No abstract

Climate change is emerging as a major threat to farming, food security and the livelihoods of millions of people across the world. Agriculture is strongly affected by climate change due to increasing temperatures, water shortage, heavy rainfall and variations in the frequency and intensity of excessive climatic events such as floods and droughts. Farmers need to adapt to climate change by developing advanced and sophisticated farming systems instead of simply farming at lower intensity and occupying more land. Integrated agricultural systems constitute a promising solution, as they can lower reliance on external inputs, enhance nutrient cycling and increase natural resource use efficiency. In this context, the concept of Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) emerged as a promising solution to secure the resources for the growing world population under climate change conditions. This work proposes a CSA architecture for fostering and supporting integrated agricultural systems, such as Mixed Farming Systems (MFS), by facilitating the design, the deployment and the management of crop–livestock-=forestry combinations towards sustainable, efficient and climate resilient agricultural systems. Propelled by cutting-edge technology solutions in data collection and processing, along with fully autonomous monitoring systems, e.g., smart sensors and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), the proposed architecture called MiFarm-CSA, aims to foster core interactions among animals, forests and crops, while mitigating the high complexity of these interactions, through a novel conceptual framework.

Non-destructive tests were conducted on welded fatigue specimens prepared using the same steel material and welding method as the one used in the manufacture and repair procedures of a KRUPP SchRs 600 bucket wheel excavator to reveal any defects present. The chemical composition, the mechanical properties, tendency to cracks and the microstructure of the bucket wheel material were determined using appropriate tests. The initiation of cracks and their subsequent growth during fatigue testing of the welded specimens was studied using ultrasound testing (UT) and a metallographic examination in order to investigate the causes of failure during service and predict fatigue life of the bucket wheel welded parts. It was found that the welding method used produces welds with numerous discontinuities that can only be detected using ultrasound techniques.

Abstract. A number of low-cycle fatigue tests were conducted on reinforced-concrete steel bars of various diameters to study their behaviour under axial loading according to EN 10080 and EN 1421-3. Scanning electron microscopy was used to study the specimen fracture surfaces. The problems faced during testing are presented and a specimen preparation method is described that will aid researchers on fatigue testing to obtain accurate test results and save on material and time.

Abstract.A test method for the peel resistance of the bonded rubber lining of large of large conveyor belt metal drums is presented that will assist engineer in designing conveyor systems with predetermined specifications. A simple specimen preparation method is developed and the peel strength of the liming is measured using a modified version of the Standard EN 28510-1:2014, 'Adhesives-Peel test for a flexible-bonded-to-rigid test specimen assembly' [1]. The method was applied to various types of samples and it was found that only metal drums where the rubber lining was bonded using hot-vulcanisation under pressure satisfied the condition of the peel force greater than 2 N/m.