Ali A. Alghamdi

X-ray CT in the detection of palm weevils

Early detection of the red palm weevils (RPW) is a major challenge in agriculture among all kinds of palm trees due to the nature of the insect and the difficulty to trace them through their life stages associated with the tree life. Many methods have been applied for the weevil detection such as X-ray diffraction techniques, fluoroscopy and ultrasound. On the other hand, the idea of tomography has been used for other purposes such as the determination of the age of the tree and for applied environmental studies. Such technology can also reveal the weevil in principle. In this study, we explore the use of X-ray CT for weevil detection with the Monte Carlo method. A model of the stem of a palm tree is developed for simulations. MCNPX is chosen to carry out the simulations for the radiography tally in the code. The tally records the 2D data of the X-ray beams irradiating the tree model. An iterative reconstruction method for cone beam CT is applied to obtain the 3D slices of the tree model. We are exploring the minimum number of projection angles and the detectability of the weevil. We shall also report the sensitivity of weevil detection using X-ray CT with a large set of simulations with different weevil sizes and tree diameters.

Monte Carlo simulation of neutron tomography for palm weevil detection

The use of neutron for Non Destructive Imaging (NDI) techniques has many advantages over other (NDI) methods. Using well-established X-ray imaging techniques can provide easy and direct results with some limitations where the sensitivity for light elements is very low. On the other hand, neutron is highly sensitive to water content and can provide extra qualitative information. Comparing the results of the two imaging techniques are investigated in this work with the aim of identifying the palm weevil. At larva stage of the weevil’s life it is characterized by highly water content in the trunk of the palm tree which itself composed of spongy watery texture in some types of palm tree. MCNPX 2.5.0 code with neutron radiography tally was used to obtain the 2D projection then reconstructed to 3D tomography image using OSCaR post processing package. The neutron and photon mesh tallies is utilized to study the neutron and photon fluences from monoenergetic thermal neutron beam and neutron spectrum. There are fundamental difficulties in neutron detection which result in misleading information arises from neutron scattering when constructing cone beam CT neutron images, however, neutron radiography provide better methods for the weevil detection from 2D projection.

Fluence-to-effective dose conversion coefficients from a Saudi population based phantom for monoenergetic photon beams from 10 keV to 20 MeV

Fluence-to-dose conversion coefficients are important quantities for radiation protection, derived from Monte Carlo simulations of the radiation particles through a stylised phantom or voxel based phantoms. The voxel phantoms have been developed for many ethnic groups for their accurate reflection of the anatomy. In this study, we used the Monte Carlo code MCNPX to calculate the photon fluence-to-effective dose conversion coefficients with a voxel phantom based on the Saudi Arabian male population. Six irradiation geometries, anterior-posterior (AP), posterior-anterior (PA), left lateral (LLAT), right lateral (RLAT), rotational (ROT) and isotropic (ISO) were simulated for monoenergetic photon beams from 10 keV to 20 MeV. We compared the coefficients with the reference values in ICRP Publication 116. The coefficients in the AP and PA geometries match the reference values to 9% and 12% on average as measured by root mean square while those in the LLAT, RLAT ROT and ISO geometries differ, mostly below, from the reference by 23, 22, 15 and 16%, respectively. The torso of the Saudi phantom is wider than the ICRP reference male phantom and likely to cause more attenuation to the lateral beam. The ICRP reference coefficients serve well for the Saudi male population as conservative estimations for the purpose of radiation protection.

Simulation system for radiology education integration of physical and virtual realities: Overview and software considerations

Introduction: The aim of the proposed system is to give students a flexible, realistic, and interactive learning environment to study the physical limit of different postures and various imaging procedures. The suggested system will also familiarise the students with various imaging modalities, the anatomical structures that are observable under different X-ray tube settings and the quality of the resulting image. Current teaching practice for radiological sciences asks students to simulate the imaging procedure in role plays - consisting of one student as a patient and the other as the radiologist. Other ways include the use of a physical phantom consisting of bone and soft tissue equivalent material but in either way X-ray has to be used with all the requirements of such an examination room shielding, lead apron, and other radiation protection procedures. Proposed System: The proposed system has several physical components and virtual components. Students manipulate the mannequin into the model of the imaging modality and in a posture suitable for the purpose of the imaging study. The virtual components of our simulation system include a posture interface, a computational phantom generator, and a physics simulator. The synthetic image will be produced and conformed to the Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine standard so that it can be stored, retrieved, and displayed in a standard picture archiving and communication system that hospitals use. Conclusion: The suggested system will familiarise the students and improve their competency level, not only for X-ray but various other imaging modalities, including the anatomical structures that are observable under different X-ray tube settings and the quality of the resulting image.