Advances in Information and Communication Technologies for Adapting Agriculture to Climate Change II


Book Description

This book presents novel communication technology solutions to address the effects of climate change and climate variability on agriculture, with a particular focus on those that increase agricultural production. It discusses decision support and early warning systems for agriculture; information technology (IT) supporting sustainable water management and land cover dynamics; predictive of crop production models; and software applications for reducing the effects of diseases and pests on crops. Further topics include the real-time monitoring of weather conditions and water quality, as well as food security issues. Featuring the proceedings of the International Conference of ICT for Adapting Agriculture to Climate Change (AACC’18), held on November 21–23, 2018, in Cali, Colombia, the book represents a timely report and a source of new ideas and solutions for both researchers and practitioners active in the agricultural sector around the globe.




Advances in Information and Communication Technologies for Adapting Agriculture to Climate Change


Book Description

This book presents novel communication technology solutions to address the effects of climate change and climate variability on agriculture, with a particular focus on those that increase agricultural production. It discusses decision support and early warning systems for agriculture; information technology (IT) supporting sustainable water management and land cover dynamics; predictive of crop production models; and software applications for reducing the effects of diseases and pests on crops. Further topics include the real-time monitoring of weather conditions and water quality, as well as food security issues. Featuring the proceedings of the International Conference of ICT for Adapting Agriculture to Climate Change (AACC’17), held on November 22–24, 2017, in Popayán, Colombia, the book represents a timely report and a source of new ideas and solutions for both researchers and practitioners active in the agricultural sector around the globe.




Strengthening Industrial Cybersecurity to Protect Business Intelligence


Book Description

In the digital transformation era, integrating business intelligence and data analytics has become critical for the growth and sustainability of industrial organizations. However, with this technological evolution comes the pressing need for robust cybersecurity measures to safeguard valuable business intelligence from security threats. Strengthening Industrial Cybersecurity to Protect Business Intelligence delves into the theoretical foundations and empirical studies surrounding the intersection of business intelligence and cybersecurity within various industrial domains. This book addresses the importance of cybersecurity controls in mitigating financial losses and reputational damage caused by cyber-attacks. The content spans a spectrum of topics, including advances in business intelligence, the role of artificial intelligence in various business applications, and the integration of intelligent systems across industry 5.0. Ideal for academics in information systems, cybersecurity, and organizational science, as well as government officials and organizations, this book serves as a vital resource for understanding the intricate relationship between business intelligence and cybersecurity. It is equally beneficial for students seeking insights into the security implications of digital transformation processes for achieving business continuity.




Sugarcane Cultivation and Management


Book Description

The sugarcane industry faces a number of challenges in terms of stagnating production, price regulations, unstable sugarcane market, and water scarcity/drought. This new book summarizes cultivation and sugarcane crop production strategies and related sustainability issues. The book covers topics related to sugarcane plantation and growth such as the impact of various stressors along with environment stress management in sugarcane crops, major sugarcane pests and their control, use of plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPRs) in improving sugarcane yield, role of plant secondary metabolism in sugarcane during unfavorable environmental conditions, and more.




Biodiversity Islands: Strategies for Conservation in Human-Dominated Environments


Book Description

This book is intended to provide an overview for the identification and establishment of biodiversity islands. It presents examples and case studies where the biodiversity islands approach is being used in a variety of locations and contexts worldwide. It will contribute to design parameters on appropriate sizing and spatial distribution of biodiversity islands in order to be effective in conservation and regeneration across the landscape, using integrated landscape management approaches. This book is essential given the current worldwide trend of habitat destruction and the need to preserve biodiversity and its values. The chapters are organized in five sections. The first section provides the introduction. Section 2,3 and 4 discuss the challenges and alternatives of establishment and management, case studies across the globe, safeguarding of the environmental, economic, and social benefits, and the final section offers a conclusion. The contributing authors present views from the academic, the practitioner and the policymaker perspectives, offering alternatives and suggestions for promoting strategies that support biodiversity conservation through intentionally designed frameworks for sustainable forest landscapes. Readers will discover suggestions and concrete examples that can be used by a variety of stakeholders in various settings throughout the world. This book is useful to researchers, farmers, foresters, landowners, land managers, city planners, and policy makers alike.




Climate-Resilient Agriculture, Vol 1


Book Description

Under ongoing climate change, natural and cultivated habitats of major food crops are being continuously disturbed. Such condition accelerates to impose stress effects like abiotic and biotic stressors. Drought, salinity, flood, cold, heat, heavy metals, metalloids, oxidants, irradiation etc. are important abiotic stresses; and diseases and infections caused by plant pathogens viz. fungal agents, bacteria and viruses are major biotic stresses. As a result, these harsh environments affect crop productivity and its biology in multiple complex paradigms. As stresses become the limiting factors for agricultural productivity and exert detrimental role on growth and yield of the crops, scientists and researchers are challenged to maintain global food security for a rising world population. This two-volume work highlights the fast-moving agricultural research on crop improvement through the stress mitigation strategies, with specific focuses on crop biology and their response to climatic instabilities. Together with "Climate Resilient Agriculture, Vol 2: Agro-Biotechnological Advancement for Crop Production", it covers a wide range of topics under environmental challenges, agronomy and agriculture processes, and biotechnological approaches, uniquely suitable for scientists, researchers and students working in the fields of agriculture, plant science, environmental biology and biotechnology.







