scholarly journals Radioactive Contamination Countermeasures, Food Inspection Systems, and the Issue of Reputational Damage in the Early Stages of the Nuclear Disaster in Fukushima Prefecture

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (8) ◽  
pp. 1274-1285
Author(s):  
Ryota Koyama ◽  
William D. Y. McMichael ◽  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Radioactive Contamination ◽  
Agricultural Products ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Radioactive Material ◽  
Inspection System ◽  
Food Inspection ◽  
Fukushima Prefecture ◽  
Early Stages ◽  
Nuclear Disaster ◽  
Inspection Systems

This paper overviews the achievements and challenges of radioactive contamination countermeasures, food inspection systems, and reputational damage to agricultural products in Fukushima Prefecture during the early stages of the Great East Japan Earthquake and nuclear disaster. It outlines the effectiveness of early countermeasures such as absorption control measures and soil decontamination, and observes how efforts aimed at revitalizing afflicted areas were initiated and advanced primarily through the leadership of residents and agricultural producers. Furthermore, it examines food inspection systems such as the “all-bag-all-volume” testing system for rice that was implemented in Fukushima, and suggests that a failure to extend such countermeasures to outside of Fukushima Prefecture was a contributing factor to the ongoing issue of reputational damage and consumer reluctance to purchase products from the area. Lastly, the paper categorizes early consumer trends in four groups based on differing perceptions of risk and safety, and concludes that dealing with reputational damage should entail creating maps of radioactive material distribution, and also building a rational inspection system that allows consumers to objectively identify the safety of agricultural products.

scholarly journals Reputational Damage in Radiation Disasters 10 years after the Accident at TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.

2021 ◽  
pp. 014664532110208
Author(s):  
Naoya Sekiya
Keyword(s):  
Power Plant ◽  
Nuclear Power Plant ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Agricultural Products ◽  
International Commission ◽  
Inspection System ◽  
Radiological Protection ◽  
Fukushima Prefecture ◽  
Marine Products ◽  
Fukushima Daiichi

This paper does not necessarily reflect the views of the International Commission on Radiological Protection. Ten years have passed since the accident at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, and radioactive substances contained in agricultural products and marine products are now below detectable levels. Amidst this, the testing stance is changing from one that guarantees safety to one that guarantees relief, and testing is being reduced for financial reasons. Moreover, the sense of resistance and concern towards food products produced in Fukushima Prefecture is reducing. Anxiety has been reducing along with the development of the inspection system, the inspection results, and the passage of time. However, although there have been fewer requests, demands, and claims to avoid products from Fukushima Prefecture since immediately after the accident, there is a tendency for consumer trends to be forcefully ‘surmised'. As a result, the problem of reputational damage, such as the fact that the market ranking of rice and beef has not recovered, remains an issue.

scholarly journals Microbial antagonists against plant pathogens in Iran: A review

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 404-440 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mehrdad Alizadeh ◽  
Yalda Vasebi ◽  
Naser Safaie
Keyword(s):  
Biological Control ◽  
Chemical Control ◽  
Plant Disease ◽  
Plant Pathogens ◽  
Plant Diseases ◽  
Agricultural Products ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Plant Disease Management ◽  
Published Research

AbstractThe purpose of this article was to give a comprehensive review of the published research works on biological control of different fungal, bacterial, and nematode plant diseases in Iran from 1992 to 2018. Plant pathogens cause economical loss in many agricultural products in Iran. In an attempt to prevent these serious losses, chemical control measures have usually been applied to reduce diseases in farms, gardens, and greenhouses. In recent decades, using the biological control against plant diseases has been considered as a beneficial and alternative method to chemical control due to its potential in integrated plant disease management as well as the increasing yield in an eco-friendly manner. Based on the reported studies, various species of Trichoderma, Pseudomonas, and Bacillus were the most common biocontrol agents with the ability to control the wide range of plant pathogens in Iran from lab to the greenhouse and field conditions.

scholarly journals Product Inspection Methodology via Deep Learning: An Overview

Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (15) ◽  
pp. 5039
Author(s):  
Tae-Hyun Kim ◽  
Hye-Rin Kim ◽  
Yeong-Jun Cho
Keyword(s):  
Deep Learning ◽  
Product Quality ◽  
Inspection System ◽  
Quality Inspection ◽  
Learning Models ◽  
Unified Framework ◽  
Learning Techniques ◽  
Inspection Systems ◽  
System Maintenance ◽  
Test Scenarios

In this study, we present a framework for product quality inspection based on deep learning techniques. First, we categorize several deep learning models that can be applied to product inspection systems. In addition, we explain the steps for building a deep-learning-based inspection system in detail. Second, we address connection schemes that efficiently link deep learning models to product inspection systems. Finally, we propose an effective method that can maintain and enhance a product inspection system according to improvement goals of the existing product inspection systems. The proposed system is observed to possess good system maintenance and stability owing to the proposed methods. All the proposed methods are integrated into a unified framework and we provide detailed explanations of each proposed method. In order to verify the effectiveness of the proposed system, we compare and analyze the performance of the methods in various test scenarios. We expect that our study will provide useful guidelines to readers who desire to implement deep-learning-based systems for product inspection.

