PROCEEDINGS. Local Organizers. Edited by. Reviewers

PROCEEDINGS SU2007 Conference Summer University on Information Technology in Agriculture and Rural Development

Local Organizers University of Debrecen Faculty of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development European Federation for Information Technology in Agriculture, Food and the Environment Hungarian Association of Agricultural Informatics (National Member of EFITA) Regional Committee of Hungarian Academy of Sciences Debrecen, Committee of Agricultural Economics

Edited by HERDON, Miklós SZILÁGYI, Róbert

Reviewers ERDÉLYI, Éva GACEU, Liviu HERDON, Miklós HAVLÍČEK, Zdeněk NAGYNÉ, Polyák Ilona SZILÁGYI, Róbert TZORTZIOS, Stergios VÁRALLYAI, László WIWCZAROSKI, Troy B.

Debrecen, Hungary, 29-30 August 2007

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A konferenciát és a kiadvány elkészítését a Nemzeti Kutatási és Technológiai Hivatal (NKTH) támogatta. The conference and proceedings were supported by the National Office for Research and Technology (NKTH)

ISBN 978-963-87366-1-1 First printing, March 2008 Publisher: Hungarian Association of Agricultural Informatics © Hungarian Association of Agricultural Informatics, H-4032 Debrecen, Böszörményi út 132., Hungary All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, digital recording or otherwise, without permission in writing from the copyright holders. These proceedings were reproduced using the manuscripts supplied by the authors of the different papers. The manuscripts have been typed according to the Editorial Instructions for Papers to be Presented at the SU2007 Conference. Papers were submitted to a reviewing process. The editors.

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Summer University on Information Technology in Agriculture and Rural Development 29-30 August, 2007 University of Debrecen Centre of Agricultural Sciences Faculty of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development

Organizers •

UD - University of Debrecen, Centre for Agricultural Science, Faculty of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development

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EFITA - European Federation for Information Technology in Agriculture, Food and the Environment

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HAAI - Hungarian Association of Agricultural Informatics

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DAB - Regional Committee of Hungarian Academy of Sciences Debrecen , Committee of Agricultural Economics

Partners •

CUB Corvinus University of Budapest, Faculty of Horticultural Science, Hungary

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CZU Czech University of Agriculture in Prague, Faculty of Economics and Management, Czech Republic

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EWIV/EEIG Regionet Europe EWIV/EEIG

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HUNAGI Hungarian Assiciation for Geo-information

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KFRTKF Kölcsey Ferenc Teacher Training College, Debrecen, Hungary

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KRC Károly Róbert College

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NJSZT John von Neumann Computer Society, Hungary

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PU Pannon University, Hungary

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SZIU Szent István University, Faculty of Economics and Social Science, Hungary

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UT University of Thessaly

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TUB TRANSILVANIA University Brasov

Program and Organizing Committee Chair Harnos, Zsolt (CUB) Members Alföldi, István (NJSZT) Berke, József (PU) Gaceu Liviu (TUB) Havlíček, Zdeněk (PEF CZU) III

Herdon, Miklós (HAAI, UD) Houseman, Ian (EFITA) Ladányi, Márta (CUB) Lengyel, Péter (UD) Nábrádi, András (UD) Papp, Gyula (KFRTKF) Pitlik, László (SZIU, EWIV/EEIG) Remetey-Fülöpp, Gábor (HUNAGI) Rózsa, Tünde (HAAI) Szilágyi, Róbert (UD) Tzortzios, Stergios (UT) Vajsz, Tivadar (KRC)

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Preface This “Summer University” provided a forum for agriculture related professionals, professors, lecturers and PhD students to exchange information on education, research, applications and developments in Information Technologies in Agriculture and Rural Development and publish the most recent results. This forum covered a wide array of topics, including new applications of well established and understood technologies to innovative and entrepreneurial applications of emerging technologies, in addition to issues related to policy and knowledge dissemination. We hope that this proceedings will contribute to both the exchange of knowledge and to increase the quality of research and applications in the field of Information Technology in Agriculture and Rural Development. We would like to thank our partners, the members of committees and the reviewers. We are thankful for the financial support provided by the National Office for Research and Technology (NKTH).

Zsolt Harnos Chair of Program and Organizing Committee András Nábrádi Dean, Faculty of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development University of Debrecen, Miklós Herdon President of HAAI

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Table of contents Innovation Commercialization in a Rural Region: The Case of Rural Living Lab, Hungary - Tünde Kállai, Vilmos Bilicki.............................. 1 Information integration in multi-dimensional agri-food supply chain networks: a serviceoriented approach in the KodA program - Sjaak Wolfert, Cor Verdouw Adrie Beulens ..... 10 Video in E-learning Systems - Róbert Szilágyi – György Kovács – Miklós Herdon ........... 21 Az e-learning alapú környezetmérnök oktatás informatikai háttere Domokos Endre, Rédey Ákos ............................................................................................... 28 The Application of Apple e-learning Systems in Education István Gulyás - Veronika Kozma-Bognár ............................................................................ 31 E-learning: Eszköz!, nem cél – avagy e-learning tapasztalatok a gazdasági informatika oktatásban, (wiki, moodle, SAP_LS, online mókuskerek és my-X) - Pitlik László ............ 37 Forrás katalógus fejlesztése a NODES projektben Herdon Miklós, Várallyai László, Szilágyi Róbert, Lengyel Péter....................................... 41 Pulsed Electric Field Processing of Liquid Foods. Simulation of the electric field distribution between electrodes - Andreea-Manuela Constantin, Carol Csatlós, Cristina-Maria Bica ................................................................. 48 A Mathematical Model for the Cavitation Phenomenon Produced by Ultrasonic Waves in Liquid Food - Mihaela Danciu............................................................................................. 53 Study concerning the evaluation of transitory regime vibrations of portable mowing machines, using the finite elements method - Liviu Gaceu, Romulus Gruia, Daniel Danila................................................................................................................................... 60 Aspects Regarding the Implementation of the HACCP system in the Bakery Industry Cristina-Maria Bica, Andreea-Manuela Constantin ........................................................... 66 Research Concerning Temperature Variation in Dough During Bread Baking Cristina-Maria Bica, Gheorghe Bratucu ............................................................................. 74 The effects of climate change on the phenological phases of corn Daniella Boksai, Éva Erdélyi ............................................................................................... 79 WMN for Rural Communities: a Case Study - Miklós Kasza, Vilmos Bilicki ..................... 83 Informational Agriculture and Sustainable Food Security Romulus Gruia, Liviu Gaceu................................................................................................ 95 Connecting sensor equipped RFID identification systems with global EPC information services to achieve full scale traceability in the cold supply chain - David Kétszeri......... 102 Technical-Economic Aspects of Wheat Conditioning Before Milling Gheorghe Brătucu, Ionuţ Căpăţînă.................................................................................... 107 The Utilization of Heat Changers with Thermal Tubes in Milk Processing Gheorghe Brătucu .............................................................................................................. 114 EDI - XML Standards and Technologies in the Agri-Food Industry István Füzesi, Miklós Herdon............................................................................................. 122

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Mobile Internet in agriculture application perspectives Róbert Szilágyi, Miklós Herdon ......................................................................................... 132 What are the main difficulties in traceability Péter Salga, István Füzesi.................................................................................................. 137 The Climatic – Tourism Potential of Stana de Vale Spa during the Summer Season Ovidiu Gaceu...................................................................................................................... 144 Research Regarding the Advance Resistance of Subsoiler Working Parts Ionuţ Căpăţînă.................................................................................................................... 148 Aspects regarding the control of the impact process between potatoes and hard surfaces utilizing a computer controlled pendulum and a Labview application Daniel Mihai Dănilă, Liviu Gaceu..................................................................................... 152 Payment methods in e-commerce - Ádám Péntek.............................................................. 156 Broadband usage and development in rural Hungary - positive and negative trends Mihály Csótó ...................................................................................................................... 161 Testing the accessibility of web pages - Petr Benda, Václav Lohr.................................... 166 Web applications development with examples Václav Lohr,- Petr Benda, Žaneta Jedličková .................................................................. 172 Difference between classical and virtual types of education Petr Benda , Václav Lohr, Jan David ................................................................................ 179 Moodle and LAMS integration Péter Lengyel, Róbert Szilágyi, Miklós Herdon................................................................. 184 On the role of animation in teaching mathematics Imre Kocsis......................................................................................................................... 190 Mezőgazdasági Támogatások WEB Alapú Információs rendszerei Szénás Szilárd..................................................................................................................... 194 Hatékonyságnövelés a szaktanácsadási tevékenység felhasználásával a növénytermesztésben Sulyok Dénes, Megyes Attila, Rátonyi Tamás .................................................................... 203 ERP beruházások gazdasági értékelése - Rózsa Tünde...................................................... 208 Információs rendszerek a termelő és értékesítő szervezetek üzleti tevékenységének támogatására - Berecz Patrícia .......................................................................................... 214 Elektronikus Táblatörzskönyv Program fejlesztése Gazdálkodási Napló Modullal Cseh András ....................................................................................................................... 220 FedEx IPD szolgáltatásának bemutatása és alkalmazása a National Instrumentsnél Budai Enikő ........................................................................................................................ 230 Az RFID technológia alkalmazása a nyomonkövetésben Bencsik Anikó, Füzesi István.............................................................................................. 234

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SUMMER UNIVERSITY ON IT IN AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT – 2007 DEBRECEN, HUNGARY

Innovation Commercialization in a Rural Region: The Case of Rural Living Lab, Hungary Tunde Kallai 1, Vilmos Bilicki 2 1 - X10D International IT Services Hungary Ltd. (Director)[email protected] 2 - University of Szeged (Assistant lecturer) [email protected] Abstract. This study describes a process in which a Rural Living Lab relies on an open user community for innovation. While it has been recognized that rural micro and SMEs may innovate, little is known about how and what can do to motivate and capture such innovations and their related benefits. We contribute to the open innovation strategy by suggesting that learning and innovation efforts from which a rural firms may benefit need not necessarily be located within the organization, but may well reside in the consumer/user environment. We also contribute to the existing theory on “user-driven innovation” by showing what firms purposively can do to generate consumer innovation and commercialization efforts. An explorative Hungarian case study shows that rural innovation can be structured, motivated, and partly organized by the local agro-food producer organization and research team that lays out the WMN infrastructure for interactive and co-creative business process by consumers in a public. The authors are most interested in the third generation of Living Labs that cover an entire rural areas which operates as “a full-scale” rural living laboratory and proving ground for prototyping and testing new technology application and new methods of generating and fostering innovation processes and new business models in real time. Keywords. open innovation, new business models, WMN, user driven innovation, Living Labs, sustainable economic development, innovation commercialization

Introduction to the Open Innovation through rural communities Innovation is the process through which new economic and social benefits are extracted from knowledge. The term innovation refers both to the creative process of applying knowledge and the outcome of that process. The term innovation play basic role in the Rural Living Lab ‘s definition . In Hungary, the Living Lab concept, representing the open innovation, it will be a part of a regional innovation strategy in 2007, for enhancing productivity, growth and standard of living across the country. Open Innovation in Hungary Fostering excellence within rural communities is not really new. The know-how of rural Hungarians has been a fact of life for a long time. The importance of a job well done and the constant concern for quality are well-known values in rural communities. What was once seen as a successful small agricultural farming could definitely become one of the best-kept secrets of tomorrow's success in the rural economy. Rural people (farmers) with the skills and the opportunities they need to fulfill their individual potential. The farmers who live in a local society that is strong enough to help the weak and smart enough to invest in the young. People who are ready to see their villages, farms and small regions take its place among the leading of the region (their living area) -and to do so on its own terms. Achieving excellence is about people living fulfilling lives, using their energies and talents to their fullest. Throughout Hungary, rural communities are striving to succeed in a changing economic, social and political environment. Leadership, the establishment of relations, networking and learning are key factors for rural communities in transition, enabling them to pool their resources, personnel and specialized knowledge, solve problems, access a wide range of learning sources, engage in cooperative development and disseminate information people to people. This is the main challenge of the Hungarian Rural Living

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Laboratory for us. The Hungary case: The Producer Organisation’s User Community The municipality Morahalom, where Mórakert Producer Organisation was set-up, is one of the most important actors of the local economic development in the South-Great Plan region, in Hungary. The Homokhátság Small Region was established under the leading of Mórahalom, its main coordinating operalisation is the Small Area Proving Association of Homokhátság Authorities. The association is made up by 15 authorities of settlements (Ásotthalom, Balotaszállás, Bordány, Domaszék, Forráskút, Kelebia, Mórahalom, Öttömös, Pusztamérges, Röszke, Ruzsa, Szatymaz, Üllés, Zákányszék, Zsombó). The 15 settlements have population of 45000 and their territory is 56857 ha. In the region the main source of people’s living is agriculture. Due to the local conditions you can grow differents kinds of vegetable and fruit of excellent. Out of these the local Hungaricums worth a special interest ( e.g. peaches and paprika).

Figure 1.The Hungarian Living Lab location: Homokhát small region/ City of Morahalom Mórakert Cooperative was established in Mórahalom, which became the biggest farmer basis of the country. The mayor, who was re-elected for the third time with 80% support of the voters, is one of the most important initiators in the city. Since most employees of Mórahalom work in municipally run institutions, and also the municipality employs most people with university level diplomas in the field of economics, the human capital of the local government is the best in town. Further, the municipality has the greatest stock among other economic actors of Mórahalom. RLL application scenario (use case) and user requirements Within the Hungarian RLL we should describe three applications via wireless P2P network and a product exchange application and the mobile product exchange application. During the requirement capturing procedure it turned out that our original goals should be modified to solve real problems. Figure 4. Shows the selected areas where we will focus our efforts. We planned a large scale produce exchange application and its mobile extension. On the first meeting with our stakeholders it turned out that there were several big projects addressing the area of produce exchange application. After the requirement collection and filtering the

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requirements we decided to modify our goals. We will implement the produce exchange application but in a different scale and different content. The goal will be a general service and commodity trading application. The service trading will be based on a resource management subsystem. With this approach the trade one can book a service online. As almost every people in the small region have some connection with farming we decided to study the needs in this area. The remaining efforts will be focused to this area. All the above mentioned areas depend strongly on a cheap or free mobile data communication solution, this is our third area. The feasibility of the mobile network access solution is already described. All the stakeholders from government and business side take part in the decision process they fully support the development areas.

Figure 2. The three layers of the application areas in the Hungarian Rural Living Lab Wireless Mesh Network for Rural Communities In the Hungarian Living Laboratory there is a need for cheap and mobile data and voice communication infrastructure. To fulfil these requirements a WiFi based wireless mesh network will be deployed in the town of Mórahalom. On the top of this infrastructure a set of sophisticated rural services will be developed. This infrastructure will provide a wide range of services e.g.: QoS, AAA, WISP collaboration framework, localization, etc. Most of these services will be based on the already existing and freely available software packages. The novelty of this solution will lay in the management plane designed and developed by the partners of the Hungarian LL. The 12 end points (100 Euro/end point) were installed in a selected area of the town of Mórahalom. The voluntary citizens providing the place for mounting and power for the equipment will act as the users of the WMN and they will get free Internet access during the testing period. Figure 3. WMN nodes in RLL

Figure 4. The RLL applications are running on NOKIA 770/800

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Lessons learned The experiences in the Homokhát small region have yielded lessons regarding the innovation commercialization process – particularly the business concept recognition and feasibility testing process – and broader insights regarding innovation commercialization in a rural region. Feasibility assessment of potential market opportunities is best done in multiple iterations. Commercializable market opportunities do not emerge fully formed but must be shaped via rounds of feedback before they can be effectively evaluated. • It is tremendously helpful to prepare write-ups that review the feasibility of each prospective market opportunity, such as those produced in this case by University of Szeged and X10D Ltd. These make it possible for multiple people to review the same opportunity several times, provide coherent feedback, and understand and comment on the observations of others • R&D laboratories tend to think in technological terms in their assessment of market opportunities. This is only half of the equation. The missing perspective is often the “commercial” one. The researchers of University of Szeged, with the support of experienced SME entrepreneurs and the local team of Small Area Regional Development Association of the Local Governments of Homokhát, can effectively provide this missing business perspective. • It is important to engage the PO and several successful local entrepreneurs, experienced business people at various points in the assessment process. Having enough pairs of competent eyes is essential to a review of sufficient depth and breadth, and is a way to permit the full review of a greater number of prospective opportunities. Participating entrepreneurs must have experience in a range of different market opportunity types so that their judgments will be varied. This will insure that opportunities are not judged as being infeasible simply because the entrepreneurs involved do not have the necessary understanding or experience to pursue them, rather than because they are unworkable in general. • The researchers from the Faculty of Software Engineering of University of Szeged try to put tech commercialization program in place whole cloth, before the first opportunity has even been identified. In other words, they take a programmatic approach. The team of the Software Engineering from University of Szeged is only now building its innovation commercialization apparatus in response to a process that hopefully will commercialize a real market opportunity. This puts the university in the position to build and refine its formal process and to use the proceeds from the first successful commercialization effort to fund its innovation commercialization office in the near future. • Another commonly held misperception in the tech commercialization arena is that the viability of an opportunity is based solely on its patentability, e.g., something that can be managed as intellectual property (IP). However, in the Rural Living Lab case, three viable market opportunities were identified and assessed, none of which was likely to be patentable. • Yet it was deemed that all of these opportunities had potential for revenue generation, with possibly a very favourable return on investment rates. This suggests that conventional wisdom may be unnecessarily limiting. We may be missing countless opportunities for local and regional economic development by adhering to a narrow definition of opportunity viability. • This last observation has particular relevance for rural areas that are attempting to commercialize innovations. A focus solely on patentable market opportunities may be effective in this region with a strong technological base and educational institutions, i.e.

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University of Szeged, that are actively engaged in research, but this is not the case in most rural areas. Rural areas literally cannot afford to overlook non-patentable business opportunities just because they don’t fit the traditional model of innovation commercialization. In Homokhát small region, the intent is to use early successes with non-patentable opportunities to leverage activity in the VoIP arena in the future. The lack of infrastructure for supporting innovation commercialization in rural areas must be acknowledged and addressed. The University of Szeged is fortunate to have assets such as institutions of higher learning, private R&D facilities, and larger companies in industries important to the global economy, and economic development officials who are thinking and acting entrepreneurially. To its credit, the community has worked to identify all of its assets, to link them together and to focus them on supporting regional innovation commercialization efforts. Rural communities that do not possess such assets may be faced with only two choices: to not attempt to undertake an innovation commercialization strategy, or to partner with an urban area in the larger region in a way that would permit the rural community to benefit from the spin-off commercialization activity taking place in the smaller cities, like in the City of Morahalom.

Rural Living Lab analysis and assessment Rural Living Laboratories tend to think in technological terms in their assessment of market opportunities. This is only half of the equation. The missing perspective is often the “commercial” one. The Rural Living Lab with the support of experienced entrepreneurs (SMEs, farmers), can effectively provide this missing business perspective. It is important to engage several successful entrepreneurs and experienced business people at various points in the assessment process. Having enough pairs of competent eyes is essential to a review of sufficient depth and breadth, and is a way to permit the full review of a greater number of prospective opportunities. Participating entrepreneurs must have experience in a range of different market opportunity types so that their judgments will be varied. This will insure that opportunities are not judged as being infeasible simply because the entrepreneurs involved do not have the necessary understanding or experience to pursue them, rather than because they are unworkable in general. Greater involvement of RLLs from participating partners , especially with its entrepreneurs, in the assessment process can be very beneficial. This exposes these RLLs to opportunities that they may want to pursue and complete the task. This can be facilitated by establishing a “Market Opportunity Register” consisting of feasibility study write-ups of the various opportunities assessed. Some RLLs try to put tech commercialization programs in place whole cloth, before the first opportunity has even been identified. In other words, they take a programmatic approach. Hungarian RLL is only now building its innovation commercialization apparatus in response to a process that hopefully will commercialize a real market opportunity. This puts the localteam in the position to build and refine its formal process and to use the proceeds from the first successful commercialization effort to fund its innovation commercialization unit within the RLL later on. Another commonly held misperception in the tech commercialization arena is that the viability of an opportunity is based solely on its patentability, e.g., something that can be managed as intellectual property (IP). The queation is how many viable market opportunities should be identified and assessed, how many of which should likely to be patentable. Yet it was deemed that all of these opportunities had potential for revenue generation, with possibly a very favorable return on investment rates. This suggests that conventional wisdom

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may be unnecessarily limiting. We may be missing countless opportunities for local and regional economic development by adhering to a narrow definition of opportunity viability. This last observation is particular relevance for RLLs, in the rural areas that are attempting to commercialize innovations. A focus solely on patentable market opportunities may be effective in regions with a strong technological base and educational institutions that are actively engaged in research, but this is not the case in most rural areas. Rural areas literally cannot afford to overlook nonpatentable business opportunities just because they don’t fit the traditional model of innovation commercialization. In some of the RLLs, the intent is to use early successes with nonpatentable opportunities to leverage activity in the venture capital-backed IP arena in the future. The lack of infrastructure for supporting innovation commercialization in rural areas must be acknowledged and addressed. The basic requirement of the RLL is to have assets such as institutions of higher learning, private R&D facilities, larger companies in industries important to the global economy, and economic development officials who are thinking and acting entrepreneurially. To its credit, the local community should work to identify all of its assets, to link them together and to focus them on supporting regional innovation commercialization efforts. Rural communities that do not possess such assets may be faced with only two choices: to not attempt to undertake an innovation commercialization strategy, or to partner with an urban area in the larger region in a way that would permit the rural community to benefit from the spin-off commercialization activity taking place in the small town. The plan The Living Labs seeks to develop an entrepreneurial culture in some european regions that was once dominated by an agriculture by targeting several industry sectors that have experienced rapid growth in the regions in recent years. The first phase of this effort should be to pilot the RLL’s plan by working with all the RLL partner organisations. The plan is to develop a system to identify opportunities with commercial potential, profile the entrepreneurial skills and experience needed to capture these market opportunities, then recruit entrepreneurs capable of taking the respective opportunities to market. Each RLL s are selected as the test beds for the approach to innovation commercialization because of its local/national/international reputation as a high-quality research labs in its field, the relevance of its work to the region’s agro-industry sectors of interest, its sizeable inventory of technology innovations that had not yet been successfully taken to market.. The process The first step is to establish a set of criteria for evaluating commercialization opportunities (e.g., a clear set of customers with the ability to buy the offering, investment required, potential rate of return and immediacy of revenue stream, etc.). Once these were established, a team should review a portfolio of each RLL’s innovation activities, from which seven potentially viable market opportunities will identified for further exploration. The RLLs partners then hire to conduct a market feasibility analysis on each opportunity. Each partners will produce a two-page summary of each market opportunity (with additional documentation), which will reviewed by the users . After sufficient research, a meeting can be convened to evaluate and prioritize all seven opportunities and to determine which ones to pursue. Although all seven looked promising under different conditions, all market opportunity should be selected to be the primary focus of the project’s commercialization effort. The next step in the process, which can be underway, is to find a local entrepreneur(s) to lead the commercialization of the selected opportunity. Taking each idea to market can

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involve, among other things, arranging a deal to spin out the opportunity while maintaining a relationship with RLLs partners.. Once these arrangements has been made, the entrepreneurs and RLLs should prepare a business plan with assistance from the local RLLs teams. Ongoing support in obtaining contracts, seed money, etc. will be provided by stakeholders in the region. The entrepreneur’s skill level will be assessed and initial assistance will be tailored accordingly. Using this test case, the Living Lab community will develop a plan, process and capacity for commercializing other technologies emanating from RLLs.

The technological innovation of the hungarian RLL is: Mobile Data Network through Wireless Mesh Network As we have seen the current business model and the technology behind the WISP is not cooperative. We would like to provide a new business model based on the strong cooperation among the WISPs and the end-users. The access network will be owned and maintained by a group of end-users. The model is similar to that of producer organization. The producer organization is a non profit organization and the end users are the stakeholders. With this new business model the price of the data communication will be significantly cheaper. To accomplish this goal a novel access network solution will be provided. The field of Wireless Mesh Networks is an active research area. There are many implementations and solutions. The novelty of our solution is the use of the WMN as an access network and the integrated top down approach. This network will be able to provide high level services such as SIP, localization, etc. Another novelty of the solution is the efficient resource management framework. Robust and reliable, mesh wireless systems offer multiple points of connection to the network and no central tower. Mesh users can bypass obstacles like hills and trees by using different signal paths. Mesh networks are easily expandable at very low cost, and they have no single point of failure. Mesh networks also feature shorter distances between nodes, which means each antenna can broadcast at lower power, creating less interference and allowing more users to communicate simultaneously. The Hungarian RLL resource management is a real novelty for the WMN community.

Figure 5.The novelty is the resource management via WMN

The business model innovation of the Hungarian RLL is. Farming In this field we would like to provide a framework for yield estimation. Currently only few and imprecise methods are know. We would like to use data mining to find out a novel more precise yield estimation method. With precise yield estimation the PO and the farmers will be able to achieve better prices on the market and they will be able to react timely to the changes to fulfill the legal contracts with large supermarket chains. The framework for data collection and the yield estimation algorithm will form the basis for further developments.

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The human centric innovation: the Hungarian Rural Living Lab It's about people Our idea is to organise a local rural community network, which will run on a voluntary basis and can be compared to other voluntary groups focussed around local issues. Like other voluntary groups they have sometimes found their greatest challenges are not technical (e.g. developing affordable internet access in a local area) but social; encouraging and sustaining volunteer input, a critical mass of users, and devising a sustainable organisational model. Some groups have splintered as individual participants follow their own goals or found it difficult to maintain a user base when large corporate internet service suppliers have reduced the price of broadband connectivity and increased availability.

Conclusion What we hope to accomplish through the Hungarian Rural Living Lab ? •

Define and gain a better understanding of an innovative open rural community through its Producer Organisation in Homokhátság small region , its strengths and its issues, as well as the opportunities that it presents to both communities and governments.

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Communicate the results of the Rural Living Lab in order to strengthen the coordination of innovation in rural communities; local and regional government to adopt a more integrated approach and share effective strategies with all Hungarians and Europeans.

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Establish a synergy between governments and rural communities to reach a common vision of the goals and objectives of the Rural Living Lab to be achieved at the local, regional and national levels.

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Demonstrate the benefits of setting up vibrant and productive partnerships between the various agricultural sectors (private, government and community) of open rural communities.

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Encourage rural communities to make innovation a priority in Homokhátság small region than at regional/national level.

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Sustain rural communities' interest in and active participation at the Rural Operational Program within the National Development Plan 2 and the Innovation Program under NORT .in the fall of 2007.

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Influence government's actions and contribute to the development of a national and regional rural policy framework.

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Position Hungary as a regional agro-industry leader in innovation in open rural communities at transnational level.

References Because of the scope of the challenge, the European Commission’s Information Society and Media DG allocated €40 million from the fifth call of FP6 to pilot a European Network of Living Labs. There are already 12 Living Labs sites in Europe, China, India and Brazil. The projects will identify, prototype, validate and test new ICT services and technologies. They are industry-driven, with several major European and global corporations

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participating. There is also clear public, private and civic collaboration throughout. The current project called C@R - Collaboration@Rural. Karl N. Stauber, May 2004. “Creating New Rural Development Strategies: The Role of Nonprofits,” in New Governance for a New Rural Economy: Reinventing Public and Private Institutions, Proceedings of a conference sponsored by the Centre for the Study of Rural America, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City A more complete discussion of this framework can be found in Deborah Markley, Don Macke and Vicki Luther, Energizing Entrepreneurs: Charting a Course for Rural Communities, Nebraska: Heartland Centre for Leadership Development, 2005. Kállai, Tünde – Bilicki, Vilmos – Kasza, Miklós: Africa 2007. Wireless Mesh Network For Rural Communities, IST, IST-Africa 2007 Conference Proceedings Paul Cunningham and Miriam Cunningham (Eds) IIMC International Information Management Corporation, 2007 ISBN: 1-905824-04-1.

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Information integration in multi-dimensional agri-food supply chain networks: a service-oriented approach in the KodA program Sjaak Wolfert1, Cor Verdouw1 Adrie Beulens2 1 LEI, Wageningen UR, P.O. Box 29703, Den Haag, 2502 LS, The Netherlands, Tel: +31 70 3358330, Fax: +31 70 3615624, [email protected], [email protected] 2 Information Technology Group, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 8130, Wageningen, 6700 EW, The Netherlands, Tel: +31 317 484154, Fax: + 31 317 485646, [email protected] Abstract. Agri-food companies increasingly participate as networked enterprises in multidimensional, dynamic and knowledge-based networks. They have to make new connections rapidly and employ ‘up-to-the-minute’ information smoothly in business operations. Appropriate exchange and integration of information should enable this. As part of the Dutch co-innovation program ‘KodA’, an in-depth study investigated the role of information integration in multi-dimensional networks, described the current situation in agri-food supply chain networks (particularly arable farming) and provided a vision for the future. This paper presents the results of this study. It concludes that the level of standardization for data, application and process integration in arable farming is poor. A serviceoriented approach that supports companies to concentrate on their business processes is proposed as a solution direction. Developments should focus on industry-specific elements, adopting worldwide cross-industry standards and building upon existing industry standards. A step-by-step approach in which business partners themselves are responsible, organizational embedding and involvement of all relevant stakeholders are important success factors. Keywords. service-oriented architecture (SOA), business process management (BPM), information integration, data standardization, interoperability, arable farming

Introduction The business environment of agri-food production is changing rapidly, driven by various and changing needs of consumers and society. Production is becoming more demand-driven, has to be transparent and must meet quality and environmental standards. Several incidents in the last decades (e.g. foot and mouth disease, swine fever, dioxin scandals) have made food safety one of the major issues. Meeting these requirements gives actors in the supply chain a ‘licence to produce’. Besides, agricultural markets in Western Europe are under pressure because of high land and labour prices in combination with intensified competition due to globalisation. One main answer to this development is to innovate towards a more demanddriven and knowledge-based production, producing high-grade products. This requires application of ‘state-of-the-art’ knowledge and involvement of research and technology institutes in innovation. In such context, agri-food supply chains are not simple linear chains, but are characterized by multiple network dimensions (see Fig. 1): • Vertical chain dimension: combination of actors that together develop, produce and distribute products to fulfill customer needs; • Horizontal fulfillment dimension: combination of producers who complement each other providing a complete assortment in the required volume and delivery reliability; • Horizontal innovation dimension: cooperation of producers in developing resources and business processes in order to exploit economies of scale and synergy due to complementary competences (including joint creativity); • Geographic cluster dimension: regional cooperation focusing on combining logistic flows or creating a closed system that utilizes mutual inputs and outputs.

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horizontal fulfillment

innovation

H1 H2

geographic cluster

CLUSTER

Vertical Figure 1. Multiple dimensions of Agri-Food Supply Chain Networks Therefore, we prefer to speak of agri-food supply chain networks (further abbreviated as AFSCN). Three basic forms of network governance can be distinguished in AFSCNs (Lazzarini et al., 2001): • Managerial Discretion (plan): discretionary actions by a coordinating agent, who centrally plans the flow of products and information; • Standardization: standardized rules and shared mechanisms to orchestrate transactions; • Mutual Adjustment: alignment of plans through mutual feedback processes and joint problem solving and decision making. Multi-dimensional networks put the emphasis on standardization and mutual adjustment, requiring a high flexibility of processes and enterprises. The requirements of licence to produce, knowledge-based production and flexibility require in their turn appropriate communication between and steering of all processes in the complete AFSCN. Related to this, appropriate information integration is important. An in-depth study was conducted to investigate what appropriate information integration means for AFSCNs, to describe the current situation and to provide a vision for the future. This paper presents the results of this study that was carried out as part of the KodA program (see text box). In KodA, we consider the farm as the focal company in the AFSCN, which is a networked enterprise where several network dimensions come together.

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In the remainder of this paper we will first elaborate on the problem statement and its context using a wider conceptual framework, related to general concepts derived from literature. The next section will reflect the current situation for AFSCNs to this framework, resulting in a list of problem areas. A vision for the future is then provided as a guide for working on these problems. Next, we will briefly describe the work in progress and finally draw conclusions and set an agenda of future challenges for research and development.

General information about the RTD program ‘KodA’ KodA is a Dutch acronym for ‘Kennis op de Akker’, which can be best translated in English as: ‘From knowledge to practice in the field of arable farming’. In KodA, about 60 arable farmers, their suppliers and processors (about 12 large companies), work together to improve quality and efficiency of arable crop production. This co-operation takes place in interactive learning networks in which predefined tasks for innovation are gradually implemented. KodA has a total budget of 8 MEuro for 4 years, in a private-public partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture. ICT is seen as a key enabler to achieve the program’s objectives. ICT enables the farmer to use and deploy knowledge, information and data efficiently. Development of integrated management support systems in which actual, state-of-the-art knowledge and farm-specific data are combined, is considered as a major condition for further development of sustainable practices (Wolfert et al., 2005; Wolfert et al., 2007).

Conceptual framework for information-integration Integration of information for the farm as a networked enterprise in multi-dimensional AFSCNs is complex. Therefore, the study started with defining a conceptual framework (among others based on Giachetti, 2004) that is visualized in Fig. 2 and distinguishes between: • Different integration levels: o Intra-enterprise: within enterprises to overcome fragmentation between organizational units (functional silos) and systems; o Inter-enterprise: between enterprises to move from operating as an isolated company towards a virtual enterprise that is integrated in multi-dimensional networks. • Different integration types: o Process Integration: alignment of tasks by coordination mechanisms; o Application Integration: alignment of software systems so that one system online can use data generated by another one (interoperability); o Data Integration: alignment of data definitions in order to be able to share data; o Physical Integration: technical infrastructure to enable communication between hardware components (connectivity).

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ENTERPRISE 1 Coordination Interoperability Data sharing

Process

Process INTRA

Application

Data

Connectivity

ENTERPRISE 2

Enterprise Integration

Physical Infrastructure

Application INTER Enterprise Integration

Data

Physical Infrastructure

Figure 2. Integration Framework (adapted from Giachetti, 2004) The different integration types are interdependent in two ways: 1. Conditional (solid lines in Fig. 2): to share data and couple applications, the physical infrastructure must be connected; to integrate applications, there must be common data definitions; for effective process coordination it must be possible to share data or to integrate applications; 2. Requiring (dotted lines in Fig. 2): starting point is the need for integrated processes which defines the requirements for data exchange and application integration; application integration implies specific requirements for data to be exchanged; data exchange and application integration both require a supporting technical infrastructure; At all defined levels and types of integration, one can distinguish three basic approaches (adapted from Lee et al., 2003): 1. Implementing one standard system that provides all required functionality (requires managerial discretion governance); 2. Developing customized point-to-point interfaces (costly, complexity is growing exponentially if the number of interfaces is growing); 3. Adoption of integration standards that make it possible to plug different systems via standard connectors into a common platform. Next sections elaborate the conceptual framework by describing generic standards for all defined types and levels of integration.

Physical Integration Standardization Standardization of the physical communication infrastructure makes it technically possible to connect products, hardware, machines, devices and their operating systems. There are two groups of supporting standards: • •

Interface standards: to make physical systems accessible by information systems, e.g. PLC interfaces for machine control and product identification standards (particularly barcode scanning and Radio Frequency Identification, RFID); Communication standards: network protocols (e.g. TCP/IP & PPP), transport protocols (e.g. HTTP, FTP, SMTP, SOAP).

In general, standardization at this level is very mature, although new technologies are emerging, requiring new standards (e.g. RFID).

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Data Integration Standardization Standardization for data exchange focuses on the format of messages and data definitions. XML has succeeded EDI as leading standard for message specification. It is applied both at intra- and inter-enterprise level. Examples of data definition standards at enterprise level are the article coding standard (EAN) and the international Standard for The Exchange of Product data (STEP). At inter-enterprise level standardization focuses on eCommerce information exchange. EDI-based standards are widely implemented (e.g. EDIFACT, ANSI X 12), but at the moment ebXML is emerging as its successor. EbXML provides a catalogue of information elements in XML format (‘core components’) that have to be exchanged in eBusiness processes. It consists of several sub-standards including MSS (Message Service Specification: aligned with SOA), BPSS (Business Process Specification Schema), CCP/A (Collaboration Protocol Profile/Agreement) and ebXML Registry.

Application Integration Standardization The successive phase is integration of applications: one application calls another and receives direct, on-line response. Different software applications within one organisation or from different organisations are considered as components of one aligned system. From 1990s on, at intra-enterprise level the focus has shifted from customized point-topoint interfaces to implementation of standard Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. Nowadays, web service based application integration is emerging. Web services are autonomous reusable software components that are based on XML message technology that can be described, published and invoked over the network (typically Internet) using open standards (adapted from Leymann, 2003; Tan and Lee, 2004). Comparable to ebXML, it consists of several sub-standards including WSDL (Web Services Description Language), BPML (Business Process Modelling Language) and BPEL (Business Process Execution Language), WSCI (Web Services Choreography Interface), UDDI (Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration).

Process Integration Standardization The final type is integration of processes (alignment of tasks) by coordination. Therefore the activities and interactions between processes must be defined in process and data models. There are several reference process models that support design of integrated intra- and interenterprise business processes. Some well-known integrated intra-enterprise models are CIMOSA (Open Systems Architecture for CIM-systems), GERAM (Generic Enterprise Reference Architecture and Methodology), ERP reference models of among others SAP and Baan (nowadays Infor), ISA-95 (formerly S95). Some well-known inter-enterprise models are VERA (Virtual Enterprise Reference Architecture), SCOR (Supply Chain Operations Reference-model) and the CPFR-model (Collaborative Planning, Forecasting and Replenishment) of VICS. The next sections use this generic, conceptual model to investigate the current situation of information-integration in AFSCNs and to develop a coherent vision for the future.

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Current situation in agri-food supply chain networks Description of the situation from the farm’s perspective Using the conceptual framework, a survey for the current situation of Dutch arable AFSCNs was conducted, considering the farm as the focal company. Figure 3 provides a summarized overview of the main actors, their interactions and dependencies. Farm management can be divided into two categories: farm and field level. Inter-enterprise information-exchange mainly takes place at the farm level, while at the field level mainly intra-enterprise information-exchange takes place. However, the connection between these two levels is very important for the whole AFSCN. For example, a food processor, communicating at the farm level, wants to know what pesticides were used in the field for a specific crop product.

data suppliers

registration

weather, cultivars, etc.

regulations

information

farm research institute

registration

advice

product information products

transporter/ collector products

operations

markets

restrictions

field monitoring data

input supplier

instructions

knowledge

farm management system

advisory service

government

processing industry

fertilizers, pesticides, etc.

Figure 3. Simplified overview of main product and information flows in arable AFSCNs Figure 3 shows that farms exchange information in several network dimensions. Information from several actors is combined, aggregated and used by multiple actors. Use of common standards is crucial in this process. For example, the name of a pesticide is requested by input suppliers and advisory services to provide advices on spraying. For automated exchange of pesticide information, unambiguous common definition of e.g. pesticide names, coding and properties is a basic requirement. Currently, this is hardly the case. Sometimes the actors use electronic formats or systems, but in many cases information is still communicated by paper or verbal communication. For example, only 50% of the sugar beet farmers deliver their product information electronically. Besides, farmers use various applications (e.g. for production control, financial management and decision support), which are not or poorly integrated with each other.

Reflecting to the conceptual framework Physical Integration, both at intra- and inter-enterprise level, is not a major problem. Network technology (e.g. internet, satellites) is commonly used, while machinery and equipment (e.g. tractors, harvesting machines) have some kind of standardized communication interfaces (plugs and contact points, board computers). Data Exchange between machines at field level and management systems is supported by an extensive and widely adopted ISO standard (ISOBUS/ISO11873). However, data exchange

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between different systems at farm level is insufficient. Some examples of some point-to-point interfaces are found, but there are no common standards for data exchange at this level of integration. At the inter-enterprise level, the ‘EDI-teelt’ association develops standardized XML-based messages to exchange data between farms and industry. EDI-teelt is a lightweight, virtual organisation, consisting of small workgroups of mainly software engineers that participate on a voluntary basis. However, there are serious problems in using the standard, mainly because EDI-teelt covers just one communication line in one network dimension (vertical chain dimension). Data is also dependent on actors of other network dimensions, e.g. government, advisory services and research institutes. In practice, it means that for farmers it is often difficult to deliver the right standardized information, which partly explains a low adoption rate of automated systems. Farmers also complain because the exchange is mainly one-way direction: from farm to industry. The information they receive from industry, if anything, is mostly on paper in a non-standardized data format and difficult to integrate in their management system. In response to these problems, currently the EDITeelt standard is being redesigned, extended and tested in some pilot projects. Application Integration at the intra-enterprise level is mostly done in specific farm management systems, which are widely adopted. They are comparable with ERP-systems, although they are merely administrative systems for registration purposes. Integration with other systems is done by customized point-to-point interfaces. At the inter-enterprise level, there are just a few preliminary examples of point-to-point interfaces, but we cannot speak of a wide supported integration standard. Process Integration is not supported systematically at the moment. There is no active example of a reference process model that integrates business processes neither at intraenterprise level nor at inter-enterprise level. Two intra-enterprise examples from the past can be mentioned. First, in the 1980’s several extensive reference process models were developed in the INSP-project. Although these models have been elaborated in detail, they are not used as a reference in current software applications. Some parts were used to build these applications, but then definitions further evolved internally, leading to communication mismatches between different applications. Secondly, another attempt was made during the 1990’s in the context of the emergence of ‘precision agriculture’, in which site-specific farm management using GIS plays a central role. In a public-funded project, the IMOPA-model was developed based on the Computer Integrated Agriculture (CIA) model (ESPRIT, 1996) developed in the EU-funded ESPRIT program. Like INSP, this model has not been implemented in currently used software systems, although some parts have found their way in a completely new version of the EDI-Teelt standard that is currently being developed.

National and international developments in other sectors Integration initiatives in other agricultural sectors (mainly horticulture and animal production) were also investigated. They are mainly focussing on standardisation of data exchange. Dutch examples are: Datatuin (horticulture, www.datatuin.nl), Frugicom (vegetables, www.frugicom.nl), Florecom (flowers, www.florecom.nl), EDI Bulb (www.edibulb.nl), EDI Agribusiness (feed, www.edi-agribusiness.nl), EDI-Cow (www.edicow.nl) and EDI-Pigs (www.edi-pigs.nl). Standardization initiatives for application integration are less common. One example is Plantform (www.plantform.nl), that focuses on setting standards for integrated management systems of potted plant nurseries. Many of the initiatives mentioned above started with developing data and process models. We also identified standardization initiatives in other European countries, including PreAgro/AgroXML (Germany, www.agroxml.de), Agro-EDI (France, www.agroedi.asso.fr), GIEA (France, www.giea.fr) and EZflux (cereals & oilseeds in Belgium, France, Netherlands; www.ezflux-institute.org). The problems and emerging solutions in other sectors and in other European countries seem

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to be quite comparable with Dutch arable farming. However, a thorough analysis and comparison goes beyond the scope of this paper.

Conclusions and summary of main problem areas It can be concluded for the arable AFSCNs that the level of standardization for data, application and process integration is still quite poor, leading to the following negative effects: • • •

The effort for collecting, converting and exchanging necessary data is large, while the possibility for making errors is high; Decision-support is sub-optimal and as a consequence also decision-making; Transparency and accountability requirements often lead to administrative burdens.

Referring to the problem statement in the introduction, this means that reaching a desirable level of a licence to produce, knowledge-based production and flexibility is hampered by a poor level of information-integration. To overcome these problems, some major steps on the intra- and inter-enterprise level for information-integration have to be made. The next section provides a vision for the future as a roadmap for further development.

Vision for the future on information-integration Agri-food companies increasingly participate as networked enterprises in multidimensional, dynamic and knowledge-based networks. They have to make new connections rapidly and employ ‘up-to-the-minute’ information smoothly in business operations. The conceptual framework showed that standardization in information integration of processes, applications, data and physical infrastructure are important to realize this. For setting-up and changing integrations quickly, we propose a rapid (re-)configuration approach in which information integrations are set-up from standard components (‘pick, plug and play’). This requires component-based information systems, independent components, standardized interfaces between components, a central repository of published components and standardized procedures for selection and implementation of components. Concerning component-independency, a clear distinction should be made between the different types and levels of integration as defined in the conceptual framework. Decoupling of these layers makes it possible to change process configurations, without changing applications. To make the right successive steps, it is important to take into account the conditional and requiring interdependency between the different types of integration (see Fig. 2). A Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) approach is very suitable to realize rapid (re-) configuration. It is a process-oriented and component-based approach in which service providers publish web services in a service directory, service requestors search in this directory to find suitable services and bind to that service and use it based on information from the directory and standardized procedures (Leymann, 2003; Erl, 2005). Also ebXML is based on this philosophy, whereas the emphasis is on standardized messages instead of web services. The vision for the future is to support development of architecture, standardization and infrastructure for a rapid (re-)configuration approach at all defined levels of integration, based on a SOA- and ebXML-like approach. This development should connect to existing worldwide cross-industry standards and industry-specific data standards. Additionally, domain-specific configuration guidelines must be developed for selection and implementation of a coherent set of components that solve specific business problems in arable farming. Fig. 4 shows a schematic representation of such an architecture with a focus on farming.

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“the yellow pages”

applications

data

web service

Industry applications data Government applications data

web service

web service

Services en applications service 1 service 2

portals

applications

(integrated) XML messages

data Farmer

web service

service n application 1 application 2 application n

information standards

Other ...........

Figure 4. The service-oriented architecture (SOA) philosophy as applied for farming Lessons learnt from the past (see e.g. INSP, IMOPA in previous paragraph) show that this should not be just an exercise for academics or business consultants, but businesses themselves must take the lead and all relevant stakeholders should be involved. Successful adoption and application implies arrangements at different institutional levels: industry-wide central institution, coalitions of cooperating enterprises and individual organizations (service requestors and providers). Although some national, sector-specific initiatives (like KodA and EDI-Teelt) can take the lead, international harmonization is desirable.

Work in progress The results of this study were thoroughly discussed within the KodA program by the partners. It was concluded that: • • •

the KodA partners endorse the viewpoint on integration and standardization of the study but emphasize that development must be linked to real business cases and problems of partners that are involved in KodA; this means that developments should prove noticeable benefits for farmers and activities should link up with other national and possibly international initiatives so that resources are used efficiently.

This task can be characterized by the dilemma of the chicken and the egg: which one came first? A generic infrastructure with standards is first needed before successful applications can be developed on it and applications can only be called successful when they elaborate on the generic infrastructure. Hence, it was decided to start a project, dealing with relatively simple cases, but it should result in a general established line along which more complex cases can be dealt with in the future. This project comprises the following activities: •

provide for access to data of some data source by a web service from which these data can be retrieved 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, according to a public and commonly agreed standard.

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•

•

professionalization of the current authority ‘EDI-Teelt’ by: o updating, developing, maintaining and publishing the current standards in a service-oriented architecture; o making long-term agreements with the organizations involved in terms of service level agreements (SLA’s ) in order to ensure the availability and quality of the data; o writing a business plan to set up a new organization of ‘EDI-teelt’ (working name ‘EDI-teelt+’) that can sustain according to general market principles; description of the aforementioned activities in a procedure so that other cases of opening up data can be treated in the same way.

A case studies on pesticides was chosen to provide for proof of feasibility. In this case study, a basic list of permitted pesticides is published by law by two governmental organizations: PD and CTB. A quick-win application is that the farmer can check real time whether a specific pesticide is permitted or not by using a web service. This application can be addressed, like a ‘subroutine’, within an existing software package. Probably, this is not really a ‘killer application’ but it will provide a proof of principle of how the service-oriented architecture will work. The case studies is schematically represented in Fig. 5.

pesticide database

EDI-teelt

WS farm

AC

spraying machine

WS crop history

instruction

field

farm management system registration

pesticide data

additional restrictions

AC

WS food processor

Figure 5. Schematic representation of the case study on pesticides that demonstrates the service-oriented architecture. Web services that communicate with each other by XML messages form the basis, but appropriate interaction and agreements between underlying organizations is of crucial importance. The standards authorization body ‘EDI-teelt should maintain an facilitate the architecture. The first challenge in these case studies is to implement the technical part: making the communication between systems components work by web services. However, this is just the technical part of the work and there are already many worldwide protocols, standards, procedures and toolkits available on how to implement an SOA-architecture. The real challenge is to co-ordinate the agreements between several organizational units involved. The organization in view ‘EDI-teelt+’ is expected to play a key role in this. On behalf of the total arable farming sector they can negotiate about the content of messages that web services provide and make contracts on availability and quality of the service. Beside this organizational role, EDI-teelt+ can also play a role in integrating standards at a precompetitive stage, before information is used in a commercial application. So, in one case

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a webservice can directly communicate with a web connector of a commercial application or EDI-teelt+ can play a director’s role and possible integrate it with other information. Time will learn how heavy the role of EDI-teelt+ in this process will be in the future.

Conclusions and future challenges The presented results provide an in-depth investigation of the problem of information integration in AFSCNs and a vision for future. Developments should follow a service-oriented architecture (SOA) approach, and should support companies to focus on their business processes. At the same time attention must be paid to the organizational aspects. A step-bystep approach in which business partners themselves are responsible, organizational embedding and involvement of all relevant stakeholders are important success factors. In the arable farming sector this is initiated by further professionalization of the existing standards authority ‘EDI-teelt’. It can be concluded that major steps have to be made for successful information integration in AFSCNs. Main research challenges are: • • •

How to construct sector-specific SOA-architectures, adopting worldwide cross-industry standards and building upon existing industry standards? How to use business process management (BPM) concepts, including ‘best practice’ models, to allow flexible configuration of specific processes integrations? How to organize broad commitment, to embed developments in sustainable institutional arrangements, and to let it grow organically?

These challenges are faced in different sectors and in different countries independently. A concerted action is needed for coordination and knowledge exchange at the European level.

References Erl, T., 2005. Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA): Concepts, Technology, and Design. Prentice Hall. ESPRIT, 1996. Computer-Integrated Agriculture. http://cordis.europa.eu/esprit/src/results/res_area/iim/iim5.htm Giachetti, R.E., 2004. A Framework to Review the Information Integration of the Enterprise. International Journal of Production Research 42(6), 1147-166. Lazzarini, S.G., Chaddad, F.R., Cook, M.L., 2001. Integrating supply chain and network analyses: the study of netchains. Journal on Chain and Network Sciences 1(1), 7-22. Lee, J., Siau, K., Hong, S., 2003. Enterprise Integration with ERP and EAI. Communications of the ACM 46(2), 54-60. Leymann, F., 2003. Web Services: Distributed Applications without Limits: An Outline, BTW, Leipzig. Tan, P.S., Lee, E.W., 2004. Services Technology for the Industry. JSSL. Wolfert, J., Schoorlemmer, H.B., Paree, P.G.A., Zunneberg, W., Van Hoven, J.P.C., 2005. KodA: from knowledge to practice for Dutch arable farming. In: Boaventura, J., Morais, R. (Eds.), Proceedings of the joint EFITA/WCCA 2005 conference, 25-28 July, Vila Real, Portugal, pp. 883-888. Wolfert, J., Verdouw, C.N., Beulens, A.J.M., 2007. Integration and standardization in arable farming practice: a service-oriented approach. In: Parker, C., Skerratt, S., Park, C., Shields, J. (Eds.), EFITA Glasgow 2007: Proceedings of the 6th Biennial Conference of the European Federation of IT in Agriculture, Food and the Environment, 2-5 July 2007. Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow.

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Video in E-learning Systems Róbert Szilágyi 1 – György Kovács 1 – Miklós Herdon 1 University of Debrecen Centre of Agricultural Sciences Faculty of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development 4032 Debrecen Böszörményi str. 138. 1

Abstract. The world is changing rapidly in the field of multimedia and it is inevitable to prepare to use and utilize the new teaching method. This is specifically true in the case of the use of educational films both as video and also using such video on the Internet. Our first task is to decide whether the development of material will be an independent film or a part of an e-learning course. In both cases the method of construction is different. The next step is to select the target group of the film. There is a wide scale of possible viewers or participants (who must have a certain level of basic knowledge) and also handicapped people should be able to use the results. The final product ought to be acceptable for e-learning and distance-learning as well. Using the information technology in education is general and the present being of the e-learnig is part of this fact. We can use e-learning effectively only if the system is filled up with electronic educational material. The most effective ones are the multimediamaterials. The effectiveness of the multimedia-material can be improved with the application of video. Keywords. Video, E-learning, multimedia, LMS

Introduction The first and most important point of view is to describe and define the topic. The video materials in e-learning are scientific films which are elaborating the theme in different profoundness. All topics can be elaborated to an educational film using diverse technologies (from professional film- and videotechnologies to the most common videoinstruments). The value of the educational film is determined by its ability to transfer knowledge. We have to take the following into account when we decide how deeply we must elaborate the theme: • The age of the target-audience, and its education/level of knowledge • How deeply we want the public memorize the planned material. These two points should determine the duration of the video installment for a particular topic (or the multimedia object that we would create).

Determine the goal of the video The first element of creating educational videos is to determine the main goal and the target audience of our video. Even though of the main goal is clear – to transfer certain knowledge with the possibly best rate by utilizing the possibilities of moving pictures - , depending on the level of the educational material’s intended teaching/training the importance of the video’s length and its narration can be rather different. Regarding depth of knowledge we can distinguish three different levels: • Knowledge-level • Ability-level • Application-level Making a video is a very expensive work. Just for this reason it could be very economic and useful to think on further utilising different shots. The same shots can be used again by utilising different postproduction-effects to reach these three scientific levels.

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Topic Definition. Target Audience. Genre according to the taste of Target Audience

Inserting existing video material

The goal of the video

Basically a filmlike video. Making: Rules relative to the film.

As a sequence or a multimedia file. Making: Rules relative to multimedia materials.

Setting Up the Crew

Video platform

Full screen. Film-like behaviour

Shared screen. Act like a multimedia material. Joint use of the other components.

Small Screen Device. (Hand-held)

Picture composition rules. Can be mixed. (template usable)

. Figure 1. Video making concept

Pedagogical points of view The organizational forms and the laws that currently separate university-level education, adults education, mass-education and some training of different crafts on higher level are both developing and converging. Thus the use of appropriate content and a well done e-learning topic or simple multimedia materials can be used by many forms of education. Appropriate and well-prepared e-learning material or a simple multimedia material can be used in any part and any kind of the education process. The psychology of intelligent learning pre-supposes creativity. Creativity is the basic condition of a stable knowledge. We have to prepare videos which will be embedded into an e-learning environment that must be able to creatively enhance them. And it is not enough to just use this in an intelligent way but the user must also be motivated to use it through the application of e-learning techniques. Using multimedia-materials engages users during their preparation for examinations. It is intended that the audience gain an understanding of the videofilm’s material and that there is

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self-assessment during this process. Therefore we have to plan when we develop the elearning material. We have to mark the appropriate parts of the material for self-elaborating and its possible examine-questions.

Genres of the videos in the e-learning system Using e-learning can be realized basically in three different ways: • An own, complex educational video, which can reach its goals alone. • A public film made by other editors with basically different aims. • In the third case we talk about the part of a multimedia’s component. In the first two cases we can put an appropriate link. We can characterize the former points with the next ones: • A complex educational film creates phenomenas, opens problems, creates ground for systematizing and summarizing. • The multimedia’s elements can be complete only with the rest of all the added materials

Preparing videos Before starting any video shooting we have to have a clear image about the e-learning (and multimedia) system’s whole presence. It also can determine our decisions: our topic will be rolled in front of a public during a live presentation in an auditorium, during a live lecture or we do it in a studio maybe somewhere in a laboratory or abroad. This is the first main and important point of the screenplay writing before the shooting. Also we can choose a method for elaborating the education material when we record a lecture and fix it into the e-learning environment.

Preparing videomaterials for multimedia applications

• Define the logical elements, • Cut the DV film into logical parts, • Release the photos (for the slideshow), • Create the slides related to the content and mark as navigation points. • Choose templates (for example: 320x240 fixed video the rest of the screen is resizable), • Allocate some media on the time-line • Edit and save in a streaming file.

The teacher’s role in the video-material One of the main attributes of education is that the importance of the human-human reactions is intensifying. The professor on the one hand is motivating and on the other hand manifests and transfers a value (norms, style) through multimedia. Teachers must estimate the possibilities of utilization and also the limitations of the chosen method. It is important because technology is not able to realize anything. The most relevant element of the new role is to suit the students’ needs with the teacher’s capabilities. He must explain everything until his students completely understand and help them in any way as much as he can. This aim is impossible to reach if we base it on only one person. If we use a complex videofilm as an educational material the most obvious thing to observe is that the professor has ”disappeared”. It is only facade of course because as the editor of the

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material he is presented and his imagination can be viewed on film but his personality can not influence the students directly. When the teacher/tutor explains something or asks an expert to show something on the film the situation is definitively different. In this case the indirect students-professor relationship presents itself (though the professor’s personality can still have some influence through the film). From the point of view of video materials there are three functions of the professors: • Education material developer He works in the background as a member of the complex team. He determines the aim of the education: its depth, its content and he is responsable for it. The job of the other members of the team is to realize what the developer declares. • The presenter, the ”star” The teacher/tutor called “presenter” should compensate for the “mechanical” character of the e-learning and supply the emotional bond that the professor-student relationship needs. It is extremely important for him to be an excellent lecturer and he must have a charizmatic personality to help the learning process. • The ”tutor” He maintains a constant relationship with the students (personally if it is possible) or through e-learning. His task is to give all the help that he can give to the students to be able to go follow the material. He must be very clear with the e-learning’s pedagogical instruments and methods and with their deficiencies because he must compensate it with an appropriate help as well.

Video content digitalisation Digitalisation of older analogue video records Analogue video signal should be digitalised with settings depending on the recording system. The starting format (VHS, SVHS, Video8, H8, Umatic LB, Umatic HB, Beta SP and LaserDisc.) Digital (capture) format: DV. • Microsoft DV, Quicktime DV (or a DV that has accelerator hardware-dependant coding, i.e. Canopus DV, etc.) depending on the editing system chosen. • Digitalisation – if possible – should be made via an external A/D equipment that accepts analogue (composite, component or Y/C) signal input and creates a DV signal output through an 1394 interface.

Capturing and editig formats

• Capturing format: Digitally recorded video (raw DV stream) should be transferred to the computer through (in the case of professional tools) the SDI or (half-professional or common tools) IEEE 1394 interface. • Editing format: It is advisable to use the capture format or the own format of the hardware accelerator card for effective use of resources.

For archiving and for further development our goal is to conserve the best possible quality. It is practical to use one of the commonly used DV formats (ie: Microsoft DV AVI, Quicktime DV MOV)

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DV cassettes also give good solution for archiving because the edited or pre-edited material can be copied on them without losing quality. Buying professional software and hardware (ie. Avide Media Composer or Thunder Station) is not necessarily needed for editing video material used in multimedia applications. In fact a modern PC with multiple displays (2 for editing and one for output) with decent software is suitable for this task. Recommended video editing softwares are: AVID videoeditors Adobe PremierPro

Recommended formats: For Macintosh: QuickTime format Apple developed it and it can contain any codec (CBR or VBR). Most of the time the files have these extensions: .QT or .MOV. Developers of MPEG-4 chose Quicktime as the recommended file format of MPEG-4, their MOV files have .MPG or .MP4 extensions. Virtually every system supports them. For Linux Ogg format (free). Specifications are public and there is no patent licence on either playing or creating these files. For Microsoft environment: ASF (Advanced Streaming Format) Audio/video packaging software (container) licenced by Microsoft (later renamed to Advanced Systems Format). The ASF format determines the structure of audio/video content only, not the coding of the audio/video streams. Basically this means that ASF files can contain audio/video data coded with any kind of codec. Most of the time an ASF file contains these formats: Windows Media Audio (WMA) • WMA Standard v1,v2,v7,v8, v9 • WMA Speech Windows Media Video (WMV) • WMVv7,v8,v9 • Mpeg4 Video The ASF format can contain metadata modules (like artist name, title, album and genre for an audio recording or director in the case of a video or film) similarly to the ID3 labels of MP3 files. ASF contains expandable, synchronized multimedia data, supports a lot of networks and protocols for data delivery and local playback as well. ASF has advanced multimedia capabilities – for example expandibility of media types, downloadable components, scalability of media types, determining the priority of data streams by the author, supporting multiple languages, wide range of bibliographical support (document management and content management included). ASF files containing audio data compressed with Windows Media Audio (WMA) codec usually have the .wma extension. Similarly, ASF files containing audio or video content compressed by Windows Media Audio (WMA) or Windows Media Video (WMV) codec generally have the .wmv extension.

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• .wma file extension can be used for ASF file containing WMA audio only, • .wmv file extension can be used for files containig sound and pictures. • ASF extension can be used for both file format. A typical codec-container coupling is when the codec is the compressed format (sound or video) of a concrete signal, and the container only describes the file format. • AVI container, MPEG4 videocodec, MP3 soundcodec • MPEG-PS container, MPEG2 videocodec, AC3 or MP2 soundcodec • Widows Media container, WMV videocodec, WMA soundcodec • Ogg container, Theora videocodec, Vorbis soundcodec • FLAC or Ogg container, FLAC soundcodec • Ogg container, Vorbis soundcodec (software name is false: oggenc) • MP3 container, MP3 soundcodec • WAV container, uncompressed soundcodec

Aspects regarding display The basic characteristic of multimedia applications is displaying several types of medium at once. Synchronisation is very important: information seen and heard must be synchronized in time. One must hear the soundtrack and see the supplemental picture and written information at the same time. Solutions that are not based on everyday computer-usage should be avoided during the management of multimedia items. It is advisable to keep this in mind from installation steps to navigation buttons and so on. This way every user – beginner and advanced level alike – can be equally productive. We also feel that users should not be able to freely choose the parameters regarding the display of video content. What are the most important functions? The media’s role as a part of a multimedia application is basically determined by the topic. It may influence its presentation on the screen in different aspects. For example: does our video contain any additional information? If not, it is allowed for the film to be only seen on a part of the screen. If the video elements are important for understanding the material, it is suggested to use a bigger sized window for the film. This requirement may be overwritten by the users’ limited network speed and bandwidth. It is suggested to optimize both the picturesize and the video resolution (or transfer rate) according to the network’s speed. To avoid this problem, it is suggested to prepare different rated variations and store them on the videoserver. In a multimedia application we should try to make the different types of medium complement each other and help „take in” things. It is important to decide which medium will be the guiding thread and which of its elements could be used for example for navigation as well. It is equally important to decide that in any given part which element should be the most stressed and provide the position and space on the display accordingly.

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Conclusion An excellent video-material can be made if the film’s aim is clear, the staff is professional, the audience and all participants are very well determined. The experts and the editors must work together to keep on target and keep up the professionalism. The video making must support the individual learning and must underline the integrated knowledge. All this should not create the illusion in anybody that it will substitute the professor’s or tutor’s role. Therefore it is very important to accompany the visual material with – for example - written texts and other sources. It brings the opportunity to use everyone’s former video materials in a modern, updated form.

References Tagarro, Ignacio; Aguilera, Santiago (2006): Annexe au Rapport d’Avancement 225891 - CP 1 - 2005 - 1 - FR – G1 WP4-1 RESOURCE GUIDE OF ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY Photonics Technology Department Technical University of Madrid. 1-34. p Wood, D., Ross, G.; Bruner, J. (1976): The role of tutoring in problem solving. Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, 17, 89-100. Burriel, Charles (2007) NODES – E-learning aspects and accessibility International. Conference on Agricultural Economics, Rural Development and Informatics, Debrecen, ISBN: 978-963-87118-7-8, 83-91 p. Elsa S. Sepulveda Bustos; Fedro S Zazueta; Howard H. Beck (2007) Rapid prototyping of learning objects and their implemetation using ontology editor. Conference on Agricultural Economics, Rural Development and Informatics, Debrecen, ISBN: 978-963-87118-7-8, 5960 p.

