#big data application development services

The current war is disastrous from the point of view of the modern agricultural cycle.

The gulf region handles about one third of the global trade in inorganic nutrients and in terms of the agricultural cycle this is the key moment for shipments to be steaming out from the Gulf towards the major agricultural zones of the world.

[...] “The politicians are saying this is a war that’s going to last for weeks, not days, and when you look around at the world within four weeks, we’re in the middle of [the Northern Hemisphere’s] spring season applications and if these ships don’t go through the Strait of Hormuz today, they’re not going to arrive in time. … You’re talking about either having to switch your planting to a crop that is much less intensive for nitrogen use,” he said, or see yields fall. In Australia, while much of the fertilizer needed for sowing has already been bought, farmers around this time start looking to buy urea for dressing cereal crops beginning in September, said Stephen Annells, chief executive of Fertilizer Australia, a group representing the industry.”

[...] To see who will really pay the price however, look not to the developed world or big emerging markets like India, but to the weakest links in the chain - the poor, agrarian, smallholder economies of Africa.(x)

/// The global fertilizer market focuses on three main macronutrients: phosphates, nitrogen, and potash. [...] Potash and phosphates are both mined from different kinds of natural deposits; nitrogen fertilizers, by contrast, are produced with natural gas. QatarLNG, a subsidiary of Qatar Energy, a state-run oil and gas company, said on Monday that it would halt production following drone strikes on some of its facilities.

That shutdown puts supplies of urea, a popular type of nitrogen fertilizer, particularly at risk. On Tuesday, Qatar Energy said that it would also stop production of downstream products, including urea. Qatar was the second-largest exporter of urea in 2024. (Iran was the third-largest; it’s also a key exporter of ammonia, another type of nitrogen fertilizer.) Prices on urea sold in the US out of New Orleans, a key commodity port, were up nearly 15 percent on Monday compared to prices last week, according to data provided by Josh Linville, the vice president of fertilizer at financial services company StoneX. The blockage of the Strait of Hormuz is also preventing other countries in the region from exporting nitrogen products.

“When we look at ammonia, we're looking at almost 30 percent of global production being either involved or at risk in this conflict,” says Veronica Nigh, a senior economist at the Fertilizer Institute, a US-based industry advocacy organization. “It gets worse when we think about urea. Urea is almost 50 percent.”

Other types of fertilizer are also at risk. Saudi Arabia, Nigh says, supplies about 40 percent of all US phosphate imports; taking them out of the equation for more than a few days could create “a really challenging situation” for the US. Other countries in the region, including Jordan, Egypt, and Israel, also play a big role in these markets.

March is traditionally the start of planning the spring planting season in the US, which starts in earnest in April. US fertilizer buyers would normally be placing orders now, Linville says, in order to have the barges arrive in the US by early April. “If we lose several weeks here, we are talking about limiting the number of tons that arrive in our most important month,” he says.

Nigh says that most fertilizer demand in the US—around three-quarters—goes to large row crops grown in the Midwest, like corn, soy, wheat, and cotton. These farms are large operations; most farmers, she says, have made decisions about what types of fertilizers their crops will need and would be unable to pivot despite changes in global supply. “It’s a very critical window right now,” she says.

When energy markets are tight, the US has some reserve supplies—the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the largest emergency supply of oil in the world—that it can release to help meet demand. But there’s no similar buffer for fertilizer, Nigh says.

[...] If the war keeps going, both Nigh and Linville say that US farmers—especially those growing cash crops like corn and soybeans—will most likely see increased prices for fertilizers of all kinds. US farmers are already facing big losses after the trade war with China. (x)

/// “We shouldn’t underestimate what this potentially could mean for global food production,” said Svein Tore Holsether, chief executive of Europe’s largest fertiliser group Yara.

He added that the focus on oil and gas was “overshadowing” the impact on the fertiliser industry. “If you’re not getting [fertiliser] into the field of the farmers, yields could go down by up to 50 per cent in the first harvest,” he said.

If the disruption continues, consumers could see higher prices for bread within six to 10 weeks, eggs within a few months and pork and broiler chicken within six months, estimates Raj Patel, food system expert at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs. 

[...] Analysts say the disruption could prove even more damaging than the food shock triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, when energy and fertiliser costs surged and global food prices hit record highs.

“When prices spiked in 2022 it was extraordinary, but the market was able to adjust because Russian exports continued,” said Chris Lawson, head of fertilisers at CRU, adding that the “big difference” this time was that a blocked Strait of Hormuz was a physical barrier.

