Simulating Medical Imaging X-Ray Tubes with Various Parameters Using BEAMnrc Monte Carlo Software

Context: Medical imaging has a wide range of applications in today’s society. Basic projectional radiography, CT scans, mammograms and a range of other advanced technologies all use x-rays to create a large number of examinations every day across the world. The most essential component of such medical equipment is the x-ray tube, which creates and produces x-rays. Objective: We describe and investigate an abstract model-geometry of a simple x-ray tube utilizing the open-source software package of BEAMnrc of the EGSnrcmp family, which is well validated by several studies over the years, for high and low energy photons generation. Methodology: Our research focuses on two different electron beam energies: 120 keV and 30 keV. The 120 keV is the typical energy for simple projectional radiographic exams and CT examinations, whereas the 30 keV is the typical energy of mammography. Results: Two different anode materials are used for each case, Gold (Au) and Tungsten (W) for 120 keV because these are the most common in projectional radiography and CT;Molybdenum (Mo) and Rhodium (Rh) for 30 keV because with these targets most mammography exams are carried out. The aim of this work is to show how the BEAMnrc software package can simulate effectively x-ray generation of low-energy photons which are utilized in modern medical imaging procedures. We describe useful information on anode-target characteristics, such as anode angle, anode material, and metal filter materials, based on previous quality studies even by using software other than BEAMnrc. Conclusion: We demonstrate that BEAMnrc can be efficiently used for Monte Carlo modeling of low-energy photons.

Improvements to conventional X-ray tube-based cone-beam computed tomography system

Conventional X-ray tube-based cone-beam computed tomography(CX-CBCT) systems have great potential in industrial applications. Such systems can rapidly obtain a three-dimensional(3D) image of an object.Conventional X-ray tubes fulfill the requirements for industrial applications, because of their high tube voltage and power. Continuous improvements have been made to CX-CBCT systems, such as imaging time shortening,acquisition strategy optimization, and imaging software development, etc. In this study, a CX-CBCT system is developed. Additionally, some improvements to the CX-CBCT system are proposed based on the hardware conditions of the X-ray tube and detector. A near-detector(ND)geometry condition is employed to obtain a sharper image and larger detection area. An improved acquisition strategy is proposed to simplify operations and reduce total imaging time. In the ND geometry condition, a simplified method called FBP slice stacking(SS-FBP) is proposed, which can be applied to 3D image reconstruction. SS-FBP is timesaving relative to traditional methods. Furthermore, imaging software for the CX-CBCT system is developed in the MATLAB environment. Several imaging experiments were performed. The results suggest that the CX-CBCT system works properly, and that the above improvements are feasible and practical.

Effects of Tube Voltage on Phase-Contrast Imaging for Different Microfocus X-Ray Tubes

In the past decade, phase-contrast imaging (PCI) has become a hot research with an increased improvement of the image contrast with respect to conventional absorption radiography. In this paper, effects of tube voltage (kVp) on propagation-based phase-contrast imaging have been investigated with two types of microfocus x-ray tubes, a conventional sealed x-ray tube with the focal spot size of 13 - 20 μm and an open x-ray tube with minimum focal spot size less than 2 μm. A cooled x-ray CCD detector with the pixel size of 24 μm was used to acquire digital images. Two thin plastic sheets with different thickness were used as radiography phantoms. Two different phenomena were observed for the two x-ray tubes. For the open tube, phase-contrast effect has a slight drop with the increasing of tube voltage, however, it is opposite for the sealed tube. A further investigation indicates that the variation of focal spot size causes the abnormal result for the sealed tube. It also shows that phase-contrast effect is more sensitive to focal spot size than tube voltage.

Light-controlled pulsed x-ray tube with photocathode

Unstable mechanical structure,low energy efficiency,and cooling requirements limit the application of conventional x-ray tubes based on filament as cathode in several academic areas.In this paper,we demonstrate a light-controlled pulsed x-ray tube using multialkali cathode as electron generator.The photocathode active area of the light controlled x-ray tube is 13.2 cm^(2)(41 mm in diameter),which provides high photoelectron-emitting efficiency up to 0.288 mA/lm in 460-nm LED and 2.37-mA maximum tube current.Furthermore,the modulation ability from 1 kHz to 100 kHz of the x-ray tube is tested.The results suggest that the light-controlled pulsed x-ray tube has easy modulation and short x-ray pulse properties and is promising to be the next generation x-ray tube with wide applications in medical radiation therapy as well as the calibration for detectors and scintillators.

