The hybrid drying system (HDS) for paddy was developed to use rice husk with kerosene. This study conducted a comparative life cycle assessment for HDS, kerosene drying system (KDS), and rice husk drying system (RDS) with 100 % rice husk. The functional unit was 1,000 kg of paddy at 14.5 % moisture content on a wet basis and impacts on global warming, acidification, human toxicity, and eutrophication were examined using ReCiPe 2008 assessment method in SimaPro software. The results indicate that KDS is more hazardous in many aspects, while RDS has the least impact. HDS can reduce the overall impact of KDS by 11.7 % and, with RDS, it is 42.0 %. Benefits can be further improved by simplifying HDS.

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This study was aimed at investigating the effects of different surface temperatures (60–80 °C) on the formation of egg yolk deposits on heat transfer surface. Experimental data from the fouling period were fitted with zero- and first-order reaction models and the reaction kinetics of fouling was obtained using the Arrhenius equation. Egg yolk fouling curves exhibited an asymptotic pattern showing only fouling and post-fouling periods. The fouling resistance at transition point increased with the increasing surface temperature. The zero-order reaction model was well describing the reaction rate of egg yolk fouling. The obtained activation energy of 85.47 kJ/mol was less than that for thermal denaturation of egg yolk proteins. The fouling process of egg yolk was mainly controlled by the deposition reaction.

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This paper focuses on the evaluation of passive exoskeletons designed to reduce farmers’ fatigue during harvest. A preliminary infield test identifies typical harvesting, and then these motions are reproduced and analyzed under controlled conditions in the laboratory. Here, we present some biomechanical results obtained with and without two exoskeleton prototypes. The high repeatability of the recorded motions proves the consistency of the experimental procedures. Data analysis supports an objective evaluation of the exoskeleton prototypes and aids design optimization. This study has demonstrated the effectiveness of the designed exoskeletons in reducing workload in olive harvesting.

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A low-cost RTK-GNSS base station using a Raspberry Pi 4 with a cellular sim card as a server was developed for precise positioning. A u-blox ZED-F9 P GNSS module connected to an antenna was connected to the Raspberry Pi 4 for correcting RTK signals. An open source NTRIP 1.0 caster was utilised after which a tractor, fixed-wing UAV and multi-rotor UAVs could be connected at the same time with a fast time-to-first fix (TTFF). For accuracy comparison, it was found that positions calculated with RTK data from Memuro Base Station had a lower horizontal error of 7.2±4.5 mm compared to that of conventional subscription Nippon GPS Data Service which had a horizontal error of 9.2±5.75 mm.

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