Digital Image Colour Analysis Research Articles

Dual-lanthanide cyclodextrin-polyoxometalate fluorescent assembly for rapid and sensitive detection of ciprofloxacin

Quick screening and in-situ detection of trace antibiotics in environmental samples is needed for better control and monitoring of antibiotics pollution. Herein, a novel dual-lanthanide (Tb3+ and Eu3+) cyclodextrin-polyoxometalate fluorescent assembly (CD-LnPOM) has been developed for ciprofloxacin (CIP) detection. The "ratiometric" fluorescence response of CD-LnPOM enables specific detection of CIP within 5 s over a wide concentration range (0–100 μM) with a detection limit of 0.266 nM. When CIP presents, cyclodextrin acts as a host and encapsulates CIP in the cavity through host-guest interaction, which enhances the antenna sensitization between Tb3+ and CIP. Meanwhile, due to the more robust coordination between CIP and Tb3+, CIP blocks the energy transfer from Tb3+ to Eu3+ and recovers the sensitization of Tb3+ by POM. Based on the developed CD-LnPOM probe, a portable sensing device based on digital image color analysis is successfully demonstrated for real river water and antibiotic sludge samples. The developed fluorescent probe enables rapid and in-situ detection of trace antibiotics, which offers a new method for antibiotics screening and monitoring.

A Multicenter Pilot Study of Biliary Atresia Screening Using Digital Stool Color Imaging.

The presence of alcoholic stool in biliary atresia (BA) patients is the basis of a stool color card (SCC), a screening tool that has led to more patients receiving Kasai portoenterostomy earlier. This study aimed to evaluate the color image processing of stool images captured using smartphones. We propose that measuring digital color parameters is a more objective method for identifying BA stools and may improve the sensitivity of BA screening. A prospective study was conducted in five hospitals in Thailand between October 1, 2020, and December 31, 2021. Stools from infants presenting with jaundice, acholic stool, or dark-colored urine were photographed. Digital image color analysis was performed, and software was developed based on the color on the original SCC. Sensitivity and specificity for predicting BA stools were compared between the SCC and the software. Of 33 infants eligible for data collection, 19 were diagnosed with BA. Saturation and blue were two potential digital color parameters used to differentiate BA stools. The receiver operating characteristic curve was used to determine the optimum cutoff point of both values, and when saturation ≤56 or blue ≥61 was set as a threshold for detecting BA stool, high accuracy was achieved at 81.8% and 78.8%, respectively. Digital image processing is a promising technology. With appropriate cutoff values of saturation in hue, saturation, value and blue in red, green, blue color models, BA stools can be identified, and equivocal-colored stools of non-BA patients can be differentiated with acceptable accuracy in infants presenting with jaundice.

Digital image color analysis method to extract fashion color semantics from artworks

Digital image color analysis method to extract fashion color semantics from artworks

Basic Digital Image Color Analysis for Nondestructive Testing of Setting and Curing Process of Building Products: Application to Thin Render Layers Sprayed at Building Site

Abstract Many building products are put in place in liquid or plastic state. During the first hours and days, the products set and dry, changing their mechanical properties, and their visual aspect also changes in parallel because of the hardening process. In the case of sprayed products, the technical supervisor must know at any time the quality of every sprayed layer and finally determine when it has reached its point of maturity that allows considering it as ready or suitable to receive the next layer. Experimented professionals often use personal visual ability to recognize the evolution of visual colors and surface textures of thin render layers applied on site as capacity to determine this right moment, especially in the case of dry mix sprayed products that harden progressively during curing process. However, these visual assessments are not considered decisive as a technical procedure to assess the evolution of the sprayed product properties. As they are thin layers, it can be considered that the information acquired from their surface is sufficiently representative of their interior qualities. The aim of this study is to correlate information obtained in successive local measurements of humidity and penetration resistance taken on the early surface of a dry mix product just sprayed (portland cement mortar and gypsum plaster) during its setting phase and to compare it with its surface digital color evolution during this process. The goal was to explore whether it is possible to establish a relationship between evolution of resistance penetration and evolution of some digital image basic parameters during the setting and drying period. If this relationship were sufficient, conventional point-to-point contact tests (destructive tests) could be replaced in the future by nondestructive surface visual tests. This is very useful at the building site where there are big surfaces to assess and only a short time to make the right decisions.

