Fleets of robots for environmentally-safe pest control in agriculture

Feeding the growing global population requires an annual increase in food production. This requirement suggests an increase in the use of pesticides, which represents an unsustainable chemical load for the environment. To reduce pesticide input and preserve the environment while maintaining the necessary level of food production, the efficiency of relevant processes must be drastically improved. Within this context, this research strived to design, develop, test and assess a new generation of automatic and robotic systems for effective weed and pest control aimed at diminishing the use of agricultural chemical inputs, increasing crop quality and improving the health and safety of production operators. To achieve this overall objective, a fleet of heterogeneous ground and aerial robots was developed and equipped with innovative sensors, enhanced end-effectors and improved decision control algorithms to cover a large variety of agricultural situations. This article describes the scientific and technical objectives, challenges and outcomes achieved in three common crops

Microbial and Chemical Degradation of Atrazine: Two Possible Herbicide Disposal Methods

58 p.Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1979.U of I OnlyRestricted to the U of I community idenfinitely during batch ingest of legacy ETD

Gestion de procesos de negocio con aplicaciones de tic para el instituto de educacion superior tecnologico publico Chancay

Objetivo: Establecer la relación entre la Gestión de procesos de negocio y las aplicaciones de Tic para el Instituto de Educación Tecnológico Publico Chancay Métodos: La población está comprendida por N = 18 colaboradores del I. S. T. P. Chancay. Se utilizó el instrumento de medición de actitudes de escala de Likert. La confiabilidad del instrumento fue validada mediante el coeficiente alfa de Cronbach (0.871). Resultados: Los resultados muestran que más del 60% de encuestados están de acuerdo que sea implementada la propuesta en estudio. Conclusión: Los resultados obtenidos demuestran que existe una correlación positiva significativa moderada entre gestión de procesos de negocio y aplicaciones de Tic (Rho = 0.723; p = 0.00 < 0.05). Palabras claves: Gestión de procesos de negocio, Reingeniería y Aplicaciones de TicTesi

A comparison of the growth patterns and the competitive ability of four annual weeds

The competitive effects and responses of four annual weeds (Avena sterilis, Bromus diandrus, Galium tricornutum and Veronica hederifolia) were compared under greenhouse and field conditions. The two grasses had similar competitive effects that were much greater than the effects of the two dicotyledoneous weeds. In all the experiments, A. fatua was the most competitive species and V. hederifolia was the least competitive. In terms of response, A. sterilis demonstrated the highest tolerance to competition, followed by B. diandrus, V. hederifolia and G. tricornutum. The correlations between the rankings of competitive effect and response were generally poor: the species that cause larger reductions in growth of their neighbours are not always the least affected by the presence of competitors.The observed competitive hierarchies were not consistently associated with early season weed parameters. The only plant trait that presents a certain correlation with competitive effect is seed weight. However, the response to competition seems to be well correlated with biomass and leaf area in the early stages of growth.Comparaison du développement et de la capacité de concurrence de quatre adventices annuelles. Quatre adventices annuelles (Avena sterilis, Bromus diandrus, Galium tricornutum et Veronica hederifolia) ont été comparées du point de vue des effets de et des réponses à la concurrence entre elles, en conditions de serre et en plein air. Les deux graminées ont eu les mêmes effets de concurrence, toujours supérieurs à ceux dus aux deux dicotylédones. Dans toutes les expériences, A. fatua a été l'espèce la plus compétitive et V. hederifolia la moins compétitive. En termes de réaction, A. sterilis a montré la tolérance la plus grande à la concurrence, suivie de B. diandrus, V. hederifolia et G. tricornutum. Les corrélations entre le rang selon l'effet de la concurrence et le rang selon la réponse à la concurrence ont été faibles. Les espèces qui réduisent le plus la croissance chez leurs voisines n'ont pas toujours été les moins affectées par la présence des plantes concurrentes. Les hiérarchies de concurrence observées ne sont pas très bien corrélées avec les paramètres des adventices en début de saison. Le seul trait qui présente une certaine corrélation avec les effets de la concurrence est le poids de la graine. Cependant, la réaction à la concurrence semble être bien corrélée avec la biomasse et la surface foliaire mesurées en début de croissance des plantes

Optimization of a Textile Effluent Treatment System and Evaluation of the Feasibility to Be Reused as Influents in Textile Dyeing Processes

Textile effluents derived from azo-reactive dyeing processes represent a severe problem for aquatic ecosystems and human health. The large amounts of water used in this process and the poor quality of the discharges urge the need to develop treatment systems that involve reusing treated water. In this research, we present the optimization of a feasible, simple, and efficient treatment system that improves the quality of the effluents from the cotton fabric dyeing process. Through the characterization of the influents and effluents, we have identified seven parameters that have allowed the optimization of the treatment. Analytical techniques, such as nephelometry, EDTA, gravimetry, and BOD5, among others, and specialized equipment, such as the spectrophotometer, have been used for these purposes. The results showed that using combustion gases in the neutralization stage and new flocculant-coagulant reagents improved parameters, such as pH, total solids, hardness, and conductivity. The quality of the effluents thus obtained allowed their reuse only in the stages before the dyeing bath without affecting the final quality of the cotton fabrics in dark colors. This effort implies savings in water and supplies, and opens the door to future research on the treatment of textile effluents that help improve the environmental conditions of our region