Numerical assessment of the reduction of specific absorption rate by adding high dielectric materials for fetus MRI at 3 T

The specific absorption rate (SAR) is an important issue to be considered in fetus MRI at 3 T due to the high radiofrequency energy deposited inside the body of pregnant woman. The high dielectric material (HDM) has shown its potential for enhancing B field and reducing SAR in MRI. The aim of this study is to assess the feasibility of SAR reduction by adding an HDM to the fetus MRI. The feasibility of SAR reduction is numerically assessed in this study, using a birdcage coil in transmission loaded with an electromagnetic pregnant woman model in the SEMCAD-EM solver. The HDMs with different geometric arrangements and dielectric constants are manually optimized. The B1+ ${B-1}^ +$ homogeneity is also considered while calculating the optimized fetus 10 g local SAR among different strategies in the application of HDM. The optimum maximum fetus 10 g local SAR was obtained as 2.25 W/kg, by using two conformal pads placed left and right with the dielectric constant to be 400, reduced by 24.75% compared to that without the HDM. It indicated that the SAR can be significantly reduced with strategic placement of the HDM and the use of HDM may provide a simple, effective and low-cost method for reducing the SAR for the fetus MRI at 3 T

Calculating the Mean Amplitude of Glycemic Excursions from Continuous Glucose Data Using an Open-Code Programmable Algorithm Based on the Integer Nonlinear Method

The mean amplitude of glycemic excursions (MAGE) is an essential index for glycemic variability assessment, which is treated as a key reference for blood glucose controlling at clinic. However, the traditional “ruler and pencil” manual method for the calculation of MAGE is time-consuming and prone to error due to the huge data size, making the development of robust computer-aided program an urgent requirement. Although several software products are available instead of manual calculation, poor agreement among them is reported. Therefore, more studies are required in this field. In this paper, we developed a mathematical algorithm based on integer nonlinear programming. Following the proposed mathematical method, an open-code computer program named MAGECAA v1.0 was developed and validated. The results of the statistical analysis indicated that the developed program was robust compared to the manual method. The agreement among the developed program and currently available popular software is satisfied, indicating that the worry about the disagreement among different software products is not necessary. The open-code programmable algorithm is an extra resource for those peers who are interested in the related study on methodology in the future

Indications of magnetic coupling effects in spin cross-over molecular thin films

Room temperature isothermal reversible spin crossover switching of [Fe(H2B(pz)2)2(bipy)] thin films is demonstrated. The magnetic oxide substrate locks the [Fe{H2B(pz)2}2(bipy)] largely in a low spin state. With an X-ray fluence, excitation to a high spin state occurs, while relaxation back to low spin state is aided by alternating the substrate magnetization. Includes supplementary materials

A Novel Design Method of Uniformity Energy Distribution Lens for Miniscopes

Objective: Calcium imaging is an essential tool for obtaining neuroactivities to understand the complex function of the brain. The one-photon miniscope, the most widely used endoscope in neuroscience, is employed to record neuronal calcium activities in vivo. However, the current half ball lens overlooks the energy distribution in the brain field, resulting in non-uniform fluorescence imaging and the omission of important signals, leading to misunderstanding in brain science. The main flaw in the existing lens is the lack of controlled energy distribution, where the center fluorescence is much stronger than the edge area, causing the fluorescence noisy background to overlap with numerous neuron signals. To address this issue, we propose a novel approach to simplify the optical path by setting a medial target. By combining the Ray Mapping Method and Energy Feedback Method, we design and optimize the lens based on the energy mapping mesh. Simulation results demonstrate a 2.1-fold enhancement in energy distribution uniformity in the brain field compared to the original half-ball lens, with edge neurons receiving 6.95 times more energy. This novel design is theoretically proved to be an innovative improvement of the one-photon miniscope method, being a potential breakthrough of this mainstream method lasting more than ten years

Spiral Gradient Coil Design for Use in Cylindrical MRI Systems

In Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), the stream function-based method is commonly used in the design of gradient coils. However, this method can be prone to errors associated with the discretization of continuous current density and wire connections. In this work, we propose a novel gradient coil design scheme that works directly in the wire space, avoiding the system errors that may appear in the stream function approaches. Specifically, the gradient coil pattern is described with dedicated spiral functions adjusted to allow the coil to produce the required field gradients in the imaging area, minimal stray field and other engineering terms. The performance of a designed spiral gradient coil was compared with its stream-function counterpart. The numerical evaluation shows that when compared with the conventional solution, the inductance and resistance was reduced by 20.9% and 10.5%, respectively. The overall coil performance (evaluated by the Figure of Merit (FoM)) was improved up to 26.5% for the x-gradient coil design; for the z-gradient coil design, the inductance and resistance were reduced by 15.1% and 6.7% respectively, and the FoM was increased by 17.7%. In addition, by directly controlling the wire distributions, the spiral gradient coil design was much sparser than conventional coils

