Smartphone-based Calorie Estimation From Food Image Using Distance Information

Personal assistive systems for diet control can play a vital role to combat obesity. As smartphones have become inseparable companions for a large number of people around the world, designing smartphone-based system is perhaps the best choice at the moment. Using this system people can take an image of their food right before eating, know the calorie content based on the food items on the plate. In this paper, we propose a simple method that ensures both user flexibility and high accuracy at the same time. The proposed system employs capturing food images with a fixed posture and estimating the volume of the food using simple geometry. The real world experiments on different food items chosen arbitrarily show that the proposed system can work well for both regular and liquid food items

Evaluating health risks from occupational exposure to pesticides and the regulatory response.

In this study, we used measurements of occupational exposures to pesticides in agriculture to evaluate health risks and analyzed how the federal regulatory program is addressing these risks. Dose estimates developed by the State of California from measured occupational exposures to 41 pesticides were compared to standard indices of acute toxicity (LD50) and chronic effects (reference dose). Lifetime cancer risks were estimated using cancer potencies. Estimated absorbed daily doses for mixers, loaders, and applicators of pesticides ranged from less than 0.0001% to 48% of the estimated human LD50 values, and doses for 10 of 40 pesticides exceeded 1% of the estimated human LD50 values. Estimated lifetime absorbed daily doses ranged from 0.1% to 114,000% of the reference doses developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and doses for 13 of 25 pesticides were above them. Lifetime cancer risks ranged from 1 per million to 1700 per million, and estimates for 12 of 13 pesticides were above 1 per million. Similar results were obtained for field workers and flaggers. For the pesticides examined, exposures pose greater risks of chronic effects than acute effects. Exposure reduction measures, including use of closed mixing systems and personal protective equipment, significantly reduced exposures. Proposed regulations rely primarily on requirements for personal protective equipment and use restrictions to protect workers. Chronic health risks are not considered in setting these requirements. Reviews of pesticides by the federal pesticide regulatory program have had little effect on occupational risks. Policy strategies that offer immediate protection for workers and that are not dependent on extensive review of individual pesticides should be pursued

Research of Quality and Competitiveness of Tomato Juices

The paper considers the results of the complex quality estimation and competitiveness determination of tomato juices of different producers, exported in European countries.The complex estimation of tomato juices quality was realized according to the results of studying organoleptic (color, taste, smell, consistence) and physical-chemical (content of dry substances, β-carotene, flesh, mass share of titrated acids) parameters of 4 samples. According to the results of the complex qualimetric estimation, the highest value of the integral quality parameter was reached by tomato juice of ТМ «Galiciа» (Ukraine) (0,86). The lowest value of this parameter was established for experimental samples of tomato juices of ТМ «Rich» (Ukraine) (0,65) and ТМ «Sandora» (Ukraine) (0,61). The lower value of the integral quality parameter was inherent to juice of TM «Sadochok» (Ukraine) (0,40), explained, first of all, by insufficiently saturated and homogenous red color with inclusions, watery and liquid consistence, content of side admixtures, signs of stratification.The competitiveness of tomato juices was estimated, taking into account functional, esthetical and economic quality parameters. The basic commodity was determined as tomato juice of ТМ «Galiciа» by the results of the complex quality estimation. According to the obtained results, tomato juice of ТМ «Rich» was found competitive by the ratio of functional, esthetical and economic parameters (1,19) that is conditioned by high esthetical and functional indices and also moderate price of realization. The relatively high (but less one unit) competitiveness level was inherent to juice of ТМ «Sandora» (0,97) by the expanse of a high realization price at rather high esthetical and functional indices. It has been determined, that juice of ТМ «Sadochok» is least competitive because of worst esthetical indices, despite a low realization price.Thus, the main factor that influences the competitiveness of juices is a “price-quality” ratio. The obtained research results of the tomato juices quality and the used methodology of their competitiveness estimation may be useful for retail representatives (categorical managers) for the effective realization of products under conditions of competitiveness

