An AAM-Based Identification Method for Ear Acupoint Area.

Ear image segmentation and identification is for the "observation" of TCM (traditional Chinese medicine), because disease diagnoses and treatment are achieved through the massaging of or pressing on some corresponding ear acupoints. With the image processing of ear image positioning and regional segmentation, the diagnosis and treatment of intelligent traditional Chinese medicine ear acupoints is improved. In order to popularize ear acupoint therapy, image processing technology has been adopted to detect the ear acupoint areas and help to gradually replace well-trained, experienced doctors. Due to the small area of the ear and the numerous ear acupoints, it is difficult to locate these acupoints based on traditional image recognition methods. An AAM (active appearance model)-based method for ear acupoint segmentation was proposed. The segmentation was illustrated as 91 feature points of a human ear image. In this process, the recognition effects of the ear acupoints, including the helix, antihelix, cymba conchae, cavum conchae, fossae helicis, fossae triangularis auriculae, tragus, antitragus, and earlobe, were divided precisely. Besides these, specially appointed acupoints or acupoint areas could be prominent in ear images. This method made it possible to partition and recognize the ear's acupoints through computer image processing, and maybe own the same abilities as experienced doctors for observation. The method was proved to be effective and accurate in experiments and can be used for the intelligent diagnosis of diseases.

(2,4-Dihydroxy-benzyl-idene)dimethyl-ammonium dichloro-phosphinate.

In the title compound, C(9)H(12)NO(2) (+)·Cl(2)PO(2) (-), the mol-ecular skeleton of the cation is nearly planar with an r.m.s. deviation of 0.0336 Å. In the crystal structure, inter-molecular O-H⋯O hydrogen bonds link cations and anions into chains running along [10].

2-(3-Pyridinio)benzimidazolium penta-chloridobismuthate(III) monohydrate.

In the title compound, (C(12)H(11)N(3))[BiCl(5)]·H(2)O, the Bi(III) atom is coordinated by five chloride anions in a distorted square-pyramidal geometry. The planar imidazole ring system [maximum deviation = 0.012 (3) Å] is oriented at a dihedral angle of 6.08 (5)° with respect to the protonated pyridine ring. An O-H⋯Cl inter-action links the water mol-ecule to the dianion. In the crystal structure, inter-molecular O-H⋯Cl, N-H⋯O and N-H⋯Cl inter-actions link the mol-ecules into a three-dimensional network.