[en] New requirements for time resolution, test duration, field of view, and recording redundancy in dynamic digital radiographic imaging of fuel motion in TREAT and TREAT-Upgrade (TU) in-pile experiments have been formulated. This has necessitated the design and fabrication of a new hodoscope high-speed data acquisition system. Recently an array of proportional counters was installed to operate in tandem with the Hornyak-button array. The full implementation of this new array, together with the increased field-of-view needed for future TU 37-pin experiments, required a separate recording system operting in parallel with that for the Hornyak buttons. The new recording system was required to have substantially higher capacity than the earlier recording system in use, in order to record sufficient data channels and samples with adequately small collection intervals, for some new types of experiments

[en] The fast-neutron hodoscope at the Transient Reactor Test Facility detects fuel motion in thick opaque capsules during in-core destructive transient tests. Counts from several hundred detectors, each with rates up to a megahertz, are collected at intervals as short as a millisecond for up to tens of seconds. The large amount of data must be decoded, normalized, represented in suitable forms, and analyzed. A computer-controlled magnet disk data acquisition system has been installed which provides shorter data collection intervals, simplifies decoding, and permits immediate data analysis. Data normalizations and representations have been developed which significantly increase the dynamic range, yield sensitive quantitative indications of fuel mass motion, and render the data intuitively comprehensible. The improved hodoscope system performance level is demonstrated by results from a recent transient test, Pinex-2, which show the quantitative evolution of fuel mass motion from 1515 MW peak reactor power through a 1 MW post-scram radiation level

No abstract available

[en] The front-end Equipment Protection System (FE-EPS) at the Advanced Photon Source (APS) is a high reliability, fail-safe single-chain interlock and control system. It consists of an Allen-Bradley PLC-5/30 processor, local and remote I/O racks, monitoring and control panels, serial communication links, and field devices. Each front end is equipped with a dedicated EPS. The system monitors a variety of sensors (e.g., vacuum, cooling water, temperature, pneumatic pressure), and controls front-end (FE) photon shutters and UHV valves. The main functions of the FE-EPS are to guard the integrity of the storage ring vacuum against vacuum excursions in the FE and beam transport line, as well as to protect the front-end and beamline components from being damaged by synchrotron radiation. The FE-EPS interfaces to six other APS interlock and control systems. Information about FE interlocks and devices is displayed on UNIX machines using the EPICS software tool kit. The system design is presented. copyright 1996 American Institute of Physics

[en] 

Purpose

While pelvic congestion syndrome and chronic pelvic pain are relatively common in women, no large- or medium-sized studies have been conducted to our knowledge to evaluate the frequency and severity of ovarian vein dilatation (OVD) on computed tomography (CT). The purpose of our study was therefore to analyze a large number of consecutive abdominal and pelvic CT scans in adult women to determine OVD frequency and severity.

Methods

An IRB-approved, single-institution retrospective analysis of 1042 consecutive abdominal and pelvic CT scans in women ages 25–65 was performed. Scans were evaluated for the presence and severity of OVD and association with “nutcracker anatomy.” A gradation scheme was developed based on quartile analysis.

Results

143 of the CT scans had OVD (13.7%). Of the positive scans, 96 were bilateral, 29 were left-side only, 18 were right-side only, and 18 had nutcracker-type compression of the left renal vein (14.4% of scans with left or bilateral OVD). In positive scans, the mean and median left OVD were 7.5 and 7 mm, respectively, and right-side were 7.2 and 7 mm, respectively. Based on quartile analysis, OVD grading was mild (< 6 mm), moderate (6–8 mm), or severe (> 8 mm), with moderate including the middle 50% of patients.

Conclusions

OVD was found on 13.7% of 1042 consecutive female abdominal and pelvic CT scans, with “nutcracker anatomy” present in 14.4% of the scans with left OVD. Moderate dilatation was defined as an OVD of 6–8 mm at the iliac crests.