Neurophysiological Model of the Normal and Abnormal Human Pupil

A model of the pathways controlling the size of the human pupil is presented. Computer simulation of this model demonstrates the role played by each of the elements in the pupil pathways. Simulations of the effects of drugs and a few common abnormalities in the system also help to illustrate the workings of the internal processes. Computer models of this type can be used as teaching aids or as tools for testing of hypotheses regarding the system.     

Adaptive moving shadow detection and removal by new semi-supervised learning technique

The efficient application of current methods of shadow detection in video is hindered by the difficulty in defining their parameters or models and/or their application domain dependence. This paper presents a new shadow detection and removal method that aims to overcome these inefficiencies. It proposes a semi-supervised learning rule using a new variant of co-training technique for shadow detection and removal in uncontrolled scenes. The new variant both reduces the run-time through a periodical execution of a co-training process according to a novel temporal framework, and generates a more generic prediction model for an accurate classification. The efficiency of the proposed method is shown experimentally on a testbed of videos that were recorded by a static camera and that included several constraints, e.g., dynamic changes in the natural scene and various visual shadow features. The conducted experimental study produced quantitative and qualitative results that highlighted the robustness of our shadow detection method and its accuracy in removing cast shadows. In addition, the practical usefulness of the proposed method was evaluated by integrating it in a Highway Control and Management System software called RoadGuard.     

On line background modeling for moving object segmentation in dynamic scenes

Fast and accurate moving object segmentation in dynamic scenes is the first step in many computer vision applications. In this paper, we propose a new background modeling method for moving object segmentation based on dynamic matrix and spatio-temporal analyses of scenes. Our method copes with some challenges related to this field. A new algorithm is proposed to detect and remove cast shadow. A comparative study by quantitative evaluations shows that the proposed approach can detect foreground robustly and accurately from videos recorded by a static camera and which include several constraints. A Highway Control and Management System called RoadGuard is proposed to show the robustness of our method. In fact, our system has the ability to control highway by detecting strange events that can happen like vehicles suddenly stopped in roads, parked vehicles in emergency zones or even illegal conduct such as going out from the road. Moreover, RoadGuard is capable of managing highways by saving information about the date and time of overloaded roads.     

Design and development of dynamic Agri-ontology for IoT interoperability

In recent years, the usage and applications of Internet of Things (IoT) have increased exponentially. IoT connects multiple heterogeneous devices like sensors, micro controllers, actuators, smart devices like mobiles, watches, etc. IoT contributes the data produced in the context of data collection, including the domains like military, agriculture, healthcare, etc. The diversity of possible applications at the intersection of the IoT and the web semantics has prompted many research teams to work at the interface between these two disciplines. This makes it possible to collect data and control various objects in transparent way. The challenge lies in the use of this data. Ontologies address this challenge to meet specific data needs in the IoT field. This paper presents the implementation of a dynamic agriculture ontology-building tool that parses the ontology files to extract full data and update it based on the user needs. The technology is used to create the angular library for parsing the OWL files. The proposed ontology framework would accept user-defined ontologies and provide an interface for an online updating of the owl files to ensure the interoperability in the agriculture IoT.     

Radiation crosslinked polyvinyl alcohol/polyvinyl pyrrolidone/acrylic acid hydrogels: swelling,crosslinking and dye adsorption study

Iranian Polymer Journal - Hydrogels were produced from mixtures of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP), and acrylic acid (AAc) using γ-radiation at doses of 3, 7, and...     

