Review on the current trends in tongue diagnosis systems

AbstractTongue diagnosis is an essential process to noninvasively assess the condition of a patient's internal organs in traditional medicine. To obtain quantitative and objective diagnostic results, image acquisition and analysis devices called tongue diagnosis systems (TDSs) are required. These systems consist of hardware including cameras, light sources, and a ColorChecker, and software for color correction, segmentation of tongue region, and tongue classification. To improve the performance of TDSs, various types TDSs have been developed. Hyperspectral imaging TDSs have been suggested to acquire more information than a two-dimensional (2D) image with visible light waves, as it allows collection of data from multiple bands. Three-dimensional (3D) imaging TDSs have been suggested to provide 3D geometry. In the near future, mobile devices like the smart phone will offer applications for assessment of health condition using tongue images. Various technologies for the TDS have respective unique advantages and specificities according to the application and diagnostic environment, but this variation may cause inconsistent diagnoses in practical clinical applications. In this manuscript, we reviewed the current trends in TDSs for the standardization of systems. In conclusion, the standardization of TDSs can supply the general public and oriental medical doctors with convenient, prompt, and accurate information with diagnostic results for assessing the health condition

Quantification of tongue colour using machine learning in Kampo medicine

AbstractIntroductionThe evaluation of tongue colour has been an important approach to examine human health in Kampo medicine (traditional Japanese medicine) because the change in tongue colour may suggest physical or mental disorders. Several tongue colour quantification methods have been published to objectify clinical information among East Asian countries. However, reliable tongue colour analysis results among Japanese test persons are limited because of a lack of quantitative evaluation of tongue colour. We aimed to use advances in digital imaging processing to quantify and verify clinical data tongue colour diagnosis by characterising differences intongue features.MethodsThe DS01-B tongue colour information acquisition system was used to extract tongue images of 1080 Japanese test subjects. Evaluation of tongue colour, body and coating was performed by 10 experienced Kampo medicine physicians. The acquired images were classified into five tongue body colour categories and six tongue coating colour categories based on evaluations from 10 physicians with extensive Kampo medicine experience. K-means clustering algorithm was applied as a machine learning (the study of pattern recognition by computational learning) method to the acquired images to quantify tongue body and coating colour information.ResultsTongue body (n=550) and tongue coating (n=516) colour samples were classified and analysed. Clusters consisting of five tongue body colour categories and six tongue coating colour categories were experimentally described in the CIELAB colour space. Statistical differences were evident among the clinically primary tongue colours.ConclusionsClinically important tongue colour differences in Kampo medicine can be visualised by applying machine learning to tongue images taken under stable conditions. This has implications for developing globally unified, reliable tongue colour diagnostic criteria which could be used to explore the relevance between clinical status and tongue colour

Providing a Gender Perspective to Integration in Western Europe. Muslim Women\u2019s Agency between Multicultural and Assimilationist Policies

While scholars have tried to assess the presumed increase of the civic integration approach and the failure of multiculturalism in Western Europe, little research has been conducted to uncover the ways in which these two understandings of integration could promote Muslim women\u2019s agency within their communities and in the broader national space. This analysis will address the possible implications of each model\u2019s integration policies targeting second and third generation Muslim women, taking into account the role played by religion to justify life choices with family and community members in the specific context of European Islam. A younger generation of Muslim women refers to religious identity and knowledge of \u2018Pure Islam\u2019 as resources to gain personal worth and respected roles within their communities. This article will first challenge the alleged backlash of Multiculturalism through a gender lens and then it will provide a framework of understanding of Muslim women\u2019s agency. To conclude, the article argues that multicultural policies rather than more assimilationist or universalist measures, could have a better impact on the promotion of Muslim women\u2019s agency. Measures such as those listed by the Multicultural Policy Index, developed by Keith Banting and Will Kymlicka at Queen\u2019s University, are more likely to provide women with the tools used to negotiate life choices and their presence in the public space

