Search results for: food and agriculture biotechnology

Authors: Nasser Alkorbi, Manuel Hernández-Pérez, Seamus Simpson

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Twitter is a platform service that has quickly risen to prominence as the social media platform most preferred for strategic communication campaigns. It is used by most of the Non-Profit Organizations (NPO) in Saudi Arabia, making it the most popular social media platform in the country. Non-Profit Organizations (NPOs) use Twitter to raise awareness of social issues and to communicate with stakeholders. Despite the features Twitter has recently introduced, this paper investigates how NPOs (Foodbanks) in Saudi Arabia use Twitter to raise awareness of food waste, as well as their posting behaviour over a two-year period. By the end of the research, we were able to provide a framework for using Twitter which new or existing NPOs can adopt, as well as helping NPOs (Foodbanks) to recognize and become aware of the impact of Twitter.

Keywords: Awareness, food banks, food waste, Saudi Arabia, social media, Twitter.

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Authors: A. Abdullah, A. Bakshwain, A. Aslam

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Livestock is one of the fastest-growing sectors in agriculture. If carefully managed, have potential opportunities for economic growth, food sovereignty and food security. In this study we mainly analyse and compare long-term i.e. for year 2030 climate variability impact on predicted productivity of meat i.e. beef, mutton and poultry for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia w.r.t three factors i.e. i) climatic-change vulnerability ii) CO2 fertilization and iii) water scarcity and compare the results with two countries of the region i.e. Iraq and Yemen. We do the analysis using data from diverse sources, which was extracted, transformed and integrated before usage. The collective impact of the three factors had an overall negative effect on the production of meat for all the three countries, with adverse impact on Iraq. High similarity was found between CO2 fertilization (effecting animal fodder) and water scarcity i.e. higher than that between production of beef and mutton for the three countries considered. Overall, the three factors do not seem to be favorable for the three Middle-East countries considered. This points to possibility of a vegetarian year 2030 based on dependency on indigenous livestock population.

Keywords: Prediction, animal-source foods, pastures, CO2 fertilization, climatic-change vulnerability, water scarcity.

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Authors: Xiaoyan Dou, Yongkun Li

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In this paper, we consider a food-limited population model with delay and feedback control. By applying the comparison theorem of the differential equation and constructing a suitable Lyapunov functional, sufficient conditions which guarantee the permanence and existence of a unique globally attractive positive almost periodic solution of the system are obtained.

Keywords: Almost periodic solution, food-limited population, feedback control, permanence.

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Authors: Eva Ungure, Sandra Muizniece-Brasava, Lija Dukalska, Vita Levkane

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The objective of the research was to evaluate the quality of milk pomade sweet – sherbet packed in different packaging materials (Multibarrier 60, met.BOPET/PE, Aluthen), by several packaging technologies – active and modified atmosphere (MAP) (consisting of 100% CO2), and control – in air ambiance. Experiments were carried out at the Faculty of Food Technology of Latvia University of Agriculture. Samples were stored at the room temperature +21±1 °C. The physiochemical properties – weight losses, moisture, hardening, colour and changes in headspace atmosphere concentration (CO2 and O2) of packs were analysed before packaging and after 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 storage weeks.

Keywords: packaging, shelf life, sherbet with crunchy peanut chip's

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Authors: E. C. Mattos, V. S. M. G. Daros, R. Dal Col, A. L. Nascimento

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The aim of this study is to present the results of a retrospective survey on the foreign matter found in foods analyzed at the Adolfo Lutz Institute, from July 2001 to July 2015. All the analyses were conducted according to the official methods described on Association of Official Agricultural Chemists (AOAC) for the micro analytical procedures and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the macro analytical procedures. The results showed flours, cereals and derivatives such as baking and pasta products were the types of food where foreign matters were found more frequently followed by condiments and teas. Fragments of stored grains insects, its larvae, nets, excrement, dead mites and rodent excrement were the most foreign matter found in food. Besides, foreign matters that can cause a physical risk to the consumer’s health such as metal, stones, glass, wood were found but rarely. Miscellaneous (shell, sand, dirt and seeds) were also reported. There are a lot of extraneous materials that are considered unavoidable since are something inherent to the product itself, such as insect fragments in grains. In contrast, there are avoidable extraneous materials that are less tolerated because it is preventable with the Good Manufacturing Practice. The conclusion of this work is that although most extraneous materials found in food are considered unavoidable it is necessary to keep the Good Manufacturing Practice throughout the food processing as well as maintaining a constant surveillance of the production process in order to avoid accidents that may lead to occurrence of these extraneous materials in food.

