Snakes, or active contours, are used extensively in computer vision and image processing applications, particularly to locate object boundaries.  In this research, for the segmentation of anatomical structures in medical images three approaches were implemented and compared like (original snake model, distance potential force model and Gradient Vector Flow (GVF) snake model). We used Computed Tomography image (CT) for our experiments.  Our experiments show that original snake model has two problems; first is the limited capture range and the second is the poor convergence. Distance potential force model solved only the first problem of original snake and failed with second problem. Gradient Vector Flow (GVF snake) provides a go

This paper displays a survey about the laboratory routine core analysis study on ten sandstone core samples taken from Zubair Reservoir/West Quarna Oil Field. The Petrophysical properties of rock as porosity, permeability, grain's size, roundness and sorting, type of mineral and volumes of shales inside the samples were tested by many apparatus in the Petroleum Technology Department/ University of Technology such as OFITE BLP-530 Gas Porosimeter, PERG-200^TM Gas Permeameter and liquid Permeameter, GeoSpec2 apparatus (NMR method), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and OFITE Spectral Gamma Ray Logger apparatus. By comparing all the results of porosity and permeability measured by these instruments, it is clear a significant vari

The basic concept of diversity; where two or more inputs at the receiver are used to get uncorrelated signals. The aim of this paper is an attempt to compare some possible combinations of diversity reception and MLSE detection techniques. Various diversity combining techniques can be distinguished: Equal Gain Combining (EGC), Maximal Ratio Combining (MRC), Selection Combining and Selection Switching Combining (SS).The simulation results shows that the MRC give better performance than the other types of combining (about 1 dB compare with EGC and 2.5~3 dB compare with selection and selection switching combining).

Alginate from Large brown seaweeds act as natural polymer has been investigated as polymer and has been added to concrete in different percentages ( 0% , 0.5% , 1% and 1.5% ) by the cement weight and the study show the effect of using alginate biopolymer admixtures on  some of the fresh properties of the concrete (slump &  the density  fresh) also in the hardened state (  Compressive strength , Splitting tensile strength  and Flexural strength ) at 28 days. The mix proportion was (1:2.26:2.26) (cement: sand: gravel) respectively and at constant w/c equal to 0.47. The results indicate that the use of alginate as a percent of the cement weight possess a positive effect on fresh properties of co

In this investigation, the mechanical properties and microstructure of Metal Matrix Composites (MMCs) of Al.6061 alloy reinforced by ceramic materials SiC and Al₂O₃ with different additive percentages 2.5, 5, 7.5, and 10 wt.% for the particle size of 53 µ_m are studied. Metal matrix composites were prepared by stir casting using vortex technique and then treated thermally by solution heat treatment at 530 ⁰C for 1 hr. and followed by aging at 175 ⁰C with different periods. Mechanical tests were done for the samples before and after heat treatment, such as impact test, hardness test, and tensile test. Also, the microstructure of the metal matrix composites was examine

Background: Thermocycling simulates the temperature dynamics in the oral environment. This in vitro study done to measure and compare the effect of thermocycling on the shear bond strength of stainless steel and sapphire brackets bonded to human enamel teeth using light cured orthodontic adhesive and debonded at various time, and to measure adhesive remnant index after debonding. Materials and Methods: one-hundred-twenty extracted upper first premolars for orthodontic reason were used in this study; depending on weather thermocycled or not, the sample was divided into two main groups, then within each group 30 teeth were used for stainless-steel brackets (Bionic®) and for sapphire brackets (Pure®). Both groups were subdivided into three

We aimed to examine the effect of amoxicillin and azithromycin suspensions on the microhardness of sliver-reinforced glass ionomer and nano-resin modified glass ionomer (GI). Method: Thirty discs (2mm height x 4mm diameter) of each type of GI were prepared, which were randomly assigned to amoxicillin, azithromycin, and artificial saliva groups. Microhardness was evaluated by Vickers hardness test before and after three immersion cycles. Results: The overall model (P < 0.001), before/after intervention (P < 0.001), intervention group (type of antibiotic) (P=0.013), and type of glass ionomer (P < 0.001) showed significant differences among study groups (P < 0.001). Post hoc test showed only non-significant before/after difference for Azithrom

A good performance of reinforced concrete structures is ensured by the bond between steel and concrete, which makes the materials work together, forming a part of solidarity. The behavior of the bond between the reinforcing bar and the surrounding concrete is significant to evaluate the cracking control in serviceability limit state and load capacity in the ultimate limit state. In this investigation, the bond stresses between reinforcing bar and reactive powder concrete (RPC) was considered to compare it with that of normal strength concrete (NSC). The push-out test with short embedment length is considered in this study to evaluate the bond strength, bond stress-slip relationship, and bond stress-crack width relationsh