Search results for: natural plant recognition
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 9952

Search results for: natural plant recognition

9682 Extracting Therapeutic Grade Essential Oils from the Lamiaceae Plant Family in the United Arab Emirates (UAE): Highlights on Great Possibilities and Sever Difficulties

Authors: Suzan M. Shahin, Mohammed A. Salem

Abstract:

Essential oils are expensive phytochemicals produced and extracted from specific species belonging to particular families in the plant kingdom. In the United Arab Emirates country (UAE), which is located in the arid region of the world, nine species, from the Lamiaceae family, having the capability to produce therapeutic grade essential oils. These species include; Mentha spicata, Ocimum forskolei, Salvia macrosiphon, Salvia aegyptiaca, Salvia macilenta, Salvia spinosa, Teucrium polium, Teucrium stocksianum, and Zataria multiflora. Although, such potential species are indigenous to the UAE, however, there are almost no studies available to investigate the chemical composition and the quality of the extracted essential oils under the UAE climatological conditions. Therefore, great attention has to be given to such valuable natural resources, through conducting highly supported research projects, tailored to the UAE conditions, and investigating different extraction techniques, including the application of the latest available technologies, such as superficial fluid CO2. This is crucially needed; in order to accomplish the greatest possibilities in the medicinal field, specifically in the discovery of new therapeutic chemotypes, as well as, to achieve the sustainability of this natural resource in the country.

Keywords: essential oils, extraction techniques, Lamiaceae, traditional medicine, United Arab Emirates (UAE)

Procedia PDF Downloads 436
9681 Ethnobotanical Study of Medicinal Plants of Leguminosae in Kantharalak Community Forest, Si Sa Ket Province, Thailand

Authors: W. Promprom, W. Chatan

Abstract:

Leguminosae is a large plant family and its members are important for local people utilization in the Northeast of Thailand. This research aimed to survey medicinal plants in this family in Kantharalak Community forest. The plant collection and exploration were made from October 2017 to September 2018. Folk medicinal uses were studied by interviewing villagers and folk medicine healers living around the community forest by asking about local names, using parts, preparation and properties. The results showed that 65 species belonging to 40 genera were found. Among these, 30 species were medicinal plant. The most used plant parts were leaf. Decoction and drinking were mostly preparation method and administration mode used. All medicinal plants could be categorized into 17 diseases/symptoms. Most plant (56.66%) were used for fever. The voucher specimens were deposited in Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Mahasarakham University, Thailand. Therefore, the data from this study might be widely used by the local area and further scientific study.

Keywords: ethnobotany, ethnophamacology, medicinal plant, taxonomy, utilization

Procedia PDF Downloads 131
9680 Application of Deep Learning Algorithms in Agriculture: Early Detection of Crop Diseases

Authors: Manaranjan Pradhan, Shailaja Grover, U. Dinesh Kumar

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Farming community in India, as well as other parts of the world, is one of the highly stressed communities due to reasons such as increasing input costs (cost of seeds, fertilizers, pesticide), droughts, reduced revenue leading to farmer suicides. Lack of integrated farm advisory system in India adds to the farmers problems. Farmers need right information during the early stages of crop’s lifecycle to prevent damage and loss in revenue. In this paper, we use deep learning techniques to develop an early warning system for detection of crop diseases using images taken by farmers using their smart phone. The research work leads to building a smart assistant using analytics and big data which could help the farmers with early diagnosis of the crop diseases and corrective actions. The classical approach for crop disease management has been to identify diseases at crop level. Recently, ImageNet Classification using the convolutional neural network (CNN) has been successfully used to identify diseases at individual plant level. Our model uses convolution filters, max pooling, dense layers and dropouts (to avoid overfitting). The models are built for binary classification (healthy or not healthy) and multi class classification (identifying which disease). Transfer learning is used to modify the weights of parameters learnt through ImageNet dataset and apply them on crop diseases, which reduces number of epochs to learn. One shot learning is used to learn from very few images, while data augmentation techniques are used to improve accuracy with images taken from farms by using techniques such as rotation, zoom, shift and blurred images. Models built using combination of these techniques are more robust for deploying in the real world. Our model is validated using tomato crop. In India, tomato is affected by 10 different diseases. Our model achieves an accuracy of more than 95% in correctly classifying the diseases. The main contribution of our research is to create a personal assistant for farmers for managing plant disease, although the model was validated using tomato crop, it can be easily extended to other crops. The advancement of technology in computing and availability of large data has made possible the success of deep learning applications in computer vision, natural language processing, image recognition, etc. With these robust models and huge smartphone penetration, feasibility of implementation of these models is high resulting in timely advise to the farmers and thus increasing the farmers' income and reducing the input costs.

