Search results for: precision irrigation technologies

Authors: Laura Piedra-Muñoz, Ángeles Godoy-Durán, Emilio Galdeano-Gómez, Juan C. Pérez-Mesa

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The current agricultural system in some arid and semi-arid areas is not sustainable in the long term. In southeast Spain, groundwater is the main water source and is overexploited, while alternatives like desalination are still limited. The Water Plan for the Mediterranean Basins 2015-2020 indicates a global deficit of 73.42 hm3 and an overexploitation of the aquifers of 205.58hm3. In order to solve this serious problem, two major actions can be taken: increasing available water, and/or improving the efficiency of its use. This study focuses on the latter. The main aim of this study is to present the major factors related to water usage efficiency in farming. It focuses on Almería province, southeast Spain, one of the most arid areas of the country, and in particular on family farms as the main direct managers of water use in this zone. Many of these farms are among the most water efficient in Spanish agriculture, but this efficiency is not generalized throughout the sector. This work conducts a comprehensive assessment of water performance in this area, using on-farm water-use, structural, socio-economic and environmental information. Two statistical techniques are used: descriptive analysis and cluster analysis. Thus, two groups are identified: the least and the most efficient farms regarding water usage. By analyzing both the common characteristics within each group and the differences between the groups with a one-way ANOVA analysis, several conclusions can be reached. The main differences between the two clusters center on the extent to which innovation and new technologies are used in irrigation. The most water efficient farms are characterized by more educated farmers, a greater degree of innovation, new irrigation technology, specialized production and awareness of water issues and environmental sustainability. The research shows that better practices and policies can have a substantial impact on achieving a more sustainable and efficient use of water. The findings of this study can be extended to farms in similar arid and semi-arid areas and contribute to foster appropriate policies to improve the efficiency of water usage in the agricultural sector.

Keywords: cluster analysis, family farms, Spain, water-use efficiency

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Authors: Kuek Teik Sheng, Leaw Zee Guan, Lim Wah Kien, Ting Tin Tin

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Educational technology such as YouTube and Kahoot have arisen as an alternative to effective learning among higher education institutions. There are many researches done in carrying out experiments to test different educational technologies and received positive feedback from students. Yet, similar study is hardly found in Malaysia especially study that includes the latest educational technologies. As a developing country, it is crucial to ensure that these emerging technologies are assisting students in learning process before it is widely adopted in institutions. This paper conducted a study to explore the perception of higher education institution students on the current educational technologies in Malaysia which include online educational games, online videos/course, social media, presentation tools and resource management tool. Some of these technologies have not been looked into its potential in effective learning process. An online survey using questionnaire is conducted among a target of 300 university/college. In the survey, the result shows that majority of the target students in Malaysia agree that the current educational technologies help them in learning, understanding and manage their studies. It is necessary to discover students’ perceptions on the educational technologies in order to provide guidelines for the educators/institutions in selecting appropriate technology to conduct the lecture/tutorial efficiently and effectively.

Keywords: education, educational technology, Facebook, PowerPoint, YouTube

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Authors: Dalila Oulhaci, Mohammed Zahaf

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The watering technique is essential to maintain a moist perimeter around the roots of the crop. This is the case with topical watering, where the soil around the root system can be kept permanently moist between the two extremes of water content. Moreover, one of the oldest methods used since Roman times throughout North Africa and the Near East was based on the repeated pouring of water into porous earthen vessels buried in the ground. In this context, these two techniques have been combined by replacing the earthen vase with plastic bottles filled with sand which release water through their perforated walls into the surrounding soil. The objective of this work is to first determine the purifying power of the activated sludge treatment plant of Toggourt and then that of the bottled Sawdust filter. For the station, the BOD purification rate was (96.5%), the COD purification rate was (87%) and suspended solids (90%). For the bottle, the BOD removal rate was (35%), and COD removal rate was (12.58%). This work falls within the framework of water saving, sustainable development and environmental protection, and also within the framework of agriculture.

Keywords: wasterwater, sawdust, purification, irrigation, touggourt (Algeria)

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Authors: Esra Yuce, Isil D. S. Yamaner, Murude Yazan

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Aims and objective: Antiresorptive agents including bisphosphonates and denosumab as strong suppressors of osteoclasts are the most commonly used antiresorptive medications for the treatment of osteoporosis which counteract the negative quantitative alteration of trabecular and cortical bone by inhibition of bone turnover. Oral bisphosphonate therapy for the treatment of osteopenia, osteoporosis or Paget's disease is associated with the low-grade risk of osteonecrosis of the jaw, while higher-grade risk is associated with receiving intravenous bisphosphonates therapy in the treatment of multiple myeloma and bone metastases. On the other hand, there has been a remarkable increase in incidences of antiresorptive related osteonecrosis of the jaw (ARONJ) in oral bisphosphonate users. This clinical presentation will evaluate the healing outcomes via piezoelectric bone surgery under the irrigation of PVP-I solution irrigation in patients received bisphosphonate therapy. Material-Method: The study involved 8 female and 5 male patients that have been treated for ARONJ. Among 13 necrotic sites, 9 were in the mandible and 4 were in the maxilla. All of these 13 patients treated with surgical debridement via piezoelectric bone surgery under irrigation by solution with 3% PVP-I concentration in combination with long-term antibiotic therapy and 5 also underwent removal of mobile segments of bony sequestrum. All removable prosthesis in 8 patients were relined with soft liners during the healing periods in order to eliminate chronic minor traumas. Results: All patients were on oral bisphosphonate therapy for at least 2 years and 5 of which had received intravenous bisphosphonates up to 1 year before therapy with oral bisphosphonates was started. According to the AAOMS staging system, four cases were stage II, eight cases were stage I, and one case was stage III. The majority of lesions were identified at sites of dental prostheses (38%) and dental extractions (62%). All patients diagnosed with ARONJ stage I had used unadjusted removable prostheses. No recurrence of the symptoms was observed during the present follow-up (9–37 months). Conclusion: Despite their confirmed effectiveness, the prevention and treatment of osteonecrosis of the jaw secondary to oral bisphosphonate therapy remain major medical challenges. Treatment with piezoelectric bone surgery with irrigation of povidone-iodine solution was effective for management of bisphosphonate-related osteonecrosis of the jaw. Taking precautions for patients treated with oral bisphosphonates, especially also denture users, may allow for a reduction in the rate of developing osteonecrosis of the maxillofacial region.

