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Applied Sciences, Volume 10, Issue 17

2020 September-1 - 419 articles

Cover Story: In tomato greenhouse production, the labor employed in the harvesting task represents between 25% and 40% of labor cost. This issue has received a great deal of attention, although no commercial use can be found due to the complexity and variability of working environments. For this, a computer vision system was developed to localize tomato fruits and peduncles in a typical Mediterranean greenhouse. The aim is to apply the solution to harvesting robots. The results are very promising for beef and cluster tomatoes, classifying 80.8% and 87.5%, respectively, of fruit with visible peduncles as “collectible”. View this paper
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Articles (419)

  • Article
  • Open Access
24 Citations
5,381 Views
11 Pages

Regeneration Performance of Activated Carbon for Desulfurization

  • Zhiguo Sun,
  • Menglu Wang,
  • Jiaming Fan,
  • Yue Zhou and
  • Li Zhang

3 September 2020

This study explored the regenerated performance of activated carbon (AC) as SO2 adsorbent. The optimal conditions of SO2 removal were determined by experiment, and then the adsorption efficiency of AC was studied by a method of thermal regeneration....

  • Article
  • Open Access
20 Citations
3,861 Views
12 Pages

The High-Velocity Impact Behaviour of Kevlar Composite Laminates Filled with Cork Powder

  • Ana Martins Amaro,
  • Paulo Nobre Balbis Reis,
  • Ines Ivañez,
  • Sonia Sánchez-Saez,
  • Shirley Kalamis Garcia-Castillo and
  • Enrique Barbero

3 September 2020

The literature reports benefits when the cork powder obtained from industrial by-products is used as the filler of composite laminates. For example, while the fatigue life is insensitive to the presence of cork in the resin, significant improvements...

  • Article
  • Open Access
23 Citations
4,588 Views
11 Pages

3 September 2020

Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide in women. This aggressive tumor can be categorized into two main groups—in situ and infiltrative, with the latter being the most common malignant lesions. The current use of magnetic...

  • Article
  • Open Access
2 Citations
2,568 Views
12 Pages

3 September 2020

We present an effective method for the topography characterization of large gradient micro-structure based on digital holographic microscope (DHM). Due to the limitation of numerical aperture of DHM system, high frequency information corresponding to...

  • Article
  • Open Access
10 Citations
2,704 Views
16 Pages

3 September 2020

A 1:25 scale physical model test was employed to study the plane gate vibration and holding force under the conditions of the fixed gate opening and closing process, respectively. We paid more attention to the characteristics of the gate vibration, h...

  • Article
  • Open Access
25 Citations
4,740 Views
16 Pages

Implementation of Auto-Hydrolysis Process for the Recovery of Antioxidants and Cellulose from Wheat Straw

  • Andrea Bassani,
  • Cecilia Fiorentini,
  • Vellingiri Vadivel,
  • Alessandro Moncalvo and
  • Giorgia Spigno

3 September 2020

Wheat straw is an easily affordable, cost-effective and natural source of antioxidants and cellulose, but its full potential is not yet utilized. In the present investigation, an auto-hydrolytic process was applied to recover both antioxidant phenoli...

  • Article
  • Open Access
2 Citations
3,172 Views
12 Pages

In Silico Analysis of the Antigenic Properties of Iron-Regulated Proteins against Neisseria meningitidis

  • Md. Shahedur Rahman,
  • Chayon Biswas,
  • Polash Kumar Biswas,
  • Md. Ashraful Kader,
  • S. M. Nur Alam,
  • Christian Sonne and
  • Ki-Hyun Kim

3 September 2020

Neisseria meningitidis is a commensal pathogen that causes infectious cerebrospinal disease in people of all ages. The multivariate role of six disease-causing polysaccharide serotypes is found to play a crucial role in developing vaccines (or genera...