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Az e-learning alapú környezetmérnök oktatás informatikai háttere Domokos Endre, Rédey Ákos Pannon Egyetem, Környezetmérnöki és Kémiai Technológia Intézeti Tanszék 8200, Veszprém, Egyetem út 10. e-mail: [email protected] Absztrakt. A Pannon Egyetemen által vezetett csoport a HEFOP program keretében a B.Sc. szintű környezetmérnöki oktatás teljes szakmai törzsanyagát lefedő digitális tananyagot hozott létre. Az elkészül tananyagok több mint 11 millió karakterből, 3100 egyéb elemből állnak. Az anyag ennek a adatmennyiségnek a kezelésére készült rendszer főbb tulajdonságait mutatja be. Kulcsszavak. e-learning, tudásmenedzsment, HEFOP

Bevezetés 2005 nyarán a Pannon Egyetem által vezetett csoport a HEFOP program keretében támogatást nyert a B.Sc. szintű környezetmérnök képzés digitális tananyagbázisának elkészítésére. A téma keretein belül 12 felsőoktatási intézmény munkatársai dolgoztak együtt a tananyagok kidolgozásában és az azt követő digitalizálásban. A szükséges ismeretek 18 tudományterületre való felbontása segítette elő, hogy az egyébként igen széleskörű tudáshalmazt megfelelően kezelni lehessen. Minden egyes tématerületnek külön gazdája lett, ki ellenőrizte a tananyag összeállításának menetét, de a munkába szükségszerűen más szakemberek is bevonásra kerültek. Annak érdekében, hogy az elkészült anyagok a lehető legkorszerűbbek legyenek, összegyűjtésre kerültek a legfrissebb tudományos eredmények a világ minden tájáról. A munkát két egyedi fejlesztésű szoftvercsomag segíti. Az egyik az irányítási területet fedi le, a másik pedig az összegyűjtött tudás rendszerezését segíti. Ezen írás témája az utóbbi szoftver.

A digitális tananyagokról Az elektronikus tananyagok készítése, tárolása és használata nagyban eltér a nyomtatott formátumú tankönyvek kezelésétől. Ezen különbségek több alapvető eltérésből adódnak. Először is az elektronikus dokumentumok bármikor módosíthatók, gyorsan és különösebb költségráfordítás nélkül, ezért egy elektronikus tananyag naprakészen javítható, frissíthető és bővíthető. Ezen kívül a nyomtatott formától eltérően nem csak szöveg és képi elemek kombinálásával lehet elérni a kívánt hatást, hanem „bevethetők” egyéb eszközök is: mozgókép, animáció, hang. Azonban a feltáruló új lehetőségek további szakértelmeket is kívánnak, hisz egy olyan tananyag megalkotása, ami kihasználja a fent említett előnyöket sokkal bonyolultabb, sokrétűbb munka. Nem elég tankönyvíró és grafikus, kell informatikai támogatás, és valaki, aki a multimédia elemeket hozza létre. Az így elkészült tananyagot elsősorban elektronikus megjelenítőkön keresztül használják a diákok (például TabletPC, PDA vagy későbbiekben e-Papír), bár természetesen a szöveges részek és ábrák pár gombnyomás után nyomtatott formában is hozzáférhetők. Azonban maga a tananyag digitális, és digitális módszerrel kerül tárolásra és terjesztésre is. Ez maga után vonja az eltérő pénzügyi vonatkozásokat is, hisz a felhasználók, a diákok nem a könyvet veszik meg, hanem az információt, azaz a jogot, hogy hozzáférjenek az adott tananyaghoz. Mivel a digitális terjesztés költsége nagyságrendileg kisebb, mintha ugyanezt papíralapon tennénk, ez egy célszerű út és módszer mind a felsőoktatás, mind a diákok terheinek csökkentésére. Az elkészült tananyagok haszna tehát elsősorban nem közvetlenül a bevételben térül meg, hanem a felhasználók jobb, megalapozottabb tudásán keresztül, és abban, hogy egy multimédiás tartalma miatt könnyebben rögzülő tananyaggal, kevesebb energiaráfordítással nagyobb tudásra tehetnek szert. Ennek érdekében a tananyagok hozzáférhetőségét széles körben biztosítani kell, úgy, hogy a platformfüggetlenség és egyéb kisegítő módszerek

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alkalmazása biztosított legyen. Ennek érdekében a tananyagokat egy jól kereshető és áttekinthető, könnyen elérhető adatbázisban kell tárolni, ahol a tárolási forma még nem határozza meg a használathoz alkalmazandó szoftvert és hardvert. Ugyanakkor a mind szélesebb használat, és elfogadottság érdekében a formátum és a rögzítési forma szerencsés, ha egy már több éve alkalmazott és széles körben elfogadott szabvány, amit hasonló területeken alkalmaznak. További fontos szempont a felsőoktatás anyagi helyzetét figyelembe véve, hogy a tananyagok létrehozása és rögzítése ne igényelje olyan szoftver beszerzését a fejlesztőktől, ami jelentősen terheli a költségvetést, tehát a legideálisabb, ha szabad szoftver eszközök támogatják ezen munkálatokat. Ezen szempontokat figyelembe véve a DocBook XML elektronikus dokumentumformátumot választottuk. (Az XML, vagyis eXtensible Markup Language jelentése: bővíthető jelölőnyelv.) A World Wide Web Consortium XML 1.0 ajánlása olyan szintaxist ad meg, melyet betartva különböző jelölő nyelvek (mint például az XHTML) hozhatóak létre. Ezeknek a nyelveknek a segítségével szabványos módon megoldható a különböző alkalmazások, platformok közötti adatcsere, felhasználva a már meglévő feldolgozó programokat, ami nagymértékben lecsökkenti a fejlesztés időtartamát és költségét.

A rendszer felépítése A rendszer megalkotásakor az a cél vezért minket, hogy minél könnyebben kezelhető, rendszerezhető és frissíthető eszközünk legyen az oktatók kezében. Ezért a tananyagokat kisebb részegységekből modulárisan építjük fel. Ezeknek a részegységeknek (elemi ismeretanyagoknak) a mérete igen változó a tartalom függvényében. Kialakításuknál fő szempont, hogy minden elem önállóan is egészet alkosson, értelmezhető legyen és ne lehessen további részekre bontani. Ezek alapján egy-egy elemet alkot miden • kép, grafika, diagram a hozzájuk tartozó címmel és az esetleges jelmagyarázattal; • hanganyag; • filmjelenet (nem a teljes film), animáció; • interaktív elem és a hozzá tartozó súgó. Ezen kívül a szöveges részeket is minél kisebb, de még használható részekre osztani. Így például minden esetben külön elemet alkot a • definíció; • egy-egy művelet leírása (például laboratóriumi elemzés); • egy-egy technológiai folyamat leírása. Ezeket a felosztásokat minden esetben a tananyag jellegétől függően határozzuk meg és az adott területet ismerő szakértő végzi el a munkát. Minden elemet részletes meta-adatokkal látunk el, ami tartalmazza az elem történetét is. A legfontosabb meta-adatok a következők: • a tananyag-elem szerzője/szerzői (ha többen dolgoztak rajta, akkor akár karakterenként beazonosítva a szerzőt); • az elem története (ki és mit javított rajta, mikor történt a javítás, lektorált javítás volt-e); • legalapvetőbb alapismeretet leíró kulcsszavak, amik az anyag megértéséhez szükséges; • az anyaghoz javasolt további ismeretekhez kapcsolódó külső és belső (tudásbázison belüli) kapcsolatok; • szerzői jogi és egyéb alapadatok. A tananyag-elemekből és a meta-adatokból felépült tudásbázis még nem alkalmas arra, hogy közvetlenül felhasználjuk az oktatásban. Ehhez először tankönyvet, elektronikus tananyagot kell belőle készíteni. A jó elektronikus jegyzett nem csak folyamatos, „könyvszerű” tanulási lehetőséget biztosít, hanem kereszt-utalásokkal és külső forrásokkal jelentősen kibővíti a megszerezhető ismeretek mennyiségét. Ezt a fajta tananyagszerkesztést a rendszer kiemelten támogatja. Az anyag szerkesztője a tudásbázis számára engedélyezett teljes tartalmából – mint építőkövekből – tudja összerakni az éppen aktuális képzéshez

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legjobban megfelelő anyagot. Lehetősége van előre meghatározott elemcsoportokat is létrehozni, illetve azokat átemelni korábbi anyagokból, ami nagy segítséget jelent a gyorsan változó oktatási igényeknek való megfelelésnek.

Összefoglalás Az anyagban röviden bemutatásra kerültek a Pannon Egyetemen használt tudásmenedzsment program főbb ismertetőjegyei. Ismertetésre került milyen szempontok vezéreltek minket a megfelelő rendszer kiválasztásában és hogyan próbálunk igazodni a gyorsan változó piaci igényekhez, hogy a lehető legtöbb gyakorlati tudással rendelkező hallgatókat képezzük a környezetmérnöki szakon.

Támogató Az írás a HEFOP 3.3.1-P.-2004-0900152/1.0 pályázat keretében készült.

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The Application of Apple e-learning Systems in Education István Gulyás 1 - Veronika Kozma-Bognár 2 1. Apple Hungary, HDSYS Ltd., H-1300 Budapest, Pf.: 98. 2. Pannon University, Division of Applied Information Technology, H-8360 Keszthely, Deák F. u. 57. Abstract. The Apple systems are widely used in research nowadays, so it is getting more and more important for us that these applications should be present in education as well. At the Georgikon Faculty of Pannon University, an Apple computer lab (named János Kemény computer lab) was set up with the direction of the IT group. In the spring term of the academic year 2006/2007, the instruction of some software applied in MacOS X was started. Throughout the term, the students of the Economical IT Expert (Economical Agrarian Engineer Speciality) got acquainted with Keynote within the framework of a subject called Interactive Presentation on their own. They also met different Apple programs (like PhotoBooth, iPhoto, iMovie) while making their Keynote multimedia presentation. In the present presentation, our experiences during the instruction of the subject are introduced, calling the attention to its widespread applicability. Keywords. Multimedia, Keynote, E-learning

Introduction The research areas where the Apple systems work highly effectively can very well be identified nowadays. One of these is the Xgrid system, which satisfies high calculating needs as well as other significant applications based on graphics and multimedia. The Apple computers, compared to the traditional personal computers, have the same IT background, but although built on an open resource code Unix, users used to the Windows interface can easily adopt them. The reason for this is that the traditionally user-friendly Apple operating system has won higher and higher support from the users not only with its stable IT solutions, but with its numerous simple, scientific research-based interactions.

Figure 1. The application of colours on the Apple interface Colours are much more dominant in giving and storing information than what can be obtained choosing a certain tone and applying different signs (fig. 1). An explanation for this is that people obtain 90% of information visually, and that these signs and data are colour-centred rather than sign-cenred. A similar concern can be observed throughout the Apple applications, which can be unusual for those who mostly use a different system because it offers so adequate and simple solutions that one would not think of. In the education of Hungary (primary, secondary and higher), the most widely used systems are Windows-based, which is mainly due to the fact that these systems are used in the economy. The aim of education is to train experts for labour market who are capable of using modern systems at a high level, and of applying the knowledge gained at university in real life too. Information Technology has always meant a challenge to those taking part in education, as it needs constant training and being up to date. The spreading of the Apple systems in Europe is getting wider and wider, mainly in the fields where they have been able to obtain more significant results than Windows. Having undersood this phenomenon, we would have

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liked to give the chance for the students to meet new technologies that they normally do not, thus making their education better. In November, 2006, a computer lab was set up at the Georgikon Faculty of the University of Pannonia, in which 24 Apple iMac computers were launched. The research aimed use of the lab started in January, 2007. In the spring term of the academic year 2006/2007, the use of the computers in education was started. Our aim was to introduce students to the extra possibilities of Apple, while teaching a Windows based curriculum. The new Intel processors and the Apple architectures make it possible to run several operating systems on an iMac computer. The subject called Interactive Presentation, in which students were expected to make multimedia materials and, using them, to make presentations, gave us an excellent opportunity. As it is widely known, using MacOS a whole presentation can be made without using external equipment like a camera or a camcorder, as these are integrated into the Apple computers. Within the subject, students were to make several multimedia materials using both PowerPoint and Keynote. Without previous instruction, the students acquired the basics of the Keynote program on their own.When making their presentations, they were given tasks (animation, own photo, video) which required them to use other Apple programs as well (PhotoBooth, iPhoto, iMovie etc.). A questionnaire was set up to to survey the studnts’ experiences. No similar survey has been carried out so far in the special literature. (Berke et al, 2004; Busznyák et al., 2006; Ferenczy, 2005; Keynote 3, 2006; Keynote Internet Support, Kozma-Bognár et al, 2007; Vörös, 2007) The aims of the Keynote survey Our aim was to find out about what the students think of the applicability of the Apple systems, and what attitudes they have if they compare them to PowerPoint, what they like and what disadvantages they meet using the two softwares. Another aim was to identify the needs of students for further training on Apple systems. Another important aim was to find out how much the students are able to acquire the use of an unknown program on their own. Do they need a curriculum, and if so, what type they prefer. Summarizing and analysing the answers, we could learn about the expectations of students on a curriculum like this, getting help and ideas for the development of our instructional activities. Being aware of these expectations, we can develop curricula and set up the teaching process so that it helps long term use.

A questionnaire-based research There have been surveys on IT from time to time, these mostly concentrate on a special narrow field (eg. image and sound procession), on aspects like equipment, use of computers and the Internet, the usefulness of computers. Concerning education, on students’ satisfication, further developments etc. When setting up the questions, usually the most widely used Windows based user environment is supposed.

Method of the examination The questionnaire based research carried out among students of Interactive Presentation deals in details with the applicability of Keynote, and students’ satisfication with Windows. In the survey, out of 15 students 13 were asked-11 students from the IV. year, 2 students from the V. year Economical Agrarian Engineers, 6 male and 7 female. The questionnaire was given to them in the last practice class, those who were not present got it in their IT in Economy exam. Printed questionnaires were used, to fill in which took about 20 minutes. The answers were anonym. The task of the answering students was to give the date, their speciality, their university year and the Neptun code. These data were asked for to make our analisys easier. Based on these 32


data, we can compare changes in the given specialities, and later we can identify tendencies surveying changes between specialities and years. Great emphasis was placed on the wording of the questions, they had to be clear and easily understandable. Checking questions were also among the questions thus ensuring the reliability and validity of our questionnaire. The survey on Keynote application contains 18 questions (3 open, 15 closed ones), grouped according to the following aspects: 1. Keynote instruction 2. Use of Keynote 3. Comparison of PowerPoint and Keynote 4. Plans for the future 5. Knowledge level The most important results are introduced following this structure.

The results of the research The instruction of Keynote The education system in Hungary at present is mostly Windows based, that is what can be seen from the answers given to the first question, according to which, pout of 13 students, only 1 had met the Keynote program before. This seems insignificant as opposed to the remaining 12 students. Reasons for this could be that in our country, the IT basis of education has changed only a little in the past 15 years, and the school system education has not fully adapted to the new requirements. In the past years, despite prectice and conservative attitudes, a growing demand for the Apple systems has been noticed. This is shown by the fact that 23% of the asked students has the possibility to use Keynote, as they have equipment that is capable of running the Keynote software. But the majority of the students (77%) do not have the opportunity to use the program out of school. This makes the integration of Apple applications into education reasonable. The education at the Georgikon Faculty aims at a basic, user level IT knowledge, as Information Technology does not belong to the main subjects. Students specialised in IT get a deeper education, they learn about Windows and Unix systems, but the Apple systems have not been in the subject requirements. Throughout the Interactive Presentation subject, the students learn the process of making a presentation, and they can benefit from this knowledge in other classes as well, when they are to elaborate and present a topic in the form of a presentation. The second question of the questionnaire was whether the Keynote program could be used in other subjects as well. 3 people said they could, 10 people said they could not. The following subjects were mentioned: EU and its Agrarian Policy, Management, Interactive Presentation. This shows the importance of Keynote instruction in the future, as well as its presence in the education system. At present, there is no curriculum available in Hungarian, so some of the students found information that helped them to make their presentation on the Internet. 31% said they had found info on Keynote in Hungarian (Ferenczy, 2005). From the survey it can be seen that the majority of the students (8 people) think they need a curriculum in order to acquire a program at an adequate level. 5 people think independent acquisition is enough. 6 people find printed versions of the special literature most important, but interactive materials are getting more and more popular too, which is because a greater part of students have a computer-or has an access to it (library, own institution etc.) There are more and more electronic materials. This tendency can be recognised in the answer of 11 students that they would find this form the most acceptable. One of the novelties of Apple is Podcasting, a learning support solution

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when the user in not required to constantly using a computer. Downloaded to an iPod, the student can use the material anywhere, any time. These materials can be accessed in video, image and sound forms according to the given equipment. There was an examination before which showed that there is a need for Podcasting type educational materials (Busznyák et al, 2007).

The difficulty level of the use and acquisition of Keyote

7 6 Number of students

The use of Keynote The companies making the programs find it important that the user interface of the given application should be easy to use and learn, if possible, a Help should be enough. In Figure 2, the difficulty level of the use and acquisition can be seen. The curve shows the tight connection of the two notions. Figure 2. The difficulty level of the use and acquisition of Keynote

5 use

4

acquisition

3 2 1 0 Very easy (1)

2

3

4

Very difficult (5)

Difficulty level

The maximum value of both curves is 3, so according to most students, the difficulty level of the use and acquisition of Keynote is at medium level. It seems remarkable that no student found it a difficult task, but 3 people (use) and 4 people (acquisition) found the task very easy. All this can also be because the students who filled in the questionnaire had previous IT and English language knowledge. It can be stated that the Keynote program can be acquired relatively easily by those with basic IT knowledge. Nearly all the students used íKeynote for the first time, so we asked about their impressions on the program giving three positive and 3 negative aspects. One person did not give an answer, the answers of the rest can be seen in Table 1. with the number of people answering the question. The aspects are collected in the order of the number of students mentioning it. Table 1. Positive and negative aspects of Keynote according to students’ answers Positive aspects

Number of students

Negative aspects

Number of students 5

Easy to use, simple If projected, time, next slide and notes can be seen on the screen but not on the projection Easy to integrate media equipment

4

Not in Hungarian (English)

3

Works only in Mac environment

4

2

Format supporting problems

2

Stable

1

Not very widespread

1

Graphic interface

1

Unusual

1

Easy to evaluate

1

No Hungarian guide

1

Slides are easy to animate

1

Big file size

1

Good looking built-in slide views

1

Cannot be converted into PPT

1

PPT can be converted into Keynote

1

1

Print functions

1

Nice, wonderful

1

In English

1

A good Help

1

Cannot be installed at home Materials apart from the Help cannot be used well No Windows conversion yet Does not know it that much, that is why PPT If the program is not installed, nothing reads it

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1 1 1 1


It can be seen that the leading remark among the positive aspects is that it is easy to use, and the second one is the projecting function, which is considered to be one of the main advantages of Keynote, and which makes it possible for the presenter to see the important parameters (time of presentation, next slide, notes) on the screen whereas they are not visible on the projection. The third one is the possibility to convert other programs into Keynote. When making a presentation, you could need to use other programs too, as a presentation can contain multimedia application that can not be made with the given program. That is why it is necessary to know other softwares as well. The students used the following programs while solving their tasks: iMovie, PhotoBooth, iPhoto, Safari. In question 10, we asked about the integration of these software into Keynote, at a 1-5 scale. 38,5% gave the second difficulty level, another 38,5% gave the third level, 7,7% gave the first level (very easy), 15,3% gave the fifth level (very difficult). A disadvantage of the program according to the students is that there is no Hungarian version, and that it works only in Mac environment.Supporting different (usual) formats is also a problem. All this shows the most important factors that make the use of Keynote difficult for the students. The rest of the negative aspects (not very widespread, unusual, no Windows conversion, cannot be installed at home) all refer to the poor IT background characteristic of Hungary, which has been mentionad before. Comparison of PowerPoint and Keynote The education system could be an excellent tool for ’school users’ (teachers, students) to identify the most appropriate computer use both for themselves and for the given task. The students in the examination used both PowerPoint and Keynote, so they were asked which they found better. 8 students found PowerPoint better, and 5 students found Keynote better. As a control question, we also asked which one they would use if they could choose. The same results were gained: 8 would use PowerPoint, 4 would use Keynote, and 1 student did not give an answer. Thus we can say our survey reflects the reality. Although 61% decided on PowerPoint, we think this is quite a good result for Keynote, as the previous IT knowledge of the students had all been in connection with Windows, and they could learn Keynote without previous knowledge in a relatively short time. Plans for the future There is an extraordinary interest in the Apple applications among students, after the very first astonishment (eg. Where is ’Home’). 9 out of the asked people would like to learn and get information about Keynote, 3 do not need further training like this, Woud you like to learn more from Keynote in the future? and one did not answer (fig. 3) It can also be a positive aspect 8; 8% that 10 students would recommend to use Keynote to 23; 23% others. In spite of this, only 5 students are planning to use the program in the future. The probable reason for this contrast 69; 69% might be that most students do not have the possibility to obtain Yes No No answer equipment capable of running the program. Figure 3. Need for further Keynote training

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Checking the level of knowledge The last question was about how they thought their knowledge had changed while making the presentations. The students marked their knowledge level on a 1-5 scale (number 1 being the lowest, number 5 being the highest) before and after the course. Figure 4 shows the change in knowledge level. It is clearly seen that the knowledge level of the students rose 8 levels after the training. 1 person thought itbecame lower, from level 3 to level 2. 5 out of 13 students stayed at the same level, and 7 thought they had progressed. In details: 2 people got 2 levels higher, (1-3, 2-4), 5 people got one level higher (3 people: 3-4, 2 people: 4-5) (fig. 5). Change in knowledge level

Change in knowledge level

60

8 7 Number of students

Sum of levels

50 40 30 20 10

6 5 4 3 2 1 0

0 1level

2 level

3 level

4 level

5 level

1level

All level

Before the course

2 level

3 level

4 level

5 level

Knowledge level

Knowledge level

Before the course

After the course

Figure 4. Change in knowledge level according to sum of levels

After the course

Figure 5. Change in knowledge level according to number of students

Summary Apple based applications are getting a more and more important role in the Hungarian education. The survey proves that the practical knowledge of Mac OS X applications is essential. The questionnaire primarily surveyed the practical usability of Keynote. PowerPoint and Keynote presentation programs were compared based on the students’ opinions. Altogether, it can be stated that the use of Keynote is easy to acquire. The students would like to use the program later and would recommend it to others. Our results show that the majority of the students decided on PowerPoint, , but nearly 40% chose Keynote. Having evaluated the answers we think Keynote should be instructed in other subjects and specialities as well.

References Berke, J. – Busznyák, J. (2004): Psychovisual Comparison of Image Compressing Methods for Multifunctional Development under Laboratory Circumstances, WSEAS Transactions on Communications, I/3:161-166., ISSN 1109-2742. Busznyák, J. – Berke, J. (2007): Vizuális technológiák oktatása, MMO’ 2007, Budapesti Műszaki Főiskola, Budapest. Busznyák, J. – Magyar, M. – Nagy, S. – Berke, J. (2006): Eszköz és cél összefonódása a multimédia oktatásban -„Egy kísérlet tapasztalatai és tanulságai”, JAMPAPER I/1. – www.jampaper.eu . Ferenczy, G. (2005): "Bemutatom a Keynote prezentációs szoftvert", Almalap, 2005. február. http://www.almalap.hu/200502/keynote.html . Keynote 3 User’s Guide, Apple Computer, Inc., 2006. Keynote Support – http://www.apple.com/support/keynote . Kozma-Bognár, V. – Berke, J. (2007): Apple rendszerek alkalmazása az oktatásban, MultiMédia az Oktatásban 2007, Budapesti Műszaki Főiskola, Budapest. Vörös, M. (2007): A katonai felsőoktatásban alkalmazható virtuális tanulási környezet kialakítási lehetőségeinek vizsgálata, PhD dolgozat, Zrínyi Miklós Nemzetvédelmi Egyetem.

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E-learning: Eszköz!, nem cél – avagy e-learning tapasztalatok a gazdasági informatika oktatásban, (wiki, moodle, SAP_LS, online mókuskerek és my-X) Pitlik László SZIE, 2100 Gödöllő, Páter K. u. 1. Abstract. Az e-learning eszköztára széles, ennek ellenére még sem alkalmas tetszőleges oktatási célok valóban hatékony támogatására. Az előadás és ennek nyomtatott változata rövid áttekintést igyekszik adni a gazdasági informatika oktatás kapcsán az elmúlt 10 év tapasztalatairól, kísérleti fejlesztéseiről. Az eddig felismerni vélt hatásmechanizmusok alapján az alábbi („learning on the job” karakterű) didaktikai célok jól támogathatók e-learning eszközökkel: autodidakta tanulás hallgatók és oktatók által közösen fejlesztett (wiki-alapú) online lexikonokkal, a problémás kérdések (GYIK) interaktív feldolgozása szintén wiki-alapon. Önellenőrző tesztek a hibás válaszokhoz illő egyedi magyarázatokkal saját fejlesztésű keretrendszerben. Jegyadó tesztelés moodle alapokon. Online hír- és adatgyűjtés egyedi fejlesztésű keretrendszerekkel. „PPT-alapú werk-filmek” a hallgatói tanulási tapasztalatok összefoglalására. Hallgatói feladatok, irodalomjegyzékek archiválása és megosztása saját fejlesztésű megoldásokkal. Ezen felismerések adják egyben a my-X (online adatbányászati, s mint ilyen saját felhasználóit képezni kényszerülő) portál kommunikációs stratégiájának vázát is. A my-X üzleti logikája egyben megalapozza a web 3.0(?) esetleges fejlődési irányait, amennyiben az online tudáskinyerés (szakértői rendszerek, hasonlóságelemzés), vagyis az elemzés kerül a helyes adatvagyon-gazdálkodási alapokra építve az online aktivitások középpontjába… Keywords. interaktivitás, ideális eszköz kombináció, learning on the job, hiba-specifikus magyarázó rendszer, online elemzések.

Bevezetés A GATE/SZIE gazdasági informatika oktatását 1998 óta saját internetes újság (MIAÚ: http://miau.gau.hu) és hozzákapcsolódó szolgáltatások formájában számos e-learning jellegű eszköz támogatja. Az online modulok fejlesztése egyrészt párhuzamosan futó projektekhez, másrészt közvetlenül az oktatáshoz kötődött. Mára egy olyan modul/eszközpark alakult ki, melyek így együtt hatékonyan képesek támogatni a probléma-orientált tanulást/oktatást. Az e!-learning szerepe ebben a folyamatban lényegében másodlagos, hiszen a gazdasági informatika tematikája önmagában is elválaszthatatlan az Internettől és a számítógépektől, s a kezelendő problémák online karaktere, ill. a kényszerű IT-kötöttség, valamint a tények oktatása helyett a problémákban, megoldási ívekben való gondolkodás elvárása magától értetődően vezetett az online tudásmegosztás, a csoportmunka racionális keretrendszerének kialakításához.

Ideális tanulási stratégia?! Természetesen nehezen bizonyítható, így egy fajta hitet és elkötelezettséget tételez fel, ha az oktatást szélsőségesen tényanyag-közlő és probléma-megoldó típusokra osztjuk fel, s kijelentjük, hogy míg az előbbi „csak egy fajta látszattevékenység”, addig az utóbbi az „egyetlen” helyes út kreatív és innovatív nemzedékek kineveléséhez. Probléma-megoldás ugyanis nincs bizonyos tényismeret nélkül, ill. nincs olyan kiforrott mérőszám-rendszer és módszertan sem, mely a képzési módszerek innovációra való hajlamosító erejét valóban jól ki tudná mutatni. Mégis: Valószínűleg mindenki, aki ezt a publikációt olvassa, feltette már magában vagy hangosan azt a kérdést: Miért kell ezt vagy azt a tananyagot megtanulni? – ha, mint tényt úgy sem lehet tetszőleges ideig a fejben tartani, ill. ha bármikor utána lehet nézni magának a ténynek (adatnak, definíciónak)…

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Különösebb további érvrendszerek kifejtése helyett következzék egy pragmatikus (a SZIE oktatásában napi gyakorlatot jelentő) koncepció vázlata, melyben az oktatást támogató számítógépes megoldások szervesen illeszkednek a tanulás folyamatába. Sőt: lényegében elképzelhetetlen a tanulás a számítógép és az online szolgáltatások nélkül, mint ahogy maga a privát és gazdasági élet is egyre inkább elképzelhetetlen ezek nélkül… Az „ideális” informatika-oktatás tehát ne kényszerítsen magolásra (tények emlékezetben tárolására), hanem azt a készséget fejlessze, hogy bármilyen hiányzó tényt a lehető leggyorsabban, ill. olcsóbban (vö. gyorsabb, de kevésbé biztos információ vs. egzakt, de nem real time válaszok) képes legyen a jelölt beszerezni, értelmezni, ellenőrizni, továbbfeldolgozni. A hiányzó ismeretek pótlásának művészetét ma információ brókerségnek illik nevezni, s talán nem csak divatként, hanem valójában is fontos egy új elnevezés, mely a titkárnő, az újságíró, a kutató, a (magán)nyomozó, stb. munkakörök újfajta, erőteljesen technológia (számítástechnika és matematika) -függő elegye. Az adatfeldolgozást is ma már inkább adatbányászatnak érdemes nevezni, mely nem csak magától értetődő összegzések, átlagok, szórások számítását, hanem eddig valóban soha nem látott és nem hallott összefüggések feltárását jelent(het)i. A primer és a származtatott ismeretek megjelenítése önálló probléma: s talán jól jellemezhető a vizualizáció fogalmával… MINDEN döntés alapja az információ, ennek ellenőrzése, feldolgozása. Így a fenti séma univerzális. De mit nem kell végül is megtanulni, s mit kell?!: • nem kell tehát számadatokat megjegyezni, helyettük online (tetszőleges formátumú táblázatos és grafikonos) eredményt biztosítani képes adatvagyon-gazdálkodást kell folytatni (vö. pivot, OLAP), • nem kell definíciókat bemagolni, helyettük inkább online lexikonokat kell (közösen) fejleszteni a szakkifejezések egységes értelmezési rendszerének megalkotására tett kísérlet formájában, ill. hivatkozásokkal összekapcsolva a definíciókat ezek kulcsszavai révén, • nem kell megoldási módszerek lépéseit bemagolni, helyettük inkább online szakértői rendszereket kell a tények (esetek) és emberi vélemények feldolgozásával levezetni, ill. • a folyamatosan (látens módon: vö. Korand Lorenz intuíció fogalma, mely szerint a heurisztika az öntudatlan folyamatok terméke) fejlődő IQ alapján rosszul adott pillanatban még megválaszolt kérdésekre probléma-specifikus magyarázatokkal, ill. online vitafórumokkal kell reagálni, melyek a sokféle szereplő interakciójaként minden egyes speciális „tanulási” igényű helyzetre a leginkább adekvát választ képesek megadni, • nem kell szabályszerűségeket megtanulni, ezeket inkább pl. szakértői rendszerbe (interpretáció-generátorokba) kell sűríteni, hiszen, ami nem algoritmizálható, az nem is felhalmozható tudás (vö. fenotípus vs. genotípus). Nem árt ellenben: • ha mindazt, amit nem kell, azért minél pontosabban ismeri valaki (vö. real timejelleg, ill. az ösztönös heurisztikus folyamatok edzése), • ha azzal vagyunk tisztában: adott feladatok esetén hogyan lehet ellenőrizni a saját munkánkat, vagyok a mások által szolgáltatott „puzzle-darabok” minőségét! Nehéz jól csinálni, s éppen ezért óvatosan kell ezen területre időt és egyéb erőforrást szentelni: • nehéz tehát: jól vizualizálni (vö. multimédia), • nehéz: hatékony szekvenciákat meghatározni az információk átadására (vö. papíralapú jegyzetírás).

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Mi számít végül is jó hallgatói teljesítménynek: • ha valaki bármilyen úton-módon, de jól (gyorsan, hatékonyan, pontosan) oldja meg a kiadott feladatot, • ha nem követ el típushibákat, • ha képes mások munkájában a hibákat felfedezni. Következésképpen: a „learning on the job” megközelítés helyesebb, mint a „tanulás a tanulásért” jelleg. A feladatorientált tanulás önmagában még nem elég: valós(ág közeli) feladatokra van szükség, pl. közhasznú adatvagyonok fejlesztésére, elemzésére…

Az IT szerepe az ideális tanulási stratégia támogatásában Eszköz: WIKI:

Cél: Alkalmas interaktív lexikonfejlesztésre, tanár-diák, diák-diák kapcsolatok kezelésére, naplózásra, egyéb publikációk folyamatosan fejlődő kialakítására, gyakran ismétlődő kérdések közös megválaszolására. Miau-wiki: https://miau.gau.hu/mediawiki/ (inkl. Lexikon, Példatár, GYIK, Munkatervek, Turisztikai objektumok jegyzéke) Online Az SAP Learning Solution által, a tananyag sugallt sokszínű bejárását mókuskerék: biztosító filózófia alapján saját fejlesztésben elkészült egy táblázatkalkulációs felületen vezérelt, PPT-grafikát használó, aktív bitmap poligonjaihoz akciókat rendelni képes navigációs keretrendszer, mely célja az öntesztekben elkövethető hibákra adekvát magyarázatokat adni, ezzel segítve az egyedi tanulási problémák hatékony támogatását. IB-tananyag: http://miau.gau.hu/sap_lso/v1/pack21.html, ill. http://miau.gau.hu/ib/ba_bsc/tj.html MOODLE: Tétre menő tesztelés, általános e-learning támogatás, CMS-jellegű keretek, menü-biztosítás, autentikáció, naplózás, interaktivitás http://gik.hu/oktatas Online hír- és A hírek és dokumentumok (PDF, DOC, PPT, RTF, XLS, képek, hangok, dokumentumtár: mozgóképek, alkalmazások, stb.) redundancia-mentes tárolását és tetszőleges csoport-nézetben való megjelenítését támogató saját fejlesztésű megoldás. http://miau.gau.hu/osiris Online Online keretek között közösen fejlesztett adatbázisok kialakítását és adatvagyonrekord, ill. rekordcsoport szintű ellenőrzését támogató saját OLAP gazdálkodás: fejlesztés, mely biztosítja, hogy az adminisztrátor által kijelölt dimenziók (mezők) mentén tetszőleges (tartalmilag illeszkedő) tartalmak online feltöltése után ezek azonnali táblázatos és grafikus ellenőrzése, s erre alapozó minősítése megtörténhessen a tolerálható hibaszint megadása mellett. http://miau.gau.hu/lps/olap2 Online szakértői Esetgyűjtemények (előzmények és következmények) megadása alapján rendszerolyan (szövegesen is megjeleníthető) tudás levezetését támogató, saját generálás: fejlesztésű rendszer, mely képes tetszőleges témakörben karakterisztikus hatásmechanizmusok felismerésére akkor is, ha a tényeken kívül még semmilyen szakirodalom nem áll rendelkezésre, ill. operatívan szűri ki a szakirodalmi tudás valóban adekvát részleteit, súlyait. http://miau.gau.hu/lps

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Online adatbányászat:

Előrejelzési, hasonlóságelemzési (pl. ár-teljesítmény optimum) témakörökben keres meg gombnyomásra tényadatok alapján (akár emergens) szimulációra alkalmas modelleket, melyekre azonnali döntések alapozhatók, ill. melyek révén szakértői hipotézisek bírálhatók el… http://miau.gau.hu/lps (Megjegyzés: a fenti felsorolás egyben a BSC ISZAM/GVAM képzések kapcsán HEFOP támogatással létrejött online tananyagok kiegészítésére tervezett példatár potenciális elemeit is jelenti…)

My-X Az eddig bemutatott megoldások a gazdasági informatika-oktatás „melléktermékei”, vagyis valós gazdasági és didaktikai igényekre adott heurisztikus válaszok. Ezek mindegyike szerves részét képezi az immár „teljességet” jelentő my-X online adatbányászati szolgáltatásban, mely célja a gazdasági és a magánélet tetszőleges döntéseinek tényekkel (adatokkal), s ezek elemzésével való támogatása. A my-X (my expertises, http://my-x.hu) egy, az INNOCSEKK által támogatott projekt, mely keretében a szerző által az elmúlt 20 évben kidolgozott algoritmusok felhasználó-barát felkínálása a feladat „percdíjas”, vagyis használat-arányos feltételek mellett a felsorolt stratégiai elvek betartásával…

Összefoglalás Eufória-keltés helyett következzék végül az önkritikus helyzetértékelés: • Testre szabott megoldások valósidejű megtalálása? Minél interaktívabb, sokszínűbb egy kínálati paletta, látszólag annál bonyolultabb megtalálni a személyre szabottan legjobb támogatást. Amennyiben azonban minden modulhasználat naplózódik, s minden felhasználó széles, de anonim személyiségprofilja ismert, a marketingben alkalmazott adatbányászati rutinfeladat szintjén kezelhető kérdés: vajon kikhez hasonlítok leginkább, s mit használtak ők elégedetten… • GPS már pedig nincs! Valóban: general problem solving IT-alapon nincs… (egyelőre)… A kellően univerzális modell-generátorok, s a közös kritikus használat, valamint a tanulságok forráskódba öntése egy olyan evolúció alapja, melyben esély látszik a világ determinisztikus jellegének maximális közelítésére annak révén, hogy minden valódi tudás forráskódba foglalásra kerül… • Milyen „superman” képes ilyen környezetben tanulni, dolgozni? (Szinte) bárki, hiszen az egyes lépések nem bonyolultabba, mint egy lineáris programozási feladat, vagy egy geometriai bizonyítás megértése… Az azonban igaz, hogy hozzá kell szokni ahhoz, hogy dolgozni csak akkor szabad elkezdeni, ha már tudjuk, mit lehet elrontani általunk, s mások által… • E-learning ez még egyáltalán? Lehet, hogy számos definíciót sért a fenti (rel. zárt és konzisztens) nézetrendszer, de eddig humánerőforrás-menedzsertől gépészmérnökig, állattenyésztőtől közgazdászig, gyógyszerésztől büntetésvégrehajtási szakértőig, közbeszerzési szakértőtől egyszerű totózóig sokan használták már elégedetten azt a rendszert, mely mindegyikük esetén ugyanazon! elvek alapján lett kialakítva…

References Pitlik, L. 2005. Új ismeretek és összefüggések értelmezése , ill. feltárása üzleti adattárak mélyéről. Controllingtrendek 6. fejezet 30. oldal, Raabe Kiadó, Budapest

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Forrás katalógus fejlesztése a NODES projektben Herdon Miklós1 – Várallyai László1 – Szilágyi Róbert1 – Lengyel Péter1 Debreceni Egyetem, ATC, Agrárgazdasági és Vidékfejlesztési Kar, Gazdasági és Agrárinformatikai Tanszék, 4032 Debrecen, Böszörményi u. 138. 1

Absztrakt. A Dublin Core-nak az a szerepe, hogy párhuzamosan használják olyan metaadatszabványokkal, amelyeknek másféle szemantika az alapja. Az egyszerűség egyrészt csökkenti a metaadatok elkészítésének költségeit és elősegíti a műveleti együttműködést. Másrészt viszont az egyszerűség nem fogadja be azt a szemantikus és funkcionális gazdagságot, amelyet az összetett metaadatformátumok támogatnak. A Dublin Core elemkészlet a részletező gazdagságot áldozza fel a mindenre kiterjedő hozzáférhetőségért. Az elemek leírásában minden egyes elemhez, jelentésének egyértelmű meghatározása érdekében, leíró megnevezés tartozik, továbbá egyedi, gép által értelmezhető egyetlen, egybeírt szóból álló név, amelynek célja, hogy az elemek kódolási sémák szerinti leírását egyszerűbbé tegye. Kulcsszavak. Dublin Core, NODES, Forrás katalógus, elemkészlet.

Bevezetés A Dublin Core Metaadat Kezdeményezés (The Dublin Core Metadata Initiative, DCMI) az Ohio állambeli Dublinban 1995-ben született könyvtárosok, digitális könyvtárkutatók, tartalomszolgáltatók és jelölőnyelv-szakértők közreműködésével. A szakterületeken túlnyúló keresési lehetőségek iránti érdeklődés azt eredményezte, hogy egyre többen vettek részt egy sor későbbi DCMI munkaértekezleten. A Dublin Core metaadat elemkészlete 15 alapadatelemből áll. A Dublin Core már több mint húsz nyelven áll rendelkezésre, elfogadta az Európai Szabványosítási Bizottság/Információs Társadalom Szabványosítási Rendszer (European Committee for Standardization/Information Society Standardization System, CEN/ISSS), továbbá fölvették két Internet RFC dokumentumba (Requests for Comments, RFC). Hivatalosan elismerte a WWW Konzorcium (WWW Consortium) és az ISO 23950. A Dublin Core metaadatokat amerikai nemzeti szabványként fogadták el (ANSI/NISO Z39.85), több mint 7 kormány hivatalosan jóváhagyta az elektronikus formában tárolt kormányzati információk keresésének segítésére, tovább á több nemzetek feletti szervezet alkalmazza, mint amilyen az Egészségügyi Világszervezet (World Health Organization, WHO). Könyvtárakban, levéltárakban, oktatási és kormányzati alkalmazásokban számos szakmai közösség specifikus metaadataihoz is felhasználják kiindulási alapként a Dublin Core-t. A Dublin Core-t nem arra szánták, hogy kiszorítson bármely más metaadatszabványt. Inkább az a szerepe, hogy párhuzamosan használják, gyakran ugyanabban a forrásleírásban, olyan metaadat-szabványokkal, amelyeknek másféle szemantika az alapja. Az egyszerűség egyrészt csökkenti a metaadatok elkészítésének költségeit és elősegíti a műveleti együttműködést. Másrészt viszont az egyszerűség nem fogadja be azt a szemantikus és funkcionális gazdagságot, amelyet az összetett metaadatformátumok támogatnak. A Dublin Core elemkészlet valójában a részletező gazdagságot áldozza fel a mindenre kiterjedő hozzáférhetőségért.

Elemkészlet Az elemek alábbi leírásában minden egyes elemhez, jelentésének egyértelmű meghatározása érdekében, leíró megnevezés tartozik, továbbá egyedi, gép által értelmezhető egyetlen, egybeírt szóból álló név, amelynek célja, hogy az elemek kódolási sémák szerinti leírását egyszerűbbé tegye. Bár bizonyos környezetek, mint amilyen a HTML, érzéketlenek a kis- és nagybetűkre, legjobb megoldásként ajánlatos következetesen ragaszkodni a következőkben megadott elemnevek írásmódjához, hogy elkerüljék a konfliktusokat arra az esetre, amikor metaadatokat később kivonatolnak vagy olyan, kis- és nagybetűkre érzékeny környezetbe 41


konvertálnak, mint az XML (Extensible Markup Language, kiterjeszthető jelölőnyelv). Valamennyi elem szabadon választható és ismételhető. A metaadatelemek tetszőleges sorrendben tüntethetők fel. Ugyanazon elemnek (pl. létrehozó) többszöri előfordulása esetén a szolgáltató fontossági sorrendet határozhat meg, de ennek a sorrendnek a betartását nem minden rendszer szavatolja. A világméretű együttműködés elősegítése érdekében számos elem értékének megadására szabályozott szótár használata ajánlatos. Feltételezhető, hogy egyéb szabályozott szótárakat is létrehoznak az együttműködés érdekében meghatározott helyi alkalmazási területeken. 1. táblázat Elemek Elemnév Title

Megnevezés cím

Tartalom az információforrásnak adott név. az információforrás tartalmának létrehozásáért elsősorban felelős entitás. az információforrás tárgyának megadása.

Creator

létrehozó

Subject

tárgy- és kulcsszavak, jelzetek

Description

leírás

az információforrás tartalmának ismertetése.

Publisher

kiadó

Contributor

közreműköd ő

Date

dátum

az információforrás nyilvánossághoz közvetítéséért felelős entitás az információforrás tartalmához készült hozzájárulás létrehozásáért felelős entitás. az információforrás létezése során előforduló esemény időpontja (dátuma).

Type

típus

az információforrás tartalmának jellege, vagy fajtája.

Format

formátum

az információforrás fizikai vagy digitális megjelenési formája.

Identifier

forrásazonos ító

az információforrásra való, adott környezeten belüli egyértelmű hivatkozás.

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Magyarázat Az a megnevezés, amelyen az információforrás általában ismert. A létrehozó lehet személy, szervezet vagy szolgáltató. Szabályozott tárgyszójegyzékek elemeinek vagy rendszerbe foglalt osztályozási jelzetek használata ajánlatos. Például: a referátum, a tartalomjegyzék, a hivatkozás a tartalom grafikus megjelenítésére vagy a tartalom szabadon megfogalmazott leírása. Például: kiadó: személy, testület vagy szolgáltató. Például: személy, testület vagy szolgáltató. Az információforrás létrehozásával vagy hozzáférhetővé tételével kapcsolatos dátum. ISO 8601 szerinti kódolt formátum. Amely (többek között) az ÉÉÉÉ-HH-NN (YYYY-MM-DD) formában tartalmazza a dátumot. Az információforrás típusára vonatkozó, általános kategóriákat, funkciókat, fajtákat vagy a tartalom összetettségének szintjeit leíró kifejezések. Az információforrás hordozójának típusát vagy terjedelmét (méret és időtartam) tartalmazza. A formátum a szoftver, a hardver vagy más, az információforrás megjelenítéséhez, vagy működtetéséhez szükséges eszközök megnevezésére is használható. Ajánlatos az információforrás azonosítására szolgáló, szabványos azonosító rendszernek megfelelő jelsorozat használata. Például: URI (Uniform Resource Indentifier) URL (Uniform Resource Locator), digitálisobjektum-azonosító DOI (Digital Object Identifier) és a nemzetközi szabványos könyvazonosító szám ISBN (International Standard Book


Source

eredeti információf orrás

hivatkozás arra az eredeti információforrásra, amelyből a jelen információforrás származik. az információforrás intellektuális tartalmának nyelve.

Language

nyelv

Relation

kapcsolat

hivatkozás az információforrással kapcsolatban lévő másik információforrásra.

Coverage

tér-idő vonatkozás

az információforrás tartalma vagy alkalmazási területe térben vagy időben (kiterjedés).

Rights

jogok

információk az információforrással kapcsolatos jogokról.

Number. Az adott információforrás részben vagy egészben eredeti forrásanyagból származtatható. Ajánlatos az RFC 3066 használata, amely az ISO 639 szabvánnyal együtt tartalmazza a két- vagy hárombetűs nyelvkódokat és a tetszőlegesen alkalmazható alkódokat. Például: .en. vagy .eng. használata az angol nyelvre, .akk. az akkádra, és enGB. az Egyesült Királyságban használt angolra. Ajánlatos a hivatkozott információforrás azonosítására hivatalos azonosító rendszer megfelelő jelsorozatának/ értékének használata. A kiterjedés térbeli hely (helynév vagy földrajzi koordináták), idő (idő megnevezése, dátum vagy időintervallum) vagy hatáskör Ajánlatos szabályozott szótárban (például földrajzi tezauruszban TGN (Thesaurus of Geographic Names) található kifejezést választani, a számszerű értékek, koordináták vagy időintervallumok . helyett megnevezett helyeket és időszakokat használni. A jogok az információforrások jogkezelésére vonatkozó adatokat vagy az olyan szolgáltatásra vonatkozó hivatkozást tartalmaznak, amelyek erre vonatkozó információkat szolgáltatnak. Ezen információk gyakran magukban foglalják a szellemi tulajdon védelmére vonatkozó jogokat IPR (Intellectual Property Rights), a szerzői vagy kiadói jogfenntartásokat (copyright) és a különböző vagyoni jogokat. Ha ez az elem hiányzik, nem feltételezhető, hogy bármely jog kapcsolódik az információforráshoz.

A fenti táblázat alapján elkészítettük azt a weblapot, amelyen keresztül lehetőség van az általunk összegyűjtött adatok felvitelére. Valamennyi projekt résztvevő számára nyitott ez az oldal, ahol angol nyelven nyílik lehetőség a kívánt adatok felvitelére. Az űrlap URL címe a következő: http://odin.agr.unideb.hu/nodes/content/dc-list.php A következő ábra a felviteli űrlapot mutatja be:

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1. ábra. Beviteli űrlap A ”Subject” részben a projekt résztvevők által korábban elfogadott témakörök szerepelnek, melyet legördülő listából választhatunk ki. Ugyancsak legördülő menüből választhatjuk ki a nyelvet, melyek közül a projekt nyelvként is használt ”angol” az alapértelmezett. Természetesen az adatbázisban azt is rögzíteni kívánjuk, hogy mely személy és melyik országból töltötte fel a hivatkozást és lehetőséget kívánunk biztosítani arra is, hogy a feltöltött anyagot, a projekt résztvevői nyelvére le lehessen fordítani. Ezeket természetesen szintén az adatbázisban tároljuk, hogy a későbbi lekérdezések során az adott nyelvi alapú lekérdezésre is legyen lehetősége a megfelelő jogosultsággal rendelkező felhasználónak. Ugyanezen a lapon két linket találhatunk, az egyik angol nyelvű és a Dublin Core hivatalos szabványáról és elemeiről szól, a másik magyar nyelvű, a szabvány hivatalos fordítása. A felvitt adatokat lehetőségünk van megtekinteni és ugyanezen a lapon a ”New content” linkre kattintva az 1. ábrán látható adatfelviteli lapra jutunk vissza. A fejlesztés jelenlegi fázisában kerül kidolgozásra a lekérdező űrlap, ahol megfelelő jogosultsági szintek alapján fogalmazhatjuk az adatbázissal kapcsolatos lekérdezéseinket felhasználóbarát módon.

Felhasználók MEK Dublin Core generátor A Magyar Elektronikus Könyvtár (MEK) szolgáltatásaként lehetőség van Dublin Core metaadatok készítésére (http://mek.oszk.hu/dc/). A kapott adatok bemásolhatók a HTML fájlok fejlécébe, vagy elmenthető XML formátumban a dokumentum mellé. A DC metaadatokat egyre több keresőrendszerben használják, Magyarországon például a Nemzeti Digitális Adattárban és a http://nda.sztaki.hu/keresőben. A generátort a Magyar Elektronikus Könyvtárért Egyesület készíttette és egyelőre csak a Dublin Core alapját jelentő 15-féle adatelem leírását teszi lehetővé. Ajánlott minél több mezőt kitölteni, de csak a cím és az 44


azonosítóaz, ami lényegében kötelező. Az adatelemeket minősítő opciókat nem kötelező használni, de ahol van értelmük, ott a pontosítás kedvéért ajánlott valamelyiket beállítani. http://mek.oszk.hu/dc/szabvany/134715.pdf A szabvány hivatalos magyar fordítása

Nemzeti Digitális Adattár http://www.nda.hu A Nemzeti Digitális Adattár (NDA) a tudásalapú társadalom, a digitális kor archívuma, mely kulturális örökségünk digitalizált értékeihez biztosít széles körű hozzáférést. Az NDA-t az Informatikai és Hírközlési Minisztérium hozta létre 2003-ban annak érdekében, hogy a nemzeti digitális adatvagyonhoz való hozzáférés biztosításával támogassa a nemzeti kultúra digitális reprezentációját, az információs társadalom fejlődését. Az NDA az Interneten elérhető magyar nyelvű és magyar vonatkozású kulturális tartalmakat (pl. virtuális könyvtárak, múzeumok, archívumok stb. digitális dokumentumait) katalogizálja, s egy közös keresőfelületen közvetlenül elérhetővé teszi azokat. A Nemzeti Digitális Adattár tehát: • 1. az Interneten elérhető elektronikus tartalmak elektronikus katalógusa • 2. pontosabban: az Interneten elérhető magyar nyelvű és magyar vonatkozású kulturális tartalmak elektronikus katalógusa, azaz a digitális dokumentumokról készült leíró adatok (katalóguscédulák, az ún. meta-adatok) gyűjteménye Az NDA-keresővel jelenleg 43 partnerintézmény 56 különböző adatbázisa, összesen közel 200.000 dokumentuma érhető el. Az NDA-ban elérhető kulturális online tartalmak az alábbi tematikus csoportokba rendezhetők: • virtuális könyvtárak (szépirodalom, szakirodalom, elektronikus folyóiratok) • virtuális múzeumok, gyűjtemények (képzőművészeti és egyéb közgyűjtemények) • adattárak (társadalomtudományi, történelemi, filmművészeti, zenei, közművelődési) • műsorarchívumok: (TV- és rádióarchívumok, koncertfelvételek) • Az NDA-hoz önkéntesen, tartalmi megkötés nélkül csatlakozhatnak a közgyűjtemények és egyéb szervezetek, intézmények, vagyis az adatgazdák. • Az NDA-hoz csatlakozó adatgazdák az általuk szolgáltatott digitális tartalomról az adott dokumentumtípusnak (szöveg, kép, hang, videó) megfelelő leírást (katalógus-cédulát) készítenek. Az NDA ezeket a leíró adatokat gyűjti össze és tárolja az NDA adatbázisában. A felhasználók az NDA-kereső segítségével ebben az adatbázisban kereshetnek, s a találati listában megjelenő linkekre kattintva közvetlenül elérhetik az adatgazdák által szolgáltatott tartalmat. • Az elektronikus tartalmat maguk az adatgazdák szolgáltatják, a tartalom frissítését, bővítését az NDA folyamatosan és automatikusan követi. Az adattartalmat és adatminőséget tehát az adatgazdák biztosítják, ezekért felelősséget az NDA nem vállal. • Az NDA-hoz az adatgazdák folyamatosan csatlakozhatnak, így az elérhető adatok mennyisége folyamatosan bővül.

Nemzeti Audiovizuális Archívum http://nava.hu/index.php A NAVA - teljes nevén Nemzeti Audiovizuális Archívum - a magyar nemzeti műsorszolgáltatói köteles példány archívum, amely jellegénél fogva audiovizuális tartalmakat gyűjt. Gyűjtőkörébe tartoznak az országos földfelszíni terjesztésű televíziók és rádiók magyar gyártású vagy magyar vonatkozású műsorai. A NAVA ezenkívül befogad helyi műsorszolgáltatói vagy bármilyen egyéb audiovizuális tartalmú archívumokat feldolgozási vagy tárolási célból, ezzel is segítve az audiovizuális tartalmak, mint a kulturális örökség részeinek megőrzését. 45


A NAVA olyan az elektronikus műsorok számára, mint az Országos Széchényi Könyvtár a nyomtatott kiadványok vagy a Magyar Nemzeti Filmarchívum a magyar filmek számára. Az archívum 2006. január 1-én kezdte meg munkáját. A NAVA működését a 2004. évi CXXXVII. törvény szabályozza, a szerzői jogokhoz kapcsolódó feladatait a 117/2004. (IV. 28.) Kormány rendelet, az audiovizuális műsorszámok felújításának, valamint szolgáltatásának műszaki, minőségi és egyéb követelményeit pedig a 52/2007. (V.17.) GKM-OKM együttes rendelete határozza meg. A NAVA különlegessége, hogy gyűjteményéhez on-line hozzáférést biztosít a törvény szabta kereteken belül - archívumának adatbázisa szabadon kereshető, a benne található műsorok teljes terjedelmükben pedig az úgynevezett NAVA-pontokon (amelyek könyvtárakban, iskolákban stb. elérhető terminálokat jelent) tekinthetők meg. A NAVA szolgáltatásainak igénybevétele ingyenes.

Koncepció A NAVA a magyarországi műsorszolgáltatók által sugárzott műsorszámokat: • rendszeresen és üzemszerűen gyűjti és tárolja, • úgynevezett tartalmi leíróadatokkal (meta-adatokkal) ellátja (feldolgozza), • a nyilvánosság számára oktatási és kutatási célra hozzáférhetővé teszi. A NAVA ezt a feladatát digitális, informatikai környezetben látja el, minek következtében a rögzített műsorszámok • digitális feldolgozásra kerülnek, • digitálisan tárolódnak, • hozzáférhetővé tételük on-line digitális formában történik. A NAVA működése során létrejövő gyűjtemény közgyűjtemény és állami tulajdont képez. A gyűjteményre - ha ezt más jogszabály másképp nem szabályozza - a könyvtári közgyűjteményekre vonatkozó jogszabályokat kell alkalmazni. A NAVA szakmai koncepciója több induló archívum - többek között a görögországi Hellenic National Audiovisual Archive - számára is kiindulópont volt.

Műszaki rendszer Az archívum katalógusa az Internet felhasználók számára korlátozás nélkül elérhető, a tartalom NAVA végpontok zárt hálózatán keresztül tekinthető meg. A médiafolyamok tekintetében a végpontokon rendelkezésre álló műszaki feltételeket, valamint a NAVA anyagi lehetőségeit figyelembe véve a végpontok számát az első fázisban korlátozzuk. A zárt hálózat (úgynevezett NAVA-pontok) tagjai: • nyilvános szolgáltatásokat nyújtó könyvtárak, • iskolai oktatás célját szolgáló intézmények, • muzeális intézmények, • levéltárak, • kép- és hangarchívumok. A NAVA teljes egészében digitális rendszer, a média tárolása is adatformátumban történik. A formátumok kiválasztásánál alapelv, hogy az elérhető minőség kövesse a mindenkori műsorszórás által biztosított sugárzási minőséget, illetve tegye lehetővé az internet szolgáltatók által széles körben biztosított sebességen történő szolgáltatást. Nem elsődleges cél az újrafeldolgozható minőségben történő tárolás. A NAVA tárolási minősége nyílt szabványú: 46


• MPEG-2, MP@ML (720x576, 25 fps), CBR, 8Mbps. A NAVA szolgáltatási minősége (ingyenes lejátszó): • RealMedia, 384x288, 25fps, 512 kbps, RV10 + RA8. A NAVA szolgáltató felülete - ezért célszerűen belső felépítése is - teljes egészében követi a nemzetközi (lehetőség szerint nyílt) szabványokat, ajánlásokat, kezdeményezéseket, így lehetővé teszi a más archívumokhoz való egyszerű kapcsolódást. A legfontosabb kapcsolódási pontok: • Motion Pictures Expert Group (MPEG), • Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI), • European Broadcasting Union (EBU), • Open Archives Initiative (OAI).

Irodalom Dublin Core http://dublincore.org/ Magyar Elektronikus Könyvtár Dublin Core metaadat készítő http://mek.oszk.hu/dc/ Nemzeti Digitális Adattár http://nda.sztaki.hu/

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Pulsed Electric Field Processing of Liquid Foods. Simulation of the electric field distribution between electrodes Andreea-Manuela Constantin1, Carol Csatlós1, Cristina-Maria Bica1 University of Transilvania, Brasov, Romania Abstract. Presently, most liquid foods are preserved commercially by ultra high temperature (UHT) or high temperature short time (HTST) processes. Although heating inactivates enzymes and microorganisms, the organoleptic and nutritional properties of the food suffer because of protein denaturation and the loss of vitamins and volatile flavours. There is a great need for a non-thermal method for inactivating microorganisms. Consumers are also increasingly demanding high quality, minimally processed foods. This paper presents a non-thermal method for inactivating microorganisms in liquid foods and beverages and also for the C++ simulation of the electric field distribution between electrodes in the treatment chamber.

Introduction Increasing consumer demand for food with high nutritional value and a ‘fresh-like’ taste led to the development of new mild processes and alternatives to enhance or substitute conventional techniques such as heat treatment for food preservation. Several non-thermal pasteurization methods, including the application of high hydrostatic pressure or pulsed electric fields, have been developed to achieve sufficient microbial reduction while maintaining food quality. The use of an external electrical field for a few microseconds induces local structural changes and a rapid breakdown of the cell membrane. Based on this phenomenon, called electroporation, many applications of high intensity pulsed electric fields (PEF) have been studied in the last decades. In the area of plant and microbial genetics, pulsed electric fields are applied to cause an electroporation of cell membranes to infuse foreign material such as DNA into the cell (Neumann, 1996; Zimmermann, 1996).

General principles of the method Pulsed discharges of high voltage electricity across two electrodes for microbial inactivation were first investigated in the 1950s (Allen and Soike, 1966; Edebo and Selin, 1968), resulting in a process called electrohydraulic treatment. The electrodes were submerged in the liquid medium within a pressure vessel, electric arcs were generated by high voltage pulses forming transient pressure shock waves up to 250MPa and ultraviolet light pulses. Electrochemical reactions, shock waves and ultraviolet light forming free, highly reactive radicals were responsible for the bactericidal effect, but disintegration of food particles and electrodes, leading to food contamination inhibited an industrial application of this process except for wastewater (Jeyamkondan et al., 1999). High intensity pulsed electric field (PEF) processing involves the application of pulses of high voltage (typically 20 - 80 kV/cm) to foods placed between 2 electrodes. For food quality attributes, PEF technology is considered superior to traditional heat treatment of foods because it avoids or greatly reduces the detrimental changes of the sensory and physical properties of foods (Quass 1997)

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Diagram of continuous flow equipment

Figure 1. PEF continuous flow equipment Source: U. S. Food and Drug Administration Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition

This equipment consists of 5 major components: • High-voltage power supply • Energy storage capacitor • Treatment chamber • Pump • Cooling device • Voltage • Temperature measurement devices • Computer for operational control

Configuration of the treatment chambers

Figure 2. Configuration of the treatment chambers a. parallel plate b. coaxial c. co- linear Source Stefan Toepfl, Volker Heinz and Dietrich Knorr Berlin University of Technology, Department of Food Biotechnology and Food Process Engineering, Berlin, Germany

Of these 3 configurations, the most uniform electric field is provided by the parallel plates, but there are also problems in using this configuration because of the boundary conditions. In boundary conditions, the intensity of the electric field is reduced. A co-linear chamber consists of a set of hollow, cylindrical electrodes separated by insulators, in which the product is pumped through the drilling and the flow is not disturbed by any impediments. 49


The geometry of the treatment chamber has a decisive impact on its total resistance and therefore on the discharge circuit

Electric field distribution between electrodes

Figure 3. Electrode set-up used for the C++ simulation In order to find the electric field distribution, we have to solve a Poisson equation, which is a partial differential equation.

1 ∂ ⎛ ∂V ⎞ ρ ⎜r ⎟=− ε0 r ∂r ⎝ ∂r ⎠

(1)

To find the numerical solution to this equation, we used the finite difference method for the digitization of the equation. To simplify the problem, we chose a one-dimensional domain. The boundary conditions are: ⎧ r (0 ) = r1 = 0 ⎨ ⎩ V (0 ) = V

⎧ r ( n ) = r2 ⎨ ⎩V ( n ) = 0

(2)

After using the finite difference method for the Poisson equation, we obtain a linear system of equation easily applicable for obtaining solutions with different computing methods.

⎛r +r r +r ⎞ r +r ri + ri −1 ρ Vi −1 − ⎜⎜ i +1 i + i i −1 ⎟⎟Vi + i +1 i Vi +1 = − ε0 ri − ri −1 ri +1 − ri ⎝ ri +1 − ri ri +1 − ri −1 ⎠

(3)

To solve this tridiagonal matrix system of equations, we elaborated a computing program using C++ language. The program was debugged in Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 and, after the compilations, we obtained these results:

50


100000

1E8

Cartesian coordinates Cilindrical coordinates Spherical coordinates

10000

1000000

100

100000

10

10000

1

log 10E (V /cm)

log10V (V)

1000

0,1

0,01 1E-3 1E-4

Cartesian Coordinates Cilindrical Coordinates Spherical Coordinates

1E7

1000 100 10 1

0,00

0,02

0,04

0,06

0,08

0,10

0,1

d (m)

0,00

0,02

0,04

0,06

0,08

0,10

d(m)

a

b Figure 2.a) Electric Potential b) Electric Field Distribution ( ρ = 0 , variable grid)


1E7 1000000

1000

100000 log10E(V/cm)

log10V (V)


100

10 0,00

0,02

0,04

0,06

0,08

10000 1000 0,00

0,10

0,02

0,04 0,06 d (m)

0,08

0,10

d (m)

a

b Figure 3.a) Electric Potential b) Electric Field Distribution ( ρ ≠ 0 , variable grid)

• • •

From these graphic representations, we can see that a significant drop in voltage takes place near the high voltage electrode. This is the region where a high acceleration of the electric charges takes place, and this causes the collisions between the accelerated particles and the molecules liquid food. Different types of collisions produce different types of reactions and, of course, different types of e.g. ions, radicals, photons.

