The research of pastures influenced by Carpathian sheep milk farming as a typical archetype was conducted in study areas of the mountain even subalpine landscape in the forest zone of the Western Carpathians in the Slovak Republic. We have chosen 28 areas that have been effected by mountain sheep farming since the period of the Wallachian colonization. The research works were under way from 1998 to 2016. The pastures of observation were from 615 to 1 421 meters above sea level (m a.s.l.) in the areas of 1 398 ha in total that was of various exposition and inclination, from flat surface to steep hillsides with 28° slope. The studied pastures ranged from the species‑rich to species‑poor, from Festuca‑Agrostis grasslands through Nardo‑Agrostion tenuis alliance to Nardion. The number of plant species (from 18 to 48, average 33 at 1 m2) shows a rather varied composition of grasslands. There were only two study sites with higher dominance of Festuca rubra (51 % and 64 %) recorded. The quality of grassland depends on the floristic composition (cover in %) and forage value of the particular species. Evaluation of the grassland quality (EGQ) reached the average value 57.5 in the scale from 0 to 100. Value varied from least valuable grasslands with 40.1 points in two study plots to valuable grasslands with 69.4 points. Relations between selected environmental factors were analysed by means of redundancy analysis (RDA). Among the significant factors of environment, the impact on data set variability was the strongest by altitude (18.1 %), then by total precipitation in the vegetation period (5.6 %) and grassland quality EGQ (5.2 %).

Background: Although the rice processing characteristics and processing quality evaluation technologies have been studied for many years in China, there have been few reports on the evaluation index system and evaluation method of fresh instant rice processing quality. Objective: The aim of this study was to establish a comprehensive quality evaluation model of fresh instant rice to achieve the effective quantitative quality analysis. Methods: A total of 108 japonica rice varieties were selected as the test samples, followed by the production of fresh instant rice. The color value, physicochemical quality, texture characteristic, and sensory quality of fresh instant rice were systematically analyzed. Difference analysis, correlation analysis, factor analysis, and cluster analysis were used to determine the representative quality indexes of fresh instant rice. Through initialization, forward, and normalization, the standardized indexes (0≤ Xi ≤1) were obtained. The discriminant matrix of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) was used to confirm the weight (Wi) of each representative quality index, establishing the comprehensive quality evaluation model. Results: The variable coefficients of 12 out of 17 quality indexes were more than 10%. There were 136 correlation coefficients, including 15 cases with a significant difference at the level of α = 0.05 and 52 cases with a significant difference at the level of α = 0.01. Five representative quality indexes of fresh instant rice were selected by factor analysis and cluster analysis, including palatability, adhesiveness, b* value, resilience, and iodine color value. And the comprehensive quality evaluation model of fresh instant rice integrating representative indexes was obtained: Y = 0.5650 × palatability + 0.2294 × adhesiveness + 0.0328 × resilience + 0.1175 × b* value + 0.0533 × iodine color value. Conclusion: The AHP combined with factor analysis and cluster analysis can convert a number of quality indexes into a comprehensive quality index, and thus establish the comprehensive quality evaluation model of fresh instant rice, effectively performing the quantitative quality analysis. This model not only provided a scientific basis for the accurate evaluation of fresh instant rice quality, but also laid the foundation for the formulation of fresh instant rice standards in the future.

Bovine colostrum is an important source of different biologically active compounds: immunoglobulins, lactoferrin, lysozyme, lactoperoxidase etc., therefore vital for a dairy calf’s ability to survive. There is the lack of information about microbiological quality of colostrum. Still it is very important parameter, which can be significant for calf mortality and antibodies absorption rate, the aim of the study was to evaluate microbiological quality of colostrum obtained from Latvian cows. Colostrum samples (n=20, 50 mLE-1 ) were collected in conventional farm with 500 cows (Zemgale, Latvia) during December 2018 to January 2019 one hour after calving. Samples were immediately frozen (-19±1 °C, within 30 min) and delivered to the laboratory. The colony forming units (LVS EN ISO 4833-1:2013) and presence of β-glucuronidase positive Escherichia coli (LVS EN ISO 16649-2:2007) were detected in colostrum samples. Descriptive statistics were used for data analysis. The average total plate count of analysed colostrum samples was 5.62 log CFU mLE-1, colony forming units ranged from 4.97 to 5.90 log CFU mLE-1. In the current research β-glucuronidase positive Escherichia coli CFU ranged from greater than 1 to 8300 mLE-1 in colostrum sample. Research results associated with low antibodies absorption rate by calf and high risk of diarrhoea in the farm.

