Tea Production Response to Seasonal Rainfall Variability: Evidence from Rwanda

Tea is a very important cash crop in Rwanda, as it provides crucial income and employment for farmers in poor rural areas. From 2017 to 2020, this study was intended to determine the impact of seasonal rainfall on tea output in Rwanda while still considering temperature, plot size (land), and fertiliser for tea plantations in three of Rwanda’s western, southern, and northern provinces, western province with “Gisovu” and “Nyabihu”, southern with “Kitabi”, and northern with “Mulindi” tea company. The study tested the level of statistical significance of all considered variables in different formulation of panel data models to assess individual behaviour of independent variables that would affect tea production. According to this study, a positive change in rainfall of 1 mm will increase tea production by 0.215 percentage points of tons of fresh leaves. Rainfall is a statistically significant variable among all variables with a positive impact on tea output Qitin Rwanda’s Western, Southern, and Northern provinces. Rainfall availability favourably affects tea output and supports our claim. Therefore, there is a need for collaboration efforts towards developing sustainable adaptation and mitigation options against climate change, targeting tea farming and the government to ensure that tea policy reforms are targeted towards raising the competitiveness of Rwandan tea at local and global market.

SMALLHOLDER ADOPTION OF GREEN PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGIES ON THE NORTH CHINA PLAIN: EVIDENCE FROM SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY BACKYARDS

Understanding the impact of agricultural socialized services on smallholder adoption of green production technologies and their mechanisms of action is of great importance for sustainability of farming systems.Currently,there were numerous related studies,but it is still unclear how to gradually achieve the diffusion of technological innovations on pilot sites to a regional level.To answer this question,this paper presents the pathways and mechanisms of green production technologies diffusion by comparing international typical service organizations or modes such as agricultural technology extension service centers(ATESC),farmer field schools(FFS),participatory technology innovation(PTI)and integrated colearning approach(ICLA),while taking Wangzhuang Science and Technology Backyard(WZ STB)in Quzhou,Hebei Province,China as an example.This research had three key outcomes.(1)The combination of collaborative,tree-shaped and jump-start diffusion modes promotes the diffusion of participatory technology innovation to different scales,such as farmers,villages and counties.(2)The three diffusion modes combine and expand the advantages of existing international modes.The collaborative diffusion mode not only provides full scope for the advantages of PTI,but also provides smallholders with service supply for the whole production period.The tree-shaped diffusion mode combines the advantages of FFS from point technology innovation to village diffusion,while achieving a full range of technical service support.The jump-start diffusion mode cannot only achieve large-scale technology diffusion like ATESC and ICLA,but also empower smallholders through adaptive technology innovation.(3)Trust is the key to promoting smallholder reliance on the science and technology provided by STB and to promote their adoption of green production technologies.Accordingly,the following policy recommendations were proposed:strengthen the combination of top-down and bottom-up technology innovation and diffusion models,establish an effective service communication platform and evaluation mechanism,and strengthen the linkage mechanism between socialized services providers and smallholders,which will provide a realistic basis for the national policy of targeted socialized services provision and promote smallholder adoption of green production technologies.

Routine Supportive Supervision and Management of Medicines and Other Health Products and Technologies in Vihiga County, Kenya

