Volume rendering is now a common tool for multidimensional data exploration in biology, medicine, meteorology, geology, material science, and other fields. In order to perform volume rendering, users are often forced to preprocess and segment their data. This step of processing before visualization often inhibits the use of volume rendering as it can be quite cumbersome and can also introduce u...

(2) min {F(u,E) : u = u0 on ∂Ω, |E| = d} , where u0 ∈W (Ω) is a given boundary datum and 0 < d < |Ω| is prescribed. Energies with surface terms competing with a volume term often appear in materials science as a model for optimal design [1], phase transiction [5], liquid crystals [6] or continuum mechanics [4]. A similar functional was studied by L.Ambrosio and G.Buttazzo in [1] where they cons...

We consider a free boundary problem arising from a polymer dispersed Liquid Crystal model. This variational problem can be viewed as a coupling between harmonic mappings into manifold and area minimization with given volume. In this paper, the existence of the solution together with some regularity and partial regularity results are presented.

The reduction of the grain size down to the nm regime has opened new and fascinating avenues for research in several aspects of materials science, including mechanical properties. In recent years large efforts, both experimental and computational, have been made to understand the deformation mechanisms at the nanoscale. Computer simulations suggest both grain boundary accommodation mechanisms a...

A study of the microstructure of polymers is essential for the understanding of their anomalous diffusion properties. The concept of free volume may be utilized to study relaxation phenomena and diffusion processes in polymers. Since a quantitative definition of free volume is not possible, a new concept called available volume is introduced. A simple geometric definition of available volume, r...

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to evaluate the midterm results of the initial phase of off-pump coronary artery bypass (OPCAB) surgery adoption in a single surgical unit, assessing the impact of procedural volume. METHODS Study participants were 312 patients who underwent OPCAB during the period between August 2000 and January 2005 at S. Croce Hospital. Of these patients, 126 patients w...

Different stages of intrinsic nanostructurization related to evolution of free-volume voids, including phase separation, crystalline nuclei precipitation, and growth, were studied in glassy As2Se3 doped with Ga up to 5 at. %, using complementary techniques of positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray anal...

One of the most fascinating properties of lipid membranes is that they easily deform their shapes according to external circumstances, which gives them the basic physical aspects of biomembrane functionalities such as endocytosis and exocytosis in biomembrane transport. These shape deformations well described by an area-difference free energy (ADE) model [1], which consists of two terms, the He...