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86-548: Standardization is beneficial in achieving interoperability , ensuring products meet certain requirements, commonality, reliability , total cost of ownership , compatibility with logistics systems, and similar defense-related objectives. Defense standards are also used by other non-defense government organizations, technical organizations, and industry. This article discusses definitions, history, and usage of defense standards. Related documents, such as defense handbooks and defense specifications , are also addressed. Although

172-447: A polyculture or intercropping . Monocultures appear in contexts outside of agriculture and food production. Grass lawns are a common form of residential monocultures. Several monocultures, including single-species forest plantations, have become increasingly abundant throughout the tropics following market globalization, impacting local communities. Genetic monocultures refer to crops that have little to no genetic variation. This

258-756: A 55° thread angle and a thread depth of 0.640327 p and a radius of 0.137329 p , where p is the pitch. The thread pitch increased with diameter in steps specified on a chart. An example of the use of the Whitworth thread is the Royal Navy 's Crimean War gunboats. These were the first instance of "mass-production" techniques being applied to marine engineering. With the adoption of BSW by British railway lines, many of which had previously used their own standard both for threads and for bolt head and nut profiles, and improving manufacturing techniques, it came to dominate British manufacturing. American Unified Coarse

344-409: A field at a time. Monocultures increase ease and efficiency in planting, managing, and harvesting crops short-term, often with the help of machinery. However, monocultures are more susceptible to diseases or pest outbreaks long-term due to localized reductions in biodiversity and nutrient depletion. Crop diversity can be added both in time, as with a crop rotation or sequence, or in space, with

430-418: A field. Monoculture is widely used in intensive farming and in organic farming . In crop monocultures, each plant in a field has the same standardized planting, maintenance, and harvesting requirements resulting in greater yields and lower costs. When a crop is matched to its well-managed environment, a monoculture can produce higher yields than a polyculture. Modern practices such as monoculture planting and

516-726: A fungal disease that spread quickly throughout the Caribbean where they were being grown. By the beginning of the 1960s, growers had to switch to growing the Cavendish banana , a cultivar grown in a similar way. This cultivar is under similar disease stress since all the bananas are clones of each other and could easily succumb as the Gros Michel did. Genetic monoculture can also refer to a single breed of farm animal being raised in large-scale concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs). Many livestock production systems rely on just

602-435: A growing demand for chemical management, i.e. pesticides, herbicides, insecticides. A 1999 study showed that in a sample of urban streams, at least one type of pesticide was found in 99% of the streams. A major risk associated with lawn pesticide use is the exposure to chemicals within the home through the air, clothing, and furniture, which can be more detrimental to children than to the average adult. While often referring to

688-404: A larger network and attracting more consumers to use the new technology, further enhancing network effects. Other benefits of standardization to consumers are reduced uncertainty, because consumers can be more certain that they are not choosing the wrong product, and reduced lock-in, because the standard makes it more likely that there will be competing products in the space. Consumers may also get

774-612: A likelihood of supplying an enemy if overrun. A complete list of standards was maintained as Department of Defense Index of Specifications and Standards, up until 1993. Standardization Standardization ( American English ) or standardisation ( British English ) is the process of implementing and developing technical standards based on the consensus of different parties that include firms, users, interest groups, standards organizations and governments. Standardization can help maximize compatibility , interoperability , safety , repeatability , or quality . It can also facilitate

860-441: A measuring instrument or procedure is similar to every subjects or patients. For example, educational psychologist may adopt structured interview to systematically interview the people in concern. By delivering the same procedures, all subjects is evaluated using same criteria and minimising any confounding variable that reduce the validity . Some other example includes mental status examination and personality test . In

946-504: A merger of two predecessor organizations (Bern and Paris treaties) that had similar objectives, but in more limited territories. With the advent of radiocommunication soon after the creation, the work of the ITU quickly expanded from the standardization of Telegraph communications, to developing standards for telecommunications in general. By the mid to late 19th century, efforts were being made to standardize electrical measurement. Lord Kelvin

