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Development and applicability of an agarose-based tart cherry phantom for computer tomography imaging

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Abstract

Computer tomography (CT) imaging is an effective method for in vivo characterization of object internal attributes including fresh agro-food product quality. Limitations to move CT technology forward into the development of an inline system include the lack of standardized tools (phantoms) for image quality analysis, cross-sharing, and consistent evaluation. The objective of this study was to develop a set of agarose phantoms suitable for detection of pit and pit fragments using CT imaging. Efficiently sorting out these undesirable features during handling and processing will be extremely beneficial to the tart cherry industry. These phantoms can be used on several CT devices (including ultra-fast CT systems) to quantify CT performance, reproducibility, and applicability. This article describes how the phantoms were created, using agarose, a broadly available and inexpensive material. Developed phantoms allow for the measurement of CT image parameters that are relevant to detect fresh cherry pits and/or pit fragments and helps in the development of inline CT equipment. Measured phantom CT image parameters include simulated flesh and embedded pit X-ray CT attenuation properties (HU-values), which are statistically similar (p = 0.05) to fresh tart cherries. In addition, using CT images, pit and pit fragment size can be inferred with a high accuracy rate (R = 0.99, p value <0.01).

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Notes

  1. BrightSpeed® and Volara® are registered Trademarks of General Electric Healthcare.

Abbreviations

2D:

Two-dimensional image

3D:

Three-dimensional image

ANOVA:

Analysis of variance

CT:

Computed tomography

DICOM:

Digital imaging and communications in medicine

DM:

Digital measurements

GPU:

Graphical processing unit

GTM:

Ground-truth measurements

HU:

Hounsfield units

kV:

Kilovolt

mA:

Milliamperage

MRI:

Magnetic resonance imaging

PLs:

Profile-lines

px:

Pixel

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the support of Professor Jeff Sakamoto, from the Department of Chemical Engineering & Material Science at Michigan State University for his valuable support and help in developing the agarose/surose phantoms. We also thank Mr. Mark Sellers, Mr. Rex Miller, and Ms. Meg Willis-Redfern for technical support using the CT scanner, and the Michigan State Veterinary Teaching Hospital for providing the CT scanner used for the study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering, Michigan State University, 524 S. Shaw Lane, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA

    Irwin R. Donis-González & Daniel E. Guyer

  2. Department of Agricultural Machinery, College of Agriculture, Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, 17020, Çanakkale, Turkey

    Ismail Kavdir

  3. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Michigan State University, 2527 Engineering Building, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA

    Dena Shahriari

  4. Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, D211 Veterinary Medical Center, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA

    Anthony Pease

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  1. Irwin R. Donis-González
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  2. Daniel E. Guyer
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  3. Ismail Kavdir
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  4. Dena Shahriari
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  5. Anthony Pease
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Correspondence to Irwin R. Donis-González.

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Donis-González, I.R., Guyer, D.E., Kavdir, I. et al. Development and applicability of an agarose-based tart cherry phantom for computer tomography imaging. Food Measure 9, 290–298 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11694-015-9234-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11694-015-9234-7

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