Advances in Modeling Agricultural Systems

This book presents an up-to-date review of advances in the mathematical modeling of agricultural systems. It covers a broad spectrum of problems and applications based on internet and communications technology, as well as methodological approaches based on the integration of different simulation and data management tools. Using real-world cases, each chapter presents a detailed solution of a problem in a particular field. This book demonstrates that regardless of the nature of the problem and the application domain, modeling is a central and important activity in the process of developing agricultural systems.
Researchers and graduate students in the fields of agriculture and environmental studies will benefit from this book. It will also serve as an excellent reference for managers, team leaders, developers and modelers of agricultural and environmental systems and researchers in the applied computation field.

Contents

Preface.- The Model Driven Architecture Approach: A Framework for Developing Complex Agricultural Systems.- A New Methodology to Automate the Transformation of GIS Models in an Iterative Development Process.- Application of Model Transformation Paradigm in Agriculture: A Simple Environmental System Case Study.- Constraints Modeling in Agricultural Databases.- Design of a Model-Driven Web Decision Support System in Agriculture: From Scientific Models to the Final Software.- How2QnD: Design and Construction of a Game-Style, Environmental Simulation Engine and Interface Using UML, XML, and Java.- The Use of UML as a Tool for the Formalisation of Standards and the Design of Ontologies in Agriculture.- Modelling External Information Needs of Food Business Networks.- Enterprise Business Modelling Languages Applied to Farm Enterprise: A Case Study for IDEF0, GRAI, and AMS.- A UML-Based Plug&Play Version of RothC.- Ontology-Based Simulation Applied to Soil, Water, and Nutrient Management.- Precision Farming, Myth or Reality: Selected Case Studies from Mississippi Cotton Fields.- Rural Development Through Input-Output Modelling.- Modelling in Nutrient Sensing for Agricultural and Environmental Applications.- Estimation of Land Surface Parameters Through Modeling Inversion of Earth Observation Optical Data.- A Stochastic Dynamica Programming Model for Valuing a Eucalyptus Investment.- Modelling Water Flow and Solute Transport in Heterogeneous Unsaturated Porous Media.- Genome Analysis of Species of Agricultural Interest.- Modeling and Solving Real-Life Global Optimization Problems with Meta-heuristic Methods.- Modeling and Device Development for Chlorophyll Estimation in Vegetation.- Clustering and Classification Algorithms in Food and Agricultural Applications: A Survey.- Mathematical Modelling of Modified Atmosphere Package: An Engineering Approach to Design Packaging Systems for Fresh-Cut Produce.