CRI: IAD Acquisition of a High Resolution Micro X-ray Computed Tomographic Scanner

该合同将获得一台低能量、小物体x射线计算机断层扫描仪，这种仪器也被称为“台式”。或者微型ct扫描仪。该仪器将扩展德克萨斯大学高分辨率x射线计算机断层扫描设施（UTCT）的多学科研究团队的能力，并帮助更好地适应该设施现在服务的各种外部研究社区。新仪器将加快和改进通过我们设施的最受欢迎的样品类别的分析，这些样品很小，需要我们的高分辨率扫描能力。在资本设备上的投资相对较少，这台额外的仪器将使工厂的生产率提高近一倍，并有助于进一步降低CT扫描的每个样品成本。新仪器将增强测量地质和工程样品中局部和分散体积特性的能力，如微小的囊泡、微裂缝模式、细粒沉积物中的孔隙度和连通性。它还将增强在精细分辨率尺度上对三维织物和纹理进行定量表征的能力。有了这个仪器，团队可以为我们的数字图书馆数字形态学（www.DigiMorph.org）生成许多新的计算数据集。新仪器生成的数据集将为扩展现有的CT数据操作和量化软件工具套件提供原材料，以充分利用微型CT数据集的科学潜力。该团队将改进在UTCT''‘’为科学界服务的十年中开发的算法和程序，以改进对这些新扫描仪生成的新类型数据集的分析。他们还将为归档和分发这些大型数据集的挑战提供解决方案，同时改进公共存储库的设计和作用。在这个过程中，他们将训练学生在仪器操作和软件应用方面的能力，在重点科学问题的背景下，涵盖地质学、生物学、工程学和信息学的问题。

This award is to acquire a low-energy, small-object X-ray computed tomographicscanner, an instrument also referred to as a ?desktop? or micro-CT scanner. Thisinstrument will extend the capabilities of a multidisciplinary team of researchers at the University of Texas High-Resolution X-ray Computed Tomography Facility (UTCT), and help better accommodate the diverse external research community now served by the facility. The new instrument will speed and improve analysis of the most popular class of samples moving through our facility, which are small and require our high-resolution scanning capabilities. With a relatively small investment in capital equipment,this additional instrument will nearly double the productivity of the facility and will help to further reduce the per-sample costs of CT scanning. The new instrument will enhance the ability to measure local and dispersed volume properties in geological and engineering samples, such as tiny vesicles, micro-fracture patterns, and porosity and connectivity in fine grained sediments. It will also empower an ability for quantitative characterization of three-dimensional fabrics and textures at fine scales of resolution. With this instrument, the team can generate many new computational datasets for our digital library Digital Morphology (www.DigiMorph.org). The datasets generated by the new instrument will provide the raw materials to extend the current tool suite of CT data manipulation and quantification software, to exploit fully the scientific potential of micro-CT datasets. The team will refine algorithms and procedures that have been developed over UTCT''''s decade of service to the scientific community, to improve analyses of the new class of datasets generated by these new scanners. They will also contribute solutions to the challenges of archiving and distributing these large datasets, while refining the design and role of communal repositories. In the process, they will train students in instrument operation and software application, in the context of focused scientific questions that span problems in geology, biology, engineering, and informatics.