Assessing berry number for grapevine yield estimation by image analysis: case study with the white variety “Arinto”

Mestrado em Engenharia de Viticultura e Enologia (Double degree) / Instituto Superior de Agronomia. Universidade de Lisboa / Faculdade de Ciências. Universidade do PortoYield estimation in recent years is identified as one of more important topics in viticulture because it can lead to more efficiently managed vineyards producing wines of highly quality. Recently, to improve the efficiency of yield estimation, image analysis is becoming an important tool to collect detailed information from the vines regarding the yield. New technologies were developed for yield estimation using a new ground platform, such as VINBOT, using image analysis. This work was done in a vineyard of the “Instituto Superior de Agronomia”, with the aim to estimate the final yield, during the growing cycle 2019 of the variety “Arinto”, using images collected in three different modality: laboratory condition (1), field condition (2) and VINBOT robot. In the every condition, the images were captured with the RGB-D camera. For (1) and (2) the photos were acquired manually through the use of a digital camera placed on a tripod but in the (3) the RGB-D camera was fixed on the VINBOT robot. In this work, the correlation of yield components between field data and images data was evaluated. In addition, throught MATLAB, it was evaluate the number of visible berries in the images and the percentage of visible berries not occluded by leaves and by other berries. Througt the laboratory results was calculate a growth factor of bunches on the periods pea-size and veraison. On the VINBOT analysis the efficacy to estimate the total yield from the number of berries was higher at maturation with a 10% error ratio. The relationship between canopy porosity and exposed berries showed for all the stages high and significant R2 indicating that we can use it to estimate berries occlusion through image analysis. This accuracy makes the proposed methodology ideal for early yield prediction as a very helpful tool for the grape and wine industryN/

Machine aided indexing from natural language text

The NASA Lexical Dictionary (NLD) Machine Aided Indexing (MAI) system was designed to (1) reuse the indexing of the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC); (2) reuse the indexing of the Department of Energy (DOE); and (3) reduce the time required for original indexing. This was done by automatically generating appropriate NASA thesaurus terms from either the other agency's index terms, or, for original indexing, from document titles and abstracts. The NASA STI Program staff devised two different ways to generate thesaurus terms from text. The first group of programs identified noun phrases by a parsing method that allowed for conjunctions and certain prepositions, on the assumption that indexable concepts are found in such phrases. Results were not always satisfactory, and it was noted that indexable concepts often occurred outside of noun phrases. The first method also proved to be too slow for the ultimate goal of interactive (online) MAI. The second group of programs used the knowledge base (KB), word proximity, and frequency of word and phrase occurrence to identify indexable concepts. Both methods are described and illustrated. Online MAI has been achieved, as well as several spinoff benefits, which are also described

On The Origins Of Attributive And Conclusive Verb Forms In The Ryukyuan Languages

The islands of the Ryukyu archipelago, now comprising the Japanese prefectures of Okinawa and part of Kagoshima, were originally a separate kingdom before being annexed by Japan. The language(s) (or dialects) of these islands are commonly regarded as the only confirmed sister language(s) to modern Standard Japanese and its dialects. Scholars have long compared Ryukyuan and Japanese for clues to the prehistories of both languages, and in search of a single Proto-Ryukyuan/Japanese language. The earliest recorded ancestor of modern Standard Japanese dates back to roughly the 8th century A.D., whereas most Ryukyuan language groups have never been written down. In the face of scant historical records and no other confirmed relatives, the early histories of the various Japanese and Ryukyuan dialects remain shrouded in mystery. Two of the most looming questions are when the two language groups split, and whether or not Ryukyuan split off from the proto-language as a whole, or if various language subgroups broke off at different times. To this day, various degrees of mutual intelligibility make it difficult to postulate whether what is spoken in the Ryukyuans should be called ?dialects? of Ryukyuan or separate ?languages? in a Ryukyuan family. This paper examines a small part of this puzzle in an attempt to sort out the relationships between the Ryukyuan languages to each other and to Standard Japanese. Middle Japanese includes a complicated series of verb forms that correspond to a variety of syntactic functions. One of these verb forms, the Conclusive, is used for sentence-final indicative verbs, while another, the Attributive, is used either as a nominalized verb, or to modify a noun in relative clause constructions. The distinction between the Conclusive and Attributive verb morphology, although long lost in Standard Japanese, has been retained in many Ryukyuan dialects. Furthermore, the Ryukyuan data for the Conclusive and Attributive forms is quite complex; some dialects show more than one suffix for each function while others retain distinct but redundant forms. This paper analyzes the Conclusive and the Attributive verb forms, as well as other related key verb forms, by comparing their morphology in various Ryukyuan dialects. A geographic (and long-assumed linguistic) divide exists between the islands in the northern part of the Ryukyu archipelago and the islands in the south, as well as further divides within these two groups. This paper examines the Conclusive and Attributive within each of these subgroups, and then draws a conclusion about the likelihood that these subgroups are related to each other. This paper largely agrees with previous analyses that Attributive and Conclusive verb morphology in Northern Ryukyu dialects featured a stage of development involving a compound of the Continuative form and the existential verb wori. However, close comparison suggests that the Southern Island dialects feature an older, plain vowel morpheme in the Attributive and Conclusive morphology, most likely a /-u/, which predates the Northern Island Continuative-wori compound. The /-u/ suffix found in the Southern Islands closely resembles the /-u/ Conclusive-Attributive suffix found in Standard Japanese, suggesting that both the Southern Islands and Japan have retained this older form, while the Northern Islands, located in the middle of these two, have diverged

