Australian hardwood drying best practice manual. Part 2

This manual is a guide to establishing a set of operations to achieve high grade results in product quality and recovery, flexibility, innovation, cost, and competitiveness. The manual outlines: - economic and feasible technologies for increasing recovery and reducing avoidable loss during processing, from the log to the finished board, and - mechanisms that allow production value to be optimised in different sized mills. Part 2 includes sections 8 to 17: Air drying, pre-drying, reconditioning, controlled final drying, dry milling, storage, information assessment, drying quality assessment, moisture content monitoring, glossary. Part 1 Link: http://era.deedi.qld.gov.au/3138 Covers sections 1 to 7: Drying overview and strategy, coupe, log yard, green mill, green pack, bioprotection, rack timber.

Australian hardwood drying best practice manual. Part 1

This manual is a guide to establishing a set of operations to achieve high grade results in product quality and recovery, flexibility, innovation, cost, and competitiveness. The manual outlines: - economic and feasible technologies for increasing recovery and reducing avoidable loss during processing, from the log to the finished board, and - mechanisms that allow production value to be optimised in different sized mills. Part 1 covers sections 1 to 7: Drying overview and strategy, coupe, log yard, green mill, green pack, bioprotection, rack timber. Part 2 Link: http://era.deedi.qld.gov.au/3137 Includes sections 8 to 17: Air drying, pre-drying, reconditioning, controlled final drying, dry milling, storage, information assessment, drying quality assessment, moisture content monitoring, glossary.

Banana root and soil health user’s manual: FR02023 Soil and root health for sustainable banana production.

This manual identifies simple, practical tests to measure soil health and outlines the use of an on-farm testing kit to perform these tests. This testing is designed so that banana producers or agricultural consultants can asses or monitor the health of the soil inexpensively and without the need for a laboratory.

Postharvest manual answers many questions

Many authors have noted that consumer confidence in buying fresh flowers is strongly related to their perceived value in that quality and vase life must be high and consistent over time for consumers to repeat buy. Growers, wholesalers, exporters and retailers seek practical information about recommended handling and treatments at the harvest and postharvest stages, including that relating to flowers native to Australia and South Africa ("wildflowers"). This information is essential for products to be of high quality with an acceptable vase life for the end consumer, especially if exported. Published postharvest manuals generally focus on traditional flower crops and so rarely include many, or any, wildflowers. A manual entitled Postharvest Handling of Australian flowers from Native Plants and Related Species was published in 2002 and addressed this gap, but required updating. This situation presented an opportunity to provide in-depth information to compliment the Australian wildflower quality specifications (see accompanying paper in the same volume), and to assemble the latest knowledge on wildflower quality and postharvest issues. The resultant manual contains extensive information about harvesting, quality issues and recommended postharvest care focussed on wildflowers. Much of the information is documented for the first time, being based on the most up to date research and development (R&D) as well as practical experience of the floral supply chain, researchers and other technical experts. The manual provides practical and detailed information on postharvest treatment of fresh wildflowers for growers, florists, wholesalers and exporters to use on a daily basis. It discusses the many unique features of wildflowers that must be understood and managed in order to maximise their quality and vase life after marketing and export. The manual also includes postharvest advice for 16 flower- and foliage lines for which quality specifications were not produced. This advice is presented according to the same template as the specifications.

Jungle Perch Kuhlia Rupestris Fingerling Production Manual

This manual consists of written descriptions of jungle perch Kuhlia rupestris production and video material to demonstrate each of the key production steps. Video links are at the end of each major written section in the document. To activate the link use ctrl click. The videos enhance the instructive ability of this manual. The keys to producing jungle perch are:  maintaining broodstock in freshwater or low salinity water less than 5 ppt  spawning fish in full seawater at 28C  incubating eggs in full seawater. Salinities must not be less than 32 ppt  ensuring that first feed jungle perch larvae have an adequate supply of copepod nauplii  rearing larvae in full seawater under bright light  use of gentle aeration in tanks  postponing spawns until adequate densities of copepod nauplii are present in ponds  sustaining copepod blooms in ponds for at least 20 days  avoiding use of paddlewheels in ponds  supplementary feeding with Artemia salina and weaning diets from 20 days after hatch  harvesting of fingerlings or fry after they are 25-30 mm in length (50 to 60 days post hatch)  covering tanks of fingerlings with 5 mm mesh and submerging freshwater inlets to prevent jumping.

