Evaluation of the Viability of 3D Printing in Recycling Polymers.

The increased use of plastics in industrial and agricultural applications has led to high levels of pollution worldwide and is a significant challenge. To address this plastic pollution, conventional methods such as landfills and incineration are used, leading to further challenges such as the generation of greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, increasing interest has been directed to identifying alternative methods to dispose of plastic waste from agriculture.

Response of the TEROS 12 Soil Moisture Sensor under Different Soils and Variable Electrical Conductivity.

In this work, the performance of the TEROS 12 electromagnetic sensor, which measures volumetric soil water content (θ), bulk soil electrical conductivity (σ), and temperature, is examined for a number of different soils, different θ and different levels of the electrical conductivity of the soil solution (EC) under laboratory conditions. For the above reason, a prototype device was developed including a low-cost microcontroller and suitable adaptation circuits for the aforementioned sensor. Six characteristic porous media were examined in a θ range from air drying to saturation, while four different solutions of increasing Electrical Conductivity (EC) from 0.

The Aging of Polymers under Electromagnetic Radiation.

Polymeric materials degrade as they react with environmental conditions such as temperature, light, and humidity. Electromagnetic radiation from the Sun's ultraviolet rays weakens the mechanical properties of polymers, causing them to degrade. This study examined the phenomenon of polymer aging due to exposure to ultraviolet radiation.

On-Device Intelligence for Malfunction Detection of Water Pump Equipment in Agricultural Premises: Feasibility and Experimentation.

The digital transformation of agriculture is a promising necessity for tackling the increasing nutritional needs on Earth and the degradation of natural resources. Toward this direction, the availability of innovative electronic components and of the accompanying software programs can be exploited to detect malfunctions in typical agricultural equipment, such as water pumps, thereby preventing potential failures and water and economic losses. In this context, this article highlights the steps for adding intelligence to sensors installed on pumps in order to intercept and deliver malfunction alerts, based on cheap in situ microcontrollers, sensors, and radios and easy-to-use software tools.

Enriching IoT Modules with Edge AI Functionality to Detect Water Misuse Events in a Decentralized Manner.

The digital transformation of agriculture is a promising necessity for tackling the increasing nutritional needs of the population on Earth and the degradation of natural resources. Focusing on the "hot" area of natural resource preservation, the recent appearance of more efficient and cheaper microcontrollers, the advances in low-power and long-range radios, and the availability of accompanying software tools are exploited in order to monitor water consumption and to detect and report misuse events, with reduced power and network bandwidth requirements. Quite often, large quantities of water are wasted for a variety of reasons; from broken irrigation pipes to people's negligence.

Bio-Inspired Robots and Structures toward Fostering the Modernization of Agriculture.

Biomimetics is the interdisciplinary cooperation of biology and technology that offers solutions to practical problems by analyzing biological systems and transferring their principles into applications. This review article focused on biomimetic innovations, including bio-inspired soft robots and swarm robots that could serve multiple functions, including the harvesting of fruits, pest control, and crop management. The research demonstrated commercially available biomimetic innovations, including robot bees by Arugga AI Farming and the Robotriks Traction Unit (RTU) precision farming equipment.

Early Warning Systems for COVID-19 Infections Based on Low-Cost Indoor Air-Quality Sensors and LPWANs.

During the last two years, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to wreak havoc in many areas of the world, as the infection spreads through person-to-person contact. Transmission and prognosis, once infected, are potentially influenced by many factors, including indoor air pollution. Particulate Matter (PM) is a complex mixture of solid and/or liquid particles suspended in the air that can vary in size, shape, and composition and recent scientific work correlate this index with a considerable risk of COVID-19 infections.

Computational Thinking and STEM in Agriculture Vocational Training: A Case Study in a Greek Vocational Education Institution.

Due to the dynamic nature of the agricultural industry, educators and their institutions face difficult challenges as they try to keep pace with future demands for knowledge and skilled workers. On the other hand, computational thinking (CT) has drawn increasing attention in the field of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education at present and, as advanced technologies and tools emerge, it is imperative for such innovations to be sustained with knowledge and skill among STEM educators and practitioners. The present case study aims to explore the relation between CT, STEM and agricultural education training (AET) in a Greek vocational training institute (IEK), the Agriculture IEK of Metamorfosis city (IEKMC), which is active in agriculture education.