Comparison of imaging-based and pathological dimensions in pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors

AIM To establish the ability of magnetic resonance(MR) and computer tomography(CT) to predict pathologic dimensions of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors(Pan NET) in a caseload of a tertiary referral center.METHODS Patients submitted to surgery for Pan NET at the Surgical Unit of the Pancreas Institute with at least 1 preoperative imaging examination(MR or CT scan) from January 2005 to December 2015 were included and data retrospectively collected. Exclusion criteria were: multifocal lesions, genetic syndromes, microadenomas or mixed tumors, metastatic disease and neoadjuvant therapy. Bland-Altman(BA) and Mountain-Plot(MP) statistics were used to compare size measured by each modality with the pathology size. Passing-Bablok(PB) regression analysis was used to check the agreement between MR and CT.RESULTS Our study population consisted of 292 patients. Seventy-nine(27.1%) were functioning Pan NET. The mean biases were 0.17 ± 7.99 mm, 1 ± 8.51 mm and 0.23 ± 9 mm, 1.2 ± 9.8 mm for MR and CT, considering the overall population and the subgroup of non-functioning-Pan NET, respectively. Limits of agreement(LOA) included the vast majority of observations, indicating a good agreement between imaging and pathology. The MP further confirmed this finding and showed that the two methods are unbiased with respect to each other. Considering ≤ 2 cm non-functioning-Pan NET, no statistical significance was found in the size estimation rate of MR and CT(P = 0.433). PBR analysis did not reveal significant differences between MR, CT and pathology.CONCLUSION MR and CT scan are accurate and interchangeable imaging techniques in predicting pathologic dimensions of Pan NET.

An ultrasonic multi-wave focusing and imaging method for linear phased arrays

To overcome the inherent limits of traditional single wave imaging for nondestructive testing,the multi-wave focusing and imaging method is thoroughly studied.This method makes the compressional waves and shear waves focused in both emission and reception processes,which strengthens the focusing energy and improves the signal-to-noise ratio of received signals.A numerical model is developed to study the characteristics of a multi-wave focusing field.It is shown that the element width approaching 0.8 wavelengths of shear waves can keep a balance between the radiation energy of two waves,which can achieve a desirable multi-wave focusing performance.And an experiment using different imaging methods for a linear phased array is performed.It can be concluded that due to the combination of the propagation and reflection characteristics of two waves,the multi-wave focusing and imaging method can significantly improve the imaging distinguishability of defects and expand the available sweeping range to a sector of-650 to 65°.

An image retrieval system based on fractal dimension

This paper presents a new kind of image retrieval system which obtains the feature vectors of images by estimating their fractal dimension; and at the same time establishes a tree structure image database. After preprocessing and feature extracting, a given image is matched with the standard images in the image database using a hierarchical method of image indexing.

Texture image classification using multi fractal dimension

This paper presents a supervised classification method of sonar image, which takes advantages of both multi-fractal theory and wavelet analysis. In the process of feature extraction, image transformation and wavelet decomposition are combined and a feature set based on multi-fractal dimension is obtained. In the part of classifier construction, the Learning Vector Quantization (LVQ) network is adopted as a classifier. Experiments of sonar image classification were carried out with satisfactory results, which verify the effectiveness of this method.

Two-dimensional SEM image-based analysis of coal porosity and its pore structure

A quantitative analysis of the porosity,pore size distribution,and fractal dimensions of pores is significant for studying the pore structure characteristics of coal.This study utilized 12 anthracite coal samples from the Sihe mining area to explore the pore structure characteristics of the coal therein.Hundred randomly selected points on each sliced coal sample were imaged via scanning electron microscopy,and a total of 1200 images were used for the analysis.The porosity and fractal dimensions of the coal samples were analyzed via digital image processing and box-counting dimension methods.This method is characterized by extensive graphical analysis,and the results are based on statistical methods.These were also used to analyze the structural and development characteristics of the microscopic pores in the coal.The results reveal that the surface porosity obtained via digital image processing was 16.11%lower than that measured experimentally.The fractal dimension and porosity of the pore surface were fitted to a natural logarithmic curve.The rate of change in the pore fractal dimension depends on the porosity such that,to some degree,a greater porosity is associated with more complex pore structures,a higher degree of micropore development,and improved pore connectivity.

