Digital enhancement and analysis of TEM plates

The techniques of digital image analysis and enhancement have been applied to TEM micrographs. Digitized micrographs of irradiated A1 and Mo containing cavities were enhanced by applying digital unsharp masking and thresholding techniques. These techniques produce enhanced images that allow for more effective analysis of image features using conventional analysis methods as well as computer methods. For the Mo data, a template-matching algorithm was applied to thresholded data and a computer-generated void histogram was obtained. The computer analysis gives results that are in agreement with conventional analysis of the same data. It is concluded that computer methods for cavity/void analysis can be successfully developed.     

A Laboratory Demonstration of High-Resolution Hard X-Ray and Gamma-Ray Imaging Using Fourier-Transform Techniques

A laboratory imaging system has been developed to study the use of Fourier-transform techniques in high-resolution hard x-ray and ?-ray imaging, with particular emphasis on possible applications to high-energy astronomy. We discuss considerations for the design of a Fourier-transform inlager and describe the instrumentation used in the laboratory studies. Several analysis methods for image reconstruction are discussed including the CLEAN algorithm and maximum entropy methods. Images obtained using these methods are presented.     

Crack detection and sizing technique by ultrasonic and electromagnetic methods

Improvements in defect detection and sizing capabilities for non-destructive inspection techniques have been required in order to ensure the reliable operation and life extension of nuclear power plants. For the volumetric inspection, the phased array UT technique has superior capabilities for beam steering and focusing to objective regions, and real-time B-scan imaging without mechanical scanning. In contrast to the conventional UT method, high-speed inspection is realized by the unique feature of the phased array technique. A 256-channel array system has developed for the inspection of weldment of BWR internal components such as core shrouds. The TOFD crack sizing technique also can be applied using this system. For the surface inspection, potential drop techniques and eddy current techniques have been improved, which combined the theoretical analysis. These techniques have the crack sizing capability for surface breaking cracks to which UT method is difficult to apply. This paper provides the recent progress of these phased array and electromagnetic inspection techniques.     

Managing patient dose in digital radiology. A report of the International Commission on Radiological Protection

Digital techniques have the potential to improve the practice of radiology but they also risk the overuse of radiation. The main advantages of digital imaging, i.e. wide dynamic range, post processing, multiple viewing options, and electronic transfer and archiving possibilities, are clear but overexposures can occur without an adverse impact on image quality. In conventional radiography, excessive exposure produces a 'black' film. In digital systems, good images are obtained for a large range of doses. It is very easy to obtain (and delete) images with digital fluoroscopy systems, and there may be a tendency to obtain more images than necessary. In digital radiology, higher patient dose usually means improved image quality, so a tendency to use higher patient doses than necessary could occur. Different medical imaging tasks require different levels of image quality, and doses that have no additional benefit for the clinical purpose should be avoided. Image quality can be compromised by inappropriate levels of data compression and/or postprocessing techniques. All these new challenges should be part of the optimisation process and should be included in clinical and technical protocols. Local diagnostic reference levels should be re-evaluated for digital imaging, and patient dose parameters should be displayed at the operator console. Frequent patient dose audits should occur when digital techniques are introduced. Training in the management of image quality and patient dose in digital radiology is necessary. Digital radiology will involve new regulations and invoke new challenges for practitioners. As digital images are easier to obtain and transmit, the justification criteria should be reinforced. Commissioning of digital systems should involve clinical specialists, medical physicists, and radiographers to ensure that imaging capability and radiation dose management are integrated. Quality control requires new procedures and protocols (visualisation, transmission, and archiving of the images).     

PIXE and the nuclear microprobe: Tools for quantitative imaging of complex natural materials

The 40 year history of nuclear microscopy has seen sustained progress in the development of technology needed to improve PIXE analysis and trace element imaging performance. Focussing systems have been developed for improved spatial resolution, detector systems have evolved to collect more signal, full-spectral scanning data acquisition approaches have been devised. The complexity of PIXE spectra has driven the development of techniques for fitting numerous overlapping components in spectra for quantitative analysis, methods have been developed for specialized problems in geology, such as the analysis of fluid and melt inclusions in minerals, and techniques for the deconvolution of elemental components in full-spectral scanning data sets have been developed to produce accurate element images. The future of nuclear microscopy using PIXE is promising. Lens system approaches have evolved and point towards ‘full bore’ acceptance, optimal matching to accelerator emittance, high current density and sub-μm spatial resolution using many nA beam currents. Detector arrays and integrated data acquisition and scanning systems are emerging that can collect all events across a large solid-angle collection area and process these events for element image display in real-time. The combination of these advances provides a path to greatly enhanced sensitivity for PIXE analysis and imaging and a more productive user experience. The emergence of detector array approaches for scattered particles and reaction products, and the development of software tools for coupled PIXE-RBS data reduction, suggest a path towards complementary RBS and NRA tools. The stage is set for an exciting and productive future for PIXE imaging on the nuclear microprobe.     