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1032-448: A metal fastening on the other side were usually fastened in non-threaded ways (such as clinching or upsetting against a washer). Maudslay standardized the screw threads used in his workshop and produced sets of taps and dies that would make nuts and bolts consistently to those standards, so that any bolt of the appropriate size would fit any nut of the same size. This was a major advance in workshop technology. Maudslay's work, as well as

1118-417: A million hectares of land are being deforested annually to make land for cultivation. Some international companies relevant in the field of agro-extractivist monocultures are Syngenta and Bayer (biotech), Los Grobo, CRESUD, El Tejar, and Maggi (landowners), and Cargill , ADM, and Bunge (grain and seed providers). In forestry , monoculture refers to plantations of one species of tree. In many areas of

1204-1238: A negative impact on agricultural productivity and sustainability. The use of unregulated irrigation practices on popular monocultures, such as soy, can also lead to erosion and water loss. As soil health declines, use of synthetic fertilizers on monocultural fields increases, often having negative implications on human health via chemical run-off. In addition to soil depletion, monocultures can cause significant reductions in biodiversity due to unavailability of resources, native species displacement, and loss of genetic variation. Following large-scale oil palm plantations in Latin America, research has revealed extensive declines in mammal, bird, amphibian, and pollinator diversity, particularly in Colombia and Brazil. Due to insufficient biodiversity and population balance, monocultures are associated with higher rates of disease and pest outbreaks. In response, pesticides are widely applied to agricultural fields, further harming insect and pollinator diversity and human health. Increasing rotations of crop monocultures or using alternatives agricultural practices can help mitigate

1290-443: A normalization of formerly custom processes. In social sciences , including economics , the idea of standardization is close to the solution for a coordination problem , a situation in which all parties can realize mutual gains, but only by making mutually consistent decisions. Divergent national standards impose costs on consumers and can be a form of non-tariff trade barrier . Standard weights and measures were developed by

1376-705: A product", while military standards "detail the processes and materials to be used to make the product." Military handbooks, on the other hand, are primarily sources of compiled information and/or guidance. The GAO acknowledges, however, that the terms are often used interchangeably. Official definitions are provided by DoD 4120.24, Defense Standardization Program (DSP) Procedures, November 2014, USD (Acquisition, Technology and Logistics): For purposes of this article, "military standards" will include standards, specifications and handbooks. There are also standard names with different letters behind ′MIL-′ like MIL-C-5040H , MIL-E-7016F or MIL-S-901 . The DOD has standards about

1462-1028: A regional level (e.g. Europa, the Americas, Africa, etc) or at subregional level (e.g. Mercosur, Andean Community, South East Asia, South East Africa, etc), several Regional Standardization Organizations exist (see also Standards Organization ). The three regional standards organizations in Europe – European Standardization Organizations (ESOs), recognised by the EU Regulation on Standardization (Regulation (EU) 1025/2012) – are CEN , CENELEC and ETSI . CEN develops standards for numerous kinds of products, materials, services and processes. Some sectors covered by CEN include transport equipment and services, chemicals, construction, consumer products, defence and security, energy, food and feed, health and safety, healthcare, digital sector, machinery or services. The European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC)

1548-507: A scientific basis, the robustness and applicability of a scientific basis, whether adoption of the certifications is voluntary, and the socioeconomic context (systems of governance and the economy ), with possibly most certifications being so far mostly largely ineffective. Moreover, standardized scientific frameworks can enable evaluation of levels of environmental protection, such as of marine protected areas , and serve as, potentially evolving, guides for improving, planning and monitoring

1634-459: A small hull leak threatens the whole vessel). If an enemy discovers a drawback in a standardized system, the system's uniformity leaves it vulnerable to complete incapacitation via what might otherwise have been a limited compromise. Also, if standardization promotes use by allies, it may also ease an enemy's task of using materiel that is lost as a prize of war . However, this threat is somewhat academic, as even poorly standardized materiel presents

1720-405: A small number of highly specialized breeds. Focusing heavily on a single trait (output) may come at the expense of other desirable traits – such as fertility , resistance to disease, vigor , and mothering instincts. In the early 1990s, a few Holstein calves were observed to grow poorly and died in the first 6 months of life. They were all found to be homozygous for a mutation in

