Paul Weckler | Oklahoma State University (original) (raw)

Papers by Paul Weckler

Advances in engineering education, 2015

In Biosystems Engineering at Oklahoma State University, senior design is a two semester course in... more In Biosystems Engineering at Oklahoma State University, senior design is a two semester course in which students work on real-world projects provided by clients. First-year (freshmen and transfer) students enroll in an introductory engineering course. Historically, these students worked on a team-based analysis project, and the engineering design process was discussed but not explicitly applied. This study investigated the hypothesis that first-year and senior design teams can be linked through capstone projects to more effectively introduce design. First-year students design a small portion of the client-based capstone project as identified by and supervised by the seniors. Several assessment tools were used: student knowledge of the design process, presentations and student surveys. More than 90% of introductory students agreed that the project was worthwhile and helped them learn about engineering as a future career. After having institutionalized the linkage, seniors were more likely to identify appropriate projects and viewed the mentoring as beneficial.

Geoderma, Nov 1, 2021

Abstract Rill erosion is one of the main forms of soil erosion on hillslopes in hilly and gully r... more Abstract Rill erosion is one of the main forms of soil erosion on hillslopes in hilly and gully regions of the Loess Plateau. For simplicity, many studies assume hillslopes with a uniform sloping profile. However, the most loess hillslopes are convex shape with variable degrees in this area. Estimating soil losses and planning soil conservation practices on such slopes have required much local judgment. The objective of this study was to clarify soil erosion evolution qualitatively and quantitatively on a convex slope based on a three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction technique and geographic information system (GIS) in simulated rainfall experiments. The results showed that: (1) The erosion processes of the convex slope could be reasonably described with the following stages: splash and sheet erosion – drop pits – head-cut erosion – intermittent rill – continuous rill – rill network development – transition from rill to ephemeral gully. (2) Soil loss rate from the convex slope varied from 0.127 Kg m−2 min−1 in the sheet erosion stage to 0.342 Kg m−2 min−1 in rill network development stage, which was much greater compared with the results of uniform slope erosion reported by others in this area. Once rill erosion evolved into the dominant erosion pattern (after 30 mm of rainfall), rill length, width, and depth enlarged noticeably with headward and lateral erosion. (3) The contribution of sediment from rill and inter-rill erosion to total erosion was accurately depicted, and rill erosion contributed up to 60% of the total sediment amount. (4) Soil erosion rate was significantly correlated with rill morphological parameters—fractal dimension, rill density, and degree of rill dissection (correlation coefficients of 0.978, 0.989, and 0.980, respectively). These results are helpful for the qualitative and quantitative understanding of the erosion processes of hillslopes in Chinese Loess Plateau, and have an important reference for the rational arrangement of erosion control measures.

Frontiers in Plant Science, Feb 23, 2023

Editorial on the Research Topic Advanced application technology for plant protection: Sensing, mo... more Editorial on the Research Topic Advanced application technology for plant protection: Sensing, modelling, spraying system and equipment As editors of this Research Topic, we summarized the contributions of 20 articles accepted in this topic. The research contents mainly focused on the following sections: drift characteristics of unmanned equipment and development of autonomous navigation spray system, identification and classification of pests and diseases based on deep learning, and airflow velocity loss characteristics of air-assisted spray in orchard. Drift characteristics of unmanned equipment and development of autonomous navigation spray system In recent ten years, agricultural unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), also known as Unmanned Aerial Spraying Systems (UASS), as a new method for the application of plant protection products, has developed rapidly in the world. Compared with ground equipment, UAV spray is more likely to cause spray drift and environmental pollution to non-target areas. Therefore, it is important to study the spray drift characteristics of UASS. Chen et al. reviewed the drift characteristics of UAV spray system and the factors affecting UAV system drift, and put forward suggestions on the optimization of spray system and structure layout, modeling of drift test, and standardization of measurement methods. Jiang et al. compared the performance of UAV, unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) and spray gun pesticide application technology of spray target coverage, off-target coverage, time efficiency and gasoline consumption in the pear orchard. The results showed that compared with UGV, UAV has the advantages of high working efficiency, less environmental pollution Frontiers in Plant Science frontiersin.org 01

