Waveband selection was investigated to improve a coffee roasting degrees model in terms of weight loss. Near infrared diffuse reflectance spectra were obtained from ground roasted coffee samples. Characteristic wavebands were determined by regression coefficients of optimal principle components (PCs) of a partial least square (PLS) regression model. After that, a multiple linear regression (MLR) model was developed based on the selected wavebands. For comparison, PLS models based on different preprocessing spectra were also established. The model results of PLS and MLR method were compared. The promising result of the MLR model (Rcv² of 0.983 and RMSECV of 0.612) indicated that waveband selection could improve regression model performance and reduce complexity, compared to the PLS regression model.

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Halation is a serious problem for machine vision systems which can cause loss of color information from an image. Images of tomato fruits grown in a greenhouse taken with a different rotational angle polarizing filter (PL filter) were acquired and combined into one resulting image to eliminate multiple halation areas due to sunlight and reflected light. An image acquisition system composed of a CCD camera and a stepping motor was used to acquire the images. The multiple halation areas could be eliminated at a certain angle of incidence and the color representation of the resultant image was improved. The results demonstrate the feasibility of eliminating multiple halation areas using this method.

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Small-sized sugarcane harvesters (SSHs) were field-tested to evaluate their performance and adaptability with the aim of improving their operation under wet conditions caused by frequent rain during the harvesting season. SSHs performed better than larger machines in wet fields, harvesting 120 t/ha of yield and lodged sugarcane. Harvesting losses with SSHs were almost the same as those with middle-sized harvesters (MSHs) in small fields with narrow headlands. Stool damage, stools pulled out and extraneous matter in wet fields where SSHs were used were lower than those where MSHs were used. In addition, SSHs can work in the narrow row spacing, resulting in increased productivity. Overall, it was shown that SSHs were highly adaptability in the wet sugarcane fields of Okinawa.

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Over the past few years, there is an increasing demand for bio-butanol production using renewable resources through microbial fermentation. In our study, we isolated a high yielding butanol producing fungal strain Trichoderma atroviridae SS2 from soil. First half of the paper mainly deals with the xylanase production using newly isolated fungal strain Hypocrea lixii SS1 around an oil refinery plant. Media optimization for xylanase production was carried out using Plackett Burman design (PB) and Response Surface Methodology (RSM) methods by changing the concentrations of carbonaceous, nitrogen and surfactant sources. Maximum yield of xylanases obtained were 34.67 U/ml, 38.36 U/ml, 37.18 U/ml using sunflower oil sludge (carbon source), peptone (nitrogen source), and Tween 80 (surfactant), respectively. The second half of the paper mainly deals with the butanol production using T. atroviridae SS2 along with the xylanase produced by H. lixii SS1. Influence of incubation time, microbial volume xylanase volume, pH and temperature were investigated on butanol production. A maximum butanol yield of 18.94 g/L was achieved using 80 g/L microbial culture, 4 ml xylanase and a 7 days incubation period respectively. A narrow peak obtained at 285 nm with a retention time of 28.38 min using High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) confirms the presence of butanol.

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The aim of this paper is to define the blancher-freezer combination best fitting with the preservation treatment of a specific food. The proposed approach in decision making is based on the data envelop- ment analysis (DEA). Through the Cross efficiency evaluation, each decision making unit (DMU) is both self-evaluated and also evaluated via the other DMUs. Cross efficiency provides an efficiency ordering among all the DMUs, with a high discrimination power, avoiding potentially unrealistic weighting schemes. The efficiency, used for ranking and selecting the systems, is a function of the used resources (input values) and the resulting outcomes of each DMUs activity (output values). An interdisciplinary working group defined the proper set of input and output. As concern the blanching process, the selected input parameters are electric power consumption, steam consumption, water consumption, wastewaters, Biochemical Oxygen Demand and Peroxidase; the selected output parameters are residual Vitamin C and plant throughput. As concern the freezing process, the selected input parameters are electric power consumption, freezing capacity, dehydration and freezing time; the selected output parameter is the plant throughput. The proposed approach can be implemented to establish the ideal blancher/freezer selection also in the event of the need to include into selection other parameters or other food treatment systems.

