Low Frequency Bio-Electrical Impedance Mammography and Dielectric Measurement

Assessment of electrical impedance of biological tissues at low frequencies offers a great potential for a safe, simple, and low-cost medical breast imaging techniques such as mammography. As such, in this dissertation a mammography method which uses tissue electrical impedance to detect breast malignancies was developed. The dissertation also introduces a new technique for measuring the dielectric properties of biological tissues at low frequencies. The impedance mammography technique introduced in this study is founded on the assumption that dielectric values of breast malignancies are significantly higher than the dielectric values of normal breast tissues. While previous studies have shown that this assumption is valid at high frequencies (50MHz-20GHz), less research efforts have been dedicated to ascertain the validity of such assumption at low frequencies (in silico and tissue mimicking phantom studies. Results of this investigation suggest that imaging the electrical impedance properties of biological tissues through the proposed electrical impedance mammography can be potentially employed for breast cancer detection in a reliable and safe manner

Pembangunan dan penganalisisan aplikasi permohonan peruntukkan penyelenggaraan bangunan sekolah berasaskan proses pengurusan dalam kejuruteraan awam

Penyelenggaraan adalah aktiviti yang dilakukan secara berterusan bagi memastikan fungsi bangunan dapat dilaksanakan sebagaimana fungsinya secara normal. Penyelenggaraan bangunan sekolah adalah aktiviti rutin yang harus dijalankan memandangkan sekolah adalah lokasi pertama dalam pengembangan minda kanak�kanak. Namun begitu, kajian literatur menunjukkan terdapat beberapa masalah dalam pengurusan penyelenggaraan yang lazimnya diselia oleh ahli jawatankuasa penyelenggaraan sekolah. Antaranya ialah kegagalan mereka mematuhi Pekeliling Am Bil.2 Tahun 1995 dalam proses permohonan penyelenggaraan. Disebabkan permasalahan tersebut, tesis ini diwujudkan bagi membantu mereka dalam menyelesaikan sebahagian masalah yang dihadapi dengan cara membangunkan satu aplikasi permohonan penyelenggaraan sekolah berkomputer. Pembangunan aplikasi adalah menggunakan Microsoft Access. Aplikasi pertama yang dibangunkan adalah CoRTMaS di mana ia hanya tertumpu kepada penyelenggaraan bumbung dan tandas berdasarkan kepada kajian literatur yang mengatakan 2 komponen ini paling kerap mengalami kerosakan. Hasil soal selidik diuji menggunakan SPSS dan mendapati kadar ketepatan hasil kajian adalah α = 0.893. Walaupun hasil kajian CoRTMaS amat memuaskan, aplikasi SiPBaS dibangunkan bagi menambah baik fungsi aplikasi dalam CoRTMaS. Kesimpulannya, pembangunan aplikasi dapat menyumbang kepada kelancaran proses permohonan penyelenggaraan sekolah namun terdapat beberapa cadangan lanjutan yang dicadangkan bagi memantapkan aplikasi SiPBaS iaitu menjadikan aplikasi ini berfungsi secara atas talian, mewujudkan ruangan bagi memuat turun gambar kerosakan serta mewujudkan kod keselamatan untuk kontraktor terlibat

Hubungan di antara status Sosio Ekonomi (SSE) keluarga dengan pencapaian akademk : satu kajian ke at as pelajar aliran teknikal di Sekolah Menengah Teknik Negeri Sembilan

