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Crop leaf length, perimeter, and area serve as vital phenotypic indicators of crop growth status, the measurement of which is important for crop monitoring and yield estimation. However, processing a leaf point cloud is often challenging due to cluttered, fluctuating, and uncertain points, which culminate in inaccurate measurements of leaf phenotypic parameters. To tackle this issue, the RKM-D point cloud method for measuring leaf phenotypic parameters is proposed, which is based on the fusion of improved Random Sample Consensus with a ground point removal (R) algorithm, the K-means clustering (K) algorithm, the Moving Least Squares (M) method, and the Euclidean distance (D) algorithm. Pepper leaves were obtained from three growth periods on the 14th, 28th, and 42nd days as experimental subjects, and a stereo camera was employed to capture point clouds. The experimental results reveal that the RKM-D point cloud method delivers high precision in measuring leaf phenotypic parameters. (i) For leaf length, the coefficient of determination (R 2 ) surpasses 0.81, the mean absolute error (MAE) is less than 3.50 mm, the mean relative error (MRE) is less than 5.93%, and the root mean square error (RMSE) is less than 3.73 mm. (ii) For leaf perimeter, the R 2 surpasses 0.82, the MAE is less than 7.30 mm, the MRE is less than 4.50%, and the RMSE is less than 8.37 mm. (iii) For leaf area, the R 2 surpasses 0.97, the MAE is less than 64.66 mm 2 , the MRE is less than 4.96%, and the RMSE is less than 73.06 mm 2 . The results show that the proposed RKM-D point cloud method offers a robust solution for the precise measurement of crop leaf phenotypic parameters.

Most of the requests of authorisation to the use of health claims pursuant to Regulation EC 1924/2006 related to the gastrointestinal (GI) tract have received a negative opinion by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), mainly because of an insufficient substantiation of the claimed effect (CE). The present manuscript refers to the collection, collation and critical analysis of outcome variables (OVs) and methods of measurement (MMs) related to the GI tract compliant with Regulation 1924/2006. The critical evaluation of OVs and MMs was based on the literature review, with the final aim of defining their appropriateness in the context of a specific CE. The results obtained are relevant for the choice of the best OVs and MMs to be used in randomised controlled trials aimed to substantiate the claims on the GI tract. Moreover, the results can be used by EFSA for updating the guidance for the scientific requirements of such health claims.

All the requests for authorisation to bear health claims under Articles 13(5) and 14 in the context of appetite ratings and weight management have received a negative opinion by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), mainly because of the insufficient substantiation of the claimed effects (CEs). This manuscript results from an investigation aimed to collect, collate and critically analyse the information related to outcome variables (OVs) and methods of measurement (MMs) in the context of appetite ratings and weight management compliant with Regulation 1924/2006. Based on the literature review, the appropriateness of OVs and MMs was evaluated for specific CEs. This work might help EFSA in the development of updated guidance addressed to stakeholders interested in bearing health claims in the area of weight management. Moreover, it could drive the applicants during the design of randomised controlled trials aimed to substantiate such claims.

Adequate visual function has a strong impact on the quality of life of people. Several foods and food components have been hypothesized to play a role in the maintenance of normal visual function and in the prevention of eye diseases. Some of these foods/food components have been the object of a request of authorization for use of health claims under Articles 13(5) or 14 of the Regulation (EC) 1924/2006. Most of these requests have received a negative opinion from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) due to the choice of inappropriate outcome variables (OVs) and/or methods of measurement (MMs) applied in the studies used to substantiate the claims. This manuscript refers to the collection, collation and critical analysis of OVs and MMs related to vision. Guidance document and requests for authorization of health claims were used to collect OVs and MMs related to vision. A literature review was performed to critically analyse OVs and MMs, with the aim of defining their appropriateness in the context of a specific claimed effect related to vision. The results highlight the importance of adequate choices of OVs and MMs for an effective substantiation of claims related to visual function., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Evidence suggests a protective role for several nutrients and foods in the maintenance of skin function. Nevertheless, all the requests for authorization to use health claims under Article 13(5) in the framework of maintenance of skin function presented to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) have received a negative opinion. Reasons for such failures are mainly due to an insufficient substantiation of the claimed effects, including the choice of inappropriate outcome variables (OVs) and methods of measurement (MMs). The present paper reports the results of an investigation aimed at collecting, collating and critically analyzing the information with relation to claimed effects (CEs), OVs and MMs related to skin health compliance with Regulation 1924/2006. CEs, OVs and MMs were collected from both the EFSA Guidance document and from the authorization requests of health claims under Article 13(5). The critical analysis of OVs and MMs was based on a literature review, and was aimed at defining their appropriateness (alone or in combination with others) in the context of a specific CE. The results highlight the importance of an adequate choice of OVs and MMs for an effective substantiation of the claims., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