Conclusion Electric field intensity is one of the main factors that influence microbial inactivation (Hüshelguer and Niemann 1980; Dunne and others 1996). The microbial inactivation increases with an increase in the electric field intensity, above the critical transmembrane potential (Qin and others 1998). Electric field pulses may be applied in the form of exponential decaying, square-wave, oscillatory, bipolar, or instant reverse charges. Oscillatory pulses are the least efficient for

51


microbial inactivation, and square wave pulses are more energy and lethally efficient than exponential decaying pulses.

References Edward H. Chao, Stephen F. Paul, Ronald C. Davidson, 1997. „Direct Numerical Solution of Poisson’s Equation in Cylindrical Coordinates” Plasma Physics Laboratory Princeton University U. S. Food and Drug Administration Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition June 2, 2000. Kinetics of Microbial Inactivation for Alternative Food Processing Technologies Pulsed Electric Fields M. L. Smedinghoff, 2005. „Solving the Poisson Equation with Multigrid” Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory USA Corneliu Berbente, Sorin Mitran, Silviu Zancu, 1997. „Metode Numerice” Editura Tehnică Bucureşti Vega-Mercado, H., Gongora-Nieto, M. M., Barbosa-Cánovas, G. V. and Swanson, B. G. 1999. Nonthermal preservation of liquid foods using pulsed electric fields. Handbook of Food Preservation. M. S. Rahman. Marcel Dekker, Inc. New York.

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A Mathematical Model for the Cavitation Phenomenon Produced by Ultrasonic Waves in Liquid Food Mihaela Danciu1 1 University of Transilvania, Brasov, Romania, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Department of Agricultural Machinery, [email protected], [email protected] Abstract. In this paper, the used model for the cavitation medium is a single-cavitation medium. The mathematical model which connects the acoustic properties of the cavitational medium with the initial properties is given by the initial sonar field parameters. On the basis of the mathematical model development is given the building procedure of the defining parameters for ultrasonic generators. Keywords: ultrasound technique, liquid food processing, cavitation model.

Generalities about the parameters of ultrasonic electronic generators used for liquid food processing A great interest is presented by the ultrasound applications to the intensification of the processes which are developed in liquid environments, caused by the cavitation phenomenon. The electronic ultrasonic generator realised for technological processes intensification mainly in liquid environments, must have a sufficient big capacity for the realization of an advanced intensity level and a sufficient frequency range. These parameters choosing is influenced both by the properties of processed liquid and by the parameters of ultrasonic oscillatory systems. In the majority of cases, except for those with high megahertz frequencies at which cavitation is usually not observed, the dimensions of cavitation bubbles and their congestions in the liquid is observed from the first wave of ultrasonic field. This allows as to consider the liquid, where we find gas bubbles, as a new environment with the equivalent acoustic characteristics which are distinct from acoustic characteristics of a normal liquid. Future on the acoustic value characteristics period of the equivalent environment, the density and compressibility, can be written down as [1]:

(

)

ρ K = ρ L 1 − K + ρG K; (1)

(

)

β K = βL 1 − K + βG K, (2) Where: ρ K - density of cavity environments, β K - compressibility of cavity environments, ρ L - Density of food liquids, β L - Compressibility of food liquids, ρ G - Density of gas, β G - Compressibility of gas, K - Increasing cavitation index. Future on the equivalent environment resistance can be written as:

53


( (

1

) )

⎛ 1 − K + ρG ⎞2 ⎜ ρL K ⎟ ⎟ ρ K cK = ρ L cL ⎜ ⎜⎜ 1 − K + β G ⎟ β L K ⎟⎠ ⎝

(3)

Average index of cavitation K [2] is defined as relation between the cavitation bubbles volume ΔV and the liquid volume V. ΔV is defined by the increasing of the cavitation bubbles dimensions and quantity. The quantity of cavitation bubbles depends on many factors and is not a constant number. Knowing these things the practice use of this formula (3) is impossible. Future on is presented the next model to define the index of cavitation K. We consider a spherical area of liquid medium by radius RMAX with a gas bubble inside (in center) by radius R0, as show in figure 1. To RMAX radius it correspond the maximal dimension of the radius, dimension at which aspires the gas bubble which increase in the relaxing faze. In this case the cavitation index can by write as :

K=

ΔVCφ VCφ

(

)

4 π R 3 − R0 3 3 R 3 − R0 = 3 = 3 , 3 4 3 3 R MAX − R 0 π R MAX − R0 3

(

)

(4)

Where: ΔVCφ - the dispersion volume of the sphere liquid ; VCφ - Volume of sphere with radius R MAX .

Figure 1. The area of the food liquid with gas bubble inside.

Figure 2. The model of the cavitation and implosion.

When the radius of the bubble is equal to radius of balanced bubble R0, the index of cavitation is equal to zero. When radius of the bubble is in accord with the next relation: R0 < R < RMAX, the cavitation index has as limits 0 < K < 1. In the case when R aims to RMAX, cavitation index aim to 1.

54


From formula (4) result next the conclusion: to define the cavitation index it is necessary to known the current dimension of gas bubble radius R , his maximal possible radius RMAX and initial radius of gas bubble R0. The amount of vapor pressure pv and gas pressure pg inside of the bubble is equal to the amount of hydrostatic pressure p0 and surface forces tension pS [2 - 6]: pv + p g = p0 + p S .

(5)

The pressure of surface forces tension is defined as: pS =

2σ . R

(6)

The vapors pressure inside the bubble is influenced by the external forces, how we see in the relation (7): 3 ⎛ 2σ ⎞⎛ R0 ⎞ ⎟⎜ ⎟ . (7) p g = ⎜⎜ p 0 − p v + R0 ⎟⎠⎝ R ⎠ ⎝ The external pressure, reported to gas pressure and vapor pressure inside the bubble with radius R, is defined in the following way: 3 ⎛ 2σ ⎞⎛ R0 ⎞ 2σ ⎟⎟⎜ ⎟ − . (8) p B (t ) = p v + ⎜⎜ p 0 − p v + R0 ⎠⎝ R ⎠ R ⎝ From another point of view the external pressure is defined as: p B (t ) = − p M sin ωt + p 0 , (9) The “-“ sign from formula (9) shows that at the time t=0 its beginning the diminishing period. From formula (8) we can get the dependence of R radius from the external pressure pM.

If we replace the expression (9) in the expression (8) we obtain the next formula: 3 ⎛ 2σ ⎞ R0 2σ ⎜⎜ p 0 − p v + ⎟⎟ 3 − = p 0 − p M sin ωt − p v . R0 ⎠ R R ⎝

(10)

Next notations were made:

⎛ 2σ ⎞ 3 ⎜⎜ p 0 − p v + ⎟⎟ R0 = a;2σ = b; R 0 ⎠ ⎝ p 0 − p M sin ωt − p v = c, and is rewrite the formula (10) in the following way: R 3 c + R 2 b − a = 0.

55

(11)


When we solve the equalization (11) we will get the radius of vapor–gas bubble which depends on the ultrasonic field parameters and on other conditions (liquid surface tension; vapor and gas saturation pressure; hydrostatic pressure): R=3 −

q q2 p3 3 q q2 p3 b + + + − − + − , 2 4 27 2 4 27 3c

Where p = −

q=

(12)

4σ 2

3( p 0 − p M sin ωt − p v )

16σ 3

27( p 0 − p M sin ωt − p v )

3

2

;

⎛ 2σ ⎞ 3 ⎜⎜ p 0 − p v + ⎟⎟ R0 R 0 ⎠ −⎝ ; p 0 − p M sin ωt − p v

The maximal radius of vapor – gas bubble RMAX, at which pulse begin, is not changing much its size – and is called resonant bubble. The dimension of resonant bubble may by calculate with the next formula [2]:

f =

1 2πRMAX

3γ ⎛ 2σ ⎜⎜ p0 + RMAX ρL ⎝

⎞ ⎟⎟ , ⎠

(13)

From formula (13) is obtained the expression for the resonant bubble radius definition RMAX: RMAX = 3 −

q + 2

q2 p3 3 q q 2 p3 + + − − + , 4 27 2 4 27

Where: p = −

p 0 3γ 4π ρ L f 2

2

,q = −

(14)

3γσ 2π 2 ρ L f

2

.

The expression (14) for the definition of the maximum size of vapor - gas bubble and expression (12) for the definition size of vapor –gas bubble depends on the variable values of the ultrasound pressure. Because the R0 << RMAX, it is possible that expression (4) used to the cavitation index definition K, to be determinate beginning from the expression (3), to define the resistance of the environment over the cavitation waves, for any value of ultrasound pressure.

The mathematical model of the cavitation phenomenon Based on the cavitation model of the considered environment, such as the power quantity and a holding range of frequency, the definition procedure of the ultrasound parameters is developed by the research made in liquid environment, having as base the implementation conditions for a cavitation regime. This technique provides samples of ultrasonic oscillatory parameters which work in piezoelectric structures by half wave type made by oscillatory equipments with mushroom - shapes converters, presented in figure 3.

56


Figure 3. The sketch of mushroom-shapes working tools. The same mathematical model it can be used in the case of oscillatory equipments with other geometric shapes of the mechanical converter. The initial data for key parameters calculation of the electronic ultrasonic oscillators are: the density of material for oscillatory system ρso; the sound velocity in the material of oscillatory system cso; propagation medium density; the sound velocity in the processed environment; the frequency of ultrasonic oscillations f; the diameter of radial surface of the converter D1; the diameter of cross-section of a waveguide of the oscillatory system D2; hydrostatical pressure p0; pressure of saturated vapor pv; coefficient of surface tension of processing medium σ. On the next stage of the methodic is calculated the pressure of ultrasonic field pM, at which is realized the cavitation regime. For this: • The define value of maximal radius of vapor-gas bubble RMAX, is in formula (14). • The increasing value of maximal radius vapor-gas bubble is defined as:

R MAX =

RMAX ; 2

(15)

• The cavitation index , of cavitation, is equal with 0.2; • The Radius of cavitation bubble defined from formula (4) assign R0=0 (as R0 << R): 3

R = KR

3 MAX

;

(16)

• The sound pressure pМ obtained trough calculus from formula (10), assign ωt = π (faze of maximal pressure in liquid) and R0 =0 (as minimal size):

2σ ⎛ 2σ − ⎜⎜ p 0 − p v + p M = p0 − pv + R ⎝ R0 • Value of sound pressure increase is defined as: p pM = M . 2

⎞ R03 ⎟⎟ 3 ; ⎠R

(17)

(18)

On next stage is calculated the ultrasonic oscillation dimensions using parameters defined for the converter area and value defined for of the sound pressure pМ. For this: • Is calculated the intensity of ultrasonic oscillations trough formula [2]:

57


I=

p2

M

2ρ L cL

(19)

;

• Is calculated the acoustic power taking into consideration the double-side radiation surface of working converter: ⎛ πD1 2 πD2 2 Pa = I ⎜⎜ − 4 ⎝ 2

⎞ ⎟. ⎟ ⎠

(20)

Then is calculated the electrical power consumed by the piezoelectric converter:

η=

Pu Pa

(21)

Where: Pu – the utile power; Pu – the absorbing power. Based on the obtained dates is calculated the possible values of resonant frequency of the oscillation system on cavitation. For this: • Is defined the size of ultrasonic oscillation system from next expression:

l1 =

c so ; 2f

(22)

• Is defined the liquids mass which is in contact with the converter surface: ⎛ πD12 πD2 2 ⎞ ⎟ hρ L , − m = ⎜⎜ ⎟ 2 4 ⎝ ⎠

Where h - thickness of liquid layer (based on experimental dates it is 0,013m); Is defined the liquid mass which is in contact with the converter surface: 4m Δl = ; ρ so πD 22 • Is defined the frequency of oscillation system: c so , f1 = 2(l + Δl )

(23)

(25)

(26)

Practical researches have shown that with the increase of the radiation area and the decrease of resonant frequency UOS is slowed down. Within the same time with the mushroom-shapes converter diameter increase is obtained a vibration limit which take to the zero amplitude oscillation obtaining. Comparing the variation of resonant frequency depending on the area of radiation with the experimental data, is obtained the correlation factor which allow to correct the value of frequency UOS (look figure 4).

58


Figure 4. The dependence of coefficient KF to area of radiation. • Is corrected the value of f1: c so (27) , f1 = K F 2(l + Δl ) The changes rate of resonant frequency is defined as: Δf = f − f 1 ,

(28)

Conclusion

• This model describes the properties of food liquid processed with ultrasounds. • The model allows the calculation of transmitted wave resistance in liquid food which depends by the sound pressure and the considered liquid properties. • At the base of this theoretical model for the cavitation is the definition of key parameters of the processed liquid. • This technique allows the calculation of acoustic and electric capacity of the electronic generator necessary and sufficient for the realization in the processed liquid of a cavitation. • This technique allows defining a range of changes for the resonant frequency of ultrasonic oscillatory system. • This technique can be used not only to develop the ultrasonic equipment, but also for the product technologists, and for training of experts in various industries domains which use ultrasounds equipments.

References Agranat B.A. 1974. Ultrasonic technology: metallurgy. Brown, B., Goodman, I.E. 1973. High intensity ultrasonic. Industrial applications, Hliffe Books, London. Dumitru, E., Nicolau P., Teodoru V. 1987. Ultrasunete – Posibilitati de utilizare in industria alimentara si biologie, Editura Tehnica, Bucuresti. Flynn H. G. 1967. Physics of acoustic cavitation in liquids // Physical acoustic. - M. Piece. Gherşgal, D. A., Fridman, V. M. 1962. Aparate cu ultrasunete, Editura Tehnică, Bucureşti. 6. Holtingk E.A., Neppiras E.A. Cavitation produced by ultrasonics. - Proc. Phys. Soc. Segal, B. 1968. Aspecte noi ale folosirii radiaţiilor si a ultrasunetelor in industria alimentară, I.C.D.T, Bucureşti, Shutilov V.A. 1988. The basics of ultrasonics. - L.: Machinery. Vorotnikova M.I., Solouhin R.I. 1964. Calculate ripple of gas bubbles in non compressible liquids under influence periodically changed of pressure // Acoustic journal.

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Study concerning the evaluation of transitory regime vibrations of portable mowing machines, using the finite elements method Liviu Gaceu1, Romulus Gruia1, Daniel Danila1 1 Transylvania University of Brasov, 29 Eroilor, Brasov, 500036, Romania Abstract. The vibrations produced during the operation of portable mowing machines have notable effects on the human organism, and should be reduced as much as possible, starting from the design stage. The paper proposes a modeling method using finite elements (using I-DEAS SDRC software), which allow the topological optimization of this kind of equipment. The model calculates the first four resonance frequencies, the shapes of the machine at these working points, as necessary elements to settle vibrations in the nominal working stage. In the last part of the paper, we present a case which demonstrates the impact between a hard body and the cut-off device, while also studying the behavior of the elastic structure and its impact on the human body. Keywords. Vibrations, portable mowing machines, finite element.

Introduction This paper discusses the general reasons for the stress produced by vibration through local action transmitted through the hand-arm system by portable mowing machines. Today, a great deal of attention is focused at the research , applied and legislative levels on the work conditions specific to new techniques and technologies, as well as on professional stress and health issues associated with work processes. Human beings are a bio-psycho-social entity, regardless of the nature of the force influencing them through external factors, how negative or beneficial these are or how aggressive, the human as, organism reacts as a single unit at the level of action through a mixture of: physical, physiological, neuroendocrine, psychological, social behavior. Scientific investigations initially addressed the ergonomic, psychological and work hygiene aspects, and the results were utilized in special programs of action developed by international committees (International Office of Work, National Organization of Health), national committees and certain interest groups (region, departmental, within a single factory). The stress borne by a human operator in an environment affected to vibration is limited by the maximum level of vibration that individual can manage and still function safely. This level is specified in Romania by the country’s Labor and Social Protection Minister. These regulations are shown. In Figure 1., including the maximum allowable limits for equivalent acceleration per hour (h) produced by vibration with local action through the hand-arm system (At-for long time exposure; Ai-for intermittent exposure), specifically for work with portable mowing machines.

The modeling of portable mowing machines with the use of finite elements From a constructive point of view, portable mowing machines present a large variety of forms, which have to assure the ergonomic mode and functionality during the work period (figure. 2). Engine and cutting devices emplacement (figure. 3) can differ, but in all variants the elastic structure induces vibrations in the human operator’s arm. These vibrations are generated by engine function (electric or internal combustion) and by the impact of the cutting device and the cut-off material. A special case is the variant when the mowing machine is fitted with a blade or knife cutting device: Whenever this hits a solid object, it produces vibrations which are conveyed throughout the whole elastic structure. Conveying transitory mode analysis of these vibrations is essentially the function of safety for the human operator. The sustain points emplacement, the overall size of the mowing machine and the transversal section geometry influence and the

60


vibration level felt by the worker’s arm. Using a finite elements model for such a structure is possible, still from the design phase, the level of equivalent acceleration felled evaluation. At the same time it is possible the own structure vibration mode and is possible to establish a functional mode outside of resonance field.

Figure 1. Maximum allowed limits for equivalent acceleration produced by vibration with local action. Our case study considered the condition of the STIHL FS 38 mowing machine, with the following technical characteristics: • cylindrical capacity: 27,2 cm3; • power: 0,65 KW/0,9 CP; • weight: 4,1 kg. The whole model was realized using the I-DEAS SDRC application. The structure geometry is presented in figure 3. The presence simulation of the engine and cutting device was realized through concentrate mass elements. The whole structure was discrete using a one-dimensional beam (figure 4, 5).

61


a.

b.

Figure 2. Different constructive options of portable mowing equipment (a) and cutting devices (b)

a. b.

Figure 3. Geometrical model of the mowing machine model STHK FS 38 a.-sustain frame dimensions; b-transversal sections dimensions (D=30 mm; d=26 mm)

62


Figure 4. Defining concentrate mass for: Rotor: 0.7 kg Engine: 2,5 kg

Figure 5. Discrete structure with BEAM elements of mowing machine

A first analysis had the purpose of defining the machine’s own vibrations frequencies. (figure. 6). These are: • the first vibration mode: 64 Hz; • the second vibration mode: 66 Hz; • the third vibration mode: 158 Hz; • the fourth vibration mode: 168 Hz. The rotor impact simulation with a hard body was realized through a semi sinusoidal acceleration at node 1 level application. Next, a transitory event was defined with a 0.02 s timing base of the function described by a curve from figure. 7, with a 49000 scale factor, equivalent of a maximum acceleration of 49000/9,8=5000 mm/s2 ( cca. 5g). The results show a vibration amortization during a time of approx. 0.2 s and a maximum value of acceleration of 1,7 m/s2 by superior haft level and 1,2 m/s2 inferior haft level..

63


Figure 6. The first four own modes of mowing machine vibrations.

a.

Figure 7. Defining of impact acceleration with a hard body and the correspondent transitory 64


a.

b.

Figure 8. The evolution in time of acceleration by 37 node level (superior sustaining point) and 52 (inferior sustaining point)

Conclusion The modeling of portable mowing machines, using finite elements represents an efficient method for defining an optimal functional mode, from a structural solicitation point of view and from the behavior of such equipment in transitory work conditions, upon impact of machine parts with hard bodies. In this way, the model can make an objective evaluation of a constructive solution, even in the design phase, with the important effect of decreasing the launch time of a new product onto the market.

References Amiel, R. Stress et psychopathologie du travail. Arch.mal.prof., 1989, 50, no.7, 696-704. Gaceu, L. Inginerie asistata de calculator, Editura Universitatii Transilvania, Brasov, 2006 *** Le stress dans le monde du travail – Le travail dans le monde. BIT, 1993 –T 6, p.73-85. *** Commision européenne – Santé et Sécurité sur le lieu de travail. Programme Communautaire 1996-2000. *** IDEAS structural Research Corporation, Manual de utilizare, 2003.

65


Aspects Regarding the Implementation of the HACCP system in the Bakery Industry Cristina-Maria Bica1, Andreea-Manuela Constantin1 1

University of Transilvania, Brasov, Romania

Abstract. Quality bread has to fulfill various quality demands, some of these being included in hygienic rules, others having the purpose to attract the consumer by e.g. the shape of the loaf, the color of the crust or its composition. Obtaining the desired characteristics for bread and bakery products means fully understanding and following the HACCP system in production units. This paper presents the permanent connection that has to exist between the quality factors of bakery products and the rules imposed by the system of quality management, i.e. HACCP, and also aspects of its implementation in production units. Keywords. HACCP, Quality, Bread

Introduction It is known that during the last few years that quality and food safety have improved continuously. We can also say the same thing when about bread. Food safety and quality problems have become customer rights that have a direct effect on quality of life. To support quality and food safety, European legislation requires the implementation and application of Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) principles in all units involved in the production, transportation and storage of foods. The implementation of HACCP systems in bakery units is necessary, as bread and the bakery products are made for human consumption. Indeed, bakery goods are the base of the nutritional pyramid. Through microbiological, chemical or physical contamination, consumer health may be affected a short time after consumption or in time through toxic substance accumulation in human body. The aim of HACCP implementation in bakery is to obtain high quality products which present no risk consumers of bread and bakery products. The HACCP system for quality insurance must be implemented in the bakery industry in accordance with Regulation No. 852/2004 of the European Parliament and EU Council concerning food product hygiene. In order to implement the HACCP system, the general principles must be taken in consideration of the quality management of food safety and also a country’s individual regulations. This legislation must be in harmony with the European legislation.

General aspects concerning HACCP system HACCP, or Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point, is a new system for use in the foods industry which has applications considered to create the basis of an efficient system for food safety. HACCP is resource requirement system which needs careful planning and and a lot of time to implement. The application of this system depends on conventional techniques, which include targets and a step by step approach to i.e. one’s business and production activities. The HACCP method includes 7 principles: 1. Analyze hazards. Potential hazards associated with a food and measures to control those hazards are identified. The hazard may be biological, such as a microbe; a chemical, such as a toxin; or physical, such as ground glass or metal fragments. 2. Identify critical control points. These are points in a food's production--from its raw state through processing and shipping to consumption by the consumer--at which the potential

66


hazard can be controlled or eliminated. Examples are cooking, cooling, packaging, and metal detection. 3. Establish preventive measures with critical limits for each control point. For a cooked food, for example, this might include setting the minimum cooking temperature and time required to ensure the elimination of any harmful microbes. 4. Establish procedures to monitor the critical control points. Such procedures might include determining how and by whom cooking time and temperature should be monitored. 5. Establish corrective actions to be taken when monitoring shows that a critical limit has not been met--for example, reprocessing or disposing of food if the minimum cooking temperature is not met. 6. Establish procedures to verify that the system is working properly--for example, testing time-and-temperature recording devices to verify that a cooking unit is working properly. 7. Establish effective recordkeeping to document the HACCP system. This would include records of hazards and their control methods, the monitoring of safety requirements and action taken to correct potential problems. Each of these principles must be backed by sound scientific knowledge: for example, published microbiological studies on time and temperature factors for controlling foodborne [3.]

Stages which must be followed for HACCP system implementation in bakeries Bread and loaf products are the basis of human nutrition and this is the reason why the HACCP system is essential for obtaining the best products at high quality standards. Therefore, in order to correctly implement the system, it is necessary to cover several vital stages. The need for covering these stages and also respecting imposed conditions has the purpose to keep all important details relating to the maintainence of final product safety under control. The implementation stages must be followed from beginning to completion of production, i.e. from the level of preparing raw and auxiliary materials to the storage of the finished products.

Establish hygiene procedures Establishing hygienic procedures plays an important role in the assurance and maintenance of human health and are vital when producing bread and loaf products, as daily consumed products and the bases for human food. The assurance of the safety of such products for consumption must be a priority for all sector producers, even in their strive to increase market targets, they must do so without affecting customer health. An objective analysis must be performed, in order to establish hygienic procedures: • Which is the activity profile and who are the customers? • The product spectrum of the company • What are the role and the position of the company in the agro food sector? • What are the perishable or durable products’ characteristics? • What are the customer’s expectations? • What are the reference standards? • Which where the food safety problems assurance methods to-date? • How is the design and implementation of the HACCP system? • Which is the HACCP team? • What is the budget for the target? These analyses have the purpose to find HACCP objectives by choosing between the following: • only some of the products from the spectrum

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• only some products which can generate physical, chemical or biochemical risks on the final product • production halls which require monitoring . In some cases, to this management system plan can be attached some specific request.

Team building and training to for HACCP Management system projection and implementation needs multileveled team, which has to collect data and to lay out the HACCP plan for the proposed domain. The team constituents depend on: • target products, production line and production halls • HACCP plan objectives Selection criteria will be: • competence • experience • hard working • communication skills. The team members must be experienced persons in a large field of products. The team leader has to be familiarized with HACCP techniques, be a good listener and perform the team member selection, training and coordination. The team must contain one planner who must study the technological flux diagram, one microbiologist, one quality control expert, one process engineer with good skills in understanding the mechanical operations and technological phases, specialists in packing, storing and distribution. This variety of personal is necessary for creating a properly functioning team and for meeting the objectives of the HACCP system. The HACCP team must have between three and five members, depending on factory size. It will be nominated by the top management and its members will have the specific attributes mentioned in the job tasks. After the selection of the HACCP team members, the team leader has to make an instruction training for their members and preparing for the following actions which will take place: In order to have complete instruction, the following must be considered: • general objective presentation of the food safety policy • the HACCP method presentation • working program establishment.

Product information obtaining This stage has the purpose to describe the characteristics and the final product proprieties and to establish the final destination of these. This stage offers a first estimation of the potential risks which can appear necessary as actions to control this and the conditions which might be necessary within production process and for the supplier. In order to construct this step, must respect the following conditions: • the technical description of the product: o short product description o row and auxiliary materials presentation which realize the product o short designation of the technological process o product characteristics(form, aspect, weight) o legal and quality requests: composition, microbiological specifications o way of the assembly and raw materials

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o marking and labeling o storage and distribution specifications o life limit o use instructions for the unfinished goods, half baked and frozen products. • the technical specification of the final product represents the point to where all the HACCP team action will be directed for assurance of the quality and safety characteristics. In order to elaborate correct technical specifications, it is necessary to keep sight of technological conditions and national legislation which refer to foodstuffs: • storage conditions of food (temperature, humidity, time) • processing, preparing, packaging, transportation and distributions terms which must prevent food contamination. • Conditions for packaging materials • Special additives which are accepted for use in bread making, characteristics and limits • Special requirements on water quality used in the technological process.

Process info The HACCP team must perform detailed analyses of the bread production process and also of the bakery personal, to collect information regarding technological process and to lay out the flux diagram. For all these, the following tasks must be performed: • production flux description • lay out production halls plan • verification of the flux diagram and hall plans. These have as principal objectives: o building and land localization o type of the process (manual, mechanical, mix) o analyzing and checking the technological water sources ; o toilets and dressing room placement o storage rooms emplacement o chemical substances storage o verify the production spaces o physical and chemical analyses might be done in flux for the process parameters control o packaging way and materials used in production o delivery and commercialization paths of the final products

Risks analyzes This stage is in concordance with the first principle of the HACCP system and consists in determining eventual contamination dangers: biological, chemical and physical which can affect bread and bakery products safety. Analysis of the potential risks is the key stage of the HACCP system and it must be done with maximum severity and meticulous by the HACCP team and includes: • finding associated risks of the bakery products and/or of the personal in all stages of the technological process • evaluating the probably appearance of this risks and importance of the risks • identifying preventive measures to keep risks under control The importance of this stage consists in identifying the nature of the risks and also in establishing ways to prevent or eliminate them. The most important risks which can be associated to the bakery products in all phases of the technological process are: • physical risks (foreign bodies )

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o agricultural products (sand, land) o animal product o glass o metals o insects o plastics, paper, personal objects • biochemical risks o natural composite (mould, algae) o agrochemical substances(pesticide, herbicide, hormones) o environmental pollutants (heavy metals, radioactive metals) o process additives o packaging materials • biological risks o parasites o microorganisms (bacterial, mould) o viruses o pathogen agents (salmonella)

Critical Point Control determination PCC Critical control points must be determined within the technological process, e.g. where parameters can be controlled. Every technological process has its key points in which maintaining control over one or more parameters through measurement or observation keeps final characteristics within safety limits. These points must be determined by the HACCP team. For every process, eventual risks will be analyzed as pertains to raw materials, contamination, microbial increase and thereby reduce risk by means of the process.

Critical limits imposing This stage corresponds to the third HACCP principle: to establish critical limits/values of a potential risk which can be dangerous for the safety of the product. Critical limits are those values which separate the acceptance zone from the nonacceptance zone and are established for keeping track of those values at and under which the product is no longer safe to consume. The most common parameters used in bakery industry are: • storage temperature, fermentation temperature, ferment temperature, baking temperature, cooling. • dough PH • humidity of the air in storage halls, in working places • metal impurities in the • microbial contains • infest grade In Table no.1 are presented critical values of the principal parameters followed in the bread industry

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Table 1. Nr. Crt.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

6.

7. 8. 9. 10.

12.

Product/Process Flour Heavy Metals Pb Cd Mould Salmonella Humidity Metal impurities Processes

Normal Value

Critical Value

<0.2 mg/Kg <0.1 mg/kg 800/g Abs/25 g 14.0 missing

0.2 mg/kg 0.1 mg/kg 1000/g Abs/25 g 14.5 <2 mg/kg

15 0C 4…6 0C 4…6 0C

18oC 10 0C 8 0C

Technological water temperature Dough fermentation temperature Time dough fermentation

30…320C

350C

30…350C

400C

30 min

40 min

Baking time

200…240 0C

190 0C

Storage temperature of finite products

20 0C

<120C >300C

Storage Temperature -flour -bakery yeast - eggs

Monitoring control critical points Monitoring represents the scheduled stages for measures or observation of process; critical parameters through which are determinated whether the control measures continue to work properly. The monitoring stage needs: • parameter definition, frequency and place • selection of measure method • responsible person nominalization • verifying at regulate time intervals if the process is working within parameter limits The monitoring assurance: • discovering within a short time of the moment in which a loss of control in an essential point for food safety takes place • information concerning maintenance and functionally of the HACCP system • analyzes the elements for improving performances The monitoring is realized through visual observation, sensorial appreciation, physical measurements, chemical testing, microbiological analyzes.

Establish corrective actions Corrective actions must be applied when critical limits are: • on the way to being crossed; • crossed. Generally speaking, corrective actions may be provisioned or pre-established, such as the way of application and action for the most unlikely situations.

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In all important points of the technological process, forms are available in which are registered those corrective actions which were executed. In Table 2, are presented some examples of corrective actions to be done in some special situations. Table 2. Nr.crt Situations Corrective Actions Batch rejection, change the 1. Flour with strange smells dealer 2. Flour Acidity overflow Batch rejection 3. Technological water with impurities Change water tank 4. Dough with strange smells Reject the dough Finding the reason. Reject 5. Infested dough the dough Isolation of bread batch and 6. Temperature overvalue reject it 7. Dirty equipment Changing equipment 8. Rat attack on products Reject products

Establish verification procedures Verification and realization Through this step, the HACCP 6th Principle is respected. Verification is an activity through which methods are applied, procedures, tests, and other forms of evaluation add to monitoring for an efficient system. First verification of the system takes place, simultaneously to the implementation of the HACCP system and followed by the other verification procedures made by responsible personal. Through periodical verification, an improved HACCP plan is followed. In this stage, different types of verification can be made: • parameters verification in PCC • monitoring verification • HACCP plan verification Intern audit Internal audits assure the verification of the HACCP management system and represent a systematic and independent voice with its own system evaluation purpose. According to ISO 19011/2001, internal audit objectives are: • the system evaluation must have a referential standard • assure the realization claims for certification

HACCP system documents According to HACCP system Principle no. 7, specific documentation for all procedures and registrations must be established. The HACCP documentations system must include: • potential risk analyses • critical points determination • system monitoring in critical points Types of documentation: • product specifications – documents which are made for finite products, for all raw and auxiliary materials and for packages

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• instructions - documents in which are presented modes for operation and clues concerning the most efficient course of action. This can be: work instructions, operating instructions, control instructions. • Procedures- this can be documents for the system which detail ways of accomplishing actions: system procedures, operation procedures • Registration forms- documents designed and distributed to those areas where the necessary parameters need to be followed • Internal guide of good practice - good behavior code for the factory which serves to assist in preserving the quality and food safety of products • HACCP plan- descriptive document which includes resources, activities succession • HACCP manual- document which presents safety politics

Conclusion HACCP is a system which identifies, evaluates and controls dangers which are important for food safety HACCP advantages • decreasing reimbursement and claims of the customers • quality and safety increase of food products

References Bica Cristina-Maria “Cerinte impuse unitatilor de panificatie din persepctiva aderarii Romaniei in Uniunea Europeana” BIOTASAS , BRASOV Marculescu A., “Calitatea produselor agro-alimentare ”,2005, Univ “Luacian Blaga” Sibiu “Ghid de bune practice pentru siguranta alimentelor- industria de panificatie”, 2005, Ed Uranus Bucuresti

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Research Concerning Temperature Variation in Dough During Bread Baking Cristina-Maria Bica1, Gheorghe Bratucu1 1

Transylvania University of Brasov, Eroilor, 29, Brasov, Romania

Abstract. The processes which take place in dough during bread baking are influenced first of all by temperature evolution. The experimental study presented in this paper shows the fact that temperature grows from a fermentation point (~ 32,3 0C) to a baking value (~ 98 0C) in approximate 15 minutes and after this the temperature evolution remains constant. The studies were made using a baking oven with annular tubes heated with gas. Keywords. temperature, bread, baking.

Introduction In human history, bread has been considered a spiritual substance, a mystery and a revelation, a sacrifice and bond between people and God. Bread is a symbol of essential food related traditionally to an active life, being one of the oldest foodstuffs. The first type of bread was produced from cereal mash, made from crushed cereal grains and water. The baking of bread is a physical, biochemical and microbiological process, caused by the dough’s heating and transformation into the final product, which has a crumb middle and a crust.

General aspects regarding dough heating in the baking process During baking, dough undergoes an irreversible structural transformation that involves a series of physical, chemical and biochemical reactions to form a light, porous and readily digestible flavorful product. An increase in relative volume, reduction in density and a temperature rise of about 100C inside the dough is observed during baking. Dough viscosity decreases between 24 and 60C and increases rapidly with a further rise in temperature (Bloksma and Nieman 1975). The rate of heat application and the duration of baking influence the properties of the final product. The combination of gas production and evaporation of water, along with changes in rheological properties, results in the loss of gas in dough during heating (Bloksma 1990). This is explained by the starch-protein matrix hypothesis (Gan et al. 1995). In bread dough, gas cells are dispersed in a continuous starchprotein matrix after mixing. Gas cells expand because of the production of carbon dioxide gas during fermentation. During baking, membranes rupture because of an increase in tensile strength caused by a rapid increase in viscosity Bloksma and Nieman (1975) used a heated cone and plate geometry in a Weissenberg Rheogoniometer to characterize wheat flour dough during heating. Shear modulus (G’) and apparent viscosity decreased from 25 to 45C and increased thereafter from 45 to 65C. The increase in viscosity was attributed to starch gelatinization. However, measurements were made to a maximum temperature of 65C, which is less than the maximum temperature reached during baking. The minima for viscosity were reached at unexpectedly low temperatures as compared to the gelatinization temperature of starch. The heating rate affects the viscosity of dough. Heating dough more rapidly shifts the minimum value of viscosity to a higher temperature. Dreese et al. (1988) studied the temperature-dependent changes for flourwater doughs during heating. Starch gelatinization, gluten cross-linking or both are possible explanations for the

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stiffening of dough between 55C and 75C. However, the heating blends of commercial gluten and commercial native wheat starch indicated that an increase in G’ and a decrease in tan d during heating from 55 to 75C were proportional to the starch content of dough. Hence, thermally induced rheological changes during heating were caused by changes in starch fraction, presumably because of starch gelatinization.

Materials and methods The materials The oven in which experiments were made is a modern oven, multihearth with annular tubes and heated with methane gas.

a) general view

b) the heating system Figure 1. The annular tubes oven

To record the temperature values, an optic pyrometer (figure 3) was used for the measurement of the dough surface temperature, a thermohygrometer (figure 4) for the measurement in the crumb of the dough, and a thermo vision camera (figure 5) to obtain the thermal images of the bread.

Figure 3. Optic pyrometer

Figure 4. Thermohygrometer

Figure 5. Thermo vision camera

The research method The experimental data were obtained with the help of the presented tools. All this data was input into a Pentium IV PC, used for data processing. The following data was recorded:

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• dough temperature at oven inlet; • temperature in the crumb of dough at oven inlet, in baking process and finished process. For the data processing and graphic representation was used a program Microcal Origin 6.0. and also software as a determination apparatus.

Results and discussions The data obtained in the experiment are presented in Tables 1 and 2. Table 1

Probes number

Time [min]

Crumb temperature [˚C]

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Probe 1

32,3

57,6

67,6

87,0

96,3

96,1

96,7

Probe 2

33,5

39,5

54,9

77,5

95,2

94,4

93,3

Probe 3 Medium probe

31,5

58,4

68,6

87

96,5

96,8

96,7

32,4

51,8

63,7

83,8

96

95,7

95,5

100

o

crumb's temper atur e ( C)

90

pro be 1 pro be 2 pro be 3 medium probe

80 70 60 50 40 30 0

5

10

15

20

25

30

baking time ( min)

Figure 6. Crumb temperature variation depending of baking time Figure 6 represents the graphic representation of the crumb temperature variation according to baking time. From these graphs may be seen results that crumb temperature double its value in the first 5 minutes following insertion into the oven, and after this it can be seen as a progressive growth until the value of 96 °C.

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Table 2

Probes number

Time [min]

Oven temperature [˚C]

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Probe 1

246

244

238

243

245

243

243

Probe 2

244

238

240

245

240

242

242

Probe 3 Medium probe

245

239

241

246

242

243

243

245

240,3

239,6

244,6

242,3

242,6

242,6

pro be 1 pro be 4 pro be 3 medium probe

247 246 245

o

oven temper atur e ( C)

244 243 242 241 240 239 238 237 0

5

10

15

20

25

30

baking time (min )

Figure 7 Oven temperature variation depending of baking time In figure 7, we can see the temperature variation from the baking medium depending on the process duration, with low oscillations, decreasing by 2-4 °C in the first few minutes and then re-obtaining a best baking value 250

o

te mpe ratur e ( C)

200

oven's tempera ture (medium p robe) cr umb 's temperature (me dium prob e) 150

100

50

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

baking time (min)

Figure 8. Crumb and oven mean temperature depending of baking time

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The graphic represented in Figure 8 presents the crumb temperature with the baking room temperature. It can be seen that while the temperature from the enclosure remains constant at around the value of 244 °C, the crumb temperature increases until the value of 96 °C, which remains constant for the last 10 minutes.

Conclusions • The heat penetration in dough can be accomplished via conductibility, thermo diffusion

and diffusion of humidity, in liquid and vapors form, which modifies the energetic status from different layers. • Crumb temperature doubles in value in the first 5 minutes following insertion into the oven, and after this can be seen a progressive growth until the value of 96 °C. • The temperature from the enclosure remains constant at around the value of 244 °C; the crumb temperature increases until reaches the value of 96 °C, which remains constant for the final 10 minutes of baking.

References Bica, C.M., 2004. "Energetically Consumption in the Baking Process", Agricultural Mechanization, nr. 11/2004, pg 24-29; Bordei, D., 2004. The Modern Technology of Baking. Agir Ed. Bucharest, Romania. Voicu, Gh., 2002. The Technology of Baking. Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu Romania.

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The effects of climate change on the phenological phases of corn 1

1

Daniella Boksai , Éva Erdélyi 1

Corvinus University of Budapest, 1118 Budapest, Villányi út 29-43., Hungary

Abstract. Global climate change has a major influence on our life and agriculture, as well. The phenological phases of plants are largely affected by temperature and precipitation changes. In this work our aim was to study the effect of six of the most acceptable, different weather scenarios on corn. Our standard scenario was the BASE, which represents the current weather conditions. We compared it with the weather scenarios GFDL2534, GFDL5564, UKHI, UKLO and UKTR3140. They all contain the daily radiation, temperature and precipitation data for 31 years. While living under changing climate conditions, one of our most urgent tasks is to define the optimal preparation and response strategies to the conditions in change. This time we wanted to see what can we expect, how the length and the starting dates of phenological phases of maize change in the case of different scenarios. The simulations were run by the 4M crop model which is based on the CERES model and developed by the Hungarian Agricultural Model Designer Group and adapted to Hungarian circumstances. The location of our experiment was the Debrecen region, which is of big importance in Hungary’s maize production. In summary it can be said that phenological phases of maize shortened and happened earlier as a result of temperature increase. Studies for different circumstances in agriculture are needed in order to help us prepare for the future Keywords. climate change, phenological phases, corn

Introduction Climate – especially temperature and precipitation – basically determines agricultural production. Results show that in Hungary we must count with an increase of temperature and decrease of precipitation. Using geographical analogues Horváth (2006) showed that the possible future climate - predicted by the scenarios - would be similar to the present climate of South-Southeast Europe. Increased mean annual temperatures in our region, if limited to two or three degrees, could generally be expected to extend growing season. In case of crops, where phenological phases depend on an accumulated heat unit, the phenophases could become shorter. We also analyzed the biomass changes of maize. Debrecen, the basic object of our calculations is an important centre of agricultural production in Hungary, so we would like to interpret the results in this aspect.

Materials and Methods Climate scenarios can be defined as relevant and adequate pictures of how the climate may look in the future. The simulations were run for the daily average temperature and precipitation amount forecasted by climate scenarios. During our research, we applied the principles defined by IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) and we used some of the most commonly accepted scenarios presented in international reports, such as • Scenario BASE which is the base of all other scenarios with the parameters of our days. • Scenarios created by Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (USA), GFDL2534 and GFDL5564 (with a finer resolution) • UKHI and UKLO (high and low-resolution equilibrium) and UKTR (high-resolution transient climate change experiment) worked out by United Kingdom Meteorological Office (UKMO). For scenario generation, the so-called GCM-s (General Circulation Model or Global Climate Model) are used, in this work GCMs downscaled to Debrecen, the basic object of our

79


calculations, because it’s an important centre of agricultural production in Hungary. The scaling of the scenarios for the region Hungary was made in the frame of CLIVARA project (Climate Change, Climatic Variability and Agriculture in Europe). 4M model. In our crop model research we used the 4M model, which has been developed by the Hungarian Agricultural Model Designer Group from the various institutes in the country. It contains several models to describe the physiological interactions of soil - plant systems and offers a possibility of building up different system models in it for the specific purposes of the users need. The CERES model was chosen to be a starting point and was adapted to Hungarian circumstances. The simulations were run for the daily average temperature, precipitation and radiation values forecasted by climate scenarios, as weather inputs.

Results The results of the simulations are given for the phenophases of corn: 1, 2, 3 - tillering, 4 – flowering (silking, tassering), 5 - measuring, 6 - black layer formation, 7-8 – phases of ripening. Our results are the following: the length of phenophase 2 decreased in case of GFDL5, UKHI, UKLO, UKTR scenario. The length of phenophases 3-7 decreased in the case of all scenarios (Table1, Figure1). The beginning day of phenophase 3 remained the same in case of GFDL2 and shifted to an earlier date in case of GFDL5, UKHI, UKLO and UKTR scenario. The beginning day of phenophases 5-7 shifted to an earlier date in case of all scenarios (Table2). Yellow background denotes significant difference (95%) compared to the Base scenario. In summary it can be said that phenological phases of maize shortened and happened earlier as a result of temperature increase. Table 1. The starting dates of phenological phases of maize for different climate scenarios First day of phenophases 2 3 4 5 6 7

BASE

GFDL25

GFDL55

UKHI

UKLO

UKTR

122 147 154 197 211 267

122 146 153 192 205 247

119 141 147 187 199 241

113 129 135 172 183 215

112 127 133 168 179 212

120 144 151 191 204 256

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UKTR3140 Phenological phases

Phenological phase

Base 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0

8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 0

0

20

40

60

20

40

60

80

80 100 120 140 160 180 200

100 120 140 160 180 200 Days

Days UKLO

8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0

Phenological phases

Phenological phases

UKHI

0

20

40

60

80

8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 0

100 120 140 160 180 200 Days

20

40

60

Phenological phases

Phenological phases

GFDL5564

8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 20

40

60

80

100 120 140 160 180 200 Days

GFDL2534

0

80

100 120 140 160 180 200

8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 0

Days

20

40

60

80

100 120 140 160 180 200 Days

Figure 1. The length of phenological phases of maize for different climate scenarios Table 2. The length of the phenological phases of maize for different climate scenarios Length of phenophases 2 3 4 5 6 7

BASE

GFDL25

GFDL55

UKHI

UKLO

UKTR

16 25 7 43 14 56

16 24 7 40 12 42

13 22 6 40 12 42

7 16 6 37 11 32

6 15 6 35 11 33

14 24 6 40 13 52

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Conclusion Climate change has already considerable impacts on the environment, human health and society, which are expected to become more severe in future. Climate change affects agriculture in many direct and indirect ways. Increasing atmospheric CO2 and rising temperatures may allow earlier sowing dates, enhance crop growth and increase potential crop yield. On the other hand, rising temperatures increase the crops’ water demand. In combination with changing precipitation patterns, rising temperatures are expected to lead to increasing crop yields in areas with sufficient water supply and decreasing yields in areas with hot and dry conditions. Considering the possible changes we have to answer many questions in order to prepare for the future. Preventive adaptation strategies are required for dealing with consequences and reducing the damages. Living under changing climate conditions, one of our most urgent tasks is to create welldesigned descriptive-forecasting systems, as well as to define the optimal preparing and response strategies to the conditions in change. We plan to continue our research by investigating the effects of global warming on the phenological phases and biomass changes of other plants, as well. Acknowledgements. Our work was supported by OTKA T042583 tender and the Jedlik Ányos NKFP6-00079/2005 program.

References Climate Change Indices, Definitions of the 27 core indices, Available at: http://cccma.seos.uvic.ca/ETCCDMI/list_27_indices.html Dr Botos, L., Dr Varga-Haszonits, Z. (Eds.) 1974. Agroklimatológia és növénytermesztés, Budapest Erdélyi, É., Horváth L., Boksai, D., Ferenczy, A., 2006. (in press) How climate change influences the field crop production I. – Yield variability of maize, IV. Međunarodna ekokonferencija – Zdrastveno bezbedna hrana, Novi Sad pp.7-12. Fodor, N., Máthéné-Gáspár, G., Pokovai, K., Kovács, G. J., 2002. 4M - software package for modeling cropping systems. European J. of Agr. Vol 18/3-4 pp. 389-393. Gaál, M., Horváth, L. 2006. Geographical analogies in climate change research, HAICTA, Greece, pp. 840-846 Horváth, L., Erdélyi, É., 2006. (in press) How climate change influences the field crop production I. – Use of Spatial Analogy, IV. Međunarodna eko-konferencija – Zdrastveno bezbedna hrana, Novi Sad pp.1-6. IPCC: Climate Change 1995. The Science of Climate Change, (Eds. Houghton, J.T., Meira Filho, L.G., Callander, B., Harris, N., Kattenberg, A. & Maskell, K.), 1996. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge IPCC: Climate Change: The IPCC Scientific Assessment, (Eds. Houghton, J.T., Jenkins, G. & Ephraums, J.J.), 1990. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge Ladányi, M. 2006. Alternatives of process approaches in agro-ecosystem modelling, PhD theses, Corvinus University of Budapest, Dpt. of Mathematics and Informatics Parry, M.L., Carter, T.R., 1998. Climate impact and adaptation assessment. Earthscan Varga-Haszonits, Z. 1987. Agrometeorológiai információk és hasznosításuk, Mezőgazdasági Kiadó, Budapest Rajkai, K., Szász, G., és Huzsvai, L. (2004) Agroökológiai modellek. Debrecen university, ISBN 9634-7285-6 Debrecen

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WMN for Rural Communities: a Case Study Miklós Kasza1, Vilmos Bilicki1 1 Department of Informatics, University of Szeged, 6720 Szeged, Hungary [email protected], [email protected] Abstract. Wireless Mesh Network is a popular technology used for providing mobile and fixed data connection in rural and urban areas. In our article we would like to give an overview about the currently deployed larger WMN installations and the typical services on the top of these infrastructures. Furthermore we would like to give an overview of our WMN solution that can provide infrastructure for highly mobile broadband connections and services that need low response times and mobility support. Our WMN infrastructure is designed to be usable by multiple competing internet service providers as a common basis (just like telephone cables in the wired world). IPv6-based protocols and software are also supported. Keywords. Wireless Mesh Network, wifi, living laboratory, OpenWrt

Introduction Wireless Mesh Network is a popular solution used for providing mobile and fixed data connection to rural and urban areas. In the C@R project, it was shown that despite of the lack of high gain antenna our target mobile device, the Nokia770 tablet is able, to participate in a WMN. In the following section we would like to give an overview about the currently deployed larger WMN installations and the typical services on the top of these infrastructures. After this we introduce the hardware and software tools that were in the field of our interest during the creation of our WMN test site. At the end we present the deployed test infrastructure and share some results of our testing and measurements.

WMNs in Practice There are several communities and corporations in the world who dedicated themselves to building, operating and experimenting with wireless mesh technology. Some of them provide complete mesh solutions including wireless devices and software for operating them. Some others provide only pretty and easy-to-use devices that can be installed by any home users. Table 1 summarizes the publicly available WMN solutions and some of their most important properties. Table 1. Publicly available WMN solutions Solution

Offered products and services

Target audience

Technology

Cambridge Matrix

Free access to local content via wifi

Any user equipped with a wifi network device

Multi-hop optimisation, IPsec security

MIT Roofnet

WMN software (Linux-based, kernel-mode) and experimental network installation

Experimental WMN installation

High-throughput routes in the face of lossy links

Paid Internet connection

Adaptive bit-rate selection (Click modular router Linux patch) New protocols (SrcRR – based on DSR, ETX metric) which take advantage of radio’s unique properties

LocustWorld Fonera

WMN software and hardware

Any WMN implementors (commercial version available)

Wireless devices and multi-level Any FON members (worldwide public Internet-access access for free) and non(worldwide) members (paid)

Wireless Africa

Wireless-enabled devices, lowcost Internet-access

Meraki Mini

Devices and configuration software

African people, schools and companies

Uses AODV as routing protocol Fon devices use a modified version of OpenWRT with a well controlled web interface for configuration VSAT, Ethernet and T1 uplink

Individuals, communities and Commercial version of SrcRR as routing entrepreneurs protocol Devices can use Power over Ethernet as

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power source Sparknet OpenSpark

Devices and configuration software

Free hotspot usage for members, membership for other individuals

Uses a modified version of OpenWrt

Tested Hardware The vast majority of the wireless routers on the market cannot be expanded to support more features. That is, their firmware is static; end-users do not have access to the core system. They can configure their router through the provided web interface, and what is not listed there, it cannot be added or changed. If they want some specific extra functionality, they have to buy a more expensive, high-end router. This is where third-party firmware is needed. These projects are based on open source programs and the Linux kernel opening a new way to customize the wireless devices and add features that are only present in high-end routers. Of course, there are some minimal requirements which have to be met for the firmware to operate: 4MB of flash memory and at least 8MB of RAM (16MB is a practical minimum).

Linksys WRT54GL 1.1 The Linksys WRT54GL is a Wi-Fi capable router (Access Point) from Linksys for sharing Internet connections among several computers via 802.3 Ethernet (1 WAN, and 4 LAN ports) and 802.11b/g wireless data links. It is cheap, compact; and by applying third-party firmware the user can widen the number of tasks that can be managed. Linksys released the WRT54GL in 2005 to support third-party firmware based on Linux, after the original WRT54G line was switched from Linux to VxWorks starting with version 5. As of August 2006, version 1.1 appeared to be shipping worldwide. This step started the wave of new firmware and activated open-source communities. The WRT54GL v1.1 uses a Broadcom 5352 CPU at 200MHz (ARM architecture) with integrated switch; 16MB of RAM and 4MB of Flash memory. After flashing the default OpenWrt firmware to the device, the router will have roughly 1.9MB of free space of flash memory. No USB devices are supported.

Asus WL-500G Premium The Asus WL-500G Premium router is much faster than the Linksys WRT54GL. It has one WAN port and 4 LAN ports, both 10/100 capable of auto cross-over function (MDI-X). The router also has 2 USB2.0 ports allowing the use of external hard disks, web cameras and printers. The WL-500GP has an ARM processor running at 264MHz; 32MB of RAM, and 8MB of Flash memory. This allows to deploy much more programs and utilities to the router’s flash memory, as after flashing the default OpenWrt firmware; 6.2MB of free space will be present. The router has two antennas: one internal Inverted-F PCB antenna and one external dipole antenna with Reverse-SMA antenna connector. The output power for 802.11g ranges from 14 to 16 dBm at normal temperature.

Nokia 770 Internet Tablet The Nokia 770 is a wireless internet appliance designed for wireless Internet browsing and e-mail functions. It does not have built-in cell phone capability, but once it is connected to a network, VoIP comes into the picture. The device is based on a Texas Instruments OMAP 1710 CPU running at 252 MHz with ARM architecture. The display has a resolution of 800×480 pixels. It is accessible via WLAN (IEEE 802.11b/g), Bluetooth 1.2, dial-up access, and USB. The device contains a speaker and a microphone. It comes with 64MB of DDR RAM and 128MB of internal FLASH memory, of which about 64MB should be available to the user. The device also accepts MMC cards expanding the storage space.

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The operating system is a modified version of Debian GNU/Linux based on a Linux 2.6.12 kernel, but can be flashed with a newer, and even self-modified kernel (think about MIPv6 patched version, for example) including an X Window System-based graphical user interface in the form of a window manager incorporating the GTK+ toolkit and Hildon user interface widgets. The device includes the Opera web browser. Using the Package Manager, the user can install many applications to the device. The development platform for the Nokia 770 is known as Maemo, and it is open source. The most recent version is 2.2 (version 3.0 is for N800 only). The operating system is called IT OS. The IT OS 2006 is the newest available for the Nokia 770. To cross-compile for the internet tablet, ScratchBox can be used. It’s a cross-compile toolkit available for Debian GNU/Linux. It creates a virtual environment and with the Maemo SDK, it is possible to develop programs for the ARMEL architecture, or even compile a patched kernel to the Nokia 770.

Tested Software Most of the software we tested was run on the OpenWrt operating system. Primarily we focused on the usability of AAA solutions and messaging (VoIP and instant messaging) programs.

The OpenWrt Operating System After the release of the Linksys WRT54G router firmware source code, programmers started to modify the firmware to change or add functionalities to the device. Several development projects have been started to enhance the firmware for the WRT54G by mostly adding only a few extra functionalities. It was difficult to find the most appropriate firmware with the combination of functionality desired. OpenWrt takes a different route. Instead of starting out with the Linksys sources, the development started with a clean slate rebuilt from the ground using the most recent versions of software creating a really compact Linux for this embedded system. And what makes this firmware unique is the fact that it employs a writable file system. The file system can be divided into two parts: The read-only ROM (SquashFS) where the kernel and all the system files (that is, the firmware) could be found; and a writable one (JFFS2). The first section of the flash memory is dedicated to the ROM; after flashing OpenWrt to the device, it will stay the same. The remaining free space can be filled with programs and utilities. The very last part of the flash memory is for the NVRAM where special variables are stored. This section is reserved and stays intact even after a new flash; but it can be changed. When installing programs to the device, the newly created executables and configuration files will be stored in the JFFS2 partition. Also, when modifying base configuration files (the ones that are present in the SquashFS), a new copy will be created in the JFFS2 partition; and after that, the new copy will be the authoritative one. As of this design, after a defective installation or modification in the configuration files; entering the failsafe mode can be handful. When booting in failsafe mode, only the files in the SquashFS will be taken into account ignoring the JFFS2 partition. This means that the router will behave in the same way as it would right after flashing the firmware again. When the boot is finished after remounting the JFFS2 partition, the problem can be solved in most cases. The OpenWrt also introduces a BuildRoot system. With this tool, it is possible to select the packages present in the firmware, change their default configuration; select the Unix commands we want to use; insert out own programs, and compile them to the ARM architecture; or even change the final file structure. In this way, the OpenWrt firmware is highly customizable and it gives us the power to do what we need with the cheap hardware.

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WMN Services The raw data transfer capability of a wireless mesh network is not enough for the current applications. High level services are needed to be able to utilize the unique physical and social environment. A basic service set is the traditional AAA (Authentication, Authorization and Accounting) services. As the infrastructure is implemented in a public space, a reliable AAA framework cannot be ignored. In some places, the WMN infrastructure can compete with the classical GSM based IN (Intelligent Network) services. The SIP and the XMPP protocol families can provide a wide scale of IN and beyond IN services. The mobility in the IP word is solved with the help of the Mobile IPv4 or Mobile IPv6 protocols. Depending on the capabilities of the WMN routing and addressing capabilities, these services might be used on the top of the WMN. The 802.11 protocol family supports the layer two roaming, but this can be extended by a WMN based roaming scheme. In this section, there is a short overview of these technologies.

AAA Authentication, Authorization and Accounting (AAA) protocol serves to verify the identity of an entity, determine whether a requesting entity will be allowed access to a resource and collect information on resource usage for the purpose of capacity planning, auditing, billing or cost allocation. AAA protocols are RADIUS, DIAMETER, TACACS, TACACS+. DIAMETER is not directly backwards compatible, but provides an upgrade path for RADIUS. TACACS+ is based on TACACS, but in spite of its name, it is an entirely new protocol which is incompatible with any previous version of TACACS. DIAMETER and TACACS+ have generally replaced the earlier protocols in more recently built or updated networks. AAA is widely used by VoIP service providers. It is used to pass the login credentials of a SIP end point to a SIP registrar using digest authentication. There are several implementations of AAA, but most of them assume PCs as access points. When it comes to ad-hoc networks consisting of routers with OpenWrt, only a few possibilities can be found. Most of these initiatives are in early beta or testing stage, but some are ready to be deployed on OpenWrt too.

Chillispot + Radius

Figure 1. Sample ChilliSpot and Radius system ChilliSpot supports web based login which is today’s standard for public HotSpots. Authentication, Authorization and Accounting (AAA) is handled by a radius server. To this setup (Figure 1), certain other programs are needed: authentication web server, and a radius server. For the web server, the installation of Apache-SSL, MySQL and Perl is necessary. All these resources must be merged together to work as desired.

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Here is how it works: the wireless client requests an IP address and is allocated an IP address by Chilli. When the user starts a web browser, Chilli will capture the TCP connection and redirect the browser to the authentication web server. The web server queries the user for his username and password. The password is encrypted and sent back to Chilli. This setup is widely used, but for OpenWrt several modifications are needed including the changing of the firewall script, and providing a CGI wrapper. As ChilliSpot provides a DHCP server, it can conflict with the built-in DHCP server of OpenWrt. Also, OpenWrt has a small http server (for the web-admin interface) that only supports the use of shell script CGI wrappers. The installation of another web server is necessary, which again, raises the problem of conflicting services.

WifiDog The WifiDog project is a premier open source captive portal solution. It was designed primarily for wireless community groups. It has a simliar approach to that of ChilliSpot, but it is much more lightweight. On the server side, for the authentication web server, Apache2, PHP5 and PostgreSQL-8.1 are needed. On the client side, a small gateway for OpenWrt exists.

Figure 2. Sample Wifidog system After installing the WifiDog gateway on the router, only a little change to the firewall script and a light modification in the default WifiDog configuration are needed. Every connecting wireless client is redirected to the captive portal when opening a browser window; and after authentication, access is granted to them. The IP address of the clients can be given by the built-in DHCP server of the OpenWrt, or in ad-hoc networks, it can be defined by the client itself. WifiDog allows managing multiple networks and nodes; and through its web administration, it is possible to edit existing users and their privileges. Complete and detailed statistics can be generated for each individual user, or for each node. So far, this method has been proven to be the most lightweight solution for the OpenWrtbased routers. As its full source code is available, it can be customized very well in the future. Further information can be obtained from WifiDog Website.

Other approaches There are other solutions for captive portals. The NoCatSplash is a C port of NoCatAuth which is written in Perl. It is small, easy to install, but it is exceedingly unstable. Furthermore, it does not support full user authentication, visiting clients are only presented by a single web page where after clicking a button they can continue. A much more robust approach is the CoovaAP firmware. It is based on OpenWrt and it is

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modified to work as an access point. With this firmware, many methods can be selected for AAA, but it depends on the use of external servers. Also, on weaker devices like the LinkSys WRT54GL, the processor load and bandwidth consumption are too high to deal with.

Instant messaging - VoIP Voice over Internet Protocol is the routing of voice conversations over the Internet or through any other IP-based network. VoIP can facilitate tasks that may be more difficult to achieve by using traditional networks. First, the ability to transmit more than one telephone calls down the same line. Incoming phone calls are automatically routed to your VoIP soft phone, regardless of where you are connected to the network - as VoIP is location independent, only an internet connection is needed to get a connection to a VoIP provider. Also, VoIP phones can integrate with other services available over the Internet including video conversation, message or data file exchange in parallel with the conversation, audio conferencing, managing address books and passing information about whether others (e.g. friends or colleagues) are available online to interested parties.

SIP / SIMPLE The Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is an application-layer control (signaling) protocol for creating, modifying, and terminating sessions with one or more participants. These sessions include Internet telephone calls, multimedia distribution, and multimedia conferences. SIMPLE is a set of extensions to the established SIP protocol that initiates, sets up, and manages a range of media sessions including voice and video. One potential problem with SIMPLE is that it is a paging protocol meant to perform signaling without carrying anything else. It can carry a brief conversation which is great for single-session IM traffic and SMS traffic, but it is not very good for doing the heavy load to carry things like data signals or video signals on top. Furthermore, SIMPLE is missing a core IM-related functionality such as contact lists and group chat capabilities. Another potential pitfall with SIMPLE is that SIP uses both TCP and UDP as transport layers. TCP includes congestion control, whereas UDP does not, thereby opening the door for packet loss during the times of network congestion. Problems also arise when we want to deploy a SIP implementation to the Nokia 770. There are only a few approaches and most of them are only in the porting phase. There is only one solution that has been compiled and was able to run on the Internet Tablet: The Ekiga soft phone; but the program’s size was above 40MB. This is extremely huge given the 64MB of internal free space. Also, there were problems with accessing the sound card of the device.

XMPP / Jabber The Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol, or XMPP, is an open, XML-based protocol for near-real-time, extensible instant messaging and presence information. XMPP is also extended to handle signaling / negotiation for Voice over internet protocol (VoIP) and other media sessions. This signaling protocol is called Jingle. Jingle is designed to be consistent with the Google Talk service and interoperable with the Session Initiation Protocol. Proponents of XMPP contend that an XML-based data-transport technology is better suited than a signaling technology to handle IM and presence. According to its designers, one major benefit of XMPP is that it can be extended across disparate applications and systems because of its XML base. Jabber’s extensibility and XML foundation is a considerable technical advantage over SIMPLE. Contrary to SIP, setting up a Jabber server is easy; and the built-in Internet call application in the Nokia 770 supports the XMPP/Jabber protocol by default. This means, with some small configuration, in a few steps we have a complete and reliable VoIP system. Instant messaging (IM) and presence are core functionalities for XMPP, and they are a stable technology defined in a protocol specification that has been approved by the relevant standards development organization.

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Mobile IPv4 Mobile IP is a standard communications protocol that is designed to allow mobile device users to move from one network to another while maintaining a permanent IP address. It is described in IETF RFC 3344 and updates are added in RFC 4721. The Mobile IP protocols support transparency above the IP layer including the maintenance of active TCP connections and UDP port bindings. Besides the basic Mobile IPv4 (MIPv4) protocols, several other drafts deal with concerns such as optimization, security, extensions, AAA support, and deployment issues. Mobile IP provides an efficient, scalable mechanism for roaming within the Internet.

