DDDI: Distance Diagnostics through Digital Imaging Catherine Davis, CIIDS Project Manager

WHAT IS DDDI? A Few Definitions… Distance- a far-off place, a place or position far away, or not very close Diagnostic- identifying, or used in identifying, the nature or cause of an illness, disorder, or problem Digital Images- basically pictures. In the case of DDDI, pictures come from cameras or cameras on microscopes

WHAT IS DDDI? Distance Diagnostics through Digital Imaging A web site that connects people with agricultural problems to scientists at the University of Georgia.

How does DDDI work? Agricultural producers contact a Cooperative Extension Agent about their problem. The Agent examines the problem and if the Agent cannot diagnose it, they can submit information and images through the system to experts at The University of Georgia.

How does DDDI work? Once the information is submitted, the sample is sent to the diagnostician who makes a diagnosis and sends comments and recommendations back to the Cooperative Extension Agent The Agent then shares the diagnosis, comments, and recommendations to the agricultural producer

What do you need for DDDI? A computer with Internet access Imaging equipment: –Compound microscope –Dissecting microscope –A camera to capture images from the field or the microscopes

What can DDDI be used for? Animal Science Plant Pathology Aquaculture Insects Crop and Soil Science Forestry Horticulture

Examples of DDDI Images Animal Science Mites from a bird Skin fungus warts caused by a virus. Foal with malformed forelegs

Examples of DDDI Images Plant Pathology These images show the damage on a head of cabbage and the microscopic view of the spores inside the lesion on the cabbage head.

Examples of DDDI Images Aquaculture These slides are good because they indicate the size of the sample in relation to another common object (hands, a penny, a ruler)

Examples of DDDI Images Insects

Examples of DDDI Images Crop and Soil Science

Examples of DDDI Images Forestry

Examples of DDDI Images Horticulture These slides are a good examples of going from an images of the whole sample to magnification of the samples.

A trinocular dissecting microscope (stereoscope) A stereo dissecting microscope is normally used to view relatively large specimens at magnifications from about 5X to about 50X.

Magnification zoom-control Focus control Focus and magnification can be varied to produce the best view of a specimen

A trinocular compound microscope “Compound” means having multiple objective lenses mounted on a rotating turret (lens holder)

Focusing the microscope on specimen slides can be accomplished with a coarse adjustment control for rapid adjustment, and a fine control for small adjustments, particularly necessary at high magnification levels. Coarse control Fine control

The “mechanical stage” holds specimen slides and allows them to be moved precisely under objective lenses to focus on any area of interest. Stage positioning controls

Place a sample slide on the microscope stage under the lowest power objective lens.