The digitization of agricultural industry – a systematic literature review on agriculture 4.0

Agriculture is considered one of the most important sectors that play a strategic role in ensuring food security. However, with the increasing world's population, agri-food demands are growing — posing the need to switch from traditional agricultural methods to smart agriculture practices, also known as agriculture 4.0. To fully benefit from the potential of agriculture 4.0, it is significant to understand and address the problems and challenges associated with it. This study, therefore, aims to contribute to the development of agriculture 4.0 by investigating the emerging trends of digital technologies in the agricultural industry. For this purpose, a systematic literature review based on Protocol of Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses is conducted to analyse the scientific literature related to crop farming published in the last decade. After applying the protocol, 148 papers were selected and the extent of digital technologies adoption in agriculture was examined in the context of service type, technology readiness level, and farm type. The results have shown that digital technologies such as autonomous robotic systems, internet of things, and machine learning are significantly explored and open-air farms are frequently considered in research studies (69%), contrary to indoor farms (31%). Moreover, it is observed that most use cases are still in the prototypical phase. Finally, potential roadblocks to the digitization of the agriculture sector were identified and classified at technical and socio-economic levels. This comprehensive review results in providing useful information on the current status of digital technologies in agriculture along with prospective future opportunities

Safety and Reliability - Safe Societies in a Changing World

The contributions cover a wide range of methodologies and application areas for safety and reliability that contribute to safe societies in a changing world. These methodologies and applications include: - foundations of risk and reliability assessment and management - mathematical methods in reliability and safety - risk assessment - risk management - system reliability - uncertainty analysis - digitalization and big data - prognostics and system health management - occupational safety - accident and incident modeling - maintenance modeling and applications - simulation for safety and reliability analysis - dynamic risk and barrier management - organizational factors and safety culture - human factors and human reliability - resilience engineering - structural reliability - natural hazards - security - economic analysis in risk managemen

Natural and Technological Hazards in Urban Areas

Natural hazard events and technological accidents are separate causes of environmental impacts. Natural hazards are physical phenomena active in geological times, whereas technological hazards result from actions or facilities created by humans. In our time, combined natural and man-made hazards have been induced. Overpopulation and urban development in areas prone to natural hazards increase the impact of natural disasters worldwide. Additionally, urban areas are frequently characterized by intense industrial activity and rapid, poorly planned growth that threatens the environment and degrades the quality of life. Therefore, proper urban planning is crucial to minimize fatalities and reduce the environmental and economic impacts that accompany both natural and technological hazardous events

Congress UPV Proceedings of the 21ST International Conference on Science and Technology Indicators

This is the book of proceedings of the 21st Science and Technology Indicators Conference that took place in València (Spain) from 14th to 16th of September 2016. The conference theme for this year, ‘Peripheries, frontiers and beyond’ aimed to study the development and use of Science, Technology and Innovation indicators in spaces that have not been the focus of current indicator development, for example, in the Global South, or the Social Sciences and Humanities. The exploration to the margins and beyond proposed by the theme has brought to the STI Conference an interesting array of new contributors from a variety of fields and geographies. This year’s conference had a record 382 registered participants from 40 different countries, including 23 European, 9 American, 4 Asia-Pacific, 4 Africa and Near East. About 26% of participants came from outside of Europe. There were also many participants (17%) from organisations outside academia including governments (8%), businesses (5%), foundations (2%) and international organisations (2%). This is particularly important in a field that is practice-oriented. The chapters of the proceedings attest to the breadth of issues discussed. Infrastructure, benchmarking and use of innovation indicators, societal impact and mission oriented-research, mobility and careers, social sciences and the humanities, participation and culture, gender, and altmetrics, among others. We hope that the diversity of this Conference has fostered productive dialogues and synergistic ideas and made a contribution, small as it may be, to the development and use of indicators that, being more inclusive, will foster a more inclusive and fair world