Nghi et al., 'Technical, economic and environmental evaluation on mechanical rice straw gathering method', Journal of Environmental Science and Engineering B, 4 (2015): 614-619.

The National Research Council (NRC) recently highlighted the dual role of NASA to support both science and applications in planning Earth observations. This article reports the efforts of the NASA Applied Sciences Program and NASA Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission to integrate applications with science and engineering in prelaunch planning. The SMAP Early Adopter program supported the prelaunch applied research that comprises the SMAP Special Collection of the Journal of Hydrometeorology. This research, in turn, has resulted in unprecedented prelaunch preparation for SMAP applications and critical feedback to the mission to improve product specifications and distribution for postlaunch applications. These efforts have been a learning experience that should provide direction for upcoming missions and set some context for the next NRC decadal survey.

Thesis submitted to the Department of Agricultural Engineering Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY PhD, Food and Postharvest Engineering | In this thesis, the influence of moisture on selected physical, compressive and thermal properties of cocoa beans, shea and cashew nut and kernel were studied. Standard methodologies that have been accepted internationally and used by several researchers globally were used for the determination of the selected properties in moisture content ranges normally used for the postharvest processing of the selected crops. The results of moisture variation on physical properties of cocoa beans and cashew kernels such as 1000-bean mass, true density, porosity, emptying angle of repose and static coefficient of friction showed increasing trends with linear relationships while bulk density decreased linearly for cocoa bean and cashew kernel samples. The compressive strain and Young’s Modulus for cocoa beans decreased linearly with moisture from 0.009 to 0.0045, and 1300 to 205 MPa respectively. However the compressive stress decreased exponentially with increasing moisture content from 1.5 - 0.3 MPa while the crushing energy had more positive linear function with moisture content and increased from 0.013 - 0.2 J. For shea kernel, compressive stress, compressive strain and Young’s Modulus decreased linearly from 2.0 - 0.8 MPa, 0.0085 - 0.002 mm/mm and 2000 – 100 MPa with increasing moisture content. Crushing energy increased non-linearly from 0.005 - 0.13 mJ in the moisture content range of 5% - 24% w.b. The compressive stress, strain, and Young’s modulus for the cashew kernel increased from 0.214 - 1.214 MPa, 0.355 - 0.472 mm/mm, and 2.446 - 6.416 MPa respectively as moisture content increased from 5.0 - 9.0% wb. Thermal conductivity increased linearly for ground cocoa beans sample from 0.0243 - 0.0311 W/oCm and for ground shea kernels from 0.0165 - 0.0458 W/oCm in the moisture content range of 12.59 - 43.84%w.b. at a constant bulk density of 295 kg/m3. Specific heat, thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity for ground cashew kernel were found to increase linearly from 1586 – 1756 J/kgº., 0.2103 - 0.2296 W/mK and 2.369×10-7 - 2.588×10-7 m2/s with increasing moisture content from 5.0 - 9.0% w.b. Keywords: Cocoa beans, shea kernel, cashew kernel, physical properties, compressive properties, thermal properties, moisture content. iii Contribution to Science and Technology From this study, the following have been established and therefore added onto the scientific knowledge on engineering properties of food materials: 1. The publication on the physical properties of cocoa beans has been cited by 96 related articles as found in google thus contributing to information on physical properties of food grains. 2. The findings on crushing energy provide useful information for food and agricultural engineers in the design of suitable cocoa beans, shea and cashew nut crackers. 3. In a bid to mechanize the various unit operations involved in the postharvest processing of shea and cashew kernel, information and data on the behaviour of these strength properties as a function of moisture is needed. These data when utilised fully will not only save energy but will promote the design and development of effective and efficient processing machines. 4. Attempts have been made to optimize the drying process and to minimize internal cracking during drying of food grains with the aid of mathematical and numerical drying models, but estimation of the thermal properties of the material being dried, is also required. Data generated on specific heat, thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity could be used in the analysis of drying processes and storage conditions. iv Publications from Candidate’s Work 1. Bart-Plange, A., Dzisi, K. A., Addo, A., Teye, E. and Kumi, F. (2012). A comparative study of some physical properties of large and medium size Cocoa beans from Ghana. ARPN Journal of Science and Technology. 2(3): 135-141, March.www.ejournalofscience.org. ISSN NO.: 2225-7217. 2. Bart-Plange, A. P. Mohammed-Kamil, A. Addo and E. Teye (2012). Some Physical and Mechanical Properties of Cashew Nut and Kernel Grown in Ghana. International Journal of Science and Nature (IJSN). 3(2): 406-415, May 2012.www.scienceandnature.org. ISSN NO.: 2229-6441. 3. Bart-Plange, A., Addo, A., Abano, E.E. and Akowuah, J.O. (2012). Compressive Properties of Cocoa Beans Considering the Effect of Moisture Content Variations. International Journal of Engineering and Technology (IJET UK). 2(5): 850-858 http:/www.iet-journals.org. ISSN NO.: 2049-3444. 4. Bart-Plange, A. Addo, J. O. Akowuah and J. Ampah (2012). Some moisture dependent compressive properties of Shea Kernel (vitellaria Paradoxa L). Canadian Journal of Pure and Applied Sciences (CJPAS), 6(3): 2113-2119, www.cjpas.net. ISSN NO.: 1920-3853. 5. Bart-Plange, A. Addo, F. Kumi, and A. K. Piegu (2012). Some moisture dependent thermal properties of Cashew kernel (Anarcardium occidentale L.). Australian Journal of Agricultural Engineering. AJAE 3(2): 65-69. ISSN NO.: 1836-9448. 6. Bart-Plange, A. Addo, S. K. Amponsah and J. Ampah (2012). Effect of Moisture, Bulk Density and Temperature on Thermal Conductivity of Ground Cocoa Beans and Ground Sheanut Kernels. Global Journal of Science Frontier Research (GJSFR). 12( 8). ISSN NO.: 2249-4626. | KNUST

