Efficient standardization of clinical T-weighted images: Phase-conjugacy e-CAMP with projected gradient descent.

Purpose: To standardize T -weighted images from clinical Turbo Spin Echo (TSE) scans by generating corresponding T maps with the goal of removing scanner- and/or protocol-specific heterogeneity.

Methods: The T map is estimated by minimizing an objective function containing a data fidelity term in a Virtual Conjugate Coils (VCC) framework, where the signal evolution model is expressed as a linear constraint. The objective function is minimized by Projected Gradient Descent (PGD).

Practical utilization of nonlinear spatial encoding: Fast field mapping and FRONSAC-wave.

Purpose: To study the additional value of FRONSAC encoding in 2D and 3D wave sequences, implementing a simple strategy to trajectory mapping for FRONSAC encoding gradients.

Theory And Methods: The nonlinear gradient trajectory for each voxel was estimated by exploiting the sparsity of the point spread function in the frequency domain. Simulations and in-vivo experiments were used to analyze the performance of combinations of wave and FRONSAC encoding.

Low-Field, Low-Cost, Point-of-Care Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

Low-field magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has recently experienced a renaissance that is largely attributable to the numerous technological advancements made in MRI, including optimized pulse sequences, parallel receive and compressed sensing, improved calibrations and reconstruction algorithms, and the adoption of machine learning for image postprocessing. This new attention on low-field MRI originates from a lack of accessibility to traditional MRI and the need for affordable imaging. Low-field MRI provides a viable option due to its lack of reliance on radio-frequency shielding rooms, expensive liquid helium, and cryogen quench pipes.

Generation rate and fate of surplus soil extracted in New York City.

With increasing urgency to build earthworks projects to protect against flooding from climate change and mitigate exposure to pollutants in degraded urban soils, many cities could experience increased demand for soil of between 10 and 35 million t in coming decades. This study showed that building construction in New York City (NYC) produces an estimated 1.7 × 10 t of surplus clean native soil (mostly glacial sediments) each year and could be an important source to meet future urban soil demand.

Sediment exchange to mitigate pollutant exposure in urban soil.

Urban soil is an ongoing source for lead (Pb) and other pollutant exposure. Sources of clean soil that are locally-available, abundant and inexpensive are needed to place a protective cover layer over degraded urban soil to eliminate direct and indirect pollutant exposures. This study evaluates a novel sediment exchange program recently established in New York City (NYC Clean Soil Bank, CSB) and found that direct exchange of surplus sediment extracted from urban construction projects satisfies these criteria.