<p>QC 20140902</p>

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Radiation therapy, one of the most common forms of cancer treatment, is continually evolving with the introduction of new technology, more complex treatments and more advanced radiation dose calculations. To ensure the effectiveness and safety of modern radiation therapy, dose measurement tools must improve to accommodate these advances. X-ray computed tomography (CT) polymer gel dosimetry is a unique type of dosimeter that has many advantages and the potential to address some of the challenges in the verification of dose delivery and calculation in radiation therapy. This dissertation investigates the advancement of an x-ray CT polymer gel dosimetry system for use in clinical applications and in particular for deformable dose verification. The first part of this work consists of a reproducibility study of an established x-ray CT polymer gel dosimetry system in an effort to determine the accuracy and precision of dose measurements made with this system and the feasibility of interbatch and generic calibration. Gel measurements were found to have excellent agreement with Monte Carlo dose calculation when using a generic calibration curve. The excellent dosimetric and spatial accuracy established in this study suggest that this dosimetry system is ideally suited for the measurement of high-dose fractionation treatments such as stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) or stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT). The second stage was the development and characterization of the first deformable x-ray CT polymer gel dosimetry system. This study established the setup reproducibility, deformation characteristics and dose response of the new deformable system. The dose response was found to be similar to that of the non-deformable system with similar dosimetric and spatial accuracy when compared to Monte Carlo dose calculation. The system was also found to have sub-millimetre setup reproducibility and the deformable dosimeter was found to reproducibly deform and relax for external compression of up to 30 mm and over 100 consecutive compressions. This work established several important characteristics of the new deformable dosimetry system and it shows excellent potential for use in the evaluation of deformable dose accumulation algorithms. The final component of this dissertation was the use of the newly developed deformable dosimetry system in the evaluation of a novel deformable dose accumulation algorithm, defDOSXYZ. Gel measurements and defDOSXYZ showed excellent agreement in the case of a static control case and this set a benchmark for deformable dose measurements. Measurements of deformed dose by the gel dosimeter showed significant disagreement with dose deformed by defDOSXYZ and the dosimetric differences were well outside the uncertainties established in the first two studies of this dissertation. The results from this study provided some insight into potential avenues of improvement for both the deformable dose calculation and deformable dose measurements. These results were also the first example of deforming dose measured by an x-ray CT read out gel dosimetry system. Overall, the results in this dissertation represent a significant advancement in x-ray CT polymer gel dosimetry and establish its suitability for several clinical applications. / Graduate / 2019-12-06

The presence of rib fractures in deceased infants is generally considered to be highly specific of non-accidental injury, with some pathologists considering them to be evidence of abuse. Although rib fractures may occur during resuscitative efforts in adults, the general consensus is that such injuries are exceptional in infants owing to inherent plasticity within the thoracic region. The recommendation for cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) of infants since the year 2000 has been for the use of the “two-thumb” technique. However, there has been limited biomechanical investigation to what injuries may occur subsequent to this specific form of CPR. The overall aim of this thesis was to determine if two-thumb CPR can cause similar rib injuries to those seen in abusive squeezing cases. In particular, whether or not this CPR technique allows for over excessive levering of the posterior rib over the transverse process of the spine. To this end, physical experimentation simulating both two-thumb CPR and abusive squeezing was performed on an immature swine model of the infant thorax. The results of these tests did not show any significant difference in the force required to compress the thorax by one third its original anterior-posterior diameter in the two scenarios. One third being the recommended depth for CPR compressions. Fractures resultant from the testing were assessed with radiography and computed tomography, techniques commonly used by post-mortem pathologists. The type and nature of the injuries observed were remarkably similar in both scenarios. Rib injuries were primarily seen in the anterior part of the thoracic cage in both CPR and abusive specimens. The specific site of rib fracture was typically close to or within the costochondral joints. There was however an apparent absence of posterior rib fractures in the abusively tested cohort. This is in part due to the slight difference in profile of the neck and head areas within the ribs of the surrogate model. This acts to reduce the mechanical advantage offered by levering over the transverse processes of the spine. This study has shown anterior fractures of the ribs result from two-thumb CPR, challenging the long held belief that CPR cannot produce rib fractures. X-ray CT offered a significant improvement on the ability to detect costochondral junction injuries. This would offer further support to the routine use of X-ray CT in post-mortem examinations of infants where the cause of death is unknown. This has the potential to offer differential interpretation to the cause of rib injuries, especially in cases of sudden unexpected deaths in infancy, where otherwise child abuse may be diagnosed.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / The geometric and electrochemical characteristics of different lithium ion batteries (LIBs) are investigated in this study. The core work is to study the impact of the calendering process on NMC cathode electrodes performance. X-ray CT image processing by Python, MATLAB, ImageJ and Avizo is utilized in this study. NMC electrodes with different calendering conditions were fabricated to calculate electrochemical properties of the cells. Charge/discharge of the electrodes under 0.1C, 0.2C, 0.4C, 1C, 2C, 4C and 0.1C (retention test) rates were cycled for three times respectively between 4.2 V and 3.0 V. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy testing was used to further explain the effects of NMC density on rate capability. Geometric properties of NMC electrodes with different calendering conditions were calculated from the computed tomography data of the electrodes. A synchrotron transmission X-ray microscopy tomography system at the Advanced Photon Source of the Argonne National Laboratory was employed to obtain the tomography data. X-ray CT image processing before the data analysis was introduced. Python based Tomopy and ASTRA toolbox were used to filter the original HDF5 data and reconstruction. ImageJ was used to help remove noise, adjust contrast and cropping. Iso2mesh and image processing tool box were used in MATLAB to generate meshed 3D structure of CT data. Geometric properties of NMC electrodes including porosity, pore size distribution, particle size distribution, specific surface area and tortuosity were calculated from the computed tomography data of the electrodes. The geometric and electrochemical analysis show that calendering can increase the electrochemically active area, which lead to improving of the rate capability. However, more calendering will result in crushing of NMC particles, which can reduce the electrode capacity at relatively high C rates. This study shows that the optimum electrochemical performance of NMC electrode at 94:3:3 weight ratio of NMC:binder:carbon black can be achieved by calendering to 3.0 g/cm3 NMC density. LTAP solid electrolyte and NMC cathode material mix electrode-electrolyte X-ray CT data was studied in last chapter. By using 8 kev X-ray energy, we could distinguish NMC active material, LTAP solid electrolyte and the others three phase. On the basis of NMC electrode image processing method, dilation and multiply threshold method is applied to get three-phase 3D geometry. A comparing of connection area between NMC and LTAP of 700psi and 1300psi electrode was analyzed. Geometric properties like tortuosity, di_usion length and e_ective di_usivity were generated from the CT data.

