Designing machines and equipment for post-harvest operations of agricultural products requires information about their physical properties. The aim of the work was to evaluate the possibility of introducing a new approach to predict the moisture content in bean and corn seeds based on measuring their dimensions using image analysis using artificial neural networks (ANN). Experimental tests were carried out at three levels of wet basis moisture content of seeds: 9, 13 and 17%. The analysis of the results showed a direct relationship between the wet basis moisture content and the main dimensions of the seeds. Based on the statistical analysis of the seed material, it was shown that the characteristics examined have a normal or close to normal distribution, and the seed material used in the investigation is representative. Furthermore, the use of artificial neural networks to predict the wet basis moisture content of seeds based on changes in their dimensions has an efficiency of 82%. The results obtained from the method used in this work are very promising for predicting the moisture content.
Heavy metal (HM) pollution has long been a significant source of environmental deterioration and a problem for the safety of food. Iraqis prefer rice over any other food, and since heavy metals have a direct impact on health, their traces in rice have drawn particular attention. Before cooking rice, it is usual in Iraq to wash and soak it. Some 55 varieties of imported and local rice were sampled from Erbil city markets in 2022 with the aim of determining the concentration of As, Cd, Cr, Ni and Pb before and after soaking. Standard procedure of acid digestions was applied on the raw and soaked samples. The solutions were analyzed using ICPE-9820 Shimadzu. The mean concentrations of As, Cd, Cr, Ni and Pb (in mg/kg) in the rice samples bef
... Show Moreهدفت الدراسة الى التعرف على مستوى استخدام إدارة المعرفة و تكنولوجيا المعلومات لدى القيادات الإدارية تُعدّ لعبة الإسكواش من الألعاب الفردية، وواحدة من ألعاب المضرب، والتي تمتاز بالسرعة والحركة الدائمة في داخل القاعة، ولعل أهم ما يميز هذه اللعبة المتعة التي يشعر بها اللاعبون الممارسون لها، لأنها تجبر ممارسيها على الحركة المستمرة عن طريق تبادل لعب الكرة، وتتميز بالتحدي المباشر، وتتطلب اليقظة والحرص وال
... Show MoreThe important device in the Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) is the Sink Node (SN). That is used to store, collect and analyze data from every sensor node in the network. Thus the main role of SN in WSN makes it a big target for traffic analysis attack. Therefore, securing the SN position is a substantial issue. This study presents Security for Mobile Sink Node location using Dynamic Routing Protocol called (SMSNDRP), in order to increase complexity for adversary trying to discover mobile SN location. In addition to that, it minimizes network energy consumption. The proposed protocol which is applied on WSN framework consists of 50 nodes with static and mobile SN. The results havw shown in each round a dynamic change in the route to reach mobi
... Show MoreThe proposed design of neural network in this article is based on new accurate approach for training by unconstrained optimization, especially update quasi-Newton methods are perhaps the most popular general-purpose algorithms. A limited memory BFGS algorithm is presented for solving large-scale symmetric nonlinear equations, where a line search technique without derivative information is used. On each iteration, the updated approximations of Hessian matrix satisfy the quasi-Newton form, which traditionally served as the basis for quasi-Newton methods. On the basis of the quadratic model used in this article, we add a new update of quasi-Newton form. One innovative features of this form's is its ability to estimate the energy functio
... Show MoreIraq is highly dependent on international markets to provide food for its residents. As imported food prices are highly dependent on crude oil prices in global markets, any shock in oil prices will have an impact on food consumption in the country. As a result, it is essential to study the demand for imported food at every time period. To the best of our knowledge as researchers, as not even a single study is available in the literature, this paper is considered the first to study the demand for imported food groups in Iraq. Therefore, the main objective of this research is to estimate demand elasticities for several imported food categories in Iraq. This study uses an Almost Ideal Demand System model to analyze the demand for imported f
... Show MoreThis study employs a critical discourse analysis approach to investigate the linguistic and discursive mechanisms employed by the prominent Russian online news platform Gazeta.ru in its coverage of social news. Drawing on an interdisciplinary framework integrating critical discourse analysis (CDA), media discourse analysis, and sociolinguistic perspectives, the research examines how language is used to construct and disseminate societal narratives. The analysis focuses on a dataset of Gazeta.ru articles published in March 2024, encompassing topics such as health, travel, and consumer affairs. Through a multi-level analytical approach, the study explores macro-level discursive strategies and microlevel linguistic choices, unveiling the intri
... Show MoreSpatial Autoregressive Model (SAR) is one of the modeling frameworks that indicates a spatial dependence in the response variable. SAR model has a weakness, which is represented by the unknown variance of the residuals. Therefore, an alternative model has used titled Spatial Autoregressive Quantile Regression (SARQR) model That which is obtained by combining SAR and Quantile Regression (QR) models, is a regression method with the approach of dividing the data into particular quantiles that are likely to have different estimate values. This alternative model addresses the variance issues in SAR models. Additionally, the SARQR model not only resolves the issue of spatial variance but also serves as a solution for dealing with non-normal data
... Show MoreA study to find the optimum separators pressures of separation stations has been performed. Stage separation of oil and gas is accomplished with a series of separators operating at sequentially reduced pressures. Liquid is discharged from a higher-pressure separator into the lower-pressure separator. The set of working separator pressures that yields maximum recovery of liquid hydrocarbon from the well fluid is the optimum set of pressures, which is the target of this work.
A computer model is used to find the optimum separator pressures. The model employs the Peng-Robinson equation of state (Peng and Robinson 1976) for volatile oil. The application of t
Terrestrial laser scanners (TLSs) are 3D imaging systems that provide the most powerful 3D representation and practical solutions for various applications. Hence this is due to effective range measurements, 3D point cloud reliability, and rapid acquisition performance. Stonex X300 TOF scanner delivered better certainty in far-range than in close-range measurements due to the high noise level inherent within the data delivered from Time of Flight (TOF) scanning sensors. However, if these errors are manipulated properly using a valid calibration model, more accurate products can be obtained even from very close-range measurements. Therefore, to fill this gap, this research presents a user-oriented target-based calibration routi
... Show MoreThis study emphasizes the infinite-boundary integro-differential equation. To examine the approximate solution of the problem, two modified optimization algorithms are proposed based on generalized Laguerre functions. In the first technique, the proposed method is applied to the original problem by approximating the solution using the truncated generalized Laguerre polynomial of the unknown function, optimizing coefficients through error minimization, and transforming the integro-differential equation into an algebraic equation. In contrast, the second approach incorporates a penalty term into the objective function to effectively enforce boundary and integral constraints. This technique reduces the original problem to a mathematical optimi
... Show More