3,802 research outputs found
PORK QUALITY ASSESSMENT THROUGH IMAGE SEGMENTATION AND SUPPORT VECTOR MACHINE IMPLEMENTATION
Pork is the most consumed meat in the Philippines, and efficient quality control is essential for ensuring the safety of its consumers. Current manual procedures of meat inspection are time-consuming and laboratory-intensive considering the large amount of supply to be examined. This research aims to construct a rapid objective system of pork quality assessment with respect to meat freshness through Support Vector Machine (SVM) implementation, and to ultimately have an accuracy rate of ≥ 90%. 35 meat samples were collected, and their images were acquired. 30 of these were randomly designated as part of the training dataset while the rest were designated as part of the testing dataset. Of the 30 training samples, 6 were randomly chosen for the creation of a microbial profile. In all of the acquired image samples, image segmentation was performed and the RGB, HSV, Lab, and statistical texture features were extracted. These were inputted in 15 different SVM configurations. SVM classification yielded an accuracy rate of 93.33 %. Results from the microbial profile revealed considerable microbial activity at the 5th and 6th intervals (10th and 12th hour) with 2 and 3 colonies formed, respectively. With the ability of the SVM to distinguish between samples with respect to the hour interval and with the supplementation of the microbial profile, an objective artificial intelligence mechanism for freshness detection was successfully created.Keywords: Meat quality, Image segmentation, Support vector machine, Artificial intelligenc
The very fast evolution of Sakurai's object
V4334 Sgr (a.k.a. Sakurai's object) is the central star of an old planetary
nebula that underwent a very late thermal pulse a few years before its
discovery in 1996. We have been monitoring the evolution of the optical
emission line spectrum since 2001. The goal is to improve the evolutionary
models by constraining them with the temporal evolution of the central star
temperature. In addition the high resolution spectral observations obtained by
X-shooter and ALMA show the temporal evolution of the different morphological
components.Comment: 2 pages, 2 figures to appear in the Proceedings of the IAU Symp. 323:
"Planetary nebulae: Multi-wavelength probes of stellar and galactic
evolution". Eds. X.-W. Liu, L. Stanghellini and A. Karaka
Elimination of the vesicular acetylcholine transporter in the forebrain causes hyperactivity and deficits in spatial memory and long-term potentiation
Basal forebrain cholinergic neurons, which innervate the hippocampus and cortex, have been implicated in many forms of cognitive function. Immunolesion-based methods in animal models have been widely used to study the role of acetylcholine (ACh) neurotransmission in these processes, with variable results. Cholinergic neurons have been shown to release both glutamate and ACh, making it difficult to deduce the specific contribution of each neurotransmitter on cognition when neurons are eliminated. Understanding the precise roles of ACh in learning and memory is critical because drugs that preserve ACh are used as treatment for cognitive deficits. It is therefore important to define which cholinergic-dependent behaviors could be improved pharmacologically. Here we investigate the contributions of forebrain ACh on hippocampal synaptic plasticity and cognitive behavior by selective elimination of the vesicular ACh transporter, which interferes with synaptic storage and release of ACh. We show that elimination of vesicular ACh transporter in the hippocampus results in deficits in long-term potentiation and causes selective deficits in spatial memory. Moreover, decreased cholinergic tone in the forebrain is linked to hyperactivity, without changes in anxiety or depression-related behavior. These data uncover the specific contribution of forebrain cholinergic tone for synaptic plasticity and behavior. Moreover, these experiments define specific cognitive functions that could be targeted by cholinergic replacement therapy
A kapwa-infused paradigm in teaching Catholic theology/catechesis in a multireligious classroom in the Philippines
The increasing religious diversity in educational space has raised a legitimate question on how Catholic theology/ catechesis must be taught in Philippine Catholic universities given the institutional mandate to educate students “into the faith of the Church through teaching of Christian doctrine in an organic and systematic way” (Wuerl, 2013, 1). On this note, the paper makes reference to “centered plural- ism” (CP), a positional posture espoused by Georgetown University in dealing with this predicament. In an attempt to (re) appropriate CP into local context, there is a need to explore the Filipino conception of self/others as enveloped within the indigenous concept of kapwa. Hereon, the paper finds that CP is not just feasibly suitable in local context but with kapwa's more inclusive description of the relationship of self and others, a CP‐based teaching paradigm in theology/ catechesis is a promising project in the educational scene of the Philippines
