Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the U.S. Custom Grain and Forage Harvesting Labor Supply and 2020 Harvest

The global coronavirus pandemic disrupted migratory labor worldwide in 2020, including foreign seasonal labor that travels to the United States to work on mobile custom grain and forage harvesting crews, which operate primarily in Great Plains states. In response to the pandemic, the United States suspended the processing of H-2A and J-1 visas, which foreign workers use for these jobs, and prohibited travel from labor-sending countries. Many transnational workers were delayed or prevented from traveling to jobs that require training before the harvest begins in April or May, creating a critical situation for the owners of these operations in moving their equipment to the fields and having enough workers to harvest the crops in the usual time frame. The J-1 visa process is administered by the U.S. Department of State while the H-2A visa process is more complex and administered by the U.S. public employment service and other federal agencies. Wheat harvest labor problems in the Great Plains played a significant role in the development of the DOL and other federal, state, and local government agencies that would form the U.S. public employment service in the United States in the early twentieth century. The custom harvesting industry now uses the public employment service to hire foreign labor through the H-2A visa program. This research uses information gathered from custom harvesting employers and a private labor agency in Britain to determine how these disruptions affected the 2020 labor supply and harvest. Survey respondents had planned to hire more than half of their workers from foreign countries in 2020, causing significant problems in finding enough domestic workers to replace those unable to travel. Many custom harvesters have downsized their operations due to labor problems, which raises the issue of whether the public employment services of countries involved need to adapt once again to changing labor conditions. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.

Contrast a Model of the Coffee Entrepreneurship in the Covid-19 Era

Is observed a structure of five factors: representations, habitus, fields, capital, capabilities and enterprise that explained 54% of the total variance explained, although the research design limited findings local scenario, suggesting the inclusion of variables that the literature identifies Sociodemographic and socioeconomic variables to establish entrepreneurial profiles according to risk events;landslides, fires, droughts, floods, frosts or earthquakes. If a representation links coffee farming with other personal or community needs, then it supposes provisions that facilitate the objectification or anchoring of information related to sowing, harvesting, weather, pests, prices and prices. Faced with the environmental problems of droughts or floods, social capital networks in Xilitla respond with organization of the crop in diversified stages but confined to the achievement of goals that guarantee the productive cycle. The representations are discursive innovations from which scientific knowledge is disseminated in common sense and social thought, although this is exclusive of not only science, art or culture in general since the symbols to discover or invent are also prone to its transformation into interpretations of reality and more primarily discursive senses.

Smart and functional textiles

Smart and Functional Textiles is an application-oriented book covering a wide range of areas from multifunctional nanofinished textiles, coated and laminated textiles, wearable e-textiles, textile-based sensors and actuators, thermoregulating textiles, to smart medical textiles and stimuli-responsive textiles. It also includes chapters on 3D printed smart textiles, automotive smart textiles, smart textiles in military and defense, as well as functional textiles used in care and diagnosis of Covid-19. • Overview of smart textiles and their multidirectional applications • Materials, processes, advanced techniques, design and performance of smart fabrics • Fundamentals, advancements, current challenges and future perspectives of smart textiles. © 2023 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston.

Managing stormwater in South African neighbourhoods: When engineers and scientists need social science skills to get their jobs done

Stormwater harvesting via managed aquifer recharge in retrofitted infrastructure has been posited as a method for resource augmentation in Cape Town. However, the existing guidelines on stormwater retrofits are technically inclined, occidental, and generally misaligned with the realities and socio-economic contexts of developing nations like South Africa. Water and urban practitioners from developing nations cannot just 'copy and paste' existing guidelines as different socio-economic dimensions and colonial histories typically hinder 'traditional' approaches. This paper assesses how a transdisciplinary team navigated these realities in a case study of a retrofitted pond in Mitchells Plain, Cape Town. A decolonial thinking framework was applied for reflection and thematic content analysis. The framework was used to unpack how the team encountered, addressed, and learned from the challenges during the retrofit process. The research team found that the retrofit process within a context of under-resourced South African communities can be viewed as developmental work with a strong emphasis on continuous community engagement. Thus, it is suggested that in the South African context, water practitioners should consider, at the fore, interaction with local communities, including awareness of racialised histories, to ensure projects are successfully implemented and completed.