The EM imaging reconstruction method in γ-ray astronomy

The simpler imaging reconstruction methods used for γ-ray coded mask telescopes are based on correlation methods, very fast and simple-to-use but with limitations in the reconstructed image. To improve these results, other reconstruction methods have been developed, such as the maximum entropy methods or the Iterative Removal Of Sources (IROS). However, such kind of methods are slower and can be impracticable for very complex telescopes.In this paper we present an alternative image reconstruction method, based on an iterative maximum likelihood algorithm called the EM algorithm, easy to implement and that can be successfully used for not very complex coded mask systems, as is the case of the LEGRI telescope. This is the first time this algorithm has been applied in γ-ray astronomy.     

Ultrasound Vibration Potential measurement techniques for imaging

Ultrasound Vibration Potential signals (UVP) are generated when an ultrasound wave traverses colloidal suspensions or ionic solutions and disturbs their electrical equilibrium. The potential can be measured as an electrical signal and provides information that can be used to determine characteristics of the sample. The reverse effect, where an electrical signal in a colloidal suspension generates an ultrasonic signal also occurs and is commonly termed the Electro Sonic Amplitude (ESA). Measured amplitudes of UVP signals are in the region of a few hundred nano-volts and micro-volts and therefore pose difficulties in obtaining consistent data. Low noise instrumentation and techniques are necessary to obtain reliable measurements. UVP techniques have already been used to measure sample characteristics in homogenous distributions. However the technique also shows a high contrast between different types of object samples and can be used as an imaging method. This work describes the initial instrumentation and sensing methods that have been developed for detecting UVP signals for the purpose of imaging applications and the results with laboratory phantoms.     

Current in-service inspections of austenitic stainless steel and dissimilar metal welds in light water nuclear power plants

A tendency towards growing requirements for the inspection of austenitic piping can be observed in several countries. In Germany the revised KTA rule demands the UT inspection of austenitic and dissimilar metal welds in piping with diameters of 200 mm or more.On the basis of experience gained from austenitic piping with integranular stress corrosion cracking (IGSCC), longitudinal waves and mode conversion techniques are used. Depending on the geometry, material and grain orientation, spurious signals can be observed which require additional evaluation or analysis measurements.A promising new technique is based on horizontally polarized shear (SH) waves generated by electromagnetic acoustic transducers (EMATs). Investigations in the laboratory and field inspections showed that SH waves are well suited for the detection of longitudinal flaws, especially where the weld can be examined from one side only.For the complete solution of a given inspection problem SH waves can be combined with well-known standard techniques in order to provide redundant information for the characterization and sizing of indications.The investigation of possibilities of SH waves showed that the problem of cast austenitic steel inspection might not be solved using this technique. However, measurements using low frequency UT transducers showed promising results.     

Impedance imaging of two-phase flow field with mesh grouping method

There have been many attempts to measure the bubble distribution in two-phase flow fields and various techniques have been devised. However, the existing techniques require much improvement for imaging two-phase flow fields. In this study, the EIT (Electrical Impedance Tomography) technique is introduced for two-phase flow visualization. In the EIT, a static image reconstruction algorithm providing a higher spatial resolution is required. Using the conventional iterative static image reconstruction algorithms, however, the processing time increases rapidly with poor convergence characteristics as we try to obtain a higher spatial resolution. In order to overcome this problem, we propose an adaptive mesh grouping method utilizing the genetic algorithm and the fuzzy set theory. Computer simulations using the improved Newton–Raphson method with the proposed method show promising results indicating that we can significantly reduce the image reconstruction time without sacrificing spatial resolution.     

A review of geometric calibration for different 3-D X-ray imaging systems

A precise knowledge of geometry is always pivotal to a 3-D X-ray imaging system,such as computed tomography(CT),digital X-ray tomosynthesis,and computed laminography.To get an accurate and reliable reconstruction image,exact knowledge of geometry is indispensable.Nowadays,geometric calibration has become a necessary step after completing CT system installation.Various geometric calibration methods have been reported with the fast development of 3-D X-ray imaging techniques.In these methods,different measuring methods,calibration phantoms or markers,and calculation algorithms were involved with their respective advantages and disadvantages.This paper reviews the history and current state of geometric calibration methods for different3-D X-ray imaging systems.Various calibration algorithms are presented and summarized,followed by our discussion and outlook.     