The impact on food in 2022 was more immediate because Ukraine was a major wheat exporter, said Patel, but “this time around the impact will be far more widespread”. (x)

/// Fertilizer manufacturers in India are beginning to cut output after Qatari supplies of liquefied natural gas, a key feedstock, were suspended due to hostilities in the Middle East.

[...] Rising prices of other raw materials used to make fertilizer, such as ammonia and sulfur, are adding to fears of higher production costs.

Pakistan’s Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd. has also informed customers it will be unable to supply regasified LNG to their fertilizer plants due to the Middle East conflict, according to a company notice seen by Bloomberg. The country receives most of its LNG from Qatar and the suspension takes effect from midnight Wednesday.

“We are very much optimistic that the war may end soon,” Suresh Kumar Chaudhari, director general of Fertiliser Association of India said in an interview on Tuesday. “If the war continues, it will be matter of concern for us,” he added, without elaborating.

If the cuts last, India could be forced to step up costly imports ahead of peak agricultural demand during the monsoon season that begins in June. The country is the world’s biggest grower and exporter of rice and No. 2 producer of sugar, wheat and cotton.

/// Asia-based traders of dry sulfur are rushing to substitute supplies stranded in the Middle East as an intensifying regional conflict threatens access to the chemical used in fertilizer and nickel processing.

[...] About half the global seaborne trade of sulfur — roughly 20 million tons a year — originates in the Gulf and must transit the Strait of Hormuz to reach world markets. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait and Iran are among the main exporters.

Middle Eastern suppliers account for more than half of China’s sulfur imports, according to a note released Tuesday by consultancy SMM Information & Technology Co. With spring planting season approaching, sulfur demand remains firm as phosphate fertilizer plants run at high rates and step up restocking, the note said. (x)

/// Markets might not yet have fully ⁠priced in the ​possibility of a long war, according to Morningstar analyst Seth Goldstein, who estimates that nitrogen prices could roughly double and phosphate prices rise ​50% from current levels.

My latest column for Locus Magazine is "What Kind of Bubble is AI?" All economic bubbles are hugely destructive, but some of them leave behind wreckage that can be salvaged for useful purposes, while others leave nothing behind but ashes:

https://locusmag.com/2023/12/commentary-cory-doctorow-what-kind-of-bubble-is-ai/

Think about some 21st century bubbles. The dotcom bubble was a terrible tragedy, one that drained the coffers of pension funds and other institutional investors and wiped out retail investors who were gulled by Superbowl Ads. But there was a lot left behind after the dotcoms were wiped out: cheap servers, office furniture and space, but far more importantly, a generation of young people who'd been trained as web makers, leaving nontechnical degree programs to learn HTML, perl and python. This created a whole cohort of technologists from non-technical backgrounds, a first in technological history. Many of these people became the vanguard of a more inclusive and humane tech development movement, and they were able to make interesting and useful services and products in an environment where raw materials – compute, bandwidth, space and talent – were available at firesale prices.

Contrast this with the crypto bubble. It, too, destroyed the fortunes of institutional and individual investors through fraud and Superbowl Ads. It, too, lured in nontechnical people to learn esoteric disciplines at investor expense. But apart from a smattering of Rust programmers, the main residue of crypto is bad digital art and worse Austrian economics.

Or think of Worldcom vs Enron. Both bubbles were built on pure fraud, but Enron's fraud left nothing behind but a string of suspicious deaths. By contrast, Worldcom's fraud was a Big Store con that required laying a ton of fiber that is still in the ground to this day, and is being bought and used at pennies on the dollar.

AI is definitely a bubble. As I write in the column, if you fly into SFO and rent a car and drive north to San Francisco or south to Silicon Valley, every single billboard is advertising an "AI" startup, many of which are not even using anything that can be remotely characterized as AI. That's amazing, considering what a meaningless buzzword AI already is.

So which kind of bubble is AI? When it pops, will something useful be left behind, or will it go away altogether? To be sure, there's a legion of technologists who are learning Tensorflow and Pytorch. These nominally open source tools are bound, respectively, to Google and Facebook's AI environments:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/18/openwashing/#you-keep-using-that-word-i-do-not-think-it-means-what-you-think-it-means

Custom AI Software Development in India: The Smart Choice for Modern Businesses

The international business environment is experiencing a shift as a result of the use of artificial intelligence. Organizations are increasingly opting for artificial intelligence software development in India due to its speed, efficiency, and lower costs compared to working with big IT firms.

The Move from Traditional IT to AI Innovations

Traditionally, IT giants were the go-to option when it came to technology in enterprises. However, such firms have a one-size-fits-all strategy that does not cater to the demands of contemporary enterprises.

