Ultrasound is used for breast cancer detection as a technique complementary to mammography, the standard screening method. Current practice is based on reflectivity images obtained with conventional instruments by an operator who positions the ultrasonic transducer by hand over the patient’s body. It is a non-ionizing radiation, pain-free and not expensive technique that provides a higher contrast than mammography to discriminate among fluid-filled cysts and solid masses, especially for dense breast tissue. However, results are quite dependent on the operator’s skills, images are difficult to reproduce, and state-of-the-art instruments have a limited resolution and contrast to show micro-calcifications and to discriminate between lesions and the surrounding tissue. In spite of their advantages, these factors have precluded the use of ultrasound for screening.

This work approaches the ultrasound-based early detection of breast cancer with a different concept. A ring array with many elements to cover 360◦ around a hanging breast allows obtaining repeatable and operator-independent coronal slice images. Such an arrangement is well suited for multi-modal imaging that includes reflectivity, compounded, tomography, and phase coherence images for increased specificity in breast cancer detection. Preliminary work carried out with a mechanical emulation of the ring array and a standard breast phantom shows a high resolution and contrast, with an artifact-free capability provided by phase coherence processing.

An incarcerated epigastric hernia (localized in linea alba) is a very rare observation. Here, we present a case of a 66-year-old white male who was admitted to the emergency department due to vomiting and epigastric pain. On physical examination, the only observed abnormality was a painless soft epigastric tumor located in the upper midline, measuring about 12 cm in diameter. The patient claimed that he had the tumor for more than 30 years and it never changed in diameter nor caused him any discomfort. A lipoma was initially suspected. However, an ultrasound of the abdomen revealed an incarcerated stomach, trapped due to the defect in the epigastric abdominal wall. The patient was sent for surgery and the presence of an incarcerated epigastric hernia of the linea alba, which contained the anterior wall of the stomach was confirmed. The presented case confirms that the use of ultrasonography may be an effective method to recognize unusual types of hernias, and that ultrasonography should be routinely used in emergency departments.

Synthetic aperture (SA) technique is a novel approach to present day commercial systems and has previously not been used in medical ultrasound imaging. The basic idea of SA is to combine information acquired simultaneously from all directions over a number of emissions and to reconstruct the full image from these data.

The paper presents the multi-element STA (MSTA) method for medical ultrasound imaging. The main difference with the STA approach is the use of a few elements in the transmit mode in contrast to a single element aperture. This allows increasing the system frame rate, decreasing the number of emissions, and provides the best compromise between the penetration depth and lateral resolution. Besides, a modified MSTA is proposed with a corresponding RF signal correction in the receive mode, which accounts for the element directivity property.

In the experiments a 32-element linear transducer array with 0.48 mm inter-element spacing and a burst pulse of 100 ns duration were used. Two elements wide transmission aperture was used to generate an ultrasound wave covering the full image region. The comparison of 2D ultrasound images of a tissue mimicking phantom obtained using the STA and MSTA methods is presented to demonstrate the benefits of the second one.

The paper presents the optimization problem for the multi-element synthetic transmit aperture method (MSTA) in ultrasound imaging applications. The optimal choice of the transmit aperture size is made as a trade-off between the lateral resolution, penetration depth and the frame rate. Results of the analysis obtained by a developed optimization algorithm are presented. The maximum penetration depth and lateral resolution at given depths are chosen as optimization criteria. The results of numerical experiments carried out in MATLAB® using synthetic aperture data of point reflectors obtained by the FIELD II simulation program are presented. The visualization of experimental synthetic aperture data of a tissue mimicking phantom and in vitro measurements of the beef liver performed using the SonixTOUCH Research system are also shown.

The issue of maximizing penetration depth with concurrent retaining or enhancement of image resolution constitutes one of the time invariant challenges in ultrasound imaging. Concerns about potential and undesirable side effects set limits on the possibility of overcoming the frequency dependent attenuation effects by increasing peak acoustic amplitudes of the waves probing the tissue. To overcome this limitation a pulse compression technique employing 16 bits Complementary Golay Sequences (CGS) Code was implemented at 4 MHz. In comparison with other, earlier proposed, coded excitation schemes, such as chirp, pseudo-random chirp and Barker codes, the CGS allowed virtually side lobe free operation. Experimental data indicate that the quality — resolution, signal penetration and contrast dynamics — of CGS images is better than the one obtain for standard ultrasonography using short burst excitation.

The article describes the method of controlling the recovered grade based on measuring the intensity of volume ultrasonic oscillations and Lamb waves covering a fixed distance through the test medium and on a metal plate contacting the test medium at various time points of deliberate motion of ground materials.

The authors suggest a method of determining density of ground ore particles in the pulp periodically after isolating the pulp flow in the vertical part of the measuring vessel based on measuring attenuation change values in Lamb waves covering a fixed distance on a plate contacting the medium under study and high frequency volume ultrasonic oscillations that have come through it within a certain time period.

There are given dependencies of amplitudes of measuring channels based on volume ultrasonic oscillations and surface Lamb waves, size distribution according to solid phase pulp particles for various types of ores under study, a set of curves for determining the recovered grade with regard to various types of ores under study.

