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Edith Cowan University

2014

Articles 1 - 30 of 48

Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Using Global Positioning Systems (Gps) And Temperature Data To Generate Time-Activity Classifications For Estimating Personal Exposure In Air Monitoring Studies: An Automated Method, Elizabeth Nethery, Gary Mallach, Daniel Rainham, Mark S. Goldberg, Amanda J. Wheeler May 2014

Using Global Positioning Systems (Gps) And Temperature Data To Generate Time-Activity Classifications For Estimating Personal Exposure In Air Monitoring Studies: An Automated Method, Elizabeth Nethery, Gary Mallach, Daniel Rainham, Mark S. Goldberg, Amanda J. Wheeler

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Background: Personal exposure studies of air pollution generally use self-reported diaries to capture individuals’ time-activity data. Enhancements in the accuracy, size, memory and battery life of personal Global Positioning Systems (GPS) units have allowed for higher resolution tracking of study participants’ locations. Improved time activity classifications combined with personal continuous air pollution sampling can improve assessments of location-related air pollution exposures for health studies. Methods: Data was collected using a GPS and personal temperature from 54 children with asthma living in Montreal, Canada, who participated in a 10-day personal air pollution exposure study. A method was developed that …


Mechanisms And Ecological Role Of Carbon Transfer Within Coastal Seascapes, Glenn A. Hyndes, Ivan Nagelkerken, Rebecca Mcleod, Rod Connolly, Paul S. Lavery, Mathew A. Vanderklift Jan 2014

Mechanisms And Ecological Role Of Carbon Transfer Within Coastal Seascapes, Glenn A. Hyndes, Ivan Nagelkerken, Rebecca Mcleod, Rod Connolly, Paul S. Lavery, Mathew A. Vanderklift

Research outputs 2013

Worldwide, coastal systems provide some of the most productive habitats, which potentially influence a range of marine and terrestrial ecosystems through the transfer of nutrients and energy. Several reviews have examined aspects of connectivity within coastal seascapes, but the scope of those reviews has been limited to single systems or single vectors. We use the transfer of carbon to examine the processes of connectivity through multiple vectors in multiple ecosystems using four coastal seascapes as case studies. We discuss and compare the main vectors of carbon connecting different ecosystems, and then the natural and human-induced factors that influence the magnitude …


A Method To Optimize A Typology-Based Classification System, Christopher Schnitzler, James Croft, Chris Button, Mats Ulmers, Keith Davids Jan 2014

A Method To Optimize A Typology-Based Classification System, Christopher Schnitzler, James Croft, Chris Button, Mats Ulmers, Keith Davids

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

This study sought to provide guidelines for implementing typology-based qualitative analysis of human movement patterns. Fifteen participant-analysts were instructed how to classify treading water behaviours into eight different categories using a training set of videos. They were later provided with two additional sets of videos called validation, and test sets. Results first identified reliable (n=9), and not reliable (n=6) analysts. A decision study outlined that one analyst was sufficient to reliably categorize the behaviours in the 'reliable' analyst group, whereas up to four were necessary in the 'unreliable' group. These data provided new insights into more objective qualitative analysis methods …


Seagrass Canopy Photosynthetic Response Is A Function Of Canopy Density And Light Environment: A Model For Amphibolis Griffithii, John D. Hedley, Kathryn Mcmahon, Peter Fearns Jan 2014

Seagrass Canopy Photosynthetic Response Is A Function Of Canopy Density And Light Environment: A Model For Amphibolis Griffithii, John D. Hedley, Kathryn Mcmahon, Peter Fearns

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

A three-dimensional computer model of canopies of the seagrass Amphibolis griffithii was used to investigate the consequences of variations in canopy structure and benthic light environment on leaf-level photosynthetic saturation state. The model was constructed using empirical data of plant morphometrics from a previously conducted shading experiment and validated well to in-situ data on light attenuation in canopies of different densities. Using published values of the leaf-level saturating irradiance for photosynthesis, results show that the interaction of canopy density and canopy-scale photosynthetic response is complex and non-linear, due to the combination of self-shading and the non-linearity of photosynthesis versus irradiance …