تهدف هذه الدراسة لتقييم جودة مياه الأمطار في آبار الجمع المنزلية لأغراض الشرب في محافظة طوباس، بالمزامنة مع تقييم الوعي البيئي للسكان المحليين بخصوص قضايا تلوث المياه . تم أخذ 47 عينة بشكل عشوائي من 11 منطقة مختلفة ضمن محافظة طوباس وأجريت لها بعض الفحوصات المخبرية التي تتضمن درجة الحموضة، الموصلية الكهربائية، البايكربونات، العسر الكلي، الكلورايد، المغنيسيوم، الكالسيوم، الصوديوم، النيترايت، الصوديوم، الفوسفات، الكبريتات، البوتاسيوم، القاعدية، العكورة، بالإضافة للفحوصات المايكروبية حيث شملت فحص وجود القولونات الكلية والبرازية. لقد أظهرت النتائج التي تم الحصول عليها بعد التحاليل الفيزيائية و الكيميائية والمايكروبية أن هناك تجاوزاً للمعايير المحلية والعالمية، بحيث تجاوزت جميع نتائج العينات للتحاليل الفيزيائية المعايير المحلية والعالمية ، إذ تجاوزت 17 ٪ من العينات المعايير الفلسطينية ومعايير منظمة الصحة العالمية لمياه الشرب لدرجة الحموضة،2% من العينات تجاوزت المعايير بالنسبة لمجموع المواد الصلبة الذائبة في المياه، وكذلك 4% من العينات بالنسبة للتعكر.أما بالنسبة للتحاليل الكيميائية فتجاوزت نتائج التحاليل المعايير بنسب مختلفة كالتالي (البوتاسيوم 30 ٪ ، الفوسفات 28 ٪ ، المغنيسيوم 21 ٪) ، بينما كانت نسبة تلوث القولونيات الكلية والبرازية (98٪ ، 92٪) ، على التوالي. تمت دراسة خصائص آبار الجمع ومصادر التلوث بواسطة استبيانات تم الإجابة عليها من قبل أصحاب الآبار أنفسهم، ووفقًا للمعلومات التي تم جمعها وتحليلها من خلال الاستبيانات ، كانت أهم مصادر التلوث هي وجود النباتات والأشجار بالقرب من الآبار بنسبة (66٪) ، وكذلك تخزين مياه الأمطار الأولى في بداية الموسم بحيث تكون محملة بالغبار والملوثات والمايكروبات بنسبة (53 ٪) ، بالإضافة الى الاحتفاظ بمياه الأمطار التي تم تجميعها في الموسم السابق داخل البئر بنسبة (34 ٪) ، ويعزى حوالي (24 ٪) من أسباب التلوث الى عدم تنظيف منطقة تجميع المياه ومداخل البئر قبل تخزينها. وبالنسبة لنتائج التقييم المتعلقة بدراسة مستوى الوعي البيئي للأفراد ضمن منطقة الدراسة فقد أشارت النتائج إلى أن (58%) من أصحاب الآبار ليس لديهم معرفة أو دراية حول الملوثات التي تؤول الى تلوث آبارهم بالإضافة إلى فقدان الاهتمام والوعي البيئي من قبل الجهات المختصة ضمن المنطقة التي تمت دراستها ، وكما أن (70%) من أصحاب الآبار فضلو اللقاءات التوعية من قبل الجهات المختصة كوسيلة لرفع الوعي البيئي وزيادة الثقافة العامة بخصوص قضايا تلوث الماء وكيفية التعامل مع هذه المشكلة. النتائج بشكل عام تشير الى وجود تلوث فعلي والذي بدوره يؤثر سلباً على صحة الإنسان مسبباً مخاطر صحية تهدد حياة الأفراد حيث أن أهم مسببات التلوث هي الممارسات الخاطئة في عملية حصاد مياه الأمطار وتخزينها لأغراض الشرب الناتجة عن غياب الوعي البيئي لدى الأفراد ملَاك الآبار . تهدف هذه الدراسة بشكل عام إلى تحديد الخصائص والظروف الحالية والأسباب الرئيسية للتلوث لآبار الجمع التي تم دراستها خلال منطقة الدراسة، وكذلك تقييم جودة مياه الأمطار في الآبار التي تم دراستها وفقًا للمعايير المحلية والدولية ، واقتراح أفضل الأدوات والأساليب المتاحة لرفع الوعي البيئي المتعلق بقضايا تلوث المياه للمواطنين المحليين. بالإضافة إلى ذلك، تهدف هذه الدراسة بشكل عام لتوفير الفرص لتجميع المعرفة العلمية ضمن إطار دولة نامية ومن ثم تعمل على تعزيز جدول أعمال للسياسات في نظام إدارة المياه ، وذلك بهدف رفع الوعي العام لأصحاب الآبار للقيام بأفضل الممارسات لجمع وتخزين مياه الأمطار مع الأخذ بعين الاعتبار الحصول على أفضل جودة من مستوى المياه المستخدمة لأغراض الشرب.

