Non-destructive tests are the most important and efficient tests for checking welded objects. Non-destructive tests are used to identify defects in the internal and external parts of welded objects, that focus on identifying defects of the parts without damaging them. In this article, the industrial radiography method, which is one of the non-destructive methods, is used to detect surface and subsurface welding defects such as cracks, holes, corrosion, etc. In the radiography method due to the inherent scattering of X-rays, noises from the X-ray machine, attenuation of the beam in the examined object, geometrical factors such as the size of the radiation source, the thickness of the part and the distance between the source and the film, etc., the resulting images may lack clarity. Despite these factors, the quality of radiographs is low, and it is difficult to accurately interpret the results and identify the welding defects. Therefore, Image processing methods are used as an auxiliary tool to increase contrast and improve the interpretation of radiographs. In this article, the aim is to increase the quality of welding radiographs using the iterative weighted median filter, which is a part of spatial domain filters. The background image of the original radiograph is obtained by applying the iterative weighted median filter with a same number of repetitions and the different 3D windows. Then, the background image obtained is subtracted from the original radiograph, reconstructed images are obtained with high contrast. The results show that the application of this filter on the 3D radiographs of the weld better reveals the defects hidden in the radiographs of the weld, including small and subsurface cracks. Also, the expert's evaluation shows that the reconstructed images have a contrast improvement between 5 and 16% in terms of contrast, and they define the defect regions with better and more accurate resolution.

The basis of backscatter X-ray imaging systems is the scattering of backscattered rays that have many applications in industry and inspection. In these images, organic materials with low atomic numbers, such as drugs and explosives, produce many scattered photons and are seen more clearly. These images are blurred due to the multiple scattered X-ray. Image processing methods can help improve contrast and material detection in backscatter X-ray (BX) images. In this research, the total variation method has been used to improve the contrast of the BX images. Firstly, the BX images of the various phantoms have been processed for evaluating the BX system, then many BX images of motorcycles are investigated. The results show that the total variation method increases the contrast of the backscattered X-ray images and can be used as the additional filter in the BX imaging system. Evaluation of experts shows that the contrast of the processed images has been significantly improved and increased between 20 to 40%.

Image prosseing methods is useful for extraction of the defects such as porosity, slag and crack in the noisy and low contrast industrial radiography images. It is noticeable that the defects appear as the gradients in pixel values, therefore, the gradient based method can help to detect the defects. In this research, different methods of gradient extraction such as Soble, Perwitt and the nonlinear diffusion filter were implemented and tried to improve the edges and the defect detection. The nonlinear diffusion filter method depends on diffusion coefficient, k, and the chosen value for k can affect the exact smoothing of the edges. Thus, in this attempt, by the use of a new approach, in comparison with the conventional edge finder methods, a nonlinear diffusion filter method is repeated and the edges are smoothed in the obtained images. Then, the defects in the gradient of images are extracted by substracting the original image from the obtained image. The mentioned methods were implemented in different radiography images. The results show that the proposed method in comparison with local gradient ones such as Sobel and Perwitt methods has superiority over different radiographic images as confirmed by the radiography film interpreters.

In recent years, adaptive beam forming methods have been successfully applied to medical ultrasound imaging, resulting in significant improvement in image quality compared to non-adaptive beam formers. This improvement results from the fact that their weights are chosen based on the priori knowledge of the received data and updated using current statistics of the array signal. Most of the adaptive beam formers presented in the ultrasound imaging literature are based on the minimum variance (MV) beam former, which can improve the imaging resolution while retaining the contrast. It is desirable that the beam former could improve the resolution and contrast, at the same time. To this end, in this paper, we have used temporal averaging besides the conventional spatial averaging to estimate the more accurate covariance matrix. Moreover, we have used the coherence factor weighting combined with MV beam forming to enhance the focusing quality and hence reducing the undesired side lobes. The efficacy of the proposed adaptive beam forming approach is demonstrated via a number of simulated and experimental examples.

Background and aims: Contrast-induced nephropathy (CIN) is a common and serious complication related to the intravenous injection of iodinated contrast media. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate CIN frequency and the relationship of some variables with CIN in patients who were referred to Hajar hospital, Shahrekord, Iran. Methods: The study was performed on 200 patients who were candidates for contrast-enhanced computed tomography with intravenous contrast in Shahrekord, Iran, in 2018. Metformin and non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs were discontinued from 48 hours before to 48 hours after the contrast prescription. Almost 100 mL of nonionic, iso-osmolar contrast media (Visipaque or Dixopaque) were used for patients. After 48 hours of contrast injection, blood urea nitrogen and serum creatinine (Cr) were checked, and the related data were collected. Cr rising>0.3 mg/dL of baseline and Cr rising>0.5 mg/dL were considered acute kidney injury (AKI) and CIN, respectively. Results: The mean age of patients was 63.65±20 years. In addition, the mean serum Cr of patients before and after the contrast injection was 1.13±0.83 mg/dL and 1.10±0.72 mg/dL, respectively (P=0.44). The frequency of AKI nephropathy (serum Cr rising>0.3 mg/dL) was 11.5% (n=23). However, with a 0.5 mg/dL increase in serum Cr, it was 4.5% (n=9). Only the age of patients was found to be a risk factor for CIN. Conclusion: CIN was not common in cases with normal or near-normal renal function. However, contrast prescription should be performed more carefully in old age patients.

More than 22% of the world's agricultural land is saline, and this trend continues to increase with climate changes. Salinity stress causes leaf color change, osmotic stress, ionic toxicity, prevents growth, photosynthesis and plant performance. Due to their size less than micron, metal nanoparticles have a great absorption and transmission power in plants. Salinity stress is a major problem in hot and dry areas under tomato cultivation. For this purpose, investigating the mutual effects of the size and type of zinc oxide and iron oxide nanoparticles on the improvement and change of growth and increasing the resistance to salt stress in tomato plants of the early urbana variety were carried out in the form of a completely randomized and factorial design with 4 replications, at a significant level of 5%. In this research, zinc oxide nanoparticles in 25 and 50 nm sizes, iron oxide in 25 nm sizes and sodium chloride in 0 and 75 mM levels were used. Nanoparticles and salinity treatments were both applied to the plants. The results showed that salt stress led to a decrease in plant growth parameters such as shoot and root length, leaf area, RWC, ion leakage. Also, NaCl led to an increase in the accumulation of prolin and other aldehydes, sodium, iron and zinc. The application of nanoparticles had a slight effect in stress-free conditions, but in stressed conditions, these two nanoparticles alone and especially in combination neutralized the effect of salinity and reduced the damage caused by salinity stress.

Bladder leiomyoma is a rare benign neoplasm that may mimic a malignant lesion in medical images. We report a woman with bladder leiomyoma who was correctly diagnosed by contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS). The patient was referred to our hospital after a bladder neoplasm was detected during a health checkup. CEUS showed fast wash-in and slow wash-out in the tumor, similar to a normal bladder wall. To conclude, bladder leiomyoma has its specific characteristics on CEUS, and this modality may be a good option for diagnosis of bladder leiomyoma.