The value assignment of candidate Standard Reference Material (SRM) 57b Silicon Metal provided an opportunity to develop an alkali reaction procedure as a precursor to borate fusion for the preparation of test specimens from the metal powder for X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF). Suggested for this purpose by Blanchette (Adv. X-Ray Anal., 45, 415, 2002), the alkali reaction uses LiOH·H2O to...

The assessment of past chronic lead exposure is difficult. Chronic lead burden is not always correctly assessed using laboratory-based tests that are useful for acute or recent exposures. We describe a case of suspected chronic lead exposure that illustrated the need for improved and possibly noninvasive methods to determine cumulative lead body burden. X-Ray fluorescence (XRF) is discussed as ...

Childhood lead (Pb) poisoning remains a global issue, especially in industrial areas. In this study, 115 children with average age 5.7 years were recruited as either patient diagnosed with Pb poisoning or controls at Xinhua Hospital in China. The subjects' bone Pb was measured with a K-shell X-ray fluorescence (KXRF) and a portable X-ray fluorescence (XRF) system. A significant correlation betw...

The identification of organic colorants in works of art has traditionally been one of the most difficult challenges in cultural heritage science. While non-invasive methods such as X-Ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF), or Raman microscopy are extremely useful for the identification of inorganic pigments, they remain generally unsuitable for the analysis of most organic colorants. The absence o...

In vivo bone lead measurements with 109Cd-based K-shell X-ray fluorescence (XRF) have been used to assess long-term lead exposure in adults. Tibia lead levels were measured in 210 children (106 boys, 104 girls) of 11-12(1/2) years of age in a lead smelter town and in a control (nonexposed) town. Tibia lead levels, methodological uncertainties, and models of some of the factors influencing them ...

A new micro-XRF instrument was developed in combination with an atomic force microscope (AFM). A small pinhole of 5 or 10 μm was made on the AFM cantilever. The center of the micro X-ray beam generated by a polycapillary X-ray lens was passed through the pinhole. The present experiment demonstrated that the size of the original X-ray beam of 48 μm produced by the polycapillary lens was reduced ...

An artificial neural network approach was used for the analysis of low-resolution XRF spectra. Instead of peak analysis and fitting the experimental results to a mathematical function as used by the conventional algorithms, the artificial neural network method takes the spectrum as a whole, comparing its shape with the patterns learned during the training period of the network. This method was ...

Introduction: Giotto (1266–1337) and his workshop realized c. 1315 the large Crucifix now in the Louvre Museum. The conservation of this masterpiece in 2010–2013 in the C2RMF studios gave the opportunity for a comprehensive investigation of the execution technique through a characterization of the paint layers. The first examinations revealed an original gilding and decoration surrounding the C...

Conditional Random Fields (CRFs) encounter computational difficulties in the presence of a graph with high treewidth. This paper introduces a new type of model, the Crossover Random Field (XRF), designed to cope with these difficulties. An XRF consists of a sequence of “layers”, each of which is a tractable CRF. Inference of marginals takes place layer by layer, with the marginals from one laye...

Zinc is an essential element that can be found in bones, such as calcium and phosphorus. It seems to have effects on growth, bone turnover and mineralization making its relationship with bones still opening. The goal of this study is, by XRF analysis, characterized bone samples, with and without pathology, in the trabeculae region. For that purpose, it was used an XRF beam line at the Synchrotr...