An Assessment on the Impact of Technological Addiction on Workplace Productivity: Case of the Public Sector in Zimbabwe

With the increasing integration of technology in modern workplaces, concerns have emerged regarding the addictive nature of technology and its potential consequences on employee productivity. This research aims to investigate the impact of technological addiction on workplace productivity within the public sector of Zimbabwe. The study employed a mixed-methods approach, combining surveys, interviews, and a case study analysis, to examine the prevalence and effects of technological addiction in affecting productivity in the public sector of Zimbabwe. The findings indicate that excessive use of social media, and other digital distractions is a growing concern in the public sector, leading to decreased focus, missed deadlines, and strained teamwork. Factors such as unrestricted internet access, lack of clear usage policies, and inadequate self-regulation contribute to the problem The research outcomes also highlight the need for awareness and interventions to address social media addiction in the workplace, promote healthier technology use, and uphold productivity and employee well-being.

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.

A cleaner production strategy for acid mine drainage prevention of waste rock:A porphyry copper case

An in-process technology approach is proposed to identify the source of acid mine drainage(AMD)generation and prevent its formation in a porphyry copper waste rock(WR).Adopting actions before stockpiling the WR enables the establishment of potential contaminants and predicts the more convenient method for AMD prevention.A WR sample was separated into size fractions,and the WR’s net acidgenerating potential was quantified using chemical and mineralogical characterization.The diameter of physical locking of sulfides(DPLS)was determined,and the fractions below the DPLS were desulfurized using flotation.Finally,the WR fractions and tailing from the flotation test were submitted to acid-base accounting and weathering tests to evaluate their acid-generating potential.Results show that the WR’s main sulfide mineral is pyrite,and the DPLS was defined as 850μm.A sulfide recovery of 91%was achieved using a combination of HydroFloatand Denver cells for a size fraction lower than DPLS.No grinding was conducted.The results show that size fractions greater than DPLS and the desulfurized WR are unlikely to produce AMD.The outcomes show that in-processing technology can be a more proactive approach and an effective tool for avoiding AMD in a porphyry copper WR.

Empirical Analysis of the Impact of Green Finance and Technological Progress on Total Factor Productivity in China’s Industrial Sector

The enhancement of industrial green total factor productivity is pivotal for achieving high-quality and sustainable economic development.This study assesses China’s performance using the SBM-GML model,employing province-level panel data spanning from 2004 to 2020.Furthermore,we examine the influence of green finance and technological progress on industrial green total factor productivity using a spatial econometric model.The findings uncover that the relationship between the level of green financial development and industrial green total factor productivity follows a U-shaped curve.Initially,low levels of green financial development exert a suppressive effect on industrial green total factor productivity,proving ineffective in the short term.However,with the progression of green finance development,a positive and significant long-term impact on industrial green total factor productivity emerges.Moreover,technological progress demonstrates a noteworthy promotional effect on industrial green total factor productivity.The analysis delves deeper into revealing that industrial structure and environmental regulation intensity exhibit a significant negative relationship with industrial green total factor productivity.In contrast,both energy structure and education level showcase a substantial positive relationship with industrial green total factor productivity.

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.

Breeding and Seed Production Techniques of New Aromatic Danxiangyouzhenliang Rice Variety with Good Quality and High Yield

Danxiangyouzhenliang rice is a high-quality rice variety derived from the hybrid breeding of Danxiang 12A and Xianghuixiangmiao R133.Its unique temperature-sensitive three-line characteristics endow it with significant advantages of high and stable yield,and its rice fragrance is exquisite and its taste is delicate.Danxiangyouzhenliang rice showed good resistance to rice blast and bacterial blight.On June 10,2021,Danxiangyouzhenliang rice passed the Guangxi Crop Variety Approval(Guishendao 2021074).Danxiangyouzhenliang rice is suitable to be planted as early and late rice in southern,central and northern Guangxi.This study summarized the breeding process and high-yielding seed production techniques of Danxiangyouzhenliang rice,in order to provide useful reference for rice breeders and growers.

