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Time of flight (ToF) imaging is a promising emerging technology for the purposes of crop identification. This paper aim to presents localization system for identifying and localizing asparagus in the field based on point clouds from ToF imaging. Since the semantics are not included in the point cloud, it contains the geometric information of other objects such as stones and weeds other than asparagus spears. An approach is required for extracting the spear information so that a robotic system can be used for harvesting.

A real-time convolutional neural network (CNN)-based method is used for filtering the point cloud generated by a ToF camera, allowing subsequent processing methods to operate over smaller and more information-dense data sets, resulting in reduced processing time. The segmented point cloud can then be split into clusters of points representing each individual spear. Geometric filters are developed to eliminate the non-asparagus points in each cluster so that each spear can be modelled and localized. The spear information can then be used for harvesting decisions.

The localization system is integrated into a robotic harvesting prototype system. Several field trials have been conducted with satisfactory performance. The identification of a spear from the point cloud is the key to successful localization. Segmentation and clustering points into individual spears are two major failures for future improvements.

Most crop localizations in agricultural robotic applications using ToF imaging technology are implemented in a very controlled environment, such as a greenhouse. The target crop and the robotic system are stationary during the localization process. The novel proposed method for asparagus localization has been tested in outdoor farms and integrated with a robotic harvesting platform. Asparagus detection and localization are achieved in real time on a continuously moving robotic platform in a cluttered and unstructured environment.

This article discusses the impact of information technology requirements on the costs of electronic libraries. The fast‐paced developments of technology require continual updating of hardware and software. Networking access consists of initial costs and recurring expenses. Electronic content, training, and support all demand ongoing expenditures. In this environment institutions must budget accordingly. One‐time outlays from grant‐funding agencies or parent institutions will not meet the demands of the information technology marketplace. This article asks key questions concerning hardware, software and network installation and upgrades and provides strategies for dealing with the needs for continuous funding and long‐term financing that are essential for keeping up with the requirements of the electronic library.

WE have recently published one or two articles in which a contributor with a considerable knowledge of the Chinese economy has described some of that country's industrial activities. The articles have been scrupulously factual and impartial in revealing the ingenuity which has enabled a people desperately short of the technological resources of the industrialised nations to secure for themselves some of life's essentials.

An employee who is eligible to make a complaint for unfair dismissal has to prove that he has been dismissed by the employer if the employer contests that the employee has in fact been dismissed. If the dismissal is not contested, all the employee has to do is to show that he has been dismissed. This constitutes the first stage of the proceedings in an industrial tribunal.

A “ Practitioner of over Forty Years' Experience ” in a letter to the Pall Mall Gazette observes that few members of the medical profession “ regard ‘ calories ’ and such like as guides to treatment of patients, simply because they cannot implicitly rely upon laboratory experiments. Anyhow, they do not impress the profession generally, as their doubts are based upon everyday experiences.” The real point that seems to have been overlooked by the so‐called experts is that, “ although the same amount of nourishment may be present in two substances, according to laboratory experiments, it does not necessarily follow we can assimilate them equally well. Here is a case in point. We know that starch and dextrine are similar, and contain very nearly the same amount of nourishment, and, chemically, are almost indistinguishable; hence biscuits should be as supporting as bread. But it is a known fact that soldiers cannot march and thrive so well on the former as upon the latter (notwithstanding that in the point of nourishment as shown by laboratory experiments, 18 ounces of biscuit are said to equal 24 ounces of freshly made bread), hence it comes about that ovens are sent to the front rather than tons of biscuits. It is not meant that biscuits are not nourishing, but merely that they cannot be assimilated so well as bread, dextrine so well as starch.”

Aarhus Kommunes Biblioteker (Teknisk Bibliotek), Ingerslevs Plads 7, Aarhus, Denmark. Representative: V. NEDERGAARD PEDERSEN (Librarian).