Keywords: analytics in agriculture, CNN, crop disease detection, data augmentation, image recognition, one shot learning, transfer learning

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9679 An Organic Dye-Based Staining for Plant DNA

Authors: Begüm Terzi, Özlem Ateş Sönmezoğlu, Kerime Özkay, Ahmet Yıldırım

Abstract:

In plant biotechnology, electrophoresis is used to detect nucleic acids. Ethidium bromide (EtBr) is used as an intercalator dye to stain DNA in agarose gel electrophoresis, but this dye is mutagenic and carcinogenic. In this study, a visible, reliable and organic Ruthenium-based dye (N-719) for staining plant DNA in comparison to EtBr. When prestaining and post-staining for gel electrophoresis, N-719 stained both DNA and PCR product bands with the same clarity as EtBr. The organic dye N-719 stained DNA bands as sensitively and as clearly as EtBr. The organic dye was found to have staining activity suitable for the identification of DNA.Consequently, N-719 organic dye can be used to stain and visualize DNA during gel electrophoresis as alternatives to EtBr in plant biotechnology studies.

Keywords: agarose gel, DNA staining, organic dye, N-719

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9678 Iris Feature Extraction and Recognition Based on Two-Dimensional Gabor Wavelength Transform

Authors: Bamidele Samson Alobalorun, Ifedotun Roseline Idowu

Abstract:

Biometrics technologies apply the human body parts for their unique and reliable identification based on physiological traits. The iris recognition system is a biometric–based method for identification. The human iris has some discriminating characteristics which provide efficiency to the method. In order to achieve this efficiency, there is a need for feature extraction of the distinct features from the human iris in order to generate accurate authentication of persons. In this study, an approach for an iris recognition system using 2D Gabor for feature extraction is applied to iris templates. The 2D Gabor filter formulated the patterns that were used for training and equally sent to the hamming distance matching technique for recognition. A comparison of results is presented using two iris image subjects of different matching indices of 1,2,3,4,5 filter based on the CASIA iris image database. By comparing the two subject results, the actual computational time of the developed models, which is measured in terms of training and average testing time in processing the hamming distance classifier, is found with best recognition accuracy of 96.11% after capturing the iris localization or segmentation using the Daughman’s Integro-differential, the normalization is confined to the Daugman’s rubber sheet model.

Keywords: Daugman rubber sheet, feature extraction, Hamming distance, iris recognition system, 2D Gabor wavelet transform

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9677 Bamboo Fibre Extraction and Its Reinforced Polymer Composite Material

Authors: P. Zakikhani, R. Zahari, M. T. H. Sultan, D. L. Majid

Abstract:

Natural plant fibres reinforced polymeric composite materials have been used in many fields of our lives to save the environment. Especially, bamboo fibres due to its environmental sustainability, mechanical properties, and recyclability have been utilized as reinforced polymer matrix composite in construction industries. In this review study bamboo structure and three different methods such as mechanical, chemical and combination of mechanical and chemical to extract fibres from bamboo are summarized. Each extraction method has been done base on the application of bamboo. In addition Bamboo fibre is compared with glass fibre from various aspects and in some parts it has advantages over the glass fibre.

Keywords: bamboo fibres, natural fibres, bio composite, mechanical extraction, glass fibres

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9676 Some Agricultural Characteristics of Cephalaria syriaca Lines Selected from a Population and Developed as Winter Type

Authors: Rahim Ada, Ahmet Tamkoç

Abstract:

The research was conducted in the “Randomized Complete Block Design” with three replications in research field of Agricultural Faculty, Selcuk University, Konya, Turkey. In study, a total of 9 Cephalaria syriaca promised lines (9, 37, 38, 42, Beyaz 4, 5 Beyaz, 13 Beyaz, 27 Beyaz, Başaklar 2), which were taken from Sivas population, and 1 population were evaluated in two growing seasons (2012-13 and 2013-14). According to the results, the highest plant height, first branch height, first head height, number of branches per plant, number of head per plant, head diameter,1000 seed weight, seed yield, oil content and oil yield were obtained respectively from Başaklar 2 (68.37 cm), Başaklar 2 (37.80 cm), Başaklar 2 (54.83 cm), 37 (7.73 number/plant), 42 (18.03 number/plant), 9 (10.30 mm), Başaklar 2 (19.33 g), 27 Beyaz (1254.2 kg ha-1), Başaklar 2 (28.77%), and 27 Beyaz (357.9 kg ha-1).

Keywords: Cephalaria syriaca, yield, oil, population

Procedia PDF Downloads 448
9675 Object Recognition System Operating from Different Type Vehicles Using Raspberry and OpenCV

Authors: Maria Pavlova

Abstract:

In our days, it is possible to put the camera on different vehicles like quadcopter, train, airplane and etc. The camera also can be the input sensor in many different systems. That means the object recognition like non separate part of monitoring control can be key part of the most intelligent systems. The aim of this paper is to focus of the object recognition process during vehicles movement. During the vehicle’s movement the camera takes pictures from the environment without storage in Data Base. In case the camera detects a special object (for example human or animal), the system saves the picture and sends it to the work station in real time. This functionality will be very useful in emergency or security situations where is necessary to find a specific object. In another application, the camera can be mounted on crossroad where do not have many people and if one or more persons come on the road, the traffic lights became the green and they can cross the road. In this papers is presented the system has solved the aforementioned problems. It is presented architecture of the object recognition system includes the camera, Raspberry platform, GPS system, neural network, software and Data Base. The camera in the system takes the pictures. The object recognition is done in real time using the OpenCV library and Raspberry microcontroller. An additional feature of this library is the ability to display the GPS coordinates of the captured objects position. The results from this processes will be sent to remote station. So, in this case, we can know the location of the specific object. By neural network, we can learn the module to solve the problems using incoming data and to be part in bigger intelligent system. The present paper focuses on the design and integration of the image recognition like a part of smart systems.

