A spatio-temporal recurrent network for salmon feeding action recognition from underwater videos in aquaculture

Recent developments have shown that Deep Learning approaches are well suited for Human Action Recognition. On the other hand, the application of deep learning for action or behaviour recognition in other domains such as animal or livestock is comparatively limited. Action recognition in fish is a particularly challenging task due to specific research challenges such as the lack of distinct poses in fish behavior and the capture of spatio-temporal changes. Action recognition of salmon is valuable in relation to managing and optimizing many aquaculture operations today such as feeding, as one of the most costly operations in aquaculture. Inspired by these application domains and research challenges we introduce a deep video classification network for action recognition of salmon from underwater videos. We propose a Dual-Stream Recurrent Network (DSRN) to automatically capture the spatio-temporal behavior of salmon during swimming. The DSRN combines the spatial and motion-temporal information through the use of a spatial network, a 3D-convolutional motion network and a LSTM recurrent classification network. The DSRN shows an accuracy that is suitable for industrial use in prediction of salmon behavior with a prediction accuracy of 80%, validated on the task of predicting Feeding and NonFeeding behavior in salmon at a real fish farm during production. Our results show that the DSRN architecture has high potential in feeding action recognition for salmon in aquaculture and for applications domains lacking distinct poses and with dynamic spatio-temporal changes.publishedVersio

Mobile Cloud Computing: A new way of Cloud Computing

Cloud Computing seems to be the most promising technology of the century we are living. It provides a new manner of sharing distributed resources and services that may be part of different organizations, geographically located in different places and different time zones. Mobile Cloud Computing offers partially the same functionality, with the only additional requirement that, at least, some of the devices are mobile. In this paper, we will try to provide a detailed explanation of Mobile Cloud Computing concept by providing different examples, figures and charts showing usage, accessibility, pros and cons and comparison of different cloud platforms

Robotic Handling of Compliant Food Objects by Robust Learning from Demonstration

The robotic handling of compliant and deformable food raw materials, characterized by high biological variation, complex geometrical 3D shapes, and mechanical structures and texture, is currently in huge demand in the ocean space, agricultural, and food industries. Many tasks in these industries are performed manually by human operators who, due to the laborious and tedious nature of their tasks, exhibit high variability in execution, with variable outcomes. The introduction of robotic automation for most complex processing tasks has been challenging due to current robot learning policies. A more consistent learning policy involving skilled operators is desired. In this paper, we address the problem of robot learning when presented with inconsistent demonstrations. To this end, we propose a robust learning policy based on Learning from Demonstration (LfD) for robotic grasping of food compliant objects. The approach uses a merging of RGB-D images and tactile data in order to estimate the necessary pose of the gripper, gripper finger configuration and forces exerted on the object in order to achieve effective robot handling. During LfD training, the gripper pose, finger configurations and tactile values for the fingers, as well as RGB-D images are saved. We present an LfD learning policy that automatically removes inconsistent demonstrations, and estimates the teacher's intended policy. The performance of our approach is validated and demonstrated for fragile and compliant food objects with complex 3D shapes. The proposed approach has a vast range of potential applications in the aforementioned industry sectors.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures,IROS 201

Incidentally diagnosed large asymptomatic Morgagni hernia in adult male patient

Background: Congenital diaphragmatic hernias are rare congenital defects resulting in abdominal organ protrusion into the thoracic cavity; they mainly present with pulmonary or gastrointestinal symptoms. Although congenital and discovered in utero or in early childhood, they can be asymptomatic for a long time and even remain asymptomatic despite the growing hernia sac dimensions and the hernia sac contents. Case description: We present a case of a 58-year-old patient with incidentally diagnosed Morgagni hernia during the COVID-19 pandemic following a computerised tomography (CT) scan of the chest. He presented without any symptoms related to the existence of the hernia. Another CT scan was performed 20 months after the initial diagnosis to evaluate the progression of the hernia. The patient refused the offered surgery due to the absence of symptoms. Discussion: A Morgagni hernia is usually discovered during pregnancy or in early childhood, but sometimes can be asymptomatic for years. Main symptoms originate from the respiratory and gastrointestinal system. Conclusion: Due to the refusal of surgery, we were able to follow the CT scan enlargement progression of patients’ hernia over a 20-month period

Amphetamine Use Revealing Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy in a Young Patient.

