2388 results about "Neutron" patented technology

This invention proposes a robotic applicator device to be deployed internally to a patient having a capsule (also referred to as a cassette) and aperture with a means of alternately occluding and exposing a radioactive source through the aperture. The capsule and aperture will be integrated with a surgical robot to create a robotic IORT (intra-operative radiation therapy) applicator device as more fully described below. The capsule, radiation source, and IORT applicator arm would be integrated to enable a physician, physicist or technician to interactively internally view and select tissue for exposure to ionizing radiation in sufficient quantities to deliver therapeutic radiation doses to tissue. Via the robotic manipulation device, the physician and physicist would remotely apply radiation to not only the tissue to be exposed, but also control the length of time of the exposure. Control means would be added to identify and calculate margin and depth of tissue to be treated and the proper radiation source or radioactive isotope (which can be any particle emitter, including neutron, x-ray, alpha, beta or gamma emitter) to obtain the desired therapeutic effects. The invention enables stereotactical surgery and close confines radiation therapy adjacent to radiosensitive tissue.

Apparatus suitable for transporting and storing nuclear fuel rods comprising a basket having storage cells formed from a honeycomb gridwork of metal plates in a rectilinear configuration, the plates welded to each other at their intersections so that all contiguous corners of the storage cells formed by the gridwork are completely connected so as to allow conduction heat transfer, the metal plates having neutron absorber material positioned in areas which form walls of the storage cells. Method of making an apparatus suitable for transporting and storing nuclear fuel rods comprising a) providing metal plates having slots and having neutron absorber material positioned on sides of the metal plates, b) arranging the plates so that the slots intersect to form a honeycomb gridwork of storage cells having contiguous corners and having the neutron absorbing material on sides of the storage cells, and c) welding the plates to each other at their intersections so that all contiguous corners of the storage cells formed by the gridwork are completely connected so as to allow conduction heat transfer and to provide a rigid structure.

Devices for improving the capturing and utilization of high-energy electromagnetic radiation, for example, x-rays, gamma rays, and neutrons, for use in physical, medical, and industrial analysis and control applications are disclosed. The devices include optics having a plurality of optical crystals, for example, doubly-curved silicon or germanium crystals, arranged to optimize the capture and redirection of divergent radiation via Bragg diffraction. In one aspect, a plurality of optic crystals having varying atomic diffraction plane orientations are used to capture and focus divergent x-rays upon a target. In another aspect, a two- or three-dimensional matrix of crystals is positioned relative to an x-ray source to capture and focus divergent x-rays in three dimensions.

Described herein are integrated systems for generating neutrons to perform a variety of tasks including: on-line analysis of bulk material and industrial process control (as shown in FIG. 1), security interrogation (as shown in FIG. 2), soil and environmental analysis, and medical diagnostic treatment. These systems are based on novel gas-target neutron generation which embodies the beneficial characteristics of replenishable fusible gas targets for very long lifetime, stability and continuous operation, combined with the advantageous features common to conventional accelerator neutron tubes including: on / off operation, hermetically sealed operation, and safe storage and transport. Innovative electron management techniques provide gas-target neutron production efficiencies that are comparable or surpass existing sources. The high-pressure high-resistance gaseous discharge is presented as a favorable gas-target neutron generator embodiment, combining ion source regions, accelerator regions, gas-target regions and electron management components within a single simple cost-effective device that is adaptable to various geometric configurations that provide specific neutron emission profiles for greater analysis capacity.

The presence of radiation shielding material concealing illegitimate content in a container is detected by obtaining each of measured gamma-ray data and measured neutron data from the container, and comparing the measured gamma-ray and neutron data to expected gamma-ray and neutron data. An anomaly between the measured data and the expected data is an indicum of the presence of such material shielding such illegitimate content.

A computer assisted method of detecting and classifying lung nodules within a set of CT images to identify the regions of the CT images in which to search for potential lung nodules. The lungs are processed to identify a subregion of a lung on a CT image. The computer defines a nodule centroid for a nodule class of pixels and a background centroid for a background class of pixels within the subregion in the CT image; and determines a nodule distance between a pixel and the nodule centroid and a background distance between the pixel and the background centroid. Thereafter, the computer assigns the pixel to the nodule class or to the background class based on the first and second distances; stores the identification in a memory; and analyzes the nodule class to determine the likelihood of each pixel cluster being a true nodule.

Crane apparatus is equipped with a container security scanning system for scanning containers for radioactive material, such as neutron or gamma ray emissions. The crane apparatus has a crane for unloading containers from a marine vessel and placing the containers on a deck located at the portal girder level of the crane and for transferring the containers from the deck to another location. The container security scanning system comprises one or more scanning units disposed on the deck, each scanning unit having one or more scanning platforms for supporting a container such that a bottom of the container is vertically spaced from the deck. A scanning device is movable beneath the container in a space between the underside of the scanning platforms and the deck for scanning the container to detect whether radioactive material is present. Existing cranes can be retrofitted with the container security scanning system, and newly manufactured cranes can be upgraded to include such a system.

A new composition of matter includes <195m>Pt characterized by a specific activity of at least 30 mCi / mg Pt, generally made by method that includes the steps of: exposing <193>Ir to a flux of neutrons sufficient to convert a portion of the <193>Ir to <195m>Pt to form an irradiated material; dissolving the irradiated material to form an intermediate solution comprising Ir and Pt; and separating the Pt from the Ir by cation exchange chromatography to produce <195m>Pt.

An interpretation method and system for NMR echo-train data in thinly laminated sequences. The invention uses geological information obtained at higher vertical resolution, such as using Electric Micro Imaging, to enhance the vertical resolution of echo-train data, and thus avoids log interpretations in which the hydrocarbon potential of the formation can be misread because low resolution logs tend to provide an average description of the formation. Such averaging is especially problematic in thinly laminated sequences that consist of highly permeable and porous sand layers and less permeable silt or essentially impermeable shale layers. In a preferred embodiment, using the additional high-resolution formation information one can estimate the typical T2-spectra of lithological laminae, and significantly enhance the permeability estimate in the laminated sequences. In another aspect the system and method of the preferred embodiment use neural network(s) to further enhance the resolution of a particular log measurement. The method and system are applicable to any temporal data from other logging tools, such as the thermal neutron decay log and others. The system and method enable proper evaluation of the high potential of thinly laminated formations, which may otherwise be overlooked as low permeable formations.

The invention relates to an agent specific for peripheral sensory afferents. The agent may inhibit the transmission of signals between a primary sensory afferent and a projection neutron by controlling the release of at least one neurotransmitter or neuromodulator from the primary sensory afferent. The agent may be used in or as a pharmaceutical for the treatment of pain, particularly chronic pain.

A low-cost device for the detection of thermal neutrons. Thin layers of a material chosen for high absorption of neutrons with a corresponding release of ionizing particles are stacked in a multi-layer structure interleaved with thin layers of hydrogenated amorphous silicon PIN diodes. Some of the neutrons passing into the stack are absorbed in the neutron absorbing material producing neutron reactions with the release of high energy ionizing particles. These high-energy ionizing particles pass out of the neutron absorbing layers into the PIN diode layers creating electron-hole pairs in the intrinsic (I) layers of the diode layers; the electrons and holes are detected by the PIN diodes.