This book lays the foundations for you to understand all that you always wanted to know about radioactivity. It begins by setting out essential information about the structure of matter, how radiation occurs and how it can be measured. It goes on to explore the substantial benefits of radioactivity through its many applications, and also the possible risks associated with its use. The field of radioactivity is explained in layman's terms, so that everybody who is interested can improve their understanding of issues such as nuclear power, radiation accidents, medical applications of radiation and radioactivity from the environment. Everything is radioactive. There is natural radioactivity in the homes that we live in, the food that we eat and the air that we breath. For over 100 years, people have recognised the potential for radioactivity to help solve problems and improve our standard of living. This has led to the creation of radioactivity levels in some places that are much higher than naturally-occurring background levels. Such high levels of radiation can be harmful to people and the environment, so there is a clear need to manage this potential harm and to make the risk worth the benefits mankind can achieve from radioactive materials.

This book is a guide to the use of Monte Carlo techniques in radiation transport. This topic is of great interest for medical physicists. Praised as a "gold standard" for accurate radiotherapy dose calculations, Monte Carlo has stimulated a high level of research activity that has produced thousands of papers within the past few years. The book is designed primarily to address the needs of an academically inclined medical physicist who wishes to learn the technique, as well as experienced users of standard Monte Carlo codes who wish to gain insight into the underlying mathematics of Monte Carlo algorithms. The book focuses on the fundamentals-giving full attention to and explaining the very basic concepts. It also includes advanced topics and covers recent advances such as transport of charged particles in magnetic fields and the grid-based solvers of the Boltzmann equation.

This book presents compact and informative descriptions of the most promising new projects in brain-computer interface (BCI) research. As in earlier volumes in this series, the contributions come from many of the best-known groups in BCI research. Each of these chapters provides an overview of a project that was nominated for the most prestigious award in the BCI community: the Annual BCI Research Award. The book also contains an introduction and discussion with a review of major trends reflected in the awards. This volume also introduces a new type of contribution, namely a chapter"Trends in BCI Research" that summarizes a top trend in the BCI research community. This year's "Trends in BCI Research" addresses BCI technology to help patients with disorders of consciousness (DOC) and related conditions, including new work that goes beyond communication to diagnosis and even prediction.

This highly-readable account of the nature of the hazards presented by ionizing radiation and the methods of protection is an ideal introductory text for those new to the field, and for the non-specialist. The seventh edition continues to cover the technical principles underlying the control of radiation hazards, radiation detection and measurement and the biological effects of radiation, followed by a consideration of industry-specific radiation protection issues. Further specialised topics include risk assessment, waste management and decommissioning, radiological emergencies, relevant legislation and organizational issues and, new to this edition, environmental radiation protection.

This book represents volume 2 of a 3-volume monograph on Particle Penetration and Radiation Effects. While volume 1 addressed the basic theory of scattering and stopping of swift point charges, i.e., protons, antiprotons and alpha particles, the present volume focuses on ions heavier than helium as well as molecules and clusters over an energy range from a few keV/u to a few hundred MeV/u. The book addresses the foundations in atomic-collision physics of a wide variety of application areas within materials and surface science and engineering, micro and nano science and technology, radiation medicine and biology as well as nuclear and particle physics. Problems have been added to all chapters. This should make the book useful for both self-study and advanced university courses. An effort has been made to establish a unified notation throughout the monograph.

This book presents a comparison analysis of two cancer treatment therapies: carbon ion therapy and protontherapy. It is divided in 5 sections. The first ones gives the reader a brief history of Radiotherapy and types of radiation. In the second section, the techniques and equipments, including new ones in development such as Cyclinac , Laser and DWA, are described. The third section describes biophysical (such as stopping power and LET) and biological (such as RBE and OER) properties, the fundamental experiments and clinical area. The fourth section presents models and the fifth section compares both techniques, showing advantages and disadvantages of each, and their similarities.

This book contains the full papers presented at the MICCAI 2014 workshop on Computational Methods and Clinical Applications for Spine Imaging. The workshop brought together scientists and clinicians in the field of computational spine imaging. The chapters included in this book present and discuss the new advances and challenges in these fields, using several methods and techniques in order to address more efficiently different and timely applications involving signal and image acquisition, image processing and analysis, image segmentation, image registration and fusion, computer simulation, image based modeling, simulation and surgical planning, image guided robot assisted surgical and image based diagnosis. The book also includes papers and reports from the first challenge on vertebra segmentation held at the workshop.