Software and Mobile Apps as a Strategy for Productivity Improvement in the Construction Industry

The construction industry, known for its low productivity, is increasingly utilising software and mobile apps to enhance efficiency. However, more comprehensive research is needed to understand the effectiveness of these technology applications. The PRISMA principles utilised a scoping review methodology to ascertain pertinent studies and extract significant findings. From 2013 onwards, articles containing data on mobile applications or software designed to enhance productivity in the construction sector were obtained from multiple databases, including Emerald Insight, Science Direct, IEEE Xplore, and Google Scholar. After evaluating 2604 articles, 30 were determined to be pertinent to the study and were subsequently analysed for the review. The review identified five key themes: effectiveness, benefits, successful implementation examples, obstacles and limitations, and a comprehensive list of software and mobile apps. In addition, 71 software and mobile apps have shown potentially how these technologies can improve communication, collaboration, project management, real-time collaboration, document management, and on-the-go project information and estimating processes in the construction industry, increasing efficiency and productivity. The findings highlight the potential of these technologies such as Automation, Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID), Building Information Modeling (BIM), Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), and Internet of Things (IoT) to improve efficiency and communication in the construction industry. Despite challenges such as cost, lack of awareness, resistance to change, compatibility concerns, human resources, technological and security concerns and licensing issues, the study identifies specific mobile applications and software with the potential to enhance efficiency significantly, improve productivity and streamline workflows. The broader societal impacts of construction software and mobile app development include increased efficiency, job creation, and sustainability.

Research of Blockchain Technology in the Traceability of Characteristic Agricultural Products

With the increasingly prominent problem of food safety,the quality traceability of characteristic agricultural products has become a pressing issue.This study focuses on the application of blockchain technology in the traceability of characteristic agricultural products,aiming to explore its potential and practical value in improving the efficiency and transparency of the traceability system of agricultural products.Through the combination of case analysis and model construction,a blockchain-based traceability system for characteristic agricultural products was established.The results showed that the traceability system could effectively record the whole process information of agricultural products from production and processing to sales,and greatly improve the immutability and traceability of data.Lastly,this paper also points out that the use of blockchain technology can improve the market trust in characteristic agricultural products,provide consumers with authentic and reliable product information,and provide new technical means for the quality management of agricultural products.

A Study on the Path of Promoting External Dissemination of Regional Culture with Translation Technology under the Background of New Quality Productivity

With the introduction of the concept of new quality productivity characterized by high technology,efficiency,and quality,various industries in China have ignited a high spirit of innovation and development.Against this background,this article analyzes the significance and current situation of the external dissemination of regional culture and combines the application of translation technology empowered by new quality productivity to explore a path suitable for the wider,more effective,and higher-quality external dissemination of regional culture.The aim is to provide practical experience for promoting the effective dissemination of regional culture in China to the world and better build a cultural power.

Research on the Impact of China’s Foreign Trade Technology Spillover on Green Total Factor Productivity of Countries Along the“Belt and Road”:Based on the Institutional Quality Threshold Effect

China’s growing trade with countries along the“Belt and Road”Initiative is accompanied by a focus on green development.Based on the panel data from 2007 to 2018,this paper establishes a threshold regression model to empirically analyze the institutional quality threshold effect of China’s foreign trade technology spillover on the GTFP of countries along the“Belt and Road.”The results show that China’s foreign trade technology spillover has a significant institutional quality double threshold effect on the green total factor productivity of the countries along the“Belt and Road.”As the institutional quality of the countries along the“Belt and Road”crosses a specific threshold value,the impact of China’s foreign trade technology spillover on the green total factor productivity of the countries along the“Belt and Road”has a significant positive promoting effect,and corresponding suggestions are put forward.

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.

Technological Options to Ameliorate Waste Treatment of Intensive Pig Production in China:An Analysis Based on Bio-Economic Model

Ameliorating waste treatment by technological improvements affects the economic and the ecological-environment benefits of intensive pig production. The objective of the research was to develop and test a method to determine the technical optimization to ameliorate waste treatment methods and gain insight into the relationship between technological options and the economic and ecological effects. We developed an integrated bio-economic model which incorporates the farming production and waste disposal systems to simulate the impact of technological improvements in pig manure treatment on economic and environmental benefits for the case of a pilot farm in Beijing, China. Based on different waste treatment technology options, three scenarios are applied for the simulation analysis of the model. The simulation results reveal that the economic-environmental benefits of the livestock farm could be improved by reducing the cropland manure application and increasing the composting production with the current technologies. Nevertheless, the technical efficiency, the waste treatment capacity and the economic benefits could be further improved by the introduction of new technologies. It implies that technological and economic support policies should be implemented comprehensively on waste disposal and resource utilization to promote sustainable development in intensive livestock production in China.

