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This paper examines the performance of smallholder rice farms established using improved planting technologies – broadcasting, dibbling and transplanting – under different production systems – rain-fed and irrigation – in Ghana.

Using recent cross-sectional data of 200 smallholder rice farmers from the upper east region of Ghana, this study employed multinomial logit model and descriptive and inferential statistics for the analysis.

The results revealed that rice production under irrigation system contributes significantly to increasing farm productivity and profitability. Rice farmers who adopted dibbling and transplanting technologies under both irrigation and rain-fed production system obtained higher productivity and profitability than those who used broadcasting technology. Adoption of improved rice planting technologies by smallholder farmers is significantly influenced by education, farm size, improved rice varieties, sales outlets, hired labour and percentage of paddy sold.

The sample size is relatively small, even though findings are still very important in terms of policy formulation for improved smallholder farm performance in a developing country like Ghana.

This study calls for collaborative efforts by government, donor agencies and NGOs to establish irrigation facilities and/or expand existing ones, increase sensitization and dissemination of improved planting technologies, as well as intensify the input subsidy programme in Ghana.

To the best of the authors knowledge, this is the first study that focuses on farmers' choice of rice planting technologies under irrigation and rain-fed production systems, and how these technologies impact on smallholder farm performance in Ghana.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the mediating effect of online reviewers' affect (ORA) on the relationship between weather and online review ratings (ORR).

The consumers' online review data were collected from the third-party restaurant website, and the weather data were obtained from the weather part of Chinese e-government website. SnowNLP was utilized to analyze sentiment and further extract ORA. Furthermore, the mediating effects of ORA on temperature and ORR, rain and ORR were explored separately using PROCESS 3 Macro Model 4, and the interaction effect of temperature and rain was tested through PROCESS 3 Macro Model 7.

The findings of this work demonstrate that ORA mediates the relationship between temperature and ORR and the relationship between rain and ORR. Besides directly leading to higher ORR, a higher temperature can bring about higher ORR by elevating ORA. On the other hand, little rain and heavy rain have a direct negative influence on ORR, and they can also lead people into a bad mood state, thus leading to lower ORR. Furthermore, temperature moderates the effect of rain on ORA. When the temperature is higher, the differences of ORA are larger between different types of rain than that of lower temperature.

This study appears to be the first to investigate the relationship among weather, ORA and ORR using online data. The results could help managers understand when consumers are more likely to provide negative eWOM under corresponding weather conditions and adopt appropriate strategies to improve ORR.

The variability of weather at tourist destinations can significantly affect travel decisions by tourists and their comfort. In particular, rain affects the profitability of hospitality firms that can hardly contrast the phenomenon of heavy rain. Therefore, the assessment of rainfall financial risks, i.e. the negative economic effects caused by rain, becomes crucial to safeguarding the profitability of the hospitality industry. The purpose of this study is to assess such risks.

The present work contributes to the literature on weather/climate change and tourism by advancing a model for the rainfall financial risk assessment of hospitality firms. The model is based on scenario correlation between business performances and rain and originates from the Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) presented by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO), where some tools to adequately face business risks are advanced.

The model is complemented by an empirical experiment based on the business performances of the hospitality industry of Lake Garda and the amount of rainfall in the same area during the decade 2005-2014. The empirical application detects scenario correlation between those variables over time. In particular, the findings open opportunities to purchase financial instruments (insurance contracts, derivative instruments, etc.) with greater awareness, with the purpose of mitigating the negative impacts of rain on business performances of hospitality firms.

The model improves scenario analysis by introducing scenario correlation, which is a tool for assessing the highly nonlinear links between business performances and rain in today’s complex world. This is the essential step that firms should perform if they want to successfully adopt strategic decisions about rainfall financial risk management.

Acid rain was a little‐known issue ten to fifteen years ago. Only a relatively small group of scientists seeking an explanation for the changes they observed in the environment were concerned with the problem. Today acid rain is recognized as an environmental problem of global proportions. Governments at all levels are moving to develop policies addressing the issue. As the topic has expanded from the scientific to the political arena, the public has become increasingly involved, and information sources have proliferated.

Surveyors, who may be involved in specifying retro‐fitted cavity insulation, need to know the key factors which influence the potential risk of rain penetration. Proposes guidance for surveyors to undertake a low‐cost initial visual survey and desk study as a first stage in the assessment of a dwelling′s suitability for retro‐fitted cavity insulation. A case‐study of low‐rise housing on a local authority estate on the south coast of England, which has retro‐fitted cavity insulation, allowed the identification of these key factors and testing of their statistical significance. Factors identified are aspect towards prevailing wind and driving rain index; exposure (related to local topographic and sheltering features); wall impermeability; and any factors of particular significance to the site. If an individual dwelling has a combination of these factors, it is likely to have a 60 per cent increased risk of rain penetration.

The purpose of this study is to estimate the profitability of rice production for irrigated and rain-fed farmers; determine the factors that influence farmers' decision to participate in irrigation and the impact of irrigation on rice farmers' profitability in northern Ghana.

Using cross-sectional data collected from 543 rice farmers in northern Ghana, the study employed both non-parametric (cost benefit analysis) and parametric (endogenous switching regression) approaches to analyse the data.

