1,720,965 research outputs found
An improved asymmetric gradient coil design for high-resolution MRI head imaging
No full textFor head magnetic resonance imaging, local gradient coils are often used to achieve high solution images. To accommodate the human head and shoulder, the head gradient coils are usually designed in an asymmetric configuration, allowing the region-of-uniformity (ROU) close to the coil's patient end. However, the asymmetric configuration leads to technical difficulties in maintaining a high gradient performance for the insertable head coil with very limited space. In this work, we present a practical design configuration of an asymmetric insertable gradient head coil offering an improved performance. In the proposed design, at the patient end, the primary and secondary coils are connected using an additional radial surface, thus allowing the coil conductors distributed on the flange to ensure an improvement in the coil performance. At the service end, the primary and shielding coils are not connected, to permit access to shim trays, cooling system piping, cabling, and so on. The new designs are compared with conventional coil configurations and the simulation results show that, with a similar field quality in the ROU, the proposed coil pattern has improved construction characteristics (open service end, well-distributed wire pattern) and offers a better coil performance (lower inductance, higher efficiency, etc) than conventional head coil configurations
Mitigation of Intra-coil Eddy Currents in Split Gradient Coils in a Hybrid MRI-LINAC System
No full textObjective: The aim of this study is to mitigate intra-gradient coil eddy currents in a hybrid MRI-LINAC system. Methods: The tracks of the gradient coils are modified by cutting slits along the current flow direction. The electromagnetic model developed was first experimentally validated and then used to study the impacts of the slit conductors on the energized and surrounding coils. In this study, gradient coils were slit with different numbers of sub-Tracks and driven by a current with frequencies ranging from 100 Hz to 10 kHz. The proposed configuration was assessed by evaluating a number of system parameters, such as the gradient magnetic field, the power loss generated in the surrounding unenergized coil (hereafter referred to as passive coils), and the performance of the energized coil. Results: It was found that at a typical operating frequency of 1 kHz and compared with a conventional (no cut) split coil structure, the new coil pattern (with four slits) offered improved coil parameters. 1) The average power loss dissipated in the surrounding passive coil was significantly reduced by 85%, 2) the cuts largely reduced the secondary field generated by the eddy currents in the passive coil, which was reduced to about 4% of that produced by the uncut coil and, 3) the performance of the energized coil with slit tracks was significantly improved. Some typical gradient coil parameters, such as the figure of merit, efficiency (η), and \eta ^{2}/R (where η is the efficiency and R is the resistance), were improved by 8.0%, 11.9%, and 45.7%, respectively. Conclusion and Significance: The new slit coil structure is effective in mitigating intra-coil eddy current effects, which is an important issue in the MRI-LINAC system
Intra-coil interactions in split gradient coils in a hybrid MRI-LINAC system
No full textAn MRI–LINAC system combines a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system with a medical linear accelerator (LINAC) to provide image-guided radiotherapy for targeting tumors in real-time. In an MRI–LINAC system, a set of split gradient coils is employed to produce orthogonal gradient fields for spatial signal encoding. Owing to this unconventional gradient configuration, eddy currents induced by switching gradient coils on and off may be of particular concern. It is expected that strong intra-coil interactions in the set will be present due to the constrained return paths, leading to potential degradation of the gradient field linearity and image distortion. In this study, a series of gradient coils with different track widths have been designed and analyzed to investigate the electromagnetic interactions between coils in a split gradient set. A driving current, with frequencies from 100 Hz to 10 kHz, was applied to study the inductive coupling effects with respect to conductor geometry and operating frequency. It was found that the eddy currents induced in the un-energized coils (hereby-referred to as passive coils) positively correlated with track width and frequency. The magnetic field induced by the eddy currents in the passive coils with wide tracks was several times larger than that induced by eddy currents in the cold shield of cryostat. The power loss in the passive coils increased with the track width. Therefore, intra-coil interactions should be included in the coil design and analysis process
Mixed-dimensional elements in transient thermal analysis of gradient coils
No full textThis article proposes a numerical formulation for handling mixed-dimensional elements embedded in a standard three-dimensional (3d) mesh, avoiding thus the volume meshing of filaments and strips. The method is then applied to predict the temperature heating and cooling profile of gradient coils in magnetic resonance imaging. These coils are typically constructed from copper wires or tracks and embedded in an epoxy layer. It was found that the new method significantly reduces the computational time of steady-state and transient simulations, with speedups in the range of 3.5-5. The method proved to be accurate, with relative errors below 0.5% for steady-state simulations and 1.5% with respect to a complete 3d simulation
Coupled magnetothermal analysis of gradient coils in MRI scanners
No full textThis paper describes the coupled electromagnetic-thermal analysis of gradient coils for magnetic resonance imaging. This application deserves special attention because the eddy-current analysis of gradient coils is usually performed using filamentary and shell elements, while thermal analysis requires volume elements. This paper aims to present a seamless method to couple the mixed-element discretizations (1D, 2D, and 3D) and to project the outputs of eddy currents simulation into the corresponding thermal sources. Special attention is devoted to the management of closed domains within the integral shell element formulation
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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