CC Method Research Articles

A novel chaos control method based on conjugate direction and adaptive step size

The Hasofer-Lind-Rackwitz-Fiessler method (HL-RF method) with the negative gradient direction as the iteration direction often oscillates or even does not converge during the iteration process due to the unreasonable control of the negative gradient direction. This greatly reduces the convergence and robustness of the HL-RF method. Chaos control method (CC method) is also a method with negative gradient direction as the iterative direction. However, in order to alleviate the oscillation problem caused by unreasonable control of negative gradient direction, it introduces a smaller iterative step size in the iterative process. Because its iterative step size is a fixed small value, the iterative efficiency of the CC method is not high. In view of the above problems, in order to reduce the iterative oscillation phenomenon and increase the iterative efficiency at the same time, it proposes a novel chaos control method based on conjugate direction and adaptive step size (CDCC method). Firstly, it uses the conjugate direction instead of the negative gradient direction, so as to fundamentally avoid the problem that the negative gradient direction is easy to cause oscillation. It effectively increases the convergence and robustness of the method. Secondly, it uses iteration information to adaptively control the iteration step size, increasing the computational efficiency of the method effectively. In addition, it also discusses the optimal value of the modification coefficient in the adaptive step size control. Finally, eight examples are given to show that the proposed method has obvious advantages in computational efficiency, convergence and robustness.

Validity of the Center-Center Method for Syndesmotic Fixation Axis Against the Trans-Syndesmotic Axis: A Cross-Sectional Study

Category: Trauma; Ankle Introduction/Purpose: In surgery for ankle fractures with tibiofibular diastasis, it is important to vertically grasp the distal tibiofibular joint. However, it is difficult to do that because the tibiofibular joint surface is not under direct vision. Center-center method (CC) is an intraoperative fluoroscopic technique to determine the position of the syndesmotic clamp. CC has been reported to reduce the risk of syndesmotic malreduction, but It is unclear whether the axis by CC (CC axis) coincides with the axis perpendicular to the distal tibiofibular joint (trans-syndesmosis axis: TS axis). Therefore, the present study aims to 1) measure the difference between the CC axis and TS axis, and 2) compare the measured values when CC is performed at different distances from the ankle joint surface. Methods: The subjects were 150 patients who underwent CT scans for ankle joint disease and lower extremity trauma. CC is a method in which the ankle joint is rotated, and the midpoint of the anteroposterior margin of the tibia and fibula is superimposed by fluoroscopy. In the present study, CC was performed using Digitally reconstructed radiography (DRR) created from a CT image. At the ankle joint surface (0mm), CC axis and TS axis were projected onto the CT axis linked with DRR. The angle between the axes was measured (inter-axes angle). Also, the distance of the intersection of these axes through the medial cortex of the tibia was measured (inter-axes distance). It was also performed at 10mm and 20mm proximal to the ankle joint surface. One-way repeated measures analysis of variance and the post hoc Bonferroni tests were used to compare the measured values' difference according to the articular surface's height. Results: Overall, the TS axis was externally rotated relative to the CC axis, with a mean inter-axes angle of 8.5±6.8degrees. The inter-axes angle of 0mm, 10mm, and 20mm were 1.9±4.0degrees, 10±5.3degrees, and 13±5.1degrees, respectively (p < 0.001). Also, the intersection point of the TS axis with the medial tibial cortex was anterior to the intersection of the CC axis, with an inter-axes distance of 7.7±6.3mm overall. The inter-axes distance of 0mm, 10mm, and 20mm were 2.0±4.2mm, 9.0±4.9mm, and 11.3±5.2mm, respectively (p < 0.001). Both the inter-axes angle and the inter-axes distance were larger when the CC method was performed higher to the tibial plafond (P < .001), with the post hoc tests showing significant differences among all heights. Conclusion: The TS axis was externally rotated to the CC axis and positioned slightly anteriorly. Also, the inter-axes angle and distance were larger when the CC method was performed higher to the tibial plafond. If the surgeon aimed to clamp the syndesmosis along the TS axis, the CC method should be applied closer to the ankle joint surface, and the medial tip of the forceps be placed slightly anterior to the point determined by the CC axis.