Roaming Roaming is a general term in wireless telecommunications that refers to the extending of connectivity service in a location that is different from the home location where the service was registered. Roaming occurs when a subscriber of one wireless service provider uses the facilities of another wireless service provider. This second provider has no direct pre-existing financial or service agreement with this subscriber to send or receive information. A device will usually indicate when it is roaming. The quintessential example of “roaming” is the case of cellular phones when a phone is in a location where its wireless service provider does not provide coverage (for example, another country). In some cases, roaming occurs in a phone’s designated home area when it transmits via a different provider’s tower (sometimes at a higher price). This is likely to occur when the service provider’s signal is too weak or if the volume of callers is too high. In order for a mobile device to use a different carrier’s service, the phone’s service provider must have a roaming agreement with that carrier. In 802.11 roaming can also mean subscriber mobility or handover (handoff) within the same network. The most basic form of handover is when a phone call in progress is redirected from its current cell and its used channel in that cell to a new cell and a new channel. The commonly used wireless networking transmission methods are 802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g versions to provide wireless connectivity today. Handoffs are supported under the “a”, “b” and “g” implementations, but only for data. The handover delay is relatively long. Current roaming delays in 802.11 networks average in the hundreds of milliseconds. The delay that occurs during handoff cannot exceed about 50 milliseconds, the interval that is detectable by the human ear. 802.11r will specify fast Basic Service Set (BSS) transitions and will be able to use fast Roaming.

The Deployed Infrastructure In the Hungarian Living Laboratory, there are two pilot areas. The Mórahalom pilot area is currently under deployment – 6 nodes are deployed and 4 others are under deployment. With these 10 nodes we will be able to cover more than half of the city with mobile data network service. On the top of this infrastructure, there is an AAA and an IM/VoIP service. In this chapter, we will give an overview of the deployed infrastructure. In this pilot area, we have ten end users. The devices are mounted onto the rooftops of these end users’ houses. They will use the network on a daily basis. Figure 3 shows the sites where these nodes have been or will be deployed. The nodes are repacked Asus WL-500GP routers with OpenWrt “White Russian” firmware and OLSR. On this WMN infrastructure there is an AAA and an IM/VoIP service available.

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Figure 3. Map of the deployed WMN test nodes (satellite image with WMN overlay and map with the nodes’ positions marked)

Management and Monitoring The management and monitoring takes a significant share of the total cost of the ownership price of a telecommunication network. One approach to decrease this price is to use intelligent self tuning self healing solutions. This could be complemented by a voluntary non-profit based management and monitoring team. The public owned WMN goes on this road. In the Hungarian Living Laboratory, we would like to establish a voluntary group for operating and monitoring the deployed mesh. The business case behind this will be incorporated into the global business case of the public owned mesh network. To be able to effectively monitor and manage a network, intelligent tools are needed. We would like to use and extend the capabilities of our Netspotter framework to monitor and manage wireless mesh networks. The details of the needed capabilities will be defined during the manual monitoring and managing of the WMN. Most of the devices are situated on the top of houses, and they are only accessible through wireless interfaces. It is essential to monitor the accessibility, and if the device is not accessible, it should change for a failsafe state. This is described in the following subsection.

Fail-safe Mode Our goal was to provide a fallback state, so that after a short period of time the device could sense the problem and go to a failover mode, if we brick the routers while testing or measuring. What we need is to reach the router, no matter what the circumstances are. The most basic way is to guarantee that any router will be accessible from any point, if we dedicate an IP address to every device and keep the number of the extra installed program beyond the firmware to the minimum. In our case, we named our mesh “nlab_mesh” with 192.168.2.0/24 IP address domain. We have only two programs installed: the OLSR daemon, and the wl package to manage the wireless interface. Every router is shipped with a shell script that will be able to restore the original state where the mesh is rock solid and all the devices are accessible. The operation method can be divided into three major parts: NVRAM (non-volatile random access memory) settings, file system setup and wireless settings.

Measurements After 5 deployed routers in Mórahalom, we made some measurements and tests to verify the integrity of the mesh network. We measured the coverage of each node; the bandwidth between them; and the VoIP performance. We took 2 Nokia 770 and a laptop, and connected them to the mesh at various places. The laptop hosted a small jabber server for VoIP testing;

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and the Nokia internet tablets were equipped with iper for bandwidth measurements. The testing took place on a sunny day, with clear weather conditions.

Physical Properties At the time of the testing, 5 routers were online: labeled .4, .5, .7, .11 and .14. We connected a laptop (labeled .50) to the mesh with OLSR support and two Nokia 770 devices (labeled .110 and .120), without being near .11. The olsrd_dot_draw plugin gave us the following visualization.

Figure 4. OLSR setup visualized by olsrd_dot_draw plugin Thereafter, we made measurements with the Nokia 770 devices using iperf at the nodes inside the hosting house and outside. As we moved farther and farther, the bandwidth was slightly getting lower. We learned that if a building blocked the direct way of the beam, there were some packet losses. But overall, the lowest bandwidth we encountered was 300Kbits/sec. The APs labeled .14 and.11 have larger antennas mounted, the peak bandwidth at these routers is about 800Kbits/sec. The .7 is mounted at the top of a block of flats - there we had 3.6Mbits/sec. We were able to catch its signal from a distance of 6 km.

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Figure 5. Signal ranges of deployed WMN nodes Below is a table with the bandwidth between each pair of nodes. Table 2. Bandwidth measurements between each pair of deployed mesh nodes Station

Station

TCP Transfer

TCP Bandwidth

.4

.5

0.45 Mbytes

0.35 Mbits/sec

.4

.7

0.61 Mbytes

0.48 Mbits/sec

.4

.11

0.66 Mbytes

0.54 Mbits/sec

.4

.14

1.62 Mbytes

1.33 Mbits/sec

.5

.7

0.67 Mbytes

0.54 Mbits/sec

.5

.11

3.32 Mbytes

2.77 Mbits/sec

.5

.14

0.25 Mbytes

0.19 Mbits/sec

.7

.11

4.90 Mbytes

4.06 Mbits/sec

.7

.14

1.13 Mbytes

0.91 Mbits/sec

.11

.14

0.72 Mbytes

0.58 Mbits/sec

We measured with the Nokia770 in the building of node .11 and near node .11 through Táncsics Mihály Street. Some terrain obstacles weakened the connection quality.

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Figure 6. Map of measurements between node .11 and a Nokia 770 Table 3. Bandwidth measurements between node .11 and a Nokia 770 Distance

TCP Transfer

TCP Bandwidth

indoors

0.72 Mbytes

0.58 Mbits/s

50 meters

0.94 Mbytes

0.75 Mbits/s

100 meters

0.42 Mbytes

0.33 Mbits/s

150 meters

0.77 Mbytes

0.62 Mbits/s

200 meters

0.85 Mbytes

0.68 Mbits/s

250 meters

0.44 Mbytes

0.35 Mbits/s

AAA We tested the AAA service with two Nokia770 from indoor and outdoor. The Web based authentication worked well.

Figure 7. Map of AAA service measurements

VoIP measurements For VoIP testing we used the laptop as a jabber server connected to node .11. The two Nokia 770 devices were used for the client side. One of them was connected to node .14 and the other to node .7. The sound quality was fairly good even with background flood ping between node .11 and .14. The test environment was set up quickly - we added two test users on the web admin interface of the jabber server, we registered those users on the Nokia 770 devices, and we

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made a call. Whilst calling, we changed positions, but it did not affect the quality of the conversation. However, moving far away from the host node, and behind a building blocking the way of the beam, we experienced some short gap in the voice stream, or rarely a loss in connection.

Figure 8. Map of VoIP measurements

Conclusion During the requirement capturing process for the Hungarian Living Laboratory, it turned out that there is a need for a cheap mobile data communication infrastructure. Most of the applications designed and developed in this LL will utilize the high level services of this infrastructure. The philosophy behind the community owned wireless mesh network fits perfectly into the philosophy behind the living laboratories. The field of WMN is in a phase of very intensive research, development and deployment. In our case, we selected two pilot areas where the end users can test the deployed infrastructure. In mid term, they will be involved not only in the usage but in the maintenance of the infrastructure too. A work plan has been elaborated with the stakeholders. The first milestone has been reached. The equipment and the software environment have been selected and deployed in the site and in the testing laboratory too. A group of end users provides place and electricity for the equipment. In turn, they get free Internet access during the project. The network is and will be used on a daily basis. Several measurements have been conducted to test the capabilities of the network. The previous section gives an overview about the results of these measurements. As it was predicted with cheap hardware and free, open source software, we were able to build a mobile data communication network. The cost of the network capable of providing mobile wireless access to more than 1000 people is about 1000 Euro. The feedback from the end users and the measurements showed that we are moving in the right direction. In the future we are going to work on optimizing the capabilities of the network and to elaborate the business case which will be used behind our community owned access network. Acknowledgements. We would like to say thanks to Sándor Kiss and Csaba Fodor from Mórahalom for their help with the deployment and to the test end users who helped our work.

References The OpenWrt Developers. OpenWrt Documentation. Available at: http://downloads.openwrt.org/kamikaze/docs/openwrt.html. Accessed June, 2007. The OpenWrt Developers. OpenWrt Wiki Pages. Available at: http://wiki.openwrt.org/. Accessed June, 2007. The WifiDog Developers Team. WifiDog Website. Available at: http://dev.wifidog.org/. Accessed June, 2007.

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Informational Agriculture and Sustainable Food Security Romulus Gruia1, Liviu Gaceu1 1

Transylvania University of Brasov, 29 Eroilor, Brasov, 500036, Romania

Abstract. The paper proposes to highlight different forms of informational agriculture in comparison with food security and sustainable development in the 21st century. Several ways of using information in the field of agriculture and food are described. The paper thus shows a series of aspects concerning the Integronic Management by exemplifying with the integrated agricultural systems, consequently to a double request for food and ecologic security. Other “forms” of information in the field of precision agriculture and genetic engineering in agriculture are also analyzed, with an impact on food. Keywords. informational agriculture, integrated agricultural systems, precision agriculture, food security

Introduction Beyond matter and energy, “information” will have an unthinkable role in all fields of activity during the XXI century. A decisive role of the information will certainly be referring to technology. We may say that the new millenium opened a „technological age/era” that we cross in a knowledgebased society, in direct relationship with the development of science. As a matter of fact, science is nothing more than systematic knowledge. The most significant postindustrial age technologies we were discuss and from which a society of knowledge is formed from an informational society, is the technology of information and communications (IT&C). This technology allows information adaptation and transmission in a manner to produce profound changes in society in general and in the „New” Economy in particular (Dascălu D., 2005). For instance, recent scientific and technical achievements have encouraged the introduction of automatization and IT&C technology in the agricultural techniques. The information used is both of a managerial nature and technical and biological. Among the directions having the most advanced stages of structuring are: integrated agricultural systems, precision agriculture and genetic engineering in agriculture and food industry.

Information within integrated farming systems (IFS) Informational agriculture is practically an element of the contemporary informational society, based upon the Internet and communication, which is upon the change of information between partners. A single step divides the above mentioned moment from the virtual plant, electronic commerce or informational agriculture. Just like the informational society, informational agriculture is a practical issue of communication based upon IT&C. It is a process of knowledge that means storage, transmission and generation of knowledge. We must emphasize that information does not immediately become knowledge, as this is “context information”, which means it undergoes a “polishing” process. The technological age thus evolves towards an age of knowledge. In the field of agriculture, the above mentioned evolution is known as the passage (“polishing”) of agriculture first intensive, then industrialized, then strongly transformed into biotechnologies and even eco-biotechnologies. All these changes are considered as “maximum power” in the integronic management (Gruia, R., 2006). Based on synergy and especially emergent integration, the Integronic Management offers the frame for integrated farming systems to achieve a dual aim both for food and for ecological security. Obviously, informational and sustainable agriculture of the XXIst century will actually be based upon an adequate usage of biotechnology, informational technology and ecotechnology. Practical achievements for obtaining the wished paradigm change will depend upon the public policy support and political action. Regulation through legislation, social mobilization through community organizations at the local level and education through mass media and information shops will all be necessary, in order to deal with the demands mentioned above, for food and ecological security. And this, of course, in an integrated type of production of vegetal and animal origin or of primary production and of food

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processing of products obtained in farms or of combining production with commercialization of agricultural and food products and other ways of achieving Integrated Farming System – IFS.

Premises for imposing integrated farming systems Knowledge is acquired continuously and it is obvious that if its roots are not watered, the tree of knowledge will not carry fruits for a long time. In this sense Varro, a Roman landowner, said in the 1st century BC, “Agriculture is a science that teaches us which crops should be planted on every type of soil and which actions must be done so that the land may produce the richest crops ever”. We may thus notice the beginning of integrative activities in agriculture. In today’s world, the integration and optimization process in agriculture had an enormous evolution, including on the basis of IT&C technologies. Integrated agricultural systems appeared next to numerous implementation programs. In the USA, e.g. the intensive research and testing of Sustainable Agricultural Practices with Reduced External Help (Law External Input Sustainable Agricultural Practices - LEISA) are continuously evolving. Then the computerized model GOAL (General Optical Allocation of Land Use) developed within a project supported by the European Union, helping at calculating the optimal usage of the Earth in the European Union (Rabbinge şi Van Latesteijn, 1992). The objectives incorporated in such models constitute premises for creating integrated agricultural systems (table 1).

No. 1 2 3

Table 1. Objectives of some integrated farming models Class of Objective objectives - agricultural Maximize soil productivity Minimize cost of agricultural production - socioeconomic Maximize total employment in agriculture Minimize regional decrease in employment in agriculture - environmental Minimize input of nutrients per unit of acreage Minimize input of nutrients per unit of product Minimize input of pesticides per unit of acreage Minimize input of pesticides per unit of product

The achievement of such objectives may have important practical effects. Thus, taking them into consideration should lead us to eliminate discrepancies within crops, i.e. the difference between potential crops and those achieved on the farmers’ lands. This could happen in the conditions of using the best current technologies through technology packages, services and suitable public policies. Consequently, the above-mentioned represent nothing more than pragmatic elements of agricultural systems with various integration degrees.

Basic principles of integrative farming systems If we develop and analyze the sustainable agricultural systems from the ecological, economic and social point of view, we shall be able to group the resulting issues in eight basic rules of the integrative farming systems (table 2), after Swaminathan, M.S. (1999) and Gruia, R., (2006). By applying these principles, IFS best develops itself through participative research between researchers and farmers’ families. This will help ensuring the economic viability, environmental sustainability and social and gender equity in the IFS villages. The point of departure is learning from those families who successfully achieved the IFS procedures.

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Table 2. The main principles that guide the integrated farming systems (IFS) No. Principle Synthetic description 1. Soil Health IFS predicts to include nitrogen-fixing vegetables in the cultures and Care to promote the relationship between cereals and vegetables in the agricultural system. Moreover, the organic compost and recycling constitute essential components of IFS. The IFS farmers are prepared to maintain a „ health card soil” to monitor the impact of agricultural systems on physical, chemical and microbiological components of soil fertility. Integrated agricultural systems, vegetal crops – animal products, as well help conserving soil fertility. 2. Water IFS farmers include in their agronomic practices and measures of harvesting and harvesting and rain water preservation, so that the rain water may be management used alternatively with other water sources. The maximum accent is laid upon the efficient use of water in the farms and upon using techniques such as irrigations through dripping, which help at improving the benefits obtained from the available water. 3. Crop and pest The Integrated Nourishment Supplies (INS) and the Integrated management Parasytes Management systems (IPM) constitute important components of the IFS.. The precise composition of the INS and IPM systems will depend upon the components of an agricultural system as well as upon the agro-ecological and soil conditions in the area. A well planned movement of the green belt at the urban level around towns and big centers will help improve both human, animal and environmental nutrition. 4. Energy Energy is an important and essential product. Besides the efficient Management energy systems of land, water and parasites management, every effort should be made in order to produce energies at the highest peak possible, such as biogas, biomass, solar and wind energy. Solar and wind energy may be used in hybrid combinations with biogas for the farming activities such as water pumping and agricultural products drying. 5. Post harvest Post harvest management supposes a great importance in the case of Management perishable goods, such as fruits, vegetables, milk, meat, eggs, fish and other animal products and processed food. A bad association between the productions and post-harvest technologies negatively affect both the producers and the consumers. The agro-processing industries may be promoted based upon an evaluation of the consumer needs. Such food processing industries should be promoted in villages in order to increase employment opportunities for rural youth. 6. Choice of the It is important to tackle with the farm system structure in IFS, as far Crop and as the vegetal cultures and animal growth are concerned. Animal Soil conditions, water access, agro-climate features, home needs and components of above all market opportunities will have to determine the choice of farming cultivation plants, crop’ variety, farm’ animals and agricultural systems systems. The complementary aspect is important, small and big ruminants will have a special advantage among farm’ animals as they can very well live from the crop’s biomass. The growth of poultry may help to

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7.

Information, Skill, Organization, Management and Marketing empowerment

8.

Quality Management

obtain supplementary revenues and food. IFS is based on the precision agriculture principle. Consequently for its success, the IFS system needs significant and effective information, as well as a system of skills accumulation. Decentralized production systems will have to be maintained by several centralized key services such as offering credits, grains, biopesticides and animal disease diagnostics. Ideally, the local institutions or information companies opened by the local trained youth people will become necessary in order to give timely information to the farmers about weather, management and marketing elements, concerning land, water, parasites and post harvesting management. Organization and management are key elements and may offer advantages to small producers in the field of processing and marketing, depending upon the area and the agricultural system. Investments in sanitary and phytosanitary measures are important in order to offer quality to both local consumers and to exportations. In order to sustain the IFS spreading, governmental policies should make a major investment in the modern infrastructure, for storage, roads, transportation and sanitary and phytosanitary measures. The ISO 9000 standards and ISO 14000 of environmental management must be intensely disseminated.

We should emphasize that IFS will be successful only of it is a human-based programme rather than a technology-based one. The essence of IFS is the symbolic partnership between farmers’ families and the natural resources possibilities of land, water, woods, flora, fauna and solar light. On the other hand, without a suitable public policy of support in fields, such as land reform, property security, credit offers, rural infrastructure, appreciation and commercialization of assistance and production, small farms will find it difficult to adopt the IFS.

Precision Agriculture The precision agricultural system is another method of using “information” at high standards. The current achievable system becomes useful especially for the optimization of chemical resources by using the most recent discoveries in the management process. We are referring to a systemic approach, process modeling and simulation, usage of Decision Support Systems – DSS, Geographic Informational System – GIS, Global Positioning System – e.g., GPS, satellite analysis, resource and crops evolution monitoring in the future.

Precision agriculture and real integration of farms in the environment Precision agriculture methods must include systemic approach, i.e. be based on scientific usage of soil and water, the two fundamental resources to humanity. Additional attention to natural capital stock and nature’s services will be needed, also an approach of ecological economics. Examples of such stocks include: soils and soil fertilizers, biodiversity, water, minerals, woods and oceans. Examples of nature’s contributions include water cycles, fertilizing cycles, carbon isolation and waste products recycling, agro-forests and other sustainable systems of land management that must be spread in areas confronted with different degrees of desertion (Pillet, G., 1993). Constanzo and coll. (1997) have established the value of 17 services and currents of the ecosystems for 16 biomes – (biome = group of ecosystems as for example the desert, tundra, excluding the ice/rock) at 33 trillions USD per year. In comparison, global GNP is now of 18 trillions USD per year. The Earth’s surface used for food production cultivated with cereals are of 0,13 trillions USD per year. Thus, the need to conserve the ecosystem and biogeochemical cycle services based on agro ecological principles and with the help of the practices of precision agriculture is not at all

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exaggerated, but it must be understood by the population in order to ensure the security of sustainable food.

Precision agriculture and education Precision agriculture implies an approach of the systems from the point of view of the experimental model of agronomic practices. The workers from extensive agriculture who use informational technology will play an increasingly greater part in cereal production and in the management of natural resources. That is why we think that school and university curricula should be modified in order to make precision agriculture the way towards a “forever green” revolution. Precision agriculture is especially valuable for increasing opportunities to employ qualified personnel in the agricultural sector. For example, the development of soft industry for computers, the equipment processing and sale, the loan especially for soft and farm equipment, local production of bio-manure, biopesticide equipment, irrigation and consultancy services may all offer new opportunities for the unqualified workers to qualify themselves. This is why continuous, lifelong learning is becoming obligatory.

Genetic engineering and Amelioration of vegetal and animal production When speaking of informational agriculture, of using information as an instrument of biology applied to this field and to the food one, we can not exclude the top level of the information quality, namely the one of genetic engineering. The technology of recombinant DNA and the obtaining of genetically modified agricultural and food products (genetically modified organisms - GMOs) is already part of modern life and constitutes a serious instrument to solve the problem of feeding mankind under the context of contemporary demographic explosion. The agricultural strategy for the 21st century will have to direct an ever-growing production per unit of soil, water, energy, time, capital and work, through methods which may ensure that the productivity amelioration is not associated with the long term effect of ecological and social aspects. Also, agriculture must be a key instrument not only to produce food, but also to produce a bigger income and work places. Under this context, the new opportunities offered by genomics and molecular breeding in order to obtain sustainable progresses in the field of productivity and quality of vegetal and animal products will have to be carefully established, for the benefits, as well as for the risks of their utilization. The benefits of the development of genetic engineering are enormous. The research developed with the help of the new genetic technologies has shown that they may help the amelioration of vegetal and animal production in more precise and rapid ways in comparison with Mendel’s traditional methods. The projected crops based on the new genetic combinations created by shifting the genes over the sexual barriers become now possible. Opportunities to grow varieties in order to be resistant/tolerant to bioethical and non-biotic stresses and tolerance to draught and salt excess, as well as for improved nutritional qualities, are particularly important for farmers who strive to improve crops and their qualities under increasingly less favorable conditions. Such opportunities lead to the investment growth in the agricultural biotechnology in both the public and the private sectors. While industrialized countries make larger investments in medical biotechnologies as a result of their priority for increased health security, the accent, especially in very populated countries, was put especially on agricultural biotechnology, because of the need to ensure health and food security for actual and future populations. The risks of the technologies of recombinant DNA and which may be encountered in case of genetically modified organisms constitutes a major preoccupation (table 3).

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Table 3. Problems of impact in the amelioration of the vegetal and

animal production by using the genetic engineering Crt. Nr. 1 2 3 4 5

The risk problem that must be solved

The direct effects of the genes transferred upon beneficiary organisms. The new possibilities for unfavorable recombination. GMO behavior at the given place, in the production space. The effects on the environment and biodiversity. Nutritive properties of the food produced from GMOs.

It becomes obvious the fact that humanity evolution will be directly linked to genetic engineering, including sustainable food security. The models of agriculture become ever clearer, so that the intensive-industrial systems use especially the benefits of genetic engineering, while the extensive-rational systems avoid or even do not use GMOs. The market and consumer purchasing power are the indicators of the place and way of applying the various systems of agriculture. Contrary to general expectations, at a referendum in Switzerland, more than 66% of the people, including from all the 26 cantons, voted against repealing the law the genetic “altering” of animals and releasing genetically modified organisms into the environment. Moreover, even during 1998, almost 12 million hectares were planted with transgenic crops, mostly with genetically modified seeds of soy, cotton and mustard. Almost 75% of the surface planted with GMOs was in the USA, where measures of regulation in force seemed to ensure that people should trust the environment and food with GMOss. But the same thing does not happen on other continents, as for example in EU countries, where authorities are more precautious. This is why one needs a “precaution package”, in order that at the level of the population may exist certitude as to GMO benefits and their safe use (table 4).

Table 4. Measures to avoid the risks of using GMOs on a large scale Crt. Direction of precaution Content of measure Nr. measures 1 Bioethics • ethic codes to experiment and test on the spot 2 Biosafety • national ad international protocols 3 Biosurveillance • politics to introduce technologies (ex. “terminator”) and evaluate the environment and social impact 4 Food Safety • toxic or allergic effects as well as healthy climate (wholesomeness) 5 Consumer choice • choice of consumer: obligatory labeling 6 Public information • transparency, informational power Through adequate combination of genomic and molecular growth, of informational technology and eco technology, it will be possible to promote a system of agricultural production which should have roots in informational agriculture, as well as on the bases of the principles of integronic management applied to natural resources.

Conclusions

1. Sustainable food safety during the 21st century, for a population estimated at 8 to 10 billion, may be ensured if we base our actions on production technologies and on the principles of informational agriculture and integrated management, and especially on applications of natural resources. 2. Informational agriculture will ensure the safety of sustainable food by adequate biological and technical combinations of genome and molecular growth, of informational technology and of ecotechnology, under the pragmatic context of integrated farming systems (IFS). 3. Integrated farming systems will succeed only if the applied program will be centered on man rather than directed only technology. The essence of IFS programs has two complementary plans, namely the symbiotic partnership between the farmers’ families and the possibilities of their earth, water, food,

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flower, fauna and solar light natural possibilities and, respectively the corresponding public politics of sector sustaining, e.g. rural reform, help and production appreciation and trade.

References Constanzo R. et al, 1997. The Value of the World*s Ecosystem Services and Natural Capital, Nature Vol.387, 15 May 1997, 253-260 pp Gruia R., 1999. The Integration of The Work Environment in a Holistic Concept of Evaluation, as a Support of the Sustainable Agriculture, Proceedings XXVIII CIOSTACIGR V Congress, Horsens, Denmark, June 14-17, 306-313 pp. Gruia, R.: Genetică şi ameliorare animală, Editura Universităţii Transilvania Braşov, 119128 pp., ISBN: 973-9474-73-X. Gruia R., 2003. Bazele ştiinţei managementului în ingineria alimentară, Editura Universităţii Braşov, 61-70 pp., ISBN: 973-635-154-8. Gruia R., 2005. Bazele conceptuale ale teoriei ecoemergetice (sau a teoriei ecoului redundant al integrării emergente, A 7-a Conferinţă Naţională de Protecţia Mediului prin Biotehnologii şi a 4-a Conferinţă Naţională de Ecosanogeneză, Braşov, 27-28 mai, Vol.1, 38-45, ISBN: 973-87505-0-4, Fasc.1 – ISBN: 973-85051-7-8. Gruia R., 2006. Integronic Management and Informational Connections, HAICTA 2006International Conference on: Information Systems in Sustainable Agriculture, Agroenvironment, and Food Technology, University of Thessaly, Volos, Greece, Sept. 2023. Lester C.T., 1997. Needed a new system of intellectual Property Rights, Harvard Business Review, Sept.-Oct., 97, 95-103 pp. Noppawan Piaseu, Pamela Mitchell. (2004) Household Food Insecurity Among Urban Poor in Thailand. Journal of Nursing Scholarship 36:2, 115–121. Pillet G., 1993. Economie Ecologique, Georg Editeur, 50-78 pp. Reiss M., Straughan R., 1996. Improving Nature? The Science and Ethics of Genetic Egineering, Cambridge University Press. Swaminathan M.S, 1999. Ecotechnology and sustainable food security, Planetary Garden 1418 March , Chambery, France, 5-21 pp.

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Connecting sensor equipped RFID identification systems with global EPC information services to achieve full scale traceability in the cold supply chain David Kétszeri 1 Corvinus University of Budapest 1118 Budapest, Villányi út 29-43 2 GS1 Hungary 1139 Budapest, Fáy utca 1/b email: [email protected] EPC is a part of RFID technology but the most significant in the supply chains. The Electronic Product Code (EPC) on tags will increasingly take on the role of the familiar GS1 identification keys on bar code labels since it can identify all objects uniquely around the world and will play a significant role in the supply chain of near future. Furthermore this technology is able to measure temperature of heat sensitive products all along the cold-chain which is a significant advantage from quality insurance point of view.

Auto-ID, RFID, radio frequency, EPC, information service, traceability, sensor, temperature Introduction Enter Consumer confidence in the quality and safety of food products has been considerably shaken during the last ten years or so by the cumulative impacts of food-related health crises. Thus food safety and food traceability are essential parts of the more and more stricter European Regulations regarding the food sector. Nowadays many different legal regulations (for instance 178/2002/EC and 852/2004, etc.) and independent standards on the field of agriculture and food processing (EUREPGAP, HACCP, ISO 22000, etc.) define the frames of minimum requirements on food safety, food hygiene and food traceability for all parties in the food supply chain. The emerge of traceability as a requirement wasn’t so astonishing since without a well structured and efficiently operating traceability system it’s almost impossible to withdraw or/and recall the food products from the market in case of food crisis. Effective full traceability systems can’t be carried out without global identification, communication standards and solutions.

Global Identification Standards It is necessary to have a global identification standard as a common language when trading partners communicate and manage material and information flows in order to establish a traceability system. The standard has to be applied on all products and batches ensuring the correct linkage. The GS1 (formerly EAN.UCC) system is the proper standard which fulfills all requirements mentioned before. The effectiveness and quality of traceability systems based on the GS1 standards are attested by European organizations playing an important role in the food sector such as: CIMO (European Association of Fresh Produce Importers), CIAA (Confederation of the Food and Drink Industries of EU), EUREPGAP, ECR (Efficient Consumer Response), CIES (The Food Business Forum) and so on. The reason of the implementation and success of GS1 standards in food traceability is that it meets the challenges raised by the guiding principles of traceability: 1. Global and unique identification and labeling: It means the unambiguous identification and marking of items which must be tracked and traced in the supply chain. (GS1 identification keys: GTIN, GLN, SSCC, SGTIN, SGLN, etc.)

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2. Data communication and transmission: Traceability requires to capture, to record and to forward data and information agreed on before. (GS1 symbologies and EPC (electronic product code) tags) 3. Traceability links management and retrieval: Links and retrieval have to managed in a proper and adequate way along the supply chain. 4. Traceability data communication: An essential feature of any traceability system is the exchange of information. Traceability requires associating the physical flow of products with the flow of information about them. (EDI, GDSN, EPCglobal Network). Due to the latest developments in the field of RFID, EPC and EPCglobal Network will be able to provide the ultimate, effective automatic traceability system ensuring the safe food supply chain.

RFID and the EPCglobal Network Radio Frequency Identification, or RFID, is a technology that identifies objects using radio frequency transmissions. In its most basic form, RFID requires two components. The first component is a Radio Signal Transponder, or tag, that is attached to an object. That tag consists of a chip that contains identifying information about the object to which it is attached, and an antenna to communicate that information via radio waves. The second component is a reader, which creates a radio frequency field that detects radio waves. When a tag passes through a radio frequency field generated by a compatible reader, the tag reflects the identifying information about the object to which it is attached to the reader, thus identifying that object. The abbreviation RFID (radio frequency identification) has come to signify system solutions for tracking and tracing objects both globally and locally using RFID tags. RFID is one of several technologies collectively known as Auto-ID procedures – procedures for identifying objects automatically and so can meet completely the requirements of traceability. Radio frequency identification (RFID) is a growing technology that utilises electronic tags to identify products (trade items), pallets (logistic units) and/or returnable assets throughout the supply chain. Recent GS1 standardisation developments in the field of RFID are internationally known as the Electronic Product Code (EPC). The Electronic Product Code (EPC) is a unique number that is used to identify a specific item in the supply chain. The EPC is stored on a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag, which combines a silicon chip and an antenna. EPCglobbal is much beyond a simple RFID based identification system. The EPCglobal Network uses RFID tags and readers to pass unique identifiers affixed to individual items in the supply chain, whether the item be a pallet, case or individual unit. The network then leverages the Internet to hold information associated with that unique identifier that can be shared among authorised trading partners in the global supply chain. There are six components of the EPCglobal Network: • Electronic Product Code (EPC): Unique number that identifies a specific item in the supply chain. This number may be used to identify a container, pallet, case or individual unit. • EPC Tag: Radio frequency tag attached to an item consisting of a microchip that contains the EPC for that item, and an RFID antenna to reflect the EPC back to an EPC reader. • EPC Reader: Radio frequency reader that detects EPC tags and communicates their associated EPC numbers to the EPC Middleware. • EPC Middleware: Software that sorts and manages data coming in from the EPC readers.

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• EPC Information Services (EPC-IS): Information services necessary for the storage, communication and dissemination of EPC data which leverages security technology including authentication, authorisation and access control. • ONS: Network resolution services that direct EPC queries to the location where information associated with that EPC can be accessed by authorised users.

Figure 1. " Components of the EPCglobal Network” The components defined above provide the ability to capture and share information in the EPCglobal Network. To capture data, inexpensive EPC tags carrying a unique EPC identifier are affixed to containers, pallets, cases and/or individual units. Then, strategically placed EPC readers at gateways throughout the supply chain will read each tag as it passes and communicate the EPC number and the time, date and location of the read to the network. EPC Middleware will control and integrate the EPC tags, readers and local infrastructure at the individual site. Once the information is captured as described above, the EPCglobal Network then utilises Internet technology to create a network for sharing that information among authorised trading partners in the global supply chain. The ONS serves as the EPCglobal Network’s “Yellow Pages,” pointing EPC queries to where information associated with that EPC can be found. From there, actual access to data in the EPCglobal Network is managed at the local level by the EPC-IS where each company itself designates which trading partners have access to its information. The result will be a network of information that provides a history of individual product movement in real time. EPC IS plays the central role in the EPCglobal Network. Transponder data such as the SGTIN (Serialized Global Trade Item Numbers) are saved here and linked with time, location and business context. As part of this, the associated EPCglobal standard specifies an acquisition and query interface and the structure and contents of events. The implementation in the real life can therefore be very multifaceted. In addition to setting up new databases, existing systems can, of course, also be used for this purpose, insofar as the specified minimum requirements are met. According to the before mentioned capabilities it is obvious how RFID technology and the

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EPCglobal Network can support the real-time supply chain processes. This Network, based on global ID standards, helps to develop a completely automatic traceability system, to provide vendor managed inventory, to improve operational efficiency, to decrease out-of-stocks and shrinkage. Furthermore this configuration supplemented with temperature sensors can be an extremely powerful tool in the cold chain management.

Cold Chain Management Cold chain management is the management of storage temperature during delivery from the manufacturer to the retailer and finally to the customer, in order to maintain the quality of the product. This is necessary in the food supply chain where improper conditions may affect the efficacy of a drug. RFID active or sensor equipped tags could have sensors for checking temperature. The temperature data are measured and stored by the tag based on program adjusted by the user. Afterwards in the IT system all the necessary temperature data can be linked to other traceability data in the database. These kinds of tags assure substantial reductions in wastage of temperature sensitive products. For many fresh fruits and meet products the shelf life is as little as one week. This means that any spike in temperature or time lag in transportation can become critical to quality.

Conclusion EPCglobal Network supported by sensor technology is the ultimate solution for traceability and quality management. Leveraging existing RFID and Internet technologies, the EPCglobal Network will convey real time data about individual items as they move through the supply chain. As a result, it will provide a history of product movement accessible to authorised users. With the release of Generation 2 specifications for the EPCglobal Network components, the mission of the AutoID Center was achieved. At that point, the development of the EPCglobal Network shifted into the current phase where the business community joins the process to develop industry-accepted standards for the EPCglobal Network. In order for the EPCglobal Network to reach its potential, it must be based on global standards that ensure universal applicability and optimal functionality across the globe for all industry sectors. Without such horizontal standards, industries and/or geographic regions would be left to develop their own standards, which would create diverse, incompatible systems that inhibit collaboration across industries, commercial sectors and geography.

References Christian Tellkamp. 2006. The impact of Auto-ID technology on process performance – RFID in the FMCG supply chain, University of St. Gallen Claus Heinrich. 2005. RFID and beyond, Wiley, 2005 Edmund W. Schuster. 2007. Global RFID, Springer. EPC – A shared vision for transforming business process, GCI, 2005 EPC Information Services (EPCIS) version 1.0, EPCglobal Inc., 2007 EPC™ Radio-Frequency Identity Protocols Class-1 Generation-2 UHF RFID Protocol for Communications at 860 MHz – 960 MHz Version 1.0.9, EPCglobal Inc., 2005 EPCglobal The Application Level Events (ALE) Specification version 1.0, EPCglobal Inc., 2005 EPCglobal Architecture Framework, EPCglobal Inc. 2005 EPCglobal Low Level Reader Protocol (LLRP) version 1.0, EPCglobal Inc., 2007 EPCglobal Object Naming Service (ONS) version 1.0, EPCglobal Inc., 2005 EPCglobal Tag Data Standards version 1.3, EPCglobal Inc., 2006 EPCglobal Tag Data Translation (TDT) 1.0, EPCglobal Inc., 2006 Kétszeri Dávid. 2005. Élelmiszer-nyomonkövethetőség az EAN.UCC szabványok segítségével Élelmiszervizsgálati Közlemények, LI. Kötet, 2. füzet.

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Kétszeri Dávid. 2006. EPC a kiskereskedelemben, GS1 Világa, 2006/2 Kétszeri Dávid. 2006. A GS1 rendszer szabványai az élelmiszerek nyomon követésének szolgálatában, Minőség és Megbízhatóság, 2006/4 Kétszeri Dávid. 2007. Globális infokommunikációs szabványok szerepe a hatékony élelmiszer nyomon követésben, Ma és Holnap, VII. évfolyam 4. szám Marcel van Trier, Jan Willem Rietdijk. 2006. Innovative with RFID ont he waves of improvement, GS1 Netherlands Nyomon követés globális szabványokkal. 2007. GS1 Magyarország Patrick J., II Sweeney, 2005. RFID for dummies, Wiley Robert Kleist, Theodore Chapman, David Sakai, Brad Jarvis. 2005. RFID Labeling: Smart Labeling Concepts & Applications for the Consumer Packaged Goods Supply Chain, Printronix Sandip Lahiri. 2005. RFID Sourcebook, IBM

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Technical-Economic Aspects of Wheat Conditioning Before Milling Gheorghe Brătucu1, Ionuţ Căpăţînă 1 Transylvania University of Brasov, Romania, b-dul Eroilor, nr. 29. [email protected] 1

Abstract. Wheat conditioning before milling solves two important problems: the elimination of impurities and by bringing the kernels to the optimum humidity level for milling. This paper demonstrates the assurance of optimum wheat conditioning by obtaining a crest of flour quantity extraction with 1,5… 2,5 %. Also, the specific consumption of energy for milling is reduced by 1,5 2,5 kWh per ton of flour. Keywords. wheat, conditioning, milling.

Introduction The goal of this research was to increase the quality and quantity of the wheat flour through a precise control of wheat humidity before milling, simultaneously with the improvement of the other mechanical conditioning operations. Wheat is considered to be one of the oldest cultivated plants. Its grains, also called the wheat ear, have been found in the tombs of the pharaohs and engraved on coins that were used in ancient Dobrogea. From the milling of wheat grain and through sieving, one obtains wheat flower and bran. Flour is used as the chief ingredient for the preparation of breads and other products, and the bran represents concentrated forage of the best quality used in animal nutrition. Altered wheat grains, which are not used for the manufacture of bread, are used as the main ingredient for the production of starch, glucose, beer and medicinal alcohol. The global spread of wheat has occurred as the result of the chemical composition of wheat grains, in which are found e.g., sugars, proteins, fats, mineral substances, vitamins, enzymes and water. The humidity content of wheat is a very important factor that has a great influence on the storage conditions in warehouses. At normal temperatures, wheat can be kept in good conditions if its humidity level remains under 13% (11,0…11,5%). If wheat humidity exceeds 14%, it starts a series of biochemical processes that accelerate the wheat’s production of heat and water, followed by complex fermentation processes that lead to the degradation of the product ( Banu, A. C. and coll, 1999). The chemical components of wheat grains are unevenly spread in its anatomic parts. Depending on the type of wheat, they have the following proportion in their structure: Endosperm: 12…14%; The cover with the aleuronic layer: 12…14%; Embryo: 1,4…2,8%. The main chemical components are spread on the structural anatomic elements as seen in table 1. Table 1. The main chemical components in the structure of the wheat grain. Grains Starch Proteins Fats Sugars Cellulose Pentozan Ash parts [%] [%] [%] [%] [%] [%] [%] Endosperm 100 65 25 65 5 28 20 Cover with aleuronic 27 55 15 90 68 70 layer Embryos 8 20 20 5 4 10 Total 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 This repartition depends on its turn by a series of factors such as: wheat type; degree of maturity of the grains, soil composition in which the wheat grew or climate. Thus, in Table 2

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is presented the chemical composition of grains for two kinds of wheat. Table 2. The chemical components for two kinds of wheat grain Wheat Composition [%] Anatomic parts kinds Starch Proteins Fats Sugars Cellulose Minerals Endosperm 78,78 14,03 0,75 2,96 0,11 0,48 Lutesceus Cover + aleuronic 35,55 8,40 6,46 14,82 8 062 layer Embryos 39,48 13,69 25,02 2,36 6,97 Endosperm 81,31 13,64 0,47 3,60 0,17 0,44 Melanopus Cover + aleuronic 24,19 7,29 2,15 16,53 10,21 062 layer Embryos 36,34 16,48 25,36 2,26 4,97 An important characteristic of the wheat grains bulk resides in the hygroscopicity of these, i.e., their capacity to absorb water vapor. According with the relative humidity of air, it tends to stabilize a equilibrium humidity of the wheat grains (between 7,1…24%). Depending on the chemical composition, humidity, foreign bodies, degraded grains, the wheat destined for the baking industry is divided into four quality categories: very good, good, satisfactory, unsatisfactory. Because the wheat destined to milling has proprieties that varies in very large limits, to assure a finite product with constrained quality it is necessary to homogenize different wheat types. Homogenization consists of blending in well established proportions two or more wheat lots with different quality pointers. The wheat mass obtained after the homogenization operation is called a grist load.

Material and Method The technological processing of the wheat grains with the purpose of obtaining of wheat flour is based on mechanical separation of the cover layers from the endosperm, taking into consideration the physical – mechanical differences of the anatomic components of the grains. To enlarge these differences and weaken the cohesion of the cover layers from the core, one especially employs the processing of the grains at determined temperatures. Through hydro-thermal conditioning of a wheat grain mass, one seeks to raise the total flour extraction level, improve the ash content and lower the energy consumption for milling.2 If the reference humidity for the storage of wheat of 12% is considered, it can be determined that the cohesion mechanical work between the pericarpical layer and that of the seminal layer of the grain is reduced much more when humidification is performed by 3 - 4% over the standard value. In relation with the length of the humidification process (resting), a drop in pericarp cohesion occurs in the first part, if compared with the seminal layer, after which through redistribution and water penetration in the endosperm, cohesion of the pericarp towards the seminal layer is reestablished. Minimal cohesion of the hypodermic layer of the policarpic cover is observed to occur after a certain time that can be estimated by the relation: (1) t min = C ⋅ ΔU [min] in which ΔU is the humidification degree, respectively ΔU = Uf – Ui (Uf – final humidity, and Ui – initial humidity), C – complex experimental coefficient, that characterize the penetration time of humidity in the wheat grain.1 The appropriation process or giving up of water it can be run in two situations: • when the product comes into contact with a humid or dry environment or • when the product comes into direct contact with water.

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In the first case, absorption occurs – adsorption of water as a result of hygroscopicity of grains until they reach the hydric equilibrium with the surrounding environment and in the second case is realized a strong humidification until a certain level of saturation that is dependent of the surrounding environment parameters is reached. This is called maximum humidification. The capacity of the material to acquire the maximum humidity is called “soaking or moisture capacity”. This process can be realized in the presence of the liquid water or with the oversaturated vapors. In general, the contact between the liquid water and the material is made through sprinkling or direct immersion (Bratucu, Gh., Lupea, D., Istrate, A.M., 2004) . The wheat grains, as biological systems, do not absorb water in the simplest way. During the sorption and desorption processes in the grain takes place a cycle of bio-physical processes which is enzymatically adjusted. It is normal that the speed of the sorption process and the conditions in which takes place is different than in the case of sorption (Figure 1).

Figure 1. The isotherm of the sorption processes: hysterezis of sorption – desorption. Desorption isotherm is always greater than sorption isotherm, meaning that desorption speed remains lower than the sorption speed (sorption hysterezis). Knowledge of these isotherms is necessary for a correct humidification process of the wheat grains, in order to realize the purpose through their milling. Theoretically,, it is used for equilibrium humidification the following relations: ε ⋅φ , (2) w= k +φ in which w is the free superficial energy from the grain surface; k –equilibrium constant; φ relative humidity of air; ε - constant that indicates the maximum water content, in the case of all the groups that bind water in a monomolecular layer; • Thomson relation (sorption of water in capillary condensation): p 2σV , (3) ln = p0 r ⋅ R ⋅ T in which p is the saturated vapor’s pressure from the free water; p0 – water vapor pressure at

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the same temperatures at the surface of the hydrated material; σ - water superficial tension; r – the radius of the capillary from the grain; V – molar volume of the liquid; T – temperature at which is realized humidification.2 Practical solving of the wheat grains conditioning through humidification in the purpose of grinding is a complex action that supposes an activity ensemble which is rigorously related, as is: • collecting of information regarding the characteristics of the grains mass, through installing of proper transducers on the flow; • processing in real time of the data transmitted from the transducers and sending them back to the humidification installation; • precise dosing of the water quantity for humidification; • assurance of the uniform and continuum blending of wheat and water using technical equipments with adjusting possibilities in large limits of the working regimes; • correlation of resting times with the technological necessities; • management of the entire process through computers. In all cases, the economical aspect must be taken in account, i.e. the quality-cost aspect, including the aspect of total energy consumption during processing. Simultaneously to the maximum extraction of endosperm through hydrothermal treatment of the wheat grains, there is tendency to modify the structural-mechanical properties of these with the purpose of decreasing the endosperm resistance and decreasing the energy consumption at grinding, or growing the resistance of the covers in order to resist smashing. It has to be noted also that the hydrothermal treatment of wheat increases the volume of the grains and modifies in an uneven way the different parts. For example, the most modification is the thickness of the aleuronic layer and the grain volume in ensemble. The thickness of the pericarpic layer and of the seminal one is modified in a smaller measure. These phenomena lead to growing of the humidity gradient and at creation of some great tensions inside the grain. When these tensions go beyond the endosperm resistance, micro fissures are formed, through which the water enters inside the grain. Also, water enters in endosperm not only through the cover but also through the embryo. From the structural – mechanical aspect, the smashing resistance, the hardness of the grains and rheological properties affect the milling process. At humidity of up to 12,5 - 12,8%, the grain with the dried cover is presented as a breakable elastic body that at dynamic load breaks with a small energy consumption and in a significant measure the frail covers are ground. At a humidity level between 17 - 18%, the grain acts as an elastic body, which is why the grinding energy increases and the degree of grinding, especially on the peripheral parts of the grains, are decreased. In the process of preparation for grinding, it is the tendency to assure such humidity of grains that the endosperm will be break up especially at grinding and the covers at plastic deformations. The resistance at compression of the layers at a humidity of the grains of 18% varies between 94 - 315 Pa, according to the kind, area of crops, while the endosperm resistance at compression is of 17 - 371 Pa. Along with the growing of the cover resistance grows the energy consumption at grinding but this does not degrade the extraction of intermediary products and the quality of the flour. For this reason, before the first passage of grouts, it is recommended that there be performed a humidification of the grains on the surface with 0,3 0,5%, with a short duration of rest that does not exceed 30 minutes, so that the water will not have time to penetrate inside the endosperm. Through this humidity of the cover is exceeded the endosperm humidity by 1,5 - 1,8 times, becoming more elastic but also more resistant to breaking. On the other hand, during processing with water, the humidity is modified, as are the temperature and the volume of the different parts of the grain, which provokes at first a

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growth in the resistance of these after which appears a relaxation before passing into an equilibrium state. For this purpose, it is necessary that the grains “rest”, during which take place the passing of some particles from the state of elastic deformation into the plastic state. In cold conditioning, the structural transformations within the grain take place in the first 6 hours of rest; in the period between 6 - 12 hours, many cracks appear in the grain, it increases to break up and then is stabilized. In order to increase the humidity to 18%, the rest period has to reach 24 - 36 hours. By raising the temperature at which humidification takes place, these processes are intensified and the initial baking favors the reduction of the stationing time at humidification, as seen in Table 3. Table 3. The influence of temperature on the extraction of intermediary products Extraction in % at grouts I…III Total of Temperature intermediary Conditioning Semolinas of the grains Dunsts products; % Large Middle Small Cold 20…25 35,00 25,27 12,98 73,25 35 33,64 17,23 7,75 12,96 71,58 40 32,00 18,42 8,01 12,88 71,31 Warm 45 30,60 18,99 8,67 12,52 70,78 50 30,00 16,67 8,85 11,00 69,52 It is noted that the intermediary products are almost equal, but the differences of percentage at different levels of processing mean at the end different energy consumptions for grinding. Based on these elements, it can be seen that the humidification process is dependent on a large number of factors and that an empirical humidification cannot lead to optimum results from the point of view of the quality of the ground products or energy consumption. Modern humidification installations are completely automated, so that the water dosing, blending of the grains and penetration of water into the grains are perfectly controlled, according to the characteristics of the prime matter and the quality imposed onto the products. Such installation (Agromatic) is presented in figure 2, comprising an electronic control unit, an electronic weight scale, a dosing unit for water, a measuring panel, temperature sensor, hectoliter scale, capacitive humidity sensor, helicoidally feeder – blender and a water feeding pipe.

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Figure 2. Automated humidification installation for cereals.

Results and Discussions The wheat reaches the electronic weight scale, were it is batched into a certain size out of which is collected the data concerning the humidity and temperature. Next, the signals are processed and it is established what amount of water is necessary in order to reach the “target humidity”. The water dosing unit is commanded to expend the necessary quantity, such that through a rigorous blending a final constant humidification occurs, regardless of the variations from the wheat grains mass. All the phases of the humidification process are controlled from a computer, in real time, which adjusts the installation, which can not be done in an installation which is controlled only manually (Bratucu, Gh., Lupea, D.,2002). In Table 4 are presented the effects of the automation of the humidification conditioning system of wheat on the quality of the final product. Table 4. The effects of the automation of the humidification conditioning system of wheat on the quality of the final product Humidification Total flower Flower 480 Flower 650 Flower 1350 system % Ash % % Ash % % Ash % % Ash % Manual 74,64 0,69 8,49 0,40 58,86 0,65 7,28 1,35 Automated 76,63 0,65 8,50 0,38 63,00 0,62 5,23 1,30 Besides the general growth of the flour extraction, by approximately 2% (which is very important), an improvement in flour composition is obtained, especially for the 650 category, and a decrease in ash content for each category.

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Conclusion

• Conditioning of the wheat grains mass includes operations of e.g. elimination of impurities, uncovering or humidification. These are reciprocally conditioned when a superior quality of product is desirable. • Wheat conditioning through humidification is a complex process that provokes in the grain special mechanical and biological processes that influence both flour extraction percentage and the general energy consumption used for grinding. • The large number of factors involved in the humidification process imposes the automation of these operations and its management by a computerized system. • By using the automated dosing system of water and the uniform blending of these in the grain’s mass, growth of the extracted flour percentage by about 2 %, as well as a reduction of up to 1/3 of the resting time of the humidification wheat were achieved.

References Banu, A. C. and coll, 1999, Engineer Book for Food Industry, vol. II, Technical Publishing Company, Bucharest, Romania. Bratucu, Gh., Lupea, D., Istrate, A.M., 2004, The Automation of Wheat Humidification Processes for Milling, In Magazine “Mecanizarea Agriculturii”, no. 2/2004, p. 28-31, Bucharest, Romania. Bratucu, Gh., Lupea, D.,2002, Aspects regarding the wheat conditioning by humidity before milling, In Bulletin of ISBTeh – 2002, p. 174-177, Bucharest, Romania, ISBN 973-685410-8.

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The Utilization of Heat Changers with Thermal Tubes in Milk Processing Gheorghe Brătucu1 Transylvania University of Brasov, Romania, b-dul Eroilor, nr. 29. [email protected] 1

Abstract. Primary milk processing contains many heating-cooling operations, for which

highly developed technical equipment is used. This study proposes the use of heat changers for which the efficaciousness is superior to all other types of equipment. The larger possibilities of utilizing these types of heat changers outweigh the disadvantage of their initial high costs. Keywords. milk, heat changers, thermal tubes.

Introduction We discuss below the realization and utilization of thermal tubes and heat exchangers, on the primary processing of milk, which assure a very high efficiency of heat recovery, simultaneously with very precise temperature control, in the aim of preserving important milk components and destroying microbial flora.(Brătucu. Gh. , 2003 ). Milk is an important component of human nutrition, because it contains all the nourishment indispensable for the organism, in optimum quantitative ratios and in easily digestible shapes. Also, milk is the chief ingredient used in the production of numerous important food products that have a large presence in food for human beings of all ages, recommended for children’s nutrition, even that of the elderly and the ill (Banu, A. C. and coll, 1999). From the physical-chemical point of view, milk is considered a fatty emulsion in a water solution that contains numerous other substances, some in colloidal form (protein substances), and others in dissolved form (lactose, mineral salts, hydrosoluble vitamins, enzymes). Chemical composition of milk varies by animal species, as well as other factors: breed, nutrition or age. From the quality aspect, the composition of different kinds of milk is the same; different being only the proportion of the diverse constituents (Table 1). Indicator

Water Fat Proteins Lactose Mineral salts Casein Albumin and globulin Organic substances

Table 1. Chemical composition of milk for different animal species Milk [%] Cow

Buffalo

Mare

Sheep

Goat

Camel

87.3 3.5 3.2 4.7 0.8 3.0

82.3 7.7 4.0 4.8 0.7 4.5

87.7 2.2 -

80.8 7.2 5.6 4.3 0.9 5.0

87.3 4.9 3.0 3.9 0.85 5.4

86.2 4.0 -

0.5

0.5

-

1.0

0.8

-

0.1

0.2

-

0.1

0.1

-

The vitamins found in milk make up the average daily allowance recommended by physicians for well-being. In milk processing, the fatty-soluble vitamins A, D, E, K and F pass into the butter and in very fat cheeses and the hydro-soluble vitamins: B1, B2, and C pass

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into the whey and into creamy milk. Enzymes (ferments) are made of live cell secretions, which through their presence, enhance milk transformation processes. They can be destroyed through the heating of milk or through treatment with chemical substances. The most active enzymes from milk are: peroxides, phosphatases, reductazes, catalazes, lypazes. In the case of hygienic milking of a healthy animal, the milk contains a concentration of microorganisms which does not exceed 104 [germs/ml]. If refrigeration is done immediately, this concentration can be held for 4 days at a temperature of + 4,50C. If the milk is kept at +100C or at +15,50C, after only 3 days, concentrations of 107 [germs/ml] - 109 [germs/ml] are reached, and the milk is considered to have been irreversibly altered (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Microorganism loads of milk in a 4 day interval. To prevent such evolution of milk degradation, a series of systems and methods are used, such as: biosys, anabiosys, cenonabiosys and abiosys (physioanabiosys, chemicoanabiosys and mechanicalanabiosys). Even when it is milked in perfect hygienic conditions, the milk from healthy animals contains various numbers of microorganisms (1000…5000 for ml). European norms concerning hygiene and milk composition for consumption and industrial processing are extremely severe and precise, and EU member states, the conformation to these will represent a very difficult trial that will have to be promoted by agriculture and the food industry. For example, at pasteurization, it has to be foreseen that the relationship time/temperature will ensure, on the one hand, the destruction of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and, on the other hand, that this will not modify the sensorial and physical-chemical properties of the milk. The assurance of proper milk quality has to be followed by complex technology (Figure 2) that involves thermal exchange operations (cooling and warming) and energy consumption that will be found in the costs of the products in larger proportions as the price of energy increases. (Peligrad, S., Bratucu, Gh , Zorca, M.,1998) For this reason, the development of more efficient technological equipment from the aspect of thermal efficiency or the choice of renewable energies becomes a necessity, as primary processing of milk is increasingly made in larger proportions on livestock farms in years to come.

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Harvesting (milking)

Transport

- surface - underground

Reception

- qualitative - quantitative

Cooling 2…40C

Filtering

Normalizing

Homogenization

Pasteurization 72…760C

Deaeration - Storage

Cooling 4…60C

Storage 2…40C

Figure 2. Technological process scheme for primary processing of milk

Material and Method A thermal tube (TT) is a device that realizes an efficient heat transfer through merging in a close circuit of the vaporization phenomena, vapors transfer, condensing and condense returning of some working fluid, being able to work in the absence of gravity, but having numerous applications (Bratucu, Gh.,2003) . The working principle of TT consists in vaporization of a fluid in the warmer areas (one of the tube extremities) and after an adiabatic path, longer or shorter, condensation of the vapors in the cooler areas (the other extremity). The returning of the condensate in the vaporization area it is made under the action of some diverse forces: capillary, gravity, electrodynamics, centrifugal, osmotic. In this way, the process can be cyclically redone, as long as there is a temperature difference that can activate the process. The main characteristic of TT is that of an axial thermal, highly conductive system within normal functioning limits, such that is reduced the amount of temperature loss

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from the wall of the tube and from the capillary structure in the vaporization and condensation area (Bacanu, Gh., 1991) . Under the construction aspect of the TT, this is made from a sealed enclosure, provided (or not) with a capillary structure inside (grooves, arteries, wire grates, spongy material), saturated by the working fluid, structure that will be spread throughout the entire length of the tube (Figure 3).

Figure 3. Thermal tube and pressure distribution inside the tube. The capillary structure serves to ensure the counter flow of the two phases of the working fluid, allowing stable performance, without pulsations, which leads finally to obtaining the maximum efficiency. For the gravitational assisted TT, the capillary structure can be missing, which leads to decreasing of performances but also of the production costs. The working fluid can be extremely multifarious from liquid hydrogen to liquid silver, according to the area of temperatures in which it has to work the TT (cryogenic, low temperatures and high temperatures). The thermal tube capacity to transport heat is extremely high, especially when liquid metals are used as working fluids. The isothermal function of the TT is owed to the fact that the pressure along the tube is constant, this working at the saturation temperature corresponding to the pressure inside the tube (that is constant). Certainly, the hydrodynamics of the thermal tube involves the existence of some pressure decrease and also temperature loss. Yet, these are so small when compared with the temperature of the thermal tube, that in practical industrial applications, that its functioning may be considered to be isothermal. These properties are of great practical interest: the thermal tubes ,may be used in a great diversity of applications (in the nuclear techniques, for adjusting the temperatures in nuclear

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reactors or in other connect processes; in space technology for izothermalization of satellites, control and adjusting of temperatures; for heat recovery in various industrial processes or in air conditioning processes, for solar collectors; for calibration of some temperature measuring devices in ovens; in the automotive industry for cooling of oil or for vaporization of the fuel in the carburetor; in the textile and glass industries). With great regret, it can be seen that thermal tubes as heat exchangers are used extremely little in the food industry, as heat recovery mediums (Peligrad, S., Bratucu, Gh , Zorca, M.,1998). Utilization of thermal tubes as heat exchangers between two mediums in a direct way through the working agent that evolves inside these is likened to a series of advantages, e.g.: • High efficiency; • They are compact, because of the large heat transfer surface as opposed to volume; • It has no moving components, being able to work unlimitedly and silently; • It does not require an external energy source for powering up; • It separates completely the two mediums between which the heat exchange occurs; • They are reversible, the heat can be transported in both directions, according to the position of the source; • It allows the adjusting of the heat flow through the variation of the inclination angle from the horizontal; • Presents flexibility in design and construction, through the possibilities of modification of the number of rows respectively the number of tubes on each row. At the same time, thermal tubes have a series of functioning limits, such as: • The viscosity limit is the flow of vapors that, at some relatively small temperatures for a certain working agent, is a viscous flow, which leads to limitation of the thermal flow and is seen especially in the TT for high temperatures at which the working agent is a liquid metal; • Sonic limit, appears at relatively small temperatures and is referred at the speed of vapors at the end of the vaporizer, speed that can equalize the speed of sound; seen also in the TT for high temperatures, especially at the initiation of a process; • withdrawing limit, appears especially in the TT without a capillary structure, at which the returning of the condensate in counter flow with vapors for relatively large values of the axial thermal flow is influenced by the separation surface of the two phases, through withdrawing of some liquid particles in the vapor flow and as effect the “drying” of the vapor area in time; • boiling limit, appears when the density of the radial thermal fluid in the vaporization area exceeds a critical value, casing bubble or pellicle boiling which produces finally the “drying” of the capillary structure or the formation of some vapor cushiness at the wall, with the over heating possibility (melting) of the thermal tube wall.

Results and Discussions Presently there are four available systems that can be used in heat recovery sketches from different sources, with different levels of temperature: • regenerators of rotary type or with periodical flow; • heat exchangers of “pipe in pipe ” type; • intermediary fluid types; • flat heat exchangers. In order to make an overview comparison between these schemes and the one with thermal tubes, into Table 2 were written the main technical-economic characteristics that characterize the heat exchangers. These were given grades from 1 to 5 for each type of heat exchanger. The comparison was made for the unit of heat exchange surface. Analyzing Table 2, it is stated that thermal tube heat exchangers have a good thermal transfer, the pressure loss

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is small, there are only minimal maintenance expenses, which makes them promising for heat recovering systems. Table 2. Comparison between 4 different systems of heat recovery With TT heat Flat heat Characteristics Regenerators Pipe in pipe intermediary exchange exchangers fluid rs Moderate Large Small Small Small Pressure drop 3 2 4 4 4 Global heat Large Large Small Moderate Large transfer 2 4 2 3 4 coefficient Very Maintenace Large Moderate Large Moderate small effort 2 3 2 3 5 Large Moderate Large Moderate Moderate Costs 2 3 2 3 3 Auxiliary Yes No Yes No No energy 0 5 0 5 5 Possibility of Yes No No No No merging of 0 5 5 5 5 mediums Transfer Large Small Moderate No Large surface 4 2 3 5 4 Total 15 24 18 27 30 From the scheme presented in figure 2, it can be stated that at primary processing of milk are distinguished two areas in which the thermal tubes can find their use as heat exchangers, respectively: • at cooling and storage of milk; • at heating thermal treatments of milk. Thermal tubes can be used as well in processing directly involved in thermal transfers, as well for the recovery of the residual heat recovery from the thermal processes. The operation with the greatest thermal consumption within the framework of the primary processing of milk is pasteurization based on the bactericide effect of heat and consists of heating and maintaining the milk to a certain temperature (72…750C) for a pre-determined period of time (~ 15 seconds). The most widespread model of a pasteurization system is that using plates, which has reached superior performances compared to pallets or valve pasteurize systems, used in some cases. According to figure 2, thermal tubes are placed inside a cylindrical carcass with double wall through which circulates the milk. Thermal tubes are activated with hot water (not with steam) and are placed in square. Inside the heat exchanger with thermal tubes are placed some diverters in order to have more precise control over the pasteurization time and to enhance the blending of the milk. Also, the thermal tubes pasteurize system is built in such way that it will allow the changing of the angle of inclination which produces the modification of the milk debit flow that can be pasteurized. If a comparison is made between the classic plates pasteurizing system and the one with thermal tubes, one sees the results given in Table 3.

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Table 3. Comparison between the plates pasteurizes system and the one with thermal tubes. Thermal tubes Characteristics Plates pasteurizing system pasteurizing system Small Small Pressure drop 4 4 Global heat transfer Moderate Large coefficient 3 4 Maintenace Moderate Very small costs 3 5 Large Moderate Production costs 2 3 Possibility of merging of No No mediums 5 5 Transfer surface versus Large Large volume 4 4 Total 21 25 Among the actual elements that can be taken in account from the comparison of the two types of heat exchangers can be presented: • stainless steel plates have depths of grooves which vary according to purpose (maintaining, pasteurizing, cooling); • the cost of the rubber food industry seals is quite large and these are likely to age differently than thermal tubes used in pasteurizing, for which the seal is assured and cheap; • the dimensions of the pasteurizing system with thermal tubes are smaller than the ones of the classic pasteurizing system; • the pasteurizing system with thermal tubes is proper for automation at least in the same measure as the classic ones; • maintenance is easier since some of the tubes can be subtracted from the system and the rest of the tubes will be able to take the thermal load of the removed ones; • the “stone milk” precipitates on the thermal tubes do not influence greatly thermal exchange and cleaning is easy; • fabrication costs are more favorable in the case of thermal heat exchangers.

