290 research outputs found
Artificial Intelligence : Implications for the Agri-Food Sector
Artificial intelligence (AI) involves the development of algorithms and computational models that enable machines to process and analyze large amounts of data, identify patterns and relationships, and make predictions or decisions based on that analysis. AI has become increasingly pervasive across a wide range of industries and sectors, with healthcare, finance, transportation, manufacturing, retail, education, and agriculture are a few examples to mention. As AI technology continues to advance, it is expected to have an even greater impact on industries in the future. For instance, AI is being increasingly used in the agri-food sector to improve productivity, efficiency, and sustainability. It has the potential to revolutionize the agri-food sector in several ways, including but not limited to precision agriculture, crop monitoring, predictive analytics, supply chain optimization, food processing, quality control, personalized nutrition, and food safety. This review emphasizes how recent developments in AI technology have transformed the agri-food sector by improving efficiency, reducing waste, and enhancing food safety and quality, providing particular examples. Furthermore, the challenges, limitations, and future prospects of AI in the field of food and agriculture are summarized
Enhancing Sustainability Attributes in New Product Design Insights from Automotive Industry
Product design is an innovative process that, through the stages of problem statement, concept, and initial and detailed design, meets the needs of customers, the requirements of companies, and their limitations. In the current process of product design and development, formulating design objectives plays a crucial role in objective setting, project implementation, product needs and requirements specification, and performing activities validation. Currently, the role of the design and development stages in the sustainability of products, identifying strategies for improving this stage is of particular significance, and paying attention to the product planning and definition process group and focusing on establishing sustainability principles in the target book and defining new attributes can be regarded as one of the sustainable product development strategies. Consequently, this research is a case study in the field of applying the sustainability principles in the target book as one of the deliverables at the stage of product planning. The present study proposes strategies towards developing the attributes of the target book as a tool for exerting sustainability pillars in the process of design and development by means of surveying automotive industry experts, applying the DEMATEL and Fuzzy ANP combined method, and evaluating and determining new attributes
A photobiological approach to biophilic design in extreme climates
This paper proposes the biophilic design approach as a plausible hypothesis for the challenging
conditions related to living and working in extreme cold climates. Biophilic design has recently
been developed to overcome the adverse effects of the built environment and to improve human
well-being by redefining the human-nature relationship. Yet, biophilic design should be adapted to
extreme cold climates in order to meet the biological needs of people in northern territories. This
issue becomes more important when considering the availability of natural light due to the strong
seasonal photoperiod and its effects on human well-being in such regions. The present paper
critically reviews biophilic design patterns and identifies their main shortcomings. These
shortcomings include the lack of (1) recommendations applicable to extreme cold climates (2)
adaptation to the local photoperiods, and (3) a systemic framework integrated into the design
process. The paper draws attention to the image-forming and non-image-forming effects of light as
a basis of the human-nature design approach. In this regard, photobiological outcomes have been
reviewed. Then, the paper discusses the existing lighting standards and guidelines in North America
and how they have mainly been developed to fulfil the image-forming demands for light. Further
efforts are needed to revise these standards with respect to the non-image-forming effects of light
and the biophilic design requirements. Finally, adaptive building envelopes are presented as a
hypothetical solution to optimize the biophilic qualities of buildings and address the biological
needs of people living and working in extreme cold climates in northern territories
Nanomaterials by severe plastic deformation: review of historical developments and recent advances
International audienceSevere plastic deformation (SPD) is effective in producing bulk ultrafine-grained and nanostructured materials with large densities of lattice defects. This field, also known as NanoSPD, experienced a significant progress within the past two decades. Beside classic SPD methods such as high-pressure torsion, equal-channel angular pressing, accumulative roll-bonding, twist extrusion, and multi-directional forging, various continuous techniques were introduced to produce upscaled samples. Moreover, numerous alloys, glasses, semiconductors, ceramics, polymers, and their composites were processed. The SPD methods were used to synthesize new materials or to stabilize metastable phases with advanced mechanical and functional properties. High strength combined with high ductility, low/room-temperature superplasticity, creep resistance, hydrogen storage, photocatalytic hydrogen production, photocatalytic CO2 conversion, superconductivity, thermoelectric performance, radiation resistance, corrosion resistance, and biocompatibility are some highlighted properties of SPD-processed materials. This article reviews recent advances in the NanoSPD field and provides a brief history regarding its progress from the ancient times to modernity