Determination of dyers’ perceived components of colour difference (depth,brightness and hue) between two similar colours from their spectral reflectance values

The partitioning of colour differences into ΔL^*, ΔC^* and ΔH^* is not directly equivalent to the dyer’s method of partitioning. The dyer’s method involves separation into the components of depth (ΔD), brightness (ΔB) and hue (ΔH), of which only hue difference has a qualitative (and quantitative) equivalent in the CIELAB system. Depth and brightness are important terms to dyers. Depth is related to the amount of dye taken up by a textile material and brightness to that component of colour difference that is neither depth nor hue. Brightness is best defined as the opposite of dullness, dullness being related to the amount of neutral grey present in the colour. An algorithm, called the Wardman–Smith–Farooq algorithm, has been developed to compute the dyers’ variables of ΔD,ΔB and ΔH from spectral reflectance values, enabling dyers to take full advantage of colorimetry. The algorithm is based on extensive experimental work to map surfaces of constant visual depth through the colour space and this paper describes the methodology of the calculation. The correlations of the values of ΔD,ΔB and ΔH, determined using the Wardman–Smith–Farooq algorithm with other empirical models for 117 sample pairs, are given.     

Assessment of organic acid-rich bio-sap to generate electricity

The study has focused on electricity generation from organic acid-rich bio-substrate like star fruit (Averrhoa carambola). The sap of star fruit was selected as an electrolyte due to the presence of significant amounts of organic acids such as citric acid and ascorbic acid. To preserve the sap, 2% phenol by volume was used to reduce the growth of microorganisms, and the addition of phenol did not affect the initial pH. It was observed that due to an increase in the electrode surface area, reaction rate and current generation had been amplified. Internal resistance also decreased rapidly because of the large electrode surface area. Furthermore, internal resistance was the significant barrier in electricity generation, which was also successfully controlled by the baffle flow agitation system. Moreover, the baffle flow agitation system reduces the formation of dead zones and increases the total dissolved solids inside the electrochemical cell compartments during operation.     

Synthesis of Ion Imprinted Polymers by Copolymerization of Zn(II) and Al(III)8-hydroxy Quinolone Complexes with Divinylbenzene and Methacryclic Acid

In this research work, Zinc(II) and Aluminum(III)-IIP's were synthesized by optimizing the amount of methacrylic acid as monomer, divinylbenzene as cross-linker. The IIP's were functionalized with 8-hydroxy quinolone complexes of the two metal ions under thermal conditions by copolymerization with monomer and cross-linker. The IIP's and Non-IIP's were characterized using FT-IR, TGA, and SEM analysis. A quite remarkable difference in the size was observed of the polymers (Zn(II) 1.0 µm and Al(III) 0.1 µm). A stronger affinity was observed with IIP in comparison with Non-IIP at pH 3.1 and 4.5 for Zn(II) and Al(III) ions on their respective polymers.     

Survival of Salmonella Enteritidis PT 30 on inoculated almond kernels in hot water treatments

Almonds are blanched by exposure to hot water or steam-injected water to remove the pellicle (skin) from the kernel. This study evaluated the survival of Salmonella Enteritidis PT 30, Salmonella Senftenberg 775W and Enterococcus faecalis on whole raw almond kernels exposed to hot water. Whole, inoculated (7 to 9 log CFU/g) Nonpareil almonds (40 g) were submerged in 25 L of water maintained at 60, 70, 80 and 88 °C. Almonds were heated for up to 12 min, drained for 2 s, and transferred to 80 mL of cold (4 °C) tryptic soy broth. Almonds in broth were stomached at high speed for 2 min, serially diluted, plated onto tryptic soy and bismuth sulfite agars (Salmonella) or bile esculin agar (Enterococcus) and incubated at 37 °C for 24 and 48 h, respectively. D values of 2.6, 1.2, 0.75 and 0.39 min were calculated for exposure of S. Enteritidis PT 30 to water at 60, 70, 80 and 88 °C, respectively; the calculated z value was 35 C°. D values determined for Salmonella Senftenberg 775W and E. faecalis at 88 °C were 0.37 and 0.36 min, respectively. Neither Salmonella serovar could be recovered by enrichment of 1-g samples after almonds inoculated at 5 log CFU/g were heated at 88 °C for 2 min. These data will be useful to validate almond industry blanching processes.