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The introduction of the Enhanced Actinide Removal Plant (EARP) at Sellafield in 1994 was designed to decontaminate radioactive effluents produced during nuclear fuel reprocessing. Through the action of flocculation with iron, followed by filtration, the effluents are decontaminated before being discharging to sea. The plant has been in successful operation for the past 20 years, and has made a significant difference to the level of radioactivity of the waste. However, little is known about the formed flocs. Particular concern focuses around future changes to the effluent compositions to be processed through EARP. These future feeds will potentially contain significantly less iron, thus potentially impacting upon the flocculation process and the efficiency of the decontamination process. The effluents currently treated contain significant concentrations of iron, stemming from the Magnox fuel reprocessing plant, along with actinides, fission and corrosion products. The flocculation of these acidic radioactive ferric feeds results in the formation of solid iron hydroxide flocs with encapsulated radioactivity. The flocs are then filtered, encapsulated and stored. It is envisioned that by characterising the floc properties, both physically and chemically a greater understanding of EARP can be obtained, ultimately leading to a maintained process efficiency with alternative feed compositions. The effect of a reduction in iron concentration on the chemical and physical properties of the flocs has been studied. The presence of any iron in the mock effluents was found to beneficially increase the contaminant decontamination factors (DF). However, the efficacy of this increase varied between contaminates. The DFs of group I and II metals ranged from 7.10 to 1.19 while lead ranged from 4x105 to 1.60, dependent upon iron concentration. Transition metal and lanthanide contaminants were marginally affected. With the use of agar embedding, the 'liquid form' of the flocs has been retained for two and three dimensional observations. SEM/EDX analysis has allowed for the inspection and chemical characterisation of the flocs while 2D microscope image analysis has allowed for the study of floc size and shape. A range of diameters, 300 - 1500 micro metre were found. Three dimensional X-ray Computer Tomography (3D X-ray CT) conducted at the Manchester X-ray Imaging Facility (MXIF) has led to the physical characterisation and classification of the flocs. Further, by studying the 3D shape it has been possible to classify a floc as a granule, fibre, chip or blade according to the Zingg classification with the majority of formed flocs being classified as granules.

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Experiments involving the dissociation of artificial methane-hydrate-bearing sediments were performed using X-ray computed tomography (X-CT, 40 s scanning speed at 2 min intervals) to directly observe dissociation behavior in the sediments and the gas and water flows generated by dissociation. Dissociation by depressurization was performed using a backpressure regulator, and showed that the temperature reduction induced by depressurization depends on the phase equilibrium state of methane hydrate, and that preferential dissociation occurs along the periphery of the core. This behavior is caused by heat flux from the outside of the core, and this controls the dissociation rate. A heat exchanger was installed at one end of the core to simulate thermal stimulation, and propagation of a clear and unidirectional dissociation front was observed. Depending on the heating temperature, the dissociation rate was less than that observed for depressurization. Hot water was also injected at a constant rate from the bottom of the core, and CT images showed the movement of distinct accumulations of dissociated gas being pushed by the hot water. The gas production rate increased immediately after the gas accumulation reached the opposite end of the core where the gas and water flow out.