Context: Medical imaging has a wide range of applications in today’s society. Basic projectional radiography, CT scans, mammograms and a range of other advanced technologies all use x-rays to create a large number of...Context: Medical imaging has a wide range of applications in today’s society. Basic projectional radiography, CT scans, mammograms and a range of other advanced technologies all use x-rays to create a large number of examinations every day across the world. The most essential component of such medical equipment is the x-ray tube, which creates and produces x-rays. Objective: We describe and investigate an abstract model-geometry of a simple x-ray tube utilizing the open-source software package of BEAMnrc of the EGSnrcmp family, which is well validated by several studies over the years, for high and low energy photons generation. Methodology: Our research focuses on two different electron beam energies: 120 keV and 30 keV. The 120 keV is the typical energy for simple projectional radiographic exams and CT examinations, whereas the 30 keV is the typical energy of mammography. Results: Two different anode materials are used for each case, Gold (Au) and Tungsten (W) for 120 keV because these are the most common in projectional radiography and CT;Molybdenum (Mo) and Rhodium (Rh) for 30 keV because with these targets most mammography exams are carried out. The aim of this work is to show how the BEAMnrc software package can simulate effectively x-ray generation of low-energy photons which are utilized in modern medical imaging procedures. We describe useful information on anode-target characteristics, such as anode angle, anode material, and metal filter materials, based on previous quality studies even by using software other than BEAMnrc. Conclusion: We demonstrate that BEAMnrc can be efficiently used for Monte Carlo modeling of low-energy photons.展开更多
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-r...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.展开更多
In the past decade, phase-contrast imaging (PCI) has become a hot research with an increased improvement of the image contrast with respect to conventional absorption radiography. In this paper, effects of tube voltag...In the past decade, phase-contrast imaging (PCI) has become a hot research with an increased improvement of the image contrast with respect to conventional absorption radiography. In this paper, effects of tube voltage (kVp) on propagation-based phase-contrast imaging have been investigated with two types of microfocus x-ray tubes, a conventional sealed x-ray tube with the focal spot size of 13 - 20 μm and an open x-ray tube with minimum focal spot size less than 2 μm. A cooled x-ray CCD detector with the pixel size of 24 μm was used to acquire digital images. Two thin plastic sheets with different thickness were used as radiography phantoms. Two different phenomena were observed for the two x-ray tubes. For the open tube, phase-contrast effect has a slight drop with the increasing of tube voltage, however, it is opposite for the sealed tube. A further investigation indicates that the variation of focal spot size causes the abnormal result for the sealed tube. It also shows that phase-contrast effect is more sensitive to focal spot size than tube voltage.展开更多
Unstable mechanical structure,low energy efficiency,and cooling requirements limit the application of conventional x-ray tubes based on filament as cathode in several academic areas.In this paper,we demonstrate a ligh...Unstable mechanical structure,low energy efficiency,and cooling requirements limit the application of conventional x-ray tubes based on filament as cathode in several academic areas.In this paper,we demonstrate a light-controlled pulsed x-ray tube using multialkali cathode as electron generator.The photocathode active area of the light controlled x-ray tube is 13.2 cm^(2)(41 mm in diameter),which provides high photoelectron-emitting efficiency up to 0.288 mA/lm in 460-nm LED and 2.37-mA maximum tube current.Furthermore,the modulation ability from 1 kHz to 100 kHz of the x-ray tube is tested.The results suggest that the light-controlled pulsed x-ray tube has easy modulation and short x-ray pulse properties and is promising to be the next generation x-ray tube with wide applications in medical radiation therapy as well as the calibration for detectors and scintillators.展开更多
A novel X-ray tube spectrum reconstruction method has been proposed based on transmission measurements. Aluminum bars of varying lengths attenuate the X-rays to different levels. The detectors are of lutetium yttrium ...A novel X-ray tube spectrum reconstruction method has been proposed based on transmission measurements. Aluminum bars of varying lengths attenuate the X-rays to different levels. The detectors are of lutetium yttrium oxyorthosilicate scintillator and silicon photomultiplier. With the detected X-ray intensities, the X-ray spectrum is unfolded using the least square method. The detectors, aluminum bars, and collimating apertures are integrated in a detection module made of lead. Its response to X-ray is calculated by Monte Carlo codes Geant4. Due to the high photon flux, the detectors work in current mode.The electronics system, consisting of 24-bit high-precision ADCs with 144 KSPS sampling rate and field programmable gate array, makes the data acquisition process effective and precise. Measurements on a 70-k Vp tungsten anode X-ray were taken to verify the method. The unfolded spectrum agrees well with the simulated spectrum,demonstrating that the method is reliable and practical.展开更多
Promoting the development of deep-sea mineral exploration instrumentation can help alleviate the global resource shortage faced by mankind.X-ray fluorescence(XRF)spectrometry has been widely used in the in situ analys...Promoting the development of deep-sea mineral exploration instrumentation can help alleviate the global resource shortage faced by mankind.X-ray fluorescence(XRF)spectrometry has been widely used in the in situ analysis of deep-sea minerals owing to its fast analytical speed,nondestructive nature,and wide analytical range.This study focused on the structural safety and detection efficiency of X-ray fluorescence in situ measurement equipment under high pressure for deep-sea XRF analysis.This study first combined finite element analysis and experiments to design and optimize the structure of an X-ray probe tube required for deep-sea mineral exploration and to determine the Be window thickness to ensure stress safety.Subsequently,the Monte Carlo method was used to analyze and optimize the Be window thickness on the X-ray probe tube to improve the accuracy of the elemental analyses.Finally,the effect of seawater thickness between the transmitter outer tube and rock wall was also considered.The results show that based on ocean depth in different detection environments,Be windows with a thickness of 1.5 mm or 2.0 mm can be selected to improve the detection efficiency of the device while ensuring the structural safety of the instrument.According to the design features and detection requirements of the device,in deep-sea exploration of minerals with characteristic peak energies below 10 keV,the transmitter outer tube should be as close as possible to the rock wall inside the logging.When the characteristic peak energy of the minerals is more than 10 keV,the distance between the transmitter outer tube and rock wall inside the logging should be controlled to approximately 2 mm.This study provides feasible solutions for future deep-sea mineral resource development and a useful reference for elemental analysis of minerals in the deep-sea or other extreme working environments.展开更多
