Image Processing for mHealth-Based Approach to Detect the Local Tissue Inflammation in Cutaneous Leishmaniasis: A Proof of Concept Study

Skin lesions are a feature of many diseases including cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL). Ulcerative lesions are a common manifestation of CL. Response to treatment in such lesions is judged through the assessment of the healing process by regular clinical observations, which remains a challenge for the clinician, health system, and the patient in leishmaniasis endemic countries. In this study, image processing was initially done using 40 CL lesion color images that were captured using a mobile phone camera, to establish a technique to extract features from the image which could be related to the clinical status of the lesion. The identified techniques were further developed, and ten ulcer images were analyzed to detect the extent of inflammatory response and/or signs of healing using pattern recognition of inflammatory tissue captured in the image. The images were preprocessed at the outset, and the quality was improved using the CIE L ∗ a ∗ b color space technique. Furthermore, features were extracted using the principal component analysis and profiled using the signal spectrogram technique. This study has established an adaptive thresholding technique ranging between 35 and 200 to profile the skin lesion images using signal spectrogram plotted using Signal Analyzer in MATLAB. The outcome indicates its potential utility in visualizing and assessing inflammatory tissue response in a CL ulcer. This approach is expected to be developed further to a mHealth-based prediction algorithm to enable remote monitoring of treatment response of cutaneous leishmaniasis.

Drought Index Mapping in Java Island Using Sentinel-3 SLSTR

As the most populous island globally, Java Island has various vulnerabilities to disasters ranging from geological to hydro-meteorological. One of the most common hydro-meteorological disasters is the drought that occurs every year in the dry season. This disaster causes crop failure, land and forest fires, and clean water shortages. In this study, the Sea and Land Surface Temperature Radiometer (SLSTR) instrument onboard the Sentinel-3 platform was used to map drought using the Vegetation Temperature Condition Index (VTCI) algorithm based on the scattering space technique of Land Surface Temperature (LST) and Normalized Different Vegetation Index (NDVI). During 2018, the highest and lowest LST occurred on September 28 (309 oK), and February 1 (278 oK); the highest and lowest NDVI occurred on July 1 (0.466) and November 13 (0.221). In comparison, the driest conditions indicated the lowest VTCI (0.162) on July 17 and the wettest on August 28 (0.508). The driest and wettest situation co-occurred: at the end of the dry session and the rainy session, it shows that the rain greatly contributes to high VTCI. A regular drought mapping needs to be performed as an effort to disaster risk reduction. Drought maps are then used as a spatial recommendation in reforestation intervention to reduce drought in the future.

On the solutions of boundary value problems

We investigate the nonlinear boundary value problems by reproducing kernel Hilbert space technique in this paper. We construct some reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces. We define a bounded linear operator to obtain the solutions of the problems. We demonstrate our numerical results by some tables. We compare our numerical results with some results exist in the literature to present the efficiency of the proposed method.

Deriving the skyrmion Hall angle from skyrmion lattice dynamics

Magnetic skyrmions are topologically non-trivial, swirling magnetization textures that form lattices in helimagnetic materials. These magnetic nanoparticles show promise as high efficiency next-generation information carriers, with dynamics that are governed by their topology. Among the many unusual properties of skyrmions is the tendency of their direction of motion to deviate from that of a driving force; the angle by which they diverge is a materials constant, known as the skyrmion Hall angle. In magnetic multilayer systems, where skyrmions often appear individually, not arranging themselves in a lattice, this deflection angle can be easily measured by tracing the real space motion of individual skyrmions. Here we describe a reciprocal space technique which can be used to determine the skyrmion Hall angle in the skyrmion lattice state, leveraging the properties of the skyrmion lattice under a shear drive. We demonstrate this procedure to yield a quantitative measurement of the skyrmion Hall angle in the room-temperature skyrmion system FeGe, shearing the skyrmion lattice with the magnetic field gradient generated by a single turn Oersted wire.

A Shoreline Evolution Model with a Groin Structure under Non-Uniform Breaking Wave Crest Impact

Beach erosion is a natural phenomenon that is not compensated by depositing fresh material on the shoreline while transporting sand away from the shoreline. There are three phenomena that have a serious influence on the coastal structure, such as increases in flooding, accretion, and water levels. In addition, the prediction of coastal evolution is used to investigate the topography of the beach. In this research, we present a one-dimensional mathematical model of shoreline evolution, and the parameters that influence this model are described on a monthly basis over a period of one year. Consideration is given to the wave crest impact model for evaluating the impact of the wave crest at that stage. It focuses on the evolution of the shoreline in environments where groins are installed on both sides. The initial and boundary condition setting techniques are proposed by the groins and their environmental parameters. The non-uniform influence of the crest of the breaking wave is so often considered. We then used the traditional forward time centered space technique and the Saulyev finite difference technique to estimate the monthly evolution of the shoreline for each year.