Kajian ini bertujuan untuk melihat hubungan di antara status sosio ekonomi (SSE) keluarga dengan pencapaian akademik di kalangan pelajar aliran teknikal. Kajian ini dijalankan ke atas pelajar tingkatan empat aliran teknikal di lima buah Sekolah Menengah Teknik di Negeri Sembilan iaitu Sekolah Menengah Teknik Tuanku Jaafar, Sekolah Menengah Teknik Juasseh, Sekolah Menengah Teknik Pertanian Rembau, Sekolah Menengah Teknik Ampangan dan Sekolah Menengah Teknik Port Dicksoa Seramai 350 orang pelajar terlibat dalam kajian ini dan dipilih secara rawak mudah. Analisis regresi mudah dan regresi berbilang digunakan untuk melihat hubungan di antara pembolehubah yang dikaji. Keseluruhan data kajian telah dianahsis menggunakan perisian Statistical Packages for the Social Sciences (SPSS) versi 11.5 dengan membuat pengiraan peratusan dan regresi. Dapatan kajian menunjukkan secara majoritinya, SSE mempunyai hubungan yang signifikan dengan tahap pencapaian akademik pelajar. Dengan itu dapat dirumuskan bahawa SSE mempengaruhi tahap pencapaian akademik pelajar aliran teknikal. Beberapa cadangan dikemukakan untuk panduan kajian selanjutnya

Bone Dielectric Property Variation as a Function of Mineralization at Microwave Frequencies

A critical need exists for new imaging tools to more accurately characterize bone quality beyond the conventional modalities of dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), ultrasound speed of sound, and broadband attenuation measurements. In this paper we investigate the microwave dielectric properties of ex vivo trabecular bone with respect to bulk density measures. We exploit a variation in our tomographic imaging system in conjunction with a new soft prior regularization scheme that allows us to accurately recover the dielectric properties of small, regularly shaped and previously spatially defined volumes. We studied six excised porcine bone samples from which we extracted cylindrically shaped trabecular specimens from the femoral heads and carefully demarrowed each preparation. The samples were subsequently treated in an acid bath to incrementally remove volumes of hydroxyapatite, and we tested them with both the microwave measurement system and a micro-CT scanner. The measurements were performed at five density levels for each sample. The results show a strong correlation between both the permittivity and conductivity and bone volume fraction and suggest that microwave imaging may be a good candidate for evaluating overall bone health

Detecting colorectal cancer using electrical impedance spectroscopy: an ex vivo feasibility study

Objective: Colorectal cancer is the fourth most common cancer worldwide, with a lifetime risk of around 20%. Current solutions do not allow clinicians to objectively assess tissue abnormality during endoscopy and perioperatively. A solution capable of objectively assessing samples in real time could greatly improve the treatment process. A solution that can be integrated in minimally invasive diagnostics and management strategies to provide real-time point-of-care information would be greatly transformative. Electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) may provide such a solution. In this paper, we present a feasibility study on using EIS in assessing colorectal tissue. Approach: We performed tetrapolar EIS using ZedScan on excised human colorectal tumour tissue and the matched normal colonic mucosa in 22 freshly resected specimens following elective surgery for colorectal cancer. Histopathological examination was used to confirm the final diagnosis. Statistical significance was assessed with Wilcoxon signed rank test. Main results: Tetrapolar EIS could discriminate cancer with statistically significant results when applying frequencies between 305 Hz – 625 kHz (p < 0.05). 300 Ω was set as the transfer impedance threshold to detect cancer. Thus, the area under the corresponding receiver operating characteristic curve for this threshold was 0.7105. Significance: This feasibility study demonstrates that impedance spectra changes in colorectal cancer tissue are detectable and may be statistically significant, suggesting that EIS has the potential to be the core technology in a novel non-invasive point of care test for detecting colorectal cancer. These results warrant further development and increasing the size of the study with a device specificity designed for colorectal cancer

Detecting colorectal cancer using electrical impedance spectroscopy: an ex vivo feasibility study