A large-scale view of the magnetospheric cusp is expected to be obtained by the Soft X-ray Imager(SXI)onboard the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer(SMILE).However,it is challenging to trace the three-d...A large-scale view of the magnetospheric cusp is expected to be obtained by the Soft X-ray Imager(SXI)onboard the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer(SMILE).However,it is challenging to trace the three-dimensional cusp boundary from a two-dimensional X-ray image because the detected X-ray signals will be integrated along the line of sight.In this work,a global magnetohydrodynamic code was used to simulate the X-ray images and photon count images,assuming an interplanetary magnetic field with a pure Bz component.The assumption of an elliptic cusp boundary at a given altitude was used to trace the equatorward and poleward boundaries of the cusp from a simulated X-ray image.The average discrepancy was less than 0.1 RE.To reduce the influence of instrument effects and cosmic X-ray backgrounds,image denoising was considered before applying the method above to SXI photon count images.The cusp boundaries were reasonably reconstructed from the noisy X-ray image.展开更多
Formamidinium lead iodide(FAPbI_(3))perovskite exhibits an impressive X-ray absorption coefficient and a large carrier mobility-lifetime product(μτ),making it as a highly promising candidate for X-ray detection appl...Formamidinium lead iodide(FAPbI_(3))perovskite exhibits an impressive X-ray absorption coefficient and a large carrier mobility-lifetime product(μτ),making it as a highly promising candidate for X-ray detection application.However,the presence of larger FA^(+)cation induces to an expansion of the Pb-I octahedral framework,which unfortunately affects both the stability and charge carrier mobility of the corresponding devices.To address this challenge,we develop a novel low-dimensional(HtrzT)PbI_(3) perovskite featuring a conjugated organic cation(1H-1,2,4-Triazole-3-thiol,HtrzT^(+))which matches well with theα-FAPbI_(3) lattices in two-dimensional plane.Benefiting from the matched lattice between(HtrzT)PbI_(3) andα-FAPbI_(3),the anchored lattice enhances the Pb-I bond strength and effectively mitigates the inherent tensile strain of theα-FAPbI_(3) crystal lattice.The X-ray detector based on(HtrzT)PbI_(3)(1.0)/FAPbI_(3) device achieves a remarkable sensitivity up to 1.83×10^(5)μC Gy_(air)^(−1) cm^(−2),along with a low detection limit of 27.6 nGy_(air) s^(−1),attributed to the release of residual stress,and the enhancement in carrier mobility-lifetime product.Furthermore,the detector exhibits outstanding stability under X-ray irradiation with tolerating doses equivalent to nearly 1.17×10^(6) chest imaging doses.展开更多
Soft X-ray detectors play a vital role in materials science,high-energy physics and medical imaging.Cs_(2)AgBiBr_(6),a lead-free double perovskite,has gained attention for its excellent optoelectronic properties,stabi...Soft X-ray detectors play a vital role in materials science,high-energy physics and medical imaging.Cs_(2)AgBiBr_(6),a lead-free double perovskite,has gained attention for its excellent optoelectronic properties,stability,and nontoxicity.However,its fast crystallization and requirement for high-temperature annealing(>250℃)often lead to inferior film quality,limiting its application in flexible devices.This study introduces an alloying strategy that significantly improves the quality of Cs_(2)AgBiBr_(6)thin films annealed at a reduced temperature of 150℃.Devices based on the alloyed thin films exhibit an ultra-low dark current of 0.32 nA·cm^(-2)and a quantum efficiency of 725%.Furthermore,the first successful integration of Cs_(2)AgBiBr_(6)with a thinfilm transistor backplane demonstrates its superior imaging performance,indicating that Cs_(2)AgBiBr_(6)is a promising material for next-generation soft X-ray sensors.展开更多
X-ray Talbot-Lau interferometer has been used most widely to perform x-ray phase-contrast imaging with a con- ventional low-brilliance x-ray source, and it yields high-sensitivity phase and dark-field images of sample...X-ray Talbot-Lau interferometer has been used most widely to perform x-ray phase-contrast imaging with a con- ventional low-brilliance x-ray source, and it yields high-sensitivity phase and dark-field images of samples producing low absorption contrast, thus beating tremendous potential for future clinical diagnosis. In this work, by changing the accel- erating voltage of the x-ray tube from 35 kV to 45 kV, x-ray phase-contrast imaging of a test sample is performed at each integer value of the accelerating voltage to investigate the characteristic of an x-ray Talbot-Lau interferometer （located in the Institute of Multidisciplinary Research for Advanced Materials, Tohoku University, Japan） versus tube voltage. Ex- perimental results and data analysis show that within a range this x-ray Talbot-Lau interferometer is not sensitive to the accelerating voltage of the tube with a constant fringe visibility of ~ 44%. This x-ray Talbot-Lau interferometer research demonstrates the feasibility of a new dual energy phase-contrast x-ray imaging strategy and the possibility to collect a refraction spectrum.展开更多
