Reversible Data Hiding Scheme for VQ Indices Based on Absolute Difference Trees

( Chin-chen Chang ),( Thai-son Nguyen ),( Chia-chen Lin ) 한국인터넷정보학회 2014 KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Syst Vol.8 No.7

Reversible data hiding is a technique for recovering original images without any distortion after secret data are extracted from the image. The technique continues to attract attention from many researchers. In this paper, we introduce a new reversible data hiding scheme based on the adjacent index differences of vector quantization (VQ) indices. The proposed scheme exploits the differences between two adjacent indices to embed secret data. Experimental results show that our scheme can achieve a lower compression rate than an earlier scheme by Yang and Lin. Our scheme`s average compression rate, 0.44 bpp, outperforms that of Yang and Lin`s scheme, which averages 0.53 bpp. Moreover, the embedding capacity of our scheme can rise to 1.45 bpi, which also is superior to that of Chang et al.`s scheme [35] (1.00 bpi)Yang and Lin`s scheme [27] (0.91 bpi) as well as Chang et al.`s scheme [26] (0.74 bpi).

Male Infertility Increases the Risk of Cardiovascular Diseases: A Nationwide Population-Based Cohort Study in Taiwan

Chen Peng-Ciao,Chen Yu-Ju,Yang Chia-Chen,Lin Ting-Ti,Huang Chien-Chu,Chung Chi-Hsiang,Sun Chien-An,Chien Wu-Chien 대한남성과학회 2022 The World Journal of Men's Health Vol.40 No.3

Purpose: Some evidence suggests that male infertility increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). However, the evidence in Asian populations is relatively scarce. The aim of this study is to determine whether male infertility increases the risk of CVDs. Materials and Methods: We used inpatient and outpatient data for the years 2000 to 2015 from the Taiwanese Longitudinal Health Insurance Database. We enrolled 7,016 males over 18 years old and diagnosed with male infertility. Of these, 2,326 matched our inclusion criteria and were assigned to the study group. For each infertility patient, four comparison patients were frequency-matched by age and index date to form a control cohort comprising 9,304 patients. Cox proportional hazards analysis was used to estimate the association between male infertility and CVDs. Results: After a 15-year follow-up, the incidence rate of CVDs was higher in the infertility group than the control group (1,460.23 and 1,073.70 per 100,000 person-years, respectively). The Cox proportional hazards regression analysis revealed that the adjusted HR for CVDs was 1.472 for the infertility group (95% CI, 1.288–1.683; p<0.001) relative to the control group. The Kaplan–Meier analysis of the cumulative incidence of CVDs in the two groups showed that the cumulative risk curve for CVDs was significantly higher for the infertility group than the control group. Conclusions: This study shows that men with infertility have a higher risk of developing incident CVDs. In the future, healthcare providers should pay attention to these patients because of their higher health risks.

Evaluation of a rotating packed bed equipped with blade packings for methanol and 1-butanol removal

Chia-Chang Lin,Yu-Chiao Lin,Shu-Ching Chen,Ling-Jung Hsu 한국공업화학회 2010 Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Vol.16 No.6

Absorption removal of methanol and 1-butanol from gaseous streams with water was investigated in the RPB equipped with blade packings. The removal efficiency (E) of methanol and 1-butanol was found to increase with the RPB speed and the liquid flow rate but decrease with the gas flow rate. Also, the overall volumetric gas-side mass transfer coefficient (KGa) for methanol and 1-butanol absorption was observed to increase with the RPB speed, the gas flow rate, and the liquid flow rate. According to the obtained dependence of KGa on the gas and liquid flow rates, the mass transfer in methanol and 1-butanol absorption was observed to be controlled primarily by the gas-side mass transfer. Furthermore, the height of a transfer unit (HTU) for methanol and 1-butanol absorption decreased with the RPB speed and the liquid flow rate but increased with the gas flow rate. The obtained results demonstrated that mass transfer efficiency of the RPB equipped with blade packing was comparable to that of a hollow fiber absorber. Consequently, the RPB equipped with blade packings has a great potential in the removal of alkanols from the exhausted gases. 2010 The Korean Society of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A High-Quality Image Authentication Scheme for AMBTC-compressed Images

( Chia-chen Lin ),( Yuehong Huang ),( Wei-liang Tai ) 한국인터넷정보학회 2014 KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Syst Vol.8 No.12

