Apple slice grading is useful in post-harvest operations for sorting, grading, packaging, labeling, processing, storage, transportation, and meeting market demand and consumer preferences. Proper grading of apple slices can help ensure the quality, safety, and marketability of the final products, contributing to the post-harvest operations of the overall success of the apple industry. The article aims to create a convolutional neural network (CNN) model to classify images of apple slices after immersing them in atmospheric plasma at two different pressures (1 and 5 atm) and two different immersion times (3 and again 6 min) once and in filtered water based on the hardness of the slices using the k-Nearest Neighbors (KNN), Tree, Support Vector Machine (SVM), and Artificial Neural Network (ANN) algorithms. The results showed an inverse relationship between the storage period and the hardness of the apple slices, with the average hardness values gradually decreasing from 4.33 (day 1) to 3.37 (day 5). Treatment with atmospheric plasma at a pressure of 5 atm and an immersion time of 3 min gave the best results for maintaining the hardness of the slices during the storage period, recording values of 4.85 (first day) and 3.68 (fifth day), outperforming other treatments. The average improvement rate was 23.09% over five consecutive days. Regarding the CNN algorithms, the ANN algorithm achieved the highest classification accuracy of 97%, while the Tree algorithm achieved the lowest accuracy of 88.7%. The KNN and SVM algorithms achieved classification accuracies of 94.7% and 95.1%, respectively. The study demonstrated the possibility of using a CNN to classify apple slices based on the degree of hardness. Furthermore, the application of atmospheric plasma at 5 atmospheres with a 3-min immersion improves the firmness of the apple slices by inhibiting degradative enzymes while preserving the cellular structure and tissue quality.
The acrylic polymer composites in this study are made up of various weight ratios of cement or silica nanoparticles (1, 3, 5, and 10 wt%) using the casting method. The effects of doping ratio/type on mechanical, dielectric, thermal, and hydrophobic properties were investigated. Acrylic polymer composites containing 5 wt% cement or silica nanoparticles had the lowest abrasion wear rates and the highest shore-D hardness and impact strength. The increase in the inclusion of cement or silica nanoparticles enhanced surface roughness, water contact angle (WCA), and thermal insulation. Acrylic/cement composites demonstrated higher mechanical, electrical, and thermal insulation properties than acrylic/silica composites because of their lowe
... Show MoreIn this work, the effect of aluminum (Al) dust particles on the DC discharge plasma properties in argon was investigated. A magnetron is placed behind the cathode at different pressures and with varying amounts of Al. The plasma temperature (Te) and density (ne) were calculated using the Boltzmann equation and Stark broadening phenomena, which are considered the most important plasma variables through which the other plasma parameters were calculated. The measurements showed that the emission intensity decreases with increasing pressure from 0.06 to 0.4 Torr, and it slightly decreases with the addition of the NPs. The calculations showed that the ne increased and Te decreased with pressure. Both Te and ne were reduced by increasing
... Show MoreThe development of a reversed phase high performance liquid chromatography fluorescence method for the determination of the mycotoxins fumonisin B1 and fumonisin B2 by using silica-based monolithic column is described. The samples were first extracted using acetonitrile:water (50:50, v/v) and purified by using a C18 solid phase extraction-based clean-up column. Then, pre-column derivatization for the analyte using ortho-phthaldialdehyde in the presence of 2-mercaptoethanol was carried out. The developed method involved optimization of mobile phase composition using methanol and phosphate buffer, injection volume, temperature and flow rate. The liquid chromatographic separation was performed using a reversed phase Chromolith® RP-18e column
... Show MoreIt has been a well-known practice to use seeds and the essential oil of Carum copticum as a strongly antiseptic , antispasmodic , aromatic , bitter , diaphoretic , digestive , diuretic , expectorant and tonic. Also used for cure influenza, asthma, and rheumatoid arthritis. To our knowledge it will be the first time to use the seeds of this herb as a urinary tract stone lithotripsy.This research aimed to the use of these seeds as a lithotripsian against different types of urinary stones and determine the efficiency of these preparation against which types of stone.A liquid solution was prepared from dissolving the seeds powder in cow milk and then concentration this prep