Health Products and Technologies (HPTs) are pivotal for an efficient health system. Availability and accessibility to affordable health products are critical indicators towards achieving universal health coverage. Routine supportive supervision, performance monitoring, recognition of efforts and client feedback are vital activities toward health supply chain system strengthening. This is a descriptive paper that describes a model of integrated commodity supportive supervision, and mentorship and its impact on various outcomes of health commodity management. Data were abstracted from the standardized scored checklists used during integrated commodity supportive supervision and supply chain audit in public health facilities in Vihiga County. Scores for the period 2020 to 2022 were analyzed on the eight key areas of interest. The analysis was done using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 26). Results are interpreted at 95% Confidence interval. This paper also shares findings from both quantitative and qualitative data from client exit and facility managers’ interviews. Six complete rounds of supervisions, three clients and service providers’ interviews, and three annual award events have been conducted. We observed trends across six data collections points and compared the results at first point or baseline (January-June 2020) to the results at the last point or end line (April-June 2022). Findings show significant improvements on the eight parameters in terms of mean scores as follows: resolution of issues from previous visits by 35.06% (46.75% - 81.81%);storage of HPTs by 17.41% (68.72% - 86.13%);inventory management by 28.16% (42.67% - 70.83%);availability and use of commodity data management information systems (MIS) tools by 22.39% (74.40% - 96.79%);verification of commodity data by 25.61% (65.56% - 91.17%);availability of guidelines and job aids for commodity management by 46.28% (36.65% - 82.93%). There was an improvement on the mean score on accountability by 20.22% (58.58% - 83.51%). The composite (final) score improved by 28.33% (56.19% - 84.52%). There was progressive narrowing of the standard deviations on all the indicators across the study period. This demonstrates that there is standardization of practices and positive competition among all the public health facilities. There were significant improvements on all the eight indicators. Routine integrated commodity supportive supervision has proven to be an effective high impact intervention in improving management of health products and technologies in Vihiga County, Kenya.

Pollution-free Production Technology of Linshu Sweet Potato

This paper elaborated the quality characteristics,nutritional value and specific production area of Linshu sweet potato.Besides,it summarized the pollution-free production technology of Linshu sweet potato from the aspects of origin selection,variety selection,production management,harvest and storage,so as to guide the normalization and standardization of production technology,improve production and quality,and further enhance the brand awareness of Linshu sweet potato in both the national and international markets.

A Summary of Ratoon Rice Production Technology in Southwest Ecotope of China

This paper focus on the ratoon rice, which with the features of south Chi-na paddy cultivation technology. First, the development of the technology research on ratoon rice in southwest ecotope of China was briefly reviewed. Second, the key technical measures of the ratoon rice production were described in detail. At last, the application effect of the ratoon rice production technology was described accu-rately, which based on the production practice in recent years. The purpose of this article is promoting the research and extension of the ratoon rice technology more widely in world’s main rice-producing areas, especial y in the suitable area where the light and heat resources are rich.

Product family modeling technology for customized cosmetic packaging design based on basic-element theory

Background:As the market demands change,SMEs(small and medium-sized enterprises)have long faced many design issues,including high costs,lengthy cycles,and insufficient innovation.These issues are especially noticeable in the domain of cosmetic packaging design.Objective:To explore innovative product family modeling methods and configuration design processes to improve the efficiency of enterprise cosmetic packaging design and develop the design for mass customization.Methods:To accomplish this objective,the basic-element theory has been introduced and applied to the design and development system of the product family.Results:By examining the mapping relationships between the demand domain,functional domain,technology domain,and structure domain,four interrelated models have been developed,including the demand model,functional model,technology model,and structure model.Together,these models form the mechanism and methodology of product family modeling,specifically for cosmetic packaging design.Through an analysis of a case study on men’s cosmetic packaging design,the feasibility of the proposed product family modeling technology has been demonstrated in terms of customized cosmetic packaging design,and the design efficiency has been enhanced.Conclusion:The product family modeling technology employs a formalized element as a module configuration design language,permeating throughout the entire development cycle of cosmetic packaging design,thus facilitating a structured and modularized configuration design process for the product family system.The application of the basic-element principle in product family modeling technology contributes to the enrichment of the research field surrounding cosmetic packaging product family configuration design,while also providing valuable methods and references for enterprises aiming to elevate the efficiency of cosmetic packaging design for the mass customization product model.

