Nitrogen (N) fertilizer rate is important for high yield and good quality of potato tubers. In this dissertation, I seek to study the response of different potato cultivars under different N fertilizer rates and how that can impact tuber quality, examine the performance of active optical sensors in improving a potato yield prediction algorithm, and evaluate the ability of active optical sensors (GreenSeeker (GS) and Crop Circle (CC)) to optimize a N recommendation algorithm that can be used by potato growers in Maine. This research was conducted at 11 sites over a period of two years (2018–2019) in Aroostook County, Maine; all sites depended on a rainfed system. Three potato cultivars, Russet Burbank, Superior, and Shepody, were planted u

Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) is an important technology for applications that require speedy, high-accuracy processing of a huge volume of hand-filled forms. The aim of this technology is to reduce manual work, human effort, high accuracy in assessment, and minimize time for evaluation answer sheets. This paper proposed OMR by using Modify Bidirectional Associative Memory (MBAM), MBAM has two phases (learning and analysis phases), it will learn on the answer sheets that contain the correct answers by giving its own code that represents the number of correct answers, then detection marks from answer sheets by using analysis phase. This proposal will be able to detect no selection or select more than one choice, in addition, using M

Gallium arsenide diamondoids structural and vibrational properties are investigated using density functional theory at the PBE/6-31(d) level and basis including polarization functions. Variation of energy gap as these diamondoids increase in size is seen to follow confinement theory for diamondoids having nearly equiaxed dimensions. Density of energy states transforms from nearly single levels to band structure as we reach larger diamondoids. Bonds of surface hydrogen with As atoms are relatively localized and shorter than that bonded to Ga atoms. Ga-As bonds have a distribution range of values due to surface reconstruction and effect of bonding to hydrogen atoms. Experimental bulk Ga-As bond length (2.45 Å) is within this distribu

The aim of this study is to look at  the potential of a  local sustainable energy network in  a pre-existing context to develop a novel design beneficial to the environment. Nowadays, the concept of smart cities is still in the developmental phase/stage   andwe are currently residing in a transitional period, therefore it is very important to discover new solutions that show direct benefits the people may get from  transforming their city from a traditional to a smart city. Using experience and knowledge of successful projects in various European and non-European smart cities, this study attempts to demonstrate the practical potential of gradually moving existing cities to t

Non-thermal atmospheric pressure plasma has emerged as a
new promising tool in medicine and biology. In this work, A DBD
system was built as a source of atmospheric pressure non-thermal
Plasma suitable for clinical and biological applications. E. coli and
staphylococcus spp bacteria were exposed to the DBD plasma for a
period of time as inactivation (sterilization) process. A series of
experiments were achieved under different operating conditions. The
results showed that the inactivation, of the two kinds of bacteria, was
affected (increasing or decreasing) according to operation conditions
because they affects, as expected, the produced plasma properties
according to those conditions.

In this work, a convex lens concentrating solar collector is designed and manufactured locally by using 10 convex lenses (concentrator) of a diameter 10cm and one Copper absorber tube of a diameter 12.5mm and 1mm in thickness 1m length. Two axes manual Tracking system also constructed to track the sun continuously in two directions. The experiments are made on 17^th of May 2015 in climatic conditions of Baghdad. The experimental data are fed to a computer program to solve the thermal performing equation, to find efficiency and actual useful energy. Then this data is used in numerical CFD software for three different absorber diameters (12.5 mm, 18.75 mm and 25 mm). From the results that obtained the maximum the