Combination of minimum wiping pressure and number of wipings that can remove pseudo-skin dirt: A digital image color analysis.

Excessive wiping friction in skin care may lead to skin damage. Bed baths are required to remove skin dirt without affecting the skin barrier function; the wiping pressure and number of wipings that satisfy these two requirements have not been clarified. This study aimed to determine the minimum wiping pressure and number of wipings that can remove skin dirt. In this quasi-experimental study, 50 healthy adults received an adhesion of pseudo-oily and aqueous dirt, randomly assigned to the left and right forearms. Each participant was wiped three times with wiping pressure classified into six randomly assigned categories. The dirt removal rate was calculated by color-analyzing images captured before and after each wiping, and its dependence on the combination of wiping pressure and number of wipings was assessed using a linear mixed model. The combinations achieving oily dirt removal rates of 80% or more were wiping once and pressure ≥50mmHg, wiping twice and pressure ≥40mmHg, and wiping thrice and pressure ≥10mmHg. Aqueous dirt was removed almost completely by wiping once, even with pressure ≥5mmHg. Wiping with at least 10mmHg or more three times can sufficiently remove both oily and aqueous dirt. Dirt removal rates with weak pressure can be made about as effective as those achieved with strong pressure by increasing the number of wipings. This result can be applied to daily nursing, home care, and long-term care health facilities.

The appearance of mimetic Heliconius butterflies to predators and conspecifics.

Adaptive coloration is under conflicting selection pressures: choosing potential mates and warning signaling against visually guided predators. Different elements of the color signal may therefore be tuned by evolution for different functions. We investigated how mimicry in four pairs of Heliconius comimics is potentially seen both from the perspective of butterflies and birds. Visual sensitivities of eight candidate avian predators were predicted through genetic analysis of their opsin genes. Using digital image color analysis, combined with bird and butterfly visual system models, we explored how predators and conspecifics may visualize mimetic patterns. Ultraviolet vision (UVS) birds are able to discriminate between the yellow and white colors of comimics better than violet vision (VS) birds. For Heliconius vision, males and females differ in their ability to discriminate comimics. Female vision and red filtering pigments have a significant effect on the perception of the yellow forewing band and the red ventral forewing pattern. A behavioral experiment showed that UV cues are used in mating behavior; removal of such cues was associated with an increased tendency to approach comimics as compared to conspecifics. We have therefore shown that visual signals can act to both reduce the cost of confusion in courtship and maintain the advantages of mimicry.

Evaluation of an ‘After Opening Freshness (AOF)’ label for packaged ham

Abstract A new type of commercial time-temperature indicator, TTI, namely the ‘After Opening Freshness Label’, i.e. AOF label, is evaluated. The label comprises a plastic film colorimetric CO2 indicator layer encapsulated in a polymer sheath, the permeability of which controls the rate of diffusion of the CO2 in to and out of the indicator film. The CO2 sensitive indicator film inside the label is relatively fast in responding (recovering its original colour in 26 min at 25 °C) when the ambient atmosphere is changed from that of the MAPed package (containing 25% CO2) to air, but when encapsulated in the polymer sheath used in the AOF label, which uses polyethylene terephthalate, PET, as a gas diffusion barrier, under the same conditions its recovery time is ca. 30 h (at 25 °C). Key to its commercial function – as a consume within indicator – at 5 °C, the label’s recovery time is ca. 96 h (i.e. 4 days). While UV/Vis spectrophotometry is used to characterise the optically transparent CO2 indicator, photography, coupled with digital image colour analysis is used to characterise the AOF label. A study of the kinetics of colour recovery of the AOF label as a function of temperature revealed an activation energy, Ea, of colour recovery of ca. 43 kJ mol−1, which is similar to a number of different food spoilage processes. The potential of the AOF label as a ‘consume within’ indicator to help minimise the large amount of unnecessary household food waste associated with many developed countries is discussed briefly.

