Oriental Utopia under the Gaze of the Other-A Brief Analysis of the Construction of the Oriental Image in Lost Horizon

Lost Horizon tells a story about Shangri-La,a paradise in the Orient.Throughout the construction of the Oriental image in the novel,it can be found that under its representation of being enslaved,driven,marginalized and silenced,it implies a three-dimensional flow mechanism with multiple power-relationships interwoven between Orient and Occident,insiders and outsiders,“civilized”and“uncivilized”,male and female,etc.Driven by this mechanism,the Oriental image is integrated under a single abstract label,which has become a way for the Occident to re-understand,reconstruct and express itself after the war.

Content-Based Image Retrieval with Feature Extraction and Rotation Invariance

Over recent years, Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) has improved performance on practically every image-based task, including Content-Based Image Retrieval (CBIR). Nevertheless, since features of CNN have altered orientation, training a CBIR system to detect and correct the angle is complex. While it is possible to construct rotation-invariant features by hand, retrieval accuracy will be low because hand engineering only creates low-level features, while deep learning methods build high-level and low-level features simultaneously. This paper presents a novel approach that combines a deep learning orientation angle detection model with the CBIR feature extraction model to correct the rotation angle of any image. This offers a unique construction of a rotation-invariant CBIR system that handles the CNN features that are not rotation invariant. This research also proposes a further study on how a rotation-invariant deep CBIR can recover images from the dataset in real-time. The final results of this system show significant improvement as compared to a default CNN feature extraction model without the OAD.

Advanced diffusion magnetic resonance imaging in patients with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases

The prevalence of neurodegenerative diseases is increasing as human longevity increases. The objective biomarkers that enable the staging and early diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases are eagerly anticipated. It has recently become possible to determine pathological changes in the brain without autopsy with the advancement of diffusion magnetic resonance imaging techniques. Diffusion magnetic resonance imaging is a robust tool used to evaluate brain microstructural complexity and integrity, axonal order, density, and myelination via the micron-scale displacement of water molecules diffusing in tissues. Diffusion tensor imaging, a type of diffusion magnetic resonance imaging technique is widely utilized in clinical and research settings;however, it has several limitations. To overcome these limitations, cutting-edge diffusion magnetic resonance imaging techniques, such as diffusional kurtosis imaging, neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging, and free water imaging, have been recently proposed and applied to evaluate the pathology of neurodegenerative diseases. This review focused on the main applications, findings, and future directions of advanced diffusion magnetic resonance imaging techniques in patients with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, the first and second most common neurodegenerative diseases, respectively.

Neurite Orientation Dispersion and Density Imaging of Rat Brain Microstructural Changes due to Middle Cerebral Artery Occlusion at a 3T MRI

The purpose of this work was to demonstrate the feasibility of neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging(NODDI)in characterizing the brain tissue microstructural changes of middle cerebral artery occlusion(MCAO)in rats at 3T MRI,and to validate NODDI metrics with histology.A multi-shell diffusion MRI protocol was performed on 11 MCAO rats and 10 control rats at different post-operation time points of 0.5,2,6,12,24 and 72 h.NODDI orientation dispersion index(ODI)and intracellular volume fraction(V_(ic))metrics were compared between MCAO group and control group.The evolution of NODDI metrics was characterized and validated by histology.Infarction was consistent with significantly increased ODI and V_(ic)in comparison to control tissues at all time points(P<0.001).Lesion ODI increased gradually from 0.5 to 72 h,while its V_(ic)showed a more complicated and fluctuated evolution.ODI and V_(ic)were significantly different between hyperacute and acute stroke periods(P<0.001).The NODDI metrics were found to be consistent with the histological findings.In conclusion,NODDI can reflect microstructural changes of brain tissues in MCAO rats at 3T MRI and the metrics are consistent with histology.This study helps to prepare NODDI for the diagnosis and management of ischemic stroke in translational research and clinical practice.

