Foshan University

About: Foshan University is a education organization based out in Foshan, China. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Catalysis & Adsorption. The organization has 3906 authors who have published 4171 publications receiving 40027 citations.

ISOF: Information Scheduling and Optimization Framework for Improving the Performance of Agriculture Systems Aided by Industry 4.0

Abstract: Industry 4.0 is a promising evolution in the field of smart farming by improving the productivity and reducing human intervention to modernize agriculture. This smart paradigm incorporates different levels of the automation from cropping to production yield through sophisticated techniques. Different intelligent computing techniques and communication technologies are augmented with the industry paradigm for improving the efficiency of agriculture systems. This letter introduces information scheduling and optimization framework (ISOF) for optimizing the communication and information layer process in industry 4.0 architecture. Information scheduling and classification of agriculture information are optimized through this framework for reducing process latency and stagnancy. The control flexibility of a smart farm is determined using the latency and stagnancy at the end of yields. The classification part segregates information based on processing and completion time to reduce backlogs through offloading process. The advantage of this framework is that it inherits the advantages of Internet of Things (IoT) and edge computing (EC) technologies with interoperable feature to aid information processing, information classification, offloading, and periodic updates. The performance of the proposed framework is tested in a corn farm and some common metrics, such as delayed information, processing time, audit data, and information distribution, are analyzed for proving the reliability of the framework.

A highly porous animal bone-derived char with a superiority of promoting nZVI for Cr(VI) sequestration in agricultural soils

Abstract: Paddy soil and irrigation water are commonly contaminated with hexavalent chromium [Cr(VI)] near urban industrial areas, thereby threatening the safety of agricultural products and human health. In this study, we develop a porous and high specific area bone char (BC) to support nanoscale zero-valent iron (nZVI) and apply it to remediate Cr(VI) pollution in water and paddy soil under anaerobic conditions. The batch experiments reveal that BC/nZVI exhibits a higher removal capacity of 516.7 mg/(g•nZVI) for Cr(VI) than nZVI when normalized to the actual nZVI content, which is 2.8 times that of nZVI; moreover, the highest nZVI utilization is the nZVI loading of 15% (BC/nZVI15). The Cr(VI) removal efficiency of BC/nZVI15 decreases with increasing pH (4 – 10). Coexisting ions (phosphate and carbonate) and humic acid can inhibit the removal of Cr(VI) with BC/nZVI15. Additionally, BC exhibits a strong advantage in promoting Cr(VI) removal by nZVI compared to the widely used biochar and activated carbon. Our results demonstrate that reduction and coprecipitation are the dominant Cr(VI) removal mechanisms. Furthermore, BC/nZVI15 shows a significantly higher reduction and removal efficiency as well as a strong anti-interference ability for Cr(VI) in paddy soil, as compared to nZVI. These findings provide a new effective material for remediating Cr(VI) pollution from water and soil.