Measurements of the acoustic field on austenitic welds: a way to higher reliability in ultrasonic tests

In nuclear power plants many of the welds in austenitic tubes have to be inspected by means of ultrasonic techniques. If component-identical test pieces are available, they are used to qualify the ultrasonic test technology. Acoustic field measurements on such test blocks give information whether the beam of the ultrasonic transducer reaches all critical parts of the weld region and which transducer type is best suited. Acoustic fields have been measured at a bimetallic, a V-shaped and a narrow gap weld in test pieces of wall thickness 33, 25 and 17 mm, respectively. Compression wave transducers 45, 60 and 70° and 45° shear wave transducers have been included in the investigation. The results are presented: (1) as acoustic C-scans for one definite probe position, (2) as series of C-scans for the probe moving on a track perpendicular to the weld, (3) as scan along the weld and (4) as effective beam profile. The influence of the scanning electrodynamic probe is also discussed.     

放射性核素扫描计算机图像处理系统

本文介绍在IBM-PC微机上发展的一套用于核素扫描图像的处理系统。该系统具有二维快速傅立叶变换能力,可进行二十余种图像增强和复原处理,经模型实验和临床应用表明,它大大改善了图像的质量。本文介绍了系统的实现方法、处理结果和主要特点。     

Schwarzschild microscopes in vacuum ultraviolet and soft X-ray regions

Microscopes in vacuum ultraviolet and soft X-ray regions using a normal incidence type of Schwarzschild objective are reviewed. The objective consists of a concave mirror and a convex mirror coated with a high reflectance multilayer, having a large numerical aperture comparing with other objectives. The microscopes have been used to diagnose inertia-confinement-fusion plasmas, and to investigate small samples or microstructures of inorganic and organic materials by imaging them using laboratory light sources. Synchrotron radiation has been also used to obtain a microbeam for a photoelectron scanning microscope with a spatial resolution of 0.1 μm. The structure and performance of two laboratory microscopes developed at Tohoku University are demonstrated. One of them is a soft X-ray emission imaging microscope, An image of an artificial pattern made of W and SiO2 on Si wafer by focusing Si L emission was presented, The other is an ultraviolet photoelectron scanning microscope using a He (helium) gas discharge lamp. The valence band spectra of a microcrystal of FeWO4 were presented, Furthermore other applications such as demagnifying optics for lithography and optics to gather fluorescence for emission spectroscopy are introduced.     

Comparison of three applications of ConTraSPECT

Today, the trend in SPECT attenuation correction is to acquire a transmission data set and reconstruct the corresponding attenuation map, for incorporating into the emission reconstruction. Recently, some techniques have been developed to determine the attenuation map directly from the emission data, by exploiting the fact that in the absence of noise only some specific transmission data can be consistent with given emission data. However it is necessary to include some a priori information so that the consistency conditions can be used in an efficient manner. Here, three types of priors are used: a uniform ellipse, a uniform spline curve, and a uniform spline curve knowing the untruncated part of the transmission sinogram. Once the corresponding attenuation map has been computed, it is used to correct for attenuation in the emission image reconstruction process. The three methods have been tested on both simulations and experimentally acquired data. The results show that the two first methods give equally acceptable results, while the third method provides reconstructions which are closer to reconstructions obtained when the attenuation map is computed from untruncated transmission data     

Heavy ion microbeam vacuum requirements

Transport of heavy ions through an ion microbeam focusing system can be affected by insufficient vacuum within the beam transport tube. Due to interactions of heavy ions with atoms of residual gas in the vacuum tube of a microbeam facility, the angular, lateral and energy spreading of an ion beam increases prior to focusing, creating a beam halo. This beam halo can produce undesirable effects in some applications of ion microbeam techniques. In order to model this effect, the ion beam angular spread in residual gas has been approximated by Sigmund’s theoretical predictions for small-angle ion multiple scattering (MS), while ion energy loss straggling distributions have been applied for studying the energy spread. The extent of the beam halo has been estimated by combining the results of these calculations with ion optics calculations. Recommendations concerning microbeam focusing due to the vacuum conditions are given for different heavy ions in the MeV energy range.     

Recent developments in data mining and soft computing for JET with a view on ITER

In order to handle the vast amount of information collected by JET diagnostics, which can exceed 10 Gbytes of data per shot, a series of new soft computing methods are being developed. They cover various aspects of the data analysis process, ranging from information retrieval to statistical confidence and machine learning. In this paper some recent developments are described. History effects in the plasma evolution leading to disruptions have been investigated with the use of Artificial Neural Networks. New image processing algorithms, based on optical flow techniques, are being used to derive quantitative information about the movement of objects like filaments at the edge of JET plasmas. Adaptive filters, mainly of the Kalman type, have been successfully implemented for the online filtering of MSE data for real time purposes.     

