François Chung, Ph.D.

Tag: spain

APIFRESH

APIFRESH

Inspiralia project @Madrid, Spain (2013). The competitiveness of the European beekeeping sector is progressively falling due to the reduction of production as a direct consequence of the decrease in bee population. In addition, beekeeping products from countries with lower quality standards are gaining market share in Europe through an unfair competition. Furthermore, there is a lack of standards at European level for certain bee products like pollen and royal jelly.

This means that it is possible to find in the market products under these labels without any control of quality and authenticity. Few countries in Europe have some guidelines or regional standards for products other than honey, which results in a lack of standardization at the European level.

Therefore, the objectives of the APIFRESH project are threefold:

  • to develop European standards for bee pollen and royal jelly;
  • to establish health-relevant criteria for pollen and royal jelly;
  • to determine the authenticity of both pollen and honey.

Partners of this project include:

  • Balparmak (TR);
  • Campomiel (ES);
  • Centro Agrario de Marchamalo (ES);
  • CTC - Centro Tecnológico Nacional de la Conserva y Alimentación (ES);
  • EPBA - European Professional Beekeepers Association (EU);
  • FNAP - Federação Nacional dos Apicultores de Portugal (PT);
  • Inspiralia (ES);
  • OMME - Országos Magyar Méhészeti Egyesület (HU);
  • Parco Tecnologico Padano (IT);
  • TÜBITAK-MAM - Türkiye Bilimsel ve Teknolojik Araştırma Kurumu-Marmara Araştırma Merkezi (TR).

In this project, my work consists in the development of a software for the bee pollen classification and authentication. In a first step, bee pollen loads captured from a camera are separated by pollen type using a classification based on color. In a second step, a microscope is used to capture an accurate image of pollen grains from which discriminative features are extracted to identify the pollen origin, i.e. by considering the pollen grain as belonging either to a known type (pollen classification) or to an unknown type (outlier detection).

References

Related articles

EUE 2017 (book)
COMPAG 2015 (academic journal article)
Micron 2015 (academic journal article)
Inspiralia 2013 (technical report)
Inspiralia 2012 (technical report)

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GIMIAS framework

GIMIAS framework

UPF project @Barcelona, Spain (2012). GIMIAS (Graphical Interface for Medical Image Analysis and Simulation) is a workflow-oriented environment for solving biomedical image computing and simulation problems, which is extensible through the development of problem-specific plugins. In addition, GIMIAS provides an open source framework for the development of research and clinical software prototypes while allowing business-friendly technology transfer.

GIMIAS is particularly tailored to integrate tools from medical imaging, computational modeling, numerical methods and computer graphics to provide scientific developers and researchers with a software framework allowing them to build a wide variety of tools. The aim of GIMIAS is to combine tools from different areas of knowledge, thus providing a framework for multi-disciplinary research, clinical study and commercial product development.

Some of the main features of GIMIAS include:

  • multi-modal image processing;
  • personalized model creation;
  • numerical simulation;
  • visualization of simulation results.

As a Scientific Software Engineer within the GIMIAS team, my work consists in developing, optimizing, testing and installing software solutions for orthopedic applications. More precisely, I am in charge of the software development for the EU FP7-funded MySpine project and for both Catalonia ACC1Ó-funded 3D-FemOs and VERTEX projects. MySpine aims to create a clinical predictive tool to provide the clinicians with patient-specific biomechanical analysis. 3D-FemOs and VERTEX aim to improve both the diagnosis of osteoporosis and the prevention of hip (3D-FemOs) and vertebral (VERTEX) fractures.

References

Related article

VPH 2012 (conference proceeding)

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GIMIAS – Graphical Interface for Medical Image Analysis and Simulation
MySpine

SAUC-E competition

SAUC-E competition

UdG project @Girona, Spain (2006). Inspired by the American competitions, SAUC-E (Student Autonomous Underwater Challenge - Europe) is the first underwater robotics competition for students to be held in Europe. To be eligible, a group of students must design and build a robot capable of carrying out, autonomously, a mission predefined by the organization in the underwater environment.

The objective of this competition is to challenge the next generation of engineers to design and build an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV), and then to perform realistic missions in the underwater environment. The event is designed to encourage young engineers and scientists to think about underwater technology and its future possibilities, as well as to foster interest in innovation and technology, and to encourage careers in this field.

Eight teams are involved in the competition:

  • Heriot-Watt University (UK);
  • International University Bremen (DE);
  • UdG - Universitat de Girona (ES);
  • University of Bath (UK);
  • University of Glasgow (UK);
  • University of Leicester (UK);
  • University of Southampton (UK).

The VICOROB-UdG team is a multidisciplinary team of students and professors from the Computer Vision and Robotics Group (ViCOROB) of the Universitat de Girona (UdG). Its main objective is to participate in the SAUC-E 2006 competition by building the ICTINEU AUV robot. This robot leverages hardware and software tools developed over the last years in the group's laboratories (e.g. real-time simulation and control architecture). In August 2006, the VICOROB-UdG team won the SAUC-E 2006 competition held in London (UK).

Within the VICOROB-UdG team, my work consists in developing a program for the real-time tracking of underwater objects. This program, which involves the use of image processing algorithms, aims at ensuring the robot's ability to complete two specific tasks during the mission. The first task consists in navigating towards a mid-water buoy and impacting it, the second consists in navigating towards a cross laying on the pool bottom and throwing a marker towards the center of the cross.

References

Related articles

CCIA 2006 (conference proceeding)
UdG 2006 (technical report)

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SAUC-E – Student Autonomous Underwater Challenge – Europe
VICOROB-UdG team
ViCOROB – Visió per Computador i Robòtica
UdG – Universitat de Girona