Adrenergic overstimulation in long term can lead to a hyperdynamic myocardium and give rise to hypertrophy and ultimately to heart failure. Amphetamine use is a common cause of neurohormonal activation, which gives rise to such adverse cardiovascular events. However, hypertrophy of myocardium in young patients, even due to apparently obvious causes, should always be considered as a red flag and a further diagnostic downstream should take place, in order to exclude genetic causes. We present a case of a young man with chronic use of amphetamine and an incidental finding of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

A carbene stabilized precursor for the spatial atomic layer deposition of copper thin films

This paper demonstrates a carbene stabilized precursor [Cu(tBuNHC)(hmds)] with suitable volatility, reactivity and thermal stability, that enables the spatial plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition (APP-ALD) of copper thin films at atmospheric pressure. The resulting conductive and pure copper layers were thoroughly analysed and a comparison of precursor and process with the previously reported silver analogue [Ag(tBuNHC)(hmds)] revealed interesting similarities and notable differences in precursor chemistry and growth characteristics. This first report of APP-ALD grown copper layers is an important starting point for high throughput, low-cost manufacturing of copper films for nano- and optoelectronic devices

Case Nortura/Norilia.Improving the utilisation of co-streams in poultry processing

Industrialised chicken production is far from organic agriculture prinicples. Still of interest is a more sustainable utilisation of by-products, e.g. hydrolysation of feathers for proteins, or extraction of food grade oil from chicken bones. Such approaches were studied in the bioeconomy-project "CYCLE" (2013-2017)

Učinki uporabe plavalnih očal in dihalke pri začetnem učenju plavanja na napredek neplavalcev strahom pred vodo

