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This study was aimed to investigate weeds kind in palm plantations. Date palm is the most chief economic crop in most countries of the Arabian Peninsula. Many factors, such as the presence of weeds, may cause a huge loss in the production of dates. Despite the severe damage caused by the presence of some weeds in agroecosystems, many weeds have many medicinal and economic uses. A total of 62 species were listed in palm Plantations in Tabuk and Al-Qassim Regions. A total of 51 species were listed in Tabuk Region (The number of unique species in the Tabuk Region reached 32 that not recorded in Al-Qassim Region. Also, 19 species were recorded in both of Tabuk and Al-Qassim Regions). A total of 30 weeds were listed in Al-Qassim Region (The number of unique species in the Al-Qassim Region reached 11 that not recorded in the Tabuk Region. In addition to, 19 species were recorded in both of Tabuk and Al-Qassim Regions). Zygophyllaceae was the most common family, the majority life span was annuals and the most common life form was therophyte in both Tabuk and Al-Qassim Regions. Data management and classification were achieved using PCORD (TWINSPAN and DCA analyses).

The aim of the study was to estimate the level of the human resources index (HRI) measure among Swedish municipal employees, and to investigate the association between human resources index (HRI) and relational justice, short-term recovery, work environment-related production loss, and health-related production loss. A cross-sectional design was used with one sample of municipal employees (n = 6402). The results showed a positive association (r = 0.31) between human resources index (HRI) and relational justice; a positive (r = 0.27) association between HRI and short-term recovery; a negative association between HRI and work environment-related production loss (r = −0.37); and a negative association between HRI and health-related production loss (r = −0.23). The findings implicate that HRI captures important aspects of the work environment such as productivity, relational justice, and short-term recovery. The HRI measure is part of a support model used in workplaces to systematically address work environment-related issues. Monitoring changes in the HRI measure, it is possible to determine whether the measures taken effect production loss, perceived leadership, and short-term recovery in a work group. The support model using HRI may thus be used to complement traditional work environment surveys conducted in Swedish organizations as obliged by legal provisions.

The outbreak of Russia-Ukraine conflict casted an impact on the global food market, which was believed to be attributed to that Ukraine has suffered significant production losses due to cropland abandonment. Nevertheless, recent outbreaks of farmer protests against Ukraine’s grain exports demonstrated that the production losses might not be as severe as previous estimates. By utilizing the adaptive threshold segmentation method to extract abandoned cropland from the Sentinel-2 high-resolution imagery and calibrating the spatial production allocation model’s gridded crop production data from Ukraine’s statistical data, this study explicitly evaluated Ukraine’s crop-specific production losses and the spatial heterogeneity. The results demonstrated that the estimated area of abandoned cropland in Ukraine ranges from 2.34 to 2.40 million hectares, constituting 7.14% to 7.30% of the total cropland. In Ukrainian-controlled zones, this area spans 1.44 to 1.48 million hectares, whereas in Russian-occupied areas, it varies from 0.90 to 0.92 million hectares. Additionally, the total production losses for wheat, maize, barley, and sunflower amount to 1.92, 1.67, 0.70, and 0.99 million tons, respectively, with corresponding loss ratios of 9.10%, 7.48%, 9.54%, and 8.67%. Furthermore, production losses of wheat, barley, and sunflower emerged in both the eastern and southern states adjacent to the conflict frontlines, while maize losses were concentrated in the western states. The findings imply that Ukraine ought to streamline the food transportation channels and maintain stable agricultural activities in regions with high crop production.

The objective of this work is to propose and apply a methodology to obtain the cost of industrial process shutdowns due to voltage sag and short interruption. A field survey, aided by a specific questionnaire, was carried out in several industries connected to medium voltage networks, in the states of Espírito Santo and São Paulo in Brazil. The results obtained were the costs per event and the costs per demand in a total of 33 companies in 12 different types of activities. It is noteworthy that this survey brings a relevant technical contribution to the electricity sector, helping to fill, even partially, an existing gap in both national and international literature.

