1.
Introduction
Many sequences of polynomials are described by recursive formulas of order two. The investigations of different polynomials have garnered much interest from many authors. Some different degenerate polynomials were investigated in [1,2,3]. Some orthogonal polynomials were studied in [4,5,6]. Some other contributions concerning different sequences of polynomials can be found in [7,8,9,10,11,12].
The Fibonacci and Lucas polynomials and their related numbers are of essential importance due to their various applications in biology, physics, statistics, and computer science [13]. Many authors were interested in introducing and investigating several generalizations and modifications of Fibonacci and Lucas polynomials. The authors of [14] investigated two classes that generalize Fibonacci and Lucas polynomials, and they utilized them to compute some radicals in reduced forms. In [15], Gauss-Fibonacci and Gauss-Lucas polynomials were studied along with their applications, while in [16], generalized Lucas polynomials and their links with Fibonacci and Lucas polynomials were discussed. Some other contributions regarding these polynomials and their applications can be found in [17,18,19].
The derivation of several formulas for special functions is of interest to several mathematicians. Some of these formulas play important roles in applied mathematics and, in particular, in numerical analysis; see for instance [20,21,22,23]. For example, it is possible to obtain spectral solutions of differential equations by expressing the different derivatives of various polynomials as combinations of their original ones (see, for example, [24] and [25]). In addition, the first-order derivatives of different polynomials may be utilized to apply a matrix approach to solve different types of differential equations (see [26,27,28]). Moreover, the formulas concerned with the repeated integrals of different special functions allow us to find numerical solutions to some important differential equations (see, for example, [29]).
Pell and Pell-Lucas polynomials are particular polynomials that generalize Fibonacci and Lucas polynomials. There are several contributions related to Pell and Pell-Lucas polynomials and their related numbers. For example, various studies on Pell and Pell-Lucas numbers can be found in the book by Koshy [30]. Formulas on the integration and derivative sequences of these polynomials have been given in [31]. Some Chebyshev and Pell connections have been derived in [32]. A kind of polynomials called "convolved (p,q) Fibonacci polynomials" was considered in [33]. This type of polynomial generalizes many famous types of polynomials. For some other contributions related to Pell and Pell-Lucas polynomials and related numbers; reference can be made to [34,35,36,37,38,39]. In numerical analysis, these polynomials have also been employed to solve various differential equations; see for instance, [40,41,42].
In this paper, we are interested in investigating a particular class of the general class established in [33]. More precisely, we will investigate a class of polynomials called convolved Pell polynomials which generalizes the well-known class of Pell polynomials. We will develop new formulas for this type of polynomials. We note here that the contributions related to these polynomials are few. This provided the motivation for our study in this paper.
The novelty of the contributions of this paper can be listed in points as follows:
● New formulas concerned with this type of polynomial are established.
● New connections between these polynomials and different celebrated orthogonal and non-orthogonal polynomials are derived.
Here are the main points of the contributions of this paper:
● We establish new derivative formulas of convolved Pell polynomials based on the connection formulas between two convolved Pell polynomials of different parameters.
● We establish new derivative formulas of convolved Pell polynomials in terms of different well-known special functions. As a result, connection formulas between convolved Pell polynomials and some other polynomials can be deduced.
● We develop moments formulas of convolved Pell polynomials. These formulas can be calculated by using the reduction formulas of certain terminating hypergeometric functions.
● We deduce some results related to the Pell polynomials as special cases of those of the convolved Pell polynomials.
● We present some applications of the derived formulas.
● We present a new approach for the convolved Pell polynomials, based on matrix calculus.
The paper has the following structure. We will discuss some elementary properties of the convolved Pell polynomials in the next section. In addition, an overview of Jacobi polynomials (JPs) and the two classes of generalized Fibonacci and generalized Lucas polynomials is given. Section 3 is devoted to developing new expressions for the derivatives of the convolved Pell polynomials. Section 4 presents further formulas for the derivatives of convolved Pell polynomials as combinations of various special functions, including some orthogonal polynomials. Moments formulas of the convolved Pell polynomials are derived in Section 5 accompanied by some reductions for some specific cases. In Section 6, some applications of the derived formulas are presented. In Section 7, a matrix-based approach for the convolved Pell polynomials is proposed. Recurrence relations and determinant forms are two examples of the fundamental results that are presented. Section 8 provides some final thoughts.
