Engineering Commons^™

The Combined Impact Of Redcedar Encroachment And Climate Change On Water Resources In The Nebraska Sand Hills, Yaser Kishawi, Aaron R. Mittelstet, Zablon Adane, Nawaraj Shrestha, Paolo Nasta

Department of Biological Systems Engineering: Papers and Publications

The Nebraska Sand Hills (NSH) is considered a major recharge zone for the High Plains Aquifer in the central United States. The uncontrolled expansion of the eastern redcedar (Juniperus Virginiana) under climate warming is posing threats to surface water and groundwater resources. The combined impact of land use and climate change on the water balance in the Upper Middle Loup River watershed (4,954 km²) in the NSH was evaluated by simulating different combination of model scenarios using the Soil Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model. A total of 222 climate models were ranked according to the aridity …

Estimation Of Cotton Canopy Parameters Based On Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (Uav) Oblique Photography, Jinyong Wu, Sheng Wen, Yubin Lan, Xuanchun Yin, Jiantao Zhang, Yufeng Ge

Department of Biological Systems Engineering: Papers and Publications

Background: The technology of cotton defoliation is essential for mechanical cotton harvesting. Agricultural unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) spraying has the advantages of low cost, high efficiency and no mechanical damage to cotton and has been favored and widely used by cotton planters in China. However, there are also some problems of low cotton defoliation rates and high impurity rates caused by unclear spraying amounts of cotton defoliants. The chemical rate recommendation and application should be based upon crop canopy volume rather than on land area. Plant height and leaf area index (LAI) is directly connected to plant canopy structure. …

Comparative Study Of Differentiating Human Pluripotent Stem Cells Into Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells In Hydrogel-Based Culture Methods, Qing Liu, Zhen Liu, Hongyu Gu, Yuxia Ge, Xuesheng Wu, Fuxing Zuo, Qian Du, Yuguo Lei, Zhanqi Wang, Haishuang Lin

Department of Biological Systems Engineering: Papers and Publications

Vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs), which provides structural integrity and regulates the diameter of vasculature, are of great potential for modeling vascular-associated diseases and tissue engineering. Here, we presented a detailed comparison of differentiating human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) into VSMCs (hPSCs-VSMCs) in four different culture methods, including 2-dimensional (2D) culture, 3-dimensional (3D) PNIPAAm-PEG hydrogel culture, 3-dimensional (3D) alginate hydrogel culture, and transferring 3- dimensional alginate hydrogel culture to 2-dimensional (2D) culture. Both hydrogel-based culture methods could mimic in vivo microenvironment to protect cells from shear force, and avoid cells agglomeration, resulting in the extremely high culture efficiency (e.g., high …

Behavior Of Completely Automated Evapotranspiration Estimation (Eemetric), Atiqullah Atif

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Evapotranspiration (ET) is the second-largest component in the water balance equation, globally consuming 70% of the earth’s annual precipitation. Accurate and consistent estimation of ET is essential for ensuring water resources sustainability, proper management, planning, and regulations of water resources. Though a 100% accurate estimation of ET may not be feasible with the current technology, there are proven techniques that give us estimates of ET we can heavily rely on. Mapping Evapotranspiration at High Resolution with Internalized Calibration (METRIC) is a widely used surface energy balance model that produces relatively accurate ET maps utilizing remote sensing data and requires skilled …

Empirical Fragility Functions And Numerical Parametric Study For Buckling Of Steel Grain Bins Under High Wind Loads, Andrew Ruder

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

While rural infrastructure is critical to the agricultural industry, it has been historically more susceptible to damage and slower to recover following natural disasters than its urban and suburban counterparts. This has been made evident most recently by the events of the August 10, 2020, derecho in which rural regions in Iowa were among the hardest hit areas with sustained windspeeds exceeding 120 mph. Among the most frequently damaged structures in this event were corrugated steel grain bins, which farmers and co-ops use to dry and store certain commodities. Unlike most other critical structures, steel grain bins are not designed …

Evaluation Of Swelling Pressure And Shear Strength Of Inorganic Microfiber-Reinforced Bentonite For The Engineered Barrier System, Jose Maria Ferdinand Victoria Calaunan