Background Pasture-borne parasites like Ostertagia ostertagi have a negative effect on dairy cow health and productivity. The aim of the present study was to assess potential breed-dependent associations of O. ostertagi seropositivity with dairy cow production traits, i.e. milk yield, milk fat and milk protein. Methods We describe these associations in German Holstein (GH) cows, a specialised dairy breed, compared with a dual-purpose breed, i.e. German Simmental (SIM). Data from 560 farms across Germany housing 93,030 dairy cows were included. Of the 560 farms, 383 farms housed GH cows and 177 housed SIM. Potential breed-dependent associations of O. ostertagi seropositivity with production characteristics were explored via a two-way interaction term using quantile regression. Pasture access, farming type (organic vs. conventional), herd size (number of cows) and study year were included as confounders. The relationship of O. ostertagi seropositivity with production traits based on breed was further examined via estimated marginal means. Results Ostertagia ostertagi bulk tank milk (BTM) seropositivity was associated with lower median milk yield, milk fat and milk protein on GH farms, whereas no differences could be detected between seropositive and seronegative SIM farms. The difference in the production parameters per cow and year at GH farms associated with O. ostertagi seropositivity were 631.6 kg milk yield ( P  < 0.001), 20.0 kg milk fat ( P  < 0.001) and 17.0 kg milk protein ( P  = 0.01). Conclusions This study indicated differential associations of O. ostertagi seropositivity and production level of cows depending on breed. Our results suggest that seropositivity is associated with lower milk yield, milk fat and milk protein in high-performance dairy breeds, whereas no such association may be present in dual-purpose breeds. Graphical Abstract

The financing of a wind farm directly relates to the preconstruction energy yield assessments which estimate the annual energy production for the farm. The accuracy and the precision of the preconstruction energy estimates can dictate the profitability of the wind project. Historically, the wind industry tended to overpredict the annual energy production of wind farms. Experts have been dedicated to eliminating such prediction errors in the past decade, and recently the reported average energy prediction bias is declining. Herein, we present a literature review of the energy yield assessment errors across the global wind energy industry. We identify a long-term trend of reduction in the overprediction bias, whereas the uncertainty associated with the prediction error is prominent. We also summarize the recent advancements of the wind resource assessment process that justify the bias reduction, including improvements in modeling and measurement techniques. Additionally, because the energy losses and uncertainties substantially influence the prediction error, we document and examine the estimated and observed loss and uncertainty values from the literature, according to the proposed framework in the International Electrotechnical Commission 61400-15 wind resource assessment standard. From our findings, we highlight opportunities for the industry to move forward, such as the validation and reduction of prediction uncertainty and the prevention of energy losses caused by wake effect and environmental events. Overall, this study provides a summary of how the wind energy industry has been quantifying and reducing prediction errors, energy losses, and production uncertainties. Finally, for this work to be as reproducible as possible, we include all of the data used in the analysis in appendices to the article.

Timely detection of fabric defects is crucial for improving fabric quality and reducing production losses for companies. Traditional methods for detecting fabric defects face several challenges, including low detection efficiency, poor accuracy, and limited types of detectable defects. To address these issues, this paper chose the YOLOv8n model for continuous iteration enhancement in order to improve its detection performance. First, multiscale feature fusion was realized by the Bi-directional Feature Pyramid Network (BiFPN). Second, the Shuffle Attention Mechanism (SA) is introduced to optimize feature classification. Finally, the Global Attention Mechanism (GAM) was used to improve global detection accuracy. Empirical findings demonstrated the improved model’s efficacy, attaining a test set mean average precision (mAP) value of 96.6%, which is an improvement of 3.6% compared to the original YOLOv8n. This validates that YOLO-BGS excels in detecting textile defects. It effectively locates these defects, minimizes resource waste, and fosters sustainable production practices.

This paper deals with an assessment of the effectiveness of resource management in production processes. A comprehensive and standardized approach to the issue of effectiveness contributes to the maximization of the potential of production resources. In this paper, the concept of effectiveness was used in the sense of the praxeological approach, and its components were distinguished by availability, performance and quality, which were assessed through the prism of losses occurring in production processes. The main purpose of this work was to develop a method for assessing the effectiveness of the use of available resources when implementing production processes. The method is based on a set of quantitative indicators and takes into account the categorization of production losses. Losses in availability, performance and quality in terms of areas of production, logistics, and maintenance, as well as organization and management, were identified. It was developed in response to the research gap identified in the literature review, which showed that there is a lack of a quantitative method for assessing the effectiveness of production processes. The method also takes into account the categorization of production losses, and at the same time allows the contribution of the main areas (production and production-related) with regard to the generation of these losses. The method is primarily intended to identify the causes of problems occurring in any production process, to determine their importance in a measurable way, and to monitor the course of processes after introducing changes of a different nature. The method was verified on a real example in a branch of an automotive industry company located in Lower Silesia.

