This study aimed to evaluate the effect of types of horticultural activities among elderly individuals in a senior citizen learning camp. We arranged four horticultural activities: Grass Doll, Kokedama, Rocky Leaf Prints, and Herb Tasting and Smelling. Twenty-seven senior citizens (60 to 76 years) were recruited to participate. We assessed their physiological and mental state before and after the activities by measuring heart rate variability (HRV), pulse rate, blood pressure, salivary amylase activity (SAA), and Profile of Mood States (POMS). Results showed that SAA was significantly lower after the Rocky Leaf Prints, Herb Tasting and Smelling, and Kokedama. Pulse rate had a downward trend after the four horticultural activities. The ratio of low frequency (LF) over high frequency (HF) results showed that the Rocky Leaf Prints had a larger downward trend, followed by Herb Tasting and Smelling. POMS scores indicated significant improvement for Rocky Leaf Prints and Herb Tasting and Smelling. The types including artistic creation and food tasting were promising methods for psychological relaxation, stress reduction, and vigor enhancement for elderly persons. Findings showed that the impact of activities involving contact with plants was more significant in short-term activities. We hope this study can help plan the horticultural activities of the elderly in the future.

ABSTRACT The objective of our study was to develop a protocol enabling the use of vegetation indices to evaluate the rooting of Azalea (Rhododendron pulchrum cv. Sweet) cuttings. Six root growth parameters were recorded after exposing those cuttings to rooting media for 47 days. Among plants with different soil-plant analysis development (SPAD) and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) values, those with higher values exhibited significantly higher number of roots, root length, and root dry weight, suggesting that reflectance indices were useful in measuring the root growth parameters of the cuttings. Another aim of this work was to study the effects of plant growth regulators (PGRs) on rooting for cutting propagation. Azalea cuttings were soaked in the treatments with indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) at 2,000 mg L-1 or combined with 1-naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA; 2,000 mg L-1), salicylic acid (SA; 10-4 M), and thiamine (TA; 800 mg L-1). The same observations as SPAD and NDVI on six different rooting parameters were recorded and analyzed after cutting’s exposure to rooting media for 99 days for the auxin test, and 62 days for the SA and TA tests. Compared to NAA alone, IBA enhanced root growth and development as determined by increases in all parameters, and therefore it was used thereafter. Successful results for the number of roots and root dry weight were achieved using azalea cuttings with a combination of IBA and SA. In addition, the mix of IBA and TA resulted in higher number of roots and length of root. These combined treatments are recommended for establishing stem cuttings to produce nursery plants of azalea.

This paper presents a computer vision system for detecting lanes and vehicles on highway at night. This system recognizes the rear-lights of vehicles from the night scene image on highway, as viewed by a camera-assisted car behind. The detection of rear-lights is usually complicated by the existence of reflector plates on ground, multiple cars, and the environment lightening. The variation of the shapeisize and height of rear-lights, and the wide range of possible distance from the observing vehicle also add extra complexity to the recognition. In this research, we take the approach of first detecting the reflector plates among the bright spots in the highway night scene, which indicate the lane borders. Through the brightness and area filtering, the reflector plates can he extracted. Removing the reflector spots from the bright-spot image and using the information of detected lanes, the pairing of rear-lights to find vehicles can be simplified. Experiment shows the success of this approach in detecting multiple vehicles on highway.

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