CIGR Newsletter No 38

CIGR-SPONSORED ACTIVITIES

A chronological list of events in the field of agricultural engineering can also be found in our Calendar of Events which can be consulted on CIGR's Web site:

<http://wwworg.nlh.no/CIGR/>

XXVI Congress of the Brazilian Society of Agricultural Engineering

This congress is scheduled for 21-25 July 1997 and will be held in the Centro de Convençoes Raymundo Asfora, Campina Grande, P.B., Brazil.

Additional information can be obtained from: XXVI CONBEA, Universidade Federal da Paraiba, Centro de Ciencias e Tecnologia, Departemento de Engenharia Agricola, Caixa Postal 10.078, 58109.970, Campina Grande, PB. Brazil.

Fax.: +55 (0)83 310 1011/1065

E-mail: <conbea@deag.ufpb.br>

Updated information is also obtainable on the Internet:

<http://www.deag.ufpb.br>

<http://www.paqtc.rpp.br/~conbea>

3rd International Symposium on Sensors in Horticulture

This event which is sponsored by CIGR, ISHS, IAAE and Shanyray Technologies Ltd., will be held in Tiberias, Israel on 17-21 August 1997.

Topics will include:

Papers will be published in the Acta Horticulturae.

Language: English.

A special programme for accompanying persons is foreseen.

For more information please contact the Secretariat: Sensors in Horticulture, P.O. Box 29041, Tel Aviv 61290, Israel.

Fax.: +972 3 51 75 155 E-mail: <trgt@netvision.net.il>

For updated information consult:

<http://tx.technion.ac.il/~agissh3>

XXVII International Congress on Work Science

The XXVIIth International Congress on Work Science will be held in Kaposvar, Hungary on 25-27 August 1997. It is organised by Pannon University and CIOSTA and sponsored by CIGR.

Topics include:

  1. Labour and working conditions;
  2. Integrated quality management;
  3. Work organisation and farm planning;
  4. Other CIOSTA related topics.

The congress will be held at the Faculty of Animal Science of Pannon Agricultural University.

Language: English.

A post-congress tour and an accompanying persons' programme will be offered.

Correspondence: Pannon Agricultural University, Faculty of Animal Science, Kaposvar, Institute of Economics and Organisation, H-7400 Kaposvar, Guba S. u. 40.

Tel.: +36 82 314 155 Fax.: +36 82 320 175

E-mail: <mathe@atk.kaposvar.pate.hu>

International Workshop on Sustainable Irrigation in Areas of Water Scarcity and Drought.

This ICID-CIID workshop will be held in Oxford, England, on 11 and 12 September 1997. Co-sponsors are CIGR Section I (Land and Water) and EurAgEng (SIG Soil and Water).

Objectives are aimed at identifying:

Themes will include:

Further information:

Prof. J.M. de Jager, Head Department of Agrometeorology, University of the Orange Free State, P.O. Box 339, Bloem-fontein 9300, South Africa.

Tel.: +27 051 4012222 Fax.: +27 051 4480692

E-mail: <Jimmy@landbou.UOVS.ac.za>

or from:

Prof. Dr. L. Vermes, University of Horticulture and Food Industries, H-1502 Budapest, P.O.Box 53, Hungary.

Ammonia and Odour Control from Animal Production Facilities

This international symposium will be held in The Netherlands. Planned data are October 6-10, 1997.

The aim of the symposium is:

The conference language is English.

The proceedings will be available at the symposium.

Scientific programme

The following topics will be discussed:

  1. Environmental issues of emissions;
  2. Theoretical approach of emissions;
  3. Quantification and recording of emissions: odour, ammonia, methane;
  4. Odour masking techniques;
  5. Bio-filtering/air scrubbing;
  6. Social and psychological issues;
  7. Human health aspects;
  1. New designs to prevent emissions;
  2. Economical solutions for emission reduction on farms.

General correspondence:

Ammonia and Odour Control Symposium '97, P.O.Box 83, 5240 AB Rosmalen, The Netherlands.

Fax.: +31 73 521 8214

E-mail: <cigr.symposium97@pv.agro.nl>

Joint International Conference on Agricultural Engineering: Agricultural Engineering for Sustainable Development

This conference will be held in Dhaka, Bangladesh on 15-18 December 1997.