Solar-driven CO2 reduction catalysed by hybrid supramolecular photocathodes and enhanced by ionic liquids
Photoelectrochemical carbon dioxide reduction (CO2) at ambient temperature and pressure was performed using molecular chromophores and catalyst assemblies on CuGaO2-based electrodes in an ionic liquid (IL) organic solution, acting as a CO2 absorbent and electrolyte. A simple and versatile methodology based on the silanization of the CuGaO2 electrode followed by electropolymerization provided a series of molecular and supramolecular hybrid photocathodes for solar driven CO2 reduction. Focusing on the cathodic half reactions, the most promising conditions for the formation of CO2 reduction products were determined. The results revealed a beneficial effect of the ionic liquid on the conversion of CO2 to formic acid and suppression of the production of hydrogen. The potentiality of anchoring supramolecular complexes on semiconductor photoelectrocatalysts was demonstrated to boost both carrier transport and catalytic activity with a FEred of up to 81% compared with the obtained FEred of 52% using bare CuGaO2 with formate as the major product
Near-Infrared Imaging of Early-Type Galaxies III. The Near-Infrared Fundamental Plane
Near-infrared imaging data on 251 early-type galaxies in clusters and groups
are used to construct the near-infrared Fundamental Plane (FP) r_eff ~
sigma_0^1.53 _eff^-0.79. The slope of the FP therefore departs from
the virial expectation of r_eff ~ sigma_0^2 _eff^-1 at all optical and
near-infrared wavelengths, which could be a result of the variation of M/L
along the elliptical galaxy sequence, or a systematic breakdown of homology
among the family of elliptical galaxies. The slope of the near-infrared FP
excludes metallicity variations as the sole cause of the slope of the FP. Age
effects, dynamical deviations from a homology, or any combination of these
(with or without metallicity), however, are not excluded. The scatter of both
the near-infrared and optical FP are nearly identical and substantially larger
than the observational uncertainties, demonstrating small but significant
intrinsic cosmological scatter for the FP at all wavelengths. The lack of a
correlation of the residuals of the near-infrared FP and the residuals from the
Mg_2-sigma relation indicates that the thickness of these relations cannot be
ascribed only to age or metallicity effects. Due to this metallicity
independence, the small scatter of the near-infrared FP excludes a model in
which age and metallicity effects ``conspire'' to keep the optical FP thin. All
of these results suggest that the possible physical origins of the FP relations
are complicated due to combined effects of variations of stellar populations
and structural parameters among elliptical galaxies.Comment: to appear in The Astronomical Journal; 35 pages, including 13
Postscript figures and 1 table; uses AAS LaTeX style file
Does inter-vertebral range of motion increase after spinal manipulation? A prospective cohort study.
Background: Spinal manipulation for nonspecific neck pain is thought to work in part by improving inter-vertebral range of motion (IV-RoM), but it is difficult to measure this or determine whether it is related to clinical outcomes.
Objectives: This study undertook to determine whether cervical spine flexion and extension IV-RoM increases after a course of spinal manipulation, to explore relationships between any IV-RoM increases and clinical outcomes and to compare palpation with objective measurement in the detection of hypo-mobile segments.
Method: Thirty patients with nonspecific neck pain and 30 healthy controls matched for age and gender received quantitative fluoroscopy (QF) screenings to measure flexion and extension IV-RoM (C1-C6) at baseline and 4-week follow-up between September 2012-13. Patients received up to 12 neck manipulations and completed NRS, NDI
and Euroqol 5D-5L at baseline, plus PGIC and satisfaction questionnaires at follow-up. IV-RoM accuracy, repeatability and hypo-mobility cut-offs were determined. Minimal detectable changes (MDC) over 4 weeks were calculated
from controls. Patients and control IV-RoMs were compared at baseline as well as changes in patients over 4 weeks. Correlations between outcomes and the number of manipulations received and the agreement (Kappa) between palpated and QF-detected of hypo-mobile segments were calculated.
