Assessment and Visualization of Ki67 Heterogeneity in Breast Cancers through Digital Image Analysis

The Ki67 index (KI) is a standard clinical marker for tumor proliferation;however, its application is hindered by intratumoral heterogeneity. In this study, we used digital image analysis to comprehensively analyze Ki67 heterogeneity and distribution patterns in breast carcinoma. Using Smart Pathology software, we digitized and analyzed 42 excised breast carcinoma Ki67 slides. Boxplots, histograms, and heat maps were generated to illustrate the KI distribution. We found that 30% of cases (13/42) exhibited discrepancies between global and hotspot KI when using a 14% KI threshold for classification. Patients with higher global or hotspot KI values displayed greater heterogenicity. Ki67 distribution patterns were categorized as randomly distributed (52%, 22/42), peripheral (43%, 18/42), and centered (5%, 2/42). Our sampling simulator indicated analyzing more than 10 high-power fields was typically required to accurately estimate global KI, with sampling size being correlated with heterogeneity. In conclusion, using digital image analysis in whole-slide images allows for comprehensive Ki67 profile assessment, shedding light on heterogeneity and distribution patterns. This spatial information can facilitate KI surveys of breast cancer and other malignancies.

Correlations between mineral composition and mechanical properties of granite using digital image processing and discrete element method

This study investigated the correlations between mechanical properties and mineralogy of granite using the digital image processing(DIP) and discrete element method(DEM). The results showed that the X-ray diffraction(XRD)-based DIP method effectively analyzed the mineral composition contents and spatial distributions of granite. During the particle flow code(PFC2D) model calibration phase, the numerical simulation exhibited that the uniaxial compressive strength(UCS) value, elastic modulus(E), and failure pattern of the granite specimen in the UCS test were comparable to the experiment. By establishing 351 sets of numerical models and exploring the impacts of mineral composition on the mechanical properties of granite, it indicated that there was no negative correlation between quartz and feldspar for UCS, tensile strength(σ_(t)), and E. In contrast, mica had a significant negative correlation for UCS, σ_(t), and E. The presence of quartz increased the brittleness of granite, whereas the presence of mica and feldspar increased its ductility in UCS and direct tensile strength(DTS) tests. Varying contents of major mineral compositions in granite showed minor influence on the number of cracks in both UCS and DTS tests.

Analysis of morphological characteristics of gravels based on digital image processing technology and self-organizing map

A comprehensive understanding of spatial distribution and clustering patterns of gravels is of great significance for ecological restoration and monitoring.However,traditional methods for studying gravels are low-efficiency and have many errors.This study researched the spatial distribution and cluster characteristics of gravels based on digital image processing technology combined with a self-organizing map(SOM)and multivariate statistical methods in the grassland of northern Tibetan Plateau.Moreover,the correlation of morphological parameters of gravels between different cluster groups and the environmental factors affecting gravel distribution were analyzed.The results showed that the morphological characteristics of gravels in northern region(cluster C)and southern region(cluster B)of the Tibetan Plateau were similar,with a low gravel coverage,small gravel diameter,and elongated shape.These regions were mainly distributed in high mountainous areas with large topographic relief.The central region(cluster A)has high coverage of gravels with a larger diameter,mainly distributed in high-altitude plains with smaller undulation.Principal component analysis(PCA)results showed that the gravel distribution of cluster A may be mainly affected by vegetation,while those in clusters B and C could be mainly affected by topography,climate,and soil.The study confirmed that the combination of digital image processing technology and SOM could effectively analyzed the spatial distribution characteristics of gravels,providing a new mode for gravel research.