  • Article
  • Open Access
4 Citations
3,151 Views
19 Pages

3 September 2020

Attackers use a variety of techniques to insert redirection JavaScript that leads a user to a malicious webpage, where a drive-by-download attack is executed. In particular, the redirection JavaScript in the landing site is obfuscated to avoid detect...

  • Feature Paper
  • Article
  • Open Access
3 Citations
2,996 Views
11 Pages

3 September 2020

Background. Suicide mortality increased in Greece after the 2008 financial crisis. This study aimed to explore the regional variation of suicide mortality before and after the economic crisis, and its correlation with socio-economic and mental health...

  • Article
  • Open Access
4 Citations
3,085 Views
28 Pages

Ambient Vibration as a Basis for Determining the Structural Behaviour of Watchtowers against Horizontal Loads in Southeast Spain

  • Jonathan Ruiz-Jaramillo,
  • Laura Montiel-Vega,
  • Luis José García-Pulido,
  • Carmen Muñoz-González and
  • Álvaro Blanca-Hoyos

3 September 2020

The Kingdom of Granada occupied the southeast of the Iberian Peninsula, what today would be the current Spanish provinces of Granada, Malaga and Almeria. Having succeeded the Nasrid kingdom of Granada (1238–1492), it remained a geographical and...

  • Article
  • Open Access
23 Citations
2,721 Views
16 Pages

3 September 2020

In this work, the effects of plasma parameters on overtaking collisions of ion acoustic multi-shocks are studied in an unmagnetized collisionless plasma with positive and negative ions, and (α,q)-distributed electrons. To investigate such pheno...

  • Article
  • Open Access
7 Citations
2,761 Views
13 Pages

3 September 2020

High-performance magnetic circuit offering uniform magnetic flux density (MFD) along ultra-long stroke is the key to develop a vibration exciter for ultra-low-frequency (ULF) vibration calibration. In this paper, a rectangular closed double magnetic...

  • Review
  • Open Access
14 Citations
4,520 Views
18 Pages

On the Statistical Characterization of Sprays

  • Miguel O. Panão,
  • Ana S. Moita and
  • António L. Moreira

3 September 2020

The statistical characterization of sprays is an essential way of organizing data on drop size and velocity to provide reliable information on the spray dynamics. A clear presentation of data using statistical tools provides evidence of a clear resea...

  • Article
  • Open Access
22 Citations
6,899 Views
13 Pages

3 September 2020

The aim of the article is to present the results of preliminary research of the defects in residential buildings occurring during the warranty period. Due to the small amount of data, the research results cannot be generalized but allow for the formu...

  • Article
  • Open Access
6 Citations
4,645 Views
17 Pages

Design and Performance Analysis for the Low-Power Holding Mechanism of the All-Electric Subsea Gate Valve Actuator

  • Honghai Wang,
  • Peng Jia,
  • Liquan Wang,
  • Feihong Yun,
  • Gang Wang,
  • Aiguo Zhang,
  • Min Xu and
  • Xiangyu Wang

3 September 2020

The all-electric subsea gate valve actuator is one of the critical components of the all-electric subsea production control system. To bridge the gap of the low-power holding mechanism in the all-electric subsea gate valve actuator of the subsea prod...

  • Article
  • Open Access
33 Citations
4,075 Views
24 Pages

A Novel Cooperative Controller for Inverters of Smart Hybrid AC/DC Microgrids

  • Bilal Naji Alhasnawi,
  • Basil H. Jasim,
  • Walid Issa and
  • M. Dolores Esteban

3 September 2020

This paper presents a novel cooperative control technique concerning fully-distributed AC/DC microgrids. Distributed generation based on inverters has two types, i.e., Current Source Inverter (CSI), also referred to as PQ inverter, and Voltage Source...