Green Fabrication of Freestanding Piezoceramic Films for Energy Harvesting and Virus Detection.

Most electronics such as sensors, actuators and energy harvesters need piezoceramic films to interconvert mechanical and electrical energy. Transferring the ceramic films from their growth substrates for assembling electronic devices commonly requires chemical or physical etching, which comes at the sacrifice of the substrate materials, film cracks, and environmental contamination. Here, we introduce a van der Waals stripping method to fabricate large-area and freestanding piezoceramic thin films in a simple, green, and cost-effective manner. The introduction of the quasi van der Waals epitaxial platinum layer enables the capillary force of water to drive the separation process of the film and substrate interface. The fabricated lead-free film, [Formula: see text] (BCZT), shows a high piezoelectric coefficient d33 = 209 ± 10 pm V-1 and outstanding flexibility of maximum strain 2%. The freestanding feature enables a wide application scenario, including micro energy harvesting, and covid-19 spike protein detection. We further conduct a life cycle analysis and quantify the low energy consumption and low pollution of the water-based stripping film method.

The Challenges of Agricultural Extension Amid Drought and COVID-19 Pandemic:Community-based Soybean SeedProduction Through Brainstorming and Participatory Action Development

One constraint of Thai soybean production is the volume of seeds used for cultivation in the dry season or after the rice season. PhuPha Man district, KhonKaenprovince, in Northeast Thailand, faces the same problem and can be solved by producing seeds during the rainy season for use in the dry season. The collaborative brainstorming to participatory action development employed in this community-based soybean production project involves four steps: (1) needs assessment, (2) planning, (3) implementation, and (4) evaluation. From 2019-2020, a total of 40 farmers jointly participated in this project: 20 from the Non-Korm Sub-district and 20 from the Sawab Sub-district. They agreed to implement three missions: (1) Farmer group management. A Community-based Soybean Seed Production Center (CSSPC) was established in each area. Each CSSPC was responsible for determining the structure and role of management, including the implementation of disciplines. (2) Seed production management. During its implementation, a shortage of rainfall and drought occurred from September to October 2019, causing soybean production to decline. Moreover, product harvesting and project evaluation took place at the site during the COVID-19 pandemic from January to May 2020, influencing the ability of farmers and facilitators to work together on group activities which required delicate management of the monitoring, control, production, exchange, and learning to solve problems. (3) Seed purchasing and distribution management. Rainfall shortage and drought influenced the ability of the farmers to produce the required soybean seeds. Consequently, the CSSPC did not purchase the seeds and manage their distribution.Copyright © 2023, Anka Publishers. All rights reserved.

Noncontact liquid–solid nanogenerators as self-powered droplet sensors

Liquid–solid triboelectric nanogenerators (L–S TENGs) can generate corresponding electrical signal responses through the contact separation of droplets and dielectrics and have a wide range of applications in energy harvesting and self-powered sensing. However, the contact between the droplet and the electret will cause the contact L–S TENG's performance degradation or even failure. Here we report a noncontact triboelectric nanogenerator (NCLS-TENG) that can effectively sense droplet stimuli without contact with droplets and convert them into electrical energy or corresponding electrical signals. Since there is no contact between the droplet and the dielectric, it can continuously and stably generate a signal output. To verify the feasibility of NCLS-TENG, we demonstrate the modified murphy's dropper as a smart infusion monitoring system. The smart infusion monitoring system can effectively identify information such as the type, concentration, and frequency of droplets. NCLS-TENG show great potential in smart medical, smart wearable and other fields.

Multi-bioinspired hierarchical integrated hydrogel for passive fog harvesting and solar-driven seawater desalination.

