Objectives: Small field of view gamma detection and imaging technologies for monitoring in vivo tracer uptake are rapidly expanding and being introduced for bed-side imaging and image guided surgical procedures. The Hybrid Gamma Camera (HGC) has been developed to enhance the localization of targeted radiopharmaceuticals during surgical procedures; for example in sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsies and for bed-side imaging in procedures such as lacrimal drainage imaging and thyroid scanning. In this study, a prototype anthropomorphic head and neck phantom has been designed, constructed, and evaluated using representative modelled medical scenarios to study the capability of the HGC to detect SLNs and image small organs. Methods: An anthropomorphic head and neck phantom has been designed to mimic the adult head and neck including some internal organs and tissues of interest, such as the thyroid gland and sentinel lymph nodes. The design of the head and neck phantom included an adjustable inner jig holding the simulated SLNs and thyroid gland. The simulated thyroid gland was designed and 3D printed taking into consideration the size and the shape of a healthy adult thyroid gland. The inner sealed space of the thyroid was filled with 15MBq of 99mTc through two upper filling valves. Sealed micro-tubes (0.2ml) have been employed to simulate SLNs containing various 99mTc activity concentrations ranging between 0.1MBq and 1MBq, and can be positioned at any desired place in the head and neck region. An active background was simulated through mixing 10MBq of 99mTc solution with the water used to fill the outer shell of the head and neck phantom. Results: The head and neck phantom was employed to simulate a situation where there are four SLNs distributed at two different vertical levels and at two depths within the neck. Contrast to noise ratio (CNR) calculations were performed for the detected SLNs at an 80mm distance between both pinhole collimators (i.e. 0.5mm and 1.0mm diameters) and the surface of the head and neck phantom with a 100s acquisition time. The recorded CNR values for the simulated SLNs are higher when the HGC was fitted with the 1.0mm diameter pinhole collimator. For instance, the recorded CNR values for the superficially simulated SLN containing 0.1MBq of 99mTc using 0.5mm and 1.0mm diameter pinhole collimators are 6.48 and 16.42, respectively (~87% difference). The anatomical context provided by the hybrid imaging aided the localization process of radioactivity accumulation in simulated SLNs. Gamma and hybrid optical images were acquired using the HGC with both available pinhole collimators for the simulated thyroid gland. The thyroid images produced varied in terms of spatial resolution and detectability. The count profiles through the middle of the simulated thyroid gland images provided by both pinhole collimators were obtained. The HGC could clearly differentiate the individual peaks of both thyroid lobes in the gamma image produced by the 0.5mm pinhole collimator. In contrast, the recorded count profile for the acquired image using the 1.0mm diameter pinhole collimator showed broader peaks for both lobes, reflecting the degradation of the spatial resolution with increasing the diameter of the pinhole collimator. Conclusion: The capability of the HGC has been evaluated utilizing a prototype anthropomorphic head and neck phantom, and the gamma and hybrid images obtained demonstrate that it is ideally suited for intraoperative SLNs detection and small organ imaging. The standardization of test phantoms and protocols for SFOV portable gamma systems will provide an opportunity to collect data across various medical centers and research groups. Moreover, it will provide a technical baseline for researchers and clinical practitioners to consider when assessing their SFOV gamma imaging systems. The anthropomorphic head and neck phantom described is cost effective, reproducible, flexible and anatomically representative.
A novel demountable shear connector for precast steel‐concrete composite bridges is presented. The connector uses high‐strength steel bolts, which are fastened to the top flange of the steel beam with the aid of a special locking nut configuration that prevents slip of bolts within their holes. Moreover, the connector promotes accelerated construction and overcomes typical construction tolerances issues of precast structures. Most importantly, the connector allows bridge disassembly, and therefore, can address different bridge deterioration scenarios with minimum disturbance to traffic flow, i.e. (i) precast deck panels can be rapidly uplifted and replaced; (ii) connectors can be rapidly removed and replaced; and (iii) steel beams can b
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The control of prostheses and their complexities is one of the greatest challenges limiting wide amputees’ use of upper limb prostheses. The main challenges include the difficulty of extracting signals for controlling the prostheses, limited number of degrees of freedom (DoF), and cost-prohibitive for complex controlling systems. In this study, a real-time hybrid control system, based on electromyography (EMG) and voice commands (VC) is designed to render the prosthesis more dexterous with the ability to accomplish amputee’s daily activities proficiently. The voice and EMG systems were combined in three proposed hybrid strategies, each strategy had different number of movements depending on the combination protocol between voic
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The study was carried out by reinforcing the resin matrix material
which was (Epoxy- Ep828) by useing Kevlar fibers and glass fibers type (E-gl ass) both or them in the form of woven roving and poly propylene tlbcrs in the form chopped strand mats. wi th (30%) volume fraction. Some mechan i cal properties of the were prepared composite specimens U ltraviolet radiation were stuied after being subjected to different weathering conditi ons i ncluded. Compression and hardness testing were carried out using Briel! method so as to compare between composite behavior i n the environments previously mentioned .
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Fuzzy numbers are used in various fields such as fuzzy process methods, decision control theory, problems involving decision making, and systematic reasoning. Fuzzy systems, including fuzzy set theory. In this paper, pentagonal fuzzy variables (PFV) are used to formulate linear programming problems (LPP). Here, we will concentrate on an approach to addressing these issues that uses the simplex technique (SM). Linear programming problems (LPP) and linear programming problems (LPP) with pentagonal fuzzy numbers (PFN) are the two basic categories into which we divide these issues. The focus of this paper is to find the optimal solution (OS) for LPP with PFN on the objective function (OF) and right-hand side. New ranking f
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Obesity is an escalating health problem in developing countries. One to ten children worldwide are overweight in a report showed by the International Obesity Task Force. Ghrelin, orexigenic peptide, has 28 amino acids, it is considered the greatest remarkable promotion in the last two decades for understanding the physiological changes of action regulating food intake and hunger. Obestatin is a 23-amino acid peptide nearly connected to ghrelin that secures from substitutio
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In this paper, we will illustrate a gamma regression model assuming that the dependent variable (Y) is a gamma distribution and that it's mean ( ) is related through a linear predictor with link function which is identity link function g(μ) = μ. It also contains the shape parameter which is not constant and depends on the linear predictor and with link function which is the log link and we will estimate the parameters of gamma regression by using two estimation methods which are The Maximum Likelihood and the Bayesian and a comparison between these methods by using the standard comparison of average squares of error (MSE), where the two methods were applied to real da
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Education specialists have differed about determining the best ways to detect the
talented. Since the appearance of the mental and psychological measurement movement, some
scholars adopted intelligence ratios as a criterion to identify the talented and others went to
rely on the degree of academic achievement. Each of these two methods has its own flaws and
mistakes and a large number of talented children were victims of these two methods.
Therefore the need to use other scales for the purpose of detection of talented children
appeared because they provide valuable information which may not be obtained easily
through objective tests and these scales are derived from consecutive studies of gifted andtalented children
The research aimed to identify the effects of the modern of technology on translating the media term from English language to Arabic. and try to identify the use of the impact of foreign media terminologies on the Arabic media term, and to know the effect of the translation process on Arabic media terminologies.
This research is considered an analytical study by using survey study for 111 items and the results for the study as following:
1.High percentage of the (use of foreign terms work to low the level of production) was (68.13%) and average 3.55
2.The percentage of (The multiplicity of translation of the foreign term into Arabic effects on the opinions and cognitive ideas of the Arab researcher and affects the
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