  • Feature Paper
  • Article
  • Open Access
21 Citations
5,250 Views
23 Pages

A Personalised Emotion-Based Model for Relaxation in Virtual Reality

  • Joris Heyse,
  • Maria Torres Vega,
  • Thomas De Jonge,
  • Femke De Backere and
  • Filip De Turck

3 September 2020

One of the most frequent health problems is stress. It has been linked to negative effects on employee well-being in many occupations, and it is considered responsible for many physical and psychological problems. Traditional in-person relaxation the...

  • Article
  • Open Access
15 Citations
5,431 Views
18 Pages

Predictive Scheduling with Markov Chains and ARIMA Models

  • Łukasz Sobaszek,
  • Arkadiusz Gola and
  • Edward Kozłowski

3 September 2020

Production scheduling is attracting considerable scientific interest. Effective scheduling of production jobs is a critical element of smooth organization of the work in an enterprise and, therefore, a key issue in production. The investigations focu...

  • Article
  • Open Access
9 Citations
6,361 Views
21 Pages

3 September 2020

Sports bras are critical to the comfort and performance of female athletes, yet mechanical models of sports bras are generally not used to guide their design. Typically, assessing any sports bra’s performance requires time-consuming and expensi...

  • Article
  • Open Access
41 Citations
8,551 Views
19 Pages

Requirements Engineering in Software Startups: A Systematic Mapping Study

  • Varun Gupta,
  • Jose Maria Fernandez-Crehuet,
  • Thomas Hanne and
  • Rainer Telesko

3 September 2020

Startups have high failure rates due to their inability to attain a sufficient product/market fit, i.e., delivering a solution that best matches the user needs in the market. Requirement engineering is the activity that could help startup teams ident...

  • Article
  • Open Access
2 Citations
2,663 Views
17 Pages

3 September 2020

The formulations of tasks modelling embankments on soft soil, improved with columns and with reinforced load transfer platform (LTP), differ significantly. One of these differences is the distribution of equivalent load modelling part of the load car...

  • Article
  • Open Access
22 Citations
5,645 Views
13 Pages

Analysis of Crack Behaviour in Pipeline System Using FAD Diagram Based on Numerical Simulation under XFEM

  • S. Montassir,
  • K. Yakoubi,
  • H. Moustabchir,
  • A. Elkhalfi,
  • Dipen Kumar Rajak and
  • Catalin I. Pruncu

3 September 2020

For a long time, cracked structures have triggered various researchers to develop a structural integrity approach and design models to address the fracture problems. In the present study, a pipeline with an axial semi-elliptical surface defect was ex...

  • Article
  • Open Access
5 Citations
4,122 Views
19 Pages

Effects of Greenshell Mussel (Perna canaliculus) Intake on Pathological Markers of Multiple Phenotypes of Osteoarthritis in Rats

  • Parkpoom Siriarchavatana,
  • Marlena C. Kruger,
  • Matthew R. Miller,
  • Hong (Sabrina) Tian and
  • Frances M. Wolber

3 September 2020

The prevalence of metabolic osteoarthritis has been increasing worldwide, particularly among women. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of the New Zealand greenshell mussel (Perna canaliculus; GSM) on osteoarthritis (OA) prevention i...

  • Feature Paper
  • Article
  • Open Access
4 Citations
4,833 Views
21 Pages

Visualizations of Uncertainties in Precision Agriculture: Lessons Learned from Farm Machinery

  • Tomáš Řezník,
  • Petr Kubíček,
  • Lukáš Herman,
  • Tomáš Pavelka,
  • Šimon Leitgeb,
  • Martina Klocová and
  • Filip Leitner

3 September 2020

Detailed measurements of yield values are becoming a common practice in precision agriculture. Field harvesters generate point Big Data as they provide yield measurements together with dozens of complex attributes in a frequency of up to one second....

