivity, method, factor.

Influence of the plow length on the arable unit productivity

Schemes of acquisition of multi-hull wide-reach arable units in hinged and trailer variants are considered. The calculation of the main kinematic parameters and performance indicators of units with a tractor K-701, with sectional row, layout of the bodies on the frame of the plow. With the classical "plow" arrangement of twelve bodies on the plow frame with a width of 6.0 m, the kinematic length of the hinged unit varies from 2.0 to 12 m depending on the number of sections. With a similar arrangement of the bodies on the frame of the trailer plow, the width of the plow is also 6.0 m, but the kinematic length of the unit varies from 5.0 to 15m. as a result of theoretical studies, graphic dependences of the cyclic productivity of mounted and trailed arable units on the kinematic length of the plow when processing fields of different lengths are established.

Investigation of the Preferred Learning Styles of Persons Living with Dementia

The purpose of this investigation was to determine the preferred learning styles of persons living with dementia using the learning styles inventory for persons with dementia. Furthermore, this investigation evaluated unit productivity and job satisfaction of nursing assistants when activities of daily living were designed using the residents’ preferred learning styles. Revealed through literature review was the concern that nursing assistants in long-term care experience resident resistance to care and resident agitation which is often related to the resident’s cognitive decline and confusion which reduces unit productivity and makes task completion difficult. Also, through a literature review, the most significant job satisfaction for the nursing assistant was about the relationship that was experienced and shared with the residents in their care. Although a great deal of research exists on preferred learning styles of children and adults, there appear to be limited studies conducted on persons living with dementia. Also, there is limited information surrounding the subject of whether if knowing the preferred learning styles of patients living with dementia helps foster cooperation during activities of daily living and increases unit productivity while maintaining or improving nursing assistant relationships with their residents.

Systemic integrated method for assessing factors affecting construction timelines

To streamline construction planning, one needs to assess and perform trial modeling of organizational and process-related factors impacting the final planned performance indicators. A proper calendar plan, one that would take due account of said factors, has a substantial impact on the efficiency and, sometimes, even the feasibility of a construction project as a whole. Therefore, the purpose of this paper’s research is to develop a method for determining optimum technical and economic parameters. A method should be considered legitimate which, given the labour intensity of the jobs assigned to a crew and the list of such jobs, makes it possible to determine the time said jobs will take to perform depending on the variation of the following factors: crew/unit numbers, job synchronization degree, job performance sequence, number of shifts and unit productivity. The authors have studied the algorithm and the method for the trial modeling of organizational and process-related factors when developing a calendar plan in order to identify qualitative time-specific and feasibility parameters. The paper reviews the example of how the optimum performance timelines for each crew can be determined.