Keywords: camera, object recognition, OpenCV, Raspberry

Procedia PDF Downloads 198
9674 The Study on How Social Cues in a Scene Modulate Basic Object Recognition Proces

Authors: Shih-Yu Lo

Abstract:

Stereotypes exist in almost every society, affecting how people interact with each other. However, to our knowledge, the influence of stereotypes was rarely explored in the context of basic perceptual processes. This study aims to explore how the gender stereotype affects object recognition. Participants were presented with a series of scene pictures, followed by a target display with a man or a woman, holding a weapon or a non-weapon object. The task was to identify whether the object in the target display was a weapon or not. Although the gender of the object holder could not predict whether he or she held a weapon, and was irrelevant to the task goal, the participant nevertheless tended to identify the object as a weapon when the object holder was a man than a woman. The analysis based on the signal detection theory showed that the stereotype effect on object recognition mainly resulted from the participant’s bias to make a 'weapon' response when a man was in the scene instead of a woman in the scene. In addition, there was a trend that the participant’s sensitivity to differentiate a weapon from a non-threating object was higher when a woman was in the scene than a man was in the scene. The results of this study suggest that the irrelevant social cues implied in the visual scene can be very powerful that they can modulate the basic object recognition process.

Keywords: gender stereotype, object recognition, signal detection theory, weapon

Procedia PDF Downloads 182
9673 The Effect of Artificial Intelligence on Civil Engineering Outputs and Designs

Authors: Mina Youssef Makram Ibrahim

Abstract:

Engineering identity contributes to the professional and academic sustainability of female engineers. Recognizability is an important factor that shapes an engineer's identity. People who are deprived of real recognition often fail to create a positive identity. This study draws on Hornet’s recognition theory to identify factors that influence female civil engineers' sense of recognition. Over the past decade, a survey was created and distributed to 330 graduate students in the Department of Civil, Civil and Environmental Engineering at Iowa State University. Survey items include demographics, perceptions of a civil engineer's identity, and factors that influence recognition of a civil engineer's identity, such as B. Opinions about society and family. Descriptive analysis of survey responses revealed that perceptions of civil engineering varied significantly. The definitions of civil engineering provided by participants included the terms structure, design and infrastructure. Almost half of the participants said the main reason for studying Civil Engineering was their interest in the subject, and the majority said they were proud to be a civil engineer. Many study participants reported that their parents viewed them as civil engineers. Institutional and operational treatment was also found to have a significant impact on the recognition of women civil engineers. Almost half of the participants reported feeling isolated or ignored at work because of their gender. This research highlights the importance of recognition in developing the identity of women engineers.

Keywords: civil service, hiring, merit, policing civil engineering, construction, surveying, mapping, pile civil service, Kazakhstan, modernization, a national model of civil service, civil service reforms, bureaucracy civil engineering, gender, identity, recognition

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9672 Combining Transcriptomics, Bioinformatics, Biosynthesis Networks and Chromatographic Analyses for Cotton Gossypium hirsutum L. Defense Volatiles Study

Authors: Ronald Villamar-Torres, Michael Staudt, Christopher Viot

Abstract:

Cotton Gossypium hirsutum L. is one of the most important industrial crops, producing the world leading natural textile fiber, but is very prone to arthropod attacks that reduce crop yield and quality. Cotton cultivation, therefore, makes an outstanding use of chemical pesticides. In reaction to herbivorous arthropods, cotton plants nevertheless show natural defense reactions, in particular through volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emissions. These natural defense mechanisms are nowadays underutilized but have a very high potential for cotton cultivation, and elucidating their genetic bases will help to improve their use. Simulating herbivory attacks by mechanical wounding of cotton plants in greenhouse, we studied by qPCR the changes in gene expression for genes of the terpenoids biosynthesis pathway. Differentially expressed genes corresponded to higher levels of the terpenoids biosynthesis pathway and not to enzymes synthesizing particular terpenoids. The genes were mapped on the G. hirsutum L. reference genome; their global relationships inside the general metabolic pathways and the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites were visualized with iPath2. The chromatographic profiles of VOCs emissions indicated first monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes emissions, dominantly four molecules known to be involved in plant reactions to arthropod attacks. As a result, the study permitted to identify potential key genes for the emission of volatile terpenoids by cotton plants in reaction to an arthropod attack, opening possibilities for molecular-assisted cotton breeding in benefit of smallholder cotton growers.

Keywords: biosynthesis pathways, cotton, mechanisms of plant defense, terpenoids, volatile organic compounds

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9671 Inoculation of Cyanobacteria Improves the Lignin Content of Thymus vulgaris L.

