Full Issue: Volume 13, Issue 1 - Winter 2018

Full Issue: Volume 13, Issue 1 - Winter 201

Characterization and digital restauration of XIV-XV centuries written parchments by means of non-destructive techniques. Three case studies

Parchment is the primary writing medium of the majority of documents with cultural importance. Unfortunately, this material suffers of several mechanisms of degradation that affect its chemical-physical structure and the readability of text. Due to the unique and delicate character of these objects, the use of nondestructive techniques is mandatory. In this work, three partially degraded handwritten parchments dating back to the XIV-XV centuries were analyzed by means of X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, µ-ATR Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and reflectance and UV-induced fluorescence spectroscopy. 'e elemental and molecular results provided the identification of the inks, pigments, and superficial treatments. In particular, all manuscripts have been written with iron gall inks, while the capital letters have been realized with cinnabar and azurite. Furthermore, multispectral UV fluorescence imaging and multispectral VIS-NIR imaging proved to be a good approach for the digital restoration of manuscripts that suffer from the loss of inked areas or from the presence of brown spotting. Indeed, using ultraviolet radiation and collecting the images at different spectral ranges is possible to enhance the readability of the text, while by illuminating with visible light and by collecting the images at longer wavelengths, the hiding effect of brown spots can be attenuated

Acute Stroke Multimodal Imaging: Present and Potential Applications toward Advancing Care.

In the past few decades, the field of acute ischemic stroke (AIS) has experienced significant advances in clinical practice. A core driver of this success has been the utilization of acute stroke imaging with an increasing focus on advanced methods including multimodal imaging. Such imaging techniques not only provide a richer understanding of AIS in vivo, but also, in doing so, provide better informed clinical assessments in management and treatment toward achieving best outcomes. As a result, advanced stroke imaging methods are now a mainstay of routine AIS practice that reflect best practice delivery of care. Furthermore, these imaging methods hold great potential to continue to advance the understanding of AIS and its care in the future. Copyright © 2017 by Thieme Medical Publishers, Inc

Characterization and digital restauration of XIV-XV centuries written parchments by means of non-destructive techniques. Three case studies

Parchment is the primary writing medium of the majority of documents with cultural importance. Unfortunately, this material suffers of several mechanisms of degradation that affect its chemical-physical structure and the readability of text. Due to the unique and delicate character of these objects, the use of nondestructive techniques is mandatory. In this work, three partially degraded handwritten parchments dating back to the XIV-XV centuries were analyzed by means of X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, µ-ATR Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and reflectance and UV-induced fluorescence spectroscopy. 'e elemental and molecular results provided the identification of the inks, pigments, and superficial treatments. In particular, all manuscripts have been written with iron gall inks, while the capital letters have been realized with cinnabar and azurite. Furthermore, multispectral UV fluorescence imaging and multispectral VIS-NIR imaging proved to be a good approach for the digital restoration of manuscripts that suffer from the loss of inked areas or from the presence of brown spotting. Indeed, using ultraviolet radiation and collecting the images at different spectral ranges is possible to enhance the readability of the text, while by illuminating with visible light and by collecting the images at longer wavelengths, the hiding effect of brown spots can be attenuated

Measuring volume of stockpile using imaging station

It is crucial to know cutting and filling volumes in many surveys, mining, quarry and engineering field of works like dredging and embankment project. Generally, volume calculation is completed using conventional surveying methods. The trapezoidal method and classical cross sectioning have been presented in the literature. In other way around, by using conventional surveying methods, the volume calculation required a lot of time, laborers and risky as the big machineries running around the work areas. Digital close range photogrammetry has been insufficient for the volume calculation of the material need to calculation of volume in risk areas or in short time. In this case, long range surveying and scanning method is an alternative method to volume calculation. By the development of scanning and imaging technologies, Topcon Imaging Station (IS) used for three dimensional modeling (3D) surveying of objects in many field such as topographic survey, mining, construction and as-built survey, etc disciplines has become a productive, faster and accurate method. This study concern is getting the stockpile volume by using Topcon IS known as advanced technology instrument which promotes both scanning and long-range surveying. The instrument, a highly-developed technology specialized with Image Master Software; distinctive software that provides capabilities to reconstructed 3D modeling after the volume data was processed. Three dimensional (3D) surfaces are created through Triangulated Irregular Network (TIN) method that supports time saving and more accurate volume calculation. The volume calculated by Image Master (IM) then compared with the volume calculated by 12D software which the data obtained by using total station and prism. The results have been analyzed with respect to different volumes, density factor, three dimensional (3D) models of stockpile and time taken for data acquisition and data processin

Numerical methods for coupled reconstruction and registration in digital breast tomosynthesis.