Soil Seed Banks Of Fringing Salt Lake Vegetation In Arid Western Australia - Density, Composition And Implications For Postmine Restoration Using Topsoil, Eddie J. Van Etten, Brett Neasham, Sarah Dalgleish Jan 2014

Soil Seed Banks Of Fringing Salt Lake Vegetation In Arid Western Australia - Density, Composition And Implications For Postmine Restoration Using Topsoil, Eddie J. Van Etten, Brett Neasham, Sarah Dalgleish

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Although studies of seed banks in arid ecosystems are commonplace, they are lacking for the large arid zone of Western Australia. Across the six major plant communities fringing a large salt lake within this zone, topsoil (0-5 cm depth) was collected from 12 to 36 sites per community. Samples were dried, spread out on a bed of vermiculite in seedling trays and placed in a well-watered glasshouse to determine the readily germinable component of the soil seed bank. Subsamples of topsoil were treated with smoke water, hot water or flooding to help determine seed bank of species with dormancy mechanisms. …


Four New Mouse Spider Species (Araneae, Mygalomorphae, Actinopodidae, Missulena) From Western Australia, Laura T. Miglio, Danilo Harms, Volker W. Framenau, Mark S. Harvey Jan 2014

Four New Mouse Spider Species (Araneae, Mygalomorphae, Actinopodidae, Missulena) From Western Australia, Laura T. Miglio, Danilo Harms, Volker W. Framenau, Mark S. Harvey

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Four new species of the Mouse Spider genus Missulena Walckenaer, 1805 (family Actinopodidae) are described from Western Australia based on morphological features of adult males. Missulena leniae sp. n. (from the Carnarvon and Yalgoo biogeographic regions), Missulena mainae sp. n. (Carnarvon), Missulena melissae sp. n. (Pilbara) and Missulena pinguipes sp. n. (Mallee) represent a broad spectrum of morphological diversity found in this genus and differ from other congeners by details of the male copulatory bulb, colour patterns, eye sizes, leg morphology and leg spination. Two of the species, M. pinguipes sp. n. and M. mainae sp. n., are characterised by …


Role Of Icts In Improving Drought Scenario Management In India, Shubhangi S. Wankhede, Niketa Gandhi, Leisa Armstrong Jan 2014

Role Of Icts In Improving Drought Scenario Management In India, Shubhangi S. Wankhede, Niketa Gandhi, Leisa Armstrong

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Drought is a natural phenomenon that affects social, economic and environmental sectors. It is caused due to low or no rainfall in the specific region and for some duration of time. Reduced soil moisture and ground water level are the other causes for drought. Based on its intensity, drought has impacts on various sectors like agriculture, transportation, forest fire, environment and many more. Agriculture is the major sector being affected by drought resulting in low crop production and having great detriment to economy of the country. In this paper, an attempt is made to study the different causes and effects …


A Review And Redescription Of The Cosmopolitan Pseudoscorpion Chelifer Cancroides (Pseudoscorpiones: Cheliferidae), Mark S. Harvey Jan 2014

A Review And Redescription Of The Cosmopolitan Pseudoscorpion Chelifer Cancroides (Pseudoscorpiones: Cheliferidae), Mark S. Harvey

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

The taxonomy of the cheliferid pseudoscorpion genus Chelifer Geoffroy 1762 is reviewed with a single cosmopolitan species, Chelifer cancroides (Linnaeus 1758), with the subspecies C. cancroides orientalis Morikawa 1954 from Japan newly synonymised with C. cancroides. Adults and the final two nymphal stages (tritonymph and deutonymph) are redescribed based on numerous specimens from Europe, North America, Asia and Australasia. The large size variation evident in the samples is documented. The latero-ventral process of the tarsal claws characteristically found in adults (except leg I of the male) is lacking in nymphs, a pattern that is also confirmed in the genera Lissochelifer …


