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The aim of this thesis is to explore and examine the social and cultural challenges that can arise in connection with the Muslim identity formation in modern western society. In the exploration and clarification of the above, it is important to delve into the historical, sociological, and theological context that can shape the Muslim identity. To understand these aspects, it is imperative to look at the relationship between religion and identity, and what social and cultural challenges may arise regarding the formation of Muslim identity. The methodology used in this thesis is both qualitative and quantitative. In chapter one and two, I have composed a brief discussion of the historical and theoretical background of the concept of identity. I have also formed a brief discussion of early theorists, such as Erik Erikson (early formation of identity theory) and Sheldon Stryker (structural symbolic interactionism). An Islamic point of view by Uriya Shavit is also included in this discussion in this chapter. Several scientific perspectives have been employed in this chapter; many of which point out that identity has played a major part in the life of individuals in both Islamic and non-Islamic context. In chapter three and four, I have constituted analysis of social identity theory and the theory of uncertainty identity and how they can influence the meaning of the individual’s life meaning. I have included the social identity theory by Henri Tajfel and John Turner. Theoretically, it highlights that an individual's interaction with groups can give her/ him a sense of affiliation, self-esteem, and certainty. An introduction and Michael’s Hogg theory of uncertainty identity is presented in this discussion as well as Islamic scholarly review of the Muslim identity and sense of affiliation and uncertainty. Chapter five is dedicated to the discussion of the uncertainty identity and the religious identity, and the relationship between the uncertainty identity and religion in t

Los lirios son una de las flores simbólicas más apreciadas desde la historia antigua y así aparecen ligados irreversiblemente a la cultura occidental. Dentro del género Iris s.l. los llamados Bulbosos y Barbados, son los que han sufrido mayor cultivo y selección desde principios del s. XVI hasta nuestros días y son estos últimos los que conforman mayoritariamente la colección de la Estación Biológica de Torretes – Jardín Botánico de la Universidad de Alicante. Probablemente fueron Clusio y Jonh Gerard los auténticos pioneros en el cultivo de Iris y desde el s. XVI hasta finales del s. XVIII la domesticación se basó en la variabilidad intrínseca e hibridaciones de las especies del Mediterréneo oriental Iris pallida e I. variegata, con participación de I. germanica e I. florentina. Asi surgieron los primeros cultivares que incrementaron su variabilidad, gama de colores, tamaño y rigidez de los tépalos, tacto aterciopelado, aromas, etc. con la introducción de especies tetraploides asiáticas. Todo ello multiplicó las obtenciones exponencialmente hasta más de 70.000 registros varietales de la actualidad. En Torretes surge la idea de establecer una colección monográfica de Iris en 2016, tras recibir en donación por parte de Christine Lomer y Nick Brown una réplica del llamado “Jardín de los Lirios” que ellos regentaban en Jalón (Alicante). A están donación inicial hubo que sumarle posteriormente varios cientos de cultivares procedentes de “Iris de Laymont” ofrecidos por Roland Deyoux, presidente de la Societé de Iris et plantes bulboses de Francia. A esto sumamos especies obtenidas por intercambio entre jardines botánicos, que son el origen del llamado Iridario Christine Lomer de Torretes en honor a nuestra primera donante y que mantenemos para disfrute de nuestros visitantes., Irises have been one of the most appreciated symbolic flowers since ancient history and appear irreversibly linked to Western culture. Within the genus Iris s.l., the so-called Bulbous and Beardeds, are the ones that have undergone the greatest cultivation and selection from the beginning of the 16th century to the present day. The latter are the ones that make up the majority of the collection of the Biological Research Station of Torretes – Botanical Garden of the University of Alicante. Probably Clusio and John Gerard were the real pioneers in the cultivation of Iris. From the 16th century until the end of the 18th century, domestication was based on the intrinsic variability and hybridisations of the eastern Mediterranean species such as Iris pallida and I. variegata, with the participation of I. germanica and I. florentina. This is how the first cultivars emerged, which increased their variability, range of colors, size and rigidity of the tepals, velvety touch, aromas, etc. with the introduction of Asian tetraploid species. All this multiplied the number of varieties exponentially to more than 70,000 varietal registers today. It was at Torretes that the idea of establishing a monographic collection of Irises arose in 2016, after receiving a donation from Christine Lomer and Nick Brown of a replica of the so-called “Jardín de los Lirios” that they ran in Jalón (Alicante). To this initial donation had to be added several hundred cultivars from “Iris of Laymont” offered by Roland Deyoux, president of the Société de Iris et plantes bulboses de France. To this we add species obtained by exchange between botanical gardens, which are the origin of the so-called “Iridario Christine Lomer” of Torretes in honour of our first donor, which we maintain for the enjoyment of our visitors.

Introduction: Immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome is a clinical syndrome that has been described in patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus after starting the antiretroviral therapy because of viral suppression and an increase in the number of measurable CD4+ T cells. Development: It is an important complication after starting therapy, associated with considerable morbidity and mortality, especially in patients starting treatment who are severely immunosuppressed. Although there is considerable clinical and pathophysiological heterogeneity, features include: clinical deterioration in the first weeks or months of antiretroviral therapy, with evidence of tissue immunopathology and, occasionally, systemic inflammatory response. Practical applications: The fact that it constitutes a predictable response allows to determine the initiation of therapy, whether at home or in a health institution, to plan the patient's follow-up and to predict that there is an occult opportunistic disease concomitant with HIV. Conclusions: It is a frequent complication in HIV patients who start antiretroviral treatment, with a very negative impact due to the associated morbimortality and the health and social cost it implies. In the specialized literature there is little evidence on its behavior., Introducción: El síndrome inflamatorio de reconstitución inmune es un síndrome clínico que se ha descrito en pacientes infectados por el virus de inmunodeficiencia humana después del inicio de la terapia antirretroviral como consecuencia de una supresión viral y aumento en el número de células T CD4+ medible. Desarrollo: Es una importante complicación después del inicio de la terapia, asociada con una considerable morbilidad y mortalidad, sobre todo en pacientes que comienzan el tratamiento y tienen una severa inmunosupresión. Aunque hay una considerable heterogeneidad clínica y fisiopatológica, las características incluyen: deterioro clínico en las primeras semanas o meses de tratamiento antirretroviral, con evidencia de inmunopatología tisular y, en ocasiones, respuesta inflamatoria sistémica. Aplicaciones prácticas: El hecho de que constituye una respuesta predecible, permite determinar el inicio de la terapéutica, dígase en el hogar o en una institución de salud, planificar el seguimiento del paciente y predecir que existe una enfermedad oportunista oculta y concomitante con el VIH. Conclusiones: Es una complicación frecuente en los pacientes con VIH que inician el tratamiento antirretroviral con un impacto muy negativo debido a la morbimortalidad asociada y al costo sanitario y social que implica. En la bibliografía especializada se encuentran pocas evidencias sobre su comportamiento.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of the study was to characterise the clinical management of feline chronic kidney disease (CKD) by veterinary practitioners in Portugal.METHODS: A questionnaire-based study was designed to be completed by all veterinarians who had diagnosed and treated at least one case of feline CKD in the previous year.RESULTS: A total of 409 veterinary practitioners responded to the questionnaire, with approximately half of them diagnosing 2-5 cases of feline CKD per month (n = 219, 53.5%). Although a high proportion of these reported using the guidelines published by the International Renal Interest Society (n = 379, 92.7%), only 19.1% (n = 78) systematically performed systolic blood pressure (SBP) measurements in all of their patients. A renal diet was advised by almost all respondents (n = 406, 99.3%), but 36.9% (n = 150) of them considered that it represented less than 75% of the daily food intake for most of their patients. This dietary intervention was often prescribed regardless of stage (n = 298, 73.4%) and without a proper gradual diet transition. Appetite stimulants were frequently prescribed (n = 366, 89.5%), as well as a calcium channel blocker (n = 171, 41.8%) and an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor (n = 245, 59.9%) to control systemic hypertension and proteinuria, respectively. Prescription of a phosphate binder was also common (n = 311, 76.0%). Regarding monitoring, 70.9% (n = 290) recommended that stable patients be reassessed every 2-3 months or more frequently, but only 35.7% (n = 146) were able to comply with this periodicity due to owners' constraints.CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: The findings showed that although most survey respondents are aware of international guidelines for the clinical management of cats with CKD, the SBP measurement still needs to be more systematic to allow proper substaging and detection of systemic hypertension. The monitoring frequency was lower than recommended. Furthermore, the intro