Enterprises require:

AI technology designed according to specific industry requirements

Rapid deployment

Adaptive development processes

What Sets Apart Custom AI Solutions?

Custom AI solutions do not follow a template approach but emphasize developing systems suited to your objectives and unique business problems.

The core benefits include:

Development of machine learning models

AI-driven analytics platform creation

Building intelligent automation systems

Enterprise-scale AI software development

Why Hire Indian AI Developers?

India's stature as a technology hub remains unassailable, particularly in areas such as artificial intelligence and automation.

Working with Indian companies allows you to enjoy:

Cost-effective AI development

A pool of expert AI developers

Swift project implementation

World-class delivery options

The Power of AI Automation in Business

No longer an option, but a necessity.

AI automation services for business offer the ability to optimize processes, eliminate human errors, and achieve greater efficiency.

Applications include:

Automated customer service

Smart data analysis

Optimized workflow

Sales and marketing automation

Agentic AI: The Future of AI

One of the groundbreaking technologies in AI is Agentic AI development services.

Unlike AI automation, agentic systems operate autonomously, make decisions, and learn constantly.

With agentic AI services, businesses can:

Future-Ready Businesses

With SaaS and AI, future-ready businesses will be born.

As one of the leading SaaS product development firms in India, SB Infowaves assists companies to develop SaaS products which are:

Scalable

Smart

Customer-centric

Through AI-enabled SaaS systems, companies can provide smarter solutions while keeping up with their competition.

Why SB Infowaves is Your AI Partner?

Through SB Infowaves, you will have access to AI expertise and solutions that match your business goals.

Some of the services provided by them include:

Development of custom AI software

Conclusion

The right technological partner will mean everything for success in the world of artificial intelligence.

With the help of an Indian custom AI software development company, companies will have the advantage they need to succeed.

In addition, SB Infowaves offers much more than services; it is a technological partner in the development of the capabilities of artificial intelligence.

Contact SB Infowaves

📍 India – Kolkata (Head Office)

Adventz Infinity, Office No - 1509 BN - 5, Street Number -18 Bidhannagar, Kolkata - 700091, West Bengal 📞 +91-9804-360-617 📧[email protected]

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📍 India – Bengaluru

KEONICS, #29/A (E), 27th Main, 7th Cross Rd 1st Sector, HSR Layout, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560102 📞 +91-8777-493-599 📧 [email protected]

📍 USA – Seattle

2515 4th Avenue, Centennial Tower Seattle 98121, United States 📞 +1-7543-335-140 📧 [email protected]

📍 Australia – Sydney

Rubix Alliance Pty Ltd Suite 305/30 Kingsway Cronulla NSW 2230 📞 +61-480-023-313

🚀 Ready to Scale Your Business with AI?

Crowdsourcing refers to the practice of obtaining ideas, services, data, or resources from a large, often online group of people during emergencies or disruptive events such as natural disasters, pandemics, wars, or economic collapses. Highlight. This includes all crises out there, not just the contemporary digital hardships. The topic of crowdsourcing validates the significance of the digital community, and why it has the power to change, to rule the world. BIG LINES. But it’s true. We’ll go about this by breaking down into different cases of digital crowdsourcing and what had already happened in the past, and the changes they have already landed in the past years. 

The Covid-19 pandemic

Lockdown. Vaccines. Sorrows. Deaths. Covid is a season of great sorrows. When the economy and general mobility are being severely handicapped, the people switch to the online platform for ideas and actions for urgent research and discoveries

In early 2020, a global shortage of mechanical ventilators threatened to overwhelm healthcare systems as COVID-19 led to severe respiratory failure. Over 3,000 engineers, medical professionals, and hobbyists from 20+ countries collaborated in real-time on a single open-source ventilator design. Design files were version-controlled on GitHub; circuit board designs were co-edited live on Altium 365.

This is done by a complete geographic decentralization – no physical meeting was ever held. The final design could be downloaded and manufactured anywhere in the world with a 3D printer and basic electronics.

In specific regions in Africa, the pandemic was accompanied by an Infodemic, a spread of disinformation, making it difficult for people to find accurate information. To tackle the issue, UNESCO in partnership with Innovation for Policy Foundation (i4Policy) launched an online campaign to crowdsource local openly licensed content to inform communities across Africa about Covid-19.

“This crisis tells us the importance of the flow of quality, reliable information at a time when misinformation and rumors are flourishing,” said UNESCO Director General Audrey Azoulay.  

Translators for Ukraine (2022-Present)

In the face of war, social media platforms such as Telegram and Whatsapp are being used as decentralised network with volunteer translators receiving important screenshots of Ukrainian documents - medical records, legal forms, evacuation orders, returned and translated within minutes. A simple Telegram bot distributed tasks to available volunteers based on language pairs (e.g., Ukrainian -> Polish).

