116 research outputs found
IoT enabled Environmental Monitoring System
Nowadays, global warming poses a serious threat to our planet. For this reason, the reduction of the gas emitted into the atmosphere is increasingly sought for its purpose. Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) to monitor the concentration of carbon dioxide can therefore be helpful in monitoring air quality. In this research, the integration of wireless sensor networks into IoT is implemented for environmental monitoring. Subsequently, a practical case is described consisting in the implementation of a driver for reading the value of the environmental CO2 concentration, through a sensor with NDIR technology. This paper presents a customized design of an IoT enabled environment monitoring system to monitor CO2 concentrations. Moreover, the performance of low-cost Non-Dispersive Infra-Red (NDIR) was assessed. Thereafter, data related to the operation of the sensor will be graphically reported, as well as a sampling window that is executed to perform the measurement. Finally, possible future developments of the driver will be presente
Fabrication and Characterization of Electrospun Semiconductor Nanoparticle—Polyelectrolyte Ultra-Fine Fiber Composites for Sensing Applications
Fluorescent composite fibrous assembles of nanoparticle-polyelectrolyte fibers are useful multifunctional materials, utilized in filtration, sensing and tissue engineering applications, with the added benefits of improved mechanical, electrical or structural characteristics over the individual components. Composite fibrous mats were prepared by electrospinning aqueous solutions of 6 wt% poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) loaded with 0.15 and 0.20% v/v, carboxyl functionalized CdSe/ZnS nanoparticles (SNPs). The resulting fluorescent composite fibrous mats exhibits recoverable quenching when exposed to high humidity. The sensor response is sensitive to water concentration and is attributed to the change in the local charges around the SNPs due to deprotonation of the carboxylic acids on the SNPs and the surrounding polymer matrix
Silica bodies and their systematic implications at the subfamily level in Podostemaceae
Politics of nanotechnologies in food and agriculture
The chapter discusses the reasons for the delay in the regulatory intervention
concerning nanotechnologies used in the agriculture and food sectors. The
main finding is that unregulated introduction of nanoinnovation into the food system
is due to the current neoliberal food policy and to the power struggles that
characterize the economic, social and political dynamics within the global supply
chain. Therefore, it is necessary to put the ‘question concerning technology’ at the
center of the regulatory debate in order to implement a regulatory system able to
face nanorisks. Which means looking at the way in which technology controls
power relationships within society. Attention should be shifted from efficiency to
power issues, and new technologies should be assessed from a political rather than
an economic or ethical perspective
Wireless sensor networks-based solutions for cattle health monitoring : a survey
Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) are nowadays becoming an active research in different fields. Precise irrigation, agriculture, earthquake, fire monitoring in forests and animal health monitoring are few applications of WSN. Animal health monitoring systems (AHMS) are usually used to monitor physiological parameters such as rumination, heart rate, and body temperature. Traditional methods to monitor animal health such as (traditional surveillance, single observation, and simple tabular and graphic techniques) are not efficient to achieve high performance in the large herds’ management systems. These methods can only provide partial information and introduce a large cost in staffing and physical hardware. Thus, it is of important need to overcome a foresaid draw-back by using alternative low cost, low power consumption sensor nodes, and providing real-time communications at a sensible hardware cost. The objectives of this paper are: reviewing existing WSN solutions for cattle health monitoring models and determining the requirements needed for building an effective WSN model suitable for cattle health monitoring and detect animal diseases. From this review, requirements of the effective WSN-based solution for cattle health monitoring were suggested
Physical characterisation of an alginate/lysozyme nano-laminate coating and its evaluation on ‘coalho’ cheese shelf life
This work aimed at the characterisation of a nanolaminate
coating produced by the layer-by-layer methodology
and its evaluation on the preservation of ‘Coalho’ cheese.
Initially, five alternate layers of alginate and lysozyme were
assembled in an aminolysed/charged polyethylene terephthalate
(A/C PET) and physically characterised by UV/VIS
spectroscopy, contact angle, water vapour (WVTR) and oxygen
(OTR) transmission rates and scanning electron microscopy.