Magnetically actuated propulsion at low Reynolds numbers: towards nanoscale control

Significant progress has been made in the fabrication of micron and sub-micron structures whose motion can be controlled in liquids under ambient conditions. The aim of many of these engineering endeavors is to be able to build and propel an artificial micro-structure that rivals the versatility of biological swimmers of similar size, e. g. motile bacterial cells. Applications for such artificial ``micro-bots'' are envisioned to range from microrheology to targeted drug delivery and microsurgery, and require full motion-control under ambient conditions. In this Mini-Review we discuss the construction, actuation, and operation of several devices that have recently been reported, especially systems that can be controlled by and propelled with homogenous magnetic fields. We describe the fabrication and associated experimental challenges and discuss potential applications.

Fish inspired biomimetic ionic polymer metal composite pectoral fins using labriform propulsion

Ionic polymer metal composites (IPMC) are a new class of smart materials that have attractive characteristics such as muscle like softness, low voltage and power consumption, and good performance in aqueous environments. Thus, IPMC’s provide promising application for biomimetic fish like propulsion systems. In this paper, we design and analyze IPMC underwater propulsor inspired from swimming of Labriform fishes. Different fish species in nature are source of inspiration for different biomimetic flapping IPMC fin design. Here, three fish species with high performance flapping pectoral fin locomotion is chosen and performance analysis of each fin design is done to discover the better configurations for engineering applications. In order to describe the behavior of an active IPMC fin actuator in water, a complex hydrodynamic function is used and structural model of the IPMC fin is obtained by modifying the classical dynamic equation for a slender beam. A quasi-steady blade element model that accounts for unsteady phenomena such as added mass effects, dynamic stall, and the cumulative Wagner effect is used to estimate the hydrodynamic performance of the flapping rectangular shape fin. Dynamic characteristics of IPMC actuated flapping fins having the same size as the actual fins of three different fish species, Gomphosus varius, Scarus frenatus and Sthethojulis trilineata, are analyzed with numerical simulations. Finally, a comparative study is performed to analyze the performance of three different biomimetic IPMC flapping pectoral fins.

A unified view of energetic efficiency in active drag reduction, thrust generation and self-propulsion through a loss coefficient with some applications

An analysis of the energy budget for the general case of a body translating in a stationary fluid under the action of an external force is used to define a power loss coefficient. This universal definition of power loss coefficient gives a measure of the energy lost in the wake of the translating body and, in general, is applicable to a variety of flow configurations including active drag reduction, self-propulsion and thrust generation. The utility of the power loss coefficient is demonstrated on a model bluff body flow problem concerning a two-dimensional elliptical cylinder in a uniform cross-flow. The upper and lower boundaries of the elliptic cylinder undergo continuous motion due to a prescribed reflectionally symmetric constant tangential surface velocity. It is shown that a decrease in drag resulting from an increase in the strength of tangential surface velocity leads to an initial reduction and eventual rise in the power loss coefficient. A maximum in energetic efficiency is attained for a drag reducing tangential surface velocity which minimizes the power loss coefficient. The effect of the tangential surface velocity on drag reduction and self-propulsion of both bluff and streamlined bodies is explored through a variation in the thickness ratio (ratio of the minor and major axes) of the elliptical cylinders.

Velocity Fluctuations in Helical Propulsion: How Small Can a Propeller Be

Helical propulsion is at the heart of locomotion strategies utilized by various natural and artificial swimmers. We used experimental observations and a numerical model to study the various fluctuation mechanisms that determine the performance of an externally driven helical propeller as the size of the helix is reduced. From causality analysis, an overwhelming effect of orientational noise at low length scales is observed, which strongly affects the average velocity and direction of motion of a propeller. For length scales smaller than a few micrometers in aqueous media, the operational frequency for the propulsion system would have to increase as the inverse cube of the size, which can be the limiting factor for a helical propeller to achieve locomotion in the desired direction.

Fish Inspired Biomimetic Ionic Polymer-Metal Composite Pectoral Fins Using Labriform Propulsion

In this article, we analyze and design ionic polymer metal composite (IPMC) underwater propulsors inspired from swimming of labriform fishes. The structural model of the IPMC fin accounts for the electromechanical dynamics of the bean in water. A quasi steady blade element model that accounts for unsteady phenomena, such as added mass effects, dynamic stall, and cumulativeWagner effect is used to estimate the hydrodynamic performance. Dynamic characteristics of IPMC actuated flapping fins having the same size as the actual fins of three different fish species, Gomphosus varius, Scarus frenatus, and Sthethojulis trilineata, are analyzed using numerical simulations.

Design of a manual press for the production of compacted stabilized soil blocks

In this paper, we discuss the design of a manually operated soil compaction machine that is being used to manufacture stabilized soil blocks (SSB). A case study of manufacturing more than three million blocks in a housing project using manually operated machines is illustrated. The paper is focussed on the design, development, and evaluation of a manually operated soil compaction machine for the production of SSB. It also details the machine design philosophy, compaction characteristics of soils, employment generation potential of small-scale stabilized soil block productions systems, and embodied energy. Static compaction of partially saturated soils was performed to generate force-displacement curves in a confined compaction process were generated. Based on the soil compaction data engineering design aspects of a toggle press are illustrated. The results of time and motion study on block production operations using manual machines are discussed. Critical path network diagrams were used for small-scale SSB production systems. Such production systems generate employment at a very low capital cost.