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The automation of irrigation systems based on sensor technology has the potential to maximize the efficiency of water use. A prototype of an autonomous irrigation controller consisting of an 8-bit MCU and a 12-bit AD converter was developed and tested in tomato greenhouses. Two algorithms for water control, i.e. a variable keepepause method and a required water calculation method, were programmed. The irrigation controller showed the ability to measure soil tensions in real-time and to properly trigger irrigation at a set value. The system performance for maintaining soil tensions based on the keepepause method was strongly affected by sunlight, whereas the water calculation method provided a simple irrigation operation without frequent irrigation, while supplying the amount of water needed during each irrigation period.

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The objective of the present experiment was to evaluate the efficiency of an active solar space heating system to save energy and reduce the emission of CO₂. The system was installed in an experimental nursery pig building and consisted of evacuated tube collectors (south-facing), hot water tank, regulatory pump and copper pipes mounted on the side wall to distribute heat inside the house. The efficiency and output of the collector was calculated using the ambient temperature, collector temperature and solar radiation. The average efficiency of the evacuated tube collector was 64.8% and its calorific contribution was 125 kWh/m²/day. The internal temperature and humidity, pig performance, energy use, CO₂ emission and cost were compared to an identical, adjacent conventional house. Internal temperature and humidity were comparable in both houses, except that the bottom temperature in the center and back of the solar house was higher than in the conventional house. Piglets in the solar house had a slightly higher body weight and lower feed intake than those in the conventional house. The electricity use in the solar house was reduced by 15% (261 kWh) relative to the conventional house. The reduction in electricity use reduced the CO₂ emission by 15% (128 kg) relative to the conventional house. Overall, the results of this study indicate that active solar heating systems can successfully reduce energy use and CO₂ emission. Consequently, future studies should be conducted to evaluate other green house gas emissions and the costs associated with use of the developed solar system.

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This paper highlighted a new method to assess worker capacity in Indonesian small-medium food industry (SMFI). The sustainability of SMFI should be maintained based on the worker capacity. The status of worker capacity could be categorized as normal, capacity constrained worker and bottleneck. By using Kansei Engineering, worker capacity can be assessed using verbal parameter of mood and non-verbal parameter of heart rate in a given workplace environment. Fusing various Kansei Engineering parameters of worker capacity requires a robust modeling tool. Artificial Neural Network (ANN) was used to develop a Kansei Engineering-based watchdog model. The model is defined as a black box relationship between worker capacity and workplace environmental parameters. Its function for assessing worker capacity can be defined as dynamic variation of mood and heart rate in a given workplace environment. Thus, these relationships were modeled using a three layered ANN. The model was demonstrated via a case study of Tempe Industry. The trained ANN model generated satisfied accuracy and minimum error. The research results concluded the possibility to assess the worker capacity in Indonesian SMFI by combining Kansei Engineering and ANN.

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Protected production of crops such as vegetables, flowers, and fruits has been more popular in many countries. To secure stable productivity and profitability, continuous and intensive monitoring and control of protected crop production environment is critical, which is labor- and time-consuming. Failure to maintain proper environmental conditions (e.g., light, temperature, humidity) leads to significant damage to crop growth and quality; therefore, farmers should visit or be present close to the production area. To overcome these problems, application of remote monitoring and control of crop production environment has been increasing, and mobile phones have recently been used to utilize message and remote access services. Levels of technology adoption are different for farmers' needs for their cropping systems. In this paper, the potential of wireless remote monitoring and control of protected agricultural environment using mobile phones were evaluated under 3G and Wi-Fi communication conditions. Two services of monitoring and control of protected crop production were implemented and evaluated: short message service and remote access service. For the short message service, data transmission time under 3G was affected by communication path, but not significantly affected by signal intensity level. For the remote access service, data communication speeds were affected by signal intensity, location, time of day (i.e., the number of users), and moving speed. For 3 G communication, data download and upload speeds decreased as signal intensity level became lower. For Wi-Fi communication, effects of location, signal intensity, and communication direction on the data transmission speeds were statistically significant (α = 0.05) in most of the cases. The effects of time of day were not clear for both 3G and Wi-Fi conditions, but data download speed was significantly (α = 0.05) affected by moving speed (0 and 100 km/h). When the remote access service was applied for greenhouse environment control (e.g., window motor activation), remote access and control were successfully achieved within 13.74 s and 1.08 s, respectively, regardless of signal intensity, location, and moving speed within the tested conditions. Although the results of the study may vary at different communication conditions (e.g., different service provider), overall trends would be still valid and provide useful guidelines to farmers for application of remote monitoring and control using mobile phones.