Keywords: antiresorptive drug related osteonecrosis, bisphosphonate therapy, piezoelectric bone surgery, povidone iodine

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Authors: Pieter De Vries, Renate Klaassen, Maria Ioannides

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This paper is about an explorative research into the use of emerging technologies for teaching and learning in higher engineering education. The assumption is that these technologies and applications, which are not yet widely adopted, will help to improve education and as such actively work on the ability to better deal with the mismatch of skills bothering our industries. Technologies such as 3D printing, the Internet of Things, Virtual Reality, and others, are in a dynamic state of development which makes it difficult to grasp the value for education. Also, the instruments in current educational research seem not appropriate to assess the value of such technologies. This explorative research aims to foster an approach to better deal with this new complexity. The need to find out is urgent, because these technologies will be dominantly present in the near future in all aspects of life, including education. The methodology used in this research comprised an inventory of emerging technologies and tools that potentially give way to innovation and are used or about to be used in technical universities. The inventory was based on both a literature review and a review of reports and web resources like blogs and others and included a series of interviews with stakeholders in engineering education and at representative industries. In addition, a number of small experiments were executed with the aim to analyze the requirements for the use of in this case Virtual Reality and the Internet of Things to better understanding the opportunities and limitations in the day-today learning environment. The major findings indicate that it is rather difficult to decide about the value of these technologies for education due to the dynamic state of change and therefor unpredictability and the lack of a coherent policy at the institutions. Most decisions are being made by teachers on an individual basis, who in their micro-environment are not equipped to select, test and ultimately decide about the use of these technologies. Most experiences are being made in the industry knowing that the skills to handle these technologies are in high demand. The industry though is worried about the inclination and the capability of education to help bridge the skills gap related to the emergence of new technologies. Due to the complexity, the diversity, the speed of development and the decay, education is challenged to develop an approach that can make these technologies work in an integrated fashion. For education to fully profit from the opportunities, these technologies offer it is eminent to develop a pro-active strategy and a sustainable approach to frame the emerging technologies development.

Keywords: emerging technologies, internet of things, pro-active strategy, virtual reality

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Authors: Sonu Rana, Jyoti Verma, A. K. Gautam

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In most developing countries like India, the majority of the population heavily relies on agriculture for their livelihood. The yield of agriculture is heavily dependent on uncertain weather conditions like a monsoon, soil fertility, availability of irrigation facilities and fertilizers as well as support from the government. The agricultural yield is quite less compared to the effort put in due to inefficient agricultural facilities and obsolete farming practices on the one hand and lack of knowledge on the other hand, and ultimately agricultural community does not prosper. It is therefore essential for the farmers to improve their harvest yield by the acquisition of related data such as soil condition, temperature, humidity, availability of irrigation facilities, availability of, manure, etc., and adopt smart farming techniques using modern agricultural equipment. Nowadays, using IOT technology in agriculture is the best solution to improve the yield with fewer efforts and economic costs. The primary focus of this work-related is IoT technology in the agriculture field. By using IoT all the parameters would be monitored by mounting sensors in an agriculture field held at different places, will collect real-time data, and could be transmitted by a transmitting device like an antenna. To improve the system, IoT will interact with other useful systems like Wireless Sensor Networks. IoT is exploring every aspect, so the radio frequency spectrum is getting crowded due to the increasing demand for wireless applications. Therefore, Federal Communications Commission is reallocating the spectrum for various wireless applications. An antenna is also an integral part of the newly designed IoT devices. The main aim is to propose a new antenna structure used for IoT agricultural applications and compatible with this new unlicensed frequency band. The main focus of this paper is to present work related to these technologies in the agriculture field. This also presented their challenges & benefits. It can help in understanding the job of data by using IoT and correspondence advancements in the horticulture division. This will help to motivate and educate the unskilled farmers to comprehend the best bits of knowledge given by the huge information investigation utilizing smart technology.

Keywords: smart agriculture, IoT, agriculture technology, data analytics, smart technology

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Authors: Nadjib Drouiche

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Water resources in Algeria are scarce, often low quality, fragile, and unevenly distributed in space and time. The pressure on water resources can be associated with industrial development, a steady population growth, and demanding land irrigation measures. These conditions createa tense competitionfor managing waterresourcesand sharing thembetween agricultural development, drinking water supply, industrial activities, etc. Moreover, the impact of climate change has placed in the forefront national policies focused on the water-energy-food nexus (WEF). In this context, desalination membrane technologies could play an increasing rolefor supporting segments of the Algerian economy that are heavily water-dependent. By implementing water reuse and desalination strategies together in the agricultural sector, there is an opportunity to expand the access to healthy food and clean water, thereby keeping the WEF nexus effects under control.