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Nowadays, the permanent disposal of high-level radioactive waste materials has been a primary concern in several countries. The deep geological repository, being the preferred disposal method across the globe, utilizes a network of engineered barriers to prevent the radioactive material from spreading throughout the facility and harming the natural environment. Part of this engineered barrier system (EBS) is the buffer material, which essential function is holding the radioactive waste-containing canister in place. However, the potential generation of desiccation cracks in this buffer material is imminent due to the heat emitted from the radioactive waste. Knowing the capability of inorganic fibers …

Measuring Acoustic Nonlinearity Of Elastic Materials Using Thermal Modulation Of Ultrasonic Waves, Bibo Zhong

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Nonlinear acoustic techniques have been used to determine the nonlinear properties of materials. Existing methods either require complex equipment to measure absolute nonlinear coefficients or can only be used on laboratory-sized specimens. A recently developed thermal modulation method addresses the limitations of existing methods, but further theoretical analysis and validation are required.

In this dissertation, theoretical analyses were first conducted to study the mechanically and thermally induced acoustoelastic effect. Beginning with the wave equation, the relationship of the ultrasonic wave velocity with respect to mechanical strain and the thermal strain was derived in detail. These analyses provided theoretical support for …

Mango Surface Color Features Measurement Using Digital Image Processing, Md Towfiqur Rahman, Goutom Kumar, Md Abdul Momin

Department of Biological Systems Engineering: Papers and Publications

Summary

Postharvest processing of agricultural produce is still done the conventional way in Bangladesh. Manual grading of agricultural produce, especially fruits and vegetables, is laborious and costly due to acute shortage of labor during the peak season, as well as difficulty maintaining the product quality. Machine vision system (MVS) applications are widely used nowadays as a non-destructive and cost-effective technology for automatically grading and sorting large volumes of produce in the packing house according to size, shape, color, texture, and surface defects. In this study, a simple MVS was constructed measuring different color features of mango fruit surface as a …

Framework For The Use Of Extended Reality Modalities In Aec Education, Barbara Oliveira Spitzer, Jae Hoon Ma, Ece Erdogmus, Ben Kreimer, Erica Ryherd, Heidi Diefes-Dux

Department of Biological Systems Engineering: Papers and Publications

The educational applications of extended reality (XR) modalities, including virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR), have increased significantly over the last ten years. Many educators within the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) related degree programs see student benefits that could be derived from bringing these modalities into classrooms, which include but are not limited to: a better understanding of each of the subdisciplines and the coordination necessary between them, visualizing oneself as a professional in AEC, and visualization of difficult concepts to increase engagement, self-efficacy, and learning. These benefits, in turn, help recruitment and retention efforts …

Application Of Uas‑Based Remote Sensing In Estimating Winter Wheat Phenotypic Traits And Yield During The Growing Season, Kianoosh Hassani, Hamed Gholizadeh, Saleh Taghvaeian, Victoria Natalie, Jonathan Carpenter, Jamey Jacob

Department of Biological Systems Engineering: Papers and Publications

Phenotyping approaches have been considered as a vital component in crop breeding programs to improve crops and develop new high-yielding cultivars. However, traditional field-based monitoring methods are expensive, invasive, and time-intensive. Moreover, data collected using satellite and airborne platforms are either costly or limited by their spatial and temporal resolution. Here, we investigated whether low-cost unmanned/unoccupied aerial systems (UASs) data can be used to estimate winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) nitrogen (N) content, structural traits including plant height, fresh and dry biomass, and leaf area index (LAI) as well as yield during different winter wheat growing stages. To achieve …

Canopycam – An Edge-Computing Sensing Unit For Continuous Measurement Of Canopy Cover Percentage Of Dry Edible Beans, Wei-Zhen Liang, Joseph Oboamah, Xin Qiao, Yufeng Ge, Robert M. Harveson, Daran Rudnick, Jun Wang, Haishun Yang, Angie Gradiz

Department of Biological Systems Engineering: Papers and Publications

Canopy cover (CC) is an important indicator for crop development. Currently, CC can be estimated indirectly by measuring leaf area index (LAI) using commercially available hand-held meters. However, it does not capture the dynamics of CC. Continuous CC monitoring is essential for dry edible beans production since it can affect crop water use, weed, and disease control. It also helps growers to closely monitor “yellowness”, or senescence of dry beans to decide proper irrigation cutoff timing to allow the crop to dry down for harvest. Therefore, the goal of this study was to develop a device – CanopyCAM, containing software …

