Face recognition with partial occlusions using weighing and image segmentation

This dissertation studied the problem of face recognition when facial images have partial occlusions like sunglasses and scarfs. These partial occlusions lead to the loss of discriminatory information when trying to recognise a person's face using traditional face recognition techniques that do not take into account these shortcomings. This dissertation aimed to fill the gap of knowledge. Several papers in literature put forward the theory that not all regions of the face contribute equally when discriminating between different subjects. They state that some regions of the face are more equal than others, like the eyes and nose. While this may be true in theory there was a need to comprehensively study this problem. A weighting technique was introduced that that took into account the different features of the face and assigned weights for the different features of the face based on their distance from the five points that were identified as the centre of the weighing technique. Five centres were chosen which were the left eye, the right eye, the centre of the brows, the nose and the mouth. These centres perfectly captured were the five dominant regions of the face where roughly located. This weighing technique was fused with an image segmentation process that ultimately led to a hybrid approach to face recognition. Five features of the face were identified and studied quantitatively on how much they influence face recognition. These five features were the chin (C), eyes (E), forehead (F), mouth (M) and finally the nose (N). For the system to be robust and thorough, combinations of these five features were constructed to make 31 models that were used for both training and testing purposes. This meant that each of the five features had 16 models associated with it. For example, the chin (C) had the following models associated with it; C, CE, CF, CM, CN, CE, CEM, CEN, CFM, CFN, CMN, CEFM CEFN, CEMN, CFMN and CEFMN. These models were put in five different groupings called Category 1 up to Category 5. A Category 3 model implied that only three out of the five features were utilised for training the algorithm and testing. An example of a Category 3 model was the CFN model. This meant that this model simulated partial occlusion on the mouth and the chin region. The face recognition algorithm was trained on all these different models in order to ascertain the efficiency and effectiveness of this proposed technique. The results were then compared with various methods from the literature.Dissertation (MEng (Computer Engineering))--University of Pretoria, 2020.Electrical, Electronic and Computer EngineeringMEng (Computer Engineering)Unrestricte

Mobile drug authentication system

Mobile Drug Authentication System was a system that allowed patients to verify drugs or medicines if they are original or fake through a sms. The purpose was to come up with a solution of a system that detects if a particular drug could be original or fake as well generating reports of barcodes that customers sent for verification. This was not possible with the use of a website in making alerts of fake drugs that were being sold to the members of the public as not all people were not accessing the website and also such alerts were removed before others knew about them as there was need to accommodate other notifications on the website. This also was difficulty for members of staff to generate reports of such cases. However, the planning phase was done at the beginning of the project defined the problems and justification for the development of the project. Information gathering tools which were used included questionnaires, interviews, observations and document reviews this helped in acquiring information about the project acceptability through strengths, challenges, opportunity and threats. Database which was used was xampp in efforts to store data in huge quantities and at the same time to minimize data redundancies. The development of the system was done in PHP and Dreamweaver. The system testing and implementation of the hardware and software was done to ensure that the functions and operations of the system were working as per to the objectives. The project was successfully implemented as that change proved very useful to the members of the community and management in making decisions. This resulted in the project team making recommendations to the organisation that included security of the system and backing up of system data after a complete success of the system implementation

Comparison of quality of induction of anaesthesia between intramuscularly administered ketamine, intravenously administered ketamine and intravenously administered propofol in xylazine premedicated cats

