Response of Two Inexpensive Commercially Produced Soil Moisture Sensors to Changes in Water Content and Soil Texture

The use of low-cost (<200 USD) soil moisture sensors in crop production systems has the potential to give inference on plant water status and therein drive irrigation events. However, commercially available sensors in this price range vary in sensing methodologies and limited information on sensor to sensor relationship is available. The objective of this research was to test the response of the Watermark 200SS and Decagon 10HS sensors to changes in water content of three dissimilar soils representing common soils in Arkansas row-crop production in nine plastic, 19 L containers under variable environmental conditions. Both sensors were influenced by changes in soil temperature but the magnitudes of the temperature responses were small relative to the moisture responses. Furthermore, the 10HS sensor did not indicate a significant impact of soil texture on estimated volumetric water contents (VWCs). The small sphere of influence on the tested soil moisture parameters coupled with the substantial evaporative demands and temperatures under which this experiment was conducted resulted in suspected non-uniform drying and wetting of the tested containers. Subsequently, non-linear relationships were noted between 10HS estimated VWCs and actual container VWCs and the 200SS predicted lower water potentials than calculated by converting container VWC to soil water potential. The failure of the sensors to accurately predict container VWC highlights the importance of understanding the relatively small quantity of soil on which these sensors rely as well as the potential variability in soil moisture within a very limited volume. The authors caution users of sensors that soil variability may be one of the most important considerations in sensor deployment.

Temperature effect on the reference frequency of FDR soil moisture sensor

The FDR automatic soil moisture sensor must determine reference frequency in the air and water. Experimental studies show that the water reference frequency is influenced by water temperature. The variation of the reference frequency of the sensor is measured with the change of the water temperature,then analysis the influence of the volume water content measurement of the sensor,analysis found that the error is not more than 3% for the measurement of the volumetric water content of the temperature.

Effects of temperature,moisture and choline chloride on vitamin A stability in broiler premix

A 2×2×2 factorial design was adopted to study the effects of temperature, moisture and choline chloride on vitamin A stability in premix. The results indicated that temperature, moisture and choline chloride damaged vitamin A significantly. The regression equations of vitamin A disappearance rate and storage time were as follows： in room temperature （18±3）℃, y=14.368Ln（x）＋ 4.1425, R^2=0.978; in high temperature （4 ℃ ）, y=22.24Ln （x）＋13.27, R^2=0.9918; in low moisture （2%-3%）, y= 10.408Ln （x）＋9.5418, R^2=-0.9322; in high moisture （8%-9%）, y=26.199Ln（x）＋7.8741, R^2=-0.9949; in the condition of choline chloride flee, y=9.5125Ln（x）＋ 8.9869, R^2=0.9826; supplemented with choline chloride, y=27.094Ln （x）＋8.4276, R^2=0.9984. Temperature had highly significant interaction with moisure and choline chloride on destruction of vitamin A, respectively from the periods of two months storage. However, from the period of the first month storage, the interaction of moisture and choline chloride, as well as the interaction of temperature, moisture and choline destroyed vitamin A remarkably.

The Equilibrium and Growth Stability of Winter Wheat Root and Shoot Under Different Soil Water Conditions

The equilibrium between root, shoot and growth stability under different soil water conditions were investigated in a tube experiment of winter wheat. The water supplying treatments included： sufficient irrigation at whole growth phase, moderate deficiency irrigation at whole growth phase, serious deficiency irrigation at whole growth phase, sufficient irrigation at jointing stage, tillering stage, flowering stage, and fillering respectively, after moderate and serious water deficit during their previous growth stage. Root and shoot biomass were measured. On the basis of the cooperative root-shoot interactions model, the equilibrium and growth stability were studied on the strength of the kinetics system theory. There was only one varying equilibrium point between the root and shoot over the life time of the winter wheat plant. Water stress prolonged the duration of stable growth, the more serious the water deficit, the longer the period of stable growth. The duration of stable growth was shortened and that of unstable growth was prolonged after water recovery. The growth behavior of the plants exposed to moderate water deficit shifted from stable to unstable until the end of the growth, after rewatering at flowering. In the life-time of the crop, the root and shoot had been adjusting themselves in structure and function so as to maintain an equilibrium, but could not achieve the equilibrium state for long. They were always in an unbalanced state from the beginning to the end of growth. This was the essence of root-shoot equilibrium. Water stress inhibited the function of root and shoot, reduced root shoot interactions, and as a result, the plant growth gradually tended to stabilize. Rewatering enhanced root shoot interactions, prolonged duration of instable growth. Rewatering at flowering could upset the inherent relativity during the long time of stable growth from flowering to filling stage, thus leading to unstable growth and enhanced dry matter accumulating rate in the whole plant.

Hydrophobic modification of SAPO-34 membranes for improvement of stability under wet condition

SAPO-34 zeolite membranes show high efficiency for CO2/CH4 separation but suffer from the reduction of separation performance when exposed to humid atmosphere.In this work,n-dodecyltrimethoxysilane(DTMS)was used to modify the hollow fibers supported SAPO-34 membranes to increase the external surface hydrophobicity and thus sustain their performance under moisture environment.The modified membranes were fully characterized.Their separation performance was extensively investigated in both dry and wet gaseous systems and compared with the un-modified ones.The un-modified SAPO-34 membrane exhibited a high separation selectivity of 160 and CO2 permeance of 1.18×10-6 mol·m-2·s-1·Pa-1 for separation of dry CO2/CH4 at 298 K.However,its separation selectivity declined to 0.9 and the CO2 permeance was only about 1.7×10-8 mol·m-2·s-1·Pa-1 for wet CO2/CH4 at same temperature.High temperature(e.g.353 K)could reduce the effect of moisture to improve SAPO-34 separation selectivity,but further increasing temperature(e.g.373 K)led to decrease in CO2/CH4 separation selectivity.A significant decrease of selectivity was observed at higher pressure drop.The modified SAPO-34 membrane showed decreased CO2 permeance but increased separation selectivity for dry CO2/CH4 gas mixture,and super performance for wet CO2/CH4 gas mixture due to the improved hydrophobicity of membrane surface.A separation selectivity of 65 and CO2 permeance of 4.73×10-8 mol·m-2·s-1·Pa-1 for wet CO2/CH4 mixture can be observed at 353 K with a pressure drop of 0.4 MPa.Furthermore,the modified membrane exhibited stable separation performance during the 120-hour test for wet CO2/CH4 mixture at 353 K.The hydrophobic modification paves a way for SAPO-34 membranes in real applications.

Effects of heat treatment process on thin film alloy resistance and its stability

Alloy thin film for advanced pressure sensors was manufactured by means of ion-beam sputtering SiO2 insulation film and NiCr thin film on the 17-4PH stainless steel elastic substrate. The thin film resistance was respectively heat-treated by four processes. The effects on stability of thin film alloy resistance were investigated, and paramaters of heat treatment that make thin film resistance stable were obtained. The experimental result indicates that the most stable thin film resistance can be obtained when it is heat-treated under protection of SiO2 and N2 at 673 K for 1 h, and then kept at 473 K for 24 h. Pressure sensor chips of high precision for harsh environments can be manufactured by this process.

Improving the stability of metal halide perovskite solar cells from material to structure

Metal halide perovskites(MHPs) are promising photovoltaic(PV) materials owing to their advantages such as high carrier mobility, excellent absorption coefficient, bandgap tenability, long diffusion length,and low material cost. These qualities have increased the efficiency of MHP solar cells to 23.3%. However,MHPs are hindered by a lack of stability. In addition, the applications of MHP solar cells are restricted by the instability of perovskite materials and devices. In this article, the most urgent stability problems faced by perovskite solar cells are identified, and recent progresses in MHPs are enumerated. The factors affecting the stability of perovskite materials and devices are also discussed. We analyzed the thermal and humid stability of perovskite materials in terms of transporting materials and their interface. In view of these recent advances, future works should focus on the large-scale application of MHP solar cells.