In this paper, we present a high-quality image authentication scheme based on absolute moment block truncation coding. In the proposed scheme, we use the parity of the bitmap (BM) to generate the authentication code for each compressed image block. Data hiding is used to authenticate whether the content has been altered or not. For image authentication, we embed the authentication code to quantization levels of each image block compressed by absolute moment block truncation coding (AMBTC) which will be altered when the host image is manipulated. The embedding position is generated by a pseudo-random number generator for security concerned. Besides, to improve the detection ability we use a hierarchical structure to ensure the accuracy of tamper localization. A watermarked image can be precisely inspected whether it has been tampered intentionally or incautiously by checking the extracted watermark. Experimental results demonstrated that the proposed scheme achieved high-quality embedded images and good detection accuracy, with stable performance and high expansibility. Performance comparisons with other block-based data hiding schemes are provided to demonstrate the superiority of the proposed scheme.

Comparative global immune-related gene profiling of somatic cells, human pluripotent stem cells and their derivatives: implication for human lymphocyte proliferation

Chia-Eng Wu,Chen-Wei Yu,Kai-Wei Chang,Wen-Hsi Chou,Chen-Yu Lu,Elisa Ghelfi,Fang-Chun Wu,Pey-Shynan Jan,Mei-Chi Huang,Patrick Allard,Shau-Ping Lin,Hong-Nerng Ho,Hsin-Fu Chen 생화학분자생물학회 2017 Experimental and molecular medicine Vol.49 No.-

Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs), including embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and induced PSCs (iPSCs), represent potentially unlimited cell sources for clinical applications. Previous studies have suggested that hPSCs may benefit from immune privilege and limited immunogenicity, as reflected by the reduced expression of major histocompatibility complex class-related molecules. Here we investigated the global immune-related gene expression profiles of human ESCs, hiPSCs and somatic cells and identified candidate immune-related genes that may alter their immunogenicity. The expression levels of global immune-related genes were determined by comparing undifferentiated and differentiated stem cells and three types of human somatic cells: dermal papilla cells, ovarian granulosa cells and foreskin fibroblast cells. We identified the differentially expressed genes CD24, GATA3, PROM1, THBS2, LY96, IFIT3, CXCR4, IL1R1, FGFR3, IDO1 and KDR, which overlapped with selected immune-related gene lists. In further analyses, mammalian target of rapamycin complex (mTOR) signaling was investigated in the differentiated stem cells following treatment with rapamycin and lentiviral transduction with specific short-hairpin RNAs. We found that the inhibition of mTOR signal pathways significantly downregulated the immunogenicity of differentiated stem cells. We also tested the immune responses induced in differentiated stem cells by mixed lymphocyte reactions. We found that CD24- and GATA3-deficient differentiated stem cells including neural lineage cells had limited abilities to activate human lymphocytes. By analyzing the transcriptome signature of immune-related genes, we observed a tendency of the hPSCs to differentiate toward an immune cell phenotype. Taken together, these data identify candidate immune-related genes that might constitute valuable targets for clinical applications.

Delay of Surgery for Spinal Metastasis due to the COVID-19 Outbreak Affected Patient Outcomes

Chia-Jung Hsieh,Chun-Yu Wu,Yen-Heng Lin,Yu-Cheng Huang,Wen-Chi Yang,Tom Wei-Wu Chen,Wei-Li Ma,Wei-Hsin Lin,Feng-Ming Hsu,Furen Xiao,Shih-Hung Yang,Dar-Ming Lai,Chang-Mu Chen,Shin-Yi Chao,Fon-Yih Tsuan 대한척추신경외과학회 2023 Neurospine Vol.20 No.4

Objective: The present study is to analyze the effects of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID 2019) outbreak and the subsequent lockdown on the outcomes of spinal metastasis patients. Methods: The study was a retrospective analysis of data from a prospective cohort study. All patients underwent surgical intervention for spinal metastases between January 2019 and December 2021 and had at least 3 months of postoperative follow-up. The primary outcome was overall mortality during the 4 different stages (pre-COVID-19 era, COVID-19 pandemic except in Taiwan, national lockdown, lifting of the lockdown). The secondary outcomes were the oncological severity scores, medical/surgical accessibility, and patient functional outcome during the 4 periods as well as survival/mortality. Results: A total of 233 patients were included. The overall mortality rate was 41.20%. During the Taiwan lockdown, more patients received palliative surgery than other surgical methods, and no total en bloc spondylectomy was performed. The time from surgeon visit to operation was approximately doubled after the COVID-19 outbreak in Taiwan (75.97, 86.63, 168.79, and 166.91 hours in the 4 periods, respectively). The estimated survival probability was highest after the national lockdown was lifted and lowest during the lockdown. In the multivariate analysis, increased risk of mortality was observed with delay of surgery, with emergency surgery having a higher risk with delays above 33 hours, urgent surgery (below 59 and above 111 hours), and elective surgery (above 332 hours). Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic and related policies have altered daily clinical practice and negatively impacted the survival of patients with spinal metastases.

