Fingerprint matching using the onion peeling approach and turning function.

Fingerprint, as one of the most popular and robust biometric traits, can be used in automatic identification and verification systems to identify individuals. Fingerprint matching is a vital and challenging issue in fingerprint recognition systems. Most fingerprint matching algorithms are minutiae-based. The minutiae points are the ways that the fingerprint ridges can be discontinuous. Ridge ending and ridge bifurcation are two frequently used minutiae in most fingerprint matching algorithms. This article presents a new minutiae-based fingerprint matching using the onion peeling approach. In the proposed method, fingerprints are aligned to find the matched minutiae points. Then, the nested convex polygons of matched minutiae points are constructed and the comparison between peer-to-peer polygons is performed by the turning function distance. Simplicity, accuracy, and low time complexity of the onion peeling approach are three important factors that make it a standard method for fingerprint matching purposes. The performance of the proposed algorithm is evaluated on the database FVC2002. Since the fingerprints that the difference between the number of their layers is more than 2 and the a minutiae matching score lower than 0.15 are ignored, better results are obtained. KEYWORDS: Fingerprint Matching, Minutiae, Convex Layers, Turning Function, Computational Geometry.

Effect of Shirazi thyme on oxidant status and absorptive surface area of the intestine in cold-induced pulmonary hypertensive broiler chickens.

The effects of Shirazi thyme as a medicinal plant on oxidant status (lipid peroxidation, protein oxidation, total antioxidant capacity, and catalase activity) and absorptive surface area were measured in three segments of the small intestine in cold-induced pulmonary hypertensive chickens. Birds were reared at four groups (thyme 0, 0.25, 0.50, and 1.00 % of diet) for 42 days. To induce pulmonary hypertension, the temperature was gradually decreased. The body weight was increased in thyme-0.25% birds compared to control ones, while it was decreased in thyme-1% of birds. The feed consumption was only increased in thyme-1.00% birds. The feed conversion ratio was lower in thyme-0.25% birds and higher in thyme-1.00% birds than control ones. The duodenal and jejunal villus surface area was lower in thyme-1.00% birds than control ones, while it was greater in the thyme-0.50% birds. The ileal villus surface area and duodenal lamina propria thickness were also greater in thyme-0.50% birds. Lipid peroxidation was only decreased in the duodenum and ileum of thyme-0.50% birds compared to control ones, whereas it was increased in the duodenum and jejunum of thyme-1.00% birds. Catalase activity was only elevated in the duodenum and jejunum of thyme-1.00% fed chickens. Total antioxidant capacity was increased in the duodenum, jejunum, and ileum of thyme-0.50% birds. It is concluded that the Shirazi thyme has beneficial effects on growth performance, intestinal absorptive surface area / secretory system, and pulmonary hypertension response at low doses (0.25 and 0.50% of diet), whereas high dose (1.00% of diet) of this plant may be toxic.

Effect of E. laciniata (L) ointment on mild and moderate carpal tunnel syndrome: a double-blind, randomized clinical trial.

This paper concerns the effects of methanol extract of Eremostachys laciniata on mild and moderate Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS). Forty patients, including sixty hands affected by CTS, were randomly categorized in two different groups. Group A and Group B were treated with E. laciniata extract and placebo as the ointment, respectively. Tests, including the palmar prehension (pound), grip power (kg), visual analog scale (VAS) and electrodiagnostic study, were performed on all patients before and after the trial. During the trial, all patients receive Sodium Diclofenac (25 mg twice a day) orally. In addition, they utilized a night wrist splint. After four weeks of treatment, the state of mean palmer prehension in both groups improved yet, the statistics show that group A prevailed by (p = 0.01). Grip power increased in both groups as well, but this increase was not significant within-groups (p = 0.18 and p = 0.54 in group A and B, respectively) or between-groups (p = 0.053). Although the VSA decreased in both groups, group A prevailed again by (p < 0.001). After four weeks, no significant electrodiagnostic change was detected between the two groups. According to this study, the methanol extract of E. laciniata can be effective in treatment of mild and moderate CTS in combination with the wrist night splint, especially in alleviating the severity of the syndrome and increasing the palmer prehension power.

Hollow fiber liquid phase microextraction followed by high performance liquid chromatography for determination of ultra-trace levels of Se(IV) after derivatization in urine, plasma and natural water samples.

In the present work, a simple and high sensitive method based on hollow fiber liquid phase microextraction (HF-LPME) was developed followed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) for determination of ultra-trace amounts of Se(IV) after derivatization in biological and natural water samples. Se(IV) was complexed with o-phenylenediamine to form piazselenol. The formed piazselenol was extracted into 20 microL of 1-octanol located in the lumen of a hollow fiber and the solution was injected into HPLC-UV for analysis. Using the Taguchi method, an orthogonal array design (OAD), OA(16) (4(5)) was employed to optimize the HF-LPME of piazselenol. The effect of five experimental factors (each factor at four levels) including the volume of the organic phase, extraction time, pH of the solution, stirring rate and ionic strength on the extraction efficiency of piazselenol was studied and optimized. The maximum extraction efficiency of piazselenol was obtained at 20 microL of 1-octanol as the extracting solvent, 30 min extraction time, pH 2, stirring rate of 500 rpm and 30% (w/v) NaCl. Under the optimum conditions, preconcentration factors up to 130 were achieved and the relative standard deviation (%RSD) of the method was <3.7% for different concentrations of Se(IV). The calibration curves were obtained in the ranges of 0.2-100 and 0.05-10 microgL(-1) for the 11 and 50 mL of the sample volumes with reasonable linearity, respectively (r(2)> 0.995). The limits of detection (LOD) were 0.1 and 0.02 microgL(-1) for the 11 and 50 mL sample volumes, respectively (S/N - 3). Finally, the applicability of the proposed method was evaluated by the extraction and determination of Se(IV) in the plasma, urine and water samples.