Distributed Fiber Optic Monitoring and Stability Analysis of a Model Slope under Surcharge Loading

In the discipline of geotechnical engineering, fiber optic sensor based distributed monitoring has played an increasingly important role over the past few decades. Compared with conventional sensors, fiber optic sensors have a variety of exclusive advantages, such as smaller size,higher precision, and better corrosion resistance.These innovative monitoring technologies have been successfully applied for performance monitoring of geo-structures and early warning of potential geohazards around the world. In order to investigate their ability to monitor slope stability problems, a medium-sized model of soil nailed slope has been constructed in laboratory. The fully distributed Brillouin optical time-domain analysis(BOTDA)sensing technology was employed to measure the horizontal strain distributions inside the model slope.During model construction, a specially designed strain sensing fiber was buried in the soil mass.Afterward, the surcharge loading was applied on the slope crest in stages using hydraulic jacks and a reaction frame. During testing, an NBX-6050 BOTDA sensing interrogator was used to collect the fiber optic sensing data. The test results have been analyzed in detail, which shows that the fiber optic sensors can capture the progressive deformation and failure pattern of the model slope. The limit equilibrium analyses were also conducted to obtain the factors of safety of the slope under different surface loadings. It is found that the characteristic maximum strains can reflect the stability of the model slope and an empirical relationship was obtained. This study verified the effectiveness of the distributed BOTDA sensing technology in performance monitoring of slope.

On the Stability of Carbon Shale Slope under Rainfall Infiltration

Carbonaceous shale is a sedimentary rock containing a large amount of dispersed carbonaceous organic material.It is easy to crack and soften when exposed to water.In the present work,the stability of such a rock and its sensitivity to the formation of infiltrations due to rainfall are analyzed numerically using the GeoStudio software.The slope stability coefficient is calculated and verified using the landslide thrust calculation method.The results show that under the action of heavy rainfall,water infiltrates into the slope layer by layer,and,accordingly,the soil volume water content is different with respect to that typical of a homogeneous soil.It is also shown that,although in an initial stage,rainfall infiltration leads to the decline of the slope stability coefficient,with the progress of rainfall,this coefficient can temporarily increase,that is,these phenomena can display a lag phase.

The Application of a Smartphone in Ship Stability Experiment

倾向的实验是唯一的规章的工具估计轮船稳定性。这个实验是为真实测试和轮船模型实验的一个耗时的过程。困难主要由于在脚跟角度的测量的偏爱。现在，数字倾斜仪是可得到的，但是他们是昂贵的。在这研究， smartphone 应用的使用为轮船倾斜和转动时期测试被介绍。这个想法由使用为大小造进当前的 smartphones 的加速表和回转仪传感器组成。因此，一些实验在一个例子 trawler 模型上被执行展出这个方法的使用和优点。获得的结果在对从摆钟方法和自然转动时期测试提供的那些的好同意。这应用是新的，容易，并且更精确地在倾向和转动时期测试期间估计 metacentric 高度。

Solvates and polymorphs of clindamycin phosphate： Structural, thermal stability and moisture stability studies

Clindamycin phosphate （CP）, an antibacterial agent, has been reported to form several solid-state forms. The crystal structures of two CP solvates, a dimethyl sulfoxide （DMSO） solvate and a methanol/water solvate （solvate V）, have been determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction. The properties and transformations of these forms were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction, Single-crystal X-ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry, thermo gravimetric analysis, hot-stage microscopy, and dynamic vapor sorption. Very different hydrogen bonding networks exist among the host-host and host-solvent molecules in the two crystal structures, resulting in different moisture stabilities. The thermal stabilities of the two solvates upon heating and desolvation were also studied. When the temperature was above the boiling point of methanol, solvate V converted to a polymorphic phase after a one step desolvation process, whereas the desolvation temperature of the DMSO solvate was below the boiling point of DMSO. At the relative humidity above 43%, the DMSO solvate transformed to a hydrate at 25 ℃. In contrast, solvate V did not transform at any of the humidities studied.

