Multiple MR brain images are acquired at once. To begin with, the medical specialists examine a MR brain image, which shows temporal lobes, a frontal lobe, and some important regions for diagnosis, located near the cerebral center. Automatic selection of the main image from MR brain image set is a useful diagnosis imaging support for medical specialists. This paper proposes a method for extracting a ventricle area in order to select a main image. The proposed method works three steps. First, the process using a mode method that extracts sliced areas from original MR brain images. Second, the Otsu's method performs a binary process.
Third, a ventricle area is a unique shape and we therefore defined two rectangles: the frontal horn and the posterior horn of a lateral ventricle region. The experimental results revealed that the proposed algorithm was able to accurately extract the ventricle area from the image set.

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The role of the melting treatment of the solid waste has become more and more important to reduce the volume of solid waste because of the lack of land fill sites. However, it is required, for the trouble-free operation of the plants, to provide the physico-chemical properties of the slag generated from the melting treatment of municipal solid waste (MSW). The purpose of this paper is to investigate the crystallization behavior of the MSW slag using Hot-Thermocouple method. Additionally, the effect of additive oxides on the crystallization behavior of the synthetic slag and the MSW slag also have been investigated. As a result, Time-Temperature-Transition curves of the crystallization MSW slag depended on the chemical composition of the slags strongly. Appearances of the quenched slags were colored and transparent glasses. Moreover, it was found that TiO₂ and Li₂O additives accelerated the crystallization of the slag.

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Japanese rice husk was converted into an adsorbent for the removal of two types of aldehyde vapors. The rice husks carbonized at 250-800°C in N₂ for 1h were exposed to vapors containing 1.0 vol. ppm formaldehyde or 100 vol. ppm acetaldehyde (both N₂ carrier) in 5 L-gas sampling bags. Maximum adsorption rates of formaldehyde and acetaldehyde were observed for rice husks carbonized at 800 and 600°C, respectively. The adsorption rates of the aldehydes on the carbonized rice husks were higher than or comparable to those of the commercial granular coconut-shell activated carbon (GCSAC), whereas the specific surface area and the total pore volume of the carbonized rice husks were much lower than that of the GCSAC. The surface basic property of the rice husks carbonized at high temperatures was attributed to the intrinsic inorganic matters of K and Ca, which enhanced an uptake of the aldehydes on their surfaces.

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In order to clarify a phenomenon of spontaneous combustion in coal seam, we propose a simulation model based on two assumptions:
(a) Coal powder, which exists in cracks of coal seam, is a heat source.
(b) Coal seam gas is a supply source of oxygen to oxidize coal.
In addition, we assume that the oxidative reaction of coal at normal temperature occurs mainly by volatile matter in coal, and that the calorific value of the coal powder is theoretically obtained from its combustion enthalpy. By using the proposed model, we simulate a process of spontaneous combustion in coal seam after mining coal.
From the results of the simulation, we found that two conditions for igniting coal seam have to be satisfied if coal contains volatile matter of approximately 40% by weight. The conditions are as follows:
(1) To ignite a coal powder layer of 1cm thickness, if coal seam gas contains an oxygen concentration of 1%, its flow rate is required to be 4-14cm/s.
(2) The width of the crack filled with coal powder is more than 2cm.

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Isobaric vapor-liquid equilibria (VLE) near atmospheric pressure of several hydrocarbon binary systems were predicted by using the regular solution model, which included the mixing entropy term and the unlike molecule interaction parameter. Solubility parameters and molar volumes at each temperature required in the calculation are estimated by previously proposed methods. Isobaric VLE of hexane + heptane and heptane + octane systems were well predicted without introducing interaction parameter. On the other hand, for straight-chain hydrocarbon + cyclic hydrocarbon and cyclic hydrocarbon + cyclic hydrocarbon systems, the interaction parameter was needed to calculate VLE. Isobaric VLE of hydrocarbon systems may be predicted by the regular solution model. Previously proposed methods are found to be successful in estimating the solubility parameter and molar volume at a given temperature.

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