Conclusions

• Milk is a complex product of great importance in human nourishment, but easily degradable at room temperature. Thus, it is necessary to have specific conditioning, including thermal treatments. • Among the heating operations or specific cooling of milk, the highest thermal energy consumer is pasteurization that consists of a heating and maintaining the milk at temperatures and time lengths that are very precise. • In present, the best performing pasteurization systems are those with plates, without neglecting other constructive types of such heat exchangers. • In the last decades, on a global scale, the heat exchangers with thermal tubes appeared, actually in all the technical areas in which thermal exchanges or heat recovery occur. • Through comparison with other pasteurization systems for milk, the pasteurizing systems with thermal tubes exhibit several advantages that could be used in this area of activity.

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References Banu, A. C. and coll, 1999, Engineer Book for Food Industry, vol. II, Technical Publishing Company, Bucharest, Romania. Bratucu, Gh.,2003, The Utilization of Thermal Tubes for Heat Transfer at Alimentary Fluids, In the bulletin INMATEH 2003, Bucharest, Romania, p.89-96, ISSN 1583-1019. Bacanu, Gh., 1991, The Optimization of Heat Recuperates with Thermal Tubes, Doctoral dissertation, Transilvania University of Brasov, Romania,. Peligrad, S., Bratucu, Gh , Zorca, M.,1998 , The improving of energetic efficiency of the milk primary processing equipments trough the utilization of thermal tubes , In the Bulletin of the Conference ALTEXIM-1, vol IV, p.305-312, Sibiu, Romania, 1998, ISBN 973-928096-X.

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EDI - XML Standards and Technologies in the Agri-Food Industry István Füzesi1, Miklós Herdon1 1 University of Debrecen Centre of Agricultural Sciences Faculty of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development Department of Business-and Agricultural Informatics Abstract. Due to globalisation, the new technological developments and the complexity of food supply processes, the European food sector is increasingly becoming more complex. The consumers’ trust in food, triggered and affected by a number of food crises, is low. Today, consumers increasingly expect safe and high quality food and demand information about the origin of their food. Also, the economic health of the food industry can be greatly affected by food crises; therefore, efficient and effective mechanisms are required to assist the food industry in tracking and tracing products along the food chain. In this paper, we discuss the criteria for an efficient and effective traceability system from an IT perspective (mainly data exchange) and we identify key requirements for ICT enabled traceability. Keywords. Tracking and tracing, EDI, XML, Agro-Food Chain

Introduction Increasing pressure by consumers, provoked by numerous food scandals, forced the European Union and national authorities to strengthen the regulations on food safety and traceability along food supply chains. Commercial members of food chains are only partially prepared to implement such regulations and to fulfil the expected requirements. Major impediments are that existing ITsolutions are, in most cases, limited to single enterprises, there is an absence of authorities that control whole chains, small-scale enterprises at the supply and primary production level have to interact with large, (sometimes) multi-national groups of companies and food chains show significant fractures in data flows. A coordination and motivation problem crystallized as a key challenge in the provision of traceability and quality assurance. The coordination problem results from the division of labour in the value-added chain of agribusiness. This leads to the development of organizational intersections, which act as fractures in the information flow, with the result that the information flow is interrupted. The motivation problem is also a result of the division of labour. Diverse people and enterprises, with differing goals, are involved in the production, processing and distribution of food stuffs. The diverse actors must be motivated to ensure the complete and correct gathering and sharing of information needed to guarantee traceability, even if this does not contribute directly to their own interests (Theuvsen, 2003).

EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is the process of using computers to exchange business documents between companies. Previously, fax machines or traditional mail was used to exchange documents. Mailing and faxing are still used in business, but EDI is a much quicker way to do the same thing. EDI is used by a huge number of businesses. Over 100,000 businesses have replaced the more traditional methods with EDI. This new system has a number of benefits; cost is one of them. Computer to computer exchange is much less expensive than traditional methods of document exchange. The following components and tools are necessary for performing EDI: • Trade Agreement - a legally binding trade agreement between a person and the trading partner. • Standard Document Format - the standard agreed upon format for the document to be electronically transmitted. • EDI Translation Management Software - software used to convert the document in the

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• • • •

application's format into the agreed upon standard format. For optimum performance the translation software should be on the same platform as the business application. Communications Software - a programming tool that enables the writing of communications protocols, or a separate application. It can be a module to the translator or a separate software application. Modem - a hardware device used to transmit electronic information between computer systems. The higher the baud rate, the faster the communications will be. VAN - stands for Value Added Network. A network to which one can connect to transmit data from one computer systems to another. One network can act as a gateway to another. Point-to-Point - a direct communication link from one computer to another. Some trading partners offer a direct connection to their EDI computer. Trading partners may opt for this method of communication instead of using a VAN.

EDI Standards There are four major sets of EDI standards: • The UN-recommended UN/EDIFACT is the only international standard and is predominant outside of North America. • The US standard ANSI ASC X12 (X12) is predominant in North America. • The TRADACOMS standard developed by the ANA (Article Numbering Association) is predominant in the UK retail industry. • The ODETTE standard used within the European automotive industry All of these standards first appeared in the early to mid 1980s. The standards prescribe the formats, character sets, and data elements used in the exchange of business documents and forms. The complete X12 Document List includes all major business documents, including purchase orders (called "ORDERS" in UN/EDIFACT and an "850" in X12) and invoices (called "INVOIC" in UN/EDIFACT and an "810" in X12). The EDI standard says which pieces of information are mandatory for a particular document and which pieces are optional and give the rules for the structure of the document. Standards are generally updated each year. EDI is a family of standards, including EDIFACT, HL7, X12, IATA, ODETTE, TRADACOMS and a plethora of others. They are all text file formats, which are structured so that each row of text begins with a marker that tells what kind of record that row contains, and each data item is separated by some unique character. If a person wants to know which vocabulary a specific message type belongs to, generally the name or version number will give it away: Clue

Vocabulary

Example

three digits

X12 transaction set

104, 810, 837, 850

six letters

EDIFACT message

DESADV, INVOIC, ORDERS

four digits

X12 release

3030, 4041, 5020

six digits

X12 release

003030, 004041, 005020

two digits then an 'A', 'B' or 'C'

EDIFACT version

93A, 99B, 04A

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'D' or 'S'; two digits; and 'A', 'B' or 'C'

EDIFACT version

D93A, D01C, D05A

dot releases

HL7 version

2.3, 2.3.1, 2.5

file begins "UNA" or UNB"

EDIFACT document

UNA:+.? '

file begins "ISA"

X12 document

ISA:00: lots more :U:00304:000032123:0:P:*~

file begins "MSH"

HL7 document

MSH|^~\&|||||||ADT|

Costs of EDI Prices for EDI applications vary from free (for very simple one-function products) to several thousands of dollars for full-function applications. The final price paid depends on several things: • The Expected Volume of Electronic Documents. Generally speaking, PC products cost less, but handle only a few documents and trading partners. Midrange EDI packages can be a little more expensive, but handle a much larger volume of EDI. If multiple documents or trading partners are anticipated, a midrange EDI system is a much better choice. • The Amplitude of the EDI Translation Software. Some products look like a bargain, but as the EDI needs grow, hidden costs (such as having to purchase new transaction sets) suddenly appear. One may pay more for a program with an integrated mapper, but will avoid purchasing overlays and maps in the future. • Implementation Time. Some applications are easier to learn and use than others. The more time spent in training, the more time it takes to get into production mode. If the time frame is tight, look for a translator that does not require training before implementation. • Fees vary from software company to software company. Ignoring the hidden costs mentioned above, one can expect the following ongoing charges: • Maintenance Fees. Most companies charge an annual maintenance fee that is usually a percentage of the translator's list price. This fee should include software updates, standards updates, technical support, and customer service. • VAN Charges. The VANs bill for transmitting data similar to making a long distance phone call. Some also bill for connect time. A fast modem helps to lower transmission costs. • Mailbox Costs. Most VANs charge a monthly fee for maintaining a mailbox on their network. Some base billing on the document (25 cents per document transmitted). Others charge based on the number of characters in each document. • • • •

Advantages of EDI Save Money. The cost of paper and paper processing is incredibly high compared to a properly implemented EDI program. End Repetition. If the trading partner wants a copy of a document, instead of calling, they simply check their mailbox. This results in a great time savings from not having to copy and fax/mail copies of business documents. Save Time. EDI also saves time over paper processing since the transfer of information from computer to computer is automatic. Improve Customer Service. The quick transfer of business documents and marked

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•

• • • •

decrease in errors allow one to do business faster and more efficient. Expand Your Customer Base. Thus with improved customer service, one can ultimately expand one’s customer base. Many large manufacturers and retailers are ordering their suppliers to institute an EDI program. So, when evaluating a new product to carry or a new supplier to use, the ability to do EDI is a big plus.

Disadvantages of EDI Too Many Standards. There are too many standards bodies developing standard documents formats for EDI. For example your company may be following the X12 standard format, while the trading partner follows the EDIFACT standard format. Changing Standards. Each year, most standards bodies publish revisions to the standards. This poses a problem to EDI users. One may be using one version of the standard while one’s trading partners are still using older versions. EDI is Too Expensive. Some companies are only doing business with others who use EDI. If a company wants to do business with these organizations, they have to implement an EDI program. This expense may be very costly for small companies. Limit Your Trading Partners. Some large companies tend to stop doing business with companies who do not comply with EDI. For example Wal Mart is only doing business with other companies that use EDI. The result of this is a limited group of people one can do business with.

Evolution of EDI For more than 20 years, companies have been using Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) to transmit structured business documents like orders or invoices electronically. As opposed to paper-based communication, EDI is designed to make communication between different systems possible without media discontinuities. But although there undoubtedly is large savings potential, the use of EDI is by far not as widespread as one could expect. Forrester Research estimates that only about 5% of the companies which could profit from its use actually use EDI. The main reason is that especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) try to avoid the considerable setup- and operating costs of traditional EDI solutions. Therefore, the use of EDI is mainly reserved for large companies, and one of the main reasons for the introduction of EDI is usually pressure from larger business partners. EDI systems are likely to be Internet-based in the future. While currently only very few enterprises use WebEDI, more than 50 percent of the enterprises plan to implement this technology in the future. A first step in reducing costs of EDI solutions is the use of the Internet with its existing communication infrastructure as a means of transportation for EDI messages. A number of different communication protocols can be used for the transfer of EDI messages over the Internet. Depending upon the task, the exchange can be made via FTP (File Transfer Protocol), HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) or SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol), while the data are encoded either with PGP (Pretty Good Privacy), S/MIME (Secure Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension) or SSL (Secure Socket Layer). Low cost in combination with the large number of emerging technologies for the Internet may now make a considerable contribution to the increase of EDI users and especially allow SMEs to participate in EDI networks. The obvious advantage of using the Web as a medium for EDI communication is that the only (client side) prerequisite is an Internet connection and a web browser. All communication uses the ubiquitous HTTP-protocol. Security issues can be addressed by using SSL, for example. Thus, all required infrastructure is most probably almost anywhere available without forcing the partners to invest hefty amounts of money. In this context, form-based EDI proves to be a good idea for large companies seeking ways of allowing their small customers to send their data in a standardized format. The eXtensible Markup Language XML has the potential to be the data format of choice used together with the programming language of choice for the Web, Java, to enable the next

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step in the evolution of EDI. The use of open standards can considerably reduce the time and money spent on implementing a solution. By avoiding proprietary formats, the danger of investment ruins is decreased and future-oriented solutions can be developed. Especially XML can contribute to the opening of EDI networks. While traditional EDI relationships are often long-term and highly integrated relationships, which are worthwhile only with are large number of transactions and for a long term, the willingness to invest into open, compatible ITinfrastructures is stronger at any point of the Value Chain, especially for smaller partners. Traditionally, the establishment of compatibility between different EDI solution-systems was achieved through deep integration of the EDI standard into the applications of the communication partners.

XML (eXtensible Markup Language) Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a simple, very flexible text format derived from SGML (ISO 8879). Originally designed to meet the challenges of large-scale electronic publishing, XML is also playing an increasingly important role in the exchange of a wide variety of data on the Web and elsewhere. XML shares common origins with HTML and SGML. SGML or "Standard Generalized Markup Language" was issued as an international standard (ISO 8879) in 1986. This was intended for semantic markup that would assist computer cataloging and indexing. SGML provided flexibility that had not been available before and became very popular and was applied in many ways beyond the intentions of the original developers. It was, however, very complex and expensive. About 1990, Tim Berners-Lee at CERN developed a new, simpler language that could be used in place of SGML. Thus was born HTML or "Hyper Text Markup Language." This was intended to be a simpler language that did not require expensive authoring tools. HTML succeeded beyond anyone's expectations but it lacked a certain flexibility that developers wanted. Various groups made changes and added extensions until HTML's roots had been mangled. In the summer of 1996, a working group at W3C was formed to create a markup language that would combine the strength of SGML with the simplicity of HTML. The first official draft specification for XML was released in November 1996. XML version 1.0 became a W3C recommendation in 1998.The basic structure of XML is the document. This terminology, however, might cause one to think of XML as only a richer, more flexible HTML. It is richer and more flexible, but it can be so much more as well. Thinking of XML as a document allows you to see how it can be used for presentation of data. This presentation can be detailed and useful. Most browsers now handle XML for presentation. XML does, however, actually go beyond documents. It can be used for the communication of data as well. XML uses a flexible tagged structure that makes it more robust than a fixed record format for communication. Finally, XML can also be used to define the storage of data. The same flexible tagged structure can be used when storing data.XML standards are defined at breathtaking speed these days. It is also difficult to keep up with the various versions of those standards.

EDI - XML technologies in the agri-food industry The ever increasing requirements for the level of tracking and tracing in turn require even more advanced IT techniques. Increasing the speed of a tracing operation is often the reason to store information about lots and tracing in an ERP system, but such a system can also be used to support RF scanning, to read barcodes and for EDI to communicate with clients and suppliers. Besides speed this also increases the efficiency of registration and this ensures that the data stored is correct and complete. Furthermore, an information system which has been set up well will also reduce dependency on people, because some of the knowledge is stored

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in the information system itself. There are three main aspects of the provision of information: • Identification of the lot which is to be monitored. A lot has a unique identity created by the combination of item number and lot number. • Registration and administration of the lot history: when was the raw material received from a supplier, when was this used in production, etc. • Communication about the lot with other links in the chain. An important roll in this communication is played by the EAN standards for barcodes and EDI.

AGRO EDI Europe (AEE) Since 1992, Agro EDI Europe is working on organization and standardization of electronic data interchanges on the agricultural and agro-industrial sectors. Today the association gathers about 250 members coming from several sectors (agricultural input, agro equipment, software editors, accounting centers, bank, insurance, logistics, storage, analysis laboratories). Since 2001, within the Agro EDI Europe association, the economic partners of the farm, agreed to define a standard data-processing format of exchange for the feedback related to the data crop sheet: the DAPLOS message. When developing this "plot message", AEE works addressed the problems of follow-up of cultivation operations and computation of gross margin, and benchmarking of crop husbandry techniques. Later, AEE members turned to the domain of traceability, all tools enabling farm production management being marketed today as traceability solutions. AEE created the “plot message” (DAPLOS: Data Plot Sheet) which is a standard for describing information related to a specific cultural plot, in order to facilitate data exchange between various information systems. Software editors in France make many efforts to stick to this standard while developing programs and databases, mainly by implementing some export / import functions for writing or reading data according to AEE message. AEE DAPLOS message has focused attention on the relationships between the producer and service suppliers, and it does not especially address the Administration. If compared with AgroXML (see below) the data description is not included since it is an EDIFACT message. But the recent submission of the DAPLOS message to ISO authorities is an important step forward.

ADED / ADIS LKV (Landeskontrollverband) Westfalen-Lippe designed a data dictionary for building up a unique German Internet database in the environment of ISO/SC19. As with the majority of such data dictionaries, it relies on items, entities, entity-item relationships and code sets. The data model has a multi-language capacity, is ready to work with XML and is available on the Internet. It could be integrated in existing users' systems.

AgroXML Farmers are subject to a multitude of obligations concerning documentation of agricultural practices. agroXML is the result of a tight cooperation with producers of agricultural software and online service providers, which integrate agroXML into their software. agroXML introduces a standard, which facilitates data storage and exchange. agroXML is based on the international standard XML and consists of the agroXML-Schema and several contentlists. agroXML is available in an extended version 1.2. Several applications even in commercial software are existing since a couple of weeks. AgroXML is a language that enables the description of agricultural data that will then enable a complete documentation of agricultural production processes. The objective of AgroXML is to allow information exchanges without redundancy between the different actors: land owners, farmers, advisory services, food industry. AgroXML will be available free of charge on the web, and will be platform independent. An XML Schema defines electronic documents for data exchange. The agroXML schema is based on a model of the real-world processes in agricultural production. They are represented 127


in a tree-like hierarchy. The current release of agroXML, Version 1.2, was published in March 2007 on www.agroxml.de and replaces Version 1.0 from May 2006. Schema development will be carried on in the English language in the future. Currently contained terms have already been translated but the translations have not yet been incorporated into Version 1.2. Other topics to be worked on will be further upgrading of geo-data functionality, as well as addition of elements for livestock farming and cultivation of vegetables and fruit. Currently, different companies are implementing agroXML as a data exchange standard. Several examples are presented in the following text. Producers of agricultural equipment like e. g. Claas and John Deere support development of agroXML. Especially for the agricultural software industry, agroXML has a high priority.

Figure 1. Data and information requirements in the Agribusiness sector (Source: According to Doluschitz, 2004) In summary, the objectives of the development of agroXML are: • the implementation of a generally acknowledged standardized data format to be widely used by all members of the agro-food chain, • to avoid multiple data input at different levels of the agro-food chain and to minimize redundancy, • to harmonize the discussion about the content and extension of the agroXML repository by involving experts from different origins on a neutral platform, and • to increase and accelerate adoption.

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The benefits of agroXML Potential users of agroXML include anyone along the production and supply chain in the agricultural sector. 1. Farmers In future farmers will not be tied to a specific collection or processing of data during the extensive conversion of documentation duties. There is no need any more to register data. agroXML facilitates an obstacle free communication with the agricultural administration, consulting services and software companies possible, without requiring an extra data input. Any already determined and documented data for production processes, which has been stored in any software, e.g. in a file for different types, are available at any time for further use. 2. Consulting services Integrated plant production requires that agronomic measures have to be adapted to the habitat conditions of the single type as well as to the needs of the plant. For conversion there are many instruments, which are partly available at the place of business, or have to be purchased (soil testing, monitoring of stock, weather station, warning system, models for prognosis) The potential of the integrated plant production may be fully and most effectively used by the farmer, if consultants and extension specialists will in future provide access to individual and type oriented choice with the help of internet technologies. This way of acquiring consulting services makes precision farming particularly interesting (Doluschitz und Jungbluth, 2004a and b). 3. Software companies The need of a standardized data exchange language like agroXML will increase and accelerate the development progress for agricultural software companies. Agricultural software is increasingly dependent on the data input from outside the place of business. On the one hand this concerns the updating and care of forms and demands for application of subsidies, and on the other hand the use of information concerning the means of the business. The corresponding updates require more staff and cause higher costs, which can be reduced substantially if this information will be available in a standardized data format via the internet. Increasingly the customers will also expect that the software with systems for the business und type oriented online consulting services can communicate without problems, which will be much easier when applying agroXML.

Examples of agroXML applications 1. Field work calculator Currently in operation is access to the field work calculator of the KTBL (www.ktbl.de) from farm management systems of Helm and BASF. Using this tool, the user can calculate data concerning machinery costs and working time of flexibly compiled machinery combinations and import and automatically file them into his farm management information system. Usage of this system is also open to others. 2. EurepGAP The example of the EurepGAP application shows how to transform agroXML documents automatically into instances, which conform to the requirements of an existing interface using XSL-Transformations. Involved in this use case is information, which is needed by EurepGAP for documentation of plant. 3. KTBL-Tool geodata The application geo-data is developed by the KTBL in the course of a feasibility study supported financially by the BMELV and the Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank. The prototypical application enables farmers to collect geospatial data from different providers in a simple manner and transform them into the agroXML format readable by farm management information systems.

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4. Work commission using AGRO-NET of agrocom GmbH & Co. Agrarsystem KG Today, the commission of a machinery cooperative happens using the telephone. Especially in seasons of high workload, when the commission is simply captured on a note placed on the desk, misunderstandings are possible. In the described use case, the electronic commission of services using agroXML has been developed. Using it, the farmer can enter his planned measure into his AGRO-NET management system and hand it on to the machinery cooperative at appropriate times.

Trace2p2 The P2P Project, co-founded by the European Community, aims to study, develop and test different methodologies and tools supporting the quick collection of information from different traceability systems, in order to define and develop a unified way to collect information automatically from the various traceability systems operating at the different companies. In this way each company can choose its own traceability system that best fits and on the other side customers, citizens and authorized persons will have a unified approach to inquire automatically for product details via Internet. The main goals of the P2P project are to define a Methodology (Trace Methodology) and a Software Architecture that is the base to solve the key issues of integration. It means to conceive and develop a solution aimed at supporting quick collection of information from different traceability systems of companies belonging to a given agri-food value chain, giving reason to the whole value chain traceability. A pilot system will be developed for the swine value chain. Technically the most important part of the software is a communication protocol to share the information, the TRACE-XML protocol. The TRACE-XML protocol defines the minimum set of information to trace each product batch. The TRACE-XML protocol will represent the first step to define a standard to automatically access traceability information and documents of each company belonging to the agri-food sector. As for example, it could contain a subset of information and rules of the ebXML standard. The TRACE-XML protocol could represent an open standard that could address not only the swine, but also the whole agri-food sector. For summarizing the main expected results from the project are: • Trace Methodology: a methodology supporting traceability information collection in the companies (in particular how and what information); • Trace-XML protocol: a minimum set of information to trace each batch and the related communication protocol; • Trace-SW: a software tool supporting collection, archiving and management of information and documents related to the traceability; • Trace-Browser: an ICT tool to browse the traceability information compliant with the TRACE-XML protocol.

Conclusion Food quality has increasingly become an important issue in the last decade. That was primarily the result of a number of major food crises such as BSE and dioxin crisis that damaged seriously consumer’s confidence on food industry. These striking examples of food deficiency had shown not only the vulnerability of food industry upon food quality but also revealed serious economic implications. It was clear cut that food crisis can not only affect consumer’s health, but also food business’s economic results and financial stability. The ever increasing requirements for the level of tracking and tracing in turn require even more advanced IT techniques. Increasing the speed of a tracing operation is often the reason to store information about lots and tracing in an ERP system, but such a system can also be used to support RF scanning, to read barcodes and for EDI to communicate with clients and suppliers.

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Besides speed this also increases the efficiency of registration and this ensures that the data stored is correct and complete.

References Bosak, J., 1997: XML, Java and the future of the Web. http://www.wiwi.unifrankfurt.de/~tweitzel/paper/revolution/http://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/suninfo/standards/xml/why/xmlapps.html%20 Brownell, D., 1998: XML and Java Technology, An Interview with Dave Brownell, http://www.webpaulo.com/html/xml_and_java.html Curtis, C,,1996: EDI over the Internet: Let the games begin, in: Internetweek, Issue 627, September 9, 1996, http://www.techweb.com/se/directlink.cgi?CWK19960909S0076 Densmore, B.,1998: EDI vs. The new kids, in: Computerworld, April 6, 1998, http://www.computerworld.com/home/Emmerce.nsf/All/980406edi Doluschitz, R., 2004. Der Beitrag der Informationstechnologie zu Produktionsmanagement, Qualitätssicherung und Rückverfolgbarkeit in der Agro-Food-Chain - Notwendigkeit, Strategien und Perspektiven: In: FAT-Schriftenreihe, Agroscope FAT Tänikon/CH, 2004, H. 59, 5-25. Doluschitz, R.; Kunisch, M.; Jungbluth, T.; Eider, C., 2005: agroXML - A Standardized Data Format for Information Flow in Agriculture, In: EFITA/ WCCA 2005, Portugal, Book of Abstracts, Juli 2005, S. 26 Kunisch, M., Frisch, J., Martini, D., Böttinger, S., 2007: agroXML – a standardized language for data exchange in agriculture In: EFITA/ WCCA 2007, Scotland, Book of Abstracts Huggins-Cha, S., 2007: EDI http://ksi.cpsc.ucalgary.ca/courses/547-95/seanh/edi.html Marcella, A./Chan, S.,1993: EDI Security, Control, and Audit, Norwood 1993 Segev, A./Porra, J./Roldan, M.,1997,: Internet-Based EDI Strategy, working paper 97-WP1021, http://haas.berkeley.edu/~citm/wp-1021.pdf Theuvsen, L. 2003: Rückverfolgbarkeit von Lebensmitteln: Herausforderungen und Lösungsansätze aus organisatorischer Sicht. In: Berichte über Landwirtschaft, Heft 4/2003, S. 555 – 581.Waltner, C.,1997,: EDI Travels The Web - EDI over the Web offers companies cheaper E-commerce and messaging via browsers, in: Internetweek, Issue 668, June 16, 1997, http://www.techweb.com/se/directlink.cgi?CWK19970616S0066 Westarp, F. v./Weitzel, T./Buxmann, P./König, W., 1999: The Status Quo and the Future of EDI, forthcoming in: Proceedings of the 1999 European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS’99), http://caladan.wiwi.unifrankfurt.de/IWI/projectb3/deu/publikat/edi/index.htm

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Mobile Internet in agriculture application perspectives Róbert Szilágyi1, Miklós Herdon1 1

University of Debrecen Centre of Agricultral Sciences, 4032 Debrecen, Böszörményi str. 138 UD Abstract. Looking at the development of mobile equipment and application we can say that they are spreading and becoming more significant. In the first part of this paper we describe the specific features of agricultural information. After that we summarize a few concepts about mobile application. The typical applications deal with data collection, remote administration, data exchange, product tracking. We think that this technology still has some possibilities that have not been exploited yet. Keywords. Mobile Internet, mobile application in agriculture

Introduction Since handheld devices are spreading software developers have to create programs and build web sites that are handheld compatible. The main difference between developing a PC application and a handheld device application is the size of the display. There are also other factors influencing the work of software developers (i.e. lack of memory and user incompetency). Web sites and programs that would be used in handheld platforms should be simple, with a fast and well designed search engine.

Agricultural information Management in agriculture is to a large extent making decisions under uncertainty, the latter being accumulated from three main sources: uncertainty due to lack of data about the current state of nature; uncertainty due to incomplete knowledge about the biological and physical systems; uncertainty due to inherently random processes. A rational decision-maker will take the uncertainty into account by optimizing the expected utility of future outcomes. He will use a perception of the probabilities of the future outcomes of feasible decisions and a perception of the utilities of the outcomes according to his risk attitude. The agricultural information raises few other questions as well. These questions are based on Management Information Systems (MIS) and Information Systems (IS) theories. MIS is a set of formal business systems designed to provide information for an organization. A wellstructured MIS has to cover a set of questions, called ‘‘the five W_s and an H’’ : What information is needed? When is the information needed? Who needs it? Where is it needed? Why is it needed? How much does it cost? Additionally, the real world an IS has to answer questions like these: What information is required to carry out the activity, the source of this information and its form and frequency? What information is generated from the activity and the generated information’s characteristics? Who is the recipient of this information? -

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Agricultural utilisation potentials In the course of assessing the agricultural applications built on mobile Internet technology the areas where this technology has already been applied were analysed. The study had a dual objective: on the one hand an outlook on the applications was given and on the other hand ideas for new improvements could be obtained. Most of the applications deal with data exchanges, due to which the compatible data format is of crucial importance. Due to the peculiarities of agriculture German researchers are trying to make the data exchanger simpler by developing the agroXML programming language. Wireless data transfer technologies can very well be utilised in precision management. Such a form of management cannot even be thought of without the use of wireless technologies. Handling map data required by precision management cannot be solved without wide broadband applications. As regards the wireless technologies it is the satellite transmission and WLAN that offer good alternatives. The advantage of satellite data transfer is the coverage of large areas and its disadvantage is that its price is still high. Mobile devices in crop production, horticulture are primarily used for data surveying. The more efficient and instant data recording is considered to be the biggest utilisation advantage of PDAs with GPS connection. The most important criterion in agricultural data surveying is simple handling and that the devise should be resistant to wear and tear. There have been applications prepared already for the distant management of irrigation and production. Their greatest advantage is the opportunity to intervene regardless of time and location. Food safety cannot be imagined without tracing. The already available RF-ID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology coupled with mobile devices offers an excellent solution for tracing purposes. Pest control can efficiently be supported by using handheld computers. The application makes it possible to register data in the field and then download them on a central PC to run models necessary for decision-making. The registration and veterinary control of utility animals are tasks extending across countries. The E-blana project, which is supported by the EU, has prepared services that are available through mobile devices. The protection of the supply chain and the efficient and timely service can be highlighted from among the several advantages it has. Electronic trading, transportation and logistics also have applications the spread of which has every opportunity. Complex business applications, which primarily serve the flexible access to internal data, must not be overlooked either. The Agricultural and Rural Development Agency (Mezőgazdasági és Vidékfejlesztési Hivatal) is bringing the Integrated Management and Control System (Integrált Igazgatási és Ellenőrzési Rendszer) in motion. This system controls the management of direct and marketbased agricultural support of the Community. From spring 2006, all tasks related to controlling field-based support and pieces of land taking part in the Agricultural Environmental Management (Agrár-környezetgazdálkodás) project, as well as anything related to measuring territory PDA-based GPS systems are used. In every case the basis of the system is an extra sensitive THALES MobileMapper CE GPS-receiver. With the help of this receiver exact land measuring can be carried out right on the spot to help management.

EU research projects The increasing interest in mobile Internet applications is also indicated by the increasing number of EU research projects. I have reviewed some of the more important research projects. Wirelessinfo was a Czech IST project in EU 5 framework programme between 1998

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and 2002, which aimed at preparing high-tech mobile communication applications for rural areas. The whole project was geared towards obtaining GIS applications with wireless devices. The main communications platform was based on the Internet and was built on 2G and 2.5G networks (GSM, GPRS, HSCSD). The objective of the AMI@Netfood project was the preparation of a Strategic Research Plan (SRA) to study and develop IST technologies and devices that can be applied in the fields of agricultural-food industry and rural development. The project is to map AMI and Collaborative Working technologies that are suitable for the agricultural-food industry and determines and defines the further R&D activities aiming at possible technologies. The A-BARD project studies the spread and the utilisation of broadband Internet in rural areas. The project continuously assesses the difficulties related to the access to the broadband Internet. The research also covers the effect of the broadband Internet on rural development. The AMI4FOR project aims at realising the integrated agricultural, viticultural and forestry utilisation of Ambient Mobile Intelligence between 2005 and 2007. The realisation mixes mobile communication, navigation and geographic information system-related services. The starting point of the development is the heterogeneous network environment, which can mean GPRS, Wi-Fi and satellite Internet connections. As a result of this project the flow of information may become less complicated. The MobiLife project has 22 partners from 9 countries. The importance of the project is shown by the fact among these partners are many producers like Nokia, Alcatel, Motorola, Ericsson, Siemens, etc. and the European subsidiary of Japanese DoCoMo. The main goals of this project are:

Practical criteria of mobile government in agriculture In Greece the application of the framework to the Greek organic agriculture sector has shown that SMS may be considered as the preferred application for providing mGovernment services. SMS can support a wide range of mGovernment services and (since producers need certified information, easily accessible at anytime and anyplace, and rapidly transmitted) can help them take well-weighed decisions and calculated risks. There are many critical issues regarding mGovernment: problems concerning government strategy, efficient operation of back office infrastructure, limited computational power and surfability of mobile devices, privacy and security of transmitted information, authentication for performing transactions, incompatibility of networks, interoperability of systems, additional costs, and mGovernment policy must be examined.

Typical applications Data transfer Researchers from Taiwan (Chwan at. Al., 2006) present a feasibility study on GSM–SMS technology application to field data acquisition. This feasibility study is based on a field data collection prototype system that is composed of field monitoring and host control platforms. The data transmission, communication, and control of these two platforms are accomplished using GSM–SMS technology. Based on the transmission characteristics and capacity of short message, they propose a GSM–SMS based communication architecture and then develop a package format of short message that is suitable for monitoring the farming area and

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collecting field data, such as temperature, humidity, wind speed, and pest/insect captured numbers. Based on the performance testing results on almost 1000 data transmissions, the one-way SMS transmission time for a field monitoring platform to a host control platform is about 10–15 s, while the average transmission time of a field monitoring platform response to host control command is 30.5 s. According to them the rate of data loss achieved can be lowered to 0.66%, which mainly depends on the service quality of the commercial telecommunication company. Environmental monitoring Mobile data collection is important because weather data and geo-referenced water quality data still depend on stationary sensors and dataloggers, pencils and paper notebooks, which are labor-intensive and susceptible to recording errors during transcription Precision agriculture Wireless sensors have been used in precision agriculture to assist: • in spatial data collection, • precision irrigation, • variable-rate technology and • supplying data to farmers. Machine and process control – M2M M2M is a technology that supports wired or wireless (WPAN, WLAN, cellular systems, etc.) communications from machine to machine, from machine to mobile or from mobile to machine. Typical applications of M2M: • Vehicle guidance • Machinery management • Robotic control • Process control Facility automation Agricultural facilities, such as greenhouses and animal-feeding facilities, includes lighting control, energy management, access control, structural monitoring and fire/security. Traceability systems (RFID) With an increasing demand for security and safety, complete documentations for food products, from field to customer, have become increasingly demanding. RFID has been accepted as a new technology for a well-structured traceability system on data collecting, and human, animal and product tracking. Main application areas: • Animal identification and health monitoring • Food packaging Transportation For example: On-the-road monitoring system for animals during transportation. Food inspection Handheld PC for quality inspectors of a food-processing plant. The system allowed inspectors to select a form, complete the form, and send the data to the plant manager’s computer.

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Conclusion Changes in technology will proceed with organizational and social change. The rapid evolution of hardware and software devices will increase consumer demand for timely and accurate information. If current trends in wireless broadband technologies continue, it is likely that, in the medium term, demands, beyond data, for on- field best management practices will increase rapidly. These developments, coupled with the rapid advances that are being made in human computer interfaces, are likely to make IT ubiquitous, enabling access to dramatically increased amounts of data, tools for analysis, and decision support systems.

References Chwan-Lu Tseng,, Joe-Air Jiang, Ren-Guey Lee, Fu-Ming Lu, Cheng-Shiou Ouyang, YihShaing Chen, Chih-Hsiang Chang (2006): Feasibility study on application of GSM–SMS technology to field data acquisition, Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 53 45–59 Haapala H. E. S. (2006): Usability As A Challenge In Precision Agriculture, Computers in Agriculture and Natural Resources Proceedings of 4th World Congress, ASABE, USA 8993. p. ISBN: 1-892769-55-7 Harkin M. (2005): ICT Adoption as an Agricultural Information Dissemination Tool – An historical perspective, http://departments.agri.huji.ac.il/economics/gelb-harkin-3.pdf (2005.12.20.) Hebel M. A. (2006): Meeting Wide-Area Agricultural Data Acquisition And Control Challenges Through Zigbee Wireless Network Technology, Computers in Agriculture and Natural Resources Proceedings of 4th World Congress, ASABE, USA 234-239 p. ISBN: 1892769-55-7 Hetzroni A., Shapira D., Esquira I., Edan Y. (2005): Data Capture in an Agricultural Setting for Traceability and Management, EFITA/WCCA 2005 25-28 July 2005, Vila Real, Portugal, ISBN 972-669-646-1, 922-927 p. Hsieh M.D., Wang T.P, Tsai C.S., Tseng C.C. (2006): Stateful session handoff for mobile WWW, Information Sciences, Volume 176, Issue 9, 8 May 2006, 1241-1265 p. Koory, J.L., Medley, D.B., (1987): Management Information Systems: Planning and Decision-Making. South-Western Publishing Co., Cincinnati, OH, USA. Mittra, S.S., 1986. Decision Support Systems: Tools and Techniques. John Wiley & Sons Inc. Cincinnati, OH, USA. Ntaliani, M., et al., Mobile government (2007): A challenge for agriculture, Government Information Quarterly Thysen I. (2000): Agriculture in the Information Society, AgEng 2000, 2-7 July 2000, http://www.idealibrary.com

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What are the main difficulties in traceability Péter Salga1, István Füzesi1 University of Debrecen Centre of Agricultural Sciences Faculty of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development Department of Business- and Agricultural Informatics 1

Abstract. In the beginning of 21st century the matter of food-safety plays an accentuated role in the food industry. Important issues in this topic are the risk of bioterrorism, impurities in the foodchain and the ascendant customer needs. The solutions of these problems are the introduction of modern quality assurance systems, traceability and identification of products. Nowadays there are several fine systems to solve the problem, but these systems are separated, and unable to cover the complete food supply chain. They have different data carrier; data capture; information management systems; and also question the interchange of data. We review in this paper the possibilities of harmonization of these systems with new information technology solutions (modern item attendant data carriers, data storage technologies, data and information communication systems) and we discuss the potential advantages and incidental costs. Based on automotive industry we elaborate a mobile data management system using EDI and the automotive traceability experiences.

Introduction Food safety and quality are keys to companies' business survival and great effort and resources are devoted to them. This is an on-going challenge, demanding the best control systems and day-to-day vigilance on farms, in processing plants and throughout the distribution system. The product quality of the Hungarian food industry meets the high level international standards. For the very reason, if only because the Hungarian food industry is an export oriented sector. However, the application of computers and information systems still haven’t got enough emphasis in the food sector, although the majority of companies use ERP systems. The IT budget of the Hungarian companies is smaller than in the well developed countries. They spend 0.49% of their return from sales on IT operation and development. We find different rates among Hungarian owners and foreign owners. The Hungarians spend less (0.36%), but foreigners spend twice this amount (0.61) on informatics. We elaborate a mobile ERP system, which fulfill the following requirements: • Centralized management • Full traceability in both direction • Covering the entire vertical production system • System support for HACCP, ISO, IFS, BRC • Increasing efficiency • Cost reducing • Marketing orientation • Mobile data input • Determination of worker’s activities • Quality control Quality control is conducted at several stages of the production flow. The most important targets are the basic materials coming from partners, the purchased and processed products and foods. We have to be able to identify and determine what ingredients are in the end products and what the production and distribution processes were. Sometimes this means a backward process we have to conduct when we discover a mistake in the production flow or in the quality of the end-product. Back-tracing is a six stage flow in the system.

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Why traceability? The traceability of products and components has received critical attention over the past few years. The requirements from the individual segments of the food industry may vary. They do have one thing in common, however: they share the need for seamless documentation of the path a product takes from producer, to supplier, up to the consumer. Benefits of traceability to the company: • Seamless traceability in compliance with Commission Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 • Support for future requirements with regard to GMOs (GMO: Genetically modified organism) • Safeguarded quality with paperless quality management • Limited risk as it is well documented which lots went to which customer (enabling silent recalls) • Controllable quality at receiving (suppliers are integrated into the value-added chain) • Transparent batch management for more process and product safety • Integrated visualization without the need for additional staffing throughout materials resource planning from goods receiving, through inventory, production, packaging, picking, up to shipping • Fulfillment of company duty • Transparency of the business-level goods flow as well as internal logistics and inventory control • Atomization of the process steps in sub-processes with lot number logic and batch tracking and tracing • Compliance with industry standards, quality and safety norms • Flexible towards increasing demands of process safety, especially in the realm of food production, throughout all levels of manufacturing and distribution • Economic and strategic necessity to limit risk in case of incidents (silent recalls) • Increased consumer trust • Transparent supplier and buyer tracking and tracing for each shipment at mouse click speed Main benefits to the costumers: • Protect food safety by effective product recall, in the case of an emergency • Enable avoidance of specific foods and food ingredients easily, whether because of allergenicity, food intolerance or lifestyle choice • Enable real choice to be exercised between food produced in different ways • Traceability systems are of interest to government as part of systems which: • Protect public health through the withdrawal of food product from sale • Help to prevent fraud where analysis cannot be used for authenticity • Control zoonotic disease e.g. tuberculosis, salmonellosis • Enable control with regard to human and animal health in • Control epizootic and enzootic livestock diseases through the rapid identification of disease sources and dangerous contacts. • Monitor /control livestock numbers for subsidy claims

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Figure.1: Example of a risk matrix to guide decisions relating to the implementation of Traceability (by Food Standards Association)

Traceability in ERP systems Only an integrated ERP system can meet efficiently with these objectives. The integration into business processes guarantees: • Online capture of data right at the source without the need for additional resources • Online processing of data, eliminating the need for isolated, stand-alone solutions • Seamless proof of origin throughout and beyond the industry-specific ERP software An ERP system in the food industry (like CSB-System) is specialized in transparent proof of origin and safeguarded traceability for all segments of the food industry and in accordance with all prevailing international standards (including Reg. (EC) No 178/2002, 1830/2003, EUREP-GAP, IFS, HACCP, ISO9000, BRC, GLP, GMP, GHP). On the basis of the cross-industry standard EANCOM we have developed a solution that allows for flexible interchange of origin data between companies and organizations. With the help of this data interchange mechanism, user companies can guarantee seamless farm-to-fork proof of origin for each and every batch that has entered the production process. Users profit from the following essential benefits: • Maximized growth potential through completely integrated information processing

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• • • • •

Variable weight items and equalized units Flexible planning of materials and capacity resources Reduction of inventory costs through paperless order processing, picking, and delivery Transparent quality management (paperless HACCP) and seamless traceability Solid integration of numerous locations via Internet and Intranet

EDI Today, a majority of the data in commercial paper documents is generated from existing computer applications. These paper documents are printed and copied before the information they contain is finally communicated by mail or fax. The business partner in turn, re-keys all this information into another computer application for further processing. An increasing number of companies have found the above process extremely slow, costly and unreliable. The need for a faster, cheaper and more accurate solution for exchanging commercial data has become a significant priority for many companies and organizations. EDI or Electronic Data Interchange can be conceptualized as paperless trading. A common and useful definition for EDI is: "the transfer of structured data, by agreed message standards, from one computer application to another by electronic means and with a minimum of human intervention." The structuring of data by agreed message standards implies that the data or information to be exchanged is recognizable, both in content, meaning, and format, allowing it to be processed automatically and unambiguously by computers. Two companies deciding to implement EDI are by deEmition agreeing on the type of data they will exchange, and how the data will be presented. The implementation of EDI demands a much greater degree of cooperation, collaboration and a sharing of information between business partners, effectively building trading partner relationships. EDI provides trading partners with an efficient business tool for the automatic transmission of commercial data from one computer application directly to another. Companies do not E; need to worry about different incompatible computer systems. Through the use of EDI E message standards like EANCOM, data may be communicated quickly, efficiently and I accurately irrespective of users' internal hardware and software types. The three components or building blocks of an EDI system are standard messages, EDI enabling software and telecommunications. At this stage only a brief explanation about the principal functionalities or purpose of each component will be provided. EDI and message standards have become inter-dependent as EDI has progressed from proprietary, closed systems to open systems. A simple analogy illustrating the need for message standards can be constructed by considering human communication and languages. We can imagine in the best case scenario a situation where an interpreter can facilitate communication between two people speaking two different languages, but what would happen if the number of people suddenly increases to 10 or 100? Without a common language the situation would rapidly become chaotic. Returning to the analogy of human communication, the figure above illustrates that although interpretation or data conversion might be possible between two or more trading partners, the situation rapidly becomes unmanageable as the number of trading partners increases. EDI and message standards have become inter-dependent as EDI has progressed from proprietary, closed systems to open systems. A simple analogy illustrating the need for message standards can be constructed by considering human communication and languages. We can imagine in the best case scenario a situation where an interpreter can facilitate communication between two people speaking two different languages, but what would happen if the number of people suddenly increases to 10 or 100? Without a common language the situation would rapidly become chaotic.

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Computer communications and applications also need a common language in order to understand each other, and this common language is to be found in EDI message standards and most notably in UN/EDIFACT (United Nations Electronic Data Interchange For Administration, Commerce and Transport), the international EDI message standards and in UN/EDIFACT implementation guides such as EANCOM. The basic functionality of EDI enabling software, usually known as the EDI converter, is that of translation of incoming messages from a message standard such as EDIFACT/EANCOM to a company's internal in-house file format and vice-versa for out-going messages. However, in addition to the converter functionality, off-the-shelf EDI software packages will also contain additional functionalities which usually include conversion of multiple message standards and message versions, maintenance of trading partner profiles, application interfaces, a communications module to communicate directly or via one or more third party value added networks, management information on incoming and outgoing messages including audit trails, manual menu driven data-entry modules and security or access control by way of passwords Once the data from an application has been converted from an in-house file format to a standard message format by means of the EDI software, the data must be communicated or physically transferred to the intended message recipient. Although it is possible to transfer the data on magnetic media such as tapes or diskettes, telecommunications is part of the EDI concept. Returning to the analogy of human communication and languages, even if everybody in a group speaks the same language, if everybody would try to speak at once, the result would once again most probably be chaos. Data communications also require some form of discipline in order to achieve an orderly transfer of information and this is accomplished through communication protocols. In addition, there will be several possible telecommunication/network options which ; will carry the function of transfer medium for the data communications. Some of these options include point-to-point private leased line communications, use of the public telephone network or a public data or packet switched network or a third party value-added network service. EDI in not a technology but a new way of doing business. Though identifying the costs related to EDI is relatively easy, identifying the benefits of EDI, especially when a company is not using EDI is hard since most of the real benefits are strategic and intangible in nature. As such, EDI will require a different approach to cost-benefit analysis and it is essential for the success of a corporate EDI program, that management have appropriate expectations on the return on investment. Still a cost-benefit analysis is essential not so much to justify the investment in EDI but in order to prioritize applications and the allocation of information technology resources. These are probably the most tangible benefits gained from implementing an EDI system. Estimates should be made on the number of document/line items processed per year for the document in question. Costs related to the processing of that document will include preprinted stationary, envelopes, stamps, telex, telephone/telefax and photocopying charges. Estimates should be made for the tone spent on gathering and collecting the data, data-entry, typing, photocopying, filing and archiving, mailing and faxing and most importantly on control and error corrections per line item. The exchange of data directly from application to application will eliminate the frequent and costly errors which are inevitably produced when data is keyed in manually. The time spent should be multiplied by the average salary (including fringe benefits and overheads) of an administrative/clerical employee. The value of redeploying staff currently involved in data-entry functions towards more valueadded activities such as resolving discrepancies, preventing loss of discounts, obtaining the best rice price, etc. should also be considered.

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Mobile.P@rtner Mobile.P@rtner consists of 4 integrated parts: o Mobile.Route helps to make bills of delivery, manage the incoming orders and vehicleliqudation. o Mobile.Warehouse treats the detailed warehouse and storage management and the outgoings based the expiration-date, FIFO or LIFO. o Mobile.Production manages the working times, operations and procedures, measures the worker’s productivity and ensures the traceability in production area. o Mobile.QC helps the management of quality control using „audit free” process.

Figure 2. Structure of Mobile.P@rtner The Mobile.P@rtner built up in 3 layers structure. Applications access the database through an Apache Tomcat server. On the server runs a J2EE web application and the client program is communicating with it using HTTP protocol. Mobile.P@rtner send http GET and POST messages to web application and manage the database using JDBC driver and send back the answer to the client program. The transition of data happens in XML format. The middle-

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layer application written in Java and platform-independent, the client application developed using C++. The server application is a .NET software.

Discussion The Mobile.P@rtner is an effective tool to manage the food chain requirements using EDI and WLAN mobile data terminals. The system is capable to fulfill the general requirements. • Centralized management • Full traceability in both direction • Covering the entire vertical production system • System support for HACCP, ISO, IFS, BRC • Increasing efficiency • Cost reducing • Marketing orientation • Mobile data input • Determination of worker’s activities • Quality control

References Elise, G. (2000): Economics of Food Labeling, Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture. Agricultural Economic Report No. 793., Natural Resources Institute, (2003): Food Management and Marketing Group, Available at: http://www.nri.org/about/fmmg.htm 2003 Falus, G. (2002): Napjaink prioritása: az élelmiszer-biztonság, Available at: http://www.pointernet.pds.hu/ujsagok/agraragazat/2002-ev/09-szeptember/agrarag-11.html Furness, T. (2003): Cross-Supply Chain Traceability from an ICT Perspective, FoodTrace Conference Sitges, Raspor, P. (2003): Primary identifiers of Food items using Bio(logical) markers, 2nd International Food Trace conference Barcelona Furness, T. (2004): A Foodtrace Generic Framework, Foodtrace Workshop Brusseles Sendula, T. CSB-System. Inc, (2000): Vállalatirányítási információs rendszerek Magyarországon, CSB System International webpage Available at: http://www.csbsystem.com Verdenius, F. – Koenderink, K. (2003): Development of traceability Systems, FoodTrace Conference Sitges Hartog, L. (2005): Global perspective on integrated pork production. London Swine Conference – Production at the Leading Edge

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The Climatic – Tourism Potential of Stana de Vale Spa during the Summer Season Ovidiu Gaceu1 1

University of Oradea, Department of Geography, Tourism and Territorial Planning, Romania, e-mail: [email protected] Abstract. The paper presents the climatic – tourism potential of Stâna de Vale on the basis of daily data of meteorological observation from 1979 to 2000 of the station Stâna de Vale. Keywords. climatic – tourism potential, Stâna de Vale, method.

Introduction Stana de Vale is a well-known balneo-climatic resort, situated at the heart of the Apuseni Mountains (Romania), at an altitude of 1100 m. As it is surrounded by hills, 300-600 m higher than it, the resort provides a sheltered climate, winds at reduced speeds, below 2 m/s and at high frequency of calm weather, above 75% being a proof in this regard. In winter, the long duration of the snow strata, exceeding 180 days per year on the Northern face, attracts numerous tourists in the cold season, too. In the field of tourism climatology, numerous indices and methods have been elaborated, in order to highlight the climatic-tourism potential of a region. In the present paper, we used three of the most wellknown elementary indices applied in tourism climatology: the spa climatic indexes of L. Burnet (1963), R.M. Poulter (1962) and that elaborated by G.H. Hughes (1967).

Data and methods The present paper is based on the daily data of meteorological observation between 1979-2000 at Stana de Vale station. The data have been worked on based on the elementary indices elaborated by: a) L. Burnet (1963), who evaluates the quality of the tourism season using the formula :

N , where: T ICB – spa climatic indicer; N – number of rainy days; T – air average temperature. ICB =

(1)

b) R.M. Poulter (1962), who determined the quality of tourism season using the equation:

IS = 18T + 0,167I – 0,2 P +320, where:

(2)

IS – seasonal index; T – air average temperature; I – total sunshine duration during that period ; P – sum of precipitation quantities during the analyzed period; 320 – constant. c) G.H. Hughes (1967) who elaborated the formula: Ih = Tx + 0,045I – 0,2 Pr, where:

(3)

Tx –average of the maximum temperatures registered during that period ; I – sunshine duration during that period; Pr – number of rainy days.

Results Monthly climatic-tourism potential of Stana de Vale balneo-climatic spa Analyzing the monthly climatic-tourism potential of the Stana de Vale spa potential based on the balneo-climatic index of Burnet (1963), one can say that the most favorable month is August (when the anticyclonic time characterized by high temperatures and reduced precipitations predominates ) with an index of 1,0, followed by the month of July with an index of 1,3, 144


respectively June and September with an index of 1,6 and respectively 1,4 (table 1). Table 1. Balneoclimateric index at Stâna de Vale (1979-2000) Month ICB

I -3,2

II -3,2

III -10,6

IV 6,3

V 2,3

VI 1,6

VII 1,3

VIII 1,0

IX 1,4

X 2,4

XI -113,3

XII -4,9

The most reduced climatic-tourism potential is offered during winter months (when stratiform clouds bring significant precipitations and the temperatures are low, respectively November with an indices of -113,3, followed by March with -10,6 and December with -4,9 (table1). R.M. Poulter’s formula (1962) is more complete because it takes into consideration sunshine duration and indicates a climatic-tourism potential higher in July when the index has the value of 562,6, followed by August with 561,4, June with 525,0 and September with 476,9 points. In winter, the lowest potential is registered and in January only 212,0 points are registered, 229,5 points in February and 232,1 in December (table 2). Table 2. Poulter’s climatic-tourism index at Stâna de Vale (1986-2000) Month

I

II

III

IV

V

VI

VII

VIII

IX

X

XI

XII

IS

212,0

229,5

286,4

362,9

469,3

525,0

562,6

561,4

476,9

405,6

306,3

232,1

These characteristics of the climatic-tourism monthly potential are indicated by G.H. Hughes’ formula (1967), respectively a higher potential in August with 27,1 points, followed by July with 25,6 points, June with 21,6 points and September with 19,9 points. The most unvaforable months are the winter months when the value of the index is about -1,1 points in January, 0,4 points in December and 1,7 points in February (table 3). Table 3. The balneo-climatic index at Stâna de Vale (1986-2000) Month Ih

I -1,1

II 1,7

III 6,4

IV 11,2

V 18,5

VI 21,6

VII 25,6

VIII 27,1

IX 19,9

X 15,3

XI 5,3

XII 0,4

Seasonal climatic-tourism potential at Stana de Vale spa Analyzing the seasonal climatic-tourism potential (June, July, August, September), one can see that Stâna de Vale balneo-climatic spa and its surroundings dispose of a reasonable climatic resource, and a proof in this regard is the value of Burnet balneo-climatic index which is lower than 3 registered in all the warm seasons during 1979-2000, with a multi-annual seasonal average of 1,3. Table 4. Values of Burnet (ICB), Poulter (IS) and Hughes (Ih) indices at Stâna de Vale (1979-2000; 1986-2000) Anii ICB IS Ih

1979 5,8

1980 6,4

1981 5,4

1982 5,1

Anii

1991 4,6 535,4 43,1

1992 4,0 605,4 51,2

1993 5,1 554,4 42,6

ICB IS Ih

1983 5,2

1994 4,4 619,6 47,1

1984 6,2

1995 5,7 499,8 38,2

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1985 6,0

1996 5,9 471,4 31,3

1986 5,1 548,0 42,3 1997 6,3 479,0 32,4

1987 3,8 606,2 47,0 1998 6,0 467,8 34,7

1988 4,0 564,9 44,2 1999 4,7 589,0 37,3

1989 6,7 473,6 29,0 2000 4,2 609,7 44,8

1990 5,8 543,3 40,4


8

ICB

ICB med

6 4 2

19 79 19 80 19 81 19 82 19 83 19 84 19 85 19 86 19 87 19 88 19 89 19 90 19 91 19 92 19 93 19 94 19 95 19 96 19 97 19 98 19 99 20 00

0

Figure 1. Variability of climatic-tourism potential during the high season at Stana de Vale(19792000) highlighted by Burnet index In conformity with this index, a certain area has high climatic-tourism potential if its value is lower than 3, it has a satisfactory potential if its value is situated between 3 and 8 and it has a reduced potential if its value is higher than 8 (table 4, figure 1). The high seasonal climatic-tourism potential of Stâna de Vale balneo-climatic spa is highlighted by Poulter’s indices (IS) and Hughes (Ih), which, unlike Burnet index take into consideration the sunshine duration. Thus, according to Poulter’s index, the highest climatictourism potential was registered in 1994, when the value of the index was of 619,6 points (table 4, figure 8) due to high average temperature of 13,30C, of the sunshine's longer duration of 853,4 hours during that period and lower level of precipitation: 411,8 mm. 800

IS

IS med

600 400 200 0 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000

Figure 2.Variability of the climatic-tourism potential during high season in Stâna de Vale (1986-2000) highlighted by Poulter’s index Other high seasons with high climatic-tourism potential were in 2000 and 1987, when Poulter’s index registered 609,7 points, respectively 606,2 points. Hughes index indicated the highest climatic-tourism potential in the season of 1992, when 51,2 points were registered (table 4, figure 2) in the conditions in which the average was 20,20C, the sunshine duration was of 907,0 hours, and that season was 49 days. Ih

Ih med

60 50 40 30 20 10 0 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000

Figure 3. The variability of climateric-touristic potential during the high season in Stâna de Vale (1986-2000) highlighted by the Hughes index Other high seasons with high climatic-tourism potential were registered during 1994, 1987 and 2000, when Hughes index reached values of 47,1 points, 47,0 points and 44,8 points (table 4, 146


figure 3).

Conclusions a) Stâna de Vale balneo-climatic spa and its surroundings dispose of a significant natural and anthropic highlighted by the relief configuration, by the climate of intramountaineous depression with moderate values of the climatic elements, by the hotels and modern agrotourism B&Bs. b) The monthly, seasonal and annual climatic-tourism potential is very significant being illustrated by the values of the three calculated indices. c) Indices do not demonstrate the same year with maximum potential (due to different calculation formulas) but highlight the same years with very high climatic-tourism potential, namely 1987, 1988, 1992, 1994, 1999.

References Burnet, L., 1963: Villégiature et tourisme sur les côtes de France. Hachette, Paris, Bibliothèque des Guides Bleus, 484 p. Dragota, C., Gaceu O., 2004 – Le potentiel climato-touristique du littoral de la Mer Noir dans la saison d’été, XVIIe COLLOQUE INTERNATIONAL DE CLIMATOLOGIE, 285-288. Hughes; G.H., 1967: Summers in Manchester. Weather, t, XXII, 5, 199-200. Poulter, R.M., 1962: The next few summers in London. Weather, t. XVII, 8, 253-257.

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Research Regarding the Advance Resistance of Subsoiler Working Parts Ionuţ Căpăţînă1 1

Transylvania University of Brasov, Romania, b-dul Eroilor, nr. 29. [email protected]

Abstract. The advance resistance of the working parts of subsoilers depends on factors, hitherto little mentioned in specialist literature. This paper presents the results of research performed with a fixed chisel type part, modified according to, e.g.: work depth, the degree of subsidence, banking angle and work speed. Optimal resizing of such parts possible through the results of our experiments. Keywords. deep soil loosening, subsoiler, experimental research stall.

a number of experimental soil type and can be made

Introduction Subsoiling is a deep soil loosening (fig. 1) which is performed periodically, specifically on the evergreen cults seated in uncorked ground (orchard and winegrowing plantations), on argillaceous soils predisposed to hardpan (fig. 2). This work is executed with sub-soiling active parts of different types, fixed or oscillatory, mounted separately from the tractor wheels, with one or more parts that destroy the hardpan and loosen the soil up to 50 - 60 cm or more, on the all surface or in bands (fig. 3). (Brătucu, G., 1999, Stout, A. B., Cheze, B., 1999)

Fig.1. Deep soil loosening with the subsoiler.

a

Fig.2. View of the layer of settled and waterproof soil (hardpan).

b

Fig.3. Hardpan destruction on the total surface a or in bands b .

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The efficiency of the subsoiling work depends, among other things, on the depth of execution. For example, such work performed below 40 cm on field cults is inefficient, and becomes too expensive at greater depths. On orchards and winegrowing plantations, the subsoiling work was executed over 3 - 4 years, with the role of partial remaking of the uncorking effects. (Ghimbăşan, R., 2004, Soucek, R., Pipping, G., 1990) Being a deep soil work, it is recommended that it be completed long before drilling. It is also recommended to do this work at an interval of 2 - 4 years, depending on the degree of the conditions which force this work to be done and on the root types of the plants cultivated on the respective grounds. (Ghimbăşan, R.2001, Rus F.1987)

Material and Method For the experiment, a working, chisel type peak part was mounted on a specially designed stall. The stall (figure. 5) offers the possibility of depth adjustment from 30 cm to 55 cm and also banking angle adjustment of the working part along a vertical-longitudinal plane. The determination of the advance resistance was made during assembly onto the tractor, where with the stall works in the unit of a strained frame and a performant equipment for processing and data register. The measurement had place on tree different soils types and for each soil type was established in previous the degree of subsidence and the humidity.

]Figure.6 . Stall for experimental field researches of deep soil loosening work

Results and Discussion The deep soil loosening work is a big consummator of energy. In the case of using the fixed working organs of chisel type, the advance resistance depends on the soil type, the work depth, the degree of subsidence, the soil humidity in profoundness, the banking angle in vertical longitudinal plan of the subsoiler organ etc. In this work is presented only the influence of the inclination angle of working organ about the advance resistance. In the figure 1, are represented the reactions appeared in the tractor tyrants, on a certain type of soil to the depth of 40 cm, for different inclination angles of the working organ (δ). The humidity of the respective soil was of 9,1 % to surface, 21,5 % to the depth of 20 cm and of 17 % to 40 cm.

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a. δ = 5o

b. δ = 0o

c. δ = - 5o Figure 7. The reactions appeared in tractor tyrants for different inclination angles of the working organ. Ft – the traction force, Fa – the oppressive force. 150


From the analysis of the obtained results abaft experimentally researches it’s consisted that the lower advance resistance is manifested when the inclination angle of the working organ is of + 5o, while in the case of his positioning at 0o the respective efforts scaled up to 7…10%, and to the inclination with -5o they scaled up to 15…20%.

Conclusions and Future Work

• The knowledge of the forces and moments which can influence the subsoiler work, presents a big interests to the correct correlation of tractor with the working equipment, for different working conditions. • The utilization of a stall for the experimental research in real working conditions present the advantage of quick and precise modification possibility of inclination angle of the working organ and the work depth. • The experimental research of traction resistance was made for an working organ of blacksmith's chisel type to the depth of 40 cm in a difficult soil with the humidity to surface of 9,1 % and to the maximum depth of 17 %. • The traction resistance varies by the inclination angle from vertical, of the working organ with up to 20% respective with 500 N. • On the strength of experimentally researches it can by completed the specialty literature with such coefficients, improving this way the work of engineers and users that use such technical systems.

References Brătucu, G., 1999: Tehnologie agricolă (Agricultural Technology), Editura Universităţii Transilvania din Braşov. Ghimbăşan, R., 2004: Bazele mecanizării agriculturii (The Basics of Agricultural Mechanization), Editura Universităţii Transilvania din Braşov. Ghimbăşan, R.2001: Solul, suport al mecanizării (Soil, Mechanization Support), Editura Universităţii Transilvania din Braşov. Rus F.1987: Maşini agricole pentru lucrările solului, semănat şi întreţinerea culturilor, (Agricultural Machines for Soil Works, Drilling and Cults Maintenance)Universitatea Transilvania Braşov. Soucek, R., Pipping, G., 1990: Maschinen und Geraete fur Bodenbearbeitung, Dungung und Aussaat, Verlag Technik GmbH, Berlin, Germania. Stout, A. B., Cheze, B., 1999: CIGR Handbook of Agricultural Engineering, Volume III, Plant Production Engeneering, Published by the American Society of Agricultural Engineers, USA.

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Aspects regarding the control of the impact process between potatoes and hard surfaces utilizing a computer controlled pendulum and a Labview application Daniel Mihai Dănilă1, Liviu Gaceu1 University of Transylvania Brasov Romania, B-dul Eroilor nr. 21 Abstract. This study focuses on using a Labview application to command a computer controlled pendulum to assess different types of impacts that potatoes experience in harvesting and handling operations. The Labview application allows the calibration, command and control of the impact process with a pendulum, as well as a graphical representation of the acceleration and the angle of the pendulum arm before and after impact. Keywords pendulum, potato, impact, control, acceleration, Labview, application

Introduction The knowledge of fruit and vegetables reaction to different types of mechanical loads constitutes the basic material property description used to determine agricultural product resistance to damage as well as their consumption and storage qualities. The preponderance of potato bruising typically results from impacts sustained by the tubers during harvesting and handling. The impacts occur primarily when the tubers strike hard surfaces or each other while being conveyed, or in dropping from one conveyor to another. Impact sensitivity (bruise susceptibility) in potatoes varies considerably, but a reliable method for assessing, predicting and managing that sensitivity has not been available. It therefore becomes important, above all, to measure the intensity of the impacts to the product during harvest and post-harvest and the probability of damage to the product itself. The current technique allows the utilization of some methods which will reduce mechanical impacts by simulating in the laboratory the process which harms the tubers under mechanical loadings produced by external forces.

