C and O stable isotopes and rare earth elements in the Devonian carbonate host rock of the Pivehzhan iron deposit, NE Iran

The Pivehzhan iron deposit is located at about 80km southwest of Mashhad, NE Iran. It occur within the Devonian carbonates as lenticular and massive bodies, as well as veinlets of magnetite and iron sulphides, transformed to goethite and haematite by weathering process. The hydrothermal calcite is the most important gangue mineral, which is observed in the form of veins/veinlets and open-space filling. The iron ores are accompanied by some minor elements such as Mn, Ti, Cr, and V and negligible amounts of Co and Ni. The distribution pattern of Rare Earth Elements (REEs) normalized to Post Archean Australian Shale (PAAS), which is characterized by the upward convex, as well as the positive Eu anomalies indicate the activity of reduced and acidic hydrothermal fluids. The negative Ce anomalies of host carbonates, although slight, point to the dominance of anoxic conditions during interaction with hydrothermal fluids. The hydrothermal calcite and quartz coexisting with the iron minerals contain principally fluid, which were homogenized into a liquid phase. The Homogenization Temperature (TH) and the salinity of the analysed fluid inclusions range from 129°C to 270°C and from 0.4wt.% to 9.41wt.% NaCl eq., respectively. The δ13CPDB and δ18OSMOW values range from -2.15‰ to -5.77‰ (PeeDee Belemnite PDB standard) and from +19.87‰ to +21.64‰ (Standard Mean Ocean Water SMOW standard) in hydrothermal calcite veinlets occurring with iron minerals, and from -0.66‰ to -4.37‰ (PDB) and from +15.55‰ to +20.14‰ (SMOW) within the host carbonates, respectively. The field relations and petrographic examination along with geochemical and isotopic considerations indicate that the Pivehzhan iron deposit was formed through replacement processes by reducing and acid fluids containing light carbon and oxygen isotopes. Variations in the physico-chemical conditions of hydrothermal fluids and their interaction with carbonates were the most effective mechanisms in the formation of this iron deposit. The potential source of iron was probably the basement magmatic rocks from which iron was leached by hydrothermal solutions

C and O stable isotopes and rare earth elements in the Devonian carbonate host rock of the Pivehzhan iron deposit, NE Iran

The Pivehzhan iron deposit is located at about 80km southwest of Mashhad, NE Iran. They occur within the Devonian carbonates as lenticular and massive bodies, as well as veinlets of magnetite and iron sulphides, transformed to goethite and haematite by weathering process. The hydrothermal calcite is the most important gangue mineral, which is observed in the form of veins/veinlets and open-space filling. The iron ores are accompanied by some minor elements such as Mn, Ti, Cr, and V and negligible amounts of Co and Ni. The distribution pattern of Rare Earth Elements (REEs) normalized to Post Archean Australian Shale (PAAS), which is characterized by the upward convex, as well as the positive Eu anomalies indicate the activity of reduced and acidic hydrothermal fluids. The negative Ce anomalies of host carbonates, although slight, point to the dominance of anoxic conditions during interaction with hydrothermal fluids.The hydrothermal calcite and quartz coexisting with the iron minerals contain principally fluid, which were homogenized into liquid phase. The homogenization temperature (TH(L-V)) and the salinity of the analysed fluid inclusions range from 129°C to 270°C and from 0.4wt.% to 9.41wt.% NaCl eq., respectively. The δ13CPDB and  δ18OSMOW values ranges from -2.15‰ to -5.77‰ (PeeDee Belemnite standard, PDB) and from +19.87‰ to +21.64‰ (Standard Mean Ocean Water standard, SMOW) in hydrothermal calcite veinlets occurring with iron minerals and -0.66‰ to -4.37‰ (PDB) and +15.55‰ to +20.14‰ (SMOW) within the host carbonates, respectively.The field relations and petrographic examination along with geochemical and isotopic considerations indicate that the Pivehzhan iron deposit was formed through replacement processes by reducing and acid fluids containing light carbon and oxygen isotopes. Variations in the physico-chemical conditions of hydrothermal fluids and their interaction with carbonates were the most effective mechanisms in the formation of this iron deposit. The potential source of iron was probably the basement magmatic rocks from which iron was leached by hydrothermal solutions