Higher Breakfast Glycaemic Load Is Associated With Increased Metabolic Syndrome Risk, Including Lower Hdl-Cholesterol Concentrations And Increased Tag Concentrations, In Adolescent Girls, Analise Nicholl, Mary Du Heaume, Trevor A. Mori, Lawrence J. Beilin, Wendy H. Oddy, Alexandra P. Bremner, Therese A. O'Sullivan Jan 2014

Higher Breakfast Glycaemic Load Is Associated With Increased Metabolic Syndrome Risk, Including Lower Hdl-Cholesterol Concentrations And Increased Tag Concentrations, In Adolescent Girls, Analise Nicholl, Mary Du Heaume, Trevor A. Mori, Lawrence J. Beilin, Wendy H. Oddy, Alexandra P. Bremner, Therese A. O'Sullivan

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Almost all previous studies examining the associations between glycaemic load (GL) and metabolic syndrome risk have used a daily GL value. The daily value does not distinguish between peaks of GL intake over the day, which may be more closely associated with the risk of the metabolic syndrome. The aim of the present study was to investigate the cross-sectional associations between daily and mealtime measures of GL and metabolic syndrome risk, including metabolic syndrome components, in adolescents. Adolescents participating in the 14-year follow-up of the Western Australian Pregnancy Cohort (Raine) Study completed 3 d food records and metabolic assessments. Breakfast …


Identification Of Unknowns Within A Probabilistic System: The Diagnostic Value Of Attributes, D W. Goodall Jan 2014

Identification Of Unknowns Within A Probabilistic System: The Diagnostic Value Of Attributes, D W. Goodall

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Using a data base underpinned by probability considerations in which a variety of attributes, some of which may be quantitative, are recorded for a number of “operational taxonomic units” (OTUs), a key system is described by which an unnamed specimen may quickly be identified. The concept of “diagnostic power” is introduced, by which each attribute is evaluated in terms of its potential contribution to identifying the unnamed specimen. Besides coverage of different types of attributes and the introduction of “diagnostic power”, the system has the advantages of incorporating multiple values of an attribute for each OTU and offering short-cuts to …


Regulation Of Human Pax6 Expression By Mir-7, M Needhamsen, Robert B. White, Keith M. Giles, Sarah A. Dunlop, Meghan G. Thomas Jan 2014

Regulation Of Human Pax6 Expression By Mir-7, M Needhamsen, Robert B. White, Keith M. Giles, Sarah A. Dunlop, Meghan G. Thomas

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

The paired box gene 6 (PAX6) is a powerful mediator of eye and brain organogenesis whose spatiotemporal expression is exquisitely controlled by multiple mechanisms, including post-transcriptional regulation by microRNAs (miRNAs). In the present study, we use bioinformatic predictions to identify three candidate microRNA-7 (miR-7) target sites in the human PAX6 3′ untranslated region (3′-UTR) and demonstrate that two of them are functionally active in a human cell line. Furthermore, transient transfection of cells with synthetic miR-7 inhibits PAX6 protein expression but does not alter levels of PAX6 mRNA, suggesting that miR-7 induces translational repression of PAX6. Finally, a comparison of …


On The Application Of Genetic Probabilistic Neural Networksand Cellular Neural Networks In Precision Agriculture, Oluleye H. Babatunde, Leisa Armstrong, Jinsong Leng, Dean Diepeveen Jan 2014

On The Application Of Genetic Probabilistic Neural Networksand Cellular Neural Networks In Precision Agriculture, Oluleye H. Babatunde, Leisa Armstrong, Jinsong Leng, Dean Diepeveen

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

This article details the effect of Gaussian smoothing parameter (spread) on the performance of Probabilistic Neural Networks (PNN). Two (2) different Genetic Algorithms (GAs) were used to optimize the PNN spread in order to avoid under and over fitting. In this work there is a novel combination of Cellular Neural Networks (CNN), Probabilistic Neural Networks (PNN) and GA to address the present challenges on automatic identification of plant species. Such problems include misclassification species of plants that are similar in shapes and image segmentation speed. In this work, GA was used in both feature selection and PNN parameter optimization. The …


