Image and Volume Segmentation by Water Flow

A general framework for image segmentation is presented in this paper, based on the paradigm of water flow. The major water flow attributes like water pressure, surface tension and capillary force are defined in the context of force field generation and make the model adaptable to topological and geometrical changes. A flow-stopping image functional combining edge- and region-based forces is introduced to produce capability for both range and accuracy. The method is assessed qualitatively and quantitatively on synthetic and natural images. It is shown that the new approach can segment objects with complex shapes or weak-contrasted boundaries, and has good immunity to noise. The operator is also extended to 3-D, and is successfully applied to medical volume segmentation

Physical metallurgy of modern creep-resistant steel for steam power plants: microstructure and phase transformations

The fact that the microstructure of steel depends on its composition and the heat treatment given to it has been heavily exploited in the design of steel for power plant applications. To obtain a steel that can function at the higher temperature where power plants operate without failure for extended life, heat treatment is needed to produce fine and highly stable dispersion of carbides, nitrides, and intermetallic compounds in the microstructure of the material. A significant contribution also comes from solid solution strengthening by substitutional solutes. We review here various types of phases, microstructures, functions, and interacting effects of the various alloying elements in the design of steel for modern power plant application

The Impact of Treatment of Organic Manures on Future Soil Carbon Sequestration Under Different Tillage Systems in Pakistan

Funds provided by Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan for carrying out this Ph.D. research work under “Indigenous 5000 Fellowship Program” and “International Research Support Initiative Program” are highly acknowledged.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Vulnerability in Developing Countries

The first Millennium Development Goal aims to halve the number of people in the world living in extreme poverty. In this Research Brief, emanating from the UNU-WIDER project on .Fragility and Development., the premise is that we should also be concerned about households who are vulnerable to poverty. This includes those who have little likelihood of escaping from poverty and who are at risk of falling into poverty in the future. Household vulnerability to poverty is affected by, and affects, vulnerability in other dimensions and levels, such as the vulnerability of a country or region to natural hazards and macro-economic shocks. To address household vulnerability in developing countries requires an understanding of the concept and nature of vulnerability, its measurement and its application. Therefore, this Research Brief asks: what is vulnerability? How can vulnerability be measured? How should households, governments and development agencies respond to vulnerability?vulnerability, poverty, households, hazards, shocks

The Challenge of Small Island Developing States

Small Island Developing States, Vulnerability

Fragile States

Many of the world.s poorest countries can be described as .fragile states. wherein governments cannot or will not provide an environment for households to reduce, mitigate, or cope with poverty and other risks to wellbeing. Many of these states are in conflict or just emerging from conflict. The UNU-WIDER project .Fragility and Development. explored state fragility and its relationship to household vulnerability, noting that there is a lack of research on the economic dimensions of conflict, aid, and development in fragile states. This Research Brief provides a summary of the various contributions made by this project, including case studies on Iraq, Kosovo, Palestine, and Somalia. It also addresses a number of pertinent questions such as; when are states fragile? What are the costs that fragile states impose on their people and the international community? Should the sovereignty of fragile states be reconsidered? And how can aid flows to fragile states be made more effective?vulnerability, poverty, households, hazards, shocks

Oxygen production and use in benthic mats of solar salt ponds

The benthic mat in the ponds of solar salt producers is important because as a beneficial effect, the mat reduces loss of brine from the field but it unfortunately also supports species which can have a serious detrimental effect on the halite crystallization process. Anaerobic and aerobic activity of the mat which is thought to be a significant factor in the management of the salt field is not quantified by traditional monitoring methods. A method of measuring the generation of oxygen from benthic algal mats, tested in the north west of Western Australia at three solar salt fields has been developed to estimate the benthic primary production in solar salt fields. Net oxygen production peaks at approximately 1 g m-2 over a 24 hour period for salt fields in the north-west of Western Australia. There was a significant linear relationship between production and salinity. Maximum production was 100 mmol O2 m-2 day-1 and the minimum was -11 mmol O2 m-2 day-1. The average oxygen production in ponds with a normal salinity within the range of 115-250 g 1-1 was 13 mmol O2 m-2 day-1. The relationship between dissolved oxygen demand at night versus salinity was not significant

Groundwater Flow Systems and Thermal Regimes Near Cooling Igneous Plutons: Influence of Surface Topography

Previous studies of cooling igneous plutons did not consider the possible influence of sloping surface topography. Topographically-driven fluids in high relief terrain, however, are thought to interact with deep buoyancy-driven fluids to produce large lateral-flow systems up to 5 km long and 20 km long in silicic and andesitic volcanic terrain, respectively. In this study, a quantitative investigation of the interaction of topographically-driven and buoyancy-driven fluid flow is conducted through the use of a finite element numerical model to simulate the fluid flow and thermal regimes associated with a cooling igneous pluton in the presence of significant topographic relief. The system considered in this study is that of a pluton with dimensions 2 km by 3 km and an initial temperature of 980 °C centered beneath a mountain having relief of 1 km over a horizontal distance of 3 km. Simulation results indicate that the topographic component of flow interacts with buoyancy to produce two separate flow systems, a shallow topographically-driven flow system and a deeper convecting system. The resulting hydrothermal system evolves in a more complicated fashion than in flat topography cases. In addition, the existence of the shallow topographically-driven flow system partially masks the presence of the heat source by preventing fluids having the chemical signature of the deeper, hotter environment from reaching the surface. Cooling rate of the pluton is also increased and boiling is inhibited. These effects, however, are primarily a result of the pluton being injected into a cooler host rock. The host rock is cooler in the sloping topography case due to advective cooling prior to pluton injection. Model results also indicate that temperature beneath the mountain and the position of the zone of mixing remain relatively constant for almost 50,000 years. The stability of the temperature conditions and the position of the zone of mixing may increase the likelihood for the deposition of epithermal ore bodies in this region