In order to reduce the frame memory usage in LCD overdrive, there is a basic technique called block truncation coding (BTC) is commonly used due to its efficient coding and low implementation cost. However, there is some limitation of BTC that causes severe perceptual artifacts and degrades overdrive performance. To overcome the problem of BTC here we propose an adaptive multi-level BTC (AM-BTC...

BACKGROUND Military research suggests a significant association between leadership, cohesion, mental health stigmatisation and perceived barriers to care (stigma/BTC). AIM Most studies are cross sectional, therefore longitudinal data were used to examine the association of leadership and cohesion with stigma/BTC. METHOD Military personnel provided measures of leadership, cohesion, stigma/BT...

Distinct regions of the frontal cortex connect with their basal ganglia and thalamic counterparts, constituting largely segregated basal ganglia-thalamo-cortical (BTC) circuits. However, any common role of the BTC circuits in different behavioral domains remains unclear. Indeed, whether dysfunctional motor and cognitive BTC circuits are responsible for motor slowing and cognitive slowing, respe...

In this paper, a cost effective block truncation coding (CE-BTC) using low cost approach is presented for color image compression. To reduce the bit rate of the basic BTC, selected single bit-map is employed to represent the edge information of the coding block in the proposed CE-BTC. Moreover, a previous proposed algorithm, adaptive quantization coding (AQC), is used to compress the two repres...

Rapid movement of agricultural chemicals through soil to groundwater via preferential flow pathways is one cause of water contamination. Previous studies have shown that time domain reflectometry (TDR) could be used to characterize solute transport in soil. However, previous studies have only scarcely addressed preferential flow. This study presents an extended application of TDR for determinin...

OBJECTIVE Betacellulin (BTC), purified and cloned from mouse beta cell tumor (BTC-JC10), is regarded as a new member of the epidermal growth factor family. The present study was conducted to clarify the expression of BTC and its receptors, ErbB-1 and ErbB-4, in the trophoblasts in the human placenta over the course of pregnancy. DESIGN AND METHODS Human placental tissues were obtained from 4 ...

Betacellulin (BTC), a ligand of the epidermal growth factor receptor, has been shown to promote growth and differentiation of pancreatic β-cells and to improve glucose metabolism in experimental diabetic rodent models. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been already proved to be multipotent. Recent work has attributed to rat and human MSCs the potential to differentiate into insulin-secreting c...

Activation of EGF receptors is closely involved in vascular proliferative diseases. The signaling mechanisms of EGF ligands, including betacellulin (BTC) and amphiregulin (AR), are poorly understood. We examined how BTC and AR induced DNA synthesis activity in primary cultures of human thoracic aortic smooth muscle cells (HTASMCs). BTC induced phosphorylation of all four EGF receptors present o...