Technologies for ultra-thin hot-rolled strip:a prospective review

Ultra-thin hot-rolled strip is the developing result of the modern plate and strip rolling technology and can be used to replace cold-rolled products for energy saving and emission reduction.This work reviews recent progress and breakthroughs in this field by focusing on three recent technologies,namely the conventional strip with hot coil box and endless rolling,thin slab continuous casting and rolling/semi endless rolling,and endless compact rolling.In summary,ensuring high-quality production is an important bottleneck for ultra-thin strip and ferritic hot rolling by endless compact rolling.This production technology has strong feasibility and broad prospects for future development.

Curriculum Reform Practices in “Cosmetic Product Formulation Design and Preparation Technology” Under the Perspective of Integration of Industry, Education, and Research

With the upgrading of industries,the cosmetics industry has posed new requirements for technical talents.As a professional core course in cosmetic technology,“Cosmetic Product Formulation Design and Preparation Technology”serves as the foundation for cultivating students’abilities in cosmetic development and preparation.To foster high-quality skilled talents capable of adapting to the rapid growth of color cosmetics and to better promote the deep integration of scientific and technological industries with curriculum teaching,the teacher team embarked on active explorations and practical teaching research for curriculum teaching reform from four dimensions:strengthening top-level design,enriching teaching content,optimizing teaching design,and reforming assessment methods.These efforts have enhanced students’comprehensive vocational qualities and innovative consciousness,contributing to the teaching reform in higher vocational colleges under the integration of industry,education,and research.

Advances in the production technology of hydrogen peroxide

This article mainly summarizes various aspects of hydrogen peroxide(H2O2)production through the anthraquinone route,including hydrogenation catalysts,working solution,regeneration technique,hydrogenation reactors,and environmental protection.The advances and breakthrough of SINOPEC in the production of H2O2 through the anthraquinone route is presented in this review,highlighting recent innovative technology on these aspects developed independently.The technical prospect and scientific challenges associated with the direct synthesis method from hydrogen and oxygen are also briefly discussed.

Recent development of ductile cast iron production technology in China

Recent progress in the production and technology of ductile cast iron castings in China is reviewed. The manufacture and process control of as-cast ductile iron are discussed. The microstructure, properties and application of partial austenitization normalizing ductile iron and austempered ductile iron (ADI) are briefly depicted. The new development of ductile iron production techniques, such as cored-wire injection (wire-feeding nodularization) process, tundish cover ladle nodularizing process, horizontal continuous casting, and EPC process (lost foam) for ductile iron castings, etc., are summarized.

Green Production Technology of the Monomer of Nylon-6： Caprolactam

After two decades＇ endeavor, the Research Institute of Petroleum Processing （RIPP） has successfully de- veloped a green caprolactam （CPL） production technology. This technology is based on the integration of titanium silicate （TS）-I zeolite with the slurry-bed reactor for the ammoximation of cyclohexanone, the integration of silicalite-1 zeolite with the moving-bed reactor for the gas-phase rearrangement of cyclohex- anone oxime, and the integration of an amorphous nickel （Ni） catalyst with the magnetically stabilized bed reactor for the purification of caprolactam. The world＇s first industrial plant based on this green CPL produc- tion technology has been built and possesses a capacity of 200 kt·a-1. Compared with existing technologies, the plant investment is pronouncedly reduced, and the nitrogen （N） atom utilization is drastically improved. The waste emission is reduced significantly; for example, no ammonium sulfate byproduct is produced. As a result, the price difference between CPL and benzene drops. In 2015, the capacity of the green CPL produc- tion technology reached 3 ×10-6 t·a-1, making China the world＇s largest CPL producer, with a global market share exceeding 50%.