Afterwards, the same methodology was used to
apply the nano-laminate coating in ‘Coalho’ cheese and its
shelf life was evaluated during 20 days in terms of mass
loss, pH, lipid peroxidation, titratable acidity and microbial
count. UV/VIS spectroscopy and contact angle analyses
confirmed the layers’ deposition and the successful assembly
of nano-laminate coating on A/C PET surface. The coating
presented WVTR and OTR values of 1.03×10−3 and 1.28×
10−4 g m−2 s−1, respectively. After 20 days, coated cheese
showed lower values of mass loss, pH, lipidic peroxidation,
microorganisms’ proliferation and higher titratable acidity in
comparison with uncoated cheese. These results suggest that
gas barrier and antibacterial properties of alginate/lysozyme
nanocoating can be used to extend the shelf life of ‘Coalho’
cheese.The author Bartolomeu G. de S. Medeiros is recipient of a scholarship from Coordenacao de Aperfeicoamento de Pessoal de Nivel Superior (CAPES-Brazil). The author Marthyna P. Souza is recipient of a scholarship from Fundacao de Amparo a Ciencia e Tecnologia do Estado de Pernambuco (FACEPE, Brazil) and was recipient of a scholarship from Coordenacao de Aperfeicoamento de Pessoal de Nivel Superior (CAPES/PDEE-Brazil). The authors Ana C. Pinheiro, Ana I. Bourbon and Miguel A. Cerqueira are recipients of a fellowship (SFRH/BD/48120/2008, SFRH/BD/73178/2010 and SFRH/BPD/72753/2010, respectively), supported by Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia, POPH-QREN and FSE (FCT, Portugal). Maria G. Carneiro-da-Cunha express is gratitude to the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico (CNPq) for research grant. The present work was supported by CAPES/PROCAD/NF/1415/2007. The support of EU Cost Action FA0904 is gratefully acknowledged
Biosecurity and Yield Improvement Technologies Are Strategic Complements in the Fight against Food Insecurity
The delivery of food security via continued crop yield improvement alone is not an effective food security strategy, and must be supported by pre- and post-border biosecurity policies to guard against perverse outcomes. In the wake of the green revolution, yield gains have been in steady decline, while post-harvest crop losses have increased as a result of insufficiently resourced and uncoordinated efforts to control spoilage throughout global transport and storage networks. This paper focuses on the role that biosecurity is set to play in future food security by preventing both pre- and post-harvest losses, thereby protecting crop yield. We model biosecurity as a food security technology that may complement conventional yield improvement policies if the gains in global farm profits are sufficient to offset the costs of implementation and maintenance. Using phytosanitary measures that slow global spread of the Ug99 strain of wheat stem rust as an example of pre-border biosecurity risk mitigation and combining it with post-border surveillance and invasive alien species control efforts, we estimate global farm profitability may be improved by over US$4.5 billion per annum
Design of bio-nanosystems for oral delivery of functional compounds
Nanotechnology has been referred to as one of the most interesting topics in food technology due to the potentialities of its use by food industry. This calls for studying the behavior of nanosystems as carriers of biological and functional compounds aiming at their utilization for delivery, controlled release and protection of such compounds during food processing and oral ingestion. This review highlights the principles of design and production of bio-nanosystems for oral delivery and their behavior within the human gastrointestinal (GI) tract, while providing an insight into the application of reverse engineering approach to the design of those bio-nanosystems. Nanocapsules, nanohydrogels, lipid-based and multilayer nanosystems are discussed (in terms of their main ingredients, production techniques, predominant forces and properties) and some examples of possible food applications are given. Phenomena occurring in in vitro digestion models are presented, mainly using examples related to the utilization of lipid-based nanosystems and their physicochemical behavior throughout the GI tract. Furthermore, it is shown how a reverse engineering approach, through two main steps, can be used to design bio-nanosystems for food applications, and finally a last section is presented to discuss future trends and consumer perception on food nanotechnology.Miguel A. Cerqueira, Ana C. Pinheiro, Helder D. Silva, Philippe E. Ramos, Ana I. Bourbon, Oscar L. Ramos (SFRH/BPD/72753/2010, SFRH/BD/48120/2008, SFRH/BD/81288/2011, SFRH/BD/80800/2011, SFRH/BD/73178/2010 and SFRH/BPD/80766/2011, respectively) are the recipients of a fellowship from the Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT, POPH-QREN and FSE Portugal). Maria L. Flores-Lopez thanks Mexican Science and Technology Council (CONACYT, Mexico) for PhD fellowship support (CONACYT Grant number: 215499/310847). The support of EU Cost Actions FA0904 and FA1001 is gratefully acknowledged
Recording behaviour of indoor-housed farm animals automatically using machine vision technology: a systematic review
Large-scale phenotyping of animal behaviour traits is time consuming and has led to increased demand for technologies that can automate these procedures. Automated tracking of animals has been successful in controlled laboratory settings, but recording from animals in large groups in highly variable farm settings presents challenges. The aim of this review is to provide a systematic overview of the advances that have occurred in automated, high throughput image detection of farm animal behavioural traits with welfare and production implications. Peer-reviewed publications written in English were reviewed systematically following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. After identification, screening, and assessment for eligibility, 108 publications met these specifications and were included for qualitative synthesis. Data collected from the papers included camera specifications, housing conditions, group size, algorithm details, procedures, and results. Most studies utilized standard digital colour video cameras for data collection, with increasing use of 3D cameras in papers published after 2013. Papers including pigs (across production stages) were the most common (n = 63). The most common behaviours recorded included activity level, area occupancy, aggression, gait scores, resource use, and posture. Our review revealed many overlaps in methods applied to analysing behaviour, and most studies started from scratch instead of building upon previous work. Training and validation sample sizes were generally small (mean±s.d. groups = 3.8±5.8) and in data collection and testing took place in relatively controlled environments. To advance our ability to automatically phenotype behaviour, future research should build upon existing knowledge and validate technology under commercial settings and publications should explicitly describe recording conditions in detail to allow studies to be reproduced
Harnessing the potential of ligninolytic enzymes for lignocellulosic biomass pretreatment
Abundant lignocellulosic biomass from various industries provides a great potential feedstock for the production of value-added products such as biofuel, animal feed, and paper pulping. However, low yield of sugar obtained from lignocellulosic hydrolysate is usually due to the presence of lignin that acts as a protective barrier for cellulose and thus restricts the accessibility of the enzyme to work on the cellulosic component. This review focuses on the significance of biological pretreatment specifically using ligninolytic enzymes as an alternative method apart from the conventional physical and chemical pretreatment. Different modes of biological pretreatment are discussed in this paper which is based on (i) fungal pretreatment where fungi mycelia colonise and directly attack the substrate by releasing ligninolytic enzymes and (ii) enzymatic pretreatment using ligninolytic enzymes to counter the drawbacks of fungal pretreatment. This review also discusses the important factors of biological pretreatment using ligninolytic enzymes such as nature of the lignocellulosic biomass, pH, temperature, presence of mediator, oxygen, and surfactant during the biodelignification process
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