Artificial Neural Networks in Agriculture

Modern agriculture needs to have high production efficiency combined with a high quality of obtained products. This applies to both crop and livestock production. To meet these requirements, advanced methods of data analysis are more and more frequently used, including those derived from artificial intelligence methods. Artificial neural networks (ANNs) are one of the most popular tools of this kind. They are widely used in solving various classification and prediction tasks, for some time also in the broadly defined field of agriculture. They can form part of precision farming and decision support systems. Artificial neural networks can replace the classical methods of modelling many issues, and are one of the main alternatives to classical mathematical models. The spectrum of applications of artificial neural networks is very wide. For a long time now, researchers from all over the world have been using these tools to support agricultural production, making it more efficient and providing the highest-quality products possible

UV-Vis spectroscopy method for authentication studies on olive oils and vinegars

This research project addresses three independent studies that are related to the authentication of olive oil and sherry wine vinegar through the usage of UV-Vis spectroscopy. In the first study, an adulteration study was carried out in olive oils by using colored vegetable oils with natural colorants.. Two different procedures were developed aiming at detecting the falsification. The second study presents a novel method based on the standard deviation of normalized spectra at adequate wavelengths. This method has provided an accurate resolution of spectra at individual components in a two-component system which can be used for multicomponent systems with bigger sizes. The method then was effectively applied to different olive oil sets. Finally, the third study was performed in order to determine the characterization of sherry wine vinegars. For the first time, chromatic parameters were used for characterizing sherry wine vinegar according to the type of the wine used and the acetification process followed during the elaboration process. Once again, the results were satisfactory. The UV-Vis spectroscopic technique has been proven to be a versatile tool for a rapid and nondestructive analysis in oil and vinegar samples based on the study of their spectra

ALOS-2/PALSAR-2 Calibration, Validation, Science and Applications

Twelve edited original papers on the latest and state-of-art results of topics ranging from calibration, validation, and science to a wide range of applications using ALOS-2/PALSAR-2. We hope you will find them useful for your future research

Assessing the sustainability of indigenous food systems in Pacific Small Island Developing States (PSIDS) : a dissertation presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Public Health Nutrition & Food Systems at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand

Chapter 2 is reproduced with the publisher's permission. This article was published in Vogliano, C., Murray, L., Coad, J., Wham, C., Maelaua, J., Kafa, R., & Burlingame, B., Progress towards SDG 2: Zero hunger in Melanesia – A state of data scoping review, Global Food Security, 29, 100519, © Elsevier 2021. Chapter 3 is reproduced with permission. This article was published as Chapter 4, From the ocean to the mountains: Storytelling in the Pacific Islands, in FAO and Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, Indigenous Peoples’ food systems: Insights on sustainability and resilience from the front line of climate change, Rome, 2021, http://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/cb5131en. Chapters 4 & 5 are re-used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. Appendices A & H are re-used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO) license, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo/. Appendix B was removed for copyright reasons. Appendix C is re-used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).Indigenous Peoples living in Pacific Small Island Developing States (PSIDS) who have traditionally relied on locally grown, biodiverse foods for their primary source of nutrition are now seeing the adverse impacts of changing diets and climate change. Shifts away from traditional diets towards modern, imported and ultra-processed foods are likely giving rise to noncommunicable diseases such as cardiovascular disease and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, which are now the leading causes of mortality. Climate change is magnifying health inequities and challenging food and nutrition security through heavier rains, longer droughts, and rising sea levels. COVID-19 has highlighted additional challenges for those living in PSIDS, exposing vulnerabilities across global food systems. Using Solomon Islands as a proxy for the broader Pacific, this thesis aims to assess PSIDS food system sustainability, including diet quality and diversity, as well as perceived food system transitions. Findings from this thesis can help strengthen discourse around promoting sustainable and resilient food systems and help achieve food and nutrition security targets set by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Assessment of monthly rain fade in the equatorial region at C & KU-band using measat-3 satellite links

C & Ku-band satellite communication links are the most commonly used for equatorial satellite communication links. Severe rainfall rate in equatorial regions can cause a large rain attenuation in real compared to the prediction. ITU-R P. 618 standards are commonly used to predict satellite rain fade in designing satellite communication network. However, the prediction of ITU-R is still found to be inaccurate hence hinder a reliable operational satellite communication link in equatorial region. This paper aims to provide an accurate insight by assessment of the monthly C & Ku-band rain fade performance by collecting data from commercial earth stations using C band and Ku-band antenna with 11 m and 13 m diameter respectively. The antennas measure the C & Ku-band beacon signal from MEASAT-3 under equatorial rain conditions. The data is collected for one year in 2015. The monthly cumulative distribution function is developed based on the 1-year data. RMSE analysis is made by comparing the monthly measured data of C-band and Ku-band to the ITU-R predictions developed based on ITU-R’s P.618, P.837, P.838 and P.839 standards. The findings show that Ku-band produces an average of 25 RMSE value while the C-band rain attenuation produces an average of 2 RMSE value. Therefore, the ITU-R model still under predicts the rain attenuation in the equatorial region and this call for revisit of the fundamental quantity in determining the rain fade for rain attenuation to be re-evaluated

Advances in Postharvest Process Systems

This Special Issue presents a range of recent technologies and innovations to help the agricultural and food industry to manage and minimize postharvest losses, enhance reliability and sustainability, and generate high-quality products that are both healthy and appealing to consumers. It focuses on three main topics of food storage and preservation technologies, food processing technologies, and the applications of advanced mathematical modelling and computer simulations. This presentation of the latest research and information is particularly useful for people who are working in or associated with the fields of agriculture, the agri-food chain and technology development and promotion