Background People living with HIV have accounted for 38–50% of those affected in the 2022 multicountry mpox outbreak. Most reported cases were in people who had high CD4 cell counts and similar outcomes to those without HIV. Emerging data suggest worse clinical outcomes and higher mortality in people with more advanced HIV. We describe the clinical characteristics and outcomes of mpox in a cohort of people with HIV and low CD4 cell counts (CD4 <350 cells per mm3). Methods A network of clinicians from 19 countries provided data of confirmed mpox cases between May 11, 2022, and Jan 18, 2023, in people with HIV infection. Contributing centres completed deidentified structured case report sheets to include variables of interest relevant to people living with HIV and to capture more severe outcomes. We restricted this series to include only adults older than 18 years living with HIV and with a CD4 cell count of less than 350 cells per mm3 or, in settings where a CD4 count was not always routinely available, an HIV infection clinically classified as US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stage C. We describe their clinical presentation, complications, and causes of death. Analyses were descriptive. Findings We included data of 382 cases: 367 cisgender men, four cisgender women, and ten transgender women. The median age of individuals included was 35 (IQR 30–43) years. At mpox diagnosis, 349 (91%) individuals were known to be living with HIV; 228 (65%) of 349 adherent to antiretroviral therapy (ART); 32 (8%) of 382 had a concurrent opportunistic illness. The median CD4 cell count was 211 (IQR 117–291) cells per mm3, with 85 (22%) individuals with CD4 cell counts of less than 100 cells per mm3 and 94 (25%) with 100–200 cells per mm3. Overall, 193 (51%) of 382 had undetectable viral load. Severe complications were more common in people with a CD4 cell count of less than 100 cells per mm3 than in those with more than 300 cells per mm3, including necrotising skin lesion

This paper proposes an accurate geometric registration method by estimating blur effects from a degraded image with image markers for augmented reality. A small and inexpensive camera used in augmented reality systems sometimes captures degraded images because its focus and/or iris are fixed. This degradation of a captured image affects the accuracy of the detected positions of feature points in the image. The proposed method improves the accuracy of the estimated camera position and posture by estimating blur effects from the captured image, and by correcting the detected positions of feature points through the results. The effectiveness of the method is confirmed through experiments of corner estimation from simulated images and extrinsic camera parameter estimation from real images., ISMAR 2007 : 6th IEEE and ACM International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality , Nov 13-16, 2007 , Nara, Japan

Pupillometry is a measurement of pupil dilation commonly performed as part of neurological assessments. Prior work have demonstrated the potential for pupillometry in screening or diagnosing a number of neurological disorders including Alzheimers Disease, Schizophrenia, and Traumatic Brain Injury. Unfortunately, the expense and inaccessibility of specialized pupilometers that image in the near infrared spectrum limit the measurement to high resource clinics or institutions. Ideally, this measurement could be available via ubiquitous devices like smartphones or tablets with integrated visible spectrum imaging systems. In the visible spectrum of RGB cameras, the melanin in the iris absorbs light such that it is difficult to distinguish the pupil aperature that appears black. In this paper, we propose a novel pupillometry technique to enable smartphone RGB cameras to effectively differentiate the pupil from the iris. The proposed system utilizes a 630 nm long-pass filter to image in the far red (630-700 nm) spectrum, where the melanin in the iris reflects light to appear brighter in constrast to the dark pupil. Using a convolutional neural network, the proposed system measures pupil diameter as it dynamically changes in a frame by frame video. Comparing across 4 different smartphone models, the pupil-iris contrast of N = 12 participants increases by an average of 451% with the proposed system. In a validation study of N = 11 participants comparing the relative pupil change in the proposed system to a Neuroptics PLR-3000 Pupillometer during a pupillary light response test, the prototype system acheived a mean absolute error of 2.4%.

The case of Nairobi County, Kenya, serves as evidence that identity-based conflicts pose persistent difficulties on a global scale. In this region, the convergence of various ethnic and cultural identities sometimes gives rise to strained relations and episodes of violence. The present study investigates the efficacy of biometric technology in mitigating identity-related challenges within the jurisdiction of Nairobi County. A descriptive survey study was conducted, involving 300 participants. Among these participants, 280 were government employees who were actively involved in routine biometric operations, and the remaining 20 were people who had experienced identity-related conflicts. The Yamane technique was employed to choose a sample of 171 respondents. The data collection process encompassed the use of questionnaires, interviews, and observation techniques, which collectively unveiled compelling evidence supporting the substantial role of biometric modalities in both identity maintenance and conflict resolution. These technologies facilitate the acceleration of procedures, mitigate fraudulent activities, and augment accountability, particularly in critical domains such as voting and the dispensation of social assistance. Nevertheless, it is imperative to acknowledge the existence of some obstacles in the realm of data quality, privacy, and inclusivity. These problems underscore the importance of establishing a comprehensive legal framework and implementing public awareness initiatives. This study highlights the significance of adopting a well-rounded strategy that protects individual liberties while optimizing the advantages of biometric modalities in tackling identity-related challenges within Nairobi County. The results of this study provide significant contributions to professionals, governmental organizations, and policymakers engaged in identity verification and conflict resolution. These findings enhance our comprehension of the role of technology in addr

Since publication of the last consensus statement on leptospirosis in dogs, there has been revision of leptospiral taxonomy and advancements in typing methods, widespread use of new diagnostic tests and vaccines, and improved understanding of the epidemiology and pathophysiology of the disease. Leptospirosis continues to be prevalent in dogs, including in small breed dogs from urban areas, puppies as young as 11 weeks of age, geriatric dogs, dogs in rural areas, and dogs that have been inadequately vaccinated for leptospirosis (including dogs vaccinated with 2-serovar Leptospira vaccines in some regions). In 2021, the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM) Board of Regents voted to approve the topic for a revised Consensus Statement. After identification of core panelists, a multidisciplinary group of 6 experts from the fields of veterinary medicine, human medicine, and public health was assembled to vote on the recommendations using the Delphi method. A draft was presented at the 2023 ACVIM Forum, and a written draft posted on the ACVIM website for comment by the membership before submission to the editors of the Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine. This revised document provides guidance for veterinary practitioners on disease in dogs as well as cats. The level of agreement among the 12 voting members (including core panelists) is provided in association with each recommendation. A denominator lower than 12 reflects abstention of ≥1 panelists either because they considered the recommendation to be outside their scope of expertise or because there was a perceived conflict of interest.