Deep learning created a sharp rise in the development of autonomous image recognition systems,especially in the case of the medical field.Among lung problems,tuberculosis,caused by a bacterium called Mycobacterium tub...Deep learning created a sharp rise in the development of autonomous image recognition systems,especially in the case of the medical field.Among lung problems,tuberculosis,caused by a bacterium called Mycobacterium tuberculosis,is a dangerous disease because of its infection and damage.When an infected person coughs or sneezes,tiny droplets can bring pathogens to others through inhaling.Tuberculosis mainly damages the lungs,but it also affects any part of the body.Moreover,during the period of the COVID-19(coronavirus disease 2019)pandemic,the access to tuberculosis diagnosis and treatment has become more difficult,so early and simple detection of tuberculosis has been more and more important.In our study,we focused on tuberculosis diagnosis by using the chestX-ray image,the essential input for the radiologist’s profession,and researched the effectiveness of the transfer learning approach in the case study of Vietnamese chest X-ray images.We proposed four strategies to clarify our hypothesis in different ways of applying transfer learning and different training set types.We also prepared a Vietnamese X-ray image dataset with the support of the VRPACS team to provide the basis for training and testing deep learning models.Our experiments were carried out by applying three different architectures,Alexnet,Resnet,and Densenet,on international,Vietnamese,and combined X-ray image datasets.After training,all models were verified on a pure Vietnamese X-rays set.The results show that transfer learning is suitable in the case study of Vietnamese chest X-ray images with high evaluating metrics in terms of AUC(Area under the Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve),sensitivity,specificity,and accuracy.In the best strategy,most of the scores were more than 0.93,and all AUCs were more than 0.98.展开更多
Although discovered more than 100 years ago, X-ray source technology has evolved rather slowly. The recent invention of the carbon nanotube （CNT） X-ray source technology holds great promise to revolutionize the fiel...Although discovered more than 100 years ago, X-ray source technology has evolved rather slowly. The recent invention of the carbon nanotube （CNT） X-ray source technology holds great promise to revolutionize the field of biomedical X-ray imaging. CNT X-ray sources have been successfully adapted to several biomedical imaging applications including dynamic rnicro-CT of small animals and stationary breast tomosynthesis of breast cancers. Yet their more irnportant biomedical imaging applications still lie ahead in the future, with the devel- oprnent of stationary rnulti-source CT as a noteworthy exarnple.展开更多
In-line x-ray phase contrast imaging has attracted much attention due to two major advantages： its effectiveness in imaging weakly absorbing materials, and the simplicity of its facilities. In this paper a comprehens...In-line x-ray phase contrast imaging has attracted much attention due to two major advantages： its effectiveness in imaging weakly absorbing materials, and the simplicity of its facilities. In this paper a comprehensive theory based on Wigner distribution developed by Wu and Liu [Med. Phys. 31 2378-2384 （2004）] is reviewed. The influence of x-ray source and detector on the image is discussed. Experiments using a microfocus x-ray source and a CCD detector are conducted, which show the role of two key factors on imaging： the tube voltage and tube current. High tube current and moderate tube voltage are suggested for imaging.展开更多
In situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction experiments of SWCNT （single-walled carbon nanotube） electrode in alkali halide aqueous electrolyte at several applied potentials were performed, and the change in the diffracti...In situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction experiments of SWCNT （single-walled carbon nanotube） electrode in alkali halide aqueous electrolyte at several applied potentials were performed, and the change in the diffraction pattern of SWCNTs was observed. It was found that the position of the 100 diffraction peak does not change with applied potential while the peak intensity decreases with anion adsorption. It was concluded that the space inside the tube would be the important ion adsorption site for the well-gown SWCNT bundles.展开更多
[Objectives]This study was conducted to explore the X-ray manifestations of pneumoconiosis patients and differentiation from pulmonary tuberculosis.[Methods]Retrospective analysis was conducted on 103 patients who und...[Objectives]This study was conducted to explore the X-ray manifestations of pneumoconiosis patients and differentiation from pulmonary tuberculosis.[Methods]Retrospective analysis was conducted on 103 patients who underwent lung examinations,including 47 cases of pneumoconiosis and 56 cases of pulmonary tuberculosis.The differences in nodule characteristics and accompanying cavity sign between pneumoconiosis and pulmonary tuberculosis were compared.[Results]The X-ray manifestations of pneumoconiosis patients mainly included various forms of lung images,which were uneven in density,and had blurry edges,and sometimes thickening of lung markings and reduction of lung volume could be observed.The acinar nodules observed in X-ray films of patients with hematogenous disseminated pulmonary tuberculosis appeared petal like.The uniformity of nodule appearance such as nodule distribution,nodule density,and nodule size was significantly lower in pneumoconiosis than in hematogenous disseminated pulmonary tuberculosis,showing a statistical significance(P<0.05).The diameter of cavities in patients with pneumoconiosis accompanied by cavity sign[(0.64±0.13 vs 3.37±0.95)cm]was lower than that in patients with secondary pulmonary tuberculosis accompanied by cavity sign.There was a significant difference in the thickness of the cavity wall between the two diseases,and patients with pneumoconiosis accompanied by cavity sign had a higher rate of thick wall cavities(>3 mm).The X-ray manifestations of pneumoconiosis and tuberculosis were relatively similar,but the distribution,density and size of nodules in pneumoconiosis were relatively uneven,and the patients accompanied by cavity sign had smaller cavity diameter and higher rate of thick-walled cavities.[Conclusions]This study provides a reference for the clinical differential diagnosis of pneumoconiosis and pulmonary tuberculosis.展开更多
[目的/意义]苹果“冰糖心”又称水心病,是一种常见的果实病害,严重的水心病果会随着储藏时间的增加发生霉变,造成食品安全隐患。为实现不同等级水心病苹果快速无损检测,本研究旨在构建有效的分级与可溶性固形物(Soluble Solids Content,...[目的/意义]苹果“冰糖心”又称水心病,是一种常见的果实病害,严重的水心病果会随着储藏时间的增加发生霉变,造成食品安全隐患。为实现不同等级水心病苹果快速无损检测,本研究旨在构建有效的分级与可溶性固形物(Soluble Solids Content,SSC)预测模型。[方法]本研究选取了230个富士苹果,其中正常、轻度、中度、重度水心苹果数量分别为113、61、47和9个,分别采集了400~1000 nm范围的反射光谱和X射线计算机断层成像(X-ray Computed Tomography,X-ray CT)数据,并测定了SSC含量。[结果和讨论]SSC随水心程度加剧呈上升趋势,重度水心苹果呈现更高的光谱反射率,X-ray CT扫描成像观察到水心区域的组织体积平均密度高于健康组织,基于三维重建算法实现不同等级水心苹果内部水心组织可视化分布。基于偏最小二乘判别分析(Partial Least Squares Discriminant Analysis,PLSDA)构建的不同水心程度苹果果实分级模型建模集和测试集准确率分别为98.7%和95.9%;构建不同水心程度苹果果实SSC回归模型,校正集决定系数(Correlation Coefficient of Calibration,R_(C)^(2))为0.962,均方根误差(Root Mean Squares Error of Calibration,RMSEC)为0.264,测试集决定系数(Correlation Coefficient of Prediction,R_(P)^(2))为0.879,均方根误差(Root Mean Squares Error of Prediction,RMSEP)为0.435。[结论]该研究构建的不同水心程度苹果果实分级模型能够实现苹果不同等级水心病的预测,构建的不同水心程度苹果果实SSC回归模型能够较好地预测苹果果实的SSC,为苹果水心病无损检测和品质评估提供了有效方法。展开更多
