The fierce competitions in supply chain are changing the conventional buyer-seller relationship, which leads to undermine business strengths. To respond this transformation, strategic partnership has been gaining increasing attention. However, recent research points out that it still lacks the...

Sudoku is played by millions of people across the globe. It has simple rules and is very addictive. The game board is a nine-by-nine grid of numbers from one to nine. Several entries within the grid are provided and the remaining entries must be filled in subject to no row, column, or...

The effects of adding various carbon nanofillers on the thermal conductivity and energy storage properties of paraffin-based nanocomposite phase change materials (PCMs) for thermal energy storage were investigated experimentally. These included short and long multi-walled carbon nanotubes,...

The irrigation districts of the upper Yellow River basin face a progressive reduction of water allocation and the need to apply water-saving practices due to increasing water scarcity. The adoption of such practices will lead to lower water tables, hopefully in conjunction with controlled soil...

The irrigation districts of the upper Yellow River basin are highly productive agricultural areas of North China. Due to the severe water scarcity, application of water-saving practices at both farm and district levels are required for sustainable agricultural development. An integrated...

Within the framework of the modified Ginzburg–Landau–Devonshire phenomenological theory, we study the properties of a ferroelectric thin film with surface transition layer, considering the effect of electrodes. The combined effect of the electrode and surface transition layer on the...

Irrigation is essential for agriculture in the middle Heihe River basin, Northwest China, due to water scarcity and dryness of climate. The diverted river water for agriculture is being gradually reduced which requires an increased water use performance to meet crop water requirements and to...

Water resources allocated to the agricultural sector in the Yellow River basin are being reduced due to severe water scarcity and increased demand by the non-agricultural sectors. In large-scale irrigation districts, the application of water-saving practices, e.g., improving the canal system,...

Aiming at investigating an appropriate furrow irrigation management strategy for high melon yields and water productivity (WP), a new coupled model was developed based on the CHAIN_2D and the crop growth model of EPIC. In the coupled model, the root water uptake model of Vrugt was coupled with...

Considering the current water scarcity of Northwest China, aiming at sustainable agricultural development in this region, it is required to identify and apply the most appropriate practices for water-saving, and yield and water productivity improvement. Relative to the tomato crop, a two-year...