Cold atmospheric plasma is an auspicious new candidate in cancer treatment. Cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) is a partially ionized gas in which the ion temperature is close to room temperature. It contains electrons, charged particles, radicals, various excited molecules and UV photons. These various compositional elements have the potential to inhibit cancer cell activity whilst doing no harm to healthy cells. Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common and lethal primary brain tumor in adults; treatment including surgery, radio- and chemotherapy remains palliative for most patients as a cure remains elusive. The successful combination of the standard chemotherapeutic temozolomide (TMZ) and CAP treatment features synergistic effects even in resistant glioma cells. In particular in glioma therapy, CAP could offer an innovative approach allowing specific cancer cell / tumor tissue inhibition without damaging healthy cells. Thus CAP is a promising candidate for combination therapy especially for patients suffering from GBMs showing TMZ resistance.

The book set develops a bridge between physiologic mechanisms and diagnostic human engineering. While the first volume is focused on the interface between physiologic mechanisms and the resultant biosignals, this second volume is devoted to the interface between biosignals and biomedical sensors. That is, in the first volume, the physiologic mechanisms determining biosignals are described from the basic cellular level up to their advanced mutual coordination level. This second volume, considers the genesis of acoustic and optic biosignals and the associated sensing technology from a strategic point of view. As a novelty, this book discusses heterogeneous biosignals within a common frame. This frame comprises both the biosignal formation path from the biosignal source at the physiological level to biosignal propagation in the body, and the biosignal sensing path from the biosignal transmission in the sensor applied on the body up to its conversion to a, usually electric, signal. Some biosignals arise in the course of the body’s vital functions while others map these functions that convey physiological data to an observer. It is highly instructive how sound and light beams interact with biological tissues, yielding acoustic and optic biosignals, respectively. Discussed phenomena teach a lot about the physics of sound and physics of light (as engineering sciences), and, on the other hand, biology and physiology (as live sciences). The highly interdisciplinary nature of biosignals and biomedical sensors is obviously a challenge. However, it is a rewarding challenge after it has been coped with in a strategic way, as offered here. The book is intended to have the presence to answer intriguing “Aha!� questions.

This book explores the relaxation dynamics of inner-valence-ionized diatomic molecules on the basis of extreme-ultraviolet pump-probe experiments performed at the free-electron laser (FEL) in Hamburg. Firstly, the electron rearrangement dynamics in dissociating multiply charged iodine molecules is studied in an experiment that made it possible to access charge transfer in a thus far unexplored quasimolecular regime relevant for plasma and chemistry applications of the FEL. Secondly the lifetime of an efficient non-radiative relaxation process that occurs in weakly bound systems is measured directly for the first time in a neon dimer (Ne2). Interatomic Coulombic decay (ICD) has been identified as the dominant decay mechanism in inner-valence-ionized or excited van-der-Waals and hydrogen bonded systems, the latter being ubiquitous in all biomolecules. The role of ICD in DNA damage thus demands further investigation, e.g. with regard to applications like radiation therapy.

This book is the product of a unique collaboration by experts from leading international, regional and national agencies and professional organizations discussing on the current 'hot' issue on the judicious use and safety of radiation in radiology. There have been several cases involving radiation overexposure that have received international attention. Strategies and solutions to guide readers how to maximize the benefits and minimize the risks when using radiation in medicine are covered.

This book provides the most recent findings and knowledge in advanced diagnostics technology, covering a wide spectrum including brain activity analysis, breast and lung cancer detection, echocardiography, computer aided skeletal assessment to mitochondrial biology imaging at the cellular level. The authors explored magneto acoustic approaches and tissue elasticity imaging for the purpose of breast cancer detection. Perspectives in fetal echocardiography from an image processing angle are included. Diagnostic imaging in the field of mitochondrial diseases as well as the use of Computer-Aided System (CAD) are also discussed in the book. This book will be useful for students, lecturers or professional researchers in the field of biomedical sciences and image processing.

This book presents the latest research findings and reviews in the field of medical imaging technology, covering ultrasound diagnostics approaches for detecting osteoarthritis, breast carcinoma and cardiovascular conditions, image guided biopsy and segmentation techniques for detecting lung cancer, image fusion, and simulating fluid flows for cardiovascular applications. It offers a useful guide for students, lecturers and professional researchers in the fields of biomedical engineering and image processing.

