Background:Traditional periodontal open flap debridement (OFD) results in reduced pocket depth (PD), clinical attachment loss (CAL), gingival recession (GR) and postoperative pain and discomfort. The quest to overcome these shortcomings has led to research into Er,Cr:YSGG laser assisted pocket therapy (ELAPT). This study was designed to compare the clinical outcomes of ELAPT versus OFD. Methods: Fifteen patients with a PD of ≥5 mm and ≤8 mm at two sites were selected. Test sites (Group 1) were treated by ELAPT and the control (Group 2) by OFD. Clinical parameters were recorded at baseline, 3 and 6 months and included Plaque Index (PI), Gingival Index (GI), modified Sulcular Bleeding Index (mSBI), PD, CAL and GR. Results: Both treatments produced a reduction in PI, GI, mSBI and PD, an increase in GR, and a gain in CAL at 3 and 6 months. The mean gain of CAL in Group 1 at 3 and 6 months (1.60 AE 0.78 and 1.80 AE 0.63) was similar (p > 0.05) to the value of Group 2 (1.93 AE 0.88 and 2.00 AE 0.54). GR increased significantly (p < 0.05) only in Group 2 at 3 and 6 months (1.80 AE 0.56 and 1.87 AE 0.64) compared to Group 1 (0.50 AE 0.68 and 0.60 AE 0.74). Conclusions: ELAPT compared with OFD results in similar CAL gains with less GR and significant reductions in PD, GI and mSBI, and may be considered as an alternative to surgical therapy.

Aim:The aim of the present study is to evaluate and compare the effects of low-level laser therapy (LLLT) on wound healing after depigmentation procedure.Materials and Methods:In this study, 12 patients with bilateral melanin hyperpigmentation were treated with surgical stripping using a blade. After completion of the surgical process and bleeding stasis, any of the symmetrical surgical sites was randomly assigned for LLLT (test site) using a defocused diode laser at 1 mm distance for 5 min. After every laser exposure, the surgical site was coated with plaque disclosing solution (erythrosine) on the 3rd, 7th, and 15th day. A photograph of the surgical site was taken using a Digital SLR Camera, which was placed at 30 cm distance at 55 mm zoom, 1/100 shutter speed, f 14 aperture size, and ISO 4000 with a ring flash. The area of the stained parts of the photographs was evaluated using image analysis software.Results:At day 3, test site showed 1.26 ± 0.23 mm2 and control site showed 1.45 ± 0.21 mm2 stain uptake by the tissue which was statistically significant. At day 7 and day 15, the test sites exhibited 1.24 ± 0.30 mm2 and 1.12 ± 0.25 mm2 stain uptake, whereas the control site showed 1.37 ± 25 mm2 and 1.29 ± 0.28 mm2 staining, respectively, which were not statistically significant.Conclusion:Within the limitations of this study, the findings revealed that LLLT promotes wound healing after depigmentation procedure until the 3rd day. On the 7th and 15th day, the difference in healing was not statistically significant.

Numerous ubiquitous computing applications depend on the ability to locate objects as a key functionality. We show that Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology can be leveraged to achieve object localisation in an inexpensive, reliable, flexible, and scalable manner. We outline the challenges that can adversely affect RFID-based localisation techniques, and propose practical mitigating solutions. We present several new algorithms for RFID-based object localisation that compare favourably with previous methods in terms of accuracy, speed, reliability, scalability, and cost.

Introduction: Deep periodontal pockets pose a great challenge for nonsurgical periodontal treatment. Scaling and root planing (SRP) alone may not suffice in cases where surgical therapy cannot be undertaken. Various recent studies have suggested the use of antimicrobial Photodynamic Therapy (aPDT) for the management of periodontal infections. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of using aPDT along with SRP, compared to SRP alone for the management of deep periodontal pockets. Methods: Thirty patients with chronic periodontitis, who met the criteria of having periodontal pockets with depth ≥ 6 mm and bleeding on probing (BOP) in at least 2 different quadrants were included. After SRP, one quadrant was randomly selected for aPDT (test), while another served as control. Clinical parameters i.e. plaque index (PI), modified sulcular bleeding index (mSBI), probing depth (PD) and clinical attachment level (CAL) were measured at baseline, 1 month and 3 months post-treatment intervals. Results: All clinical parameters significantly improved in both groups after 1 and 3 months. At 1-month interval, inter-group difference in mean change was statistically significant (P < 0.05) in terms of mSBI (0.85 ± 0.41in test vs 0.54 ± 0.47 in control group) and PD (1.77±0.86 in test vs 1.3 ± 0.95 in control group). At 3 months interval, no statistically significant difference was observed between test and control groups except in terms of mSBI (0.97 ± 0.45 in test vs 0.73 ± 0.42 in control group). Conclusion: aPDT appears to play an additional role in reduction of gingival inflammation when used along with nonsurgical mechanical debridement of deep periodontal pockets.

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-Object localization is a key primitive in pervasive computing environments, where numerous applications depend on the rapid and accurate position estimation of objects. We present a general RFID-based localization framework that reliably determines the positions of objects with unprecedented accuracy and speed. This is achieved by varying the power levels of the RFID readers, calibrated against reference tags of known sensitivity. Our implementation and experiments are able to localize objects to an accuracy of 15 cm within a few seconds, and this compares favorably with previous techniques. We also suggest several practical optimizations for further enhancing the speed and accuracy of the method.

Achondroplasia is a non-lethal form of chondrodysplasia. It is a disturbance of endochondral bone formation which results in characteristic dwarfism. It is transmitted as an autosomal dominant trait, with complete penetrance. De novo mutations cause up to 90% of cases. The mutation rate is estimated to be 0.000014 per gamete per generation. It is a rare disorder with a prevalence of 1:10,000 to 1:50,000 births worldwide. A young female patient suffering from achondroplasia reported with oral manifestations showing features of periodontitis, hypoplasia of the mid-face, deep periodontal pockets, and mobility of teeth. This case report highlights this rare anomaly and its oral manifestations.

Locating objects is a key requirement in several of the emerging computing paradigms. The problem of locating objects has been extensively studied from a variety of technological and technique-oriented perspectives. Recently, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), a wireless automated identification technology, has come forth as a viable platform for locating objects, particularly in indoor environments. While rapid advances in RFID-based object localization are evident, current approaches lack adaptability, reliability, and scalability. This thesis addresses these issues and presents an RFID-based object localization framework and system to help locate stationary and mobile objects with high accuracy. Our RFID-based object localization framework and system is resilient in select environmental conditions, accommodates numerous use-case scenarios, and is tag orientation and vendor hardware-agnostic. We demonstrate that radio signal strength, a technique used in our location system and traditionally considered unreliable, can be used as a reliable metric for locating objects in selective cases. Additionally, we show that tag sensitivity caused by manufacturing variation influences object localization performance and we present tag selection and binning techniques. This ensure range and cost-optimized uniformly sensitive tags, leading to a reliable and high-performance object localization. We further improve the object localization characteristics of our system by matching tags to readers and demonstrating that reference tags could be made optional without significant loss in performance. Rigorous experimental evidence suggests that our RFID-based object location system can simultaneously locate several stationary and mobile objects in realistic noisy indoor environments with localization accuracy in the range of 0.15-0.84 meters. We have also developed several visualization applications focusing on a variety of computing platforms to help visualize the targeted object's location. i Approval Sheet This dissertation is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Computer Science) Kirti Chawla This dissertation has been read and approved by the Examining Committee: