Study of the development of an Io T-based sensor platform for e-agriculture

E-agriculture, sometimes reffered as 'ICT in agriculture' (Information and Communication technologies) or simply "smart agriculture", is a relatively recent and emerging field focused on the enhacement on agricultural and rural development through improved information and communication processes. This concept, involves the design, development, evaluation and application of innovative ways to use IoT technologies in the rural domain, with a primary focus on agriculture, in order to achieve better ways of growing food for the masses with sustainability. In IoT-based agriculture, platforms are built for monitoring the crop field with the help of sensors (light, humidity, temperature, soil moisture, etc.) and automating the irrigation system. The farmers can monitor the field conditions from anywhere and highly more efficient compared to conventional approaches

Ion scanning or ion trapping: Why not both?

The present contribution describes analogies and differences between the quadrupolar ion trap (QIT) and the quadrupole mass analyzers, shows the potentialities of their combination in a single instrument and presents a review of applications of such a technology in different fields. The first section describes the quadrupole mass filter (QMF), outlining its principles of operation and the ion sorting procedure according to the use of oscillating electric fields inducing stable trajectories to the ions allowing them to reach the detector. Multiple quadrupole systems (normally triple quadrupoles) are then explained, showing their use in tandem mass spectrometry in space experiments (MS/MS-in-space). QIT principles of operation are then examined, pointing out that in this case the use of the same combination of oscillating electric fields takes advantage of unstable ion trajectories for their sorting. Substantially, analogies and differences between QMF and QIT come out, which consist in the fact that QMF is a scanning mass analyzer, whereas QIT is a sequential mass analyzer. In addition, the section underlines that QIT is capable to perform tandem mass spectrometry in time experiments (MS/MS-in-time). Later, the possibility to use a quadrupole as a trapping system with a prevailing dimension (linear ion trap [LIT]) is taken into consideration, and the possibility to combine both QMF and LIT in a single instrument, a QTrap mass spectrometer, is illustrated. In this frame, a lot more experiment types are possible with respect to both standalone triple quadrupoles and LIT, and they are described as well. Several combinations of these QTrap features can be used in information dependent acquisition (IDA) mode, allowing the high versatility of this instrumental configuration. The second section deals with a review of applications in different fields. These are organized by kind of QTrap and IDA features and cover different topics in biological, medical, agrochemical, nutritional and environmental fields

Variations of biofouling communities in an off-shore fish cage farm from North-Western Sardinia = Variazioni del biofouling in un allevamento ittico in gabbie off-shore della Sardegna nord-occidentale

Biofouling variations were studied in a fish farming facility near Alghero (Italy) between November 2007 and November 2008. Net panels suitable for the settlement of encrusting organisms were immersed in cages in which large and small gilthead seabream specimens were reared. Significant differences in biofouling biomass and coverage were observed between cages containing fish and controls. The results obtained revealed that gilthead seabream can exert a crucial role in controlling biofouling growth, independently from its size

Sediment features and heavy metal levels in four areas of Sardinia devoted to bivalve culture = Caratteristiche dei sedimenti e livelli di metalli pesanti in quattro aree della Sardegna idonee all’allevamento dei bivalvi

Sediment characteristics and Cd, Cu, Mn, Pb and Zn concentrations were assessed in the lagoons of Marceddì, Calich and Porto Pozzo, and in the inner part of the Gulf of Olbia. Sediment of the zones examined were quite similar, except for the Calich lagoon that showed the higher content of total organic carbon. High values of Cd, Pb and Zn were detected in the sediments of the Marceddì lagoon, while remarkable levels of Cu and Mn were found in the Calich lagoon and in the Gulf of Olbia

Social acts in digital environments

Adolf Reinach's theory of social acts and Czesław Znamierowski theory of the environment can show a new perspective of analysis in the felds of computer science and digital communication. This paper will begin analysing the performance of social acts in two categories of digital environments: (i) fctional digital environment and (ii) real digital environment. The analysis will be supported by examples from the history of computer science. In both kinds of digital environments, organigrams play a signifcant role and depend on the users' digital power to perform a real or fctional social act. Finally, the paper will analyse one of the possible roles that AI plays in performing social acts in digital environments. It will show how AI could affect the perception of social acts of social acts

An effective approach for road asset management through the FDTD simulation of the GPR signal