Keywords: desalination, mitigation, climate change, sustainable development goals

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Authors: Cajethan U. Ugwuoke

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Agriculture is taught in secondary schools to develop skills in students which will empower them to contribute to national economic development. Unfortunately, our educational system emphasizes the application of conventional teaching methods in delivering instructions, which fails to produce students competent enough to carry out agricultural production. This study was therefore aimed at examining the application of digital technologies as tools for transformative instructional delivery. Four specific purposes, research questions and hypotheses guided the study. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design where 80 subjects representing 64 teachers of agriculture and 16 principals in the Udenu local government area of Enugu State, Nigeria, participated in the study. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data. The assumption of normality was ascertained by subjecting the data collected to a normality test. Data collected were later subjected to mean, Pearson product-moment correlation, ANOVA and t-test to answer the research questions and test the hypotheses at a 5% significant level. The result shows that the application of digital technologies helps to reduce learners’ boredom (3.52.75), improves learners’ performance (3.63.51), and is used as a visual aid for learners (3.56.61), among others. There was a positive, strong and significant relationship between the application of digital technologies and effective instructional delivery (+.895, p=.001<.05, F=17.73), competency of teachers to the application of digital technologies and effective instructional delivery (+998, p=.001<0.5, F=16263.45), and frequency of the application of digital technologies and effective instructional delivery (+.999, p=.001<.05, F=31436.14). There was no evidence of autocorrelation and multicollinearity in the regression models between the application of digital technologies and effective instructional delivery (2.03, Tolerance=1.00, VIF=1.00), competency of teachers in the application of digital technologies and effective instructional delivery (2.38, Tolerance=1.00, VIF=1.00) and frequency of the application of digital technologies and effective instructional delivery (2.00, Tolerance=1.00, VIF=1.00). Digital technologies should be therefore applied in teaching to facilitate effective instructional delivery in agriculture.

Keywords: agricultural science, digital technologies, instructional delivery, learning

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Authors: Germán Díaz Flórez, Carlos Alberto Olvera Olvera, Domingo José Gómez Meléndez, Francisco Eneldo López Monteagudo

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In recent decades, population growth has exerted great pressure on natural resources. Two of the most scarce and difficult to obtain resources, arable land, and water, are closely interrelated, to the satisfaction of the demand for food production. In Mexico, the agricultural sector uses more than 70% of water consumption. Therefore, maximize the efficiency of current production systems is inescapable. It is essential to utilize techniques and tools that will enable us to the significant savings of water, labor and fertilizer. In this study, we present a production module of hydroponic green forage (HGF), which is a viable alternative in the production of livestock feed in the semi-arid and arid zones. The equipment in addition to having a forage production module, has a climate and irrigation control system that operated with photovoltaics. The climate control, irrigation and power management is based on fuzzy control techniques. The fuzzy control provides an accurate method in the design of controllers for nonlinear dynamic physical phenomena such as temperature and humidity, besides other as lighting level, aeration and irrigation control using heuristic information. In this working, firstly refers to the production of the hydroponic green forage, suitable weather conditions and fertigation subsequently presents the design of the production module and the design of the controller. A simulation of the behavior of the production module and the end results of actual operation of the equipment are presented, demonstrating its easy design, flexibility, robustness and low cost that represents this equipment in the primary sector.

Keywords: fuzzy, climate control system, hydroponic green forage, forage production module

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Authors: Agah Tuğrul Korucu, Handan Atun

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Diversity and usefulness of information that used in education are have increased due to development of technology. Web technologies have made enormous contributions to the distance learning system especially. Mobile systems, one of the most widely used technology in distance education, made much easier to access web technologies. Not bounding by space and time, individuals have had the opportunity to access the information on web. In addition to this, the storage of educational information and resources and accessing these information and resources is crucial for both students and teachers. Because of this importance, development and dissemination of web technologies supply ease of access to information and resources are provided by web technologies. Dynamic web technologies introduced as new technologies that enable sharing and reuse of information, resource or applications via the Internet and bring websites into expandable platforms are commonly known as Web 2.0 technologies. Cloud systems are one of the dynamic web technologies that defined as a model provides approaching the demanded information independent from time and space in appropriate circumstances and developed by NIST. One of the most important advantages of cloud systems is meeting the requirements of users directly on the web regardless of hardware, software, and dealing with install. Hence, this study aims at using cloud services in education and investigating the services provided by the cloud computing. Survey method has been used as research method. In the findings of this research the fact that cloud systems are used such studies as resource sharing, collaborative work, assignment submission and feedback, developing project in the field of education, and also, it is revealed that cloud systems have plenty of significant advantages in terms of facilitating teaching activities and the interaction between teacher, student and environment.

Keywords: cloud systems, cloud systems in education, online learning environment, integration of information technologies, e-learning, distance learning

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Authors: K. K. Saju, A. R. Reghuraj

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High reflectance of surgical instruments under bright light hinders the visual clarity during laparoscopic surgical procedures leading to loss of precision and device control and creates strain and undesired difficulties to surgeons. Majority of the surgical instruments are made of surgical grade steel. Instruments with a non reflective surface can enhance the visual clarity during precision surgeries. A conversion coating of black oxide has been successfully developed 410 grade surgical stainless steel .The characteristics of the developed coating suggests the application of this technique for developing 410 grade surgical instruments with minimal reflectance.

