Yes / Scaphoid radiography has poor sensitivity for acute fracture detection and often requires repeat delayed imaging. Although magnetic resonance (MR) imaging is considered the gold standard, computed tomography (CT) is often used as an alternative due to ease of access. Cone-Beam CT (CBCT) offers equivalent diagnostic efficacy to Multi Slice CT (MSCT) at reduced dose. We aimed to establish the difference in scattered dose between modalities for scaphoid imaging. Methods: Anatomical regional entrance surface dose measurements were taken at 3 regions on an anthropomorphic torso phantom positioned as a patient to a wrist phantom undergoing scaphoid imaging for three modalities (CBCT, MSCT, four-view projection radiography). Exposure factors were based on audit of clinical exposures. Each dose measurement was repeated three times per anatomical region, modality, exposure setting and projection. Results: Under unpaired T-test CBCT gave significantly lower mean dose at the neck (1.64 vs 18 mGy), chest (2.78 vs 8.01) and abdomen (1.288 vs 2.93) than MSCT (p

ITC/USA 2005 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-First Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 24-27, 2005 / Riviera Hotel & Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / Background and advantages of GPS based Remote Sensing are introduced, characteristics of forward scattered GPS signal such as polarization change, cross-correlation power variation, code delay due to the wave travel distance difference between direct and scattered signal, and cross-correlation power expansion due to sea surface roughness are discussed in detail. Working principle of the self-developed delay-mapping receiver is also presented. First data collection campaign is done at Inshore of BOHAI ocean with the delay-mapping receiver mounted on an airplane. Results show that the reflected signals has much variation than the direct signals, the code delay of the reflected signals varies as the receiver height and satellite elevation angle changes and expansion of the cross-correlation due to the wind driven surface was also demonstrated.

This thesis investigated whether a food-storing mammal, the eastern grey squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis), uses social cognitive skills in relation to its caching behaviour and explored whether social cognition really is a specialized adaptation that differs from other cognition by examining how social and non-social learning differ. The influence of social factors on the natural caching behaviour of wild squirrels was studied in the field and the effects of conspecific presence on specific aspects of caching behaviour (learning, memory and recovery) were investigated by testing captive squirrels in the laboratory on social learning and one-trial learning tasks. The squirrels were found to be able to learn by observing a conspecific and learned to make a logical choice more readily than an illogical one. They showed no such bias in a comparable non-social task. They responded flexibly to the presence of conspecifics both in the wild and in the laboratory but the results can be interpreted in terms of responses to observable cues rather than as evidence of higher cognitive skills. In total, this thesis suggests that squirrels use unsophisticated social cognitive strategies in relation to their caching but, the difference found in learning under social and non-social conditions suggests that, although not a highly social species, grey squirrels are particularly prepared to form certain associations with social cues. This offers some support to the theory that factors other than social complexity may lead to the development of the ability to process social information highly effectively.

X-ray imaging exams are widely used procedures in medical diagnosis. Whenever an x-ray imaging procedure is performed, it is accompanied by scattered radiation. Scatter is a significant contributor to the degradation of image quality in breast CT. This work uses our understanding of the physics of Compton scattering to overcome the reduction in image quality that typically results from scattered radiation. By measuring the energy of the scattered photons at various locations about the object, an electron density (ρe) image of the object can be obtained. This work investigates a system modeled using a 2D cross-sectional view of a breast CT geometry. The ρe images can be obtained using filtered backprojection over isogonic curves. If the detector has ideal energy and spatial resolution, a single projection will enable a high quality image to be reconstructed. However, these ideal characteristics cannot be achieved in practice and as the detector size and energy resolution diverge from the ideal, the image quality degrades. To compensate for the realistic detector specifications a multi-projection Compton scatter tomography (MPCST) approach was introduced. In this approach an x-ray source and an array of energy sensitive photon counting detectors located just outside the edge of the incident fan-beam, rotate around the object while acquiring scattering data. The ρe image quality is affected by the size of the detector, the energy resolution of the detector and the number of projections. These parameters, their tradeoffs and the methods for the image quality improvement were investigated. The work has shown that increasing the energy and spatial resolution of the detector improves the spatial resolution of the reconstructed ρe image. These changes in the size and energy resolution result in an increase in the noise. Thus optimizing the image quality becomes a tradeoff between blurring and noise. We established that a suitable balance is achieved with a 500 eV energy resolution and 2×2 mm2 detector. We have also established that using a multi-projection approach can offset the increase in the noise.