... Show MoreBackground: Thalassemia is a hereditary anemia resulting from defects in hemoglobin production. ?- thalassemia caused by decrease in the production of ?- globin chains affect multiple organs and is associated with cranio-oro-facial deformity which include prominent cheek bones and protrusive premaxilla with depression of the nasal bridge often referred to as “rodent or chip-munk face” with small mandible and Cl.II skeletal relationship. This study aimed to investigate cephalometric craniofacial parameters (skeletal) of ?- thalassemic major patients by using computed tomography and to compare findings with a group of healthy patients in the same age group. Subject, Materials and Method: The study included (40) patients with ?- thalassemi
... Show MoreThe study focuses on assessment of the quality of some image enhancement methods which were implemented on renal X-ray images. The enhancement methods included Imadjust, Histogram Equalization (HE) and Contrast Limited Adaptive Histogram Equalization (CLAHE). The images qualities were calculated to compare input images with output images from these three enhancement techniques. An eight renal x-ray images are collected to perform these methods. Generally, the x-ray images are lack of contrast and low in radiation dosage. This lack of image quality can be amended by enhancement process. Three quality image factors were done to assess the resulted images involved (Naturalness Image Quality Evaluator (NIQE), Perception based Image Qual
... Show MoreA procedure, depending on the derivatization and determination of aniline was depicted andvalidated in this study. 8-hydroxyquinoline (8-HQ) was used as the derivatizing agent for thedetermination of aniline. An optimization study was performed for the derivatization reaction, i.e.,the diazonium coupling reaction, the optimum parameters were as follows: 22 mM of hydrochloricacid, 54mM of sodium hydroxide, and 1.8mM of sodium nitrate. The optimization study of themethod of cloud point extraction (CPE) revealed that the extraction solvent was 0.5 ml of Triton X-100, the optimum temperature was 90 °C, and the incubation time was 25 min. The linearity,correlation coefficients, molar absorptivities, and limits of detection were improved using t
... Show MoreThis study aimed to investigate the effect of total suspended solids (TSS) on the performance of a continuously operated dual-chamber microbial fuel cell (MFC) proceeded by primary clarifier to treat actual potato chips processing wastewater. The system was also tested in the absence of the primary clarifier and the results demonstrated a significant effect of TSS on the polarization curve of the MFC which was obtained by operating the graphite anodic electrode against Ag/AgCl reference electrode. The maximum observed power and current densities were decreased form 102.42 mW/m2 and 447.26 mA/m2 to 80.16 mW/m2 and 299.10 mA/m2, respectively due to the adverse effect of TSS. Also
... Show MoreWastewater recycling for non-potable uses has gained significant attention to mitigate the high pressure on freshwater resources. This requires using a sustainable technique to treat natural municipal wastewater as an alternative to conventional methods, especially in arid and semi-arid rural areas. One of the promising techniques applied to satisfy the objective of wastewater reuse is the constructed wetlands (CWs) which have been used extensively in most countries worldwide through the last decades. The present study introduces a significant review of the definition, classification, and components of CWs, identifying the mechanisms controlling the removal process within such units. Vertical, horizontal, and hybrid CWs
... Show MoreThe effects of postmodernism on theatrical form was managed by the director (Anas Abdul Samad) to be employed in the Iraqi play (Dream in Baghdad) and the researcher sought to study this problem and divided it into four chapters dealt with in the first chapter the problem of research and its need, the importance of research, As well as the definition of terminology, either Chapter II theoretical framework divided by the researcher to the first two is the postmodernism in the theater is the most prominent reference references and the second most important postmodern applications in the world play and then the researcher concluded the second chapter of the most important indicators. In the third chapter, the researcher identified th
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