Solutions to enhance technology in the fabrication process and installation of marine pipelines

The article describes possible solutions of the problem connected with shortening shipbuilding construction time as well as reducing production costs. To reduce the total amount of labour involved in the manufacture and installation of ship piping systems, which is 20% compared to the total labour volume of shipbuilding, authors provide the research on the possibility of manufacturing straight pipe sections with permissible deviations in combination with free flanges, analysis of deviation compensation for pipelines through the use of straight pipe sections manufactured with permissible tolerance and proposing new theoretical solutions to improve manufacturing and installing ship piping systems. Introduction of these technologies contributes to reduction of cycles of building and decrease in labour-intensiveness of pipeline works when carrying out marine orders. The chart of modeling the system of pipelines is presented. A straight pipe manufactured with an allowable deflection on a flat support and a loose flange attached to the end of the welded pipe are shown. The scheme of a permissible deviation α at mounting the connections between pipes is considered. The possibility of assembling curved pipelines using straight pipe sections is described in detail. The compensation zone is illustrated using the rotation of two pairs of deflected straight pipes. A block diagram of the application of research results in manufacturing and mounting a pipeline system has been developed

Impact of Mechanical Transplanting on Rice Productivity and Profitability- Review

Conventional rice transplanting methods are laboured exhaustive and involves drudgery. On an average only transplanting operation takes one fourth of the total labour requirement of rice production under traditional system. Shifting of agricultural labourer towards urban areas for better remuneration creates labour shortage during peak time of transplanting. Lower plant density compared to desirable level under traditional transplanting method habitually farmers force to apply higher amounts of agro-input to compensate as result cost of cultivation has increased considerably and eventually get lesser grain yield. Under such circumstances, a cheap and labour redeemable way of rice transplanting without compromising grain yield is the need of the time. The mechanical rice transplanting is an alternative and encouraging choice for ensuring timely transplanting and also contributes to higher grain yield. Mechanical transplanting of rice is profitable over traditional methods and easy to operate. In spite of having superiority over the conventional transplanting, acceptance in the field level is stumpy due to high preliminary investment and dearth of awareness in growing mat type nursery. Divulging technical skill, confirming timely accessibility and boosting custom hiring may be some of the practical solutions for increasing the adoption rate of mechanical transplanting among farmers. This review focused on the positive and negative impact of mechanical transplanting on productivity and profitability of rice production.

India @ 75: Science, Technology and Innovation Policies for Development

India was perhaps the only country among the developing world with a colonial past to have organised and established national science community much before it attained its independence. Nehruvian science and technology (S&T) policy in India’s formative years left a distinct imprint in the post-colonial and post-independent India. With a huge population of nearly 1.35 billion people, India is not dependent on food on outside countries since the 1960s. Green and White Revolutions have made immense contribution to develop scientific and technical capacities in agriculture. India’s innovation system, including higher education, has given her some comparative advantage through ‘human capital’ in information technology, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, space research and so on. In export promotion and economic competitiveness in technology-based industries, we lag compared with East Asian ‘Dragons’. India’s informal sector poses a formidable challenge with more than 95% of the total labour force, about 550 million, 90% of which is 8th class dropouts. When we begin to assess our national innovation system, one feature that stands out to research observers is few islands of excellence and vast ‘hinterlands’ of underdeveloped research potential. There is clearly a gap between theory and practice of science policy in India. Our gross expenditure on research and development as a proportion of gross domestic product remained relatively stagnant and, in fact, receded from 0.8% in the 1990s to 0.7% in 2020. In this period, our neighbour, China, left us far behind in S&T for development.