2.
Some fundamental properties of the convolved Pell polynomials
This section presents an overview of the convolved Pell polynomials. In addition, an account of JPs and the generalized Fibonacci and generalized Lucas polynomials is given.
2.1. An overview of the convolved Pell polynomials
For every complex number M, the authors of [33] introduced the convolved (a,b)-Fibonacci polynomials Gi,M(x), where a(x) and b(x) are polynomials with real coefficients. The polynomials Gi,M(x) (of degree i) can be constructed by using the generating function:
and they can be explicitly expressed as
where ⌊z⌋ denotes the floor function.
Moreover, these polynomials satisfy the following recursive formula:
with G0.M(x)=1, G1,M(x)=Ma(x).
In this paper, we are interested in investigating a subclass of the convolved (a,b)-Fibonacci polynomials, that is the class of the convolved Pell polynomials Pi,M(x). This class corresponds to the following choice:
In power form, Pell polynomials are presented as follows:
and the following recurrence relation applies
with P0,M(x)=1,P1,M(x)=2Mx.
It can be shown that the inversion formula of Pi,M(x) is
Remark 2.1. It is important to notice that the convolved Pell polynomials generalize the well-known Pell polynomials. In fact, when M=1, Pi,M(x) become Pell polynomials, that is Pi(x)=Pi,1(x).
2.2. Classical JPs
The standard JPs P(γ,δ)r(x), x∈[−1,1], r≥0 γ>−1,δ>−1, (see [43]) can be expressed in the following hypergeometric form
The normalized JPs may be given by (see [44])
Remark 2.2. It is to be noted that J(γ,δ)r(z) which are defined in (2.4) satisfy:
An advantage of introducing such polynomials is that some well-known polynomials can be easily derived from them.
The following celebrated classes of polynomials are particular cases of J(γ,δ)r(z):
where Tr(z),Ur(z),Vr(z),Wr(z), denote, respectively, the Chebyshev polynomials (CPs) of the first, second, third and fourth kinds, while Lr(z) and C(γ)r(z) denote respectively, the Legendre and ultraspherical polynomials.
The corresponding shifted polynomials on [0,1] denoted by ˜J(γ,δ)r(z) are defined by
The polynomials ˜J(γ,δ)r (z) have the following analytic form
The inversion formula of (2.5) is given by
The useful books [43,45] regarding JPs and related special families might be consulted.
2.3. Generalized Fibonacci and generalized Lucas polynomials
Assume the nonzero real numbers A,B,R,S. The two generalized classes of Fibonacci and Lucas polynomials may be constructed, respectively, in accordance with the following recurrence relations:
and
The polynomials FA,Bk(z) and LR,Sk(z) can respectively be expressed by Binet's formulas as follows:
and
The two analytic formulas of these polynomials are, respectively,
and
Their inversion formulas are respectively given by
and
with
Several polynomial sequences are specific ones of the two classes of generalized Fibonacci and generalized Lucas polynomials. More precisely, we have the following:
where Fk(x),Pk(x),Fk(x) are, respectively, the Fibonacci, Pell and Fermat polynomials, while Uk(x) and Ek(x,μ) denote, respectively, the Chebyshev and the Dickson polynomials of the second kind.
Furthermore,
where Lk(x) denotes the Lucas polynomials, Qk(x) represents the Pell-Lucas polynomials, fk(x) denotes the Fermat-Lucas polynomials, while Tk(x) and Dk(t,μ) denote, respectively, the Chebyshev and the Dickson polynomials of the first kind.
3.
New derivative expressions of the convolved Pell polynomials
Here we derive new expressions for the high-order derivatives of the convolved Pell polynomials in terms of their original polynomials. To do this, we will follow a new approach that relies on utilizing the connection formula between convolved Pell polynomials with two different parameters. For this purpose, we prove two preliminary lemmas.