Tuberculosis(TB)is a severe infection that mostly affects the lungs and kills millions of people’s lives every year.Tuberculosis can be diagnosed using chest X-rays(CXR)and data-driven deep learning(DL)approaches.Bec...Tuberculosis(TB)is a severe infection that mostly affects the lungs and kills millions of people’s lives every year.Tuberculosis can be diagnosed using chest X-rays(CXR)and data-driven deep learning(DL)approaches.Because of its better automated feature extraction capability,convolutional neural net-works(CNNs)trained on natural images are particularly effective in image cate-gorization.A combination of 3001 normal and 3001 TB CXR images was gathered for this study from different accessible public datasets.Ten different deep CNNs(Resnet50,Resnet101,Resnet152,InceptionV3,VGG16,VGG19,DenseNet121,DenseNet169,DenseNet201,MobileNet)are trained and tested for identifying TB and normal cases.This study presents a deep CNN approach based on histogram matched CXR images that does not require object segmenta-tion of interest,and this coupled methodology of histogram matching with the CXRs improves the accuracy and detection performance of CNN models for TB detection.Furthermore,this research contains two separate experiments that used CXR images with and without histogram matching to classify TB and non-TB CXRs using deep CNNs.It was able to accurately detect TB from CXR images using pre-processing,data augmentation,and deep CNN models.Without histogram matching the best accuracy,sensitivity,specificity,precision and F1-score in the detection of TB using CXR images among ten models are 99.25%,99.48%,99.52%,99.48%and 99.22%respectively.With histogram matching the best accuracy,sensitivity,specificity,precision and F1-score are 99.58%,99.82%,99.67%,99.65%and 99.56%respectively.The proposed meth-odology,which has cutting-edge performance,will be useful in computer-assisted TB diagnosis and aids in minimizing irregularities in TB detection in developing countries.展开更多
Tuberculosis is a dangerous disease to human life,and we need a lot of attempts to stop and reverse it.Significantly,in theCOVID-19 pandemic,access to medical services for tuberculosis has become very difficult.The la...Tuberculosis is a dangerous disease to human life,and we need a lot of attempts to stop and reverse it.Significantly,in theCOVID-19 pandemic,access to medical services for tuberculosis has become very difficult.The late detection of tuberculosis could lead to danger to patient health,even death.Vietnamis one of the countries heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic,andmany residential areas as well as hospitals have to be isolated for a long time.Reality demands a fast and effective tuberculosis diagnosis solution to deal with the difficulty of accessingmedical services,such as an automatic tuberculosis diagnosis system.In our study,aiming to build that system,we were interested in the tuberculosis diagnosis problem from the chest X-ray images of Vietnamese patients.The chest X-ray image is an important data type to diagnose tuberculosis,and it has also received a lot of attention from deep learning researchers.This paper proposed a novel method for tuberculosis diagnosis and visualization using the deeplearning approach with a large Vietnamese X-ray image dataset.In detail,we designed our custom convolutional neural network for the X-ray image classification task and then analyzed the predicted result to provide visualization as a heat-map.To prove the performance of our network model,we conducted several experiments to compare it to another study and also to evaluate it with the dataset of this research.To support the implementation,we built a specific annotation system for tuberculosis under the requirements of radiologists in the Vietnam National Lung Hospital.A large experiment dataset was also from this hospital,and most of this data was for training the convolutional neural network model.The experiment results were evaluated regarding sensitivity,specificity,and accuracy.We achieved high scores with a training accuracy score of 0.99,and the testing specificity and sensitivity scores were over 0.9.Based on the X-ray image classification result,we visualize prediction results as heat-maps and also analyze them in comparison with annotated symptoms of radiologists.展开更多
Indirect X-ray modulation imaging has been adopted in a number of solar missions and provided reconstructed X-ray images of solar flares that are of great scientific importance.However,the assessment of the image qual...Indirect X-ray modulation imaging has been adopted in a number of solar missions and provided reconstructed X-ray images of solar flares that are of great scientific importance.However,the assessment of the image quality of the reconstruction is still difficult,which is particularly useful for scheme design of X-ray imaging systems,testing and improvement of imaging algorithms,and scientific research of X-ray sources.Currently,there is no specified method to quantitatively evaluate the quality of X-ray image reconstruction and the point-spread function(PSF)of an X-ray imager.In this paper,we propose percentage proximity degree(PPD)by considering the imaging characteristics of X-ray image reconstruction and in particular,sidelobes and their effects on imaging quality.After testing a variety of imaging quality assessments in six aspects,we utilized the technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution to the indices that meet the requirements.Then we develop the final quality index for X-ray image reconstruction,QuIX,which consists of the selected indices and the new PPD.QuIX performs well in a series of tests,including assessment of instrument PSF and simulation tests under different grid configurations,as well as imaging tests with RHESSI data.It is also a useful tool for testing of imaging algorithms,and determination of imaging parameters for both RHESSI and ASO-S/Hard X-ray Imager,such as field of view,beam width factor,and detector selection.展开更多