Keywords: Food contamination, extraneous materials, foreign matter, surveillance.

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Authors: Hajar Aman Key Yekani, Yusra Mushtaq, Behnaz Farahani, Hamed Abdi

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This study explores associations between parental restriction and children's appetitive traits, putting to test the hypothesis that parental “restriction” is associated with having a child with stronger food approach tendencies (food enjoyment (FE) and food over responsiveness (FR)). The participants, from 55 nationalities, targeting 1081 parents of 5- to 11-year-old children from 7 private schools in Dubai, UAE, who completed self-reported questionnaires over the 2011-2012 school year. The questionnaire has been a tailored amalgamation of CEBQ and CFQ in order to measure the children’s appetitive traits and parental restriction, respectively. The findings of this quantitative, descriptive, cross-sectional analysis confirmed the hypothesis in that “parental restriction” was positively associated with child food responsiveness (r, 0.183), food enjoyment (r, 0.102). To conclude, as far as the figures depict, the parents controlling their children’s food intake would seemingly a reverse impact on their eating behavior in the short term.

Keywords: Parental Restriction, Children Eating Behavior, Approach Tendency, Avoidance Tendency.

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Authors: F. O. Omoya

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Food borne illnesses have been reported to be a global health challenge. Annual incidences of food–related diseases involve 76 million cases, of which only 14 million can be traced to known pathogens. Poor hygienic practices have contributed greatly to this. It has been reported that in the year 2000 about 2.1 million people died from diarrheal diseases, hence, there is a need to ensure food safety at all level. This study focused on the sterility examination and inhibitory effect of honey samples on selected gram negative and gram positive food borne pathogen from South West Nigeria. The laboratory examinations revealed the presence of some bacterial and fungal contaminations of honey samples and that inhibitory activity of the honey sample was more pronounced on the gram negative bacteria than the gram positive bacterial isolates. Antibiotic sensitivity test conducted on the different bacterial isolates also showed that honey was able to inhibit the proliferation of the tested bacteria than the employed antibiotics.

Keywords: Food borne illness, gram positive and gram negative bacteria, honey, and inhibitory activity.

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Authors: Citlali Aguilera Lira, David Lynch Steinicke, Andrea León Garcia

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One of the challenges that higher education faces is to find how to approach the sustainability in an inclusive way to the student within all the different academic areas, how to move the sustainable development from the abstract field to the operational field. This research comes from the ecoliteracy and the pedagogical praxis as tools for rebuilding the teaching processes inside of universities. The purpose is to determine and describe which are the factors involved in the process of learning particularly in the Greenhouse-School Siembra UV. In the Greenhouse-School Siembra UV, of the University of Veracruz, are cultivated vegetables, medicinal plants and small cornfields under the usage of eco-technologies such as hydroponics, Wickingbed and Hugelkultur, which main purpose is the saving of space, labor and natural resources, as well as function as agricultural production alternatives in the urban and periurban zones. The sample was formed with students from different academic areas and who are actively involved in the greenhouse, as well as institutes from the University of Veracruz and governmental and nongovernmental departments. This project comes from a pedagogic praxis approach, from filling the needs that the different professional profiles of the university students have. All this with the purpose of generate a pragmatic dialogue with the sustainability. It also comes from the necessity to understand the factors that intervene in the students’ praxis. In this manner is how the students are the fundamental unit in the sphere of sustainability. As a result, it is observed that those University of Veracruz students who are involved in the Greenhouse-school, Siembra UV, have enriched in different levels the sense of urban and periurban agriculture because of the diverse academic approaches they have and the interaction between them. It is concluded that the ecotechnologies act as fundamental tools for ecoliteracy in society, where it is strengthen the nutritional and food security from a sustainable development approach.