A novel X-ray tube spectra reconstruction method based on transmission measurements

A novel X-ray tube spectrum reconstruction method has been proposed based on transmission measurements. Aluminum bars of varying lengths attenuate the X-rays to different levels. The detectors are of lutetium yttrium oxyorthosilicate scintillator and silicon photomultiplier. With the detected X-ray intensities, the X-ray spectrum is unfolded using the least square method. The detectors, aluminum bars, and collimating apertures are integrated in a detection module made of lead. Its response to X-ray is calculated by Monte Carlo codes Geant4. Due to the high photon flux, the detectors work in current mode.The electronics system, consisting of 24-bit high-precision ADCs with 144 KSPS sampling rate and field programmable gate array, makes the data acquisition process effective and precise. Measurements on a 70-k Vp tungsten anode X-ray were taken to verify the method. The unfolded spectrum agrees well with the simulated spectrum,demonstrating that the method is reliable and practical.

Tuberculosis Diagnosis and Visualization with a Large Vietnamese X-Ray Image Dataset

Tuberculosis is a dangerous disease to human life,and we need a lot of attempts to stop and reverse it.Significantly,in theCOVID-19 pandemic,access to medical services for tuberculosis has become very difficult.The late detection of tuberculosis could lead to danger to patient health,even death.Vietnamis one of the countries heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic,andmany residential areas as well as hospitals have to be isolated for a long time.Reality demands a fast and effective tuberculosis diagnosis solution to deal with the difficulty of accessingmedical services,such as an automatic tuberculosis diagnosis system.In our study,aiming to build that system,we were interested in the tuberculosis diagnosis problem from the chest X-ray images of Vietnamese patients.The chest X-ray image is an important data type to diagnose tuberculosis,and it has also received a lot of attention from deep learning researchers.This paper proposed a novel method for tuberculosis diagnosis and visualization using the deeplearning approach with a large Vietnamese X-ray image dataset.In detail,we designed our custom convolutional neural network for the X-ray image classification task and then analyzed the predicted result to provide visualization as a heat-map.To prove the performance of our network model,we conducted several experiments to compare it to another study and also to evaluate it with the dataset of this research.To support the implementation,we built a specific annotation system for tuberculosis under the requirements of radiologists in the Vietnam National Lung Hospital.A large experiment dataset was also from this hospital,and most of this data was for training the convolutional neural network model.The experiment results were evaluated regarding sensitivity,specificity,and accuracy.We achieved high scores with a training accuracy score of 0.99,and the testing specificity and sensitivity scores were over 0.9.Based on the X-ray image classification result,we visualize prediction results as heat-maps and also analyze them in comparison with annotated symptoms of radiologists.

Investigation of bubbles escape behavior from low basicity mold flux for high-Mn high-Al steels using 3D X-ray microscope

During the continuous casting process of high-Mn high-Al steels,various types of gases such as Ar need to escape through the top of the mold.In which,the behavior of bubbles traversing the liquid slag serves as a restrictive link,closely associated with viscosity and the thickness of liquid slag.In contrast to two-dimensional surface observation,three-dimensional(3D)analysis method can offer a more intuitive,accurate,and comprehensive information.Therefore,this study employs a 3D X-ray microscope(3D-XRM)to obtained spatial distribution and 3D morphological characteristics of residual bubbles in mold flux under different basicity of liquid slag,different temperatures,and different holding times.The results indicate that as basicity of slag increases from 0.52 to 1.03,temperature increases from 1423 to 1573 K,the viscosity of slag decreases,the floating rate of bubbles increases.In addition,when holding time increases from 10 to 30 s,the bubbles floating distance increases,and the volume fraction and average equivalent sphere diameter of the bubbles solidified in the mold flux gradually decreases.In one word,increasing the basicity,temperature,and holding time leading to an increase in the removal rate of bubbles especially for the large.These findings of bubbles escape behavior provide valuable insights into optimizing low basicity mold flux for high-Mn high-Al steels.