Ground-penetrating radar is a non-destructive tool widely used in many fields of application including pavement engineering surveys. Over the last decade, the need for further breakthroughs capable to assist end-users and practitioners as decision-support systems in more effective road asset management is increasing. In more details and despite the high potential and the consolidated results obtained over years by this non-destructive tool, pavement distress manuals are still based on visual inspections, so that only the effects and not the causes of faults are generally taken into account. In this framework, the use of simulation can represent an effective solution for supporting engineers and decision-makers in understanding the deep responses of both revealed and unrevealed damages. In this study, the potential of using finite-difference time-domain simulation of the ground-penetrating radar signal is analyzed by simulating several types of flexible pavement at different center frequencies of investigation typically used for road surveys. For these purposes, the numerical simulator GprMax2D, implementing the finite-difference time-domain method, was used, proving to be a highly effective tool for detecting road faults. In more details, comparisons with simplified undisturbed modelled pavement sections were carried out showing promising agreements with theoretical expectations, and good chances for detecting the shape of damages are demonstrated. Therefore, electromagnetic modelling has proved to represent a valuable support system in diagnosing the causes of damages, even for early or unrevealed faults. Further perspectives of this research will be focused on the modelling of more complex scenarios capable to represent more accurately the real boundary conditions of road cross-sections. Acknowledgements - This work has benefited from networking activities carried out within the EU funded COST Action TU1208 “Civil Engineering Applications of Ground Penetrating Radar”

Inferring strength and deformation properties of hot mix asphalt layers from the GPR signal: recent advances

The great flexibility of ground-penetrating radar has led to consider worldwide this instrument as an effective and efficient geophysical tool in several fields of application. As far as pavement engineering is concerned, ground-penetrating radar is employed in a wide range of applications, including physical and geometrical evaluation of road pavements. Conversely, the mechanical characterization of pavements is generally inferred through traditional (e.g., plate bearing test method) or advanced non-destructive techniques (e.g., falling weight deflectometer). Nevertheless, measurements performed using these methods, inevitably turn out to be both much more time-consuming and low-significant whether compared with ground-penetrating radar’s potentials. In such a framework, a mechanical evaluation directly coming from electromagnetic inspections could represent a real breakthrough in the field of road assets management. With this purpose, a ground-penetrating radar system with 600 MHz and 1600 MHz center frequencies of investigation and ground-coupled antennas was employed to survey a 4m×30m flexible pavement test site. The test area was marked by a regular grid mesh of 836 nodes, respectively spaced by a distance of 0.40 m alongside the horizontal and vertical axes. At each node, the elastic modulus was measured using a light falling weight deflectometer. Data processing has provided to reconstruct a 3-D matrix of amplitudes for the surveyed area, considering a depth of around 300 mm, in accord to the influence domain of the light falling weight deflectometer. On the other hand, deflectometric data were employed for both calibration and validation of a semi-empirical model by relating the amplitude of signal reflections through the media along fixed depths within the depth domain considered, and the Young’s modulus of the pavement at the evaluated point. This statistically-based model is aimed at continuously taking into account alongside the depth of investigation, of both the different strength provision of each layer composing the hot mix asphalt pavement structure, and of the attenuation occurring to electromagnetic waves during their in-depth propagation. Promising results are achieved by matching modelled and measured elastic modulus data. This continuous statistically-based model enables to consider the whole set of information related to each single depth, in order to provide a more comprehensive prediction of the strength and deformation behavior of such a complex multi-layered medium. Amongst some further developments to be tackled in the near future, a model improvement could be reached through laboratory activities under controlled conditions and by adopting several frequency bandwidths suited for purposes. In addition, the perspective to compare electromagnetic data with mechanical measurements retrieved continuously, i.e. by means of specifically equipped lorries, could pave the way to considerable enhancements in this field of research. Acknowledgements - This work has benefited from networking activities carried out within the EU funded COST Action TU1208 “Civil Engineering Applications of Ground Penetrating Radar”

A new photophysics for 2D and 3D lead halide perovskites: Polaron plasma in equilibrium with bright excitons

Rapid advances in perovskite photovoltaics have produced efficient solar cells, with stability and duration improving thanks to variations in materials composition, including the use of layered 2D perovskites. A major reason for the success of perovskite photovoltaics is the presence of free carriers as majority optical excitations in 3D materials at room temperature. On the other hand, the current understanding is that in 2D perovskites or at cryogenic temperatures insulating bound excitons form, which need to be split in solar cells and are not beneficial to photoconversion. Here we apply a tandem spectroscopy technique that combines ultrafast photoluminescence and differential transmission to demonstrate a plasma of unbound charge carriers in chemical equilibrium with a minority phase of light-emitting excitons, even in 2D perovskites and at cryogenic temperatures. We validate the technique with 3D perovskites and investigate 2D compounds basded on both Pb and Sn as metal cation. The underlying photophysics is interpreted as formation of large polarons, charge carriers coupled to lattice deformations, in place of excitons. A conductive polaron plasma foresees novel mechanisms for LEDs and lasers, as well as a prominent role for 2D perovskites in photovoltaics