Repeated cases of low pathogenic influenza A/H9N2 virus (IAV/H9N2) have been reported in commercial chickens since its emergence in 1998 in Pakistan. However, recently increased mortality and severe respiratory complications under field conditions have been noticed, suggesting concomitant influenza infections with respiratory viral and/or bacterial pathogens. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the presence of IAV/H9N2 coinfecting with multiple viral and bacterial pathogens in broiler chicken flocks. We surveyed 60 broiler flocks with respiratory signs from March through July 2019 in Punjab, Pakistan. Suspected flocks were screened for the presence of IAV using a lateral-flow device. Tracheal, cloacal, and bone marrow samples were collected and further tested for seven viral agents (chicken anemia; Newcastle disease; infectious bronchitis; infectious laryngeotracheitis [ILT]; and IAV subtypes H9, H7, and H5) and three bacterial agents (Mycoplasma gallisepticum; Mycoplasma synovae; Ornithobacterium rhinotracheale [ORT]) using PCR assays. Upon initial screening for IAV, 35/60 (58.3%) flocks tested positive. The coinfection of IAV/H9N2 with other pathogens was detected in 25 (71.4%) flocks and only IAV/H9N2 was detected in 10 (28.6%) flocks out of total positive IAV flocks (n = 35). IAV subtypes H5 and H7, ILT, and ORT were not detected throughout the study period. The detection rate of double, triple, and quadruple combinations of coinfections with IAV/H9N2 were 37% (13 flocks), 26% (9 flocks), 9% (3 flocks), respectively. Higher average mortality (28.5%) was found in broiler chicken flocks coinfected with viral and/or bacterial pathogens than in flocks where only H9 low pathogenic IAV/H9N2 was detected (20.8%). In conclusion, higher circulation of IAV/H9N2 with other viral and bacterial pathogens may contribute to higher production and economic losses at the farm level.

Given the increasing crop yield losses, water scarcity, and fertilizer application in Northeast China, a systematic assessment is increasingly necessary to investigate the potential of crop redistribution to enhance grain production while alleviating environmental pressures. Here we quantify the potential of crop redistribution in Northeast China through a multi-objective optimization approach. First, we construct a dataset that contains four objectives including crop yield, yield losses, water deficit, and nitrogen fertilizer application based on their annual data in 273 counties over two decades (2001–2020). Second, we optimize the county-level distribution of rice, maize and soybean using the developed dataset and evaluate the benefits on each objective. Finally, we design a crop redistribution scheme and analyze its impact on the cropping structure in Northeast China based on the optimal solution. Results show significant potential of crop redistribution, with crop production increases by 1.70% (2.41 × 106 tons), production losses decrease by 2.69% (1.84 × 105 tons), water deficit decreases by 6.78% (3.88 × 108 m3) and N fertilizer application decreases by 10.87% (5.41 × 107 kg) when all the objectives are optimized simultaneously. The crop redistribution scheme is summarized as follows: compared with the baseline crop structure, rice area increases by 69.58%, maize reduces by 12.8%, and soybean reduces by 54.79% in Northeast China. Specifically, rice area increases in northwestern Heilongjiang, eastern Jilin, most counties in Liaoning, and reduces elsewhere. Maize area reduces in most of the counties, except for several counties in southwestern Heilongjiang, northern Jilin, and northern parts of the Four Eastern Leagues. Soybean area reduces in northern part of Heilongjiang and Four Eastern Leagues and increases in western Jilin and most counties in Liaoning. Although crop redistribution scheme was generated, the model remains limited in terms of crop types, spatial resolution, and the range of factors influencing crop distribution. Future work will address these limitations to enhance the reliability and applicability of the crop redistribution model.