Objective: Colorectal cancer is the fourth most common cancer worldwide, with a lifetime risk of around 20%. Current solutions do not allow clinicians to objectively assess tissue abnormality during endoscopy and perioperatively. A solution capable of objectively assessing samples in real time could greatly improve the treatment process. A solution that can be integrated in minimally invasive diagnostics and management strategies to provide real-time point-of-care information would be greatly transformative. Electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) may provide such a solution. In this paper, we present a feasibility study on using EIS in assessing colorectal tissue. Approach: We performed tetrapolar EIS using ZedScan on excised human colorectal tumour tissue and the matched normal colonic mucosa in 22 freshly resected specimens following elective surgery for colorectal cancer. Histopathological examination was used to confirm the final diagnosis. Statistical significance was assessed with Wilcoxon signed rank test. Main results: Tetrapolar EIS could discriminate cancer with statistically significant results when applying frequencies between 305 Hz – 625 kHz (p < 0.05). 300 Ω was set as the transfer impedance threshold to detect cancer. Thus, the area under the corresponding receiver operating characteristic curve for this threshold was 0.7105. Significance: This feasibility study demonstrates that impedance spectra changes in colorectal cancer tissue are detectable and may be statistically significant, suggesting that EIS has the potential to be the core technology in a novel non-invasive point of care test for detecting colorectal cancer. These results warrant further development and increasing the size of the study with a device specificity designed for colorectal cancer

Microwave dielectric spectroscopy of renal calculi: A large scale study on dielectric properties from 500 MHz to 18 GHz

Inherent dielectric property discrepancy between biological anomalies and healthy tissue enables the microwave diagnostic and therapeutic technologies. To reveal this discrepancy, microwave dielectric properties of many different biological tissues are tabulated. Although the dielectric properties of biological tissues are well documented in the literature, the knowledge on microwave dielectric property behavior of the renal calculi is limited. This work presents ultra wideband dielectric properties of three renal calculi types between 500 MHz to 18 GHz to pave the way for possible application of microwave technologies for diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of urolithiasis. Microwave dielectric spectroscopy is performed on a total of 66 natural stone samples with open-ended coaxial probe technique. The samples belong to three commonly diagnosed renal calculi categories, namely calcium oxalate, cystine, struvite. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) test is performed on fitted Cole-Cole parameters and it was concluded that there is a statistically significant difference between the dielectric properties of the renal calculi types. A patient-to-patient statistical test is also performed and it was concluded that there is no statistical difference between the samples belonging to the same renal calculi category. To this end, based on the relative permittivity discrepancy between the renal calculi types, the category of renal calculi can be identified by measuring the dielectric properties of renal calculi with open-ended coaxial probe technique

Accurate broadband measurement of electromagnetic tissue phantoms using open-ended coaxial systems

[EN] New technologies and devices for wireless communication networks are continually developed. In order to assess their performance, they have to be tested in realistic environments taking into account the influence of the body in wireless communications. Thus, the development of phantoms, which are synthetic materials that can emulate accurately the electromagnetic behaviour of different tissues, is mandatory. An accurate dielectric measurement of these phantoms requires using a measurement method with a low uncertainty. The open-ended coaxial technique is the most spread technique but its accuracy is strongly conditioned by the calibration procedure. A typical calibration is performed using an open circuit, a short circuit and water. However, this basic calibration is not the most accurate approach for measuring all kinds of materials. In this paper, an uncertainty analysis of the calibration process of open-ended coaxial characterization systems when a polar liquid is added to the typical calibration is provided. Measurements are performed on electromagnetically well-known liquids in the 0.5 - 8.5 GHz band. Results show that adding methanol improves the accuracy in the whole solution domain of the system, mainly when measuring phantoms that mimic high water content tissues, whereas ethanol is more suitable for measuring low water content tissue phantoms.This work was supported by the Ministerio de Educacion y Ciencia, Spain (ref. TEC2014-60258-C2-1-R, TEC2014-56469-REDT), by the European FEDER funds.Fornés Leal, A.; Garcia-Pardo, C.; Castelló-Palacios, S.; Vallés Lluch, A.; Cardona Marcet, N. (2007). Accurate broadband measurement of electromagnetic tissue phantoms using open-ended coaxial systems. IEEE. 32-36. https://doi.org/10.1109/ISMICT.2017.7891761S323