Month: January 2015

DICOM images do not often have topics devoted to them online.  Today I was searching for a compelling reason not to use standard DICOM file format vs compressed DICOM file format (using lossless JPEG).  So I ran a few tests.  I copied a DICOM image file and compressed it using Sante DICOM editor.  The file size was approximately 3x smaller than the standard image size.  I then compared the file headers on both files and noticed additional tag information in the compressed image header data.  Comparing the image quality in Sante DICOM editor I could find no pixel difference at all.

So why would I not convert all of my DICOM images to compressed DICOM?  I’m not sure yet.  I suspect the only downside would be DICOM viewer issues with compressed DICOM.  But who reads DICOM images with a viewer that does not support compressed DICOM?  Probably no one.  Prepare to be converted my standard DICOM images…

Use this site to update your UNC-Secure certificates or register your computer on the UNC Secure wireless network if you are having issues.  This is a better alternative than trying to check the DHCP registration.

https://enrollment.net.unc.edu

If you are connecting using an Android device, go to the Google Play Store and search on the ‘xpressconnect’ by CloudPath Networks Inc (if you try to download it from the enrollment.net.unc.edu site your Android device will probably give you a message saying you can not install from an unknown source).  Once you install the xPressConnect app. then go back to the enrollment.net.unc.edu page to configure your device by clicking on the ‘Configure Device’ button (an example screenshot is shown below).

Here is another data management tool I discovered for viewing and cleaning data (http://openrefine.org).  One of the great features is the ‘redo’ or editing history that tracks programmable changes to the data, and this history of ‘steps’ may be applied to other datasets.  With programming skills you can extend the functionality as well, making this a powerful tool to customize your data management.