Microscopic damage evolution of anisotropic rocks under indirect tensile conditions: Insights from acoustic emission and digital image correlation techniques

The anisotropy induced by rock bedding structures is usually manifested in the mechanical behaviors and failure modes of rocks.Brazilian tests are conducted for seven groups of shale specimens featuring different bedding angles. Acoustic emission (AE) and digital image correlation (DIC) technologies are used to monitor the in-situ failure of the specimens. Furthermore, the crack morphology of damaged samples is observed through scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Results reveal the structural dependence on the tensile mechanical behavior of shales. The shale disk exhibits compression in the early stage of the experiment with varying locations and durations. The location of the compression area moves downward and gradually disappears when the bedding angle increases. The macroscopic failure is well characterized by AE event location results, and the dominant frequency distribution is related to the bedding angle. The b-value is found to be stress-dependent.The crack turning angle between layers and the number of cracks crossing the bedding both increase with the bedding angle, indicating competition between crack propagations. SEM results revealed that the failure modes of the samples can be classified into three types:tensile failure along beddings with shear failure of the matrix, ladder shear failure along beddings with tensile failure of the matrix, and shear failure along multiple beddings with tensile failure of the matrix.

Automatic measurement of three-phase contact angles in pore throats based on digital images

With the help of digital image processing technology, an automatic measurement method for the three-phase contact angles in the pore throats of the microfluidic model was established using the microfluidic water flooding experiment videos as the data source. The results of the new method were verified through comparing with the manual measurement data.On this basis, the dynamic changes of the three-phase contact angles under flow conditions were clarified by the contact angles probability density curve and mean value change curve. The results show that, for water-wetting rocks, the mean value of the contact angles is acute angle during the early stage of the water flooding process, and it increases with the displacement time and becomes obtuse angle in the middle-late stage of displacement as the dominant force of oil phase gradually changes from viscous force to capillary force. The droplet flow in the remaining oil occurs in the central part of the pore throats, without three-phase contact angle. The contact angles for the porous flow and the columnar flow change slightly during the displacement and present as obtuse angles in view of mean values, which makes the remaining oil poorly movable and thus hard to be recovered. The mean value of the contact angle for the cluster flow tends to increase in the flooding process, which makes the remaining oil more difficult to be recovered. The contact angles for the membrane flow are mainly obtuse angles and reach the highest mean value in the late stage of displacement, which makes the remaining oil most difficult to be recovered. After displacement, the remaining oils under different flow regimes are just subjected to capillary force, with obtuse contact angles, and the wettability of the pore throat walls in the microfluidic model tends to be oil-wet under the action of crude oil.

Digital Image Encryption Algorithm Based on Double Chaotic Map and LSTM

In the era of network communication,digital image encryption(DIE)technology is critical to ensure the security of image data.However,there has been limited research on combining deep learning neural networks with chaotic mapping for the encryption of digital images.So,this paper addresses this gap by studying the generation of pseudo-random sequences(PRS)chaotic signals using dual logistic chaotic maps.These signals are then predicted using long and short-term memory(LSTM)networks,resulting in the reconstruction of a new chaotic signal.During the research process,it was discovered that there are numerous training parameters associated with the LSTM network,which can hinder training efficiency.To overcome this challenge and improve training efficiency,the paper proposes an improved particle swarm optimization(IPSO)algorithm to optimize the LSTM network.Subsequently,the obtained chaotic signal from the optimized model training is further scrambled,obfuscated,and diffused to achieve the final encrypted image.This research presents a digital image encryption(DIE)algorithm based on a double chaotic map(DCM)and LSTM.The algorithm demonstrates a high average NPCR(Number of Pixel Change Rate)of 99.56%and a UACI(Unified Average Changing Intensity)value of 33.46%,indicating a strong ability to resist differential attacks.Overall,the proposed algorithm realizes secure and sensitive digital image encryption,ensuring the protection of personal information in the Internet environment.