A review of chemical 'spot' tests: A presumptive illicit drug identification technique.

Chemical 'spot' tests are a presumptive illicit drug identification technique commonly used by law enforcement, border security personnel, and forensic laboratories. The simplicity, low cost, and rapid results afforded by these tests make them particularly attractive for presumptive identification globally. In this paper, we review the development of these long-established methods and discuss color test recommendations and guidelines. A search of the scientific literature revealed the chemical reactions occurring in many color tests are either not actively investigated or reported as unknown. Today, color tests face many challenges, from the appearance of new psychoactive substances to concerns regarding selectivity, sensitivity, and safety. Advances in technology have seen color test reagents used in digital image color analysis, solid sensors, and microfluidic devices for illicit drug detection. This summarizes current research and suggests the future of presumptive color testing.

Intra‐ and inter‐rater reliability of digital image analysis for skin color measurement

We determined the intra- and inter-rater reliability of data from digital image color analysis between an expert and novice analyst. Following training, the expert and novice independently analyzed 210 randomly ordered images. Both analysts used Adobe(®) Photoshop lasso or color sampler tools based on the type of image file. After color correction with Pictocolor(®) in camera software, they recorded L*a*b* (L*=light/dark; a*=red/green; b*=yellow/blue) color values for all skin sites. We computed intra-rater and inter-rater agreement within anatomical region, color value (L*, a*, b*), and technique (lasso, color sampler) using a series of one-way intra-class correlation coefficients (ICCs). Results of ICCs for intra-rater agreement showed high levels of internal consistency reliability within each rater for the lasso technique (ICC ≥ 0.99) and somewhat lower, yet acceptable, level of agreement for the color sampler technique (ICC = 0.91 for expert, ICC = 0.81 for novice). Skin L*, skin b*, and labia L* values reached the highest level of agreement (ICC ≥ 0.92) and skin a*, labia b*, and vaginal wall b* were the lowest (ICC ≥ 0.64). Data from novice analysts can achieve high levels of agreement with data from expert analysts with training and the use of a detailed, standard protocol.

The combinatorial atmospheric pressure chemical vapour deposition (cAPCVD) of a gradating N-doped mixed phase titania thin film

Combinatorial atmospheric pressure chemical vapour deposition (cAPCVD) was used to synthesise a film with gradating nitrogen dopant and phase from anatase to anatase–rutile mixtures on a single film. This is the first time such a mixed graduating system has been reported. The film was characterised via X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman, wavelength dispersive X-ray (WDX) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) mapping. Film thicknesses were determined by Swanepoel method manipulations of UV-visible reflectance spectra and side-on scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Electrical resistivities were derived from conductivities measured on a two-point probe and the photocatalytic activity assessed using a novel high-throughput digital image colour analysis method. This allowed for the systematic investigation on the effect of phase composition and nitrogen content on the films' functional properties; indicating the effect of substitutional nitrogen doping and/or increased rutile content on the photocatalytic activity under UVA light and the benefit of substitutional nitrogen doping on the films electrical conductivity. Novel WDX, Raman and photocatalysis mapping tools are presented for derivation of a films Ti : N atomic ratio, anatase : rutile ratio and photocatalytic activity, respectively. Films synthesised by the cAPCVD route analysed in conjunction with mapping analysis tools provide a shortcut to identifying numerous phases and compositions and their functional property relationships on a single film, offering a rapid method for analysis of phase space.

Early Detection and Mass Trapping of Frankliniella occidentalis1,and Thrips tabaci1in Vegetable Crops

