751 research outputs found
Noise Simulations For an Inverse-Geometry Volumetric CT System
This paper examines the noise performance of an inverse-geometry volumetric CT (IGCT) scanner through simulations. The IGCT system uses a large area scanned source and a smaller array of detectors to rapidly acquire volumetric data with negligible cone-beam artifacts. The first investigation compares the photon efficiency of the IGCT geometry to a 2D parallel ray system. The second investigation models the photon output of the IGCT source and calculates the expected noise. For the photon efficiency investigation. the same total number of photons was modeled in an IGCT acquisition and a comparable multi-slice 2D parallel ray acquisition. For both cases noise projections were simulated and the central axial slice reconstructed. In the second study. to investigate the noise in an IGCT system, the expected x-ray photon flux was modeled and projections simulated through ellipsoid phantoms. All simulations were compared to theoretical predictions. The results of the photon efficiency simulations verify that the IGCT geometry is as efficient in photon utilization as a 2D parallel ray geometry. For a 10 cm diameter 4 cm thick ellipsoid water phantom and for reasonable system parameters, the calculated standard deviation was approximately 15 HU at the center of the ellipsoid. For the same size phantom with maximum attenuation equivalent to 30 cm of water, the calculated noise was approximately 131 HU. The theoretical noise predictions for these objects were 15 HU and 112 HU respectively. These results predict acceptable noise levels for a system with a 0.16 second scan time and 12 lp/cm isotropic resolution
Three-Dimensional Reconstruction Algorithm for a Reverse-Geometry Volumetric CT System With a Large-Array Scanned Source
We have proposed a CT system design to rapidly produce volumetric images with negligible cone beam artifacts. The investigated system uses a large array scanned source with a smaller array of fast detectors. The x-ray source is electronically steered across a 2D target every few milliseconds as the system rotates. The proposed reconstruction algorithm for this system is a modified 3D filtered backprojection method. The data are rebinned into 2D parallel ray projections, most of which are tilted with respect to the axis of rotation. Each projection is filtered with a 2D kernel and backprojected onto the desired image matrix. To ensure adequate spatial resolution and low artifact level, we rebin the data onto an array that has sufficiently fine spatial and angular sampling. Due to finite sampling in the real system, some of the rebinned projections will be sparse, but we hypothesize that the large number of views will compensate for the data missing in a particular view. Preliminary results using simulated data with the expected discrete sampling of the source and detector arrays suggest that high resolution
What Explains the Low Success Rate of Investor-State Disputes?
The treatment of foreign investment has become the most controversial
issue in global governance. At the center of the controversy lies the mechanism of investor-state
dispute settlement (ISDS), which allows private firms legal recourse against
governments if government interference has degraded their investment. Using newly
released data covering 742 investment disputes, I assess some of the central claims
about ISDS. I argue that the regime has indeed undergone an important shift: a majority
of claims today deal not with direct takings by low-rule-of-law countries, but with regulation
in democratic states. Such "indirect expropriation" claims have seen a precipitous
decrease in their odds of legal success over the past twenty years. They are also far
less likely to result in early settlement. These parallel trends may be a result of a rise
in strategic litigation by investors whose aim is not only to obtain compensation but
also to deter governments' regulatory ambitions
Construction of a Complete Set of States in Relativistic Scattering Theory
The space of physical states in relativistic scattering theory is
constructed, using a rigorous version of the Dirac formalism, where the Hilbert
space structure is extended to a Gel'fand triple. This extension enables the
construction of ``a complete set of states'', the basic concept of the original
Dirac formalism, also in the cases of unbounded operators and continuous
spectra. We construct explicitly the Gel'fand triple and a complete set of
``plane waves'' -- momentum eigenstates -- using the group of space-time
symmetries. This construction is used (in a separate article) to prove a
generalization of the Coleman-Mandula theorem to higher dimension.Comment: 30 pages, Late
Resistivity phase diagram of cuprates revisited
The phase diagram of the cuprate superconductors has posed a formidable
scientific challenge for more than three decades. This challenge is perhaps
best exemplified by the need to understand the normal-state charge transport as
the system evolves from Mott insulator to Fermi-liquid metal with doping. Here
we report a detailed analysis of the temperature (T) and doping (p) dependence
of the planar resistivity of simple-tetragonal HgBaCuO
(Hg1201), the single-CuO-layer cuprate with the highest optimal . The
data allow us to test a recently proposed phenomenological model for the
cuprate phase diagram that combines a universal transport scattering rate with
spatially inhomogeneous (de)localization of the Mott-localized hole. We find
that the model provides an excellent description of the data. We then extend
this analysis to prior transport results for several other cuprates, including
the Hall number in the overdoped part of the phase diagram, and find little
compound-to-compound variation in (de)localization gap scale. The results point
to a robust, universal structural origin of the inherent gap inhomogeneity that
is unrelated to doping-related disorder. They are inconsistent with the notion
that much of the phase diagram is controlled by a quantum critical point, and
instead indicate that the unusual electronic properties exhibited by the
cuprates are fundamentally related to strong nonlinearities associated with
subtle nanoscale inhomogeneity.Comment: 22 pages, 5 figure
Geometry Analysis of an Inverse-Geometry Volumetric CT System With Multiple Detector Arrays
An inverse-geometry volumetric CT (IGCT) system for imaging in a single fast rotation without cone-beam artifacts is being developed. It employs a large scanned source array and a smaller detector array. For a single-source/single-detector implementation, the FOV is limited to a fraction of the source size. Here we explore options to increase the FOV without increasing the source size by using multiple detectors spaced apart laterally to increase the range of radial distances sampled. We also look at multiple source array systems for faster scans. To properly reconstruct the FOV, Radon space must be sufficiently covered and sampled in a uniform manner. Optimal placement of the detectors relative to the source was determined analytically given system constraints (5cm detector width, 25cm source width, 45cm source-to-isocenter distance). For a 1x3 system (three detectors per source) detector spacing (DS) was 18deg and source-to-detector distances (SDD) were 113, 100 and 113cm to provide optimum Radon sampling and a FOV of 44cm. For multiple-source systems, maximum angular spacing between sources cannot exceed 125deg since detectors corresponding to one source cannot be occluded by a second source. Therefore, for 2x3 and 3x3 systems using the above DS and SDD, optimum spacing between sources is 115deg and 61deg respectively, requiring minimum scan rotations of 115deg and 107deg. Also, a 3x3 system can be much faster for full 360deg dataset scans than a 2x3 system (120deg vs. 245deg). We found that a significantly increased FOV can be achieved while maintaining uniform radial sampling as well as a substantial reduction in scan time using several different geometries. Further multi-parameter optimization is underway
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