X-ray tomography as a complementary technique to nuclear microscopy for biomedical applications

X-ray micro-computed tomography is an excellent tool to examine the morphology of a sample in a non-destructive way, making its inner structure visible. Nuclear microscopy provides quantitative information about the elemental distribution and concentration. Both can be used as complementary techniques in order to get more information about the samples.Osteoporosis is a disease that deteriorates the bone due to, among other things, a failure in the normal hormonal function. In this project, bones from rats under osteoporosis treatments based on hormonal supplementation, as well as healthy bones and osteoporotic ones without treatment, have been analyzed by both nuclear microscopy and X-ray micro-tomography. Following the results achieved by nuclear microscopy, quantitative concentration and distribution of elements such as Ca and P suggested a change in bone density. In order to image this change of density, the same samples have been analyzed by micro-tomography.     

Towards a more comprehensive microstructural analysis of Zr-2.5Nb pressure tubing using image analysis and electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD)

Zr-2.5Nb pressure tubes used in CANDU (CANada Deuterium Uranium) reactors have a very complex microstructure, with two major crystallographic phases, α and β. These phases include a fair amount of deformation from the extrusion process and the cold working (∼25%) performed at the end of the manufacturing process. This microstructure (texture, grain aspect ratio, etc.) changes along the tube’s length and differs from tube to tube. In order to better understand the deformation mechanisms, these microstructural differences must be statistically characterized. Scanning electron microscopy combined with direct image analysis or with electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) are good techniques for carrying out such a measurement. However it is not possible, using specimen preparation methods specific for each of these techniques, to reveal all of the grain and phase boundaries. We have thus developed post-treatment algorithms to be able to partially analyze the revealed Zr-2.5Nb microstructure. The first algorithm was used for image analysis treatments of micrographs taken at 5 kV on the radial-tangential plane of etched samples using a reactive ion etch (RIE, CF₄ + O₂). The second was developed for EBSD grain mapping and can be used to characterize α-Zr grain shape and orientation. The two techniques are complementary: EBSD gives information about the micro-texture and the relationship between the microstructure and micro-texture while image analyses of SEM micrographs reveal the direction and distribution of the α-Zr lamellae more easily and over a greater sample area than EBSD. However, the SEM micrographs that were used did not reveal any grain boundary (only phase boundary). An analysis of EBSD grain maps reveals that the average α-Zr grain size, mainly in the elongated direction (tangential), is smaller than what is normally obtained from an image analysis of SEM micrographs. The grain size distribution of type I α-Zr grains (deformed original (prior) α-Zr) and type II (stress-induced β-Zr → α-Zr phase transformation) is also shown to be different for sizes greater than 0.4 μm².     

Improvements to conventional X-ray tube-based cone-beam computed tomography system

Conventional X-ray tube-based cone-beam computed tomography(CX-CBCT) systems have great potential in industrial applications. Such systems can rapidly obtain a three-dimensional(3D) image of an object.Conventional X-ray tubes fulfill the requirements for industrial applications, because of their high tube voltage and power. Continuous improvements have been made to CX-CBCT systems, such as imaging time shortening,acquisition strategy optimization, and imaging software development, etc. In this study, a CX-CBCT system is developed. Additionally, some improvements to the CX-CBCT system are proposed based on the hardware conditions of the X-ray tube and detector. A near-detector(ND)geometry condition is employed to obtain a sharper image and larger detection area. An improved acquisition strategy is proposed to simplify operations and reduce total imaging time. In the ND geometry condition, a simplified method called FBP slice stacking(SS-FBP) is proposed, which can be applied to 3D image reconstruction. SS-FBP is timesaving relative to traditional methods. Furthermore, imaging software for the CX-CBCT system is developed in the MATLAB environment. Several imaging experiments were performed. The results suggest that the CX-CBCT system works properly, and that the above improvements are feasible and practical.     

一种新的边界检测方法及其在核医学图象定量分析中的应用

本文对过去若干种边界检测方法的实验对比基础上,并结合TL-201心肌灌注图象的处理,提出一种新的边界检测方法,即“改进的RS方法”。实验证明,该方法对噪声和干扰具有很高的抑制作用,并适合其它应用领域。迭代法计算边界重心,以及快速傅里叶变换边界优化,使该方法更为客观、可靠。由此方法所得到的边界,可满意地用于核医学图象的定量分析。