Lemma 3.1. Consider the non-negative integers i,q with i≥q. We apply the following equation:
Proof. We proceed by induction. We first prove that the lemma applies for q=1, that is,
The last relation can be easily proved by differentiating the power form representation of Pi,M(x) in (2.1) to get
Assume now that (3.1) is valid. For the proof to be complete, we need to show that
From (3.1), we have
If relation (3.2) is inserted into the last relation, then (3.3) can be immediately obtained. This ends the proof. □
Lemma 3.2. Let Pi,M(x) and Pj,T(x) be two convolved Pell polynomials of degrees i and j, respectively. The following connection formula applies:
Proof. We prove (3.4) by induction. For i=0, it is true. Assume that (3.4) holds for any positive number m<i. Now, consider the recurrence relation satisfied by Pi,M(x) in (2.2). The application of the induction hypothesis to PMi−1(x) and PMi−2(x) yields
where
Based on the recurrence relation (2.2), we get
If we insert the last relation into relation (3.5), we have
Now, in order to prove (3.4), we prove it for both the two cases corresponding to i even and i odd.
From (3.6), it is easy to see that
It is not difficult to show the identity:
and accordingly, (3.7) turns into
If we note the two identities
then, from (3.8), the following formula can be obtained:
Performing similar algebraic computations, it can be shown that
Merging the two formulas (3.9) and (3.10) leads to (3.4). This proves Lemma 3.2. □
Now, we can prove the main theorem in which the q-th derivative of Pr,M(x) is expressed as a combination of their original ones.
Theorem 3.1. Assume that r and q are two positive integers with r≥q≥1. The following formula is valid:
Proof. From Lemma 3.2, we have
Formula (3.12) together with Lemma 3.1 yields the desired result given by (3.11). □
The derivatives of the Pell polynomials can be deduced from Theorem 3.1, by setting M=1.
Corollary 3.1. Assume that r and q are positive integers with r≥q≥1. The following expression for the Pell polynomials applies:
4.
Derivatives of the convolved Pell polynomials in terms of various polynomials
In this section, we present new expressions of DqPj,M(x), j≥q as combinations of some special functions.
4.1. Derivatives in terms of some orthogonal polynomials
Theorem 4.1. DqPj,M(x), j≥q can be expanded in terms of the ultraspherical polynomials C(λ)j(x) as follows:
Proof. The analytical expression of Pj,M(x) leads to the following formula
After applying the inversion formula of C(λ)j(x) (see [46]), the last formula turns into
Relation (4.2) turns into:
which can be converted to the form of (4.1). □
Some particular formulas can be obtained from (4.1) as special cases.
Corollary 4.1. DqPj,M(x), j≥q can be written as
where Lj(x) denotes the Legendre polynomials and Tj(x) and Uj(x) denote CPs of the first and second kind, respectively.
In what follows, making steps similar to those in the proof of Theorem 4.1, we give the expressions of the derivatives of the convolved Pell polynomials as combinations of Hermite, Laguerre, shifted Jacobi, generalized Fibonacci, generalized Lucas and Bernoulli polynomials.
Theorem 4.2. DqPj,M(x), j≥q can respectively be expanded in terms of the Hermite polynomials Hj(x) and Laguerre polynomials L(γ)j(x) as follows:
where
Theorem 4.3. DqPj,M(x), j≥q can be expanded in terms of the special class of JPs. J(γ,γ+1)r(x) as follows:
where
Corollary 4.2. DqPj,M(x), j≥q can be expanded in terms of the special class of CPs of the third kind as follows:
Proof. The result follows by taking into consideration that CPs of the third kind Vr(x) are special cases of the polynomials J(γ,γ+1)r(x), for γ=−12. □
Corollary 4.3. DqPj,M(x), j≥q can be expanded in terms of the special class of CPs of the fourth kind as follows:
Proof. The result follows from the link between the CPs of the third and fourth kinds: Wn(x)=(−1)nVn(−x). □
Theorem 4.4. DqPj,M(x), j≥q can be expanded in terms of the shifted JPs ˜J(γ,δ)j(x) as follows:
where
Remark 4.1. There are six special formulas that can be deduced from formula (4.10) by taking into consideration the six special classes of the shifted JPs.
4.2. Derivatives in terms of some other polynomials
Now, we present some derivative formulas of the convolved Pell polynomials as combinations of generalized Fibonacci, generalized Lucas, and Bernoulli polynomials. Similar steps to those followed in the previous subsection can be followed for the derivation of these formulas, so the proofs are omitted.
Theorem 4.5. DqPj,M(x), j≥q can be expanded in terms of the FA,Bj(x) which are constructed by (2.6) as follows:
Remark 4.2. The term 2F1(A24B) that appears in (4.11) may be reduced for the choice A2=4B; thus, a simplified formula can be obtained. The following corollary displays such a result.
