A prototype of very high resolution small animal PET scanner using silicon pad detectors

A very high-resolution small animal positron emission tomograph (PET), which can achieve sub-millimeter spatial resolution, is being developed using silicon pad detectors. The prototype PET for a single slice instrument consists of two 1 mm thick silicon pad detectors, each containing a 32×16 array of 1.4×1.4 mm pads readout with four VATAGP3 chips which have 128 channels low-noise self-triggering ASIC in each chip, coincidence units, a source turntable and tungsten slice collimator. The silicon detectors were located edgewise on opposite sides of a 4 cm field-of-view to maximize efficiency. Energy resolution is dominated by electronic noise, which is 0.98% (1.38 keV) FWHM at 140.5 keV. Coincidence timing resolution is 82.1 ns FWHM and coincidence efficiency was measured to be 1.04×10⁻³% from two silicon detectors with annihilation photons of ¹⁸F source. Image data were acquired and reconstructed using conventional 2-D filtered-back projection (FBP) and a maximum likelihood expectation maximization (ML-EM) method. Image resolution of approximately 1.45 mm FWHM is obtained from 1-D profile of 1.1 mm diameter ¹⁸F line source image. Even better resolution can be obtained with smaller detector element sizes. While many challenges remain in scaling up the instrument to useful efficiency including densely packed detectors and significantly improved timing resolution, performance of the test setup in terms of easily achieving sub-millimeter resolution is compelling.     

Small animal PET image super-resolution using Tikhonov and modified total variation regularisation

Positron emission tomography (PET) is an imaging procedure used mainly in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases. PET is also used in the preclinical research studies of small animals. However, researchers may have difficulty interpreting the particularly low-resolution images obtained via this procedure. This paper presents a new method of increasing the resolution of PET images through the use of super-resolution techniques. Aside from being resistant to the noise and other degradations that plague PET images, our proposed algorithm is also capable of preserving important structures (e.g. lesions). To this end, the proposed objective function includes a term based on the modified total variation model which allows the user to preserve texture and to deal with noise without incurring the artefacts that typically arise when the total variation norm is used. The present study shows the effectiveness of the method in recovering structures and details and indicates that, in most cases, it outperforms other state-of-the-art methods.     

局部高空间分辨率的应用适应性PET系统设计初探

研制成本可负担的高空间分辨率正电子发射断层成像(positron emission tomography,PET)系统在PET成像应用中具有决定性的意义,也是PET成像面临的关键性挑战之一。设想一种PET系统,能够根据应用的需求对不同性能的探测器进行布局,在一个具体时刻,对部分成像区域获得很高的性能,而在其他的区域获得普通性能。提出了一种应用适应性PET系统原型,由大部分普通固有空间分辨率的探测模块和少量更高甚至极端高固有空间分辨率的探测模块组成。研究了在含有连续放置的一段高固有空间分辨率探测模块的PET系统中,高性能模块的布局位置和数量对视场内不同位置点的空间分辨率的影响。初步研究结果表明,所提出的系统能够为局部区域带来高空间分辨率,其空间分辨率提升程度与高性能模块布局位置有关,在同一高性能模块布局位置下,视场中不同位置点的提升程度不同。该研究结果也显示,根据应用需求规划探测模块的构成和布局以在感兴趣区域获得局部高空间分辨率是可能的。     

电场磁场对电流变液体减振器性能影响的研究

由于电流变液和磁流变液具有良好的可控性能和力学性能而在工程上具有广阔的应用前景.本文将其用于环形间隙通道外置的双缸电流变液体减振器.同时,对电流变液减振器在同时外加电场和垂直磁场作用下阻尼力的变化进行了理论研究和台架实验研究.结果表明,在外加电场和垂直磁场作用下,电流变效应得到加强,改善了减振器的示功特性.     

基于ScSPM-Reranking的高分辨率遥感影像的检索

为了从高分辨率遥感影像中获取详细的地表地物信息,为城市规划、环境监测以及灾情分析提供可靠的数据,进行了高分辨率遥感影像的检索研究,包括对图像的特征提取和图像之间相似度的描述。为了提高图像检索精度,运用了采用稀疏编码(Sc)的空间塔式匹配(Sc SPM)技术和重排序(Reranking)技术,提出了基于Sc SPM结合Reranking(ScSPM-Reranking)的遥感高分辨率影像的检索方法。该方法首先使用Sc SPM提取空间场景的特征,然后结合这些特征使用cityblock距离进行初步检索,最后对初步检索的结果进行Reranking排序,获得高精度的检索结果。同其他检索方法进行了对比实验,实验结果证明,该方法具有较高的检索精度。     

成核剂对PET结晶行为的影响

采用差示扫描量热仪(DSC)研究了PET及添加成核剂后PET的非等温结晶过程,选用7种成核剂和4种复合成核剂进行了实验对比研究.结果表明添加任何一种成核剂后PET体系的结晶峰温移向高温,半结晶时间缩短,结晶速率常数增大,结晶度提高.其中有机类成核剂对PET结晶改善效果较无机类显著,但结晶效果最好的是成核机理为化学成核的高分子类成核剂和复合成核剂.本文还采用了热台偏光显微镜(POM)对PET晶体形貌进行了研究,发现添加有机成核剂后晶体细微而且密集.     

