Block Truncation Coding (BTC), using a one-bit moment preserving quantizer to quantize a block, is a simple compression method; however, compression with BTC cannot be used to obtain a sufficiently high quality image, especially an image with many edges. In this paper, a new generalized multilevel BTC algorithm, which arbitrarily specifies the number of quantization levels, is developed. In the...

We introduce a simple image coding method, the block truncation coding (BTC) technique, as a novel approach to the construction of colour image databases. It is shown that BTC can not only be used to compress the images thus achieving storage eflciency. the BTC codes can also be used directly to construct image features for effective image retrieval. From the BTC code we have developed an image...

In this paper, Block Turbo Codes (BTC), that is product codes obtained from the concatenation of either two extended or two expurgated BCH codes are evaluated for the HIPERLAN/2 system. Simulations show that only expurgated BTC outperforms the performance of the Convolutional Code (CC) specified in the standard. This result is surprising since expurgated and extended BTC have same performance o...

Betacellulin (BTC) induces differentiation of pancreatic beta-cells and promotes regeneration of beta-cells in experimental diabetes. The present study was conducted to determine if BTC improved glucose metabolism in severe diabetes induced by a high dose of streptozotocin (STZ) in mice. Male ICR mice were injected with 200 microg/g ip STZ, and various doses of BTC were administered daily for 1...

BACKGROUND Betacellulin (BTC), a member of the epidermal growth factor family, is known to play an important role in regulating growth and differentiation of pancreatic beta cells. Growth-promoting actions of BTC are mediated by epidermal growth factor receptors (ErbBs), namely ErbB-1, ErbB-2, ErbB-3 and ErbB-4; however, the exact mechanism for beta cell proliferation has not been elucidated. T...

In this paper, a novel Gray Scale image compression method (BTC algorithm using Pattern fitting) based on block truncation coding (BTC) and Vector quantization (VQ) is proposed. This method inherits the advantages of both BTC and vector quantization. The BTC-PF method has some controlling parameters through which we can control the bit-rate and quality. The BTC-PF method is also successfully em...

Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is important for the proliferation and differentiation of gastric mucosal cells. Betacellulin (BTC) is a novel ligand for EGFR Since their role is unclear in the ulcer healing process, we investigated their expression. Gastric ulcers in 30 Sprague-Dawley rats were induced by acetic acid. RT-PCR and Western blotting were performed to detect EGFR and BTC. I...

Activin A and betacellulin (BTC) are thought to regulate differentiation of pancreatic beta-cells during development and regeneration of beta-cells in adults. In the present study, we used neonatal rats treated with streptozotocin (STZ) to investigate the effects of activin A and BTC on regeneration of pancreatic beta-cells. One-day-old Sprague-Dawley rats were injected with STZ (85 micro g/g) ...

Alternative energy resources such as hydrogen and methane gases are becoming increasingly important for the future economy. A major challenge for using hydrogen is to develop suitable materials to store it under a variety of conditions, which requires systematic studies of the structures, stability, and kinetics of various hydrogen-storing compounds. Neutron scattering is particularly useful fo...

BACKGROUND Liver transplantation is an important treatment option for patients with liver-originated tumors including biliary tract carcinomas (BTCs). Post-transplant tumor recurrence remains a limiting factor for long-term survival. The mammalian target of rapamycin-targeting immunosuppressive drug rapamycin could be helpful in lowering BTC recurrence rates. Therein, we investigated the antipr...