Paper - American Society of Agricultural Engineers, 1990

Transactions of the Chinese Society of Agricultural Machinery, 2015

A simple and easily adaptable analytical approach was developed for the hydraulic design of micro... more A simple and easily adaptable analytical approach was developed for the hydraulic design of micro-irrigation paired tapered laterals laid on uniformly sloping grounds based on the definition position locations where the same average emitter pressure head existed in the uphill and downhill laterals.Analytical expressions of the best manifold position,inlet working pressure head,coefficient of variation by hydraulic variation and the limited length of the paired tapered laterals were separately developed by using the energy gradient line method. Three tables showed the values used in estimating the design parameters of the best manifold position,inlet working pressure head and coefficient of variation by hydraulic variation,respectively,for the common diameter ratio,pressure loss ratio and velocity exponent.When the length,diameter and designed emitter flow were given,the best manifold position and other parameters of the paired tapered laterals could be directly designed without using iterative methods. When the diameters,designed emitter flow and water application uniformity criterion were provided,the limited length,the best manifold position and remaining parameters of the paired tapered laterals could be easily determined by Excel Equation-Solver in Microsoft Excel. When the length,designed emitter flow and water application uniformity criterion were provided,the design diameter,the best manifold position and the remaining parameters of the paired tapered laterals could also be easily determined in Microsoft Excel by the iterative technique. Three numerical design examples covering various conditions indicated that the proposed approach could produce accurate results for practical purposes.

Engineering in agriculture, environment and food, Apr 1, 2019

The change of received signal strength index and packet loss rate under 2.4 GHz radio communicati... more The change of received signal strength index and packet loss rate under 2.4 GHz radio communication in a persimmon orchard in flowering phase was investigated. Texas CC2530 RF chip and the TinyOS system based WSN nodes were selected as instruments to conduct interwoven tests along a column of persimmon trees and different rows and columns of the orchard, and measure the receiving signal strength and packet loss rate which were in the three different heights from 0.80 m at the bottom of the canopy to 2.80 m at the top. In the tests, distance of each three trees was set as a tested distance, and there were eight tested distances in each row or column totally. Afterwards, all the obtained data underwent regression analysis. The results showed that when the transmitter and receiver were maintained at a fixed height, the received signal strength decreased, while the packet loss rate increased with the augment of tested distance. Furthermore, under the two situations where receiver was at the fringe of persimmon orchard and both transmitter and receiver were in the orchard, the models of signal strength attenuation affected by different factors along a row of persimmon tree were established and evaluated. Additionally, the curved surface graphs of different transceiver heights and different ranks of trees which were drawn by MATLAB software was able to reflect wireless signal transmission characteristics in persimmon orchard straightly.

Agronomy, Apr 15, 2023

This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY

Transactions of the ASABE, Jul 29, 2013

Terahertz (THz) rays interact with materials at intermolecular levels, and because of this they a... more Terahertz (THz) rays interact with materials at intermolecular levels, and because of this they are the focus of many active research areas. The developments in THz technology were hindered by lack of hardware, but the advent of the femtosecond laser in the 1980s started the advancement in THz generation and detection technologies. THz technology is transitioning from laboratory scale to many practical applications, including security screening, pharmaceuticals, plastics, and others, but there are few studies pertaining to food and agricultural applications. This study reviews the articles related to food and agriculture applications of THz spectroscopy and THz imaging. It also briefly introduces important THz techniques. The survey of the literature reveals great potential for this emerging and promising technology in agriculture. Food inspection, crop inspection, and material characterization could be potential research areas.

AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts, Dec 1, 2020

Transactions of the ASABE, Jul 29, 2013

X-ray imaging studies in the food and agriculture sector were surveyed. This survey of the litera... more X-ray imaging studies in the food and agriculture sector were surveyed. This survey of the literature revealed that x-ray hardware and software have improved considerably since 1990s, when digital x-ray imaging studies began. X-ray imaging has been extensively researched for food inspection. Additionally, there are studies utilizing x-rays to characterize plant and soil properties. Poor image contrast, due to similarity in the attenuation properties of an object and its background, pose a challenge in image segmentation. Development of local adaptive approaches has improved image segmentation and classification accuracies. Hardware developments have resulted in commercial-grade x-ray inspection systems. Future developments in x-ray generation and detection technologies, advances in image processing algorithms, and worldwide food safety concerns indicate increased opportunities for x-ray inspection in the food and agriculture sector.

