Detection of Late Blight Disease in Tomato Leaf Using Image Processing Techniques

=One of the most frequently farmed crops is the tomato crop. Late blight is the most prevalent tomato disease in the world, and often causes a significant reduction in the production of tomato crops. The importance of tomatoes as an agricultural product necessitates early detection of late blight. It is produced by the fungus Phytophthora. The earliest signs of late blight on tomatoes are unevenly formed, water-soaked lesions on the leaves located on the plant canopy's younger leave White cottony growth may appear in humid environments evident on the undersides of the leaves that have been impacted. Lesions increase as the disease proceeds, turning the leaves brown to shrivel up and die. Using picture segmentation and the Multi-class SVM technique, late blight disorder is discovered in this work. Image segmentation is employed for separating damaged areas on leaves, and the Multi-class SVM method is used for reliable disease categorization. 30 reputable studies were chosen from a total of 2770 recognized papers. The primary goal of this study is to compile cutting-edge research that identifies current research trends, problems, and prospects for late blight detection. It also looks at current approaches for applying image processing to diagnose and detect late blight. A suggested taxonomy for late blight detection has also been provided. In the same way, a model for the development of the solutions to problems is also presented. Finally, the research gaps have been presented in terms of open issues for the provision of future directions in image processing for the researchers.Comment: it is a review search that contains 17 pages and 8 figure

A Computational Approach to a Mathematical Model of Climate Change Using Heat Sources and Diffusion

The present work aims to extend the climate change energy balance models using a heat source. An ordinary differential equations (ODEs) model is extended to a partial differential equations (PDEs) model using the effects of diffusion over the spatial variable. In addition, numerical schemes are presented using the Taylor series expansions. For the climate change model in the form of ODEs, a comparison of the presented scheme is made with the existing Trapezoidal method. It is found that the presented scheme converges faster than the existing scheme. Also, the proposed scheme provides fewer errors than the existing scheme. The PDEs model is also solved with the presented scheme, and the results are displayed in the form of different graphs. The impact of the climate feedback parameter, the heat uptake parameter of the deep ocean, and the heat source parameter on global mean surface temperature and deep ocean temperature is also portrayed. In addition, these recently developed techniques exhibit a high level of predictability. Doi: 10.28991/CEJ-2022-08-07-04 Full Text: PD

Numerical Schemes for Fractional Energy Balance Model of Climate Change with Diffusion Effects

This study aims to propose numerical schemes for fractional time discretization of partial differential equations (PDEs). The scheme is comprised of two stages. Using von Neumann stability analysis, we ensure the robustness of the scheme. The energy balance model for climate change is modified by adding source terms. The local stability analysis of the model is presented. Also, the fractional model in the form of PDEs with the effect of diffusion is given and solved by applying the proposed scheme. The proposed scheme is compared with the existing scheme, which shows a faster convergence of the presented scheme than the existing one. The effects of feedback, deep ocean heat uptake, and heat source parameters on global mean surface and deep ocean temperatures are displayed in graphs. The current study is cemented by the fact-based popular approximations of the surveys and modeling techniques, which have been the focus of several researchers for thousands of years.Mathematics Subject Classification:65P99, 86Axx, 35Fxx. Doi: 10.28991/ESJ-2023-07-03-011 Full Text: PD

Development of the Flight Dynamic Model (FDM) Using Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) Simulations for an Unknown Aircraft

The usage of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) has enhanced 10-fold since the last decade, especially in the area of aerospace science. In this chapter, we will focus on determining the feasibility and validity of CFD results that are plugged in flight dynamic model (FDM) to that of actual flight of an aircraft. Flight data of an actual aircraft is used to determine the aerodynamic performance of the designed FDM. In addition to this, FDM consist of various systems integration of an aircraft; however, this study will focus on aerodynamic parameter optimization. Relative analysis is carried out to validate the FDM. This will enable readers to know how CFD can be a great tool for designing FDM of an unknown aircraft

Mitigation of Power Losses and Enhancement in Voltage Profile by Optimal Placement of Capacitor Banks With Particle Swarm Optimization in Radial Distribution Networks

The prime purpose of placing a capaci- tor bank in a power system is to provide reactive power, reduce power losses, and enhances voltage profile. The main challenge is to determine the optimum capacitor position and size that reduces both system power losses and the overall cost of the sys- tem with rigid constraints. For this purpose, different optimization techniques are used, for example Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) which converges the com- plex non-linear problem in a systematic and method- ological way to find the best optimal solution. In this paper, the standard IEEE 33-bus and 69-bus systems are used to find the optimum location and size of the capacitors bank. These power networks are simu- lated in Siemens PSS®E software. For the optimum solution of capacitor banks, the PSO algorithm is used. The PSO fitness function is modelled in such a way which contains the high average bus voltage, the small size of capacitor banks, and low power losses. The fitness function used is a weighted type to reduce the computation time and multi-objective function complexity

Thalidomide is Associated With Increased T Cell Activation and Inflammation in Antiretroviral-naive HIV-infected Individuals in a Randomised Clinical Trial of Efficacy and Safety