  • Article
  • Open Access
11 Citations
5,475 Views
17 Pages

Concept for Improved Handling Ensures Effective Contactless Plasma Treatment of Patients with kINPen® MED

  • Veronika Hahn,
  • Daniel Grollmisch,
  • Hannes Bendt,
  • Thomas von Woedtke,
  • Bodo Nestler,
  • Klaus-Dieter Weltmann and
  • Torsten Gerling

3 September 2020

The nursing of patients with wounds is an essential part of medical healthcare. In this context, cold atmospheric-pressure plasma sources can be applied for skin decontamination and stimulation of wound healing. One of these plasma devices is the com...

  • Feature Paper
  • Article
  • Open Access
3 Citations
3,855 Views
11 Pages

Nano-HPLC-HRMS Analysis to Evaluate Leptin Level in Milk Samples: A Pilot Study

  • Federica Dal Bello,
  • Enrica Mecarelli,
  • Daniela Gastaldi,
  • Francesco Savino and
  • Claudio Medana

3 September 2020

Leptin is a 16 kDa lipophilic protein hormone secreted by adipocytes and its most significant function is to inform the brain with negative feedback that regulates food intake. Recently the protein found in human breast milk was related to breast fee...

  • Article
  • Open Access
5 Citations
4,155 Views
25 Pages

A Detailed One-Dimensional Hydrodynamic and Kinetic Model for Sorption Enhanced Gasification

  • Marcel Beirow,
  • Ashak Mahmud Parvez,
  • Max Schmid and
  • Günter Scheffknecht

3 September 2020

Increased installation of renewable electricity generators requires different technologies to compensate for the associated fast and high load gradients. In this work, sorption enhanced gasification (SEG) in a dual fluidized bed gasification system i...

  • Article
  • Open Access
6 Citations
3,999 Views
9 Pages

Performance of Full-Duplex Wireless Back-Haul Link under Rain Effects Using E-Band 73 GHz and 83 GHz in Tropical Area

  • Ahmed Al-Saman,
  • Marshed Mohamed,
  • Michael Cheffena,
  • Marwan H. Azmi and
  • Tharek A. Rahman

3 September 2020

This paper presents rain attenuation effects on the performance of the full-duplex link in a tropical region based on one-year measurement data at 73.5- and 83.5-GHz E-band for distances of 1.8 km (longer links) and 300 m (shorter links). The measure...

  • Article
  • Open Access
2 Citations
3,165 Views
11 Pages

3 September 2020

Components of transport trucks are subjected to dynamic cyclic loads. The magnitude of these loads depends on road conditions and cargo mass. Cyclic loads can cause fatigue failure at stress levels significantly below the yield strength of the materi...

  • Article
  • Open Access
18 Citations
12,869 Views
14 Pages

In Vivo Assessment of Water Content, Trans-Epidermial Water Loss and Thickness in Human Facial Skin

  • Elena Chirikhina,
  • Andrey Chirikhin,
  • Perry Xiao,
  • Sabina Dewsbury-Ennis and
  • Francesco Bianconi

3 September 2020

Mapping facial skin in terms of its biophysical properties plays a fundamental role in many practical applications, including, among others, forensics, medical and beauty treatments, and cosmetic and restorative surgery. In this paper we present an i...

  • Article
  • Open Access
3 Citations
3,452 Views
13 Pages

3 September 2020

We consider an integrated electro-absorption modulator within a coupled-cavity VCSEL structure (EAM-VCSEL). We derive expressions for the modulation transfer function (MTF) of the EAM-VCSEL for small-signal modulation of either VCSEL injection curren...

  • Feature Paper
  • Article
  • Open Access
4 Citations
4,339 Views
19 Pages

Small-Signal Analysis and Control of Soft-Switching Naturally Clamped Snubberless Current-Fed Half-Bridge DC/DC Converter

  • Koyelia Khatun,
  • Vakacharla Venkata Ratnam,
  • Akshay Kumar Rathore and
  • Beeramangalla Lakshminarasaiah Narasimharaju

3 September 2020

This paper presents small-signal analysis of a soft-switching naturally clamped snubberless isolated current-fed half-bridge (CFHB) DC-DC converter using state-space averaging. A two-loop average current controller was designed and implemented on a d...