The article presents the possibilities of using retinal images for identification of persons using biometric technologies. The properties of the retina that are used for identification are completely unique to each person and do not change over time. The probability that two exactly the same retinal vasculature patterns will be mismatched is very low to zero. Therefore, the use of retina for biometric identification is rated as very accurate in contrast to the reliability of other biometric methods and is used in areas with the highest security requirements. For a comprehensive understanding of the issue, the article contains an overview of biometric technologies, biometric properties and their characteristics. The processing principle and user requirements are described, the advantages and disadvantages of individual technologies are summarized. Subsequently, their reliability is compared according to established criteria. Since identification using the retina turns out to be the most reliable, the article only focuses more specifically on it. The structure of the eye and retina is described in detail, the principle of obtaining, storing and comparing images with the aim of achieving a result in the form of agreement or disagreement between two images. Emphasis is also placed on the safe storage of information obtained in this way with regard to the GDPR in the European Union. At the end of the article, the assessment of the reliability of the biometric system, the financial demands and the possibilities of implementation in companies where the risk of attack and the amount of damage caused are so high that the investment in the biometric system is definitely worth it.

In program verification, it is common to embed a high-level object logic into the meta logic of a proof assistant to hide low-level aspects of the verification. To verify imperative and concurrent programs, separation logic hides explicit reasoning about heaps and pointer disjointness. To verify programs with cyclic features such as modules or higher-order state, modal logic provides modalities to hide explicit reasoning about step-indices that are used to stratify recursion. The meta logic of proof assistants such as Coq is well suited to embed high-level object logics and prove their soundness. However, proof assistants such as Coq do not have native infrastructure to facilitate proofs in embedded logics - their proof contexts and built-in tactics for interactive and automated proofs are tailored to the connectives of the meta logic, and do not extend to those of the object logic. This results in proofs that are at a too low level of abstraction because they are cluttered with bookkeeping code related to manipulating the object logic. In this talk I will describe our work in the Iris project to address this problem - first for interactive proofs, and then for semi-automated proofs. The Iris Proof Mode provides high-level tactics for interactive proofs in higher-order concurrent separation logic with modalities. Recent work on RefinedC and Diaframe have built on top of the Iris Proof Mode to obtain proof automation for low-level C programs and fine-grained concurrent programs.

Message passing is a useful abstraction for implementing concurrent programs. For real-world systems, however, it is often combined with other programming and concurrency paradigms, such as higher-order functions, mutable state, shared-memory concurrency, and locks. We present Actris: a logic for proving functional correctness of programs that use a combination of the aforementioned features. Actris combines the power of modern concurrent separation logics with a first-class protocol mechanism—based on session types— for reasoning about message passing in the presence of other concurrency paradigms. We show that Actris provides a suitable level of abstraction by proving functional correctness of a variety of examples, including a channel-based merge sort, a channel-based load-balancing mapper, and a variant of the map-reduce model, using concise specifications. While Actris was already presented in a conference paper (POPL’20), this paper expands the prior presentation significantly. Moreover, it extends Actris to Actris 2.0 with a notion of subprotocols—based on session-type subtyping—that permits additional flexibility when composing channel endpoints, and that takes full advantage of the asynchronous semantics of message passing in Actris. Soundness of Actris 2.0 is proven using a model of its protocol mechanism in the Iris framework. We have mechanised the theory of Actris, together with custom tactics, as well as all examples in the paper, in the Coq proof assistant., Programming Languages

Objective or purposeTo analyze the genetic features of melanocytomas and melanomas of the anterior uvea, and assess the value of molecular testing for diagnosis and prognostication.DesignRetrospective, case control study SUBJECTS: Patients with melanocytoma (n=16) and melanoma (n=19) of the anterior uvea.MethodsTargeted next-generation sequencing was performed on formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tumor tissue from anterior uveal melanocytic tumors and correlated with clinicopathologic features.Main outcome measuresPresence or absence of accompanying oncogenic alterations beyond GNAQ/GNA11, and their association with histologic features and local recurrence.ResultsHotspot missense mutations in GNAQ/GNA11 were identified in 91.4% (32/35) of all cases. None of the melanocytomas with or without atypia demonstrated chromosomal imbalances or additional oncogenic variants beyond GNAQ mutation, and none recurred over median follow up of 36 months. Additional alterations identified in a subset of melanomas include mutations in BAP1 (n=3), EIF1AX (n=4), SRSF2 (n=1), PTEN (n=1), and EP300 (n=1), monosomy 3p (n=5), trisomy 6p (n=3), trisomy 8q (n=2), and a UV mutational signature (n=5). Local recurrences were limited to melanomas, all of which demonstrated oncogenic alterations in addition to GNAQ/GNA11 (n=5). A single melanoma harboring GNAQ and BAP1 mutations and monosomy 3 was the only tumor which metastasized.ConclusionsIn this study, anterior segment uveal melanocytomas did not display oncogenic alterations beyond GNAQ/GNA11. Therefore, they are genetically similar to uveal nevi rather than uveal melanoma based on their molecular features known from the literature. Molecular testing can be performed on borderline cases to aid risk stratification and clinical management decisions.