Оптическая генерация тока и магнитного поля в динамических электротехнических комплексах

Alternative power supply of dynamic electrical complexes (DEC) with optoelectronics is a modern direction in electrical engineering and automation. Optoelectronic means are able to simultaneously deliver electricity and information to the consumer, which helps control the elements of automated and robotic systems. Most powerful sources of intense optical radiation are lasers and solar radiation concentrators. Intracavity control of the radiation of multimode laser sources by using Q-switches can initiate the intelligent operational mode for the DEC control system. When radiation intensity reaches 107 W/cm2, melting and evaporation of the solid target surface begin. When radiation intensity exceeds 1010 W/cm2, ionization occurs and the substance turns into the near-surface plasma. The effect of plasma formation during the interaction of intense optical radiation with the material of a solid body inside a capacitor closed to an inductor makes it possible to generate a current and a high-intensity magnetic field using the “capacitor-coil” method (CC-method). Higher radiation intensity causes shock excitation of semiconductor atoms, breaking the valence bonds in them, creating the electron-hole pairs, reversible avalanche breakdown and turning plasma into a solid. Using the generation of current and magnetic field by the CC method in the digital control system of DEC is of practical interest. There are shown the results of theoretical and experimental studies of spatial-energy characteristics of a laser plasma excited inside a capacitor closed to an inductor during the current and a magnetic field generation depending on the laser radiation divergence. The possibility of using a CC-converter of optical radiation into the current of the armature winding of a brushless electric motor is considered.

Evaluation of carbohydrate counting knowledge among individuals with type 1 diabetes mellitus in Saudi Arabia: a cross-sectional study

IntroductionCarbohydrate counting (CC) is an important nutritional strategy to improve glycaemic outcomes among patients with diabetes. Few studies have investigated CC knowledge among individuals with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM)...

Prediction of rainfed corn evapotranspiration and soil moisture using the STICS crop model in eastern Canada

The accurate simulation of crop evapotranspiration (ET) and volumetric soil moisture (SM) is key for agro-environmental simulation of rainfed crops. We compared two ET calculation methods available in the STICS crop model, i.e., the crop coefficient (FAO-56, CC) and the resistance (Shuttleworth and Wallace, SW) methods, over six contrasting rainfed grain corn growing seasons. The ET predictions using the SW method were in good agreement with eddy covariance ET measurements and overall ET predictions were slightly higher than observations by 3% while the CC method overestimated ET by 18%. STICS better predicted daily ET for wet years than for dry years. Ten-day corn ET showed that the SW method performed better when transpiration was dominant (nRMSE of 21.3%) than otherwise (nRMSE of 47.2%). The choice of ET calculation methods had little impact on SM predictions, which are computed in STICS using a tipping bucket approach. SM predictions over the entire soil profile were good for both wet (nRMSE of 15.1%) and dry (nRMSE of 18.2%) years. Larger discrepancies between measured and predicted SM were observed in the surface layer (0–10 cm). A new method was proposed to improve crop model simulations of the soil water transport in the shrinkage cracks during dry years, named Improving Shrinkage Cracks Impact (ISCI). The ISCI method enhanced the performance of SM predictions in the surface soil layer, for which nRMSE decreased to 29.7% for 2002, 18.1% for 2010 and 10.4% for 2018 in comparison with SM results without the use of ISCI method. The steps for implementing ISCI method in crop models using the tipping bucket approach for computing soil moisture are presented. • Two evapotranspiration calculation methods using STICS crop model were compared. • The resistance method predicted corn evapotranspiration better than the crop coefficient one. • Surface soil moisture predicted by STICS departed from observations during dry growing season. • We proposed a new method to account for the impact of shrinkage cracks on surface soil moisture.