Coverless Image Steganography System Based on Maze Game Generation

The trend of digital information transformation has become a topic of interest.Many data are threatening;thus,protecting such data from attackers is considered an essential process.Recently,a new methodology for data concealing has been suggested by researchers called coverless steganography.Coverless steganography can be accomplished either by building an image database to match its image subblocks with the secret message to obtain the stego image or by generating an image.This paper proposes a coverless image steganography system based on pure image generation using secret message bits with a capacity higher than the other traditional systems.The system uses the secret message to generate the stego image in the form of one of the Intelligence Quotient(IQ)games,the maze.Firstly,a full grid is generated with several specific rows and columns determined from the number of bits of the secret message.Then,these bits are fed to the full grid to form the maze game stego image.Finally,the generated maze game stego image is sent to the recipient.The experimental results,using the Bit Error Rate(BER),were conducted,and confirmed the strength of this system represented by a high capacity,perfect performance,robustness,and stronger hiding system compared with existing coverless steganography systems.

Anisotropy of Trabecular Bone from Ultra-Distal Radius Digital X-Ray Imaging: Effects on Bone Mineral Density and Age

Background: When applied to trabecular bone X-ray images, the anisotropic properties of trabeculae located at ultra-distal radius were investigated by using the trabecular bone scores (TBS) calculated along directions parallel and perpendicular to the forearm. Methodology: Data from more than two hundred subjects were studied retrospectively. A DXA (GE Lunar Prodigy) scan of the forearm was performed on each subject to measure the bone mineral density (BMD) value at the location of ultra-distal radius, and an X-ray digital image of the same forearm was taken on the same day. The values of trabecular bone score along the direction perpendicular to the forearm, TBSx, and along the direction parallel to the forearm, TBSy, were calculated respectively. The statistics of TBSx and TBSy were calculated, and the anisotropy of the trabecular bone, which was defined as the ratio of TBSy to TBSx and changed with subjects’ BMD and age, was reported and analyzed. Results: The results show that the correlation coefficient between TBSx and TBSy was 0.72 (p BMD and age was reported. The results showed that decreased trabecular bone anisotropy was associated with deceased BMD and increased age in the subject group. Conclusions: This study shows that decreased trabecular bone anisotropy was associated with decreased BMD and increased age.

Quasi-static tensile deformation and fracture behavior of a highly particle-filled composite using digital image correlation method

Polymer bonded explosives (PBXs) are highly particle-filled composite materials.This paper experimentally studies the tensile deformation and fracture behavior of a PBX simulation by using the semi-circular bending (SCB) test.The deformation and fracture process of a pre-notched SCB sample with a random speckle pattern is recorded by a charge coupled device camera.The displacement and strain fields on the observed surface during the loading process are obtained by using the digital image correlation method.The crack opening displacement is calculated from the displacement fields,the initiation and propagation of the crack are analyzed.In addition,the damage evolution and fracture mechanisms of the SCB sample are analyzed according to the strain fields and the correlation coefficient fields at different loading steps.

Performance of global look-up table strategy in digital image correlation with cubic B-spline interpolation and bicubic interpolation

Global look-up table strategy proposed recently has been proven to be an efficient method to accelerate the interpolation, which is the most time-consuming part in the iterative sub-pixel digital image correlation(DIC) algorithms. In this paper, a global look-up table strategy with cubic B-spline interpolation is developed for the DIC method based on the inverse compositional Gauss–Newton(IC-GN) algorithm.The performance of this strategy, including accuracy, precision, and computation efficiency, is evaluated through a theoretical and experimental study, using the one with widely employed bicubic interpolation as a benchmark. The global look-up table strategy with cubic B-spline interpolation improves significantly the accuracy of the IC-GN algorithm-based DIC method compared with the one using the bicubic interpolation, at a trivial price of computation efficiency.

Subset-based local vs.finite element-based global digital image correlation:A comparison study

Being the two primary approaches for full-field kinematics measurements,both subset-based local digital image correlation(DIC) and finite element-based global DIC have been extensively studied.Nowadays,most commercial DIC systems employ local DIC algorithm because of its advantages of straight forward principle and higher efficiency.However,several researchers argue that global DIC can provide better displacement results due to the displacement continuity constraint among adjacent elements.As such,thoroughly examining the performance of these two different DIC methods seems to be highly necessary.Here,the random errors associated with local DIC and two global DIC methods are theoretically analyzed at first.Subsequently,based on the same algorithmic details and parameters during analyses of numerical and real experiments,the performance of the different DIC approaches is fairly compared.Theoretical and experimental results reveal that local DIC outperforms its global counterpart in terms of both displacement results and computational efficiency when element(subset) size is no less than 11 pixels.

