Groupwise non-rigid image alignment is a difficult non-linear optimization problem involving many parameters and often large datasets. Previous methods have explored various metrics and optimization strategies. Good results have been previously achieved with simple metrics, requiring complex optimization, often with many unintuitive parameters that require careful tuning for each dataset. In this chapter, the problem is restructured to use a simpler, iterative optimization algorithm, with very few free parameters. The warps are refined using an iterative Levenberg-Marquardt minimization to the mean, based on updating the locations of a small number of points and incorporating a stiffness constraint. This optimization approach is efficient, has very few free parameters to tune, and the authors show how to tune the few remaining parameters. Results show that the method reliably aligns various datasets including two facial datasets and two medical datasets of prostate and brain MRI images and demonstrates efficiency in terms of performance and a reduction of the computational cost.
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We present a reliable algorithm for solving, homogeneous or inhomogeneous, nonlinear ordinary delay differential equations with initial conditions. The form of the solution is calculated as a series with easily computable components. Four examples are considered for the numerical illustrations of this method. The results reveal that the semi analytic iterative method (SAIM) is very effective, simple and very close to the exact solution demonstrate reliability and efficiency of this method for such problems.
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Background: Periodontitis is an inflammatory disease that affects the supporting tissues of the teeth; Smoking is an important risk factor for periodontitis induces alveolar bone loss and cause an imbalance between bone resorption and bone deposition. The purpose of this study is to detect and compare the presence of incipient periodontitis among young smokers and non-smokers by measuring the distance between cement-enamel junction and alveolar crest (CEJ-Ac) using Cone Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT). Material and methods: The total sample composed of fifty two participants, thirty one smokers and twenty one non-smokers (age range 14-22 years). Periodontal parameters: plaque index (PLI), gingival index (GI) were recorded for all teeth exc
... Show MoreCriticism is inherently impolite and a face-threatening act generally leading to conflicts among interlocutors. It is equally challenging for both native and non-native speakers, and needs pre-planning before performing it. The current research examines the production of non-institutional criticism by Iraqi EFL university learners and American native speakers. More specifically, it explores to what extent Iraqi EFL learners and American native speakers vary in (i) performing criticism, (ii) mitigating criticism, and (iii) their pragmatic choices according to the contextual variables of power and distance. To collect data, a discourse-completion task was used to elicit written data from 20 Iraqi EFL learners and 20 American native speaker
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Gypseous soil covers approximately 30% of Iraqi lands and is widely used in geotechnical and construction engineering as it is. The demand for residential complexes has increased, so one of the significant challenges in studying gypsum soil due to its unique behavior is understanding its interaction with foundations, such as strip and square footing. This is because there is a lack of experiments that provide total displacement diagrams or failure envelopes, which are well-considered for non-problematic soil. The aim is to address a comprehensive understanding of the micromechanical properties of dry, saturated, and treated gypseous sandy soils and to analyze the interaction of strip base with this type of soil using particle image
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In recent years, non-oil primary balance indicator has been given considerable financial important in rentier state. It highly depends on this indicator to afford a clear and proper picture of public finance situation in term of appropriate and sustainability in these countries, due to it excludes the effect of oil- rental from compound of financial accounts which provide sufficient information to economic policy makers of how economy is able to create potential added value and then changes by eliminating one sided shades of economy. In Iraq, since, 2004, the deficit in value of this indicator has increased, due to almost complete dependence on the revenues of the oil to finance the budget and the obvious decline of the non-oil s
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