Objectives. The use of masks, goggles and snorkels has become popular in some swimming schools. Therefore, the aim of the study was to investigate the effect of the usage of goggles and snorkels during learn-to-swim program on aquatic skills of young non-swimmers with or without fear of water. The research objectives fall into a number of broad groupings: •To discern differences in learning water adaptations skills (such as water entry skill, skill of open eyes underwater, breath-holding skill, blowing bubbles skill, prone gliding skill, back gliding skill) in young non-swimmers with and without fear of water between two learn-to-swim programs, i.e., using goggles and snorkels or without these swim aids. •To look into the differences in learning swimming skills (such as prone swimming skill, breathing during prone swimming skill, back swimming skill, skills of changing position) in young non-swimmers with and without fear of water between two learn-to-swim programs, i.e., using goggles and snorkels or without these swim aids. Methods. Eighty children (forty female and forty male) aged between 10 and 11 years voluntarily participated in the study. They were non-swimmers and had no previous experience of formal swimming lessons. According to the results of the Fear of Water Assessment Questionnaire, the participants were assigned to either the group with fear of water or the group without it. Moreover, each group was further randomly divided into a group that used goggles and snorkels and a group that did not use these aids during the learn-to-swim program. Thus, each participant was assigned to the one of four groups: •F-GS (participants with fear of water who used goggles and snorkels during a learn-to-swim program), •F-NGS (participants with fear of water who did not use goggles or snorkels during a learn-to-swim program), •NF-GS (participants without fear of water who used goggles and snorkels during a learn-to-swim program, •NF-NGS (participants without fear of water who did not use goggles or snorkels during a learn-to-swim program). All four groups undertook five learning sessions per week for four weeks. Each session lasted 45 minutes. The learn-to-swim intervention was similar for all four groups. It follows an ordered pattern with beginners progressing from water entry, opening their eyes underwater, exhaling into the water, developing buoyancy, gliding, kicking, and finally arm stroke exercises. For F-NGS and NF-NGS, all of these take place without the use of a goggles or snorkel. This order was reversed for F-GS and NF-GS so that the goggles and snorkels were integrated and introduced after water entry exercises. Familiarization with wearing the goggles and breathing through the snorkel continued during exercises for improving buoyancy, gliding, kicking, and arm strokes. With this revised program, coordinating breathing with the natural stroke cycle and opening the eyes underwater followed only once participants mastered swimming with the face submerged while breathing ad libitum through a snorkel. The final goal was the same for all four groups: to swim the desired stroke without the goggles and snorkel, with breathing integrated into the natural stroke cycle. Before and after the learn-to-swim intervention, we evaluated participants’ water skills by using scores on a 5-point scale. Results. All four groups improved water competence skills with learn-to-swim interventions. The comparisons of the intervention effects between the groups with fear of water showed that the learning improvement in water entry (4 ± 0.68 at F-GS vs. 3 ± 1.38 at F-NGSp = 0,02), back gliding (3 ± 0.96 at F-GS vs. 2 ± 1.09 at F-NGSp = 0,02p = 0,03), and prone swimming (3 ± 0.71 at F-GS vs. 3 ± 1.32 at F-NGSp = 0,05) scores were bigger in F-GS than in F-NGS. At the contrary, the intervention effect was lower in the blowing bubbles scores in F-GS than in F-NGS (3 ± 0.83 at F-GS vs. 4 ± 0.56 at F-NGSp = 0,04). The comparisons of the intervention effects between the groups without fear of water showed that the learning improvement in prone swimming (2 ± 1.86 at NF-GS vs. 1 ± 1.15 at NF-NGSp = 0,01) scores was bigger in NF-GS than in NF-NGS. At the contrary, the intervention effect was lower in the blowing bubbles scores in NF-GS than in NF-NGS (2 ± 1.66 at NF-GS vs. 3 ± 0.70 at NF-NGSp = 0,02). Conclusion. The results of present study indicated that the usage of goggles and snorkels during learn-to-swim programs exerted positive and negative effects on participants\u27 during aquatic skills improvement. The positive effects were shown for the participants with fear of water particularly. Goggles and snorkels helped them to decrease their hesitation upon water entry, back gliding and at the acquisition of prone swimming skills. Thus, using googles and snorkels during learn-to-swim programs induced greater learning improvement in these skills compared to non-usage. On the contrary, there were no significant different effect on aquatic skills of young non-swimmers without fear of water. Moreover, participants\u27 improvement in blowing bubbles was significantly smaller in the learn-to-swim program with the goggles and snorkels than program without them. These effects were confirmed for all participants, regardless of their fear of water. A similar but not significant influence was shown on acquisition of breathing during prone swim as well. These results illustrate the negative effects of the usage of goggles and snorkels during learn-to-swim programs.Cilji. Cilj raziskave je bil ugotoviti učinke uporabe plavalnih očal in dihalke med začetnim učenjem plavanja na prilagojenost na vodo in na znanje ter sposobnosti plavanja neplavalcev z izraženim strahom pred vodo ali brez njega. Učinke poskusnega učenja smo primerjali z učinki učenja plavanja, pri katerem plavalnih očal in dihalke nismo uporabljali. Metode dela. V raziskavi je sodelovalo 80 otrok (40 deklic in 40 dečkov), starih od 10 do 11 let. Bili so neplavalci, ki se pred raziskavo še nikoli niso udeležili plavalnega tečaja. S pomočjo vprašalnika smo preiskovance razdelili v dve glavni skupini: na tiste z izraženim strahom pred vodo in na tiste brez njega. Vsako od teh dveh skupini smo razdelili še na dve podskupini: na tiste, ki so se učili plavati s plavalni očali in dihalko ter na tiste, ki pri učenju teh dveh pripomočkov niso uporabljali. Raziskovalni program je torej potekal v štirih skupinah preiskovancev: •skupina F-GS (preiskovanci z izraženim strahom pred vodo, ki so se učili plavati s plavalni očali in dihalko), •skupina F-NGS (preiskovanci z izraženim strahom pred vodo, ki pri učenju plavanja niso uporabljali plavalnih očal in dihalke), •skupina NF-GS (preiskovanci brez izraženega strahu pred vodo, ki so se učili plavati s plavalni očali in dihalko) in •skupina NF-NGS (preiskovanci brez izraženega strahu pred vodo, ki pri učenju plavanja niso uporabljali plavalnih očal in dihalke). Vse štiri skupine so se učile in vadile pet-krat na teden, štiri tedne. Ena vadbena enota je trajala 45 minut. Program učenja plavanja je bil za vse preizkušance podoben. Pri skupinah F-NGS in NF-NGS je program sledil običajnemu začetnemu programu učenja plavanja, torej: prilagajanje na upor vode (vstop v vodo), prilagajanje na potapljanje glave, prilagajanje na gledanje pod gladino, prilagajanje na izdihovanje v vodo, prilagajanje na plovnost, prilagajanje na drsenje, učenje udarcev, učenje zaveslajev, učenje gibanja glave in dihanja v koordinaciji z zaveslaji in učenje koordinacije celotne plavalne tehnike. Z uporabo plavalnih očal in dihalke smo pri skupinah F-GS in NF-GS ta vrstni red nekoliko spremenili. Po prvih dveh stopnjah (prilagajanje na upor vode (vstop v vodo) in na potapljanje glave), smo izpustili prilagajanje na gledanje pod gladino in na izdihovanje v vodo ter nadaljevali s prilagajanjem na plovnost in na drsenje ter učenjem plavalnih tehnik. Nato smo pripomočka postopoma odstranili, tako da smo preiskovance prilagodili še na gledanje pod gladino in na izdihovanje v vodo. Končni cilj programov je bil pri vseh štirih skupinah enak in sicer samostojno plavanje brez uporabe plavalnih očal in dihalke. Pred poukom plavanja in po njem, smo s pomočjo 11 testov ocenili prilagojenost preiskovancev na vodo in njihovo znanje ter sposobnosti plavanja. Rezultati. Velika večina preiskovancev (izjema je le skupina NF-NGS pri testih vstopa v vodo, gledanja pod gladino in plavanja v prsnem položaju) je z učenjem plavanja napredovala v prilagojenosti na vodo ter v znanju in sposobnostih plavanja (p < 0.05 in p < 0.01). Primerjava učinkov pouka med skupinama z izraženim strahom pred vodo je pokazala, da je bil učni napredek pri testih vstopa v vodo, drsenja v hrbtnem in plavanja v prsnem položaju večji, pri testu pihanja mehurčkov pa manjši pri skupini F-GS, kakor pri skupini F-NGS (p < 0.05). Podobno je pokazala tudi primerjava učinkov pouka med skupinama brez izraženega strahu pred vodo. Skupina NF-GS je v testu plavanja v prsnem položaju napredovala bolj, v testu pihanja mehurčkov pa manj v primerjavi s skupino NF-NGS (p < 0.05). Zaključki. Rezultati raziskave so razgrnili pozitivne in negativne učinke uporabe plavalnih očal in dihalke pri začetnem učenju plavanja. Pozitivni učinki so se pokazali predvsem pri neplavalcih z izraženim strahom pred vodo. Pri tej skupini je uporaba plavalnih očal in dihalke pomembno pripomogla k večjemu učnemu napredku v zmožnostih vstopa v vodo, drsenja v hrbtnem položaju in plavanja v prsnem položaju. Pri neplavalcih brez izraženega strahu pred vodo, uporaba teh dveh pripomočkov ni imela pomembnih učnih učinkov. Negativni učinki uporabe plavalnih očal in dihalke pri začetnem učenju plavanja, so se pokazali pri osvajanju zmožnosti izdihavanja v vodo. Učni napredek je bil namreč pri testu pihanja mehurčkov, ob uporabi teh dveh pripomočkov, statistično pomembno manjši