The quality of induction of general anesthesia produced by ketamine and propofol, 2 of the most commonly used anaesthetic agents in cats, was assessed. Eighteen cats admitted for elective procedures were randomly assigned to 3 groups and then premedicated with xylazine 0.75 mg/kg intramuscularly before anaesthesia was induced with ketamine 15 mg/kg intramuscularly (KetIM group), ketamine 10 mg/kg intravenously (KetIV group) or propofol 4 mg/kg intravenously (PropIV group). Quality of induction of general anaesthesia was determined by scoring ease of intubation, degree of struggling, and vocalisation during the induction period. The quality of induction of anaesthesia of intramuscularly administered ketamine was inferior to that of intravenously administered ketamine, while intravenously administered propofol showed little difference in quality of induction from ketamine administered by both the intramuscular and intravenous routes. There were no significant differences between groups in the ease of intubation scores, while vocalisation and struggling were more common in cats that received ketamine intramuscularly than in those that received intravenously administered ketamine or propofol for induction of anaesthesia. Laryngospasms occurred in 2 cats that received propofol. The heart rates and respiratory rates decreased after xylazine premedication and either remained the same or decreased further after induction for all 3 groups, but remained within normal acceptable limits. This study indicates that the 3 regimens are associated with acceptable induction characteristics, but administration of ketamine intravenously is superior to its administration intramuscularly and laryngeal desensitisation is recommended to avoid laryngospasms

Comparison of quality of induction of anaesthesia between intramuscularly administered ketamine, intravenously administered ketamine and intravenously administered propofol in xylazine premedicated cats

The quality of induction of general anesthesia produced by ketamine and propofol, 2 of the most commonly used anaesthetic agents in cats, was assessed. Eighteen cats admitted for elective procedures were randomly assigned to 3 groups and then premedicated with xylazine 0.75 mg/kg intramuscularly before anaesthesia was induced with ketamine 15 mg/kg intramuscularly (KetIM group), ketamine 10 mg/kg intravenously (KetIV group) or propofol 4 mg/kg intravenously (PropIV group). Quality of induction of general anaesthesia was determined by scoring ease of intubation, degree of struggling, and vocalisation during the induction period. The quality of induction of anaesthesia of intramuscularly administered ketamine was inferior to that of intravenously administered ketamine, while intravenously administered propofol showed little difference in quality of induction from ketamine administered by both the intramuscular and intravenous routes. There were no significant differences between groups in the ease of intubation scores, while vocalisation and struggling were more common in cats that received ketamine intramuscularly than in those that received intravenously administered ketamine or propofol for induction of anaesthesia. Laryngospasms occurred in 2 cats that received propofol. The heart rates and respiratory rates decreased after xylazine premedication and either remained the same or decreased further after induction for all 3 groups, but remained within normal acceptable limits. This study indicates that the 3 regimens are associated with acceptable induction characteristics, but administration of ketamine intravenously is superior to its administration intramuscularly and laryngeal desensitisation is recommended to avoid laryngospasms

Antiretroviral Therapy Adherence During and Postbreastfeeding Cessation Measured by Tenofovir Levels in Hair.

BackgroundWe examined change in antiretroviral treatment (ART) adherence after breastfeeding (BF) cessation using hair tenofovir (TFV) concentrations as an objective metric of medication consumption.MethodsA subset of postpartum women in Zimbabwe randomized in IMPAACT PROMISE to take ART while BF and post-BF cessation had hair TFV measured longitudinally. Using linear mixed-effect models, we estimated differences in hair TFV levels after BF cessation, accounting for trends in levels over time regardless of BF status and change in slope after breastfeeding cessation. We also estimated the relative risk of viremia (>50 copies/mL) per doubling of hair TFV concentration.ResultsAmong 55 women (median age 26, interquartile range 24-29 years), hair TFV levels (n = 305) were available for a median of 9 visits per woman between 3 and 29 months postpartum. Hair TFV levels ranged from undetected to 0.25 ng/mg (median 0.04 ng/mg). Controlling for trends since delivery [decline of 2.2% per month, 95% confidence interval (CI): -5.3 to 1.0], TFV levels averaged 24.4% higher (95% CI: -5.1 to 63.1) post-BF cessation than during BF, with no change in slope (0.0% per month, 95% CI: -3.8 to 3.9). Postpartum, 42% of women were ever viremic. Higher TFV levels were strongly protective; relative risk of viremia per doubling of TFV was 0.52 (95% CI: 0.43 to 0.63; P < 0.0001).ConclusionsLeveraging an objective metric of ART use, we observed modestly declining adherence across the postpartum period, but no additional decline associated with breastfeeding cessation. High viremia frequency and varying postpartum TFV levels observed highlight the importance of enhanced adherence support with viral load monitoring among postpartum women