Abstract
Stating that information and services are ubiquitous, means that they are available anywhere, anytime. The development of mobile-devices with wireless network-access capabilities, together with the decrease in network-traffic costs and the proliferation of free wireless hotspots, makes the use of mobile-devices, as Internet access tools, increasingly common and attractive. With novel forms of presenting information and to provide new ways to interact with consumers, new business strategies can be boosted, in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and m-commerce. This paper describes a different approach to the relationship between customers and business-providers, based on contextualization mechanisms located in commercial products, which in turn acts as a gateway to static tag-embedded information as well as web-based information and services. A wine integrated management system, called SIGPV, is presented as a proof-of-concept, enumerating some of possible major business and CRM benefits. © 2010 Universidad de Talca - Chile.

Abstract
The inactivation of Escherichia coli using moderate electric fields (MEF) below 25 degrees C, was investigated. Keeping the temperature always below 25 degrees C demonstrated that electric fields are involved in the inactivation of E call, without possible synergistic temperature effects. Electric fields above 220 V cm(-1) promoted death rates of 3 log(10) cycles of E coli in less than 6 min, and even higher rates at greater electric fields, while presumably overcoming the thermal degradation caused by conventional high temperature treatments. A non-thermal model was proposed that successfully describes the E. coli death kinetics under this treatment. SEM observations of E. coli cells after the exposure to the MEF treatment, revealed changes at the cell membrane level, indicating a possible cause for the cell death rates. These results show that this treatment holds potential for sterilization of thermolabile products (e.g. serum and other physiological fluids, food products), by itself or as a complement of the traditional heat-dependent techniques.

Abstract
Grapevine phenology observations are essential for ecological adaptability of grape varieties, crop management and crop modelling. Phenological events have traditionally been ground based, with observations mainly providing information concerning grape varieties over a limited spatial area and few in-season observations. Time-series of satellite imagery can rapidly provide a synoptic and objective view of grape vegetation dynamics that may be used for vineyard management. Ten-day VEGETATION image composites from 1999 to 2007 were used to examine temporal profile in the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and their relationship with ground based observation of grapevine phenology. In Portugal is Douro wine region, 2 suitable tests sites with over 70% or more of their area occupied by grapevines were selected. A number of NDVI metrics were obtained for each year through logistic model adjusted to NDVI time series after noise reduction using a Savitzky-Golay filter. The comparison of ground-based vineyard phenology and satellite-derived flowering, show an average spread deviation of 3 days. The satellite derived full canopy date was significantly correlated to the veraison date (r=0.87; n=7; p<0.02). The data set provided by the VEGETATION sensor proved to be a valuable tool for vineyard monitoring, mainly for inter-annual comparisons on regional scale.

Abstract
The sustainable conservation of mountain semi-natural meadows depends on the knowledge of their vegetation dynamics and management practices. Time series of vegetation indices (VI) derived from high temporal resolution satellite images can be a useful tool to the sustainable management of semi-natural meadows ecosystem and grazing activities. In this study satellite VI from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) are evaluated against in situ measurements of VIs and plant height in the semi-natural mountain meadows of Northeast Portugal. In two testes sites, we evaluated the performance of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) from MODIS and field spectroradiometer sensor in characterizing semi-natural meadows phenology and plant height. The Savitzky-Golay filter was used for smoothing each VI time series, as well as to extract a number of NDVI and EVI metrics by computing derivatives. There was weak to reasonable agreement between VIs-metrics from MODIS and ground based derived phenology. The NDVI had a great sensitivity to crop growth changes during start of growth season, whereas the EVI exhibited more sensitivity at the pick of the maximum green biomass. The relationship between vegetation height and both VI from MODIS or field spectroradiometer, fit a non-linear model with similar pattern function for each test site. Regression analysis revealed that 67% of the in-season plant height variability could be explained by MODIS(EVI). These results suggest a great sensibility of MODIS(EVI) to detect the phenology and plant height of semi-natural meadows, even in situations of high plant height.

Abstract
The segmentation stage is a key aspect of an object-based image analysis system. However, the segmentation quality is usually difficult to evaluate for satellite images. The Synthetic Image TEsting Framework (SITEF) is a tool to evaluate and compare image segmentation results. This paper presents an example of the use of SITEF for the evaluation of a segmentation algorithm, using a SPOT HRG satellite image with 6 vegetation land cover classes identified in an agricultural area. The segmentation results were evaluated under various perspectives, including the parcel size and shape, the land cover types, and the parameters used in the segmentation algorithm.

Abstract
A forecast model for estimating the annual variation in regional wine yield based on remote sensing was developed for the main wine regions of Portugal. Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) time-series obtained by the VEGETATION sensor, on board the most recent Satellite Pour l'Observation de la Terre (SPOT) satellite, over the period 1998-2008 were used for four test sites located in the main wine regions of Portugal: Douro (two sites), Vinhos Verdes and Alentejo. The CORINE (Coordination of Information on the Environment) Land Cover maps from 2000 were initially used to select the suitable regional test sites. The NDVI values of the second decade of April of the previous season to harvest were significantly correlated to the wine yield for all studied regions. The relation between the NDVI and grapevine induction and differentiation of the inflorescence primordial or bud fruitfulness during the previous season is discussed. This NDVI measurement can be made about 17 months before harvest and allows us to obtain very early forecasts of potential regional wine yield. Appropriate statistical tests indicated that the wine yield forecast model explains 77-88% of the inter-annual variability in wine yield. The comparison of official wine yield and the adjusted prediction models, based on 36 annual data records for all regions, shows an average spread deviation between 2.9% and 7.1% for the different regions. The dataset provided by the VEGETATION sensor proved to be a valuable tool for vineyard monitoring, mainly for inter-annual comparisons on a regional scale due to their high data acquisition rates and wide availability. The accuracy, very early indication and low-cost of the developed forecast model justify its use by the winery and viticulture industry.