A spatio-temporal recurrent network for salmon feeding action recognition from underwater videos in aquaculture

Recent developments have shown that Deep Learning approaches are well suited for Human Action Recognition. On the other hand, the application of deep learning for action or behaviour recognition in other domains such as animal or livestock is comparatively limited. Action recognition in fish is a particularly challenging task due to specific research challenges such as the lack of distinct poses in fish behavior and the capture of spatio-temporal changes. Action recognition of salmon is valuable in relation to managing and optimizing many aquaculture operations today such as feeding, as one of the most costly operations in aquaculture. Inspired by these application domains and research challenges we introduce a deep video classification network for action recognition of salmon from underwater videos. We propose a Dual-Stream Recurrent Network (DSRN) to automatically capture the spatio-temporal behavior of salmon during swimming. The DSRN combines the spatial and motion-temporal information through the use of a spatial network, a 3D-convolutional motion network and a LSTM recurrent classification network. The DSRN shows an accuracy that is suitable for industrial use in prediction of salmon behavior with a prediction accuracy of 80%, validated on the task of predicting Feeding and NonFeeding behavior in salmon at a real fish farm during production. Our results show that the DSRN architecture has high potential in feeding action recognition for salmon in aquaculture and for applications domains lacking distinct poses and with dynamic spatio-temporal changes.publishedVersio

