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Although conventional denoising filters have been developed for noise reduction from digital images, these filters simultaneously cause blurring in the images. To address this problem, we proposed the fast non-local means (FNLM) denoising algorithm which would preserve the edge information of objects better than conventional denoising filters. In this study, we obtained thoracic computed tomography (CT) images from a male adult mesh (MASH) phantom modeled by computer and a five-year-old phantom to perform both the simulation study and the practical study. Subsequently, the FNLM denoising algorithm and conventional denoising filters, such as the Gaussian, median, and Wiener filters, were applied to the MASH phantom image adding Gaussian noise with a standard deviation of 0.002 and practical CT images. Finally, the results were compared quantitatively in terms of the coefficient of variation (COV), contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR), peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR), and correlation coefficient (CC). The results showed that the FNLM denoising algorithm was more efficient than the conventional denoising filters. In conclusion, through the simulation study and the practical study, this study demonstrated the feasibility of the FNLM denoising algorithm for noise reduction from thoracic CT images. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Impedance spectroscopy was applied to MnO x-based thin films prepared in symmetric and asymmetric electrode configurations, i.e., Pt/ MnO x/ Pt and Ta/ MnO x/ Pt, respectively. Equivalent circuit analysis suggests the presence of higher resistance surface layers adjacent the electrodes, in addition to a higher conductivity component at central portions of the MnO x thin films. The asymmetric configuration enables the Ta/ MnO x interfacial layer to facilitate the redox transport of oxygen ions, where significant changes in resistance with the electric field are responsible for the higher on/off resistance ratio in Ta/ MnO x/ Pt. The higher dielectric constant and bias-dependent capacitance and resistance support the coexistence of both oxidized surfaces and interfacial layers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, the total variation (TV) algorithm has been used for noise reduction distribution in degraded nuclear medicine images. To acquire positron emission tomography (PET) to correct the attenuation region in the PET/magnetic resonance (MR) system, the MR Dixon pulse sequence, which is based on controlled aliasing in parallel imaging, results from higher acceleration (CAIPI; MR-ACDixon-CAIPI) and generalized autocalibrating partially parallel acquisition (GRAPPA; MR-ACDixon-GRAPPA) algorithms are used. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the image performance of the TV noise reduction algorithm for PET/MR images using the Jaszczak phantom by injecting 18F radioisotopes with PET/MR, which is called mMR (Siemens, Germany), compared with conventional noise-reduction techniques such as Wiener and median filters. The contrast-to-noise (CNR) and coefficient of variation (COV) were used for quantitative analysis. Based on the results, PET images with the TV algorithm were improved by approximately 7.6% for CNR and decreased by approximately 20.0% for COV compared with conventional noise-reduction techniques. In particular, the image quality for the MR-ACDixon-CAIPI PET image was better than that of the MR-ACDixon-GRAPPA PET image. In conclusion, the TV noise-reduction algorithm is efficient for improving the PET image quality in PET/MR systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]