Keywords: Farming eco-technologies, food security, multidisciplinary, pedagogical praxis.

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Authors: Mohd Zulhilmi Suhaimi, Mohd Salehuddin Mohd Zahari

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Common acceptable cuisine usually discussed in the multicultural/ethnic nation as it represents the process of sharing it among the ethnic groups. The common acceptable cuisine is also considered as a precursor in the process of constructing the national food identity within ethnic groups in the multicultural countries. The adaptation of certain ethnic cuisines through its types of food, methods of cooking, ingredients and eating decorum by ethnic groups is believed creating or enhancing the process of formation on common acceptable cuisines in a multicultural country. Malaysia as the multicultural country without doubt is continuing to experience cross-culturing processes among the ethnic groups including cuisine. This study empirically investigates the adaptation level of Malay, Chinese and Indian chefs on each other ethnic cuisine attributes toward the formation on common acceptable cuisines and national food identity.

Keywords: Common acceptable cuisine, adaptation, ethnic, food, identity.

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Authors: H. Junoh, K. Palanisamy, C. H. Yip, F. L. Pua

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This study investigates the influence of low temperature thermo-chemical pretreatment of organic food waste on performance of COD solubilisation. Both temperature and alkaline agent were reported to have effect on solubilizing any possible biomass including organic food waste. The three independent variables considered in this pretreatment were temperature (50-90oC), pretreatment time (30-120 minutes) and alkaline concentration, sodium hydroxide, NaOH (0.7-15 g/L). The maximal condition obtained were 90oC, 15 g/L NaOH for 2 hours. Solubilisation has potential in enhancing methane production by providing high amount of soluble components at early stage during anaerobic digestion.

Keywords: Food waste, pretreatments, respond surface methodology, ANOVA, anaerobic digestion.

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Authors: Ioannis Manikas

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The increased consumer demand for environmentally friendly production and distribution practices and the stricter environmental regulations turned environmental aspects into important criteria in business decision-making. On the other hand, Food and Nutrition Security (FNS) has evolved dramatically during the last decades in theory and practice serving as a reference point for exchanging experiences among all agents involved in programs and projects to fostering policy and strategy development. Global pressures make it more important than ever to gain a better understanding of the contribution that agrifood businesses make to FNS and to examine ways to make them more resilient in an increasingly globalized and uncertain world. This study extends the standard three-dimensional model of sustainability to include two more dimensions: A technological dimension and a policy/political dimension. Apart from the economic, environmental and social dimensions regularly used in sustainability literature, the extended model will accurately represent the measures and policies addressing food and nutrition security.

Keywords: Food and nutrition security, sustainability, food safety, resilience.

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Authors: Dawei Wang, Rujing Wang, Ying Li, Baozi Wei

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FAQ system can make user find answer to the problem that puzzles them. But now the research on Chinese FAQ system is still on the theoretical stage. This paper presents an approach to semantic inference for FAQ mining. To enhance the efficiency, a small pool of the candidate question-answering pairs retrieved from the system for the follow-up work according to the concept of the agriculture domain extracted from user input .Input queries or questions are converted into four parts, the question word segment (QWS), the verb segment (VS), the concept of agricultural areas segment (CS), the auxiliary segment (AS). A semantic matching method is presented to estimate the similarity between the semantic segments of the query and the questions in the pool of the candidate. A thesaurus constructed from the HowNet, a Chinese knowledge base, is adopted for word similarity measure in the matcher. The questions are classified into eleven intension categories using predefined question stemming keywords. For FAQ mining, given a query, the question part and answer part in an FAQ question-answer pair is matched with the input query, respectively. Finally, the probabilities estimated from these two parts are integrated and used to choose the most likely answer for the input query. These approaches are experimented on an agriculture FAQ system. Experimental results indicate that the proposed approach outperformed the FAQ-Finder system in agriculture FAQ retrieval.

Keywords: FAQ, Semantic Inference, Ontology.

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Authors: Kejun Zhuang

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With the help of coincidence degree theory, sufficient conditions for existence of periodic solutions for a food chain model with functional responses on time scales are established.