文摘Context: Medical imaging has a wide range of applications in today’s society. Basic projectional radiography, CT scans, mammograms and a range of other advanced technologies all use x-rays to create a large number of examinations every day across the world. The most essential component of such medical equipment is the x-ray tube, which creates and produces x-rays. Objective: We describe and investigate an abstract model-geometry of a simple x-ray tube utilizing the open-source software package of BEAMnrc of the EGSnrcmp family, which is well validated by several studies over the years, for high and low energy photons generation. Methodology: Our research focuses on two different electron beam energies: 120 keV and 30 keV. The 120 keV is the typical energy for simple projectional radiographic exams and CT examinations, whereas the 30 keV is the typical energy of mammography. Results: Two different anode materials are used for each case, Gold (Au) and Tungsten (W) for 120 keV because these are the most common in projectional radiography and CT;Molybdenum (Mo) and Rhodium (Rh) for 30 keV because with these targets most mammography exams are carried out. The aim of this work is to show how the BEAMnrc software package can simulate effectively x-ray generation of low-energy photons which are utilized in modern medical imaging procedures. We describe useful information on anode-target characteristics, such as anode angle, anode material, and metal filter materials, based on previous quality studies even by using software other than BEAMnrc. Conclusion: We demonstrate that BEAMnrc can be efficiently used for Monte Carlo modeling of low-energy photons.
基金supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities(Nos.lzujbky-2016-208 and lzujbky-2016-32)
文摘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.
文摘In the past decade, phase-contrast imaging (PCI) has become a hot research with an increased improvement of the image contrast with respect to conventional absorption radiography. In this paper, effects of tube voltage (kVp) on propagation-based phase-contrast imaging have been investigated with two types of microfocus x-ray tubes, a conventional sealed x-ray tube with the focal spot size of 13 - 20 μm and an open x-ray tube with minimum focal spot size less than 2 μm. A cooled x-ray CCD detector with the pixel size of 24 μm was used to acquire digital images. Two thin plastic sheets with different thickness were used as radiography phantoms. Two different phenomena were observed for the two x-ray tubes. For the open tube, phase-contrast effect has a slight drop with the increasing of tube voltage, however, it is opposite for the sealed tube. A further investigation indicates that the variation of focal spot size causes the abnormal result for the sealed tube. It also shows that phase-contrast effect is more sensitive to focal spot size than tube voltage.
基金Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.61901470 and U1931138)the Strategic Pioneer Program on Space Science,Chinese Academy of Sciences(Grant No.XDA15020501-04)+1 种基金the CAS“Light of West China”Program(Grant No.XAB2018A07)the Foundation of State Key Laboratory of China(Grant No.SKLIPR2021).
文摘Unstable mechanical structure,low energy efficiency,and cooling requirements limit the application of conventional x-ray tubes based on filament as cathode in several academic areas.In this paper,we demonstrate a light-controlled pulsed x-ray tube using multialkali cathode as electron generator.The photocathode active area of the light controlled x-ray tube is 13.2 cm^(2)(41 mm in diameter),which provides high photoelectron-emitting efficiency up to 0.288 mA/lm in 460-nm LED and 2.37-mA maximum tube current.Furthermore,the modulation ability from 1 kHz to 100 kHz of the x-ray tube is tested.The results suggest that the light-controlled pulsed x-ray tube has easy modulation and short x-ray pulse properties and is promising to be the next generation x-ray tube with wide applications in medical radiation therapy as well as the calibration for detectors and scintillators.
基金Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.11375195,11375263)National Magnetic Confinement Fusion Science Program of China(2013GB104003)
文摘A novel X-ray tube spectrum reconstruction method has been proposed based on transmission measurements. Aluminum bars of varying lengths attenuate the X-rays to different levels. The detectors are of lutetium yttrium oxyorthosilicate scintillator and silicon photomultiplier. With the detected X-ray intensities, the X-ray spectrum is unfolded using the least square method. The detectors, aluminum bars, and collimating apertures are integrated in a detection module made of lead. Its response to X-ray is calculated by Monte Carlo codes Geant4. Due to the high photon flux, the detectors work in current mode.The electronics system, consisting of 24-bit high-precision ADCs with 144 KSPS sampling rate and field programmable gate array, makes the data acquisition process effective and precise. Measurements on a 70-k Vp tungsten anode X-ray were taken to verify the method. The unfolded spectrum agrees well with the simulated spectrum,demonstrating that the method is reliable and practical.
基金supported by the National Major Scientific Research Instrument Development Projects(No.42127807)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.12105030)。
文摘Promoting the development of deep-sea mineral exploration instrumentation can help alleviate the global resource shortage faced by mankind.X-ray fluorescence(XRF)spectrometry has been widely used in the in situ analysis of deep-sea minerals owing to its fast analytical speed,nondestructive nature,and wide analytical range.This study focused on the structural safety and detection efficiency of X-ray fluorescence in situ measurement equipment under high pressure for deep-sea XRF analysis.This study first combined finite element analysis and experiments to design and optimize the structure of an X-ray probe tube required for deep-sea mineral exploration and to determine the Be window thickness to ensure stress safety.Subsequently,the Monte Carlo method was used to analyze and optimize the Be window thickness on the X-ray probe tube to improve the accuracy of the elemental analyses.Finally,the effect of seawater thickness between the transmitter outer tube and rock wall was also considered.The results show that based on ocean depth in different detection environments,Be windows with a thickness of 1.5 mm or 2.0 mm can be selected to improve the detection efficiency of the device while ensuring the structural safety of the instrument.According to the design features and detection requirements of the device,in deep-sea exploration of minerals with characteristic peak energies below 10 keV,the transmitter outer tube should be as close as possible to the rock wall inside the logging.When the characteristic peak energy of the minerals is more than 10 keV,the distance between the transmitter outer tube and rock wall inside the logging should be controlled to approximately 2 mm.This study provides feasible solutions for future deep-sea mineral resource development and a useful reference for elemental analysis of minerals in the deep-sea or other extreme working environments.