To design breast ultrasound scanning systems or to test new imaging methods, various computer models are used to simulate the acoustic wave field propagation through a breast. The computer models vary in complexity depending on the applied approximations. The objective of this paper is to investigate how the applied approximations affect the resulting wave field. In particular, we investigate the importance of taking three-dimensional (3-D) spatial variations in the compressibility, volume density of mass, and attenuation into account. In addition, we compare four 3-D solution methods: a full-wave method, a Born approximation method, a parabolic approximation method, and a ray-based method. Results show that, for frequencies below 1 MHz, the amplitude of the fields scattering off the compressibility or density contrasts are at least 24 dB higher than the amplitude of the fields scattering off the attenuation contrasts. The results also show that considering only speed of sound as a contrast is a valid approximation. In addition, it is shown that the pressure field modeled with the full-wave method is more accurate than the fields modeled using the other three methods. Finally, the accuracy of the full-wave method is location independent whereas the accuracy of the other methods strongly depends on the point of observation.

The pathological states of biological tissue are often resulted in attenuation changes. Thus, information about attenuating properties of tissue is valuable for the physician and could be useful in ultrasonic diagnosis. We are currently developing a technique for parametric imaging of attenuation and we intend to apply it for in vivo characterization of tissue. The attenuation estimation method based on the echoes mean frequency changes due to tissue attenuation dispersion, is presented. The Doppler IQ technique was adopted to estimate the mean frequency directly from the raw RF data. The Singular Spectrum Analysis technique was used for the extraction of mean frequency trends. These trends were converted into attenuation distribution and finally the parametric images were computed. In order to reduce variation of attenuation estimates the spatial compounding method was applied. Operation and accuracy of attenuation extracting procedure was verified by calculating the attenuation coefficient distribution using the data from the tissue phantom (DFS, Denmark) with uniform echogenicity while attenuation coefficient underwent variation.

A verification study of ultrasound transmission numerical simulation results with experiment results is presented in this paper. The work considers a model of a transformer tank which is filled with electro insulating oil. In the experiment, performed under laboratory conditions, an ultrasound wave is generated by a piezoelectric transducer that is fixed in the centre of the tank and measured by another transducer mounted inside the tank at three distances: 10, 20 and 30 cm from the sound source. The transducer is able to measure and generate acoustic waves in the ultrasound frequency band up to 1 MHz. The simulation considers numerical calculation of acoustic pressure distribution inside the tank in which acoustic source emits waves with frequency equal to 100 kHz. Verification analysis has confirmed consistency of the numerically calculated values with the measurement results.

The paper presents the investigations aimed at the determination of the effect of time and wavelength of ultrasound field on the value of capillary suction time (CST), sludge thickening and dry matter of the excess sludge subjected to the process of stabilization.

The investigations were carried out on the excess sludge which comes from communal waste treatment plant. The sludge was exposed to ultrasound field, using ultrasound generator with power of 1500 W, frequency of 20 kHz and amplitude 39.42 μm (which corresponded to the amplitude of 100%). Sonication of the sludge was carried out for different amplitudes and sonication times. The non-conditioned sludge and the sludge initially conditioned with ultrasound field were subjected to the process of stabilization in laboratory flasks (V = 0.5 dm3) for the period of 10 days. On each day, sludge thickening and dewatering capacities were determined.

The sludge subjected to the effect of ultrasound field exhibited elevated levels of CST. However, the sonication time had positive effect on the increase in the degree of thickening for each of the amplitudes studied. Also, the process of stabilization positively affected final thickening and dewatering of the sludge.

The aim of the present theme issue was to study the influence of ultrasound enhancement on the kinetics of osmotic dehydration and the effect of convective drying from the point of view of drying time and quality of dried products. Apple fruit was used as the experimental material. The kinetics of osmotic dehydration with (UAOD) and without (OD) ultrasound enhancement were examined for 40% fructose and sorbitol solutions. The effective dehydration time of osmotic process was determined. Preliminary dehydrated samples with OD and UAOD were next dried convectively with (CVUS) and without (CV) ultrasound assistance. The influence of OD and UAOD on the kinetics of CV and CVUS drying was analysed. The parameters of water activity and colour change were measured for the assessment of product quality after drying process.

In modern times, there are increasing requirements for products quality in every part of manufacturing industry and in foundry industry it

is not different. That is why a lot of foundries are researching, how to effectively produce castings with high quality. This article is dealing

with search of the influence of using different types of risers or chills on shrinkage cavity production in ductile iron castings. Differently

shaped risers were designed using the Wlodawer´s modulus method and test castings were poured with and without combination of chills.

Efficiency of used risers and chills was established by the area of created shrinkage cavity using the ultrasound nondestructive method.

There are introduced the production process of test castings and results of ultrasound nondestructive reflective method. The object of this

work is to determine an optimal type of riser or chill for given test casting in order to not use overrated risers and thus increase the cost

effectiveness of the ductile iron castings production.

Recently, significant progress has been made in experimental studies on the flow of wet steam, measuring techniques based on recording the phenomenon of extinction of light and ultrasound have been elaborated or improved. The basic value experimentally determined in the final stage was the content of the liquid phase defined as the wetness fraction. The methodology of tests and experimental investigations was presented, as well as the applied and developed measurement systems. Next, some developed designs of new ultrasonic and light extinction measuring probe and their modifications are described. The article presents also some examples of applications of the developed measurement techniques in application to experimental research conducted on wet steam. Examples of comparison between experimental and numerical tests for the extinction method are also provided.

One of the least expensive and safest diagnostic modalities routinely used is ultrasound imaging. An attractive development in this field is a two-dimensional (2D) matrix probe with three-dimensional (3D) imaging. The main problems to implement this probe come from a large number of elements they need to use. When the number of elements is reduced the side lobes arising from the transducer change along with the grating lobes that are linked to the periodic disposition of the elements. The grating lobes are reduced by placing the elements without any consideration of the grid. In this study, the Binary Bat Algorithm (BBA) is used to optimize the number of active elements in order to lower the side lobe level. The results are compared to other optimization methods to validate the proposed algorithm.