This book covers the principles of laser interaction with biological cells and tissues of varying degrees of organization. The problems of biomedical diagnostics are considered. Scattering of laser irradiation of blood cells is modeled for biological structures (dermis, epidermis, vascular plexus). An analytic theory is provided which is based on solving the wave equation for the electromagnetic field. It allows the accurate analysis of interference effects arising from the partial superposition of scattered waves. Treated topics of mathematical modeling are: optical characterization of biological tissue with large-scale and small-scale inhomogeneities in the layers, heating blood vessel under laser irradiation incident on the outer surface of the skin and thermo-chemical denaturation of biological structures at the example of human skin.

This book describes a global assessment of stem cell engineering research, achieved through site visits by a panel of experts to leading institutes, followed by dedicated workshops. The assessment made clear that engineers and the engineering approach with its quantitative, system-based thinking can contribute much to the progress of stem cell research and development. The increased need for complex computational models and new, innovative technologies, such as high-throughput screening techniques, organ-on-a-chip models and in vitro tumor models require an increasing involvement of engineers and physical scientists. Additionally, this book will show that although the US is still in a leadership position in stem cell engineering, Asian countries such as Japan, China and Korea, as well as European countries like the UK, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands are rapidly expanding their investments in the field. Strategic partnerships between countries could lead to major advances of the field and scalable expansion and differentiation of stem cells. This study was funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

Optical Coherence Tomography represents the ultimate noninvasive ocular imaging technique although being in the field for over two-decades. This book encompasses both medical and technical developments and recent achievements. Here, the authors cover the field of application from the anterior to the posterior ocular segments (Part I) and present a comprehensive review on the development of OCT. Important developments towards clinical applications are covered in Part II, ranging from the adaptive optics to the integration on a slit-lamp, and passing through new structural and functional information extraction from OCT data. The book is intended to be informative, coherent and comprehensive for both the medical and technical communities and aims at easing the communication between the two fields and bridging the gap between the two scientific communities.

The purpose and subject of this book is to provide a comprehensive overview of all types of phantoms used in medical imaging, therapy, nuclear medicine and health physics. For ionizing radiation, dosimetry with respect to issues of material composition, shape, and motion/position effects are all highlighted. For medical imaging, each type of technology will need specific materials and designs, and the physics and indications will be explored for each type. Health physics phantoms are concerned with some of the same issues such as material heterogeneity, but also unique issues such as organ-specific radiation dose from sources distributed in other organs. Readers will be able to use this book to select the appropriate phantom from a vendor at a clinic, to learn from as a student, to choose materials for custom phantom design, to design dynamic features, and as a reference for a variety of applications. Some of the information enclosed is found in other sources, divided especially along the three categories of imaging, therapy, and health physics. To our knowledge, even though professionally, many medical physicists need to bridge the three catagories described above.

This book provides a cohesive overview of the current technological advances in computational radiology, and their applications in orthopaedic interventions. Contributed by the leading researchers in the field, this volume covers not only basic computational radiology techniques such as statistical shape modeling, CT/MRI segmentation, augmented reality and micro-CT image processing, but also the applications of these techniques to various orthopaedic interventional tasks. Details about following important state-of-the-art development are featured: 3D preoperative planning and patient-specific instrumentation for surgical treatment of long-bone deformities, computer assisted diagnosis and planning of periacetabular osteotomy and femoroacetabular impingement, 2D-3D reconstruction-based planning of total hip arthroplasty, image fusion for computer-assisted bone tumor surgery, intra-operative three-dimensional imaging in fracture treatment, augmented reality based orthopaedic interventions and education, medical robotics for musculoskeletal surgery, inertial sensor-based cost-effective surgical navigation, and computer assisted hip resurfacing using patient-specific instrument guides. Edited and authored by leading researchers in the field, this work is an essential reference for biomedical engineers, computer scientists and orthopaedic surgeons to develop or use computational radiology approaches for orthopaedic surgery and interventions.

This thesis describes a proof-of-principle experiment demonstrating a technique for stable isotope enrichment called Magnetically Activated and Guided Isotope Separation (MAGIS). Over the past century many enriched isotopes have become available, thanks largely to electromagnetic separators called calutrons. Due to substantial maintenance and operating costs, the United States decommissioned the last of its calutrons in 1998, leading to demand for alternative methods of isotope separation. The work presented here suggests the promise for MAGIS as a viable alternative to the calutrons.The MAGIS technique combines optical pumping with a scalable magnetic field gradient to enrich atoms of a specific isotope in an atomic beam. Benchmarking this work against the calutron using lithium as a test case, the author demonstrated comparable enrichment in a manner that should scale to the production of similar quantities, while requiring vastly less energy input.

