Adaptive Local Fuzzy Based Region Determination Image Enhancement Techniques For Non-Uniform Illumination And Low Contrast Images

Local contrast enhancement is an approach to improve the local visibility detail of an image by increasing the contrast in local regions. Recently, researchers have shown an interest in solving the issue of non-uniform illumination. However, most of these techniques divide the image into two parts only namely over-exposed and under-exposed regions and try to enhance the poor contrast in both regions using same approach. However, these methods are not robust and they are specifically designed to solve a specific problem at one time. This limitation has motivated this study to propose a new technique to solve the abovementioned problems. In the beginning, Adaptive Local Exposure Based Region Determination (ALEBRD) method is proposed to determine and divide the image into three regions namely under-exposed, over-exposed, and well-exposed regions. The results show that the proposed ALEBRD method produced better region determination performance than the other state-of-the-art methods. Based on the qualitative analysis, it could determine those three regions with high accuracy. After that, contrast of each region will be enhanced using a new local contrast enhancement technique called Adaptive Fuzzy Exposure Local Contrast Enhancement (AFELCE). The proposed AFELCE method is specifically designed to enhance the contrast of each region using different approaches. The proposed AFELCE technique successfully improves the contrast of 300 low-contrast and non-uniform illumination images, taken from three different databases namely standard, underwater, and microscopic human sperm images. The proposed AFELCE method qualitatively and quantitatively outperforms the state-of-the-art methods,. Qualitatively, the proposed AFELCE method has successfully enhanced the contrast of those images by producing more uniform illumination images with high contrast. Quantitatively, the proposed AFELCE method produces the highest average of Entropy (E), Measure of Enhancement (EME) and Universal Image Quality Index (UIQI) for the standard image database with values of 7.582, 42.75 and 0.94 respectively. The similar results obtained for the underwater database images, where it produces the highest average of E, EME and UIQI values with 7.124, 41.13 and 0.89 respectivley. While for the microscopic human sperm image database, it produces the highest values for E and EME with values of 7.602 and 42.51 respectively, and . This study is suitable to be applied to a real time applications. Based on the good results obtained for standard, underwater, and microscopic human sperm images, the developed system has high potential and suitable to be applied to a real time applications

Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks: Growth and Survey for Three Layers

A vehicular ad hoc network (VANET) is a mobile ad hoc network that allows wireless communication between vehicles, as well as between vehicles and roadside equipment. Communication between vehicles promotes safety and reliability, and can be a source of entertainment. We investigated the historical development, characteristics, and application fields of VANET and briefly introduced them in this study. Advantages and disadvantages were discussed based on our analysis and comparison of various classes of MAC and routing protocols applied to VANET. Ideas and breakthrough directions for inter-vehicle communication designs were proposed based on the characteristics of VANET. This article also illustrates physical, MAC, and network layer in details which represent the three layers of VANET. The main works of the active research institute on VANET were introduced to help researchers track related advanced research achievements on the subject

Harmonics Temporal Profile in High-Voltage Networks: Case Study

This chapter presents a case study about harmonics measurements in high-voltage networks. Measurements were conducted at two locations in the main interconnected system (MIS) of Oman. Voltage and current THDs were recorded for a period of 1 week. The power quality analyzer was set to record required data for a period of 1 week, and the observation period for each recorded value is 10 minutes. At the first location, the grid station (132/33) is feeding industrial as well as other customers. The second grid station (220/132/33 kV) is dedicated to large industrial customers including arc furnaces and rolling mills. The power quality analyzer was installed at the 132 kV side of power transformers at both locations. Recorded data are analyzed, and temporal harmonics profiles are studied. A clear temporal variation of harmonics similar to that of aggregate load and local voltage profiles was observed at the grid station feeding mixed residential and industrial loads. However, this correlation between system load and harmonics profile diminishes at the grid station dedicated for heavy industrial loads