Assessment of mechanical elasticity of soils based on confined compression tests

Prevention of soil compaction requires examining soil mechanical stability. This is usually done by applying the basic concept of the pre-compression stress σp, assuming a fully elastic behavior for soils being loaded by stresses lower than σp and a mixture of elastic-plastic behavior being loaded by higher stresses. However, a small cumulative plastic deformation may occur even when the applied stresses is not beyond σp being indeterminable by current pe-compression test procedures which is not accounting for unloading steps. Therefore, we investigated an alternative approach to simultaneously determine σp and mechanical elasticity of soil by introducing unloading steps (referred to as release compression, RC). Results were compared to the conventional procedure with continuously increasing loads (continuous compression, CC). In the case of RC, soil settlement was measured both after each loading (RC-L) and after each unloading (RC-U) phases between two consecutive pressures providing two load displacement curves. Oedometer tests were conducted with three different soils comprising different clay contents ranging from 75 to 454 g kg−1. Remolded soil was filled into steel rings and compressed under pre-determined loads in a loading frame providing test samples with known pre-compression stresses of 60 and 120 kPa. The results revealed that σp values determined under two different applied loading paths (RC vs. CC) were significantly different. Both testing approaches resulted in an overestimation of σp values based on stress-strain curves which was more pronounced for RC-L compared to CC paths. However, the results from RC-U paths were closer to the CC method than the RC-L path suggesting that if an unloading step is used, RC-U curve should be used to determine σp values. The results also showed that soil with higher clay contents comprised the lowest σp value determined from the oedometer tests among all examined soils. From release compression test, we were also able to determine the elasticity of the sample for each loading stress. Among the examined soil samples, the clay soil (with higher clay content) showed the highest elasticity index being less susceptible to soil deformation.

Parity-mixed coupled-cluster formalism for computing parity-violating amplitudes

We formulate a parity-mixed coupled-cluster (PM-CC) approach for high-precision calculations of parity non-conserving amplitudes in mono-valent atoms. Compared to the conventional formalism which uses parity-proper (PP) one-electron orbitals, the PM-CC method is built using parity-mixed (PM) orbitals. The PM orbitals are obtained by solving the Dirac-Hartree-Fock equation with the electron-nucleus electroweak interaction included (PM-DHF). There are several advantages to such a PM-CC formulation: (i) reduced role of correlations, as for the most experimentally-accurate to date ${}^{133}{\rm Cs}\,$ $6S_{1/2}-7S_{1/2}$ transition, the PM-DHF result is only 3% away from the accurate many-body value, while the conventional DHF result is off by 18%; (ii) avoidance of directly summing over intermediate states in expressions for parity non-conserving amplitudes which reduces theoretical uncertainties associated with highly-excited and core-excited intermediate states, and (iii) relatively straightforward upgrade of existing and well-tested large-scale PP-CC codes. We reformulate the CC method in terms of the PM-DHF basis and demonstrate that the cluster amplitudes are complex numbers with opposite parity real and imaginary parts. We then use this fact to map out a strategy through which the new PM-CC scheme may be implemented.

Experimental investigation on surface functional indices in Ultrasonic Elliptical Vibration Cutting of C45 carbon steel

The tribological performance of a machined surface is greatly influenced by the quality and reliability of manufacturing processes employed in its creation. In the present study, an attempt has been made to investigate the effects of various cutting parameters which include cutting speed, feed rate, depth of cut, and ultrasonic vibration amplitude on surface tribological characteristics of C45 carbon steel while employing surface functional indices, namely, Surface bearing index (Sbi), Core fluid retention index (Sci), and Valley fluid retention index (Svi). Ultrasonic elliptical vibration-assisted turning (UEVT) and conventional turning (CT) experiments were carried out to comparatively assess the performance of both cutting methods in terms of the surface functional parameters’ response. The observed variations of the surface functional indices under the influence of the investigated cutting parameters were critically analyzed, and a detailed comparative discussion based on the surface generation mechanisms of both cutting methods is presented. The results obtained from the 3D surface measurement revealed that the variation trends of the surface functional indices in both processing techniques are relatively the same and the UEVC method was found to have higher potential of improving the overall tribological properties of the machined surface compared with the CC method.

SLE clinical trials: impact of missing data on estimating treatment effects

ObjectiveA common problem in clinical trials is missing data due to participant dropout and loss to follow-up, an issue which continues to receive considerable attention in the clinical research community....

The effect of thermal radiation from surrounding terrain on glacier surface temperatures retrieved from remote sensing data: A case study from Qiyi Glacier, China