This paper describes a new approach in evaluating the surface beta contamination using the direct method of measurement. It makes use of previous results obtained in numerical modeling of electron transport in planar geometry and is mainly based on the estimation of the efficiency of contamination sources for beta radiation and its standard uncertainty using the available information concerning the component materials of the sources and their main parameters. Experimental results illustrate the appropriateness of the new approach for surface beta contamination measurements., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background and Aims: The high number of negative opinions from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) to the requests for authorization of health claims is largely due to the design of human intervention studies, including the inappropriate choice of outcome variables (OVs) and of their methods of measurement (MMs). The present manuscript reports the results of an investigation aimed to collect, collate and critically analyse the information in relation to claimed effects, OVs and MMs, in the context of protection against oxidative damage and cardiovascular health compliant with Regulation 1924/2006., Methods and Results: Claimed effects, OVs and the related MMs were collected from EFSA Guidance documents and applications for authorization of health claims under Articles 13.5 and 14. The OVs and their MMs were evaluated only if the claimed effect was sufficiently defined and was considered beneficial by EFSA. The collection, collation and critical analysis of the relevant scientific literature consisted in the definition of the keywords, the PubMed search strategies and the creation of databases of references. The critical analysis of the OVs and their MMs was performed on the basis of the literature review and was aimed at defining the appropriateness of OVs and MMs in the context of the specific claimed effects., Conclusions: The information provided in this document could serve to EFSA for the development of further guidance on the scientific requirements for health claims, as well as to the stakeholders for the proper design of human intervention studies aimed to substantiate such health claims., (Copyright © 2017 The Italian Society of Diabetology, the Italian Society for the Study of Atherosclerosis, the Italian Society of Human Nutrition, and the Department of Clinical Medicine and Surgery, Federico II University. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity is often measured in human effusions to help in differentiating between transudates and exudates. Few studies have been performed using effusion samples from animals., Objectives: The purpose of the study was to determine whether LDH can be used to differentiate between transudative and exudative effusions in dogs and cats (including postmortem samples), and whether there is a difference between different laboratory methods of LDH measurement., Methods: Lactate dehydrogenase activity was measured in canine and feline effusions that were submitted to the Murdoch University Veterinary Hospital Clinical Pathology Laboratory over approximately 12 months using 2 wet and one dry chemistry methods, including 10 effusions collected postmortem. Results were compared to classification using traditional methods for effusion types., Results: Lactate dehydrogenase activity was significantly higher in exudates than in transudates, significantly different depending on the method of measurement, and significantly higher in all effusions collected postmortem. An LDH effusion:serum ratio of < 0.5 was associated with transudates. There was no significant difference between samples collected into EDTA or plain serum tubes, in frozen and thawed samples, or after storage at 4°C for 3-7 days., Conclusions: Measurement of LDH activity may be useful in helping to differentiate between transudates and exudates in cats and dogs. The method of measurement must be known and kept consistent if cutoff values are to be used. The LDH activity was increased in all effusions collected from animals after death, potentially invalidating its use postmortem., (© 2016 American Society for Veterinary Clinical Pathology.)

A novel method has been developed for the activity measurement of large-area beta reference sources. It makes use of two emission rate measurements and is based on the weak dependence between the source activity and the activity distribution for a given value of transmission coefficient. The method was checked experimentally by measuring the activity of two ((60)Co and (137)Cs) large-area reference sources constructed from anodized aluminum foils. Measurement results were compared with the activity values measured by gamma spectrometry. For each source, they agree within one standard uncertainty and also agree within the same limits with the certified values of the source activity., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

A simple method has been developed for determining the activity of large-area beta reference sources in anodized aluminum foils. It is based on the modeling of the transmission of beta rays through thin foils in planar geometry using Monte Carlo simulation. The method was checked experimentally and measurement results show that the activity of large-area beta reference sources in anodized aluminum foils can be measured with standard uncertainties smaller than the limit of 10% required by ISO 8769., (© 2013 Published by Elsevier Ltd.)