Keywords: conversion coatings, 410 stainless steel, black oxide, reflectance

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Authors: Shaibu Baanni Azumah, Ignatius Tindjina, Stella Obanyi, Tara N. Wood

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This study examined the effect of Urea Deep Placement (UDP) technology on the output of irrigated rice farmers in the northern region of Ghana. Multi-stage sampling technique was used to select 142 rice farmers from the Golinga and Bontanga irrigation schemes, around Tamale. A treatment effect model was estimated at two stages; firstly, to determine the factors that influenced farmers’ decision to adopt the UDP technology and secondly, to determine the effect of the adoption of the UDP technology on the output of rice farmers. The significant variables that influenced rice farmers’ adoption of the UPD technology were sex of the farmer, land ownership, off-farm activity, extension service, farmer group participation and training. The results also revealed that farm size and the adoption of UDP technology significantly influenced the output of rice farmers in the northern region of Ghana. In addition to the potential of the technology to improve yields, it also presents an employment opportunity for women and youth, who are engaged in the deep placement of Urea Super Granules (USG), as well as in the transplantation of rice. It is recommended that the government of Ghana work closely with the IFDC to embed the UDP technology in the national agricultural programmes and policies. The study also recommends an effective collaboration between the government, through the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) and the International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC) to train agricultural extension agents on UDP technology in the rice producing areas of the country.

Keywords: Northern Ghana, output , irrigation rice farmers, treatment effect model, urea deep placement

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Authors: Tauhidur Rahman, Kasturi Bhuyan

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In the present paper, Ground Response Analysis at the Rukni irrigation project has been thoroughly investigated. Surface level seismic hazard is mainly used by the practical Engineers for designing the important structures. Surface level seismic hazard can be obtained accounting the soil factor. Structures on soft soil will show more ground shaking than the structure located on a hard soil. The Surface level ground motion depends on the type of soil. Density and shear wave velocity is different for different types of soil. The intensity of the soil amplification depends on the density and shear wave velocity of the soil. Rukni irrigation project is located in the North Eastern region of India, near the Dauki fault (550 Km length) which has already produced earthquakes of magnitude (Mw= 8.5) in the past. There is a probability of a similar type of earthquake occuring in the future. There are several faults also located around the project site. There are 765 recorded strong ground motion time histories available for the region. These data are used to determine the soil amplification factor by incorporation of the engineering properties of soil. With this in view, three of soil bore holes have been studied at the project site up to a depth of 30 m. It has been observed that in Soil bore hole 1, the shear wave velocity vary from 99.44 m/s to 239.28 m/s. For Soil Bore Hole No 2 and 3, shear wave velocity vary from 93.24 m/s to 241.39 m/s and 93.24m/s to 243.01 m/s. In the present work, surface level seismic hazard at the project site has been calculated based on the Probabilistic seismic hazard approach accounting the soil factor.

Keywords: Ground Response Analysis, shear wave velocity, soil amplification, surface level seismic hazard

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Authors: Elias Jemal Abdella

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The Blue Nile River is an important shared resource of Ethiopia, Sudan and also, because it is the major contributor of water to the main Nile River, Egypt. Despite the potential benefits of regional cooperation and integrated joint basin management, all three countries continue to pursue unilateral plans for development. Besides, there is great uncertainty about the likely impacts of climate change in water availability for existing as well as proposed irrigation and hydropower projects in the Blue Nile Basin. The main objective of this study is to quantitatively assess the impact of climate change on the hydrological regime of the upper Blue Nile basin, western Ethiopia. Three models were combined, a dynamic Coordinated Regional Climate Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX) regional climate model (RCM) that is used to determine climate projections for the Upper Blue Nile basin for Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) 4.5 and 8.5 greenhouse gas emissions scenarios for the period 2021-2050. The outputs generated from multimodel ensemble of four (4) CORDEX-RCMs (i.e., rainfall and temperature) were used as input to a Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) hydrological model which was setup, calibrated and validated with observed climate and hydrological data. The outputs from the SWAT model (i.e., projections in river flow) were used as input to a Water Evaluation and Planning (WEAP) water resources model which was used to determine the water resources implications of the changes in climate. The WEAP model was set-up to simulate three development scenarios. Current Development scenario was the existing water resource development situation, Medium-term Development scenario was planned water resource development that is expected to be commissioned (i.e. before 2025) and Long-term full Development scenario were all planned water resource development likely to be commissioned (i.e. before 2050). The projected change of mean annual temperature for period (2021 – 2050) in most of the basin are warmer than the baseline (1982 -2005) average in the range of 1 to 1.4oC, implying that an increase in evapotranspiration loss. Subbasins which already distressed from drought may endure to face even greater challenges in the future. Projected mean annual precipitation varies from subbasin to subbasin; in the Eastern, North Eastern and South western highland of the basin a likely increase of mean annual precipitation up to 7% whereas in the western lowland part of the basin mean annual precipitation projected to decrease by 3%. The water use simulation indicates that currently irrigation demand in the basin is 1.29 Bm3y-1 for 122,765 ha of irrigation area. By 2025, with new schemes being developed, irrigation demand is estimated to increase to 2.5 Bm3y-1 for 277,779 ha. By 2050, irrigation demand in the basin is estimated to increase to 3.4 Bm3y-1 for 372,779 ha. The hydropower generation simulation indicates that 98 % of hydroelectricity potential could be produced if all planned dams are constructed.

