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.
Government spending is the tool that the state uses to achieve its various goals. The research aims to identify the most important determinants of government spending in Iraq and to indicate the type and nature of the relationship between government spending and its determinants, which will contribute to understanding the movement of government spending. The results of the co-integration test using the border test methodology showed that the variables of population growth and oil prices have a long-term effect on government spending while inflation is not significant in the long run, and that 47% of the equilibrium imbalance (short-term imbalance) in government spending in the previous period (t-) can be corrected in the current period (t)
... Show MoreThe research aimed at designing teaching sessions using the self-scheduling strategy with a competitive style in learning handball as well as identifying differences between pre and post tests in both groups in learning short and long passes in handball. The researchers used the experimental method on 2nd-grade secondary school students. The researchers concluded using the self-scheduling strategy due to its positive effect on learning short and long handball passes in handball. Finally, the researchers recommended applying strategies and styles in teaching different school levels as well as making similar studies using teaching strategies and styles for learning handball skills in students.
Organophosphorus insecticide and growth regulator namely Ethephon (2-chloroethylphosphonic acid) are widely used as a ripening process accelerator and a cultivation duration inhibitor. Pomegranate extract (PPE) has recently been taken into consideration due to its pharmacological effects especially those associated with renal diseases. Thus, this study aims to investigate the possible protective effect of PPE against ethephon-induced nephrotoxicity in rats. In this study four groups of adult male rats were divided into control group, PPE 400 mg/kg group, Ethephon 250 mg/kg group, and finally, PPE + Ethephon group (treated with the same dose of PPE group and Ethephon group). In the current study, kidney function parameters (KIM-1, creatin
... Show MoreAim: To evaluate the cytotoxic activity of newly synthesized a series of novel HDAC inhibitors comprising sulfonamide as zinc binding group and Isatin derivatives as cap group joined by mono amide linker as required to act as HDAC inhibitors. Materials and Methods: The utilization of sulfonamide as zinc binding group joined by N-alkylation reaction with ethyl-bromo hexanoate as linker group that joined by amide reaction with Isatin derivatives as cap groups which known to possess antitumor activity in the designed of new histone deacetylase inhibitors and using the docking and MTT assay to evaluate the compounds. Results: Four compounds have been synthesized and characterized successfully by ART-FTIR, NMR and ESI-Ms. the compounds w
... Show MoreA robust and sensitive analytical method is presented for the extraction and determination of six pharmaceuticals in freshwater sediments.
The problem of this research lies in the fact that there is a lack of accurate scientific perceptions about the size of the use of Iraqi women’s social networking sites and the motives behind this use and the expectations generated by them.
The goals of the research are as follows:
1- Determine the extent of Iraqi women’s use of social networking sites (Facebook, YouTube, twitter, and Instagram).
2- Investigative the motives behind the use of social networking sites by Iraqi women.
3- Detecting the repercussions of Iraqi women’s use of social networking sites (Facebook, you tube, twitter, and Instagram).
The research is classified as a descriptive one. The researchers use the survey methodology. The research commu