Anahita: A System for 3D Video Streaming with Depth Customization

Producing high-quality stereoscopic 3D content requires significantly more effort than preparing regular video footage. In order to assure good depth perception and visual comfort, 3D videos need to be carefully adjusted to specific viewing conditions before they are shown to viewers. While most stereoscopic 3D content is designed for viewing in movie theaters, where viewing conditions do not vary significantly, adapting the same content for viewing on home TV-sets, desktop displays, laptops, and mobile devices requires additional adjustments. To address this challenge, we propose a new system for 3D video streaming that provides automatic depth adjustments as one of its key features. Our system takes into account both the content and the display type in order to customize 3D videos and maximize their perceived quality. We propose a novel method for depth adjustment that is well-suited for videos of field sports such as soccer, football, and tennis. Our method is computationally efficient and it does not introduce any visual artifacts. We have implemented our 3D streaming system and conducted two user studies, which show: (i) adapting stereoscopic 3D videos for different displays is beneficial, and (ii) our proposed system can achieve up to 35% improvement in the perceived quality of the stereoscopic 3D content

Gradient-based 2D-to-3D Conversion for Soccer Videos

A wide spread adoption of 3D videos and technologies is hindered by the lack of high-quality 3D content. One promising solution to address this problem is to use automated 2D-to-3D conversion. However, current conversion methods, while general, produce low-quality results with artifacts that are not acceptable to many viewers. We address this problem by showing how to construct a high-quality, domain-specific conversion method for soccer videos. We propose a novel, data-driven method that generates stereoscopic frames by transferring depth information from similar frames in a database of 3D stereoscopic videos. Creating a database of 3D stereoscopic videos with accurate depth is, however, very difficult. One of the key findings in this paper is showing that computer generated content in current sports computer games can be used to generate high-quality 3D video reference database for 2D-to-3D conversion methods. Once we retrieve similar 3D video frames, our technique transfers depth gradients to the target frame while respecting object boundaries. It then computes depth maps from the gradients, and generates the output stereoscopic video. We implement our method and validate it by conducting user-studies that evaluate depth perception and visual comfort of the converted 3D videos. We show that our method produces high-quality 3D videos that are almost indistinguishable from videos shot by stereo cameras. In addition, our method significantly outperforms the current state-of-the-art method. For example, up to 20% improvement in the perceived depth is achieved by our method, which translates to improving the mean opinion score from Good to Excellent.Qatar Computing Research Institute-CSAIL PartnershipNational Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant IIS-1111415

Behavior and Impact of Zirconium in the Soil–Plant System: Plant Uptake and Phytotoxicity

Because of the large number of sites they pollute, toxic metals that contaminate terrestrial ecosystems are increasingly of environmental and sanitary concern (Uzu et al. 2010, 2011; Shahid et al. 2011a, b, 2012a). Among such metals is zirconium (Zr), which has the atomic number 40 and is a transition metal that resembles titanium in physical and chemical properties (Zaccone et al. 2008). Zr is widely used in many chemical industry processes and in nuclear reactors (Sandoval et al. 2011; Kamal et al. 2011), owing to its useful properties like hardness, corrosion-resistance and permeable to neutrons (Mushtaq 2012). Hence, the recent increased use of Zr by industry, and the occurrence of the Chernobyl and Fukashima catastrophe have enhanced environmental levels in soil and waters (Yirchenko and Agapkina 1993; Mosulishvili et al. 1994 ; Kruglov et al. 1996)

Generating and streaming immersive sports video content

Stereoscopic 3D videos have already become popular in movie theaters with most productions being released in this format. More recently, with the availability of commodity Virtual Reality (VR) products, immersive video content is receiving even more interest. A wide spread adoption of immersive devices and displays is hindered by the lack of content that matches the user expectations. Producing immersive videos is far more costly and time-consuming than regular 2D videos, which makes it challenging and thus rarely attempted, especially for live events, such as sports games. In addition, immersive content needs to be adapted for viewing on different displays/devices. To address these challenges, we first propose a new system for 3D video streaming that provides automatic depth adjustments as one of its key features. Our system takes into account both the content and the display type in order to customize 3D videos and optimize the viewing experience. Our stereoscopic video streaming system was implemented, deployed and tested with real users. Results show that between 60% to 70% of the shots can benefit from our system and more than 25% depth enhancement can be achieved. Next, we propose a novel, data-driven method that converts 2D videos to 3D by transferring depth information from a database of similar 3D videos. Our method then reconstructs the depth map while ensuring temporal coherency using a spatio-temporal formulation of Poisson reconstruction. Results show that our method produces high-quality 3D videos that are almost indistinguishable from videos shot by stereo cameras, while achieving up to 20% improvement in the perceived depth compared to the current state-of-the-art method. Furthermore, we extend our work in the direction of VR, and propose using video feeds from regular broadcasting cameras to generate sports VR content. We generate a wide-angle panorama by utilizing the motion of the main camera. We then use various techniques to remove the parallax, align all video feeds, and overlay them on the panorama. Subjective studies show that our generated content provides an immersive experience similar to ground-truth content captured using a 360 camera, with most subjects rating their sense of presence from Good to Excellent