Leaf Gas Films Delay Salt Entry And Enhance Underwater Photosynthesis And Internal Aeration Of Melilotus Siculus Submerged In Saline Water, Natasha Lea Teakle, Timothy David Colmer, Ole Pedersen Jan 2014

Leaf Gas Films Delay Salt Entry And Enhance Underwater Photosynthesis And Internal Aeration Of Melilotus Siculus Submerged In Saline Water, Natasha Lea Teakle, Timothy David Colmer, Ole Pedersen

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

A combination of flooding and salinity is detrimental to most plants. We studied tolerance of complete submergence in saline water for Melilotus siculus, an annual legume with superhydrophobic leaf surfaces that retain gas films when under water. M.siculus survived complete submergence of 1 week at low salinity (up to 50molm-3 NaCl), but did not recover following de-submergence from 100molm-3 NaCl. The leaf gas films protected against direct salt ingress into the leaves when submerged in saline water, enabling underwater photosynthesis even after 3d of complete submergence. By contrast, leaves with the gas films experimentally removed suffered from substantial Na+ and …


The Movement Ecology Of Seagrasses, Kathryn Mcmahon, Kor-Jent Van Dijk, Leonardo Ruiz-Montoya, Gary A. Kendrick, Siegfried L. Krauss, Michelle Waycott, Jennifer Verduin, Ryan Lowe, John Statton, Eloise Brown, Carlos Duarte Jan 2014

The Movement Ecology Of Seagrasses, Kathryn Mcmahon, Kor-Jent Van Dijk, Leonardo Ruiz-Montoya, Gary A. Kendrick, Siegfried L. Krauss, Michelle Waycott, Jennifer Verduin, Ryan Lowe, John Statton, Eloise Brown, Carlos Duarte

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

A movement ecology framework is applied to enhance our understanding of the causes, mechanisms and consequences of movement in seagrasses: marine, clonal, flowering plants. Four life-history stages of seagrasses can move: pollen, sexual propagules, vegetative fragments and the spread of individuals through clonal growth. Movement occurs on the water surface, in the water column, on or in the sediment, via animal vectors and through spreading clones. A capacity for long-distance dispersal and demographic connectivity over multiple timeframes is the novel feature of the movement ecology of seagrasses with significant evolutionary and ecological consequences. The space–time movement footprint of different life-history …


The Reliability Of An Adolescent Dietary Pattern Identified Using Reduced-Rank Regression: Comparison Of A Ffq And 3 D Food Record, Geeta Appannah, Gerda K. Pot, Therese A. O'Sullivan, Wendy H. Oddy, Susan A. Jebb, Gina L. Ambrosini Jan 2014

The Reliability Of An Adolescent Dietary Pattern Identified Using Reduced-Rank Regression: Comparison Of A Ffq And 3 D Food Record, Geeta Appannah, Gerda K. Pot, Therese A. O'Sullivan, Wendy H. Oddy, Susan A. Jebb, Gina L. Ambrosini

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Despite the increasing use of dietary patterns (DP) to study diet and health outcomes, relatively few studies have examined the reliability of DP using different dietary assessment methods. Reduced-rank regression (RRR) is an emerging statistical method that incorporates a priori information to characterise DP related to specific outcomes of interest. The aim of the present study was to compare DP identified using the RRR method in a FFQ with those in a 3 d food record (FR). Participants were 783 adolescents from the Western Australian Pregnancy (Raine) Cohort Study who completed both a FFQ and FR at 14 years of …


A Critical Review Of Habitat Use By Feral Cats And Key Directions For Future Research And Management, Tim S. Doherty, Andrew J. Bengsen, Robert A. Davis Jan 2014

A Critical Review Of Habitat Use By Feral Cats And Key Directions For Future Research And Management, Tim S. Doherty, Andrew J. Bengsen, Robert A. Davis

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Feral cats (Felis catus) have a wide global distribution and cause significant damage to native fauna. Reducing their impacts requires an understanding of how they use habitat and which parts of the landscape should be the focus of management. We reviewed 27 experimental and observational studies conducted around the world over the last 35 years that aimed to examine habitat use by feral and unowned cats. Our aims were to: (1) summarise the current body of literature on habitat use by feral and unowned cats in the context of applicable ecological theory (i.e. habitat selection, foraging theory); (2) develop testable …


