Accelerated fruit libraries to predict storage potential of 'Hayward' kiwifruit grower lines : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Food Technology at Massey University, New Zealand.

Reducing postharvest losses is a major challenge of the kiwifruit industry. Inherent variability between kiwifruit grower lines makes the prediction of postharvest storage quality a difficult task. This research aims to establish an Accelerated Fruit Library (AFL) rapid test methodology to collect data that would enable a priori segregation of ‘Hayward’ kiwifruit grower lines for storage potential. In the AFL, fruit losses were accelerated by storing at 20 °C and measured regularly at 3 day (d) intervals. The resulting pattern of losses in the AFL was assumed to reflect the losses in optimal storage (0 °C). Results from a preliminary study found that late harvested lines in the AFL displayed a more rapid decline in firmness than those harvested earlier, corresponding with the highest recorded ethylene contamination in the room. Therefore, later AFL attempts were refined by storing each grower line in a flow through system to maintain ethylene independence. The refined AFL methodology ensured expression of inherent loss patterns of each grower line. From the AFL data, parameters describing the distribution, variability and defect count were extracted. Number of fruit < 0.6 kgf, 1st quartile, 3rd quartile firmness, mean and median firmness, SSC:firmness ratio and number of rots during AFL monitoring were slightly correlated (r = |0.5|) with fruit firmness at 126 d of optimal storage. None of the AFL parameters had consistent correlation (r = |0.5| continuously at more than two measurement occasions) with storage firmness. Later, AFL softening curves were described with the Complementary Gompertz equation using the non-linear mixed effects procedure for fitting. Grower lines with higher fitted rate of firmness change parameter (?) during AFL monitoring had a tendency to have low firmness at 100 and 126 d of optimal storage (r = -0.53 and -0.45 respectively). Using the fitted ? as a segregation guide, 60% of grower lines were successfully categorised into 1 of 3 storage potential categories (i.e. low, medium and high). Notably, ? successfully identified 90% of the low storage grower lines. Removing grower lines identified as low storing (65% of whole population) changed the proportion of observed low storing lines in the remaining population from 35% to 10%. However, in the next season where validation of the AFL methodology was conducted, using the fitted ? as a segregation tool resulted in only 53% of grower lines being correctly categorised. Meanwhile, 78% of grower lines with low storage potential were accurately predicted. However, removal of lines categorised as low storing (64.7% of whole population) changed the proportion of observed low storing lines in the remaining population from 53% to 33.3%. Overall, the AFL methodology could have potential to segregate grower lines with different storage potentials but unfortunately higher proportion of low storing lines in the remaining population categorised as medium and high storage restrict its industrial application. Further development of the AFL methodology to predict storability of kiwifruit grower lines may be achieved with incorporation of pre-harvest information (change in fruit quality e.g. SSC and firmness on vine), compositional attributes (amount of minerals e.g. calcium), physiological indicators (e.g. respiration rate and ethylene production) and processes (e.g. cell wall changes and enzymatic activity) of fruit ripening during storage

Synthesis and Optical Properties of Sprayed ZnO and ZnO:Ga Thin Films

Characteristics and optical constants of pure and Ga-doped ZnO thin films have been studied. Pure and Ga-doped zinc oxide thin films were deposited onto glass substrates using the spray pyrolysis technique. Optical absorption studies in the wavelength range of 300–900 nm showed a peak near 450 nm for different doped films (in addition to the peak for un-doped ZnO). Increasing the doping concentration of Ga to 7% induced an increase in the optical constants of films. This increase is attributed to the formation of chargetransfer complexes. ZnO thin films doped with Ga have improved the optical transmittance in the visible region. The addition of Ga also induced an obvious increase in the optical band gap of these films; the optical band gap of Ga-doped films was slightly higher than that of undoped samples (3.1 eV). This study also found that the highest band gap (Eg=3.4 eV) occurred for the film deposited with a doping concentration of 5% gallium

The impact of migrant labors on Russian economy: production function approach

Over the past few decades, the major flow of labor migrants coming to Russia happened because of higher wage, employment, and similar culture. This paper explored the direct economic contribution of labor migrants in Russian national income through their productivity performance. This empirical study analyzed the impact of migrants on the growth of GDP using Cobb Douglas production approach through linear transformation from the logarithmic form and showed the positive consequences of labor migrants in Russian economy. The study conducted quantitative analysis that was an anticipated outcome from a model which was being created to determine how much migrant workers contributed to the Russian economy which have been successful through the lenses of national income. All data in this study used a repository of 15 years of data from 2000 to 2014 that were collected yearly. The main data sources of this study are Russian Federal State Statistics Service, the World Bank data source and FRED Economic Data. This paper also investigated the heteroscedasticity and endogeneity test among the variables in order to check the robustness of the regression results of the first model. The study introduced a new instrument variable that was constructed with the ratio of GDP per capita in Russia and GDP per capital in the source countries. After that the instrument was implemented into the previous model through two stage least square method. Therefore, the statistical analysis of this empirical research inferred that migrants have a positive impact on Russian’s economy resulted about 10% of national income which has significant growth due to migrants’ employment

