CDES: A pixel-based crowd density estimation system for Masjid al-Haram

CDES is an automatic crowd density estimation system that can be used to estimate crowd density from digital images taken at Masjid al-Haram. Developed using a combination of image processing and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, CDES possesses the capability to count the number of people in moderately high crowds from a flexibly selected region of interest (ROI). Background removal and edge detection are first applied to the image for crowd feature extraction. Then, the extracted crowd foreground blob pixels are scaled accordingly to correct perspective distortion. Finally, the corrected pixel blobs act as input for the backpropagation (BP) neural network to estimate the number of people within the blob. Using the area of the selected ROI, the crowd density is calculated and classified into five ranges from very low to very high. The experimental results are presented.     

Clay, Phosphate Adsorption, Dispersion, and Rheology

Soluble phosphate is a common ingredient of fertilizer used in agriculture production all over the world. This chemical mixed with soil is transported into the water and marine environment via rainfall causing a range of environmental problems such as toxic algae bloom. Kaolin clay is a common material found in soil and is used as a model system to understand the effects of phosphate adsorption on the flocculation/dispersion of the clay slurries. In the topics, torrential downpours are common. The large water flow will easily disperse the unflocculated or weakly flocculated sediments over a wide area including river and marine environments. Phosphate adsorption was found to weaken the interparticle forces between clay platelets in the slurries. At high enough concentration, it will completely deflocculate the clay slurries, i.e. the net interparticle force is repulsive. A deflocculated slurry is characterised by a low viscosity and no yield stress. As a result, it is much easier to disperse this slurry over a wide area possible even in a small downpour. This study will present the flow and yield stress behaviour of kaolin clay slurries under the influence of adsorbed phosphate.     

Single-Plant Biocomposite from Ricinus Communis: Preparation, Properties and Environmental Performance

A single-plant biobased composite material was prepared from fibre and matrix constituents produced from the castor plant, ricinus communis. It is shown that the mechanical properties of the castor plant fibres are comparable to those of other bast fibres and that the stiffness and strength characteristics of the castor fibre/polyamide 11 biocomposite compare well with those of other natural fibre composites. By using a biobased thermoplastic matrix material the reliance on non-renewable feedstock sources is reduced and end-of-lifetime recyclability is improved. The analysis of the environmental performance of the new castor plant composite suggests that the biobased material has great potential as a sustainable alternative replacing glass fibre-reinforced plastics.