The ironies of new innovation and the sunset industry: Diffusion and adoption

Agriculture plays a vital role in the Malaysian economy. Within the agriculture sector, paddy is considered important as it is the staple food for the nation. Innovation is considered as an important and necessary component in the development of agricultural activities, while communication is the powerful tool to further strengthen this sector. Technology adoption would only take place if innovation is driven by farmers’ need. Innovation diffusion technology transfer and adoption are all inter-related facets in increasing crop production. This study examined the influence of innovation attributes, communication channels and awareness in aiding diffusion and adoption of green fertilizer technology innovation in paddy farming in Malaysia. Past innovation diffusion studies have had limited emphasis on the importance of communication for diffusion and adoption of green fertilizer technologies. Hence, there exists a gap that demands specific studies to be undertaken. This study adopted a quantitative method through survey dissemination to fulfil the aim and objective of this study. 366 paddy farmers were selected from Perak to be the respondents. Demographic and multiple regression analysis were carried out on the data. Examining these results is an important first step toward understanding factors that could make the paddy sector in Malaysia more sustainable. From the analyzed data, this study found that certain attributes which are compatibility, interpersonal communication, mass media and awareness have an influence on green fertilizer technology adoption among the local farmers in Malaysia. The results indicate that the level of farmers awareness and information about innovation in general, innovation diffusion process and the extent of attributes in innovation. The study have several implications for government agencies and policy makers in the agricultural sector. Impact of study on Malaysian context are also proposed

Sensory-based colour sorting automated robotic cell

Robotics application in colour recognition using fiber optic cabled sensors interfaced with robot controller and Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) is discussed in this paper. The sensors send input signals to the robot controller and the specified program will be executed with respect to the triggered input. The aim of this research work is to recognize colour by pin point detection and sorting of object specimens with respect to their colour attributes, which includes hue, saturation and luminance level. The controller programs were designed to control the robot and the conveyor belt independently parallel to each other via relays, to be synchronized during operation. Finally, the calculative results were verified experimentally and the real time implementation was carried out. It can be observed how controllers are integrated and synchronized in a system to perform a desired operation without conflict using real time applications such as chemical, pharmaceutical, agricultural, food industries and even recycling

The Potential Of Biomonitoring of Air Quality using leaf Characteristics of Allamanda cathartica, Filicium decipiens, Mussaenda erythrophylla and Syzygium campanulatum

Air pollution is major hazards that disturb the plant growth and development. The major sources of air pollution in urban areas specifically are from increase of traffic and rapid growth of industrial and residential area. The high level of traffic area was selected as a polluted habitat (P) and the low traffic is selected as a less polluted habitat (LP). Biomonitoring is the technique based on use of living organisms as bio-indicator to evaluate the impact of air pollution on plants. In this study, we have assessed the potential or suitability of available Allamanda cathartka, Filicium decipiens, Mussaenda erythrophyl/a and Syzygium campanulatum as bio-indicators for monitoring of air quality. The studies areas were Jalan Tun Abdul Rahman in Kuching city and around campus of UNIMAS, Kota Samarahan. Therefore, the parameters measured in this study include chlorophyll content, specific leaf area (SLA), stomatal density (SD), stomatal resistance (RS) and stomatal pore surface (SPS), was assessed from collection of leaves sample. In conclusion, higher result of SLA, SD, RS and SPS of studied sample in UNIMAS than Kuching was observed although the rate of pollution is moderately polluted for both sampling locations