Color and texture associations in voice-induced synesthesia

Voice-induced synesthesia, a form of synesthesia in which synesthetic perceptions are induced by the sounds of people's voices, appears to be relatively rare and has not been systematically studied. In this study we investigated the synesthetic color and visual texture perceptions experienced in response to different types of “voice quality” (e.g., nasal, whisper, falsetto). Experiences of three different groups—self-reported voice synesthetes, phoneticians, and controls—were compared using both qualitative and quantitative analysis in a study conducted online. Whilst, in the qualitative analysis, synesthetes used more color and texture terms to describe voices than either phoneticians or controls, only weak differences, and many similarities, between groups were found in the quantitative analysis. Notable consistent results between groups were the matching of higher speech fundamental frequencies with lighter and redder colors, the matching of “whispery” voices with smoke-like textures, and the matching of “harsh” and “creaky” voices with textures resembling dry cracked soil. These data are discussed in the light of current thinking about definitions and categorizations of synesthesia, especially in cases where individuals apparently have a range of different synesthetic inducers

Benthic Ecology From Space: Optics and Net Primary Production in Seagrass and Benthic Algae Across the Great Bahama Bank

Development of repeatable and quantitative tools are necessary for determining the abundance and distribution of different types of benthic habitats, detecting changes to these ecosystems, and determining their role in the global carbon cycle. Here we used ocean color remote sensing techniques to map different major groups of primary producers and estimate net primary productivity (NPP) across Great Bahama Bank (GBB). Field investigations on the northern portion of the GBB in 2004 revealed 3 dominant types of benthic primary producers: seagrass, benthic macroalgae, and microalgae attached to sediment. Laboratory measurements of NPP ranged from barely net autotrophic for grapestone sediment with thin microalgal biofilm to highly productive for dense accumulations of brown macroalgae. A logarithmic relationship between NPP and green seafloor reflectance described the general trend in NPP across various benthic constituents. Using a radiative transfer-based approach, satellite-derived estimates of NPP for the region totaled similar to ~2 x 1013 gC yrˉ¹ across the GBB. The prevailing benthic habitat was mapped as sediment with little to no microalgal biofilm. Moderate to dense seagrass meadows of Thalassia testudinumwere the dominant primary producers and contributed over 80% of NPP in the region. If the vast majority of seagrass leaves decompose in the primarily carbonate sediments, carbonate dissolution processes associated with this decomposition may result in sequestration of seagrass above- and below-ground carbon into the bicarbonate pool (2.4 x 1013 gC yrˉ¹), where it has a residence time on the order of tens of thousands of years

Analysis of surface structures and thermal distribution of Grenzgletscher ablation area with multispectral and thermal imagery

Due to climate change, glaciers and ice sheets are increasingly melting. Many glaciers in polar and subpolar regions as well the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheet are polythermal. Which arises questions about how a polythermal glacier reacts, when a shift from a polythermal regime to a temperate regime occurs. The largest polythermal glacier in the Alps is the Grenzgletscher, where the ablation zone shows typical surface structures for cold ice. This makes the Grenzgletscher a perfect study site to study a polythermal glacier under warming conditions and then extrapolate the findings to the arctic and subarctic region. The analysis of surface structures and thermal distribution at different locations on in the ablation zone of Grenzgletscher can be interpreted as studies under different climate conditions. By using multispectral and thermal imagery this thesis analyzed the surface of the ablation zone and tries to correlate the findings with the ice temperature. This analysis are important in understanding how a polythermal glacier adapts to warmer climate and what has to be considered in glaciological models

Master of Science

thesisThe Malaspina Glacier of Southern Alaska /Yukon Canada provides the opportunity to investigate the interaction between glaciers and tectonics, in an active orogen that is forming from the collision and accretion of the Yakutat Microplate in the Gulf of Alaska. Several large alpine glaciers coalesce on the piedmont of the Saint Elias Mountains to form the Malaspina Glacier. We use feature tracking by cross correlation of Landsat satellite images to map the velocity and strain rate fields on the surface of the Malaspina Glacier to explore how the structural geology at the bed of the glacier affects the dynamics and structure of the moving ice on the surface. Rates of flow in alpine areas are fast and ice can move 90+ m/month in the summer and on the piedmont ice can move over 100-300 m a year. Strain rates calculated from the velocity fields are on the order of 10^-9 / s on the surface of the glaciers. Strain rate maps reveal the nature of the stress field in the ice where it moves over topographic features at the bed of the glacier. The results bear directly on the origin of ice falls that originate at thrust faults on the limbs of large folds, the origin of fast glacier flow along fault zones where rheology at the bed of the glacier is presumably impacted by rapid erosion and development of weak water saturated till, the pattern of ice flow around the termination of a large strike slip fault, and the presence and extent of subglacial lakes and distributary channels that feed outburst flooding at the terminus of glaciers. The morphology and dynamics of the Malaspina piedmont lobes also provide insight into the strike slip component of motion along the Esker Creek Fault that was activated during an M 8.1 earthquake in 1899, as well as some control on the basal topography, and perhaps structural geology, where the Fairweather Transform Fault and Aleutian Megathrust are currently linking together beneath the Malaspina Glacier

