Engineering Commons^™

Yield Measurement System For Seed Corn: Improving Dynamic Weight Accuracy And Harvest Area Determination, Fatima Ellyn Murillo

Masters Theses

A prototype weight-based yield mapping system for seed corn production was developed at the University of Tennessee (UTK) and field tested in Iowa. The first chapter of the following study focuses on assessing the accuracy of this yield mapping system which employs a novel yield prediction and analysis software called Yield Analyzer. Yield Analyzer was designed using a rule-based system for producing yield maps with minimal user input by automatically determining acceptable ranges for known dependent variables that contribute to dynamic weight measurement errors.

The second chapter of this thesis covers the development of a non-intrusive, machine vision technique to …

An Economic Evaluation Of A Biofuel Supply Chain Utilizing Multiple Feedstocks, Huaqi Zhang

Masters Theses

Biomass is considered as one potential feedstock for biofuel production. However, the high cost of biomass-to-biofuel supply chain, attributed to biomass’s low bulk density and resulting harvest, storage, and transportation challenges, has been a major hindrance to the success of biomass-based biofuel industry. In addition, the issue of dry matter losses during storage for a feedstock has affected biomass quantity and quality if the feedstock is stored for several months after a single harvest in a year. One potential way to improve the economics of biomass supply chain is to reduce storage need and enhance the utilization of harvest equipment …

Influence Of Application Technology On Foliar Fungicide Efficacy On Cercospora Sojina Infected Soybean, Shawn Alan Butler

Masters Theses

Due to the constant concern with off-target contamination and application technology requirements associated with future herbicide-tolerant crops, the use of drift-reduction nozzle technology (DRT) may increase. The primary objective of this research was to evaluate the effects of coarse droplets generated by drift-reduction nozzles on foliar fungicide efficacy and residual in soybean infected by frogeye leaf spot caused by Cercospora sojina. No differences in disease control, soybean yield, spray retention, and residual when applying Quadris Top SB, a premix of azoxystrobin and difenoconazole, using nozzles that produce either a medium or ultra coarse droplet spectrum were determined.

Due to …

Developing An Ecological Sanitation Transect, Ian Kolesinskas

Masters Theses

A sanitation problem exists for people across the globe: basic human waste collection and treatment is inaccessible to much of the world’s population; and the status-quo gray infrastructure system of sanitation is unsustainable and unsuitable for widespread application. A paradigm shift is needed: this thesis makes the case for developing an Ecological Sanitation Transect to bring back the closed loop that connects consumption, waste excretion, sanitation, and food production. The Ecological Sanitation Transect is a synthesis of ecological sanitation, where human excreta is reused, and the urban transect, where development density is conceptualized along a continuum from rural to urban. …