基金funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(NNSFC)under Grant Numbers 42322408,42188101,and 42441809Additional support was provided by the Climbing Program of the National Space Science Center(NSSC,Grant No.E4PD3005)as well as the Specialized Research Fund for State Key Laboratories of China.
文摘A large-scale view of the magnetospheric cusp is expected to be obtained by the Soft X-ray Imager(SXI)onboard the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer(SMILE).However,it is challenging to trace the three-dimensional cusp boundary from a two-dimensional X-ray image because the detected X-ray signals will be integrated along the line of sight.In this work,a global magnetohydrodynamic code was used to simulate the X-ray images and photon count images,assuming an interplanetary magnetic field with a pure Bz component.The assumption of an elliptic cusp boundary at a given altitude was used to trace the equatorward and poleward boundaries of the cusp from a simulated X-ray image.The average discrepancy was less than 0.1 RE.To reduce the influence of instrument effects and cosmic X-ray backgrounds,image denoising was considered before applying the method above to SXI photon count images.The cusp boundaries were reasonably reconstructed from the noisy X-ray image.
基金supports from the National Natural Science Foundation of China(22375220,U2001214,22471302)the Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation(2024B1515020101)Open Project Fund from State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies(OEMT-2024-KF-08).
文摘Formamidinium lead iodide(FAPbI_(3))perovskite exhibits an impressive X-ray absorption coefficient and a large carrier mobility-lifetime product(μτ),making it as a highly promising candidate for X-ray detection application.However,the presence of larger FA^(+)cation induces to an expansion of the Pb-I octahedral framework,which unfortunately affects both the stability and charge carrier mobility of the corresponding devices.To address this challenge,we develop a novel low-dimensional(HtrzT)PbI_(3) perovskite featuring a conjugated organic cation(1H-1,2,4-Triazole-3-thiol,HtrzT^(+))which matches well with theα-FAPbI_(3) lattices in two-dimensional plane.Benefiting from the matched lattice between(HtrzT)PbI_(3) andα-FAPbI_(3),the anchored lattice enhances the Pb-I bond strength and effectively mitigates the inherent tensile strain of theα-FAPbI_(3) crystal lattice.The X-ray detector based on(HtrzT)PbI_(3)(1.0)/FAPbI_(3) device achieves a remarkable sensitivity up to 1.83×10^(5)μC Gy_(air)^(−1) cm^(−2),along with a low detection limit of 27.6 nGy_(air) s^(−1),attributed to the release of residual stress,and the enhancement in carrier mobility-lifetime product.Furthermore,the detector exhibits outstanding stability under X-ray irradiation with tolerating doses equivalent to nearly 1.17×10^(6) chest imaging doses.
基金supported by the NSFC under Grant No.62474169the National Key Research and Development Program of China under Grant No.2024YFB3212200the funding from USTC under Grant Nos.WK2100000025,KY2190000003,and KY2190000006。
文摘Soft X-ray detectors play a vital role in materials science,high-energy physics and medical imaging.Cs_(2)AgBiBr_(6),a lead-free double perovskite,has gained attention for its excellent optoelectronic properties,stability,and nontoxicity.However,its fast crystallization and requirement for high-temperature annealing(>250℃)often lead to inferior film quality,limiting its application in flexible devices.This study introduces an alloying strategy that significantly improves the quality of Cs_(2)AgBiBr_(6)thin films annealed at a reduced temperature of 150℃.Devices based on the alloyed thin films exhibit an ultra-low dark current of 0.32 nA·cm^(-2)and a quantum efficiency of 725%.Furthermore,the first successful integration of Cs_(2)AgBiBr_(6)with a thinfilm transistor backplane demonstrates its superior imaging performance,indicating that Cs_(2)AgBiBr_(6)is a promising material for next-generation soft X-ray sensors.
基金Project supported by the Major State Basic Research Development Program of China(Grant No.2012CB825800)the Science Fund for Creative Research Groups,China(Grant No.11321503)+1 种基金the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.11179004,10979055,11205189,and 11205157)the Japan–Asia Youth Exchange Program in Science(SAKURA Exchange Program in Science)Administered by the Japan Science and Technology Agency
文摘X-ray Talbot-Lau interferometer has been used most widely to perform x-ray phase-contrast imaging with a con- ventional low-brilliance x-ray source, and it yields high-sensitivity phase and dark-field images of samples producing low absorption contrast, thus beating tremendous potential for future clinical diagnosis. In this work, by changing the accel- erating voltage of the x-ray tube from 35 kV to 45 kV, x-ray phase-contrast imaging of a test sample is performed at each integer value of the accelerating voltage to investigate the characteristic of an x-ray Talbot-Lau interferometer （located in the Institute of Multidisciplinary Research for Advanced Materials, Tohoku University, Japan） versus tube voltage. Ex- perimental results and data analysis show that within a range this x-ray Talbot-Lau interferometer is not sensitive to the accelerating voltage of the tube with a constant fringe visibility of ~ 44%. This x-ray Talbot-Lau interferometer research demonstrates the feasibility of a new dual energy phase-contrast x-ray imaging strategy and the possibility to collect a refraction spectrum.
基金This research is funded by the project KC-4.0.14/19-25“Research on building a support system for diagnosis and prediction geo-spatial epidemiology of pulmonary tuberculosis by chest X-Ray images in Vietnam”.