An improved cross entropy algorithm for steelmaking-continuous casting production scheduling with complicated technological routes

In order to increase productivity and reduce energy consumption of steelmaking-continuous casting(SCC) production process, especially with complicated technological routes, the cross entropy(CE) method was adopted to optimize the SCC production scheduling(SCCPS) problem. Based on the CE method, a matrix encoding scheme was proposed and a backward decoding method was used to generate a reasonable schedule. To describe the distribution of the solution space, a probability distribution model was built and used to generate individuals. In addition, the probability updating mechanism of the probability distribution model was proposed which helps to find the optimal individual gradually. Because of the poor stability and premature convergence of the standard cross entropy(SCE) algorithm, the improved cross entropy(ICE) algorithm was proposed with the following improvements: individual generation mechanism combined with heuristic rules, retention mechanism of the optimal individual, local search mechanism and dynamic parameters of the algorithm. Simulation experiments validate that the CE method is effective in solving the SCCPS problem with complicated technological routes and the ICE algorithm proposed has superior performance to the SCE algorithm and the genetic algorithm(GA).

Changes in Total Factor Productivity,Technological Progress and Efficiency of Banana Industry in China

Based on the DEA-based Malmquist index method,the total factor productivity was calculated for 5 major banana production areas in 2003-2004,and it was further divided into technological progress and technical efficiency.The results show that the total factor productivity of banana industry in China was 1.3% in the sample period,mainly due to technological progress,the average growth rate was 2.6%,while the pure technical efficiency and scale efficiency was -0.1% and -1.2% respectively.The improvement of total factor productivity in banana industry in China relied mainly on technological progress,cultivation of new banana varieties,management of high quality cultivation,popularization and application of water conservation and fertilizer saving technology,and injury-free picking technologies.The pure technical efficiency and scale efficiency of banana production were negative,indicating that the management level of banana was not high.The effect of scale economy of this industry through agglomeration and consolidation is still to be practiced.Banana growers should promote the improvement of large scale and management level of the banana industry at the same time of promoting the technological progress.

Impact of the synergy between technology management and technological capability on new product development:a system dynamics approach

This paper employs system dynamics to explore how the synergy between technology management and technological capability affects new product development.The results show that the synergy between technology management and technological capability has positive impact on new product development.Moreover, the leading synergy processes between technology management and technological capability in different new product development stages are different.This paper deepens the theoretical understanding of how to achieve new product development, and also provides useful guidance for firms to implement new product development.

Productivity Growth, Technological Progress, and Efficiency Change in Vietnamese Manufacturing Industries: A Stochastic Frontier Approach

This study applies a stochastic frontier production approach to decompose the sources of total productivity (TFP) growth into technical progress and changes in technical efficiency of 8057 firms in Vietnamese manufacturing industries during 2003-2007. Using both total manufacturing industry and sub-manufacturing industrial regressions, the analysis focuses on the trend of technological progress (TP) and technical efficiency change (TEC), and the role of productivity change in economic growth. According to the estimated results, the annual technical progress for the manufacturing industry and sub-manufacturing industries are calculated directly from the estimated parameters of the translog stochastic frontier production function by taking a partial derivative of output with respect to time t. The average technical changes in manufacturing industry and sub-manufacturing industries are positive, with an average technical change about 5.2%, 5.8%, 5.4%, 11.8%, 4.6%, 4.1%, 7.3%, 4.8%, 4.8% and 4.8% for total sample, food products & beverages, textile & wearing apparel, footwear, paper & products, industrial chemicals, rubber & plastic products, non- metallic mineral, basic & fabricated metal and other sub-industries, respectively. Total TFP in the manufacturing sector has grown at the annual rate of 0.052, although the rate of growth decreased continuously during the sample period. For the sub-industry estimates during the sample period, TFP grew fastest in the footwear sub-industry, with annual average growth rate of 11.8%, followed by the rubber & plastic products with a rate of 7.3%, and the food products & beverages with a rate of 5.8% per annum.