Agronomy

In the U.S., peanut farmers receive premium prices for crops with high seed grades. One component... more In the U.S., peanut farmers receive premium prices for crops with high seed grades. One component of seed grade is the proportion of seed weight to that of pod hulls and other matter. Seed weight and size are also important traits for food processors. Current methods for evaluating peanut seed grade require the opening of the pod and are time-consuming and labor-intensive. In this study, a non-destructive and efficient method to determine peanut seed weights was investigated. X-ray images of a total of 513 peanut pods from three commercial cultivars, each representing three market types, were taken using a soft X-ray imaging system. The region of interest of each image, the seeds, was extracted two ways, manually and with a differential evolution segmentation algorithm. The comprehensive attenuation index (CAI) value was calculated from the segmented regions of interest. Lastly, linear regression models were established between peanut seed weights and the CAI. The results demonstrat...

Frontiers in Plant Science

Editorial on the Research Topic Advanced application technology for plant protection: Sensing, mo... more Editorial on the Research Topic Advanced application technology for plant protection: Sensing, modelling, spraying system and equipment As editors of this Research Topic, we summarized the contributions of 20 articles accepted in this topic. The research contents mainly focused on the following sections: drift characteristics of unmanned equipment and development of autonomous navigation spray system, identification and classification of pests and diseases based on deep learning, and airflow velocity loss characteristics of air-assisted spray in orchard. Drift characteristics of unmanned equipment and development of autonomous navigation spray system In recent ten years, agricultural unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), also known as Unmanned Aerial Spraying Systems (UASS), as a new method for the application of plant protection products, has developed rapidly in the world. Compared with ground equipment, UAV spray is more likely to cause spray drift and environmental pollution to non-target areas. Therefore, it is important to study the spray drift characteristics of UASS. Chen et al. reviewed the drift characteristics of UAV spray system and the factors affecting UAV system drift, and put forward suggestions on the optimization of spray system and structure layout, modeling of drift test, and standardization of measurement methods. Jiang et al. compared the performance of UAV, unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) and spray gun pesticide application technology of spray target coverage, off-target coverage, time efficiency and gasoline consumption in the pear orchard. The results showed that compared with UGV, UAV has the advantages of high working efficiency, less environmental pollution Frontiers in Plant Science frontiersin.org 01

Advancements in agricultural development, Nov 30, 2022

Many rural counties in the U.S. are struggling, particularly farming-dependent counties experienc... more Many rural counties in the U.S. are struggling, particularly farming-dependent counties experiencing persistent poverty. This Rapid Rural Appraisal study focused on two farming-dependent counties in rural Oklahoma experiencing persistent poverty, population declines, and related stressors. In a series of open forums, rural community members most frequently referenced built capital (i.e., infrastructure) as the major reason that prevented the growth of new businesses and suppressed pride in the community. In comparison, community members expressed their greatest accomplishments and sources of hope which involved human capital, in the way of the school systems, teachers, and students, and social capital, in the way of their athletic teams, churches, and relationships with each other. Although these counties rely heavily on agriculture as a major contributor to their economy, residents expressed challenges and concerns related to high concentrations of nitrate in the drinking water and seasonal air pollution related to agricultural processing facilities. Recommendations include encouraging residents in these two counties to rally together around their perceived strengths-human and social capital-to actively solve the problems identified during the open forums.

Because innovation is essential to the future of our society and because there is a need to prepa... more Because innovation is essential to the future of our society and because there is a need to prepare college students to succeed in business organizations, it has become increasingly important to investigate the factors that enhance or discourage creativity and innovation. College professors have a vital role in introducing students to the fundamentals of innovation and, depending on how they do, can potentially encourage or discourage the innovation process. This study focused on the communication and motivation in the innovation process of faculty in a multidisciplinary course comprised of agricultural economics, biosystems and agricultural engineering, and agricultural communication majors at a large land-grant university. Results demonstrated that students did not always find faculty communication effective, and findings among students in the three majors were different in faculty communication ratings. The data show there are positive relationships between students\u27 perceptio...

Applied Engineering in Agriculture, 2014

Soil salinity and temperature are major factors that influence the dielectric properties of soil.... more Soil salinity and temperature are major factors that influence the dielectric properties of soil. To evaluate the effect of these factors on a soil moisture sensor based on dielectric properties, a loess soil sample from Shenmu County, Shaanxi Province, and a sandy soil sample from Dangshan County, Anhui Province, were tested. Two frequency domain reflectometry (FDR) sensors were employed to measure the output for different moisture contents (4.4%-22%), temperatures (5°C-50°C) and salinity levels (0%-1%). The results showed that the indicated moisture output increased with temperature and soil salinity (0%~0.4%), and was relatively stable with salinity (0.4%-1%). A mathematical model relating sensor output, moisture content, salinity, and temperature was established. This model can be used to develop FDR soil moisture sensor calibration equations with temperature and salinity compensation functions.

