Recent developments in smartphone-based strip readers have further improved the performances of lateral flow test kits. Most smartphone cameras encode an unaltered and nonlinear power-law transfer function that maps the light intensity to a pixel value; this poses some limitations for camera-based strip readers. For faint-color test lines which are almost as white such as with nitrocellulose pads, the slope of the transfer function is low. Therefore, it is difficult to differentiate between the faint test lines and the white background. We show that by manually setting the camera exposure time—instead of using the automatic settings—to the high-slope region of the transfer function, the reader’s sensitivity can be improved. We found that the sensitivity and the limit of detection of the Acidovorax avenae subsp. citrulli (Aac) test kit were enhanced up to 3-fold and 5-fold, respectively, when using the readers at the optimal camera settings, compared to the automatic mode settings. This simple technique can be readily applied to any existing camera-based colorimetric strip reader to significantly improve its performance.

In this study, readily available antibodies that are used in standard agglutination tests were evaluated for their use in ABO blood typing by a surface plasmon resonance imaging (SPR imaging) technique. Five groups of antibodies, including mixed clones of anti-A, anti-B, and anti-AB, and single clones of anti-A and anti-B, were used to construct the five-line detection arrays using a multichannel flow cell in the SPR imager. The red blood cell (RBC) samples were applied to a multichannel flow cell that was orthogonal to the detection line arrays for blood group typing. We found that the blood samples were correctly grouped in less than 12 min by the SPR imaging technique, and the results were consistent with those of the standard agglutination technique for all 60 samples. We found that mixed clones of antibodies provided 33%–68% greater change in the SPR signal than the single-clone antibodies. Applying the SPR imaging technique using readily available antibodies may reduce the costs of the antibodies, shorten the measurement time, and increase the throughput.

Nowadays, body temperature screening is very important especially in the current global coronavirus disease (COVID-19) epidemic. It can be considered as the first step in monitoring the fever symptom if the body temperature is checked regularly. Aiming at alleviating the influence of working distance and ambient temperature disturbance, this article proposes and demonstrates a self-compensation technique that is built into our low-cost thermal imaging-based temperature screening system. The key idea relies on a combination of a 3-D depth sensor, an electronic temperature sensor, and a reference temperature for realtime data feedback and control. In addition, we obtain simple mathematical models for compensating the influence of ambient temperature and measuring distance variations. Experimental demonstration using a blackbody radiation source as an object confirms that the measured temperature under our self-compensation agrees very well with the blackbody radiation source, showing a very low standard deviation of 0.10 °C under 21.0 °C–40.0 °C ambient temperature. In addition, an improved standard deviation of 0.18 °C and a low 0.020 °C/m for the measured temperature are obtained under the variation in measuring the distance from 0.50 to 2.00 m.

Background: Animation has promise for teaching complex health content through smartphone applications. However, smartphones have had limited use in Thailand for health literacy improvement among adults with chronic diseases. This study aims to explore the perceptions of adults with diabetes and/or hypertension resulting from 2D short animated videos for literacy against chronic disease that are available via smartphones. Methods: Four animated videos were initially developed based on clinical practice guidelines and nursing experience. Physicians, an expert in health education, and an animation team developed and revised scripts and storyboards of the animated videos. Lastly, videos were validated by physicians and health educators for content breadth and depth and by media experts for motion graphics and illustration. Each video presents a different situation in diabetes, hypertension, missing appointments, and obesity, ranging from 2.18 to 4.14 min in duration. The inclusion criteria were adults 35–70 years old with diabetes or hypertension who received care from primary care units. Thematic analysis was performed on the extracted data. Results: Twenty participants with a mean age of 58.4 years (SD 6.7; ranged 41–68) were focus-group interviewed. Three animation elements were assessed, including presentation, impacts, and suggestions. Participants had positive responses regarding the presentation (suitability of images and smooth motion graphics, short length of videos, simple language, understandable content, and clear sound) and impacts (recalling information, enhancing engagement, and motivating health awareness and behavior change). Suggested improvements were for a bigger font size for subtitles and considering the use of spoken text instead of on-screen text for recommendations at the end of the animations. Conclusions: Animated videos are acceptable for delivering health information. Pilot testing animated videos for promoting literacy against chronic diseases in adults with diabetes and hypertension is needed for optimal utility.

As fast human temperature screening is needed in large public areas, this paper proposes a low-cost mobile platform module that combines the advantages of analyzing visible and thermal images. In particular, the key idea relies on face detection in the visible image. Then the coordinates of all faces detected are mapped on to the thermal image to determine their corresponding temperatures. Internal temperature compensation and external reference temperature also are employed to reduce the unwanted temperature fluctuation inside the module and in the surrounding environment. Our mobile platform module, called $\unicode{x00B5} {\rm Therm}$, uses a FLIR ONE camera as our visible and thermal imaging cameras. It can simultaneously determine the temperatures of nine people at a speed of 8 frames/second. A field test operation was performed for four days with 1,170 people, with very promising results of 100% sensitivity, 92.6% specificity, and 92.7% accuracy.

This paper shows for the first time how a mobile device such as a smart cell phone and a tablet can be used to realize such a highly-sought-after high-resolution digital microscope. Demonstration based on a low-cost molded plastic convex lens combined with our design packaging style shows that a portable digital microscope can be easily implemented featuring a measured high image resolution of >; 4.40 μm and a measured field of view of 5×5 mm ² . Applications include biology study, skin analysis, and pest detection, to name just a few.