Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, OR Wednesday, October 8, 2003
Technology to identify insects OSU experts’ goal
A team of experts at
Oregon State University
(OSU) at Corvallis hopes
to bring the powerful tools
of artificial intelligence to
the world of ecology and
environmental protection,
with a new $1.7 million
grant from the National
Science Foundation to cre-
ate technology that can
identify insects.
This application of
“machine learning” could
expand the frontiers of a
computer science field
known as pattern recogni-
tion, such as the systems
that now use computers to
identify fingerprints.
Fingerprints are easy,
however, compared to
identifying insects -- flexi-
ble, three-dimensional ob-
jects that come in many
shapes, sizes, colors and
configurations. And there
are a lot of them. In Ore-
gon, a square meter of soil
can contain from 100,000
to 300,000 individuals rep-
resenting two to 200 spe-
cies.
But if the challenge is
huge, so is the potential
environmental payoff, said
OSU.
“When we perfect a
low-cost, efficient method
to use computers to moni-
tor insect populations, it
will revolutionize water
quality monitoring, which
will be one of the first ap-
plications,” said Tom Diet-
terich, an OSU professor of
computer science. “And in
forest management, ecolo-
gists are hampered by lack
of a way to easily measure
insect populations and bio-
diversity. We might be
able to speed up that proc-
ess about 1,000 times.”
What is needed is a
system that can collect,
manipulate, photograph
and identify small insects,
quite quickly, accurately
and in large numbers. And
a long-term goal, the re-
searchers say, is to create
machine and computer sys-
tems that can be
“retrained” for application
to different sets of insects
or a broad range of other
pattern recognition prob-
lems.
One of the first insects
the scientists will try to
identify is stonefly larvae,
which are known to be a
sensitive indicator of
stream health and water
quality.
Changes in water qual-
ity over time can be
tracked by monitoring
changes in the composition
of aquatic insect communi-
ties, providing more impor-
tant information than a
check on water at any one
point in time.
Researchers have
known for some time the
value of such monitoring,
but the cost of collecting,
counting and identifying
the insects with highly-
trained and often scarce
experts is prohibitive.
A computer system
that could do so would be
of enormous value, even if
only for this one applica-
tion. And the broad fields
of stream and terrestrial
ecology, agriculture, for-
estry and many other areas
could ultimately provide a
myriad of uses for technol-
ogy that could identify
small, irregular objects
quickly and accurately.
To expand the field of
pattern recognition, scien-
tists hope for advances in
two areas -- the use of
“feature” dictionaries in
which a computer can find,
identify and use thousands
of visual features from an
object to determine its
identity; and “relational
appearance” methods, in
which computers figure out
what objects might look
like under a wide variety of
viewing angles and light-
ing conditions. The con-
(541) 476-2127
Elementary Schools Menu
Sponsored by
‘Illinois Valley News’
592-2541
321 S. Redwood Hwy.
THURSDAY, OCT. 9
*Cheese stix,
cheeseburger,
pepperoni pizza, super
sub sandwich, fiesta
salad
FRIDAY, OCT. 10
*Statewide In Service
Day - no classes
MONDAY, OCT. 13
*Chicken nuggets,
hamburger, cheese
pizza, PB&J sandwich,
chef salad
TUESDAY, OCT. 14
*Beef & bean burrito,
cheeseburger,
pepperoni pizza, ham &
cheese sandwich,
garden salad, jungle
crackers
WEDNESDAY, OCT. 15
*Corn dog, hamburger,
cheese pizza, tuna
salad sandwich, cobb
salad
cept of “machine learning”
or artificial intelligence
implies that the computer
systems, by themselves,
will help decide which fea-
tures and which views can
be of the most help in mak-
ing accurate identifica-
tions.
There may be fewer
than a dozen taxonomic
specialists in all of North
America with the expertise
to perform all of the
needed analyses, the re-
searchers said.
OSU is in an ideal po-
sition for this type of inter-
disciplinary research, the
scientists say, because it
can combine the skills of
experts in a variety of
computer science, natural
resource and engineering
fields.
They will employ a
large number of under-
graduate and graduate stu-
dents, and the project di-
rectors also hope to inte-
grate some of the experi-
ments used in the work to
train middle school and
high school teachers.
Commercial spin-offs
and new start-up compa-
nies using the technology
that emerges from this re-
search are also likely, he
said.
Sunday, Sept. 28
*3:23 p.m., grass fire,
19700 block Redwood
Hwy.
Tuesday, Sept. 30
*7:53 a.m., motor ve-
hicle accident, 33000
block Redwood Hwy.
*9:23 a.m., medical
standby, 681 Caves Hwy.
*1:02 p.m., motor ve-
hicle accident, mile post
34.5 Redwood Hwy.
Wednesday, Oct. 1
*9:04 a.m., electrical
fire, 400 block Walters
Drive.
*5:44 p.m., medical
assist, 6400 block Deer
Creek Road
*9:59 p.m., medical
assist, 400 block S. Red-
wood Hwy.
*10:10 p.m., structure
fire, 100 block Forest
Creek Road.
Thursday, Oct. 2
*12:11 a.m., medical
assist, 200 block E. River
St.
*4:56 a.m., vehicle
fire, 100 block School St.
*8:08 a.m., public as-
sist, 100 block Forest
Creek
*2:09 p.m., illegal
burn,
200
block
Schumacher
*2:47 p.m., motor ve-
hicle accident, Redwood
Hwy. and Reeves Creek
Road.
*6:20 p.m., medical
assist, 600 block E. River
St.
*9:10 a.m., medical
assist, 400 block Aquarias
Way.
Saturday, Oct. 4
*8:34 a.m., motor ve-
hicle accident, 4200 block
Takilma Road
*4:42 p.m., medical
assist, 400 block Addison
Lane
*5:21 p.m., smoke in-
vestigation, Reeves Creek
Road and Lakeshore Drive
*7:22 p.m. medical
assist, 200 block Forest
Creek
*7:33 p.m., medical
assist, 300 block Caves
Hwy.
Sunday, Oct. 5
*11:31 a.m., medical
assist, 472 O’Brien Road
*5:16 p.m., explosion,
300 block Cricket Lane
*8:06 p.m., grass fire,
1100 block Lone Mountain
Road
Monday, Oct. 6
*1:55 a.m., medical
assist, 200 block Ollis
Road No. 57.
Page 13
GP man shares
secret to making
the perfect taco
A new invention called
the Taco Bender has been
specially created to provide
an easier and more effi-
cient method of frying the
folded tortillas. Its unique
design prevents the tortillas
from collapsing or closing
and there fore frying in that
form. Additionally, it al-
lows individuals to make
taco shells as fast as they
can fry them.
The inventor, Larry
Walker, from Grants Pass,
began developing the idea
in June. Frustrated from
having numerous shells
collapse as he fried them,
Walker conceived the Taco
Bender for every taco
lover’s benefit. This origi-
nal idea is now being made
available for licensing to
manufacturers interested in
new product development,
especially in the taco uten-
sils industry. Walker is
hoping to have Taco
Bender in full production
and available to the public
in the near future.
Florida-based Inven-
tion Technologies, Inc. is
handling the publicity and
public relations for Taco
Bender.