Experimental research on the feature of an x-ray Talbot–Lau interferometer versus tube accelerating voltage

X-ray Talbot-Lau interferometer has been used most widely to perform x-ray phase-contrast imaging with a con- ventional low-brilliance x-ray source, and it yields high-sensitivity phase and dark-field images of samples producing low absorption contrast, thus beating tremendous potential for future clinical diagnosis. In this work, by changing the accel- erating voltage of the x-ray tube from 35 kV to 45 kV, x-ray phase-contrast imaging of a test sample is performed at each integer value of the accelerating voltage to investigate the characteristic of an x-ray Talbot-Lau interferometer （located in the Institute of Multidisciplinary Research for Advanced Materials, Tohoku University, Japan） versus tube voltage. Ex- perimental results and data analysis show that within a range this x-ray Talbot-Lau interferometer is not sensitive to the accelerating voltage of the tube with a constant fringe visibility of ~ 44%. This x-ray Talbot-Lau interferometer research demonstrates the feasibility of a new dual energy phase-contrast x-ray imaging strategy and the possibility to collect a refraction spectrum.

Detecting Tuberculosis from Vietnamese X-Ray Imaging Using Transfer Learning Approach

Deep learning created a sharp rise in the development of autonomous image recognition systems,especially in the case of the medical field.Among lung problems,tuberculosis,caused by a bacterium called Mycobacterium tuberculosis,is a dangerous disease because of its infection and damage.When an infected person coughs or sneezes,tiny droplets can bring pathogens to others through inhaling.Tuberculosis mainly damages the lungs,but it also affects any part of the body.Moreover,during the period of the COVID-19(coronavirus disease 2019)pandemic,the access to tuberculosis diagnosis and treatment has become more difficult,so early and simple detection of tuberculosis has been more and more important.In our study,we focused on tuberculosis diagnosis by using the chestX-ray image,the essential input for the radiologist’s profession,and researched the effectiveness of the transfer learning approach in the case study of Vietnamese chest X-ray images.We proposed four strategies to clarify our hypothesis in different ways of applying transfer learning and different training set types.We also prepared a Vietnamese X-ray image dataset with the support of the VRPACS team to provide the basis for training and testing deep learning models.Our experiments were carried out by applying three different architectures,Alexnet,Resnet,and Densenet,on international,Vietnamese,and combined X-ray image datasets.After training,all models were verified on a pure Vietnamese X-rays set.The results show that transfer learning is suitable in the case study of Vietnamese chest X-ray images with high evaluating metrics in terms of AUC(Area under the Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve),sensitivity,specificity,and accuracy.In the best strategy,most of the scores were more than 0.93,and all AUCs were more than 0.98.

M^(3)Res-Transformer:新冠肺炎胸部X-ray图像识别模型

新冠肺炎(COVID-19)自爆发以来严重影响人类生命健康,近年来残差神经网络广泛应用于COVID-19识别任务中,辅助医生快速地诊断COVID-19患者,但是COVID-19图像病变区域形状复杂、大小不一,与周围组织的边界模糊,导致网络难以提取有效特征.本文针对上述问题,提出一种M^(3)Res-Transformer的新冠肺炎胸部X-ray图像识别模型,采用Res-Transformer作为模型的主干网络,结合ResNet和ViT,有效地整合局部病变特征和全局特征;设计混合残差注意力模块(mixed residual attention Module,mraM),同时考虑通道和空间位置的相互依赖性,增强网络的特征表达能力;为了增大感受野,提取多尺度特征,通过叠加具有不同扩张率的扩张卷积构造多尺度扩张残差模块(multiscale dilated residual Module,mdrM),根据不同层次特征尺度的差异,使用3个逐渐收缩尺度的mdrM进行多尺度特征提取;提出上下文交叉感知模块(contextual cross-awareness Module,ccaM),使用深层特征中的语义信息来引导浅层特征,然后将浅层特征中的空间信息嵌入深层特征中,采用交叉加权注意力机制高效聚合深层和浅层特征,获得更丰富的上下文信息.为了验证本文所提模型的有效性,在新冠肺炎胸部X-ray图像数据集上进行实验,与先进的CNN分类模型、融合不同注意力机制的ResNet50模型、基于Transformer的分类模型对比以及消融实验.结果表明,本文所提模型的Acc、Pre、Rec、F1-Score与Spe指标分别为96.33%、96.36%、96.33%、96.35%与96.26%,在COVID-19胸部X-ray图像识别任务中有效提升了识别精度,并通过可视化方法对其进行进一步验证,为COVID-19的辅助诊断提供重要的参考价值.