Nonoxidative Coupling of Methane to Produce C₂ Hydrocarbons on FLPs of an Albite Surface

The characteristics of active sites on the surface of albite were theoretically analyzed by density functional theory, and the activation of the C-H bond of methane using an albite catalyst and the reaction mechanism of preparing C2 hydrocarbons by nonoxidative coupling were studied. There are two frustrated Lewis pairs (FLPs) on the (001) and (010) surfaces of albite; they can dissociate H2 under mild conditions and show high activity for the activation of methane C-H bonds. CH4 molecules can undergo direct dissociative adsorption on the (010) surface, whereas a 50.07 kJ/mol activation barrier is needed on the (001) surface. The prepared albite catalyst has a double combination function of the (001) and (010) surfaces; these surfaces produce a spillover phenomenon in the process of CH4 activation reactions, where CH3 overflows from the (001) surface with CH3 adsorbed on the (010) surface to achieve nonoxidative high efficiently C-C coupling with an activation energy of 18.51 kJ/mol. At the same time, this spillover phenomenon inhibits deep dehydrogenation, which is conducive to the selectivity of the C2 hydrocarbons. The experimental results confirm that the selectivity of the C2 hydrocarbons is maintained above 99% in the temperature range of 873 K to 1173 K

Numerical experiments on the contrast capability of magnetic resonance electrical property tomography

Purpose: Magnetic resonance electrical property tomography (MR EPT) is a technique for non-invasively obtaining the electric property (EP) distribution of biological tissues, with a promising potential for application in the early detection of tumors. However, the contrast capability (CC) of this technique has not been fully studied. This work aims to theoretically explore the CC for detecting the variation of EP values and the size of the imaging region.Methods: A simulation scheme was specifically designed to evaluate the CC of MR EPT. The simulation study has the advantage that the magnetic field can be accurately obtained. EP maps of the designed phantom embedded with target regions of designated various sizes and EPs were reconstructed using the homogeneous Helmholtz equation based on B with different signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs). The CC was estimated by determining the smallest detectable EP contrast when the target region size was as large as the Laplacian kernel and the smallest detectable target region size when the EP contrast was the same as the difference between healthy and malignant tissues in the brain, based on the reconstructed EP maps.Results: Using noise free B, the smallest detectable contrast and contrast were 1% and 3%, respectively, and the smallest detectable target region size was 1 mesh unit (the base unit size used in the simulation) for conductivity and relative permittivity. The smallest detectable EP contrast and target region size were decreased as the B SNR increased.Conclusion: The CC of MR EPT was related with the SNR of the magnetic field. A small EP contrast and size were necessary for detection at a high-SNR magnetic field. Obtaining a high-SNR magnetic field is important for improving the CC of MR EPT

Ejin Oasis Land Use and Vegetation Change between 2000 and 2011: The Role of the Ecological Water Diversion Project

Ejin Oasis, located in the lower reaches of the Heihe River Basin (HRB), has experienced severe ecosystem decline between the 1960s and 1990s. In response, the Chinese Government implemented the Ecological Water Diversion Project (EWDP) in 2000. To evaluate the effects of the EWDP, this study monitored changes in land use and vegetation in the Ejin Oasis since 2000 and examined driving factors behind such changes. Results demonstrated that the Ejin Oasis ecosystem generally improved between 2000 and 2011. Water body area significantly increased. Lake area of once dried-up Sogo Nuur increased to 45 km2. Accordingly, vegetation cover restoration has also significantly increased. For example, the Seasonally Integrated Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (SINDVI) has shown that 31.18% of the entire study area experienced an increase in vegetation area. On the other hand, even though the EWDP has been successful in driving vegetation recovery and lake restoration, farmland reclamation has counteracted such restoration initiatives. Farmland area almost doubled between 2000 and 2011. Thus, farmland expansion management is necessary for the full restoration of the Ejin Oasis ecosystems as well as HRB sustainable development. The results of this study can provide a reference for the management of the HRB