Transactions of the ASABE, 2015

Detecting and measuring mass flow is fundamental to many applications in agricultural engineering... more Detecting and measuring mass flow is fundamental to many applications in agricultural engineering. Material handling, food processing, fertilizer spreading, and yield monitoring in combines are examples where mass flow measurement is needed. Methods for measuring material flow have used load cells, optical sensors, radiometric sensors, and many other techniques. The objective of this study was to develop a system to measure material (grain) flow using a laser line scanner. A laser line scanner measures the distance between the sensor and objects based on the time-of-flight principle. In this study, it was used to measure grain flowing from a stationary bin. A sliding gate at the bottom of the bin was used to adjust the grain flow. Experiments were conducted at six grain flow rates with three replications. The results showed the ability to detect the grain flow and measure grain flow rates up to approximately 5 kg s-1 for 45 cm of flow width (with R 2 = 0.97). Measurement of flow rates greater than 5 kg s-1 was not possible. We found a linear relationship between grain flow rate and the RMSE of the laser line scanner signal (R 2 = 0.91).

Transactions of the ASABE, 2015

The nutritional status of citrus leaves is very important to the determining of fertilization pla... more The nutritional status of citrus leaves is very important to the determining of fertilization plans. The spectrum technique is a quick, uninjured method and is becoming widely used for plant nutrient estimation. The possibility and method of using spectrum technique to estimate the nutrient of citrus leaf was explored in this study. A total amount of 135 leaves from the mature spring shoots of navel orange trees (C. sinensis Osbeck, "Newhall") were collected and randomly grouped into two sets of samples: 100 leaves for the calibration set and 35 leaves for the prediction set. The hyperspectral images were scanned upper and lower side of each leaf and then the total nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) contents of each leaf were measured. The raw spectra data were extracted to generate average spectra curves, preprocessed with five different methods, and was used to build N and P content prediction models. The performances of the five preprocessing methods, i.e., Savitzky-Golay smoothing (SGS), standard normal variate (SNV), multiplicative scatter correction (MSC), first-derivative (1-Der) and second-derivative (2-Der), were tested with linear partial least squares (PLS) models and nonlinear least squares-support vector machine (LS-SVM) models. The results showed that the SG-PLS and PLS were the best for the N predicting (Rp=0.9049, RMSEP=0.1041) and P (Rp=0.9235, RMSEP=0.0514) in citrus leaves, respectively; the hyperspectral image data from leaf"s upper side predicting better for the contents of N and P. The study suggested that the hyperspectral image data from the upper side of the citrus leaves are suitable for nondestructive estimation of nutrient content.

I International Symposium on Pecans and Other Carya in Indigenous and Managed Systems, 2015

This paper summarizes research at Oklahoma State University (OSU) to develop innovative technolog... more This paper summarizes research at Oklahoma State University (OSU) to develop innovative technologies that provide solutions to issues and problems affecting pecan production and processing. Some of the projects areas include; 1. Pecan yield estimation technique using backscattered terrestrial microwave sensing. 2. Dielectric spectroscopy for estimating quality of in-shell pecans. 3. Wireless image sensor networks in estimating the population of pecan weevils. 4. Low-cost small-scale sanitizer for in-shell pecans. 5. Optical sensors and algorithms that adequately predict plant N status for nitrogen management. 6. X-ray machine vision inspection systems for pecan defect identification. Accurate estimates of pecans in the field prior to harvest are critically important for production management decisions and marketing. Pecan producers, processors and marketers identified improved accuracy of crop estimates as a research priority for the industry. The pecan weevil (Curculio caryae) is considered a key pest. Without timely insecticide treatments, crop losses can exceed 75%. Research has focused on the design of a wireless sensor network for real-time monitoring and population estimation of pecan weevils. Nitrogen (N) has become a major cost in producing pecans. Traditionally, N is applied once or twice per season. Application rates usually exceed the minimum N requirement for optimum production. Research has focused on reducing N inputs while maintaining production levels. Sorting of defective nuts is difficult because nutmeat defects are not fully recognizable by physical properties, color and appearance of whole unshelled nuts. Commercial sorters are available to sort nutmeat after shelling the nuts, but this results in unnecessary shelling of defective nuts. Development of automated inspection systems to identify good pecan nuts from defective ones before shelling would reduce processing costs. Due to space limitations, only the highlights of each research area will be presented. Interested readers desiring more comprehensive discussion of the projects are encouraged to access the references.