You can't clap with one hand! Gender research and networking. Vol. A
Table of contents:
Parto Teherani-Krönner /You Canât Clap With One Hand
I. Gender Studies & Research - Interpretations and Debate
Balghis Badri; Parto Teherani-Krönner: Womenâs and Gender Studies at the Faculty of Agriculture and Horticulture and the Ahfad-Humboldt-Link Programme
Gudrun Lachenmann: Gender Studies and Translocal and Comparative Research: Methodological Challenges
Tanja Paulitz: Technologies of Networking - The Gender-Technology-Relation and the Power Dimension
II. Gender Studies in Different Countries: Lessons to be Learned
Balghis Badri: Gender Mainstreaming in Sudanese Universities
Mai Izeldeen Osman: Feminist Research and the Institute of Women, Gender and Development at Ahfad University for Women in Omdurman, Sudan
Osman Mohamed Osman Ali: Gender Studies & Research in Conservative Academic Course Systems: Cases from the University of Khartoum, Sudan
Asma Hussein: Integrating Gender into Juba Universityâs Curriculum: Realities and Challenges
Martine Wiltzius; Sandra Lewalter: Gender Studies and the GenderCompetenceCenter at the Humboldt-UniversitÀt zu Berlin
Shahla Ezazi: Womenâs Studies in Iran: A Round-Table Discussion
Rashidah Shuib: Achieving Gender Equality: Revising the Role of the Gender and Womenâs Studies Centre in Advocating Gender Mainstreaming in Malaysia
Fatima Adamu: Gender Studies in Nigeria: Approaches and Dynamics
III. Engendering Disciplines: Experiences with Inter- and Transdisciplinarities
Olanike F. Deji: Womenâs and Gender Studies in Agriculture in Nigerian Universities: Implications for Sustainable Development
Dang Tung Hoa: An Overview of Gender in Development and Social Forestry in Vietnam
Judith Fuchs: Gender Research and Teaching in Medicine at the Charité Berlin
Heike Jensen: Quo Vadis Gender Studies? Some Provocative Theses Directed at the German Academic Contex
Research and Development Aspects on Chemical Preparation Techniques of Photoanodes for Dye Sensitized Solar Cells
The importance of dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) as a low-cost and environmentally friendly photovoltaic (PV) technology has prompted many researchers to improve its efficiency and durability. The realization of these goals is impossible without taking into account the importance of the materials in DSSCs, so the focus on the preparation/deposition methods is essential. These methods can be either chemical or physical. In this study, the chemical applied methods that utilize chemical reaction to synthesize and deposit the materials are covered and categorized according to their gas phase and liquid phase precursors. Film processing techniques that can be used to enhance the materials' properties postpreparation are also included for further evaluation in this study. However, there is a variety of consideration, and certain criteria must be taken into account when selecting a specific deposition method, due to the fact that the fabrication conditions vary and are unoptimized
The Pacifican May 3, 2007
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/pacifican/1324/thumbnail.jp
Methods for Utilizing Connected Vehicle Data in Support of Traffic Bottleneck Management
The decision to select the best Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) technologies from available options has always been a challenging task. The availability of connected vehicle/automated vehicle (CV/AV) technologies in the near future is expected to add to the complexity of the ITS investment decision-making process. The goal of this research is to develop a multi-criteria decision-making analysis (MCDA) framework to support traffic agenciesâ decision-making process with consideration of CV/AV technologies. The decision to select between technology alternatives is based on identified performance measures and criteria, and constraints associated with each technology.
Methods inspired by the literature were developed for incident/bottleneck detection and back-of-queue (BOQ) estimation and warning based on connected vehicle (CV) technologies. The mobility benefits of incident/bottleneck detection with different technologies were assessed using microscopic simulation. The performance of technology alternatives was assessed using simulated CV and traffic detector data in a microscopic simulation environment to be used in the proposed MCDA method for the purpose of alternative selection.
In addition to assessing performance measures, there are a number of constraints and risks that need to be assessed in the alternative selection process. Traditional alternative analyses based on deterministic return on investment analysis are unable to capture the risks and uncertainties associated with the investment problem. This research utilizes a combination of a stochastic return on investment and a multi-criteria decision analysis method referred to as the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) to select between ITS deployment alternatives considering emerging technologies. The approach is applied to an ITS investment case study to support freeway bottleneck management.
The results of this dissertation indicate that utilizing CV data for freeway segments is significantly more cost-effective than using point detectors in detecting incidents and providing travel time estimates one year after CV technology becomes mandatory for all new vehicles and for corridors with moderate to heavy traffic. However, for corridors with light, there is a probability of CV deployment not being effective in the first few years due to low measurement reliability of travel times and high latency of incident detection, associated with smaller sample sizes of the collected data
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