Intertwined vorticity and elastodynamics in flapping wing propulsion

We performed numerical experiments on a one-dimensional elastic solid oscillating in a two-dimensional viscous incompressible fluid with the intent of discerning the interplay of vorticity and elastodynamics in flapping wing propulsion. Perhaps for the first time, we have established the role of foil deflection topology and its influence on vorticity generation, through spatially and temporally evolving foil slope and curvature. Though the frequency of oscillation of the foil has a definite role, it is the phase relation between foil slope and pressure that determines thrust or drag. Similarly, the phase difference between flapping velocity, and pressure and inertial forces, determine the power input to the foil, and in turn drives propulsive efficiency. At low frequencies of oscillation, the sympathetic slope and curvature of deformation of the foil allow generation of leading-edge vortices that do not separate; they cause substantial rise in pressure between the leading edge and mid-chord. The circulatory component of pressure is determined primarily by the leading-edge vortex and therefore thrust too is predominantly circulatory in origin at low frequencies. In the intermediate and high-frequency range, thrust and drag on the foil spatially alternate and non-circulatory forces dominate over circulatory and viscous forces. For the mass ratios we simulated, thrust due to flapping varies quadratically as a function of Strouhal number or trailing-edge flapping velocity; further, the trailing edge flapping velocities peak at the same set of frequencies where the thrust is also a maximum. Propulsive efficiency, on the other hand, is roughly a mirror image of the thrust variation with respect to Strouhal number. Given that most instances of flapping propulsion in nature are primarily through distributed muscular actuation that enables precise control of deformation shape, leading to high thrust and efficiency, the results presented here are pointers towards understanding some of the mechanisms that drive thrust and propulsive efficiency.

Manual para la cría y reproducción de la lapa roja (Ara macao L.) en condiciones de zoocriadero en Nicaragua

Durante las últimas décadas se han conseguido importantes avances en la cría del Ara macao L. y parte de la razón del incremento en la reproducción son los avances en la nutrición, la estimulacion de nidificación y facilidad de la cría manual de sus polluelos. En la actualidad se ha estado trabajando en la identificación de rasgos de dimorfismo sexual, pero esta especie no posee muchos. El uso de incubadoras se ha popularizado en grado apreciable, y como resultado es posible retirar los huevos poco después de la puesta y proceder a incubación y al cuidado de los polluelos después de nacidos de forma separada. Mientras tanto y durante este proceso, los adultos ya estarán nidificando de nuevo. Este sistema a menudo llamado "doble nidada" estimula el ciclo reproductivo natural de los guacamayos y obviamente permite doblar el número de polluelos en cada época de cría. El uso de registros en el criadero permitirá obtener mejores resultados, para esto se diseñan fichas de registro reproductivo y fichas de registro individual.El aspecto exótico de los guacamayos puede dar la impresión de que son delicados y por ello propensos a enfermar. La mayoría de estos guacamayos exigen cuidados sencillos y gozan de larga vida con tal que se les instale en un entorno limpio y se alimenten de forma balanceada. Hay que someter a estrecha observación todas las aves recién adquiridas, en especial si han sido importadas. El estrés causado por el transporte y por un entorno que no les es familiar, habrá reducido la resistencia del ave a las enfermedades. Aparte de ello, cabe que en su nuevo entorno se encuentre con microorganismos dañinos con los que no se hayan familiarizado y a los cuales son virtualmente inmunes las aves ya instaladas. Al igual que cualquier otro animal, pueden verse aquejados por un número considerable de enfermedades, por cuyo motivo ha de constituir objetivo de todo aquel que disponga de varios ejemplares, reducir, a través de la higiene, la incidencia del riesgo que sobre ellos se cierne y tener plena conciencia de cuales son las situaciones en las que cualquier enfermedad puede propagarse.