The goal of this volume is to summarize the state-of-the-art in the utilization of computer vision techniques in the diagnosis of skin cancer. Malignant melanoma is one of the most rapidly increasing cancers in the world. Early diagnosis is particularly important since melanoma can be cured with a simple excision if detected early. In recent years, dermoscopy has proved valuable in visualizing the morphological structures in pigmented lesions. However, it has also been shown that dermoscopy is difficult to learn and subjective. Newer technologies such as infrared imaging, multispectral imaging, and confocal microscopy, have recently come to the forefront in providing greater diagnostic accuracy. These imaging technologies presented in this book can serve as an adjunct to physicians and  provide automated skin cancer screening. Although computerized techniques cannot as yet provide a definitive diagnosis, they can be used to improve biopsy decision-making as well as early melanoma detection, especially for patients with multiple atypical nevi.

This book presents an Assessment of Physical Sciences and Engineering Advances in Life Sciences and Oncology (APHELION) by a panel of experts. It covers the status and trends of applying physical sciences and engineering principles to oncology research in leading laboratories and organizations in Europe and Asia. The book elaborates on the six topics identified by the panel that have the greatest potential to advance understanding and treatment of cancer, each covered by a chapter in the book. The study was sponsored by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) at the National Institute of Health (NIH), the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering at the NIH in the US under a cooperative agreement with the World Technology Evaluation Center (WTEC).

Photodynamic Therapy: From Theory to Application brings attention to an exceptional treatment strategy, which until now has not achieved the recognition and breadth of applications it deserves. The authors, all experts and pioneers in their field, discuss the history and basic principles of PDT, as well as the fundamentals of the theory, methods, and instrumentation of clinical diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Non-oncological applications such as the use of PDT in control of parasites and noxious insects are also discussed. This book serves as a standard reference for researchers and students at all levels, clinical specialists interested in the topic and those in industry exploring new areas for development. A comprehensive exposition of both the theory and application of PDT, this book fills the gaps in the current literature by bringing together both basic understanding of the process of PDT and an expanded vision of its applications.

Ultrashort laser pulses with durations in the femtosecond range up to a few picoseconds provide a unique method for precise materials processing or medical applications. Paired with the recent developments in ultrashort pulse lasers, this technology is finding its way into various application fields. The book gives a comprehensive overview of the principles and applications of ultrashort pulse lasers, especially applied to medicine and production technology. Recent advances in laser technology are discussed in detail. This covers the development of reliable and cheap low power laser sources as well as high average power ultrashort pulse lasers for large scale manufacturing. The fundamentals of laser-matter-interaction as well as processing strategies and the required system technology are discussed for these laser sources with respect to precise materials processing. Finally, different applications within medicine, measurement technology or materials processing are highlighted.

The book provides a detailed, up-to-date account of the basics, the technology, and the clinical use of ion beams for radiation therapy. Theoretical background, technical components, and patient treatment schemes are delineated by the leading experts that helped to develop this field from a research niche to its current highly sophisticated and powerful clinical treatment level used to the benefit of cancer patients worldwide. Rather than being a side-by-side collection of articles, this book consists of related chapters. It is a common achievement by 76 experts from around the world. Their expertise reflects the diversity of the field with radiation therapy, medical and accelerator physics, radiobiology, computer science, engineering, and health economics. The book addresses a similarly broad audience ranging from professionals that need to know more about this novel treatment modality or consider to enter the field of ion beam therapy as a researcher. However, it is also written for the interested public and for patients who might want to learn about this treatment option.

Bridging the gap between research and clinical application, Biosensors and Molecular Technologies for Cancer Diagnostics explores the use of biosensors as effective alternatives to the current standard methods in cancer diagnosis and detection. It describes the major aspects involved in detecting and diagnosing cancer as well as the basic elements of biosensors and their applications in detection and diagnostics. The book addresses cancer molecular diagnostics, including genomic and proteomic approaches, from the perspective of biosensors and biodetection. It explains how to measure and understand molecular markers using biosensors and discusses the medical advantages of rapid and accurate cancer diagnostics. It also describes optical, electrochemical, and optomechanical biosensor technologies, with a focus on cancer analysis and the clinical utility of these technologies for cancer detection, diagnostics, prognostics, and treatment. Making biosensor technology more accessible to molecular biologists, oncologists, pathologists, and engineers, this volume advances the integration of this technology into mainstream clinical practice. Through its in-depth coverage of a range of biosensors, the book shows how they can play instrumental roles in the early molecular diagnosis of cancer.