Fruits sorting, recognizing, and classifying are essential post-harvest operations, as they contribute to the quality of food industry, thereby increasing the exported quantity of food. Today, an automated system for fruit classification and recognition is very important, especially when exporting to markets where quality of fruit must be high. In this study, the advantages and disadvantages of the various shape-based feature extraction algorithms and technologies that are used in sorting, classifying, and grading of fruits, as well as fruits quality estimation, are discussed in order to provide a good understanding of the use of shape-based feature extraction techniques.

Alongside the development of high-speed rail, rail flaw detection is of great importance to ensure railway safety, especially for improving the speed and load of the train. Several conventional inspection methods such as visual, acoustic, and electromagnetic inspection have been introduced in the past. However, these methods have several challenges in terms of detection speed and accuracy. Combined inspection methods have emerged as a promising approach to overcome these limitations. Nondestructive testing (NDT) techniques in conjunction with artificial intelligence approaches have tremendous potential and viability because it is highly possible to improve the detection accuracy which has been proven in various conventional nondestr

Background: Chromogranin A is a useful tumor marker for neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) diagnosis & follow-up, Octreotide (somatostatin-long acting repeatable (SAS-LAR)) is an established treatment for NETs. Studies regarding the relation between response to SAS-LAR & the change in Chromogranin A (CgA) plasma level are still lacking.
Objectives: To determine the association between the using of Octreotide (SAS-LAR) and CgA level on time sequence & clinical status.
Patients & methods: a prospective observational study included 38 neuroendocrine patients in The Oncology Teaching Hospital/medical city complex/Baghdad, started at September 2013 till May 2016; assessing their circulating chromogranin A (CgA) plasma levels o

Many cities suffer from the large spread of slums, especially the cities of the Middle East. The purpose of the paper is to study the reality of informal housing in Al-Barrakia and the most important problems that it suffers from. The paper also seeks to study the presence or absence of a correlation between urban safety indicators and urban containment indicators as one of the methods of developing and planning cities. This can be achieved through sustainable urban management. The slums are a source of many urban problems that threaten the security and safety of the residents and represent a focus for the concentration of crimes and drugs. The paper seeks to answer the following question: How can urban safety be improved through urban cont

In this paper, we will show that the Modified SP iteration can be used to approximate fixed point of contraction mappings under certain condition. Also, we show that this iteration method is faster than Mann, Ishikawa, Noor, SP, CR, Karahan iteration methods. Furthermore, by using the same condition, we shown that the Picard S- iteration method converges faster than Modified SP iteration and hence also faster than all Mann, Ishikawa, Noor, SP, CR, Karahan iteration methods. Finally, a data dependence result is proven for fixed point of contraction mappings with the help of the Modified SP iteration process.

Background: Giant middle cerebral artery (MCA) aneurysms are surgically challenging lesions. Because of the complexity and variability of these aneurysms, a customized surgical technique is often needed for each case. In this article, we present a modified clip reconstruction technique of a ruptured complex giant partially thrombosed middle cerebral artery aneurysm.

Case description: The aneurysm was exposed using the pterional approach. Following proximal control, the aneurysm sac was decompressed. Then, we applied permanent clips to reconstruct the aneurysm neck. The configuration of the aneurysm mandated a tailored clipping pattern to account for resi