Sensors in agriculture and forestry

Agriculture and Forestry are two broad and promising areas demanding technological solutions with the aim of increasing production or accurate inventories for sustainability while the environmental impact is minimized by reducing the application of agro-chemicals and increasing the use of environmental friendly agronomical practices. In addition, the immediate consequence of this “trend” is the reduction of production costs. Sensors-based technologies provide appropriate tools to achieve the above mentioned goals. The explosive technological advances and development in recent years enormously facilitates the attainment of these objectives removing many barriers for their implementation, including the reservations expressed by the farmers themselves. Precision Agriculture is an emerging area where sensor-based technologies play an important role.RHEA project [42], which is funded by the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under Grant Agreement NO.245986, which has been the platform for the two international conferences on Robotics and associated High-technologies and Equipment mentioned above.Peer Reviewe

Sensors in Agriculture and Forestry

Agriculture and Forestry are two broad and promising areas demanding technological solutions with the aim of increasing production or accurate inventories for sustainability while the environmental impact is minimized by reducing the application of agro-chemicals and increasing the use of environmental friendly agronomical practices. In addition, the immediate consequence of this “trend” is the reduction of production costs

A proposal for automatic fruit harvesting by combining a low cost stereovision camera and a robotic arm

This paper proposes the development of an automatic fruit harvesting system by combining a low cost stereovision camera and a robotic arm placed in the gripper tool. The stereovision camera is used to estimate the size, distance and position of the fruits whereas the robotic arm is used to mechanically pickup the fruits. The low cost stereovision system has been tested in laboratory conditions with a reference small object, an apple and a pear at 10 different intermediate distances from the camera. The average distance error was from 4% to 5%, and the average diameter error was up to 30% in the case of a small object and in a range from 2% to 6% in the case of a pear and an apple. The stereovision system has been attached to the gripper tool in order to obtain relative distance, orientation and size of the fruit. The harvesting stage requires the initial fruit location, the computation of the inverse kinematics of the robotic arm in order to place the gripper tool in front of the fruit, and a final pickup approach by iteratively adjusting the vertical and horizontal position of the gripper tool in a closed visual loop. The complete system has been tested in controlled laboratory conditions with uniform illumination applied to the fruits. As a future work, this system will be tested and improved in conventional outdoor farming conditions

A protected discharge facility for the elderly: design and validation of a working proof-of-concept

With the increasing share of elderly population worldwide, the need for assistive technologies to support clinicians in monitoring their health conditions is becoming more and more relevant. As a quantitative tool, geriatricians recently proposed the notion of frail elderly, which rapidly became a key element of clinical practices for the estimation of well-being in aging population. The evaluation of frailty is commonly based on self-reported outcomes and occasional physicians evaluations, and may therefore contain biased results. Another important aspect in the elderly population is hospitalization as a risk factor for patient\u2019s well being and public costs. Hospitalization is the main cause of functional decline, especially in older adults. The reduction of hospitalization time may allow an improvement of elderly health conditions and a reduction of hospital costs. Furthermore, a gradual transition from a hospital environment to a home-like one, can contribute to the weaning of the patient from a condition of hospitalization to a condition of discharge to his home. The advent of new technologies allows for the design and implementation of smart environments to monitor elderly health status and activities, fulfilling all the requirements of health and safety of the patients. From these starting points, in this thesis I present data-driven methodologies to automatically evaluate one of the main aspects contributing to the frailty estimation, i.e., the motility of the subject. First I will describe a model of protected discharge facility, realized in collaboration and within the E.O. Ospedali Galliera (Genoa, Italy), where patients can be monitored by a system of sensors while physicians and nurses have the opportunity to monitor them remotely. This sensorised facility is being developed to assist elderly users after they have been dismissed from the hospital and before they are ready to go back home, with the perspective of coaching them towards a healthy lifestyle. The facility is equipped with a variety of sensors (vision, depth, ambient and wearable sensors and medical devices), but in my thesis I primarily focus on RGB-D sensors and present visual computing tools to automatically estimate motility features. I provide an extensive system assessment I carried out onthree different experimental sessions with help of young as well as healthy aging volunteers. The results I present are in agreement with the assessment manually performed by physicians, showing the potential capability of my approach to complement current protocols of evaluation

Application of image processing methodologies for fruit detection and analysis

En aquesta memòria es presenten diversos treballs d'investigació centrats en l’automatització d’operacions agrícoles mitjançant l’aplicació de diverses tècniques de processament d’imatge. En primer lloc es presenta un mètode desenvolupat per detectar i comptar raïms mitjançant la localització de pics d'intensitat en superfícies esfèriques. En segon lloc es desenvolupa un sistema de recol•lecció automàtica de fruita mitjançant la combinació d'una càmera estereoscòpica de baix cost i un braç robòtic. En tercer lloc es proposa una aplicació en què es desenvolupa un mètode basat en l'ús de la informació de color per a la verificació d'una varietat de nectarines de forma automàtica i individual en una línia d’embalatge de fruita. Finalment s’han estudiat les correlacions entre els paràmetres de qualitat de la fruita i el espectre visible de la seva pell amb l’objectiu de controlar la seva qualitat de forma no destructiva durant el seu emmagatzematge.En esta memoria se presentan diversos trabajos de investigación centrados en la automatización de operaciones agrícolas mediante la aplicación de distintas técnicas de procesado de imágenes. En primer lugar se presenta un método desarrollado para detectar y contar uvas rojas mediante la identificación de picos de intensidad en las superficies esféricas. En segundo lugar se desarrolla un sistema de recolección automática de fruta mediante la combinación de una cámara estereoscópica de bajo coste y un brazo robótico. En tercer lugar se propone una aplicación en la que se desarrolla un método de procesamiento de imágenes basado en el uso de la información de color para la verificación de una variedad de nectarinas de forma automática e individual en una línea de envasado de fruta. Finalmente se han estudiado las correlaciones entre los parámetros de calidad de la fruta y el espectro visible de su piel con el fin de controlar su calidad de forma no destructiva durante el almacenamiento.This memory introduces several research works developed to automate agricultural tasks by applying image processing techniques. In the first place a new image processing method is proposed for detecting and counting red grapes by identifying specular reflection peaks from spherical surfaces. The proposal of the second application is to develop an automatic fruit harvesting system by combining a low cost stereovision camera and a robotic arm. The third application proposed is to develop a novel image processing method based on the use of color information to verify an in-line automatic and individual nectarine variety verification in a fruitpacking line. Finally, a study focused on assessing correlations between post-storage fruit quality indices and the visible spectra of the skin of the fruit is proposed in order to control fruit quality in a non-destructive way during the storage