基于脉冲强磁场的高温超导薄膜YBa2 Cu3 O6.45霍尔效应研究

对高温超导材料常态特性的研究与理解,将会对超导电性机理本身的研究提供关键参考信息.在常态特性研究中,以常态电荷传输特性尤其是霍尔效应的测量最为引人注目.然而,T＜Tc时试样常态特征被材料本身的超导电性掩盖了,为获得材料在Tc温度以下的常态特性,我们在高达50T的脉冲强磁场中进行霍尔效应测量,可有效抑制超导电性.本文主要介绍了50T左右脉冲强磁场的实验技术,特别是脉冲磁体、实验探钟及测量线路的设计.随后,对高温超导薄膜YBa2Cu3O6.45在强磁场中的霍尔效应测量进行了详细阐述.     

A novel automated magnetic resonance image segmentation approach based on elliptical gamma mixture model for breast lumps detection

This article introduces a novel semisupervised automated segmentation approach for breast magnetic resonance (MR) image on multicore CPU-GPU systems. The basic idea of the proposed method is clustering-based semisupervised classifier devised by elliptical gamma mixture model (EGMM). Parameters of EGMM are identified by the iterative log-expectation maximization (EM) algorithm. The suggested classifier labels the groups of voxels in an input image first and then classifies the image slices using the EGMM. Two different implementations of the proposed algorithm have been developed based on two different types of high-performance computing architectures such as graphics processing units (GPUs) and multicore processors. To realize the real-time segmentation performance of our algorithm with two distinctive architecture, we have tested a set of breast MR images collected from MedPix. Comparison between two architectures in terms of segmentation performance and computational cost is assessed by the analysis of simulation and experimental results.     

膨胀石墨CuCl2-EGICs的微观结构TEM研究

采用透射电镜研究了以膨胀石墨为主体材料合成的ＣｕＣｌ_２－ＥＧＩＣｓ微观结构,包括垂直和平行石墨碳原子层的层间结构、层面结构．根据Ｘ射线衍射参数计算获得２、３、４阶ＣｕＣｌ_２－ＥＧＩＣｓ的层间距Ｉ_ｃ值,与理论计算值近似．选区电子衍射获得面内结构参数．发现ＥＧＩＣｓ衍射斑点是由石墨碳原子层单斑点和氯化物层多斑点簇组两套相迭而成．ＥＧＩＣｓ层面内碳原子层原子排布保持了石墨六角网格状的特点;氯化钢分子相对碳原子层分布有三种堆垛方式．倒易点分析认为有（２ｘ２）Ｒ（３０°）、（７^1/2ｘ７^1/2）Ｒ（０°）、（３^1/2ｘ３^1/2）Ｒ（０°）三种超晶格结构．二阶、三阶ＣｕＣｌ_２－ＧＩＣ中氯化铜点阵与碳原子点阵之间存在３０°的偏转角,而在一阶ＣｕＣｌ_２－ＧＩＣ中偏转角等于零度．根据高分辨电镜（ＨＲＥＭ）、选区电子衍射（ＳＡＤ）、能谱微区成分、光电子能潜（ＸＰＳ－ＥＳＣＡ）和俄歇电子能谱（ＸＡＥＳ）等结果,探讨和分析了ＣｕＣｌ_２－ＥＧＩＣｓ微观结构．     

膨胀石墨CuCl2-EGICs的微观结构TEM研究

采用透射电镜研究了以膨胀石墨为主体材料合成的ＣｕＣｌ２－ＥＧＩＣｓ微观结构,包括垂直和平行石墨碳原子层的层间结构,层面结构,根据Ｘ射线衍射参数计算获得２、３、４阶ＣｕＣｌ２－ＥＧＩＣｓ的层间距Ｉｃ值,与理论计算值近拟。     

用于高频电机磁芯的金属软磁复合材料研究进展

金属软磁复合材料(Soft magnetic composite,SMC)具有较高的电阻率和饱和磁感应强度,在高速电机、开关电源和电力工业等方面有广泛的应用,尤其是作为高速电机磁芯材料潜力巨大。研制能效更高、体积更小、应用范围更广的新型软磁复合材料成为当前一大热点。本文介绍了软磁复合材料的生产工艺、结构特征以及金属磁性材料和绝缘包覆材料,阐述了各要素对材料性能的影响,概述了软磁复合材料在电机中的应用,并综述了近几年软磁复合材料的发展。     

A reliable in vitro approach to assess the stability of acetabular implants using digital image correlation

The main cause of failure of the hip acetabular component is aseptic loosening. Preclinical test methods currently used to assess the stability of hip acetabular implants rely on crude simplifications. Normally, either one component of motion or bone strains are measured. We developed a test method to measure implant 3D translations and rotations and bone strains using digital image correlation. Hemipelvises were aligned and potted to allow consistent testing. A force was applied in the direction of the load peak during level walking. The force was applied in 100‐cycle packages, each load package being 20% larger than the previous one. A digital image correlation system allowed measuring the cup‐bone relative 3D displacements (permanent migrations and inducible micromotions) and the strain distribution in the periacetabular bone. To assess the test repeatability, the protocol was applied to six composite hemipelvises implanted with very stable cups. To assess the suitability of the method to detect mobilisation, six loose implants were tested. The method was repeatable: the interspecimen variability was 16 μm for the bone/cup relative translations, 0.04° for the rotations. The method was capable of tracking extremely loose implants (translations up to 4.5 mm; rotations up to 30°). The strain distribution in the bone was measured, showing the areas of highest strain. We have shown that it is possible to measure the 3D relative translations and rotations of an acetabular cup inside the pelvis and simultaneously to measure the full‐field strain distribution in the bone surface. This will allow better preclinical testing of the stability of acetabular implants.