scholarly journals Detecting Desert Locust Breeding Grounds: A Satellite-Assisted Modeling Approach

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 1276
Author(s):  
W. Lee Ellenburg ◽  
Vikalp Mishra ◽  
Jason B. Roberts ◽  
Ashutosh S. Limaye ◽  
Jonathan L. Case ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Desert Locust ◽  
Data Errors ◽  
Food And Agriculture ◽  
Food And Agriculture Organization ◽  
Optimal Thresholds ◽  
Breeding Grounds ◽  
United Nations Food ◽  
Moisture Conditions

The objective of this study is to evaluate the ability of soil physical characteristics (i.e., texture and moisture conditions) to better understand the breeding conditions of desert locust (DL). Though soil moisture and texture are well-known and necessary environmental conditions for DL breeding, in this study, we highlight the ability of model-derived soil moisture estimates to contribute towards broader desert locust monitoring activities. We focus on the recent DL upsurge in East Africa from October 2019 though June 2020, utilizing known locust observations from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). We compare this information to results from the current literature and combine the two datasets to create “optimal thresholds” of breeding conditions. When considering the most optimal conditions (all thresholds met), the soil texture combined with modeled soil moisture content predicted the estimated DL egg-laying period 62.5% of the time. Accounting for the data errors and uncertainties, a 3 × 3 pixel buffer increased this to 85.2%. By including soil moisture, the areas of optimal egg laying conditions decreased from 33% to less than 20% on average.

scholarly journals Sustainable and Environmentally Friendly Essential Oils Extracted from Pineapple Waste

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 6833-6844
Keyword(s):  
Essential Oil ◽  
Essential Oils ◽  
Bioactive Compounds ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Ananas Comosus ◽  
Pineapple Waste ◽  
Food And Agriculture ◽  
Food And Agriculture Organization ◽  
Aldehydes And Ketones ◽  
United Nations Food

Pineapple (Ananas comosus (L.) Merril), one of the major fruit crops, is mainly used for raw consumption and for industrial juice production, which creates large amounts of residues. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has estimated that pineapple waste accounts for between 50 to 65 % of the total weight of the fruit. Industrial pineapple waste is a major source of pollution as important quantities of primary residues are not further processed. Pineapple waste contains bioactive compounds such as carotenoids, polyphenols, fibers, vitamins, enzymes, and essential oils. These phytochemicals can be used in the food industry, medicine and pharmacy, textile, and others. This review highlights essential oil and other bioactive compounds extracted from pineapple waste and the composition of pineapple essential oil. Pineapple peels are the potential raw material for essential oil extraction through various methods. Modern spectrometric methods have shown that essential oil extracted from pineapple waste comprises esters, alcohols, aldehydes, and ketones. From this overview, it can be concluded that there is an important need for further research into pineapple waste as a potential source of valuable byproducts, as well as new techniques to studying industrial organic residuals to achieve higher recovery rates of valuable bioactive compounds used in pharmaceuticals, cosmetic and chemical industries as well as for developing new functional foods.

Distribution of Food in a Specialized Hospital Using Ambient Intelligence to Improve a Model of Macroergonomics

2019 ◽  
pp. 231-241
Author(s):  
Alberto Ochoa Zezzatti ◽  
Juan Luis Hernandez Arellano ◽  
Gilberto Rivera ◽  
Daniel Azpeitia ◽  
Luis Fernando Maldonado
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Distribution System ◽  
Ambient Intelligence ◽  
Food Distribution ◽  
Food And Agriculture ◽  
Food And Agriculture Organization ◽  
Specialized Hospital ◽  
United Nations Food ◽  
Latin American Countries

SIDA (Intelligent Food Distribution System, for its acronym in Spanish) is a proposed tool for the distribution of food that can be personalized depending on the medical characteristics of each patient. The target of the tool is to provide foods that contain higher nutrients in the diet set by a hospital. A model of decision trees was based on data from the organization of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and used for decision making in the simulated three basic foods based on the diet of Latin American countries typically integrated by rice, potatoes, and lentils from the parameters of fat, energy, and protein, respectively, that contains every type of food.

scholarly journals The charcoal forest: Ecology, aesthetics and the Anthropocene

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Niles
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Forest Ecology ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Culture Studies ◽  
Food And Agriculture ◽  
Food And Agriculture Organization ◽  
Cultural Persistence ◽  
United Nations Food ◽  
Shed Light

This paper explores the significance of local forms of knowledge of the natural world, especially the role of this knowledge in cultural coherence and persistence through time, and its consequent significance to the intellectual challenges of the Anthropocene. The text examines the activity of a master charcoal-maker and forest-manager in Wakayama Prefecture, Japan, who works within a landscape recognized by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System (GIAHS)—a place of special cultural and agroecological value. Drawing on theories of the evolution of knowledge and material culture studies, charcoal is seen as embodiment of particular understandings of the agencies of the natural world. Attention to the various stages in the production and use of charcoal sheds light on the structure of this knowledge, especially on the important areas in which qualities of one field of activity are transferred to or become essential to another. These “overlaps” link what otherwise appear to be disparate fields of activity into mutually constitutive elements of a whole. They shed light on the dynamics of cultural persistence and indicate the diversity of forms environmental knowledge; they can amplify understanding of the nature of the Anthropocene.

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