Terrapower, LLC

Litton Systems, Inc.

General Electric Company

Advanced Technology Laboratories, Inc.

Thomas M Burke

Lowell L Wood, Jr

Roderick A Hyde

Charles Whitmer

Thomas A Weaver

Robert C Petroski

Joshua C Walter

Jon David McWhirter

Charles E Ahlfeld

George Beedon Zimmerman

John Rogers Gilleland

David G McAlees

Ashok Odedra

Nicholas W Touran

Kevan D Weaver

Pavel Hejzlar

David T Carrott

Jonatan Hejzlar

Tyler S Ellis

Michael Robert Anderson

Robert Alan Corbin

Christopher M Regan

James Mehi

Jon D Mcwhirter

Disclosed embodiments include nuclear fission reactor cores, nuclear fission reactors, methods of operating a nuclear fission reactor, and methods of managing excess reactivity in a nuclear fission reactor.

Standing wave nuclear fission reactor and methods

Sodium-cesium trap systems and methods for the simultaneous removal of both sodium (Na) and cesium (Cs) in gas are provided. The trap system includes a contacting vessel having an inlet and an outlet with carrier gas channeled therethrough. A heating system maintains a temperature gradient across the contacting vessel between a first temperature at the inlet and a second temperature at the outlet such that sodium and cesium contained within the carrier gas are condensed into liquid and the carrier gas exiting the vessel is substantially free of sodium and cesium.

Sodium-cesium vapor trap system and method

Sodium cesium vapor trap system and method

An image processing system and method visually documents and displays changes between historical and later mammographic images, preferably in three dimensions. A composite image is created which visually emphasizes temporal differences between the historical and later images. Preferably three-dimensional, digitized images, displayable in various projections, are stored for archival purposes on computer readable media. An image processor preferably exploits an optical correlator to register the historical and later images accurately and provide correlation values as temporal scalars of the differences. The registered images are then compared, voxel-by-voxel, to detect temporal differences. The composite image is displayed with synthetic colors or other visual clues to emphasize apparent changes (for example, tumor growth or shrinkage).

Historical comparison of breast tissue by image processing

Ultrasonographic imaging of small calcifications or similar hard bodies distributed in human breast tissue is enhanced by correlating an ultrasonographic data set with a radiographic image of the same region of interest. A &ldquo;constellation&rdquo; or cluster of small calcifications is distinguished from speckle noise by the cross-correlation, which is quite sensitive to the coincidence of a pattern of distributed small targets in both the ultrasonographic and radiographic images, notwithstanding the presence of random noise. An optical correlator is preferably used to perform high speed cross-correlations. The three-dimensional position of an individual calcification is preferably found by projecting from an identified point in the radiographic image, along a projection vector, to a voxel with extreme density in the ultrasonographic volumetric data set. Multiple projection vector orientations are tested for image correlation, to accomodate any probable skew between the ultrasonographic and radiographic projections.

Optical correlator assisted detection of calcifications for breast biopsy

Ultrasonographic information about the internal structure of a subject body is combined with x-ray or other radiographic information from the same subject body by using an optical correlator to quickly find a transformation which aligns the information from both sources, even if they are acquired in different coordinate systems. Various spatial transformations are applied to the information and cross-correlations are quickly performed. The transformation which gives the best cross-correlation is used to align the two data sets, which can then be displayed visually. The resulting display can be used as an aid in medical diagnosis, for example in diagnosing suspected malignant lesions in a woman's breast.

Optical correlator based automated pathologic region of interest selector for integrated 3D ultrasound and digital mammography

An image processing system and method visually documents and displays the in-vivo location from which a biopsy specimen was extracted, by processing pre-biopsy and post-biopsy images. A composite image is created which visually emphasizes differences between the pre-biopsy and post-biopsy images. Preferably three-dimensional, digitized images, displayable in various projections, are stored for archival purposes on computer readable media. An image processor preferably exploits an optical correlator to register the pre-biopsy and post-biopsy images accurately. The images are then compared, voxel-by-voxel, to detect differences between pre-biopsy and post-biopsy images. The composite image is displayed with synthetic colors, synthetic icons, or other visual clues to emphasize probable in-vivo biopsy locations.

Enhanced visualization of in-vivo breast biopsy location for medical documentation

A method and apparatus are described for testing the integrity of an ultrasonic transducer probe or the ultrasound system connected to the probe. The elements of the transducer are pulsed at a time when the probe is not in contact with a patient and the surface of the probe lens is exposed to the open air. The channel electronics receives the echo signal returned from the lens-air interface and reverberations between this interface and the transducer. These signals are analyzed by a diagnostic processor coupled to the channel electronics for characteristics such as amplitude, time of echo reception, group delay, and other characteristics to determine the possible existence of problems such as faulty transducer elements or connections and problems in the system receive electronics. The diagnostic processor can adaptively adjust an operating characteristic of the system electronics such as gain or time delay to compensate for a detected out of tolerance condition.

Self diagnostic ultrasonic imaging systems

A display for medical diagnostic equipment produces an image of the subject under study and a histogram image which indicates the distribution of brightness levels of the image pixels. Using a trackball, the operator manipulates a contrast window which is displayed on the histogram and which enables the operator to select brightness ranges in the image for contrast enhancement.

Method of highlighting subtle contrast in graphical images

A rapid, non-invasive realtime modality for detecting differential backscatter in ultrasound is achieved using narrowband interrogating frequencies to maximize signal-to-noise ratio and to minimize location errors. Additional improvement in signal-to-noise ratio and separation of tissue populations are achieved by cyclically alternating through a fixed number of predetermined burst lengths and by employing multiple narrowband bursts of differing fundamental frequencies.

Backscatter data collection technique for ultrasound

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Bothell, WA, United States of America

Thomas M Burke