BACKGROUND Previous studies have shown that children in Tokelau have a lower prevalence of asthma and atopy compared to Tokelauan children resident in New Zealand. We hypothesized that the low asthma and atopy prevalence in Tokelau may be associated with low indoor allergen levels. METHODS Dust was collected from bedding and floors of 76 homes and four public buildings in Tokelau and from the...

In this paper, a new iris localization method for mobile devices is presented. Our system uses both intensity and saturation threshold on the captured eye images to determine iris boundary and sclera area, respectively. Estimated iris boundary pixels which have been placed outside the sclera will be removed. The remaining pixels are mainly the boundary of iris inside the sclera. Then, circular ...

With an increasing emphasis on security, automated personal identification based on biometrics has been receiving extensive attention. Iris recognition, as an emerging biometric recognition approach, is becoming a very active topic in both research and practical applications. In general, a typical iris recognition system includes iris imaging, iris liveness detection, and recognition. This rese...

ringworm in 1874, but he considered the fungus to be identical with that of the European ringworm. Manson (1879?82) in China was the first to describe the disease in any detail and he gave it the name tinea imbricata; he considered the fungus a non-cultivable Trichophyton, to which Blanchard gave the name Trichophyton concentricum. Castellani in Ceylon (1910-11) was the first to cultivate the f...