Mobile Applications For Indian Agriculture Sector: A Case Study, Pratik Shah, Niketa Gandhi, Leisa Armstrong Jan 2014

Mobile Applications For Indian Agriculture Sector: A Case Study, Pratik Shah, Niketa Gandhi, Leisa Armstrong

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Government, private agencies and the general public are often interested in the decisions made by the Indian farmers as they have large influences beyond the farm boundary. Over many years, the process of adoption of new technologies and policies in the Indian agricultural sector has received considerable academic attention highlighting the role of many social, financial and other influences on their decision making. The Indian government and other development agencies promote income generating projects as a way of encouraging growth through increased agricultural production and the protection of the natural resource base. The impact of new technology to economic growth …


Icts For Agricultural Extension: A Study In Ratnagiri District Of Maharashtra, India, Niketa Gandhi, Leisa Armstrong Jan 2014

Icts For Agricultural Extension: A Study In Ratnagiri District Of Maharashtra, India, Niketa Gandhi, Leisa Armstrong

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

This study describes an assessment of attitudes of farmers from the Lanja tehsil of Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra in order to understand the information seeking behavior and reasons for the farmers seeking this agricultural information through different sources. To meet the objective of the study, a structured questionnaire and interviews were conducted to gather information on number of aspects related to the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) from 100 randomly selected framers. Additional semi- structured questionnaire and checklist was provided to the key stakeholders. The farmer based questionnaire sought demographic data, information requirement data and uses of ICT …


Geospatial Data Pre-Processing On Watershed Datasets: A Gis Approach, Sreedhar Nallan, Leisa Armstrong, Barry Croke, Amiya K. Tripathy Jan 2014

Geospatial Data Pre-Processing On Watershed Datasets: A Gis Approach, Sreedhar Nallan, Leisa Armstrong, Barry Croke, Amiya K. Tripathy

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Spatial data mining helps to identify interesting patterns from the spatial data sets. However, geo spatial data requires substantial data pre-processing before data can be interrogated further using data mining techniques. Multi-dimensional spatial data has been used to explain the spatial analysis and SOLAP for pre-processing data. This paper examines some of the methods for pre-processing of the data using Arc GIS 10.2 and Spatial Analyst with a case study dataset of a watershed.


A Survey Of Image Processing Techniques For Agriculture, Lalit Saxena, Leisa Armstrong Jan 2014

A Survey Of Image Processing Techniques For Agriculture, Lalit Saxena, Leisa Armstrong

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Computer technologies have been shown to improve agricultural productivity in a number of ways. One technique which is emerging as a useful tool is image processing. This paper presents a short survey on using image processing techniques to assist researchers and farmers to improve agricultural practices. Image processing has been used to assist with precision agriculture practices, weed and herbicide technologies, monitoring plant growth and plant nutrition management. This paper highlights the future potential for image processing for different agricultural industry contexts.


Genetic Algorithm With Logistic Regression For Prediction Of Progression To Alzheimer's Disease, Piers Johnson, Luke Vandewater, William Wilson, Paul Maruff, Greg Savage, Petra Graham, Lance S. Macaulay, Kathryn A. Ellis, Cassandra Szoeke, Ralph N. Martins, Christopher Rowe, Colin L. Masters, David Ames, Ping Zhang Jan 2014

Genetic Algorithm With Logistic Regression For Prediction Of Progression To Alzheimer's Disease, Piers Johnson, Luke Vandewater, William Wilson, Paul Maruff, Greg Savage, Petra Graham, Lance S. Macaulay, Kathryn A. Ellis, Cassandra Szoeke, Ralph N. Martins, Christopher Rowe, Colin L. Masters, David Ames, Ping Zhang