X-ray在鱼体组织及微量元素检测中的应用

鱼类硬质组织物,特别是骨骼支持鱼体和保护其体内器官的组织,对其进行特征检测分析是研究鱼类游泳运动、鱼类解剖、鱼体建模等的数据基础。随着X-ray技术的发展和国产设备的广泛应用,其仪器设备成本明显降低,使得X-ray在渔业研究与自动化生产中的应用成为可能。首先介绍了X-ray技术的基本原理与其在鱼体组织检测中的应用,X-ray技术在鱼体组织及微量元素检测中的应用主要分为鱼类组织器官的无损检测和鱼体微量元素检测两部分,其中分别介绍了包括照相法、数字成像法、衍射技术和吸收光谱法等X-ray技术;然后综述其在鱼体组织器官建模、鱼骨检测、鱼类化石研究、鱼耳石分析和鱼体微量元素检测方面的应用,总结了Xray在渔业领域应用中存在的问题;最后对X-ray的渔业应用方向进行展望。

Global hybrid simulations of soft X-ray emissions in the Earth’s magnetosheath

Earth’s magnetopause is a thin boundary separating the shocked solar wind plasma from the magnetospheric plasmas,and it is also the boundary of the solar wind energy transport to the magnetosphere.Soft X-ray imaging allows investigation of the large-scale magnetopause by providing a two-dimensional(2-D)global view from a satellite.By performing 3-D global hybrid-particle-in-cell(hybrid-PIC)simulations,we obtain soft X-ray images of Earth’s magnetopause under different solar wind conditions,such as different plasma densities and directions of the southward interplanetary magnetic field.In all cases,magnetic reconnection occurs at low latitude magnetopause.The soft X-ray images observed by a hypothetical satellite are shown,with all of the following identified:the boundary of the magnetopause,the cusps,and the magnetosheath.Local X-ray emissivity in the magnetosheath is characterized by large amplitude fluctuations(up to 160%);however,the maximum line-of-sight-integrated X-ray intensity matches the tangent directions of the magnetopause well,indicating that these fluctuations have limited impact on identifying the magnetopause boundary in the X-ray images.Moreover,the magnetopause boundary can be identified using multiple viewing geometries.We also find that solar wind conditions have little effect on the magnetopause identification.The Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer(SMILE)mission will provide X-ray images of the magnetopause for the first time,and our global hybrid-PIC simulation results can help better understand the 2-D X-ray images of the magnetopause from a 3-D perspective,with particle kinetic effects considered.

The Soft X-ray Imager(SXI)on the SMILE Mission

The Soft X-ray Imager(SXI)is part of the scientific payload of the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer(SMILE)mission.SMILE is a joint science mission between the European Space Agency(ESA)and the Chinese Academy of Sciences(CAS)and is due for launch in 2025.SXI is a compact X-ray telescope with a wide field-of-view(FOV)capable of encompassing large portions of Earth’s magnetosphere from the vantage point of the SMILE orbit.SXI is sensitive to the soft X-rays produced by the Solar Wind Charge eXchange(SWCX)process produced when heavy ions of solar wind origin interact with neutral particles in Earth’s exosphere.SWCX provides a mechanism for boundary detection within the magnetosphere,such as the position of Earth’s magnetopause,because the solar wind heavy ions have a very low density in regions of closed magnetic field lines.The sensitivity of the SXI is such that it can potentially track movements of the magnetopause on timescales of a few minutes and the orbit of SMILE will enable such movements to be tracked for segments lasting many hours.SXI is led by the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom(UK)with collaborating organisations on hardware,software and science support within the UK,Europe,China and the United States.

Two methods for separating the magnetospheric solar wind charge exchange soft X-ray emission from the diffuse X-ray background

Solar wind charge exchange(SWCX)is the process of solar wind high-valence ions exchanging charges with neutral components and generating soft X-rays.Recently,detecting the SWCX emission from the magnetosphere is proposed as a new technique to study the magnetosphere using panoramic soft X-ray imaging.To better prepare for the data analysis of upcoming magnetospheric soft X-ray imaging missions,this paper compares the magnetospheric SWCX emission obtained by two methods in an XMM-Newton observation,during which the solar wind changed dramatically.The two methods differ in the data used to fit the diffuse X-ray background(DXB)parameters in spectral analysis.The method adding data from the ROSAT All-Sky Survey(RASS)is called the RASS method.The method using the quiet observation data is called the Quiet method,where quiet observations usually refer to observations made by the same satellite with the same target but under weaker solar wind conditions.Results show that the spectral compositions of magnetospheric SWCX emission obtained by the two methods are very similar,and the changes in intensity over time are highly consistent,although the intensity obtained by the RASS method is about 2.68±0.56 keV cm^(-2)s^(-1)sr^(-1)higher than that obtained by the Quiet method.Since the DXB intensity obtained by the RASS method is about 2.84±0.74 keV cm^(-2)s^(-1)sr^(-1)lower than that obtained by the Quiet method,and the linear correlation coefficient between the difference of SWCX and DXB obtained by the two methods in diffe rent energy band is close to-1,the diffe rences in magnetospheric SWCX can be fully attributed to the diffe rences in the fitted DXB.The difference between the two methods is most significant when the energy is less than 0.7 keV,which is also the main energy band of SWCX emission.In addition,the difference between the two methods is not related to the SWCX intensity and,to some extent,to solar wind conditions,because SWCX intensity typically va ries with the solar wind.In summary,both methods are robust and reliable,and should be considered based on the best available options.

Exploring battery material failure mechanisms through synchrotron X-ray characterization techniques

Rechargeable battery cycling performance and related safety have been persistent concerns.It is crucial to decipher the capacity fading induced by electrode material failure via a range of techniques.Among these,synchrotron-based X-ray techniques with high flux and brightness play a key role in understanding degradation mechanisms.In this comprehensive review,we summarize recent advancements in degra-dation modes and mechanisms that were revealed by synchrotron X-ray methodologies.Subsequently,an overview of X-ray absorption spectroscopy and X-ray scattering techniques is introduced for charac-terizing failure phenomena at local coordination atomic environment and long-range order crystal struc-ture scale,respectively.At last,we envision the future of exploring material failure mechanism.

Finding the magnetopause location using soft X-ray observations and a statistical inverse method

Variability in the location and shape of the dayside magnetopause is attributed to magnetic reconnection,a fundamental process that enables the transfer of mass,energy,and momentum from the solar wind into the magnetosphere.The spatial and temporal properties of the magnetopause,under varying solar and magnetospheric conditions,remain largely unknown because empirical studies using in-situ observations are challenging to interpret.Global wide field-of-view(FOV)imaging is the only means to simultaneously observe the spatial distribution of the plasma properties over the vast dayside magnetospheric region and,subsequently,quantify the energy transport from the interplanetary medium into the terrestrial magnetosphere.Two upcoming missions,ESA/CAS SMILE and NASA’s LEXI will provide wide-field imagery of the dayside magnetosheath in soft X-rays,an emission generated by charge exchange interactions between high charge-state heavy ions of solar wind origin and exospheric neutral atoms.High-cadence two-dimensional observations of the magnetosheath will allow the estimation of dynamic properties of its inner boundary,the magnetopause,and enable studies of its response to changes in the solar wind dynamic pressure and interplanetary magnetic field orientation.This work introduces a statistically-based estimation approach based on inverse theory to estimate the spatial distribution of magnetosheath soft X-ray emissivities and,with this,identify the location of the magnetopause over the Sun−Earth line.To do so,we simulate the magnetosheath structure using the MHD-based OpenGGCM model and generate synthetic soft X-ray images using LEXI’s orbit and attitude information.Our results show that 3-D estimations using the described statistically-based technique are robust against Poisson-distributed shot noise inherent to soft X-ray images.Also,our proposed methodology shows that the accuracy of both three-dimensional(3-D)estimation and the magnetopause standoff distance calculation highly depends on the observational point.

