Phantom materials for single point imaging pulse sequences

The popularity of pure phase encode MRI techniques, including single point imaging (SPI), is steadily increasing, particularly in instances where the samples of interest are solid-like, or for other reasons possess short effective transverse relaxation times, T2*. As the interest in these techniques grows, so too does the need for a phantom material which is representative of this class of samples. The characteristics of such a phantom should include chemical and physical stability, straightforward preparation, high signal to noise ratio and relaxation times which are both easily manipulated and representative. To this end, we have developed a gelatin/sucrose-based gel which addresses the above criteria and behaves as a very flexible short T2* phantom. An order of magnitude variation in T1 and T2 can be achieved over a reasonable range of sucrose concentration. Even larger changes can be achieved with the addition of further doping agents.     

Adaptive k-space sampling design for edge-enhanced DCE-MRI using compressed sensing

The critical challenge in dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) is the trade-off between spatial and temporal resolution due to the limited availability of acquisition time. To address this, it is imperative to under-sample k-space and to develop specific reconstruction techniques. Our proposed method reconstructs high-quality images from under-sampled dynamic k-space data by proposing two main improvements; i) design of an adaptive k-space sampling lattice and ii) edge-enhanced reconstruction technique. A high-resolution data set obtained before the start of the dynamic phase is utilized. The sampling pattern is designed to adapt to the nature of k-space energy distribution obtained from the static high-resolution data. For image reconstruction, the well-known compressed sensing-based total variation (TV) minimization constrained reconstruction scheme is utilized by incorporating the gradient information obtained from the static high-resolution data. The proposed method is tested on seven real dynamic time series consisting of 2 breast data sets and 5 abdomen data sets spanning 1196 images in all. For data availability of only 10%, performance improvement is seen across various quality metrics. Average improvements in Universal Image Quality Index and Structural Similarity Index Metric of up to 28% and 24% on breast data and about 17% and 9% on abdomen data, respectively, are obtained for the proposed method as against the baseline TV reconstruction with variable density random sampling pattern.     

Cardiac-induced physiological noise in 3D gradient echo brain imaging: effect of k-space sampling scheme

The physiological noise in 3D image acquisition is shown to depend strongly on the sampling scheme. Five sampling schemes are considered: Linear, Centric, Segmented, Random and Tuned. Tuned acquisition means that data acquisition at k-space positions k and -k are separated with a specific time interval. We model physiological noise as a periodic temporal oscillation with arbitrary spatial amplitude in the physical object and develop a general framework to describe how this is rendered in the reconstructed image. Reconstructed noise can be decomposed in one component that is in phase with the signal (parallel) and one that is 90° out of phase (orthogonal). Only the former has a significant influence on the magnitude of the signal. The study focuses on fMRI using 3D EPI. Each k-space plane is acquired in a single shot in a time much shorter than the period of the physiological noise. The above mentioned sampling schemes are applied in the slow k-space direction and noise propagates almost exclusively in this direction. The problem then, is effectively one-dimensional. Numerical simulations and analytical expressions are presented. 3D noise measurements and 2D measurements with high temporal resolution are conducted. The measurements are performed under breath-hold to isolate the effect of cardiac-induced pulsatile motion. We compare the time-course stability of the sampling schemes and the extent to which noise propagates from a localized source into other parts of the imaging volume. Tuned and Linear acquisitions perform better than Centric, Segmented and Random.     

Quantitative single point imaging with compressed sensing

A novel approach with respect to single point imaging (SPI), compressed sensing, is presented here that is shown to significantly reduce the loss of accuracy of reconstructed images from under-sampled acquisition data. SPI complements compressed sensing extremely well as it allows unconstrained selection of sampling trajectories. Dynamic processes featuring short NMR signal can thus be more rapidly imaged, in our case the absorption of moisture by a cereal-based wafer material, with minimal loss of image quantification. The absolute moisture content distribution is recovered via a series of images acquired with variable phase encoding times allowing extrapolation to time zero for each image pixel and the effective removal of contrast.     