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Low temperature plays a very important role in postharvest storage. In this study a transient three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model was applied to investigate the temperature distribution in two cold stores, whose humidity were supplied by nanomist and ultrasonic humidifiers. In order to validate with predicted data, the actual temperature and air velocities were measured inside the containers. The model was successfully validated by means of air velocity with error of 0.09 m s⁻¹ and temperature with mean errors of 0.66 K for nanomist and 0.95 K for ultrasonic, respectively. The findings of this research can help to prove the capability of using CFD to predict the temperature distribution of refrigerated rooms.

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This study examines the possibility of producing optimally electro-activated (EA) solutions using response surface methodology (RSM). RSM yielded models to predict solution properties as functions of the process parameters studied with very high coefficients of determination (R² = 0.9393–0.9974), indicating the models provided high correlation between observed and predicted values. The effect of production parameters, such as salt concentration, current and exposure time on the properties of the solutions, was investigated. For oxidationereduction potential, pH and resistance, salt concentration was the most significant factor followed by exposure time and current. Using a Derringer's function, the best performance for the production of electro-activated solution was obtained at a current intensity of 200 mA in the presence of 0.05 M electrolyte after 38 and 60 min of treatment time, depending on which reactor configuration was used. The current investigation shows an agreement with the addition test of predicted data and confirms that the developed model equation can be used for prediction.

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This paper discusses the implementation of greenhouse climate control simulator based upon dynamic model with intuitive user interface that provides various options to simulate greenhouse climate under open and closed loop control conditions. The simplified greenhouse climate model based upon mass and energy balance principle, encapsulates the realistic situations in a greenhouse to simulate and analyze the effect of different control strategies (shading, ventilation, cooling or heating) on inside climate for various greenhouse design configurations and under different weather conditions. The model is integrated with the proposed greenhouse-crop vapor pressure deficit (GH-crop VPD) based multi-input multi-output fuzzy climate controller that operates in feedforward mode and regulates greenhouse climate conducive for healthy plant growth and yield. Under closed loop operation, the controller automatically readjusts the operating status and rate of different climate control equipments (shade screen, roof vents, exhaust fan, cooling system and heating system) and simulates automatic control of GH-crop VPD within set limits irrespective of the variations in outside weather conditions. Designed as an educational tool, the simulator was used under open loop to demonstrate how for a selected greenhouse design and weather conditions, different climate control strategies affect greenhouse climate conditions. Multiple simulations run under different scenarios were simultaneously displayed for comparison study and analysis. Further, the closed loop simulations were performed that indicated high performance of the controller in regulating GH-crop VPD under different hot weather conditions and depicted what systems (rate and operating status of different climate control equipments) would be needed to meet desired conditions.