Determining the quality of red wine is based on many qualitative and quantitative factors. Compared with other evaluation methods, the cloud model has an uncertainty transformation between a qualitative concept and its corresponding quantitative value, and the uncertainty transformation included fuzziness and randomness, which is suitable for solving the complexity of red wine evaluation. This study introduced the cloud model into quality evaluation of red wine for the first time, and a novel algorithm of comprehensive cloud model was proposed based on an addition algorithm of two cloud models. Furthermore, to validate the cloud model adopted in our red wine evaluation system, we used the gray relational analysis and fuzzy evaluation method. The evaluation result for the red wine sample was Good, and the result confirmed that our cloud model can be used to evaluate the quality of red wine. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: In 2013, China surpassed France to become the largest country of red wine consumption in the world. Red wine is made by a natural fermentation process. There are several components that make up red wine, but the most abundant is grape juice. Ethyl alcohol is the second most abundant element and it is made naturally by the fermentation of the sugar in grape. There are more than 1,000 remaining components in the recipe for red wine, where 300 are comparatively important. Although the proportion of these components is not high, they are important factors in determining the quality of red wine. Sensory evaluation is the most common method used to determine the quality of red wine. This work has identified a cloud model that can be used, based on sensory evaluation, to determine the quality of red wine.

The quality of specialty coffee (SP) is evaluated based on the grading system (number of defects of green beans and sensory evaluation of roasted beans) of the Specialty Coffee Association of America, while the quality of commercial coffee (CO), which is a product with a wide variety of uses, is evaluated based on the export standards (number of defects and altitude) of its country of origin. Nevertheless, a physicochemical quality-based evaluation method has not yet been established. In this study, the pH, titratable acidity, organic acid content, total lipid content, and acid values of Kenyan, Guatemalan, and Columbian SP and CO samples were analyzed and evaluated to correlation with sensory scores to find new indicators for quality evaluation of coffee. Significant differences were shown to the pH and acid values of all SP samples, and in the titratable acidity and total lipid contents of some SP samples. In addition, the sensory evaluation scores for all the SP samples were more than 80, and were significantly higher than those for the CO samples. The significance of values obtained from the physicochemical analysis is reflected in the sensory evaluation scores, and it was suggested that they affect the coffee quality.

The increasing demand for automated, cost-effective and time-efficient indoor modelling methods leads to a need for performance evaluation of these methods by assessing the quality of the reconstructed models. In this paper we introduce a method for geometric comparison of a 3D indoor model with a reference, which is useful not only for evaluating the geometric quality of the model, but also for change detection and temporal analysis of the building. The method provides suitable criteria for the quantitative evaluation of the geometric quality in terms of completeness, correctness, and accuracy. Experimental evaluation on a synthetic dataset and the ISPRS benchmark dataset shows the potential of the proposed method for quantitative evaluation and localization of geometric errors in 3D models of indoor environments.

As the existing cultivated land quality evaluation index system is unable to accurately evaluate the quality of cultivated land after land remediation, a modified land use coefficient method was established in this study to calculate the land use coefficient of cultivated land after land remediation. An evaluation index system was first established for the land utilization level of cultivated land in the remediation areas. After that, the land utilization level index before and after the remediation was evaluated separately. The ratio of the two was used as the correction factor to correct the original land use coefficient. The corrected land use coefficient was used to evaluate the quality of cultivated land. The quality evaluation and verification of the land remediation areas in Yuzhou City were conducted. It was found that the land use coefficient corrected by the modified method was more consistent with that calculated by production method 5 years after the project acceptance. It suggests that the modified land use coefficient method reflects the impact of land remediation on the quality of cultivated land, and it is more suitable compared with the production method for the quality evaluation of cultivation land in remediation areas.

The real-time compaction quality evaluation of earth-rock dam plays a pivotal role in ensuring dam safety. However, the current real-time compaction quality evaluation only takes the physical properties of compacted dam materials into account, which fails to characterize whether their mechanical property meets the requirements of deformation and destruction, and no quantitative heterogeneity of real-time compaction quality is studied. This paper presents a comprehensive evaluation method to address these problems. First, based on on-site tests, real-time physical and mechanical indices are obtained. Next, the analytic hierarchy process, extended by the interval model (<i>i</i>-AHP) method, is introduced for real-time compaction quality evaluation considering both these indices, and the hybrid compaction index (<i>HCI</i>) is firstly proposed based on the <i>i</i>-AHP method. Finally, an improved geostatistical analysis method (<i>i</i>-GAM) is developed to quantify the real-time compaction quality heterogeneity. A case study of an earth-rock dam project in southwest China demonstrates the effectiveness and advantages of the proposed method.

The use of herbal medicine in therapeutics is on the rise in both developed and developing countries and this book facilitates the necessary development of quality standards for these medicines. This book elucidates on various challenges and opportunities for quality evaluation of herbal drugs with several integrated approaches including metabolomics, chemoprofiling, marker analysis, stability testing, good practices for manufacturing, clinical aspects, and ethnopharmacology and ethnomedicine inspired drug development. The book highlights on various methods, techniques and approaches for evaluating the purity, quality, safety and efficacy of herbal drugs. Particular attention is paid to methods that assess these drugs' activity, the compounds responsible and their underlying mechanisms of action. The book describes the quality control parameters followed in India and other countries, including Japan, China, Bangladesh, and other Asian countries, as well as the regulatory profiles of the European Union and North America. This book will be useful in bio-prospecting of natural products and traditional medicine-inspired drug discovery and development.--Back cover