Abel Zhou

Research Interests

• Artificial Intelligent for Image Quality Improvement and Radiation Dose Reduction

  X-ray imaging has been used in the management of health for almost a century now. It becomes an essential tool for diagnosis of health conditions or assisting interventional treatments. The benefit of undertaking x-ray imaging comes with compromise due to the biological effects of ionization radiation exposures. One of the crucial developments in x-ray imaging technologies is to keep radiation exposures as low as possible to maximize the net benefit of undertaking x-ray imaging procedures.

  Some preliminary findings show the reduction of radiation exposures can be achieved by a convolutional neural network (CNNs) which successfully manage to reduce image noise due to underexposures. CNN algorithms process a radiograph into multiple layers, each of which is a perception of the imaging object. These layers could have represented the spatial resolutions of multiple detectors which otherwise would have been used in imaging the object. For a lower spatial resolution, small or fine structures could not be detected but the sensitivities of detecting large objects are increased. This means for a given image quality, such as a constant signal-to-noise ratio, the radiation exposures can be reduced. Based on these advantages of CNN algorithms, a CNN algorithm has been developed and successfully applied on a planar abdominal radiograph with the achievement of 60% radiation exposure reduction. I am exploring the application of this CNN algorithm to a wide range of planar radiographic examinations for the benefits of patient-radiation-dose reductions.

   

• Early assessments and interventions for minor health issues

  Many chronic diseases and acute-life-threatening conditions are diagnosed after they have shown observable signs or symptoms, which are often a cumulative effect of multiple minor health issues that could be prevented or effortlessly treated. We often call the state of health as subhealth when the body is experiencing health problems without the awareness of any signs and symptoms. A great interest is in the early assessments of minor health problems that can lead to severe health issues. Correcting or treating these problems will improve the quality of aging and the quality of life. Two approaches might be able to reach the same goal of improving the quality of life and preventing severe life-threatening diseases: 1. having the right tools to determine the health issues at early stages so to treat them early before they endanger the life; 2. preventing the occurrences of minor health issues so severe health problems will be prevented before they could be "born". We are interested in developing and evaluating assessments of subhealth and interventions that can prevent the occurrence of subhealth.

   

• Harvesting green and renewable energy

  There are many sources of green and renewable energy, such as hydropower, windmills, tidal power, solar power etc. The current problem is the production of green and renewable energy is far less than the amount that is consumed everyday. We are interested in harvesting heat energy from fluids. Our aim is to develop novel technologies to enable the conversion of heat to kinetic energy or electricity. We are working on innovations that could help us not only effectively transfer heat to kinetic energy but also assist us develop novel transportation systems.