Value Orientation and Dimension Expansion of City Image Communication: A Case Study of Chengdu

The image of a city embodies its fundamental values and unique characteristics,representing the essence of its urban culture and spirit.It is considered to be one of the most valuable intangible assets of a city and serves as a crucial driving force for its ongoing development.Taking Chengdu as an example,this paper conducted a comprehensive analysis of Chengdu’s city image communication strategy through various dimensions,such as the city’s value orientation and modes of communication.First,it was necessary to explore the image resources of Chengdu,and based on this,the urban value orientation of“Man-Chengdu,”an extensive strategy used by Chengdu to better communicate its culture,was proposed to facilitate image communication.Second,it was necessary to expand the dimensions of Chengdu’s city image communication.This was achieved by building a resource pool of city image elements,leveraging major media events to promote communication and enhancing the correlation between content and channel platforms.Moreover,efforts were also made to develop people-oriented narrative strategies and give full play to the advantages of new technologies to form an integrated communication mode.Finally,it was crucial to bridge the official and folk communication systems to enable multiple subjects to share Chengdu’s stories from diverse perspectives,thus improving the breadth and validity of Chengdu’s image communication.

Cloud detection from visual band of satellite image based on variance of fractal dimension

Cover ratio of cloud is a very important factor which affects the quality of a satellite image, therefore cloud detection from satellite images is a necessary step in assessing the image quality. The study on cloud detection from the visual band of a satellite image is developed. Firstly, we consider the differences between the cloud and ground including high grey level, good continuity of grey level, area of cloud region, and the variance of local fractal dimension (VLFD) of the cloud region. A single cloud region detection method is proposed. Secondly, by introducing a reference satellite image and by comparing the variance in the dimensions corresponding to the reference and the tested images, a method that detects multiple cloud regions and determines whether or not the cloud exists in an image is described. By using several Ikonos images, the performance of the proposed method is demonstrated.

Application of the Algorithm of Fractional Dimension to Extraction Image Edge

The idea of fractional dimension was stated in brief firstly.Then,adopting the fractional statistical similar principle, the method of the least square minimum error was applied to evaluate the fractional dimension of per image pixel depending on the fractional property of image.And the image edge is extracted by magnitude of fractional dimension of image pixel.We presented the algorithm of the local fractional dimension,which made the rule of window size and sentencing the fractional dimension of edge.Although this algorithm was waste time,it is better than the classical ones in extraction edge and anti-jamming.

Image segmentation algorithm based on high-dimension fuzzy character and restrained clustering network

An image segmentation algorithm of the restrained fuzzy Kohonen clustering network （RFKCN） based on high- dimension fuzzy character is proposed. The algorithm includes two steps. The first step is the fuzzification of pixels in which two redundant images are built by fuzzy mean value and fuzzy median value. The second step is to construct a three-dimensional （3-D） feature vector of redundant images and their original images and cluster the feature vector through RFKCN, to realize image seg- mentation. The proposed algorithm fully takes into account not only gray distribution information of pixels, but also relevant information and fuzzy information among neighboring pixels in constructing 3- D character space. Based on the combination of competitiveness, redundancy and complementary of the information, the proposed algorithm improves the accuracy of clustering. Theoretical anal- yses and experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm has a good segmentation performance.

Multi-slice Spiral CT Three-dimensional Portography in Portal Vein Tumor Thrombus of Hepatic Cancer

Objective: To study the clinical significance of multi-slice spiral CT 3-dimensional (3D) portography in portal vein tumor thrombosis of hepatocellular cacinoma.Methods: 57 cases undergoing 3D portography were collected, of which 6 cases were normal, 5 cases were subjected to cirrhosis and hypertension of portal vein, 42 cases had portal tumor thrombus of hepatic cancer, and the remaining 4 cases showed lymph node enlargment in hilar of liver. All data of the patients came from conventional multi-slice spiral CT double phase of liver. Contrast media was 1.5–2 ml/kg with the injection rate being 2.5–3 ml/s. Axis and 3D portography was analyzed and compared in 42 cases of portal tumor thrombus of hepatic cancer.Results: According to portal tumor thrombus position, 42 cases were fallen into three categories: left (13 cases), right (20 cases), main (9 cases) of potal vein. There was no difference between axis and 3D portography in displaying portal tumor thrombus of hepatic cancer (P>0.05), but 3D portography showing collateral branches was better than axis portography after main portal vein thrombus.Conclusion: Multi-slice spiral CT 3D portography can display the position and types of portal tumor thrombus of hepatic cancer. 3D combined with axis portography can better evaluate the portal tumor thrombus of hepatic cancer and guide to select the therapies. Key words portal vein - tumor thrombus - multi-slice CT - 3 dimension imaging