Apps médicas: uso y regulación.

Las Apps incluidas en los teléfonos móviles, actualmente son de uso común y su mercado se encuentra en plena expansión. Objetivo: El objetivo de este trabajo es realizar una revisión bibliográfica de las publicaciones actuales sobre el uso sanitario de Apps y exponer las actuales recomendaciones de las Agencias Reguladoras al respecto. Material y Métodos: Se realizan tres búsquedas independientes en Pubmed. Se incluye en el trabajo aquellos artículos que tengan relación con el uso de aplicaciones móviles en el campo de la medicina, como posibles métodos diagnósticos o complemento al tratamiento o como elemento formativo, así como los que intervenga en las relaciones entre profesionales sanitarios y con paciente. Resultados: Se han extraído un total de 55 articulos. 24 de ellos hacen referencia al uso directo de aplicaciones móviles, 9 revisan literatura sobre el uso de Apps, 6 son publicaciones sobre formación a través de estas aplicaciones, 9 versan sobre la regulación. 7 artículos tratan sobre la toma de datos a tiempo real. El término de m-Health es una garantía de control profesional. Todos los trabajos revisados coinciden en que esta tecnología acerca al paciente a su enfermedad, mejorando el control del tratamiento, la toma de medidas fisiológicas y la relación con el profesional. Por otro lado son herramienta útil para la realización de estudios epidemiológicos así como para el acercamiento entre profesionales sanitarios. La regulación es aún un punto a desarrollar. Conclusiones: Las aplicaciones móviles en el entorno sanitario es un tema que suscita un enorme interés. Han demostrado utilidad en la mejora del cuidado del paciente, facilitan estudios epidemiológicos, acercan la formación al profesional sanitario y además mejora la relación entre profesionales sanitarios y de estos con el paciente. Es, sin embargo, necesario mejorar la regulación normativa para asegurar aplicaciones móviles de calidad y garantizar sistemas de acceso universal

Intelligent Circuits and Systems

ICICS-2020 is the third conference initiated by the School of Electronics and Electrical Engineering at Lovely Professional University that explored recent innovations of researchers working for the development of smart and green technologies in the fields of Energy, Electronics, Communications, Computers, and Control. ICICS provides innovators to identify new opportunities for the social and economic benefits of society.　 This conference bridges the gap between academics and R&D institutions, social visionaries, and experts from all strata of society to present their ongoing research activities and foster research relations between them. It provides opportunities for the exchange of new ideas, applications, and experiences in the field of smart technologies and finding global partners for future collaboration. The ICICS-2020 was conducted in two broad categories, Intelligent Circuits & Intelligent Systems and Emerging Technologies in Electrical Engineering

Framework for Enhancing Learning Experience with Wearable Technology in Technical MOOC

The use of wearable technology in education can significantly help educators to engage the students more with the learning. By providing users with hands-free access to contextually relevant knowledge, wearable technologies are poised to inspire a new generation of mobile learning design. However, for educators to harness the pedagogical opportunities of wearable technologies and to implement it in MOOC platform, this paper proposes a framework for enhancing the learning experience in technical MOOC using wearable technology. In addition, we also identify the elements of wearable technology that is suitable to be implemented in teaching and learning, elements of technical MOOC to be combined with wearable technology elements and student engagement elements. The main measurement for enhancing learning experience is based on the level of students’ engagement (measure through course completion) and students’ skill development (measure through direct observation, interview, and questionnaire). The students reflected as fully engaged with the online course when they able to actively participate and complete the course and in contrast, when the students are unable to complete the course, this reflects that they are not engaged with the online learning. Thus, the proposed framework will work as a guideline for lecturers and educators to create effective and engaging MOOC learning design, especially for technical courses

UNO STEM Annual Report 2015

The following document is a brief Annual Report for the STEM Priority at UNO as of May 1, 2015. The document builds upon past strategic planning discussions, meetings,and conversations and aligns with the UNO STEM Strategic Plan, as first published in the Fall of 2013. It is important to note that the annual report is essentially a“work in progress” and will be continually refined during the next year and updated as initiatives progress. It is also a “springboard” for a continued and strategic review of our local STEM statistics and the professional literature on STEM learning, and it serves as a frame of reference for our interpretations of what other universities are doing to enhance STEM learning. The annual report is intended to be a very dynamic document that will be revisited yearly as we continue to move steadily forward. As a STEM Leadership Team, we are certainly appreciative of the many ideas, suggestions, and thoughts that are shared with us, and we continue to move forward to an increasingly bright and collaborative future for UNO STEM education initiatives and efforts