Advances in engineering education, 2015

In Biosystems Engineering at Oklahoma State University, senior design is a two semester course in... more In Biosystems Engineering at Oklahoma State University, senior design is a two semester course in which students work on real-world projects provided by clients. First-year (freshmen and transfer) students enroll in an introductory engineering course. Historically, these students worked on a team-based analysis project, and the engineering design process was discussed but not explicitly applied. This study investigated the hypothesis that first-year and senior design teams can be linked through capstone projects to more effectively introduce design. First-year students design a small portion of the client-based capstone project as identified by and supervised by the seniors. Several assessment tools were used: student knowledge of the design process, presentations and student surveys. More than 90% of introductory students agreed that the project was worthwhile and helped them learn about engineering as a future career. After having institutionalized the linkage, seniors were more likely to identify appropriate projects and viewed the mentoring as beneficial.

Geoderma, Nov 1, 2021

Abstract Rill erosion is one of the main forms of soil erosion on hillslopes in hilly and gully r... more Abstract Rill erosion is one of the main forms of soil erosion on hillslopes in hilly and gully regions of the Loess Plateau. For simplicity, many studies assume hillslopes with a uniform sloping profile. However, the most loess hillslopes are convex shape with variable degrees in this area. Estimating soil losses and planning soil conservation practices on such slopes have required much local judgment. The objective of this study was to clarify soil erosion evolution qualitatively and quantitatively on a convex slope based on a three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction technique and geographic information system (GIS) in simulated rainfall experiments. The results showed that: (1) The erosion processes of the convex slope could be reasonably described with the following stages: splash and sheet erosion – drop pits – head-cut erosion – intermittent rill – continuous rill – rill network development – transition from rill to ephemeral gully. (2) Soil loss rate from the convex slope varied from 0.127 Kg m−2 min−1 in the sheet erosion stage to 0.342 Kg m−2 min−1 in rill network development stage, which was much greater compared with the results of uniform slope erosion reported by others in this area. Once rill erosion evolved into the dominant erosion pattern (after 30 mm of rainfall), rill length, width, and depth enlarged noticeably with headward and lateral erosion. (3) The contribution of sediment from rill and inter-rill erosion to total erosion was accurately depicted, and rill erosion contributed up to 60% of the total sediment amount. (4) Soil erosion rate was significantly correlated with rill morphological parameters—fractal dimension, rill density, and degree of rill dissection (correlation coefficients of 0.978, 0.989, and 0.980, respectively). These results are helpful for the qualitative and quantitative understanding of the erosion processes of hillslopes in Chinese Loess Plateau, and have an important reference for the rational arrangement of erosion control measures.

Frontiers in Plant Science, Feb 23, 2023

Editorial on the Research Topic Advanced application technology for plant protection: Sensing, mo... more Editorial on the Research Topic Advanced application technology for plant protection: Sensing, modelling, spraying system and equipment As editors of this Research Topic, we summarized the contributions of 20 articles accepted in this topic. The research contents mainly focused on the following sections: drift characteristics of unmanned equipment and development of autonomous navigation spray system, identification and classification of pests and diseases based on deep learning, and airflow velocity loss characteristics of air-assisted spray in orchard. Drift characteristics of unmanned equipment and development of autonomous navigation spray system In recent ten years, agricultural unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), also known as Unmanned Aerial Spraying Systems (UASS), as a new method for the application of plant protection products, has developed rapidly in the world. Compared with ground equipment, UAV spray is more likely to cause spray drift and environmental pollution to non-target areas. Therefore, it is important to study the spray drift characteristics of UASS. Chen et al. reviewed the drift characteristics of UAV spray system and the factors affecting UAV system drift, and put forward suggestions on the optimization of spray system and structure layout, modeling of drift test, and standardization of measurement methods. Jiang et al. compared the performance of UAV, unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) and spray gun pesticide application technology of spray target coverage, off-target coverage, time efficiency and gasoline consumption in the pear orchard. The results showed that compared with UGV, UAV has the advantages of high working efficiency, less environmental pollution Frontiers in Plant Science frontiersin.org 01

