Shaowei Weng^{1, 2, *}, Yiyun Liu¹, Yunqing Shi³, Bo Ou⁴, Chunyu Zhang⁵, Cuiping Wang⁶

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.62, No.1, pp. 157-177, 2020, DOI:10.32604/cmc.2020.05681

Abstract This paper proposes a two-step general framework for reversible data hiding (RDH) schemes with controllable contrast enhancement. The first step aims at preserving visual perception as much as possible on the basis of achieving high embedding capacity (EC), while the second step is used for increasing image contrast. In the second step, some peak-pairs are utilized so that the histogram of pixel values is modified to perform histogram equalization (HE), which would lead to the image contrast enhancement. However, for HE, the utilization of some peak-pairs easily leads to over-enhanced image contrast when a large number of bits are embedded.… More >

Xihua Liu¹, Changjun Ding², Xiaohua Su^2,*

Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany, Vol.88, No.4, pp. 425-433, 2019, DOI:10.32604/phyton.2019.08285

Abstract The European black poplar (Populus nigra L.) has been used as a germplasm resource for the breeding of new poplar varieties around the world. The identification and screening of its high nitrogen use efficiency genotypes could enable the breeding of new resource-efficient poplar varieties. The accessions were screened using MALDI-TOF MS genotyping technology for ammonium transporter (AMT) and nitrate transporters (NRT) genes against phenotypic data for seedling height and ground diameter traits, in both low and high nitrogen environments. Allele re-sequencing of seven genes related to root development was carried out using the minisequencing method. By cluster analysis, 101 accessions… More >

ANNIE JOUBERT^1*, SUMARI MARAIS¹, CHRISTINE MARITZ²

BIOCELL, Vol.33, No.1, pp. 67-70, 2009, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2009.33.067

Abstract Proteins of the B-cell lymphoma 2 family are crucial for the regulation of apoptosis. B-cell lymphoma 2-associated X is a pro-apoptotic protein, while B-cell lymphoma 2 protein opposes apoptosis. The influence of 1 μM 2-methoxyestradiol was investigated on the expression levels of these two proteins in MCF-7 cells. 2-Methoxyestradiol exposure did not influence B-cell lymphoma 2 protein expression levels after 24 h of exposure. In contrast, B-cell lymphoma 2-associated X protein levels were significantly reduced. An improved differential interference contrasting technique revealed compromised cell density and the presence of a mitotic block in exposed cells. The study proposes that the… More >

Lijian Xu^1,2, Lekang Yin³, Fuyou Liang^1,2,*

Molecular & Cellular Biomechanics, Vol.16, Suppl.1, pp. 71-72, 2019, DOI:10.32604/mcb.2019.05741

Abstract Recent studies have revealed that aortic valve diseases are associated with the increased incidence of the aortopathy development. However, the influence of aortic valve diseases on aortic hemodynamics remains unclear. The purpose of this study was therefore to investigate the hemodynamic differences in patients with and without aortic valve disease through patient-specific simulations performed on two aorta models (BAV with severe stenosis vs. normal tricuspid aortic valve (TAV)). Realistic geometries and boundary conditions were obtained from computed tomography angiography (CTA) and phase-contrast magnetic resonance imaging (PC-MRI) measurements, respectively. In addition, 4D-MRI were performed to validate the numerical methods used to… More >

Xueying Huang¹, Chun Yang², Jie Zheng³, Pamela K. Woodard³, Dalin Tang¹

The International Conference on Computational & Experimental Engineering and Sciences, Vol.1, No.1, pp. 29-34, 2007, DOI:10.3970/icces.2007.001.029

Abstract Atherosclerotic plaques may rupture without warning and cause acute cardiovascular syndromes such as heart attack and stroke. Accurate identification of plaque components will improve the accuracy and reliability of computational models. In this article, we present a segmentation method using a cluster analysis technique to quantify and classify plaque components from magnetic resonance images (MRI). 3D in vivo and ex vivo multi-contrast (T1-, proton density-, and T2-weighted) MR Images were acquired from a patient of cardiovascular disease. Normal distribution Bayes classifier was performed on ex vivo and in vivo MR Images respectively. The resulting segmentation obtained from cluster analysis showed… More >

