How smartphones reduces brain power.

How smartphones reduces brain power. The rave of the moment now is a smartphone and as the name implies its smart indeed,taking over so many functions at home and on the farms. The smartphone has become a platform for many smart solutions,linking sensors, robots and other agritech components together,the smartness of these phones seem to be robbing the owners of their smartness(cognitive) abilities according to a new research. A new study from the McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin shows that your cognitive capacity is significantly reduced when your smartphone is within reach . Researchers conducted experiments with nearly 800 smartphone users in an attempt to measure, for the first time, how well people can complete tasks when they have their smartphones nearby even when they're not using them. In one experiment, the researchers asked study participants to sit at a computer and take a series of tests that required full concentration in order to score well. The tests were geared to measure participants' available cognitive capacity -- that is, the brain's ability to hold and process data at any given time. Before beginning, participants were randomly instructed to place their smartphones either on the desk face down, in their pocket or personal bag, or in another room. All participants were instructed to turn their phones to silent. The researchers found that participants with their phones in another room significantly outperformed those with their phones on the desk, and they also slightly outperformed those participants who had kept their phones in a pocket or bag. The findings suggest that the mere presence of one's smartphone reduces available cognitive capacity and impairs cognitive functioning, even though people feel they're giving their full attention and focus to the task at hand. source

How to tackle iron and zinc deficiencies with a better variety of bread.

How to tackle iron and zinc deficiencies with a better variety of bread. Farmers and nutritionists have been working hand-in-hand to tackle iron and zinc deficiencies with bio fortification of crops to provide essential nutrients. The World Health Organization reports that anemia affects more than 30 percent of the world's population, and many cases are due to iron deficiency and many of the same people are also affected by zinc deficiencies. These conditions can lead to impaired growth, neurological problems and even early death. These deficiencies are common in developing countries and really devastating in children, the strategy involves fertilizing crops with the micronutrients,but the challenge was no one has figured out whether these added nutrients end up in food products made with the fortified crops or not. A new research reported in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry has shown that that this type of biofortification can boost micronutrients in bread, but other factors are also important. The researchers found that fertilizing an old variety of wheat crop increased its flour's concentration of zinc by more than 78 percent. Iron levels remained about the same regardless of whether varieties were biofortified; however, the old variety in the study had higher concentrations of the micronutrient than the modern variety. The analysis also showed that milling grains, regardless of whether they came from biofortified crops, into whole wheat flour versus white flour resulted in higher levels of iron, zinc and other health-promoting compounds, including antioxidants. Additionally, the process of bread-making slightly changed iron and zinc concentrations, but greatly boosted their bioavailability by 77 and 70 percent, respectively. The researchers say their findings demonstrate that biofortification, milling technique and baking should all factor into strategies for enhancing bread with iron and zinc for fighting deficiencies.

Artificial intelligence and detection of lameness in dairy cattle.

Artificial intelligence and detection of lameness in dairy cattle will change dairy farming. An early detection method for cow lameness (hoof disease), a major disease of dairy cattle, has now been developed from images of cow gait with an accuracy of 99 percent or higher by applying human gait analysis. This technique allows early detection of lameness from cow gait, which was previously difficult. It is hoped that a revolution in dairy farming can be achieved through detailed observation by AI-powered image analysis. Dairy farmers are busy with routines such as cleaning cowsheds, milking, and feeding, so it's very difficult to determine the condition of cows. If this continues, they will remain too busy to ensure the quantity and quality of milk and dairy products. A group of researchers led by Professor YAGI Yasushi at the Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research, Osaka University, together with Professor NAKADA Ken at Rakuno Gakuen University, developed a technique for monitoring health of dairy cattle with high frequency and accuracy in the farmers' stead by using a camera and AI with the aim of realizing a smart cowhouse. Methods for finding lameness by detecting back arch had been studied, but that method was effective in detecting moderate to severe lameness. The researchers established a method for the early detection of lameness from cow gait images with an accuracy of 99% or higher by using their own human gait analysis technique. Specifically, this group waterproofed and dustproofed Microsoft Kinect, a camera-based sensor capable of measuring distance to an object, and set it in a cowshed at Rakuno Gakuen University. Based on the large number of cow gait images taken by this sensor, this group characterized cow gaits, detecting cows with lameness through machine learning. more

Technology: the future of agriculture.

Invest in new technology, not bigger farms, to make profits in agribusiness. The drive to get big in agribusiness is leaking money from most ventures,experts have opined that this drive to get big or get out of agribusiness is the wrong approach. 

 Agribusiness has massive profit potential but the gains of the business is in investing in technology,to be profitable today producers still need to get bigger, but real gains come with investing seriously in agricultural technology, and not simply expansion or farm enlargement. Farmers need strategies to use technology especially precision agriculture ,use of drones,sensors and most importantly use genetic or bio-engineering techniques. 

 The goal to feed the ever increasing population has to be with smart agricultural practices,using technology to boost production, preservation and proper distribution to ensure farm produce is not lost or wasted. The use of technology to foster farms will not be limited to production but to the entire chain if profit and food security is to be achieved. 

 Agriculture with technology(agritech) is the way forward for agribusiness,farmers need to push the bar with innovative technologies which can be done individually or as a group or better still there can be a call for investors in form of partnerships. more

Don't refrigerate tomatoes for better aroma.

Don't refrigerate tomatoes for better aroma.Aroma, which is produced by a complex mixture of volatile compounds, plays an important role in consumers' perceptions of fresh fruits and vegetables. According to the researchers not only do pre and post-production practices such as time of harvest, use of plant growth regulators and storage temperature/atmosphere affect tomato aroma, common kitchen practices such as refrigeration and blanching are also detrimental.more

Vacuum cooling: Ensuring product quality and optimizing storage life.

Vacuum cooling: Ensuring product quality and optimizing storage life. Many vegetables, flowers, herbs and fruit quickly age after harvest. At harvest temperature, respiration and transpiration could be up to 25 times higher than with at optimum storage temperature. Vacuum cooling is a perfect method for this, ensuring optimal product quality, and optimizing storage or vase life. Vacuum cooling is a pre-cooling technique with an average cooling time of only 15-30 minutes. Vacuum cooling reduces: 1)The degree of respiration (and thus the risk of botrytis [in flowers] and black rot [in vegetables]). 2)Transpiration, and thus loss of fluids (maximizing your yield) 3)The production of ethylene and the sensitivity to this. 4)The development of microbes (and thus the percentage of production loss). more

How bubbles can help us treat cancer.

How bubbles can help us treat cancer.Injecting bubbles in the bloodstream is usually the cause of a medical emergency, but that's precisely what Eleanor Stride intends to do to help us fight cancer. The biomedical engineer from the University of Oxford has developed a method of delivering cancer drugs by encapsulating them inside microbubbles. This allows for a precise delivery of the drug to a target tumor, improving the efficacy of the treatment.more