Paper - American Society of Agricultural Engineers, 1990

Transactions of the Chinese Society of Agricultural Machinery, 2015

A simple and easily adaptable analytical approach was developed for the hydraulic design of micro... more A simple and easily adaptable analytical approach was developed for the hydraulic design of micro-irrigation paired tapered laterals laid on uniformly sloping grounds based on the definition position locations where the same average emitter pressure head existed in the uphill and downhill laterals.Analytical expressions of the best manifold position,inlet working pressure head,coefficient of variation by hydraulic variation and the limited length of the paired tapered laterals were separately developed by using the energy gradient line method. Three tables showed the values used in estimating the design parameters of the best manifold position,inlet working pressure head and coefficient of variation by hydraulic variation,respectively,for the common diameter ratio,pressure loss ratio and velocity exponent.When the length,diameter and designed emitter flow were given,the best manifold position and other parameters of the paired tapered laterals could be directly designed without using iterative methods. When the diameters,designed emitter flow and water application uniformity criterion were provided,the limited length,the best manifold position and remaining parameters of the paired tapered laterals could be easily determined by Excel Equation-Solver in Microsoft Excel. When the length,designed emitter flow and water application uniformity criterion were provided,the design diameter,the best manifold position and the remaining parameters of the paired tapered laterals could also be easily determined in Microsoft Excel by the iterative technique. Three numerical design examples covering various conditions indicated that the proposed approach could produce accurate results for practical purposes.

Engineering in agriculture, environment and food, Apr 1, 2019

The change of received signal strength index and packet loss rate under 2.4 GHz radio communicati... more The change of received signal strength index and packet loss rate under 2.4 GHz radio communication in a persimmon orchard in flowering phase was investigated. Texas CC2530 RF chip and the TinyOS system based WSN nodes were selected as instruments to conduct interwoven tests along a column of persimmon trees and different rows and columns of the orchard, and measure the receiving signal strength and packet loss rate which were in the three different heights from 0.80 m at the bottom of the canopy to 2.80 m at the top. In the tests, distance of each three trees was set as a tested distance, and there were eight tested distances in each row or column totally. Afterwards, all the obtained data underwent regression analysis. The results showed that when the transmitter and receiver were maintained at a fixed height, the received signal strength decreased, while the packet loss rate increased with the augment of tested distance. Furthermore, under the two situations where receiver was at the fringe of persimmon orchard and both transmitter and receiver were in the orchard, the models of signal strength attenuation affected by different factors along a row of persimmon tree were established and evaluated. Additionally, the curved surface graphs of different transceiver heights and different ranks of trees which were drawn by MATLAB software was able to reflect wireless signal transmission characteristics in persimmon orchard straightly.

Agronomy, Apr 15, 2023

This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY

Transactions of the ASABE, Jul 29, 2013

Terahertz (THz) rays interact with materials at intermolecular levels, and because of this they a... more Terahertz (THz) rays interact with materials at intermolecular levels, and because of this they are the focus of many active research areas. The developments in THz technology were hindered by lack of hardware, but the advent of the femtosecond laser in the 1980s started the advancement in THz generation and detection technologies. THz technology is transitioning from laboratory scale to many practical applications, including security screening, pharmaceuticals, plastics, and others, but there are few studies pertaining to food and agricultural applications. This study reviews the articles related to food and agriculture applications of THz spectroscopy and THz imaging. It also briefly introduces important THz techniques. The survey of the literature reveals great potential for this emerging and promising technology in agriculture. Food inspection, crop inspection, and material characterization could be potential research areas.

AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts, Dec 1, 2020

Transactions of the ASABE, Jul 29, 2013

X-ray imaging studies in the food and agriculture sector were surveyed. This survey of the litera... more X-ray imaging studies in the food and agriculture sector were surveyed. This survey of the literature revealed that x-ray hardware and software have improved considerably since 1990s, when digital x-ray imaging studies began. X-ray imaging has been extensively researched for food inspection. Additionally, there are studies utilizing x-rays to characterize plant and soil properties. Poor image contrast, due to similarity in the attenuation properties of an object and its background, pose a challenge in image segmentation. Development of local adaptive approaches has improved image segmentation and classification accuracies. Hardware developments have resulted in commercial-grade x-ray inspection systems. Future developments in x-ray generation and detection technologies, advances in image processing algorithms, and worldwide food safety concerns indicate increased opportunities for x-ray inspection in the food and agriculture sector.