Computer vision for quality grading in fish processing

High labour costs, due to the existing technology that still involves a high degree of manually based processing, incur overall high production costs in the fish processing industry. Therefore, a higher degree of automation of processing lines is often desirable, and this strategy has been adopted by the Norwegian fish processing industry to cut-down production costs. In fish processing, despite a slower uptake than in other domains of industry, the use of computer vision as a strategy for automation is beginning to gain the necessary maturity for online grading and evaluation of various attributes related to fish quality. This can enable lower production costs and simultaneously increase quality through more consistent and non-destructive evaluation of the fish products. This thesis investigates the possibility for automation of fish processing operations by the application of computer vision. The thesis summarises research conducted towards the development of computer vision-based methods for evaluation of various attributes related to whole fish and flesh quality. A brief summary of the main findings is presented here. By application of computer vision, a method for the inspection of the presence of residual blood in the body cavity of whole Atlantic salmon was developed to determine the adequacy of washing. Inadequate washing of fish after bleeding is quite common in commercial processing plants. By segmenting the body cavity and performing a colour analysis, it was shown that the degree of bleeding correlated well with colour parameters, resulting in correct classification of the fish with residual blood. The developed computer vision-based classifier showed a good agreement with the manual classification of the fish that needed re-washing. The proposed method has potential to automate this type of inspection in fish processing lines. In addition, a computer vision-based classifier for quality grading of whole Atlantic salmon in different grading classes, as specified by the industrial standard, was developed. In the proposed solution, after segmentation of the salmon from the image scene, with the use of the computer vision techniques, it was possible to extract non-redundant geometrical features describing the size and shape of fish. Based on these features, a classifier was developed for classification of fish into respective grading classes. The average correct rate of classification was in good agreement with the manual labelling, and the method has a potential for grading of Atlantic salmon in fish processing lines. Regarding fillet grading, a computer vision-based sorting method for Atlantic salmon fillets according to their colour score was developed. The method and classifier/matching algorithm was based on the present industrial standard NS 9402 for evaluation of fillets by colour according to Roche Cards. As a result, fillets or parts of fillets, could be classified into different colour grades. This is important for the industry since different markets tend to have different preferences for fillet colour. This classification method is suitable for online industrial purposes. In addition, the method gives colour evaluation of fresh and smoked fillets in the CIELab space, similar to the L, a, and b values generated by a Minolta Chromameter, for different parts of fillets as well as for the entire fillet. The advantage of the computer vision-based method derives from the flexibility in the choice of the size of the region of interest of the fillet for colour measurement, as opposed to the Chromameter, where the Minolta generated values are obtained by interrogating a very small area of the fillet (8 mm). The method can also be used for detection of colour non-uniformities (discoloration) in both fresh and smoked fillets. A method for computer vision-based measurements and monitoring of transient 2D and 3D changes in the size and shape of fillets during the rigor process and ice storage was developed. The method successfully measured the size (length, width, area) and shape (roundness) of Atlantic salmon and cod fillets, and monitored changes to these during ice storage with high precision. This was demonstrated by comparison of the exhausted and anesthetized fillets. By laser scanning of the fillet, it was possible to obtain size changes in the height (mm) and area of the fillet in cross-section. The method can be used not only for size and shape analysis of fillets but also for other fish products, both in on-line, as well as off-line conditions as a tool for monitoring 2D/3D size and shape changes. The method can also be used for determination of fillet yield measured in thickness, which is an important parameter for the industry. Together with the colour grading ability, this method can also be used for full feature evaluation and classification of any fish or food product from a single image (colour, size and shape in 2D/3D). If filleting of fish is done pre-rigor, care should be exercised during colour grading since transient colour changes occur in the post-mortem period. As these changes are more pronounced than those that occur during ice storage, incorrect colour grading can occur. The computer vision method developed for evaluation of colour changes in fillets during rigor, ice storage, and due to effects of perimortem handling stress was considered as the most suitable method for industrial purposes when compared to both the Minolta Chromamater and sensory analysis by a panel. A computer vision-based method for evaluation of fresh and smoked fillets with respect to bleeding was developed. This form of evaluation is important for the industry as residual blood in fillets may lead to reduced visual acceptance of the product. The method was considered suitable for the purpose of this type of evaluation. The developed computer vision methods have potential for automation of the mentioned grading operations in the commercial fish processing lines. Application of the proposed solutions would lower the production costs, while simultaneously increasing the quality of the products through a more consistent and non-destructive evaluation of these products