Artificial intelligence-based automatic visual inspection system for built heritage

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lukman E. Mansuri ◽  
D.A. Patel
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Visual Inspection ◽  
Image Data ◽  
Inspection System ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Built Heritage ◽  
Automatic Visual Inspection ◽  
Inspection Systems

PurposeHeritage is the latent part of a sustainable built environment. Conservation and preservation of heritage is one of the United Nations' (UN) sustainable development goals. Many social and natural factors seriously threaten heritage structures by deteriorating and damaging the original. Therefore, regular visual inspection of heritage structures is necessary for their conservation and preservation. Conventional inspection practice relies on manual inspection, which takes more time and human resources. The inspection system seeks an innovative approach that should be cheaper, faster, safer and less prone to human error than manual inspection. Therefore, this study aims to develop an automatic system of visual inspection for the built heritage.Design/methodology/approachThe artificial intelligence-based automatic defect detection system is developed using the faster R-CNN (faster region-based convolutional neural network) model of object detection to build an automatic visual inspection system. From the English and Dutch cemeteries of Surat (India), images of heritage structures were captured by digital camera to prepare the image data set. This image data set was used for training, validation and testing to develop the automatic defect detection model. While validating this model, its optimum detection accuracy is recorded as 91.58% to detect three types of defects: “spalling,” “exposed bricks” and “cracks.”FindingsThis study develops the model of automatic web-based visual inspection systems for the heritage structures using the faster R-CNN. Then it demonstrates detection of defects of spalling, exposed bricks and cracks existing in the heritage structures. Comparison of conventional (manual) and developed automatic inspection systems reveals that the developed automatic system requires less time and staff. Therefore, the routine inspection can be faster, cheaper, safer and more accurate than the conventional inspection method.Practical implicationsThe study presented here can improve inspecting the built heritages by reducing inspection time and cost, eliminating chances of human errors and accidents and having accurate and consistent information. This study attempts to ensure the sustainability of the built heritage.Originality/valueFor ensuring the sustainability of built heritage, this study presents the artificial intelligence-based methodology for the development of an automatic visual inspection system. The automatic web-based visual inspection system for the built heritage has not been reported in previous studies so far.

scholarly journals Analysis of Laser Sensors and Camera Vision in the Shoe Position Inspection System

Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (22) ◽  
pp. 7531
Author(s):  
Jaromír Klarák ◽  
Ivan Kuric ◽  
Ivan Zajačko ◽  
Vladimír Bulej ◽  
Vladimír Tlach ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Polynomial Regression ◽  
Sensory System ◽  
Inspection System ◽  
Laser Sensors ◽  
Shoe Last ◽  
Laser Scanners ◽  
Inspection Systems ◽  
Further Development ◽  
Inspection Task

Inspection systems are currently an evolving field in the industry. The main goal is to provide a picture of the quality of intermediates and products in the production process. The most widespread sensory system is camera equipment. This article describes the implementation of camera devices for checking the location of the upper on the shoe last. The next part of the article deals with the analysis of the application of laser sensors in this task. The results point to the clear advantages of laser sensors in the inspection task of placing the uppers on the shoe’s last. The proposed method defined the resolution of laser scanners according to the type of scanned surface, where the resolution of point cloud ranged from 0.16 to 0.5 mm per point based on equations representing specific points approximated to polynomial regression in specific places, which are defined in this article. Next, two inspection systems were described, where one included further development in the field of automation and industry 4.0 and with a high perspective of development into the future. The main aim of this work is to conduct analyses of sensory systems for inspection systems and their possibilities for further work mainly based on the resolution and quality of obtained data. For instance, dependency on scanning complex surfaces and the achieved resolution of scanned surfaces.

scholarly journals COVID-19: Need of the hour to revisit asymptomatic prevalence of coronavirus pandemic

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-4
Author(s):  
Richard Avoi ◽  
Syed Sharizman Syed Abdul Rahim ◽  
Mohammad Saffree Jeffree ◽  
Visweswara Rao Pasupuleti
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ◽  
Respiratory Tract ◽  
Middle East Respiratory Syndrome ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Case Detection ◽  
Viral Loads ◽  
Early Stages ◽  
Exponential Increase ◽  
Asymptomatic Patients