Growth assessment of F1 hybrid salix seedlings in Karaj experimental site

Willow (Salixsp.) is one of the main trees occurring within valleys, plains and the river margins in Iran. The aim of study was to evaluate and compare the growth of willow hybrids and parents. Therefore, hybrid seedlings from S. alba (female) x S. alba (male), S. alba x S. excels and S. alba x S. fragilis crosses were planted in the field in April 2012. In first stage, superior hybrids were selected based on growth characteristics. In the second stage hybrid seedlings and parents were tested by planting cuttings (5 cuttings for each hybrid and parents) in the nursery. Growth traits such as survival rate, collar diameter, height, number of branches and stem form were measured at the end of growth season. Measuring growth characteristics of hybrids showed that 7 hybrids from S. alba x S. alba , 7 hybrids form S. alba x S. excelsa and 2 hybrids from S. alba x S. fragilis crosses were associated with straight stem form as well as the highest diameter and height growth. The average diameter and height growth of hybrid seedlings from planted cuttings cuttings showed two hybrid S. alba x S. alba crosses with the highest growth. Moreover, four S. alba x S. excelsa crosses and one seedling from S. alba x S. fragilis hybrid showed the highest height growth compared to the parents. The superior hybrids also showed straight stems. It is concluded that the superior hybrid seedlings from this study can be evaluated in the next phase of compatibility

Growth comparison of Populus euphratica Oliv. provenances in research station of Karadj, Iran

Populus euphratica cuttings were collected from 16 natural populations in 11 provenances of Iran. These populations cover most of the geographic distribution of this species in Iran. 30 cuttings (3 cuttings from every mother tree), from each population location were planted in an experimental field in Karadj Research Station. Survival percentage, tree height, diameter (at 0.5 m up ground), biomass (leaf, stem and root dry weight) and main root length parameters were measured at the end of each growing season. Results of analysis of variance showed significant differences among provenances of P. euphratica for growth parameters of diameter, height, leaf number, root dry weight, main root length (P>0.01) and leaf dry weight and stem dry weight (

ALİBALTALU LATERİT YATAĞINA AİT JEOKİMYASAL ARAŞTIRMALAR, SHAHINDEZH KD'SU, KB İRAN

Alibaltalu laterit yatağı, Batı Azerbaycan bölgesinde (KB İran), Shahindezh’in yaklaşık 20 km KD kesiminde yer almaktadır. Bu yatak, Triyas yaşlı Elika dolomitleri ve Jura yaşlı Shemshak kumtaşlarının sınırı boyunca tabaka şekilli mercekler halinde oluşmuştur. Böhmit, diyaspor, kaolinit, muskovit-illit, rutil, anatas, hematit ve götit mineralleri içeren bu yatak dört farklı cevher fasiyesi ile ilişkili olarak gelişmiş olup bunlar: 1) ferrit, 2) laterit, 3) boksitik kaolinit ve 4) kaolinitik boksit fasiyesleridir. Petrografik olarak cevher örnekleri konglomeratik, yuvarlaklaşmış-tanesel, damarcıklı, kolloform, pelitomorfik, yalancı porfiritik, nodüler ve süngerimsi dokular sergiler. Yatak üzerinde seçilmiş bazı hatlar üzerindeki Al, Si, Ti, HFSE (yüksek değerliklikatyon elementleri), DNTE (LREE), YNTE (HREE), U, ve Th’un yayılım özellikleri, günlenme (weathering) işlemleri sırasında demirlenme-demir yıkanması olaylarının önemli bir rol oynadığını göstermiştir. Nadir toprak element dağılım desenlerinin kondrite normalize edildiği diyagramlar, bu yatağın oluşumu sırasında ANTE’den (ağır nadir toprak elementleri) HNTE (hafif nadir toprak elementleri) ayrımlaşmasının oldukça düşük olduğunu ve zayıf Eu anomalisi oluştuğunu göstermiştir. Bu özellikler Al2O3/TiO2 oranları ve günlenme sırasında Al’un Fe’den ayrımlaşması, bu yatağın orijinal kayasının mafik özelliklerde olabileceğini işaret etmektedir. Zayıf hareketli elementlerin jeokimyasal özellikleri incelendiğinde bu yatağın büyük olasılıkla bazaltik ile andezitik bir ana kayadan günlenme yoluyla oluştuğu anlaşılmaktadır. Cevherdeki Ni, Cr, Zr ve Gz gibi elementlerin dağılım özelliklerine bakıldığında bu yatağın öncelikle yerinde zenginleşme ile oluştuğu, ancak daha sonraki aşınım ve taşınım süreçlerinde diğer kayaç parçaları ile karışarak güncel konumuna yeniden çökeldiği anlaşılmaktadır