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An on-farm analysis of farm machinery and production cost was conducted to determine the mechanization status and financial viability of wetland, direct seeding paddy cultivation system. A mean mechanization index of 0.92 and a total machinery energy of 478 MJ/ha were recorded for the paddy cultivation in Malaysia. Highest mechanization index and machinery energy were obtained in the harvesting operation (0.99 and 337 MJ/ha), while the critical values were in chemical spraying operation (0.19 and 4 MJ/ha). Raising the mechanization index of spraying operation to 0.87 will lead to about 32% (6.89 h/ha) reduction in the total cultivation time. The benefit-cost ratios for an average farmer with and without government support within the block were respectively 1.37 and 1.68 at a mean yield of 7.63 tons/ha and mean total production cost of USD 2055/ha. This suggests that paddy farmers in the country will be in bad economic position in the absence of government support package due to low returns.

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Software is developed in Visual Basic 6 environment for predicting the haulage performance of 2WD tractor. Three types of inputs namely tractor, trailer and operating parameters are required to run the software. Various empirical and theoretical equations were used for predicting the haulage performance parameters such as draft, slip, actual speed, transport productivity, transport efficiency, fuel economy index, front and rear wheel utilization factor etc. In addition to this, the software also gives a warning signal when either stability of tractor or engine power fails. It was used to evaluate the haulage performance by varying the hitch height (HH) at various operating conditions. It was observed that there is a significant increase in the maximum payload 78, 300 and 3300% while HH was lowered from 0.7 to 0.1 m at 0, 5 and 10° slope, respectively. However, the dynamic load on rear axle increased from 1470 to 1730 and 1500 to 1820 kg when HH increased from 0.1 to 0.7 m at 800 and 1000 kg payload, respectively. Further, it was observed that fuel economy index was reduced by 6.3% and engine power requirement by 4.23% at 800 kg payload when HH was raised from 0.1 to 0.7 m. It was observed that stability of tractor increases by lowering the HH, however, traction increases by raising the same. Hence, it was concluded that variable HH can meet the requirements of stability as well as traction during transport as per necessity.

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Even though CO₂ enrichment is known to effectively promote photosynthesis and is widely used around the world, the use of this technique is uncommon in Japan. The aim of this study was to develop a new air-conditioning system for greenhouses by using a high-efficiency, low-cost cooling technique that allows CO₂ enrichment during the high-temperature phase. We developed an air-conditioning system using CO₂ clathrate hydrate and evaluated its performance in the laboratory. The capacity of the hydrate was sufficient to stably increase the CO₂ concentration, and photosynthesis was promoted in experimental tomato plants for a given length of time. The amount of cold energy supply from the hydrate was not sufficient to completely replace electrical cooling for the entire experimental period, but this deficiency most likely can be overcome by combining this type of cooling and CO₂ enrichment system with other innovative methods of cooling.

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This study sought to investigate the effect of tractor noise on the cardiovascular system of farm workers by the photoplethysmographic technique, which was used to derive signal reflecting features of cardiovascular system performance. Fourier transform and nonlinear time-series analysis methods, such as time-delay embedding and the Wayland test, were applied to the photoplethysmogram signal to analyze differences in cardiovascular system performance arising upon exposure to levels of tractor noise corresponding to low, medium and high tractor engine speeds. Results showed that the ratio of two significant component frequencies obtained by Fourier analysis and Wayland test translation error can distinguish differences in photoplethysmogram signal arising under noise exposure. Additionally, the translation error was less dependent on the subject than the frequency ratio, which may make it useful index for application to real-time health monitoring of farmers.

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Nowadays, a great attention is given to using novel technology such as ultrasound and coating as pretreatment for hot air drying that the quality will be preserved. In the present study, the effect of osmo-coating and ultrasonic dehydration pre-treatment prior to hot air drying on dehydration of apple (Musa ssp.) was investigated. The results revealed that the WL and SG were decreased by increasing dehydration time, concentrations of the osmotic solution and the coating during dehydration. The dried apple that pretreated with osmo-coating dehydration method has more the desirability compared to ultrasonic dehydration. As well as the dried apple pretreated with 60% osmotic solution, 2% the coating, 180 min dehydration time, and contain 1% cinnamon was found as the optimum sample. The acidity, ΔE, and mineral content of flavored dried apple were increased by increasing temperature; however, vitamin C and rehydration was decreased at this condition.

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