Image registration under conformal diffeomorphisms : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Mathematics at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

Image registration is the process of finding an alignment between two or more images so that their appearance matches. It has been widely studied and applied to several fields, including medical imaging and biology (where it is related to morphometrics). In biology, one motivation for image registration comes from the work of Sir D'Arcy Thompson. In his book On Growth and Form he presented several examples where a grid superimposed onto a two-dimensional image of one species was smoothly deformed to suggest a transformation to an image of another species. His examples include relationships between species of fish and comparison of human skulls with higher apes. One of Thompson's points was that these deformations should be as `simple' as possible. In several of his examples, he uses what he calls an isogonal transformation, which would now be called conformal, i.e., angle-preserving. His claims of conformally-related change between species were investigated further by Petukhov, who used Thompson's grid method as well as computing the cross-ratio (which is an invariant of the Möbius group, a finite-dimensional subgroup of the group of conformal diffeomorphisms) to check whether sets of points in the images could be related by a Möbius transformation. His results suggest that there are examples of growth and evolution where a Möbius transformation cannot be ruled out. In this thesis, we investigate whether or not this is true by using image registration, rather than a point-based invariant: we develop algorithms to construct conformal transformations between images, and use them to register images by minimising the sum-of-squares distance between the pixel intensities. In this way we can see how close to conformal the image relationships are. We develop and present two algorithms for constructing the conformal transformation, one based on constrained optimisation of a set of control points, and one based on gradient flow. For the first method we consider a set of different penalty terms that aim to enforce conformality, based either on discretisations of the Cauchy-Riemann equations, or geometric principles, while in the second the conformal transformation is represented as a discrete Taylor series. The algorithms are tested on a variety of datasets, including synthetic data (i.e., the target is generated from the source using a known conformal transformation; the easiest possible case), and real images, including some that are not actually conformally related. The two methods are compared on a set of images that include Thompson's fish example, and a small dataset demonstrating the growth of a human skull. The conformal growth model does appear to be validated for the skulls, but interestingly, not for Thompson's fish

Social environment and depression among pregnant women in rural areas of Sind, Pakistan

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the relative power of social relations and social conditions in predicting depression using (CES-D scale) among rural pregnant women belonging to Sind, Pakistan.METHODS: The study was conducted from January 2004 tp December 2004. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were employed. During quantitative phase a total of 375 rural pregnant women were inquired about social conditions, social relations and pregnancy related concerns through a questionnaire based form. Variables were given scores when it applied to a situation of a pregnant woman. Concurrently, in a blind set-up, translated and validated Depression Scale (CES-D) was administered. In multivariate linear regression analysis, relation between scores of social relations and social condition variables with scores of CES-D scale were analyzed.RESULTS: Prevalence of depression among rural pregnant women is high (62%).Social conditions as compared to social relations are more important determinants for depression among rural pregnant women.CONCLUSION: There is a high prevalence of depression in rural areas

Resource Management in Container-based Mobile Edge Computing

Mobile edge computing is a promising technology which provides support to time-sensitive applications by pushing centralized cloud processing capabilities to distributed Fog nodes. These fog nodes are deployed at one-hop distance from end-user and provide real-time data processing capabilities at the edge of network. Due to service provisioning at the edge of network, no congestion occurs at the core of network, quality of service (QoS) is improved and the overall network operational cost is significantly reduced. However, these nodes have limited capabilities such as processing, storage and coverage so, they face challenge of mobility support for a mobile user when continued service (i.e. zero downtime) is required during handovers between edge nodes. Furthermore, they also need an effective task allocation and resource management strategy to ensure smooth operation of edge services. Unlike traditional VM based environment in Fog Computing, this work explores lightweight Docker containers to deploy and migrate services. In this work, an interactive event-driven dashboard is developed for real-time edge node registration, system monitoring, service initiation and migration. Then, motivated by Fog Following Me, a couple of resource allocation schemes (i.e. algorithm-I & II) have been introduced to dynamically manage the compute resources among fog nodes. For smooth service operation and stable migration, an application profiling feature has been introduced which assigns the needed quota for an application requirement in terms of CPU, GPU and RAM. The developed system's performance is evaluated by conducting various experiments. The experimental results clearly demonstrate and verify the working feasibility of the whole system's operation in context of edge computing. However, the observed processing delays during service migration marks the limitation of Docker and suggest the need to use latest optimization tools to cut down the network delays and ensure zero-downtime service migration