MR imaging of teeth using a silent single point imaging technique

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of teeth is an emerging application area which is still in development. Previous investigations did not fully focus on potential in vivo applications. Using ¹H and ³¹P MRI, we obtained ex vivo microimages of teeth with a silent single point imaging (SPI) technique. ¹H Images with an in-plane resolution of 310×310 μm² were obtained. Utilizing sine-shaped gradient ramps significantly reduced the sound pressure level of the experiment to that of background noise. ¹H magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) was used to characterize the major components in the observed resonance. The spin–spin (T₂) relaxation times of water in enamel and dentin differed by at least one order of magnitude. Three-dimensional surface reconstruction of the data allowed for complete visualization of the tooth’s surface while volume reconstruction displayed the internal geometry. PACS 82.56.Na; 83.85.Fg; 87.61.-c; 87.19.-j; 43.50.Cb     

微弱光信号瞬态布里渊放大器的最佳工作点

为提高瞬态布里渊放大器的工作性能,利用包含噪声的瞬态布里渊放大理论模型数值模拟了放大器的信噪比、灵敏度、能量转换效率及信号放大率随指数增益系数G的变化规律,获得了放大器的最佳工作点G_opt.采用倍频Nd:YAG脉冲激光器,以CS₂和FC-72为非线性介质进行了实验验证.结果表明,抽运光脉冲相对于信号光脉冲延迟脉冲宽度的一半进入放大器时,G_opt可设在介质受激布里渊散射阈值增益G_th之上.对于共线型布里渊放大结构,G_opt为Gth的1.1—1.3倍;对于非共线型结构,G_opt可超过G_th1.3倍,实现近饱和放大.     

Distortion-free single point imaging of multi-layered composite sandwich panel structures

The results of a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) investigation concerning the effects of an aluminum honeycomb sandwich panel on the B1 and B0 fields and on subsequent image quality are presented. Although the sandwich panel structure, representative of an aircraft composite material, distorts B0 and attenuates B1, distortion-free imaging is possible using single point (constant time) imaging techniques. A new expression is derived for the error caused by gradient field distortion due to the heterogeneous magnetic susceptibility within a sample and this error is shown not to cause geometric distortion in the image. The origin of the B0 distortion in the sample under investigation was also examined. The graphite-epoxy 'skin' of the panel is the principal source of the B0 distortion. Successful imaging of these structures sets the stage for the development of methods for detecting moisture ingress and degradation within composite sandwich structures.     

Rapid passive MR catheter visualization for endovascular therapy using nonsymmetric truncated k-space sampling strategies

Passive catheter tracking guidance by MRI is a promising approach for endovascular therapy that may have several clinical advantages over the more frequently employed active MR approaches. However, real-time MR passive tracking is problematic because it is difficult to have an image update rate >1 Hz and preserve adequate spatial and image contrast resolution. One solution for improving real-time temporal performance is the use of nonsymmetric truncated k-space sampling strategies, which acquire only a fraction of the data in both the readout and phase-encoding directions. This article investigated these acquisition strategies in combination with using (a) multicycle projection dephaser (mcPD) gradients for background suppression and (b) the projection-onto-convex sets (POCS) algorithm to reconstruct the images. The use of mcPD gradients allowed the data sampling strategies to exploit the k-space energy structure of the catheter, and POCS allowed reconstruction of high-quality MR images that were suitable for real-time passive catheter tracking and demonstrated improved geometric representations of catheter width and tip position compared to zero filling. The use of nonsymmetric truncated k-space reduced the total acquisition time.     

Reducing ghosting due to k-space discontinuities in fast spin echo (FSE) imaging by a new combination of k-space ordering and parallel imaging

In multi-echo imaging sequences like fast spin echo (FSE), the point spread function (PSF) in the phase encoding direction contains significant secondary peaks (sidebands). This is due to discontinuities in adjacent k-space data obtained at different echo times caused by T₂ decay, and leads to ghosting and hence reduced image quality. Recently, utilising multiple coils for signal reception has become the standard configuration for MR systems due to the additional flexibility that parallel imaging (PI) methods can provide. PI methods generally obtain more data than is required to reconstruct an image. Here, this redundancy in information is exploited to reduce discontinuity-related ghosting in FSE imaging. Adjacent phase encoded k-space lines are acquired at different echo times alternately in the regions of discontinuity (called ‘feathering’). This moves the resulting ghost artefacts to the edges of the field of view. This property of the ghost then makes them amenable to removal using PI methods. With ‘feathered’ array coil data it is possible to reconstruct data over the region of the discontinuity from both echo times. By combining this data, a significant reduction in ghosting can be achieved. We show this approach to be effective through simulated and acquired MRI data.     

