• The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.31-37
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• 2012

Purpose: This study evaluated the usefulness of Helmet bolus device using Bolx-II, paraffin wax, solid thermoplastic material in total scalp irradiation. Materials and Methods: Using Rando phantom, we applied Bolx-II (Action Products, USA), paraffin wax (Densply, USA), solid thermoplastic material (Med-Tec, USA) on the whole scalp to make helmet bolus device. Computed tomography (GE, Ultra Light Speed16) images were acquired at 5 mm thickness. Then, we set up the optimum treatment plan and analyzed the variation in density of each bolus (Philips, Pinnacle). To evaluate the dose distribution, Dose-homogeneity index (DHI, $D_{90}/D_{10}$) and Conformity index (CI, $V_{95}/TV$) of Clinical Target Volume (CTV) using Dose-Volume Histogram (DVH) and $V_{20}$, $V_{30}$ of normal brain tissues. we assessed the efficiency of production process by measuring total time taken to produce. Thermoluminescent dosimeters (TLD) were used to verify the accuracy. Results: Density variation value of Bolx-II, paraffin wax, solid thermoplastic material turned out to be $0.952{\pm}0.13g/cm^3$, $0.842{\pm}0.17g/cm^3$, $0.908{\pm}0.24g/cm^3$, respectively. The DHI and CI of each helmet bolus device which used Bolx-II, paraffin wax, solid thermoplastic material were 0.89, 0.85, 0.77 and 0.86, 0.78, 0.74, respectively. The result of Bolx-II was the best. $V_{20}$ and $V_{30}$ of brain tissues were 11.50%, 10.80%, 10.07% and 7.62%, 7.40%, 7.31%, respectively. It took 30, 120, 90 minutes to produce. The measured TLD results were within ${\pm}7%$ of the planned values. Conclusion: The application of helmet bolus which used Bolx-II during total scalp irradiation not only improves homogeneity and conformity of Clinical Target Volume but also takes short time and the production method is simple. Thus, the helmet bolus which used Bolx-II is considered to be useful for the clinical trials.

• The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.305-312
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• 2014

Purpose : The purpose of this study is to analyze the mechanical and leaf speed accuracy of the dynamic multileaf collimator (DMLC) and determine the appropriate period of quality assurance (QA). Materials and Methods : The quality assurance of the DMLC equipped with Millennium 120 leaves has been performed total 92 times from January 2012 to June 2014. The the accuracy of leaf position and isocenter coincidence for MLC were checked using the graph paper and Gafchromic EBT film, respectively. The stability of leaf speed was verified using a test file requiring the leaves to reach maximum leaf speed during the gantry rotation. At the end of every leaf speed QA, dynamic dynalog files created by MLC controller were analyzed using dynalog file viewer software. This file concludes the information about the planned versus actual position for all leaves and provides error RMS (root-mean square) for individual leaf deviations and error histogram for all leaf deviations. In this study, the data obtained from the leaf speed QA were used to screen the performance degradation of leaf speed and determine the need for motor replacement. Results : The leaf position accuracy and isocenteric coincidence of MLC was observed within a tolerance range recommanded from TG-142 reports. Total number of motor replacement were 56 motors over whole QA period. For all motors replaced from QA, gradually increased patterns of error RMS values were much more than suddenly increased patterns of error RMS values. Average error RMS values of gradually and suddenly increased patterns were 0.298 cm and 0.273 cm, respectively. However, The average error RMS values were within 0.35 cm recommended by the vendor, motors were replaced according to the criteria of no counts with misplacement > 1 cm. On average, motor replacement for gradually increased patterns of error RMS values 22 days. 28 motors were replaced regardless of the leaf speed QA. Conclusion : This study performed the periodic MLC QA for analyzing the mechanical and leaf speed accuracy of the dynamic multileaf collimator (DMLC). The leaf position accuracy and isocenteric coincidence showed whthin of MLC evaluation is observed within the tolerance value recommanded by TG-142 report. Based on the result obtained from leaf speed QA, we have concluded that QA protocol of leaf speed for DMLC was performed at least bimonthly in order to screen the performance of leaf speed. The periodic QA protocol can help to ensure for delivering accurate IMRT treatment to patients maintaining the performance of leaf speed.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.77-97
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• 2010