Do dentists practice what they know? A cross-sectional study on the agreement between dentists' knowledge and practice in restoring endodontically treated teeth

Background There are very few studies comparing dentists' knowledge in relation to their clinical approach despite the existence of a possible gap between what they know and what they do. Aim To measure the agreement between knowledge and practice methods related to a selected clinical scenario involving the placement of an indirect post in endodontically treated teeth (ETT) among different types of practitioners. Methods An electronic questionnaire was emailed to members of the Saudi Dental Society. The questionnaire presented a clinical scenario of restoring a posterior ETT with an indirect post, core unit, and crown, followed by specific questions regarding knowledge and practice related to ten different treatment aspects such as who prepares the post space, technique, isolation, time, gap between gutta-percha, and time to cementation of the crown. Each question was presented twice for each aspect, once asking about their practice method and then what they thought was the correct practice (knowledge). The relationship between the participants' responses and their specialty and the agreement between the responses of knowledge and practice for each participant were analyzed by Pearson's chi-square test and Kappa. Results 203 completed questionnaires were analyzed. Most participants were 30 years old or younger (62.6%), and general dental practitioners (59%). When comparing the knowledge to the practice methods of each participant, nine out of ten aspects were of a "weak" level agreement or below (kappa < 0.59, p < 0.001). Only one aspect demonstrated a "strong" level of agreement (Kappa = 0.804), which was related to the duration of time between obturation and post space preparation in the presence of a periapical lesion. However, this strong agreement in the responses was not aligned with current evidence. There was also a significant difference among the responses of endodontists, restorative dentists and general practitioners in most of the aspects. Conclusion Overall, there was a weak agreement between what practitioners know and do in most aspects of a selected clinical scenario involving the placement of an indirect post in posterior ETT. Moreover, the participant's specialty influenced their responses regarding both knowledge and clinical practice.

Estimation of station-dependent LRA correction parameters for the TOPEX/Poseidon mission

&lt;p&gt;Launched in 1992, the TOPEX/Poseidon (T/P) mission is one of the first major altimetry missions. It is the predecessor of the Jason satellites which orbit the Earth on a very similar orbit. The geodetic space technique SLR (Satellite Laser Ranging) provides observations of this mission by targeting the Laser Retroreflector Array (LRA) mounted on the spacecraft. The T/P LRA is extremely large and not optimally designed. It thus causes big variations in the LRA phase center. These variations are a significant limiting factor of the orbit accuracy which makes it essential to apply a measurement correction for precise orbit determination. Up to now, only tabulated LRA corrections are available which require an interpolation.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In this contribution, we present a new approach to determine station-dependent LRA corrections to improve the phase center variations. The approach is based on a continuous analytical correction function which only uses the observation azimuth and zenith angle in combination with four parameters. These parameters are computed within an estimation process for each observing SLR station. Therefore, uncorrected SLR residuals based on raw SLR normal point observations are used. The correction value is added to the SLR measurement and counteracts the LRA phase center variations.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The advantages of this method are the continuous functional, which is easy to implement in existing software packages, as well as the avoidance of an interpolation between tabulated values. Furthermore, the differences between orbits determined with and without the LRA correction will be presented. Station coordinate time series and orbit comparisons with external T/P orbits are investigated in order to prove the high quality of the obtained LRA corrections.&lt;/p&gt;

Reproducing kernel approach for numerical solutions of fuzzy fractional initial value problems under the Mittag-Leffler kernel differential operator

In this research study, fuzzy fractional differential equations in presence of the Atangana-Baleanu-Caputo differential operators are analytically and numerically treated using extended reproducing Kernel Hilbert space technique. With the utilization of a fuzzy strongly generalized differentiability form, a new fuzzy characterization theorem beside two fuzzy fractional solutions is constructed and computed. To besetment the attitude of fuzzy fractional numerical solutions; analysis of convergence and conduct of error beyond the reproducing kernel theory are explored and debated. In this tendency, three computational algorithms and modern trends in terms of analytic and numerical solutions are propagated. Meanwhile, the dynamical characteristics and mechanical features of these fuzzy fractional solutions are demonstrated and studied during two applications via three-dimensional graphs and tabulated numerical values. In the end, highlights and future suggested research work are eluded.