Keywords: time scales, food chain model, coincidence degree, periodic solutions.

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Authors: P. O. Angienda, D. J. Hill

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The purpose of this study was to elucidate the factors affecting antimicrobial effectiveness of essential oils against food spoilage and pathogenic bacteria. The minimum inhibition concentrations (MIC) of the essential oils, were determined by turbidimetric technique using Biocreen C, analyzer. The effects of pH ranging from 7.3 to 5.5 in absence and presence of essential oils and/or NaCl on the lag time and mean generation time of the bacteria at 370C, were carried out and results were determined showed that, combination of low pH and essential oil at 370C had additive effects against the test micro-organisms. The combination of 1.2 % (w/v) of NaCl and clove essential oil at 0.0325% (v/v) was effective against E. coli. The use of concentrations less than MIC in combination with low pH and or NaCl has the potential of being used as an alternative to “traditional food preservatives".

Keywords: Antimicrobial, Bacteria, Bioscreen C, essential oil.

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Authors: Oladotun A. Fatoki, Deborah A. Onifade

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Spoilage occurs in plant produce due to the action of field and storage microorganisms. The conditions of storage can also cause physiological spoilage. Various methods exist to ensure that these food substances maintain their quality long after harvesting. However, many of these methods either fail to keep the plant for the required period or predispose the plant to other spoilage risks. The major shortcoming posed by the use of many antimicrobials is the chemical residues it deposits in the food substance. The use of plants in preservation has been in use for a long period, though little understood then, it served its purposes. A better understanding of the roles of these plant parts in increasing the shelf life of farm produce has helped in the creation of more effective and safer means of pest and microbial control. This can be extended to plants that have not been used for these purposes initially. Microbial sources should also be investigated as these have provided cheaper sources of secondary metabolites.

Keywords: Antimicrobials, Food preservation, Phytochemicals

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Authors: Kejun Zhuang, Zhaohui Wen

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This paper is concerned with a nonautonomous three species food chain model with Crowley–Martin type functional response and time delay. Using the Mawhin-s continuation theorem in theory of degree, sufficient conditions for existence of periodic solutions are obtained.

Keywords: Periodic solutions, coincidence degree, food chain model, Crowley–Martin functional response.

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Authors: M. Cynthya, V. Prabhawathi, D. Mukesh

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Food contamination occurs during post process handling. This leads to spoilage and growth of pathogenic microorganisms in the food, thereby reducing its shelf life or spreading of food borne diseases. Several methods are tried and one of which is use of antimicrobial packaging. Here, papain, a protease enzyme, is covalently immobilized with the help of glutarldehyde on polyurethane and used as a food wrap to protect food from microbial contamination. Covalent immobilization of papain was achieved at a pH of 7.4; temperature of 4°C; glutaraldehyde concentration of 0.5%; incubation time of 24h; and 50mg of papain. The formation of -C=Nobserved in the Fourier transform infrared spectrum confirmed the immobilization of the enzyme on the polymer. Immobilized enzyme retained higher activity than the native free enzyme. The modified polyurethane showed better reduction of Staphylococcus aureus biofilm than bare polymer film (eight folds reduction in live colonies, two times reduction in protein and 6 times reduction in carbohydrates). The efficacy of this was studied by wrapping it over S. aureus contaminated cottage cheese (paneer) and cheese and stored at a temperature of 4°C for 7days. The modified film reduced the bacterial contamination by eight folds when compared to the bare film. FTIR also indicated reduction in lipids, sugars and proteins in the biofilm.

Keywords: Cheese, Papain, polyurethane, Staphylococcus aureus.

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Authors: A. Novikova, L. Rocchi, G. Startiene

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Market and non-market outputs are produced jointly in agriculture. Their supply depends on the intensity and type of production. The role of agriculture as an economic activity and its effects are important for the Lithuanian case study, as agricultural land covers more than a half of country. Positive and negative externalities, created in agriculture are not considered in the market. Therefore, specific techniques such as stated preferences methods, in particular choice experiments (CE) are used for evaluation of non-market outputs in agriculture. The main aim of this paper is to present construction of the research path for evaluation of non-market farming system outputs in Lithuania. The conventional and organic farming, covering crops (including both cereal and industrial crops) and livestock (including dairy and cattle) production has been selected. The CE method and nested logit (NL) model were selected as appropriate for evaluation of non-market outputs of different farming systems in Lithuania. A pilot survey was implemented between October–November 2018, in order to test and improve the CE questionnaire. The results of the survey showed that the questionnaire is accepted and well understood by the respondents. The econometric modelling showed that the selected NL model could be used for the main survey. The understanding of the differences between organic and conventional farming by residents was identified. It was revealed that they are more willing to choose organic farming in comparison to conventional farming.