Keywords: Blue Nile River, climate change, hydropower, SWAT, WEAP

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Authors: Pierre-Andre Mudry, Jean Decaix, Jeremy Schmid, Cesar Papilloud, Cecile Munch-Alligne

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In most of the Swiss Alpine regions, the availability of water resources is usually adequate even in times of drought, as evidenced by the 2003 and 2018 summers. Indeed, important natural stocks are for the moment available in the form of snow and ice, but the situation is likely to change in the future due to global and regional climate change. In addition, alpine mountain regions are areas where climate change will be felt very rapidly and with high intensity. For instance, the ice regime of these regions has already been affected in recent years with a modification of the monthly availability and extreme events of precipitations. The current research, focusing on the municipality of Val de Bagnes, located in the canton of Valais, Switzerland, is part of a project led by the Altis company and achieved in collaboration with WSL, BlueArk Entremont, and HES-SO Valais-Wallis. In this region, water occupies a key position notably for winter and summer tourism. Thus, multiple actors want to apprehend the future needs and availabilities of water, on both the 2050 and 2100 horizons, in order to plan the modifications to the water supply and distribution networks. For those changes to be salient and efficient, a good knowledge of the current water distribution networks is of most importance. In the current case, the water drinking network is well documented, but this is not the case for the irrigation one. Since the water consumption for irrigation is ten times higher than for drinking water, data acquisition on the irrigation network is a major point to determine future scenarios. This paper first presents the instrumentation and simulation of the irrigation network using custom-designed IoT devices, which are coupled with a digital clone simulated to reduce the number of measuring locations. The developed IoT ad-hoc devices are energy-autonomous and can measure flows and pressures using industrial sensors such as calorimetric water flow meters. Measurements are periodically transmitted using the LoRaWAN protocol over a dedicated infrastructure deployed in the municipality. The gathered values can then be visualized in real-time on a dashboard, which also provides historical data for analysis. In a second phase, a digital clone of the irrigation network was modeled using EPANET, a software for water distribution systems that performs extended-period simulations of flows and pressures in pressurized networks composed of reservoirs, pipes, junctions, and sinks. As a preliminary work, only a part of the irrigation network was modelled and validated by comparisons with the measurements. The simulations are carried out by imposing the consumption of water at several locations. The validation is performed by comparing the simulated pressures are different nodes with the measured ones. An accuracy of +/- 15% is observed on most of the nodes, which is acceptable for the operator of the network and demonstrates the validity of the approach. Future steps will focus on the deployment of the measurement devices on the whole network and the complete modelling of the network. Then, scenarios of future consumption will be investigated. Acknowledgment— The authors would like to thank the Swiss Federal Office for Environment (FOEN), the Swiss Federal Office for Agriculture (OFAG) for their financial supports, and ALTIS for the technical support, this project being part of the Swiss Pilot program 'Adaptation aux changements climatiques'.

Keywords: hydraulic digital clone, IoT water monitoring, LoRaWAN water measurements, EPANET, irrigation network

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Authors: Yassir AbdelRazig, Amine Ghanem

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Construction projects are information intensive in nature and involve many activities that are related to each other. Wireless technologies can be used to improve the accuracy and timeliness of data collected from construction sites and shares it with appropriate parties. Nonetheless, the construction industry tends to be conservative and shows hesitation to adopt new technologies. A main concern for owners, contractors or any person in charge on a job site is the cost of the technology in question. Wireless technologies are not cheap. There are a lot of expenses to be taken into consideration, and a study should be completed to make sure that the importance and savings resulting from the usage of this technology is worth the expenses. This research attempts to assess the effectiveness of using the appropriate wireless technologies based on criteria such as performance, reliability, and risk. The assessment is based on a utility function model that breaks down the selection issue into alternatives attribute. Then the attributes are assigned weights and single attributes are measured. Finally, single attribute are combined to develop one single aggregate utility index for each alternative.

Keywords: analytic hierarchy process, decision theory, utility function, wireless technologies

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Authors: Jorge Duarte de Sá

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The appearance of the new media technologies has opened new fields of intervention in architecture creating a new dynamic communication in the relationship between public and space, where are present technological devices that enable a new sensory experience, aesthetic and even spiritual. This connection makes relevant the idea of rehabilitate architectonic spaces with new media technologies such as sacred spaces. This research aims to create a media project integrated in sacred spaces that combine Architecture, Art and New Technologies, exploring new perspectives and different dynamics in space.

Keywords: media, architecture, religious spaces, projections, contemplation

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Authors: Ya-Li Tsai

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Nitrogen is a vital element crucial for crop growth, significantly influencing crop yield. In rice cultivation, farmers often apply substantial nitrogen fertilizer to maximize yields. However, excessive nitrogen application increases the risk of lodging and pest infestation, leading to yield losses. Additionally, conventional flooded irrigation methods consume significant water resources, necessitating precise agricultural and intelligent water management systems. In this study, it leveraged physiological data and field images captured by unmanned aerial vehicles, considering fertilizer treatment and irrigation as key factors. Statistical models incorporating rice physiological data, yield, and vegetation indices from image data were developed. Missing physiological data were addressed using multiple imputation and regression methods, and regression models were established using principal component analysis and stepwise regression. Target nitrogen accumulation at key growth stages was identified to optimize fertilizer application, with the difference between actual and target nitrogen accumulation guiding recommendations for ear dressing dosage. Field experiments conducted in 2022 validated the recommended ear dressing dosage, demonstrating no significant difference in final yield compared to traditional fertilizer levels under alternate wetting and drying irrigation. These findings highlight the efficacy of applying recommended dosages based on fertilizer decision models, offering the potential for reduced fertilizer use while maintaining yield in rice cultivation.