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Assessment of risk and early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a key to its prevention or slowing the progression of the disease. Previous research on risk factors for AD typically utilizes statistical comparison tests or stepwise selection with regression models. Outcomes of these methods tend to emphasize single risk factors rather than a combination of risk factors. However, a combination of factors, rather than any one alone, is likely to affect disease development. Genetic algorithms (GA) can be useful and efficient for searching a combination of variables for the best achievement (eg. accuracy of diagnosis), especially when the search …


Metals In Commonly Eaten Groceries In Western Australia: A Market Basket Survey And Dietary Assessment, Anna Callan, Andrea Hinwood, Amanda Devine Jan 2014

Metals In Commonly Eaten Groceries In Western Australia: A Market Basket Survey And Dietary Assessment, Anna Callan, Andrea Hinwood, Amanda Devine

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Children’s dietary exposure to metals has received limited attention in Australia. This study undertook a market basket survey and analysed 253 food and beverages for metals. These data were used in conjunction with recent average diet data for children in Western Australia to model dietary metals exposure, with mean metals intakes calculated for boys and girls aged 8, 12, 13 and 16 years. Results show that for some metals, including cadmium, nickel and manganese, dietary intake guidelines have been exceeded in younger children. The mean modelled cadmium intake in children aged 8 years was almost 60% of the World Health …


Leg Strength And Lean Mass Symmetry Influences Kicking Performance In Australian Football, Nicolas H. Hart, Sophia Nimphius, Tania Spiteri, Robert U. Newton Jan 2014

Leg Strength And Lean Mass Symmetry Influences Kicking Performance In Australian Football, Nicolas H. Hart, Sophia Nimphius, Tania Spiteri, Robert U. Newton

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Differential loading patterns during game-based participation may produce or exacerbate strength imbalances between the lower limbs. It is currently unknown whether such imbalances are functionally beneficial or detrimental to performance. This study assessed the influence of lower limb strength and lean mass symmetry on kicking accuracy in Australian Football. Thirty-one Australian footballers were required to perform a kicking assessment, producing ten drop punt kicks over twenty metres to a player target. Athletes were subsequently separated into accurate (n = 15) and inaccurate (n = 16) groups, with lower-body lean mass assessed using whole body DXA scans, and lower-body strength assessed …


A New Troglobitic Ideoroncid Pseudoscorpion (Pseudoscorpiones: Ideoroncidae) From Southern Africa, Mark S. Harvey, Gerhard Du Preez Jan 2014

A New Troglobitic Ideoroncid Pseudoscorpion (Pseudoscorpiones: Ideoroncidae) From Southern Africa, Mark S. Harvey, Gerhard Du Preez

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

The first blind African species of Ideoroncidae is described from a cave in northwestern Botswana, Botswanoncus ellisi, representing a new genus and a new species. Apart from the complete lack of eyes, it is also unusual in having the lowest recorded number of trichobothria of any adult ideoroncid with 17 on the fixed finger and nine on the movable finger.


The Extent Of Heat On Health And Sustainable Farming In Ghana - Bawku East, Kwasi Frimpong, Jacques Oosthuizen, Eddie J. Van Etten Jan 2014

The Extent Of Heat On Health And Sustainable Farming In Ghana - Bawku East, Kwasi Frimpong, Jacques Oosthuizen, Eddie J. Van Etten

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Little is known about the health effects of heat in outdoor work and appropriate work and rest schedules for farmers working in developing countries. As temperatures continue to increase in tropical regions, such as Northern Ghana, it is necessary to evaluate how farmers experience and respond to high heat exposures. In this study, WBGT (Wet Bulb Globe Temperature) estimates and the ISO work / rest standards were applied to a cohort of farmers in the rural areas of Bawku East, Northern Ghana, to assess how farmers respond to high heat and how much they rest to protect their health, as …


A Genetic Algorithm-Based Feature Selection, Oluleye H. Babatunde, Leisa Armstrong, Jinsong Leng, Dean Diepeveen Jan 2014

A Genetic Algorithm-Based Feature Selection, Oluleye H. Babatunde, Leisa Armstrong, Jinsong Leng, Dean Diepeveen