Ashish Das^∗, William M. Gottliebson^†,‡, Madhura Karve^∗, Rupak Banerjee^∗,§,¶

Molecular & Cellular Biomechanics, Vol.8, No.1, pp. 21-42, 2011, DOI:10.3970/mcb.2011.008.021

Abstract Right ventricular (RV) enlargement and pulmonary valve insufficiency (PI) are well-known, unavoidable long term sequelae encountered by patients who undergo tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) surgery. Despite their lifelong need for cardiac surveillance and occasional re-intervention, there is a paucity of numerical data characterizing blood flows in their pulmonary arteries (PA). Specifically, although PA regurgitation is well-known to be ubiquitously present in adult repaired TOF (rTOF) patients yet, there have been only limited numerical studies to fully characterize this process. The few studies available have utilized idealized, simplistic geometric models or overly simplistic boundary conditions that fail to account for flow… More >

Xingxing Xiao¹, Yang^1,*, Rui Li², Weiming Zhang³

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.60, No.1, pp. 101-115, 2019, DOI:10.32604/cmc.2019.05293

Abstract The medical industry develops rapidly as science and technology advance. People benefit from medical resource sharing, but suffer from privacy leaks at the same time. In order to protect patients’ privacy and improve quality of medical images, a novel reversible data hiding (RDH) scheme based on lesion extraction and with contrast enhancement is proposed. Furthermore, the proposed scheme can enhance the contrast of medial image's lesion area directly and embed high-capacity privacy data reversibly. Different from previous segmentation methods, this scheme first adopts distance regularized level set evolution (DRLSE) to extract lesion and targets at the lesion area accurately for… More >

Cheng-Yu Ku¹

CMES-Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences, Vol.96, No.6, pp. 409-434, 2013, DOI:10.3970/cmes.2013.096.409

Abstract This paper proposes a novel method, named the dynamical Jacobianinverse free method (DJIFM), with the incorporation of a two-sided equilibrium algorithm for solving ill-conditioned systems of linear equations with extreme physical property contrasts. The DJIFM is based on the construction of a scalar homotopy function for transforming the vector function of linear or nonlinear algebraic equations into a time-dependent scalar function by introducing a fictitious time-like variable. The DJIFM demonstrated great numerical stability for solving linear or nonlinear algebraic equations, particularly for systems involving ill-conditioned Jacobian or poor initial values that cause convergence problems. With the incorporation of a newly… More >

J.C. Michel¹, H. Moulinec, P. Suquet

CMES-Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences, Vol.1, No.2, pp. 79-88, 2000, DOI:10.3970/cmes.2000.001.239

Abstract An iterative numerical method based on Fast Fourier Transforms has been proposed by \cite{MOU98} to investigate the effective properties of periodic composites. This iterative method is based on the exact expression of the Green function for a linear elastic, homogeneous reference material. When dealing with linear phases, the number of iterations required to reach convergence is proportional to the contrast between the phases properties, and convergence is therefore not ensured in the case of composites with infinite contrast (those containing voids or rigid inclusions or highly nonlinear materials). It is proposed in this study to overcome this difficulty by using… More >

B. V. Santhosh Krishna^{1, *}, T. Gnanasekaran²

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.60, No.3, pp. 855-869, 2019, DOI:10.32604/cmc.2019.07585

Abstract An explicit extraction of the retinal vessel is a standout amongst the most significant errands in the field of medical imaging to analyze both the ophthalmological infections, for example, Glaucoma, Diabetic Retinopathy (DR), Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP), Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) as well as non retinal sickness such as stroke, hypertension and cardiovascular diseases. The state of the retinal vasculature is a significant indicative element in the field of ophthalmology. Retinal vessel extraction in fundus imaging is a difficult task because of varying size vessels, moderately low distinction, and presence of pathologies such as hemorrhages, microaneurysms etc. Manual vessel extraction… More >