Week 4: Structures, The Body, X-Ray and Materials Engineering

 Throughout my undergraduate degree, I devoted my studies to structural materials and structures in general. The degree's focus on characterization naturally led to X-Ray Diffraction but not as a medical technique or artistic one although the background on x-rays in general as the medical imaging part of it was promptly explained to us by Professor Goorsky in the very first lecture in his class. X-Ray Diffraction, and Diffraction Enhanced Imagery as I would later learn work by bombarding a sample with electrons that are energetic enough to knock out an electron from the inner shells of the atom, as shown in the Bohr model picture below. Electrons would then fall from the valence shell to fill the holes in the inner shells and emit photons of light which we can capture as images or spectra. As a materials engineer, the spectra or intensity graphs offer clues to the composition and structure of crytstalline materials.  

                                         Encyclopedia Britannica: Bohr Model of the Atom

From the atoms to structures and the notion of tensigrity starts coming to terms as the difference between members in tension and members in compression and how even before you apply an external force, members are already in tension or compression. This is not only a concept in structure but a concept in statics and materials sicence as by shear fact that members withstand their own weight and are assembled in structures makes them bear compression and tension loads. This is applicable to anything from building design to the load on the calf of a person as shown on the statics problem taken from a physics textbook below 
Statics and Torque Exercises  
https://phys.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/University_Physics/Exercises_(University_Physics)/Exercises%3A_College_Physics_(OpenStax)/09%3A_Statics_and_Torque

The concepts of imaging using electromagnetic radiation and analyzing structures come forth in medical imaging as it  shows the human body in all its ability, diseases and malfunctions.In the following video, Tyler Ross showcases and MRI of his own craninum and the tongue as he sings a Puccini Aria. This showcases how each consonant and vowel looks from the skeleton's perspective, in a way that a speaker themselves might not know. You can see how the movement of his words comes from technique and breath control and you can appreciate the artistry in someone who knows their singing techniques as you literally see inside of them as they perform  in different styles. There's no more intimate performance than that. (Howard)


   Ross, Tyler Singing in the MRI- Making the Voice Visbile. https://youtu.be/J3TwTb-T044




1) Chapman , D, et al. “Diffraction Enhanced X-Ray Imaging.” Physics in Medicine and Biology, U.S. National Library of Medicine, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9394394/.

2) Goorsky, Mark. “Lecture 1: X-Ray Diffraction.” MSE 110 - Fall Quarter 2019. 2019.

3) Goorsky, Mark. “Lecture 2: Crystallography.” MSE 110 - Fall Quarter 2019. 2019.

4) Ingber, D. “The Architecture of Life.” Scientific American: Feature Article: The Architecture of Life: January 1998, http://time.arts.ucla.edu/Talks/Barcelona/Arch_Life.htm.

5) Maksimenko, Anton, et al. “Applications of the Generalized x‐Ray Diffraction Enhanced Imaging in the Medical Imaging.” AIP Publishing, American Institute of PhysicsAIP, 19 Jan. 2007, https://aip.scitation.org/doi/pdf/10.1063/1.2436461.

6) Terrence, Howard “Lecture 4: Phonetics.” Lingusitics 1 - Spring Quarter 2022 2022.

Comments

  1. Akhil April 24, 2022 at 11:25 PM

    Hi Joana, great post! It is interesting to hear your perspective on viewing medical images as art. It reminds of me people who consider the simplest things in nature like a river flowing to be the most pure form of art as it is unadulterated by any human thought. Bodily processes and their complexity could also be considered art via this point of view but I wonder if medical imaging's development needs to consider the aesthetics of what it captures.

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