Machine-aided indexing at NASA

This report describes the NASA Lexical Dictionary (NLD), a machine-aided indexing system used online at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Center for AeroSpace Information (CASI). This system automatically suggests a set of candidate terms from NASA's controlled vocabulary for any designated natural language text input. The system is comprised of a text processor that is based on the computational, nonsyntactic analysis of input text and an extensive knowledge base that serves to recognize and translate text-extracted concepts. The functions of the various NLD system components are described in detail, and production and quality benefits resulting from the implementation of machine-aided indexing at CASI are discussed

NASA's online machine aided indexing system

This report describes the NASA Lexical Dictionary, a machine aided indexing system used online at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Center for Aerospace Information (CASI). This system is comprised of a text processor that is based on the computational, non-syntactic analysis of input text, and an extensive 'knowledge base' that serves to recognize and translate text-extracted concepts. The structure and function of the various NLD system components are described in detail. Methods used for the development of the knowledge base are discussed. Particular attention is given to a statistically-based text analysis program that provides the knowledge base developer with a list of concept-specific phrases extracted from large textual corpora. Production and quality benefits resulting from the integration of machine aided indexing at CASI are discussed along with a number of secondary applications of NLD-derived systems including on-line spell checking and machine aided lexicography

Next-Generation Sequencing for Clinical Management of Multiple Myeloma : Ready for Prime Time?

Personalized treatment is an attractive strategy that promises increased efficacy with reduced side effects in cancer. The feasibility of such an approach has been greatly boosted by next-generation sequencing (NGS) techniques, which can return detailed information on the genome and on the transcriptome of each patient's tumor, thus highlighting biomarkers of response or druggable targets that may differ from case to case. However, while the number of cancers sequenced is growing exponentially, much fewer cases are amenable to a molecularly-guided treatment outside of clinical trials to date. In multiple myeloma, genomic analysis shows a variety of gene mutations, aneuploidies, segmental copy-number changes, translocations that are extremely heterogeneous, and more numerous than other hematological malignancies. Currently, in routine clinical practice we employ reduced FISH panels that only capture three high-risk features as part of the R-ISS. On the contrary, recent advances have suggested that extending genomic analysis to the full spectrum of recurrent mutations and structural abnormalities in multiple myeloma may have biological and clinical implications. Furthermore, increased efficacy of novel treatments can now produce deeper responses, and standard methods do not have enough sensitivity to stratify patients in complete biochemical remission. Consequently, NGS techniques have been developed to monitor the size of the clone to a sensitivity of up to a cell in a million after treatment. However, even these techniques are not within reach of standard laboratories. In this review we will recapitulate recent advances in multiple myeloma genomics, with special focus on the ones that may have immediate translational impact. We will analyze the benefits and pitfalls of NGS-based diagnostics, highlighting crucial aspects that will need to be taken into account before this can be implemented in most laboratories. We will make the point that a new era in myeloma diagnostics and minimal residual disease monitoring is close and conventional genetic testing will not be able to return the required information. This will mandate that even in routine practice NGS should soon be adopted owing to a higher informative potential with increasing clinical benefits

Birt-Hogg-Dubé syndrome (BHDS)

Review on Birt-Hogg-Dubé syndrome (BHDS), with data on clinics, and the genes implicated