Authors: Nasim Rasuli, Akram Ahmadi, Hossein Riahi, Zeinab Shariatmadari, Majid Ghorbani Nohooji, Pooyan Mehraban Joubani

Abstract:

Cyanobacteria are one of the most promising sources of new biostimulants and have received much attention due to their diverse applications in biotechnology. These microorganisms enhance the growth and productivity of plants by producing plant growth stimulants and fixing atmospheric nitrogen. Thymus vulgaris L., a valuable medicinal plant from the Lamiaceae family, is widely distributed across the globe. essential oil of T. vulgaris is best characterized by the prominence of phenols, making them the key compounds in its composition. Lignin biosynthesis as a natural plant polyphenol plays a crucial role in promoting plant growth, strengthening cell walls, and increasing resistance to pathogens. In this study, the bioelicitor activity of five cyanobacterial suspensions including Anabaena torulosa ISB213, Nostoc calcicola ISB215, Nostoc ellipsosporum ISB217, Trichormus doliolum ISB214, and Oscillatoria sp. ISB2116 on the lignin content of the T. vulgaris L. was investigated. Pot experiments were performed by inoculation of a %2 algal extract to the soil of treated plants one week before planting and then every 20 days. After four months, the lignin content in the leaves of both treated and control plants was evaluated. The results demonstrated that the application of cyanobacteria significantly increased the lignin content in the leaves of treated plants compared to the control. The treatment with Oscillatoria sp. ISB216 and N. ellipsosporum ISB217 resulted in the highest lignin content, with an increase of 93.33% and 86.67%, respectively. These findings highlight the potential of cyanobacteria as bioelicitors, offering a viable alternative for enhancing the production of secondary metabolites in T. vulgaris. Consequently, this could contribute to the economic value of this medicinal plant.

Keywords: cyanobacteria, bioelicitor, thymus vulgaris, lignin

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9670 Evaluate the Changes in Stress Level Using Facial Thermal Imaging

Authors: Amin Derakhshan, Mohammad Mikaili, Mohammad Ali Khalilzadeh, Amin Mohammadian

Abstract:

This paper proposes a stress recognition system from multi-modal bio-potential signals. For stress recognition, Support Vector Machines (SVM) and LDA are applied to design the stress classifiers and its characteristics are investigated. Using gathered data under psychological polygraph experiments, the classifiers are trained and tested. The pattern recognition method classifies stressful from non-stressful subjects based on labels which come from polygraph data. The successful classification rate is 96% for 12 subjects. It means that facial thermal imaging due to its non-contact advantage could be a remarkable alternative for psycho-physiological methods.

Keywords: stress, thermal imaging, face, SVM, polygraph

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9669 Effects of Selected Plant-Derived Nutraceuticals on the Quality and Shelf-Life Stability of Frankfurter Type Sausages during Storage

Authors: Kazem Alirezalu, Javad Hesari, Zabihollah Nemati, Boukaga Farmani

Abstract:

The application of natural plant extracts which are rich in promising antioxidants and antimicrobial ingredients in the production of frankfurter-type sausages addresses consumer demands for healthier, more functional meat products. The effects of olive leaves, green tea and Urtica dioica L. extracts on physicochemical, microbiological and sensory characteristic of frankfurter-type sausage were investigated during 45 days of storage at 4 °C. The results revealed that pH and phenolic compounds decreased significantly (P < 0.05) in all samples during storage. Sausages containing 500 ppm green tea extract (1.78 mg/kg) showed the lowest TBARS values compared to olive leaves (2.01 mg/kg), Urtica dioica L. (2.26 mg/kg) extracts and control (2.74 mg/kg). Plant extracts significantly (P < 0.05) reduced the count of total mesophilic bacteria, yeast and mold by at least 2 log cycles (CFU/g) than those of control samples. Sensory characteristics of texture showed no difference (P > 0.05) between sausage samples, but sausage containing Urtica dioica L. extract had the highest score regarding flavor, freshness odor, and overall acceptability. Based on the results, sausage containing plant extracts could have a significant impact on antimicrobial activity, antioxidant capacity, sensory score, and shelf life stability of frankfurter-type sausage.

Keywords: antimicrobial, antioxidant, frankfurter-type sausage, green tea, olive oil, shelf life, Urtica dioica L.