In recent years, with the outbreak and epidemic of the novel coronavirus in the world, how to obtain clean water from the limited resources has become an urgent issue of concern to all mankind. Atmospheric water harvesting technology and solar-driven interfacial evaporation technology have shown great potential in seeking clean and sustainable water resources. Here, inspired by a variety of organisms in nature, a multi-functional hydrogel matrix composed of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), sodium alginate (SA) cross-linked by borax as well as doped with zeolitic imidazolate framework material 67 (ZIF-67) and graphene owning macro/micro/nano hierarchical structure has successfully fabricated for producing clean water. The hydrogel not only can reach the average water harvesting ratio up to 22.44 g g-1 under the condition of fog flow after 5 h, but also be capable of desorbing the harvested water with water release efficiency of 1.67 kg m-2 h-1 under 1 sun. In addition to excellent performance in passive fog harvesting, the evaporation rate over 1.89 kg m-2 h-1 is attained under 1 sun on natural seawater during long-term. This hydrogel indicates its potential in producing clean water resources in multiple scenarios in different dry or wet states, and which holds great promise for flexible electronic materials and sustainable sewage or wastewater treatment applications.

Tillandsia-Inspired Composite Materials for Atmospheric Water Harvesting

Atmospheric water harvesting (AWH) is a potentially promising small-scale approach to alleviate the water crisis in arid or semiarid regions. Inspired by the asymmetric structure of tillandsia leaves, a plant species native to semiarid regions, we report the development of a bioinspired composite (BiC) to draw moisture for AWH applications. With the advent of the post-COVID era, the nonwoven materials in used masks are discarded, landfilled, or incinerated along with the masks as medical waste, and the negative impact on the environment is inevitable. The nonwoven sheet has porosity, softness, and certain mechanical strength. We innovatively developed BiCs, immobilizing hygroscopic salt with a nonwoven mask for fast vapor liquefaction and using a polymer network to store water. The resulting BiC material manages to achieve a high-water adsorption capacity of 1.24 g g-1 under a low-moderate humidity environment and a high-water release ratio of ca. 90% without the use of photothermal materials, while maintaining high structural integrity in cyclic testing. © 2023 American Chemical Society.

[6]-Gingerol: A narrative review of its beneficial effect on human health

Ginger rhizome, a common spice that has been traditionally used in various health aspects. The rhizome contains volatile oil and nonvolatile oil compounds, including oleoresin. Chemical constituents of ginger are numerous and vary depending on the geographic origin, harvest process, and storage conditions. [6]-Gingerol, a major bioactive constituent of ginger, has been reported to possess anti-inflammatory, antiviral, antitumor, antioxidant, and antiemetic effects. Therefore, it is a valuable food molecule with benefits for human health. This review summarized current findings on [6]-gingerol with regards to its beneficial effects on human health, encompassing the biological activities, mechanisms of action and toxicity assessment. In addition, relevant evidence in support of the application of [6]-gingerol towards the promotion health and vitality, as well as methods for extraction, identification and quantitative determination of [6]-gingerol are also provided.Copyright © 2022 The Author(s)

Home Chimney Pinwheels (HCP) as Steh and Remote Monitoring for Smart Building IoT and WSN Applications.

Smart, and ultra-low energy consuming Internet of Things (IoTs), wireless sensor networks (WSN), and autonomous devices are being deployed to smart buildings and cities, which require continuous power supply, whereas battery usage has accompanying environmental problems, coupled with additional maintenance cost. We present Home Chimney Pinwheels (HCP) as the Smart Turbine Energy Harvester (STEH) for wind; and Cloud-based remote monitoring of its output data. The HCP commonly serves as an external cap to home chimney exhaust outlets; they have very low inertia to wind; and are available on the rooftops of some buildings. Here, an electromagnetic converter adapted from a brushless DC motor was mechanically fastened to the circular base of an 18-blade HCP. In simulated wind, and rooftop experiments, an output voltage of 0.3 V to 16 V was realised for a wind speed between 0.6 to 16 km/h. This is sufficient to operate low-power IoT devices deployed around a smart city. The harvester was connected to a power management unit and its output data was remotely monitored via the IoT analytic Cloud platform "ThingSpeak" by means of LoRa transceivers, serving as sensors; while also obtaining supply from the harvester. The HCP can be a battery-less "stand-alone" low-cost STEH, with no grid connection, and can be installed as attachments to IoT or wireless sensors nodes in smart buildings and cities.