Market timing is an investment strategy which is used for obtaining excessive return from financial market. In general, detection of market timing means determining when to buy and sell to get excess return from trading. In many market timing systems, trading rules have been used as an engine to generate signals for trade. On the other hand, some researchers proposed the rough set analysis as a proper tool for market timing because it does not generate a signal for trade when the pattern of the market is uncertain by using the control function. The data for the rough set analysis should be discretized of numeric value because the rough set only accepts categorical data for analysis. Discretization searches for proper "cuts" for numeric data that determine intervals. All values that lie within each interval are transformed into same value. In general, there are four methods for data discretization in rough set analysis including equal frequency scaling, expert's knowledge-based discretization, minimum entropy scaling, and na$\ddot{i}$ve and Boolean reasoning-based discretization. Equal frequency scaling fixes a number of intervals and examines the histogram of each variable, then determines cuts so that approximately the same number of samples fall into each of the intervals. Expert's knowledge-based discretization determines cuts according to knowledge of domain experts through literature review or interview with experts. Minimum entropy scaling implements the algorithm based on recursively partitioning the value set of each variable so that a local measure of entropy is optimized. Na$\ddot{i}$ve and Booleanreasoning-based discretization searches categorical values by using Na$\ddot{i}$ve scaling the data, then finds the optimized dicretization thresholds through Boolean reasoning. Although the rough set analysis is promising for market timing, there is little research on the impact of the various data discretization methods on performance from trading using the rough set analysis. In this study, we compare stock market timing models using rough set analysis with various data discretization methods. The research data used in this study are the KOSPI 200 from May 1996 to October 1998. KOSPI 200 is the underlying index of the KOSPI 200 futures which is the first derivative instrument in the Korean stock market. The KOSPI 200 is a market value weighted index which consists of 200 stocks selected by criteria on liquidity and their status in corresponding industry including manufacturing, construction, communication, electricity and gas, distribution and services, and financing. The total number of samples is 660 trading days. In addition, this study uses popular technical indicators as independent variables. The experimental results show that the most profitable method for the training sample is the na$\ddot{i}$ve and Boolean reasoning but the expert's knowledge-based discretization is the most profitable method for the validation sample. In addition, the expert's knowledge-based discretization produced robust performance for both of training and validation sample. We also compared rough set analysis and decision tree. This study experimented C4.5 for the comparison purpose. The results show that rough set analysis with expert's knowledge-based discretization produced more profitable rules than C4.5.

• The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.31-43
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• 2015

Purpose : Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) has proved its efficacy in several patient populations with primary and metastatic limited tumors. Because SBRT prescription is high dose level than Conventional radiation therapy. SBRT plan is necessary for effective Organ at risk (OAR) protection and sufficient Planning target volume (PTV) dose coverage. In particular, multi-target cases may result excessive doses to OAR and hot spot due to dose overlap. This study evaluate usefulness of Volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) in dosimetric and technical considerations using Flattening filter free (FFF) beam. Materials and Methods : The treatment plans for five patients, being treated on TrueBeam STx(Varian$^{TM}$, USA) with VMAT using 10MV FFF beam and Standard conformal radiotherapy (CRT) using 15MV Flattening filter (FF) beam. PTV, liver, duodenum, bowel, spinal cord, esophagus, stomach dose were evaluated using the dose volume histogram(DVH). Conformity index(CI), homogeneity index(HI), Paddick's index(PCI) for the PTV was assessed. Total Monitor unit (MU) and beam on time was assessed. Results : Average value of CI, HI and PCI for PTV was $1.381{\pm}0.028$, $1.096{\pm}0.016$, $0.944{\pm}0.473$ in VMAT and $1.381{\pm}0.042$, $1.136{\pm}0.042$, $1.534{\pm}0.465$ in CRT respectively. OAR dose in CRT plans evaluated 1.8 times higher than VMAT. Total MU in VMAT evaluated 1.3 times increase than CRT. Average beam on time was 6.8 minute in VMAT and 21.3 minute in CRT. Conclusion : VMAT for SBRT in multi-target liver cancer using FFF beam is effective treatment techniqe in dosimetric and technical considerations. VMAT decrease intra-fraction error due to treatment time shortening using high dose rate of FFF beam.