Farmers’precision pesticide technology adoption and its influencing factors:Evidence from apple production areas in China

The research aimed to understand farmers’willingness to adopt(WTA)and willingness to pay(WTP)for precision pesticide technologies and analyzed the determinants of farmers’decision-making.We used a two-stage approach to consider farmers’WTA and WTP for precision pesticide technologies.A survey of 545 apple farmers was administered in Bohai Bay and the Loess Plateau in China.The data were analyzed using the double-hurdle model.The results indicated that 78.72%of respondents were willing to apply precision pesticide technologies provided by service organizations such as cooperatives and dedicated enterprises,and 69.72%were willing to buy the equipment for using precision pesticide technologies.The results of the determinant analysis indicated that farmers’perceived perceptions,farm scale,cooperative membership,access to digital information,and availability of financial services had significant and positive impacts on farmers’WTA precision pesticide technologies.Cooperative membership,technical training,and adherence to environmental regulations increased farmers’WTP for precision pesticide technologies.Moreover,nonlinear relationships between age,agricultural experience,and farmers’WTA and WTP for precision pesticide technology services were found.

Effective Technological Equipment for Mass Production of Entomophagous Insects and Mites Used for Biological Control

Mass production of entomophagous insects and mites is necessary for the practical use of biological method of plant protection in agriculture. For many insects, breeding is carried out at the level of industrial technology with the appropriate equipment. The main purpose of the research was to improve the technical and economic performance of equipment in the production of entomophagous insects and their hosts by optimizing equipment design and technocenosis management techniques. In laboratory experiments with using the planning of multifactor experiments, the parameters of cages for breeding were determined optimally. On this basis, sets of equipment for the trichogram, brakon, lacewort and phytoseulatus have been developed. The specific productivity of new equipment provides the necessary profitability of production.

Information Estimation on Extraction and Contents of Technological Redistribution at Steel Production

The work suggests a formula for estimating complex indeterminancy of a group of technological operations undergoing analyses before and after their improvement, as well as technological schemes as a whole in the information units. The formula allows to estimate the complex indeterminancy of a group of technological operations undergoing analyses, as well as technological schemes as a whole, which will result in determining predictability and technological reliability of these operations.

Technological progress and development directions of PetroChina overseas oil and gas field production

This study reviews the development history of PetroChina’s overseas oil and gas field development technologies, summarizes the characteristic technologies developed, and puts forward the development goals and technological development directions of overseas business to overcome the challenges met in overseas oil and gas production. In the course of PetroChina’s overseas oil and gas field production practice of more than 20 years, a series of characteristic technologies suitable for overseas oil and gas fields have been created by combining the domestic mature oil and gas field production technologies with the features of overseas oil and gas reservoirs, represented by the technology for high-speed development and stabilizing oil production and controlling water rise for overseas sandstone oilfields, high efficiency development technology for large carbonate oil and gas reservoirs and foamy oil depletion development technology in use of horizontal wells for extra-heavy oil reservoirs. Based on in-depth analysis of the challenges faced by overseas oil and gas development and technological requirements, combined with the development trends of oil and gas development technologies in China and abroad, overseas oil and gas development technologies in the future are put forward, including artificial intelligence reservoir prediction and 3 D geological modeling, secondary development and enhanced oil recovery(EOR) of overseas sandstone oilfields after high speed development, water and gas injection to improve oil recovery in overseas carbonate oil and gas reservoirs, economic and effective development of overseas unconventional oil and gas reservoirs, efficient development of marine deep-water oil and gas reservoirs. The following goals are expected to be achieved: keep the enhanced oil recovery(EOR) technology for high water-cut sandstone oilfield at international advanced level, and make the development technology for carbonate oil and gas reservoirs reach the international advanced level, and the development technologies for unconventional and marine deep-water oil and gas reservoirs catch up the level of international leading oil companies quickly.