The impact generation using a computer controlled pendulum The impacts are generated by the computer controlled pendulum presented schematically in Figure 1. The pendulum arm 5 is a cylindrical aluminum tube with a length of 600 mm sustained at the top of the mainframe 1 in two bearings with a low coefficient of friction. The rotation angle of the pendulum arm is registered by a rotary encoder connected with the ax between the bearings. An electromagnetic system (6) fixes the pendulum arm in a position necessary to administer the desired potential impact energy. At the other end of the pendulum arm is fixed a non-spherical impact body 1 with a diameter of 25 mm. The acceleration after impact and deceleration during the impact is measured by an accelerometer 3 with a 0- 500 g measuring range fixed at the backside of the impact body. The electrical signals produced by the accelerometer and encoder when the pendulum arm is released by the electromagnetic system, are isolated and amplified by a data acquisition system. At the same time, the acquisition system transforms the electrical signal in numerical values. These values are processed by the Labview Application. Another element of the pendulum is the sample holding system 2 , designed in order to avoid supplementary loadings. The potato samples are fixed in a material which covers the metallic parts of the holding system and allows the positioning of potatoes with various shapes and dimensions

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Fig. 1 The schematic representation of the computer controlled pendulum

The impact process control utilizing the Labview application Labview is a graphical programming language with which a block diagram can be made for further use. The Labview programs are virtual instruments composed of a frontal panel and a block diagram. The frontal panel specifies the entrances and the exits and creates the area of interactive operations, as seen in Figure 2.

Fig. 2 The block diagram of the Labview application The first operation done by the Labview application is the calibration of the pendulum arm angle . First, the sample is fixed in the potato holding system and guided until the sample impact point and impact body position are identical and the angle of the pendulum arm is 00. This position is registered by the Labview application. Then the pendulum arm is lifted until the angle calculated from the first registered position is 900. This position is also registered by the Labview application. With these two registrations, the calibration of the pendulum is finished. After calibration, the pendulum and the arm are lifted manually to the required position angle necessary to deliver the initial energy Ei where it is arrested by the

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electromagnetic system. By means of a Labview command, the pendulum arm is released to free-fall and hits the potato (Figure 3).

Fig. 3 The command panel for starting the acquisition (screen shot) After the pendulum arm is released, it strikes the potato several times, until it achieves the equilibrium position (angle of the pendulum arm has the value 0 degrees). The number of hits depends on the potato elasticity and on the initial energy Ei . The number and the amplitude of impact are viewed in another panel of the Labview application (see figure 4). From the rebound angle β (determined by encoder), the non-absorbed energy Er is calculated. The energy absorbed by potato Ea (has the value Ea= Ei - Er). The energy absorbed by the potato is computed using the formula ea=100 Ea/Ei . The degree of absorbed energy on impact is within the range of 65 - 70% and depends on potato variety and the storage period. High values of absorbed energy are correlated with the high sensibility of the potato to mechanical damage.

Fig. 4 Pendulum arm acceleration amplitude (screen shot) By means of the Labview program, the computer calculates the velocity before impact, the duration of impact, the maximum acceleration, the duration from starting the impact until the time of maximum deceleration and the velocity just after impact (see figure 5)

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Fig. 5 Graph obtained for a potato impacted from the initial angle of 28 degrees (screen shot)

Conclusions The application Labview allows the control of the impact process between tubers of potatoes and hard surfaces, the calibration of the pendulum device used for testing, the realtime visualization of the impact size and number, the calculus of physical parameters which characterizes the impact in the moment produced. Several physical parameters evaluated at the moment of impact are: velocity and acceleration before and after, the impact energy absorbed and released before and after impact. The results obtained through the simulation of the behavior of the potato tubers to mechanical loadings are very important in elaboration of the measures which will lead to the decrease mechanical damage and subsequent to the diminution of economic loss.

References Danila D., Popescu S., Aspecte privind testarea tuberculilor de cartof la solicitari dinamice de impact cu ajutorul unui dispozitiv cu pendul controlat de calculator, INMATEH nr. I/2006. Molema, G.J, Verwijs B.R., Den Berg J.V., Breteler H., Effect of repetitive impacts on subcutaneous tissue discolouration in potato tubers. Netherlands Journal of Agricultural Science 45: 185-198, 1997. Molema, G.J., Verwijs B.R., Oudshoorn L., Wennekes P., A computer-controlled pendulum to impact potato tubers precisely, Netherlands Journal of Agricultural Science 45: 407-421, 1997. Popescu S., Danila D., Bria N., Metode si mijloace pentru determinarea rezistentei la vatamari mecanice a tuberculilor de cartof, Mecanizarea Agriculturii nr. 4/2003.

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Payment methods in e-commerce Ádám Péntek1 1

University of Debrecen

Abstract. At the heart of every business lies the need to make and receive payments, whether the example is a customer purchasing goods/services or a business organization making payments to its suppliers, or a bank account holder transacting with his/her Bank, or a P2P payment transactions. Payment transactions are the key elements of any business. The advent of the Internet has brought consumers and businesses closer by getting them online. The ability to make and receive payments online saves both time and money. Payment systems in tandem with pervasive computing enable payments to be made anytime, anywhere and from any device. Keywords. e-commerce, payment methods, Internet

Introduction Internet and e-Commerce demand new ways of handling payments in the business-toconsumer (B-to-C) market. Several new Internet payment systems have been developed in the past years. Some of them can be distinguished from conventional payment methods (e.g., invoice, COD and credit card) by being additionally applicable to small amounts of money for purchases on the Internet. The first part this paper will show the benefits and the risks of electronic payment. I will then introduce the available payment methods in Hungary.

Electronic Payments Benefits Electronic payments can benefit our business by extending our customer base; boosting cash flow; reducing costs; enhancing customer service and improving your competitive advantage. Five reasons why Electronic payments improve customer service • Choice – like our competitors, we can offer a wide range of payment options • Convenience – they remove the need for invoices, cheques, cash and BACs • Credit – they may allow purchases that would otherwise be delayed • Concessions – small discounts to encourage online purchases improve the perception of value • Competitive Edge - if we do not offer the full range of payment options but your competitors do, what does this say about your business? Five reasons why Electronic payments increase profitability • Convenience – removing administrative resources required by invoices, cheques and cash • Immediacy – credit cards enable instant purchasing (without delay) • Improved cash flow – payment at the time of purchase reduces the pressures caused by 30-day invoicing • Growth – open additional payment channels via the phone, mail order and Internet and increase your customer base. More customers mean more revenue. • Competitive advantage – match and beat the services of your competitors and gain the edge The following sections explain the processes, costs and risks behind electronic payment systems.

Online payment risk assessment Exposure is the acquiring banks estimate of the total risk you are exposed to at any one time, for instance, the number of sales open to refund over a given period. The bond is an amount of money, overdraft facility or insurance to cover any exposure. Your exposure level will also affect the charge bands offered to your business, i.e. monthly charges and transaction charges.

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Acquiring banks calculate the exposure whether the Merchant Service provided is online or offline. The exposure level is calculated by examining the following elements of risk: • Charge-backs – the risk of refunds on our merchant account; • Forecast turnover figures – higher turnover can generate higher exposure; • Average transaction size – if we sell very high value items (diamonds, cars) this will influence the risk analysis of our business; • Time from payment to order fulfillment – The longer it takes to dispatch goods to a customer, the greater the risk of an order cancellation; • Length of trading record – a start-up company presents more risk than a well established business; • Business sector classification – different sectors have more or less risk associated with them (CDs can be resold but a flight needs the purchaser to turn up in person). Some banks have over 700 different business sector classifications. • Safeguards you have in place – security checks like verifying address details or phoning customers who place large or repeated orders will reduce the perceived risk.

Online payment security Protecting card details is the primary security risk with electronic transactions. Customers are very comfortable using cards in shops and over the phone despite the ever-present risk of details being copied or stolen. With payments over the Internet, there is more resistance towards disclosing card information. While it is generally perceived that conducting credit/debit card transactions over the Internet is prone to insecurity and fraud, offline transactions such as landline based telephone calls, can be less secure. Perception can get in the way of fact. Both software and hardware companies have invested a great deal to further protect online data and build up customer confidence. Be aware of the security issue and help customers to feel at ease by telling them about the precautions we have taken. In the current Internet climate it is vitally important that we are not only secure but are seen to be secure. Three of the best known options for the encryption and security of personal and card details are explained below. Almost every payment solution mentioned in this online payments tool includes this technology as standard. Online retailers will not need extra security measures if they use these market-tested and well-established products. Secure Socket Layer (SSL) SSL allows traffic to be scrambled (or encrypted). The standard SSL developed by Netscape provides a high level of protection. The US government views encryption technology as munitions, so the only version of SSL available worldwide is the relatively weak 40-bit version. However, this version can protect against any casual attempt to decipher card details, as it takes over an hour to crack one message. Browsers that support this feature a dialogue box, a padlock in the bottom task bar, or a blue key to indicate that a secure session is in progress. Secure Electronic Transaction (SET) SET encrypts payment card transaction data and verifies that both parties in the transaction are genuine. SET, originally developed by Mastercard and Visa in collaboration with leading technology providers, has a large corporate backing and is perceived to be more secure as a result of its validation from card companies. Public Key Software Infrastructure (PKI) PKI is similar to a bank’s night safe in that many public keys can be used to deposit items into the safe, but only one private key, belonging to the bank can make withdrawals. With these systems in place you will be able to demonstrate your concern for customer security.

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Avaiable payment methods in Hungary Bank Transfer International customers can securely wire a payment directly to us from their bank. Customers around the world simply send their wire to another bank within their own country and there is no need to convert to U.S. Dollars when sending bank transfers to PayByCash. Wire Transfers are accepted from international customers in their local currencies, and in all cases can be sent to a bank in the customer's country. We have eliminated the need for customers to pay the cost of an international (cross-border) wire transfer.

Gold Money GoldMoney is one of the best ways to buy and sell gold - it's easy and inexpensive, plus you have the convenience of transacting online. GoldMoney is like online banking, but the account is denominated in goldgrams and mils, not dollars and cents. Each GoldMoney goldgram you own is safely stored for you in allocated storage in a specialised bullion vault near London, England, and is insured through a policy underwritten at Lloyd's of London.

Money Order or Cashiers Check by Mail Don't have a checking account or prefer not to use it? All you need to do is send us a money order. As soon as we get it, you are online!

Moneybookers Moneybookers enables any business or consumer with an email address to securely and costeffectively send and receive payments online – in real-time! Moneybookers Limited is a money transmitter regulated under UK law, owned by Gatcombe Park Ventures Limited, London. This is a low-cost way to accept credit card and bank account payments for your Website. The 2% charge is for payments received via bank transfer or directly from other Moneybookers accounts. This is the value used by the tool for direct comparison, as this is the main payment method for Moneybookers. Direct credit/debit card payments are charged at up to 8%. Integration is free - no set up or monthly fees. Low transaction fees with high payment security. Instant payments - money can be transferred to your bank account as soon as it is received. It has complete fraud and chargeback protection. Sell with ease: convenient HTML interface, simple integration, detailed transaction records. It is available in 30 currencies, in every country, our website and our gateway are in 4 languages!

Pay By Cash (through the mail) Easy, convenient, and with PayByCash, finally useful on the Internet. You use cash everyday in real life, offline. Now you can use it online, too.

PayPal PayPal, an eBay Company, enables any individual or business with an email address to securely, easily and quickly send payments online. PayPal enables businesses to securely, conveniently and cost-effectively receive payments online. Our network builds on the existing financial infrastructure of bank accounts, debit cards and credit cards to create a global, realtime payment solution. Our product is ideally suited for small businesses, online merchants, individuals and others currently underserved by traditional payment mechanisms. PayPal has 63.8 million member accounts and is accepted in 45 countries worldwide making it an easy and effective way to transact internationally. This company founded in 1998, PayPal, an eBay

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Company, enables any individual or business with an email address to securely, easily and quickly send and receive payments online. PayPal's service builds on the existing financial infrastructure of bank accounts and credit cards and utilizes the world's most advanced proprietary fraud prevention systems to create a safe, global, real-time payment solution. The PayPal is available in 190 countries and regions around the world, buyers and sellers on eBay, online retailers, online businesses, as well as traditional offline businesses are transacting with PayPal.

WebMoney Transfer WebMoney Transfer is a global payment system available to all people worldwide and very popular in Russia and northern Europe. WM Transfer Ltd is the owner and administrator of WebMoney Transfer Online Payment System, established in 1998. The software is developed by JSC "Computing Forces", a company that also provides technical support and maintenance. Depending on your technical capabilities, available resources or specific demands, WebMoney provides you with various tools free of charge to assist in performing operations and transactions within the System: • WM Keeper Classic — a standalone application, which can be dowloaded and then installed onto your PC • WM Keeper Light — a browser application that doesn't require installation of client software onto a user's PC. All operations are routed via secure https- connection • Telepat — a technology, enabling the operation of an account via any mobile device or cell phone, that supports Java. It has an integrated voice menu and Java midlet, and provides automatic payments for merchants and paid services. Every WM User earns points for his/her activity within the System. The summary of activity level, volume of transactions, positive or negative feedback from other users, and the number of active correspondents leads to the achievment of a certain Business Level (BL). BL status is shown next to the WMID in various System applications and services, and acts as an appraisal tool and confidence indicator. The System supports several types of e-currency, secured by various resources and tangibles. Each e-currency has a dedicated electronic wallet, called a Purse: • WMR — equivalent to RUR ( R-Purse), • WMZ — equivalent to USD (Z-Purse), • WME — equivalent to EUR (E-Purse), • WMU — equivalent to UAH (U-Purse), • WMB — equivalent to Belorussian Roubles (B-Purse), • WMY — equivalent to Uzbek Sum (Y-Purse) • WM-C and WM-D — WMZ equivalent for transactions on Ñ- and D-purses • WMG — equivalent of Gold (G-Purse)

Western Union QuickPay Designed to be faster, if not cheaper than express overnight mail services. Customers worldwide can elect to use Western Union QuickPay and get their payment to us within 1-3 hours. For a low transaction fee, Quick Pay can be used to get your payment into our hands within hours. To pay via Western Union, log into your account on the site to which you wish to subscribe. Then use their PayByCash button to be directed to our PayByCash.com site. Click through to our order form, fill it out, and select "Western Union" as your payment option. You will then be served instructions for getting your payment to us, including easy-to-follow instructions for filling out the blue Western Union Quick Pay (aka QuickCollect) form. 159


Summary In Hungary, there are several systems available to consumers. Nevertheless, a large number of recently developed payment systems actually never managed to be accepted by the consumers. Thus, it seems absolutely necessary to find out the reasons and factors that influence the consumers' decision process when it comes to choosing between the different systems.

References Abrazhevich D. : Importance of User-Related Factors in Electronic Payment Boehle K, Rader, M, Riehm, 1999. U. Electronic payment systems in European Karlsruhe, Germany Gérard Carat: 2003 ePayment Systems Database Karsten Stroborn, Annika Heitmann, Kay Leibold, Gerda Frank: 2003 Internet payments in Germany Sanford E. DeVoe, Jeffrey Pfeffer 2006:When time is money: The effect of hourly payment on the evaluation of time Lelieveldt, Simon 2000: E-Purses and Chip Cards in the Netherlands. ePSO-Newsletter No. 3 Rader, Michael 2001: Scratch Cards: Here to Stay? ePSO-Newsletter No. 6 Schürer, Tito; Riehm, Ulrich; Weber, Arnd 2001: Interview: Largest German Credit Card Issuer on Massive Reduction of Charge Backs. ePSONewsletter Salste, Tuomas 2001: Internet Payment Systems in Finland. ePSO-Newsletter No. 5 Sint, Peter Paul 2001: E-money Solution from Austria: Paysafecard.com. ePSO-Newsletter No. 6 www.payformance.com www.wikipedia.com

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Broadband usage and development in rural Hungary - positive and negative trends Mihály Csótó1 Information Society Research Institute, 1111 Budapest, Stoczek Street 2-4. e-mail:[email protected] 1

Abstract. The number of broadband subscriptions has been increasing rapidly worldwide in recent years. This is a crucial trend, because broadband Internet access can contribute to rural economic and social life through numerous applications (e-learning, e-government, telemedicine). But in these areas, the developers have to overcome some major difficulties – and this is the case in Hungary, as well. The percentage of Internet-supplied households and Internet users in Hungary is still low (32%). Looking at the proportion of broadband access, the picture is ambiguous: the data for Hungary is well above the European Union average, but these numbers are delusive. We can say that the predominant majority of the population using the Internet has switched to solutions which by domestic comparison can be regarded as modern, thus increasing the gap between themselves and those left out. It is important to emphasize that, in Hungary, there are presently close to 1,000 settlements (of almost 3,200) in which broadband infrastructure is not accessible the community-approach needs to be involved to make such initiatives work. The crucial factors are: dedicated leadership with long-term and definite ideas and targeted operation approaching the problems innovatively and seeking up-to-date answers; creating adequate demands and a level of consciousness – primarily through education and spare time activities, and the possibility of joining an operating system; precise use and planning of resources making the network sustainable even under bad economic conditions. Keywords. Broadband, rural areas, development, Hungary

Introduction Unlimited broadband Internet access is not only one of the most important components in regard to competitiveness, but with the spread of web 2.0, it is also an essential component in user satisfaction. It also can contribute to rural economic and social life through numerous applications (e-government, e-learning, telemedicine). From this aspect, it is by no means unimportant whether or not such services are accessible to everybody and provided at affordable prices.

The spread of broadband – the world is getting really connected There exists market research and other sources which are publishing broadband statistics on a regular basis. The figures are more or less the same (260-280 million at the end of 2006), but one thing is really important: all of these sources reflect a huge increase in the number of subscriptions worldwide (30% last year). The USA, China and Japan are leading the way in the number of subscriptions (Table 1.).

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Table 1. The 10 leading nation in the number of broadband subscribers (eMarketer, 2006 and Point Topic 2006) eMarketer Point Topic USA 54,6 57,3 China 46,6 51,9 Japan 23,7 26,1 South-Korea 12,7 14 United Kingdom 12 13,1 Germany 11,8 14,7 France 11.2 14 Italy 7,9 8,8 Canada 7,4 7, 8 Spain 5,5 6,7

The OECD numbers take us a bit closer to the full evaluation, because this statistic is broken down to subscription per 100 inhabitants (Figure 1.). OECD ranks its 30 countries, and Korea is the only one also in the top of this kind of a list. The rate of increase was 26% in these countries. Denmark, the Netherlands and Iceland are on the top of the list. These countries have great market competition, clear regulatory framework and awareness.

OECD Broadband subscribers per 100 inhabitants, by technology, Dec. 2006 35 DSL

Cable

Fibre/LAN

Other

30 25 20 OECD average 15 10 5

N

D en et ma he rk rla nd Ic s el an d K Sw or i tz ea er la n N d or w a Fi y nl a Sw nd ed e C n an ad U Be a ni lg te iu d m Ki Lu ngd xe o m m bo ur Fr g an ce U Ja ni p te an d St at Au e s st ra li Au a st r G i er a m an y Sp ai n N ew Ita Ze l y al an Po d rtu ga Ire l la H n C ze un d ch ga r R ep y ub li c Sl ov Po ak la R nd ep ub G lic re ec e Tu rk ey M ex ic o

0

Source: OECD

Figure 1. Broadband subscribers per 100 inhabitants (OECD, 2006) If we broaden our focus and look at the countries in the world with high broadband penetration (this primarily applies to South Korea and Japan, but developments in this area have also begun in some European countries), it can be seen that another new shift, based on fiber optics, is in the making, which is similar in its importance to that from dial-up to ADSL. There are already 8 million subscribers to FTTH technology in Japan (of the world’s 30 million FTTH subscribers!), which means that these users have connections with a capacity of 50-100 mbps, for approximately the same sum that in Eastern Europe would buy 1 mbps. So it’s not all about the number of subscriptions. Getting a clear picture, the price of broadband and the bandwidth are also critical factors and have to be taken into account.

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Situation in Hungary The rate of the Internet-connected households and Internet users is still low in Hungary (32%). Considering the proportion of broadband access, the picture is ambiguous: this data for Hungary is well above the European Union average, and this rate has even increased since the data collection was made in 2006. Concerning this indicator, we precede countries like Italy (40%), Germany (50%), Austria (63%) or Slovenia (63%). However, this indicator is delusive. If we take all the households possessing Internet access into consideration, we are stragglers, preceding only Slovakia and Greece. There is no use in the high rate of broadband access when the number of Internet users is so low. We can say that the predominant majority of the population using the Internet has switched to solutions which by domestic comparison can be regarded as modern, thus increasing the gap between themselves and those left out. Table 2. Internet owner households, type of access and proportion of Internet users in Hungary and the EU average (Eurostat, 2006) Internet owner Proportion of Proportion of Proportion of households households broadband users aged 16-74 using broadband access in user Internet access households EU 25 average 52% 32% 62% 47% Hungary 32% 22% 69% 42%

Along with the growing Internet penetration, the majority of connections are now broadband. Three quarters of households with Internet access were already connecting to the Internet by broadband as early as 2006. According to the Hungarian Central Statistic Office data for the first quarter in 2006, close to half (46%) of the total number of subscriptions (approx. 1.3 million) were some type of DSL connection, and three tenths (29%) were cable, this represents three quarters of subscribers; in the meantime, the proportion of wireless and other types of connection6 (18%) continue to rise. Table 3. The number of Internet subscriptions (pieces) by access type (KSH, 2007)

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 I. quarter

Dial-up

ISDN

xDSL

Cable modem

Leased Wireless line

Other

Sum

265 190 327 480 355 874 284 376 210 662 70 969 54 419

28 192 34 549 35 524 36 118 30 949 14 909 13 563

32 054 114 813 235 969 372 523 597 331 687 761

17 571 31 190 77 189 135 803 212 145 374 647 441 903

3 108 4 487 4 631 4 384 4 507 4 749 6 212

7 592 16 103 18 023 10 105 13 963 15 246 13 919

321 674 445 863 630 109 741 771 907 263 1 329 625 1 511 509

24 055 35 015 62 514 251 774 293 732

Similar figures were published by the National Communications Authority (NHH) in their quick report at the end of June, according to which the number of xDSL lines stood at 695 000, while the number of cable modem subscribers was 350 000.7 Based on the two pieces of data, it can be claimed that in Hungary, the number of line-based broadband subscriptions stands at just above one million. In 2006, broadband Internet represented an overwhelming

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majority over dial-up technology. Within a year, the number of dial-up subscriptions fell drastically, by approx. one third, while ISDN subscriptions – which were rather few anyway – seem to be disappearing altogether. The price of broadband access has fallen, which can partly be attributed to the internationally recognized work carried out this year by the NCA. The monthly fee for basic packages fell to below 4,000 forints (for one year of customer loyalty), which is competitive even by European comparison if we only look at the amount itself and not the purchasing power parity or the speed of the connection. Considering the last indicator, it can clearly be seen that more developed countries provide far faster connections for the same amount as in Hungary.

The rural aspect By today, it has become clear that the success of the information society very much depends on the capability of the small communities and small settlements to keep their populations. This problem is particularly critical in Hungary, where because of the peculiar structure of settlements, 36 percent of the population lives in villages. The number of the settlements possessing less than 1 000 inhabitants is over 1 700, and those with less than 500 people amount to about 1 040, so every third Hungarian settlement has less than 500 citizens. Sociologists highlight three characteristics of the underdevelopment of the declining rural regions: economic recession (which brings about organizational and institutional dissolutions), under-developed life circumstances (income, consumption, infrastructural supply and deficiencies) and the disadvantageous demographic trend: the rapid aging and natural decrease in the number of the population and so the fast reduction in the number of the inhabitants of these settlements. The geographical and infrastructural isolation of the small settlements is increasingly resulting in their socio-economic exclusion and isolation. It is important to emphasize that there are presently close to 1,000 settlements (out of almost 3,200) in Hungary in which broadband infrastructure is not accessible, since in these tiny “remote” places no return on investment can be realized, and therefore no access is provided. The New Hungary Development Plan provides for the allocation of considerable funds to support these areas, and it is hoped that these grey areas will be also be provided for by 2010, making broadband technology accessible for those who might have the greatest need for it. Five percent of the population, i.e. half a million people, lives in these grey areas. But infrastructure is not everything. There are successful initiatives in rural Hungary (the sustainable wireless network of Aparhant, in Tolna county or the unique FTTH-network of the town Bóly), which show that the community approach needs to be involved to make these initiatives work.

Conclusion Broadband internet access can contribute to rural economic and social life, but to make it happen, there are some critical steps that must be taken for achieving success. One of these is dedicated leadership with long-term and definite ideas and targeted operation approaching the problems innovatively and searching up-to-date answers. The second important thing is creating adequate demands and level of consciousness – primarily through education and spare time activities and the possibility of joining an operating system. And last but not least, precise use and planning of resources making the network sustainable even under bad economic conditions.

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The environment for broadband development has to be favorable. The National Communications Authority (NHH), awareness-raising programs from the government, and attempts at merging the top-down and bottom-up approaches are also needed for success.

References BUTE-ITTK 2007. Magyar Információs Társadalom Éves Jelentés. [Hungarian Information Society Annual Report] Available at: http://www.ittk.hu/web/docs/ITTK_MITJ_2006.pdf. Accessed 2nd April 2007. eMarketer 2007. Top 10 Countries Worldwide, Ranked by Broadband Lines, Q4 2006 Available at: http://www.emarketer.com/ Accessed April 11nd 2007. Eurostat 2006. Internet usage in the EU25. Available at: http://epp.eurostat.cec.eu.int/pls/portal/docs/PAGE/PGP_PRD_CAT_PREREL/PGE_CAT _PREREL_YEAR_2006/PGE_CAT_PREREL_YEAR_2006_MONTH_11/4-10112006EN-AP.PDF. Accessed: 2nd April 2007. KSH 2007. Gyorstájékoztató – Távközlés, internet 2007. I. negyedév. [Quick Report – Telecommunications, Internet 1th quarter 2007] Available at: http://portal.ksh.hu/pls/ksh/docs/hun/xftp/gyor/tav/tav20703.pdf. Accessed July 2nd 2007. Molnár, Sz. and Csótó, M. 2007. The missing link Journal of Community Informatics (under publication) NHH 2007. Havi vezetékes gyorsjelentés. [National Communications Authority – Monthly Quick Report on Fixed Telephone Lines]. Available at: http://www.nhh.hu/dokumentum.php?cid=12827&letolt. Accessed 22nd August 2007. Point Topic 2007. World Broadband Statistics Q4 2006 Available at: http://pointtopic.com/content/dslanalysis/World+Broadband+Statistics+Q4+2006.pdf. Accessed April 4nd 2007.

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Testing the accessibility of web pages Petr Benda1 , Václav Lohr1 Czech University of Agriculture, Prague, Faculty of Economics and Management, Department of Information Technologies, Kamýcká 129, 165 21 Prague 6 - Suchdol 1

Abstract. Currently, most Web sites and web software have accessibility barriers that make it difficult or impossible for many people with disabilities to use the Web. This article tries to characterize some reasons which can allow the creation of a barrier-free web. Main emphasis is put on the description of procedures for testing the accessibility of web pages. Keywords. Web site, web page, accessibility, barriers, handicap, impairment

Introduction Web accessibility means that people with disabilities can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with a Web site, and that they can contribute to the Internet. An accessible Web site can also help people with disabilities more actively participate in society. Currently, most Web sites and web software have accessibility barriers that make it difficult or impossible for many people with disabilities to use the Web. Evaluation of accessibility of web pages is not an invincible problem and some fundamental testing can be used for any average Internet user. If it is necessary to perform a full evaluation of web pages by a web analyst, the costs incurred would be much lower than yields resulting from accessible web sites.

Objectives and methods The objective of this paper is to describe several principles for testing the accessibility of web sites and to present ways and steps to evaluate accessible web pages. Main emphasis is put on WAI and WCAG methodology.

Results For the creation of an accessible Web site, it is necessary to observe the basic premises of accessibility, which are: • Understanding what users with various disabilities use the Internet. • Understanding what their specific needs are and what hindrances they encounter. • These specific needs affect the creation of Web sites.

Why make accessible Web sites? More business opportunities There are many more users who could use the Web site, so it presents more business opportunities. A chief fable of Web site owners is the idea that the group of handicapped people is somehow not commercially interesteing for them. But this fable cannot be held true, on closer inspection. For exemple, in the UK, the number of handicapped Internet users is estimated at 8,6 million people, and their purchasing power is on the level of 45 billion Pounds per annum. An accessible web is much more visible An accessible web is also "robot-friendly". This means that these Web sites are more open for bots, which are used by some Internet locators like Google for bypassing and indexing web pages. Through good results with locators, the visit rate may rise. In addition, this visit rate is very good aimed. Into this area belongs also SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Goodwill expansion In modern society, it is immoral to discriminate against someone. If a Web site clearly declares that nobody is discriminated against, then this Web site gives a very positive signal about it´s character and promotes itself in public in a positive way.

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Legality Many countries all over the world have already legislated against discrimination of all kinds as being unethical, yet and that form of discrimination depending on the commercial effect of accessibility is rather difficult to assess.. This is why these countries placed into their legal systems the question of accessibility.

How does one check the accessibility of web pages? Accessibility is always tested pursuant to some methodology, specification or collection of fundamentals. For example SECTION 508 or rules of WCAG 1.0. If it is necessary to check the accessibility of any web page, there are two ways how to do that: • automatic verification • hand verification Automatic verification The principle of automatic verification is very simple. For this verification of accessibility and the propriety of the source code of a web site, one can use any one of several available automatic validators. These validators can check a given page against chosen fundamentals of one methodology (most frequently WCAG). The disadvantage of most of these tests are their complicated output and the fact that robots (automatic checking programs) control only fundamentals, which can been checked automatically. Yet, most of these rules are impossible to check in this way. The main function of automatic validators is not to verify web pages completely, but to assist with the testing of some iterative and easily overlooked elements. A typical example is the attribute ALT, which must be used for description of images used in a web page or the validity of an HTML itself. After the automatic verification, should be implement hand verification. Hand verification The main principle of hand verification is testing accessibility by simulating a specific user's handicap. For example: turning-off CSS, images, JavaScript, usage of software magnifier, simulation of vision impairments. In order to edit the preview of a web page in a browser quickly and effectively, there are TOOLBARS. These programs enable one to extend an existing web browser with useful, selected tools, which can simulate many impairments. One of these is the Web Accesibility toolbar. As it is necessary to test the web page for the highest level of accessibility, it is also recommended to check the source code of a web page and ask some actual handicapped testers to assist in the testing program.

Steps of testing web sites for accessibility Evaluating web sites for accessibility can be different in two main situations, from evaluation during Web site development to ongoing monitoring of existing sites. In both cases, there are several steps and modes which are necessary, checkpoint by checkpoint.

Fundamental estimation of web pages This is the first and simplest way to check the accessibility of web pages. A fundamental estimation can quickly identify several accessibility problems on a Web site. This method does not check every accessibility issue and will not catch all of the problems on a site. A fundamental estimation is not sufficient to determine if a Web site conforms to Web accessibility guidelines (WCAG). A fundamental estimation combines manual checking of representative pages on a web site, along with the use of several semi-automatic accessibility evaluation tools. Reviewers do not need to know Web mark-up languages, but should be able to download software and 167


familiarize themselves with some evaluation tools, and change certain settings on their browser. Select a representative page sample From the Web site to be reviewed, select a representative sampling of pages that match the following criteria: • Include all pages on which people are more likely to enter the site ("welcome page"). • Include a variety of pages with different layouts and functionality, for example: o Web pages with tables, forms, or dynamically generated results o Web pages with informative images such as diagrams or graphs o Web pages with scripts or applications that perform functionality. Explore pages using graphical browsers For this exploration, it is necessary to use only a common graphical user interface (GUI) browser (such as Internet Explorer, Mozilla, Opera) and to examine the selection of pages while adjusting the settings in this browser or in the operating system, as follows (some of these manual checks may require additional software): • Turn off images, and check whether appropriate alternative text for the images is available. • Turn off the sound, and check whether audio content is still available through text equivalents. • Use browser controls to vary font-size: verify that the font size changes on the screen accordingly and that the page is still usable at larger font sizes. • Test with different screen resolution, and/or by resizing the application window to less than maximum, to verify that horizontal scrolling is not required (caution: test with different browsers, or examine code for absolute sizing, to ensure that it is a content problem and not a browser problem). • Change the display color to gray scale (or print out page in gray scale or black and white) and observe whether the color contrast is adequate. • Without using the mouse, use the keyboard to navigate through the links and form controls on a page (for example, using the "Tab" key), making sure that you can access all links and form controls, and that the links clearly indicate what they lead to. • Also examine page with scripts, style sheets, applets, and other embedded objects not loaded. [WAI] Use automated Web accessibility evaluation tools In this step it is recommended to use at least two automated Web accessibility evaluation tools to analyze the selection of pages and note any problems indicated by the tools. These tools will only check the accessibility aspects that can be tested automatically; the results from these tools should not be used to determine a conformance level without further manual testing. Summarize obtained results Summarize results obtained from previous tasks: • Summarize the types of problems encountered, as well as positive aspects that should be continued or expanded on the site. • Indicate the method by which problems were identified, and clearly state that this was not a full conformance evaluation. • Recommend follow-up steps, including full evaluation which includes validation of

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markup and other tests, and ways to address any problems identified.

Full evaluation of web sites accessibility A full evaluation determines whether a Web site meets accessibility standards, such as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). A full evaluation method combines automatic, semi-automatic, and manual testing of Web site accessibility. It can be used when developing a new site or to evaluate an existing site. This paper focuses on technical assessment only and does not include involving users with impairments. Including users in the evaluation helps to ensure that technical accessibility solutions are applied effectively. Evaluations that combine technical assessment and usability testing of accessibility can be called comprehensive evaluations and are described in the w3.org web pages. The full evaluation method described below requires: • familiarity with Web mark-up languages (such as HTML) • access to and skill with a variety of evaluation tools and approaches • knowledge and experience in Web accessibility A full evaluation includes all of the tasks below, except those that are explicitly identified as alternatives or optional. Determine the scope of the evaluation Determine and disclose scope of site to be evaluated and the targeted conformance level for the evaluation. • Determine and disclose the target conformance level of WCAG 1.0 or any other methodology. • Select a representative sampling of pages for manual evaluation that match the following criteria: • Include all pages on which people are more likely to enter the web site ("welcome page", etc.) • Include a variety of pages with different layouts and functionality, for example: o Web pages with tables, forms, or dynamically generated results o Web pages with informative images such as diagrams or graphs o Web pages with scripts or applications that perform functionality • Identify and disclose the entire Web site including all pages at a base URL for automatic and semi-automatic evaluation • If the testing of the entire site is not feasible (for example, because of its unusual size or dynamic nature) identify an expanded page selection, to be clearly explained and disclosed on the Web site. Suggestions for inclusions in this expanded page selection: pages from different sections of the Web site, pages representing different "look & feel", pages representing different development tools and processes including those generated from databases, pages produced under different guidelines, "contact us" pages, etc. If any area of a site is excluded from evaluation, be sure to disclose this information. [WAI] Use Web accessibility evaluation tools • Validate markup including syntax and style sheets, using all applicable validators, on the selected sample of pages. Run at least one validation tool across entire Web site: o HTML Validation service o HTML Tidy o CSS Validation service o MathML Validator

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• Use at least two Web accessibility evaluation tools on the selected sample of pages and run at least one tool across the entire Web site (or expanded page selection). Manually evaluate representative page sample Examine the selected sample of pages using checkpoints from the Checklist of Checkpoints for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 that are applicable to web site. Applicable can mean checkpoints that cannot be evaluated by automatic or semi-automatic tools (for example, if site contains no audio content, skip those). [WAI] Examine pages using graphical browsers This is the same step as in fundamental estimation of web pages. Examine pages using specialized browsers Examine the selected sample of pages with one text browser, such as Lynx and at least one voice browser and answer the following questions: • With text browser: o Is equivalent information and function (for example, links and scripted events) available through the text browser as is available through the GUI browser? o Is the information presented in a meaningful order when read serially? • With voice browser: o Is equivalent information available through the voice browser as is available through the GUI browser? o Is the information presented in a meaningful order when spoken serially? o For settings where there is limited choice of assistive technologies, also perform a manual evaluation of the Web site with those assistive technologies. [WAI] Summarize and report findings Summarize any problems and best practices identified for each page type and a representative URL, and method by which they were identified. Recommend follow-up steps, potentially including: • Repair of accessibility barriers identified through full evaluation process. • Expanding positive aspects on site. • Ongoing maintenance and monitoring of site. [WAI]

Conclusion Many web site creators do not keep universal accessibility of the web pages they construct. So, in additional construction of accessibility of web sites the expenses are increasing. By complying with the principles of accessibility to the progression of web site development, no created extensive sections of inaccessible web pages are created. If the web sites are created by the rules and principles of accessibility, there are pages which are necessary to re-make. Thus, by making web sites accessible from the beginning, one saves time and costs.

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References MINDŽÁK, Robert. Dokonalý Web Design. 1. vyd. Praha: Computer Press, 2002. 170 s. ISBN 80-7226-576-8. NIELSEN, Jakob. Design Web Usability: The Practice of Simplicity. VALÍK, Ladislav. Web Design. 1. vyd. Praha: SoftPress s.r.o., 2002. 390 s. ISBN 80-86497-27-5. ŠPINAR, David. Tvoříme přístupné webové stránky. 1. vyd. Brno: Zoner Press, 2004, 360 s. ISBN 80-86815-11-0 “Evaluating Web Sites for Accessibility: Overview” [online]. [cit. 3. May 2007]. Available from www ROBBINS, J.N.: Web design in a Nutshell. Third edition. O´Reilly Media, 2006, 800 s. ISBN 0-596-00987-9. ŠPINAR, David. Přístupnost. [online]. Praha: H1.cz. [cit. 3. February 2007]. Available from www < http://pristupnost.nawebu.cz/weblog/blogpost.php?post=117 > ŠPINAR, David. Přístupnost. [online]. Praha: H1.cz. [cit. 2. February 2007]. Available from www < http://pristupnost.nawebu.cz/weblog/blogpost.php?post=114 > "HTML 4.01 Recommendation", D. Raggett, A. Le Hors, and I. Jacobs, eds., Available from www < www.w3.org/TR/1999/REC-html401-19991224/ > "Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0", W. Chisholm, G. Vanderheiden, and I. Jacobs, eds., Available from www < www.w3.org/TR/1999/WAI-WEBCONTENT-19990505/ >

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Web applications development with examples Lohr, Václav1 - Benda, Petr1 - Jedličková, Žaneta1 Czech University of Life Sciences, Prague, Faculty of Economics and Management, Department of Information Technologies, Kamýcká 129, 165 21 Prague 6 - Suchdol 1

Abstract. This paper presents information about possibilities of web application development on the basis of selected examples. The authors have experiences with their own web applications and their intention is to present them. The first part of the paper describes how to integrate static web pages with services, together with strengths and weaknesses of each method. The main attention is focused on the examples of practical applications, e.g. an interconnection with weather services using METAR and TAF data codes used in aviation, a short message service provided by mobile operators, a calendar interoperability in iCal format or RSS technology. Examples of the source code in AJAX, PHP and ASP are also included. Keywords. Web, Web Site, Applications, Web 2.0, Examples, AJAX, PHP, Weather, iCalendar, RSS, SMS

Introduction A new outline of web site design increasingly uses web services. The goal of this article is to show some possibilities for their usage. Usually, services providing content for web pages are included into their code. The integration of other sources is possible in a few different ways: • by iframe • using framesets • by ajax • and using server technologies

Web applications integration Iframe The integration by using the iframe technology is quite easy and does not require much special knowledge. A webmaster (or an editor) only needs to know where to include the content, the expected size and the URL. Syntax of the iframe element in HTML is [1]:

The Iframe as an element cannot be used in XHTML 1.1 Strict version.

Frameset Framesets should be used only when it is not possible to do it any other way. Frames are necessary in some internet applications, because they lower the volume of data flow. One good example of such an application is an internet chat. However, there are AJAX techniques which are able to avoid the use of framesets.

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AJAX AJAX and JavaScript technology is one of the most modern ways to enrich the functionality of web applications. The term AJAX for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML has been used for the first time in February 2005, although JavaScript had already been supporting asynchronous requests since 2004. AJAX uses XMLHttpRequest [5] object (XHR) for remote calls for data. It is used in some well known services like Google's Gmail, Meebo, Google Maps, Windows Live's Virtual Earth or the MapQuest. [2] Unfortunately, this technology has many versions (like HTML) and therefore there were attempts to standardize it's functionality and multi-project supporting object-like look of javascript like Prototype.js [4] or ASP.net AJAX had arised [3]. Here is one example of AJAX usage in JavaScript (ECMAScript) by w3c [5]: function test(data) { // taking care of data } function handler() { if(this.readyState == 4 && this.status == 200) { // so far so good if(this.responseXML != null && this.responseXML.getElementById('test').firstChild.data) // success! test(this.responseXML.getElementById('test').firstChild.data); else test(null); } else if (this.readyState == 4 && this.status != 200) { // fetched the wrong page or network error... test(null); } } var client = new XMLHttpRequest(); client.onreadystatechange = handler; client.open("GET", "test.xml"); client.send();

This technology has one security-based restriction against iframe or framesets. This is an unavailability of pages (data) not located at the same web server (or even in the same URL path).

Server technologies Restriction of AJAX still can be suppressed by the use of server-side techniques. Server programming languages can read remote web pages too. ASP Example [6]: <% Dim objWinHttp Dim strHTML Set objWinHttp = Server.CreateObject("WinHttp.WinHttpRequest.5.1") objWinHttp.Open "GET", "http://www.example.com/samples/httpsamp.asp" objWinHttp.Send

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Response.Write objWinHttp.ResponseText Set objWinHttp = Nothing %>

PHP Example:

In combination of server-side and client-side methods, there is a chance for building interactive web sites rich in user supporting elements. With a server programming interaction, several web services have been prepared. We would like to present some of our own solutions.

Examples Examples of services for web sites: • a short message service support • a meteorological forecast • calendar services • rss feeds

The Short message service support This service ostensibly does not relate with internet technologies, it is a part of telecommunications domain. The SMS is a service offered by telecommunication operators among cellular, classical phones and also in the direction from web sites to terminal stations. The operators' web sites in the Czech Republic provide for sending text messages to their clients. Two of three operators are doing this free of charge. The term of its use consists of cribbing a code from an image. It is a result of securing the service against a spam. If anybody wants to send a text message to a cellular phone, it is possible to do it for free through web pages. This situation raises the idea that it may be possible to integrate the described service into any web page as an extra component. Unfortunately, operators do not have any API for this. It had been tested before that it is possible to use server-side technologies figuring as a proxy server between a client and an operator. The use of AJAX with cooperation in serverside technologies in this service is now in testing phase. [7]

The Meteorological forecast For the meteorological forecast for websites, there are numerous applications and practices which can be used. The official hydrometeorological authority in the Czech Republic is the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute [8]. This institution offers a variety of services about weather forecast, air quality, water conditions and other radar and satellite observations. Most of the services are general and free of charge and some of them are exact and special, but pay sites. Other information is provided by the Air Navigation Services of the Czech Republic [9]. It is possible to get data used by airplane navigators which have to be very specific and exact. Unfortunately, it contains some specialties like weather conditions near runways, but it does not contain general and usually needed data such as a forecast of air temperature. This latter information is not that important for pilots, when stratospheric temperatures decline below minus fifty degrees Celsius. Information for air navigation is encoded in so-called METAR (from the French, "message d’observation météorologique régulière pour l’aviation") and TAF

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messages [10]. METARs and TAFs or - in some cases of unexpected weather changes so called SPECIs - can be obtained from the Air Navigation Services of the Czech Republic website or from information provided for all main airports worldwide, and it is possible to use the U.S. National Weather Service - METAR Data Access [11]. This is a service provided by the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), U.S. Department of Commerce [12]. The METAR information service provision is based on ICAO airport codes [13]. (ICAO is abbreviation for the International Civil Aviation Organization.) The Czech Republic has 4 letter long codes starting with "LK" (Prague International airport has a LKPR code). Hungary has the LH code prefix and Debrecen International Airport has the ICAO LHDC code. A complete handbook for understanding METAR and TAF codes is available in English as a Federal Meteorological Handbook of the Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorology [14]. Software libraries in PERL, PHP or in Python for these codes have been developed [10]. One of the software libraries developed by the author can be found on the author's home page, too. It is presented in the Czech language, in full sentences.

Calendar services As a good example of a web calendar service, the iCalendar exchange format [15] can be mentioned. This format is a standard for a calendar data exchange and implements RFC 2445 [16]. Wikipedia [15] says, this format is used for an e-mail interchange, but there are http servers widely used providing iCal (as in abbreviation of "iCalendar") content. The iCal data can be situated in a single file and they are encapsulated similarly to XML. iCalendar is a version "2.0" of VCALENDAR and the basics of it's ancestor are notable.

Figure 1. AJAX iCalendar Application for working hours counting iCalendar has it's own body introduced by "BEGIN:VCALENDAR" and enclosed by "END:VCALENDAR" rows. The body consists of a header and a collection mixed from events, to-do items, journal entries, requests for free/busy time, definitions for time zones and alarms. Example of the iCal source: 1 BEGIN:VCALENDAR 2 PRODID:-//Google Inc//Google Calendar 70.9054//EN 3 VERSION:2.0 4 CALSCALE:GREGORIAN 5 METHOD:PUBLISH 6 X-WR-CALNAME:Rozvrh 7 X-WR-TIMEZONE:Europe/Prague

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8 X-WR-CALDESC: 9 BEGIN:VTIMEZONE 10 TZID:Europe/Prague 11 X-LIC-LOCATION:Europe/Prague 12 BEGIN:DAYLIGHT 13 TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 14 TZOFFSETTO:+0200 15 TZNAME:CEST 16 DTSTART:19700329T020000 17 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=3;BYDAY=-1SU 18 END:DAYLIGHT 19 BEGIN:STANDARD 20 TZOFFSETFROM:+0200 21 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 22 TZNAME:CET 23 DTSTART:19701025T030000 24 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=10;BYDAY=-1SU 25 END:STANDARD 26 END:VTIMEZONE 27 BEGIN:VEVENT 28 DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Prague:20070828T180000 29 DTEND;TZID=Europe/Prague:20070830T103000 30 DTSTAMP:20070814T153451Z 31 ORGANIZER;CN=Rozvrh:MAILTO:[email protected] 32 alendar.google.com 33 UID:[email protected] 34 CLASS:PUBLIC 35 CREATED:20070814T152525Z 36 LAST-MODIFIED:20070814T152525Z 37 LOCATION:the University of Debrecen 38 SEQUENCE:0 39 STATUS:CONFIRMED 40 SUMMARY:At the University of Debrecen 41 TRANSP:OPAQUE 42 END:VEVENT 43 END:VCALENDAR

Inner parts are indented for optical reasons - the original source is not indented and does not include line numbers. Lines are splited after 76 characters - as traditionally in Base 64 encoded e-mails. At the line number 1 iCal starts. Lines 2-8 consists from Product ID information, version of iCalendar, a method (which means the type of message) and calendar details. Lines 9 to 26 are occupied by the time zone information. It consists of the specification of a time zone ID (Europe/Prague) and 2 parts about a standard time and a daylight saving time. These parts include information about their periodicity and the changes of a time view. At the line 27 an example event starts. It consists of a start time, an end time, a stamp (if it has been published), a creation time, and a time of a last modification, a name of a calendar, a location, a summary and a status. Splited lines - like the line 31 continuing on 32 - have all parts except the first one prefixed by the space character. If the information is decoded with this rule being omitted, the information carried by the code could be misinterpreted.

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At PHP the decoding routine can look like the following example: $buffer = str_replace(chr(13).chr(10).chr(32),"",$buffer);

This joins all new lines (in the $buffer - string variable) starting with the space character with previous ones. The calendar information obtained from the selected sources can be used for various kinds of utilization. Possible alternatives include information about a free time, a calculation of working hours or a comparison of a work time with an estimated duration of scheduled tasks.

RSS feeds The RSS service has four different versions. These are versions 0.9, 0.9x, 1.0 and 2.0. Every version has its own specifics, but all of them are based on XML. The 1.0 version is applied using RDF. The simplest versions for developers are 0.9x and 2.0. Those are using a light XML code and are the easiest to understand. Syndication has different types of use, but it is always connected with specific types of readers. There are AJAX readers like Google Reader [17], PHP and ASP readers or even standalone applications. An interesting way of a RSS usage stands in specifying tags (or keywords) which a user wants to watch and in applying them to the one of the popular web syndicators. There are examples of this type of use: • http://del.icio.us/rss/tag/debrecen • http://feeds.technorati.com/search/prague Del.icio.us generates RSS 1.0 in XML+RDF and Technorati produces RSS 2.0. Web sites can now act as self-learning objects and are able to react to "web climatic conditions". It is possible to connect websites with feeds and interoperate together with readers and clients.

Conclusion This paper shows different ways of web service integration into web sites and gives examples of web services. The Web 2.0 idea had started with mixes and mashups of sources and an aggregation of information. Tagging, social networks or blogging are only small pieces of all the Web 2.0 technologies. The Internet has much more users than ever before and it also has many more publishers. People want to communicate, share and exchange - files, notes, ideas. Web sites are no longer static. Dynamic web content moves the world.

References Federal Meteorological Handbook Number 1, Surface Weather Observations and Reports. 2005. Federal Coordinator for Meteorological Services and Supporting Research. Maryland, United States of America. Available at: http://www.ofcm.gov/fmh1/pdf/FMH1.pdf. Accesed 15 July 2007. Dawson, F., Stenerson, D. 1998. Internet Calendaring and Scheduling Core Object Specification (iCalendar). Network Working Group, The Internet Society. Available at: http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2445. Accesed 25 July 2007. Aastr, G., Edwards, P., Preece A. Learning Meta-Descriptions of the FOAF Network. Computing Science Dept., King’s College, University of Aberdeen, Scotland. Available at: http://www.csd.abdn.ac.uk/~ggrimnes/pubs/LearningFOAFDesc.pdf. Accessed 5 August 2007.

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Appendix Internet sources: [1] http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/present/frames.html [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XMLHttpRequest [3] http://ajax.asp.net [4] http://www.prototypejs.org [5] http://www.w3.org/TR/XMLHttpRequest/ [6] http://www.asp101.com/samples/winhttp5.asp [7] http://sms.brtnik.info [8] http://www.chmi.cz [9] http://meteo.rlp.cz [10] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/METAR [11] http://weather.noaa.gov/weather/metar.shtml [12] http://www.noaa.gov/ [13] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Civil_Aviation_Organization_airport_code [14] http://www.ofcm.gov/fmh-1/pdf/FMH1.pdf [15] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICalendar [16] http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2445 [17] http://www.google.com/reader/view/

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Difference between classical and virtual types of education Petr Benda1 , Václav Lohr1, Jan David1 1

Czech University of Agriculture, Prague, Faculty of Economics and Management, Department of Information Technologies, Kamýcká 129, 165 21 Prague 6 - Suchdol Abstract. Creation of e-learning courses and learning from them do not fit into the classical conception of education. Our modern age demands comprehensive changes in all spheres of human activities, and this is no different for education. This paper describes differences between classical and virtual education and several advantages of the new virtual model of learning. Keywords. LMS, classical learning model, virtual learning model, Moodle, e-learning.

Introduction The usage of modern education systems not only brings any conveniences, but poses some specific pretensions to participants of the educational process too. These participants are pedagogues and also students. Creation of first-rate virtual (e-learning) course requires understanding and taking on unprecedented problems. For effective learning in such courses through computers, it is equally necessary to change educational habits.

Objectives and methods The objective of this paper is to describe some differences between classical and virtual type education and several advantages of the new virtual model of learning.

Results Creation of e-learning courses and learning from them do not fit into the classical conception of education. Our modern age demands comprehensive changes in all spheres of human activities, and this is no different for education. Added value, i.e. activities which bring changes in the conception of teaching, is considerably returned in terms of savings in energy and time.

Classical learning model This learning model, which is illustrated in the picture below, mainly proceeds from a nonreversible flow of information. At the beginning is the pedagogue, which governs the course. For students, pedagogue offers information, knowledge and educational materials mostly in the representation of educational lecture notes for lessons. For the most part the feedback is weak, inconsistent, or even missing. Educational material is not developed or revisioned frequently and its updating is carry on by the preparation of new lecture notes, so it happens often few years after the last print-out. In today's time it is absolutely deficient, especially in the lessons which are fixed on the fast developing areas of IT. Development in IT sphere and programming assume such speed, that at the time of publication release in paper form is this publication often out of date. Any educational material, which is created by the students is, in the classical conception of education, only partially shared, mostly among near friends only, by the help of email or by the private web pages. Any new student’s pieces of knowledge for the studied topics are not well broadcasted. In this type of teaching, communication proceeds vertically in direction from teacher to student and horizontally among the students. There is an imaginary barrier in communication between a pedagogue and students. It is created by the limitation of time availability of pedagogue and by the interval between separate lessons in which students can communicate and ask for the topics.

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Figure 1. Classical learning model scheme

Virtual education environment – e-learning model By the usage of virtual education environment is original learning model modified from nonreversible flow of informations to bilateral, because feedback is there much better used. The teacher still governs the course, but his educational materials subsided to be fundamental. Student can contribute as their knowledge, and so they can support the lessons by their educational materials. Another benefit is quality intervention of students communication within the course. If it is needed, pedagogue can take a part in this communication channel too. Lecture notes not have to be major axis of study for given theme already. In conjunction with actual articles from laid areas, contributions of students or discussion forums, they are only one of source of informations for the course. These resources serve to the next cavity of knowledge of students and pedagogue. Virtual education environment by it’s communications and publication assets innovates feedback of students, simplicity and effectiveness teaching and oversimplify teamwork of students with pedagogue. Concerning to the digital publications, their updating is enable almost immediately. In this case is enable horizontal and so the vertical communication, because virtual education environment offers excellent communications assets. Leisure of usage of these communications assets challenge students, to solve and consult their problems associated with the education at once. For required information can student often gets much more fairly, than in classical model of education. Purchased information is further spontaneously broadcasted and it can be managed by the pedagogue remotelly. Pedagogue can save the time from redundant consultations for many students on the same theme. In addition the pedagogue can this consultation control remotelly for example by means of forums and he has quality feedback from most of his students at the same time. On following illustration it is possible to evaluate the way of the flow of informations.

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Figure 2. Virtual education environment scheme

Functions of virtual course As it was already mentioned, effective utilization of virtual education environment yields demands on partial changes of the conception of education and special knowledge of the pedagogue on the one side. On the other side it brings changes in educational habits of students. Already, student is not tightly managed in education and the informations are not just inserted to him. Student participates on the creation of education, he is an active part of education process and he can absorb useful knowledge independently on the source of information. The sources of informations are not need to be just from pedagogue or lecture notes. This type of student can much better find and process new information and extract from them needed knowledge. By this way, compared to his surroundings, he obtains needed competitive advantage.

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Figure 3. Function of virtual course Student encounters the applied theme for several times and from many different angles. For the first time, student learns the theme at the lecture, when there is the theme submitted for him with minimum interaction. He will use these informations further on the lessons and in the virtual learning environment. For the students is virtual learning environment the same place as the virtual education environment for the pedagogue. Really it is the same e-learning course, for example a Moodle system course. Next time the student apprise of the theme on a lesson more closely and he can assume some of fundamental knowledge practically. Next step is the study of materials in virtual learning environment, that contains not only documentation, which was used at the lecture and exercising, but also further informations, that are necessary, to gain the most of needed knowledge. Next step is examination of student’s understanding, for example by the force of short test or questionary. Student can recognize, if he understands the theme enough, in case of need which will parts affected the greatest problems to him. Next step is final exemination and impromevent of the course. In addition in virtual learning environment it is possible, by the help of suitable selected modular tests, to motivate students to the next self education and competing to others. Students can dispute their works mutually, the can trench for example to the classification of essays and so they are directly interested in the results of studies of their course mates. By these and many of another activities they are further motivated to self personal education.

Conclusion By the suitable change in the conception of education, it is possible to achieve the top utilization of ICT and get pronounced savings of resources. By the utilization of virtual education environment is student motivated for self study, and for team work too. He is able to find completive matterials alone, and so he can participate on the development of the course. Education material is faster evoluated and modified. Students are actively shared upon these changes and so they can find much more entertain in the learning process.

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References Havlíček, Z., et al. Podpora elektronického vzdělávání na ČZU v Praze, závěrečná zpráva projektu. Praha 2007. ISBN 978-80-213-1620-1 Havlíček, J. a kol. Koncepce virtuálního vzdělávání na PEF ČZU. Praha 2001. ISBN 80–2130861–3. Jan, David. LMS Moodle – implementace na ČZU, diplomová práce. KIT, PEF, CZU. 2007. Pavlíček, J. Základy e-didaktiky pro e-tutory. Ostravská univerzita v Ostravě, Ostrava: 2003. 80-7042-921-6. Veselý, V. VUT FAST v Brně, [on-line]. [cit. 5th of May 2007]. Available from www: < http://www.uk-mba.cz/>

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Moodle and LAMS integration Péter Lengyel, Róbert Szilágyi, Miklós Herdon University of Debrecen Centre of Agricultural Sciences, Faculty of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, Department. of Business and Agricultural Informatics 4032 Debrecen Böszörményi u. 138. Abstract. LAMS (Learning Activity Management System) is a revolutionary new tool for designing, managing and delivering online collaborative learning activities. It provides teachers with a highly intuitive visual authoring environment for creating sequences of learning activities. Moodle is an open source course management system. LAMS and Moodle integration is about Moodle being able to call LAMS. LAMS is to be integrated with Moodle, with LAMS acting as either a course format or as an activity within Moodle. Keywords. LAMS, Moodle, LMS, e-learning.

Introduction LAMS (Learning Activity Management System) is a revolutionary new tool for designing, managing and delivering online collaborative learning activities. It provides teachers with a highly intuitive visual authoring environment for creating sequences of learning activities. These activities can include a range of individual tasks, small group work and whole class activities based on both content and collaboration. LAMS can be used as a stand alone system or in combination with other learning management systems (LMS) such as Moodle. LAMS provides teachers with a visual authoring environment for creating, storing and reusing sequences of learning activities. Teachers drag and drop activities into the authoring interface and then join the activities together to produce a learning sequence. This workflow model is what principally distinguishes LAMS from other more content based LMS by providing teachers and learners with sequences of activities with a high level of interactivity and collaboration. LAMS has a wide range of tools designed to be used for a range of pedagogical approaches, by teachers and students with varying levels of technical expertise. Moodle is an open source course management system. LAMS is to be integrated with Moodle, with LAMS acting as either a course format or as an activity within Moodle. The integration will be done using Moodle 1.8.2 and LAMS 2.0.4.

LAMS integrations LAMS works well as a stand-alone e-learning system. It can also be integrated with other educational software such as a Learning Management System (LMS)/Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), or Student Management System (SMS). For example, we can use LMS for general course administration and to provide a central webpage for our course. We can then add a link (URL) from this course page into LAMS for sequences of online activities. When students log in to the LMS, one of the links on the course page could read Click here for LAMS activities, and when students click on this link, they are taken into LAMS to choose the relevant activity sequence. In this example, the simplest type of integration just requires to add a link (URL) on the course page to LAMS server. When students click on this link, they would need to log in to LAMS using their LAMS username and password. This type of integration is possible today with almost all web-based educational software. A more sophisticated type of integration is where LAMS relies on the LMS to provide student details to it in the background so that students do not have to log in separately to LAMS. Similar integration is also possible for teachers so they do not need to log in separately to LAMS, and also to make it easier for teachers to author LAMS sequences and add them into the LMS course page directly. Sophisticated integration requires two steps: (1) initial development of integration software

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to link the two systems, and (2) configuration of this integration software with your local LAMS system. The second step would normally be conducted by your local system administrators. The first step is the subject of this paper. The integration between LAMS and other educational software systems are either supported by or approved by the LAMS Foundation and LAMS International. Any software is useable that is able to integrate with LAMS. The LAMS-LMS integration is quite straight forward. In all cases we have developed a small connecting module in the LMS that acts as a bridge between the LMS and LAMS. This LMS LAMS Module will have to be installed in the LMS if you want to integrate it with LAMS. This LMS integration modules are mainly responsible for the following: 1. Work as liason between the LMS and LAMS. 2. Call the LAMS webservices to get information about sequences and classes. 3. Provide interface for LAMS Monitor and Authoring. 4. Provide the authentication for LAMS (using a hash generated on-the-fly). 5. Provide an interface for LAMS to get basic information about users. 6. Behaves in the LMS just like any other LMS' tool.

Figure 1. Communication bothways between LAMS and the LMS

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LAMS integration with Moodle Requirements Moodle is an existing system, written in PHP and runs on Apache. LAMS is written in Java and requires a J2EE engine to run, including EJB support. Current LAMS runs on JBOSS 4.0.2. JBOSS can be run with Apache, using the mod_jk2 module, so it should be possible to run Moodle and LAMS on the same server. Some more investigation may be needed here – most examples given for JBOSS use Apache2, but PHP needs a prefork MPM version of Apache 2, or Apache 1.x to run reliably. However some institutions may wish to run with LAMS and Moodle on separate servers. Thus, an integration that is capable of working across servers would be ideal.

Getting LAMS and Moodle to communicate LAMS and Moodle integration is about Moodle being able to call LAMS. This is the opposite approach to wrapping a third party tool up for use with LAMS. The following areas need to be addressed by the integration: • User Authentication: LAMS should not require users to log in – it should carry over the user and their privileges from Moodle. There are two aspects to this: setting up of users and session classes to support the Moodle users, and single sign-on. • Creation/Authoring of Sequences: The teacher must be able to create LAMS learning designs, or sequences from within Moodle. This will require the integration of the LAMS authoring module into Moodle. A teacher must also be able to select an existing design for using in a Moodle course. This involves LAMS functionality, which is currently made available via monitoring. • Lesson Management: The LAMS Moodle activity will need to trigger the automatic set up of a lesson, along with the appropriate session class, based on a design previously selected in Moodle. • Learner: The integration must support a Moodle learner being able to participate in a LAMS sequence. This will involve the LAMS Moodle Activity calling the LAMS Learner module. The integration of LAMS and Moodle will not support LAMS accessing Moodle tools. For example, if a teacher wants to run a forum within a LAMS sequence, they must use the LAMS forum, not the Moodle forum. If the teacher wishes the students to use the Moodle forum, they should put in a Noticeboard activity, which tells the students to go to the Moodle forum. Below are the steps we need to take to get LAMS and Moodle to be integrated. In this case they are on the same server. We have LAMS 2.0.4 installed on port 8080 and Moodle 1.8.2 installed on port 80. 1. login in LAMS as a sysadmin. 2. Select the Sys Admin link. 3. Select Maintain Integrated Servers. 4. Setup the fields as appropriate. (Figure 2.) • Id: this is the server identification string that we will use to individually identify the LMS server that will be "talking" to LAMS.

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• Key: this is the secret key that both systems will be used to encrypt the hash when doing authentication. Make sure you keep your server key private • Name: the server name. • Description: a meaningful server description. • Prefix: the prefix that the usernames will have in LAMS. • Organisation: Either use an existing Group within LAMS or create a new Group. • User Information URL: This is the callback userinfo URL that is used by LAMS to retrieve personal information about the user from the LMS. • Timeout URL: A webpage that should be displayed if the LAMS/Moodle timeout trying to talk to each other.

Figure 2. Configuration the Moodle server in LAMS

LAMS Activity Module A LAMS Activity Module and a LAMS course format will need to be written for Moodle. They will have access to the Moodle tables, and will be responsible for meeting the requirements of a Moodle tool. They will communicate with the LAMS server via web services. A LAMS Activity Module may be based on the sample module template available from the Moodle.org website or by an existing module. A LAMS course format will also need to be written. This should be done based on the topic course format. There will be a number of cron-based tasks that will be needed for both the activity and course module. These include • Adding new users to a lesson, based on recent enrolments (call to a LAMS webservice, updates LAMS). • Marking a user as left, based on recent unenrolments (call to a LAMS webservice, updates LAMS). • Get the user’s current progress in a LAMS lesson (call to a LAMS webservice). If it has changed since the last event, create a log entry for display in the recent events section.