Spatiotemporal Metabolic Network Models Reveal Complex Autotroph-Heterotroph Biofilm Interactions Governed By Photon Incidences, Poonam Phalak, Hans C. Bernstein, Stephen R. Lindemann, Ryan S. Renslow, Dennis G. Thomas, Michael A. Henson, Hyun-Seob Song

Department of Biological Systems Engineering: Papers and Publications

Autotroph-heterotroph interactions are ubiquitous in natural environment and play a key role in controlling various essential ecosystem functions, such as production and utilization of organic matter, cycling of nitrogen, sulfur, and other chemical elements. Understanding how these biofilm metabolic interactions are constrained in space and time remains challenging because fully predictive models designed for this purpose are currently limited. Toward filling this gap, here we developed community metabolic network models for two autotroph-heterotroph biofilm consortia (termed UCC-A and UCC-O), which share a suite of common heterotrophic members but have a single distinct photoautotrophic cyanobacterium (Phormidesmis priestleyi str. ANA and …

Dynamics Of Crop Evapotranspiration Of Four Major Crops On A Large Commercial Farm: Case Of The Navajo Agricultural Products Industry, New Mexico, Usa, Koffi Djaman, Komlan Koudahe, Ali T. Mohammed

Department of Biological Systems Engineering: Papers and Publications

Crop evapotranspiration (ETa) is the main source of water loss in farms and watersheds, and with its effects felt at a regional scale, it calls for irrigation professionals and water resource managers to accurately assess water requirements to meet crop water use. On a multi-crop commercial farm, different factors affect cropland allocation, among which crop evapotranspiration is one of the most important factors regarding the seasonally or annually available water resources for irrigation in combination with the in-season effective precipitation. The objective of the present study was to estimate crop evapotranspiration for four major crops grown on the Navajo Agricultural …

Strategic Planning For Exchanging Treated Urban Wastewater For Agricultural Water With The Approach Of Supplying Sustainable Urban Water: A Case Study Of Mashhad, Iran, Sasan Esfandiari, Arash Dourandish, Ali Firoozzare, Saleh Taghvaeian

Department of Biological Systems Engineering: Papers and Publications

Considering the increasing demand for urban water and the low water-use efficiency in the agricultural sector, an exchange of treated urban wastewater for agricultural water could be a fundamental solution for administering sustainable management of water resources. However, implementing the intersectoral water exchange project is influenced by the economic, social, and environmental conditions of each region, especially in developing countries. Therefore, this study sought to identify the best possible strategies for exchanging treated urban wastewater for agricultural water in Mashhad city, located in Iran, a country that suffers from decreased urban water resources. Based on the interviews conducted with the …

Interaction Networks Are Driven By Community-Responsive Phenotypes In A Chitin-Degrading Consortium Of Soil Microbes, Ryan Mcclure, Yuliya Farris, Robert Danczak, William Nelson, Hyun-Seob Song, Aimee Kessell, Sneha Couvillion, Christopher Henry, Janet K. Jansson, Kristen S. Hofmockel

Department of Biological Systems Engineering: Papers and Publications

Soil microorganisms provide key ecological functions that often rely on metabolic interactions between individual populations of the soil microbiome. To better understand these interactions and community processes, we used chitin, a major carbon and nitrogen source in soil, as a test substrate to investigate microbial interactions during its decomposition. Chitin was applied to a model soil consortium that we developed, “model soil consortium-2” (MSC-2), consisting of eight members of diverse phyla and including both chitin degraders and nondegraders. A multiomics approach revealed how MSC-2 community-level processes during chitin decomposition differ from monocultures of the constituent species. Emergent properties of both …

Interaction Networks Are Driven By Community-Responsive Phenotypes In A Chitin-Degrading Consortium Of Soil Microbes, Ryan Mcclure, Yuuliya Farris, Robert Danczak, William Nelson, Hyun-Seob Song, Aimee Kessell, Joon-Yong Lee, Sneha Couvillion, Christopher Henry, Janet K. Jansson, Kristen S. Hofmockel