International audience | AgroParisTech professors and librarians in Food Science and Technology have developed information literacy instruction to help students find and use relevant information. The course trains students to develop information literacy competencies: to identify the information needed and define its nature and extent; to access the information with efficiency because they select and use methods, resources and retrieval systems most appropriate to the topic; to evaluate the used methods, information, and sources; to search, access and use information ethically and legally; to read, use and write bibliographic references.AgroParisTech trains two kinds of students. For Higher Education students (engineering students), the training takes place at their arrival in AgroParisTech, including courses and practical classes: role and management of information in organizations; information on plagiarism; resources in environment, food science and technology; use of relevant tools and methods for searching in databases; reference writing.For students attending a Master of Science, the training prepares them to produce a literature review. The curriculum includes: information about scientific integrity, plagiarism; information needed for a researcher; critical reading of a journal article; how to manage a literature review: resources used, information search with databases, full text access; reference writing.The students will use these information literacy skills along their studies as well as in their future jobs.

Widespread use of pharmaceuticals has resulted in mixture concentrations ranging from mg/L in effluent to µg/L concentrations in surface water. In a 2008 study, 13 pharmaceuticals, ranging in amounts from 0.0028 to 0.1757 µg/l, were identified in the Tennessee River, USA and its tributaries. In order to address the need for risk assessment of environmentally relevant pharmaceutical mixtures, Daphnia magna 21-d life cycle tests were performed on a mixture of 11 of the 13 pharmaceuticals as well as on the individual components of the mixture. Mixture exposures were based on the same initial ratios of individual compounds, up to 1000x the initial mixture concentrations.  The endpoints of mortality, time to first brood, size, and fecundity were the assessed.  The LOEC of the 11- pharmaceutical mixture was determined to be 100x greater than the measured mixture concentration detected in the Tennessee River, with the NOEC being 75x that of the measured mixture.  Single concentrations of pharmaceuticals within the mixture up to the 100x LOEC were not statistically different from control for any of the assessed endpoints.  Thus, no single pharmaceutical was deemed predominately responsible for the mixture toxicity at the concentrations tested. While mixtures of pharmaceuticals are common in many systems, based on the findings of the present study, they may not pose a significant acute or chronic hazard to aquatic invertebrates at current concentrations.