The effects of residues from municipal solid waste landfill, Khon Kaen Municipality, Thailand, on corn (
Zea mays L.) yield and heavy metal content were studied. Field experiments with randomized ...complete block design with five treatments (0, 20, 40, 60 and 80% v/v of residues and soil) and four replications were carried out. Corn yield and heavy metal contents in corn grain were analyzed. Corn yield increased by 50, 72, 85 and 71% at 20, 40, 60 and 80% treatments as compared to the control, respectively. All heavy metals content, except cadmium, nickel and zinc, in corn grain were not significantly different from the control. Arsenic, cadmium and zinc in corn grain were strongly positively correlated with concentrations in soil. The heavy metal content in corn grain was within regulated limits for human consumption.
During chewing, the oral cavity functions like a bellow, forcing volatile flavour compounds into the exhaling air to the nasal compartment. Accordingly, we hypothesised that flavour release from ...chewing gum is predominantly governed by chewing frequency (CF), although other oral functions, like masseter muscle activity (MMA), chewing force (CFO), and saliva flow rate (SFR), may also play a role. In 10 healthy young males, the retronasal expired air of menthol and menthone from peppermint-flavoured (2%) chewing gum was determined as functions of CF, SFR, MMA, and CFO. The experimental setup comprised three separate series of a 4-min
chewing period. These series differed only with respect to CF, i.e., habitual frequency, and 60 and 88 strokes/min. Results showed that more than 50% of the released menthol and menthone could be retrieved in the expired air and saliva. After 2-min of chewing, the concentration of flavour compounds in the expired air depended primarily on MMA and CF, becoming higher with increased MMA and CF. The concentration of flavour compounds in saliva depended primarily on SFR and the duration of the chewing task, becoming lower with high SFR and prolonged chewing duration. An increased volume of saliva in the mouth seemed to keep more flavour compounds in the aqueous phase, thereby diminishing the release via the retronasal route. In conclusion, flavour release to the retronasal compartment was dependent on MMA and CF and influenced by the volume of saliva present in the mouth.
Automatically calculated breast density is a promising alternative to subjective BI-RADS density assessment. However, such software needs a cutoff value for density classification.
To determine the ...volumetric density threshold which classifies fatty and dense breasts with highest accuracy compared to average BI-RADS density assessment, and to analyze radiologists' inter-observer variation.
A total of 537 full field digital mammography examinations were randomly selected from a population based screening program. Five radiologists assessed density using the BI-RADS density scale, where BI-RADS I-II were classified as fatty and III-IV as dense. A commercially available software (Quantra) calculated volumetric breast density. We calculated the cutoff (threshold) values in volumetric density that yielded highest accuracy compared to median and individual radiologists' classification. Inter-observer variation was analyzed using the kappa statistic.
The threshold that best matched the median radiologists' classification was 10%, which resulted in 87% accuracy. Thresholds that best matched individual radiologist's classification had a range of 8-15%. A total of 191 (35.6 %) cases were scored both dense and fatty by at least one radiologist. Fourteen (2.6 %) cases were unanimously scored by the radiologists, yet differently using automatic assessment. The agreement (kappa) between reader's median classification and individual radiologists was 0.624 to 0.902, and agreement between median classification and Quantra was 0.731.
The optimal volumetric threshold of 10% using automatic assessment would classify breast parenchyma as fatty or dense with substantial accuracy and consistency compared to radiologists' BI-RADS categorization, which suffers from high inter-observer variation.
Grain legumes are mostly cultivated for food and income security. However, the productivity of most grain legumes remains low, with ensuing impacts on consumption and marketing. This study aims at ...characterizing major grain legumes with regards to production, consumption, and sales in the humid forest zone of Cameroon. The research targets explicitly agricultural households in which the production, consumption, and marketing decisions are made sequentially. To evaluate the socioeconomic determinants driving these decisions, we employed the Tobit censored regression model. Our results present empirical evidence that households participate in markets after satisfying their food consumption needs. Female-headed households are more involved in the production and marketing of legumes. We thus provide evidence-based policy directives to target women into farming systems by empowering them and increasing their access to improved seeds and farmland. Informal education is also essential as it increases the indigenous knowledge base of farming households in the production, consumption and marketing of legumes.
The effects of drying methods and storage time on the aroma and milling quality of the aromatic rice, Khao Dawk Mali 105, stored as whole grains, were investigated in order to define the most ...appropriate post-harvest treatment for the rice. Among the six drying methods that were used, namely: modified air at 30 and 40 °C, hot air at 40, 50, and 70 °C, and sun-drying, the methods that employed lower temperature appeared to provide higher concentrations of the key aroma compound, 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, and lower amounts of the off-flavour compounds,
n-hexanal and 2-pentylfuran, regardless of the storage time. The sun-drying method yielded contrasting results. Overall, during 10 months storage, as the time increased, 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline concentrations decreased whereas
n-hexanal and 2-pentylfuran contents increased. Head rice yield was most clearly affected in the sample dried by hot air at 70 °C, giving a percentage yield slightly less than half of those obtained by the other drying methods. However, no significant variation in the percentages of whiteness was observed among the rice samples obtained from the different drying methods and storage times.
Plant Disease Prediction System using Image Processing Jagadeswari, B Uma; Harshitha, D; Vineela, G ...
International Journal of Scientific Research in Computer Science, Engineering and Information Technology,
5/2020
Journal Article
Odprti dostop
Agriculture productivity is the major issue which affects the Indian economy. Crop cultivation plays an essential role in the agricultural field. Presently, the loss of food is mainly due to infected ...crops, which reflexively reduces the production rate. The major cause for decrease in the quality and amount of agricultural productivity is due to the diseases in plants. The occurrence of diseases in plants may result in significant loss in both quality and quantity of agricultural productivity. This can produce the negative impact on the countries whose economies are primarily dependent on the agriculture. Farmers encounter great difficulties in detecting and controlling plant diseases. Hence the detection of plant diseases in the earlier stages is very important to avoid the loss in terms of quality, quantity and finance. This paper mainly focuses on the approach based on image processing techniques that help farmers for detecting the diseases of plants by uploading leaf image to the system.
We present critical temperature measurements of titanium thin films annealed in an argon atmosphere at various temperatures. We are able to depress the
T
C
by up to 200 mK from an initial
T
C
of 540 ...mK by increasing the temperature at which the films are post-annealed from 80 to 275
∘
C. We find an anti-correlation trend between the annealing temperature and the measured
T
C
. We also briefly discuss how we plan to use these films to produce TES detectors to be used in the LSPE/SWIPE balloon-borne cosmic microwave background polarimeter, which is slated to launch in December 2019.
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