Keywords: Choice experiments, farming system, Lithuania market outputs, non-market outputs.

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Authors: S. K. Balashanmugam, Padmavati Manchikanti, S. R. Subramanian

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The question of legal liability over injury arising out of the import and the introduction of GM food emerges as a crucial issue confronting to promote GM food and its derivatives. There is a greater possibility of commercialized GM food from the exporting country to enter importing country where status of approval shall not be same. This necessitates the importance of fixing a liability mechanism to discuss the damage, if any, occurs at the level of transboundary movement or at the market. There was a widespread consensus to develop the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and to give for a dedicated regime on liability and redress in the form of Nagoya Kuala Lumpur Supplementary Protocol on the Liability and Redress (‘N-KL Protocol’) at the international context. The national legal frameworks based on this protocol are not adequately established in the prevailing food legislations of the developing countries. The developing economy like India is willing to import GM food and its derivatives after the successful commercialization of Bt Cotton in 2002. As a party to the N-KL Protocol, it is indispensable for India to formulate a legal framework and to discuss safety, liability, and regulatory issues surrounding GM foods in conformity to the provisions of the Protocol. The liability mechanism is also important in the case where the risk assessment and risk management is still in implementing stage. Moreover, the country is facing GM infiltration issues with its neighbors Bangladesh. As a precautionary approach, there is a need to formulate rules and procedure of legal liability to discuss any kind of damage occurs at transboundary trade. In this context, the proposed work will attempt to analyze the liability regime in the existing Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 from the applicability and domestic compliance and to suggest legal and policy options for regulatory authorities.

Keywords: Commercialisation, food safety, FSSAI, genetically modified foods, India, liability.

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Authors: Vedansh Gupta, Allyson Lutz, Ameen Razavi, Fatemeh Shirazi

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The agriculture industry is especially vulnerable to forecasted water shortages. In the fresh and fresh-cut produce sector, conventional flume-based washing with recirculation exhibits high water demand. This leads to a large water footprint and possible cross-contamination of pathogens. These can be alleviated through advanced water reuse processes, such as membrane technologies including reverse osmosis (RO). Water reuse technologies effectively remove dissolved constituents but can easily foul without pre-treatment. Biological treatment is effective for the removal of organic compounds responsible for fouling, but not at the low temperatures encountered at most produce processing facilities. This study showed that the Microvi MicroNiche Engineering (MNE) technology effectively removes organic compounds (> 80%) at low temperatures (6-8 °C) from wash water. The MNE technology uses synthetic microorganism-material composites with negligible solids production, making it advantageously situated as an effective bio-pretreatment for RO. A preliminary technoeconomic analysis showed 60-80% savings in operation and maintenance costs (OPEX) when using the Microvi MNE technology for organics removal. This study and the accompanying economic analysis indicated that the proposed technology process will substantially reduce the cost barrier for adopting water reuse practices, thereby contributing to increased food safety and furthering sustainable water reuse processes across the agricultural industry.

Keywords: Biological pre-treatment, innovative technology, vegetable processing, water reuse, agriculture, reverse osmosis, MNE biocatalysts.

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Authors: Emmanuel Selase Asamoah, Miloslava Chovancová

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When choosing marketing strategies for international markets, one of the factors that should be considered is the cultural differences that exist among consumers in different countries. If the branding strategy has to be contextual and in tune with the culture, then the brand positioning variables has to interact, adapt and respond to the cultural variables in which the brand is operating. This study provides an overview of the relevance of culture in the development of an effective branding strategy in the international business environment. Hence, the main objective of this study is to provide a managerial framework for developing strategies for cross cultural brand management. The framework is useful because it incorporates the variables that are important in the competitiveness of fast food enterprises irrespective of their size. It provides practical, proactive and result oriented analysis that will help fast food firms augment their strategies in the international fast food markets. The proposed framework will enable managers understand the intricacies involved in branding in the global fast food industry and decrease the use of 'trial and error' when entering into unfamiliar markets.