1806-520: A variety of benefits and drawbacks for firms and consumers participating in the market, and on technology and innovation. The primary effect of standardization on firms is that the basis of competition is shifted from integrated systems to individual components within the system. Prior to standardization a company's product must span the entire system because individual components from different competitors are incompatible, but after standardization each company can focus on providing an individual component of

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1892-497: Is a Canadian Crown Corporation , DGN is a governmental agency within the Mexican Ministry of Economy, and ANSI and AENOR are a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with members from both the private and public sectors. The determinants of whether an NSB for a particular economy is a public or private sector body may include the historical and traditional roles that the private sector fills in public affairs in that economy or

1978-718: Is a traditional practice that incorporates the use of various trees and forage in pastures to increase land and livestock productivity. Incorporating other plants in pastures, such as tree legumes, has been shown to enhance pollinator activity, benefitting local biodiversity and food security. Silvopastoral systems provide greater pasture species richness and grazing feed, increasing economic and environmental outcomes on various size scales. In several studies, well-managed mixed-species plantations have been shown to produce greater economic outcomes than monocultures with regard to timber sales. Mixed-species forests are also associated with greater carbon sequestration and biodiversity, presenting

2064-412: Is achieved using cultivars, made through processes of propagation and selective breeding, and can make populations susceptible to disease. Agroecological practices, silvo-pastoral systems, and mixed-species plantations are common alternatives to monoculture that help preserve biodiversity while maintaining productivity. Agricultural monocultures refer to the practice of planting one crop species in

2150-737: Is likely the sole member from that economy in ISO. NSBs may be either public or private sector organizations, or combinations of the two. For example, the three NSBs of Canada, Mexico and the United States are respectively the Standards Council of Canada ( SCC ), the General Bureau of Standards ( Dirección General de Normas , DGN), and the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). SCC

2236-578: Is not limited to the domain of electronic devices like smartphones and phone chargers but could also be applied to e.g. the energy infrastructure. Policy-makers could develop policies "fostering standard design and interfaces, and promoting the re-use of modules and components across plants to develop more sustainable energy infrastructure ". Computers and the Internet are some of the tools that could be used to increase practicability and reduce suboptimal results, detrimental standards and bureaucracy , which

2322-666: Is often associated with traditional processes and results of standardization. Taxes and subsidies, and funding of research and development could be used complementarily. Standardized measurement is used in monitoring, reporting and verification frameworks of environmental impacts, usually of companies, for example to prevent underreporting of greenhouse gas emissions by firms. In routine product testing and product analysis results can be reported using official or informal standards. It can be done to increase consumer protection , to ensure safety or healthiness or efficiency or performance or sustainability of products. It can be carried out by

2408-567: Is standardized, what is at their discretion, and the details of the standards). In the late 18th century and throughout the 19th, the American and French militaries were early adopters and longtime developmental sponsors and advocates of interchangeability and standardization. By World War II (1939–1945), virtually all national militaries and trans-national alliances of the same ( Allied Forces , Axis powers ) were busy standardizing and cataloguing. The U.S. AN- cataloguing system (Army-Navy) and

2494-707: Is the European Standardization organization developing standards in the electrotechnical area and corresponding to the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) in Europe. The first modern International Organization ( Intergovernmental Organization ) the International Telegraph Union (now International Telecommunication Union ) was created in 1865 to set international standards in order to connect national telegraph networks, as

2580-584: The Gros Michel cultivar of banana represented almost all bananas consumed in the United States because of their taste, small seeds, and efficiency to produce. Their small seeds, while more appealing than the large ones in other Asian cultivars, were not suitable for planting, meaning all new banana plants had to be grown from the cut suckers of another plant. As a result of this asexual form of planting, all bananas grown had identical genetic makeups which gave them no traits for resistance to Fusarium wilt ,

2666-576: The Indus Valley civilization . The centralized weight and measure system served the commercial interest of Indus merchants as smaller weight measures were used to measure luxury goods while larger weights were employed for buying bulkier items, such as food grains etc. Weights existed in multiples of a standard weight and in categories. Technical standardisation enabled gauging devices to be effectively used in angular measurement and measurement for construction. Uniform units of length were used in