Keywords: intelligent fertilizer management, nitrogen top and ear dressing fertilizer, rice, yield optimization

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Authors: Nivon P. Alejandra, Valencia P. L. Rodrigo, Vivanco V. Martin, Morita A. Adelina

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Technological innovation is fundamental to reach and maintain the levels of competitiveness of agricultural producers, the detection of actors, their activities, resources and capacities of an innovation system is needed for the development of technological packages that adapt to each type of crops, local circumstances and characteristics of the producer. The growing development of the viticulture and wine sector in Mexico prospects an increase in its national market participation for 2020, this is the reason to consider it a fertile field for the technological packages adoption that promote Precision Agriculture (PA) in a harmonic and sustainable development. A viability inspection of technological packages adoption by viticulture and wine sector is made following the methodology proposed by SAGARPA in 2015 and the World Bank in 2008: the history, actors, strengths and opportunities are analyzed in this particular agroindustrial sector, also its technological innovation system is inspected in order to improve technological capacities and innovation networks taking into account local and regional resources. PA and technological packages adoption can help improving the conditions and quality of the grape for winemaking: increasing the wine's storage potential and its nutraceutical nature. The assertive diagnosis in vineyard opportunity areas will help the management of the crop by applying natural treatments at the right time in the right place.

Keywords: technological packages, precision farming, sustainable development, innovation

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Authors: Manisha Ohlan, Manju Dahiya

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The present study was conducted in Karnal, Rohtak, and Jhajjar districts of Haryana state, covering 360 respondents. Results showed that 42.78 percent of the respondents had above average knowledge at the preparation stage followed by 48.33 percent of the respondents who had high knowledge at the production stage, and 37.22 percent of the respondents had average knowledge at the processing stage regarding the usage of digital technologies. Nearly half of the respondents (47.50%) agreed with the usage of digital technologies, followed by strongly agreed (19.45%) and strongly disagreed (14.45%). A significant and positive relationship was found between independent variables and knowledge and of digital technologies at 5 percent level of significance. Therefore, the null hypothesis cannot be rejected. All the dependent variables, including knowledge and attitude, had a significant and positive relationship with z value at 5 percent level of significance, which showed that it is between -1.96 to +1.96; therefore, the data falls between the acceptance region, that’s why the null hypothesis is accepted.

Keywords: knowledge, attitude, digital technologies, significant, positive relationship

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Authors: Mohd Javaid, Shahbaz Khan, Abid Haleem

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Purpose: Large numbers of 3D printing technologies are now available for sophisticated applications in different fields. Additive manufacturing has established its dominance in design, development, and customisation of the product. In the era of developing technologies, there is a need to identify the appropriate technology for different application. In order to fulfil this need, two widely used printing technologies such as Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM), and Binding-Jet 3D Printing are compared for effective utilisation in the current scenario for different applications. Methodology: Systematic literature review conducted for both technologies with applications and associated factors enabling for the same. Appropriate MCDM tool is used to compare critical factors for both the technologies. Findings: Both technologies have their potential and capabilities to provide better direction to the industry. Additionally, this paper is helpful to develop a decision support system for the proper selection of technologies according to their continuum of applications and associated research and development capability. The vital issue is raw materials, and research-based material development is key to the sustainability of the developed technologies. FDM is a low-cost technology which provides high strength product as compared to binding jet technology. Researcher and companies can take benefits of this study to achieve the required applications in lesser resources. Limitations: Study has undertaken the comparison with the opinion of experts, which may not always be free from bias, and some own limitations of each technology. Originality: Comparison between these technologies will help to identify best-suited technology as per the customer requirements. It also provides development in this different field as per their extensive capability where these technologies can be successfully adopted. Conclusion: FDM and binding jet technology play an active role in industrial development. These help to assist the customisation and production of personalised parts cost-effectively. So, there is a need to understand how these technologies can provide these developments rapidly. These technologies help in easy changes or in making revised versions of the product, which is not easily possible in the conventional manufacturing system. High machine cost, the requirement of skilled human resources, low surface finish, and mechanical strength of product and material changing option is the main limitation of this technology. However, these limitations vary from technology to technology. In the future, these technologies are to be commercially viable for efficient usage in direct manufacturing of varied parts.

Keywords: 3D printing, comparison, fused deposition modeling, FDM, binding jet technology

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Authors: Eduardo Álvarez, Gerardo Quiroga, Jorge Orozco, Gabriel Chavira

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AmI proposes a new way of thinking about computers, which follows the ideas of the Ubiquitous Computing vision of Mark Weiser. In these, there is what is known as a Disappearing Computer Initiative, with users immersed in intelligent environments. Hence, technologies need to be adapted so that they are capable of replacing the traditional inputs to the system by embedding these in every-day artifacts. In this work, we present an approach, which uses Radiofrequency Identification (RFID) and Near Field Communication (NFC) technologies. In the latter, a new form of interaction appears by contact. We compare both technologies by analyzing their requirements and advantages. In addition, we propose using a combination of RFID and NFC.