A reliable and consistent production technology for high volume compacted graphite iron castings

The demands for improved engine performance,fuel economy,durability,and lower emissions provide a continual challenge for engine designers.The use of Compacted Graphite Iron(CGI)has been established for successful high volume series production in the passenger vehicle,commercial vehicle and industrial power sectors over the last decade.The increased demand for CGI engine components provides new opportunities for the cast iron foundry industry to establish efficient and robust CGI volume production processes,in China and globally.The production window range for stable CGI is narrow and constantly moving.Therefore,any one step single addition of magnesium alloy and the inoculant cannot ensure a reliable and consistent production process for complicated CGI engine castings.The present paper introduces the SinterCast thermal analysis process control system that provides for the consistent production of CGI with low nodularity and reduced porosity,without risking the formation of flake graphite.The technology is currently being used in high volume Chinese foundry production.The Chinese foundry industry can develop complicated high demand CGI engine castings with the proper process control technology.

Numerical Simulation Study on the Effect of Horizontal Well Reservoir Stimulation for Gas Hydrate Production

A new gas hydrate reservoir stimulation method of in-situ fracturing with transient heating is proposed, in line with analysis of the technological bottlenecks faced by marine gas hydrate production. This method injects the developed chemical reagents into a hydrate reservoir through hydraulic fracturing, releasing heat during the chemical reaction to increase the hydrate decomposition rate. The chemical reaction product furthermore has a honeycomb structure to support fractures and increase reservoir permeability. Based on the geological model of natural gas hydrate in the South China Sea, three development methods are simulated to evaluate hydrate production capacity, consisting of horizontal well, fractured horizontal well and in-situ fracturing with transient heating well. Compared with the horizontal well, the simulation results show that the cumulative gas production of the fractured horizontal well in one year is 7 times that of the horizontal well, while the cumulative gas production of in-situ fracturing with transient heating well is 12 times that of the horizontal well, which significantly improves daily efficiency and cumulative gas production. In addition, the variation patterns of hydrate saturation and temperature-pressure fields with production time for the three exploitation plans are presented, it being found that three sensitive parameters of fracture conductivity, fracture half-length and fracture number are positively correlated with hydrate production enhancement. Through the simulations, basic data and theoretical support for the optimization of gas hydrate reservoir stimulation scheme has been provided.

Designing and Realization of Database Platform of County Agricultural Production Technology in Yunnan Province

According to the objective reality in Yunnan Province,such as great difference of weather,a great proportion of minorities,technological backwardness of agricultural production,low conversion rate of research accomplishments,and a limited number of agricultural technical personnel,ASP.NET technique and SQL Server 2005 database technique are adopted.Database platform of county agricultural production technology in Yunnan Province is established by using B/S structure.This platform includes presentation layer,application layer,and data layer,involving regional information,technology column information,technology classification information,technology content and other databases.It has six functional modules,namely information browse,system management,regional maintenance,technical section maintenance,category maintenance and technical information release,integrating crop cultivation,livestock breeding,economic forest management,plant protection,agricultural products processing,agricultural machinery use and other agricultural technical information.This platform can exchange information dynamically with the client,perform the query request from users,and send the result to users.This database platform has friendly interface,profuse information,high pertinency and so on,which offers rich and reliable information resources to farmers,agricultural technical personnel,and government.At present,this platform has been popularized in some areas of Yunnan Province and has obtained good results.

A new production technique for wear resistant ring-hammers

Based on a great number of laboratory experiments, a new technique has been developed for producing wear resistant ring-hammers. In this technology, lost foam casting with iron sand was combined to make mold; a special alloy was used to inoculate the molten steel, and proper heat treatment was used to further improve mechanical properties of wear resistant ring-hammers. The influence of this new production technology on the microstructure and mechanical properties of wear resistant ring-hammers was studied. Results show that iron sand molding, having the inherent characteristic of sand molding, changes the type of metallic compounds, refines crystal grains and increases the fineness of microstructure. Practical experience verified that the properties of the ring-hammers produced with this new technique are as follows: tensile strength (Rm) 720 MPa, impact toughness (ak) > 210 J·cm-2 and hardness > 200 HB. After water quenching from 1,080℃ (holding for 4 h) and tempering at 320℃ for 3 h, the best wear resistance is obtained, and the wear resistance is 1.6 times higher than that of common high manganese ring-hammers.