Corollary 4.4. If A2=4B, then (4.11) reduces to:
and in particular
Theorem 4.6. DqPj,M(x), j≥q can be expanded in terms of the generalized Lucas polynomials LR,Sj(x) which are constructed by (2.7) as follows:
where ξm is as defined in (2.8).
Remark 4.3. The term 2F1(R24S) that appears in (4.13) can be summed for the special choice of R2=4S; hence, a simplified formula can be obtained. The following corollary displays this result.
Corollary 4.5. If R2=4S, then formula (4.13) reduces to:
and in particular
Theorem 4.7. DqPj,M(x), j≥q can be expanded in terms of the Bernoulli polynomials Bj(x) as follows:
5.
Moments formulas
This section focuses on establishing the moments formulas for the convolved Pell polynomials. We will show that the moments coefficients involve a certain terminating hypergeometric function of the type 4F3(1). Also, it will be shown that this hypergeometric function can be reduced in some specific cases.
Theorem 5.1. Consider two non-negative integers j,m. We have
Proof. The analytic form of Pj,M(x) along with the inversion formula (2.3), after some algebraic computations, leads to relation (5.1). □
Remark 5.1. Although the hypergeometric function that appears in (5.1) is balanced and terminating, its sum is not reducible in general. We will give some special cases in which this hypergeometric function can be summed, and accordingly, certain simple moments formulas can be deduced. We will consider the two cases corresponding to M=1 and M=2, respectively.
Lemma 5.1. When m and j are positive integers, we get the moments formula for the Pell polynomials Pj(x):
Proof. For M=1, (5.1) turns into the following equation:
Regarding the 4F3(1) term that appears in (5.2), it can be summed by using symbolic algebra. For this purpose, set
As a result of Zeilberger's algorithm [47], Rr,j,m satisfying the following recurrence relation is obtained:
with the initial values R0,j,m=1 and R1,j,m=m−1+j+m.
It can be exactly solved to give
and this leads to the following formula:
This ends the proof of the lemma. □
Remark 5.2. Zeilberger's algorithm is a very useful tool for finding a closed form for various sums, especially hypergeometric functions with a negative numerator parameter, such as (5.3). The philosophy of employing such an algorithm depends on the following two fundamental steps:
1) Obtaining the recurrence relation that corresponds to the sum that we wish to find its closed form.
2) Using suitable computer algebra algorithms such as the Petkovsek and van Hoeij algorithms (see, [47,48]) to solve the resulting recurrence relation.
Remark 5.3. There are many contributions that are closely related to Zeilberger's algorithm; see for example [49,50,51].
Lemma 5.2. When m and j are positive integers, we get the moments formula for the Pell polynomials Pj,2(x):
Proof. For M=2, (5.1) gives
Again, Zeilbereger's algorithm allows one to reduce the sum in the last hypergeometric functions as follows:
and as a result, we get the moments formula below:
□
6.
Some applications of the introduced formulas
The following formulas will be derived from some of the previous formulas. Particularly, we present the applications as follows:
● In the first application, we give some formulas linking some celebrated numbers.
● In the second application, we evaluate some weighted definite integrals.
● In the third application, we introduce some trigonometric identities.
● In the fourth application, we give a new closed form for the definite integral of Pj,M(x).
6.1. New connections between some celebrated numbers
In this section, we give some expressions of the convolved Pell numbers in terms of some famous numbers. These expressions are given as special cases of Theorems 4.5 and 4.6.
Corollary 6.1. The convolved Pell numbers can be written in terms of the Fibonacci and Pell numbers as in the following expressions
Proof. Formula (6.1) is a consequence of (4.11), corresponding to the following choices: q=0,x=1,A=1 and B=1, while Formula (6.2) can be deduced from (4.12) by setting x=1 and q=0. □
Corollary 6.2. The convolved Pell numbers can be written in terms of the Lucas and Pell-Lucas numbers, respectively, as in the following expressions:
Proof. Formula (6.3) is a consequence of (4.13), corresponding to the following choices: q=0,x=1,R=1 and S=1, while (6.4) can be deduced from (4.15) by setting x=1 and q=0. □
6.2. Some weighted integrals involving the convolved Pell polynomials
Here we compute some weighted definite integrals based on the connection formulas given in Section 4.1 (Theorems 4.1 and 4.2).