Keywords: touching interaction, ambient intelligence, ubiquitous computing, interaction, NFC and RFID

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Authors: Morgan Kuligowski, Marientina Gotsis

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Extended reality (XR) technologies share an intertwined history with spaceflight and innovation. New advancements in XR technologies offer expanding possibilities to advance the future of human space exploration with increased crew autonomy. This paper seeks to identify implementation gaps between existing and proposed XR space applications to inform future mission planning. A review of virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality technologies implemented aboard the International Space Station revealed a total of 16 flown investigations. A secondary set of ground-tested XR human spaceflight applications were systematically retrieved from literature sources. The two sets of XR technologies, those flown and those existing in the literature were analyzed to characterize application domains and device types. Comparisons between these groups revealed untapped application areas for XR to support crew psychological health, in-flight training, and extravehicular operations on future flights. To fill these roles, integrating XR technologies with advancements in biometric sensors and machine learning tools is expected to transform crew capabilities.

Keywords: augmented reality, extended reality, international space station, mixed reality, virtual reality

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Authors: Olumuyiwa Olusola Falowo

Abstract:

One of the objectives of the Millennium Development Goals is to have sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation. In line with this objective, an assessment of groundwater quality was carried out in Odigbo Local Government Area of Ondo State in November – February, 2019 to assess the drinking, domestic and irrigation uses of the water. Samples from 30 randomly selected ground water sources; 16 shallow wells and 14 from boreholes and analyzed using American Public Health Association method for the examination of water and wastewater. Water quality index calculation, and diagrams such as Piper diagram, Gibbs diagram and Wilcox diagram have been used to assess the groundwater in conjunction with irrigation indices such as % sodium, sodium absorption ratio, permeability index, magnesium ratio, Kelly ratio, and electrical conductivity. In addition statistical Principal component analysis were used to determine the homogeneity and source(s) influencing the chemistry of the groundwater. The results show that all the parameters are within the permissible limit of World Health Organization. The physico-chemical analysis of groundwater samples indicates that the dominant major cations are in decreasing order of Na+, Ca2+, Mg2+, K+ and the dominant anions are HCO-3, Cl-, SO-24, NO-3. The values of water quality index varies suggest a Good water (WQI of 50-75) accounts for 70% of the study area. The dominant groundwater facies revealed in this study are the non-carbonate alkali (primary salinity) exceeds 50% (zone 7); and transition zone with no one cation-anion pair exceeds 50% (zone 9), while evaporation; rock–water interaction, and precipitation; and silicate weathering process are the dominant processes in the hydrogeochemical evolution of the groundwater. The study indicates that waters were found within the permissible limits of irrigation indices adopted, and plot on excellent category on Wilcox plot. In conclusion, the water in the study area are good/suitable for drinking, domestic and irrigation purposes with low equivalent salinity concentrate and moderate electrical conductivity.

Keywords: equivalent salinity concentration, groundwater quality, hydrochemical facies, principal component analysis, water-rock interaction

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Authors: Dor Oppenheim, Yael Edan, Guy Shani

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This paper presents an image analysis algorithm to detect and count yellow tomato flowers in a greenhouse with uneven illumination conditions, complex growth conditions and different flower sizes. The algorithm is designed to be employed on a drone that flies in greenhouses to accomplish several tasks such as pollination and yield estimation. Detecting the flowers can provide useful information for the farmer, such as the number of flowers in a row, and the number of flowers that were pollinated since the last visit to the row. The developed algorithm is designed to handle the real world difficulties in a greenhouse which include varying lighting conditions, shadowing, and occlusion, while considering the computational limitations of the simple processor in the drone. The algorithm identifies flowers using an adaptive global threshold, segmentation over the HSV color space, and morphological cues. The adaptive threshold divides the images into darker and lighter images. Then, segmentation on the hue, saturation and volume is performed accordingly, and classification is done according to size and location of the flowers. 1069 images of greenhouse tomato flowers were acquired in a commercial greenhouse in Israel, using two different RGB Cameras – an LG G4 smartphone and a Canon PowerShot A590. The images were acquired from multiple angles and distances and were sampled manually at various periods along the day to obtain varying lighting conditions. Ground truth was created by manually tagging approximately 25,000 individual flowers in the images. Sensitivity analyses on the acquisition angle of the images, periods throughout the day, different cameras and thresholding types were performed. Precision, recall and their derived F1 score were calculated. Results indicate better performance for the view angle facing the flowers than any other angle. Acquiring images in the afternoon resulted with the best precision and recall results. Applying a global adaptive threshold improved the median F1 score by 3%. Results showed no difference between the two cameras used. Using hue values of 0.12-0.18 in the segmentation process provided the best results in precision and recall, and the best F1 score. The precision and recall average for all the images when using these values was 74% and 75% respectively with an F1 score of 0.73. Further analysis showed a 5% increase in precision and recall when analyzing images acquired in the afternoon and from the front viewpoint.

Keywords: agricultural engineering, image processing, computer vision, flower detection

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Authors: Sebastian van Delden, Matthew Anuszkiewicz, Jayse White, Scott Stolarski

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Industrial robotic manipulators have been commonplace in the manufacturing world since the early 1960s, and unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) have only begun to realize their full potential in the service industry and the military. The omnipresence of these technologies in their respective fields will only become more potent in coming years. While these technologies have greatly evolved over the years, the typical approach to human interaction with these robots has not. In the industrial robotics realm, a manipulator is typically jogged around using a teach pendant and programmed using a networked computer or the teach pendant itself via a proprietary software development platform. Drones are typically controlled using a two-handed controller equipped with throttles, buttons, and sticks, an app that can be downloaded to one’s mobile device, or a combination of both. This application-oriented work offers a novel approach to human interaction with both unmanned aerial vehicles and industrial robotic manipulators via hand gestures and movements. Two systems have been implemented, both of which use a Myo™ armband to control either a drone (DJI Spark™) or a robotic arm (Stäubli™ TX40). The methodologies developed by this work present a mapping of armband gestures (fist, finger spread, swing hand in, swing hand out, swing arm left/up/down/right, etc.) to either drone or robot arm movements. The findings of this study present the efficacy and limitations (precision and ergonomic) of hand gesture control of two distinct types of robotic technology. All source code associated with this project will be open sourced and placed on GitHub. In conclusion, this study offers a framework that maps hand and arm gestures to drone and robot arm control. The system has been implemented using current ubiquitous technologies, and these software artifacts will be open sourced for future researchers or practitioners to use in their work.

Keywords: human robot interaction, drones, gestures, robotics

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Authors: Maryam M Esfahani

Abstract:

The Internet of Things is a concept that has fundamentally changed the way information technology works and communication environments. This concept, which is referred to as the next revolution in the field of information and communication technology, takes advantage of existing technologies such as wireless sensor networks, RFID, cloud computing, M2M, etc., to the final slogan of providing the possibility of connecting any object anywhere and everywhere. This use of technologies, along with the possibility of providing new services, also inherits their threats, and although the Internet of Things is facing many challenges, it can be said that its most important challenge is security and privacy, and perhaps even a more tangible challenge is privacy. In this article, we will first introduce the definition and concepts related to privacy, and then we will examine some threats against the privacy of the Internet of Things in different layers of a typical architecture. Also, while examining the differences and the relationship between security and privacy, we study different dimensions of privacy, and finally, we review some of the methods and technologies for improving the level of privacy.

Keywords: Iot, privacy, different dimension of privacy, W3model, privacy enhancing technologies

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Authors: Azubuike Ekwere

Abstract:

The shallow and deep aquiferous horizons of the fractured and weathered crystalline basement Oban Massif of south-eastern Nigeria were studied during the dry and wet seasons. The criteria were ascertaining hydrochemistry relative to seasonal and spatial variations across the study area. Results indicate that concentrations of major cations and anions exhibit the order of abundance; Ca>Na>Mg>K and HCO3>SO4>Cl respectively, with minor variations across sampling seasons. Major elements Ca, Mg, Na and K were higher for the shallow aquifers than the deep aquifers across seasons. The major anions Cl, SO4, HCO3, and NO3 were higher for the deep aquifers compared to the shallow ones. Two water types were identified for both aquifer types: Ca-Mg-HCO3 and Ca-Na-Cl-SO4. Most of the parameters considered were within the international limits for drinking, domestic and irrigation purposes. Assessment by use of sodium absorption ratio (SAR), percent sodium (%Na) and the wilcox diagram reveals that the waters are suitable for irrigation purposes.

Keywords: shallow aquifer, deep aquifer, seasonal variation, hydrochemistry, Oban massif, Nigeria

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Authors: C. C. Lv, Y. L. Sun, D. W. Zuo

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Cemented carbide balls are usually implemented in industry under the environment of high speed, high temperature, corrosiveness and strong collisions. However, its application is limited due to high fabrication cost, processing efficiency and quality. A novel eccentric lapping method with two rotatable lapping plates was proposed in this paper. A mathematical model was constructed to analyze the influence of each design parameter on this lapping method. To validate this new lapping method, an orthogonal experiment was conducted with cemented carbide balls (YG6). The simulation model was verified and the optimal lapping parameters were derived. The results show that the surface roundness of the balls reaches to 0.65um from 2um in 1 hour using this lapping method. So, using this novel lapping method, it can effectively improve the machining precision and efficiency of cemented carbide balls.

Keywords: cemented carbide balls, eccentric lapping, high precision, lapping tracks, V-groove

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Authors: El Oualid Mokhnache, Noureddine Ramdani

Abstract:

The choice of gun barrel materials is crucial to ensure the maximum high rate of fire. The high rate of fire causes wear-out damage and shuts off mechanical properties (hardness, strength, wear resistance, etc.) and ballistic properties (bullet speed, dispersion and precision, longevity of barrel, etc). To overcome these kinds of problems, a deep understanding of the effect of the firing cycle on the mechanical and ballistic properties of the barrel is regarded as crucial to improving its characteristics. In the present work, a real experimental test of firing by using a high steel barrel with 7.62x39 ammunition was carried. Microstructural observations by using SEM were investigated. Hardness evolution through the barrel of both barrels labeled as reference barrels and as fired barrels were compared and discussed. Ballistic properties during the firing test, including speed of projectile and precision dispersion, are revealed and discussed as well. The aim of the present communication is about to discuss the relationship between pressure distribution versus mechanical properties through the wall barrel. Ballistic properties, including speed of the projectile, dispersion, and precision results during the shooting process, were investigated. Microstructure observations of the as-rifled barrel in comparison with the as-reference barrel were performed as well.

Keywords: barrel, ballistic, pressure, microstructure evolution, hardness

Procedia PDF Downloads 62