Batteryless wireless magnetostrictive Fe30Co70/Ni clad plate for human coronavirus 229E detection.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has been garnered increasing for its rapid worldwide spread. Each country had implemented city-wide lockdowns and immigration regulations to prevent the spread of the infection, resulting in severe economic consequences. Materials and technologies that monitor environmental conditions and wirelessly communicate such information to people are thus gaining considerable attention as a countermeasure. This study investigated the dynamic characteristics of batteryless magnetostrictive alloys for energy harvesting to detect human coronavirus 229E (HCoV-229E). Light and thin magnetostrictive Fe-Co/Ni clad plate with rectification, direct current (DC) voltage storage capacitor, and wireless information transmission circuits were developed for this purpose. The power consumption was reduced by improving the energy storage circuit, and the magnetostrictive clad plate under bending vibration stored a DC voltage of 1.9 V and wirelessly transmitted a signal to a personal computer once every 5 min and 10 s under bias magnetic fields of 0 and 10 mT, respectively. Then, on the clad plate surface, a novel CD13 biorecognition layer was immobilized using a self-assembled monolayer of -COOH groups, thus forming an amide bond with -NH2 groups for the detection of HCoV-229E. A bending vibration test demonstrated the resonance frequency changes because of HCoV-229E binding. The fluorescence signal demonstrated that HCoV-229E could be successfully detected. Thus, because HCoV-229E changed the dynamic characteristics of this plate, the CD13-modified magnetostrictive clad plate could detect HCoV-229E from the interval of wireless communication time. Therefore, a monitoring system that transmits/detects the presence of human coronavirus without batteries will be realized soon.

A Summary of COVID-19 Pandemic Assistance to US Forest Products Companies

Forest products and timber harvesting businesses were severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. This article describes how forest products companies used Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans to keep over 487,000 workers in the forest industry on payroll through the pandemic. This article also summarizes the Pandemic Assistance for Timber Harvesters and Haulers (PATHH) program, payments provided to timber harvesting and hauling businesses that experienced losses in revenue in 2020. Timber harvesting and hauling companies that received a PATHH payment reported US$1.27 trillion in total revenue lost between 2019 and 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. © 2022 Forest Products Society. All rights reserved.

Impact of COVID-19 on productivity of agriculture sector: an empirical study from India

The study examines the performance and production of agricultural sector and investigates the impact of covid-19 on agricultural productivity from 2017 to 2021. The comparison has been taken between pre and during covid-19 productivity of the agricultural sector and t-test was applied to compare the data to investigate our objective. Overall findings suggest that pandemics have created a huge vulnerability on all the production of agricultural commodities which was observed from many states and few states have registered with positive growth due to ending monsoon and harvesting process of the sector. However, we conclude that the pandemic created a big impact and negative growth on agricultural productivity.

