Engineering Commons^™

Watershed Delineation In The Field: A New Approach For Mobile Applications Using Lidar Elevation Data, Samuel Adam Noel

Open Access Theses

With the advancement of mobile devices, opportunities to take watershed management tasks out of the office and into the field can be realized. In turn, field workers can utilize these technologies to expedite the decision-making process so that they may focus on meeting with clients and addressing agricultural watershed management issues. High-resolution (∼1.5 m postspacing) elevation data gathered by light detection and ranging (LiDAR) provides the topographic detail necessary to model hydrology at the field-scale (∼1 km2).

Non-artifactual surface depressions lead to erroneous surface flow patterns when using existing algorithms. So a sequential depression-filling algorithm (SDFA) has been developed to …

Using Energy-Efficient Technologies To Produce Bedding Plants And Microgreens In Protected And Controlled Environments, Joshua R. Gerovac

Open Access Theses

Gerovac, Joshua R. M.S., Purdue University, December 2014. Using Energy-Efficient Technologies to Produce Bedding Plants and Microgreens in Protected and Controlled Environments. Major Professor: Roberto G. Lopez. Production of bedding plants in commercial greenhouses (GHs) located in northern latitudes begins in late winter and continues through late spring when low outdoor temperatures generally necessitate active heating to maintain temperatures suitable for growth and development. Meanwhile, year-round production of microgreens using multi-layer systems requires sole-source (SS) photosynthetic lighting for production. Energy used to provide active heating in commercial GHs or SS lighting in multi-layer systems is second only to labor as …

Quality Changes In Hermetically Stored Corn Caused By Fungi And Sitophilus Zeamais, Nda-Agyima Addae-Mensah K

Open Access Theses

Hermetic storage has been shown to be effective in controlling insect pests and maintaining grain quality of dry grains at 13% moisture and below. However, the feasibility and use of hermetic storage for grains at intermediate mid-moisture levels under the influence of the sub-Saharan African weather conditions is relatively unknown. Hermetic storage experiments were conducted on grade 1 "6297 and 6333 VT RIB" hybrid corn under controlled temperature conditions at 10 degrees centigrade and 25 degrees centigrade at target approximate moisture content levels of 11, 15, 18 and 21% wet basis for a total storage period of 6 months. Corn …

Developing An Unstructured Model To Investigate The Effect Of Ethanol On Product Yields For Glucose And Xylose Cofermentation In Saccharomyces Cerevisiae 424a (Lnh-St), Shane D. Clingenpeel

Open Access Theses

Production of bio-ethanol from lignocellulose requires the efficient fermentation of glucose and xylose, even in the presence of inhibitors. The desired product, ethanol itself, will inhibit the fermentation. A further understanding of how ethanol affects the organism is critical to overcoming its inhibition.

This thesis evaluated the effect of ethanol on the cofermentation of glucose and xylose in two different cases. The first case had an unstructured model created for Saccharomyces cerevisiae 424A (LNH-ST), a genetically modified strain of yeast capable of cofermenting glucose and xylose. The differential equations were based around sugar consumption, and the product yields were investigated …

A Farm Management Information System With Task-Specific, Collaborative Mobile Apps And Cloud Storage Services, Jonathan Tyler Welte

Open Access Theses

Modern production agriculture is beginning to advance beyond deterministic, scheduled operations between relatively few people to larger scale, information-driven efficiency in order to respond to the challenges of field variability and meet the needs of a growing population. Since no two farms are the same with respect to information and management structure, a specialized farm management information system (FMIS) which is tailored to the realities on the ground of individual farms is likely to be more effective than generalized FMIS available today.

This thesis presents the design of a FMIS using proven user-centered design principles. This approach resulted in the …