The Study of the Kinetics of Metalaxyl Accumulation and Dissipation in Durian (Durio zibethinus L.) Leaf Using High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) Technique

Metalaxyl is an effective approach to control Phytophthora palmivora infection in durian plantation. However, inappropriate metalaxyl usage may increase production cost, pathogen with fungicide resistance, and environmental toxicity. This study established and validated a simple and reproducible procedure to measure metalaxyl concentration in the durian leaf using HPLC. Linearity of the detection ranged from 1–100 µg/mL. The limits of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ) were 0.27 and 0.91 µg/mL, respectively. The extraction method gave recovery rates ranging from 88% to 103%. Durian seedlings were treated with 4 g/L metalaxyl either by foliar spray or soil drench. The highest metalaxyl accumulation in durian leaf was found between 6–24 h after treatment and persisted above its effective concentration at least 60 days after foliar application. The dissipation pattern fit to a first-order kinetics equation showed a half-life of 16.50 days. Soil drenching led to eight times higher metalaxyl concentrations in plants than foliar spraying and caused plant death within 15 days after application. These results suggest that foliar spraying of 4 g/L metalaxyl or soil drenching at a lower concentration every two months is sufficient in controlling P. palmivora infection in durian seedlings.

IoT and Deep Learning for Livestock Management

Livestock management is a critical issue for the farming industry as proper management including their health and well-being directly impacts the production. It is difficult for a farmer or shed owner to monitor big herds of cattle manually. This chapter proposes a layered framework that utilizes the power of internet of things (IoT) and deep learning (DL) to real-time livestock monitoring supporting the effective management of cattle. The framework consists of sensor layer where sensor-rich devices or gadgets are used to collect various contextual data related to livestock, data processing layer which deals with various outlier rejections and processing of the data followed by DL approaches to analyze the collected contextual data in detecting sick and on heat animals, and finally, insightful information is sent to shed owner for necessary action. An experimental study conducted is helpful to make wise decisions to increase production cost-effectively. The chapter concludes with the different future aspects that may be further explored by the researchers.

Influence of surrounding vegetation on the diversity of social wasps on coffee culture

Every year, coffee crops are affected by pests and diseases that hamper productivity and grain quality. Chemicals used to tackle these issues not only increase production cost, but may also lead to serious problems in the long term. The use of biological control for the management of pest aims to reduce the use of such products and preserve the environment. For being natural predators of these pest insects, social wasps are an effective alternative for biological control. Attractive traps were installed in two areas of coffee culture: one with predominant orchard vegetation, called Orchard-coffee; andthe other with an Atlantic forest fragment as predominant surrounding vegetation, called Forestcoffee. The aim was to compare the diversity and abundance of social wasp species that visited the two areas. Bray-Curtis (dis-)similarity between the two areas was low, 0.45, showing surroundings influence in both areas. In total, 208 individuals of 11 species and 4 different genera were collected, with a total Shannon-Wiener (H’) diversity index of 1.591. Orchard-coffee showed a higher number of social wasps, whereas Forest-coffee showed a higher diversity index. The most abundant species in both areas was Polistes versicolor, which can reduce damage caused by coffee pests and has a great potential use in biological control programs.

Effect of Impregnation with Maltodextrin and 1,3-Dimethylol-4,5-Dihydroxyethyleneurea on the Conventional Drying Characteristics of Poplar Wood

The drying characteristics of poplar wood (Populus adenopoda Maxim) under three treatments were investigated with the aim of improving the drying quality of the impregnated wood. Untreated materials, impregnated materials with 10% initial moisture content (MC), and impregnated materials with 20% initial MC—denoted as T1, T2, and T3, respectively—were examined during conventional drying. Relative to that of T1, the average drying rate of T2 was reduced by 46%, and that of T3 was reduced by 37%. The anti-swelling efficiency of T2 sharply increased, whereas that of T3 only slightly increased in width and thickness. The drying defects of T2 were markedly less than those of T1 and T3, attributed to the reduced residual stress and fixation of the modifier. Scanning electron microscopy indicated that large amounts of modifiers were deposited inside the cell cavity of T2, whereas small amounts of modifiers were deposited in the cell cavity of T3. The impregnation treatment generally reduced the average drying rate and MC uniformity and delayed the decrease in residual stress; however, it reduced the number of defects in the wood and considerably improved the dimensional stability of the wood. Meanwhile, impregnation treatment with increased initial MC could potentially lead to more drying defects and increase production cost.

ANALISIS USAHATANI PADI LADANG BERPINDAH DI DESA PEJALIN KECAMATAN TANJUNG PALAS KABUPATEN BULUNGAN PROVINSI KALIMANTAN UTARA (Analysis of Paddy Farming in Shifting Cultivation in Pejalin Village Tanjung Palas Subdistrict Bulungan District North Kalimantan Province)

Most community of Pejalin Village has profession as paddy farmers in shifting cultivation. Farmers in Pejalin Village cultivate paddy with some varieties such as E’ho, Libang, and Usunuan. Some farmers in Pejalin Village sometimes use a lot of inputs, they hope to get high yield. However, the use of a lot of inputs will increase production cost then decrease profit of farming. This research aimed to analysis paddy farming in shifting cultivation by using the varieties of E’ho, Libang, and Usunan. Method that used in this research was method of descriptive qualitative. Determination of sampling uses cencus sampling with 35 respondents. The result of this research showed high cost in farming of Libang variety with cost as much as IDR3,060,725.00 then E’ho variety with cost as much as IDR2,900,687.00 and Usunuan variety with cost as much as IDR2,335,816.00. The highest income in farming of E’ho variety as much as IDR6,348,785.00 then Libang variety as much as IDR5,203,175.00 and Usunuan variety as much as IDR4,514,530.00 in a planting season. R/C ratio was 3 showed paddy farming that done by farmers is feasible and profitable.