Agronomy

In the U.S., peanut farmers receive premium prices for crops with high seed grades. One component... more In the U.S., peanut farmers receive premium prices for crops with high seed grades. One component of seed grade is the proportion of seed weight to that of pod hulls and other matter. Seed weight and size are also important traits for food processors. Current methods for evaluating peanut seed grade require the opening of the pod and are time-consuming and labor-intensive. In this study, a non-destructive and efficient method to determine peanut seed weights was investigated. X-ray images of a total of 513 peanut pods from three commercial cultivars, each representing three market types, were taken using a soft X-ray imaging system. The region of interest of each image, the seeds, was extracted two ways, manually and with a differential evolution segmentation algorithm. The comprehensive attenuation index (CAI) value was calculated from the segmented regions of interest. Lastly, linear regression models were established between peanut seed weights and the CAI. The results demonstrat...

Frontiers in Plant Science

Editorial on the Research Topic Advanced application technology for plant protection: Sensing, mo... more Editorial on the Research Topic Advanced application technology for plant protection: Sensing, modelling, spraying system and equipment As editors of this Research Topic, we summarized the contributions of 20 articles accepted in this topic. The research contents mainly focused on the following sections: drift characteristics of unmanned equipment and development of autonomous navigation spray system, identification and classification of pests and diseases based on deep learning, and airflow velocity loss characteristics of air-assisted spray in orchard. Drift characteristics of unmanned equipment and development of autonomous navigation spray system In recent ten years, agricultural unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), also known as Unmanned Aerial Spraying Systems (UASS), as a new method for the application of plant protection products, has developed rapidly in the world. Compared with ground equipment, UAV spray is more likely to cause spray drift and environmental pollution to non-target areas. Therefore, it is important to study the spray drift characteristics of UASS. Chen et al. reviewed the drift characteristics of UAV spray system and the factors affecting UAV system drift, and put forward suggestions on the optimization of spray system and structure layout, modeling of drift test, and standardization of measurement methods. Jiang et al. compared the performance of UAV, unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) and spray gun pesticide application technology of spray target coverage, off-target coverage, time efficiency and gasoline consumption in the pear orchard. The results showed that compared with UGV, UAV has the advantages of high working efficiency, less environmental pollution Frontiers in Plant Science frontiersin.org 01

Advancements in agricultural development, Nov 30, 2022

Many rural counties in the U.S. are struggling, particularly farming-dependent counties experienc... more Many rural counties in the U.S. are struggling, particularly farming-dependent counties experiencing persistent poverty. This Rapid Rural Appraisal study focused on two farming-dependent counties in rural Oklahoma experiencing persistent poverty, population declines, and related stressors. In a series of open forums, rural community members most frequently referenced built capital (i.e., infrastructure) as the major reason that prevented the growth of new businesses and suppressed pride in the community. In comparison, community members expressed their greatest accomplishments and sources of hope which involved human capital, in the way of the school systems, teachers, and students, and social capital, in the way of their athletic teams, churches, and relationships with each other. Although these counties rely heavily on agriculture as a major contributor to their economy, residents expressed challenges and concerns related to high concentrations of nitrate in the drinking water and seasonal air pollution related to agricultural processing facilities. Recommendations include encouraging residents in these two counties to rally together around their perceived strengths-human and social capital-to actively solve the problems identified during the open forums.

Because innovation is essential to the future of our society and because there is a need to prepa... more Because innovation is essential to the future of our society and because there is a need to prepare college students to succeed in business organizations, it has become increasingly important to investigate the factors that enhance or discourage creativity and innovation. College professors have a vital role in introducing students to the fundamentals of innovation and, depending on how they do, can potentially encourage or discourage the innovation process. This study focused on the communication and motivation in the innovation process of faculty in a multidisciplinary course comprised of agricultural economics, biosystems and agricultural engineering, and agricultural communication majors at a large land-grant university. Results demonstrated that students did not always find faculty communication effective, and findings among students in the three majors were different in faculty communication ratings. The data show there are positive relationships between students\u27 perceptio...

Applied Engineering in Agriculture, 2014

Soil salinity and temperature are major factors that influence the dielectric properties of soil.... more Soil salinity and temperature are major factors that influence the dielectric properties of soil. To evaluate the effect of these factors on a soil moisture sensor based on dielectric properties, a loess soil sample from Shenmu County, Shaanxi Province, and a sandy soil sample from Dangshan County, Anhui Province, were tested. Two frequency domain reflectometry (FDR) sensors were employed to measure the output for different moisture contents (4.4%-22%), temperatures (5°C-50°C) and salinity levels (0%-1%). The results showed that the indicated moisture output increased with temperature and soil salinity (0%~0.4%), and was relatively stable with salinity (0.4%-1%). A mathematical model relating sensor output, moisture content, salinity, and temperature was established. This model can be used to develop FDR soil moisture sensor calibration equations with temperature and salinity compensation functions.

