Moving beyond ‘more crop per drop’: insights from two decades of research on agricultural water productivity

ABSTRACT

Concern over increasing water scarcity has led to the introduction of the concept of agricultural water productivity and an emphasis on interventions to achieve ‘more crop per drop’. Yet, a strong debate continues on how the concept is to be defined and used. Drawing largely from the irrigation literature, the origins of the concept and its methodological developments are reviewed, and its use in applied work over two decades is discussed. Based on this analysis of conceptual and applied research, key insights into the concept’s contributions and limitations are presented, as well as opportunities for further refinements.     

Assessing enterprise wiki success from the perspective of end-users: an empirical approach

ABSTRACT

The success of wikis on the Internet has led organisations to introduce wikis within corporate settings for multiple purposes. However, despite the popularity of wikis in the public and subsequently in the corporate environment, an empirical investigation of their benefits for individual performance in organisations is still lacking. This study performs an empirical investigation of 177 corporate wiki end-users to evaluate their perceived performance after wiki use. Enterprise wikis’ perceived end-user performance is evaluated by measuring users’ perceived efficiency, effectiveness and capacity development. The findings suggest that the collaboration quality, information quality and system quality of enterprise wikis help their users in terms of increased efficiency, effectiveness and capacity development.     

Market distortions and aggregate productivity: Evidence from Chinese energy enterprises

Market distortions can generate resource misallocations across heterogeneous firms and reduce aggregate productivity. This paper measures market distortions and aggregate productivity growth in China's energy sector. We use the wedge between output elasticities and factor shares in revenues to recover a measure of firm-level market distortions. Using data on a large sample of Chinese energy enterprises from 1999 to 2007, our estimations provide strong evidence of the existence of both factor and product market distortions within and across China's various energy industries. The productivity aggregation and decomposition results demonstrate that the estimated aggregate productivity growth (APG) is, on average, 2.595% points per year, of which technological change, resource reallocation, and firm entries and exits account for 1.981, 0.068, and 0.546% points, respectively. The weak contributions of resource reallocation and firm turnover to APG are also found in energy sub-industries, except in the coal industry. Our research suggests that China's energy sector has major potential for productivity gains from resource reallocation through the reduction of market distortions.     

An exploratory study of the relationship between construction workforce physical strain and task level productivity

The monitoring of construction workforce physical strain can be a valuable management strategy in improving workforce productivity, safety, health, and quality of work. Nevertheless, clear relationships between workforce performance and physical strain have yet to be established. An exploratory investigation of the relationship between task level productivity and physical strain was conducted. Nine participants individually performed a four-hour simulated construction task while a wearable physiological status monitor continuously assessed their physiological condition. Heart rate, relative heart rate, and breathing rate were utilized as predictors of physical strain, and task level–single factor productivity was used as an index of productivity. Numerous regression models were generated using the collected data. This investigation initially unsuccessfully attempted to establish a relationship between physiological condition and productivity at the individual worker level. However, an analysis of the regression models showed that there is a relationship between productivity and either heart rate or relative heart rate at the group level, and that this relationship is parabolic. Breathing rate was proved to not be a significant predictor of productivity. Research results significantly improve understanding of the relationship between work physiology and task productivity. Researchers and practitioners may use the tested monitoring devices, analysis methods, and results to design further applied studies and to improve workforce productivity.     

一种新的低渗透气藏产能方程

综合分析滑脱效应、启动压力梯度效应和高速非达西效应,依据渗流力学原理建立稳定渗流条件下综合考虑三种效应影响的低渗透气藏产能方程.应用该方程对不同滑脱系数和不同启动压力梯度下的流入动态曲线进行比较.在相同井底流压下,随着滑脱效应影响因子的增大,气井产能逐渐增大；随着启动压力梯度的增大,气井产能逐渐减小.     

Assessment of institutions,scholars, and contributions on agile software development (2001–2012)

The number of scholarly publications on agile software development has grown significantly in recent years. Several researchers reviewed and attempted to synthesize studies on agile software development. However, no work has ranked the contributions of scholars and institutions to publications using a thorough process. This study presents findings on top publications, institutions, and scholars in the agile software development field from 2001 to 2012 based on the publication of such works in Science Citation Index journals. This paper highlights the key outlets for agile research and summarizes the most influential researchers and institutions as well as the most studied research areas. This study concludes by providing directions for future research.     

利用统计技术分析企业劳动生产率

从影响全员劳动生产率的因素入手 ,通过对具体的大型建筑企业的劳动生产率的分析与核算 ,提出了一系列的提高劳动生产率的具体措施及建议。     

Pollution due to coir retting and its effect on estuarine flora and fauna

One of the striking features of Kerala state is the continuous chain of lagoons or backwaters existing along the coastal region. The backwaters support rich and diverse life forms and provide crucial nurseries for shrimps and fishes as well as habitat for oysters, clams and mussels which later enrich the ocean and make Kerala the principal exporter of marine products amongst the states of India. The shallow fringes of the backwaters and the channels drawn from them are used for retting of coconut husk. It adversely affects the productivity of the backwaters and is harmful to marine fisheries. The retting of coconut husks in backwaters is brought about by the pectinolytic activity of micro organisms especially bacteria fungi and yeasts degrading the fibre binding materials of the husk and liberating large quantities of organic matter and chemicals into the environment, including pectin, pentosan, tannins, polyphenols, etc. Consequently hydrogen sulphide, phosphate and nitrate contents increase while dissolved oxygen and community diversity of plankton decrease in the ambient waters during the retting process. The present study is to evaluate pollution due to coir retting activity and its influence on quality of water and estuarine flora and fauna.     

Impact of backwashing procedures on deep bed filtration productivity in drinking water treatment

Backwash procedures for deep bed filters were evaluated and compared by means of a new integrated approach based on productivity. For this, different backwash procedures were experimentally evaluated by using a pilot plant for direct filtration. A standard backwash mode as applied in practice served as a reference and effluent turbidity was used as the criterion for filter run termination. The backwash water volumes needed, duration of the filter-to-waste period, time out of operation, total volume discharged and filter run-time were determined and used to calculate average filtration velocity and average productivity.     

Total factor productivity growth accounting in the construction industry of Singapore

Total factor productivity (TFP) determines long‐term economic growth and is a comprehensive industry‐level productivity measure. This paper proposes Jorgenson's method as an appropriate TFP measurement for the construction industry. The method is less restrictive than the conventional Chau's approach, as it does not impose the Hick Neutral Technical Change assumption. Jorgenson's method is then applied to estimate TFP growth in the construction industry of Singapore over 1984–1998. TFP growth is found down by 1.53% per annum over this period, indicating that the performance of TFP in the construction industry lags behind the rest of economy. TFP growth is also found to be fluctuating over time and tends to move in tandem with the construction business cycle.

As a monitor of progress towards TFP achievement, factors influencing TFP growth in the construction industry of Singapore over 1984–1997 are identified. Seven factors are found to be significantly related to TFP growth. Among them, economies of scale, R&D by the industry, investment allowance granted and labour unions are leading contributors to TFP growth; while foreign worker, construction accidents and pre‐cast are major hampers.

The general methodology presented in this study can be applied to other countries. Future studies are required to find appropriate indicators for factors unquantified.