Estimation of Dietary Iron Bioavailability from Food Iron Intake and Iron Status

Currently there are no satisfactory methods for estimating dietary iron absorption (bioavailability) at a population level, but this is essential for deriving dietary reference values using the factorial approach. The aim of this work was to develop a novel approach for estimating dietary iron absorption using a population sample from a sub-section of the UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS). Data were analyzed in 873 subjects from the 2000–2001 adult cohort of the NDNS, for whom both dietary intake data and hematological measures (hemoglobin and serum ferritin (SF) concentrations) were available. There were 495 men aged 19–64 y (mean age 42.7±12.1 y) and 378 pre-menopausal women (mean age 35.7±8.2 y). Individual dietary iron requirements were estimated using the Institute of Medicine calculations. A full probability approach was then applied to estimate the prevalence of dietary intakes that were insufficient to meet the needs of the men and women separately, based on their estimated daily iron intake and a series of absorption values ranging from 1–40%. The prevalence of SF concentrations below selected cut-off values (indicating that absorption was not high enough to maintain iron stores) was derived from individual SF concentrations. An estimate of dietary iron absorption required to maintain specified SF values was then calculated by matching the observed prevalence of insufficiency with the prevalence predicted for the series of absorption estimates. Mean daily dietary iron intakes were 13.5 mg for men and 9.8 mg for women. Mean calculated dietary absorption was 8% in men (50th percentile for SF 85 µg/L) and 17% in women (50th percentile for SF 38 µg/L). At a ferritin level of 45 µg/L estimated absorption was similar in men (14%) and women (13%). This new method can be used to calculate dietary iron absorption at a population level using data describing total iron intake and SF concentration

Flexible system of multiple RGB-D sensors for measuring and classifying fruits in agri-food Industry

The productivity of the agri-food sector experiences continuous and growing challenges that make the use of innovative technologies to maintain and even improve their competitiveness a priority. In this context, this paper presents the foundations and validation of a flexible and portable system capable of obtaining 3D measurements and classifying objects based on color and depth images taken from multiple Kinect v1 sensors. The developed system is applied to the selection and classification of fruits, a common activity in the agri-food industry. Being able to obtain complete and accurate information of the environment, as it integrates the depth information obtained from multiple sensors, this system is capable of self-location and self-calibration of the sensors to then start detecting, classifying and measuring fruits in real time. Unlike other systems that use specific set-up or need a previous calibration, it does not require a predetermined positioning of the sensors, so that it can be adapted to different scenarios. The characterization process considers: classification of fruits, estimation of its volume and the number of assets per each kind of fruit. A requirement for the system is that each sensor must partially share its field of view with at least another sensor. The sensors localize themselves by estimating the rotation and translation matrices that allow to transform the coordinate system of one sensor to the other. To achieve this, Iterative Closest Point (ICP) algorithm is used and subsequently validated with a 6 degree of freedom KUKA robotic arm. Also, a method is implemented to estimate the movement of objects based on the Kalman Filter. A relevant contribution of this work is the detailed analysis and propagation of the errors that affect both the proposed methods and hardware. To determine the performance of the proposed system the passage of different types of fruits on a conveyor belt is emulated by a mobile robot carrying a surface where the fruits were placed. Both the perimeter and volume are measured and classified according to the type of fruit. The system was able to distinguish and classify the 95% of fruits and to estimate their volume with a 85% of accuracy in worst cases (fruits whose shape is not symmetrical) and 94% of accuracy in best cases (fruits whose shape is more symmetrical), showing that the proposed approach can become a useful tool in the agri-food industry.This project has been supported by the National Commission for Science and Technology Research of Chile (Conicyt) under FONDECYT grant 1140575 and the Advanced Center of Electrical and Electronic Engineering - AC3E (CONICYT/FB0008)

Measure the Measure: the Impact of Differences in Pesticide MRLs on Chilean Fruit Exports to the EU

This paper advances the measurement of nontariff measures (NTMs) by discussing a framework for how to compare regulations. We argue that relative differences in SPS regulations trigger the impact on trade flows between trading partner countries and specifically look at maximum residue levels (MRLs) for pesticides in a case study on Chilean fruit exports to the EU. In order to capture the relative differences and stringency in tolerance levels of trading partners, a simple indicator is constructed and applied in an econometric analysis. In comparison to existing indices of regulatory heterogeneity, the depth of information generated by our indicator severely compromises its coverage. Further development of our heterogeneity index will need to aim at including elements of process standards and conformity assessment procedures