Abstract: An efficient system for desalinization of water is described wherein multiple stages of deionization result in drinking water quality and provision is made for recycling wastewater through the system.

Abstract: The present invention is an apparatus, method and system for determining the coefficient of elasticity of a target by detecting determining simultaneously two or more critical-angle reflections of an ultrasound wave from the target using an ultrasound transducer that includes a transmitter and two or more receivers and calculating the elasticity coefficients of the target.

Abstract: The present invention is an apparatus, method and system for determining cancellous or cortical bone density, cortical bone thickness, bone strength, bone fracture risk, bone architecture and bone quality by acoustically coupling an ultrasound transducer to nearby skin over a bone, reflecting one or more pulses produced by the ultrasound transducer from the bone, and detecting the reflected pulse reflected by the bone, wherein bone porosity and other properties are calculated at a low frequency, a high frequency or both a low and a high frequency.

Abstract: A novel use of a solid state light detector with a low impedance substrate is described. Light that enters the substrate after traversing the antireflective layer creates an electron-hole pair. The electrons are collected in a crystalline epitaxial layer that spans the space charge region, or depletion layer. A high electric field accelerates free electrons inside the depletion region. The electrons collide with the lattice to free more holes and electrons resulting from the presence of a n-p junction, or diode. The diode is formed by placing the crystalline layer which has positive doping in close proximity with the electrodes which have negative doping. The continual generation of charge carriers results in avalanche multiplication with a large multiplication coefficient. During the avalanche process, electrons can be collected enabling light detection. A resistive layer is used to quench, or stop, the avalanche process.

Abstract: A novel use of a solid state light detector with a low impedance substrate is described. Light that enters the substrate after traversing the antireflective layer creates an electron-hole pair. The electrons are collected in a crystalline epitaxial layer that spans the space charge region, or depletion layer. A high electric field accelerates free electrons inside the depletion region. The electrons collide with the lattice to free more holes and electrons resulting from the presence of a n-p junction, or diode. The diode is formed by placing the crystalline layer which has positive doping in close proximity with the electrodes which have negative doping. The continual generation of charge carriers results in avalanche multiplication with a large multiplication coefficient. During the avalanche process, electrons can be collected enabling light detection. A resistive layer is used to quench, or stop, the avalanche process.

Abstract: A novel use of a solid state light detector with a low impedance substrate is described. Light that enters the substrate after traversing the antireflective layer creates an electron-hole pair. The electrons are collected in a crystalline epitaxial layer that spans the space charge region, or depletion layer. A high electric field accelerates free electrons inside the depletion region. The electrons collide with the lattice to free more holes and electrons resulting from the presence of an n-p junction, or diode. The diode is formed by placing the crystalline layer which has positive doping in close proximity with the electrodes which have negative doping. The continual generation of charge carriers results in avalanche multiplication with a large multiplication coefficient. During the avalanche process, electrons can be collected enabling light detection. A resistive layer is used to quench, or stop, the avalanche process.

Abstract: The disclosed invention includes an apparatus and method for detecting radiation in a detector. The radiation to be detected ionizes the atoms in the intrinsic silicon lattice of the detector to produce a small signal of freed elections. The small signal is then amplified by avalanche multiplication in a self-limiting manner by preventing the amplified electrons from traveling through a resistive layer, thereby reducing the electric field to limit the avalanche multiplication. An imaging system incorporating the new detector design is also disclosed.

Abstract: A novel use of a solid state light detector with a low impedance substrate is described. Light that enters the substrate after traversing the antireflective layer creates an electron-hole pair. The electrons are collected in a crystalline epitaxial layer that spans the space charge region, or depletion layer. A high electric field accelerates free electrons inside the depletion region. The electrons collide with the lattice to free more holes and electrons resulting from the presence of a n-p junction, or diode. The diode is formed by placing the crystalline layer which has positive doping in close proximity with the electrodes which have negative doping. The continual generation of charge carriers results in avalanche multiplication with a large multiplication coefficient. During the avalanche process, electrons can be collected enabling light detection. A resistive layer is used to quench, or stop, the avalanche process.

