A clinical system for three-dimensional extended-field-of-view ultrasound.

OBJECTIVE: This work is concerned with the creation of three-dimensional (3D) extended-field-of-view ultrasound from a set of volumes acquired using a mechanically swept 3D probe. 3D volumes of ultrasound data can be registered by attaching a position sensor to the probe; this can be an inconvenience in a clinical setting. A position sensor can also cause some misalignment due to patient movement and respiratory motion. We propose a combination of three-degrees-of-freedom image registration and an unobtrusively integrated inertial sensor for measuring orientation. The aim of this research is to produce a reliable and portable ultrasound system that is able to register 3D volumes quickly, making it suitable for clinical use. METHOD: As part of a feasibility study we recruited 28 pregnant females attending for routine obstetric scans to undergo 3D extended-field-of-view ultrasound. A total of 49 data sets were recorded. Each registered data set was assessed for correct alignment of each volume by two independent observers. RESULTS: In 77-83% of the data sets more than four consecutive volumes registered. The successful registration relies on good overlap between volumes and is adversely affected by advancing gestational age and foetal movement. CONCLUSION: The development of reliable 3D extended-field-of-view ultrasound may help ultrasound practitioners to demonstrate the anatomical relation of pathology and provide a convenient way to store data.

A trapped field of 17.6 T in melt-processed, bulk Gd-Ba-Cu-O reinforced with shrink-fit steel

The ability of large-grain (RE)Ba2Cu3O7-δ ((RE)BCO; RE = rare earth) bulk superconductors to trap magnetic fields is determined by their critical current. With high trapped fields, however, bulk samples are subject to a relatively large Lorentz force, and their performance is limited primarily by their tensile strength. Consequently, sample reinforcement is the key to performance improvement in these technologically important materials. In this work, we report a trapped field of 17.6 T, the largest reported to date, in a stack of two silver-doped GdBCO superconducting bulk samples, each 25 mm in diameter, fabricated by top-seeded melt growth and reinforced with shrink-fit stainless steel. This sample preparation technique has the advantage of being relatively straightforward and inexpensive to implement, and offers the prospect of easy access to portable, high magnetic fields without any requirement for a sustaining current source. © 2014 IOP Publishing Ltd.

Analysis of the lateral displacement and optical path difference in wide-field-of-view polarization interference imaging spectrometer

The mechanism of beam splitting and principle of wide-field-of-view compensation of modified Savart polariscope in the wide-field-of-view polarization interference imaging spectrometer (WPIIS) are analyzed and discussed. Formulas for the lateral displacement and optical path difference (OPD) produced by the modified Savart polariscope are derived by ray-tracing method. The theoretical and practical guidance is thereby provided for the study, design, modulation, experiment and engineering of the polarization interference imaging spectrometers and other birefringent Fourier-transform spectrometers based on Savart polariscopes. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Optimized sinusoidal phase mask to extend the depth of field of an incoherent imaging system

Wavefront coding is a powerful technique that can be used to extend the depth of field of an incoherent imaging system. By adding a suitable phase mask to the aperture plane, the optical transfer function of a conventional imaging system can be made defocus invariant. Since 1995, when a cubic phase mask was first suggested, many kinds of phase masks have been proposed to achieve the goal of depth extension. In this Letter, a phase mask based on sinusoidal function is designed to enrich the family of phase masks. Numerical evaluation demonstrates that the proposed mask is not only less sensitive to focus errors than cubic, exponential, and modified logarithmic masks are, but it also has a smaller point-spread-function shifting effect. (C) 2010 Optical Society of America

Cubic sinusoidal phase mask: Another choice to extend the depth of field of incoherent imaging system

Wave-front coding is a well known technique used to extend the depth of field of incoherent imaging system. The core of this technique lies in the design of suitable phase masks, among which the most important one is the cubic phase mask suggested by Dowski and Cathey (1995) [1]. In this paper, we propose a new type called cubic sinusoidal phase mask which is generated by combing the cubic one and another component having the sinusoidal form. Numerical evaluations and real experimental results demonstrate that the composite phase mask is superior to the original cubic phase mask with parameters optimized and provides another choice to achieve the goal of depth extension. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A review of the effectiveness and meaningfulness of education interventions to enable children, young people and their families to self-care for their gastrostomy tubes in the community.

A systematic review of qualitative and quantitative evidence of the effectiveness and meaningfulness of education interventions to enable children, young people and their families to self-care for their gastrostomy tubes in the community

The What? and How? of education and training for information professionals in a changing world: some experiences from Wales, Slovakia and the Asia-Pacific region

Tedd, L.A. (2003). The What? and How? of education and training for information professionals in a changing world: some experiences from Wales, Slovakia and the Asia-Pacific region. Journal of Information Science, 29(1), 79-86.

Oscillations in the magnetic field of the solar corona in response to flares near the photosphere

Schrijver, C.J. and Brown, D.S., 2000, Oscillations in the magnetic field of the solar corona in response to flares near the photosphere, Astrophysical Journal, 537, L69-L72. Sponsorship: PPARC

Islamic Dress, Institutions of Education and Freedom of Religion under the ECHR: A UK perspective

Sherlock, A. and Williams, K. (2005). Islamic Dress, Institutions of Education and Freedom of Religion under the ECHR: A UK Perspective. Wales Journal of Law and Policy. 4, pp. 214-230. RAE2008

By-paths to forgotten folks; stories of real life in Baptist home mission fields, by Coe Hayne. Ed. by the Department of missionary education, Board of education of the Northern Baptist convention.

http://www.archive.org/details/bypathstoforgott00haynrich

Our west China mission : being a somewhat extensive summary by the missionaries on the field of the work during the first twenty-five years of the Canadian Methodist mission in the province of Szechwan, western China.

http://www.archive.org/details/westchinamiss00unknuoft