Brain Tumor Detection and Segmentation: A Survey

<p class="Abstract">Even with the enormous progress in medical technology, brain tumor detection is still an extremely tedious and complex task for the physicians. The early and accurate detection of brain tumors enables effective and efficient therapy and thus can result in increased survival rates. Automatic detection and classification of brain tumors have the potential to achieve efficiency and a higher degree of predictable accuracy. However, it is well established that the accuracy performance of automatic detection and classification techniques varies from technique to technique, and tends to be image modality dependent. This paper reviews the state-of-the-art detection techniques and highlights their pros and cons.</p>

Design and Development of Plastic Filament Extruder for 3D Printing

<p>3D printing is a form of additive manufacturing technology where a three dimensional object is created by laying down successive layers of material. It is mechanized method whereby 3D objects are quickly made on a reasonably sized machine connected to a computer containing blueprints for the object. As 3D printing is growing fast and giving a boost to product development, the factories doing 3D printing need to continuously meet the printing requirements and maintain an adequate amount of inventory of the filament. As the manufactures have to buy these filaments from various vendors, the cost of 3D printing increases. To overcome the problem faced by the manufacturers, small workshop owners, the need of 3D filament making machine arises. This project focuses on designing and fabricating a portable fused deposition 3D printer filament making machine with cheap and easily available components to draw 1.75 mm diameter ABS filament.</p>

Detection of Changes in Land Use/ Land Cover Using Remote Sensing and GIS Techniques in Area East of the Nile Khartoum State-Sudan

<p>The study area lies to the east of the Nile (Sharg Elneel), Khartoum State (latitudes 15^o 25̎ 1̍ and 16° 19̎ 1̍ N and longitudes 33° 19̎ 8̍ and 33°02̎ 9̍ E). Using remote sensing techniques and geographic information system (GIS), the changes in land cover/land use have been estimated using two methods: supervised and unsupervised classification. the images were those of the years 1973, 2001, and 2015 MSS, ETM, ETM+, respectively(173/49 &amp; 173/48 path/ row). The study area was classified into the following nine LU/LC types: water bodies, vegetation, rocky area, sandy soil, sandy sheet, clayey soil, bare soil, sand dunes and settlement areas. The individual areas covered by each type of land use/ land cover were calculated for each image using supervised and unsupervised classification. Then the areas were compared among the different years (images). The results indicated a decrease in areas of sandy soil, water bodies, vegetation cover, sand dunes, clay soil, and bare soil for years 1973-2001 and 1973-2015. That was associated with significant increase in settlement area, sand sheet for the same period. As for the period 2001 and 2015 was an increase in the areas of vegetation, sandy soil, dunes, clay soil, and settlement. While there was a decrease in water bodies, rocky area, sand sheet and bar soil. A striking result of his study was an increase of 50% in the settlement area for the period 1973 – 2015. This indicated that more drift of people towards the Capital took place during this period possibly due to drought and civil strife. Also people come to Khartoum to have better living conditions, education, health care and to work and may be they look at Khartoum as a spring board for going abroad. This study recommended the use of remote sensing techniques and geographic information system in the follow up of desertification and land degradation by following changes in land cover and land use. It also recommended that sand movement (sand encroachment) shall be retarded possibly through increasing vegetation cover through seed broadcasting of pasture and range plants during the rainy season and to exploit the ground water of the NSS aquifer for irrigation.</p>

Air Permeability of Thick Foams: Flow Numerical Simulations

From measured data are determined permeability parameters of thick perforated foam samples, used as car seats cushions. Parameters are used for numerical flow simulations in foam samples. Model of detailed geometry gives good view about detailed flow field (pressure and velocity) in foam volume, influenced by perforations and grooves. However, simulated flow is several times different from measured one. The main flow is through perforations (99%) and flow through foam is of two orders lower. Using homogenous geometry with “averaged” permeability parameters, evaluated from measured values, the coincidence of measured and simulated flow is very good, difference of 1-5%. However, it is not possible to get any details of flow in foam volume. Using inlet layer, the flow is decreasing, first in perforations and the ratio between perforation and foam flows is more balanced.

Uniform Heating and Cooling of a Hollow Disc with Internal Water Channels

The paper deals with practical problem of uniform temperature of heated or cooled disc mass. It presents the influence of thermal insulation and of inlets/outlets positioning on temperature uniformity and on total energy consumption during working cycle. Together with essential balances of mass and energy there is used the method of flow numerical simulation. Results can be used for increasing of both productivity and thermal effectivity of observed equipment.