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2752-543: The standard unit of electric current . R. E. B. Crompton became concerned by the large range of different standards and systems used by electrical engineering companies and scientists in the early 20th century. Many companies had entered the market in the 1890s and all chose their own settings for voltage , frequency , current and even the symbols used on circuit diagrams. Adjacent buildings would have totally incompatible electrical systems simply because they had been fitted out by different companies. Crompton could see

2838-589: The wheat leaf rust fungus caused much concern internationally, having already severely affected wheat crops in Uganda and Kenya, and having started to spread in Asia as well. Given the very genetically similar strains of much of the world's wheat crops following the Green Revolution , the impacts of such diseases threaten agricultural production worldwide. In Ireland, exclusive use of one variety of potato,

2924-573: The "lumper", led to the Great Famine of 1845–1849. Lumpers provided inexpensive food to feed the Irish masses. Potatoes were propagated vegetatively with little to no genetic variation. When Phytophthora infestans arrived in Ireland from the Americas in 1845, the lumper had no resistance to the disease, leading to the nearly complete failure of the potato crop across Ireland. Until the 1950s,

3010-472: The 1800s following European colonization. These plantations used slave labor, setting a precedent for agriculture being a field dominated by foreign entities in the rest of Latin America and the Caribbean. This social framework has shaped the oppression of Black people and smaller-scale farmers in the face of present-day land acquisition for monocultural use. The large-scale establishment of monocultures in

3096-658: The American landscape is fairly recent. Aesthetics drove the evolution of the residential green areas, with turfgrass becoming a popular addition to many American homes. Turfgrass is a nonnative species and requires high levels of maintenance. At the local level, governments and organizations, such as Homeowner Associations, have pressured the maintenance of lawn aesthetics and influenced real estate value. Disagreements in residential maintenance of weeds and lawns have resulted in civil cases or direct aggression against neighbors. High levels of maintenance required for turfgrass created

3182-733: The British Defence Standards (DEF-STAN) provide examples. For example, due to differences in dimensional tolerances, in World War II American screws , bolts , and nuts did not fit British equipment properly and were not fully interchangeable. Defense standards provide many benefits, such as minimizing the number of types of ammunition, ensuring compatibility of tools, and ensuring quality during production of military equipment. This results, for example, in ammunition and food cases that can be opened without tools; vehicle subsystems that can be quickly swapped into

3268-598: The DOD issued a new memorandum, which eliminated the requirement to obtain a waiver in order to use military specifications or standards. The 2005 memo did not reinstate any canceled military specifications or standards. According to a 2003 issue of Gateway , published by the Human Systems Information Analysis Center, the number of defense standards and specifications have been reduced from 45,500 to 28,300. However, other sources noted that

3354-654: The National Standardizing Associations (ISA) was founded in 1926 with a broader remit to enhance international cooperation for all technical standards and specifications. The body was suspended in 1942 during World War II . After the war, ISA was approached by the recently formed United Nations Standards Coordinating Committee (UNSCC) with a proposal to form a new global standards body. In October 1946, ISA and UNSCC delegates from 25 countries met in London and agreed to join forces to create

3440-681: The Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards ( OASIS ). There are many specifications that govern the operation and interaction of devices and software on the Internet , which do not use the term "standard" in their names. The W3C , for example, publishes "Recommendations", and the IETF publishes " Requests for Comments " (RFCs). Nevertheless, these publications are often referred to as "standards", because they are

3526-431: The U.S. during the 1980s and early 1990s, it was argued that the large number of standards, nearly 30,000 by 1990, imposed unnecessary restrictions, increased cost to contractors (and hence the DOD, since the costs in the end pass along to the customer), and impeded the incorporation of the latest technology. Responding to increasing criticism, Secretary of Defense William J. Perry issued a memorandum in 1994 that prohibited

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3612-575: The US, making the affected population around 600,000 animals. Increasing genetic diversity through the introduction of organisms with varying genes can make agricultural and livestock systems more sustainable. By utilizing crops with varying genetic traits for disease and pest resistance, chances of disease outbreak decrease due to the likelihood of neighboring plants having strain-resistant genes. This can aid in increasing crop productivity while decreasing pesticide usage. Alternatives to monoculture include