Technical Regulations for Production of Green Food--Adzuki Beans

According to the experiment and production practice,this paper brings forward the technical regulations on the production technology,the environmental conditions of production area,the output index,the site selection and land preparation,the variety selection and seed quality,the fertilization,the sowing,the field management,the pest and disease control,the harvesting,the storage,the filing etc. about the adzuki beans in Qingyang City.

Full Mechanized Production Technology for Double-Low Rapeseed in Xianning City

This paper standardizes the operation of rapeseed production including variety choosing,field preparation,mechanical seeding,field management,mechanical harvesting etc.,to realize full mechanization of rapeseed production. The key technologies: the optimum sowing date was from mid-September to mid-October in rapeseed-rice（corn） double cropping system region,and from mid-October to late October in rapeseed-rice-rice triple-cropping region; seeding rate was 4. 5 kg/ha-6. 0 kg/ha; the optimum density was 450000-750000 plants per ha;150-240 kg N fertilizer,60-90 kg P2O5 fertilizer,90-135 kg K2O fertilizer and 7. 5-15 kg B fertilizer were used per ha,50% of N fertilizer and the rest of fertilizer were used as basal fertilizer; segmented harvesting was done when 70%-80% of siliques per plant was yellow and combined harvesting was done when more than 90% of siliques per plant was yellow or brown.

Geographical Indication of Unique Production Technology of Bahu Lotus Root

Bahu lotus root is a specialty of Hedong District,Linyi City,Shandong Province.It was recognized as a national product of geographical indication in 2011.This article describes the specific production area,unique production environment,rich cultural history and unique quality of Bahu lotus root,and summarizes its unique production from four aspects:selection of origin,selection of variety,production management and timely harvest,aiming to maintain the brand of Bahu lotus root to the greatest extent and further enhance the brand value and influence.

Study on In-vitro Production Technology of Embryos from Young Dorper Sheep

This study was conducted to investigate the in-vitro production technology of embryos from young Dorper sheep, so as to provide technical support for the utilization of ovarian follicles in young Dorper sheep. Tests were conducted from the induction of Dorper sheep of 4 to 8 weeks old using follicle stimulating hormone(FSH) and pregnant horse serum(PMSG), collection of oocytes, in-vitro oocyte maturation-fertilization-zygote cultivation and 2-4-cell-stage fertilized ovum transfer. The results showed that 585 oocytes were collected from eight Dorper sheep at the age of 4 and 8 weeks, with an average of 73.13 oocytes/sheep. 346 of the 2-4-cell-stage fertilized eggs were obtained, whose cleavage rate was 59.15%. 77 in-vitro fertilized eggs at 2-4-cell stage were transplanted into 17 recipient sheep, seven of which were pregnant and gave birth to 13 "test-tube sheep" with a conception rate of 41.18%. It is indicated that the hormone induction technique, in-vitro oocyte maturation-fertilization-zygote cultivation technique and 2-4-cell-stage fertilized ovum transfer technique used in this study can serve as effective techniques for the in-vitro production of embryos from Dorper sheep of 4-8 weeks old.

Standardized Production Technology of Selenium-enriched Hylocereus undatus(pitaya) in Natural Selenium-rich Areas

With the adjustment of the tropical and subtropical fruit industry organizations in southern China, the Hylocereus undatus(pitaya) industry is growing rapidly in subtropical Guangxi and other places. Guangxi is also the largest natural selenium-rich region in the country, and selenium-enriched pitaya is increasingly sought after by the general public. This paper described in detail the selection of selenium-enriched pitaya production fields, key planting techniques and core selenium enrichment techniques, with a view to providing technical guidance for the standardized production of selenium-enriched pitaya and providing technical support for improving the quality and efficiency of pitaya production in natural selenium-rich areas.