This book is a collection of selected papers from the 2011 International Conference on Communications, Electronics and Automation Engineering hold in Xi’an, China, August 23-25, 2012. It presents some of the latest research findings in a broad range of interdisciplinary fields related to communications, electronics and automation engineering. Specific emphasis is placed on the following topics: automation control, data mining and statistics, simulation and mathematical modeling, human factors and cognitive engineering, web technology, optimization and algorithm, and network communications. The prime objective of the book is to familiarize the readers with cutting edge developments in the research of electronics and automation engineering with a variety of applications. Hopefully, the book can help researchers to identify research trends in many areas, to learn the new methods and tools, and to spark innovative ideas.

A clear, extensively illustrated treatment of ultrasound systems used in estimating blood velocities.

Ultrasound Elastography for Biomedical Applications and Medicine Ivan Z. Nenadic, Matthew W. Urban, James F. Greenleaf, Mayo Clinic Ultrasound Research Laboratory, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, USA Jean-Luc Gennisson, Miguel Bernal, Mickael Tanter, Institut Langevin – Ondes et Images, ESPCI ParisTech CNRS, France Covers all major developments and techniques of Ultrasound Elastography and biomedical applications The field of ultrasound elastography has developed various techniques with the potential to diagnose and track the progression of diseases such as breast and thyroid cancer, liver and kidney fibrosis, congestive heart failure, and atherosclerosis. Having emerged in the last decade, ultrasound elastography is a medical imaging modality that can noninvasively measure and map the elastic and viscous properties of soft tissues. Ultrasound Elastography for Biomedical Applications and Medicine covers the basic physics of ultrasound wave propagation and the interaction of ultrasound with various media. The book introduces tissue elastography, covers the history of the field, details the various methods that have been developed by research groups across the world, and describes its novel applications, particularly in shear wave elastography. Key features: Covers all major developments and techniques of ultrasound elastography and biomedical applications. Contributions from the pioneers of the field secure the most complete coverage of ultrasound elastography available. The book is essential reading for researchers and engineers working in ultrasound and elastography, as well as biomedical engineering students and those working in the field of biomechanics.

Biomechanics of Coronary Atherosclerotic Plaque: From Model to Patient, First Edition, is the first comprehensive text to focus on important biomechanical studies conducted in the last decade that have increased our understanding of coronary atherosclerotic plaque initiation, growth, and rupture, as well as improving the design of medical devices and clinical interventions, including surgical procedures. The book provides students, researchers, engineers, clinicians, and interventional cardiologists with an overview of the main topics related to the biomechanics of atherosclerosis, in a single volume written by several experts in the field. This volume is part of the Biomechanics of Living Organs book series. The biomechanics of human soft tissues and organs has been an emerging research field since the publication of Y.C. Fung's original book series in the 1990s. The publication of such books entirely dedicated to a specific biomechanical subject is necessary to advance scientific research in the field of biomechanics and to transfer important knowledge to future generations. Therefore, this series of volumes on the biomechanics of living organs has been created. This series began in July 2017 with the publication of a first volume on the fundamentals of Hyperelastic Constitutive Laws for Finite Element Modeling of Living Organs. The current volume on the Biomechanics of Coronary Atherosclerotic Plaque, is the latest in this new series. - Presents the main computational fluid dynamic studies performed, describing blood flow in healthy and pathological artery branches, including in coronary bifurcations - Highlights the correlation between plaque initiation regions and blood shear stress amplitude - Discusses the main biomechanical and mechanobiological models to highlight the importance of quantifying the residual and peak cap stresses and the presence of μ-calcifications to evaluate the risk of plaque rupture - Introduces the most recent intravascular imaging biomarker techniques (elastography, palpography and modulography)

Motion estimation algorithms based on cross-correlation of the ultrasound radio-frequency (RF) signals were used to track the arterial walls and capture the pulse wave-induced displacements over the cardiac cycle. PWI facilitates the image-guided measurement of clinically relevant pulse wave features such as propagation speed (pulse wave velocity, or PWV), uniformity, and morphology as well as derivation of the pulse pressure waveform. A parametric study investigating the performance of PWI in two canine aortas ex vivo and 10 normal, healthy human arteries in vivo established the optimal image acquisition and signal processing parameters for reliable measurement of the PWV and wave propagation uniformity. Using this framework, three separate clinical feasibility studies were conducted in patients diagnosed with hypertension, AAA, and carotid stenosis. In a pilot study comparing hypertensive and aneurysmal abdominal aortas with normal controls, the AAA group exhibited significantly higher PWV and lower wave propagation uniformity.

The mechanical properties of the large arteries are important determinants in the circulation physiology. Quantities associated with vessel wall elasticity are of particular interest since they offer a possibility to separate diseased arteries from healthy. Pulse wave velocity (PWV) is a local measure of the arterial wall elasticity. This paper describes a new improved method for non-invasive local PWV estimation. The PWV estimation is based on arterial wall movements, which is detected by Tissue Doppler Imaging (TDI), a color Doppler optimized for low velocities. The TDI facility allows the artery to be measured at several positions simultaneously, which improves the PWV estimation considerably. The method is validated with respect to operator repeatability and operator reproducibility in a limited clinical study.