At peak, the network claimed over 5000 active volunteers and processed over 1 million translation requests in the first six months of the war. 

2010 Haiti Earthquake: Ushahidi and the 4636 SMS Short Code

On January 12, 2010 a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck near Port-au-Prince, Haiti, causing over 100,000 deaths and overwhelming traditional communication and aid infrastructure. Within hours of the earthquake, the Ushaidi platform - originally a platform developed to map violence in Kenya - launched the Ushaihidi-Haiti Project. The innovation was a partnership with the mobile network Digicel to establish SMS short code 4636, allowing anyone in Haiti to text reports of urgent needs for free. 

Estimated 10,000 Haitians volunteered to translate messages, processing thousands of reports. 

The US Marine Corps and US Coast Guard actively used the live map. One Marine Corps report specifically credited the map with enabling a rescue mission that evacuated two elderly women and a young girl with critical injuries from outside Grand Goave, stating, "Your site saved these people's lives... There are 100s of these kinds of stories..."

Digital crowdsourcing is a great example in contributing to a healthy digital citizenship. It is also a pivotal tool for organizations and institutions that helps facilitate the decentralization of knowledge production and task execution and by doing so, leverages dispersed expertise, creativity and labour across global networks. It can be applied in various manners including crowdfunding, crowd analysis, crowd data collection and so on, in different fields and circumstances. Hansen (2012) affirms that aimed at solving wicked problems, public managers seek innovative approaches and crowdsourcing can be a likely solution for municipal issues. 

Addressing the need of volunteers in crowdsourcing

Democratic viewpoints suggest citizen engagement with technology use for improving deliberation and decision making (Macintosh, 2004). Other e-participation frameworks include alternatives for more collaborative strategies, which enable citizens to become partners and co-creators and co-producers of services (Nam, 2016). 

One of the most efficient ways to take part in crowdsourcing for an ongoing crisis is to participate in crisis mapping and open-source data collection. Global humanitarian organizations use these platforms to turn satellite imagery and local reports into actionable maps and intelligence for on-the-ground disaster relief. 

Crowdsourcing is an indispensable need in the time of crises, and digital crowdsourcing offers more channels for greater accessibility and enhanced efficiency of the crowdsourcing process, making it easier in resolving crises. 

Week 12: Crowdsourcing in times of crisis

References:

Bertot, J. C., Jaeger, P. T., & Hansen, D. (2012). Government Information Quarterly, 29(1), 30–40. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.giq.2011.04.004

Macintosh, A. (2004). Characterizing e-participation in policy-making. In Proceedings of the 37th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (p. 50117b). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/HICSS.2004.1265300

Morrow, N., Mock, N., Papendieck, A., & Kocmich, J. (2011). Independent evaluation of the Ushahidi Haiti project. Development Information Systems International.

Nam, T. (2016). Government 3.0 in Korea: A country study on government innovation. International Review of Administrative Sciences, 82(4), 743–763.

https://doi.org/10.1177/0020852315574992

UNESCO. (2020, April 1). #DontGoViral: UNESCO and i4Policy launch a campaign to crowdsource local content to combat the Infodemic in Africa. UNESCO News. https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/dontgoviral-unesco-and-i4policy-launch-campaign-crowdsource-local-content-combat-infodemic-africa

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is set to revamp e-Aadhaar, introducing a QR code-based system to eliminate need for physical copies. Updates, excluding biometrics, will be automated through integrated databases, reducing center visits.

Again really sorry to bother i just love talking technical side of tennis, thanks in advance!

hiiii, this is absolutely no bother at all, and thank you so much. during ao 2026, samu essentially framed their focus as the serve, the return, and the first ball after both shots, with the aim of making carlos’ level more consistent and minimizing fluctuations. and i think you see that work taking place — especially with carlos saying they weren’t focused in doha on results, but on improving and being better prepared, knowing that opponents are studying his game closely.

as for adjusting toward clay and grass: we’re still on hard courts at the moment, but building repeatable structures in the first two shots of the point is the kind of foundation that translates to any surface.

my thoughts below.

Introduction:- Artificial Intelligence (AI) is no longer limited to science fiction or futuristic ideas. In today’s digital age, AI has become the "core foundation of modern technology", influencing almost every sector of society. From smartphones, social media platforms, and online shopping to healthcare, education, banking, and software development, AI plays a vital role in shaping modern life. Artificial Intelligence refers to the capability of machines or computer systems to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence.