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Carbon paper is commonly used to fabricate electrodes for batteries, and its morphology is crucial to the internal mass transport. In this work, geometric models of carbon paper are obtained by experimental and numerical reconstruction methods. The micromorphology of the carbon paper is obtained with a scanning electron microscope and an X-ray computed tomography scanner, and the binary slicing method is used in the experimental reconstruction method. Three different methods are used for numerical reconstruction, namely the layered 2D fibre, 3D fibre stacking and layered 3D fibre stacking methods. The structure and characteristic parameters of the carbon paper, such as pore size distribution, dimensionless specific surface area, effective diffusion coefficient and anisotropic coefficient, are statistically analysed for comparison. The dimensionless effective diffusion coefficients of Li+ in different directions in the electrolyte-filled carbon paper are obtained using lattice Boltzmann method. Results show that the internal structural features directly affect mass transport. The curves of the calculated effective diffusivity versus porosity are well fitted using a power function similar to Bruggeman equation within the porosity range of 0.66–0.86. The anisotropic coefficient is obtained from the effective diffusion coefficient in different directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ultrasound practice is a longstanding tradition for radiology departments, being part of the family of imaging techniques. Ultrasound is widely practiced by non-radiologists but becoming less popular within radiology. The position of ultrasound in radiology is reviewed, and a possible long-term solution to manage radiologist expectations is proposed. An international group of experts in the practice of ultrasound was invited to describe the current organisation of ultrasound within the radiology departments in their own countries and comment on the interaction with non-radiologists and training arrangements. Issues related to regulation, non-medical practitioners, and training principles are detailed. A consensus view was sought from the experts regarding the position of ultrasound within radiology, with the vision of the best scenario for the continuing dominance of radiologists practising ultrasound. Comments were collated from nine different countries. Variable levels of training, practice, and interaction with non-radiologist were reported, with some countries relying on non-physician input to manage the service. All experts recognised there was a diminished desire to practice ultrasound by radiologists. Models varied from practising solely ultrasound and no other imaging techniques to radiology departments being central to the practice of ultrasound by radiologists and non-radiologist, housed within radiology. The consensus view was that the model favoured in select hospitals in Germany would be the most likely setup for ultrasound radiologist to develop and maintain practice. The vision for 20 years hence is for a central ultrasound section within radiology, headed by a trained expert radiologist, with non-radiologist using the facilities. Critical relevance statement The future of ultrasound within the radiology department should encompass all ultrasound users, with radiologists expert in ultrasound, managing the ultrasound section within the radiology department. The current radiology trainees must learn of the importance of ultrasound as a component of the 'holistic' imaging of the patient. Key points: 1. Ultrasound imaging within radiology departments precedes the introduction of CT and MR imaging and was first used over 50 years ago. 2. Non-radiology practitioners deploy ultrasound examinations to either 'problem solve' or perform a comprehensive ultrasound examination; radiologists provide comprehensive examinations or use ultrasound to direct interventional procedures. 3. Radiology does not 'own' ultrasound, but radiologists are best placed to offer a comprehensive patient-focused imaging assessment. 4. A vision of the future of ultrasound within the radiology department is encompassing all ultrasound users under radiologists who are experts in ultrasound, positioned within the radiology department. 5. The current radiology trainee must be aware of the importance of ultrasound as a component of the 'holistic' imaging of the patient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent morphological data on human brain development are quite fragmentary. However, they are highly requested for a number of medical practices, educational programs, and fundamental research in the fields of embryology, cytology and histology, neurology, physiology, path anatomy, neonatology, and others. This paper provides the initial information on the new online Human Prenatal Brain Development Atlas (HBDA). The Atlas will start with forebrain annotated hemisphere maps, based on human fetal brain serial sections at the different stages of prenatal ontogenesis. Spatiotemporal changes in the regional-specific immunophenotype profiles will also be demonstrated on virtual serial sections. The HBDA can serve as a reference database for the neurological research, which provides opportunity to compare the data obtained by noninvasive techniques, such as neurosonography, X-ray computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging, functional magnetic resonance imaging, 3D high-resolution phase-contrast computed tomography visualization techniques, as well as spatial transcriptomics data. It could also become a database for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of individual variability in the human brain. Systemized data on the mechanisms and pathways of prenatal human glio- and neurogenesis could also contribute to the search for new therapy methods for a large spectrum of neurological pathologies, including neurodegenerative and cancer diseases. The preliminary data are now accessible on the special HBDA website. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nasal endoscopy is not only used for the diagnosis of chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP), but also for monitoring the response to therapy playing an important role in both daily practice and research. In contrast to patient‐reported outcomes, endoscopic nasal polyp scoring by independent blinded readers is an objective measurement, not influenced by the placebo effect. It is safer and cheaper compared with computed tomography imaging and therefore, better suited for regular assessments of the extent of the disease. Since the early 90s, a variety of endoscopic staging methods have been proposed and used in clinical research, making it hard to compare results from different studies. This paper resulted from a task force with experts in the field of CRSwNP, originated by the Ear, Nose and Throat section of the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology and aims to provide a unified endoscopic NP scoring system that can serve as a reference standard for researchers, but also as a useful tool for practitioners involved in the management of CRSwNP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Diaphragmatic hernia (DH) presenting acutely can be a potentially life-threatening condition. Its management continues to be debatable. Methods: A bibliographic search using major databases was performed using the terms "emergency surgery" "diaphragmatic hernia," "traumatic diaphragmatic rupture" and "congenital diaphragmatic hernia." GRADE methodology was used to evaluate the evidence and give recommendations. Results: CT scan of the chest and abdomen is the diagnostic gold standard to evaluate complicated DH. Appropriate preoperative assessment and prompt surgical intervention are important for a clinical success. Complicated DH repair is best performed via the use of biological and bioabsorbable meshes which have proven to reduce recurrence. The laparoscopic approach is the preferred technique in hemodynamically stable patients without significant comorbidities because it facilitates early diagnosis of small diaphragmatic injuries from traumatic wounds in the thoraco-abdominal area and reduces postoperative complications. Open surgery should be reserved for situations when skills and equipment for laparoscopy are not available, where exploratory laparotomy is needed, or if the patient is hemodynamically unstable. Damage Control Surgery is an option in the management of critical and unstable patients. Conclusions: Complicated diaphragmatic hernia is a rare life-threatening condition. CT scan of the chest and abdomen is the gold standard for diagnosing the diaphragmatic hernia. Laparoscopic repair is the best treatment option for stable patients with complicated diaphragmatic hernias. Open repair is considered necessary in majority of unstable patients in whom Damage Control Surgery can be life-saving. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cork spot-like physiological disorder (CSPD) is a newly identified issue in 'Kurenainoyume' apples, yet its mechanism remains unclear. To investigate CSPD, we conducted morphological observations on 'Kurenainoyume' apples with and without pre-harvest fruit-bagging treatment using light-impermeable paper bags. Non-bagged fruit developed CSPD in mid-August, while no CSPD symptoms were observed in bagged fruit. The bagging treatment significantly reduced the proportion of opened lenticels, with only 17.9% in bagged fruit compared to 52.0% in non-bagged fruits. In non-bagged fruit, CSPD spots tended to increase from the lenticels, growing in size during fruit development. The cuticular thickness and cross-sectional area of fresh cells in CSPD spots were approximately 16 µm and 1600 µm², respectively. Healthy non-bagged fruit reached these values around 100 to 115 days after full bloom from mid- to late August. Microscopic and computerized tomography scanning observations revealed that many CSPD spots developed at the tips of vascular bundles. Therefore, CSPD initiation between opened lenticels and vascular bundle tips may be influenced by water stress, which is potentially caused by water loss, leading to cell death and the formation of CSPD spots. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, many works have been published proposing solutions to the problems that arose in this scenario. In this vein, one of the topics that attracted the most attention is the development of computer-based strategies to detect COVID-19 from thoracic medical imaging, such as chest X-ray (CXR) and computerized tomography scan (CT scan). By searching for works already published on this theme, we can easily find thousands of them. This is partly explained by the fact that the most severe worldwide pandemic emerged amid the technological advances recently achieved, and also considering the technical facilities to deal with the large amount of data produced in this context. Even though several of these works describe important advances, we cannot overlook the fact that others only use well-known methods and techniques without a more relevant and critical contribution. Hence, differentiating the works with the most relevant contributions is not a trivial task. The number of citations obtained by a paper is probably the most straightforward and intuitive way to verify its impact on the research community. Aiming to help researchers in this scenario, we present a review of the top-100 most cited papers in this field of investigation according to the Google Scholar search engine. We evaluate the distribution of the top-100 papers taking into account some important aspects, such as the type of medical imaging explored, learning settings, segmentation strategy, explainable artificial intelligence (XAI), and finally, the dataset and code availability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Owing to the challenge of irregular morphology, the impact of compressed carbon fiber paper (CFP) on fuel cell performance and durability is intricate. As a carbon-carbon composite, the internal contact state of CFP directly determines its mechanical and physical properties. In this paper, fiber distribution and intersection of uncompressed CFP are achieved by X-ray computed tomography. Then we established an analytical model of bulk resistance based on the electron transfer path and provided a function to describe the internal contact state with strain. The results imply that the increasing number of electron paths and the variation of the contact state are the main factors for the decrease in bulk resistance under compression. The turning points in the contact state curve divide the range of pressure into fiber contact, elastic-plastic deformation and fiber fracture region, which can be used to assess the mechanical properties of CFP and determine the optimal pressure for fuel cell assembly. [Display omitted] • Fiber distribution and intersection of uncompressed CFP is given. • The effect of contact resistance between fibers on bulk resistance is evaluated. • The structural information to electric and mechanical properties is connected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We admit, however, that fracture mechanical principles and rock physics elements behind rock fracturing and fault activation may be similar, and that the joint discussion of fracturing and faulting, therefore, has a long tradition in the rock mechanics and rock engineering community. 1 Participants of the '13th EURO-Conference on Rock Physics and Geomechanics - The Guéguen Conference' during the social event at the Winzerberg Potsdam This special issue consists of 19 scientific papers which are based on these conference contributions and all of which address different important aspects relevant to the variety of industrial applications outlined above. This special issue is dedicated to our dear colleague and friend Prof. Ove Stephansson, who was not only one of Sweden's most influential geologists, but also an enthusiastic supporter of the 13th EURO-Conference on Rock Physics and Geomechanics. Special Issue on Rock Fracturing and Fault Activation: Experiments and Models: Selected Papers Presented at the 13th EURO-Conference on Rock Physics and Geomechanics - The Guéguen Conference Held on 2-6 September 2019 in Potsdam, Germany. [Extracted from the article]

Defects, such as debonding and foreign matters in transformer insulation paperboard, lead to local field strength concentration, thereby seriously affecting the safe operation of equipment. At present, industrial X-ray computed tomography scanning technology is mostly used to detect such defects. However, the equipment is expensive, the operation is complicated, and radiation hazard exists. In this study, terahertz time domain spectroscopy is introduced to explore the nondestructive testing method of oil-paper insulation defects. Three typical insulation paperboard defects of interface debonding, metal foreign matter mixing, and local carbonization traces were taken as the research objects. An artificial defect model is prepared. The time and frequency domain waveform characteristics of terahertz pulse wave propagating in the defect model are tested and analyzed. The results show that when the thickness of insulation paperboard covering is less than 5 mm, based on the amplitude and delay characteristics of terahertz time-domain signal, the location and size of typical internal defects can be accurately obtained, and time spectrum imaging can be realized. This study proves theoretically and experimentally the feasibility of noncontact and nondestructive testing for the internal defects of insulation paperboard by using terahertz technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article announces the 10th International Symposium on Digital Industrial Radiology and Computed Tomography (DIR 2025), hosted by COFREND, CEA List, and DGZfP, focusing on promoting knowledge exchange and advancements in digital industrial radiology and computed tomography. Scientists, users, equipment suppliers, and academic and industrial participants interested in non-destructive testing (NDT)/non-destructive evaluation (NDE) applications are encouraged to attend.

With the advancement of IoT(Internet of Things), image processing is being studied in various fields. Salt and pepper(S&P) noise in image acquisition devices, such as CT(Computed Tomography), MRI(Magnetic Resonance Imaging), X-ray, and scanning equipment, may develop due to environmental and physical factors, thereby distorting the original image. Numerous studies have been conducted to remove S&P noise, but existing filters have shown significantly insufficient restoration of high-density noise, low-light, and patterned images. Therefore, this paper proposes a filter high-density and low-light noise environments and preserve the patterns properties appearing in the images. In the proposed algorithm, we design local masks transformed for high-density noise and low-light images and defined the patterns represented in the images by determining and grouping similar pixels. Different filters are applied according to the pattern of similar pixel group to preserve the geometry based on its position in the input image. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the use of X-ray computed tomography and X-ray fluorescence in the analysis and expert research of the seventeenth century printed book "Eukhologīon albo Molitoslov, ili Trebnik" from Kiev. The main purpose of the survey was to confirm whether the book binding is original or whether it is a rebinding, and whether there are any fragments of the hidden older texts. Commonly used radiography is usually not able to provide sufficient information for these purposes. On the other hand, computed tomography allows a detailed and three-dimensional documentation of the bookbinding technology and the structure of the materials used, including the wooden boards. It will be presented that all elements of the weave are clearly visible, making it possible to show that there are no internal defects in the stitching and materials. It has also been convincingly shown that there are no fragments or layers of older texts in the binding, so no further invasive intervention will be necessary regarding this aspect. The paper also demonstrates the possibility of reading the text in a closed book utilising X-ray computed tomography data; this option may be advantageous for massively damaged manuscripts. It will also be shown, that thanks to detailed tomographic imaging of the wood structure of the boards, a dendrochronological survey can be successfully carried out without invasive intervention into their outer layers. From the CT data it was also found that the pigments of the letters have significantly different densities. Therefore, as part of the survey, elemental analysis of the writing was also carried out using a portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometer to confirm and clarify this finding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historical documents are often severely damaged, making it impossible to open them manually without causing further damage. To address this challenge, computed tomography (CT) has emerged as a non-destructive method to explore the inside in a different way. However, the use of ionising radiation in CT scanning raises concerns about its impact on fragile historical documents. This study presents a methodology that uses a test object to conduct preliminary investigations to evaluate the capability of a CT scanner for digital preservation of historical documents. By assessing the feasibility and determining the setting parameters in advance, the X-ray exposure to historical documents can be minimised. For this purpose, a large dataset of inter-page distances was obtained from CT scans of a specially developed test object. The results obtained show a consistent correlation between the page-to-page distances and the derived modulation depths. This method offers great potential for assessing the separability of the pages of historical documents even before they are exposed to radiation for digitisation. Overall, this study helps to reduce the impact of X-ray radiation on sensitive historical documents during digitisation using CT, with the aim of preserving this fragile cultural heritage for future generations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An attempt is made in this paper to diagnose brain-related diseases like sarcoma, fatal stroke disease, cerebral disease, and Alzheimer's disease by using saliency information from magnetic resonance and computed tomography source images. The saliency information for each source image is computed using guided and median filters. The obtained saliency maps are used for computing the weight maps of each source image by using image statistics. The obtained weights are used to fuse the approximate and detailed layers of the source images by using the weighted average fusion technique. The proposed algorithm is simulated in MATLAB for various benchmark data sets of brains taken from the brain atlas provided by Harvard Medical School, available at https://www.med.harvard.edu/aanlib. In order to test the efficacy of the novel method, comparative analysis is performed in terms of image quality assessment metrics like mean, mutual information, average gradient, standard deviation, spatial frequency, etc. From the analysis, this paper concludes that the proposed algorithm improved gradient information in the fused image by 35.7%, entropy by 5.7%, spatial frequency by 32.7%, edge strength by 14.5%, and minimized the information loss by 43.6%. Therefore, the novel method of weight map computation produces a detailed and noise-free image, which is helpful for better diagnosis in clinical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes applying a novel deep‐learning model, TBDLNet, to recognize CT images to classify multidrug‐resistant and drug‐sensitive tuberculosis automatically. The pre‐trained ResNet50 is selected to extract features. Three randomized neural networks are used to alleviate the overfitting problem. The ensemble of three RNNs is applied to boost the robustness via majority voting. The proposed model is evaluated by five‐fold cross‐validation. Five indexes are selected in this paper, which are accuracy, sensitivity, precision, F1‐score, and specificity. The TBDLNet achieves 0.9822 accuracy, 0.9815 specificity, 0.9823 precision, 0.9829 sensitivity, and 0.9826 F1‐score, respectively. The TBDLNet is suitable for classifying multidrug‐resistant tuberculosis and drug‐sensitive tuberculosis. It can detect multidrug‐resistant pulmonary tuberculosis as early as possible, which helps to adjust the treatment plan in time and improve the treatment effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The precise detection and segmentation of tumor lesions are very important for lung cancer computer-aided diagnosis. However, in PET/CT (Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography) lung images, the lesion shapes are complex, the edges are blurred, and the sample numbers are unbalanced. To solve these problems, this paper proposes a Multi-branch Cross-scale Interactive Feature fusion Transformer model (MCIF-Transformer Mask RCNN) for PET/CT lung tumor instance segmentation, The main innovative works of this paper are as follows: Firstly, the ResNet-Transformer backbone network is used to extract global feature and local feature in lung images. The pixel dependence relationship is established in local and non-local fields to improve the model perception ability. Secondly, the Cross-scale Interactive Feature Enhancement auxiliary network is designed to provide the shallow features to the deep features, and the cross-scale interactive feature enhancement module (CIFEM) is used to enhance the attention ability of the fine-grained features. Thirdly, the Cross-scale Interactive Feature fusion FPN network (CIF-FPN) is constructed to realize bidirectional interactive fusion between deep features and shallow features, and the low-level features are enhanced in deep semantic features. Finally, 4 ablation experiments, 3 comparison experiments of detection, 3 comparison experiments of segmentation and 6 comparison experiments with two-stage and single-stage instance segmentation networks are done on PET/CT lung medical image datasets. The results showed that APdet, APseg, ARdet and ARseg indexes are improved by 5.5%, 5.15%, 3.11% and 6.79% compared with Mask RCNN (resnet50). Based on the above research, the precise detection and segmentation of the lesion region are realized in this paper. This method has positive significance for the detection of lung tumors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a growing demand for application of personalized bone implants (endoprostheses or macro-scaffolds, and fixators) which conform to the anatomy of the patient. Hence the need for a CAD procedure that enables fast and sufficiently accurate digital reconstruction of the traumatized bone geometry. Research presented in this paper addresses digital reconstruction of the femoral neck fracture. The results point out that the User-Defined (geometric) Feature (UDF) concept is the most convenient to use in digital reconstruction of numerous variants of the same topology, such as in this kind of bone region. UDF, named FemoNeck, is developed to demonstrate capability of the chosen concept. Its geometry, controlled by a dozen of parameters, can be easily shaped according to the femoral neck region anatomy of a particular patient. That kind of the CAD procedure should use a minimally required set of geometric (anatomical) parameters, which can be easily captured from X-ray or Computed Tomography (CT) images. For the statistical analysis of geometry and UDF development we used CT scans of proximal femur of 24 Caucasian female and male adults. The validation of the proposed method was done by applying it for remodeling of four femoral necks of four different proximal femurs and by comparing the geometrical congruency between the raw polygonal models gained directly from CT scan and reconstructed models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]