A Fractal Dimension Based Framework for Night Vision Fusion

In this paper, a novel fusion framework is proposed for night-vision applications such as pedestrian recognition,vehicle navigation and surveillance. The underlying concept is to combine low-light visible and infrared imagery into a single output to enhance visual perception. The proposed framework is computationally simple since it is only realized in the spatial domain. The core idea is to obtain an initial fused image by averaging all the source images. The initial fused image is then enhanced by selecting the most salient features guided from the root mean square error(RMSE) and fractal dimension of the visual and infrared images to obtain the final fused image.Extensive experiments on different scene imaginary demonstrate that it is consistently superior to the conventional image fusion methods in terms of visual and quantitative evaluations.

The diagnostic value of 3D spiral CT imaging of cholangiopancreatic ducts on obstructive jaundice

Objective: Computerized tomography (CT) plays an important role in the diagnosis of diseases of biliary tract. Recently, three dimensions (3D) spiral CT imaging has been used in surgical diseases gradually. This study was designed to evaluate the diagnostic value of 3D spiral CT imaging of cholangiopancreatic ducts on obstructive jaundice. Methods: Thirty patients with obstructive jaundice had received B-mode ultrasonography, CT, percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography (PTC) or endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP), and 3D spiral CT imaging of cholangiopancreatic ducts preoperatively. Then the diagnose accordance rate of these examinational methods were compared after operations. Results: The diagnose accordance rate of 3D spiral CT imaging of cholangiopancreatic ducts was higher than those of B-mode ultrasonography, CT, or single PTC or ERCP, which showed clear images of bile duct tree and pathological changes. As to malignant obstructive jaundice, this examinational technique could clearly display the adjacent relationship between tumor and liver tissue, biliary ducts, blood vessels, and intrahepatic metastases. Conclusion: 3D spiral CT imaging of cholangiopancreatic ducts has significant value for obstructive diseases of biliary ducts, which provides effective evidence for the feasibility of tumor-resection and surgical options.

FRACTAL DIMENSION AS MORPHOLOGY AND SIZE PARAMETERS OF FRACTURED PARTICLES OF ROCK

Semi-automatic image analysis system was used for the surface fractal dimension measurement of 15 kinds of rock-fractured particles. The results indicate that the surfaces of the particles that have a size of about 200 mesh are fractal, and that the fractal dimension is in the range of 2.07～2.11. Therefore, some definitions of particle size such as surface diameter, equivalent volumetricly surface diameter are equivocal without giving the step length and the drag diameter, free-fall diameter, and stokes’diameter may be modified by the fractal dimension.

Computation of Local Fractal Dimension Values of the Human Cerebral Cortex

Objectives: The purpose of this paper is to describe a technique for computing the local fractal dimension of the human cerebral cortex as extracted from high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging scans. Methods: 3D models of the human cerebral cortex were extracted from high resolution magnetic resonance images of 10 healthy adult volunteers using FreeSurfer. The local fractal dimension of the cortex was computed using a custom-written cube-counting algorithm. The effect of constraining the maximum region size on the measured value of local fractal dimension was examined. A proof of principle was demonstrated by comparing an individual with Alzheimer’s disease to a healthy individual. Results: Local values of cortical fractal dimension can be obtained by constraining the size of the region over which the cube counting is performed. Cubic regions of intermediate size (30 × 30 × 30 mm) yielded a profile that demonstrated greater regional variability compared to smaller (15 × 15 × 15 mm) or larger (60 × 60 × 60 mm) region sizes. Conclusions: Local fractal dimension of the cerebral cortex is a novel measure that may yield additional, quantitative insight into the clinical meaning of cortical shape changes.