Keywords: culture, branding strategy, marketing mix, mass customization, standardization

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Authors: C. M. Balaceanu, G. Suciu, C. S. Bosoc, O. Orza, C. Fernandez, Z. Viniczay

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The Internet of Things (IoT) represents the best option for smart vineyard applications, even if it is necessary to integrate the technologies required for the development. This article is based on the research and the results obtained in the DISAVIT project. For Smart Agriculture, the project aims to provide a trustworthy, intelligent, integrated vineyard management solution that is based on the IoT. To have interoperability through the use of a multiprotocol technology (being the future connected wireless IoT) it is necessary to adopt an agnostic approach, providing a reliable environment to address cyber security, IoT-based threats and traceability through blockchain-based design, but also creating a concept for long-term implementations (modular, scalable). The ones described above represent the main innovative technical aspects of this project. The DISAVIT project studies and promotes the incorporation of better management tools based on objective data-based decisions, which are necessary for agriculture adapted and more resistant to climate change. It also exploits the opportunities generated by the digital services market for smart agriculture management stakeholders. The project's final result aims to improve decision-making, performance, and viticulturally infrastructure and increase real-time data accuracy and interoperability. Innovative aspects such as end-to-end solutions, adaptability, scalability, security and traceability, place our product in a favorable situation over competitors. None of the solutions in the market meet every one of these requirements by a unique product being innovative.

Keywords: Blockchain, IoT, smart agriculture, vineyard.

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Authors: Zhaohui Wen

Abstract:

In this paper, a food chain model with Holling type II functional response on time scales is investigated. By using the Mawhin-s continuation theorem in coincidence degree theory, sufficient conditions for existence of periodic solutions are obtained.

Keywords: Periodic solutions, food chain model, coincidence degree, time scales.

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Authors: Ashiquer Rahman

Abstract:

The cutting edge knowledge mediation system called ‘ePLANETe’ provides a framework for building knowledge, tools, and methods for education, research, and sustainable practices, as well as the deliberative assessment support for Higher Education, Research Institutions, and elsewhere e.g., the collaborative learning and research on sustainability and biodiversity issues of territorial development sectors. The paper is to present the analytical perspective of the ‘ePLANETe’ concept and functionalities as an experimental platform for contributing to sustainability assessment. Now the ‘ePLANETe’ can be seen as experimentation of the challenges of “ICT for Green”. The digital technologies of ‘ePLANETe’ are exploited (i) to facilitate collaborative research, learning tools, and knowledge for sustainability challenges, and (ii) as deliberation support tools in pursuing of sustainability performance and practices in territorial governance, public policy, and business strategy, as well as in the higher education sectors itself. The paper investigates the dealing capacity of qualitative and quantitative assessment of agriculture sustainability through the stakeholder-based integrated assessment. Specifically, this paper focuses on integrating system methodologies with Deliberation Support Tools (DST) and INTEGRAAL method for collective assessment and decision-making in implementing regional plans. The report aims to identify the effective knowledge and tools to enable deliberations methodologies regarding practices on the sustainability of agriculture and biodiversity issues, societal responsibilities, and regional planning, concentrating on the question: “How to effectively mobilize resources (knowledge, tools, and methods) from different sources and at different scales regarding on agriculture and biodiversity issues to address sustainability challenges” that will create the scope for qualitative and quantitative assessments of sustainability as a new landmark of the agriculture sector.

Keywords: Biodiversity, Deliberation Support Tools, INTEGRAAL, stakeholder.