Large numbers who have received “certificates of attestation” are the better class producers, who, mostly, have always produced clean milk. Many of them are “estate” farms, and some sell no milk at all, but they all enjoy the free services of the nation's servants. I think I am quite right in saying that actually the promoters of the “attestation” scheme (not being the Ministry of Health), are not really concerned with the milk production—as to whether it is clean or not. All the various activities which this memorandum exposes have some good in them, but altogether they make for very little. The experience born of them should be now pooled, and a real compulsory plan proceeded with. An idea which might come to fruition in, say, five years occurs to me, and it is as follows: (1) Frequent inspection of methods and milk sampling at all farms and dairies (both wholesale and retail). (2) Every producer's milk should be tested by animal inoculation for tubercle infection, at least twice per annum. Microscopic examinations of the same samples would disclose certain other infections, such as streptococci. Tests of the same sample for cleanliness (Methylene Blue and Coli) should be applied, with subsequent following inspection of methods to enforce cleanliness. (3) Frequent sampling of milk at various points of transit to consumer for quality. Often milk for delivery to wholesaler or retailer would be sampled on same occasions as visits under item 2. A new regulation should require all receptables containing milk, when placed out of his physical possession, to be sealed, pending collection by the wholesale buyer. The placing of such receptacles exposed to the sun, as is now done in thousands of cases at farm gates, should be prohibited by regulation. It is a common sight to see such receptacles on roads for hours, exposed to the hot sun, awaiting the arrival of the collecting lorry. Often the lids of the churns are raised, with consequent risk of contamination. Some of this milk being the previous afternoon's production, is eighteen to twenty hours old before being collected for transmission to the collecting depot. At such an age, and subjected to such exposure, milk, even of good production, will almost always prove to be of poor keeping quality, indeed it is often on “the turn” on arrival at the depot. (4) The Government should encourage by monetary assistance the renovation of cowsheds and dairies, with emphasis on the provision of a good water supply and means of sterilising utensils. All milk sold to the consumer should be in closed bottles, cartons, or other closed receptacle. (5) Results of tuberculous and other disease‐infected milk discovered by item 2 to be forwarded to the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Animal Health Division, co‐operative consideration being given on finding extent of disease in any cow as to whether legal proceedings should be instituted for failing to report animal and/or for selling tuberculous milk. (6) Statutory authority should be given providing for the tuberculin test of all cattle, and the sale of reactors should be prohibited. In connection with this, two or three years notice should be given to all cattle keepers (including non‐producers) that a survey tuberculin test would be carried out (the notice being for the purpose of enabling cattle owners to rear sufficient young T.T. stock to replace reactors found on first survey test, and so avert serious reduction in milk yields). The reacting animals would become the property of the State, appropriate compensation being paid to the owner before immediate removal to a district farm establishment adequately segregated, and managed by, say, the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries—one such establishment could serve several counties. The best of such animals could be marketed for food, thereby reclaiming a substantial part of the monetary outlay paid in compensation. The reactors would be replaced by the young T.T. stock provided by each owner during the two or three years prior to the first survey. A second test should be made, and any eliminating process necessary via the Ministry's reacting establishments repeated. Afterwards it should be made a serious offence to permit the addition to any herd of any animal which has not passed the tuberculin test. Home‐bred stock should be tested as soon after birth as possible (say 14 days). The test relating to the addition to herds should be the responsibility of the owner, and the cost of tuberculin testing by a private veterinary surgeon should be a fixed, reasonable charge. Certificates showing the result should be furnished to the Animal Health Division office. Thereafter an annual tuberculin test of all herds, with accompanying clinical examination by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, should be made, when compliance with the regulations respecting animals added since the previous inspection could be checked. If some such scheme as outlined was proceeded with, gone would be the necessity of all the present halfhearted voluntary schemes which are only touching a very small percentage of cattle. As all milk would be clean, tuberculin tested milk, controlled by bacteriological tests, no need would exist for the Milk (Special Designations) Orders: these could be repealed. No more milk need be “pasteurised.” “Approval” of milk for schools, with all its complications, would be redundant, as it would not matter which producer's milk was consumed by the children. The National Milk Testing Scheme would be redundant also.

The Table which is printed along with this article gives a view of the progress of our Public Libraries as shown by the adoptions of the Acts, year by year, since 1848. In heavier type are set out the various Acts of Parliament or other influences which have had a determining effect in popularizing and spreading the Public Library. We have also added as an item of additional interest, the name of the first librarian of each town, so far as we have been able to ascertain it. But this is not guaranteed to be absolutely correct, and we shall be pleased to have notifications of errors and omissions.