The Role of Social Media Platforms in Confronting Intellectual Extremism from Majmaah University Students Perspective

The present study aims to investigate the role of social media platforms in confronting intellectual extremism among Majmaah University students. The researchers conducted the descriptive analytical approach and applied a 20- item questionnaire to a randomly selected sample of (213) students. The results showed that Tik Tok and Snapchat were ranked first among the study sample. Also, there was a moderate negative impact of social media on intellectual security, with a mean of (2.99). This is due to the nature of the content published on networks and its impact on the subscribers. It indicated the importance of social media, more specifically Tik Tok and Snapchat, among the sample of the study. It can be attributed to gender since females are more interested in social networks to publish and share photos. Moreover, the results revealed that social media platforms played a moderate role in resisting intellectual deviation among the participants, with an average mean of (2.96). There were no statistical differences in the impact of social media platforms on young peoples intellectual security and their role in resisting intellectual extremism due to responses to the study questions. The findings of the study call for the necessity of activating the positive role of social media by exploring new approaches to evolve effective alternatives in dealing with social networks by enhancing young peoples media literacy. Contribution/Originality: This study contributed to the existing literature by identifying the role of social media in combating intellectual extremism from the perspective of students at Majmaah University, Saudi Arabia. It also explored the most popular social media platforms among university students and their impact on students intellectual security

Prevalence and Molecular Characterization of Cysticercus tenuicollis Isolated from Some Intermediate Host in Kurdistan-Iraq

Cysticercus tenuicollis (C. tenuicollis) is the larval stage infection of Taenia hydatigena, a common tapeworm of dogs and other Canidae, which has a wide range of intermediate hosts including sheep, goat, cattle, deer, camel, horse, human and other wild ruminants, the disease spreads through a contaminated water, soil and food with feces of infected dogs or other carnivores, T. hydatigena lives in the intestinal of the definitive host (carnivores) and excretes a huge number of eggs with feces daily. The present study conducted to determine the prevalence rate and molecular characterization of C. tenuicollis among sheep and goats in Sulaimani province. A total of 14088 slaughtered animals were inspected postmortem from the new Sulaimani abattoir comprise, which involves 13395 sheep and 693 goats. The selected cysts were preserved in 70% Ethanol for DNA extraction and molecular study,  The mt-CO1 gene was amplified with a conventional polymerase chain reaction (PCR), the PCR product purified and DNA sequencing for reverse and forward strands was determined by a genetic analyzer, the obtained sequences aligned with the DNA sequences of T. hydatigena in Iran, Turkey and Palestine, which deposited in GenBank under the following accession number (JQ710588), (JN827307) and ( KM032284) respectively. The prevalence rate of C. tenuicollis was 2.63% in sheep and 2.58% in goats. This result shows no significant differences of C. tenuicollis between sheep and goats (p>0.05). The nucleotide sequence alignment of cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (CO 1) gene revealed that the amplified DNA fragment is belong to Taenia hydatigena and Echinococcus granulosus and the nucleotide sequences of T. hydatigena deposited in GenBank under accession number (MH638348). This finding concludes that the amplification of mt-CO1 gene cannot be depended on discriminate hydatid cyst and C. tenuicollis while the partial DNA sequences of mt-CO1 gene are significantly valuable to differentiate C. tenuicollis from hydatid cyst, which is completely different in the pathology and control

