Classification of organic and conventional olives using convolutional neural networks

This paper presents a convolutional neural network (CNN) to classify between the conventionally and organically cultivated Memecik varieties of green olives. The image forming method called the rising paper chromatography is utilized in preparing the images of Memecik varieties of green olives for CNN. In the rising chromatography method, 20, 30, and 40% sample concentrations were determined as the suitable concentrations for both organic and conventional olives. The concentrations of AgNO3 and FeSO4 were determined as 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 1% for both conventional and organic samples. The visual differences used for differentiation of different types of Memecik green olives are usually determined according to the regional color differences, the vivid color occurrence, the width and the frequency of bowl occurrence, the thin line, and the picks at drop zone by the expert assessors. The testing results in this study verified the effectiveness of the CNN methodology in differentiating between the organically and conventionally cultivated Memecik green olives. The newly designed neural network achieved 100% accuracy. Furthermore, this high accuracy achieved by CNN might suggest that it can be effectively used in place of the expert assessors

Evaluation of alternative preservation treatments (water heat treatment, ultrasounds, thermosonication and UV-C radiation) to improve safety and quality of whole tomato

Previously optimised postharvest treatments were compared to conventional chlorinated water treatment in terms of their effects on the overall quality of tomato (‘Zinac’) during storage at 10 °C. The treatments in question were water heat treatment (WHT = 40 °C, 30 min), ultrasounds (US = 45 kHz, 80 %, 30 min), thermosonication (TS =40 °C, 30 min, 45 kHz, 80 %) and ultraviolet irradiation (UV-C: 0.97 kJ m−2). The quality factors evaluated were colour, texture, sensorial analysis, mass loss, antioxidant capacity, total phenolic content, peroxidase and pectin methylesterase enzymatic activities, and microbial load reduction. The results demonstrate that all treatments tested preserve tomato quality to some extent during storage at 10 °C. WHT, TS and UV-C proved to be more efficient on minimising colour and texture changes with the additional advantage of microbial load reduction, leading to a shelf life extension when compared to control trials. However, at the end of storage, with exception of WHT samples, the antioxidant activity and phenolic content of treated samples was lower than for control samples. Moreover, sensorial results were well correlated with instrumental colour experimental data. This study presents alternative postharvest technologies that improve tomato (Zinac) quality during shelf life period and minimise the negative impact of conventional chlorinated water on human safety, health and environment.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Methylation Defect in Imprinted Genes Detected in Patients with an Albright's Hereditary Osteodystrophy Like Phenotype and Platelet Gs Hypofunction

Pseudohypoparathyroidism (PHP) indicates a group of heterogeneous disorders whose common feature is represented by impaired signaling of hormones that activate Gsalpha, encoded by the imprinted GNAS gene. PHP-Ib patients have isolated Parathormone (PTH) resistance and GNAS epigenetic defects while PHP-Ia cases present with hormone resistance and characteristic features jointly termed as Albright's Hereditary Osteodystrophy (AHO) due to maternally inherited GNAS mutations or similar epigenetic defects as found for PHP-Ib. Pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism (PPHP) patients with an AHO phenotype and no hormone resistance and progressive osseous heteroplasia (POH) cases have inactivating paternally inherited GNAS mutations.We here describe 17 subjects with an AHO-like phenotype that could be compatible with having PPHP but none of them carried Gsalpha mutations. Functional platelet studies however showed an obvious Gs hypofunction in the 13 patients that were available for testing. Methylation for the three differentially methylated GNAS regions was quantified via the Sequenom EpiTYPER. Patients showed significant hypermethylation of the XL amplicon compared to controls (36 ± 3 vs. 29 ± 3%; p<0.001); a pattern that is reversed to XL hypomethylation found in PHPIb. Interestingly, XL hypermethylation was associated with reduced XLalphaS protein levels in the patients' platelets. Methylation for NESP and ExonA/B was significantly different for some but not all patients, though most patients have site-specific CpG methylation abnormalities in these amplicons. Since some AHO features are present in other imprinting disorders, the methylation of IGF2, H19, SNURF and GRB10 was quantified. Surprisingly, significant IGF2 hypermethylation (20 ± 10 vs. 14 ± 7%; p<0.05) and SNURF hypomethylation (23 ± 6 vs. 32 6%; p<0.001) was found in patients vs. controls, while H19 and GRB10 methylation was normal.In conclusion, this is the first report of methylation defects including GNAS in patients with an AHO-like phenotype without endocrinological abnormalities. Additional studies are still needed to correlate the methylation defect with the clinical phenotype

Black holes, gravitational waves and fundamental physics:a roadmap

The grand challenges of contemporary fundamental physics---dark matter, dark energy, vacuum energy, inflation and early universe cosmology, singularities and the hierarchy problem---all involve gravity as a key component. And of all gravitational phenomena, black holes stand out in their elegant simplicity, while harbouring some of the most remarkable predictions of General Relativity: event horizons, singularities and ergoregions. The hitherto invisible landscape of the gravitational Universe is being unveiled before our eyes: the historical direct detection of gravitational waves by the LIGO-Virgo collaboration marks the dawn of a new era of scientific exploration. Gravitational-wave astronomy will allow us to test models of black hole formation, growth and evolution, as well as models of gravitational-wave generation and propagation. It will provide evidence for event horizons and ergoregions, test the theory of General Relativity itself, and may reveal the existence of new fundamental fields. The synthesis of these results has the potential to radically reshape our understanding of the cosmos and of the laws of Nature. The purpose of this work is to present a concise, yet comprehensive overview of the state of the art in the relevant fields of research, summarize important open problems, and lay out a roadmap for future progress

ESTIMATING VISCOSITY OF LOW SUGAR APPLE MARMALADE USING BACKPROPAGATION NEURAL NETWORK

In this paper, a backpropagation neural network (BPNN) model was developed for the prediction of viscosity values of apple marmalade using experimental data collected from several measurements. Stevioside or Sucralose sweetener was used instead of sugar (sucrose) in some of the formulations. In the BPNN architecture, the shear stress, and shear strain with mass concentrations of the Stevioside, Sucrolase, and Sucrose were utilized as input, whereas the viscosity value of apple marmalade was used as an output to be estimated. The Stochastic gradient descent algorithm (SGD) was used to minimize the loss of the BPNN based on the experimental data set. The Mean squared error (MSE), and the coefficient (????2) were employed to assess the performance of the BPNN. The number of hidden neurons was found to be 20 using the adaptive hidden neuron algorithm. With 20 hidden neurons, the least MSE and the highest R2 value were attained. Furthermore, the predicted viscosity values were found to be within 1% of the experimental viscosity values. The developed BPNN model can, therefore, be effectively utilized to predict the viscosity of any fruit marmalade using the same input and output parameters in the data range where the new data is normalized with the experimental data used in this paper

TAP.NET: A Windows Messaging Service for Nursing Staff

Nurses are the foundation of any healthcare system. It is essential to alert nurses on time so that they can offer care and comfort without any delay. Pager messages (short messages) represent an important part of the overall hospital communication network. These short messages are sent through data paging systems to direct nurses to patients. Telocator Alphanumeric Protocol (TAP) is used for submitting short messages to these data paging systems. In this paper, a windows messaging service (TAP.NET) is designed to connect to a data paging system using the TAP protocol. A Web application is also proposed that uses remote technology to transmit page requests to this messaging service. With this overall design, pager messages can be sent from any computer that has an Internet connection on the hospital network. A logging scheme is also introduced to assess the performance of the TAP.NET