  • Perspective
  • Open Access
44 Citations
11,314 Views
16 Pages

3 September 2020

Electric motors condition monitoring is a field of paramount importance for industry. In recent decades, there has been a continuous effort to investigate new techniques and methods that are able to determine the health of these machines with high ac...

  • Technical Note
  • Open Access
2,789 Views
6 Pages

3 September 2020

The first thing to do before planning the surgical treatment of unilateral defects or the asymmetry of the facial area is probably establishing adequate mid-plane for comparison and analysis of the normal and affected side. In such cases, a mirror im...

  • Article
  • Open Access
13 Citations
5,968 Views
12 Pages

3 September 2020

Vertical loads are commonly transferred by piles primarily in the upper structures. However, lateral loads are also significant compared with vertical loads in pile foundation design. Compared with a pile on level ground, there are many particular ch...

  • Article
  • Open Access
1 Citations
3,196 Views
9 Pages

Comparison of Neural Activation Area in Primary Somatosensory Cortex and Brodmann Area 3 According to Finger and Phalange High-Frequency Vibration Stimulation

  • Hyung-Sik Kim,
  • Ji-Hun Jo,
  • Je-Hyeop Lee,
  • Jin-Ju Jung,
  • Ki-Han Kim,
  • Jin-Su An,
  • Ye-Jin Kim,
  • Mi-Hyun Choi and
  • Soon-Cheol Chung

3 September 2020

In this study, we measured neuronal activation in the primary somatosensory area (S1) and Brodmann area 3 (BA3) using 3T functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while presenting a 250-Hz high-frequency vibrational stimulus to each of three phala...

  • Article
  • Open Access
3 Citations
4,906 Views
22 Pages

A Fast-Response Calorimeter with Dynamic Corrections for Transient Heat Transfer Measurements

  • Shizhong Zhang,
  • Qiu Wang,
  • Jinping Li,
  • Xiaoyuan Zhang and
  • Hong Chen

3 September 2020

Robust fast-response transient calorimeters with novel calorimeter elements have attracted the attention of researchers as new synthetic materials have been developed. This sensor uses diamonds as the calorimeter element, and a platinum film resistan...

  • Article
  • Open Access
11 Citations
4,289 Views
30 Pages

Cooperative and Multimodal Capabilities Enhancement in the CERNTAURO Human–Robot Interface for Hazardous and Underwater Scenarios

  • Carlos Veiga Almagro,
  • Giacomo Lunghi,
  • Mario Di Castro,
  • Diego Centelles Beltran,
  • Raúl Marín Prades,
  • Alessandro Masi and
  • Pedro J. Sanz

3 September 2020

The use of remote robotic systems for inspection and maintenance in hazardous environments is a priority for all tasks potentially dangerous for humans. However, currently available robotic systems lack that level of usability which would allow inexp...

  • Editorial
  • Open Access
1,932 Views
3 Pages

Editorial on Special Issue “Tuberculosis Drug Discovery and Development 2019”

  • Claudia Sala,
  • Laurent Roberto Chiarelli and
  • Giovanna Riccardi

2 September 2020

Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the etiological agent of human tuberculosis (TB), represents a global challenge to human health since it is the main cause of death by an infectious disease worldwide [...]

  • Article
  • Open Access
23 Citations
7,174 Views
11 Pages

Investigation of Plasmid DNA Delivery and Cell Viability Dynamics for Optimal Cell Electrotransfection In Vitro

  • Sonam Chopra,
  • Paulius Ruzgys,
  • Martynas Maciulevičius,
  • Milda Jakutavičiūtė and
  • Saulius Šatkauskas

2 September 2020

Electroporation is an effective method for delivering plasmid DNA molecules into cells. The efficiency of gene electrotransfer depends on several factors. To achieve high transfection efficiency while maintaining cell viability is a tedious task in e...