Copy of author's previously published article inserted. / Bibliography: p. 221-228. / xii, 228 p. : ill. ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Discusses the work done by the author to upgrade the Buckland Park VHF stratosphere-troposphere radar, verify the data from the new system, plan and run new experiments, and analyse the resultant data in order to study the scattering and aspect sensitivity of the troposphere. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Physics and Mathematical Physics, 1998

Abstract From the very beginning of modern ionospheric science, different radar applications have been utilised in ionospheric measurements. The most sophisticated ionospheric radars are the incoherent scatter radars, which detect the extremely weak scattering of radio waves from thermal fluctuations in the ionospheric plasma. Besides the low signal level, the stochastic nature of the scattering process causes further complications to the measurements. The scattering produces a zero-mean random signal, whose autocorrelation function contains the information of the ionospheric plasma parameters. Incoherent scatter radars have been used for about half a century, but the demanding task of developing transmission modulation and data analysis is still in progress. In this thesis, a statistical inversion based method for removing range ambiguities from the autocorrelation functions, lag profile inversion, is applied to incoherent scatter radar data. The data have been recorded with the EISCAT incoherent scatter radars, located in Northern Fennoscandia. The method is first applied to standard EISCAT experiments, the results giving strong evidence that the method is applicable for the purpose, and it provides results of at least equal quality with the present standard methods. In subsequent studies, new radar modulation methods are developed, which may provide significant improvements to the present incoherent scatter radar experiments. All the methods have been tested with a real radar, and lag profile inversion has been successfully applied to the recorded data. The methods are also put to use in order to measure the predicted effects of artificial heating of the free electrons in the D-region of the ionosphere.

Scattering effects from rough surfaces are non-paraxial diffraction phenomena resulting from random phase variations in the reflected wavefront. The ability to predict these effects is important in a variety of applications including x-ray and EUV imaging, the design of stray light rejection systems, and reflection modeling for rendering realistic scenes and animations of physical objects in computer graphics. Rayleigh-Rice (small perturbation method) and Beckmann-Kirchoff (Kirchhoff approximation) theories are commonly used to predict surface scatter effects. In addition, Harvey and Shack developed a linear systems formulation of surface scatter phenomena in which the scattering behavior is characterized by a surface transfer function. This treatment provided insight and understanding not readily gleaned from the two previous theories, and has been incorporated into a variety of computer software packages (ASAP, Zemax, Tracepro). However, smooth surface and paraxial approximations have severely limited the range of applicability of each of the above theoretical treatments. In this dissertation, a linear systems formulation of non-paraxial scalar diffraction theory is first developed and then applied to sinusoidal phase gratings, resulting in diffraction efficiency predictions far more accurate than those provided by classical scalar theories. The application of the theory to these gratings was motivated by the fact that rough surfaces are frequently modeled as a superposition of sinusoidal surfaces of different amplitudes, periods, and orientations. The application of the non-paraxial scalar diffraction theory to surface scatter phenomena resulted first in a modified Beckmann-Kirchhoff surface scattering model, then a generalized Harvey-Shack theory, both of which produce accurate results for rougher surfaces than the Rayleigh-Rice theory and for larger incident and scattering angles than the classical Beckmann-Kirchhoff theory. These new developments enable the analysis and simplify the understanding of wide-angle scattering behavior from rough surfaces illuminated at large incident angles. In addition, they provide an improved BRDF (Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function) model, particularly for the smooth surface inverse scattering problem of determining surface power spectral density (PSD) curves from BRDF measurements.

<p> Following the introduction to the field of lasers and the theories of laser oscillations in the light output, it is pointed out that calculations involving existing theories yield oscillation periods in excess of the period observed for our crystal. To account for this disagreement, the thesis proposes the inclusion of the additional loss terms of scatter and diffraction augmenting the transmission loss. The theory of Birnbaum Stocker and Welles (BSWl) is extended to include these additional loss mechan- isms and the oscillation period predicted, using the mea- sured values of these parameters is in good agreement with the. observed oscillation period. </p> / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

No description available.

Yes / Hair follicles (HFs) are immersed within dermal white adipose tissue (dWAT), yet human adipocyte-HF communication remains unexplored. Therefore, we investigated how perifollicular adipocytes affect the physiology of organ-cultured human anagen scalp HFs. Quantitative (immuno-)histomorphometry, microCT and transmission electron microscopy showed that the number and size of perifollicular adipocytes declined during anagen-catagen transition, whilst fluorescence lifetime imaging revealed increased lipid oxidation in adipocytes surrounding the bulge/sub-bulge region. Ex vivo, dWAT significantly stimulated hair matrix keratinocyte proliferation and HF pigmentation. Both dWAT pericytes and PREF1/DLK1+ adipocyte progenitors secreted hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) during human HF-dWAT co-culture, for which the c-Met receptor is expressed in the hair matrix and dermal papilla. These effects were abrogated by an HGF-neutralising antibody, and reproduced using recombinant HGF. Laser capture microdissection-based microarray analysis of the hair matrix showed that dWAT-derived HGF up-regulated KRT27, KRT73, KRT75, KRT84, KRT86 and TCHH. Mechanistically, HGF stimulated Wnt/β-catenin activity in the HM by inhibiting SFRP1 in the dermal papilla, up-regulating matrix AXIN2, LEF1, WNT6 and WNT10B expression. Our study demonstrates that dWAT regulates human hair growth and pigmentation via HGF secretion, and thus identifies important, molecular and cellular targets for therapeutic intervention in disorders of human hair growth and pigmentation.