Budesonide as a first line therapy in autoimmune hepatitis: A systematic review

BackgroundAutoimmune hepatitis (AIH) Is a chronic liver disease with female predominance. Treatment of this condition required usually a long-term corticosteroid therapy.AimsCurrent review aimed to summarize the efficacy of budesonide as a first line treatment in AIH.Methods Pub Med, ‎Google Scholar, and EBSCO ‎ databases were ‎systematically search for relevant articles. The terms ‎ ‎‎autoimmune hepatitis, budesonide, prednisolone and ‎azathioprine ‎were used. out of hundred ‎and six, only ‎five fulfilled ‎the inclusion criteria. Results Out of 106 articles, only 5 included in this review. All patients included in current review were steroid naive. Budesonide in dose of 3 mg trice a day was the used in 2 out of 5 studies both document complete platelet response in 50–80 per cent. Azathioprine was added to budesonide in 3 out of 5 studies, 60 per cent of the budesonide treated patient had a complete platelet response versus 30–40 per cent of prednisolone treated group.ConclusionIn non-cirrhotic AIH patients, budesonide was as effective as prednisolone with fewer steroid related side effects.

Chlorhexidine versus Povidone-Iodine for the prevention of ‎Surgical Site ‎Infections: A review.‎

BackgroundSurgical Site Infections (SSIs) are the third most frequently reported health care-associated ‎infection‎ and it remain a major clinical problem despite improvements in prevention, as they ‎are associated with ‎significant mortality and morbidity. Prevention strategies for SSIs are based ‎on reducing the risk of infection by bacteria, So many antiseptic agents are ‎used, the most ‎common one are Chlorhexidine and Povidone-Iodine.‎AimsTo discuss the ‎findings of RCTs that compare Chlorhexidine versus Povidone-Iodine in the prevention of ‎Surgical ‎Site ‎Infections (SSIs).‎Methods This systematic review was carried out, including PubMed, Google Scholar, and EBSCO that ‎examining randomized trials of Chlorhexidine and Povidone-Iodine to summarize the major ‎RCT that compare Chlorhexidine versus Povidone-Iodine in the prevention of Surgical Site ‎Infections (SSIs).‎Results The review included six randomized studies that compare between Chlorhexidine and Povidone-‎Iodine for the prevention of SSIs. The findings showed that many studies prefer using ‎Chlorhexidine over Povidine-Iodine to reduce SSIs, few studies prefer using PVI as antiseptic ‎and other studies reported that there is no significant difference between both. ConclusionMajority of results prefer using Chlorhexidine than Povidone-Iodine‎ as antiseptics but ‎there were few findings prefer ‎PVI and other studies reported that there was no significant ‎difference between using them as ‎antiseptics.

Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) among Healthcare Workers in Saudi Arabia: Comparing Case and Control Hospitals

Healthcare workers (HCWs) stand at the frontline for fighting coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. This puts them at higher risk of acquiring the infection than other individuals in the community. Defining immunity status among health care workers is therefore of interest since it helps to mitigate the exposure risk. This study was conducted between May 20th and 30th, 2020. Eighty-five hospitals across Kingdom of Saudi Arabia were divided into 2 groups: COVID-19 referral hospitals are those to which RT-PCR-confirmed COVID-19 patients were admitted or referred for management (Case-hospitals). COVID-19 nonaffected hospitals where no COVID-19 patients had been admitted or managed and no HCW outbreak (Control hospitals). Next, seroprevalence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 among HCWs was evaluated; there were 12,621 HCWs from the 85 hospitals. There were 61 case-hospitals with 9379 (74.3%) observations, and 24 control-hospitals with 3242 (25.7%) observations. The overall positivity rate by the immunoassay was 299 (2.36%) with a significant difference between the case-hospital (2.9%) and the control-group (0.8%) (P value <0.001). There was a wide variation in the positivity rate between regions and/or cities in Saudi Arabia, ranging from 0% to 6.31%. Of the serology positive samples, 100 samples were further tested using the SAS2pp neutralization assay; 92 (92%) samples showed neutralization activity. The seropositivity rate in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is low and varies across different regions with higher positivity in case-hospitals than control-hospitals. The lack of neutralizing antibodies (NAb) in 8% of the tested samples could mean that assay is a more sensitive assay or that neutralization assay has a lower detection limits; or possibly that some samples had cross-reaction to spike protein of other coronaviruses in the assay, but these were not specific to neutralize severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)