Low cost climate station for smart agriculture applications with photovoltaic energy and wireless communication

The Influence of Weather Conditions on the Diurnal Variation in Range of Motion in Older Adults with Knee Osteoarthritis

(1) Background: This study investigated the relationship between weather conditions, diurnal patterns, and total knee range of motion (ROM), as well as the severity of symptoms (pain and stiffness) in older adults with knee osteoarthritis. (2) Methods: An exploratory longitudinal study was conducted on 28 older adults with knee osteoarthritis (mean age 71.86 ± 4.49 years; 46.4% men, 53.6% women). We used as assessment tools the Visual Analog Scales (VAS) for self-reported local knee pain and stiffness, and goniometry for ROM. Measurements were taken twice, six months apart, in winter and summer, in the morning and evening of each selected day. Recorded weather factors comprised temperature, relative humidity, barometric pressure, and maximum wind speed. (3) Results: The study revealed significant effects of season and time of day on pain and stiffness, respectively (p < 0.001). Additionally, a significant interaction between season and time influenced total knee ROM (p < 0.001). Moreover, there was a statistically significant relationship between time and total knee ROM (p < 0.001). (4) Conclusions: This research underscores the complex link between seasonal fluctuations and daily variations in some symptomatic and functional aspects of knee osteoarthritis in older adults.

Low-cost air, noise, and light pollution measuring station with wireless communication and tinyML

Different types of environmental pollution cause negative consequences to ecosystems throughout the globe, which humanity is now trying to mitigate. It is necessary to know the level of pollution problems in the immediate environment, to evaluate the impact of human activities, and mitigation strategies necessary to ensure habitability. For this reason, in this work, a low-cost pollution measurement station for outdoor or indoor use is proposed and developed that measures air pollution (particulate matter and CO2 ), noise (level and direction), light pollution (power and multispectral), and also relative humidity and ambient temperature. The system stores the data in an SD memory or transmits data in real-time to the internet via WiFi. The purposes of the system are to be used in environmental studies, to deploy monitoring networks, or to ensure the habitability of a living or working space. The prototype integrates the measurement of the different sources of contamination in a single compact device at USD$ 628.12 without sacrificing measurement accuracy. The system is validated for each variable with reference equipment, obtaining an average error of approximately 2.67% in the measurement of all the variables measured. The system is easy to assemble and has an option for power supply using solar photovoltaic devices and an alternative for connection to 2G/3G mobile networks.

Evaluation of Growth Responses of Lettuce and Energy Efficiency of the Substrate and Smart Hydroponics Cropping System

Smart sensing devices enabled hydroponics, a concept of vertical farming that involves soilless technology that increases green area. Although the cultivation medium is water, hydroponic cultivation uses 13 ± 10 times less water and gives 10 ± 5 times better quality products compared with those obtained through the substrate cultivation medium. The use of smart sensing devices helps in continuous real-time monitoring of the nutrient requirements and the environmental conditions required by the crop selected for cultivation. This, in turn, helps in enhanced year-round agricultural production. In this study, lettuce, a leafy crop, is cultivated with the Nutrient Film Technique (NFT) setup of hydroponics, and the growth results are compared with cultivation in a substrate medium. The leaf growth was analyzed in terms of cultivation cycle, leaf length, leaf perimeter, and leaf count in both cultivation methods, where hydroponics outperformed substrate cultivation. The results of the 'AquaCrop simulator also showed similar results, not only qualitatively and quantitatively, but also in terms of sustainable growth and year-round production. The energy consumption of both the cultivation methods is compared, and it is found that hydroponics consumes 70 ± 11 times more energy compared to substrate cultivation. Finally, it is concluded that smart sensing devices form the backbone of precision agriculture, thereby multiplying crop yield by real-time monitoring of the agronomical variables.

Strategic Investment in Open Hardware for National Security

Free and open-source hardware (FOSH) development has been shown to increase innovation and reduce economic costs. This article reviews the opportunity to use FOSH as a sanction to undercut imports and exports from a target criminal country. A formal methodology is presented for selecting strategic national investments in FOSH development to improve both national security and global safety. In this methodology, first the target country that is threatening national security or safety is identified. Next, the top imports from the target country as well as potentially other importing countries (allies) are quantified. Hardware is identified that could undercut imports/exports from the target country. Finally, methods to support the FOSH development are enumerated to support production in a commons-based peer production strategy. To demonstrate how this theoretical method works in practice, it is applied as a case study to a current criminal military aggressor nation, who is also a fossil-fuel exporter. The results show that there are numerous existing FOSH and opportunities to develop new FOSH for energy conservation and renewable energy to reduce fossil-fuel-energy demand. Widespread deployment would reduce the concomitant pollution, human health impacts, and environmental desecration as well as cut financing of military operations.

Design and implementation of 3-D printed radiation shields for environmental sensors

The measurement of outdoor environmental and climatic variables is needed for many applications such as precision agriculture, environmental pollution monitoring, and the study of ecosystems. Some sensors deployed for these purposes such as temperature, relative humidity, atmospheric pressure, and carbon dioxide sensors require protection from climate factors to avoid bias. Radiation shields hold and protect sensors to avoid this bias, but commercial systems are limited, often expensive, and difficult to implement in low-cost contexts or large deployments for collaborative sensing. To overcome these challenges, this work presents an open source, easily adapted and customized design of a radiation shield. The device can be fabricated with inexpensive off-the-shelf parts and 3-D printed components and can be adapted to protect and isolate different types of sensors. Two material approaches are tested here: polylactic acid (PLA), the most common 3-D printing filament, and acrylonitrile styrene acrylate (ASA), which is known to offer better resistance against UV radiation, greater hardness, and generally higher resistance to degradation. To validate the designs, the two prototypes were installed on a custom outdoor meteorological system and temperature and humidity measurements were made in several locations for one month and compared against a proprietary system and a system with no shield. The 3-D printed materials were also both tested multiple times for one month for UV stability of their mechanical properties, their optical transmission and deformation under outdoor high-heat conditions. The results showed that ASA is the preferred material for this design and that the open source radiation shield could match the performance of proprietary systems. The open source system can be constructed for about nine US dollars, which enables mass development of flexible weather stations for monitoring needed in smart agriculture.