ANALISIS USAHATANI PADI LADANG BERPINDAH DI DESA PEJALIN KECAMATAN TANJUNG PALAS KABUPATEN BULUNGAN PROVINSI KALIMANTAN UTARA (Analysis of Paddy Farming in Shifting Cultivation in Pejalin Village Tanjung Palas Subdistrict Bulungan District North Kalimantan Province)

Most community of Pejalin Village has profession as paddy farmers in shifting cultivation. Farmers in Pejalin Village cultivate paddy with some varieties such as E’ho, Libang, and Usunuan. Some farmers in Pejalin Village sometimes use a lot of inputs, they hope to get high yield. However, the use of a lot of inputs will increase production cost then decrease profit of farming. This research aimed to analysis paddy farming in shifting cultivation by using the varieties of E’ho, Libang, and Usunan. Method that used in this research was method of descriptive qualitative. Determination of sampling uses cencus sampling with 35 respondents. The result of this research showed high cost in farming of Libang variety with cost as much as IDR3,060,725.00 then E’ho variety with cost as much as IDR2,900,687.00 and Usunuan variety with cost as much as IDR2,335,816.00. The highest income in farming of E’ho variety as much as IDR6,348,785.00 then Libang variety as much as IDR5,203,175.00 and Usunuan variety as much as IDR4,514,530.00 in a planting season. R/C ratio was 3 showed paddy farming that done by farmers is feasible and profitable.

ESTIMATION OF PRODUCTIVITY AND PRIME COST OF LOGSET 5HP GT HARVESTER IN THINNING

Productivity of a harvester significantly affects costs of mechanized felling, which in turn determines, if commercial thinning will be profitable. The objective of this study is to estimate productivity and prime cost of Logset 5HP GT harvester with increased boom length (11 m), equipped with the TH45 felling head, in thinning. Trials are conducted in Latvia, eastern Vidzeme, in coniferous stands. To evaluate productivity of Logset 5HP GT, a time study was carried out. Influence of small trees (diameter at breast height < 8 cm) on productivity and harvesting cost was also determined. During the trials 2379 trees are harvested with the total stem volume of 400 m3. The diameter at breast height of an average harvested tree is 14 cm and volume of a stem – 0.171 m3. Duration of time study is 33.5 h. Obtained productivity rates of Logset 5HP GT are compared with those of John Deere 1070 D harvester. According to the study results average productivity of Logset 5HP GT harvester in thinning of coniferous stands is 13.85 m3 per productive work hour. Prime cost of harvesting of the Logset 5HP GT in thinning is 8.02 € m-3. Increased boom length allows to decrease the total time spent for driving in a stand by 71%. Harvesting of small trees reduces productivity by 6.9% and increase production cost by 2.1% in the experimental stands. Difference between productivity of Logset 5HP GT and John Deere 1070 D in similar conditions is statistically insignificant.

Rapid Prototyping Technology: The Next Keystone for Small and Medium Ceramic Industry

Many manufacturers believe building of physical prototypes is a bottleneck that slows down production process and increase production cost. However, since the quest for reality ends up with making real objects, physical prototypes cannot be out-rightly eliminated in product development process. With the advent of rapid prototyping technology (3D printer), manufacturing is now possible at any scale, from units of one to millions, large or small batches. Thus, rapid prototyping is seen as a possible technology for enhancing product development process; especially in small and medium industries that relies on manual production techniques. Hence, this paper investigates the viability of rapid prototyping technology in small and medium industries. With particular reference to ceramic industry, the paper demonstrates how the contemporary technology (Rapid prototyping) can be harmoniously merged with conventional techniques, so as to enhance product quality and reduce development time and cost.

Experimental Investigation of Effect on Hydrate Formation in Spray Reactor

The effects of reaction condition on hydrate formation were conducted in spray reactor. The temperature, pressure, and gas volume of reaction on hydrate formation were measured in pure water and SDS solutions at different temperature and pressure with a high-pressure experimental rig for hydrate formation. The experimental data and result reveal that additives could improve the hydrate formation rate and gas storage capacity. Temperature and pressure can restrict the hydrate formation. Lower temperature and higher pressure can promote hydrate formation, but they can increase production cost. So these factors should be considered synthetically. The investigation will promote the advance of gas storage technology in hydrates.

Design of Civil Low-Pressure Vessel’s "4 in 1" Stamping Compound Dies

Traditional stamping process of civil low-pressure vessel deals with blanking, drawing, trimming and flaring process in different processing station separately, work-piece transmission between different processing stations increases the auxiliary time, and the work-piece needs reinstallation, reduce production efficiency and increase production cost. In order to overcome the above disadvantages, the optimized stamping technology process is designed, compress four process (blanking、drawing、trimming and flaring) into a integrity process, and the development of a "4 in 1" stamping compound dies, that makes stamping automation realize easily, improve processing efficiency, easy operation, and reduce the product processing cost and labor costs, and enhance economic performance.