Water-Use and Conservation in the Commercial Vehicle Washing Industry in Urban Ghana: The Case of Cape Coast Metropolis

Commercial vehicle washing businesses have gained popularity in urban Ghana. Most vehicle washing bays operating in the Cape Coast Metropolis rely on Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) for their water supply. With increasing vehicular numbers, the pressure on the limited safe water quantities is likely to increase. There is the need to regulate the operations of the commercial vehicle washing industry to ensure water conservation and its associated environmental and social impacts. This study is aimed at assess the water-use and conservation strategies in the commercial vehicle washing industry in the Cape Coast Metropolis. The study focused on all the sixteen (16) commercial vehicle washing bays in the Cape Coast metropolis which are registered with and certified by the Metropolitan Assembly and are also members of the Vehicle Washing Bay Operators Association, Cape Coast Branch. Data was collected through the use of pre-tested questionnaire and interview guide as well as personal observation and measurement. A total of Thirty-two (32) questionnaires were distributed to the General Managers and Operation Managers of all the 16 washing bays in the metropolis. In addition, officials of Cape Coast Metropolitan Assembly (CCMA) and Central Regional office of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) were interviewed. Trained Research Assistants were assigned to each vehicle washing bay for one week including Saturdays and Sundays to count the number of vehicles washed daily and the quantity of water used for washing. The study revealed that the most common technique used by the washing bays is the manual and semi-automatic washing process. On the average, the quantity of water required for washing vehicles ranges between 162.0 litres for saloon vehicles and 532.0 litres for tipper trucks. A minimum of 96 vehicles are washed daily utilizing approximately 19,346.00 litres (19.346 m3) of water. There are no water efficiency and wastewater reclamation regulations in place for the vehicle washing industry. It is concluded that the existing commercial vehicle washing facilities in use does not ensure efficient water use and conservation.

Application of Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) for Measuring Water Velocity in Laboratory Sedimentation Tank

Over the past three decades, Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV), fundamentally based on pattern matching principles, has seen a rapid growth in its usage as a flow measurement technique. PIV is a ‘digital’ tracking process to measure the time taken for water to move from one point to the other. The particle displacements can be ascertained by measuring the movement of the fluid of interest from the images captured by a camera. In this study, PIV is employed to measure surface flow velocity. The flow velocity was obtained by analyzing the series of captured images using MatPIV codes. The experiment was carried out at Swinburne Sarawak Fluid Lab. Digital SLR camera model used is Nikon D40X which is capable of taking 5 frames per second. Various tracer particles were used for the experiments include food dye, beads and ping pong balls. The experiments were conducted in a SOLTEQ Sedimentation Tank. Through the implementation of a standardized correction factor, the corrected PIV velocity has an error margin less than 5% which is deemed to be fairly accurate. The PIV velocity (V_piv) results showed to be in good agreement with the actual velocity (V_actual).

Gas Sensing Studies of Tin Oxide Thin Films Annealed at Different Temperatures

Thin films of Tin oxide (SnO₂) were prepared by physical vapour deposition method. The as-prepared films were further annealed at 300°C, 400°C and 500°C to study the effect of annealing on the physical as well as gas sensing properties of the thin films. Gas sensing performance of annealed SnO₂ thin films was studied for different gases having different concentrations at working temperature of 250°C. Significantly, gas response changes for SnO₂ samples annealed at different temperatures, which is discussed herein.

Automatic Analysis and Telemetry of Patients Affected by COPD

<p>Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is an umbrella term for a number of diseases including emphysema, bronchitis and asthma and so on. The severity of the disease can be identified by finding the peripheral oxygen saturation (SpO2) level. This level can be decomposed into trend components to analyse the deterioration in condition of patients affected by COPD. The condition can be analysed on daily, weekly and monthly basis. Message is sent to the clinical attendant of the patient when the condition becomes very abnormal.</p>

Radioisotopes in Agricultural Industry

<p>In environment there are approximately 300 nuclei, containing of different components and their isotopes. Isotopes are nuclei having the similar number of protons and different number of neutrons. Radioisotopes can be applied in vast range of agricultural systems. Scientists are solving the mysteries of multitude agricultural difficulties, which could not have been conceivable with formal ways. Radioisotopes were used in many range of application such as killing insects which damage the food grains by radiations, determining the function of fertilizers in different plants and increase the agricultural produce. Fruits, cereals, canned food and vegetables can be stored for longer periods by moderately exposing them to radiations. Uses of radioisotopes applicable techniques are helping the researchers to find the answer of difficulties in much lesser time. Radioisotopes can be produce from different sources such as nuclear reactors and other atomic installations, and this situation have increased the use of radioisotopes in the agricultural systems. The current paper shortly illustrates the importance of radioisotopes and their radiation in the agricultural areas.</p>