RF Energy Harvesting Multi-Frequency Receptor Model for Micropower Applications

In recent era of 21st century the electronics engineering is prettily well known for its comfort and user-friendly interface. All the low power sensor networks require a power for its routine applications and processes. RF Energy Harvesting (RFH) is emerging potential method for the proactive energy replenishment of next generation wireless networks and for energy crisis problem. Since present all the RF-DC techniques focuses on single or double frequency operation and it mainly deals with single structure antenna design. In this chapter the mathematical simulation model of multi structured frequency reception single antenna is designed under CMOS 5 stage rectification process to provide DC power for remote devices. The chapter-based prototype design of differential Microstrip patch structure for RF energy harvesting, CMOS rectifier which is to be designed in 5/6 stages. A multiple frequency receiver antenna with 3D structure along with its design characteristics in ADS is to be mentioned by this chapter. The presented structure uses various ADS tools and technics for simulation this will provide a basic design learning platform of ADS for researcher. ADS tools like Monte Carlo, optimization techniques and tuning conditions ae mentioned in this chapter for providing step by step simulation guidelines for new users. Currently the world is facing a big outbreak of COVID-19 and our day-to-day life activities gets stuck because of it. Because of technology the world has an option of human remote interaction with database to enforce the social distancing in such pandemic situation. WEH allows IOT sensor node to forage self-sustaining energy from environment. In this entire book chapter, we will get the brief knowledge of WEH system its fundamentals, Mathematical model process of each module, its software design aspects and most important step by step design validation and verification simulation guidance. © 2022 American Institute of Physics Inc.. All rights reserved.

Recent Advances in Marine Microalgae Production: Highlighting Human Health Products from Microalgae in View of the Coronavirus Pandemic (COVID-19)

Blue biotechnology can greatly help solve some of the most serious social problems due to its wide biodiversity, which includes marine environments. Microalgae are important resources for human needs as an alternative to terrestrial plants because of their rich biodiversity, rapid growth, and product contributions in many fields. The production scheme for microalgae biomass mainly consists of two processes: (I) the Build-Up process and (II) the Pull-Down process. The Build-Up process consists of (1) the super strain concept and (2) cultivation aspects. The Pull-Down process includes (1) harvesting and (2) drying algal biomass. In some cases, such as the manufacture of algal products, the (3) extraction of bioactive compounds is included. Microalgae have a wide range of commercial applications, such as in aquaculture, biofertilizer, bioenergy, pharmaceuticals, and functional foods, which have several industrial and academic applications around the world. The efficiency and success of biomedical products derived from microalgal biomass or its metabolites mainly depend on the technologies used in the cultivation, harvesting, drying, and extraction of microalgae bioactive molecules. The current review focuses on recent advanced technologies that enhance microalgae biomass within microalgae production schemes. Moreover, the current work highlights marine drugs and human health products derived from microalgae that can improve human immunity and reduce viral activities, especially COVID-19. © 2022 by the authors.

Optimized Ridge–Furrow Ratio to Decrease Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Increase Winter Wheat Yield in Dry Semi-Humid Areas

The plastic-mulched ridge–furrow rainwater harvesting (RF) system has been widely adopted worldwide due to its visible economic benefits. However, few and inconclusive studies have focused on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In addition, it is still unknown whether different coverage ratios under RF have an impact on greenhouse gas emissions. Here, we evaluate the effects of various coverage ratios on the soil hydrothermal characteristics, global warming potential (GWP), greenhouse gas intensity (GHGI), and yield productivity in dry semi-humid areas. A control (FP, conventional flat planting without mulching) and three different ridge–furrow ratios (40:40 (RF40), 40:60 (RF60), and 40:80 (RF80)) were tested in 2017–2019. Compared with FP, RF increased the soil temperature and promoted soil moisture in the furrows during the vegetative growth period. However, the soil temperature of the furrows slightly increased with furrow width, whereas the soil moisture obviously decreased under the three RF practices. In a wet year (2017–2018), FP significantly increased the winter wheat yield (43.6%) compared with RF, while the opposite was the case in a normal year (2018–2019). Among the three RF treatments, RF40 and RF80 significantly increased the yield by 13.9% and 17.2%, respectively, compared with RF60. Compared with FP, all of the RF treatments increased the flux of N2O and CO2 emissions but reduced CH4 absorption. Compared with FP, RF with ridge–furrow ratios of 40:40 cm, 40:60 cm, and 40:80 cm increased the GWP by 99.6%, 53.4%, and 31.3%, respectively, and increased the GHGI by 55.8%, 45.3%, and 0.7%, respectively. Therefore, conventional flat planting in wet years and a ridge–furrow ratio of 40:71 cm in normal years can reduce GHG emissions, sustaining crop productivity, and promote the sustainable development of agriculture and the environment. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Agronomy is the property of MDPI and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Modulation of Z-scheme photocatalysts for pharmaceuticals remediation and pathogen inactivation: Design devotion, concept examination, and developments.