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Authors: N. Reehana, A. Parveez Ahamed, D. Mubarak Ali, A. Suresh, R. Arvind Kumar, N. Thajuddin

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Cyanobacteria play a vital role in the production of phycobiliproteins that includes phycocyanin and phycoerythrin pigments. Phycocyanin and related phycobiliproteins have wide variety of application that is used in the food, biotechnology and cosmetic industry because of their color, fluorescent and antioxidant properties. The present study is focused to understand the pigment at molecular level in the Cyanobacteria Oscillatoria terebriformis NTRI05 and Oscillatoria foreaui NTRI06. After extraction of genomic DNA, the amplification of C-Phycocyanin gene was done with the suitable primer PCβF and PCαR and the sequencing was performed. Structural and Phylogenetic analysis was attained using the sequence to develop a molecular model.

Keywords: Cyanobacteria, C-Phycocyanin gene, Phylogenetic analysis, Structural analysis.

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Authors: M. Salehuddin Mohd Zahari, N. Mohd Shahril Nik Mohd Nor, H. Abdul Hadi, M. Zulhilmi Suhaimi

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This paper reports the empirical investigation on the effect of involuntary displacement of indigenous tribes on their sociocultural and food practices. A descriptive research design using the quantitative approach was applied and individual of indigenous tribes as unit of analysis. Through a self-administered survey among two selected Malaysia indigenous tribes, one hundred fifty questionnaires were successfully collected. With the application of descriptive and inferential statistic some useful insights pertaining to the issue investigated was significantly obtained. Findings revealed that improvement on the socio-culture, economy and knowledge is apparent on the indigenous groups’ resulted from displacement program. Displacement also has a slight impact on indigenous groups’ food practices. These positive indications provide significant implications, not only for the indigenous groups themselves, but also for the responsible authorities.

Keywords: Displacement, indigenous tribes, Socio-culture, Food, Practices.

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Authors: Kejun Zhuang, Hailong Zhu

Abstract:

In this paper, the three species food chain model on time scales is established. The Monod–Haldane functional response and time delay are considered. With the help of coincidence degree theory, existence of periodic solutions is investigated, which unifies the continuous and discrete analogies.

Keywords: Food chain system, periodic solution, time scales, coincidence degree.

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Authors: M. Chavleishvili

Abstract:

The paper presents the analysis of the current situation of agricultural development in Georgia. The investment environment that supports development of the agricultural sector is evaluated and the key priorities are identified. The analysis of the projects already implemented with state and EU support, as well as those that are being currently implemented is presented. The policy and the programs supporting development of agricultural sector are analyzed. Based on an analysis of the evaluations of experts and the primary accounting documents, the outcomes of investment programs, their advantages and disadvantages, are studied. Through identifying investment programs in the agricultural sector of Georgia, corresponding conclusions are made, based on which some recommendations are developed.

Keywords: Agriculture, investments, investment programs, projects.

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Authors: Mohsen Shirani, Shadi Asadzandi, Micaela Demichela

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This paper presents the results of a study to assess crucial aspects and the strength of the scientific basis of a typically interdisciplinary, applied field: food supply chain risk assessment research. Our approach is based on an advanced scientometrics analysis that is a quantitative study of the disciplines of science based on published literature to measure interdisciplinary. This paper aims to describe the quantity and quality of the publication trends in food supply chain risk assessment. The publication under study was composed of 266 articles from database web of science. The results were analyzed based on date of publication, type of document, language of the documents, source of publications, subject areas, authors and their affiliations, and the countries involved in developing the articles.

Keywords: Food Supply Chain, Risk Assessment, Scientometrics, Web of science.

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Authors: Guilan Huang

Abstract:

In 2013 and 2014, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) collected data from selected fast food restaurants and full service restaurants for tracking changes in the occurrence of foodborne illness risk factors. This paper discussed how we customized spatial random sampling method by considering financial position and availability of FDA resources, and how we enriched restaurants data with location. Location information of restaurants provides opportunity for quantitatively determining random sampling within non-government units (e.g.: 240 kilometers around each data-collector). Spatial analysis also could optimize data-collectors’ work plans and resource allocation. Spatial analytic and processing platform helped us handling the spatial random sampling challenges. Our method fits in FDA’s ability to pinpoint features of foodservice establishments, and reduced both time and expense on data collection.

Keywords: Geospatial technology, restaurant, retail food risk factors study, spatial random sampling.

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