Characterizing Natural User Interface with Wearable Smart Watches

Background - The emergence of new interaction paradigms makes the use of technology inrealizing the users??? natural ways of exploring the real world the ultimate goal of designers today.Research on interactive and immersive technologies for user interface design is still a challenging chore for engineers and scientists when it comes to designing natural interaction for wearable smart devices. To address the challenge, our study aims to develop guidelines for design practitioners in designing wearable smart watches that could offer natural user experiences. Methods - To better understand natural user experiences with smart watches, an extensive literature review was conducted. A quantitative survey with 80 participants was conducted, of which the focus was on the expected functions of smart watches. Based on the survey results, we selected eight participants in terms of technology familiarity. To achieve the objectives of our research, three studies were conducted: a design workshop (Study 1), a cultural probe (Study 2), and a focus group interview (Study 3). The design workshop was created to figure out the needs and wishes people have forsmart watches. In the cultural probe, the focus was on figuring out natural interactions with smart watches. Finally, the focus group interview aimed to gain more insights from the results of the cultural probe in terms of natural user interaction with particular functions. Results - To address the needs and wishes of the users toward wearable smartwatches, we made a subdivision into three categories, such as functions, input measures, and notification (feedback) methods. According to the results, participants wanted weather notification, health monitoring, and identification as expected functions. Regarding the methodof input, voice command and touch screen were preferred. In order to get feedback, most of the participantswanted vibrations, particularly as a reaction tocompleting the commands or inputs. There was also a suggestion to customize their smart watch. For example, users can select the functions and build their own command system, and even choose the notificationmethods. Considering natural user interface with respect to functions (weather, answering a call, navigation, health monitoring, taking a picture and messaging), specific natural user interfaces were mentioned for particular functions. Conclusions - Throughout the study, people???s needs and wishes and their perceptions about natural interaction were identified and the characteristics of natural user interfacesweredetermined. Based on the results, tenperceptions were specifically defined to provide a better understanding of smart watches in terms of natural interaction: user affinity of form, awareness by familiarity, reality correspondence, behavioral extension, purpose orientation, easiness of performance, timeliness, routine acceptance, generality, and rule of thumb. In addition to that, natural user interfaces were categorized into five groups: user familiarity, realistic interaction, accomplishment assistance, contextual appropriateness, and social awareness. In this study,we tried to identify what constitutes anatural interaction and how it should be created. The limitations and further study are discussed at the end.ope

An Empirical Study of Relationship between Compensation, Working Environment and Motivation of Employees in Banking Sector of Pakistan

This study scrutinizes the relationship of the compensation and the working environment to the motivation of employees in banking sector of Pakistan. Based upon the working environment and compensation it was empirically analyzed that, these two factors have significant and positive relationship with the motivation of banking sector employees. Consequently motivation increases through good working environment and the satisfactory compensation structure. A well structured questionnaire has been used as a tool for data collection. The primary data has been taken from 150 respondents to explore the relationship among variable. Results, conclusion, recommendations, limitations and future research directions have mentioned for future practitioners. Keywords: Compensation; Working Environment; Motivation; Banking sector, Pakistan

Effects of Waste Glass Powder on the Geotechnical Properties of Loose Subsoils

Foundation soils are most affected by different problems when it comes to the loose soil having low shear strength and bearing capacity. Failure of the soil with settlement and shear arises when the shear stresses in the soil exceed the limit. This study is keen to observe the effects of utilization of waste broken glass in the enhancement of Geotechnical properties of soil by performing different laboratory tests. Collection of the soil sample from was concluded from Pabbi, Peshawar, KPK, and Pakistan, which is a low strength soil, are also being called soft soil having low bearing capacity. Furthermore, this particular soil was needed to be enhanced. The physical, chemical and engineering properties of virgin soil were contemplated and the soil was treated with added substances of Glass Powder to stabilize the local soil. Addition of Glass Powder was finished in different proportions that are 4%, 8% and 12% etc. Performance of different tests as Gradation, Specific Gravity, Standard Proctor compaction, Atterberg Limits, Direct Shear, CBR and so forth were done. The results were concluded, based on the Glass Dust stabilization analysis. It was obtained that pulverized glass can be effectively used as a soil stabilizer as mainly the strength characteristics were observed to be valeted. The Results showed that the gradation of soil is narrow from the particle size analysis. Plasticity index (P.I), Liquid limit (L.L) and plastic limit (P.L) were decreased with the addition of Glass powder. The reason behind decreasing P.I is maybe the fact that the Glass powder is cohesionless. Ideal percentage of Glass Powder as a stabilizer is 8%. Such improvements included an achievement of the highest CBR obtained at the 4%, 8% and 12% of powdered glass content. The reason is that the glass is pozzolanic material when blended with soil gives additional strength. The achievement of the increasing rate of the values of angle of internal friction on 4% and 8% and decreasing rate of values obtained at 12% powdered glass substances. Cohesion rate decreases up to 8% and starts increasing at 12%. Maximum dry density increasing as the density of glass is higher than such soil and Optimum moisture content (OMC) is decreasing because of low absorption capacity of glass. The study showed that the best stabilizer for the case study (Pabbi, Peshawar) is the Glass Powder and the optimum dose is 8 %

Role of Gender Asset Ownership and Poverty in Determining Women Empowerment: A Village-based Study in South Punjab, Pakistan

This study investigates the determinants of women's empowerment in the agriculture sector of South Punjab, Pakistan, using a cross-sectional analysis. Specifically, the study aims to identify the socio-demographic and economic factors that promote or hinder women's empowerment in this sector, to inform policies and programs that can support gender equality in the region. To estimate the results, we are utilizing data from 900 households located in the Multan, Bahawalpur, and DG Khan divisions of South Punjab Province in Pakistan in 2022 while employing the Ordinary Least Square (OLS) method for analysis. The study also explored the impact of empowerment on women's socio-demographics, economic status, and well-being. The study found that women's empowerment in South Punjab is influenced by a range of factors, including age, marital status, education, income, poverty, and asset ownership prevalence. The study focuses on improving women's education, income, and access to credit, as these factors are found to positively impact women's empowerment in the agriculture sector of South Punjab, Pakistan. Additionally, policies that promote women's participation in decision-making at the household and community levels can contribute to greater gender equality in the region