This paper addresses the problem of time-constrained leader-follower multi-agent task scheduling and control synthesis. The leader-follower multi-agent system is subject to a set of dynamically activated tasks, each of which is associated with a relative deadline and can be completed at different Quality-of-Satisfaction levels. By taking into account the reward and cost of satisfying these tasks, a novel scheduling problem is formulated and a dynamic scheduling strategy is proposed. Based on the dynamic plan, distributed control laws are designed accordingly for the leader and follower agents. Under the condition that the information of the target regions are available only to the leader agents, it is shown that the proposed control laws guarantee the satisfaction of each task at its desired Quality-of-Satisfaction level. A simulation example is given to verify the theoretical results., QC 20220610

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to develop and test a programmable closed-loop system for tracking, modulating, and assessing dynamic iris behavior, including in the mid-dilated position.MethodsA programmable closed-loop iris control system was developed by customizing an ANTERION OCT device (Heidelberg Engineering, Heidelberg, Germany). Custom software was developed to store camera and optical coherence tomography (OCT) images, track pupillary diameter (PD), control a light-emitting diode (LED), and modulate ambient lighting to maintain the iris in a dilated, constricted, or mid-dilated position in real-time. Study participants underwent 3 consecutive 65-second scan sessions. Dynamic iris behavior in the form of peak constriction velocity (PCV) and mid-dilated iris activity (MDIA) were calculated and analyzed offline.ResultsAmong 58 participants, 56 (96.6%) were eligible for analysis based on achieving and maintaining mean PD within ±10% of the calculated mid-dilated PD. Mean participant age was 49.8 ± 18.9 years. Mean PCV was 3.92 ± 0.83 mm/s, and mean MDIA was 0.37 ± 0.15 mm. The mean difference between the calculated and achieved mid-dilated PD was 0.166 ± 0.192 mm. There were significant negative correlations between PCV and age (slope = -0.022, P < 0.001) and MDIA and age (slope = -0.004, P < 0.001). Success rates were lower (69.0%) but relationships between dynamic iris behavior and age were similar based on achieving and maintaining mean PD within ±5% of the calculated mid-dilated PD.ConclusionsA programmable closed-loop iris control system can modulate dynamic iris behavior and maintain the iris in a mid-dilated position. Pupillary constriction velocity and iris activity in the mid-dilated position decrease with age.Translational relevanceThis system can be applied to study dynamic disease processes involving the iris and establish novel biometric measures that could serve as risk factors for acute and chronic primary angle closure glaucoma (PACG

Acute primary angle closure glaucoma is a potentially blinding ophthalmic emergency requiring prompt treatment to lower the elevated intraocular pressure in humans and dogs. The PACG in most of canine breeds is epidemiologically similar to humans with older and female patients overrepresented with the condition. The American Cocker Spaniel (ACS) is among the most common breeds observed with PACG development in dogs. This study initially sought to identify genetic risk factors to explain the high prevalence of PACG in ACSs by using a case-control breed-matched genome-wide association study. However, the GWAS failed to identify candidate loci associated with PACG in this breed. This study then assessed intrinsic ocular morphologic traits that may relate to PACG susceptibility in this breed. Normal ACSs without glaucoma have a crowded anterior ocular segment and narrow iridocorneal angle and ciliary cleft, which is consistent with anatomical risk factors identified in humans. The ACSs showed unique features consisting of posterior bowing of iris and longer iridolenticular contact, which mirrors reverse pupillary block and pigment dispersion syndrome in humans. The ACS could hold potential to serve as an animal model of naturally occurring PACG in humans.

Interaction trees are an active development in representing effectful and impure pro- grams in the Coq proof assistant. Examples of programs they can represent are programs that use: mutable state, concurrency and general recursion. Besides representing these programs we also want to reason about and verify these programs using separation logic. That is the purpose of this thesis. More technically speaking interaction trees are new way to do shallow embeddings in the Coq proof assistant. They are a coinductive variant of the free monad and come with the usual constructions of events and event handlers. The aim of interaction trees is to represent impure programs and potentially non-terminating programs in their environment. Interaction trees are, in contrast to relational operational semantics, executable by interpretation or program extraction. Interaction trees come with a framework for reasoning about their behavior based on equivalency up to weak bisimulation. An open problem is to reason about interaction trees utilizing a separation logic rather than weak bisimulation. We developed Pothos as a solution to this problem. Pothos has an Iris based concurrent separation logic for interaction trees. We address the problem in a non-extensible setting, with mutable state, non-termination and concur- rency as our chosen effects. Pothos inherits all the executable properties from interaction trees and includes a novel relation of Iris’s step-index with coinductive types. We have proven our logic to be sound and include a case study of a spin lock library. The case study shows that our logic is both non-trivial and can utilize the standard Iris patterns for concurrency., Computer Science

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BackgroundImmunomodulatory therapy (IMT) is often considered for systemic treatment of non-infectious uveitis (NIU). During the evolving coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, given the concerns related to IMT and the increased risk of infections, an urgent need for guidance on the management of IMT in patients with uveitis has emerged.MethodsA cross-sectional survey of international uveitis experts was conducted. An expert steering committee identified clinical questions on the use of IMT in patients with NIU during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using an interactive online questionnaire, guided by background experience and knowledge, 139 global uveitis experts generated consensus statements for IMT. In total, 216 statements were developed around when to initiate, continue, decrease and stop systemic and local corticosteroids, conventional immunosuppressive agents and biologics in patients with NIU. Thirty-one additional questions were added, related to general recommendations, including the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and hydroxychloroquine.ResultsHighest consensus was achieved for not initiating IMT in patients who have suspected or confirmed COVID-19, and for using local over systemic corticosteroid therapy in patients who are at high-risk and very high-risk for severe or fatal COVID-19. While there was a consensus in starting or initiating NSAIDs for the treatment of scleritis in healthy patients, there was no consensus in starting hydroxychloroquine in any risk groups.ConclusionConsensus guidelines were proposed based on global expert opinion and practical experience to bridge the gap between clinical needs and the absence of medical evidence, to guide the treatment of patients with NIU during the COVID-19 pandemic.

В статье рассказывается о задаче распознавания личности по одному из типов биометрических данных – радужной оболочке глаза. Представлено описание разработанного метода распознавания личности по радужной оболочке глаза на изображении. Подробно описаны все этапы схемы идентификации, приведены результаты экспериментальных исследований, а также приведено описание используемой БД. The article describes the problem of personality recognition based on one of the types of biometric data – the iris of the eye. The description of the developed method of personality recognition by the iris of the eye in the image is presented. All stages of the identification scheme are described in detail, the results of experimental studies are given, and a description of the data-base used is given.

In November 2020 the existing web application IRIS-Online (https://www.geologie.ac.at/services/webapplikationen/iris-interaktives-rohstoffinformationssystem) was extended by a new module which provides open access to geological information about natural deposits of raw materials for construction in Austria. IRIS Online has now been upgraded with information about deposits of gravel, sand, clay, and natural stone in Austria. The implementation of this forward-looking basic research tool is generated to serve the provision for these raw materials in the future. The plan is to complete the still lacking descriptions and amend the performance with layers of special soft-rock-related maps of thickness of the deposits and information on renewable gravel deposits., In November 2020 the existing web application IRIS-Online (https://www.geologie.ac.at/services/webapplikationen/iris-interaktives-rohstoffinformationssystem) was extended by a new module which provides open access to geological information about natural deposits of raw materials for construction in Austria. IRIS Online has now been upgraded with information about deposits of gravel, sand, clay, and natural stone in Austria. The implementation of this forward-looking basic research tool is generated to serve the provision for these raw materials in the future. The plan is to complete the still lacking descriptions and amend the performance with layers of special soft-rock-related maps of thickness of the deposits and information on renewable gravel deposits.

