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What were some of the challenges of carrying out these tests? And I imagine procuring the machine may have been an issue if the manufacturers knew you were exposing their shortfalls.

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You'd be surprised how difficult it was to bring it on campus and actually turn it on! Over the course of the project, we worked with our IRB, radiological safety experts, regulatory compliance, and campus public safety before we put someone in front of the device. We set the machine up in a lab with a concrete wall to backstop the radiation, and had a 2 meter safety zone around it while it was actually emitting X-rays.

As for procurement, we purchased our machine on eBay from a private seller who purchased it from a U.S. government surplus auction.

You're saying that compliance with university radiation safety protocols was difficult -- for a machine that has been installed around the county and used to expose millions of passengers? I think that's a big part of the story.

Not unless the weirdnesses of ethics panels is part of the story.

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