Large-scale spatiotemporal variations in land surface temperature (LST) can be derived from satellite observations, particularly for remote high-elevated mountain glaciers where in situ observations are scarce. Our previous LST retrieval study on Qiyi Glacier of China employed a generalized single-channel algorithm and Landsat thermal infrared data, but a clear LST summertime overestimation was observed, particularly on the glacier tongue. Here we extend our previous study by calculating the thermal radiance on Qiyi Glacier that is emitted from the surrounding terrain, and incorporating this thermal radiation term into two generalized single-channel LST algorithms to analyze its influence on the errors of glacier surface temperatures retrieved from remote sensing data. In addition, we also discuss other possible causes of this overestimation in LST retrieval. The key findings of our study are as follows. (1) The surrounding terrain provides nonnegligible summertime thermal radiation to the glacier in the Landsat7 band 6 spectrum range (10.4–12.5 μm) that is 2.6 times larger than the atmospheric down-welling thermal radiance on the glacier tongue. The retrieved LSTs yield an overestimation of up to 0.28 K when the effect of thermal radiation from the surrounding slopes is not considered. (2) The average errors due to the surrounding topographic thermal radiation and the cubic convolution resampling method (CC method) employed in the Landsat7 thermal infrared data processing are only 0.07 K and − 0.01 K, respectively. These are much smaller than the average LST errors (1.79 K), indicating that the neither the surrounding topographic thermal radiation nor the CC method are primary factors in the retrieved LST overestimation. (3) The sole dependence of the generalized single-channel algorithm on the atmospheric water vapor content may therefore be the most likely cause of this overestimation, as high-altitude regions generally possess low atmospheric water contents. Radiative transfer models (e.g., MODTRAN) may provide a solution to this problem by simulating the influence of other atmospheric constituents on LST retrieval under conditions of low water vapor, which can then indicate any additional input variables that should be incorporated into the LST algorithm.

Improved Carotid Stenosis Quantification on Novel 4D/3D-Doppler Ultrasonography Indexing to the Common Carotid Artery.

The accuracy of internal carotid artery stenosis (ICAS) quantification depends on the method of stenosis measurement, impacting therapeutic decisions and outcomes. The NASCET method references the stenotic to the distal ICAS lumen, the ECST method to the local outer and the common carotid artery (CC) method to the CC diameter. Direct morphometric stenosis measurement with four-dimensionally guided three-dimensional ultrasonography (4D/3DC-US) demonstrated good validity for the commonly used NASCET method. The NASCET definition has clinically relevant drawbacks. Our purpose was to investigate the validity of the ECST and CC methods. 4D/3DC-US percent-stenosis measures of 103 stenoses (80 patients) were compared to quantitative catheter angiography and duplex ultrasonography (DUS) in a blinded fashion. The 4D/3DC-US versus angiography intermethod standard deviation of differences (SDD, n = 103) was lower for the CC method (5.7 %) compared to the NASCET (8.1 %, p < 0.001) and ECST methods (9.1 %, p < 0.001). Additionally, it was lower than the NASCET angiography interrater SDD of 52 stenoses (SDD 7.2 %, p = 0.047) and non-inferior for the ECST method (p = 0.065). Interobserver analysis of equivalent grading methods showed no differences for the SDDs between angiography and 4D/3DC-US observers (p > 0.076). Binary comparison to angiography showed equal Kappa values > 0.7 and an accuracy ≥ 85 % for the NASCET and CC methods, higher than for the ECST method. The binary accuracy of ICAS grading did not differ from DUS for all methods. The new 4D/3DC-US CC method is an accurate and well reproducible alternative to the NASCET and ECST methods and offers potential for clinical application.

Research on Chaotic Time Series Prediction Model for Building Energy Consumption

Aiming the problem that the accuracy of current building energy consumption prediction method depends heavily on environmental parameters (air temperature, air pressure, humidity, etc.), a short-term prediction model of time series building energy consumption based on Chaos-BP is proposed. Firstly, the optimal delay time and embedding dimension of data samples are obtained by CC method. And the small data amount method is used to prove that the building energy consumption has chaotic characteristics. Secondly, the input structure of BP neural network is determined by phase space reconstruction, and again the middle school building is the research object. Finally, the Matlab software is used as the simulation tool to simulate the Chaos-BP prediction model and the BP prediction model respectively. The experimental results show that the building energy consumption has chaotic characteristics. Compared with the BP neural network prediction model, the Chaos-BP model can accurately predict the building energy consumption and provide a scientific basis for the development of building energy conservation work.