Digital Breast Tomosynthesis (DBT) provides an insight into the fine details of normal fibroglandular tissues and abnormal lesions by reconstructing a pseudo-3D image of the breast. In this respect, DBT overcomes a major limitation of conventional X-ray mam- mography by reducing the confounding effects caused by the superposition of breast tissue. In a breast cancer screening or diagnostic context, a radiologist is interested in detecting change, which might be indicative of malignant disease. To help automate this task image registration is required to establish spatial correspondence between time points. Typically, images, such as MRI or CT, are first reconstructed and then registered. This approach can be effective if reconstructing using a complete set of data. However, for ill-posed, limited-angle problems such as DBT, estimating the deformation is com- plicated by the significant artefacts associated with the reconstruction, leading to severe inaccuracies in the registration. This paper presents a mathematical framework, which couples the two tasks and jointly estimates both image intensities and the parameters of a transformation. Under this framework, we compare an iterative method and a simultaneous method, both of which tackle the problem of comparing DBT data by combining reconstruction of a pair of temporal volumes with their registration. We evaluate our methods using various computational digital phantoms, uncom- pressed breast MR images, and in-vivo DBT simulations. Firstly, we compare both iter- ative and simultaneous methods to the conventional, sequential method using an affine transformation model. We show that jointly estimating image intensities and parametric transformations gives superior results with respect to reconstruction fidelity and regis- tration accuracy. Also, we incorporate a non-rigid B-spline transformation model into our simultaneous method. The results demonstrate a visually plausible recovery of the deformation with preservation of the reconstruction fidelity

Volumetric analysis of arteriovenous malformation using computed tomographic angiography

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston UniversityAn arteriovenous malformation (AVM) is an abnormal collection of blood vessels in which arterial blood flows directly into the draining vein without the normal interposed capillaries. It is an important and growing public healthcare problem affecting millions of Americans and many more people internationally. There are several potential treatment options for the AVM, and the best treatment depends on the maximum length of nidus based on the Spetzler- Martin grading system. However, this grading system is insensitive to volume, because it was designed on the basis of two dimensional digital subtraction angiography images. Here, we report a method using computed tomographic angiography to measure the volume of AVM nidus, as a means for noninvasively assessment. The initial results show statistically significant differences between healthy and AVM subject groups in the direct comparisons of the volume (cm3) through the method we suggested (2.456 ± 1.482, 12.478 ± 5.743 and 53.963 ± 9.338 (mean ± stdev.); Normal (No AVM), Small (< 3cm), Medium (3 ~ 6 cm) respectively; P < 0.005 for all), and they also show the exponential correlation between the AVM volume and the maximum length of a nidus (trend-line: y = 4.4183e0.536x with R2 = 0.945). These results provide more accurate volumetric information. Therefore, this noninvasive imaging-based method is a promising means to measure the volume of AVM using clinically available imaging tools

A Rapid Segmentation-Insensitive "Digital Biopsy" Method for Radiomic Feature Extraction: Method and Pilot Study Using CT Images of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.

Quantitative imaging approaches compute features within images' regions of interest. Segmentation is rarely completely automatic, requiring time-consuming editing by experts. We propose a new paradigm, called "digital biopsy," that allows for the collection of intensity- and texture-based features from these regions at least 1 order of magnitude faster than the current manual or semiautomated methods. A radiologist reviewed automated segmentations of lung nodules from 100 preoperative volume computed tomography scans of patients with non-small cell lung cancer, and manually adjusted the nodule boundaries in each section, to be used as a reference standard, requiring up to 45 minutes per nodule. We also asked a different expert to generate a digital biopsy for each patient using a paintbrush tool to paint a contiguous region of each tumor over multiple cross-sections, a procedure that required an average of &lt;3 minutes per nodule. We simulated additional digital biopsies using morphological procedures. Finally, we compared the features extracted from these digital biopsies with our reference standard using intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) to characterize robustness. Comparing the reference standard segmentations to our digital biopsies, we found that 84/94 features had an ICC &gt;0.7; comparing erosions and dilations, using a sphere of 1.5-mm radius, of our digital biopsies to the reference standard segmentations resulted in 41/94 and 53/94 features, respectively, with ICCs &gt;0.7. We conclude that many intensity- and texture-based features remain consistent between the reference standard and our method while substantially reducing the amount of operator time required