Corollary 6.3. For λ>−12, j≥m and (j+m) even, the follwoing integral formula holds
Proof. Substituting by q=0 in (4.1) produces the following formula
If both sides of (6.6) are multiplied by (1−x2)λ−12C(λ)m(x), integrate over (-1, 1), and apply the orthogonality relation of the ultraspherical polynomials; then, (6.5) can be obtained. □
Another integral formula that involves convolved Pell and Hermite polynomials is given in the following corollary.
Corollary 6.4. For j≥m and (j+m) even, the following integral formula holds
Remark 6.1. Other integral formulas can be deduced by using the connection formulas between the convolved Pell polynomials and different orthogonal polynomials.
6.3. Some trigonometric identities
Based on the connection formulas between the convolved Pell polynomials and the four kinds of CPs, some trigonometric expressions for the convolved Pell polynomials can be deduced. The following two corollaries display these expressions.
Corollary 6.5. The following trigonometric representations for the convolved Pell polynomials hold
Proof. The results follow from (4.4) and (4.5) by setting q=0 and applying the following two well-known trigonometric definitions:
□
Corollary 6.6. The following trigonometric representations for the convolved Pell polynomials hold
Proof. The results can be derived from (4.8) and (4.9) by setting q=0, and applying the following two well-known trigonometric definitions:
□
6.4. A specific definite integral formula for the convolved Pell polynomials
In this part, and based on the connection formula between Pj,M(x) and the Bernoulli polynomials, the definite integral ∫10Pj,M(x)dx can be computed in a closed form.
Corollary 6.7. Consider a non-negative integer j. The following integral formula holds
Proof. This formula will be proved by using the connection formula for Pj,M(x) with the Bernoulli polynomials. Setting q=0 in (4.16) leads to the following connection formula:
Integrating both sides of (6.11) from 0 to 1, and using the well-known identity (see [52])
where δℓ,m is the Kronecker delta function, we get the desired result given by (6.10). □
7.
A matrix approach for convolved Pell polynomials
In general, the convolved Pell polynomials of degree i can be written as
with
Clearly, from (2.2), ti,k,M satisfies the recurrence relation described below:
with
For Pi,M we have that Pi,M(−x)=(−1)iPi,M(x), that is convolved Pell polynomials are even functions if i is even, and they are odd functions if i is odd. Moreover, since the coefficients are all positive, then ∀k∈IN, P2k,M(x)≥0 ∀x∈IR, while P2k+1,M(x)≥0 for x≥0 and P2k+1,M(x)<0 for x<0.
If Ti,i,M=[ti,0,M,ti,1,M,…,ti,i,M] and Xi=[1,x,x2,…,xi]T, then Pi,M(x) can be written in the matrix form: Pi,M(x)=Ti,i,MXi.
7.1. The convolved Pell sequence
We consider the polynomial sequence {Pi,M}i∈IN whose elements are the convolved Pell polynomials. If TM=(ti,j,M)i,j≥0, X=[1,x,x2,…] and PxM=[P0,M(x),P1,M(x),…,Pi,M(x),…]T, the elements of the polynomial sequence {Pi,M}i∈IN can be written as
TM is a lower, triangular, infinite matrix. It can be factorized [53] as
where D1=diag{i! | i=0,1,…} and BM is the lower triangular matrix with the entries
BM is a Toeplitz matrix, since it can be written as
with bi−j,M=bi,j,M(i−j)!.
Observe that the diagonal elements of TM are given by: tk,k,M=2k(M)kk!, ∀k, hence, TM is an invertible matrix. Its inverse SM=(si,j,M)i,j≥0=T−1M is a lower, triangular, infinite matrix, too. SM can be calculated as follows:
where B−1M can be easily computed (see for example [54,55,56]).
Alternatively, the entries of SM can be directly calculated in the following way (see [57]): let Tl,m,M, with l≥m, be the following (l−m+1)×(l−m+1) block of TM:
We consider the vectors [sm,m,M,sm+1,m,M,…,sl,m,M]T and [em,m,em+1,m,…,el,m]T=[1,0,…,0]T, whose elements are l−m+1 entries of the m-th columns of the matrices SM and of the infinite identity matrix I, respectively.