Manual de crianza, raza, entrenamiento y reglamento del gallo de combate

Los gallos de combate llegaron a América provenientes de Europa; los conquistadores españoles trajeron gallos del tipo bankivoyde; malayoide, entre otros. Los primeros gallos de combate se originaron hace más de cinco mil años, ascendientes de los que hoy conocemos como Asiles Las primeras peleas de gallo se registraron en la India tres mil años antes de Cristo. Posiblemente las primeras aves que se pelearon por separado, fueron machos nacidos en cautiverio, tanto Malayos (Gallus giganteus)como Bankivas (subespecies de Gallus gallus). Para la selección y formación del "gallo de combate" intervinieron una serie de factores, los cuales se tejieron alrededor de la antigua Bélica de estas aves, de allí vendría el interés por crearlos, teniendo antes que capturarlo y trasladarlo desde su hábitat natural (los bosques) al cautiverio,cuando eran pollitos. Seguramente el primer criador de gallos de combate se daría cuenta de la actitud Bélica conflictiva en los pollones; quienes, al crecer demostrarían sus primeras actitudes de luchadores, matándose unos a otros. Esto forzaría a los criadores a separarlos en pequeñas jaulas rústicas. Luego hicieron la primera selección de los mejores ejemplares, según las actitudes de lucha, fuerza, velocidad, agilidad, entre otras. Antes de empezar con la explicación del manejo de los gallos de pelea, es necesario ejecutar algunas aclaraciones con relación a lo que son los gallos de pelea, y sobre todo, quienes son los que se encargan de su manejo. Cabe entender que, no todas las personas que están en este medio son iguales, y la forma más sencilla de explicar esto, es marcar la diferencia entre "galleros" y "criadores de gallos" Estos últimos, para tener aves de calidad, le es indispensable saber eleccionar a los reproductores, tal vez esta es la tarea más difícil de todas. Fundamentar la base para una buena alimentación, sana y racional. Es muy importante conocer sobre el tema de las instalaciones, para los que quieren iniciar su criadero de aves de combate. Deben tomarse en cuenta, en el manejo del gallo de pelea, las prácticas adecuadas del descreste y tusado. Las enfermedades se reconocen por sus señales muy claras. Las vacunas es el método más sencillo y más barato de prevenir pérdidas. El entrenamiento o cuido apropiado y la buena alimentación del gallo, son esenciales para obtener victorias o buen rendimiento durante el combate, si falta uno de éstos dos, puede ser fatal para sus gallos. Existen distintos tipos de entrenamientos para un gallo de pelea, ninguno es criticable, pero definitivamente es necesario preguntarse ¿Están ganando con este método? En síntesis hay que identificar y evaluar, comenzando desde el lugar en dónde desarrollar nuestras crías, depende mucho de las condiciones climáticas y ambientales(humedad, sol, temperatura, disposición de agua fresca, entre otras). Disponibilidad de materia prima como granos, alimento balanceado, y forraje verde. Disposición de personal calificado en la temática y permanencia continúa.

Manual de buenas prácticas agricolas (BPA) para la producción de fresa (Fragaria spp) Jinotega, Nicaragua

Con la finalidad de conocer el estado de la aplicación de Buenas Prácticas Agrícolas (BPA) y obtener información básica para diseñar un Manual de BPAs en el cultivo de la fresa, se realizó un diagnóstico en 3 fincas productoras de fresa de uso industrial del departamento de Jinotega, Nicaragua. Dicho diagnóstico se llevó a cabo el 1 de noviembre de 2005. Las 3 fincas en estudio fueron Sta Carmela, San Carlos y Jardines Las Pilas. Para realizar el diagnóstico se uso la metodología que emplea el departamento de inspección a fincas y trazabilidad del Ministerio Agropecuario y Forestal. Los resultados del estudio indican que ninguna de las tres fincas alcanzó el puntaje mínimo (85%) requerido para alcanzar la certificación BPA, dentro del marco de los requisitos exigidos por el MAG-FOR. La finca que obtuvo mayor puntaje fue La finca San Carlos (201; 50 %); la finca Jardines Las Pilas obtuvo el segundo lugar en puntaje (181; 45 %) y la finca Santa Carmela obtuvo el puntaje mas bajo (161;40%). Entre los aspectos con una calificación de menor puntaje figuran: 1. Estiércol y biosólidos, 2. Producto, 3. Almacenamiento y 4. Organismos genéticamente modificados, este ultimo no aplica para las tres fincas en su totalidad. Estos aspectos deberán ser los prioritarios en un plan de trabajo para corregir inconformidades a fin de alcanzar la certificación de BPA. Después de concluido el diagnóstico, se realizó un manual de BPA para este cultivo, para el cual se empleo el contenido mínimo recomendado por el MAG-FOR. El contenido del manual fue de 10 puntos que se detallan a continuación: 1. Buenas prácticas agrícolas para el manejo del agua, 2. buenas prácticas agrícolas para el manejo de suelos, 3. Buenas prácticas agrícolas para la fertilización de cultivos, 4. Buenas prácticas agrícolas para la protección de cultivos, 5. Buenas prácticas agrícolas para la recolección y el manejo postcosecha, 6. Buenas practicas agrícolas en los elementos de apoyo para las labores productivas, 7. Buenas prácticas agrícolas en la salud, seguridad y bienestar de los trabajadores, 8. Buenas practicas agrícolas para la trazabilidad y los registros, 9. Glosario y 10 bibliografía.