[en] X-ray devices having a focus area less than 100 μ are called micro focus X-ray equipment. Here the range of application and the characteristics of these devices including the possibility of employing the coupling with real time image enhancement computers are defined

[en] Radiographic means are widely used for non destructive testing. However, human and technological factors strongly influence reliability of the results and further use of these technique. Image Processing can help to overtake those difficulties if radiographic films are previously digitized. This paper shows methods and equipments used in this field. The system EDI (Enea Digital. Imagery) operating in Casaccia Energy Research Centre is described

[en] Aimed to evaluate the image processing capabilities of the massively parallel computer Quadrics Q1, a convolution algorithm that has been implemented is described in this report. At first the discrete convolution mathematical definition is recalled together with the main Q1 h/w and s/w features. Then the different codification forms of the algorythm are described and the Q1 performances are compared with those obtained by different computers. Finally, the conclusions report on main results and suggestions

[en] This report describes a Montecarlo simulation method for the simulation of a Pet or Spect equipment. The method is based on the Egs4cyl code. This work has been done in the framework of the Hirespet collaboration, for the developing of an high spatial resolution tomograph, the method will be used for the project of the tomograph. The treated geometry consists of a set of coaxial cylinders, surrounded by a ring of detectors. The detectors have a box shape, a collimator in front of each of them can be included, by means of geometrical constraints to the incident particles. An isotropic source is in the middle of the system. For the particles transport the Egs4code is used, for storing and plotting results the Cern packages Higz and Hbook are used

[en] Pixellated Imaging CsI Telescope (PICsIT) is the high energy detector plane of Imager on Board INTEGRAL Satellite (IBIS), one of the main instruments on board the International Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory (INTEGRAL) satellite that will be launched in the year 2001. It consists of 4096 CsI(Tl) individual detector elements and operates in the energy range from 120 to 10,000 keV. PICsIT is made up of 8 identical modules, each housing 512 scintillating crystals coupled to PIN photodiodes (PD). Each crystal, 30 mm long and with a cross-section of 8.55x8.55 mm², is wrapped with a white diffusing coating and then inserted into an aluminium crate. In order to have a compact design, two electronic boards, mounted directly below the crystal/PD assembly, host both the Analogue and Digital Front-End Electronics (FEE). The behaviour of the read-out FEE has a direct impact on the performance of the whole detector in terms of lower energy threshold, energy resolution and event time tagging. Due to the great number of channels to be handled, an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), that manages signals coming from groups of 16 detecting units, has been designed. The first reduced model of a PICsIT module has been now constructed and is under intensive tests in order to evaluate the main qualification parameters of the detector. In this paper, after a description of the PICsIT hardware and assembly procedures, the main results on system functionality are presented

[en] Due to the higher magnification with respect to traditional optical microscopes, the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) has been extensively applied in recent years to the investigation of elemental composition of many different types of artistic objects. The back-scattered and secondary electrons produced when the SEM electron beam hits the sample can be detected and converted in electronic signals which give rise to images of the scanned area. These images can be recorded in digital format and stored on a computer for subsequent processing. Moreover, in addition to the back-scattered and secondary electrons, the impact of the electron beam on the sample produces a X-ray spectrum, which can be further processed and analysed using an X-ray spectrometer coupled to the SEM. Therefore, it is possible to yield the chemical composition of the sample, analogously to the X-ray fluorescence analysis. Moreover, the transmission electron microscopy (TEM) can be applied to the characterization of paint layers, making ultra-thin sections in which the paint and ground layers are preserved intact. In comparison with usual SEM measurements, the TEM technique is more precise, because of the higher spatial resolution in both the microanalysis and diffraction modes, of the order of 10-20 nm. This precision allows unique identification of each component in the layer and determination of the crystallographic structure, thus characterizing even the smallest particles of each pigment and pointing out minor components. It is then possible to establish whether a pigment is natural, manufactured, its origin as well as approximate datations. In this work, we describe the research activities performed in the laboratory recently established at the ENEA (Italian National Agency for New Technology, Energy and Environment) Applied Physics Division, where dedicated SEM and TEM are connected by a suitable imaging system to a powerful computing system for image acquisition and processing. Use has been made of the so available instruments, of both the hardware and developed software, to investigate some frescoes and stained glasses of XIV-XV centuries in the Basilica of St.Petronio in Bologna, in order to study the manufacturing techniques as well as to determine whether repairs have been carried out or substitutions made of damaged parts in the past times. (author)