Weather and climate services are essential tools that help farmers make informed choices, such as choosing appropriate crop varieties. These services depend considerably on the availability of adequate investments in infrastructure related to weather forecasting, which are often provided by the State in most countries. Zimbabwean farmers generally have limited access to modern weather and climate services. While extensive attempts have been made to investigate farmers’ socioeconomic factors that influence access to and use of weather and climate services, comparative political economy analysis of weather and climate service production and use is limited. To address this knowledge gap, this study examines the production, dissemination, and usage of modern seasonal weather services through a political economy analysis perspective. The findings of this study highlight considerable discrepancies in access and use of seasonal weather forecasts between male and female farmers, those who practise African Traditional Religions versus Christians, and the minority group (Ndau tribe) and the majority group (Manyika tribe). This result suggested the presence of social marginalization. For example, minority Ndau members living in remote areas with limited radio signals and a weak mobile network have limited access to modern seasonal weather forecasts, forcing them to rely much more on indigenous weather forecasts. Further, due to unequal power relations, a greater proportion of male farmers participated in agricultural policy formation processes than their female counterparts. To promote inclusive development and implementation, deliberate efforts need to be made by State authorities to incorporate adherents of African traditional religions, members of minority tribes and female farmers in agricultural policymaking processes, including seasonal weather forecast delivery policies. Further, the study suggests the relaxation or elimination of international sanctions on Zimbabwe by the European Union, United Kingdom and the United States of America, given that they are considerably affecting marginalized groups of farmers in their climate change adaptation practices, including the use of modern weather and climate services. The vast majority of these marginalized farmers never benefitted from the land reform programme and were also not responsible for the design and implementation of this programme which triggered these sanctions.

Water-based, waterfront tourism has always played an important role in the development of the tourism sector, water has been and still is an important attraction and contributes to regional development. In Hungary, Lake Balaton is the primary destination for waterfront tourism, offering a wide range of opportunities in this sector. Water-based, waterfront tourism is mainly concentrated in the high summer season, but there is an increasing range of opportunities in both the low and high season. In our research, we investigated the development of cruise tourism in Lake Balaton in the off-season, in the months of September-October 2023, by conducting in-depth interviews and questionnaire research. Our research has confirmed that this service is also in demand outside the high season. In the autumn, cruises add a special value to the experience, they can help to reduce seasonal fluctuations in tourism by offering attractive activities and also increase income for local businesses during the off-season.

Organomineral fertilizer is used to improve and ameliorate the supply of nutrients in soils. Right and adequate application of fertilizers are determinants of its nutrient supply efficiency, which in turn enhances the vegetative growth and yield of cucumber. Field experiments were conducted at the Research Farm of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria, to assess the effects of variety and rate of organomineral fertilizer on cucumber growth and yield. Trials were conducted from June to August 2019 and repeated from September to November 2019. The cultivars were Poinsett, Greengo, and Monalisa. The rates of organomineral fertilizer were 0, 2.5, or 5.0 tons. ha⁻¹. The treatments were replicated three times. Cucumber vegetative characters, yield, and yield components were studied. ‘Greengo’ produced the most leaves, followed by ‘Monalisa’; ‘Poinsett’ produced the least. Application of 5.0 tons. ha⁻¹ organomineral fertilizer produced the longest vines and fruits. ‘Greengo’ had the earliest days to 50% flowering, followed by ‘Monalisa’; ‘Poinsett’ had the most days to 50% flowering. Plants treated with an application of 5.0 tons. ha⁻¹ organomineral fertilizer attained 50% flowering in 29 days, but in 30 days with an application of 2.5 tons. ha⁻¹ organomineral fertilizer; the control treatment attained 50% flowering in 33 days. Application of 5.0 tons. ha⁻¹ organomineral fertilizer produced the longest fruits, thicker fruit diameter, and highest fruit yield compared with 2.5 and 0 tons. ha⁻¹ of organomineral fertilizer treatments. The Greengo variety with application of 5.0 tons. ha⁻¹ of organomineral fertilizer is recommended for optimum growth and yield in south western Nigeria.

The growing of plants hydroponically is a soilless form of growing in modern day agriculture. It helps to make feed available for animals throughout the season since it is not affected by what is faced by field grown crops. The use of animal waste, that is, their faeces, in the growth of forage was compared with commercial hydroponics solutions as a way of looking for a reduction in the cost incurred in the purchase of commercial hydroponics solutions. The study evaluated the use of organic nutrient solutions (ONS) alongside a standard/commercial nutrient solution in growing crops hydroponically on the growth, dry matter yield, water use efficiency, and chemical composition of hydroponic maize fodder. The ONS used were formulated from the dried faeces of cattle, poultry, rabbits, and swine. The prepared organic nutrient solutions with the control were used in growing the maize seeds for 10 days, and growth, yield, and chemical composition were determined. Results show the highest (196 g) dry matter yield for maize hydroponic fodder irrigated with poultry ONS. Similarly, maize irrigated with poultry ONS was significantly (P < 0.05) higher in CP content, while it was not significantly different from maize irrigated with cattle, swine, and commercial solutions. A lower water use efficiency value (0.19 kg DM/m³) was recorded for maize irrigated with cattle ONS. According to the study, irrigating maize with different organic nutrient solutions produced maize fodder with a higher yield and a similar chemical composition as the commercial nutrient solution. 

To gain a deep understanding of maintenance and repair planning, investigate the weak points of the distribution network, and discover unusual events, it is necessary to trace the shutdowns that occurred in the network. Many incidents happened due to the failure of thermal equipment in schools. On the other hand, the most important task of electricity distribution companies is to provide reliable and stable electricity, which minimal blackouts and standard voltage should accompany. This research uses seasonal time series and artificial neural network approaches to provide models to predict the failure rate of one of the equipment used in two areas covered by the greater Tehran electricity distribution company. These data were extracted weekly from April 2019 to March 2021 from the ENOX incident registration software. For this purpose, after pre-processing the data, the appropriate final model was presented with the help of Minitab and MATLAB software. Also, average air temperature, rainfall, and wind speed were selected as input variables for the neural network. The mean square error has been used to evaluate the proposed models’ error rate. The results show that the time series models performed better than the multi-layer perceptron neural network in predicting the failure rate of the target equipment and can be used to predict future periods.

Lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) is the main leafy vegetable grown in Brazil. Its productivity and quality are limited by the growing season, the nearby environment and the type of cultivar adopted. The objective of this work was to verify at different times of the year the best planting environment for lettuce cultivation in a semi-humid tropical climate. For this purpose, an experiment was set up in three different seasons (October–November 2014, January–March, May–July 2015). The experimental design was randomized blocks, in a 3 × 3 × 2 factorial arrangement, consisting of three seasons, three cultivars (cvs. Vera^®, Tainá^® and Rafaela^®) and two growing environments (low tunnel with beds protected with mulching consisting of soil protection with plastic fabric covering, and beds without protection or conventional cultivation) and four replicates per treatment. Plant biomass, stem length, head diameter, number of leaves per head and crop productivity were evaluated as response parameters. The results showed that the May–July period favored biomass production, head diameter and productivity. Despite the similarity between varieties, the variety Vera^® is more productive in biomass, number of leaves per head, stem length and productivity. The low tunnel planting system with mulching is adequate under the conditions evaluated for lettuce cultivation. This system in the May–July period favors a superior development in the characteristics biomass, head diameter and productivity, if compared to conventional cultivation during the October–November period.