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

This article details the exploration and application of Genetic Algorithm (GA) for feature selection. Particularly a binary GA was used for dimensionality reduction to enhance the performance of the concerned classifiers. In this work, hundred (100) features were extracted from set of images found in the Flavia dataset (a publicly available dataset). The extracted features are Zernike Moments (ZM), Fourier Descriptors (FD), Lengendre Moments (LM), Hu 7 Moments (Hu7M), Texture Properties (TP) and Geometrical Properties (GP). The main contributions of this article are (1) detailed documentation of the GA Toolbox in MATLAB and (2) the development of a GA-based feature …


Experiences Of Heat Stress Vulnerability And Climate Change Among Farmers In Ghana, Kwasi Frimpong, Jacques D. Oosthuizen, Eddie J. Van Etten Jan 2014

Experiences Of Heat Stress Vulnerability And Climate Change Among Farmers In Ghana, Kwasi Frimpong, Jacques D. Oosthuizen, Eddie J. Van Etten

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

The trend over the last decade of increasing temperature associated with climate change with the impacts being felt in the poorest communities of the developing world is unequivocal. Bawku East of northern Ghana is assessed as one of the poorest communities. Being a farming community the study investigates the extent of farmers’ experiences on heat and climate change. A selected number of 308 farmers from a farming population of over 15,000 were interviewed about heat stress and climate change to gauge their level of vulnerability to heat stress at the household and farm levels, as well as their general experiences …


Application Of Cellular Neural Networks And Naive Bayes Classifier In Agriculture, Oluleye H. Babatunde, Leisa Armstrong, Jinsong Leng, Dean Diepeveen Jan 2014

Application Of Cellular Neural Networks And Naive Bayes Classifier In Agriculture, Oluleye H. Babatunde, Leisa Armstrong, Jinsong Leng, Dean Diepeveen

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

This article describes the use of Cellular Neural Networks (a class of Ordinary Differential Equation (ODE)), Fourier Descriptors (FD) and NaiveBayes Classifier (NBC) for automatic identification of images of plant leaves. The novelty of this article is seen in the use of CNN for image segmentation and a combination FDs with NBC. The main advantage of the segmentation method is the computation speed compared with other edge operators such as canny, sobel, Laplacian of Gaussian (LoG). The results herein show the potential of the methods in this paper for examining different agricultural images and distinguishing between different crops and weeds …


Web-Based Training In E-Agriculture For Agricultural College, Prachyanum Nilsook, Leisa Armstrong, Pornchai Taechatanasat, Tirtha Ranjeet Jan 2014

Web-Based Training In E-Agriculture For Agricultural College, Prachyanum Nilsook, Leisa Armstrong, Pornchai Taechatanasat, Tirtha Ranjeet

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

This paper presents a web-based training system in eAgriculture for agricultural college in Thailand. The eAgriculture contents consist of introduction to information and communication technology (ICT) for agriculture, information technology in agriculture, agricultural management information system and precision farming. The research shows that the majority users are highly satisfied with the developed web-based training system. The users favoured four factors of the system including the content of the website; technical media production; the designing and the formatting of the website; and benefits of its uses.


A Network That Really Works - The Application Of Artificial Neural Networks To Improve Yield Predictions And Nitrogen Management In Western Australia, Jinsong Leng, Andreas Neuhaus, Leisa Armstrong Jan 2014

A Network That Really Works - The Application Of Artificial Neural Networks To Improve Yield Predictions And Nitrogen Management In Western Australia, Jinsong Leng, Andreas Neuhaus, Leisa Armstrong

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Yield predictions are notorious for being difficult due to many interdependent factors such as rainfall, soil properties, plant health, plant density etc. This study is based upon the author’s previously published work and extends its findings by further investigating the best mathematical solution to this dilemma. Artificial intelligence (AI) techniques have been applied to a large set of soil, plant, rainfall, and yield data from CSBP’s field research trial program. Here we further differentiate by investigate two ANN techniques, a genetic algorithm with back propagation neural networks (GA-BP-NN) and a particle swarm optimization with back propagation neural networks (PSO-BP-NN). Results …