  • Article
  • Open Access
5 Citations
3,526 Views
14 Pages

2 September 2020

A tsunami is a significant coastal hazard that causes destructive damage to coastal cities in the world. Besides, tsunamis, generated on the west coast of Japan, damaged coastal cities on the east coast of Korea in 1983 and 1993. In recent years, the...

  • Article
  • Open Access
17 Citations
4,113 Views
25 Pages

A Model for Locating Tall Buildings through a Visual Analysis Approach

  • Mehrdad Karimimoshaver,
  • Hatameh Hajivaliei,
  • Manouchehr Shokri,
  • Shakila Khalesro,
  • Farshid Aram and
  • Shahab Shamshirband

2 September 2020

Tall buildings have become an integral part of cities despite all their pros and cons. Some current tall buildings have several problems because of their unsuitable location; the problems include increasing density, imposing traffic on urban thorough...

  • Article
  • Open Access
4 Citations
5,021 Views
9 Pages

2 September 2020

Occlusion is a fundamental subject in dental education, and occlusal adjustment is clinically essential in daily dental practices. This study aimed to assess the effects of computer-based 3D simulations on learner responses and learning effect on the...

  • Article
  • Open Access
9 Citations
3,430 Views
12 Pages

Stabilization of Municipal Solid Waste Fly Ash, Obtained by Co-Combustion with Sewage Sludge, Mixed with Bottom Ash Derived by the Same Plant

  • Ahmad Assi,
  • Fabjola Bilo,
  • Alessandra Zanoletti,
  • Laura Borgese,
  • Laura Eleonora Depero,
  • Mario Nenci and
  • Elza Bontempi

2 September 2020

This study presents an innovative stabilization method of fly ash derived from co-combustion of municipal solid waste and sewage sludge. Bottom ash, obtained from the same process, is used as a stabilizing agent. The stabilization method involved the...

  • Article
  • Open Access
5 Citations
3,660 Views
23 Pages

2 September 2020

Electromagnetic dampers are emerging as alternatives to conventional dampers applied to stay cables of bridges because they can reduce maintenance costs and allow vibration monitoring owing to their permanent driving characteristics and self-generati...

  • Article
  • Open Access
32 Citations
9,234 Views
10 Pages

Speech Enhancement for Hearing Aids with Deep Learning on Environmental Noises

  • Gyuseok Park,
  • Woohyeong Cho,
  • Kyu-Sung Kim and
  • Sangmin Lee

2 September 2020

Hearing aids are small electronic devices designed to improve hearing for persons with impaired hearing, using sophisticated audio signal processing algorithms and technologies. In general, the speech enhancement algorithms in hearing aids remove the...

  • Article
  • Open Access
4 Citations
2,414 Views
21 Pages

2 September 2020

In recent years, the method of deep learning has been widely used in the field of fault diagnosis of mechanical equipment due to its strong feature extraction and other advantages such as high efficiency, portability, and so on. However, at present,...

  • Article
  • Open Access
8 Citations
3,653 Views
15 Pages

DisKnow: A Social-Driven Disaster Support Knowledge Extraction System

  • João Boné,
  • Mariana Dias,
  • João C. Ferreira and
  • Ricardo Ribeiro

2 September 2020

This research is aimed at creating and presenting DisKnow, a data extraction system with the capability of filtering and abstracting tweets, to improve community resilience and decision-making in disaster scenarios. Nowadays most people act as human...

  • Article
  • Open Access
55 Citations
5,324 Views
12 Pages

An Efficient Network for Surface Defect Detection

  • Zesheng Lin,
  • Hongxia Ye,
  • Bin Zhan and
  • Xiaofeng Huang

2 September 2020

Convolutional neural networks (CNN) have achieved promising performance in surface defect detection recently. Although many CNN-based methods have been proposed, most of them are limited by the few samples available for training, and the imbalance of...

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Appl. Sci. - ISSN 2076-3417