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9668 Environmental Degradation and Biodiversity Loss in Bangladesh

Authors: Mohammad Atiqur Rahman

Abstract:

The study aimed at inventorying the threatened biodiversity of Bangladesh and assessing the rate of loss of biodiversity caused due to environmental degradation for conservation management. The impact assessment of environmental depletion and rate of biodiversity loss determination have been made by a long term field investigation, examination of preserved herbarium specimens and survey of relevant floristic literature following the IUCN’s threatened criteria of assessing Red List Plants under the Flora Bangladesh Project. Biodiversity of Bangladesh, as evaluated, has been affected to a large extent during the last four and half decades due to spontaneous environmental degradation caused by frequent occurrence of cyclonic storms and tidal bores since 1970 and flooding, draught, unilateral diversion of trans-boundary waters by operating Farakka Barrage since 1975, indiscriminate destruction and over exploitation of natural resources, unplanned development and industrialization, overpopulation etc. Depletion of world’s largest mangrove biodiversity in Sundarbans, coastal and island biodiversity in southern part, agro-biodiversity and agro-fisheries all over the country, Haor and wetland biodiversity of plain lands, terrestrial and forest biodiversity in central and eastern hilly part of Bangladesh, as assessed, have greatly been occurred at a higher rate due to environmental degradation which in turn affect directly or indirectly the economy, food security and environmental health of the country. Complete inventory of 30 plant families resulted in the recognition of 45.18% species of Bangladesh as threatened environmentally and 13.23% species as possibly extinct from the flora since these have neither been reported or could be traced in the field for more than 100 years. The rate of extinction is determined to be 2.65% per 20 years. Hence the study indicates that the loss of biodiversity and environmental degradation in Bangladesh occurring at an alarming rate. The study focuses on the issues of environment, the extent of loss of different plant biodiversities in Bangladesh, prioritizing and implementing national conservation strategies for sustainable management of the environment.

Keywords: Bangladesh, biodiversity, conservation, environmental management

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9667 Hybrid Approach for Face Recognition Combining Gabor Wavelet and Linear Discriminant Analysis

Authors: A: Annis Fathima, V. Vaidehi, S. Ajitha

Abstract:

Face recognition system finds many applications in surveillance and human computer interaction systems. As the applications using face recognition systems are of much importance and demand more accuracy, more robustness in the face recognition system is expected with less computation time. In this paper, a hybrid approach for face recognition combining Gabor Wavelet and Linear Discriminant Analysis (HGWLDA) is proposed. The normalized input grayscale image is approximated and reduced in dimension to lower the processing overhead for Gabor filters. This image is convolved with bank of Gabor filters with varying scales and orientations. LDA, a subspace analysis techniques are used to reduce the intra-class space and maximize the inter-class space. The techniques used are 2-dimensional Linear Discriminant Analysis (2D-LDA), 2-dimensional bidirectional LDA ((2D)2LDA), Weighted 2-dimensional bidirectional Linear Discriminant Analysis (Wt (2D)2 LDA). LDA reduces the feature dimension by extracting the features with greater variance. k-Nearest Neighbour (k-NN) classifier is used to classify and recognize the test image by comparing its feature with each of the training set features. The HGWLDA approach is robust against illumination conditions as the Gabor features are illumination invariant. This approach also aims at a better recognition rate using less number of features for varying expressions. The performance of the proposed HGWLDA approaches is evaluated using AT&T database, MIT-India face database and faces94 database. It is found that the proposed HGWLDA approach provides better results than the existing Gabor approach.

Keywords: face recognition, Gabor wavelet, LDA, k-NN classifier

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9666 Technology Identification, Evaluation and Selection Methodology for Industrial Process Water and Waste Water Treatment Plant of 3x150 MWe Tufanbeyli Lignite-Fired Power Plant

Authors: Cigdem Safak Saglam

Abstract:

Most thermal power plants use steam as working fluid in their power cycle. Therefore, in addition to fuel, water is the other main input for thermal plants. Water and steam must be highly pure in order to protect the systems from corrosion, scaling and biofouling. Pure process water is produced in water treatment plants having many several treatment methods. Treatment plant design is selected depending on raw water source and required water quality. Although working principle of fossil-fuel fired thermal power plants are same, there is no standard design and equipment arrangement valid for all thermal power plant utility systems. Besides that, there are many other technology evaluation and selection criteria for designing the most optimal water systems meeting the requirements such as local conditions, environmental restrictions, electricity and other consumables availability and transport, process water sources and scarcity, land use constraints etc. Aim of this study is explaining the adopted methodology for technology selection for process water preparation and industrial waste water treatment plant in a thermal power plant project located in Tufanbeyli, Adana Province in Turkey. Thermal power plant is fired with indigenous lignite coal extracted from adjacent lignite reserves. This paper addresses all above-mentioned factors affecting the thermal power plant water treatment facilities (demineralization + waste water treatment) design and describes the ultimate design of Tufanbeyli Thermal Power Plant Water Treatment Plant.

Keywords: thermal power plant, lignite coal, pretreatment, demineralization, electrodialysis, recycling, ash dampening

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9665 Different Tools and Complex Approach for Improving Phytoremediation Technology

Authors: T. Varazi, M. Pruidze, M. Kurashvili, N. Gagelidze, M. Sutton

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The complex phytoremediation approach given in the presented work implies joint application of natural sorbents, microorganisms, natural biosurfactants and plants. The approach is based on using the natural mineral composites, microorganism strains with high detoxification abilities, plants-phytoremediators and natural biosurfactants for enhancing the uptake of intermediates of pollutants by plant roots. In this complex strategy of phytoremediation technology, the sorbent serves to uptake and trap the pollutants and thus restrain their emission in the environment. The role of microorganisms is to accomplish the first stage biodegradation of organic contaminants. This is followed by application of a phytoremediation technology through purposeful planting of selected plants. Thus, using of different tools will provide restoration of polluted environment and prevention of toxic compounds’ dissemination from hotbeds of pollution for a considerable length of time. The main idea and novelty of the carried out work is the development of a new approach for the ecological safety. The wide spectrum of contaminants: Organochlorine pesticide – DDT, heavy metal –Cu, oil hydrocarbon (hexadecane) and wax have been used in this work. The presented complex biotechnology is important from the viewpoint of prevention, providing total rehabilitation of soil. It is unique to chemical pollutants, ecologically friendly and provides the control of erosion of soils.