Identification of structural systems with full characteristic matrices under single point excitation

The aim of “System Identification” is to determine modal and system properties of structural systems. This is while in “Damage Detection”, the identification of system characteristic matrices is as important as or even more important than the identification of frequency characteristics. Because of various constraints – i.e. difficulties in force excitation of structures due to their large size, geometry, and location – in practice only single excitation and partial measurement, at selected degrees of freedom, is possible. In this paper, a single dynamic load was applied to identify a structural system only along one of the degrees of freedom of the structure. Further, responses corresponding to a few degrees of freedom were also measured. To identify a system with this sort of restricted information, a new approach was introduced enabling identification of the structure?s parameters of mass, damping and stiffness. Taking into account the significant effect of noise reduction in improving system identification accuracy levels, a noise reduction technique was also proposed. The accuracy of the method was also assessed against noise level and location of single excitation. It was shown that as noise level increases, identification errors will also increase (less than 3.5 percent). It was further observed that applying single force at the first storey of the flexural structure would yield the lowest error levels in the identification results. Later, the method?s efficiency and precision were examined through the application of a “closed loop solution” to a six-storey flexural structure, and a four-span Pratt truss. The obtained results showed that the proposed method could act as an effective model in identification of system properties.     

Application of single point imaging (SPI) to solid state materials.

Single Point Imaging (SPI) is a 3D phase encoding MRI method proposed by S. Emid and J.H.N. Creyghton [1] to study solid state materials with a very short T(2) value (>50 micros). In this short communication experimental results of SPI applications to various industrial important solid materials, such as porosity of chocolate samples, connectivity of micro-channels in earth samples, etc. are reported.     

Importance sampling for randomly excited dynamical systems

An importance sampling technique for linear and non-linear dynamical systems subjected to random excitations is presented. Applying a transformation of probability measures, controls are introduced in the system of Itô stochastic differential equations such that the sample trajectories can be influenced in a predetermined way. As is shown, there exist controls resulting in unbiased zero-variance estimators. However, these optimal controls are in general not accessible and have to be replaced by sub-optimal ones derived from an optimization procedure analogous to the first order reliability method known from time-invariant problems. The efficiency of the proposed Monte Carlo simulation technique is demonstrated by estimating first-passage probabilities of typical oscillators under external white-noise excitation.     

Structured dark-field imaging for single nano-particles

In this work, we extensively describe and demonstrate the structured dark-field imaging(SDFI). SDFI is a newly proposed x-ray microscopy designed for revealing the fine features below Rayleigh resolution, in which different orders of scattered x-ray photons are collected by changing the numerical aperture of the condenser. Here, the samples of single particles are discussed to extend the scope of the SDFI technique reported in a previous work(Chen J, Gao K, Ge X, et al.2013 Opt. Lett. 38 2068). In addition, the details of the newly invented algorithm are explained, which is able to calculate the intensity of any pixel on the image plane rapidly and reliably.     

Optimal measurements for general quantum systems

We give a general formulation of the theory of optimal quantum measurements, based on Gudder's [8] convex structure approaches to axiomatic quantum mechanics, which includes the case of Holevo's formulation [14] and operational quantum mechanics [3]. Simple and general conditions for existence of Bayes optimal measurements are obtained by a method without operator valued measure techniques. For this purpose, a representation of convex prestructures and a characterization of a class of loss functions are obtained. Finally, an application of the results to Wald's theory of statistical decision functions is shown.     

基于成像光谱仪的Sagnac干涉仪的优化设计

为了满足仪器的轻量化设计要求,研究了成像光谱仪系统中Sagnac干涉仪的优化设计方法,讨论仪器轻量化设计中干涉仪尺寸与系统前置望远镜倍率的制约关系,通过将Sagnac干涉仪展开为平板玻璃的方法对干涉仪的结构和光路进行分析,根据几何关系推导出Sagnac干涉仪几何尺寸与入射干涉仪的光束孔径和视场角的关系表达式,通过该关系式可以求出干涉仪的尺寸极值和对应的系统前置望远镜倍率大小。以某短波红外光谱仪为例,运用推导出的关系式,计算并给出了优化设计结果。     

不确定动态混沌系统的最优控制

对于混沌系统的控制问题,考虑到控制系统能量限制的要求,首先确立一个二次目标函数,然后给出了求解最优控制律的一个简单方法,该方法通过求解线性二次最优控制问题,获得了混沌系统的最优控制律,避免了求解非线性Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman 偏微分方程(HJB方程)的困难.利用Lyapunov方法证明了闭环系统的稳定性.对统一混沌系统和Liu混沌系统的仿真结果表明了控制策略的有效性.     

不确定动态混沌系统的最优控制

对于混沌系统的控制问题,考虑到控制系统能量限制的要求,首先确立一个二次目标函数,然后给出了求解最优控制律的一个简单方法,该方法通过求解线性二次最优控制问题,获得了混沌系统的最优控制律,避免了求解非线性Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman偏微分方程(HJB方程)的困难.利用Lyapunov方法证明了闭环系统的稳定性.对统一混沌系统和Liu混沌系统的仿真结果表明了控制策略的有效性.