Estimating the subsolar magnetopause position from soft X-ray images using a low-pass image filter

The Lunar Environment heliospheric X-ray Imager(LEXI)and Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer(SMILE)missions will image the Earth’s dayside magneto pause and cusps in soft X-rays after their respective launches in the near future,to specify glo bal magnetic reconnection modes for varying solar wind conditions.To suppo rt the success of these scientific missions,it is critical to develop techniques that extract the magnetopause locations from the observed soft X-ray images.In this research,we introduce a new geometric equation that calculates the subsolar magnetopause position(RS)from a satellite position,the look direction of the instrument,and the angle at which the X-ray emission is maximized.Two assumptions are used in this method:(1)The look direction where soft X-ray emissions are maximized lies tangent to the magnetopause,and(2)the magnetopause surface near the subsolar point is almost spherical and thus RSis nea rly equal to the radius of the magneto pause curvature.We create synthetic soft X-ray images by using the Open Geospace General Circulation Model(OpenGGCM)global magnetohydrodynamic model,the galactic background,the instrument point spread function,and Poisson noise.We then apply the fast Fourier transform and Gaussian low-pass filte rs to the synthetic images to re move noise and obtain accurate look angles for the soft X-ray pea ks.From the filte red images,we calculate RS and its accuracy for different LEXI locations,look directions,and solar wind densities by using the OpenGGCM subsolar magnetopause location as ground truth.Our method estimates RS with an accuracy of<0.3 RE when the solar wind density exceeds>10 cm-3.The accuracy improves for greater solar wind densities and during southward interplanetary magnetic fields.The method ca ptures the magnetopause motion during southwa rd interplaneta ry magnetic field turnings.Consequently,the technique will enable quantitative analysis of the magnetopause motion and help reveal the dayside reconnection modes for dynamic solar wind conditions.This technique will suppo rt the LEXI and SMILE missions in achieving their scientific o bjectives.

SMILE soft X-ray Imager flight model CCD370 pre-flight device characterisation

Throughout the SMILE mission the satellite will be bombarded by radiation which gradually damages the focal plane devices and degrades their performance.In order to understand the changes of the CCD370s within the soft X-ray Imager,an initial characterisation of the devices has been carried out to give a baseline performance level.Three CCDs have been characterised,the two flight devices and the flight spa re.This has been carried out at the Open University in a bespo ke cleanroom measure ment facility.The results show that there is a cluster of bright pixels in the flight spa re which increases in size with tempe rature.However at the nominal ope rating tempe rature(-120℃) it is within the procure ment specifications.Overall,the devices meet the specifications when ope rating at -120℃ in 6 × 6 binned frame transfer science mode.The se rial charge transfer inefficiency degrades with temperature in full frame mode.However any charge losses are recovered when binning/frame transfer is implemented.

Solar wind ion charge state distributions and compound cross sections for solar wind charge exchange X-ray emission

Solar Wind Charge eXchange X-ray(SWCX) emission in the heliosphere and Ea rth’s exosphere is a hard to avoid signal in soft Xray obse rvations of astrophysical targets.On the other hand,the X-ray imaging possibilities offered by the SWCX process has led to an increasing number of future dedicated space missions for investigating the solar wind-terrestrial inte ractions and magnetospheric interfaces.In both cases,accurate modelling of the SWCX emission is key to correctly interpret its signal,and remove it from obse rvations,when needed.In this paper,we compile solar wind abundance measurements from ACE for different solar wind types,and atomic data from literature,including charge exchange cross-sections and emission probabilities,used fo r calculating the compound cross-section a for the SWCX X-ray emission.We calculate a values for charge-exchange with H and He,relevant to soft X-ray energy bands(0.1-2.0 keV)for various solar wind types and solar cycle conditions.

Biomedical X-ray Imaging Enabled by Carbon Nanotube X-ray Sources

Although discovered more than 100 years ago, X-ray source technology has evolved rather slowly. The recent invention of the carbon nanotube （CNT） X-ray source technology holds great promise to revolutionize the field of biomedical X-ray imaging. CNT X-ray sources have been successfully adapted to several biomedical imaging applications including dynamic rnicro-CT of small animals and stationary breast tomosynthesis of breast cancers. Yet their more irnportant biomedical imaging applications still lie ahead in the future, with the devel- oprnent of stationary rnulti-source CT as a noteworthy exarnple.