Keywords: bioremediation, phytoremediation, pollutants, soil contamination

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9664 Exergy Analysis and Evaluation of the Different Flowsheeting Configurations for CO₂ Capture Plant Using 2-Amino-2-Methyl-1-Propanol

Authors: Ebuwa Osagie, Vasilije Manovic

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Exergy analysis provides the identification of the location, sources of thermodynamic inefficiencies, and magnitude in a thermal system. Thus, both the qualitative and quantitative assessment can be evaluated with exergy, unlike energy which is based on quantitative assessment only. The main purpose of exergy analysis is to identify where exergy is destroyed. Thus, reduction of the exergy destruction and losses associated with the capture plant systems can improve work potential. Furthermore, thermodynamic analysis of different configurations of the process helps to identify opportunities for reducing the steam requirements for each of the configurations. This paper presents steady-state simulation and exergy analysis of the 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol (AMP)-based post-combustion capture (PCC) plant. Exergy analysis performed for the AMP-based plant and the different configurations revealed that the rich split with intercooling configuration gave the highest exergy efficiency of 73.6%, while that of the intercooling and the reference AMP-based plant were 57.3% and 55.8% respectively.

Keywords: 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol, modelling, and simulation, post-combustion capture plant, exergy analysis, flowsheeting configurations

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9663 Understanding the Interactive Nature in Auditory Recognition of Phonological/Grammatical/Semantic Errors at the Sentence Level: An Investigation Based upon Japanese EFL Learners’ Self-Evaluation and Actual Language Performance

Authors: Hirokatsu Kawashima

Abstract:

One important element of teaching/learning listening is intensive listening such as listening for precise sounds, words, grammatical, and semantic units. Several classroom-based investigations have been conducted to explore the usefulness of auditory recognition of phonological, grammatical and semantic errors in such a context. The current study reports the results of one such investigation, which targeted auditory recognition of phonological, grammatical, and semantic errors at the sentence level. 56 Japanese EFL learners participated in this investigation, in which their recognition performance of phonological, grammatical and semantic errors was measured on a 9-point scale by learners’ self-evaluation from the perspective of 1) two types of similar English sound (vowel and consonant minimal pair words), 2) two types of sentence word order (verb phrase-based and noun phrase-based word orders), and 3) two types of semantic consistency (verb-purpose and verb-place agreements), respectively, and their general listening proficiency was examined using standardized tests. A number of findings have been made about the interactive relationships between the three types of auditory error recognition and general listening proficiency. Analyses based on the OPLS (Orthogonal Projections to Latent Structure) regression model have disclosed, for example, that the three types of auditory error recognition are linked in a non-linear way: the highest explanatory power for general listening proficiency may be attained when quadratic interactions between auditory recognition of errors related to vowel minimal pair words and that of errors related to noun phrase-based word order are embraced (R2=.33, p=.01).

Keywords: auditory error recognition, intensive listening, interaction, investigation

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9662 Natural Fibers Design Attributes

Authors: Brayan S. Pabón, R. Ricardo Moreno, Edith Gonzalez

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Inside the wide Colombian natural fiber set is the banana stem leaf, known as Calceta de Plátano, which is a material present in several regions of the country and is a fiber extracted from the pseudo stem of the banana plant (Musa paradisiaca) as a regular maintenance process. Colombia had a production of 2.8 million tons in 2007 and 2008 corresponding to 8.2% of the international production, number that is growing. This material was selected to be studied because it is not being used by farmers due to it being perceived as a waste from the banana harvest and a propagation pest agent inside the planting. In addition, the Calceta does not have industrial applications in Colombia since there is not enough concrete knowledge that informs us about the properties of the material and the possible applications it could have. Based on this situation the industrial design is used as a link between the properties of the material and the need to transform it into industrial products for the market. Therefore, the project identifies potential design attributes that the banana stem leaf can have for product development. The methodology was divided into 2 main chapters: Methodology for the material recognition: -Data Collection, inquiring the craftsmen experience and bibliography. -Knowledge in practice, with controlled experiments and validation tests. -Creation of design attributes and material profile according to the knowledge developed. Moreover, the Design methodology: -Application fields selection, exploring the use of the attributes and the relation with product functions. -Evaluating the possible fields and selection of the optimum application. -Design Process with sketching, ideation, and product development. Different protocols were elaborated to qualitatively determine some material properties of the Calceta, and if they could be designated as design attributes. Once defined, performed and analyzed the validation protocols, 25 design attributes were identified and classified into 4 attribute categories (Environmental, Functional, Aesthetics and Technical) forming the material profile. Then, 15 application fields were defined based on the relation between functions of product and the use of the Calceta attributes. Those fields were evaluated to measure how much are being used the functional attributes. After fields evaluation, a final field was defined , influenced by traditional use of the fiber for packing food. As final result, two products were designed for this application field. The first one is the Multiple Container, which works to contain small or large-thin pieces of food, like potatoes chips or small sausages; it allows the consumption of food with sauces or dressings. The second is the Chorizo container, specifically designed for this food due to the long shape and the consumption mode. Natural fiber research allows the generation of a solider and a more complete knowledge about natural fibers. In addition, the research is a way to strengthen the identity through the investigation of the proper and autochthonous, allowing the use of national resources in a sustainable and creative way. Using divergent thinking and the design as a tool, this investigation can achieve advances in the natural fiber handling.