Transactions of the ASABE, 2015

Detecting and measuring mass flow is fundamental to many applications in agricultural engineering... more Detecting and measuring mass flow is fundamental to many applications in agricultural engineering. Material handling, food processing, fertilizer spreading, and yield monitoring in combines are examples where mass flow measurement is needed. Methods for measuring material flow have used load cells, optical sensors, radiometric sensors, and many other techniques. The objective of this study was to develop a system to measure material (grain) flow using a laser line scanner. A laser line scanner measures the distance between the sensor and objects based on the time-of-flight principle. In this study, it was used to measure grain flowing from a stationary bin. A sliding gate at the bottom of the bin was used to adjust the grain flow. Experiments were conducted at six grain flow rates with three replications. The results showed the ability to detect the grain flow and measure grain flow rates up to approximately 5 kg s-1 for 45 cm of flow width (with R 2 = 0.97). Measurement of flow rates greater than 5 kg s-1 was not possible. We found a linear relationship between grain flow rate and the RMSE of the laser line scanner signal (R 2 = 0.91).

Transactions of the ASABE, 2015

The nutritional status of citrus leaves is very important to the determining of fertilization pla... more The nutritional status of citrus leaves is very important to the determining of fertilization plans. The spectrum technique is a quick, uninjured method and is becoming widely used for plant nutrient estimation. The possibility and method of using spectrum technique to estimate the nutrient of citrus leaf was explored in this study. A total amount of 135 leaves from the mature spring shoots of navel orange trees (C. sinensis Osbeck, "Newhall") were collected and randomly grouped into two sets of samples: 100 leaves for the calibration set and 35 leaves for the prediction set. The hyperspectral images were scanned upper and lower side of each leaf and then the total nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) contents of each leaf were measured. The raw spectra data were extracted to generate average spectra curves, preprocessed with five different methods, and was used to build N and P content prediction models. The performances of the five preprocessing methods, i.e., Savitzky-Golay smoothing (SGS), standard normal variate (SNV), multiplicative scatter correction (MSC), first-derivative (1-Der) and second-derivative (2-Der), were tested with linear partial least squares (PLS) models and nonlinear least squares-support vector machine (LS-SVM) models. The results showed that the SG-PLS and PLS were the best for the N predicting (Rp=0.9049, RMSEP=0.1041) and P (Rp=0.9235, RMSEP=0.0514) in citrus leaves, respectively; the hyperspectral image data from leaf"s upper side predicting better for the contents of N and P. The study suggested that the hyperspectral image data from the upper side of the citrus leaves are suitable for nondestructive estimation of nutrient content.

I International Symposium on Pecans and Other Carya in Indigenous and Managed Systems, 2015

This paper summarizes research at Oklahoma State University (OSU) to develop innovative technolog... more This paper summarizes research at Oklahoma State University (OSU) to develop innovative technologies that provide solutions to issues and problems affecting pecan production and processing. Some of the projects areas include; 1. Pecan yield estimation technique using backscattered terrestrial microwave sensing. 2. Dielectric spectroscopy for estimating quality of in-shell pecans. 3. Wireless image sensor networks in estimating the population of pecan weevils. 4. Low-cost small-scale sanitizer for in-shell pecans. 5. Optical sensors and algorithms that adequately predict plant N status for nitrogen management. 6. X-ray machine vision inspection systems for pecan defect identification. Accurate estimates of pecans in the field prior to harvest are critically important for production management decisions and marketing. Pecan producers, processors and marketers identified improved accuracy of crop estimates as a research priority for the industry. The pecan weevil (Curculio caryae) is considered a key pest. Without timely insecticide treatments, crop losses can exceed 75%. Research has focused on the design of a wireless sensor network for real-time monitoring and population estimation of pecan weevils. Nitrogen (N) has become a major cost in producing pecans. Traditionally, N is applied once or twice per season. Application rates usually exceed the minimum N requirement for optimum production. Research has focused on reducing N inputs while maintaining production levels. Sorting of defective nuts is difficult because nutmeat defects are not fully recognizable by physical properties, color and appearance of whole unshelled nuts. Commercial sorters are available to sort nutmeat after shelling the nuts, but this results in unnecessary shelling of defective nuts. Development of automated inspection systems to identify good pecan nuts from defective ones before shelling would reduce processing costs. Due to space limitations, only the highlights of each research area will be presented. Interested readers desiring more comprehensive discussion of the projects are encouraged to access the references.