Department of Biological Systems Engineering: Papers and Publications

Soil microorganisms provide key ecological functions that often rely on metabolic interactions between individual populations of the soil microbiome. To better understand these interactions and community processes, we used chitin, a major carbon and nitrogen source in soil, as a test substrate to investigate microbial interactions during its decomposition. Chitin was applied to a model soil consortium that we developed, “model soil consortium-2” (MSC-2), consisting of eight members of diverse phyla and including both chitin degraders and nondegraders. A multiomics approach revealed how MSC-2 community-level processes during chitin decomposition differ from monocultures of the constituent species. Emergent properties of both …

Electrochemical Biosensing And Deep Learning-Based Approaches In The Diagnosis Of Covid-19: A Review, Omer Sadak, Ferhat Sadak, Ozal Yildirim, Nicole M. Iverson, Rizwan Qureshi, Muhammed Talo, Chui Ping Ooi, U. Rajendra Acharya, Sundaram Gunasekaran, Tanvir Alam

Department of Biological Systems Engineering: Papers and Publications

COVID-19 caused by the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 virus taking a huge toll on global health and caused life-threatening medical complications and elevated mortality rates, especially among older adults and people with existing morbidity. Current evidence suggests that the virus spreads primarily through respiratory droplets emitted by infected persons when breathing, coughing, sneezing, or speaking. These droplets can reach another person through their mouth, nose, or eyes, resulting in infection. The "gold standard'' for clinical diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 is the laboratory-based nucleic acid amplification test, which includes the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test on nasopharyngeal swab samples. The main concerns …

Crop Response To Thermal Stress Without Yield Loss In Irrigated Maize And Soybean In Nebraska, Sandeep Bhatti, Derek M. Heeren, Steven R. Evett, Susan A. O'Shaughnessy, Daran Rudnick, Trenton E. Franz, Yufeng Ge, Christopher M.U. Neale

Department of Biological Systems Engineering: Papers and Publications

Thermal sensing provides rapid and accurate estimation of crop water stress through canopy temperature data. Canopy temperature is highly dependent on the transpiration rate of the leaves. It is usually assumed that any reduction in crop evapotranspiration (ET) leads to crop yield loss. As a result, an increase in canopy temperature due to a decrease in crop ET would indicate crop yield loss. This research evaluated the hypothesis that crop water stress could be detected using canopy temperature measurements (increased leaf temperature) from infrared thermometers (IRTs) before incurring crop yield loss. This would be possible in a narrow range when …

Real-Time Irrigation Scheduling Of Maize Using Degrees Above Non-Stressed (Dans) Index In Semi-Arid Environment, Hope Njuki Nakabuye, Daran Rudnick, Kendall C. Dejonge, Tsz Him Lo, Derek M. Heeren, Xin Qiao, Trenton E. Franz, Abia Katimbo, Jiaming Duan

Department of Biological Systems Engineering: Papers and Publications

Irrigation scheduling methods have been used to determine the timing and amount of water applied to crops. Scheduling techniques can include measurement of soil water content, quantification of crop water use, and monitoring of crop physiological response to water stress. The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of a simplified crop canopy temperature measurement (CTM) method as Irrigation Principles. Soil and Water Conservation Engineera technique to schedule irrigation for maize. Specifically, the Degrees Above Non-Stressed (DANS) index, which suggests water stress when canopy temperature exceeds the non-stressed canopy temperature (T_cns), was determined by estimating T …

Modeling Actual Evapotranspiration With Msi-Sentinel Images And Machine Learning Algorithms, Robson Argolo Dos Santos, Everardo Chartuni Mantovani, Elpídio Inácio Fernandes-Filho, Roberto Filgueiras, Rodrigo Dal Sasso Lourenço, Vinícius Bof Bufon, Christopher M. U. Neale

Department of Biological Systems Engineering: Papers and Publications

The modernization of computational resources and application of artificial intelligence algorithms have led to advancements in studies regarding the evapotranspiration of crops by remote sensing. Therefore, this research proposed the application of machine learning algorithms to estimate the ET_rF (Evapotranspiration Fraction) of sugar can crop using the METRIC (Mapping Evapotranspiration at High Resolution with Internalized Calibration) model with data from the Sentinel-2 satellites constellation. In order to achieve this goal, images from the MSI sensor (MultiSpectral Instrument) from the Sentinel-2 and the OLI (Operational Land Imager) and TIRS (Thermal Infrared Sensor) sensors from the Landsat-8 were acquired nearly …