Globalization, Food Safety and Agricultural Health Standards: Implications for Trade and Public Health

Paper presented at the 6th Annual Scientific Conference of the Chittagong Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Hotel Agrabad, Chittagong, 4-6 March 2008.Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Health Economics and Policy, International Relations/Trade,

Inclusion and the relevance of culturally responsive teaching in U.K. Business schools

Inequality, lack of learning, and poor academic achievement are firmly linked (Nieto 1999). Our research explores the British Muslim experience in the context of inclusive pedagogy practice in Business Schools. It is the aim of this paper to explore the relevance of culturally responsive teaching (Gay 2000) in supporting individual student learning differences in increasingly international Business Schools. Law (2004) argues that Universities are expected to be the interrogators of complex ethical problems, as servant and preserver of deeper democratic practices. To fulfil this role effectively universities need to shift away from what (Allen 1998) describes a ‘White Syllabus’. The need to demand from students the ability to adapt to the approach of the institution without the institution making an effort to adapt to the student is an outdated concept which puts many universities at a disadvantage when trying to attract International students to UK business Schools. This paper will look at the relevance of 'culturally responsive teaching' and how this pedagogical method utilises student’s cultural knowledge, prior experiences, and cultural differences to make learning more appropriate and effective for them. Such an approach teaches through the strengths of the students (Gay 2000) and the responsiveness of the educators. Our research adopts a culturally responsive framework (Villegas and Lucas, 2002) that looks at 5 salient characteristics and how they can be used to bridge the gap between learner and tutor and organisation. It will be analysed and argued that culturally responsive teaching can be used to develop inclusion and minimise prejudice within UK Business Schools for minority groups and for this study British Muslims

Model predictive control for current balancing in a four-phase buck converter

Multiphase buck topology offers smaller ripple current and lower component ratings. This, however, compromises unbalanced output current between each phase of an inductor which leads to over-current and inductor saturation issues. Often when discussing the linear control schemes, it involves the use of superposition theorem to understand the system’s response. However, the limitation of superposition theorem in this application is that it assumes the circuit to be completely linear. For components with nonlinear behaviour such as power switches and diodes, the analytical results may not be accurate resulting to unexpected behaviour as the algorithm is implemented on a real system. Hence, the use of a more advanced control scheme is necessary to improve a system with a non-linear characteristic. This paper proposes a current limit control (CLC) consists of MPC for inner loop control and PID for outer loop control for phase current balancing in a four-phase buck converter. The controller is designed to achieve balanced current for each phase with acceptable response time. The proposed system is designed using MATLAB/Simulink simulation software and verified by a laboratory prototype with a TMS320F28335 as the main controller. Simulation and experimental results are provided to validate the system performance

Action planning for graph transition systems

Graphs are suitable modeling formalisms for software and hardware systems involving aspects such as communication, object orientation, concurrency, mobility and distribution. State spaces of such systems can be represented by graph transition systems, which are basically transition systems whose states and transitions represent graphs and graph morphisms. In this paper, we propose the modeling of graph transition systems in PDDL and the application of heuristic search planning for their analysis. We consider different heuristics and present experimental results

Livestock ownership, commercial off-take rates and their determinants in Ethiopia

Also available in the ILRI Repository on Livestock Research at http://hdl.handle.net/10568/237Livestock Production/Industries,

Improvement of speed response in four-phase DC–DC converter switching using two shunt voltage-source

This study proposes a technique that is able to improve the speed response of a four-phase DC–DC converter switching. The basic concept of the proposed technique is the inclusion of two shunt-connected voltage sources in series to the converter system. Using a higher input voltage to drive the load, a higher current per microsecond output system will be obtained and reverts to its nominal input upon obtaining desired references. Thus, the transient response observed when using this proposed technique is found to be much faster when compared to the conventional converter. Moreover, this technique is easily implemented as it requires only an additional voltage source, power switch, and power diode. The integrated model of the two shunt voltage-source in a four-phase DC–DC converter was simulated in MATLAB/Simulink and validated against the experimental results of a laboratory prototype, 600 W four-phase DC–DC converter. The novelty of this proposed technique is its ability to provide faster operations for critical loads applications, lower output capacitor and lower operating frequency

Consumer preferences and demand for livestock products in urban Bangladesh

Also available in the ILRI Repository on Livestock Research at http://hdl.handle.net/10568/3009demand, quality, safety, livestock products, Bangladesh, Consumer/Household Economics, Livestock Production/Industries,