3698-432: The benefit of being able to mix and match components of a system to align with their specific preferences. Once these initial benefits of standardization are realized, further benefits that accrue to consumers as a result of using the standard are driven mostly by the quality of the technologies underlying that standard. Monoculture In agriculture , monoculture is the practice of growing one crop species in

3784-423: The capacity to sustain the local community, environment, and economy. Ecosystem-specific ecological damage done by monocultural practices and byproducts, including the use of biocides and soil degradation, can be irreparable. However, the increasing modern prevalence of regenerative farming reinstates crop rotation and natural nutrient cycling to repair biodiversity and improve soil productivity. Silvopasture

3870-429: The community. Profits made from monoculture plantations historically follow a "boom and bust" trend, temporarily benefitting the community in increased income, revenue, and quality of life until resources are exhausted, with profits rarely distributed back into the deforested land. Environmental changes caused by monoculture forests are particularly felt among indigenous communities given their reliance and connection to

3956-514: The consultation of agroecology, silvo-pastoral systems, and mixed-species plantations. Agroecology consults the entire food system, considering how agricultural inputs and outputs affect social, environmental, and economic systems. Despite the recent dominance of GMO monoculture crop rotations of soy, corn, and cotton across the deforested Amazon, many Afrodescendant-run farms in Brazil continue to use traditional practices of agroecology that have

4042-491: The context of customer service , standardization refers to the process of developing an international standard that enables organizations to focus on customer service, while at the same time providing recognition of success through a third party organization, such as the British Standards Institution . An international standard has been developed by The International Customer Service Institute . In

4128-635: The context of supply chain management and materials management , standardization covers the process of specification and use of any item the company must buy in or make, allowable substitutions, and build or buy decisions. The process of standardization can itself be standardized. There are at least four levels of standardization: compatibility, interchangeability , commonality and reference . These standardization processes create compatibility, similarity, measurement, and symbol standards. There are typically four different techniques for standardization Types of standardization process: Standardization has

4214-683: The context of information exchange, standardization refers to the process of developing standards for specific business processes using specific formal languages . These standards are usually developed in voluntary consensus standards bodies such as the United Nations Center for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business ( UN/CEFACT ), the World Wide Web Consortium ( W3C ), the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA), and

4300-550: The context of social criticism and social science , standardization often means the process of establishing standards of various kinds and improving efficiency to handle people, their interactions, cases, and so forth. Examples include formalization of judicial procedure in court, and establishing uniform criteria for diagnosing mental disease. Standardization in this sense is often discussed along with (or synonymously to) such large-scale social changes as modernization, bureaucratization, homogenization, and centralization of society. In

4386-526: The contributions of other engineers, accomplished a modest amount of industry standardization; some companies' in-house standards spread a bit within their industries. Joseph Whitworth 's screw thread measurements were adopted as the first (unofficial) national standard by companies around the country in 1841. It came to be known as the British Standard Whitworth , and was widely adopted in other countries. This new standard specified

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4472-727: The country, and enabled the markets to act more rationally and efficiently, with an increased level of cooperation. After the First World War , similar national bodies were established in other countries. The Deutsches Institut für Normung was set up in Germany in 1917, followed by its counterparts, the American National Standard Institute and the French Commission Permanente de Standardisation , both in 1918. At

4558-420: The development stage of that economy. Standards can be: The existence of a published standard does not necessarily imply that it is useful or correct. Just because an item is stamped with a standard number does not, by itself, indicate that the item is fit for any particular use. The people who use the item or service (engineers, trade unions, etc.) or specify it (building codes, government, industry, etc.) have

4644-423: The format of standards: Defense standards evolved from the need to ensure proper performance, maintainability and reparability (ease of MRO ), and logistical usefulness of military equipment. The latter two goals (MRO and logistics) favor certain general concepts, such as interchangeability , standardization (of equipment and processes, in general), cataloging , communications, and training (to teach people what