Review of research progress on soil moisture sensor technology

Soil moisture is directly related to the amount of irrigation in agriculture and influences the yield of crops.Accordingly,a soil moisture sensor is an important tool for measuring soil moisture content.In this study,the previous research conducted in recent 2-3 decades on soil moisture sensors was reviewed and the principles of commonly used soil moisture sensor and their various applications were summarized.Furthermore,the advantages,disadvantages,and influencing factors of various measurement methods employed were compared and analyzed.The improvements were presented by several scholars have established the major applications and performance levels of soil moisture sensors,thereby setting the course for future development.These studies indicated that soil moisture sensors in the future should be developed to achieve high-precision,low-cost,non-destructive,automated,and highly integrated systems.Also,it was indicated that future studies should involve the development of specialized sensors for different applications and scenarios.This review research aimed to provide a certain reference for application departments and scientific researchers in the process of selecting soil moisture sensor products and measuring soil moisture.

Photopatternable PEDOT:PSS/PEG hybrid thin film with moisture stability and sensitivity

Degradation and delamination resulting from environmental humidity have been technically challenging for poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate)(PEDOT:PSS)thin-film processing.To overcome this problem,we introduced a one-step photolithographic method to both pattern and link a PEDOT:PSS film onto a poly(ethylene glycol)(PEG)layer as a hybrid thin film structure on a flexible substrate.This film exhibited excellent long-term moisture stability(more than 10 days)and lithographic resolution(as low as 2μm).Mechanical characterizations were performed,including both stretching and bending tests,which illustrated the strong adhesion present between the PEDOT:PSS and PEG layers as well as between the hybrid thin film and substrate.Moreover,the hybrid moisture-absorbable film showed a quick response of its permittivity to environmental humidity variations,in which the patterned PEDOT:PSS layer served as an electrode and the PEG layer as a moisture-sensing element.Perspiration tracking over various parts of the body surface as well as breath rate measurement under the nose were successfully carried out as demonstrations,which illustrated the potential utility of this stable hybrid thin film for emerging flexible and wearable electronic applications.

Field Comparison of Soil Moisture Sensing Using Neutron Thermalization, Frequency Domain, Tensiometer, and Granular Matrix Sensor Devices: Relevance to Precision Irrigation

The efficient use of irrigation water requires several kinds of information. One element of efficient irrigation scheduling is monitoring the soil moisture to assure that the crop irrigation goals are being met. Various soil moisture sensing devices were tested for irrigation scheduling in silt loam at the Malheur Agricultural Experiment Station, Oregon State University between 2001 and 2004. Neutron probes, frequency domain probes, tensiometers, granular matrix sensors, and Irrigas were compared as to their performance under field conditions at Ontario, Oregon, USA. Granular matrix sensors were tested as read automatically by a datalogger and read manually with a hand-held meter. Practical suggestions are provided to use soil moisture sensors to the benefit of crop production and water conservation.

Polymer optimization for the development of low-cost moisture sensor based on nanoporous alumina thin film

Sol-gel processed alumina(Al_(2)O_(3))thin film has been investigated for sensing moisture.The sensor was based on ordered nanoporous Al_(2)O_(3)thin film,which consisted of gold electrodes on both sides of the film forming parallel plate capacitor.Alumina substrate was used for supporting thin film moisture sensor.Hydrophilicity was achieved by controlling the surface energy of the substrate and polymer(polyvinyl alcohol(PVA))optimization was done for developing rigid thin film over it.A high change in capacitance was observed as the moisture level increased from 5 ppmV to 500 ppmV.Scanning electron microscopy(SEM)results revealed that pores were distributed uniformly throughout the sample,which enhanced the adsorption of water molecule over the film.X-ray diffraction(XRD)study clearly confirmed the gamma(γ)phase of alumina thin film.It was found that the sensitivity of our sensor was suitable for commercial application.