Topics include:

Inquiries: Dr H Chowdhury, Conference Convenor, Agric. Engng. Dept., Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI-48824, USA.

Tel.: +1 517 353 3883 Fax.: +1 517 353 8982

E-mail: <chowdhu2@pilot.msu.edu>

XIV Memorial CIGR Congress 2000

The XIV Memorial CIGR Congress 2000 will be held from 28 November to 1 December 2000 at the University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan.

It is organised by CIGR, The Science Council of Japan, the Japan Association of the International Commission of Agricultural Engineering and member societies.

Aims of the congress are to give the scope of agricultural engineering for the development of the world agriculture and its related industries in the 21 century and to celebrate the 70th anniversary of CIGR.

Main theme of the congress is 'New fields in agricultural engineering in the 21st century'. Under this theme new research or strategic topics in the following fields are presented at the congress: land and water engineering, farm buildings and environmental engineering, plant production engineering, agricultural management and systems engineering, agro-process engineering, energy and biomass engineering and other interdisciplinary fields related to agricultural engineering. The congress will include memorial sessions, parallel sessions, poster sessions, a technical exhibition and excursion.

Language: English without simultaneous translation.

Local organising committee is the Science Council of Japan and the agricultural engineering societies in Japan.

The international programme committee consists of members of the Technical Sections of CIGR and the agricultural engineering societies in Japan.

Main schedule:

First announcement: November 1998

Submission of abstracts: December 1999

Notification of acceptance: February 2000

Final announcement: May 2000

Submission of full paper: July 2000.

Further information can be obtained from: Prof. Y. Hashimoto, Dept. Biomechanical Systems, Ehime University, Tarumi 3-5-7, Matsuyama, 790 Japan.

Fax.: +81 899 478 748

E-mail: <hasimoto@agr.ehime-u.ac.jp>

ASAE INTERNATIONAL MEETINGS

1997

Aug. 10-14, ASAE Annual International Meeting, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.

1998

Jan. 28-30, Fourth International Dairy Housing Conference in conjunction with The National Mastitis Council 37th Annual Meeting.

This event will be held in Adam's Mark Hotel, St. Louis, Missouri, USA. (Info: <buntjer@asae.org>)

Jul. 12-16, ASAE Annual International Meeting, Orlando, Florida, USA.

1999

Jul. 18-22, ASAE Annual International Meeting, Toronto, Canada (joint with CSAE).

More information on these events can be obtained from:

ASAE, c/o Vicki Schmitz, 2950 Niles Road, St. Joseph, MI 49085-9659, USA.

Phone: +1 616 429 0300 Fax: +1 616 429 3852

E-mail: <schmitz@asae.org>

EurAgEng INTERNATIONAL MEETINGS

Workshop on The Use of Water in Sustainable Agriculture. A Commitment to Development and Environmental Protection (with special regard to semi-arid areas)

This workshop will take place in the Advanced Technical School of Agricultural Engineering, Albacete, Spain on 2-4 June 1997.

The following topics are selected:

1.Water as a limiting factor for development (in the beginning of the 21st century)

1.1.Irrigation and economic development;

1.2.Social aspects of irrigation;

1.3.Markets for water.

2.Environmental impact of irrigation

2.1.Scarcity problems. Integrated use of water resources;

2.2.Global climate change and irrigation;

2.3.Quality problems. The use of saline water and waste-water;

2.4.Other environmental effects. Water contamination, soil degradation, effects on animals and vegetation, etc.

3.Water management in sustainable agriculture

3.1.Efficient use of water;

  1. Irrigation management under scarcity conditions;
  1. Technological efforts in designing and managing drainage zones;

3.4.Modernisation and rehabilitation of irrigation and drainage systems.

On June 4, a full day study tour will be organised to irrigation zones of Albacete.

Participation fee, including proceedings, lunch, study tour and social events is 250 USD per person.

Secretariat: Attention Mrs. C. Fabeiro, Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros Agronomos, Campus Universitario, 02071 Albacete, Spain.

Fax.: +34 67 509479 or +34 67 236677.

1st European Conference on Precision Agriculture

This conference will be held in Warwick University Conference Park, Warwick, UK on 8 - 10 September 1997.