4730-537: The gene that caused bovine leukocyte adhesion deficiency . This mutation was found at a high frequency in Holstein populations worldwide. (15% among bulls in the US, 10% in Germany, and 16% in Japan.) Researchers studying the pedigrees of affected and carrier animals tracked the source of the mutation to a single bull that was widely used in livestock production. In 1990 there were approximately 4 million Holstein cattle in

4816-481: The human neurological, gastrointestinal, skin, and respiratory systems. Agro-extractivism is a form of extractivism in which foreign territorial, political, and economical dominance over agriculture is motivated by the large-scale production and exportation of agricultural commodities, often in the form of monocultures. Several monocultures in the Global South, such as sugar and coffee, were first planted in

4902-471: The international level . Standardization is also used to ensure safe design and operation of laboratories and similar potentially dangerous workplaces, e.g. to ensure biosafety levels . There is research into microbiology safety standards used in clinical and research laboratories. In the context of defense, standardization has been defined by NATO as The development and implementation of concepts, doctrines, procedures and designs to achieve and maintain

4988-630: The lack of efficiency in this system and began to consider proposals for an international standard for electric engineering. In 1904, Crompton represented Britain at the International Electrical Congress , held in connection with Louisiana Purchase Exposition in Saint Louis as part of a delegation by the Institute of Electrical Engineers . He presented a paper on standardisation, which was so well received that he

5074-433: The land while additionally becoming subject to land privatization. These lands are frequently acquired through land grabbing and dispossession by large companies in global trade, ultimately reducing rural land, cutting off access to locals, and changing agricultural and community dynamics. Lawn monoculture in the United States was historically influenced by English gardens and manor-house landscapes, but its inception into

5160-645: The manufacturer, an independent laboratory, a government agency, a magazine or others on a voluntary or commissioned/mandated basis. Estimating the environmental impacts of food products in a standardized way – as has been done with a dataset of >57,000 food products in supermarkets – could e.g. be used to inform consumers or in policy . For example, such may be useful for approaches using personal carbon allowances (or similar quota) or for targeted alteration of (ultimate overall) costs . Public information symbols (e.g. hazard symbols ), especially when related to safety, are often standardized, sometimes on

5246-484: The new International Organization for Standardization (ISO); the new organization officially began operations in February ;1947. In general, each country or economy has a single recognized National Standards Body (NSB). Examples include ABNT , AENOR (now called UNE, Spanish Association for Standardization ) , AFNOR , ANSI , BSI , DGN , DIN , IRAM , JISC , KATS , SABS , SAC , SCC , SIS . An NSB

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5332-509: The number of standards just before the Perry Memorandum was issued was less than 30,000, and that thousands have been canceled since then. This may be due to differences in what is counted as a "military standard". Another potential drawback of thorough standardization is a threat analogous to monoculture (where lack of biodiversity creates higher risk of pandemic disease) or a ship without bulkhead compartmentalization (where even

5418-498: The official definitions differentiate between several types of documents, all of these documents go by the general rubric of "military standard", including defense specifications, handbooks, and standards. Strictly speaking, these documents serve different purposes. According to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), military specifications "describe the physical and/or operational characteristics of

5504-754: The onset of the Industrial Revolution and the need for high-precision machine tools and interchangeable parts . Henry Maudslay developed the first industrially practical screw-cutting lathe in 1800. This allowed for the standardization of screw thread sizes for the first time and paved the way for the practical application of interchangeability (an idea that was already taking hold) to nuts and bolts . Before this, screw threads were usually made by chipping and filing (that is, with skilled freehand use of chisels and files ). Nuts were rare; metal screws, when made at all, were usually for use in wood. Metal bolts passing through wood framing to

5590-424: The place of damaged ones; and small arms and artillery that are less likely to find themselves with an excess of ammunition that does not fit and a lack of ammo that does. However, the proliferation of standards also has some drawbacks. The main one is that they impose what is functionally equivalent to a regulatory burden upon the defense supply chain, both within the military and across its civilian suppliers. In

5676-660: The planning of towns such as Lothal , Surkotada , Kalibangan , Dolavira , Harappa , and Mohenjo-daro . The weights and measures of the Indus civilization also reached Persia and Central Asia , where they were further modified. Shigeo Iwata describes the excavated weights unearthed from the Indus civilization: A total of 558 weights were excavated from Mohenjodaro, Harappa, and Chanhu-daro , not including defective weights. They did not find statistically significant differences between weights that were excavated from five different layers, each measuring about 1.5 m in depth. This