Vestibular fold configuration during phonation in adults with and without dysphonia

The real participation of the vestibular folds during phonation mechanism is unknown. How vestibular folds change their configuration during phonation is still unclear. Learning about these changes in the functional mechanism of vestibular fold would be helpful for the evaluation of pathological conditions. AIM: The objective of the present study was to analyze the configuration of laryngeal vestibular folds during phonation (sustained emission of vowel /µ/) by comparing exams of individuals without vocal complaints (the normal voice group) with those with vocal complaints. STUDY DESIGN: Transversal simple study. MATERIAL AND METHOD: 120 images of larynges were analyzed, 60 of normal voice individuals and 60 of dysphonic subjects, with equal gender distribution. The position of the free margin of the vestibular fold was identified in relation to a straight line that brought together the anterior and posterior insertions. Regarding this position, three types of configurations were described: concave, when it was in a lateral position, convex when it was in a medial position, and linear when it overlapped. RESULTS: Out of the 240 vestibular folds, 158 were concave, 41 convex and 31 linear. The concave form was predominant in both groups in relation to the other two forms, although the number of convex and linear forms increased in the dysphonic group. Analyzing the behavior of these forms in each gender we noticed that among women, the linear form was significantly increased in the dysphonic group, whereas among men there was significant increase in convex form. CONCLUSION: We concluded that there were differences in behavior of vestibular folds in the dysphonic group in relation to the normal voice group, and that the differences occurred differently in both gender groups.As pregas vestibulares participam da emissão vocal com mudanças evidentes de posição e forma durante este processo, porém pouco ou quase nada se conhece sobre o significado desta participação e como se iniciam estes movimentos ativos que mudam sua forma e contorno. Entendemos que o conhecimento da participação das pregas vestibulares na fisiologia laríngea possa ter importante aplicação prática, pois permitirá avaliar melhor o comprometimento funcional em condições patológicas, o que auxiliará na definição de estratégias para o adequado tratamento. OBJETIVO: Estudar a configuração da prega vestibular durante a fonação (emissão sustentada do /µ/) comparando exames de indivíduos sem queixa vocal (grupo eufonia) com portadores de queixa de voz (grupo disfonia). FORMA DE ESTUDO: Coorte transversal simples. MATERIAL E MÉTODO: Foram analisados 120 registros de imagens de laringes, sendo 60 de indivíduos eufônicos e 60 de disfônicos, constituído cada grupo de igual número de indivíduos em relação ao gênero. Foi identificada a posição da borda livre de prega vestibular em relação a uma reta que une as inserções anterior e posterior da mesma. Na dependência desta posição, foram descritos três tipos de configurações: côncava, quando estava em posição lateral, convexa quando em posição medial e linear quando paralela ou se sobrepunha. RESULTADOS: Das 240 pregas vestibulares, 158 eram côncavas, 41 convexas e 31 lineares. A forma côncava predominou nos dois grupos em relação às outras, porém as formas convexa e linear aumentaram no grupo disfonia. No feminino, a forma linear teve aumento significante no grupo disfonia, enquanto no masculino o aumento significante ocorreu na forma convexa. CONCLUSÃO: Existe diferença no comportamento da prega vestibular no grupo disfonia em relação à eufonia, sendo que esta diferença ocorre de forma diversa em relação aos gêneros.Universidade Regional de BlumenauUniversidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP)UNIFESPSciEL