The conference will :

Conference themes are :

Spatial variability in soil and crop:

soil factors, crop condition, harvest yield, quality, variable application of inputs, input recommendations, soil and crop modelling.

Technology:

sensing, mapping, location, precision application, control systems, yield mapping systems, real-time sensing and control.

IT and management:

mapping, geographical information systems, geostatistics, decision support, system modelling, economics, application strategies.

Further information:

For the scientific and technical programme: Dr John V Stafford, Precision Agriculture Team, Silsoe Research Institute, Wrest Park, Silsoe, Bedford MK45 4HS, UK.

Tel.: +44 1525 860000 Fax.: +44 1525 860156

E-mail: <john.stafford@bbsrc.ac.uk>

For conference organisation:

SCI Conference Dept., 14/15 Belgrave Square, London, SW1 8PS, UK.

Tel.: +44 171 235 3681 Fax.: +44 171 235 7743

E-mail: <conferences@chemind.demon.co.uk>

For information update:

www page: <http://www.sri.bbsrc.ac.uk/>

1997 Beijing International Symposium on Food Processing and Packaging Technology - '97 BISFPPT

The 1997 Beijing International Symposium on Food Processing and Packaging Technology will be held in Beijing, P.R. of China on 27-31 October, 1997.

Topics will include:

Other subjects connected with food and farm and sideline product processing and packaging technology are welcome.

The symposium will be synchronised with the 1997 International Food Processing and Packaging Machinery Exhibition (CHINA FOODTECH '97).

The symposium will be held at the International Academic Exchange Hall at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Mechanisation Sciences.

The working language will be English.

Further information and secretariat: '97 BISFPPT Organising Secretariat, N°1 Beishatan Deshengmen Wai, Beijing 100083, P.R. China.

Fax.: +86 10 620 43 686 or +86 10 620 17 326.

3rd IFAC/CIGR Workshop on Artificial Intelligence in Agriculture

This event will be held in Makuhari, Japan on 24-26 April 1998.

It is organised by SHITA in co-operation with ECB, JAICAE and SICE.

The purpose of this workshop is to provide a forum for the presentation of new results in research, development and applications of AI in agriculture. The workshop aims at bringing together leading researchers and practitioners from academy and industry in order to favour the emergence or consolidation of bridges between AI and its applications in agriculture and domains connected to it (in particular environmental sciences). Some insights on future trends of this rapidly evolving field can be expected to emerge.

Contributions should demonstrate or assess the applicability and usefulness of AI methods for modelling and managing systems in agriculture and related domains. The international programme committee is soliciting original papers on theoretical aspects concerning fundamental representation issues commonly encountered in agricultural problems, on tools, techniques, algorithms used in applications and on applications themselves. Papers could either describe significant results from ongoing research, implementations or critical analyses of existing systems and approaches.

Topics of interest include:

Management of spatio/temporal knowledge (spatio/temporal reasoning, extension of GIS capabilities, reasoning across several levels of temporal or spatial granularity);

Management of uncertainty and imprecision (fuzzy logic, belief functions, Bayesian networks, qualitative reasoning);

Modelling of multi-agent systems (population modelling, distributed problem solving);

Use of emerging technologies (neural network, genetic algorithms, fuzzy control, constraint satisfaction, case-based reasoning);

Fusion of multiple sources of information (in particular for interpretation systems);

Rise of AI in simulation tools (discrete event systems, use of advanced representation capabilities, qualitative/quantitative simulation);

Integration/combination of AI approaches with other approaches.

Successful or novel AI decision support approaches for planning, scheduling, control, monitoring, prediction or diagnosis problems in agriculture and related domains;

Commercialised and routinely used AI-based systems, in particular expert and knowledge-based systems (in laboratories, extension services, farms,…);

Critical analysis of project failures;

Validation issues for AI-based decision support systems.

Each oral communication at the workshop will be selected on the basis of an extended abstract of 3 pages (about 1500 words) or, even better, a draft paper (5000 words maximum) in English, explaining the intended content of the presentation, the novelty of the research, the relevant applications, the relevance to the workshop. Authors of accepted abstracts will be given instructions for the preparation of camera ready papers to be included in the workshop proceedings.

Language: English, no simultaneous translation will be provided.

Submissions may either be electronic (our preference) or hard copy.