Optimization of the forearm angle for arm wrestling using multi-camera stereo digital image correlation: A preliminary study

This study analyzes the function of different muscles during arm wrestling and proposes a method to analyze the optimal forearm angle for professional arm wrestlers.We built a professional arm-wrestling platform to measure the shape and deformation of the skin at the biceps brachii of a volunteer in vivo during arm wrestling.We observed the banding phenomenon of arm skin strain during muscle contraction and developed a model to evaluate the moment provided by the biceps brachii.According to this model,the strain field of the area of interest on the skin was measured,and the forearm angles most favorable and unfavorable to the work of the biceps brachii were analyzed.This study demonstrates the considerable potential of applying DIC and its extension method to the in vivo measurement of human skin and facilitates the use of the in vivo measurement of skin deformation in various sports in the future.

Tensile strength of sea ice using splitting tests based on the digital image correlation method

The splitting test is a competitive alternative method to study the tensile strength of sea ice owing to its suitability for sampling.However,the approach was questioned to the neglect of local plastic deformation during the tests.In this study,splitting tests were performed on sea ice,with 32 samples subjected to the regular procedure and 8 samples subjected to the digital image correlation method.The salinity,density,and temperature were measured to determine the total porosity.With the advantage of the digital image correlation method,the full-field deformation of the ice samples could be determined.In the loading direction,the samples mainly deformed at the ice-platen contact area.In the direction vertical to the loading,deformation appears along the central line where the splitting crack occurs.Based on the distribution of the sample deformation,a modified solution was derived to calculate the tensile strength with the maximum load.Based on the modified solution,the tensile strength was further calculated together with the splitting test results.The results show that the tensile strength has a negative correlation with the total porosity,which agrees with previous studies based on uniaxial tension tests.

Improvements of Traditional Laser Fraunhofer Diffraction Experiment Using Digital Image Processing Method

We present an improved digital image processing(DIP)method to calculate the widths of single slits.Different from the traditional laser Fraunhofer diffraction experiment in college physical experiments,by performing fast Fourier transform,inverse fast Fourier transform and the nonlinear leastsquare fitting on the diffraction pattern taken by a camera,the DIP method can quickly return an analytic expression,whose period is used to calculate widths of single slits.By comparing the measured results by the DIP method and the successional difference(SD)method,we find that for a single slit whose width is 60372μm,the DIP method is more accurate.Experimental results show that for single slits with widths between 40μm and 160μm,the relative error of the DIP method is less than 2.78%.Also,the DIP method can be used to measure the diameter of filament and fibres online in real time.

Employment of predictive search algorithm in digital image correlation

A predictive search algorithm to estimate the size and direction of displacement vectors was presented.The algorithm decreased the time of calculating the displacement of each pixel.In addition,the updating reference image scheme was used to update the reference image and to decrease the computation time when the displacement was larger than a certain number.In this way,the search range and computational complexity were cut down,and less EMS memory was occupied.The capability of proposed search algorithm was then verified by the results of both computer simulation and experiments.The results showed that the algorithm could improve the efficiency of correlation method and satisfy the accuracy requirement for practical displacement measuring.