Preliminary examination of early neuroconnectivity features in the R6/1 mouse model of Huntington's disease by ultra-high field diffusion MRI

During the last decades,advances in the understanding of genetic,cellular,and microstructural alterations associated to Huntington's disease(HD)have improved the understanding of this progressive and fatal illness.However,events related to early neuropathological events,neuroinflammation,deterioration of neuronal connectivity and compensatory mechanisms still remain vastly unknown.Ultra-high field diffusion MRI(UHFD-MRI)techniques can contribute to a more comprehensive analysis of the early microstructural changes observed in HD.In addition,it is possible to evaluate if early imaging microstructural parameters might be linked to histological biomarkers.Moreover,qualitative studies analyzing histological complexity in brain areas susceptible to neurodegeneration could provide information on inflammatory events,compensatory increase of neuroconnectivity and mechanisms of brain repair and regeneration.The application of ultra-high field diffusion-MRI technology in animal models,particularly the R6/1 mice(a common preclinical mammalian model of HD),provide the opportunity to analyze alterations in a physiologically intact model of the disease.Although some disparities in volumetric changes across different brain structures between preclinical and clinical models has been documented,further application of different diffusion MRI techniques used in combination like diffusion tensor imaging,and neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging have proved effective in characterizing early parameters associated to alteration in water diffusion exchange within intracellular and extracellular compartments in brain white and grey matter.Thus,the combination of diffusion MRI imaging techniques and more complex neuropathological analysis could accelerate the discovery of new imaging biomarkers and the early diagnosis and neuromonitoring of patients affected with HD.

Feature detection and description for image matching:from hand-crafted design to deep learning

In feature based image matching,distinctive features in images are detected and represented by feature descriptors.Matching is then carried out by assessing the similarity of the descriptors of potentially conjugate points.In this paper,we first shortly discuss the general frame-work.Then,we review feature detection as well as the determination of affine shape and orientation of local features,before analyzing feature description in more detail.In the feature description review,the general framework of local feature description is presented first.Then,the review discusses the evolution from hand-crafted feature descriptors,e.g.SIFT(Scale Invariant Feature Transform),to machine learning and deep learning based descriptors.The machine learning models,the training loss and the respective training data of learning-based algorithms are looked at in more detail;subsequently the various advantages and challenges of the different approaches are discussed.Finally,we present and assess some current research directions before concluding the paper.

EBSD Investigation on Effect of Cooling Rate on Microstructure and Transformation Textures of High Strength Hot-rolled Steel Plates

The effect of cooling rate on the microstructure and transformation textures of high strength hot-rolled steels was investigated.Heat treated samples subjected to different cooling conditions were characterized by optical and scanning electron microscopes using orientation imaging microscopy（OIM）.The experimental results demonstrate that there is a significant effect of cooling rate on microstructures and textures resulting from phase transformation.Slow cooling rates lead to the appearance of the cube（001）[010],rotated cube（001）[110]/（001）[110],Goss（110）[001]and rotated Goss（110）[110]components.In contrast,textures developed at rapid cooling rates are preferably of Cu（112）[111],Br（110）[112],transformed Cu（113）[110]and transformed Br（332）[113]/（112）[131].These texture changes are attributed to the selective character of the phase transformation.The OIM technique was used to have a better understanding of the formation of phases and their relationship between microstructure and processing conditions.The volume fraction of micro-constituents resulting from phase transformation such as bainite,martensite and different types of ferrite,can be measured satisfactorily by this technique correlating image quality of EBSD patterns to specific phases.

Toplayer-dependent crystallographic orientation imaging in the bilayer two-dimensional materials with transverse shear microscopy

Nanocontact properties of two-dimensional(2D)materials are closely dependent on their unique nanomechanical systems,such as the number of atomic layers and the supporting substrate.Here,we report a direct observation of toplayer-dependent crystallographic orientation imaging of 2D materials with the transverse shear microscopy(TSM).Three typical nanomechanical systems,MoS_(2) on the amorphous SiO_(2)/Si,graphene on the amorphous SiO_(2)/Si,and MoS_(2) on the crystallized Al_(2)O_(3),have been investigated in detail.This experimental observation reveals that puckering behaviour mainly occurs on the top layer of 2D materials,which is attributed to its direct contact adhesion with the AFM tip.Furthermore,the result of crystallographic orientation imaging of MoS_(2)/SiO_(2)/Si and MoS_(2)/Al_(2)O_(3) indicated that the underlying crystalline substrates almost do not contribute to the puckering effect of 2D materials.Our work directly revealed the top layer dependent puckering properties of 2D material,and demonstrate the general applications of TSM in the bilayer 2D systems.