Electronic submissions (postscript or ASCII files) should be mailed to: <hoshi@fb.u-tokai.ac.jp>

Hard copies should be sent to:

Prof. Takehiko HOSHI, School of High Technology for Human Welfare, Tokai University, Nishino 317, Numazu, Shizuoka, 410-03 Japan. Fax.: +81 559 68 1156.

Important dates:

Deadline for submission of extended abstracts or draft: October 1, 1997.

Notification of acceptance: December 1, 1997.

Full camera ready papers due: February 1, 1998.

Additional information can be obtained from:

Prof. Yasushi Hashimoto, Dept. Biomechanical Systems, Ehime University, Tarumi, Matsuyama 790, Japan

Fax.: +81 89 947 8748

e-mail: <hasimoto@agr.ehime-u.ac.jp>

or: Prof. Haruhiko Murase, Dept. Regional Env. Sci., Osaka Prefecture University, Gakuen, Sakai 593, Japan.

Fax.: +81 722 52 0341

E-mail: <hmurase@bics.envi.osakafu-u.ac.jp>

AGENG OSLO'98

International Conference on Agricultural Engineering.

A jointly organised conference of EurAgEng, and the Agricultural University of Norway.

This conference will be held in Oslo on 24-28 August 1998

Further information can be obtained from:

Prof. Dr. Egil Berge, Chairman,

Agricultural University of Norway, Dept. Agricultural Engineering, P.O. Box 5065, N-1432 Aas, Norway.

Tel.: +47 64 94 87 85 Fax.: +47 64 94 88 10

E-mail: <admitf@itf.nlh.no>

XIIIth INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING

CIGR+++++ASAE+++++EurAgEng+++++AAAE

Morocco will host the XIIIth Congress of the International Commission of Agricultural Engineering CIGR in February 1998 and hence will be the first developing country to organise such an important scientific and technical event which takes place every four years. The National Association of Land Improvement, Irrigation and Drainage, ANAFID, official representative of Morocco within CIGR has been permanently acting towards the increase of CIGR activities within developing countries and is delighted with the organisation of this congress in Africa.

This congress will be held in Rabat, Morocco on 2 - 6 February 1998. It is organised in collaboration with the Agronomic and Veterinary Institute Hassan II and the Administration of Agricultural Engineering.

The congress sessions will take place at the Rabat Hyatt Regency Hotel.

Congress languages are English and French and simultaneous translation will be provided.

Equipment and documentary technical exhibits will take place during the congress.

A programme of one day technical visits and study tours of one to five days after the congress will be proposed.

Programme:

Section I: Land and Water Use

Integrated land and water management in arid and semi-arid zones

  1. Basin water management
  2. Soil and water conservation
  3. Land use planning
  4. Appropriate technologies for rural road construction

Section II: Farm Buildings, Equipment, Structures and Environment

  1. Design and rehabilitation for irrigation water conveying structures
  2. Storage structures for durable and perishable agricultural products
  3. Equipment and environment control in animal buildings and warehouses
  4. Technical solutions for cost reduction in farm buildings

Section III: Equipment Engineering for Plant Production

  1. National strategies for agricultural mechanisation
  2. Mechanisation techniques adapted to Mediterranean and tropical regions
  3. Equipment and technical itineraries regarding the environment
  4. Technology transfer and local construction of appropriate agricultural mechanical equipment

Section IV: Rural Electricity and other Energy Sources

  1. Electrification and energy strategies for developing countries and in countries in transition
  2. Strategies for energy saving in agriculture
  3. Renewable energy input in rural development

Section V: Management, Ergonomics and Systems Engineering

  1. Farm management
  2. Work load, stress and health problems in agriculture
  3. Transfer of know-how to developing countries
  4. Miscellaneous

Section VI: Processing

  1. Technology of agro-processing industries and their effect on rural development
  2. Environment protection technologies for agro-processing industries
  3. Physical properties of agricultural products
  4. Effect of processing technologies on the quality of food and feed products
  5. Appropriate technologies for the processing of agricultural products.

Further information can be obtained from:

Prof. H. Bartali, ANAFID, 2 rue Haroun Errachid, Agdal, Rabat, Morocco.

Tel.: + 212 7 67 03 20 Fax.: + 212 7 67 03 03

 

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