Trial Design: Open-label, randomised, controlled, pilot proof-of-concept clinical trial. Methods: Participants: Antiretroviral naive adult males with CD4 count >= 350 cells/mm(3). Interventions: Patients were randomised to receive thalidomide 200 mg QD for 3 weeks (Thalidomide group) or not (Control group) and followed for 48 weeks. Objective: We hypothesized that short-term Thalidomide use would reduce HIV related inflammation and HIV replication among antiretroviral naive HIV infected individuals. Outcome: Viral loads, CD4/CD8 counts, ultra-sensitive C-reactive protein (US-CRP), cell activation markers, and plasma lipopolysaccharide (LPS) were analyzed. Randomisation: Unrestricted randomisation. Blinding: No blinding was used. Results: Numbers randomised: Thirty recruited individuals were randomised to Thalidomide (16 patients) or Control (14 patients) groups. Recruitment: Patients were recruited from April 2011 to January 2013. Outcome: Viral loads remained stable in both groups. During thalidomide treatment, a decrease in CD4/CD8 ratio (p = 0.04), a decrease in CD4 count (p = 0.04), an increase in cell activation calculated by the percentage of CD38 (+)/HLA-DR+ CD8 cells (p < 0.05) and an increase in US-CRP (p < 0.01) were observed in the Thalidomide group, with all parameters returning to baseline levels after thalidomide interruption. We confirmed that thalidomide increased HIV replication in vitro of 6 of 7 samples from long-term antiretroviral suppressed individuals. Harms: No class 3/4 adverse events occurred. Conclusions: Short-termuse of thalidomide led to an intense transient increase in T cell activation and inflammation, with a decrease in the CD4(+) cell count without changes to the CD8(+) cell count. We confirmed that thalidomide acts in vitro as a latency reversal agent and speculate that the in vivo results obtained were due to an increase in HIV replication. (C) 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Univ Fed São Paulo, Lab Retrovirol, São Paulo, BrazilFiocruz MS, Inst Oswaldo Cruz, Lab Interdisciplinar Pesquisas Med, Rio De Janeiro, BrazilSecretaria Municipal Saude Antonio Ribeiro Neto, Rio De Janeiro, BrazilOncohiv, Rio De Janeiro, BrazilUniv Fed Rio de Janeiro, Rio De Janeiro, BrazilInst Fed Educ Ciencia & Tecnol Rio de Janeiro IF, Rio De Janeiro, BrazilUniv Fed São Paulo, Lab Retrovirol, São Paulo, BrazilFAPESP: 04/15856-9Web of Scienc

Global, regional, and national sex-specific burden and control of the HIV epidemic, 1990-2019, for 204 countries and territories: the Global Burden of Diseases Study 2019

Background: The sustainable development goals (SDGs) aim to end HIV/AIDS as a public health threat by 2030. Understanding the current state of the HIV epidemic and its change over time is essential to this effort. This study assesses the current sex-specific HIV burden in 204 countries and territories and measures progress in the control of the epidemic. Methods: To estimate age-specific and sex-specific trends in 48 of 204 countries, we extended the Estimation and Projection Package Age-Sex Model to also implement the spectrum paediatric model. We used this model in cases where age and sex specific HIV-seroprevalence surveys and antenatal care-clinic sentinel surveillance data were available. For the remaining 156 of 204 locations, we developed a cohort-incidence bias adjustment to derive incidence as a function of cause-of-death data from vital registration systems. The incidence was input to a custom Spectrum model. To assess progress, we measured the percentage change in incident cases and deaths between 2010 and 2019 (threshold >75% decline), the ratio of incident cases to number of people living with HIV (incidence-to-prevalence ratio threshold <0·03), and the ratio of incident cases to deaths (incidence-to-mortality ratio threshold <1·0). Findings: In 2019, there were 36·8 million (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 35·1–38·9) people living with HIV worldwide. There were 0·84 males (95% UI 0·78–0·91) per female living with HIV in 2019, 0·99 male infections (0·91–1·10) for every female infection, and 1·02 male deaths (0·95–1·10) per female death. Global progress in incident cases and deaths between 2010 and 2019 was driven by sub-Saharan Africa (with a 28·52% decrease in incident cases, 95% UI 19·58–35·43, and a 39·66% decrease in deaths, 36·49–42·36). Elsewhere, the incidence remained stable or increased, whereas deaths generally decreased. In 2019, the global incidence-to-prevalence ratio was 0·05 (95% UI 0·05–0·06) and the global incidence-to-mortality ratio was 1·94 (1·76–2·12). No regions met suggested thresholds for progress. Interpretation: Sub-Saharan Africa had both the highest HIV burden and the greatest progress between 1990 and 2019. The number of incident cases and deaths in males and females approached parity in 2019, although there remained more females with HIV than males with HIV. Globally, the HIV epidemic is far from the UNAIDS benchmarks on progress metrics. Funding: The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the National Institute of Mental Health of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the National Institute on Aging of the NIH

Measuring routine childhood vaccination coverage in 204 countries and territories, 1980-2019 : a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2020, Release 1