Western flower thrips, Frankliniella occidentalis (Pergande), and onion thrips, Thrips tabaci Lindeman, are economic pest insects of head lettuce, Lactuca sativa L, and dehydrator onions, Allium cepa L, in the Imperial Valley, California. Colored sticky traps were evaluated as potential detection and monitoring devices of the two thrip species over a two-month period in 2006. Results showed that blue sticky card traps consistently captured more adult thrips of both species compared to yellow sticky card traps. Numbers of thrips captured on blue sticky traps were positively correlated to numbers captured on yellow sticky traps. Adult thrips were captured in much higher numbers on sticky card traps than recovered from whole plant samples. Significant negative correlations between F. occidentalis numbers on plant samples and colored sticky traps suggest that adults left lettuce plants and were attracted to nearby traps In addition, the numbers of thrips caught on traps relative to estimated plant populations support the hypothesis that mass trapping was significant in the treated area. Spectroradiometric and RGB (red, green, blue) digital image color analysis of the traps in sunlight showed the blue sticky cards reflected considerably more light in the 400–500 nm range (R = 49, G = 187, B = 255) than the yellow sticky cards that reflected more light in the 550–700 nm range (R = 227, G = 234, B = 67). Because blue sticky card traps captured many times more adult thrips than recovered from whole plant samples, blue traps may be more sensitive in detecting early presence of thrips in lettuce and onion fields.

Quantification of burn induced extravasation of Evans blue albumin based on digital image analysis

The present study evaluated a non-invasive method based on digital image colour analysis that allows near-continuous quantification of extravasated Evans blue albumin after burn injury. A full-thickness burn was induced in the abdominal skin of rats, followed by injection of Evans blue dye. Tissue content of Evans blue were quantified using spectrophotometry, and compared with digital colour analysis. The non-invasive technique demonstrated a good correlation when compared to invasive spectrophotometry, but is superior by allowing near continuous measurement in the same subject and may be of value for evaluation of effective burn oedema-reducing treatment.

Topical local anaesthetics (EMLA ®) inhibit burn-induced plasma extravasation as measured by digital image colour analysis

Amide local anaesthetics have previously been shown to reduce oedema and improve dermal perfusion following experimental burns. Previous studies have used invasive techniques for burn oedema quantification which do not allow continuous monitoring in the same animal. The present study used digital image colour analysis to investigate the effect of topical local anaesthetics on burn-induced extravasation of Evans blue albumin. A standardised full-thickness burn injury (1 × 1 cm) was induced in the abdominal skin of anaesthetised rats. The burn area was subsequently covered with 0.5 g of lidocaine-prilocaine cream 5% (25 mg of each in 1 g; EMLA ®, ASTRA, Sweden) or placebo cream during the first hour post-burn. One hour after the burn trauma, animals received Evans blue dye intravenously. Skin colour appearances were recorded by macrophotography before the burn and 5, 60, 65, 90, 120, 150, and 180 min post-burn. Colour slides were digitised and colour changes were analysed using the normalised red-green-blue ( n-rgb) colour system. Results showed a significant inhibition of Evans blue extravasation between 60 and 180 min post-burn in EMLA ®-treated animals versus controls. Topical local anaesthetics are potent inhibitors of burn-induced plasma albumin extravasation, probably by direct action on vascular permeability and by inhibition of various steps of the pathophysiological response after burn injury.

Inhibition of plasma extravasation after burns by D-myo-inositol-1,2,6-trisphosphate using digital image colour analysis.

D-myo-inositol-1,2,6-triphosphate (1,2,6-IP3) has beneficial effects in experimental, progressive burn-induced ischaemia and oedema. A 1 cm2 full-thickness burn was made in the skin of 20 rats with a hot aluminium rod followed by infusion of 1,2,6-IP3 (60 mg.kg.-1 h-1) or isotonic saline (n = 10 in each group). One hour later Evans blue was injected intravenously. Colour photographs of the area of the burn were taken in a standard manner before the burn and at intervals for three hours afterwards. The photographs were analysed by digital image colour analysis using normalised red-green-blue values. The increase in normalised blue values between 60 and 180 minutes after the burn was significantly reduced in animals treated with 1,2,6-IP3 compared with control animals (p < 0.001). Spectrophotometric analysis of extravasated Evans blue in the skin 180 minutes after the burn showed that it had been significantly inhibited by treatment with 1,2,6-IP3 (p < 0.001). In conclusion, digital image analysis allowed repeated evaluation over time and confirmed previous data about the ability of 1,2,6-IP3 to inhibit extravasation of plasma after burns.