An adverbial approach for the formal specification of topological constraints involving regions with broad boundaries

Topological integrity constraints control the topological properties of spatial objects and the validity of their topological relationships in spatial databases. These constraints can be specified by using formal languages such as the spatial extension of the Object Constraint Language (OCL). Spatial OCL allows the expression of topological constraints involving crisp spatial objects. However, topological constraints involving spatial objects with vague shapes (e.g., regions with broad boundaries) are not supported by this language. Shape vagueness requires using appropriate topological operators (e.g., strongly Disjoint, fairly Meet) to specify valid relations between these objects; otherwise, the constraints cannot be respected. This paper addresses the problem of the lack of terminology to express topological constraints involving regions with broad boundaries. We propose an extension of Spatial OCL based on a geometric model for objects with vague shapes and an adverbial approach for topological relations between regions with broad boundaries. This extension of Spatial OCL is then tested on an agricultural database

Drying kinetics of whole and sliced turmeric rhizomes (Curcuma longa L.) in a solar conduction dryer

Drying of turmeric was carried out in a solar conduction dryer (SCD). Drying air temperature was achieved around 39–51 °C for an ambient temperature in the range of 25–28 °C. Moisture content from 78.65% (wb), was reduced to 6.36% (wb) and 5.50% (wb) for solid and sliced samples respectively in 12 h effective drying time. Drying curve of sliced samples showed more uniform falling in comparison to that of whole samples. The average effective moisture diffusivity was found to be 1.852 × 10−10 m2 s−1 for slab samples and 1.456 × 10−10 m2 s−1 for solid samples. Out of four models tried for simulation, Page model was found as best fitted thin layer drying model when simulation was done for all the drying data. The overall thermal efficiency of the dryer was found to be 55%. Drying of sliced rhizomes showed better drying kinetics and effective drying time could be reduced by slicing instead of drying in whole form