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Here are the steps how we can install the LAMS module: 1. Download the Moodle installation code from http://wiki.lamsfoundation.org/display/lams/Downloads#Downloads-moodle 2. Unzip the file 3. Move the lamstwo directory to moodle/mod/ 4. Move the lamstwo.php file to moodle/lang/en_utf8/ 5. Login as admin and go to admin. Click on the Notifications and LAMS tables will be created automatically. Go to modules and click settings for LAMS2 module and put the proper values in. (Figure 3.) 6. Enter the LAMS server URL, server_id, server_key and request_source. When a teacher runs the LAMS authoring client (when adding an activity) and the teacher saves a sequence, the Saved message will have a button Close and return to {request_source}. If this button is clicked, then the LAMS authoring client will close and the list of sequences on the add activity screen will update automatically. So the request_source should be set to a name that your users understand e.g. Moodle, the add LAMS activity screen.

Figure 3. Settings for LAMS2 module

LAMS Course Format An integrated Moodle and LAMS will behave in two distinct manners: LAMS running as course format and LAMS running as an activity in another course format. When the teacher wishes to make heavy use of LAMS to run a number of sequences within a course, they will use the LAMS course format. In this manner, LAMS will occupy the bulk of the Moodle window and will remain in the window while the user is in the course. LAMS will probably be inserted using an IFRAME. When using LAMS as a Course format, other Moodle activities will still be available. They will appear at the bottom of the screen. Clicking on such an activity needs to pop up a new window, with the breadcrumbs at the top altered to start with the Activity Name. That is, the entries for Moodle and the course name will need to be removed to stop the user bringing up the main course window in the popup window, as that would result in LAMS being displayed twice.

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LAMS Activity When the teacher wishes to use a few of LAMS sequences within much larger Moodle courses, they may use the activity manner. In this way, the teacher selects LAMS as they would any Moodle activity, uses an activity creation page to link across to the authoring module. Once the activity is created, the lesson is started automatically. It will display a simple screen in the activity page, similar to the base LAMS screen. It would open a popup window for LAMS. This will allow the maximum amount of screen space for the LAMS interface. As with the standard LAMS, if the user has only one role then the appropriate interface will pop up automatically. If the user has multiple roles then the user will have to select which interface they want.

Conclusion Moodle is a Course Management System for managing flexible communities of learners through a dynamic website. LAMS is a Learning Design system for creating and running structured sequences of collaborative learning activities. Moodle and LAMS are complementary e-learning systems. The foundation for integration between Moodle and LAMS is Single-Sign-On, meaning that only one name and password is needed for each user across the two systems. There are two further points of integration: 1. LAMS as a Moodle Activity: this means a LAMS sequence can be added as an individual activity within a Moodle course 2. LAMS as a Moodle Course Format: this involves a new Moodle Course Format that is centred around one or more LAMS sequences

References What is LAMS? http://wiki.lamsfoundation.org/display/lamsdocs/About+LAMS#AboutLAMS-whatIs LAMS v2.0 Integration Setup Step-by-Step Guide, http://wiki.lamsfoundation.org/display/lams/ LAMS Administration’s Guide for LAMS, 2005, LAMS International James Dalziel, 2005: LAMS Teacher’s Guide LAMS International Fiona Malikoff, 2005: Moodle Integration Report, Version 1.2, LAMS International

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On the role of animation in teaching mathematics Imre Kocsis1 University of Debrecen CAS Faculty of Engineering 4028 Debrecen, Ótemető u. 2-4., Hungary 1

Abstract. In this paper, we give a short survey of a process which aims to increase the effectiveness of mathematics teaching in the training of engineers using computer software for support. To advance the use of IT in teaching, we launched a project in which the curriculum was modified and animations were constructed in a mathematics course for mechanical engineers. One of the most important goals of our teaching method is to show the connection between theory and practice. Keywords. visualization, differential equation, engineering education

Introduction Presently, we have to face considerable difficulties in higher engineering education. The most serious problem is the limited number of contact lessons in mathematics provided by the curricula of engineering faculties. This situation results in students who are unable to understand the fundamentals of relevant forms of mathematics and who are further unable to use these to solve mathematical and/or technical problems. Moreover, they cannot find the connection between the different occurrences of the same notion or idea. [3] To handle these problems, new ways have to be found to increase the effectiveness of the teaching process. The visualization possibilities, provided by up-to-date IT, assist in finding new methods and suitable approaches to present some parts of the curriculum. It is widely accepted that visualization is a powerful tool in the learning process of engineering subjects. [4] Combining abstract notions with practical, technical problems and applying graphical tools can be more effective. Well-planned representations may have a strong impact on the lectures, showing the concrete content of the notions discussed in a course, and can be an important source of motivation for the students. Our example (from the area of differential equations) shows a possible way in the training of engineers and in the developing teaching methodology. Our method can be adopted in any area of mathematics education.

A problem investigated by MAPLE animation The theoretical background In the subject of second order differential equations, as an example, we can investigate the second order differential equation y" ( x ) = 1 + y' ( x ) 2 . Students can learn the solution method and can determine the solution functions, but limiting ourselves to calculations in the mathematical model is not motivating enough for them. [2] At this point, we can present the well-known problem of a flexible heavy cord fixed at its ends: let x→y(x) be the function describing the shape of the cord (Fig.1). It is known that with the assumption y’(0)=0 the function y satisfies the following second order (nonlinear) differential equation y" ( x ) = k ⋅ 1 + y' ( x ) 2 where k>0 is a parameter (depending on geometrical and physical characteristic data). Interpreting the solution students can see the goal of the investigation of the equation from technical point of view.

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Figure 1 Heavy cord fixed at its ends

An example in the subject of differential equations Our aim is to show the connection between the theory and the practice. To do this, we continue reducing the level of abstraction. In our experience, the following example is concrete enough to motivate the students and suitable to assist the whole learning process: fix the ends of a flexible heavy cord at two points in the same height having 10 [m] distance between them. Suppose that the maximum admitted bending is 3 [m]. Determine the maximum length of the cord. (Fig. 2)

Figure 2 The sketch of the problem One possible way to answer our question is to solve the equation (by hand or with computer) and investigate the cosine hyperbolic function provided as a solution. But we follow another way: we use animation (created by Maple) to obtain an approximate value for the maximum length of the cord.

Solving the problem with animation We manipulate with two Maple commands: command DEplot provides the graph of the solution function of an initial value problem, while command animate generates a series of pictures according to the changing value of a parameter. To study our problem, we are changing the value of k and checking the value of the solution function at 5 [m], y(5). Increasing the value of the parameter k in the differential equation, y(5) is also increasing. Let us fix the step size (ε>0) and let us run the animation with values k = ε, 2ε, 3ε, …. Controlling the modification of the graphs we can determine an approximate maximum value of k satisfying y(5)≤3. It is clear that the smaller ε is, the more accurate the approximation is. Simplifying the calculation, we assume that y(0)=0 [m]. It means that we consider the following initial value problem: y" ( x ) = k 1 + y' ( x ) 2 ,

on the domain x∈[-5,5].

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y(0)=0,

y’(0)=0


To construct the animation we combine MAPLE commands DEplot and animate by the following > restart:with(plots):with(DEtools): > DE:=diff(y(x),x$2)=k*sqrt(1+(diff(y(x),x)^2)); > animate(DEplot,[DE,y(x),x=-5..5,[[y(0)=0,D(y)(0)=0]], linecolor=black,stepsize=0.1],k=0..0.3,frames=31,background= plot(3,t=-5..5,colour=blue,thickness=3));

The value of k is changing gradually from 0 to 0.3 the step size is 0.01 [Nm]. The following figures (Fig. 3-6) show the result of these commands. We can see four steps of the animation: k1=1, k2=1.5, k3=2, k4=2.2. We can see that kmax=2.2, approximately.

Figure 3 The solution when k=1

Figure 4 The solution when k=1.5

Figure 5 The solution when k=2

Figure 6 The solution when k=2.2

From the maximum value of k (kmax) we can calculate the maximum length of the cord (Lmax) using the following relation [1]: 2

2

1⎞ ⎛1⎞ ⎛ s 2 + ⎜ ⎟ = ⎜ y( x ) + ⎟ k⎠ ⎝k⎠ ⎝ where y is the solution function (the shape of the cord) for the parameter value k, and s is the length of the curve AB. (Fig.7)

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Figure 7 Calculation of the length of the cord Thus we have 2

2

2

2

1⎞ ⎛1⎞ 1 ⎞ ⎛ 1 ⎞ ⎛ ⎛ L max = 2s max = 2 ⋅ ⎜ y( x ) + ⎟ − ⎜ ⎟ = 2 ⋅ ⎜ 3 + ⎟ −⎜ ⎟ = 12.04 k⎠ ⎝k⎠ 0.22 ⎠ ⎝ 0.22 ⎠ ⎝ ⎝ So the maximum length of the cord is Lmax=12.04 [m].

Conclusion Presenting simple examples representing real technical problems and using visualization (first of all animation) we can greatly increase the effectiveness of a teaching activity. This is especially true in the abstract field of mathematics like the theory of differential equations. In our opinion, the special facilities provided by computers need new approaches in teaching mathematical subjects. Our method based on animation can be one of these new approaches.

References Fazekas, F. (editor) 1973. Műszaki matematikai gyakorlatok B.VII. Közönséges differenciálegyenletek (második rész), Tankönyvkiadó, Budapest, 156-158. Kocsis, I. 2007. Application of MAPLE ODE Analyser in the investigation of differential equations in the higher engineering education, Pollack Periodica, Vol. 2., 177-183. Kocsis, I., Sauerbier, G., Tiba, Zs. 2006. Die Nutzung des Computersystems MAPLE in der Ingenieurausbildung der Universität Debrecen, UICEE Global Journal for Engineering Education, Vol. 10., Melbourne-Wismar, 287-292. Park, O. C., Gittelman, S. S., Selective use of animation and feedback in computer based instruction, Educational Technology, Vol. 40, 125--167.

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Mezőgazdasági Támogatások WEB Alapú Információs rendszerei Szénás Szilárd Hajdú-Bihar Megyei Mezőgazdasági Szakigazgatási Hivatal Földművelésügyi Igazgatóság Bevezetés: A 2007-es év fordulópontot jelentett az egyik legnagyobb termelői ügyfélkört érintő normatív támogatás, a területalapú mezőgazdasági támogatás benyújtási és feldolgozási rendszerében. Ez a változás nem minden gazdálkodót érintett, (egyelőre) csak azokat a termelőket, akik 200 ha-nál nagyobb területen gazdálkodnak. A korábbi évek gyakorlatától eltérően mind az adatlapok kitöltése, ellenőrzése, illetve a parcellák berajzolása, sőt még a benyújtás is teljesen elektronikusan történt. Ennek a nem kis feladatnak a végrehajtására a Mezőgazdasági és Vidékfejlesztési Hivatal megbízásából (MVH) a Megyei Mezőgazdasági Szakigazgatási Hivatal (MgSzH) Földművelésügyi Igazgatóságának munkatársai, a falugazdászok vállalkoztak. Kulcsszavak:

Alapfogalmak rövid áttekintése Ahhoz, hogy megismerjük ezt a támogatási formát szükségesnek tartom néhány alapfogalom tisztázását. Mezőgazdasági Parcella Azonosító Rendszer (MePAR) Az MVH eljárásrendjéről szóló törvény hatálya alá tartozó földterülethez kapcsolódó támogatások eljárásainak kizárólagos országos azonosító rendszere. Alkalmas a támogatások térinformatikai kezelésére. (EU követelményeknek megfelel) A Mezőgazdasági Parcella Azonosító Rendszer (MePAR) hivatkozási alapja, adattartalma: A hivatkozási alap a fizikai blokk, mely a földterülethez kapcsolódó támogatási eljárások céljára kialakított, a mezőgazdasági művelés szempontjából hosszabb távon állandó határokkal (út, vasút, töltés…) rendelkező összefüggő földterület. Egy fizikai blokkban több mezőgazdasági parcella (tábla) lehet és több ügyfél is gazdálkodhat. Megjelenítésének képi háttere az ortofotó vagy nagyfelbontású űrfelvétel. Összességében összefüggő mezőgazdasági földterület jelent, amelyen egyetlen termelő egyetlen növényfajt (növényfajtát) termeszt.

A fizikai blokkok az ország teljes területét lefedik, nettó támogatható területe 90%-ban homogén, azaz nem tartalmaz 10%-nál több, nem kérelmezhető területet (pl: táblaszegély,

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facsoport stb.) A mezőgazdasági táblán nem megy át blokkhatár. 3 évente újrafotózás a belvizes területek miatt. Egy fizikai blokk területe két fő típusba tartozhat 1. Nettó támogatható terület, mely vagy szántó, gyep, szőlő, gyümöcsös 2. Fizikai blokkokon belül a meghatározó műveléstől eltérő területek és a támogatásra nem jogosító egyéb célra használt területek . Nyomtatásban a blokkhatárt pirossal, az egyéb használatú területet világos kék határvonallal jelölték. Egy blokkot a blokktérképen hektárban adunk meg, két tizedes pontossággal. Fel van még tüntetve: • a blokk összterülete, • a blokk nettó művelt területe, azaz földalapú támogatásban igényelhető = összes támogatható terület • a blokktérképen lehatárolt nem támogatható és a blokk domináns használatától eltérő felszíndarabok területértékei Támogatható terület a fizikai blokkban: A Mezőgazdasági Parcella Azonosító Rendszer (MePAR) egyes fizikai blokkjaiban lehatárolt különböző művelésű területértékből csak a támogatásokra jogosult területek összege. A területalapú támogatás alapvetően két féle lehet: 1. Egységes (Európai Uniós) teületalapú támogatás (SAPS): Minden, a jogszabály által támogatható területre igényelhető. 2. Nemzeti Kiegészítő támogatás (TOP-UP): Csak a gabona-, olaj-, fehérje-, és rostnövényekre vehető igénybe. (GOFR)

Az elektronikus területalapú támogatás kitöltése (eSAPS) Az eljárási rend lépésről-lépésre: • Ügyfél értesítése • Az ügyfél átveszi az e-kérelmét (jelszóval védett) • Döntés a központban, vagy az „otthon” történő kitöltésről • Táblázat aktualizálása interneten az e-kérelemcsomagok átvételéről • Az e-kérelem adatainak letöltése • A kérelem elektronikus kitöltése (a központban, vagy „otthon”) • Az adatok véglegesítése a központban (falugazdász segítségével) • Nyomtatás, kérelem benyújtás Az elektronikus kitöltés jellemzői: • 200 ha feletti kérelmek tartoznak hozzá • Az országos 200000 kérelemből mintegy 4000 kérelem érintett • 4000-ből mintegy 1800 AKG-s (Agrár-Környeztgazdálkodási Programban résztvevő) • Ez a 4000 kérelem lefedi az igényelt SAPS terület ~ 50 %-át. • ~ 88 000 fizikai blokk • ~ 176 000 parcella Az elektronikus kitöltés előnyei: • Folyamatos hibajelzés, lehetőség az azonnali javításra • Területmérés a parcellarajzolás során • Azonnali térképpótlás a központban (Új parcella esetén azonnal lehívható a térkép) • Automatikus mezőkitöltés • Közbülső mentés; kérelem kitöltés több menetben • Otthoni kitöltés • Formailag hibátlan kérelem

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1. táblázat. eSAPS megoszlása megyénként 2007-ben e-Ügyfél (db)

Parcella (db)

Terület (ha)

Bács-Kiskun

313

15 452

180 957

Békés

335

13 767

203 081

JNSZ

313

13 673

215 153

Főv. és Pest

331

13 037

194 835

Hajdú-Bihar

276

12 496

177 143

GyMS

213

11 588

137 594

BAZ

260

10 393

161 202

Fejér

243

9 859

171 043

Somogy

226

9 508

159 570

Baranya

164

9 205

145 184

Csongrád

172

9 033

127 294

Tolna

168

7 946

107 741

SzSzB

158

7 733

78 134

Vas

150

7 276

93 770

Veszprém

156

6 763

103 909

Zala

155

6 514

78 358

Heves

162

5 994

78 435

Komárom-E.

92

4 034

66 971

76

2 749

36 576

Megye

Nógrád forrás: MVH

A rendszer használatának technikai feltételei: • A falugazdász központokba az MVH előkészített számítógépet ad át • DVD lejátszó a MePAR DVD-hez • USB az adatok külső hordozóra való töltéséhez • Internetkapcsolat • Mozilla Firefox 2 böngésző szoftver • Java script engedélyezése web böngészőben • Cache engedélyezése web böngészőben • MePAR exe indíthatóság engedélyezése böngészőből • MePAR szoftver: DotNet 2 keretrendszer

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Azon ügyfelek részére, akik valamilyen okból nem tudták telepíteni a programot, vagy a fenti feltételek nem álltak rendelkezésére a megyében található 10 falugazdász körzetközpontban, egyeztetett időpontokban biztosított az MgSzH számítógépet a kitöltéshez. Az otthon történő kitöltés lépései: 1. 2006-os főlap és betétlap adatainak mentése hordozható adattárolóra (falugazdász központban) 2. Az otthoni számítógépre történő programok telepítése 3. Kitöltés 4. Mentés hordozható adathordozóra 5. A központban az adatok betöltése 6. Új blokkokban lévő parcellák keresése 7. Kérelem véglegesítése 8. Kérelem nyomtatása 9. Kérelem aláírása; átadás-átvételi; meghatalmazás; benyújtás A kitöltés lépései részletesen: 1. Mozilla Firefox böngésző indítása, majd a címsorba írandó cím: http://e-kerelem.mvh.gov.hu Az oldalon külön link látható a falugazdászok, és az ügyfelek részére. Csak a falugazdászok linkjén bejelentkezve (jelszóval) van lehetőség az otthon kitöltött kérelmek visszatöltésére és a véglegesítésre, ha minden rendben van.

2. Az e-ügyfél a Regisztrációs szám beírása utána a már korábban a részére átadott jelszót

kell

beírnia,

majd

a

ikonra

kell

kattintania.

3. Ezután rögtön ajánlott megváltoztatni a jelszót, ezt meg kell erősíteni, majd a ikonra kell kattintani. A megszemélyesített kérelembe ezután tudunk belépni. 4. Ezt követően kezdődhet a megszemélyesített kérelem kitöltése. Ez gyakorlatilag megegyezik az ügyfél előző évben igényelt adatlapjával digitalizált formában. Az adatlapra jellemző, hogy Az ügyfél regisztrációs száma és személyes adatai nem szerkeszthetőek. Folyamatos ellenőrzés van. A beírt sorok mellett egy piros háromszög, felkiáltójellel figyelmeztet, ha valami rosszul van beírva.

A hibák összesítése mindig a lap alján található.

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5. Miután minden sor (az összes parcella) beírásra került kezdődhet a parcellarajzok elkészítése a Mepar térképszoftver elindításával. Ezt az oldal aljáról kezdeményezhetjük a gombra kattintva. 6. A szoftverben megjelennek a beírt parcellaadatok és a berajzolni kívánt sorra állva megjelenik a parcellához tartozó ortofotós térkép is.

A parcellákat a kérelem végesítéséig lehet szerkeszteni. A parcella rajzot a „Tárolás” funkcióval lehet elmenteni. Külső parcella rajz betöltése is lehetséges. (*.shp file) Parcella rajzot elmenteni a „Parcella mentés” funkcióval lehet. 7. Miután az összes berajzolás megtörtént és eltűntek a hibára utaló figyelmeztetések, csak ezután következhet a kérelem véglegesítése a falugazdász segítségével.

8. Utolsó lépés a kérelem és a térképek nyomtatása, majd aláírása a kérelemkitöltő és a falugazdász részéről egyaránt.

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Az elektronikus géptámogatás kitöltése (eGÉP) Az Európai Mezőgazdasági és Vidékfejlesztési Alapból önálló, építéssel nem járó gépek, technológiai berendezések beszerzéséhez nyújtandó támogatások végrehajtása Célja: A mezőgazdasági üzemek korszerűsítése a mezőgazdasági gépállomány korösszetételének javítása, környezetbarát gépek és technológiai berendezések beszerzése révén. Hasonlóan az eSAPS-hoz a géptámogatások esetében is kizárólag csak elektronikus beadásra volt lehetőség. Szintén az MVH által létrehozott http://e-kerelem.mvh.gov.hu oldalon keresztül, de csak a falugazdász körzetközpontban lehetett igényelni. Ehhez szorosan kapcsolódott a www.mvh.gov.hu oldalon elérhető mezőgazdasági gépkatalógus is. A rendszerbe falugazdász jelszó beírása után, az ügyfél regisztrációs számát beírva megjelent a megszemélyesített igénylőlap.

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Ugyanazok az előnyök itt is elmondhatóak, mint az eSAPS esetében. Csak a hibátlanul kitöltött kérelem kerülhet véglegesítésre

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Összefoglalás, Fejlesztési Irányelvek Egyre több támogatás kerülhet be a közeljövőben az elektronikus támogatási rendszerbe. Egyelőre még nélkülözhetetlen az elkészült, majd kinyomtatott támogatási kérelmek saját kezű aláírása a jogos igényléshez, de várhatóan az elektronikus aláírás szélesebb körű bevezetésével már erre sem lesz szükség. Tervben van a támogatások ügyfélkapun keresztüli igénylése is. Tapasztalataink szerint az e-kérelmek bevezetése zökkenőmentesen zajlott le. A következő évtől kezdődően az eSAPS esetében a terület limitet 200 ha-ról csökkenteni szándékoznak, így jóval nagyobb ügyfélkört fog érinteni. Ehhez szükségesnek tartom a közigazgatás fejlesztését, a technikai feltételek javítását és a termelők felkészültségét megteremtő képzések indítását.

Felhasznált Irodalom MVH füzetek Magyar Közlöny MVH-MgSzH eljárási rend (belső anyag) www.fvm.hu www.mvh.gov.hu

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Hatékonyságnövelés a szaktanácsadási tevékenység felhasználásával a növénytermesztésben Sulyok Dénes1 – Megyes Attila1 – Rátonyi Tamás1 Debreceni Egyetem Agrár- és Műszakitudományi Centrum Földhasznosítási, Műszaki és Területfejlesztési Intézet 1

Abstract. After personal computers have come into general use, people recognised that they should be used for future planning, examination of plans and generation of models and application at higher and higher levels. The aim of planning is not the working out of a final action plan anymore, but a continuous adaptation to the change of economic conditions – based on the results of even more ”what if…”-like examinations. The demand for agricultural decision support in Hungary has got multiple levels. Simpler software products (field record books, farming agenda, nutrition supply planning) are usually looked for by farmers who own small lands. Average and large farms have demand for more complex ecological and agricultural-economical software packages. By linking agriculturaleconomical software and agro-ecologic models, the greatest insufficiency of agricultural-economical software (the size of site-specific yield) could be greatly improved with the help of soil-plantatmosphere modelling. Firstly we have to determine the technological and economical parameters of the field record book software that were adapted to the farming conditions of the given plant growing branch. Instead of drawing up one single analysis structure of the agricultural-economical software, one has to run various alternatives and provide the decision-maker with them (usually 5-6 alternatives). Nowadays there is a growing need for the application of such complex software that optimalise the sowing structure of cultivation in a way to satisfy the needs of animal husbandry primarily. Keywords. planning, ecological model, agricultural-economical model, nutrition supply software, field record book software, complex decision supporting software package

Bevezetés és szakirodalmi áttekintés A személyi számítógépek elterjedését követően hamar megszületett az a felismerés, hogy ezeket az eszközöket fel kell használni a jövőbeni tervezésre, tervek vizsgálatára, egyre magasabb szintű modellek, alkalmazások létrehozására (Gyuricza 2001, Kovács – Nagy 1997). A tervezés célja már nem egy végleges cselekvési program kidolgozása, hanem – lehetőség szerint minél több „mi lenne, ha …” jellegű vizsgálat eredményéből kiindulva – folyamatos alkalmazkodás a gazdasági környezet változásaihoz (Láng – Csete 1992, Nagy et al 2000, Nagy et al 2003. Nem szükséges az egymást követő terveket újra és újra végigszámítani, elég, ha a tervezés összefüggéseit, számítási eljárásait egyszer rögzítjük. Ezután a szükséges adatváltozások következményei a számítógépes újraszámítás eredményeként közvetlenül megfigyelhetők, elemezhetők. Így magas fokú variabilitást tudunk létrehozni, s az érzékenységvizsgálatok megbízhatóságát – ismétlések számát – a hagyományos módszernél jóval gyorsabban és kevesebb befektetett munkával tudjuk biztosítani (Nagy et al 2005, Rátonyi et al 2003, Weersink et al 1992. Válasz nyerhető olyan kérdésekre, amelyekre egyébként csupán drága, időigényes, sok esetben más módon meg nem mérhető megfigyelések segítéségével juthatnánk el (Birkás 1987, 1995, 2002, Sembery 1989, Sieg 1984, Sulyok – Fodor 2005).

Döntéstámogatás a gyakorlatban Napjaink növénytermesztési gyakorlatában jellemző mind a tábla- mind a gazdaságra vonatkozó adatok nyilvántartása esetében a papír alapú megoldás. A gazdaságok elenyésző számában alkalmaznak számítógépes szoftvereket, s azok is nagyon különbözőek. Ebből adódóan egymással való átjárhatóságuk - adat átadási képességük – nagyon gyenge. Ezen a jövőben mindenképpen javítani szükséges, mert a jelenlegi helyzetben az informatikai 203


eszközök használatának legnagyobb előnyét, hogy egy adatot, csak egyszer kell bevinnünk szaktanácsadó rendszerünkbe - elveszítjük. Hazánkban többszintű a mezőgazdasági döntéstámogatás iránt a kereslet. Az egyszerűbb szoftvereket (táblatörzskönyv, gazdálkodási napló, tápanyag-visszapótlási tervező szoftverek) a kis területen gazdálkodók keresik. Számukra elsősorban adminisztrációs terhek könnyítését célzó szoftvereket (különböző gazdálkodási adatok dokumentálása) kell ajánlani. Emellett a talajvizsgálati adataik alapján készített tápanyag-tervek segítségével a gazdálkodásukat tudjuk segíteni, illetve a különböző beszámolási kötelezettségeiket (pl. Agrár Környezetgazdálkodási Program keretében benyújtandó tápanyag-tervek) is teljesíteni tudják. A közepes- és nagygazdaságokban komplexebb ökológiai és agrár-közgazdasági szoftvercsomagok használatára van igény. Olyan döntéstámogató rendszer használata a cél, amely képes egy növénytermesztéssel foglalkozó vállalkozás valamennyi papíron képződő könyvelési feladatát az informatika eszközeinek felhasználásával rögzíteni. Másik célként jelenik meg, hogy képes legyen – az alap input adatok birtokában – modelleket létrehozni, melyek a valóság minél jobb közelítésével – eltérő kockázati szintek mellett – képesek lesznek különböző döntési alternatívák futtatására. Ezek a szoftverrendszerek tartalmazzák a kis gazdaságok esetében használt leíró részeket (pl. táblatörzskönyv, gazdálkodási napló), illetve a tápanyag-visszapótlási tervek készítésére alkalmas tápanyag-visszapótlási szoftvereket is. Azonban azok árnyaltabbak lehetnek (pl. műholdas helymeghatározásra alapozott technológiákat – talajművelés, vetés, tápanyag-visszapótlás, növényvédelem, betakarítás, automatikus kormányzás stb. esetében – is támogatniuk kell). Ezen kívül a táblatörzskönyvek bővítettek, így a naturális adatok (pl. 300 kg ammónium-nitrát műtrágya / hektár) mellett azok pénzben kifejezett értékeit is tartalmazzák (pl. ammónium-nitrát költsége 17000 Ft / hektár). A bővített táblatörzskönyvek lehetőséget biztosítanak többféle lekérdezésre is (pl. a költségek kigyűjtése az erőgépek azonosítója, rendszáma alapján, a munkaerő hatékonyságának vizsgálatára stb.). A közepes- és nagygazdaságok gazdálkodási gyakorlatát segítő ökológiai modellek lehetőséget biztosítanak az ökológiai paraméterek minél jobb közelítéséhez, ezáltal a várható hozamok minél nagyobb pontosságú előrejelzéséhez. Ezeknek a moduloknak egy része a modellezett növény fejlődését és növekedését, más részük a talajban történő vízmozgást, megint más részük pedig a rendszer többi folyamatát (pl. transzspiráció, fotoszintézis stb.) írják le. A használatba vont ökológiai modellek napi léptékűek, melyeknek működését (számításait) a napi agrometeorológiai adatok határozzák meg. A modell működéséhez szükség van a légkör-talaj-növény rendszert fizikailag (pl. a talaj térfogattömege), kémiailag (pl. a talaj pH-ja), illetve biológiailag (pl. a növényt jellemző bázishőmérséklet) jellemző bemenő adatokra, valamint a rendszer kezdőállapotát rögzítő adatokra (pl. a talaj kezdő nedvességtartalma). Mindezek ismeretében lehetőségünk van napi léptékben modellezni a tenyészidőszak teljes hosszában a várható hozamokat, amelyek pontossága a betakarítást megelőző dekádokban egyre nagyobb lesz. Napjaink mezőgazdaságában egyre nagyobb jelentőséggel bír az anyagráfordítások egyre hatékonyabb felhasználása. Ez így van a tápanyag-visszapótlás esetében is. A rendszerváltozás utáni visszaesést követően ma egyértelmű tápelem-visszapótlás növekedésről beszélhetünk. Az 1980-as évek – MÉM-NAK rendszer alapján – történt tápelem-visszapótlási szintjét nem lehet napjaink gazdasági körülményei között megcélozni, s erre nincs is szükség. A környezetkímélő tápanyag-visszapótlási rendszerekkel szemben elvárt, hogy hosszú távon fenntartható legyen. A maximális termésszint helyett a gazdaságost helyezze előtérbe. A növény igényeinek feleljen meg a tápanyag-visszapótlás és ne a talajénak. Enyhe alultrágyázás mellett közepes foszfor és kálium ellátást célozzon meg és 204


tartson fenn. A tápelem ellátottsági határértékek a növénycsoport igényeitől függőek legyenek, és azok alacsonyabbak, mint a MÉM-NAK kék- és fehér könyvében meghatározottak. Vegyék figyelembe a tervezett termésszinttől függő fajlagos tápelemtartalmakat (tápelem hígulást). A hagyományos humusz % alapján történő nitrogén ellátottság mellett más módszereket is alkalmazzanak (pl. ásványi nitrogén tartalom, vagy N-org módszer valamennyi növény esetében). A tápanyag-gazdálkodási szaktanácsadási rendszerekkel szemben fontos követelmény, hogy azok napjaink Agrár Környezetgazdálkodási Célprogramjait támogassák, azok feltételrendszerének (törvényi- és rendeleti hátterének) megfeleljenek. Elsősorban a nitrogén (ezen belül is a szerves nitrogén) visszapótlására vonatkoznak szigorú szabályzók. Hazánkban jelenleg a tápanyagvisszapótlásra számos szaktanácsadó szoftver áll rendelkezésre. Egyszerűbbeket lehet letölteni az internetről, illetve vannak olyan lehetőségek, amelyek segítségével tápanyagvisszapótlási tervünket internetes kalkulátorok segítségével el tudjuk készíteni. Pontosabb tervek elkészítéséhez célszerűbb igénybe venni a tápanyag-visszapótlási szaktanácsadási tevékenységet folytató cégek tevékenységét. Az agrár-közgazdasági szoftvereknek az agro-ökológiai modellekkel történő összekapcsolásával az agrár-közgazdasági szofteverek legnagyobb hiányosságát (a termőhely specifikus hozam nagyságát) a talaj-növény-atmoszféra modellezés segítségével nagy mértékben lehet javítani. Az ökológiai és a tápanyag-visszapótlási szoftverek kimenő adatait az agrár-közgazdasági szoftver inputadatként kezeli, amelyben megtalálható a termesztett növény, a termés mennyisége (t/ha-ban) és az ehhez szükséges műtrágya mennyisége (kg/ha). A táblatörzskönyvi szoftvert első lépésben az adott növénytermesztési ágazat gazdaságra adaptált technológiai és gazdasági paramétereit kell meghatároznunk. Táblaazonosítók, termesztés területe, átlagos aranykorona érték, fő- és melléktermékek értékesítési árai, támogatások, egyéb bevételek. Az agrotechnikai műveletek, meghatározásra kerül a műveletekhez szükséges munkaerőigény (szakképzett, szakképzetlen), a művelet felmerülő gépigénye (erő- illetve munkagépek) és a felmerülő anyagráfordítások (vetőmag, műtrágya, öntözővíz, szervestrágya, növényvédőszer, bálazsineg, stb.) és ezek összes mennyisége (t, kg, l, stb.). Ezt követően készülnek el a költségösszesítő táblázatok és számításra kerül a gazdaságossági mutatórendszer. Napjaink agrár-közgazdasági szoftverei képesek a költségeket a hagyományos számviteli rendszer szerint (anyag-, gépi munka-, személyi-, egyéb közvetlen- és felosztott költségek), valamint állandó – változó és közvetlen – közvetett költségek felosztás szerint is rendszerezni. A táblatörzskönyvek speciális lekérdezésével el tudjuk készíteni a gazdálkodási naplót is. A táblatörzskönyvi és gazdálkodási naplóra vonatkozóan számos szoftver áll a gazdálkodó szervezetek rendelkezésére. Az agrár-közgazdasági szoftvernek soha nem egy elemzésstruktúráját kell elkészíteni, hanem különböző változatokat kell futtatni, és ezeket kell a döntéshozó rendelkezésére bocsátani (általában 5-6 változatot). Lehetőség van a fent említett szoftverek együttműködésével a következőre: • Éves tervek, • helyzetfelmérések, • koncepciótervek elkészítésére. • A tartománynak a meghatározása, ahol a vállalkozás tevékenysége jövedelmező. • A vállalkozás erőforrásainak figyelembe vételével létrehozza az optimális vetésszerkezetet. • A terv- és tényadatok futtatásával kontroling rendszerként működik.

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• •

Lehetőséget biztosít a vállalkozások adminisztrációs terheinek csökkentésére o Gazdálkodási napló o Táblatörzskönyv Hatékonysági vizsgálatok elvégzésére o Talajművelési vizsgálatok o Tápanyag-visszapótlási vizsgálatok o Vetéstechnikai vizsgálatok o Fajta / hibrid összehasonlítási (vetőmag) vizsgálatok o Növényvédelmi vizsgálatok o Öntözéstechnikai vizsgálatok o Mikor vásároljunk új gépet? o Alkalmazzuk-e a precíziós gazdálkodást? o Saját gép, vagy bérszolgáltatás?

Napjainkban egyre nagyobb igény van olyan komplex szoftverek alkalmazására is, amelyek a növénytermesztés vetésszerkezetét úgy optimalizálják, hogy az elsősorban az állattenyésztés igényeit elégítse ki. A fennmaradó területen valamilyen gazdasági optimum keresése történik pl. nagy értékű gépek kihasználtságának biztosítása (pl. cukorrépa kombájn), maximális jövedelemre, vagy fedezeti összegre optimalizált vetésszerkezet, technológiai változatok közötti optimalizálás (pl. őszi szántás, vagy tárcsás lazítás?). Az optimalizálás folyamatában (is) az ökológiai korlátokat minden esetben figyelembe kell vennünk. Az állattenyésztés igényeinek kielégítése mellett nagy a kereslet arra, hogy a vállalkozás teljes működését lefedő szoftvereket működtessünk. Ilyen kérdések lehetnek a vállalkozás készlet-, bérgazdálkodása, különböző feladási kötelezettségei (pl. társadalombiztosítási és adóhatóság felé), növénytermesztési és állattenyésztési ágazatainak összekapcsolódó elemzése, kiegészítő (kapcsolódó) üzletágak (pl. bérszolgáltatás, ipari tevékenység, pályázati tevékenység) teljeskörű elemzése. Valós piaci igényként jelenik meg a biomassza energetikai hasznosításának elemzése is. Az alapanyag termelés (fa- és fűapríték, pellet, -brikett, biodízel, bioetanol alapanyag előállítás), és a feldolgozás (gázosítási és égetéses erőművek, biodízel-, bioetanol gyárak és biogáz-telepek) technológiai, valamint beruházás- és működésgazdaságossági elemzésére. A felmerülő gazdasági igényeknek és a jogszabályi-háttérnek a szoftverfejlesztőknek minden esetben meg kell felelniük. Emellett a felhasználók számára világos, érthető és a lehető legkevesebb input adat bevitele mellett megbízható valós, szaktanácsokat kell nyújtani. A Debreceni Egyetem Agrár- és Műszakitudományi Centrum Földhasznosítási, Műszaki és Területfejlesztési Intézete valamennyi felvetett kérdésre választ adó szoftvercsomaggal rendelkezik és áll jelenlegi és jövőbeni partnereinek szíves rendelkezésére.

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Felhasznált irodalom: Birkás M. 1987: A talajművelés minőségét befolyásoló agronómiai tényezők vizsgálata, Kandidátusi értekezés, Gödöllő. Birkás M. 1995: Energiatakarékos és kímélő talajművelés GATE KTI, Egyetemi jegyzet, Gödöllő. Birkás M. 2002: Környezetkímélő és energiatakarékos művelés, Szent István Egyetem, Mezőgazdasági és Környezettudományi Kar, Növénytermesztési Intézet, Gödöllő. Gyuriczsa CS 2001: A fenntartható talajhasználat alapjai, Akaprint Kiadó. Kovács G. J. – Nagy J. 1997: Test runs CERES-Maize for yield and water use estimations. In: Nagy J. (ed.) Current Plant and Soil Science in Agriculture. Soil, Plant and Environment Relationships. Agricultural University of Debrecen, 120-136. Láng I. – Csete L. 1992: Az alkalmazkodó mezőgazdaság, Budapest. Nagy J. – Huzsvai L. – Mika J. – Dobi I. – Fodor N.- Kovács G. J. 2000: Weather generator and crop models for long term decisions. Acta Agronomica. Nagy J. – Rátonyi T. – Sulyok D. – Huzsvai L. 2003: Effect of fertilization ont he yield of maize (Zea mays L) in different years, Debrecen, 217-224. Nagy J. – Rátonyi T. – Sulyok D. – Huzsvai L. 2005: Effect of fertilization ont he yield of maize (Zea mays L) in different years, In: Pollution and water resources, Columbia University Seminar Proceedings, Editor: George J. Halasi Kun, Volume: XXXV. 20032004. Rátonyi T. – Megyes A. – Sulyok D. 2003: A talajállapot és a talajművelés összefüggései a kukoricatermesztésben, 50 éves a magyar hibridkukorica, Jubileumi emlékülés, Martonvásár. Sembery P. 1989: Energiatakarékosság a mezőgazdaságban, Műszaki Kiadó, Mezőgazdasági Kiadó, Budapest. Sieg R. 1984: Ein neues Bodenbearbeitungsgerat – Schweiz, Landtech., Brugg. 46. 3. 136137. Sulyok D. – Fodor N. 2005: Komplex növénytermesztési szimulációs tevékenység kötött réti talajon, Európa Napi Konferencia, Mosonmagyaróvár Weersink A. – Wlker M. –Swanton C. 1992: Economic Comparison of Alternative Tillage Systems under Risk Can. Journal of Agr. Economics 40. 199-217.

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ERP beruházások gazdasági értékelése Rózsa Tünde1 1

DE ATC AVK Gazdasági- és Agrárinformatikai Tanszék, Debrecen, Böszörményi u. 138

Absztrakt. Egy ERP rendszer bevezetése minden esetben nagy anyagi megterhelést jelent a vállalkozások számára. A beruházási költségek megtérülése azonban nehezen mérhető. A cikk egy kalkulátor bemutatását célozza, amellyel viszonylag könnyen előre lehet vetíteni a megtérülési jellemzőket. A kalkulátor a betáplált adatok alapján a megszokott beruházás értékelő mutatókat (ROI, NPV, TCO, megtérülési idő,..) számolja ki. Fontos részét képezi a kalkulátornak, hogy bizonyos mutatókat ajánl a nehezen számszerűsíthető előnyök mellé. Kulcsszavak. Információs rendszer, ERP, ERP beruházás, beruházás értékelés

Bevezetés A kis- és középvállalkozások közül egyre többen tartják fontosnak, hogy gazdasági folyamataikat egy ERP segítségével tartsák nyilván és eredményeit felhasználják az irányításban is. Nagy probléma, hogy egy ERP megtérülése, nagyrészt abból az okból kifolyólag, hogy a vállalat összes területét érinti, nehezen mérhető (Bőgel, 2003). A kis- és közép vállalkozások a beruházáson kívül nehezen tudnak arra is tőkét fordítani, hogy komplex felméréssel igazolják a beruházás létjogosultságát. Ezért fontosnak tartottunk egy könnyen használható ERP beruházás értékelő segédeszközt kidolgozni.

Beruházás értékelő mutatók Az ERP beruházások értékelésére az alábbiakban ismertetett mutatókat használja a kalkulátor.

ROI (return on investment) A ROI (return on investment), azaz a befektetés megtérülése mutató, az IT beruházások leggyakrabban használt indikátora. A ROI azt mutatja meg, hogy a beruházás következtében származó haszon hány százalékát képezi a befektetett tőkének. Különböző ROI mutatók segítségével lehet a beruházásokat értékelni. Beszélhetünk egyszerű ROI (ROI), aritmetikai ROI-ról (ROIarit), logaritmikus ROI-ról (ROIlog) (Internet 1). Az k-ik időszaki ROI kiszámítása: R ROI k = k , Ik ahol ROIk – a beruházás kezdetétől az k-ik időszakig figyelembe vett ROI Rk - a beruházás [0,k] időszakhoz tartozó pénzáram Ik – a beruházás megvalósítása érdekében a [0,k] időszakban befektetett tőke A ROIarit kiszámítása: I f − Ii ROI arit = , Ii ahol If – A beruházás végső értéke Ii – A beruházás kezdeti értéke A ROIlog kiszámítása: ⎛If ⎞ ROI log = ln⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ , ⎝ Ii ⎠ ahol If – A beruházás végső értéke Ii – A beruházás kezdeti értéke 208


Az..1. táblázat szerint lehet a kiszámított ROI alapján a beruházás értékelést elvégezni: ROI>0 ROI<0 ROIarit>0 ROIarit<0 ROIlog>0 ROIlog<0

1. táblázat: Beruházás értékelés ROI alapján A beruházás nyereséges A beruházás veszteséges A beruházás nyereséges A beruházás veszteséges A beruházás nyereséges A beruházás veszteséges

NPV Az NPV (net present value), azaz a nettó jelenérték mutató a hosszú távú beruházások értékelésére alkalmas pénzügyi mutató. Abból az alapvető meggondolásból indul ki, hogy a ma kapott pénz mindig többet ér mint a későbbiekben kapott. Az idő múlásának a figyelembe vételével az NPV a beruházás következtében létrejövő pénzáramok mai értékre való diszkontálását végzi (Brealey/Myers,1996). Kiszámolási módja a következő: n Ci NPV = −C 0 + ∑ , i i =1 (1 + r ) ahol C0- a beruházás megvalósítása érdekében befektetett tőke Ci- a beruházás következtében keletkező i-ik időszakhoz tartozó nettó pénzáram r - a diszkontráta n - a beruházás vizsgált élettartama Az adott időszaki pénzáram, az alábbiak szerint számolható: C i = Bi − K i , ahol Bi – i-edik időszak bevételeinek összege Ki – i-edik időszak kiadásainak összege A NPV alapján a következő értékelést lehet elvégezni (2. táblázat) NPV>0 NPV=0 NPV<0

2. táblázat: NPV alapján történő beruházás értékelés Érdemes a beruházást véghezvinni, nagy valószínűséggel a vállalkozás számára nyereséges lesz. Más módszerekhez kell folyamodni a jó döntés érdekében. A beruházást nem érdemes végrehajtani, valószínűleg veszteséges lesz.

IRR (rate of return) Az IRR (rate of return) azaz a belső megtérülési ráta, azt fejezi ki, hogy a beruházás hány milyen ráta mellett lesz nullszaldós. Kiszámolási módja (Brealey/Myers,1996): NPVIRR = 0 , ahol NPVIRR – a beruházás IRR függvényében meghatározott nettó jelenértéke Az IRR alapján történő értékelés egy elvárt haszonkulcs függvényébe értékelhető.

Megtérülési idő A beruházás megtérülési ideje a nettó jelenértékek idősorának szakaszosan halmozott értékeiből számítható ki. A szakaszos számítási mód azt jelzi, hogy meg kell néznünk az addig halmozott nettó jelenértéket évről évre. A beruházás abban az évben térül meg, amikor a nettó jelenérték először lép a pozitív tartományba.

A kalkulátor felépítése Az általam felépített kalkulátor egyelőre excel formátumban érhető el, ahol a munkalapok a

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1. ábra szerinti elrendezésben találhatók. Címlap

Tartalmazza a kalkulátor által használt módszerek, mutatók rövid leírását, és a kalkulátor használatának leírását.

Leírás

Itt adható meg, hogy a felhasználó milyen modulokat, funkciókat kíván megvásárolni, valamint az adott funkciók licence árát.

Licence kalkulátor

A bekerülési költségek és az üzemeltetés kapcsán felmerült költségek adhatók itt meg, néhány a kalkulátor szempontjából fontos, általános adat mellett.

Kalkulátor Kiadások

A bevételek, alatt azokat a bevételként, vagy költségcsökkenésként felmerült tételeket kell feltünztetni, amelyek a beruházás következtében közvetlen, vagy közvetett módon felmerülnek

Bevételek

Összesített adatokat tartlamaz a Költségek és Bevételek lapról, valamint tartalmazza a kiszámolt mutatók értékét is.

Összegzés

FIA

Pénzügyi tényezõk alapján elvégzett elemzés

Különbözõ összesített adatok diagrammos megjelenítése

Diagrammok

1. ábra: A kalkulátor munkalapjainak felépítése A kalkulátor tartalmaz egy leírást a kiszámolt mutatókról, illetve a kalkulátor kezeléséről. A licence kalkulátor, a funkciókhoz kötött értékelést végzi el (Herdon at al., 2006). Használata nem automatizálható, hisz rendszere válogatja, hogy melyek az alapfunkciók, melyek a kiegészítő funkciók. Ezen felül nehezen tudja figyelembe venni az adott kedvezményeket, ennek oka, hogy ezek általában az ajánlatadás pillanatában dőlnek el. Az alkalmazása az ajánlatok összehasonlításánál használható eredményesen. A kiadások munkalap a projekt érdekében felmerült kiadásokat tartalmazza. A bevételek munkalap a projekt következtében megvalósulni látszó előnyöket számszerűsíti. Ezek keletkezhetnek, bevétel növekményként, vagy kiadás csökkenésként egyaránt. Az összegzés munkafüzetlap tartalmazza a korábban megadott bevételekből és kiadásokból, az indikátorok számolásához szükséges összegzéseket, diszkontálást valamint a kiszámolt mutatók értékelését is.

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A diagrammok munkafüzetlap a szemléltetés és érthetőség elősegítése érdekében tartalmazza az összegzések alapján készült diagrammokat.

A figyelembe vett kiadások, költségek A kalkulátor legsarkalatosabb pontja a kiadások és bevételek munkafüzetlapok pontos kitöltése. A kalkulátor az alábbi tételeket tartalmazza a kiadások munkafüzetlapon (Bőgel – Forgács;2003): • Szoftverkiadások • Hardver kiadások • Tanácsadás • Személyi költségek • Oktatás • Egyéb kiadások

Előnyök számszerűsítése A bevételek munkafüzetlapon az alábbi tételek szerepelnek: • Közvetlen előnyökből származó bevételek, költség csökkenések • Közvetett előnyökből származó bevételek, költség csökkenések A közvetlen kategóriába az alábbi tételeket soroltam (Bőgel – Forgács, 2003): • Eszközállomány csökkenéséből származó költségcsökkenés • Elosztásból származó profitnövekmény • Keresztértékesítési bevételek növekedése • Visszatérő kezelési költségek csökkenése • Értéknövelő eladásokból szárma profitnövekmény • Hatékonyabb értékestésből származó többlet profit • Csökkenetett személyi állomány • Posta és nyomdaköltségek csökkenése • Az értékesített árúk utólagosan felmerült költségeinek csökkenése A közvetett kategóriába az alábbi előnyöket próbáltam számszerűsíteni (Bőgel – Forgács; 2003): • Javuló információ ellátás és hozzáférés • Javuló technológiai menedzsment • Javuló folyamat menedzsment • Javuló partnerkapcsolat • Javuló jövedelem tőkésítési lehetőség • A vállalati struktúra előnyös változása • Raktárkészlet optimalizálása • Logisztikai költségek csökkenése • Hatékonyság javulás

Konkrét alkalmazás A kalkulátort alkalmaztuk egy konkrét projekt keretén belül. 2006-2007 évben került bevezetésre egy ERP rendszer a szóban forgó vállalatnál. A megadott kiadások és bevételek egy része konkrétan felmerült kiadás, vagy szerződésben vállalat kötelezettség. A előnyök számszerűsítésére legtöbb esetben gyors kalkulátorokat hoztunk létre. Véleményünk szerint, főleg a közvetlen előnyök számszerűsítése vállalat specifikus, ezért a gyors kalkulátorok többségét projektenként kell létrehozni. Ilyen gyors kalkulátor látható a 3. táblázatban:

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3. táblázat: Gyors kalkulátor Gyorskalkulátor az eszközcsökkenésből származó haszon becslésére Éves átlagos eszköz érték Elvárt/megvalósult eszközcsökenés százalékos mértéke Tőke százalékos költsége Becsült éves haszon

200 000 eFt raktárkészlet 15,00% 10% 3 000 eFt

Az alapadatok betáplálása után a 4. táblázatban látható eredmény született. 4. táblázat: ERP megtérülés Pénzügyi analízis Start 1 év -18 278 3 856 -18 278 2 699

Nettó cash flow Nettó cash flow (adózás utáni) ROI- direct és indirect ROI (direct) NPV (direct és indirect) NPV (direct) Megtérülési idő Éves átlagos birtoklási költség 10-Éves IRR

… … …

10 év Összesen 3 856 18 638 2 699 13 047

-18278 3505,4545 3280 3505,4545 -18 278 -40 -292 -44 0,3236094 1,312396974 1,3700806

15% -40% 15 282 -20 358 5+ 5 036 7%

Az eredményekből kitűnik, hogy a direkt előnyöket figyelembe véve a beruházás 10 évre számolva veszteséges, az NPV -20 millió forint, míg ha a közvetett előnyöket is figyelembe vesszük már az 5-ik évben megtérül a beruházás. Start 120000

10 év

1 év

100000

109 877

80000 69 000 60000

9 év

62 100 98 765

20000

10 000 6 900

21 000

Számítások szerinti

13 800

0

55 200

8 év

2 év

40000

20 700

32 100

Elvárt 3 év

87 654

27 600 41 400

54 321

76 543

7 év

43 210

34 500

48 300

4 év

76 543

6 év

5 év

2. ábra: Elvárt és számítások szerinti eredmény összehasonlítása A kalkulátor segítségével lehetőség van összehasonlítani a befektetett tőke elvárt hozamát a kalkulátor által számolt hozammal. Ezt a diagrammot láthatjuk a 2. ábrán.

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Következtetés Az informatikai beruházások értékelésére első esetben a beruházás előkészítési fázisában kerül sor, ez képezheti alapját az ERP kiválasztásának és magának a beruházási döntésnek. Az értékelési modellekről, módszerekről elmondható, hogy egy-két módszer alapján elvégzett számítások nem nyújtanak megfelelő és biztonságos alapot a döntéshez. A helyes döntéshez szükségszerű az ERP beruházások elemzésére használatos módszerek közül azokat alkalmazni melyek a felmerülő probléma eldöntésére alkalmas mutatókat szolgáltatnak. A döntési folyamatban viszont nem csupán a módszerek bírnak jelentőséggel, hanem a módszereket alkalmazók is. Ezért elkerülhetetlen megfelelő informatikai, pénzügyi és szakmai ismeretekkel rendelkező szakemberek alkalmazása a döntési folyamat során. Az általunk készített kalkulátor még korántsem tekinthető teljes körűnek. Igyekeztem olyan értékelési módszereket válogatni és testreszabni, melyek egy ERP beruházásokhoz kapcsolódó vizsgálati eljáráshoz nélkülözhetetlenek és a döntéshez, illetve a későbbi ellenőrzéshez is megfelelő alapot szolgáltatva segíthetik az ERP beruházás értékelést.

Hivatkozások Brealey/Myers (1996): Modern vállalati pénzügyek. Budapest, Panem Kft.Coombs, Bőgel – Forgács (2003): Informatikai beruházás-Üzleti megtérülés. Budapest, Műszaki kiadó. Bőgel György (2003): Informatikai beruházások üzleti értékelése. CEO Herdon, M. – Füzesi, I. (2006): Quality control and product tracing in ERP systems, Computers in Agriculture and Natural Resources. Proceedings of the 4th World Congress. Orlando Florida, 2006. 518-521 p. ISBN 1-892769-55-7. Mártonffy Attila (2004): A TCO mint közös nevező. IT BUSINESS II. évfolyam 2. szám. Január 20. Budapest Internet 1: Rate of return. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Return_on_Investment

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Információs rendszerek a termelő és értékesítő szervezetek üzleti tevékenységének támogatására Berecz Patrícia1 Debreceni Egyetem, Agrártudományi Centrum, Gazdasági- és Agrárinformatikai Tanszék 4032 Debrecen, Böszörményi út 138., 52/ 508-390, [email protected] 1

Összefoglalás. A kereskedelmi láncok térhódításaival a koncentrálódott a kereslet és ehhez a kistermelők igen nehezen tudtak csak alkalmazkodni. A koncentrálódó kereslethez igazodó koncentrált kínálat megteremtése vált szükségessé, azért alakultak ki a termelői és értékesítő szövetkezetek. A hatékony adminisztráció és menedzsment működéséhez nélkülözhetetlen egy jól működő integrált információs rendszer. A TÉSZ-eknek azonban általában kihívást jelent ezen szoftverek magas árának kigazdálkodása. A cikkemben open source (nyílt forráskódú) rendszereket vizsgálok meg abból a szempontból, hogy megfelelnek-e egy TÉSZ igényeinek. Kulcsszavak. ERP rendszerek, Open Source, termelő és értékesítő szervezetek

Termelő és értékesítő szervezetek A gyümölcs és zöldség erősen romlandó, termelése pedig igen munkaigényes termék. Az időjárási változások és a hőmérsékletingadozások, továbbá a betegség vagy kártevő okozta fertőzések rendszerint a kínálat éles növekedésének vagy visszaesésének, illetve a kereslet csökkenésének formájában jelentkező válságokhoz vezetnek, amelyek alapvető veszélyt jelentenek a termelő bevételeire. Továbbá a termelés szerkezete jellemzően elaprózódott birtokrendszeren alapul. A kereskedelmi láncok térhódításaival koncentrálódott a kereslet és ehhez a kistermelők igen nehezen tudtak csak alkalmazkodni. A koncentrálódó kereslethez igazodó koncentrált kínálat megteremtése vált szükségessé, azért alakultak ki a termelői és értékesítő szövetkezetek. Az Európai Unió is támogatja ezen szervezetek létrehozását, sőt a zöldség- és gyümölcságazatot csak ilyen szervezeteken keresztül részesíti EU-s támogatásokban. Magyarországon nem volt hagyománya a termelői értékesítő szervezetek létrehozásának. Az első TÉSZ-ek 1999-ben jelentek meg és a számuk nagyon lassan növekedett. A kezdeti nehézségek után 2004 végére több mint 100 TÉSZ volt hazánkban, amelyből 8 a végleges elismerési státuszt is megkapta. A hazai TÉSZ-ek száma 2006-ra kb. 54-re apadt a megszűnések, felszámolások, egyesülések miatt. A TÉSZ-ek 2004-ben 26,2 milliárd, 2005ben 23,5 milliárd forint tagi árut forgalmaztak. Az ország területi lefedettsége a TÉSZ-ek által szinte teljesnek mondható (Erdész, 2007). A hatékony adminisztráció és menedzsment működéséhez nélkülözhetetlen egy jól működő vállalatirányítási információs rendszer. A külföldi termelő és értékesítő szervezeteknél általános, hogy ilyen rendszereket alkalmaznak. Magyarországon csupán csak néhány nagyobb TÉSZ engedheti meg magának ezeket a drága rendszereket. Ezáltal a kis TÉSZ-ek mind inkább lemaradnak a gazdasági versenyben. Nekik tudnám ajánlani a nyílt forráskódú ERP rendszereket.

ERP rendszerek Az ERP betűszó az Enterprise Resource Planning (vállalati erőforrás-tervezés) rövidítése. Ezek a vállalatirányítási szoftverek a jellemző üzleti folyamatok adatait összesítik egységes, könnyen felhasználható rendszerben. 214


A vállalatok új területeit kapcsolták be az informatikába, s létrejöttek a manapság is fejlődő és terjedő ERP-rendszerek. Az első alkalmazások az MRP II.-k (Material Resource Planning) továbbfejlesztéseként és kiterjesztéseként alakultak ki, innen származott a rövidítés is: ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), vagyis vállalati erőforrás-tervezés. Bár még ma is a régi rövidítéssel (ERP) utalunk ezekre a vállalati rendszerekre, az elmúlt évek innovációi miatt már inkább tekinthetőek integrált vállalatirányítási alkalmazásoknak (IEA: Integrated Enterprise Application). Az ERP-rendszerek kialakulásával mind a controlling, mind a menedzsment óriási információs bázishoz jutott, folyamatosan bővülő funkcionalitásukkal ezek a rendszerek jelentik ma a vállalatok informatikai támogatásának alapját (Hetyei, 2004). Az ERP-rendszerek olyan modulokból felépülő alkalmazások, melyek szoftveres megoldást kínálnak a termelés, a logisztika, az értékesítés, az emberi erőforrás gazdálkodás és a pénzügyi elszámolás tranzakcióinak valós idejű, egységes és integrált kezelésére. Tehát a szervezet funkcionális területeit és működési folyamatait lefedő, egységes és integrált vállalatirányítási rendszerek.

OSS rendszerek A nyílt forrású szoftver (Open Source Software, OSS) olyan, egy a számítógép által futtatható program, amelynek a forráskódja szabadon elérhető, letölthető, sok esetben szabadon módosítható, terjeszthető akár forráskód vagy bináris formában. Az OSS a tulajdonosi (proprietary) szoftvertől abban különbözik alapvetően, hogy a forráskód megszerezhető. Ez azt jelenti, hogy ezeket a programokat a felhasználó függetlenül a program készítőitől rendszerint tetszés szerint megváltoztathatja, továbbadhatja, a felismert hibákat, vagy gyenge pontokat nyilvánosságra hozhatja. Mivel a forráskódhoz bárki hozzájuthat, ezeket a szoftvereket Open Source Software-eknek nevezzük. Alternatív kifejezés a szabad szoftver, amely elnevezés a felhasználó szabadságára utal a kezelés során. Ezzel összehasonlítva a felhasználó egy "proprietary" szoftvert nem változtathat meg, nem vizsgálhat meg. Forráskódját nem is olvashatja, nem értheti meg legálisan. 1985-ben jött létre az FSF (Free Software Foundation) a szabad szoftver mozgalom legfontosabb képviselőjeként. Egyik alapító tagja Richard Stallman, aki a GNU projekt megálmodója és vezetője. Az alapítvány célja a szabad szoftverek terjesztése, népszerűsítése az előbb már taglalt megközelítésnek megfelelően (vagyis szabadságjognak). A szabad szoftvert a felhasználónak szabad futtatni, másolni, közzétenni, tanulmányozni, megváltoztatni és tökéletesíteni. (1) A felhasználók jogai tehát: • A jogot arra, hogy futtassák a programot, bármilyen céllal. • A jogot arra, hogy tanulmányozzák a program működését, és azt a szükségleteikhez igazíthassák. Ennek előfeltétele a forráskód elérhetősége. • A jogot arra, hogy másolatokat tegyenek közzé a felebarátaik segítése érdekében. • A jogot arra, hogy tökéletesítsék a programot, és a tökéletesített változatot közzétegyék, hogy az egész közösség élvezhesse annak előnyeit. Ennek előfeltétele a forráskód elérhetősége. 1998-ban jött létre Eric S. Raymond és Bruce Perens kezdeményezésére az Open Source Initiative (OSI), azon igény hatására, hogy a nyílt forráskódú szoftverekben rejlő lehetőségekre felhívják az üzleti világ figyelmét, illetve kiemeljék a nyílt forráskód legfontosabb jellemzőit, meghatározva annak pontos fogalmát. Így született meg az OSD (Open Source Definition), vagyis a nyílt forráskódú szoftverek definíciója. (Linux, 2) Az OSD a következő kitételeket tartalmazza: 1. Szabad terjeszthetőség 2. A forráskód elérhetősége 215


3. Származtatott művek létrehozásának engedélyezése 4. A szerző forráskódja sértetlenségének biztosítása 5. Személyek vagy csoportok megkülönböztetésének tilalma 6. Különböző felhasználási területek megkülönböztetésének tilalma 7. A licenc terjeszthetősége 8. A licenc nem vonatkozhat kizárólag egy termékre 9. A licenc nem korlátozhat más szoftvert 10. A licencnek technológia-semlegesnek kell lennie Ezeket a programokat legtöbbször valamilyen licenccel terjesztik. A legismertebb nyílt forrású licencek: • GNU GPL / LGPL / GNU FDL • BSD Licenc • Apache licenc • IBM CPL Az OSI vezet egy nyilvántartást azokról a licencekről, amelyek megfelelnek a kritériumoknak. 2001-ben született meg a FLOSS, vagyis a Free/Libre/Open Source Software kifejezés, ami megoldja a fogalom használatának és eltérő értelmezésének problémáját. Az ötlet Rishab Aiyer Ghosh nevéhez fűződik (a FLOSS eredetileg egy Európai Uniós projekt rövidítése volt), aki ezzel azt kívánta elősegíteni, hogy azok, akik nem kívánnak részt venni az ideológiai csatában, ezen elnevezéssel illethetik a definíciót anélkül, hogy bármelyik oldalra is állnának.

Open Source ERP rendszerek Számos Open Source (továbbiakban OS) ERP rendszert lehet találni. Az elemzésemben 7+1 OS ERP rendszert vizsgáltam meg részletesen, abból a szempontból, hogy mennyire felelnek meg Termelő és értékesítő szervezet követelményeinek. A következő rendszereket vontam be a vizsgálatomba: • SQL Ledger: A kis s középvállalkozások kereskedelmi és termelési igények kielégítésére szakosodott. A beszerzés, eladás és a leltár funkciókkal. Az érdeklődők akár on-line is tesztelhetik. • LX Office: Az SQL Ledger egy német nyelvű átalakítása, amely a kereskedelmi tevékenységet helyezi előtérbe. Több funkciója közül kiemelkedő a számviteli, beszámoló készítési és biztonsági modulja. • Tiny ERP: Talán az egyik leginkább felhasználóbarát és remekül kidolgozott rendszer. Több mint 150 vállalat használja ezt a rendszert a kereskedelem, a szolgáltatás és más területeken. Több modul közül lehet válogatni, mint pl. a számvitel beszerzés/eladás, CRM, marketing, humánerőforrás, projekt menedzsment, stb. • GNU Enterprise (GNUe): A GNU Enterprise egy - a GNU által fémjelzett vállalatirányítási, ERP rendszer. Idehaza még kevesen használják, de a tábor egyre növekszik. • ERP5: Rendkívül hatékony vállalatirányítási rendszer, amely számos könnyen alakítható modullal segíti a termelési és kereskedelmi folyamatokat. • Opentaps: Web alapú ERP és CRM rendszer kis és középvállalkozások részére.