The recent outbreak of Covid-19 guarantees overconsumption of different drugs as a necessity to reduce the symptoms caused by this pandemic. This triggers the proliferation of pharmaceuticals into drinking water systems. Is there any hope for access to safe drinking water? Photocatalytic degradation using artificial Z-scheme photocatalysts that has been employed for over a decade conveys a prospect for sustainable clean water supply. It is compelling to comprehensively summarise the state-of-the-art effects of Z-scheme photocatalytic systems towards the removal of pharmaceuticals in water. The principle of Z-scheme and the techniques used to validate the Z-scheme interfacial charge transfer are explored in detail. The application of the Z-scheme photocatalysts towards the degradation of antibiotics, NSAIDs, and bacterial/viral inactivation is deliberated. Conclusions and stimulating standpoints on the challenges of this emergent research direction are presented. The insights and up-to-date information will prompt the up-scaling of Z- scheme photocatalytic systems for commercialization.

Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting from Low-Frequency Vibrations Based on Magnetic Plucking and Indirect Impacts.

This work proposes a mono-axial piezoelectric energy harvester based on the innovative combination of magnetic plucking and indirect impacts, e.g., impacts happening on the package of the harvester. The harvester exploits a permanent magnet placed on a non-magnetic mass, free to move within a predefined bounded region located in front of a piezoelectric bimorph cantilever equipped with a magnet as the tip mass. When the harvester is subjected to a low-frequency external acceleration, the moving mass induces an abrupt deflection and release of the cantilever by means of magnetic coupling, followed by impacts of the same mass against the harvester package. The combined effect of magnetic plucking and indirect impacts induces a frequency up-conversion. A prototype has been designed, fabricated, fastened to the wrist of a person by means of a wristband, and experimentally tested for different motion levels. By setting the magnets in a repulsive configuration, after 50 s of consecutive impacts induced by shaking, an energy of 253.41 µJ has been stored: this value is seven times higher compared to the case of harvester subjected to indirect impacts only, i.e., without magnetic coupling. This confirms that the combination of magnetic plucking and indirect impacts triggers the effective scavenging of electrical energy even from low-frequency non-periodical mechanical movements, such as human motion, while preserving the reliability of piezoelectric components.

Prospective RFID Sensors for the IoT Healthcare System

The outbreak of COVID-19 has attracted people’s attention to our healthcare system, stimulating the advancement of next-generation health monitoring technologies. IoT attracts extensive attention in this advancement for its advantage in ubiquitous communication and sensing. RFID plays a key role in IoT to tackle the challenges in passive communication and identification and is now emerging as a sensing technology which has the ability to reduce the cost and complexity of data collection. It is advantageous to introduce RFID sensor technologies in health-related sensing and monitoring, as there are many sensors used in health monitoring systems with the potential to be integrated with RFID for smart sensing and monitoring. But due to the unique characteristics of the human body, there are challenges in developing effective RFID sensors for human health monitoring in terms of communication and sensing. For example, in a typical IoT health monitoring application, the main challenges are as follows: (1) energy issues, the efficiency of RF front-end energy harvesting and power conversion is measured;(2) communication issues, the basic technology of RFID sensors shows great heterogeneity in terms of antennas, integrated circuit functions, sensing elements, and data protocols;and (3) performance stability and sensitivity issues, the RFID sensors are mainly attached to the object to be measured to carry out identification and parameter sensing. However, in practical applications, these can also be affected by certain environmental factors. This paper presents the recent advancement in RFID sensor technologies and the challenges for the IoT healthcare system. The current sensors used in health monitoring are also reviewed with regard to integrating possibility with RFID and IoT. The future research direction is pointed out for the emergence of the next-generation healthcare and monitoring system.