Non-interference is a program property that ensures the absence of information leaks. In the context of programming languages, there exist two common approaches for establishing non-interference: type systems and program logics. Type systems provide strong automation (by means of type checking), but they are inherently restrictive in the kind of programs they support. Program logics support challenging programs, but they typically require significant human assistance, and cannot handle modules or higher-order programs.To connect these two approaches, we present SeLoC - a separation logic for non-interference, on top of which we build a type system using the technique of logical relations. By building a type system on top of separation logic, we can compositionally verify programs that consist of typed and untyped parts. The former parts are verified through type checking, while the latter parts are verified through manual proof.The core technical contribution of SeLoC is a relational form of weakest preconditions that can track information flow using separation logic resources. SeLoC is fully machine-checked, and built on top of the Iris framework for concurrent separation logic in Coq. The integration with Iris provides seamless support for fine-grained concurrency, which was beyond the reach of prior type systems and program logics for non-interference., Programming Languages

Session types- A family of type systems for message-passing concurrency-have been subject to many extensions, where each extension comes with a separate proof of type safety. These extensions cannot be readily combined, and their proofs of type safety are generally not machine checked, making their correctness less trustworthy. We overcome these shortcomings with a semantic approach to binary asynchronous affine session types, by developing a logical relations model in Coq using the Iris program logic. We demonstrate the power of our approach by combining various forms of polymorphism and recursion, asynchronous subtyping, references, and locks/mutexes. As an additional benefit of the semantic approach, we demonstrate how to manually prove typing judgements of racy, but safe, programs that cannot be type checked using only the rules of the type system., Programming Languages

Within the field of health risk assessment, it is essential that evaluations of reliability or validity of toxicity data are conducted with structure and transparency. To this end, different tools for evaluating toxicity studies have been developed by different groups and organizations, for different specific purposes. The Science in Risk Assessment and Policy (SciRAP) tool was developed for use in the regulatory health risk assessment of chemicals and to promote structured and transparent evaluation of study reliability within European regulatory frameworks. As such, the SciRAP tool is not specifically tailored for use in a systematic review context. However, in light of the current movement towards applying systematic review in the field of environmental health and chemical assessments and European chemicals regulation, we were interested in exploring how SciRAP could be applied in such a context. To achieve this, the scope of the SciRAP tool was first compared to two tools developed based on systematic review principles at the US Environmental Protection Agency's IRIS program and the National Toxicology Program's Office of Health Assessment and Translation (OHAT). Next, the SciRAP and IRIS tools were both applied in a case study to evaluate the same nine in vivo animal studies and the resulting evaluations were compared. The SciRAP tool was found to address the majority of the elements included for study evaluation in the OHAT and IRIS tools. In the case study, no major differences were found in the conclusions drawn when using SciRAP or IRIS tools. However, future developments to bring the SciRAP tool more in line with systematic review principles were identified and are discussed. Overall, this work illustrates the advantages of applying structured and pre-defined methods for study evaluation and provides a unique case study comparing the impact of using different tools for evaluating animal toxicity studies.

El melanoma ocular es un tipo de tumor intraocular, caracterizado por su grado de malignidad. Se puede encontrar en diversas zonas del globo ocular, principalmente en el tracto uveal. Existen diversos factores de riesgo que hacen que ciertas personas los puedan padecer como son: tener una edad avanzada y la piel clara. Generalmente, presentan una sintomatología tardía y su diagnóstico se realiza en exámenes rutinarios. Existen diversas técnicas de diagnóstico (invasivas y no invasivas) para su detección. Resulta de gran importancia su detección lo antes posible, ya que este tumor presenta probabilidades altas de diseminación a otras partes del cuerpo, lo que comporta un elevado riesgo de metástasis. Además, su diagnóstico es fundamental para la elección del tratamiento que va desde tratamientos no conservadores a conservadores. Metodología: la metodología empleada ha consistido en una búsqueda literaria exhaustiva acerca del melanoma ocular en diferentes fuentes desde electrónicas como artículos científicos, revistas, páginas webs hasta diferentes libros. Para las citaciones y referencias ha sido de utilidad el uso del programa Mendeley, junto con el manual de citaciones APA

PURPOSE. In mammals, pupil constriction and dilation form the pupillary light reflex (PLR), which is mediated by both brain-regulated (parasympathetic) and local iris-driven reflexes. To better understand the cellular mechanisms that regulate pupil physiological dynamics via central and local photoreception, we have examined the regulation of the PLR via parasympathetic and local activation, respectively. METHODS. In this study, the PLR was examined in mouse enucleated eyes ex vivo in real-time under different ionic conditions in response to acetylcholine and/or blue light (480 nm). The use of pupillometry recordings captured the relaxation, contraction, and pupil escape (redilation) processes for 10 minutes up to 1 hour. RESULTS. Among others, our results show that ryanodine receptor channels are the main driver for iridal stimulation-contraction coupling, in which extracellular influx of Ca2+ is required for amplification of pupil constriction. Both local and parasympathetic iridal activations are necessary, but not sufficient for sustained pupil constriction. Moreover, the degree of membrane potential repolarization in the dark is correlated with the latency and velocity of iridal constriction. Furthermore, pupil escape is driven by membrane potential hyperpolarization where voltage-gated potassium channels play a crucial role. CONCLUSIONS. Together, this study presents new mechanisms regulating synchronized pupil dilation and contraction, sustained pupil constriction, iridal stimulation-contraction coupling, and pupil escape.

PurposeTo assess the preliminary safety and efficacy of custom silicone artificial iris implantation.SettingStein Eye Institute.DesignProspective consecutive case series.MethodsMedical records of patients implanted with the artificial iris were reviewed and followed for 1 year. Safety measures included corrected distance visual acuity (CDVA), intraocular pressure (IOP), endothelial cell count (ECC), surgical complications, secondary interventions, and adverse events (AEs). Efficacy measures included CDVA with glare, subjective daytime and nighttime glare graded from 0 to 10 (very significant), and subjective cosmetic appearance graded from 0 to 10 (very satisfied).ResultsTwenty eyes (19 patients) were implanted. Safety data were mixed. CDVA improved in 13 eyes and worsened in 6. ECC decreased from 1918 ± 870 to 1405 ± 705 cells/mm (P = .02). Eight eyes experienced postoperative complications. There were 4 IOP elevations, 2 corneal decompensations, 1 case of cystoid macular edema, and 1 device dislocation. Four eyes underwent secondary surgical interventions including 2 AEs (1 glaucoma surgery and 1 device dislocation). Efficacy outcomes were excellent. CDVA with glare improved from 1.5 ± 0.6 to 0.7 ± 0.8 logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution (P < .01). Mean subjective daytime glare decreased from 8.9 ± 1.8 to 2.7 ± 2.6 (P < .01) and nighttime glare decreased from 7.9 ± 1.8 to 2.5 ± 2.7 (P < .01). Mean cosmesis improved from 2.2 ± 1.6 to 8.8 ± 2.1 (P < .01).ConclusionsCustom artificial iris implantation was moderately risky but very effective at reducing light and glare sensitivity and in improving ocular cosmesis.