Laser brazing molybdenum using two titanium base fillers

Lin, Chia-Chen,Lee, Cheng-Han,Shiue, Ren-Kae,Shy, Hsiou-Jeng Techno-Press 2012 Advances in materials research Vol.1 No.3

Brazing Mo using Ti and Ti-15-3 foils has been investigated in the experiment. For traditional furnace brazing, solidification shrinkage voids cannot be completely removed from the joint even the brazing temperature increased to 2013 K and 160 ${\mu}m$ thick Ti foil applied in brazing. Similar results are observed from the joint using Ti-15-3 filler. In contrast, the quality of laser brazed joint is much better than that of furnace brazed joint. A sound joint is achieved after laser brazing. Tensile strengths of 418 and 373 MPa are obtained from laser brazed joints at the power of 800W and travel speed of 5 mm/s using Ti and Ti-15-3 fillers, respectively. All laser brazed joints are fractured at the brazed zone and cleavage dominated fractures are widely observed from their fractographs. The Ti base fillers show potential in laser brazing Mo substrate.

The Effects of Freeze Drying and Rehydration on Survival of Microorganisms in Kefir

Chen, Hsi-Chia,Lin, Chin-Wen,Chen, Ming-Ju Asian Australasian Association of Animal Productio 2006 Animal Bioscience Vol.19 No.1

The purpose of this research was to study the effect of freeze drying on the microorganisms in kefir. Influences of lyoprotectants and rehydrated media (water at $4^{\circ}C$, $25^{\circ}C$; 10% reconstituted milk at $4^{\circ}C$, $25^{\circ}C$) on the viability of lactic acid bacteria and yeasts in freeze-dried kefir were investigated. Kefir was made from cow milk which was inoculated with 5% kefir grains, and incubated at $20^{\circ}C$ for 20 h. Lyoprotectants (galactose, lactose, maltose, sucrose and trehalose) were added independently before dehydration of kefir by freeze drying. Results indicated significant loss in viability of microorganisms in kefir after freeze-drying. Addition of 10% galactose or 10% sucrose as lyoprotectants significantly increased the survival rates of both lactic acid bacteria and yeasts (p<0.05). The $4^{\circ}C$ rehydration temperature showed the best viabilities for yeasts, however, viability was not significantly affected by rehydration media (p>0.05).

Variable-Rate Quadtree-segmented Block Truncation Coding for Color Image Compression

Wu-Lin Chen,Yu-Chen Hu,Kuo-Yu Liu,Chun-Chi Lo,Chia-Hsien Wen 보안공학연구지원센터(IJSIP) 2014 International Journal of Signal Processing, Image Vol.7 No.1

Prediction of the Duration to Next Admission for an Acute Affective Episode in Patients with Bipolar I Disorder

Pao-Huan Chen(Pao-Huan Chen),Chun-Ming Shih(Chun-Ming Shih),Chi-Kang Chang(Chi-Kang Chang),Chia-Pei Lin(Chia-Pei Lin),Yung-Han Chang(Yung-Han Chang),Hsin-Chien Lee(Hsin-Chien Lee),El-Wui Loh(El-Wui Lo 대한정신약물학회 2023 CLINICAL PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY AND NEUROSCIENCE Vol.21 No.2

Objective: Predicting disease relapse and early intervention could reduce symptom severity. We attempted to identify potential indicators that predict the duration to next admission for an acute affective episode in patients with bipolar I disorder. Methods: We mathematically defined the duration to next psychiatric admission and performed single-variate regressions using historical data of 101 patients with bipolar I disorder to screen for potential variables for further multivariate regressions. Results: Age of onset, total psychiatric admissions, length of lithium use, and carbamazepine use during the psychiatric hospitalization contributed to the next psychiatric admission duration positively. The all-in-one found that hyperlipidemia during the psychiatric hospitalization demonstrated a negative contribution to the duration to next psychiatric admission; the last duration to psychiatric admission, lithium and carbamazepine uses during the psychiatric hospitalization, and heart rate on the discharge day positively contributed to the duration to next admission. Conclusion: We identified essential variables that may predict the duration of bipolar I patients’ next psychiatric admission. The correlation of a faster heartbeat and a normal lipid profile in delaying the next onset highlights the importance of managing these parameters when treating bipolar I disorder.