5762-699: The produced crop being exported for processing and marketing by large transnational corporations, often in developed countries. For instance, following the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), agave production increased three-fold in Mexico from 1995 to 2019 due to foreign consumption, specifically by the United States. Pararguay sees similar demands with soy crops, exporting the majority of production without nutrients returning to native soil. More than 46 million hectares of soy has been planted across South America while over half

5848-400: The production of the same crop species in a field (space), monoculture can also refer to the planting of a single cultivar across a larger regional area, such that there are numerous plants in the area with an identical genetic makeup to each other. When all plants in a region are genetically similar, a disease to which they have no resistance can destroy entire populations of crops. As of 2009

5934-497: The products of regular standardization processes. Standardized product certifications such as of organic food , buildings or possibly sustainable seafood as well as standardized product safety evaluation and dis/approval procedures (e.g. regulation of chemicals , cosmetics and food safety ) can protect the environment. This effect may depend on associated modified consumer choices , strategic product support/obstruction, requirements and bans as well as their accordance with

6020-457: The protection-quality, -scopes and -extents. Moreover, technical standards could decrease electronic waste and reduce resource-needs such as by thereby requiring (or enabling) products to be interoperable , compatible (with other products, infrastructures, environments, etc), durable , energy-efficient , modular , upgradeable / repairable and recyclable and conform to versatile, optimal standards and protocols. Such standardization

6106-627: The required levels of compatibility , interchangeability or commonality in the operational, procedural, material, technical and administrative fields to attain interoperability. In some cases, standards are being used in the design and operation of workplaces and products that can impact consumers' health. Some of such standards seek to ensure occupational safety and health and ergonomics . For example, chairs (see e.g. active sitting and steps of research ) could be potentially be designed and chosen using standards that may or may not be based on adequate scientific data. Standards could reduce

6192-591: The responsibility to consider the available standards, specify the correct one, enforce compliance, and use the item correctly: validation and verification . To avoid the proliferation of industry standards, also referred to as private standards , regulators in the United States are instructed by their government offices to adopt "voluntary consensus standards" before relying upon "industry standards" or developing "government standards". Regulatory authorities can reference voluntary consensus standards to translate internationally accepted criteria into public policy . In

6278-608: The risk of disease and attack. Environmental consequences of monocultural farming have notable social impacts, commonly concentrated to the reduction of small-scale farmers and pesticide-related health issues. Monoculture is contradictive to several primitive, more sustainable farming practices utilized by small-scale farmers. Following pest outbreaks, over 600 million liters of pesticides are sprayed annually, contaminating nearby small-scale farming and causing communal health decline. Research has revealed increased prevalence of pesticide-related disorders, diseases, and cancers affecting

6364-607: The size and weight of a girder to employ for given work." The Engineering Standards Committee was established in London in 1901 as the world's first national standards body. It subsequently extended its standardization work and became the British Engineering Standards Association in 1918, adopting the name British Standards Institution in 1931 after receiving its Royal Charter in 1929. The national standards were adopted universally throughout

6450-465: The system. When the shift toward competition based on individual components takes place, firms selling tightly integrated systems must quickly shift to a modular approach, supplying other companies with subsystems or components. Standardization has a variety of benefits for consumers, but one of the greatest benefits is enhanced network effects. Standards increase compatibility and interoperability between products, allowing information to be shared within

6536-919: The tropics and the Global South following rainforest deforestation. While forest monocultures are efficient ways of producing timber, studies show single-species forests reduce biodiversity , causing declines in forest productivity and native tree, animal, and insect populations over time. The loss of biodiversity in forest monocultures is associated with lower forest resistance to pathogens, attack by insects, and adverse environmental conditions. Monoculture plantations have been shown to have substantial social impacts on local communities. Forest monocultures have motivated migrations across Latin America due to localized water cycle interference, declining soil health, and changes in resource availability. While industrial agriculture can increase employment opportunities, studies show forest plantations often have limited employment opportunities, with most workers coming from outside of