Results: QF had high accuracy (worst RMS error 0.5o) and repeatability (highest SEM 1.1o, lowest ICC 0.90) for
IV-RoM measurement. Hypo-mobility cut offs ranged from 0.8o to 3.5o. No outcome was significantly correlated with increased IV-RoM above MDC and there was no significant difference between the number of hypo-mobile segments in patients and controls at baseline or significant increases in IV-RoMs in patients. However, there was a modest and significant correlation between the number of manipulations received and the number of levels and directions whose IV-RoM increased beyond MDC (Rho=0.39, p=0.043). There was also no agreement between palpation and QF in identifying hypo-mobile segments (Kappa 0.04-0.06).
Conclusions: This study found no differences in cervical sagittal IV-RoM between patients with non-specific neck pain and matched controls. There was a modest dose-response relationship between the number of manipulations given and number of levels increasing IV-RoM - providing evidence that neck manipulation has a mechanical effect at segmental levels. However, patient-reported outcomes were not related to this
Building up the Stellar Halo of the Galaxy
We study numerical simulations of satellite galaxy disruption in a potential
resembling that of the Milky Way. Our goal is to assess whether a merger origin
for the stellar halo would leave observable fossil structure in the phase-space
distribution of nearby stars. We show how mixing of disrupted satellites can be
quantified using a coarse-grained entropy. Although after 10 Gyr few obvious
asymmetries remain in the distribution of particles in configuration space,
strong correlations are still present in velocity space. We give a simple
analytic description of these effects, based on a linearised treatment in
action-angle variables, which shows how the kinematic and density structure of
the debris stream changes with time. By applying this description we find that
a single satellite of current luminosity 10^8 L_\sun disrupted 10 Gyr ago
from an orbit circulating in the inner halo (mean apocentre kpc)
would contribute about kinematically cold streams with internal
velocity dispersions below 5 km/s to the local stellar halo. If the whole
stellar halo were built by disrupted satellites, it should consist locally of
300 - 500 such streams. Clear detection of all these structures would require a
sample of a few thousand stars with 3-D velocities accurate to better than 5
km/s. Even with velocity errors several times worse than this, the expected
clumpiness should be quite evident. We apply our formalism to a group of stars
detected near the North Galactic Pole, and derive an order of magnitude
estimate for the initial properties of the progenitor system.Comment: 28 pages, 10 figures, minor changes, matches the version to appear in
MNRAS, Vol. 307, p.495-517 (August 1999
Extreme Emission Line Galaxies in CANDELS: Broad-Band Selected, Star-Bursting Dwarf Galaxies at z>1
We identify an abundant population of extreme emission line galaxies (EELGs)
at redshift z~1.7 in the Cosmic Assembly Near-IR Deep Extragalactic Legacy
Survey (CANDELS) imaging from Hubble Space Telescope/Wide Field Camera 3
(HST/WFC3). 69 EELG candidates are selected by the large contribution of
exceptionally bright emission lines to their near-infrared broad-band
magnitudes. Supported by spectroscopic confirmation of strong [OIII] emission
lines -- with rest-frame equivalent widths ~1000\AA -- in the four candidates
that have HST/WFC3 grism observations, we conclude that these objects are
galaxies with 10^8 Msol in stellar mass, undergoing an enormous starburst phase
with M_*/(dM_*/dt) of only ~15 Myr. These bursts may cause outflows that are
strong enough to produce cored dark matter profiles in low-mass galaxies. The
individual star formation rates and the co-moving number density (3.7x10^-4
Mpc^-3) can produce in ~4 Gyr much of the stellar mass density that is
presently contained in 10^8-10^9 Msol dwarf galaxies. Therefore, our
observations provide a strong indication that many or even most of the stars in
present-day dwarf galaxies formed in strong, short-lived bursts, mostly at z>1.Comment: accepted for publication in ApJ; 10 pages; 6 figures; 1 tabl
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