Soil Salinity and Soil Water Content Estimation Using Digital Images in Coastal Field:A Case Study in Yancheng City of Jiangsu Province,China

Soil is the essential part for agricultural and environmental sciences,and soil salinity and soil water content are both the important influence factors for sustainable development of agriculture and ecological environment.Digital camera,as one of the most popular and convenient proximal sensing instruments,has its irreplaceable position for soil properties assessment.In this study,we collected 52 soil samples and photographs at the same time along the coast in Yancheng City of Jiangsu Province.We carefully analyzed the relationship between soil properties and image brightness,and found that soil salt content had higher correlation with average image brightness value than soil water content.From the brightness levels,the high correlation coefficients between soil salt content and brightness levels concentrated on the high brightness values,and the high correlation coefficients between soil water content and brightness levels focused on the low brightness values.Different significance levels(P)determined different brightness levels related to soil properties,hence P value setting can be an optional way to select brightness levels as the input variables for modeling soil properties.Given these information,random forest algorithm was applied to develop soil salt content and soil water content inversion models using randomly 70%of the dataset,and the rest data for testing models.The results showed that soil salt content model had high accuracy(R_(v)^(2)=0.79,RMSE_(v)=12 g/kg,and RPD_(v)=2.18),and soil water content inversion model was barely satisfied(R_(v)^(2)=0.47,RMSE_(v)=3.04%,and RPD_(v)=1.38).This study proposes a method of modeling soil properties with a digital camera.Combining unmanned aerial vehicle(UAV),it has potential popularization and application value for precise agriculture and land management.

Digital image correlation based high-speed crack tip locatingmethod and its application

Based on a digital image correlation(DIC)method with the measurements of a high speed crack's displacement and strain fields,a technique to accurately and automatically locate its crack tip has been developed.The crack tip is identified by finding the abrupt jump on the opening(or dislocation)curve of a point on the trace of the crack propagation,while the opening is measured through a virtual extensometer technique and the abrupt jump is identified by finding the peak on the curve.The method was verified using a specially designed experiment and applied to measure the critical crack tip opening angle of a rock sample.Because the involvement of analytical models has been avoided and then the good performance could be ensured for low resolution speckle images,this technique is expected to be very useful in the quantitative study of high speed cracks in experiments using high speed cameras.

Compressional Punch Loading Test of a Polymer Bonded Explosive Simulant Using Digital Image Correlation Method

Punch loading is a loading scenario to study the fracture mechanism of materials at low strain rates.In this paper,three punch loading experimental patterns were chosen for the study of compressional punch loading.A polymer bonded explosive(PBX) simulant was experimentally studied using the digital image correlation(DIC) method.The displacement and strain fields were obtained and the fracture behavior and failure mechanisms of samples were investigated under different punch loading conditions.Moreover,scanning electron microscope(SEM) was used to examine the region of the plastic flow and the damage in the material.The formation of slip bands,shear displacement and fracture of the hard phase particle,were observed on the boundary of the dead zone due to the large shear strains.

Revealing the role of local shear strain partition of transformable particles in a TRIP-reinforced bulk metallic glass composite via digital image correlation

The coupling effects of the metastable austenitic phase and the amorphous matrix in a transformation-induced plasticity(TRIP)-reinforced bulk metallic glass(BMG)composite under compressive loading were investigated by employing the digital image correlation(DIC)technique.The evolution of local strain field in the crystalline phase and the amorphous matrix was directly monitored,and the contribution from the phase transformation of the metastable austenitic phase was revealed.Local shear strain was found to be effectively consumed by the displacive phase transformation of the metastable austenitic phase,which relaxed the local strain/stress concentration at the interface and thus greatly enhanced the plasticity of the TRIP-reinforced BMG composites.Our current study sheds light on in-depth understanding of the underlying deformation mechanism and the interplay between the amorphous matrix and the metastable crystalline phase during deformation,which is helpful for design of advanced BMG composites with further improved properties.

Automated quadrilateral mesh generation for digital image structures

With the development of advanced imaging technology, digital images are widely used. This paper proposes an automatic quadrilateral mesh generation algorithm for multi-colour imaged structures. It takes an original arbitrary digital image as an input for automatic quadrilateral mesh generation, this includes removing the noise, extracting and smoothing the boundary geometries between different colours, and automatic all-quad mesh generation with the above boundaries as constraints. An application example is provided to demonstrate the usefulness and effectiveness of the proposed approach.