Study on Structural Cut and Convert Method of Mechanical Undercutting in Large Underground Space

The demand for exploitation and utilization of underground space is more and more intense with the rapid development of cities in China. Domestic and foreign scholars have achieved fruitful results on the related construction technologies. However, the existing technology still has disadvantages. It is difficult to make construction safe and cost-effective in many situations. Based on the study of conventional construction methods and their advantages, combined with the development of underground engineering mechanization and prefabrication, this paper presents a structural cut-and-convert method of mechanized undercutting, which is called CC method and can be applied in large underground space construction, and has also been successfully put into practice. This paper focuses on the structural cut-and-convert method, steel and reinforced concrete composite structure, joint processing and other innovative contents. And corresponding improvements for the method are also made in this paper. Based on the characteristics of this new methods, the feasibility of applying the method to underground spaces with multi-layer, curve-shape, long-distance and prefabricated structures is discussed, and a new solution to the development of urban underground space is also provided in this paper.

Spin\u2013spin coupling constants in hbox {HC}{equiv }hbox {CXH}_3 molecules; hbox {X}{=}hbox {C}, Si, Ge, Sn and Pb

The nuclear spin–spin coupling constants in a series of acetylene derivatives hbox {HC}{equiv }hbox {CXH}_3, where X is C, Si, Ge, Sn, Pb, have been calculated employing both coupled-cluster theory (CC) and density functional theory (DFT), the latter in nonrelativistic and relativistic four-component approach with different exchange–correlation functionals and basis sets. In addition, property derivatives with respect to molecular geometry parameters have been computed with nonrelativistic and relativistic Hamiltonians in order to evaluate the usefulness of the calculated nonrelativistic vibrational corrections. Generally, the CC method reproduces the experimental values somewhat better than DFT. In the case of the latter, the performance of B3LYP functional was the most satisfactory. The relativistic effects become noticeable for the couplings including heavy atom in tin- and lead-containing molecules. The calculations of the derivatives of the coupling constants indicate that these derivatives are even more sensitive to the relativistic effects than the corresponding coupling constants.

Excitation Energies of UO22+, NUO+, and NUN Based on Equation-of-Motion Coupled-Cluster Theory with Spin-Orbit Coupling.

Obtaining reliable excitation energies of the isoelectronic series, UO22+, NUO+, and UN2, is a challenge in quantum chemistry calculations due to importance of electron correlation and spin-orbit coupling (SOC). Vertical spin-free and spin-orbit coupled excitation energies of these molecules are calculated in this work using equation-of-motion coupled-cluster approach at the CC singles and doubles level (EOM-CCSD). SOC is included in post-SCF calculations and this treatment has been shown to provide SOC effects with high accuracy for heavy elements. Excitation energies for UO22+ with the present approach are in good agreement with previous results using linear response CCSD, multiconfiguration perturbation theory (CASPT2), and multireference configuration interaction (MRCI). As for NUO+ and UN2, excitation energies with CASPT2 from two previous calculations differ significantly and the present results usually lie between these two sets of CASPT2 results. On the other hand, excitation energies with intermediate Hamiltonian Fock space CC method (IHFSCC) are generally too small compared with our results. This work provides new estimates on excitation energies of these molecules and it could be helpful in investigating spectroscopic and luminescence properties of larger uranium complexes.

An overview of inference methods in probabilistic classifier chains for multilabel classification

This study presents a review of the recent advances in performing inference in probabilistic classifier chains for multilabel classification. The interest of performing such inference arises in an attempt of improving the performance of the approach based on greedy search (the well‐known CC method) and simultaneously reducing the computational cost of an exhaustive search (the well‐known PCC method). Unlike PCC and as CC, inference techniques do not explore all the possible solutions, but they increase the performance of CC, sometimes reaching the optimal solution in terms of subset 0/1 loss, as PCC does. The ε‐approximate algorithm, the method based on a beam search and Monte Carlo sampling are those techniques. An exhaustive set of experiments over a wide range of datasets are performed to analyze not only to which extent these techniques tend to produce optimal solutions, otherwise also to study their computational cost, both in terms of solutions explored and execution time. Only ε‐approximate algorithm with ε=.0 theoretically guarantees reaching an optimal solution in terms of subset 0/1 loss. However, the other algorithms provide solutions close to an optimal solution, despite the fact they do not guarantee to reach an optimal solution. The ε‐approximate algorithm is the most promising to balance the performance in terms of subset 0/1 loss against the number of solutions explored and execution time. The value of ε determines a degree to which one prefers to guarantee to reach an optimal solution at the expense of increasing the computational cost. WIREs Data Mining Knowl Discov 2016, 6:215–230. doi: 10.1002/widm.1185This article is categorized under: Technologies &gt; Classification Technologies &gt; Machine Learning