The empirical results reveal a significant difference between the profits of irrigated (GHS 2442.30) and rain-fed farmers (GHS 576.20), as well as the cost-benefit ratios between irrigators (2.53) and rain-fed farmers (1.37). Also, participation in irrigation was found to be influenced by relatively small farm size and off-farm income; while profitability was influenced by membership in a farmer-based organization, access to agricultural extension services and perception of decreasing rainfall intensity. Irrigation also had a positive significant net impact on profitability of rice production.

The results provide justification for development partners and the government of Ghana through the “one-village-one-dam” policy, to invest in irrigation in northern Ghana in order to improve household welfare as well as build resilience for sustainable production systems.

This study is the first of its kind to provide a robust analysis of the difference in profits of rain-fed and irrigated rice farmers while estimating the determinants of Ghanaian farmers' choice of either of the regimes within a bias-corrected framework.

Flood season in our country is characterized by frequent heavy rains, and flood problems are becoming increasingly serious. The uneven distribution of water resources causes conflicts in the occurrence of floods and droughts. Implementing effective flood control planning and solving drought and flood disasters are the research highlights of relevant institutions both domestic and abroad. This study develops a multiscale method of urban flood control planning based on microcirculation. A microcirculation water ecosystem, which consists of six elements, namely, collecting, interacting, precipitating, reserving, storing, and purifying, is introduced. This study investigates precipitation; peak shaving; recycle mode of filtration at the macro level in different regions; “hierarchy” in rainwater ecosystems in rain parks, heavy rain garden parks, and wetland parks at the meso level; and the concept of zero-emission rain in residential areas and roads at the micro level. Finally, this study analyzes a rain garden and its domestic application. A conclusion is drawn that the flood control planning model based on microcirculation can effectively reduce rain runoff. Empirical measurement proves that the proposed multiscale model for city flood control planning based on microcirculation promotes flood control and effectively reduces the occurrence of droughts and floods.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a methodology for evaluating the hygrothermal performance of framed wall assemblies based on design limits. This methodology allows designers to evaluate wall assemblies based on their absolute performance rather than relative performance which is typically done for most hygrothermal analysis.

The approach in developing this methodology was to evaluate wall assemblies against three typical design loads (e.g. air leakage, construction moisture, rain penetration) and determine limits in minimum insulation ratio, maximum indoor humidity and maximum rain penetration rates. This analysis was performed at both the field area of the wall and at framing junctions such as window sills.

The findings in this paper shows example design limits for various wall assemblies in heating-dominated climates in North America. Design limits for wall assemblies with moisture membranes of different vapour permeance are provided for both the field area of the wall and at window sills. Discussions about the importance of 2D hygrothermal simulation and performance of vapour permeable sub-sill membranes are also provided.

This framework of hygrothermal analysis will enable designers to make better decisions when designing framed wall assemblies suitable to the local climate and interior specifications for their projects. It will also enable the development of a design tool that will allow designers to visually see the implications of certain design decisions and filter out designs that do not meet their design conditions.

Rainfall is one of the main atmospheric conditions that significantly affect the aerodynamic performance of the low Reynolds number flights. In this paper, the adverse effects of rain on the aerodynamic performance of a two-dimensional (2D) airfoil with a chord-based low Reynolds number of 2 × 10⁵ and the mini-unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for various flight conditions, i.e. 0°–40° at Mach number 0.04 were studied numerically. The purpose of this study is to explore the aerodynamic penalties that affect the liquid water content (LWC = 5.33) of the airfoil and UAV performance in rain under different flying conditions.

The Eulerian–Lagrangian two-phase flow method is adopted to simulate the rain environment over an airfoil and mini-UAV aerodynamic performances. The Reynolds Averaged Navier–Stokes equations are considered to solve the time-averaged equations of motion for fluid flow.

The effect of rainfall on the airfoil and mini-UAV is studied numerically and validated experimentally. For 2D airfoil, the lift and drag coefficients for both numerical and experimental results show a very good correlation at Reynolds number 2 × 10⁵. For three-dimensional (3D) mini-UAV, the lift and drag coefficients for both numerical and experimental results show a very good correlation at Mach number 0.04. The raindrops distribution around the airfoil, premature trailing edge separation, boundary-layer velocity profiles at five different chord positions (i.e. LE, 0.25c, 0.5c, 0.75c and 0.98c) on the upper surface of the airfoil, water film height and the location of rivulet formation on the upper surface of the airfoil are also presented.

For 2D airfoil, the recorded maximum variation of the coefficient of lift and lift-to-drag (L/D) ratio is observed to be 5.33% at an 8° and 10.53% at a 4° angle of attack (AOA) between numerical and experimental results under the influence of rainfall effect for LWC = 5.33. The L/D ratio percentage degradation is seen to be 61.9% at an AOA of 0°–2° for the rain environment. For 3D mini-UAV, the recorded maximum variation of the coefficient of lift and L/D ratio are observed to be 2.84% and 4.60% at a 30° stall AOA under the influence of rainfall effect for LWC = 5.33. The numerical results are impressively in agreement with the experimental results. UAV designers will benefit from the findings presented in this paper. This will be also helpful for training the pilots to control the airplanes in a rain environment.