Water Safety, Security and Sustainability


Book Description

This book focuses on threats, especially contaminants, to drinking water and the supply system, especially in municipalities but also in industrial and even residential settings. The safety, security, and suitability landscape can be described as dynamic and complex stemming from necessity and hence culpability due to the emerging threats and risks, vis-a-vis globalization resulting in new forms of contaminants being used due to new technologies. The book provides knowledge and guidance for engineers, scientists, designers, researchers, and students who are involved in water, sustainability, and study of security issues. This book starts out with basics of water usage, current statistics, and an overview ofwater resources. The book then introduces different scenarios of safety and security and areas that researchers need to focus. Following that, the book presents different types of contaminants – inadvertent, intentional, or incidental. The next section presents different methodologies of contamination sensing/detection and remediation strategies as per guidance and standards set globally. The book then concludes with selected chapters on water management, including critical infrastructure that is critical to maintaining safe water supplies to cities and municipalities. Each chapter includes descriptive information for professionals in their respective fields. The breadth of chapters offers insights into how science (physical, natural, and social) and technology can support new developments to manage the complexity resident within the evolving threat and risk landscape.




Climate Change and Agriculture


Book Description

The specific focus of this seminal work is on the economic impact of climate change on agriculture world wide, and how faced with the resultant environmental alterations, agriculture might adapt under varied and varying conditions. Enhanced with a detailed and comprehensive index, Climate Change and Agriculture is highly recommended for academic library environmental studies and economic studies reference collections and supplemental reading lists. The Midwest Book Review Despite its great importance, there are surprisingly few economic studies of the impact of climate on agriculture and how agriculture can adapt under a variety of conditions. This book examines 22 countries across four continents, including both developed and developing economies. It provides both a good analytical basis for additional work and solid results for policy debate concerning income distributional effects such as abatement, adaptation, and equity. Agriculture and grazing are a central sector in the livelihood of many people, particularly in developing countries. This book uses the Ricardian method to examine the impact of climate change on agriculture. It also quantifies how farmers adapt to climate. The findings suggest that agriculture in developing countries is more sensitive to climate than agriculture in developed countries. Rain-fed cropland is generally more sensitive to warming than irrigated cropland and cropland is more sensitive than livestock. The adaptation to climate change results reveal that farmers make many adjustments including switching crops and livestock species, adopting irrigation, and moving between livestock and crops. The results also reveal that impacts and adaptations vary a great deal across landscapes, suggesting that adaptation policies must be location specific. Finally, the book suggests a research agenda for the future. Economists in academia and the public sector, policy analysts and development agencies will find this broad study illuminating.




Information and Communication Technologies for Agriculture—Theme IV: Actions


Book Description

This volume is the last (IV) of four under the main themes of Digitizing Agriculture and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). The four volumes cover rapidly developing processes including Sensors (I), Data (II), Decision (III), and Actions (IV). Volumes are related to ‘digital transformation” within agricultural production and provision systems, and in the context of Smart Farming Technology and Knowledge-based Agriculture. Content spans broadly from data mining and visualization to big data analytics and decision making, alongside with the sustainability aspects stemming from the digital transformation of farming. The four volumes comprise the outcome of the 12th EFITA Congress, also incorporating chapters that originated from select presentations of the Congress. The focus in this volume is on the directions of Agriculture 4.0 which incorporates the transition to a new era of action in the Agricultural sector, represented by the evolution of digital technologies in 4 aspects: Big Data, Open Data, Internet of Things (IoT), and Cloud Computing. Under the heading of “Action,” 14 Chapters investigate the implementation of cutting-edge technologies on real world applications. It will become apparent to the reader that the penetration of ICT in agriculture can result in several benefits related to the sustainability of the sector and to yield the maximum benefits, successful management is required. The entire discussion highlights the importance of proper education in the adoption of innovative technologies starting with the adaption of educational systems to the new era and moving to the familiarization of farmers to the new technologies. This book covers topics that relate to the digital transformation of farming. It provides examples and case studies of this transformation from around the world, examines the process of diffusion of digital technologies, and assesses the current and future sustainability aspects of digital agriculture. More specifically, it deals with issues such as: Challenges and opportunities from the transition to Agriculture 4.0 Safety and health in agricultural work automation The role of digital farming on regional-spatial planning The enrollment of Social Media in IoT-based agriculture The role of education in digital agriculture Real-life implementation cases of smart agriculture around the world