Determination of geological strength index of jointed rock mass based on image processing

The geological strength index(GSI) system,widely used for the design and practice of mining process,is a unique rock mass classification system related to the rock mass strength and deformation parameters based on the generalized Hoek-Brown and Mohr-Coulomb failure criteria.The GSI can be estimated using standard chart and field observations of rock mass blockiness and discontinuity surface conditions.The GSI value gives a numerical representation of the overall geotechnical quality of the rock mass.In this study,we propose a method to determine the GSI quantitatively using photographic images of in situ jointed rock mass with image processing technology,fractal theory and artificial neural network(ANN).We employ the GSI system to characterize the jointed rock mass around the working in a coal mine.The relative error between the proposed value and the given value in the GSI chart is less than 3.6%.

Identify Plant Drought Stress by 3D-Based Image

Plants respond to drought stress with different physical manners, such as morphology and color of leaves. Thus, plants can be considered as a sort of living-sensors for monitoring dynamic of soil water content or the stored water in plant body. Because of difficulty to identify the early wilting symptom of plants from the results in 2D （two-dimension） space, this paper presented a preliminary study with 3D （three-dimension）-based image, in which a laser scanner was used for achieving the morphological information of zucchini （Cucurbita pepo） leaves. Moreover, a leaf wilting index （DLWIF） was defined by fractal dimension. The experiment consisted of phase-1 for observing the temporal variation of DLWIF and phase-2 for the validation of this index. During the experiment, air temperature, luminous intensity, and volumetric soil water contents （VSWC） were simultaneously recorded over time. The results of both phases fitted the bisector （line： 1：1） with R2=0.903 and REMS=0.155. More significantly, the influence of VSWC with three levels （0.22, 0.30, and 0.36 cm3 cm-3） on the response of plant samples to drought stress was observed from separated traces of DLWIF. In brief, two conclusions have been made： （i） the laser scanner is an effective tool for the non-contact detection of morphological wilting of plants, and （ii） defined DLWIF can be a promising indicator for a category of plants like zucchini.

The Switching Fractional Order Chaotic System and Its Application to Image Encryption

Many studies on fractional order chaotic systems and secure communications have been carried out, however, switching fractional order chaotic system and its application to image encryption have not been explored yet. In this paper, a new switching fractional order chaotic system is proposed, containing fractional order Chen system and the other two fractional order chaotic systems. Chaotic attractors and dynamical analysis including Lyapunov exponent, bifurcation diagram, fractal dimension, dissipation, stability and symmetry are shown firstly. After that, some circuit simulations through Multisim are presented. By controlling switch k U+2082 and k U+2083, switching among the three fractional order chaotic subsystems can be realized. Finally, we apply the switching fractional order chaotic system to image encryption using exclusive or U+0028 XOR U+0029 encryption algorithm. The encryption scheme could increase randomness and improve speed of encryption. © 2017 Chinese Association of Automation.

Total Variation Constrained Non-Negative Matrix Factorization for Medical Image Registration

This paper presents a novel medical image registration algorithm named total variation constrained graphregularization for non-negative matrix factorization(TV-GNMF).The method utilizes non-negative matrix factorization by total variation constraint and graph regularization.The main contributions of our work are the following.First,total variation is incorporated into NMF to control the diffusion speed.The purpose is to denoise in smooth regions and preserve features or details of the data in edge regions by using a diffusion coefficient based on gradient information.Second,we add graph regularization into NMF to reveal intrinsic geometry and structure information of features to enhance the discrimination power.Third,the multiplicative update rules and proof of convergence of the TV-GNMF algorithm are given.Experiments conducted on datasets show that the proposed TV-GNMF method outperforms other state-of-the-art algorithms.

Research on model testing of a new ultrasonic multi-wav detecting method

The traditional crack exploring method with echo （reflected wave） in metals is called the ＂single-wave detecting method＂ that uses a probe of single weight. This method is not able to detect directly the size and shape of the crack and the result can only be obtained by relative comparison, that is to compare the echo amplitudes of the unknown quantity （crack） with the known quantity （regular artificial crack） to determine the equivalent size and shape of a certain crack.