Physical moving parts are prone to wear and tear. A pixel display can manifest complex motion and realistic images in full colour offering a form of tangibly while being less likely to suffer from wear and tear however, it remains restricted to 2D surfaces. The recent development in voxel-based printing (voxel = 3D pixel) allows multi-material and multi-colour 3D printing to transform images into physical objects. However, during the printing process the capacity to change the pixels colour and position in the future are lost, effectively fusing the digital information. The high demand for immersive experiences in video games, films, museums and interactive products are omnipresent. The combination of pixel display technology and multi-material 3D printing is a potential avenue to create immersive experiences to feed this high demand.

The metatheory of Scala's core type system - the Dependent Object Types (DOT) calculus - is hard to extend, like the metatheory of other type systems combining subtyping and dependent types. Soundness of important Scala features therefore remains an open problem in theory and in practice. To address some of these problems, we use a semantics-first approach to develop a logical relations model for a new version of DOT, called guarded DOT (gDOT). Our logical relations model makes use of an abstract form of step-indexing, as supported by the Iris framework, to model various forms of recursion in gDOT. To demonstrate the expressiveness of gDOT, we show that it handles Scala examples that could not be handled by previous versions of DOT, and prove using our logical relations model that gDOT provides the desired data abstraction. The gDOT type system, its semantic model, its soundness proofs, and all examples in the paper have been mechanized in Coq., Programming Languages

Message passing is a useful abstraction to implement concurrent programs. For real-world systems, however, it is often combined with other programming and concurrency paradigms, such as higher-order functions, mutable state, shared-memory concurrency, and locks. We present Actris: a logic for proving functional correctness of programs that use a combination of the aforementioned features. Actris combines the power of modern concurrent separation logics with a first-class protocol mechanism - based on session types - for reasoning about message passing in the presence of other concurrency paradigms. We show that Actris provides a suitable level of abstraction by proving functional correctness of a variety of examples, including a distributed merge sort, a distributed load-balancing mapper, and a variant of the map-reduce model, using relatively simple specifications. Soundness of Actris is proved using a model of its protocol mechanism in the Iris framework. We mechanised the theory of Actris, together with tactics for symbolic execution of programs, as well as all examples in the paper, in the Coq proof assistant., Programming Languages

Iris biometric recognition has taken a great interest in the last decade. Many private and public facilities need to improve their security access due to the increasing terrorist attacks, the growing number of fraud and identity theft among other felonies. The regular technologies are almost all based on infrared light illumination due to the ease of using this for texture approach recognition. Even Though this technique is suitable in most cases, the highest price of these cameras on the market demands the research of either daylight or a white light solution. There are some known iris databases such as CASIA and UBIRIS, but they are not from Latin-American eyes that have different occlusion and color issues. A white light controlled environment was used to take the set of pictures 500 that let us have a new color database to carry out the experiments based on the EigenIris technique. The best iris and pupil segmentations were obtained either on the red or green color layers of the RGB images at 100% of correct localization. In this research, a sensitivity of 0,82 and specificity of 0,85 was achieved with a modified version of the EigenIris method using the blue color layer. &nbsp, El reconocimiento biométrico del iris ha tomado un gran interés en la última década. Muchos establecimientos necesitan mejorar su acceso de seguridad debido al aumento de ataques terroristas, el número creciente de fraudes y robo de identidad, entre otros delitos. Las tecnologías regulares de biometría del ojo son basadas en la iluminación con luz infrarroja debido a la facilidad de uso de este método para el reconocimiento de la textura. A pesar de que esta técnica es adecuada en la mayoría de los casos, el precio más alto de dichas cámaras en el mercado exige la búsqueda de soluciones de luz del día o de luz blanca regular. Existen algunas bases de datos del iris conocidas como lo son CASIA y UBIRIS, pero no pertenecen a ojos de personas de América Latina, las cuales tienen diferentes características de oclusión y de color. Para esta investigación se usó un ambiente controlado de luz blanca que permitió tomar un conjunto de 500 imágenes que dieron origen a una nueva base de datos para llevar a cabo los experimentos basados ​​en la técnica EigenIris (Análisis de componentes principales con la modificación del clasificador, usando KNN y el clasificador Naive Bayes). Las mejores segmentaciones del iris y de la pupila se obtuvieron ya sea en la capa de color rojo o verde de la imagen RGB del ojo con un 100% de verdaderas localizaciones. En esta investigación se logró una sensibilidad de 0,82 y una especificidad de 0,85 en la identificación mediante el uso de la capa de color azul con una versión modificada propuesta del método del EigenIris y el clasificador Naive Bayes.

A 9-year-old girl in good health was noted to have 2 holes in her left iris on a routine examination. The presence of multiple iris holes is most commonly called pseudopolycoria, because only the central pupil has a sphincter muscle and can constrict. Iris holes without muscle tissue arise as congenital defects or develop from ocular trauma, inflammation, or degeneration and are thus not considered to be true accessory pupils. [...]

Cryptococcus gattii is a species that has received more recognition in the recent past as distinct from Cryptococcus neoformans. C gattii is known to cause meningeal disease in both immunocompetent and immunosuppressed hosts. Patients may be clinically asymptomatic until immunosuppressive conditions occur such as corticosteroid treatment or an HIV infection. HIV-associated cryptococcal infections are most often due to C neoformans. C gattii is found in a minority. Speciation and subtyping of Cryptococcus are not always accomplished. In many parts of the world, there is no availability for speciation of Cryptococcus. Travel history may provide a clue to the most probable species. This case demonstrates a case of C gattii meningitis with a multiplicity of complications. These include advanced HIV disease secondary to nonadherence, immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome, and superior sagittal sinus thrombosis. The patient represented diagnostic and therapeutic dilemmas over time. Headache was the primary symptom in cryptococcal meningitis, immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome, and superior sagittal sinus thrombosis. All are discussed in detail as potential etiologies for the primary disease. Isavuconazonium is a relatively new broad-spectrum antifungal azole that was used as salvage therapy.

Regional conferences support researchers to network in a cost-efficient way. Quite often, such conferences become tight communities where friends and colleagues meet and share ideas regularly, year after year. However, with increasing public interest towards universities and the ideology of private-public management, deans and other managers have started to urge for high-quality scientific impact. Under the circumstances, regional conferences, with limited publication opportunities and lesser worldwide visibility among academics, have begun to lose their status as an important venue for science and net-working. It is equally easy and cheap to travel and attend more prestigious venues. In this paper, we analyze the main conference of the Scandinavian Chapter of the Association for Information Systems (AIS), aka IRIS association, namely IRIS, Information Systems Research Seminar in Scandinavia. We aim to understand what makes regional conferences (and chapters) sustainable. Our argumentation is based on two empirical studies; an analysis of the IRIS participants between 2011-2019 and a survey among senior scholars in the region.