From
we get
We solve system (7.3) in the unknowns msi,m,M, m≤i≤l, by using Cramer's rule. For the last element sl,m,M we get
Hence, we obtain that sl,l,M=1tl,l,M=l!2l(M)l and, for l>m,
Note that the above determinant is a Hessenberg determinant. It can be calculated recursively (see [58]) or by Gauss elimination. It is known (see, for example, [59]) that Gauss elimination without pivoting for the calculation of the determinant of an Hessenberg matrix is stable.
7.2. The conjugate sequence
Let {ˆPi,M}i∈IN be the conjugate sequence of {Pi,M}i∈IN, that is the polynomial sequence related to the matrix SM with elements
We know that [53] Pi,M∘ˆPi,M=idi, where "∘" denotes the umbral composition and {idi}i∈IN, with idi(x)=xi, i.e., the polynomial sequence related to the identity matrix I.
Of course, the following relations hold:
where ˆPxM=[ˆP0,M(x),ˆP1,M(x),…,ˆPi,M(x),…]T.
for all i∈IN, let TM,i and SM,i be the principal submatrices of order i of TM and SM, respectively. Moreover, let PxM,i=[P0,M(x),P1,M(x),…,Pi,M(x)]T, and ˆPxM,i=[ˆP0,M(x),ˆP1,M(x),…,ˆPi,M(x)]T. Then,
Remark 7.1. From (7.5), ∀ i∈IN, we get
Comparing (2.3) and (7.6), we can obtain the following expression of the elements of the matrix SM:
with αik=⌊i−k2⌋.
7.3. Basis
Observe that each of the two sets {P0,M(x),…,Pi,M(x)} and {ˆP0,M(x),…,ˆPi,M(x)} form a basis for Pi, which is the set of polynomials of degree ≤i.
Hence, if qi(x)=i∑k=0qi,kxk∈Pi, then,
with ci,k=⌊i−k2⌋∑j=0qi,i−k−2jsk+2j,k,M di,k=⌊i−k2⌋∑j=0qi,i−k−2jtk+2j,k,M,k=0,1,…,i.
It is known (see [60,61] and the references therein) that the condition of polynomials, that is their sensitivity with respect to small perturbations in the coefficients, depends on the basis. Generally, condition numbers are used for the study of the condition of polynomials (see, [62,63]).
Particularly, for a polynomial in the convolved Pell basis qi(x)=∑ik=0ci,kPk,M(x) the condition number of the root α is
As an example we consider the Wilkinson polynomial [64] of degree 10:
we calculate the condition number of each root. The outcomes obtained by employing each basis are compared in Table 1.
7.4. Recurrence relations and determinant forms
From (7.6), Pi,M(x) can be written as:
Furthermore, (7.6), for i≥0, can be thought of as an infinite linear system in the unknowns Pj,M(x), j≥0. Solving the first (i+1) equations in the unknowns P0,M(x),…,Pi,M(x) by using Cramer's rule yields the following determinant form
Analogously, from (7.5), ∀ i∈IN; we get that xi=i∑k=0ti,k,MˆPk,M(x). Therefore, the conjugate polynomials can be expressed as
and we get
8.
Conclusions
In this paper, we studied the convolved Pell polynomials, which generalize the well-known Pell polynomials. After providing an overview of the convolved Pell polynomials and recalling some important properties of Jacobi, generalized Fibonacci, and generalized Lucas polynomials, we derived many new formulas related to the convolved Pell polynomials. These include new expressions for their high-order derivatives in terms of their original polynomials and also in terms of various classical polynomials as well as connection formulas between two convolved Pell polynomials of different parameters, and between convolved Pell polynomials and some other polynomials. Moreover, we derived the moments formulas of the convolved Pell polynomials and provided some applications of the new formulas. In addition, we have presented a matrix approach for this kind of polynomials. We do believe that most of the formulas presented in this paper are new. In future work, we aim to employ these polynomials from a numerical point of view. In addition, we aim to investigate other convolved polynomials from both theoretical and practical points of view.
Use of AI tools declaration
The authors declare they have not used Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools in the creation of this article.
Acknowledgement
This work was funded by the University of Jeddah, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, under grant No. (UJ-22-DR-108). The authors, therefore, acknowledge with thanks the University of Jeddah for its technical and financial support.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.