Ag-Iot For Crop And Environment Monitoring: Past, Present, And Future, Nipuna Chamara, Md Didarul Islam, Geng Bai, Yeyin Shi, Yufeng Ge

Department of Biological Systems Engineering: Papers and Publications

CONTEXT: Automated monitoring of the soil-plant-atmospheric continuum at a high spatiotemporal resolution is a key to transform the labor-intensive, experience-based decision making to an automatic, data-driven approach in agricultural production. Growers could make better management decisions by leveraging the real-time field data while researchers could utilize these data to answer key scientific questions. Traditionally, data collection in agricultural fields, which largely relies on human labor, can only generate limited numbers of data points with low resolution and accuracy. During the last two decades, crop monitoring has drastically evolved with the advancement of modern sensing technologies. Most importantly, the introduction …

Climate And Genetic Data Enhancement Using Deep Learning Analytics To Improve Maize Yield Predictability, Parisa Sarzaeim, Francisco Muñoz-Arriola, Diego Jarquin

Department of Biological Systems Engineering: Papers and Publications

Despite efforts to collect genomics and phenomics (“omics”) and environmental data, spatiotemporal availability and access to digital resources still limit our ability to predict plants’ response to changes in climate. Our goal is to quantify the improvement in the predictability of maize yields by enhancing climate data. Large-scale experiments such as the Genomes to Fields (G2F) are an opportunity to provide access to “omics” and climate data. Here, the objectives are to: (i) improve the G2F “omics” and environmental database by reducing the gaps of climate data using deep neural networks; (ii) estimate the contribution of climate and genetic database …

Neonicotinoid Pesticide And Nitrate Mixture Removal And Persistence In Floating Treatment Wetlands, Julia K. Lindgren, Tiffany L. Messer, Daniel N. Miller, Daniel D. Snow, Thomas G. Franti

Department of Biological Systems Engineering: Papers and Publications

Mesocosm and microcosm experiments were conducted to explore the applicability of floating treatment wetlands (FTWs), an ecologically based management technology, to remove neonicotinoid insecticides and nitrate from surface water. The mesocosm experiment evaluated three treatments in triplicate over a 21-d period. Floating treatment wetland mesocosms completely removed nitrate-N over the course of the experiment even when neonicotinoid insecticides were present. At the completion of the experiment, 79.6% of imidacloprid and degradation byproducts and 68.3% of thiamethoxam and degradation byproducts were accounted for in the water column. Approximately 3% of imidacloprid and degradation byproducts and 5.0% of thiamethoxam and degradation byproducts …

Permafrost Landscape History Shapes Fluvial Chemistry, Ecosystem Carbon Balance, And Potential Trajectories Of Future Change, Scott Zolkos, Suzanne E. Tank, Steven V. Kokelj, Robert G. Striegl, Sarah Shakil, Carolina Voigt, Oliver Sonnentag, William L. Quinton, Edward A. G. Schuur, Donatella Zona, Peter M. Lafleur, Ryan C. Sullivan, Masahito Ueyama, David P. Billesbach, David Cook, Elyn R. Humphreys, Philip Marsh

Department of Biological Systems Engineering: Papers and Publications

Intensifying permafrost thaw alters carbon cycling by mobilizing large amounts of terrestrial substrate into aquatic ecosystems. Yet, few studies have measured aquatic carbon fluxes and constrained drivers of ecosystem carbon balance across heterogeneous Arctic landscapes. Here, we characterized hydrochemical and landscape controls on fluvial carbon cycling, quantified fluvial carbon fluxes, and estimated fluvial contributions to ecosystem carbon balance across 33 watersheds in four ecoregions in the continuous permafrost zone of the western Canadian Arctic: unglaciated uplands, ice-rich moraine, and organic-rich lowlands and till plains. Major ions, stable isotopes, and carbon speciation and fluxes revealed patterns in carbon cycling across ecoregions …

Efficiency Of Bank Filtration In The Removal Of Cyanotoxins Under Different Levels Of Nutrients, Luke Walkenhorst

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) are an increasing concern not only in Nebraska, but across the world. Increasing global temperatures in conjunction with overuse of synthetic fertilizers are leading causes to the increasing frequency and concern of HABs. In the present work, the effectiveness of simulated bank filtration (BF), as an economical water treatment option, to remove cyanotoxins under different levels of nutrients (nitrates and phosphates) was investigated. Vertical flow-through columns pre-acclimated with two levels of nutrients (e.g., nitrate and phosphate—10 vs. 50 mg/L) were exposed to two different levels of cyanotoxins (10 vs. 75 μg/L). Results from the study confirmed …