Insights into genome size dynamics and its evolutionary impact remain limited by the lack of data for many plant groups. One of these is the genus Iris, of which only 53 out of c. 260 species have available genome sizes. In this study, we estimated the C-values for 41 species and subspecies of Iris mainly from the Eastern Mediterranean region. We constructed a phylogenetic framework to shed light on the distribution of genome sizes across subgenera and sections of Iris. Finally, we tested evolutionary models to explore the mode and tempo of genome size evolution during the radiation of section Oncocyclus. Iris as a whole displayed a great variety of C-values; however, they were unequally distributed across the subgenera and sections, suggesting that lineage-specific patterns of genome size diversification have taken place within the genus. The evolutionary model that best fitted our data was the speciational model, as changes in genome size appeared to be mainly associated with speciation events. These results suggest that genome size dynamics may have contributed to the radiation of Oncocyclus irises. In addition, our phylogenetic analysis provided evidence that supports the segregation of the Lebanese population currently attributed to Iris persica as a distinct species.

Fecha de recepción: 10-12-2018; Fecha de aceptación: 13-01-2019, Unidad Docente de Inmunología, Oftalmología y ORL, Fac. de Óptica y Optometría, TRUE, pub

BackgroundDiagnosis of paradoxical tuberculosis-associated immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (TB-IRIS) is challenging and new tools are needed for early diagnosis as well as to understand the biochemical events that underlie the pathology in TB-IRIS.MethodsPlasma samples were obtained from participants from a randomized HIV/TB treatment strategy study (AIDS Clinical Trials Group [ACTG] A5221) with (n = 26) and without TB-IRIS (n = 22) for an untargeted metabolomics pilot study by liquid-chromatography mass spectrometry. The metabolic profile of these participants was compared at the study entry and as close to the diagnosis of TB-IRIS as possible (TB-IRIS window). Molecular features with p < 0.05 and log2 fold change ≥0.58 were submitted for pathway analysis through MetaboAnalyst. We also elucidated potential metabolic signatures for TB-IRIS using a LASSO regression model.ResultsAt the study entry, we showed that the arachidonic acid and glycerophospholipid metabolism were altered in the TB-IRIS group. Sphingolipid and linoleic acid metabolism were the most affected pathways during the TB-IRIS window. LASSO modeling selected a set of 8 and 7 molecular features with the potential to predict TB-IRIS at study entry and during the TB-IRIS window, respectively.ConclusionThis study suggests that the use of plasma metabolites may distinguish HIV-TB patients with and without TB-IRIS.

Remote user authentication for Internet of Things (IoT) devices is critical to IoT security, as it helps prevent unauthorized access to IoT networks. Biometrics is an appealing authentication technique due to its advantages over traditional password-based authentication. However, the protection of biometric data itself is also important, as original biometric data cannot be replaced or reissued if compromised. In this paper, we propose a cancelable iris- and steganography-based user authentication system to provide user authentication and secure the original iris data. Most of the existing cancelable iris biometric systems need a user-specific key to guide feature transformation, e.g., permutation or random projection, which is also known as key-dependent transformation. One issue associated with key-dependent transformations is that if the user-specific key is compromised, some useful information can be leaked and exploited by adversaries to restore the original iris feature data. To mitigate this risk, the proposed scheme enhances system security by integrating an effective information-hiding technique-steganography. By concealing the user-specific key, the threat of key exposure-related attacks, e.g., attacks via record multiplicity, can be defused, thus heightening the overall system security and complementing the protection offered by cancelable biometric techniques.

This paper presents an approach to designing secure modular authentication framework based on iris biometrics and its’ implementation into mobile banking scenario. The system consists of multiple clients and an authentication server. Client, a smartphone with accompanying application, is used to capture biometrics, manage auxiliary data and create and store encrypted cancelable templates. Bank’s authentication server manages encryption keys and provides the template verification service. Proposed system keeps biometric templates encrypted or at least cancelable during all stages of storage, transmission and verification. As templates are stored on clients in encrypted form and decryption keys reside on bank's authentication server, original plaintext templates are unavailable to an adversary if the phone gets lost or stolen. The system employs public key cryptography and pseudorandom number generator on small-sized templates, thus not suffering from severe computational costs like systems that employ homomorphic encryption. System is also general, as it does do not depend on specific cryptographic algorithms. Having in mind that modern smartphones have iris scanners or at least high- quality front cameras, and that no severe computational drawbacks exist, one may conclude that the proposed authentication framework is highly applicable in mobile banking authentication.

Ocular amylodosis, although a rare entity, is known to affect the conjunctiva, extraocular muscles, orbit, lacrimal gland, and skin around the eyes. Intraocular deposition of amyloid mainly confines to the vitreous and cornea. In this report, we describe two cases of intraocular amyloidosis presenting as multiple iris and anterior chamber cysts. Histopathological examination with special stain like Congo Red and Transmission Electron Microscopy confirmed the diagnosis of amyloidosis. Systemic investigations ruled out systemic association confirming the diagnosis of primary ocular amyloidosis.

Background: Combination therapy with oral fluoropyrimidine and irinotecan has not yet been established as first-line treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). We carried out a randomized, open-label, phase III trial to determine whether S-1 and irinotecan plus bevacizumab is noninferior to mFOLFOX6 or CapeOX plus bevacizumab in terms of progression-free survival (PFS). Patients and methods: Patients from 53 institutions who had previously untreated mCRC were randomly assigned (1 : 1) to receive either mFOLFOX6 or CapeOX plus bevacizumab (control group) or S-1 and irinotecan plus bevacizumab (experimental group; a 3-week regimen: intravenous infusions of irinotecan 150 mg/m² and bevacizumab 7.5 mg/kg on day 1, oral S-1 80 mg/m² twice daily for 2 weeks, followed by a 1-week rest; or a 4-week regimen: irinotecan 100 mg/m² and bevacizumab 5 mg/kg on days 1 and 15, S-1 80 mg/m² twice daily for 2 weeks, followed by a 2-week rest). The primary end point was PFS. The noninferiority margin was 1.25; noninferiority would be established if the upper limit of the 95% confidence interval (CI) for the hazard ratio (HR) of the control group versus the experimental group was less than this margin. Result: Between June 2012 and September 2014, 487 patients underwent randomization. Two hundred and forty-three patients assigned to the control group and 241 assigned to the experimental group were included in the primary analysis. Median PFS was 10.8 months (95% CI 9.6–11.6) in the control group and 14.0 months (95% CI 12.4–15.5) in the experimental group (HR 0.84, 95% CI 0.70–1.02; P < 0.0001 for noninferiority, P = 0.0815 for superiority). One hundred and fifty-seven patients (64.9%) in the control group and 140 (58.6%) in the experimental group had adverse events of grade 3 or higher. Conclusion: S-1 and irinotecan plus bevacizumab is noninferior to mFOLFOX6 or CapeOX plus bevacizumab with respect to PFS as first-line treatment of mCRC and could be a new standard treatment.

В работе сравниваются три различных метода сегментации изображений радужной оболочки глаза, а именно метод, использующий интегро-дифференциальный оператор Даугмана, метод, использующий преобразование Хафа для поиска окружностей, а также метод, основанный на анализе распределения граничных точек. В рамках экспериментальных исследований, проведенных на наборе данных MMU Iris Image Database, произведена оценка точности и времени работы реализованных методов. Проведенные исследования показали, что наибольшую точность имеет метод, использующий интегро-дифференциальный оператор Даугмана, а метод, основанный на анализе распределения граничных точек, имеет наименьшее время работы. The paper compares three different methods of iris image segmentation, namely the method using the Daugman`s integro-differential operator, the method using the Hough transform for the detection of circles, and the method based on the analysis of the distribution of edge points. The accuracy and run time of the implemented methods were estimated in the experimental study conducted using the MMU Iris Image Database. The carried out researches have shown that the method using the Daugman`s integro-differential operator has the greatest accuracy, and the method based on the analysis of the distribution of boundary points has the shortest operating time.

PurposeTo assess the interdevice agreement between swept-source Fourier-domain and time-domain anterior segment optical coherence tomography (AS-OCT).MethodsFifty-three eyes from 41 subjects underwent CASIA2 and Visante OCT imaging. One hundred eighty-degree axis images were measured with the built-in two-dimensional analysis software for the swept-source Fourier-domain AS-OCT (CASIA2) and a customized program for the time-domain AS-OCT (Visante OCT). In both devices, we examined the angle opening distance (AOD), trabecular iris space area (TISA), angle recess area (ARA), anterior chamber depth (ACD), anterior chamber width (ACW), and lens vault (LV). Bland-Altman plots and intraclass correlation (ICC) were performed. Orthogonal linear regression assessed any proportional bias.ResultsICC showed strong correlation for LV (0.925) and ACD (0.992) and moderate agreement for ACW (0.801). ICC suggested good agreement for all angle parameters (0.771-0.878) except temporal AOD500 (0.743) and ARA750 (nasal 0.481; temporal 0.481). There was a proportional bias in nasal ARA750 (slope 2.44, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.95-3.18), temporal ARA750 (slope 2.57, 95% CI: 2.04-3.40), and nasal TISA500 (slope 1.30, 95% CI: 1.12-1.54). Bland-Altman plots demonstrated in all measured parameters a minimal mean difference between the two devices (-0.089 to 0.063); however, evidence of constant bias was found in nasal AOD250, nasal AOD500, nasal AOD750, nasal ARA750, temporal AOD500, temporal AOD750, temporal ARA750, and ACD. Among the parameters with constant biases, CASIA2 tends to give the larger numbers.ConclusionsBoth devices had generally good agreement. However, there were proportional and constant biases in most angle parameters. Thus, it is not recommended that values be used interchangeably.

PURPOSE:To examine the diurnal variation of static and dynamic anterior segment parameters in young, healthy eyes by comparing anterior segment optical coherence tomography (AS-OCT) measurements obtained in the morning and evening and also in the light and dark. METHODS:Twenty-two subjects ranging from 19 to 47 years of age with no past ocular history were selected. Imaging was performed with the Tomey CASIA2 AS-OCT device in 2 fixed lighting environments, light and dark, between the hours of 08:30 to 10:00 and 17:30 to 19:00. Four AS-OCT images were analyzed per eye. Pupil diameter (PD), iris area (IA), iris curvature (IC), anterior chamber depth (ACD), lens vault (LV), anterior chamber width (ACW), anterior chamber area (ACA), angle opening distance (AOD), angle recess area (ARA), trabecular iris space area (TISA), and trabecular iris angle (TIA) were measured. RESULTS:Pupil diameter was similar between the AM and PM groups in the light (P=0.89) and dark (P=0.51). There was no significant difference between AM and PM measurement values for any of the static or dynamic parameters in the light (P>0.39) and dark (P>0.31). Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) demonstrated excellent agreement between AM and PM measurement values in the light (ICC>0.81) and dark (ICC>0.93). In addition, there was no significant difference between AM and PM angle opening distance at 500 µm measurement values in the light (P>0.34) and dark (P>0.40) when each of 8 angle sectors was analyzed individually. CONCLUSIONS:No significant diurnal variation of static or dynamic anterior segment parameter measurements was detected in the light and dark. Diurnal variation of these parameters does not regularly occur in young, healthy eyes.

PurposeTo classify subjects with primary angle closure into clusters based on features from anterior segment optical coherence tomography (ASOCT) imaging and to explore how these clusters correspond to disease subtypes, including primary angle closure suspect (PACS), primary angle closure glaucoma(PACG), acute primary angle closure (APAC) and fellow eyes of APAC and reveal the factors that become more predominant in each subtype of angle closure.MethodA cross-sectional study of 248 eyes of 198 subjects(88 PACS eyes, 53 PACG eyes, 54 APAC eyes and 53 fellow eyes of APAC) that underwent complete examination including gonioscopy, A-scan biometry, and ASOCT. An agglomerative hierarchical clustering method was used to classify eyes based on ASOCT parameters.ResultsStatistical clustering analysis produced three clusters among which the anterior segment parameters were significantly different. Cluster 1(43 eyes) had the smallest anterior chamber depth(ACD) and area, as well as the greatest lens vault (p<0.001 for all). Cluster 2(113 eyes) had the thickest iris at 2000 microns(p = 0.048), and largest iris area(p<0.001), and the deepest ACD (p<0.001). Cluster 3(92 eyes) was characterized by elements of both clusters 1 and 2 and a higher iris curvature(p<0.001). There was a statistically significant difference in the distribution of clusters among subtypes of angle closure eyes(p<0.001). Although the patterns of clusters were similar in PACS and PACG eyes, with the majority of the eyes classified into cluster 2(55%, and 62%, respectively), the highest proportion of APAC and fellow eyes were assigned to clusters 1(44%) and 3 (51%), respectively.ConclusionHierarchical cluster analysis identified three clusters with different features. Predominant anatomical components are different among subtypes of primary angle closure.

This study aims to examine the function and vulnerabilities of biometric systemsintegrated in smartphones, as well as techniques for circumventing the securityof these systems. These techniques are then used against a selection of smart-phones in order to gauge the resilience of their biometric security. The function,vulnerabilities, and techniques associated with these systems are compiled usinga literature study of published papers and books on the subject. The performedexperiments apply these techniques in the form of presentation attacks directed atthe fingerprint-, face- and iris recognition systems of the examined smartphones.The result of the experiments showed significant differences between the differentsmartphones, where some exhibited flawless security and others showed significantsecurity flaws. Both fingerprint and face recognition systems were successfullycircumvented, while none of the iris recognition systems were breached. No clearlink could be observed between the cost of the device and success rate of attacks,while only devices using the Android operating system were breached. The resultsundeniably showed that some smartphones are vulnerable to the employed tech-niques. It also showed that some of the tested devices had managed to implementmeasures to counteract the applied presentation attacks. The root cause of thevulnerabilities showcased in the experiment is due to the fact that biometric traitscan be copied and reproduced, highlighting a basic flaw of such systems.