文摘Deep learning created a sharp rise in the development of autonomous image recognition systems,especially in the case of the medical field.Among lung problems,tuberculosis,caused by a bacterium called Mycobacterium tuberculosis,is a dangerous disease because of its infection and damage.When an infected person coughs or sneezes,tiny droplets can bring pathogens to others through inhaling.Tuberculosis mainly damages the lungs,but it also affects any part of the body.Moreover,during the period of the COVID-19(coronavirus disease 2019)pandemic,the access to tuberculosis diagnosis and treatment has become more difficult,so early and simple detection of tuberculosis has been more and more important.In our study,we focused on tuberculosis diagnosis by using the chestX-ray image,the essential input for the radiologist’s profession,and researched the effectiveness of the transfer learning approach in the case study of Vietnamese chest X-ray images.We proposed four strategies to clarify our hypothesis in different ways of applying transfer learning and different training set types.We also prepared a Vietnamese X-ray image dataset with the support of the VRPACS team to provide the basis for training and testing deep learning models.Our experiments were carried out by applying three different architectures,Alexnet,Resnet,and Densenet,on international,Vietnamese,and combined X-ray image datasets.After training,all models were verified on a pure Vietnamese X-rays set.The results show that transfer learning is suitable in the case study of Vietnamese chest X-ray images with high evaluating metrics in terms of AUC(Area under the Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve),sensitivity,specificity,and accuracy.In the best strategy,most of the scores were more than 0.93,and all AUCs were more than 0.98.
基金supported by Dr.Guohua Cao’s CAREER award from the U.S.National Science Foundation(CBET 1351936)
文摘Although discovered more than 100 years ago, X-ray source technology has evolved rather slowly. The recent invention of the carbon nanotube （CNT） X-ray source technology holds great promise to revolutionize the field of biomedical X-ray imaging. CNT X-ray sources have been successfully adapted to several biomedical imaging applications including dynamic rnicro-CT of small animals and stationary breast tomosynthesis of breast cancers. Yet their more irnportant biomedical imaging applications still lie ahead in the future, with the devel- oprnent of stationary rnulti-source CT as a noteworthy exarnple.
基金Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China （Grant No 10475044）.
文摘In-line x-ray phase contrast imaging has attracted much attention due to two major advantages： its effectiveness in imaging weakly absorbing materials, and the simplicity of its facilities. In this paper a comprehensive theory based on Wigner distribution developed by Wu and Liu [Med. Phys. 31 2378-2384 （2004）] is reviewed. The influence of x-ray source and detector on the image is discussed. Experiments using a microfocus x-ray source and a CCD detector are conducted, which show the role of two key factors on imaging： the tube voltage and tube current. High tube current and moderate tube voltage are suggested for imaging.
文摘In situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction experiments of SWCNT （single-walled carbon nanotube） electrode in alkali halide aqueous electrolyte at several applied potentials were performed, and the change in the diffraction pattern of SWCNTs was observed. It was found that the position of the 100 diffraction peak does not change with applied potential while the peak intensity decreases with anion adsorption. It was concluded that the space inside the tube would be the important ion adsorption site for the well-gown SWCNT bundles.
基金Supported by Science and Technology Fund of Guizhou Health and Health Committee(gzwjkj2020-1-184)。
文摘[Objectives]This study was conducted to explore the X-ray manifestations of pneumoconiosis patients and differentiation from pulmonary tuberculosis.[Methods]Retrospective analysis was conducted on 103 patients who underwent lung examinations,including 47 cases of pneumoconiosis and 56 cases of pulmonary tuberculosis.The differences in nodule characteristics and accompanying cavity sign between pneumoconiosis and pulmonary tuberculosis were compared.[Results]The X-ray manifestations of pneumoconiosis patients mainly included various forms of lung images,which were uneven in density,and had blurry edges,and sometimes thickening of lung markings and reduction of lung volume could be observed.The acinar nodules observed in X-ray films of patients with hematogenous disseminated pulmonary tuberculosis appeared petal like.The uniformity of nodule appearance such as nodule distribution,nodule density,and nodule size was significantly lower in pneumoconiosis than in hematogenous disseminated pulmonary tuberculosis,showing a statistical significance(P<0.05).The diameter of cavities in patients with pneumoconiosis accompanied by cavity sign[(0.64±0.13 vs 3.37±0.95)cm]was lower than that in patients with secondary pulmonary tuberculosis accompanied by cavity sign.There was a significant difference in the thickness of the cavity wall between the two diseases,and patients with pneumoconiosis accompanied by cavity sign had a higher rate of thick wall cavities(>3 mm).The X-ray manifestations of pneumoconiosis and tuberculosis were relatively similar,but the distribution,density and size of nodules in pneumoconiosis were relatively uneven,and the patients accompanied by cavity sign had smaller cavity diameter and higher rate of thick-walled cavities.[Conclusions]This study provides a reference for the clinical differential diagnosis of pneumoconiosis and pulmonary tuberculosis.