Development An Edge-Computing Sensing Unit For Continuous Measurement Of Canopy Cover Percentage Of Dry Edible Beans, Wei-Zhen Liang, Joseph Oboamah, Xin Qiao, Yufeng Ge, Robert M. Harveson, Daran R. Rudnick, Jun Wang, Haishun Yang, Angie Gradiz

Department of Biological Systems Engineering: Papers and Publications

Canopy cover (CC) is an important indicator for crop development. Currently, CC can be estimated indirectly by measuring leaf area index (LAI), using commercially available hand-held meters. However, it does not capture the dynamics of CC. Continuous CC monitoring is essential for dry edible beans production since it can affect crop water use, weed, and disease control. It also helps growers to closely monitor “yellowness”, or senescence of dry beans to decide proper irrigation cutoff to allow the crop to dry down for harvest. The goal of this study was to develop a device – CanopyCAM, containing software and hardware …

Effect Of Bromoform And Linseed Oil On Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Stored Beef Manure, Andrew Ortiz Balsero, Mara Zelt, Amy Millmier Schmidt, Miguel Fudolig, Daniel N. Miller

Department of Biological Systems Engineering: Papers and Publications

Emissions of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide – potent greenhouse gases - from stored beef feedlot manure are a significant concern relative to climate change. Research on methane reduction strategies for enteric emissions has identified the application of organic additives, such as bromoform and linseed oil, to ruminant diets as potential solutions for reducing enteric emissions and pathogenic bacteria in excreted manure. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of bromoform and linseed oil on greenhouse gas emissions from beef feedlot manure, and on E. coli concentration in beef cattle manure, during a 5-week storage period. …

Data-Driven Prioritization And Empirical Predictions For Bridge Scour In Nebraska, Awgku Ahmad Hashim Awg Bolhasan

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The effect of scour at the bridge substructure results in an increase in the vulnerability of the overall bridge stability. Previous studies have found that current guidelines are often overly-conservative with respect to scour. This project aims to provide guidance on hydraulic modeling parameters and reasonable scour estimates specific to Nebraska conditions. This will enable engineers to assess bridge sites for scour more precisely for efficient and effective design and countermeasures.

Four sites were surveyed for scour changes between the period of December 9, 2020, to April 20, 2021. At these four sites, overland and bathymetry survey data were collected. …

Axial Hypersensitivity Is Associated With Aberrant Nerve Sprouting In A Novel Model Of Disc Degeneration In Female Sprague Dawley Rats, David J. Lillyman, Fei San Lee, Evie C. Barnett, Tyler J. Miller, Moreno Lozano Alvaro, Henry C. Drvol, Rebecca A. Wachs

Department of Biological Systems Engineering: Papers and Publications

Chronic low back pain is a global socioeconomic crisis and treatments are lacking in part due to inadequate models. Etiological research suggests that the predominant pathology associated with chronic low back pain is intervertebral disc degeneration. Various research teams have created rat models of disc degeneration, but the clinical translatability of these models has been limited by an absence of robust chronic painlike behavior. To address this deficit, disc degeneration was induced via an artificial annular tear in female Sprague Dawley rats. The subsequent degeneration, which was allowed to progress for 18-weeks, caused a drastic reduction in disc volume. Furthermore, …

A Segmentation-Guided Deep Learning Framework For Leaf Counting, Xijian Fan, Rui Zhou, Tardi Tjahjadi, Sruti Das Choudhury, Qiaolin Ye

Department of Biological Systems Engineering: Papers and Publications

Deep learning-based methods have recently provided a means to rapidly and effectively extract various plant traits due to their powerful ability to depict a plant image across a variety of species and growth conditions. In this study, we focus on dealing with two fundamental tasks in plant phenotyping, i.e., plant segmentation and leaf counting, and propose a two-steam deep learning framework for segmenting plants and counting leaves with various size and shape from two-dimensional plant images. In the first stream, a multi-scale segmentation model using spatial pyramid is developed to extract leaves with different size and shape, where the fine-grained …