Moisture-Induced Non-Equilibrium Phase Segregation in Triple Cation Mixed Halide Perovskite Monitored by In Situ Characterization Techniques and Solid-State NMR

Environmental stability is a major bottleneck of perovskite solar cells.Only a handful of studies are investigating the effect of moisture on the structural degradation of the absorber.They mostly rely on ex situ experiments and on completely degraded samples,which restrict the assessment on initial and final stage.By combining in situ X-ray diffraction under controlled 85%relative humidity,and live observations of the water-induced degradation using liquid-cell transmission electron microscopy,we reveal two competitive degradation paths leading on one hand to the decomposition of state-of-theart mixed cation/anion(Cs_(0.05)(MA_(0.17)FA_(0.83))_(0.95)Pb(Br_(0.17)I_(0.83))_(3)(CsMAFA)into PbI_(2) through a dissolution/recrystallization mechanism and,on the other hand,to a non-equilibrium phase segregation leading to CsPb_(2)Br_(5) and a Cesium-poor/iodide-rich Cs_(0.05)-x(MA_(0.17)FA_(0.83))_(0.95)Pb(Br_(0.17-2y)I_(0.83)+2y)_(3) perovskite.This degradation mechanism is corroborated at atomic-scale resolution through solid-state ^(1)H and ^(133)Cs NMR analysis.Exposure to moisture leads to a film containing important heterogeneities in terms of morphology,photoluminescence intensities,and lifetimes.Our results provide new insights and consensus that complex perovskite compositions,though very performant as champion devices,are comparatively metastable,a trait that limits the chances to achieve long-term stability.

Nondestructive testing method of wood moisture content based on a planar capacitance sensor model

For our research, a new hybrid experimental-computational method is presented. We applied a least squares fitting method （LSFM） to reconstruct the wood moisture content （WMC） from the data measured with a planar capacitance sensor. A boundary element method （BEM） was used to compute the relationship between capacitance and the dielectric constant. A functional relationship between MC and the dielectric constant was identified by LSFM. The agreement of this final computation result with the experimental data indicates that this method can be used to estimate the WMC quickly and effectively with engineering analysis. Compared with popular statistical methods, a large number of experiments are avoided, some costs of testing are reduced and the efficiency of testing is enhanced.

An Arduino-Based Wireless Sensor Network for Soil Moisture Monitoring Using Decagon EC-5 Sensors

It is undeniable that wireless communication technology has become a very important component of modern society. One aspect of modern society in which application of wireless communication technologies has tremendous potential is in agricultural production. This is especially true in the area of sensing and transmission of relevant farming information such as weather, crop development, water quantity and quality, among others, which would allow farmers to make more accurate and timely farming decisions. A good example would be the application of wireless communication technology to transmit soil moisture data in real time to help farmers make irrigation scheduling decisions. Although many systems are commercially available for soil moisture monitoring, there are still many important factors, such as cost, limiting widespread adoption of this technology among growers. Our objective in this study was, therefore, to develop and test an affordable wireless communication system for monitoring soil moisture using Decagon EC-5 sensors. The new system uses Arduino-compatible microcontrollers and communication systems to sample and transmit values from four Decagon EC-5 soil moisture sensors. Developing the system required conducting lab calibrations for the EC-5 sensors for the microcontroller operating in either 10-bit or 12-bit analog-to-digital converter (ADC) resolution. The system was successfully tested in the field and reliably collected and transmitted data from a wheat field for more than two months.