Optimal CC Method: Improved Results

Color constancy allows visitors to recognize color in the diversity of conditions, and to see some regularity in the color. Generally, color constancy is a method of which calculates the particular impact involving discrete light sources using a digital image. The particular image documented with a camera is resolute by several components: the actual physical information with the picture, the particular illumination occurrence within the scene, as well as the features with the digital camera. Color based images have several applications. Retrieval based on object colors must take into an explanation the features that manipulate the pattern of color images: illumination conditions, sensor spectral sensibilities and surface reflectance. Tracking objects in environments under non-uniform lighting condition is mainly challenging as the practical appearance may alter in space and time [1]. We create an integrated effort of fuzzy membership with edge preserving filtering. As fuzzy membership exploits two classes because we make use of dual membership functions in the research work. In this paper, improved results have extracted for color constancy from optimal method based on fuzzy membership with edge preservation filtering. An evaluation of the proposed technique is also drawn with existing techniques, the comparisons have obviously shown that the fuzzy based color constancy outperforms over the available techniques.

Cuff depth and continuous chest auscultation method for determination of tracheal tube insertion depth in nasal intubation: observational study.

Incorrect endobronchial placement of the tracheal tube can lead to serious complications. Hence, it is necessary to determine the accuracy of tracheal tube positioning. Markers are included on tracheal tubes, in the process of their manufacture, as indicators of approximate intubation depth. In addition, continuous chest auscultation has been used for determining the proper position of the tube. We examined insertion depth using the cuff depth and continuous chest auscultation method (CC method), compared with insertion depth determined by the marker method, to assess the accuracy of these methods. After induction of anesthesia, tracheal intubation was performed in each patient. In the CC method, the depth of tube insertion was measured when the cuff had passed through the glottis, and again when breath sounds changed in quality; the depth of tube insertion was determined from these values. In the marker method, the depth of tube insertion was measured and determined when the marker of the tube had reached the glottis, using insertion depth according to the marker as an index. Insertion depth by the marker method was 26.6 ± 1.2 cm and by the CC method was 28.0 ± 1.2 cm (P < 0.0001). The CC method indicated a significantly greater depth than the marker method. This study determined the safe range of tracheal tube placement. Tube positions determined by the CC method were about 1 cm deeper than those determined by the marker. This information is important to prevent accidental one-lung ventilation and accidental extubation. UMIN No. UMIN000011375.

A correspondence finding method based on space conversion in 3D shape measurement using fringe projection.

Phase correlation is an effective method used for 3D shape measurement. It has a defect in the step of finding corresponding points. This work analyses the complexity of phase maps and the problems caused by it in real applications, proposes a correspondence finding method based on space conversion. Applying space conversion, two sets of phase maps from two cameras are integrated to a unique phase space. Accordingly, searching corresponding point between two images can be carried out in the same image coordinate system of the projector. As a supplementary, two algorithms are given for CC method and VR method. Experimental results show that proposed algorithms are successful and effective.

Recognition and localization of occluded apples using K-means clustering algorithm and convex hull theory: a comparison

For apple harvesting robot, it is difficult to acquire the coordinates of occluded apples accurately in natural scenes, which is important in implementing picking tasks. In this paper, a method on automatic recognition and localization of occluded apples was proposed. Firstly, an apple recognition algorithm based on K-means clustering theory was described. Secondly, convex hull information which was obtained by following the contours of extracted apple regions was used to extract the real apple edges. Finally, three points from these real edges were selected to estimate the centers and radius of apples. This algorithm was tested and compared with traditional Hough transform method (HT method) and contour curvature method (CC method) and 125 apple images were used to test the effectiveness of these methods. Four parameters including Segmentation Error (SE), False Positive Rate (FPR), False Negative Rate (FNR) and Overlap Index (OI) were used to evaluate the performance of these methods. Experimental results showed that SE of the presented method was decreased by 14.399 and 30.782 % when compared to CC method and HT method respectively, FPR by 7.234 and 11.728 % and OI was increased by 18.644 and 30.938 %. FNR of the proposed method was 0.912 % lower than CC method, while it was 5.869 % higher than HT method. The experimental results indicated that the proposed method could get much better localization rate than Hough transform method and contour curvature method, thus it could be concluded that the algorithm is an efficient means for the recognition and localization of occluded apples.