Grain storage managers could improve the quality of stored grain if they could directly monitor stored grain moisture content, which is a key indicator of stored grain quality and an early indicator of deterioration. However, currently available sensors are too expensive and lack the necessary reliability in that harsh environment. A new fringing field capacitive (FFC) sensor was tested to dete...

Standards developed for industrial or commercial purposes cannot be applied to cultural heritage for two reasons: some methodologies are invasive/destructive; others are not destructive but have readings in arbitrary units and calibration is hardly possible for the specific case of cultural heritage materials that are weathered, chemically degraded, transformed, or affected by fungi or insects....

Currently used methods for estimation of moisture content in paper pulp are restricted to levels of moisture concentration under 90%. Some of the existing methods require less practical double-sided contact measurements. A few other methods make restrictive assumptions, such as the constituents of the pulp that determine its conductance. This paper presents a technique that uses fringing field ...

In this review the potential application of near-infrared spectroscopy for the in vitro and in vivo characterization of skin is presented. The near-infrared attenuated reflectance spectroscopy allows the determination of the overall skin water content as well as of the various components constituting the skin, i.e., stratum corneum, epidermis and dermis. This technique provides the possibility ...

Moisture is one essential condition for seed germination, and poor germination is very costly to growers. There is, nevertheless, little experimental evidence concerning the effects of different percentages of available moisture (5) on germination; more study of the subject is essential. Since most vegetable seeds are planted at shallow depths, there may be rapid fluctuations of soil moisture a...

PURPOSE We surveyed youths and denture wearers to evaluate the feeling of oral dryness. MATERIALS AND METHODS The survey was performed in 100 denture wearers (mean age, 66.2+/-8.6 years) who visited our department from June to October 2003. A similar survey was performed in 50 20-29 year-old persons (mean age, 25.6+/-2.4 years). Measurement of the height of the salivary moisture area, and det...

Soil moisture is a key part of Earth’s climate systems, including agricultural and hydrological cycles. Soil moisture data from satellite and numerical models is typically provided at a global scale with coarse spatial resolution, which is not enough for local and regional applications. In this study, a soil moisture downscaling model was developed using satellite-derived variables targeting Gl...

Quadratic performance metrics such as root-mean-square error (RMSE) and time series correlation are often used to assess the accuracy of geophysical retrievals (satellite measurements) with respect to true fields. These metrics are related; nevertheless, each has advantages and disadvantages. In this study the authors explore the relation between the RMSE and correlation metrics in the presence...

two parallel needle moisture sensors has been widely used in Soil moisture detection equipment, for example, frequency domain (FD), time domain reflectometry (TDR) and standing wave ratio (SWR) measurement. The design of probe‘s port impedance is key technology parameters to soil moisture sensor. In this study, according to the relationships between the length and impedance characteristics of t...

Monitoring changes in the Earth’s gravity field for terrestrial water storage change (soil moisture, ground water, snow etc.) is a relatively new and novel concept that has been inspired by the Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite mission. GRACE will soon be providing time varying maps of the Earth’s gravity. However, there has been no field based study to demonstrate that ...