Using entropy based mean shift filter and modified watershed transform for grain segmentation

Life science research aims to continuously improve the quality and standard of human life. One of the major challenges in this area is to maintain food safety and security. A number of image processing techniques have been used to investigate the quality of food products. In this paper,we propose a new algorithm to effectively segment connected grains so that each of them can be inspected in a later processing stage. One family of the existing segmentation methods is based on the idea of watersheding, and it has shown promising results in practice.However,due to the over-segmentation issue,this technique has experienced poor performance in various applications,such as inhomogeneous background and connected targets. To solve this problem,we present a combination of two classical techniques to handle this issue.In the first step,a mean shift filter is used to eliminate the inhomogeneous background, where entropy is used to be a converging criterion. Secondly,a color gradient algorithm is used in order to detect the most significant edges, and a marked watershed transform is applied to segment cluttered objects out of the previous processing stages. The proposed framework is capable of compromising among execution time, usability, efficiency and segmentation outcome in analyzing ring die pellets. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed approach is effectiveness and robust.

On the nudging terms at open boundaries in regional ocean models

For open boundary conditions (OBCs) in regional models, a nudging term added to radiative and/or advective conditions during the wave or flow propagation outward from the model domain of interest is widely used, to prevent the predicted boundary values from evolving to become quite different from the external data, especially for a long-term integration. However, nudging time scales are basically unknown, leading to many empirical selections. In this paper, a method for objectively estimating nudging time scales during outward propagation is proposed, by using internal model dynamics near the boundary. We tested this method and other several commonly used OBCs for cases of both an idealized model domain and a realistic configuration, and model results demonstrated that the proposed method improves the model solutions. Many similarities are found between the nudging and mixing time scales, in magnitude, spatial and temporal variations, since the nudging mainly replaces the effect of the mixing terms in this study. However, the mixing time scale is not an intrinsic property of the nudging term because in other studies the nudging term might replace terms other than the mixing terms and, thus, should reflect other characteristic time scales.

M level Inquiry Across Disciplinary Boundaries: Using Reflective Sketchbooks

Debates unfolding around the recent development of M Level programmes for teacher education are not unfamiliar to those being addressed in other professional disciplines such as business. A strong theme in our analysis is that reflective practitioners could be provided with a wider range of tools and methods to support them in their reflection. Considerable energies have been expended on e portfolios, but our experience of use of paper based reflective
sketchbooks suggests that they may have some distinct advantages over text-dominated electronic media. In fact such sketchbooks challenge typed text as the dominant route to learning and communication (Gilbert 1998), (New, 2005), (Hickman, 2007). Professionals in teacher education are currently exploring ways in which M level can be conceived in terms of professional learning. This is also important terrain in other professions. For example, best practice in business management involves constant innovation so that students do not experience a split between the research context of the business faculty and the experience of operating in the business situation. This is paralleled in education by the concern that trainees do not experience a split between the research or scholarly informed approach of university tutors, and the experience of practical teaching in school. Our research question is concerned with how a consciously developed reflective sketchbook method can generate levels of critical thought that are both postgraduate and professionally valued in the workplace. We are also interested in the contribution this form of enquiry at M Level can make in terms of life long learning.