文摘[目的/意义]苹果“冰糖心”又称水心病,是一种常见的果实病害,严重的水心病果会随着储藏时间的增加发生霉变,造成食品安全隐患。为实现不同等级水心病苹果快速无损检测,本研究旨在构建有效的分级与可溶性固形物(Soluble Solids Content,SSC)预测模型。[方法]本研究选取了230个富士苹果,其中正常、轻度、中度、重度水心苹果数量分别为113、61、47和9个,分别采集了400~1000 nm范围的反射光谱和X射线计算机断层成像(X-ray Computed Tomography,X-ray CT)数据,并测定了SSC含量。[结果和讨论]SSC随水心程度加剧呈上升趋势,重度水心苹果呈现更高的光谱反射率,X-ray CT扫描成像观察到水心区域的组织体积平均密度高于健康组织,基于三维重建算法实现不同等级水心苹果内部水心组织可视化分布。基于偏最小二乘判别分析(Partial Least Squares Discriminant Analysis,PLSDA)构建的不同水心程度苹果果实分级模型建模集和测试集准确率分别为98.7%和95.9%;构建不同水心程度苹果果实SSC回归模型,校正集决定系数(Correlation Coefficient of Calibration,R_(C)^(2))为0.962,均方根误差(Root Mean Squares Error of Calibration,RMSEC)为0.264,测试集决定系数(Correlation Coefficient of Prediction,R_(P)^(2))为0.879,均方根误差(Root Mean Squares Error of Prediction,RMSEP)为0.435。[结论]该研究构建的不同水心程度苹果果实分级模型能够实现苹果不同等级水心病的预测,构建的不同水心程度苹果果实SSC回归模型能够较好地预测苹果果实的SSC,为苹果水心病无损检测和品质评估提供了有效方法。
文摘Tuberculosis(TB)is a severe infection that mostly affects the lungs and kills millions of people’s lives every year.Tuberculosis can be diagnosed using chest X-rays(CXR)and data-driven deep learning(DL)approaches.Because of its better automated feature extraction capability,convolutional neural net-works(CNNs)trained on natural images are particularly effective in image cate-gorization.A combination of 3001 normal and 3001 TB CXR images was gathered for this study from different accessible public datasets.Ten different deep CNNs(Resnet50,Resnet101,Resnet152,InceptionV3,VGG16,VGG19,DenseNet121,DenseNet169,DenseNet201,MobileNet)are trained and tested for identifying TB and normal cases.This study presents a deep CNN approach based on histogram matched CXR images that does not require object segmenta-tion of interest,and this coupled methodology of histogram matching with the CXRs improves the accuracy and detection performance of CNN models for TB detection.Furthermore,this research contains two separate experiments that used CXR images with and without histogram matching to classify TB and non-TB CXRs using deep CNNs.It was able to accurately detect TB from CXR images using pre-processing,data augmentation,and deep CNN models.Without histogram matching the best accuracy,sensitivity,specificity,precision and F1-score in the detection of TB using CXR images among ten models are 99.25%,99.48%,99.52%,99.48%and 99.22%respectively.With histogram matching the best accuracy,sensitivity,specificity,precision and F1-score are 99.58%,99.82%,99.67%,99.65%and 99.56%respectively.The proposed meth-odology,which has cutting-edge performance,will be useful in computer-assisted TB diagnosis and aids in minimizing irregularities in TB detection in developing countries.
基金funded by the Project KC-4.0.14/19-25“Research on Building a Support System for Diagnosis and Prediction Geo-Spatial Epidemiology of Pulmonary Tuberculosis by Chest X-Ray Images in Vietnam”.
文摘Tuberculosis is a dangerous disease to human life,and we need a lot of attempts to stop and reverse it.Significantly,in theCOVID-19 pandemic,access to medical services for tuberculosis has become very difficult.The late detection of tuberculosis could lead to danger to patient health,even death.Vietnamis one of the countries heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic,andmany residential areas as well as hospitals have to be isolated for a long time.Reality demands a fast and effective tuberculosis diagnosis solution to deal with the difficulty of accessingmedical services,such as an automatic tuberculosis diagnosis system.In our study,aiming to build that system,we were interested in the tuberculosis diagnosis problem from the chest X-ray images of Vietnamese patients.The chest X-ray image is an important data type to diagnose tuberculosis,and it has also received a lot of attention from deep learning researchers.This paper proposed a novel method for tuberculosis diagnosis and visualization using the deeplearning approach with a large Vietnamese X-ray image dataset.In detail,we designed our custom convolutional neural network for the X-ray image classification task and then analyzed the predicted result to provide visualization as a heat-map.To prove the performance of our network model,we conducted several experiments to compare it to another study and also to evaluate it with the dataset of this research.To support the implementation,we built a specific annotation system for tuberculosis under the requirements of radiologists in the Vietnam National Lung Hospital.A large experiment dataset was also from this hospital,and most of this data was for training the convolutional neural network model.The experiment results were evaluated regarding sensitivity,specificity,and accuracy.We achieved high scores with a training accuracy score of 0.99,and the testing specificity and sensitivity scores were over 0.9.Based on the X-ray image classification result,we visualize prediction results as heat-maps and also analyze them in comparison with annotated symptoms of radiologists.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(NSFC)12333010the National Key R&D Program of China 2022YFF0503002+3 种基金the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences(grant No.XDB0560000)the NSFC 11921003supported by the Prominent Postdoctoral Project of Jiangsu Province(2023ZB304)supported by the Strategic Priority Research Program on Space Science,the Chinese Academy of Sciences,grant No.XDA15320000.
文摘Indirect X-ray modulation imaging has been adopted in a number of solar missions and provided reconstructed X-ray images of solar flares that are of great scientific importance.However,the assessment of the image quality of the reconstruction is still difficult,which is particularly useful for scheme design of X-ray imaging systems,testing and improvement of imaging algorithms,and scientific research of X-ray sources.Currently,there is no specified method to quantitatively evaluate the quality of X-ray image reconstruction and the point-spread function(PSF)of an X-ray imager.In this paper,we propose percentage proximity degree(PPD)by considering the imaging characteristics of X-ray image reconstruction and in particular,sidelobes and their effects on imaging quality.After testing a variety of imaging quality assessments in six aspects,we utilized the technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution to the indices that meet the requirements.Then we develop the final quality index for X-ray image reconstruction,QuIX,which consists of the selected indices and the new PPD.QuIX performs well in a series of tests,including assessment of instrument PSF and simulation tests under different grid configurations,as well as imaging tests with RHESSI data.It is also a useful tool for testing of imaging algorithms,and determination of imaging parameters for both RHESSI and ASO-S/Hard X-ray Imager,such as field of view,beam width factor,and detector selection.
