Search

Introduction Nowadays, machine vision systems are extensively used in agriculture. The application of this technology in the field can help preserve agricultural resources while reducing manual labor and production costs. In the field of agricultural automation, accurately detecting crop rows is recognized as a crucial and challenging issue for weed identification and the automatic guidance of machines. Therefore, it is necessary to explore practical solutions to optimize this process. Hence, the purpose of this study is the precise identification of basil cultivation rows to enable the automatic navigation of robots in the cultivation field. Materials and Methods In the first stage of this research, six images from each growth period of basil plants (third, fourth, and fifth week) were taken and weeds were removed from the area between the crop rows using three different methods of area opening, dimensional removal, and masking. In the next stage, six images of crop rows without weeds were examined by performing image processing operations and implementing several routing algorithms, namely, Hough transform, wavelet transform, Gabor filter, linear regression, and an additional algorithm proposed in this study. The output of each of these algorithms was compared with the ideal path identified by the user. For this purpose, after capturing an image, green areas were extracted from it by performing the segmentation process. By applying each of the routing algorithms to the image, plant cultivation lines were identified and their equations were determined. Finally, the performance of the designed robot was evaluated using the most appropriate routing algorithm. Results and Discussion Examining the performance of three different methods of weed removal in three periods of plant growth (third, fourth, and fifth week) showed that during this interval, the masking method had the lowest error rate compared to the ideal path and the shortest average operation time of 1.64 seconds, followed by the dimensional removal and the area opening methods. Comparing the routes detected by different routing algorithms with the ideal routes and according to the results of the t-test at 5% probability level, the order of the studied routing methods from the most superior is as follows: the proposed algorithm, Gabor filter, linear regression, Hough transform and wavelet transform algorithm. Overall, the proposed algorithm had the highest rate of adaptation to the ideal path (with an average error of 3.65 pixels) and the shortest operation time (4.79 seconds) and was selected as the most appropriate routing algorithm and the performance of the designed robot was evaluated using it. Conclusion A reliable crop row detection algorithm can reduce production costs and preserve the environment. In this study, the masking method was used for removing weeds from the images. The new proposed routing algorithm has superior performance when compared with common routing algorithms such as the Gabor filter, linear regression, Hough transform, and wavelet transform. Additionally, it was shown that the designed robot using the proposed algorithm (with an average error of 3.65 pixels) has the desired performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction Adopting new technologies for crop growth has the characteristics of improving disaster resistance and stress tolerance, ensuring stable yields, and improving product quality. Currently, the cultivation of seed trays relies on huge labor power, and further mechanization is needed to increase production. However, there are some problems in this operation, such as the difficulty of improving the speed of a single machine, seedling deficiency detection, automatic planting, and controlling the quality, which need to be solved urgently. To solve these problems, there are already some meaningful attempts. Si et al. (2012) applied a photoelectric sensor to a vegetable transplanter, which can measure the distance between seedlings and the movement speed of seedlings in a seedling guide tube, to prevent omission transplantation. Yang et al. (2018) designed a seedling separation device with reciprocating movement of the seedling cup for rice transplanting. Tests show that the structure of the mechanical parts of the seedling separation device meets the requirements of seed movement. The optimization of the control system can improve the positioning accuracy according to requirements and achieve the purpose of automatic seedling division. Chen et al. (2020) designed and tested of soft-pot-tray automatic embedding system for a light-economical pot seedling nursery machine. The experimental results showed that the embedded-hard-tray automatic lowering mechanism was reliable and stable as the tray placement success rate was greater than 99%. The successful tray embedding rate was 100% and the seed exposure rate was less than 1% with a linear velocity of the conveyor belt of 0.92 m s-1. The experiment findings agreed well with the analytical results. Despite the sharp decline in Iran's water resources and growing population, the need to produce food and agricultural products is greater than ever. In the past, most seeds were planted directly into the soil, and many water