Keywords: banana stem leaf, Calceta de Plátano, design attributes, natural fibers, product design

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9661 Modelling and Simulation of a Commercial Thermophilic Biogas Plant

Authors: Jeremiah L. Chukwuneke, Obiora E. Anisiji, Chinonso H. Achebe, Paul C. Okolie

Abstract:

This paper developed a mathematical model of a commercial biogas plant for urban area clean energy requirement. It identified biodegradable waste materials like domestic/city refuse as economically viable alternative source of energy. The mathematical formulation of the proposed gas plant follows the fundamental principles of thermodynamics, and further analyses were accomplished to develop an algorithm for evaluating the plant performance preferably in terms of daily production capacity. In addition, the capacity of the plant is equally estimated for a given cycle of operation and presented in time histories. A nominal 1500 m3 power gas plant was studied characteristically and its performance efficiency evaluated. It was observed that the rate of bio gas production is essentially a function of the reactor temperature, pH, substrate concentration, rate of degradation of the biomass, and the accumulation of matter in the system due to bacteria growth. The results of this study conform to a very large extent with reported empirical data of some existing plant and further model validations were conducted in line with classical records found in literature.

Keywords: energy and mass conservation, specific growth rate, thermophilic bacteria, temperature, rate of bio gas production

Procedia PDF Downloads 416
9660 Wolof Voice Response Recognition System: A Deep Learning Model for Wolof Audio Classification

Authors: Krishna Mohan Bathula, Fatou Bintou Loucoubar, FNU Kaleemunnisa, Christelle Scharff, Mark Anthony De Castro

Abstract:

Voice recognition algorithms such as automatic speech recognition and text-to-speech systems with African languages can play an important role in bridging the digital divide of Artificial Intelligence in Africa, contributing to the establishment of a fully inclusive information society. This paper proposes a Deep Learning model that can classify the user responses as inputs for an interactive voice response system. A dataset with Wolof language words ‘yes’ and ‘no’ is collected as audio recordings. A two stage Data Augmentation approach is adopted for enhancing the dataset size required by the deep neural network. Data preprocessing and feature engineering with Mel-Frequency Cepstral Coefficients are implemented. Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) have proven to be very powerful in image classification and are promising for audio processing when sounds are transformed into spectra. For performing voice response classification, the recordings are transformed into sound frequency feature spectra and then applied image classification methodology using a deep CNN model. The inference model of this trained and reusable Wolof voice response recognition system can be integrated with many applications associated with both web and mobile platforms.

Keywords: automatic speech recognition, interactive voice response, voice response recognition, wolof word classification

Procedia PDF Downloads 90
9659 Makhraj Recognition Using Convolutional Neural Network

Authors: Zan Azma Nasruddin, Irwan Mazlin, Nor Aziah Daud, Fauziah Redzuan, Fariza Hanis Abdul Razak

Abstract:

This paper focuses on a machine learning that learn the correct pronunciation of Makhraj Huroofs. Usually, people need to find an expert to pronounce the Huroof accurately. In this study, the researchers have developed a system that is able to learn the selected Huroofs which are ha, tsa, zho, and dza using the Convolutional Neural Network. The researchers present the chosen type of the CNN architecture to make the system that is able to learn the data (Huroofs) as quick as possible and produces high accuracy during the prediction. The researchers have experimented the system to measure the accuracy and the cross entropy in the training process.

Keywords: convolutional neural network, Makhraj recognition, speech recognition, signal processing, tensorflow

Procedia PDF Downloads 307
9658 Using Information Theory to Observe Natural Intelligence and Artificial Intelligence

Authors: Lipeng Zhang, Limei Li, Yanming Pearl Zhang

Abstract:

This paper takes a philosophical view as axiom, and reveals the relationship between information theory and Natural Intelligence and Artificial Intelligence under real world conditions. This paper also derives the relationship between natural intelligence and nature. According to communication principle of information theory, Natural Intelligence can be divided into real part and virtual part. Based on information theory principle that Information does not increase, the restriction mechanism of Natural Intelligence creativity is conducted. The restriction mechanism of creativity reveals the limit of natural intelligence and artificial intelligence. The paper provides a new angle to observe natural intelligence and artificial intelligence.