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Először azt vizsgáltam, hogy a szoftverek milyen méretű vállatok igényeit elégítik ki. (1. Táblázat) Egy TÉSZ a legkülönbözőbb méretekben fordulhat elő, de Magyarországon főként a kis és közepes kategóriákba lehet őket besorolni. 1. Táblázat: A vizsgált OS ERP rendszerek és a kiszolgált vállalatok méretei Vállalati SQL méret Ledger mikro + kis + közepes + nagy Forrás: Herzog (2007)

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A vizsgált ERP rendszerek, mind képesek ellátni egy kis- és középvállalkozás igényeit, tehát valószínűleg a TÉSZ-ek igényeit is. Milyen ERP rendszerre lenne szüksége egy TÉSZ-nek? Először is legyen nagyon könnyen testre szabható. Alapvetően általános szoftverekről van szó, és mivel minden vállalkozás egyedi a maga módján, az első lépés, hogy a saját képünkre alakítsuk. Fontos szempont, hogy könnyen fejleszthető legyen, hiszen, ha fejlődik a cég, akkor azt az információs rendszernek is követnie kell. Könnyen kezelhetőnek kell lennie. A biztonság elengedhetetlen feltétel. A programnyelv ismerete azért lényeges, mert érdemes olyan programot választani, amihez a cégünkben értenek, mert akkor könnyebben tudjuk módosítani, alakítani. A közösség aktivitása a fejelődés szempontjából fontos tényező, mert ettől függ, hogy milyen gyorsan és milyen hatékonysággal tud fejlődni a rendszer. Ehhez kapcsolódik a fejlesztések gyakorisága. A szoftver állapotáról is érdemes tájékozódni, hiszen egy még nem kiforrott programot nem érdemes használni. A függetlenség azt jelenti, hogy a szoftver felhasználása jelent-e valamiféle függőséget egy másik céggel kapcsolatban, mert olyan OS szoftvernek nevezett programokat is lehet találni, amelyek felhasználásához engedély szükségeltetik. A vizsgálataimat a 2. táblázatban foglaltam össze. Tíz szemponton végigmenve hasonlítom össze a szoftvereket. 2. Tábázat: Az OS ERP rendszerek részlete összehasonlítása SQL Ledger

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Testreszabhatóság Fejleszthetőség Nemzetköziség Felhasználóbarát Biztonság Programnyelv

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+ Stabil Igen

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Opentaps

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Compiere

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+ nagyon jó ~ átlagos – átlag alatti ? ismeretlen, nincs adat Forrás: Herzog (2007)

1. Testreszabhatóság Egy OS rendszernél nagyon fontos, ha nem a legfontosabb, hogy milyen könnyen lehet egy vállalatra adaptálni (testreszabni). Ebben a tekintetben az SQL Ledger és a LX Office 217


marad el a többiektől. Ennek az az oka, hogy a Perl nyelv és a sajátos moduláris kialakítás kissé akadályozza a testreszabást. 2. Fejleszthetőség A második legfontosabb kritérium a fejleszthetőség. Szinte minden OS rendszer könnyedén fejleszthető, ebből a szempontból nehéz lenne különbséget tenni a rendszerek között, talán az Opentaps fejlesztésével akadhatnak problémák. 3. Nemzetköziség A csoportból kiemelkedik az SQL Ledger és az Opentaps, amelyek több mint 35 nyelven elérhetőek. A Compieret 26, míg a TinyERPt 11 nyelven olvashatjuk. Ezen a téren az LX Office és az ERP5 van egy kicsit lemaradva, hiszen mindössze 3 nyelve, angolul, németül és franciául érhetőek el. 4. Felhasználóbarát A TinyERP és az ERP5 mondható a legjobban felhasználóbarátnak. Könnyű és egyértelmű a kezelhetőségük. A GNUe rendszerről sajnálatos módon nincs ilyen jellegű pontos adatom a felhasználótól, viszont ez a rendszer is remekül alkalmazható. 5. Biztonság A biztonsági kérdéseket tekintve szinte mindegyik szoftver átlagosan jónak mondató. 6. Programnyelv Szeretném kiemelni, hogy az SQL Ledger és a LX Office viszonylag elmaradottabb más rendszerekhez kevésbé kompatibilis nyelven íródtak, míg az Opentaps és a Compiere már webes alapú korszerű Java nyelven. 7. Közösség aktivitás Egy Open source technológia sokban függ az őt alkotó közösségtől, mert ettől függ, hogy milyen gyorsan és milyen hatékonysággal tud fejlődni a rendszer. 8. Fejlesztés gyakorisága A közösség aktivitásán alapul az is, hogy milyen gyakoriak a módosítások a rendszerben. A TinyERP rendszer felhasználói a legaktívabbak. 9. Állapot A GNU még nem stabil rendszer jelenleg. A többi rendszer már kiforrottnak, stabilnak mondható. 10. Függetlenség Mindegyik szoftver szabad szoftvernek minősül. A használatuk nem függ egyetlen cégtől sem. COOPWorks Az Élelmezési és Mezőgazdasági Szervezet (FAO) elindított egy projektet finn, holland és kenyai szervezetekkel összefogva, hogy együtt fejlesszenek ki egy olyan vállalatirányítási információs rendszert, amely tipikusan termelő és értékesítő szervezeteknek megfelelő. Céljuk az volt, hogy növeljék ezeknek a szervezeteknek a hatékonyságát és versenyképességét. (Juga et.al., 2007) Megalkották tehát a COOPWorks 1.0 rendszert, amely szabad szoftverként működik. Összehasonlítva a fenti szoftverekkel rá kell világítanom arra, hogy még korántsem felel meg minden követelménynek ez a rendszer. Ezért kezdek bele a COOPWorks 1.0 továbbfejlesztésébe. 2007 nyarára el is készült a COOPWorks 2.0. A felhasználók tapasztalatira és a teszteredményekre ugyan még várni kell, de bíztató az a jel, hogy egyre több országban jelennek meg COOPWorks közösségek.

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Következtetés Egy termelő és értékesítő szervezet működéséhez elengedhetetlen egy megfelelő számítógépes rendszer. Az Open Source rendszerek azért felelnek meg a TÉSZ-eknek, mert ingyenes használhatóságuk mellett a gyorsan változó gazdasági igényekhez talán egy Open Source rendszer segítségével tudunk a legkönnyebben alkalmazkodni. A vizsgálatom folyamán 7 OS ERP rendszert vizsgáltam. A számok és saját benyomás alapján egy termelő- és értékesítő szövetkezetnek a TinyERP és a Compiere rendszert ajánlanám. Bíztatóak azonban azok a kezdeményezések, amelyek éppen a TÉSZ-ek számára fejlesztenek ki rendszereket. Ha a COOPWorks 2.0 teljesen elkészül, akkor biztosan fel fogja venni a versenyt a korábban ismertetett többi rendszerrel és mivel a termelő- és értékesítő szövetkezetek funkcionalitásaiból indul ki, testreszabása is kevesebb ráfordítást igényel majd a felhasználó szervezetek részéről (Herdon et al, 2006, 2007). Több elemző szerint ezek az Open Source rendszerek el fognak terjedni.

Irodalom Erdész, F. 2007. A magyar gyümölcs- és zöldségpiac helyzete és kilátásai, Agrárgazdasági Tanulmányok 2007. 1. szám 7-15, 77-85, 121-132 Herzog, T. 2006. A comparison of open source ERP systems. The Institute of Information Systems and Operations of the Vienna University. http://www.big.tuwien.ac.at/research/publications/diplomatheses/herzog.pdf Herdon, M., Rózsa T. 2007. Functional evaluation of enterprise information systems in cooperatives. EFITA/WCCA2007 Conference, Glasgow, Conference Proceedings. Herdon, M., Füzesi, I. 2006. Quality control and product tracing in ERP systems, Computers in Agriculture and Natural Resources, Proceedings of the 4th World Congress, Orlando Florida, ISBN: 1-892769-55-7. pp.518-521. Hetyei, J. 2004. ERP rendszerek Magyarországon a 21. században Computerbooks, Budapest, , ISBN: 963 618 318 X 650 Juga, J., J. Puhakainen, P. Malinen and J. Nissilä (2007) Development of Prototype Computerized Management and Member Information System, EFITA 2007 Internetes források: (1) Szabad szoftverről van szó, http://www.fsfeurope.org/documents/whyfs.hu.html (2) Linux Ipari Szövetség- Szabad szoftverek, http://www.lipsz.hu/modules.php?name=ShowContent&contentFile=kulonbseg Open Source szoftverek: www.sql-ledger.org www.lx-office.org www.tinyerp.com www.opentaps.org www.ofbiz.org www.compiere.org www.erp5.org www.coopworks.org 219


Elektronikus Táblatörzskönyv Program fejlesztése Gazdálkodási Napló Modullal

Cseh András1 1

Debreceni Egyetem, 4032 Debrecen, Böszörményi út 138.

Absztrakt. Célul tűztem ki egy Elektronikus Táblatörzskönyv program fejlesztését . A mai modern mezőgazdaság nem képzelhető el az elvégzett műveletek rögzítése nélkül, mert ez megkönnyíti a termékek eredetének ellenőrzését illetve azt is mutatja, hogy a gazdálkodó a termelése során milyen és mennyi műtrágyát, vegyszert és egyéb anyagot használt fel.Igaz a piacon már léteznek hasonló célra készült rendszerek, de azoknak a kezelhetősége bonyolultabb, mint az általam fejlesztett programnak. Az elaprózódott birtokszerkezetben nehéz pontosan és gyorsan nyomon követni minden elvégzett műveletet. Erre ad segítséget az Elektronikus Táblatörzskönyv program. A számítógépes feldolgozás megkönnyíti az események pontos rögzítését és a jövőbeni jó döntésekhez információt biztosít. Mivel a családom is a program használója lesz, próbálom minél egyszerűbbé és „felhasználóbaráttá” tenni. Ennek van még egy olyan előnye is, hogy a tesztelési fázist is közvetlenül tudom ellenőrizni. A program használatát bárki könnyen elsajátíthatja, különösebb szakértelem nélkül is. A rendszert Windows operációs rendszer alatt Delphi fejlesztői környezetben, az adatbázis-kezelést MySQL-adatbázisszerver segítségével valósítottam meg. A 4GL-es fejlesztői környezetnek köszönhetően a felhasználói felület elkészítése könnyen elvégezhető. A programban a gazdálkodás során felhasznált inputok nevét csak egyszer tárolom le így a tévesen felvihető adatok számát is csökkentem. A MySQL relációs adatbáziskezelő segítségével az adatbázis és a táblák szerkezete könnyen módosítható a felhasználói igényeknek megfelelően.

Kulcsszavak. Táblatörzskönyv, Gazdálkodási Napló, MySQL, Delphi, „felhasználóbarát”.

Bevezetés A dolgozatom témájaként az általam kifejlesztett elektronikus táblatörzskönyv program bemutatását választottam. Ez a szoftver a régebbi verzió továbbfejlesztése, ezért már tartalmazza Gazdálkodási Naplóból a szántóföldi növénytermesztéshez szükséges főbb lapokat. Ez a szoftver a régebbi verzió továbbfejlesztése, ezért az adatokat táblatörzskönyv formátumban is le lehet kérdezni. A program fejlesztésének legfőbb indoka: családi kötődés a mezőgazdasághoz, azon belül is főleg a növénytermesztéshez. Régebben a Táblatörzskönyv kitöltése papír alapon történt, majd később áttértünk az elektronikus kitöltésre táblázatkezelő program segítségével. Az adatrögzítés könnyebb lett a nyilvántartás áttekinthetőbbé vált. A táblázatkezelőnek az a hátránya, hogy az összes adatot billentyűzet segítségével kell begépelni a rendszerbe, ami időigényes és fennáll az elgépelés veszélye. Felmerült az igény a Táblatörzskönyv vezetésére alkalmas program beszerzésére. A piacon már létezik erre a célra fejlesztett program és többnek a demó verzióját is kipróbáltam: Táblatörzskönyv, Gazdálkodási Napló (I6) A programok jól működnek, csak a kezelhetőségük kicsit nehézkes, azaz nem felhasználóbarát. Ezeknek a kisebb hiányosságoknak a megismerése után jutottam arra a következtetésre, hogy tehetnénk egy kísérletet saját program fejlesztésére. Ezt szakmai kihívásnak is tekintetem, mivel informatikus agrármérnök szakos hallgató vagyok, így hozzákezdtem a program tervezéséhez.

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A Táblatörzskönyv és Gazdálkodási Napló bemutatása Ma Magyarországon az Európai Unióhoz történő csatlakozás és a fokozódó minőségbiztosítási követelmények hatására egyre fontosabbá válik a mezőgazdasági eszközök és a technológiai anyagok felhasználásának pontos idő- és térbeli nyomon követése. A nyilvántartások megkönnyítik a termékek eredetének ellenőrzését illetve rögzítik, hogy a termelés során milyen és mennyi műtrágyát, vegyszert és egyéb anyagot használt fel a termelő. Az elaprózódott birtokszerkezetben nehéz pontosan és gyorsan nyomon követni minden elvégzett műveletet. Erre ad segítséget az elektronikus táblatörzskönyv rendszer. A számítógépes feldolgozás megkönnyíti az események pontos rögzítését és a jövőbeni jó döntésekhez a szükséges információt biztosítja.

Módszerek Először áttanulmányoztam a kipróbált szoftverek használati utasítását és azt döntöttem el, hogy az adatok tárolását adatbáziskezelő rendszer segítségével oldom meg. Jelenleg a relációs alapú adatbázisok a legelterjedtebbek. Ennek a típusnak az elméleti alapja Codd nevéhez fűződik. A relációs alapú adatbázisokban nagy a lekérdezések variálhatóságának a lehetősége, nagyon rugalmasak és az adatbázis szerkezete könnyen módosítható. Egy jól megszerkesztett adatbázisból az adatok többféle csoportosítási szempont szerint is kinyerhetők. Eddigi egyetemi tanulmányaim során három adatbáziskezelő rendszerrel találkoztam: Access, Firebird és MySQL. A választásom a MySQL-re esett (MELONI, 2003), mert számomra ez tűnt a legkönnyebben kezelhetőnek. Miután megtaláltam a számomra ideális adatbáziskezelő rendszert, a következő feladat a felhasználói felület kialakítására alkalmas program kiválasztása. A felhasználói felület PHP nyelven is elkészíthető de a PHP elsősorban szerveroldali szkript nyelv. Ezzel a felület elkészítése egy táblatörzskönyv célú programhoz nehézkes. A programot egy felhasználósra tervezem és 4GL-es környezetben kívánom megvalósítani. A legoptimálisabb választás a Delphi (CANTU, 2003), mivel szoftverfejlesztésből ezt a rendszert ismertem meg. A Borland Delphi rendszer olyan, gyors alkalmazásfejlesztő környezet (RAD Rapid Application Development), amely hazánkban rendkívüli népszerűségnek örvend. Ha csak a főbb tulajdonságokat tekintjük, azt találjuk, hogy a Delphi az egyik leghatékonyabb alkalmazásfejlesztő eszköz, amely Object Pascal alapú forrásnyelvi fordítóprogrammal, komponensalapú felépítéssel (VCL), és testre szabható adatbázis-hozzáférési lehetőséggel rendelkezik. Úgy vélem, ezen tulajdonságainak köszönhetően, segítségével létrehozhatok egy könnyen kezelhető „felhasználóbarát” táblatörzskönyv rendszert.

Eredmények Az adatbázis szerkezete A táblatörzskönyvben a tárolandó adatok köre három csoportra bontható: ¾ a termőhelyek illetve a parcellák, ¾ az elvégzett műveletek ¾ a kijuttatott anyagok illetve betakarított termények adatai Az adatbázis szerkezetét, a táblák tartalmát főleg a tárolandó események illetve a gyorsabb adatlekérdezés lehetősége szerint alakítottam ki (SEDIVINÉ BALASSA és,

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PÖLÖSKEINÉ HEGEDÜS, 2002). Az adatbázisban huszonkilenc kisebb-nagyobb méretű tábla foglal helyet. A táblák kétféle típusba sorolhatók: ¾ ¾

központi táblák, amelyekben nagyon sok adatot fog tárolni a program adattároló vagy kisegítő táblák, amelyeknek a céljuk, hogy a központi táblákban tárolandó adatok mennyiségét a lehető legkisebbre csökkentsék.

Egy jól megtervezett és felépített adatbázisban csekély a mértéke a redundanciának vagy egyáltalán nincs jelen (KUPCSIKNÉ, 2004). Mivel minden adatot csak egy helyen fog tárolni a program, így az inkonzisztencia veszélye sem fenyeget.

A program szerkezete A program szerkezetét úgy alakítottam ki, hogy az átlagos körülmények között gazdálkodó mezőgazdasági termelő papíralapú Táblatörzskönyvének és Gazdálkodási Naplójának a szerepét átvegye. Ennek érdekében a programot a következő szempontok figyelembevételével készítettem el: ¾ könnyű kezelhetőség (felhasználóbarát) ¾ gyors eseményfelvitel ¾ nagyfokú rugalmasság A könnyű kezelhetőség abból adódik, hogy a programnak nem szerteágazó a szerkezete, néhány űrlapon a program minden funkciója elérhető. Ezek az űrlapok egyszerre egymástól függetlenül kezelhetők, de köztük a háttérben szoros kapcsolat van, emiatt minden űrlapon lévő adat aktuális. A gyors eseményfelvitel a következőkből adódik: az adatok jelentős részét legördülő listából választhatjuk ki - ezért kevés adatot kell a billentyűzetről kézzel felvinni - így időt takarítunk meg. Ennek a másik előnye a gépelési hibák száma is jelentősen csökkenthető, nem történik hibás adatfelvitel. A nagyfokú rugalmasság annak köszönhető, hogy a termelés során felhasznált anyagok köre tetszés szerint bővíthető. Ez először kicsit nehézkesnek tűnik, de úgy gondolom az adatbázisban csak azok a beviteli adatok szerepeljenek, amelyeket ténylegesen felhasznál a termelő. Jelenleg nem célom egy növényvédő szer vagy vetőmag-katalógus előzetes létrehozása a programon belül, de a programfejlesztése során, igény szerint erre is sor kerülhet. Amennyiben a termelő a bőség zavarában szenved - mondjuk a vetőmagnevekből vagy egyéb inputnevekből - akkor a műveletek regisztrálásakor nehezebben tudja kiválasztani a számára szükséges adatot. Minden termelő számára megvan az általa preferált anyagok, eszközök köre és a többi adat számára fölösleges.

A táblaadatok rögzítése A Törzsadatok közé tartozó adatokat ugyanazon ablakból érhetjük el (1. ábra). Négy fül közül választhatunk, a kiválasztott fül aktívvá válik és eltakarja a többit. A fülek között gyorsan lehet váltani ezért a törzsadatokat ugyanarról a helyről könnyen lehet elérni. Az aktív fül váltogatása során a felviteli mezőkben lévő adatok változatlanok maradnak.

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1. ábra A táblaadatok rögzítése

A termőhelyekről a következő adatokat tárolja a program: helyrajzi szám, település, rövid ismertető a területről (ide célszerű beírni az adott termőhely gazdaságbeli megnevezését) a termőhely területét hektárban négyzetméteres pontossággal a mezőgazdasági terület aranykorona értéke

Új parcella kialakítása Ebben az összetett ablakban lehet a parcellákat kialakítani (2. ábra). A parcella kialakítás azért szükséges, mert ez a Gazdálkodási Napló növénytermesztés támogatási rendszerének alapegysége (I8, I9). Több helyrajzi számú terület is alkothat egy parcellát, de egy helyrajzi számú területen is lehet több parcella. A célom az volt, hogy a parcellához szükséges minden adatot azonos helyen gyorsan lehessen rögzíteni: az igénybevett támogatási programokat, a különböző támogatási programban a parcella sorszámát és a tápanyag-gazdálkodással kapcsolatos adatokat. A parcella szerinti adatrögzítés azért is jó, mert a parcellák általában összevontan több helyrajzi számú területből állnak.

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2. ábra Új parcella kialakítása

A mezőgazdasági műveletek rögzítése A műveletek rögzítésére szolgáló ablak egy részletét a 3. ábra mutatja. A műveletrögzítés folyamata a következő lépésekből áll. ¾

A felhasználó kiválasztja a gazdasági évet melynek hatására a parcella listában csak az adott gazdasági évben létező parcellák közül választhat. ¾ A dátumkomponens segítségével az időpont formailag mindig helyes ¾ A művelettípus kiválasztásának több hatása is van: meghatározza a lehetséges művelet megnevezéseket, valamint a jobb oldali anyagnév listában csak azok az anyagnevek szerepelnek, amik az adott műveletnél valójában lehetséges és természetesen a mértékegység is a művelet típusához igazodik. Ezért a következő eset biztos nem fordulhat elő: betakarításkor a betakarított anyag karbamid és a mértékegység millió csíra/ha. ¾ A művelet listaablakból kiválasztjuk a művelet pontos megnevezést és amennyiben az adott műveletre már kialakítottunk alapértelmezett gépkapcsolatot, akkor a program az erőgépet és ha van a művelethez tartozó eszköz automatikusan állítja be. A hiba kiszűrése érdekében az eszközök és erőgépek között csak az aktív státuszban lévők közül lehet választani. Természetesen az alapértelmezett gépkapcsolatnak minden tagjának is aktív státuszban kell lenni ahhoz, hogy a felviteli mezőkben megjelenjen.

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3. ábra Részlet a művet rögzítő ablakból

Adatok lekérdezése az adatbázisból Az adatokat az adatbázisból a régi formátumú Gazdálkodási Napló GN02, GN06 és GN 09 lapja tartalmi követelményei szerint tudom lekérdezni. A szántóföldi növénytermesztés szempontjából a Gazdálkodási Napló legfontosabb lapja a GN09 lap. Ezen az adott parcellán adott gazdasági évben elvégzett összes műveletet kell nyilvántartani. Jelenleg a programomban ez így néz ki (4. ábra). Az ablakban a legördülő listából választhatjuk ki, hogy melyik gazdasági év melyik parcelláinak az adataira szeretnénk lekérdezni. Az ablak többi része ennek megfelelően automatikusan változik. A programból lehetőség van az elvégzett műveleteket helyrajzi szám alapján is lekérdezni. Ezt a Táblatörzskönyv lekérdezés nevű ablakban tehetjük meg (5. ábra). Itt ki kell választanunk a terület helyrajzi számát majd egy kezdő dátumot és egy záró dátumot, amely időpontok között a műveleteket szeretnénk listáztatni. Az ablak jobb felső részén pedig az elmúlt öt évben termesztett növényfajok láthatók. Ez az ablak azért hasznos, mert így egy évnél nagyobb időtávban is láthatjuk az elvégzett műveleteket.

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4. ábra A GN09 lap

5. ábra: Táblatörzskönyv lekérdezés

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Adatok nyomtatása A Delphi7 fejlesztő környezetben a Rave Report beépített nyomtatási felületkészítő elem. Az adatbázisból először az adatokat ki kell nyerni, majd a nyomtatni kívánt formátumba kell hozni és végül át kell adni a Rave Report-nak. A Rave-ben (NEVRONA DESIGNS, 2004) meg kell tervezni a nyomtatási képernyőtervet, hogy melyik elem hol helyezkedjen el. A program jelenlegi állapotában az új Napló formátumában tudom a legtöbb adatot nyomtatni. Azért ide készítettem a legtöbb nyomtatási felületet, mert a közvetlen nyomtatási lehetőség a legújabb fejlesztés a programomban és szeretném a programot minél naprakészebbnek tartani, valamint ha van nyomtatási kép, akkor nem kell a programban külön lekérdezési felületet készíteni az adott formátumú laphoz. A GN07 lap nyomtatási képét a 6. ábra mutatja.

6. ábra: GN07 lap

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Értékelés A programban történt változások az előző verzióhoz képest A programban kialakítottam a közvetlen nyomtatás lehetőséget. Ezáltal a program „kézzelfogható eredményt” szolgáltat a felhasználó számára. Így az adatbázisban elektronikusan tárolt adatok valójában is alkalmasak a mezőgazdasági folyamatok dokumentálására. Az aláírt Gazdálkodási Napló egy példányát megadott helyre be kell küldeni. A táblatörzskönyv programot sikerült közelebb hozni a Gazdálkodási Naplóhoz, mert a következő funkciók beépítésre kerültek: - A helyrajzi szám alapján nyilvántartott területeket a program segítségével már parcellákba is lehet sorolni, és a parcellákhoz kapcsolódóan a műveleteken kívül egyéb szükséges adatokat is tud rögzíteni. - A szántó hasznosítási irányú parcellákon az eseményeket a Gazdálkodási Napló követelményei szerint rögzíthetem, ezen kívül a munkafolyamat időigényét is tárolja a program. - Az adatokat tartalmilag a GN02, a GN06 és aGN09 lap követelményei szerint is le tudom kérdezni. A régi formátumú Napló esetén. - Az adatokat nyomtatni tudom: - Régi Napló esetén GN02 és GN09 lap tartalma szerint - Új Napló esetén GN02, GN03, GN06, GN07, GN11 lap tartalmi és formai követelményei szerint A programban már lehetőség van eszközkapcsolat létrehozására is. Kényelmet és gyorsabb adatfelvitelt szolgáló lehetőség az alapértelmezett művelet és gépkapcsolat. A kezelőfelületet próbáltam egységesíteni, látványossá és felhasználóbaráttá tenni oly módon, hogy kevesebb adatot kelljen közvetlenül billentyűzetről felvinni. Helyette inkább az input adatok többségét legördülő listából vagy jelölő négyzettel rendelkező listaablakból lehessen választani. Fontosnak tartom még a logikailag helytelen input adatok előzetes kiszűrését, mert amit nem viszünk fel hibásan, azt később nem kell kijavítani.

A program továbbfejlesztési lehetőségei A programban tervezem még elkészíteni az új Gazdálkodási Naplóhoz a nyomtatási képeket: - Parcella alapadatok (GN04 lap) - Permetezési napló (GN08 lap) Az értesüléseim szerint a közeljövőben még elképzelhető változás a Gazdálkodási Napló tartalmi részében, mégpedig az, hogy a felhasznált anyagokat nem csak kereskedelemi megnevezés szerint kell feltüntetni a Naplóban, hanem egy központilag kiadott egységes kóddal is kell rögzíteni a könnyebb központi adatfeldolgozás miatt. Mivel nem csak családom, hanem várhatóan több ismerős gazdálkodó is a program felhasználója lesz, így a fejlesztés során a lehető legtöbbet próbálok tenni a könnyebb kezelhetőségért. Napjaink felgyorsult világában fontosnak tartom, ha az adatrögzítés: • gyors, • egyszerű • hatékony Ezekkel a tulajdonságokkal időt takaríthatunk meg. mert az idő az egyetlen erőforrás, amely anyagi eszközök árán sem bővíthető.

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Irodalomjegyzék 1.

CANTU M. (2003) Delphi 7 Mesteri szinten, Pult Ltd, Budapest

2. Kupcsikné Fitus Ilona (2000) Bevezetés az adatbázis-kezelésbe inf.stat.ps hallgatók részére Kiadó Debreceni Egyetem 3.

DR. SEDIVINÉ BALASSA ILDIKÓ, PÖLÖSKEINÉ HEGEDÜS HELÉN (2002): SZERVEZÉSI ISMERETEK KIADÓ: SZÁMALK, BUDAPEST

4.

MELONI, J.C. (2003): Tanuljuk meg a MySQL használatát 24 óra alatt. Kiskapu kiadó, Budapest.

5.

NEVRONA DESIGNS (2004) RAVE REPORTS

I BOGARASI KFT (2005a): TÁBLATÖRZSKÖNYV, GAZDÁLKODÁSI 6. NAPLÓ PRÓBAVERZIÓ http://www.bogarasikft.hu/install.zip I 7.

BOGARASI KFT (2005b): HASZNÁLATI UTASÍTÁS http://www.bogarasikft.hu/haszn.pdf

I 8.

GAZDÁLKODÁSI NAPLÓ (2007) WWW.FVM.HU

I KITÖLTÉSI ÚTMUTATÓ AZ ÚJ GAZDÁLKODÁSI NAPLÓHOZ 9. (2007) WWW.FVM.HU

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FedEx IPD szolgáltatásának bemutatása és alkalmazása a National Instrumentsnél Budai Enikő1 Debreceni Egyetem, Agrártudományi Centrum, Agrárgazdasági és Vidékfejlesztési Kar Gazdasági- és Agrárinformatikai Tanszék 4032, Debrecen Böszörményi út 138. 1

Absztrakt. A Federal Express által nyújtott szolgáltatás, az IPD (International Priority DirectDistribution) folyamatát ismertetném az előadásom során. Elsőként bemutatom, hogyan is működik a folyamat és azt, hogy milyen előnyökkel jár, ha valaki ilyen módon szállít. Ezután, pedig az IPD szállítási típus alkalmazásának sajátosságait ismertetem a National Instrumentsnél. Az előadásnak ebben a részében szól lesz az integrációról, a folyamat működését segítő táblákról, programokról, és arról, hogy milyen hibák léphetnek fel a folyamat során. A végén pár szóban összefoglalom, azt hogy, hogyan is lehetne ezt a folyamatot még jobbá tenni, milyen kilátások vannak a jövőre nézve. Kulcsszavak. IPD működése, integráció, segítő objektumok, lehetséges hibák

Bevezetés A több mint egy hónapos nyári gyakorlatom során szerzett tapasztalataim alapján készítettem el az előadásomat. A gyakorlat ideje alatt foglalkoztam a National Instruments beszerzési, termelési, eladási és kiszállítási folyamataival. Én az utóbbit választottam előadásom tárgyául. Elsőként a Federal Express által nyújtott szolgáltatást, az IPD-t (International Priority DirectDistribution) mutatom be, majd azt hogy ezt a szolgáltatást a National Instruments hogyan implementálta a saját folyamataiba. Itt az elején szeretném bemutatni pár szóban a fent említett két céget. FedEx: 1973-ban alapított Federal Express Corporation nevezetű cég központja Memphis-ben, Tennessee államban található. Több mint 30 év alatt a világ vezető szállítmányozó cégévé nőtte ki magát. National Instruments: A National Instruments nevezetű céget 1976-ban alapította három mérnök a Texas állambeli Austinban. Több mint három évtized során a vállalat piacvezető pozíciót szerzett a mérés- és automatizálás technológia terén. Számos más iparágban is sikeresen tevékenykedik állandó és folyamatosan bővülő ügyfélkörének megteremtésével. A cégnek nem csak amerikai, hanem magyar, illetve debreceni vonatkozása is van, hiszen egyre nagyobb hangsúly fektetődik a debreceni leányvállalatra.

Néhány alapfogalom tisztázása Ahhoz, hogy megértsük az IPD folyamatát, néhány alapfogalmat kell megismernünk. Az első ilyen kifejezés, amit tisztázni kell az a Meter Number, ami a kiszállítási helyet azonosítja. Ez egy FedEx által megadott azonosító. A FedEx Account Number-t azon számlák azonosítására használja, ahova a szállítási és egyéb költségeket terheli. Az importáló személyének azonosítására az Importer of Record kifejezést használjuk. A fuvarlevél azonosítását az Air Waybill (AWB) és a Master Air Waybill (MAWB) segítségével történik. Az AWB egyedi szállítmányok azonosítására szolgál, az MAWB pedig a konszolidált szállítmányhoz szükséges fő fuvarlevél szám. Ezek voltak a legfontosabb kulcs

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fontosságú kifejezések, amelyek tisztázása nélkül nem kezdhetjük meg a szállítási típus bemutatást. Miután tisztázásra kerültek a legfontosabb kifejezések térjünk rá az IPD szállítási típus folyamatának működését, lényegét mutató ábrára.

1. ábra IPD működése Az IPD lényege, hogy a vevői megrendeléseket nem egyenként szállítják a cél személyhez, hanem egy konszolidált csomagot állítanak össze a feladó helyen és így kerül szállításra, kezelésre. A csomag a memphis-i központba kerül és onnan szállítják tovább az egyéni csomagokat a vevőknek. A konszolidált szállítmánnyal együtt küldik a Close IPD docs-ot és a Consolidate Commercial Invoice-t és az egyéni szállítmányokhoz csatolják a Waybill-t és Pack Slip-et is. Az IPD előnye, hogy több címzettnek menő küldeményt konszolidál egy nemzetközi fuvarlevél alatt. Így több címzettnek lehet szállítani úgy, hogy csak egy vámdokumentációra van szükség a vámkezelés során. Ezáltal egyszerűsödik az export folyamat, azzal hogy csökken a papírmunka. További előny, hogy lerövidíti a kézbesítési időt 2-4 napra és csökkenti a rendelés és szállítás között eltelt időt 4-12 napra. A következő ábra támasztja alá, hogy mennyivel egyszerűsödött a folyamat és mennyivel rövidebb lett a szállítási idő a National Instruments esetében.

2. ábra IPD bevezetése előtt és után

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IPD a National Instruments gyakorlatában A következő ábra az IPD működését ábrázolja a National Instrumentsnél.

3. ábra IPD az NI-nál Láthatjuk hogy a fő FedEx server -FedEx01- Austinban található. Az előző server támogatására létezik egy backup Server is, ez a FedEx02. A folyamat úgy néz ki, hogy az Arapaho-ra könyvelt rendelések először a FedEx01-re kerülnek és majd onnan az IDC-re. A Fionn-ra bevitt order-ek, szintén előbb a központi Server-re kerülnek és majd onnan az NIH Warehouse-ba. Eredetileg úgy működne a folyamat, hogy egy FedEx Ship Manager Server nevezetű program segítségével, egy FedEx által biztosított felhasználói felületen keresztül történik a szállítás rögzítése. Így először a user-nek kellett volna az Oracle-ben megerősíteni a rendelést, majd belépni a FedEx Ship Manager Application-be és kinyomtatni a fuvarlevelet. Ez azért volt gond, mert az adatokat kézzel vitték volna fel, így megnőhetett volna a hibák aránya. Ennek elkerülése végett és a folyamat egyszerűsítése miatt döntött az NI az integráció mellett. Az integráció megvalósításával arra törekedtek, hogy egyszerűbbé tegyék a folyamatot, úgy hogy a fuvarlevél kinyomtatásának megtételéhez és a hozzá tartozó információk eléréséhez ne kelljen egy másik alkalmazásba belépni. Ennek előnyei, hogy a felhasználók kihagyhatók a fuvarlevél képzési eljárásból, a vevők a szükséges dokumentációt egy időben megkapja és nem utolsó szempont, hogy a folyamatos AWB frissülésnek köszönhetően a CSR-osok segíthetnek nyomon követni a vevőnek, hogy éppen hol jár a szállítmánya. Ez az integráció a FedEx-el a custom.pll-t és a TCP protokollt használja. A folyamatban a felhasználónak csak a ship confirm gombot kell megnyomnia a folyamat elindulásához. Ezután létrejön és elküldésre kerül a tranzakciós string a FedEx Servernek. Majd a folyamat végén pedig a feladónál kinyomtatásra kerül a AWB és az Oracle-ben frissülnek az AWB számok és MAWB számok egy-egy táblába.

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Objektumok szerepe a folyamatban Különböző táblák, konkurens programok segítik a folyamat működését. Az alábbi DB táblák léteznek: • Niwsh_ipd_shipping, amelyben a nyitott és lezárt IPD szállítmányok vannak tárolva. Akkor szúrhatunk be a táblába új rekordot, ha új IPD szállítmányt nyitunk és akkor lehet update-elve ha lezártuk. • Az niwsh_fedex_transactions tábla- az előbbivel ellentétben- az egyedi szállítmányokat tartalmazza. Ez a FedEx-es tranzakciók fő táblája. • Az niwsh_fedex_errors-ba kerülnek tárolásra a hibás FedEx-es tranzakciók. A következőkben néhány konkurens programmal és tevékenységével ismerkedhetünk meg. • Az első konkurens program az NI FedEx Manual Ship Transaction. Ez a program lehetőséget ad arra, hogy kézzel készítsünk Global Ship Request-eket. Ilyenkor figyelnünk kell arra, hogy update-eljük a WB-t és a MAWB-t. • NI Close FedEx IPD Shipment bezárja a nagy IPD szállítmányt és összefoglaló dokumentumokat (close IPD docs) nyomtat ki. • Az NI FedEx Void Shipment program segítségével lehetséges a törlés a nem IPD-s szállítmányok esetén. • Az NI FedEx of Day Close Transaction naponta egyszer továbbítja a szállítmányokat a memphis-i FedEx-es server-nek. • Az NI Delete IPD Shipment programmal lehet törölni az egész IPD-s szállítmányt.

Az alábbi lehetséges hibák merülhetnek fel a folyamat során Tipikus hibaforrás lehet a szállítmány mérete, ugyanis a küldemény méretei nem haladhatnak meg egy bizonyos értéket. Ezért ellenőrizni kell a méreteket, hogy nem e túl nagyok. Lehetséges olyan hiba, amikor a forrás és a cél állomás nem elérhetőek az adott szolgáltatással. Ebben az esetben a FedEx-nél kell érdeklődni, mert néhány szolgáltatás típusnál vannak korlátozások ezekre vonatkozólag. Fontos, hogy a csomagok mérete nem lehet nulla vagy a mezőt nem lehet üresen hagyni. Felmerülhet olyan probléma is, hogy az IPD-s szállítmányok kevesebb, mint két csomagot tartalmaznak. Ez a fentiekből következtethető, hogy igen nagy hiba, hiszen az IPD-nek több mint egy szállítmánynak kell lennie. Hiba léphet fel a DB-be való beszúráskor. Ez akkor lehetséges ha a FedEx szerver nem működik, nem elérhető. Ebben az esetben fel kell venni a kapcsolatot a FedEx-el. Egy tipikus hiba, hogy érvénytelen irányító számot adtunk meg, vagy pedig a FedEx nem szállít a megadott irányító számra. Hasonló gond adódhat abból is ha az irányító szám nem egyezik meg az állam azonosítójával. Ebben az esetben fel kell venni a kapcsolatot a CSRosokkal, hogy adjanak egy megfelelő irányítószámot, vagy állam azonosítót.

Jövőkép Jelenleg a FedEx 7.25-ös verzióját használják a National Instrumentsnél. A következő verzió a 7.67-es, amely azt az újítást tartalmazza, hogy nem kell az egész IPD-s szállítmányt kitörölni, hanem csak azt, amivel probléma van.

Irodalomjegyzék 1. Federal Express honlapja http://fedex.com 2. National Instruments honlapja http://nieurope.com

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Az RFID technológia alkalmazása a nyomonkövetésben Bencsik Anikó1, Füzesi István1 Debreceni Egyetem, Agrártudományi Centrum, Agrárgazdasági és Vidékfejlesztési Kar Gazdasági- és Agrárinformatikai Tanszék 4032 Debrecen, Böszörményi út 138. 1

Absztrakt. Egy termék számtalan veszélynek van kitéve, ameddig a gyártótól eljut a fogyasztóhoz. A gyárból átkerül egy átmeneti raktárba, innen a nagykereskedő, majd a kiskereskedelmi cég elosztó központjába, végül pedig az áruházak polcaira. Ez elég hosszú és bonyolult folyamat, amely során az áruk elveszhetnek, összecserélődhetnek, ellophatják őket. Nem meglepő tehát, hogy mindenki óriási jelentőségűnek tartja az automatikus termékazonosítás egyik feltörekvőben lévő formáját, az RFID-t. A termékek azonosítására napjainkban a vonalkód a legáltalánosabban használt módszer. A vonalkód is automatikus azonosítást tesz lehetővé, de a technológia bizonyos korlátai kiküszöbölhetetlenek. Ezek közül a legfontosabb, hogy csak korlátozott mennyiségű adatot képes tárolni (a hagyományos vonalkód legfeljebb 12-14 bitet), és a leolvasónak közvetlen rálátásra van szüksége, ami emberi segítséget igényel. Többek között ezen problémák megoldására született meg az RFID. Sokkal több információt képes tárolni (min. 96 bit), és ezek az információk automatikusan, nagyobb távolságról, emberi segítség nélkül – mivel nincs szükség közvetlen rálátásra – bekerülhetnek a számítógépes rendszerbe. Például a szállító járműnek elég elhaladnia a raktár kapujába épített olvasó mellett, és máris ellenőrizni tudjuk, hogy mennyi és milyen áru van a rakterében. Kulcsszavak. nyomonkövetés, azonosítási technológiák, RFID

Bevezetés Az élelmiszer-biztonság és azon belül az élelmiszerek nyomonkövethetősége hangsúlyos pontját képezi az egyre szigorúbbá váló Európai Uniós élelmiszerszabályozásnak. A mezőgazdasági termelőknek 2005. január 1.-től az Európai Unió élelmiszertörvényének, a 178/2002 EK rendeletének 18 § szerint kell nyomonkövetést alkalmazniuk, és számos más szabványnak, minőségügyi rendszernek is meg kell felelniük. A nyomonkövetési rendszerek feladata a pontos és gyors termékazonosítás, egy adott termék eredetének és egy adott időpontbeli tartózkodási helyének meghatározása. Jól működő nyomonkövetési rendszerek nélkül elképzelhetetlen lenne a hatékony azonosíthatóság és termékvisszahívás. A korszerű nyomonkövetés megvalósításához nélkülözhetetlen egy globálisan alkalmazható, egyedi azonosításra tökéletesen megfelelő technológia. Ez az RFID.

A nyomonkövetés jelentősége Napjainkban egyre bonyolultabb az élelmiszerellátási lánc, így a fogyasztók bizalma jelentősen megrendülhet egyes termékek iránt, a média által terjesztett híresztelések miatt. Fontos, hogy a fogyasztó rálátást kapjon a megvásárolt áru teljes életútjára, ezzel növelve a termék iránti bizalmat.A nyomonkövetés egy termék útvonalának leírását jelenti a nyersanyag előállításától kezdve egészen a végtermékig. Ez bizonyos értelemben egy termék időrendi leírása.

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1. ábra Nyomonkövethetőség és visszakereshetőség Forrás: I 1

Megkülönböztetünk felmenő és lemenő ági nyomonkövetést (lásd a fenti ábrán). A felmenő ági nyomonkövetés a táplálkozási láncon visszamenőleg követi egy termék útját, például egy állat tenyésztési helyének, vagy annak a hajónak a felkutatását, amely a fagyasztott halfiléhez felhasznált halat kihalászta. Lemenő ági nyomonkövetésről beszélünk, ha egy nyersanyag készlettől kiindulva a belőle készített összes végtermék felkutatása a cél, amely egy termék visszavonásakor nélkülözhetetlen fontosságú. Mind a felmenő, mind pedig a lemenő ági nyomonkövetés a készletbeszerzés bármely pontján képes egy termék eredetének, tulajdonságainak megállapítására egy, vagy több meghatározott szempont szerint. (I 2) A mezőgazdasági termelőknek 2005. január 1.-től az Európai Unió élelmiszertörvényének, a 178/2002 EK rendeletének 18 § szerint kell nyomonkövetést alkalmazniuk. A rendelet szerint: A termelés, feldolgozás és forgalmazás minden szakaszában biztosítani kell az élelmiszerek, a takarmányok, az élelmiszertermelésre szánt állatok, valamilyen élelmiszerbe vagy takarmányba bekerülő, vagy vélhetően bekerülő egyéb anyagok útjának nyomonkövethetőségét. (I 3) A vállalkozásoknak ahhoz, hogy eleget tegyenek ezen követelményeknek: • azonosítani kell minden jelentős beérkező anyagot, és képesnek kell lenni a folyamatban lévő munkák és a késztermék nyomonkövetésére a termelés, a tárolás, a szállítás, és ha szükséges a fogyasztók ellátása során, • biztosítania kell, hogy a különböző osztályú, fajtájú árúk, vagy tételek ne keveredhessenek, vagy ne használják fel őket helytelen célokra. Ahol lehetséges a tételeket mindig egyenként kell azonosítani, és az azonosított állapotot fenn kell tartani. • alkalmasnak kell lennie a termék „előéletének” a visszakeresésére egészen a termelés időszakáig, ahol lehetséges a felhasznált kiindulási anyagokig, illetve az alkalmazott termelési folyamatokig. 235


A vállalatoknak azonban nemcsak terhet jelent egy új rendszer bevezetése, vagy a már meglévő átalakítása a nyomonkövetés megvalósíthatósága érdekében, hanem különféle előnyökkel is jár: csökkenti az elosztással kapcsolatos költségeket, a termékvisszahívás költségeit, valamint kiterjesztheti azoknak a termékeknek a piacát, amelyek között a hasonló tulajdonságaik miatt nehéz különbséget tenni. Ezen előnyök révén a cégek szinte minden esetben növelni tudják a bevételeiket. (I 4) (Souza-Monteiro – Caswell, 2006)

Azonosítási technológiák A kiskereskedelembe kerülő termékeken a jelölési előírások miatt úgy megnövekedett a szövegek, jelölések száma, hogy a feliratokon sok esetben összefolynak az egyes információk, így például a fogyasztót aktuálisan informáló fontos adatok (minőség-megőrzési időtartam, súly, összetételi adatok) és a promocionális elemek: márkajelzések, minőségtanúsító jelek. Ez gyakran gondot okoz a fogyasztóknak két termék összehasonlítása során. Az árucikkeken a fogyasztók informálását célzó jelzéseken kívül gépi feldolgozást segítő jelzéseket is találunk, amelyek további ismereteket nyújtanak. A nyomonkövethetőségre utaló, célzott információ jó lehetőség a bizalom megerősítésére. A nyomonkövetés megvalósításához azonban gyakran még ezek az információk sem elegendőek, ezért jelennek meg újabb és újabb azonosítási technológiák. A napjainkban is használatos vonalkód rendszerek, elektronikus és biológiai azonosítók, valamint a közeljövőben egyre nagyobb teret nyerő RFID technológia megfelelő kombinációjával megvalósítható a teljes körű nyomonkövetés. Biológiai azonosító olyan jellemző lehet, amely folyamatosan és változatlan formában megfigyelhető és nyomonkövethető (Raspor, 2003). A legalapvetőbb ilyen azonosító a DNS, ugyanis ez változatlan marad a születéstől a halálig. A húsiparban ennek fontos szerepe van, ugyanis segítségével minden húsról meg lehet állapítani, hogy mely állatból származik. A technológia alkalmazható szarvasmarháknál, sertéseknél, baromfiknál, és integrálható a már meglévő élőállat azonosító rendszerbe, ezzel növelve annak pontosságát, megbízhatóságát.(I 5) A vonalkód egy olyan azonosítási technológia, mellyel gyorsan és nagy pontossággal gyűjthetünk adatokat. Alkalmas mind vizuális, mind gépi felismerésre. Széleskörűen, könnyen és nagy tömegben használható az élet minden területén. A vonalkód egyszerű és gyors módszert kínál az információ kódolására, mely elektronikus eszközökkel is könnyen olvasható. (EAN Hírek, 2002) Az RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) automatikus azonosításhoz és adatközléshez használt technológia, melynek lényege adatok tárolása és továbbítása RFID címkék és eszközök segítségével. Az RFID címke egy apró tárgy, amely rögzíthető, vagy beépíthető az azonosítani kívánt objektumba. Az objektum lehet tárgy, például egy árucikk, vagy alkatrész, illetve élőlény, így akár ember is.

Az RFID technológiai bemutatása Az RFID rendszer leegyszerűsítve a következőképpen működik: a termékre egy transzpondert -mikrochipet egy antennával- helyezünk, és egy rádióhullámok vételére alkalmas antennával felszerelt olvasó eszköz segítségével kiolvassuk az adatokat a chipből. Az olvasó pedig továbbküldi az adatokat a számítógépnek, ami feldolgozza azokat. (I 6, I 7, I 8)

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2. ábra Az RFID rendszer elemei Forrás: saját szerkesztés Amint az az ábrán is jól látható, az RFID rendszereknek alapvetően 3 összetevőjük van: a transzponder vagy más éven tag, az olvasó, és a számítógép. Az RFID tag egy integrált áramkörből, egy ehhez csatlakozó kicsi huzaltekercs antennából és az alkalmazástól függő védő borításból áll (például egy plasztik kártya). Az adatok az integrált áramkörben vannak tárolva és a kis antenna közreműködésével jutnak el az olvasóhoz. Az RFID transzpondereket alapvetően kétféleképpen csoportosíthatjuk: vannak passzív és aktív RFID tag-ek. (I 9) A passzív RFID transzponder nem rendelkezik adóval, csak az olvasóból kisugárzott energia segítségével veri vissza a rádióhullámokat. A passzív transzponderek előnyei az alacsonyabb költség, hosszabb élettartam, rugalmasabb mechanikai kialakítás. Hátránya a korlátozott olvasási távolság (max. 4-5 méter). Az aktív tag-ek saját adóval és többnyire saját energiaforrással rendelkeznk. Előnye a nagyobb olvasási távolság, és a különböző szenzorokkal való egybeépíthetőség. Hátránya, hogy az akkumulátornak és a tartósabb bevonatnak köszönhetően drága, és előre nem tudhatjuk, meddig kész a kommunikációra.(I 10) Az RFID olvasó rádió jelet sugároz, amit minden, a hatótávolságon belül lévő és az adott frekvencián működő tag érzékel. A tag-ek veszik a jelet az antennájuk segítségével és elküldik az olvasónak a memóriájukban tárolt információkat. Az olvasó fogadja az adatokat és továbbítja a számítógépnek vezetékes vagy vezeték nélküli kapcsolaton keresztül. Az RFID olvasók sokkal rugalmasabbak, mint a vonalkód leolvasók, mivel nincs szükségük közvetlen rálátásra, így jóval nagyobb távolságról történhet az olvasás, emellett egyszerre több tag (akár 1000) olvasása is lehetséges. A pénztáraknál alkalmazva a töredékére csökkentheti a számlázás idejét, így az egy pénztáron egységnyi idő alatt átmenő vásárlószám nagymértékben növekedhet. (I 11) Ahhoz, hogy a vállalat értelmezni és hasznosítani tudja az olvasó által küldött adatokat, szükség van azok integrálására a vállalat meglévő szoftvereihez. Ezért a nagyobb vállalatirányítási rendszereket forgalmazó cégek már mind megvalósították a technológia integrációját rendszereikben. A kapott adatok egy adatbázisba kerülnek, ahonnan szükség szerint kinyerhetőek és felhasználhatóak. Az interneten keresztül az adatbázis bizonyos elemei elérhetővé tehetőek a fogyasztók számára is. Ha a vásárló a terméken feltüntetett információkon kívül többre kíváncsi, akkor a boltban elhelyezett számítógép segítségével lekérdezhet az áruról plusz információkat. A többlet információ révén a vevő eredményesebben tud összehasonlítani két terméket, és a bizalma is nő a termék iránt.

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Az RFID rendszerek többféle frekvencián működhetnek. Az egyes kontinensek ill. országok meghatározták, hogy az ő területükön mely frekvenciák használhatóak. Ez akkor lehet fontos, ha pl. Európából szállítunk árut Amerikába. Ekkor ügyelni kell rá, hogy olyan tag-eket alkalmazzunk, amelyeket Amerikában is le tudnak olvasni. A lenti ábra mutatja a világ különböző tájain alkalmazott frekvenciatartományokat.

3. ábra Frekvencia szabványok Forrás: I 1

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Élőállat azonosítás: Lehetőség van az álltok RFID technológia segítségével történő azonosítására és nyomonkövetésére. A fogyasztásra szánt vágóállatoknál a chipet egy kapszulába helyezik és lenyeletik az állattal. A chip olyan fontos információkat tárolhat, mint az állat fajtája, származása, tulajdonosa, tartózkodási helye, egészségügyi kezelései, oltásai, takarmányozási információk és minden, az állatra egyedileg kiadott azonosító kód. A technológia lehetővé teszi az állat testhőmérsékletének folyamatos megfigyelését is. Ez azért fontos, mert a normálistól eltérő testhőmérséklet jelzi, ha az állattal valami nincs rendben. Így a betegségek korábban felismerhetőek és kezelhetőek. (I 12, I 13, I 14) Az ellátási lánc automatizálása: ez a legkorábbi hajtóereje a fejlesztéseknek és a technológia implementálásának. 13,56 MHz alapú RFID rendszert használ pl. a Procter & Gamble Spanyolországban. A Paramount Farms, amely az USA pisztáciafogyasztásának 60%-át szállítja, a beszállítói láncának automatizálására szintén RFID rendszert alkalmaz. Vagyontárgyak követése, nyilvántartása az irodában, laboratóriumokban, raktárakban, valamint raklapok, konténerek azonosítása az ellátási láncban. Könyvtári alkalmazások: a könyvtárakban évek óta használják az RFID-t. Kezdetekben biztonsági célt szolgált, jelenleg a raktármenedzsmentet, az önálló kölcsönzést és az automatikus visszavételt támogatja. (I 15) Orvosi alkalmazások: gyógyszerek hozzárendelése adott beteghez, gyógyszerek kiadási jogosultságának kezelése, a vértartó tasakokon elhelyezett RFID címke segítségével elkerülhető, hogy valaki nem a saját vércsoportjának megfelelő vért kapja. Ehhez a betegeket is el kell látni a kórházban RFID azonosítóval.

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Emberek nyomonkövetése: beléptetés-menedzsment, vagy biztonság épületben és rendezvényeken, csecsemők "felcímkézése" az újszülött-osztályon. (I 16) Feldolgozóipar: alkatrészek és összeszerelt egységek útjának követése a gyártásban, illetve a gyáron kívül. Kiskereskedelem: több multinacionális kereskedő cég elkezdte az RFID rendszer bevezetését: pl. Metro, Wal-Mart. A beszállítóknak is kötelezővé teszik az RFID bevezetését. Az RFID gyorsabb áruazonosítást tesz lehetővé, így megkönnyíti a logisztikai feladatokat. A pénztárnál is lerövidül a várakozási idő, mivel már nem kell manuálisan, egyesével leolvasni a termék vonalkódját, hanem elég eltolni a termékekkel teli kosarat az olvasó mellett. A jövőben a hitelkártyákba és a mobiltelefonokba is beépítik a technológiát, így ezek segítségével könnyebbé válik a fizetés is. (I 17) Raktárak: valós idejű leltár az árucikkek automatikus regisztrálásával, a leltári hiány elkerülése, könnyebb készletoptimalizálás, lopás elleni védelem. Időmérés sportrendezvényeken RFID útlevelek: Az e-passportokban található apró chip a hajszálnál is vékonyabb és könnyen beépíthető az útlevél fedőlapjába. A chipen tárolhatóak a tulajdonos személyi adatai, a fotója, esetleg az ujjlenyomata és íriszfényképe is. Ezeket az adatokat a határátlépésnél össze lehet vetni a kormányzati számítógépes rendszerben tárolt adatokkal és a tulajdonossal. Amennyiben eltérés jelentkezik, az gyanús cselekményre- hamisításra, visszaélésre- utalhat. A felhasznált rádiófrekvenciás azonosító chipek hasonlatosak ahhoz, amelyeket a kereskedelem és logisztika több területén is használnak, azonban biztonsági szempontból lényegesen többet tudnak azoknál, és persze tartósabbak, legalább 10 évig működnek és sértetlenül megőrzik az adatokat. ( I 18, I 19) Intelligens csomagolások (SmartPack): Számos alkalmazás létezik hangok vagy beszéd lejátszására a csomagoláshoz kapcsolódóan. Az USA-ban több gyógyszertárban radio tag-eket tesznek az orvosságok nyomtatott tájékoztatója alá. Ha egy olvasó készüléket tartunk a tag fölé, akkor az felolvassa a tájékoztató szövegét. Ez nagy segítséget nyújt a vakok és gyengén látók számára. A jövőben várhatóan egyre több termék fogja ’felolvasni’ a rá vonatkozó információkat, és saját kijelzőjén is megjelenítheti azokat, akár színes mozgóképek formájában is. Létezik olyan RFID megoldás is, ami a chip-en kívül egy szenzort is tartalmaz, mely rögzíti a hőmérséklet, páratartalom, stb. adatokat az idő függvényében. Ezek képesek jelezni, ha a termék a szállítás vagy tárolás során olyan környezeti feltételek közé került, melyek befolyásolhatják a minőségét. Például ha a tejet hosszú ideig nem tesszük be a hűtőbe, akkor figyelmeztető üzenetet jelenít meg a kijelzőjén, és akár hangosan el is mondja azt. A várhatóan a jövő intelligens konyháiban a mikrohullámú sütő majd leolvassa a mirelit termék csomagolásáról a felmelegítéshez szükséges információkat, vagy a hűtőszekrény kijelzi, hogy egy termék meddig fogyasztható még, vagy hány darab van belőle, és akár automatikusan meg is rendelheti az interneten keresztül. (I 20, I 21)

Piaci előrejelzések Az RFID eszközök, alkalmazások és technológiák világpiaca 2004-ben mintegy 1,5 milliárd dolláros forgalmat bonyolított le, míg 2000-ben ez az összeg még csak 670 millió körül mozgott. A Venture Development Corporation (VDC) szerint évi 25%-os növekedéssel 2015-re akár 27 milliárd dolláros globális árbevétellel lehet számolni. Az alábbi ábrán az is jól látható, hogy 2007 végére már befejeződik a tesztidőszak és 2009 elejétől megkezdődik a termékek egyedi azonosítása. 239


4. ábra Az RFID piac alakulása 2013-ig Forrás: AMR Research Kezdetben a csomag és raklapszintű azonosítás elterjedése várható – elsősorban a költségek miatt -, és csak hosszabb távon számíthatunk a termékenkénti címkézésre. Nem biztos, hogy mindenkinek érdemes majd bevezetni ezt a technológiát. Az erre vonatkozó gazdasági számításokat minden esetben a vállalatnak magának kell elvégeznie. Meg kell határozni, hogy nyújt-e olyan előnyöket az RFID, amiért megéri jelentősebb összegeket áldozni a bevezetésre. A technológia költsége azonban nem minden, mert ha egy cég például a Metro beszállítója akar maradni, akkor használni fogja az RFID-t, kerül amibe kerül. A következő öt évben a fogyasztók egyre inkább tudatában lesznek az RFID technológia előnyeinek, és ez növeli majd a keresletet, különösen a tömeges felhasználású alkalmazások iránt, mint például a közlekedési jegyek. (I 22)

Összefoglalás Az EU előírások a legtöbb árucikk esetében egyre messzebb tolják ki a gyártói felelősséget, ezért egyre inkább lényeges szemponttá válik a nyomonkövethetőség, ami az RFID segítségével tökéletesen megvalósítható. Kezdetben a csomag és raklapszintű azonosítás elterjedése várható – elsősorban a költségek miatt -, és csak hosszabb távon számíthatunk a termékenkénti címkézésre. Nem biztos, hogy mindenkinek érdemes majd bevezetni ezt a technológiát. Az erre vonatkozó gazdasági számításokat minden esetben a vállalatnak magának kell elvégeznie. Meg kell határozni, hogy nyújt-e olyan előnyöket az RFID, amiért megéri jelentősebb összegeket áldozni a bevezetésre. A technológia költsége azonban nem minden, mert ha egy cég mondjuk a Metro beszállítója akar maradni, akkor használni fogja az RFID-t, kerül amibe kerül. Az RFID előnyei számos területen – gyártás, raktározás, kereskedelem- jelentkezhetnek. A gyártás során nyomonkövethető a termék útja, regisztrálhatók a technológiai sorrendek, a munkafázisok, a személyek, akik részt vettek a gyártásban, vagy bármilyen egyéb adat. Ezek a megtakarítások számos ponton anyagi haszonra is lefordíthatók. Megtakarítást jelenthet az emberi munka teljes kiküszöbölése a termék azonosításával kapcsolatban, a pontos pozíciók állandó ismerete pedig munkaidő-megtakarítást eredményez. A kiskereskedelemben 240


megakadályozható az a fajta lopás, amikor a vonalkódot kicserélik, áthelyezik az olcsóbb termékről egy hasonló, de drágább árura, valamint a leolvasó a ruha alá rejtett árut is leolvassa, ezzel is megnehezítve a tolvajok dolgát. Magyarországon még egyelőre csak azok a multinacionális cégek érdeklődnek az RFID iránt, amelyek anyavállalatánál már használják, illetve tervezik a bevezetését. Az, hogy a magyar tulajdonú vagy kisebb vállalkozásoknál mikorra terjed el, függ a gazdasági fejlődéstől, a fogyasztás növekedésétől vagy éppen csökkenésétől, és még sok egyéb tényezőtől. Hazánkban valószínűleg nem fogja egy hamar felváltani az RFID a vonalkódot, hiszen nem mindenütt éri meg alkalmazni, nagyon sok helyen a vonalkód tökéletesen ellátja a funkcióját.

Irodalomjegyzék D. Souza-Monteiro - J. A. Caswell: Traceability in Multi-Ingredient Food Supply Chains, 7th International Conference on Management in AgriFood Chains and Networks, Wageningen 2006. P, Raspor.: Primary identifiers of Food items using Bio(logical) markers, 2nd International Food Trace conference Barcelona 2003. EAN Hírek: Élelmiszerek nyomon követése, 2002/3 IX. évfolyam 6-7. I 1: Állami Nyomda RT.: RFID megoldások http://www.allaminyomda.hu/file/1000098 I 2: Secal- projekt élelmiszerbiztonsággal kapcsolatos füzetei: 25. füzet Fogyasztók (2) http://gportal.hu/gindex.php?pg=173415&nid=41545 I 3: Az Európai Parlament és a Tanács 178/2002/EK rendelete az élelmiszerjog általános elveiről és követelményeiről, az Európai Élelmiszerbiztonsági Hatóság létrehozásáról és az élelmiszerbiztonságra vonatkozó eljárások megállapításáról. http://www.fvm.hu/doc/upload/200503/178_2002_ek.pdf I 4: Elise Golan, Barry Krisstoff, Fred Kuchler: Food Traceability: One Ingredient in a Safe and Efficient Food Supply http://151.121.68.30/Amberwaves/April04/Features/FoodTraceability.htm I 5: AgBiotech Bulletin: Food Traceability: From the farm to the fork http://www.agwest.sk.ca/publications/agbiotech/abbnov03.pdf I 6: Intermec White Paper: Supply Chain RFID: How It Works And Why It Pays http://www.kstinternational.com/download/paper/200601/intermec_supply_chain_rfid.pdf

I 7: Intermec: RFID Overview http://www.kstinternational.com/download/paper/200601/intermec_intro_rfid_wp_web.pdf

I 8: AIM Inc. White Paper: Radio Frequency Identification http://www.aimglobal.org/technologies/rfid/resources/RFIDPrimer.pdf I 9: Rácz László: RFID http://www.allaminyomda.hu/file/1000185 I 10: BCS Hungary: Az RFID technológiai alapjai http://www.bcs.hu/index.php?akt_menu=294#top I 11: Intermec White Paper: Abc’s of RFID: Understanding and using radio frequency identification URL: http://www.kstinternational.com/download/paper/200601/intermec_ABCsofRFID_wp_web.pdf

I 12: Demir Barlas: Agricultural RFID, 2006 augusztus 31. http://www.line56.com/articles/default.asp?ArticleID=7878 I 13: Agent Portal: Mit tegyünk, ha állandóan szeretnénk tudni kedvencünk testhőmérsékletét? http://www.agent.ai/main.php?folderID=258&articleID=1668&ctag=&iid=

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I 14: Neil Hammerschmidt: Using RFID to Enhance User Experience, Wireless and RFID Conference 2006. http://events.fcw.com/events/2006/wireless/downloads/WRFID06_RFID-23_Hammerschmidt.pdf I 15: Szende György: Rádiófrekvenciás azonosítás a könyvtárakban http://tmt.omikk.bme.hu/show_news.html?id=4066&issue_id=465 I 16: Berta Sándor: RFID- rendszer akadályozott meg egy gyermekrablást http://www.sg.hu/cikkek/38242/rfid_rendszer_akadalyozott_meg_egy_gyermekrablast I 17: B C S Hungary: RFID alkalmazási területek http://www.bcs.hu/index.php?akt_menu=297#top I 18: Bodnár Ádám: Rádiós azonosítással ellátott útleveleket vezetne be az Egyesült Államok http://www.hwsw.hu/hir.php3?id=27226 I 19: Gyurkity Péter: Jönnek az RFID- útlevelek http://www.sg.hu/cikkek/46557/jonnek_az_rfid_utlevelek I 20: Dr. Peter Harrop: An Introduction to Smart Packaging http://www.rfidinfo.jp/whitepaper/ix04-01-sp.pdf I 21: Berta Sándor: Intelligens csomagolások készülnek Németországban http://www.sg.hu/cikkek/38843/intelligens_csomagolasok_keszulnek_nemetorszagban I 22: Mártonffy Attila: Dinamikusan bővül az RFID piac http://www.it-business.hu/Resource.aspx?ResourceID=docstorefile&f=3742&t=stored

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