6622-743: The tropics has led to hindrance of local small-scale farms and indigenous land rights in the forms of reduced food sovereignty , food security , land and water access, and hunting. Land privatization and pressure for monocultural expansion by larger companies takes different forms: silent evictions, violence, and reverse leasing arrangements. Introduction to global trade makes small-scale farmers vulnerable to international demand, prices, and variations in climate affecting crop production. Farmers who make contracts or take out loans with large corporations can face debt and loss of land if they fail to meet certain crop yields or profit. Monocultures are an aspect of agro-extractivism on account of high percentages of

6708-494: The use of most military specifications and standards without a waiver. This has become known as the "Perry Memorandum". Many military specifications and standards were canceled. In their place, the DOD directed the use of performance specifications and non-government standards. "Performance specifications" describe the desired performance of the weapon, rather than describing how those goals would be reached (that is, directing which technology or which materials would be used). In 2005

6794-709: The use of synthesized fertilizers have reduced the amount of additional land needed to produce food, called land sparing . monoculture, monocropping (rotation of monocultures) intermingled in a field (intercropping) polyculture Note that the distinction between monoculture and polyculture is not the same as between monocropping and intercropping. The first two describe diversity in space , as does intercropping. Monocropping and crop rotation describe diversity over time . Monocultures of perennials, such as African palm oil , sugarcane, tea and pines, can change soil chemistry leading to soil acidification , degradation , and soil-borne diseases , ultimately having

6880-411: The variety of products and lead to convergence on fewer broad designs – which can often be efficiently mass-produced via common shared automated procedures and instruments – or formulations deemed to be the most healthy, most efficient or best compromise between healthiness and other factors. Standardization is sometimes or could also be used to ensure or increase or enable consumer health protection beyond

6966-420: The workplace and ergonomics such as standards in food, food production, hygiene products, tab water, cosmetics, drugs/medicine, drink and dietary supplements, especially in cases where there is robust scientific data that suggests detrimental impacts on health (e.g. of ingredients) despite being substitutable and not necessarily of consumer interest. In the context of assessment, standardization may define how

7052-547: The world, forest monocultures are planted as an efficient way to produce and harvest timber. Because timber harvest from monoculture forests is often an export-driven industry, these plantations can be a form of extractivism . Following deforestation , monoculture afforestation has become increasingly popular due to the necessity for ecosystem services , such as mitigating the effects of climate change via carbon sequestration and gas regulation. Eucalyptus, pines, and acacias are examples of popular monocultures being utilized in

7138-464: Was an important figure in this process, introducing accurate methods and apparatus for measuring electricity. In 1857, he introduced a series of effective instruments, including the quadrant electrometer, which cover the entire field of electrostatic measurement. He invented the current balance , also known as the Kelvin balance or Ampere balance ( SiC ), for the precise specification of the ampere ,

7224-545: Was asked to look into the formation of a commission to oversee the process. By 1906 his work was complete and he drew up a permanent constitution for the International Electrotechnical Commission . The body held its first meeting that year in London, with representatives from 14 countries. In honour of his contribution to electrical standardisation, Lord Kelvin was elected as the body's first President. The International Federation of

7310-405: Was evidence that strong control existed for at least a 500-year period. The 13.7-g weight seems to be one of the units used in the Indus valley. The notation was based on the binary and decimal systems. 83% of the weights which were excavated from the above three cities were cubic, and 68% were made of chert . The implementation of standards in industry and commerce became highly important with

7396-938: Was originally based on almost the same imperial fractions. The Unified thread angle is 60° and has flattened crests (Whitworth crests are rounded). Thread pitch is the same in both systems except that the thread pitch for the 1 ⁄ 2  in. (inch) bolt is 12 threads per inch (tpi) in BSW versus 13 tpi in the UNC. By the end of the 19th century, differences in standards between companies were making trade increasingly difficult and strained. For instance, an iron and steel dealer recorded his displeasure in The Times : "Architects and engineers generally specify such unnecessarily diverse types of sectional material or given work that anything like economical and continuous manufacture becomes impossible. In this country no two professional men are agreed upon

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