Abstract: Apparatus for generating a high contrast image of a living subject includes an X-ray source capable of generating an X-ray beam having an energy between about 4 MeV and about 40 MeV, means for directing the X-ray beam generated by the X-ray source to a preselected area of the body of a living subject, and at least one scintillating detector capable of detecting photons which are generated as a result of the interaction of the X-ray beam with the body of the living subject.

Abstract: .sup.19 F labelled antibodies are disclosed which are useful in methods of NMR imaging and spectroscopy. The compositions comprise a .sup.19 F-containing sensor moiety and an antibody, preferably a monoclonal antibody, and can optionally also comprise a spacer moiety to separate the sensor moiety and the antibody.

Abstract: Oxygen tension of tissue in a living subject may be determined non-invasively by a method which involves: administering to a living mammalian subject a biologically compatible perfluorocarbon emulsion in an amount effective to generate a measurable .sup.19 F spectrum under .sup.19 F NMR spectroscopy; allowing sufficient time to elapse for substantially all of the perfluorocarbon emulsion to be cleared from the vascular system of the subject, with a portion of the perfluorocarbon emulsion becoming sequestered in tissue of the subject; subjecting the tissue in which the perfluorocarbon emulsion has become sequestered to a .sup.19 F magnetic resonance spectroscopy procedure in which simultaneous measurements are made of spin-lattice relaxation rates for at least two separate resonances of the perfluorocarbon emulsion; and comparing the at least two spin-lattice relaxation rates measured in the .sup.

Abstract: An apparatus and method are disclosed for detecting and locating the origin of a gamma ray in a medical diagnostic imaging system. At least one primary fiber, which is a scintillating optical fiber, is positioned to receive radiation from a gamma ray source. At least one secondary fiber intersects the primary fiber at a non-zero angle. Both fibers have a core surrounded by a cladding, with the claddings of the two fibers in optical contact at an intersection point. Both the primary and secondary fibers are provided with means for detecting light propagated in the fibers. The interaction of radiation such as a gamma ray with the primary fiber will result in the propagation of light in both the primary and secondary fibers, thereby permitting the determination of the site of impact of the gamma ray in the detector, and possibly also enabling the determination of the path of incidence of the gamma ray.

Abstract: An apparatus and method are disclosed for detecting and locating the origin of a gamma ray in a medical diagnostic imaging system. At least one primary fiber, which is a scintillating optical fiber, is positioned to receive radiation from a gamma ray source. At least one secondary fiber intersects the primary fiber at a non-zero angle and is in optical contact with the primary fiber. Both the primary and secondary fibers are provided with means for detecting light propagated in the fibers. The interaction of a gamma ray with the primary fiber will result in the propagation of light in both the primary and secondary fibers, thereby permitting the determination of the site of impact of the gamma ray in the detector, and possibly also enabling the determination of the path of incidence of the gamma ray.

Abstract: .sup.19 F labelled compounds are disclosed which are useful in methods of NMR imaging and spectroscopy. The compounds comprise a .sup.19 F-containing sensor moiety, and a transport polymer or substrate, and can optionally also comprise a spacer moiety to separate the sensor moiety and the transport polymer.

Abstract: Apparatus is disclosed for investigating the mechanical properties of a solid material such as bone, including means for positioning the apparatus in proximity to a surface of the material, at least one emitting ultrasound transducer, at least one receiving ultrasound transducer positioned to received ultrasound waves that have been emitted and have contacted the surface of the material, means for varying the angle of incidence of the emitted ultrasound wave towards the material, means for determining the alignment of the surface of the material with respect to the emitting and receiving ultrasound transdsucers, and signal analyzer means coupled to the receiving transducer for determining at least one characteristic of the received ultrasound wave which is indicative of a mechanical property of the material. A method is also disclosed of using such apparatus.