  Since the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic unfolded in China (Huang et al., 2020) back in December 2019, thus far, more than five million people were infected with the virus and 333,401 death were recorded worldwide (WHO, 2020b). The exponential increase in number shows that COVID-19 spreads faster compared to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) or Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). A study (Zou et al., 2020) has shown that high viral loads of Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) are detected in symptomatic patients soon after the onset of symptoms, wherein the load content is higher in their nose than in their throat. Furthermore, the same study has revealed similar viral loads between symptomatic and asymptomatic patients. Therefore, these findings may suggest the possibility of COVID-19 transmission earlier before the onset of symptoms itself. In the early stages of the pandemic, the control measures carried out have focused on screening of symptomatic person; at the time, the whole world thought that the spread of SARS-Cov-2 would only occur through symptomatic person-to-person transmission. In comparison, transmission in SARS would happen after the onset of illness, whereby the viral loads in the respiratory tract peaked around ten days after the development of symptoms by patients (Peiris et al., 2003). However, case detection for SARS (i.e. screening of symptomatic persons) will be grossly inadequate for the current COVID-19 pandemic, thus requiring different strategies to detect those infected with SARS-CoV-2 before they develop the symptoms.

Reference indicators enabling preliminary evaluations of the impact of radioactive releases on agricultural products

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Ferrucci ◽  
Chiara Telloli
Keyword(s):  
Radioactive Contamination ◽  
Food Chain ◽  
Geographic Area ◽  
Agricultural Products ◽  
Accurate Estimation ◽  
Specific Reference ◽  
Main Concern ◽  
Relative Significance ◽  
Human Dose ◽  
The Impact

<p>After the release of high levels of radioactivity into the environment, one of the main concern relates the contamination foodstuffs. In some exposure scenarios the transfer of radionuclides through the food chain to consumers represents a major contribution to human dose. Therefore an accurate estimation of radionuclide activity concentrations in agricultural products is crucial to evaluate the ingestion dose to the population consuming locally produced food. There are many mechanisms contributing to the radioacive contamination of agricultural products as interception, retention, absorption and translocation, due to mechanisms as deposition to the exposed plant surfaces, and/or root uptake. In the last decades several efforts have been spent in developing mathematical models to predict the potential transfers of radionuclides in plants and their concentration in the edible parts. Nevertheless the relative significance of each pathway depends on a large amount of variables and parameters that increase the complexity of the models, moreover the lack of expermental data, often limit the possibility to make any meaningful results. The main aspect that make difficult to predict the uptake of radionuclides by plants is the dynamic nature of the contamination scenarios due primarly to the the growing of plants. Nevertheless, there are some factors that can be considered as ‘static’ for each specific geographic area, and each specific radionuclide, as the soil characteristics, the type of crop, and the behavour of some radionuclides in the environment. In the framework of a preliminary safety assessment of a radioactive release scenario, these factors could be taken as reference indicators of the potential impact on the local human food chain radioactive contamination. In this work we focus on the analysis of the scientific literature pertaining to all experimntal studies in radionuclide plant uptake, from 2000 to 2020. The aims of this analysis is to collect set of some characteristics allowing to classify, in a macroscopic scale, specific reference indicators that most contribute to the radioactive contamination of agricultural products in different geographyc areas.</p>

A Study on Radiation Imaging Mechanism and Characteristics in Different Inspection Systems

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuting Xu ◽  
Zhifang Wu ◽  
Qiang Wang
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Resolution ◽  
Inspection System ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Radiation Imaging ◽  
Image Characteristics ◽  
Inspection Systems ◽  
Small X ◽  
Large Container ◽  
Inspection Machine ◽  
Pseudo Color

Abstract Radiation imaging, as a key issue in nuclear technology, has received considerable attention in the industry. It is widely used in nuclear medicine, Customs supervision, and many other areas. The objective of this investigation is to get insight into the principle, operation characteristics and image characteristics of radiation imaging. In this paper, an investigation on radiation imaging is conducted on three main inspection systems for Customs supervision, including small X-ray inspection machine, CT baggage inspection system, and large container inspection system. The principle, operation characteristics, evaluation indexes, pseudo-color processing and image characteristics are discussed in detail. The results indicate that the spatial resolution of small X-ray inspection machine is much higher than that of CT baggage/goods inspection system and large container/vehicle inspection system. It is a challenge to identify substances and specific shapes in the case of overlapping for small X-ray inspection system. Moreover, the mechanism of X-ray images is discussed as well. The radiation images are divided into three types, including two-dimensional, pseudo-color, high spatial resolution; two-dimensional, gray, high spatial resolution; three-dimensional, pseudo-color, high density resolution. The further investigation on machine inspection images is suggested to focus on the application environment. For some objects with specific characteristics, such as amorphous, explosive, the CT baggage inspection has much better performance than other systems. The research in this paper reveals the mechanism, parametric effect and imaging characteristics. It could provide a necessary foundation for the follow-up intelligent processing, detection, identification and annotation for radiation imaging in nuclear area. The research on inspection devices could lend strong experience to medical treatment, industry and many other fields.

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