Keywords: natural intelligence, artificial intelligence, creativity, information theory, restriction of creativity

Procedia PDF Downloads 351
9657 Dynamic Self-Scheduling of Pumped-Storage Power Plant in Energy and Ancillary Service Markets Using Sliding Window Technique

Authors: P. Kanakasabapathy, S. Radhika

Abstract:

In the competitive electricity market environment, the profit of the pumped-storage plant in the energy market can be maximized by operating it as a generator, when market clearing price is high and as a pump, to pump water from lower reservoir to upper reservoir, when the price is low. An optimal self-scheduling plan has been developed for a pumped-storage plant, carried out on weekly basis in order to maximize the profit of the plant, keeping into account of all the major uncertainties such as the sudden ancillary service delivery request and the price forecasting errors. For a pumped storage power plant to operate in a real time market successive self-scheduling has to be done by considering the forecast of the day-ahead market and the modified reservoir storage due to the ancillary service request of the previous day. Sliding Window Technique has been used for successive self-scheduling to ensure profit for the plant.

Keywords: ancillary services, BPSO, power system economics, self-scheduling, sliding window technique

Procedia PDF Downloads 382
9656 Nonlinear Porous Diffusion Modeling of Ionic Agrochemicals in Astomatous Plant Cuticle Aqueous Pores: A Mechanistic Approach

Authors: Eloise C. Tredenick, Troy W. Farrell, W. Alison Forster, Steven T. P. Psaltis

Abstract:

The agriculture industry requires improved efficacy of sprays being applied to crops. More efficacious sprays provide many environmental and financial benefits. The plant leaf cuticle is known to be the main barrier to diffusion of agrochemicals within the leaf. The importance of a mathematical model to simulate uptake of agrochemicals in plant cuticles has been noted, as the results of each uptake experiments are specific to each formulation of active ingredient and plant species. In this work we develop a mathematical model and numerical simulation for the uptake of ionic agrochemicals through aqueous pores in plant cuticles. We propose a nonlinear porous diffusion model of ionic agrochemicals in isolated cuticles, which provides additions to a simple diffusion model through the incorporation of parameters capable of simulating plant species' variations, evaporation of surface droplet solutions and swelling of the aqueous pores with water. The model could feasibly be adapted to other ionic active ingredients diffusing through other plant species' cuticles. We validate our theoretical results against appropriate experimental data, discuss the key sensitivities in the model and relate theoretical predictions to appropriate physical mechanisms.

Keywords: aqueous pores, ionic active ingredient, mathematical model, plant cuticle, porous diffusion

Procedia PDF Downloads 241
9655 Natural Gas Production Forecasts Using Diffusion Models

Authors: Md. Abud Darda

Abstract:

Different options for natural gas production in wide geographic areas may be described through diffusion of innovation models. This type of modeling approach provides an indirect estimate of an ultimately recoverable resource, URR, capture the quantitative effects of observed strategic interventions, and allow ex-ante assessments of future scenarios over time. In order to ensure a sustainable energy policy, it is important to forecast the availability of this natural resource. Considering a finite life cycle, in this paper we try to investigate the natural gas production of Myanmar and Algeria, two important natural gas provider in the world energy market. A number of homogeneous and heterogeneous diffusion models, with convenient extensions, have been used. Models validation has also been performed in terms of prediction capability.

Keywords: diffusion models, energy forecast, natural gas, nonlinear production

Procedia PDF Downloads 206
9654 The Artificial Intelligence Technologies Used in PhotoMath Application

Authors: Tala Toonsi, Marah Alagha, Lina Alnowaiser, Hala Rajab

Abstract:

This report is about the Photomath app, which is an AI application that uses image recognition technology, specifically optical character recognition (OCR) algorithms. The (OCR) algorithm translates the images into a mathematical equation, and the app automatically provides a step-by-step solution. The application supports decimals, basic arithmetic, fractions, linear equations, and multiple functions such as logarithms. Testing was conducted to examine the usage of this app, and results were collected by surveying ten participants. Later, the results were analyzed. This paper seeks to answer the question: To what level the artificial intelligence features are accurate and the speed of process in this app. It is hoped this study will inform about the efficiency of AI in Photomath to the users.

Keywords: photomath, image recognition, app, OCR, artificial intelligence, mathematical equations.

Procedia PDF Downloads 145
9653 A Human Activity Recognition System Based on Sensory Data Related to Object Usage

Authors: M. Abdullah, Al-Wadud

Abstract:

Sensor-based activity recognition systems usually accounts which sensors have been activated to perform an activity. The system then combines the conditional probabilities of those sensors to represent different activities and takes the decision based on that. However, the information about the sensors which are not activated may also be of great help in deciding which activity has been performed. This paper proposes an approach where the sensory data related to both usage and non-usage of objects are utilized to make the classification of activities. Experimental results also show the promising performance of the proposed method.

Keywords: Naïve Bayesian, based classification, activity recognition, sensor data, object-usage model

Procedia PDF Downloads 303