Background Measuring routine childhood vaccination is crucial to inform global vaccine policies and programme implementation, and to track progress towards targets set by the Global Vaccine Action Plan (GVAP) and Immunization Agenda 2030. Robust estimates of routine vaccine coverage are needed to identify past successes and persistent vulnerabilities. Drawing from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2020, Release 1, we did a systematic analysis of global, regional, and national vaccine coverage trends using a statistical framework, by vaccine and over time. Methods For this analysis we collated 55 326 country-specific, cohort-specific, year-specific, vaccine-specific, and dosespecific observations of routine childhood vaccination coverage between 1980 and 2019. Using spatiotemporal Gaussian process regression, we produced location-specific and year-specific estimates of 11 routine childhood vaccine coverage indicators for 204 countries and territories from 1980 to 2019, adjusting for biases in countryreported data and reflecting reported stockouts and supply disruptions. We analysed global and regional trends in coverage and numbers of zero-dose children (defined as those who never received a diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis [DTP] vaccine dose), progress towards GVAP targets, and the relationship between vaccine coverage and sociodemographic development. Findings By 2019, global coverage of third-dose DTP (DTP3; 81.6% [95% uncertainty interval 80.4-82 .7]) more than doubled from levels estimated in 1980 (39.9% [37.5-42.1]), as did global coverage of the first-dose measles-containing vaccine (MCV1; from 38.5% [35.4-41.3] in 1980 to 83.6% [82.3-84.8] in 2019). Third- dose polio vaccine (Pol3) coverage also increased, from 42.6% (41.4-44.1) in 1980 to 79.8% (78.4-81.1) in 2019, and global coverage of newer vaccines increased rapidly between 2000 and 2019. The global number of zero-dose children fell by nearly 75% between 1980 and 2019, from 56.8 million (52.6-60. 9) to 14.5 million (13.4-15.9). However, over the past decade, global vaccine coverage broadly plateaued; 94 countries and territories recorded decreasing DTP3 coverage since 2010. Only 11 countries and territories were estimated to have reached the national GVAP target of at least 90% coverage for all assessed vaccines in 2019. Interpretation After achieving large gains in childhood vaccine coverage worldwide, in much of the world this progress was stalled or reversed from 2010 to 2019. These findings underscore the importance of revisiting routine immunisation strategies and programmatic approaches, recentring service delivery around equity and underserved populations. Strengthening vaccine data and monitoring systems is crucial to these pursuits, now and through to 2030, to ensure that all children have access to, and can benefit from, lifesaving vaccines. Copyright (C) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.Peer reviewe

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Abstract Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries

Hiv cell tropism: from diagnosis to viral evolution

HIV-1 tropism to co-receptors CCR5 or CXCR4 relates to disease progression and cytopathic effects of the virus. Furthermore, antagonists to co-receptors have become valuable addition to the arsenal of antiretroviral drugs. Assessing co-receptor tropism is mandatory for the prescription of these drugs. Phenotypic assays are usually recommended over genotypic assays to infer co-receptor tropism. The prediction on maintaining or switching HIV-1 co-receptor usage over time is still uncertain. Here in this thesis we have presented a new phenotypic tropism assay and evaluated evolution of co-receptor tropism in two different cohorts of individuals infected with HIV-1. First, we have successfully developed a new phenotypic assay based on 450 bp C2V3 region of HIV-1 envelope. Initially, this phenotypic assay is developed with reference HIV-1 strains with known tropism and validated with the TRT phenotypic assay that uses a slightly bigger fragment (~750 bp) compared to our assay. One of the major advantages of the tropism assay developed herein is the small fragment size and the possibility of adaption to use with proviral DNA and could be used to infer tropism for individuals with plasma viral load 50% and remained R5 during the study period whereas individuals showing viruses with a co-receptor switch to CXCR4 use had baseline FPR50%, mantendo-se portadores de variantes R5 durante o período de estudo enquanto que os indivíduos que mostram virus com mudanca de tropismo para CXCR4 apresentavam FPR basal <50%. A análise de regressão logística foi realizada para determinar o potencial de FPR em prever a mudança de tropismo ao longo do tempo. Determinou-se que os pacientes com vírus com FPR superior a 40,6% apresentaram virus com FPR estável ao longo do tempo, ao passo que FPRs mais baixas tendem a queda progressiva destes valores progressivamente levando a aparecimento de cepas trópicas pelo CXCR4. A área sob a curva ROC para o nível de corte previsto era de 98%. Por último, temos estudado o impacto do uso da talidomida sobre tropismo do HIV em um ensaio clínico piloto aberto, randomizado, prova de conceito realizado em trinta indivíduos masculinos adultos virgens de tratamento antirretroviral infectadas pelo HIV. Embora o uso de talidomida resultasse em uma diminuição da relação CD4/CD8 (p=0,08) e contagens de células T CD4 (p=0,04) no grupo de tratamento comparado ao grupo controle, no entanto, estas alterações observadas foram independentes do subtipo do HIV-1 e tropismo do virus, sendo que não houve influência do uso de talidomida no tropismo do HIV-1 ao longo do tempo em comparação ao grupo controle.Dados abertos - Sucupira - Teses e dissertações (2013 a 2016