resources, especially groundwater, were used for direct seed sowing and plant germination. One way to reduce the consumption of water, fertilizers, and pesticides is to plant seedlings instead of direct seed sowing. Therefore, the purpose of this study was dynamic modeling and fabrication of seed planting systems in seedling trays. Material and Methods In this experiment, Flores sugar beet seeds (Maribo company, Denmark) were used. The seedling trays had dimensions of 29.5*60 cm with openings and holes of 5.5 and 4 cm, respectively. To plant seeds in seedling trays, first, a planter arm was modeled and its position was obtained at any time. Then, based on dynamic modeling, the arm was constructed and a capacitive proximity sensor (CR30-15AC, China) and IR infrared proximity sensor (E18-D80NK, China) were used to find the location of seedling trays on the input conveyor and position of discharging arm, respectively. To achieve a stable and effective control system, a micro-controller-based circuit was developed to signal the planting system. The seed planting operation was performed in the seedling tray according to the coordinates which were provided through the image processing method. The planting system was evaluated at two levels of forward speed (5 and 10 cm s-1). Moreover, a smartphone program was implemented to monitor the operation of the planting system. Results and Discussion The planting system was assessed for sugar beet seeds using two levels of forward speed (5 and 10 cm s-1). The nominal capacity of this planter ranged from 3579 to 4613 cells per hour, with a miss and multiple implantation indices of 0.03% and 8.17%, respectively, in 3000 cells. Due to its planting accuracy, speed, and low energy consumption (25.56 watt-hours), this system has the potential to replace manual seeding in seedling trays. Conclusion In the present study, a seed-sowing system for planting seedling trays was designed, constructed, and evaluated based on dynamic modeling. In the developed system, unlike previous research, planting location detection was conducted through image processing. Additionally, a smartphone program was established to monitor the operation of the planting system without interfering with its performance. This study demonstrates that image processing can successfully detect planting locations and can effectively improve efficiency over time for major producers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background & Aims: Fatigue is one of the most debilitating symptoms in patients with respiratory disorders. In addition, among the chronic disease, lung disease have the highest prevalence of mental disorders. This study was applied to assess the relationship between fatigue and mental health in chemical victims with bronchiolitis obliterans. Materials & Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, 93 chemical warfare victims with bronchiolitis obliterans were selected who referred to respiratory clinic of Baqyatallah hospital. Fatigue and mental health were measured by fatigue severity scale (FSS) and general health questionnaire (GHQ-12). The collected data were analyzed by using SPSS statically software. Result: The majority of subjects (80/6%) were suffering from severe fatigue. 77.4% of them did not have desirable mental health. There was a significant relationship between fatigue and mental health (p<0.0001). Conclusion: Fatigue and poor mental health status in the study population suggested more attention to the methods of controlling these two variables in order to achieve health promotion and to improve quality of life in chemical warfare victims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Anosmia is a physical sign in post-traumatic patients, which significantly reduces the quality of life. Anosmia occurs in up to 30% of cases with head trauma. In this study we aimed to compare the Olfactory Bulb Volume (OBV) in patients with posttraumatic anosmia in different impact positions and also with healthy individuals to find the relation between the two variables. Methods: Thirty-eight patients with posttraumatic anosmia and 27 healthy individuals with normal olfactory function were recruited in this case-control study performed in Amir Alam Hospital in Tehran, Iran. Variables of age, sex, time of trauma, site of trauma (frontoparietal/occipital), side of trauma, OBV, the results of olfactory identification tests and olfactory threshold were extracted and evaluated. We used non-contrasted 1.5-Tesla coronal brain MRI for the measurement of OBV.Results: There were no significant differences between cases and controls regarding sex and age. Olfactory bulb volume was significantly smaller in cases compared to the controls (P=0.004). Among the case group, OBV was smaller in anterior versus posterior head traumas (P=0.02). OBV was also smaller in ipsilateral rather than the contralateral side of trauma (P=0.01). Conclusion: The direction of trauma had a significant effect on OBV and it was smaller in traumas to the anterior and also ipsilateral sides of the head. It seems that changes in OBV differ due to the direction of head trauma and it can be helpful in predicting the prognosis of posttraumatic anosmia. Further studies are required for more conclusive statements.