• Journal of Radiation Industry
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.91-102
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• 2015

The iridium disc, generally used in industrial radiography, is examined to find the fracture morphology and fine particles remaining on the shear blank surface. Randomly selected 1,200 discs were observed under a scanning electron microscope tilted more than $45^{\circ}$. Fracture surfaces are classified into three groups: (1) surface fall-out, (2) fracture on the edge and (3) multi-step brittle fracture, which shows the mutual relationship between the fracture morphology and remaining particles. Fracture particles were removed by cleaning the discs in a ultrasonic bath with acetone and collected at the bottom. Removed number of the particles were counted for each different group of fracture surfaces. Followings are conclusions: (1) About 80.5% of discs (966/1,200), have sound plastic shear surfaces with particles remained. (2) About 2% discs accompany surface fall-out's having large particles tens of ${\mu}m$, which is stable not to be pulled out even after the considerably long time of ultrasonic cleaning. (3) About 5% discs contain the fractures on the edge and the particles are removed thoroughly within 30 minutes. (4) 234 discs out of 1,200 discs have multi-step fracture surfaces whose particles never removed in a short period of time but come out very slowly. Such a disc having multiple-step fracture is attributed to the promate cause to the 'leaker'. It is noted here that the discs having mutiple-step fractures should be treated separately with special care, and it is need to study how to treat them.

• The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.57-65
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• 2019

Purpose: The purpose is to clarify the effect of additional scattering ratio on the edge of the block according to the increasing block thickness with low melting point lead alloy and pure lead in electron beam therapy. Methods and materials: $10{\times}10cm^2$ Shielding blocks made of low melting point lead alloy and pure lead were fabricated to shield mold frame half of applicator. Block thickness was 3, 5, 10, 15, 20 (mm) for each material. The common irradiation conditions were set at 6 MeV energy, 300 MU / Min dose rate, gantry angle of $0^{\circ}$, and dose of 100 MU. The relative scattering ratio with increasing block thickness was measured with a parallel plate type ion chamber(Exradin P11) and phantom(RW3) by varying the position of the shielding block(cone and on the phantom), the position of the measuring point(surface ans depth of $D_{max}$), and the block material(lead alloy and pure lead). Results : When (depth of measurement / block position / block material) was (surface / applicator / pure lead), the relative value(scattering ratio) was 15.33 nC(+0.33 %), 15.28 nC(0 %), 15.08 nC(-1.31 %), 15.05 nC(-1.51 %), 15.07 nC(-1.37 %) as the block thickness increased in order of 3, 5, 10, 15, 20 (mm) respectively. When it was (surface / applicator / alloy lead), the relative value(scattering ratio) was 15.19 nC(-0.59 %), 15.25 nC(-0.20 %), 15.15 nC(-0.85 %), 14.96 nC(-2.09 %), 15.15 nC(-0.85 %) respectively. When it was (surface / phantom / pure lead), the relative value(scattering ratio) was 15.62 nC(+2.23 %), 15.59 nC(+2.03 %), 15.53 nC(+1.67 %), 15.48 nC(+1.31 %), 15.34 nC(+0.39 %) respectively. When it was (surface / phantom / alloy lead), the relative value(scattering ratio) was 15.56 nC(+1.83 %), 15.55 nC(+1.77 %), 15.51 nC(+1.51 %), 15.42 nC(+0.92 %), 15.39 nC(+0.72 %) respectively. When it was (depth of $D_{max}$ / applicator / pure lead), the relative value(scattering ratio) was 16.70 nC(-10.87 %), 16.84 nC(-10.12 %), 16.72 nC(-10.78 %), 16.88 nC(-9.93 %), 16.90 nC(-9.82 %) respectively. When it was (depth of $D_{max}$ / applicator / alloy lead), the relative value(scattering ratio) was 16.83 nC(-10.19 %), 17.12 nC(-8.64 %), 16.89 nC(-9.87 %), 16.77 nC(-10.51 %), 16.52 nC(-11.85 %) respectively. When it was (depth of $D_{max}$ / phantom / pure lead), the relative value(scattering ratio) was 17.41 nC(-7.10 %), 17.45 nC(-6.88 %), 17.34 nC(-7.47 %), 17.42 nC(-7.04 %), 17.25 nC(-7.95 %) respectively. When it was (depth of $D_{max}$ / phantom / alloy lead), the relative value(scattering ratio) was 17.45 nC(-6.88 %), 17.44 nC(-6.94 %), 17.47 nC(-6.78 %), 17.43 nC(-6.99 %), 17.35 nC(-7.42 %) respectively. Conclusions: When performing electron therapy using a shielding block, the block position should be inserted applicator rather than the patient's body surface. The block thickness should be made to the minimum appropriate shielding thickness of each corresponding using energy. Also it is useful that the treatment should be performed considering the influence of scattering dose varying with distance from the edge of block.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2002

High energy photon beams from medical linear accelerators produce large scattered radiation by various components of the treatment head, collimator and walls or objects in the treatment room including the patient. These scattered radiation do not provide therapeutic dose and are considered a hazard from the radiation safety perspective. Scattered dose of therapeutic high energy radiation beams are contributed significant unwanted dose to the patient. ICRP take the position that a dose of 500mGy may cause abortion at any stage of pregnancy and that radiation detriment to the fetus includes risk of mental retardation with a possible threshold in the dose response relationship around 100 mGy for the gestational period. The ICRP principle of as low as reasonably achievable (ALARA) was recommended for protection of occupation upon the linear no-threshold dose response hypothesis for cancer induction. We suggest this ALARA principle be applied to the fetus and testicle in therapeutic treatment. Radiation dose outside a photon treatment filed is mostly due to scattered photons. This scattered dose is a function of the distance from the beam edge, treatment geometry, primary photon energy, and depth in the patient. The need for effective shielding of the fetus and testicle is reinforced when young patients ate treated with external beam radiation therapy and then shielding designed to reduce the scattered photon dose to normal organs have to considered. Irradiation was performed in phantom using high energy photon beams produced by a Varian 2100C/D medical linear accelerator (Varian Oncology Systems, Palo Alto, CA) located at the Yonsei Cancer Center. The composite phantom used was comprised of a commercially available anthropomorphic Rando phantom (Phantom Laboratory Inc., Salem, YN) and a rectangular solid polystyrene phantom of dimensions $30cm{\times}30cm{\times}20cm$. the anthropomorphic Rando phantom represents an average man made from tissue equivalent materials that is transected into transverse 36 slices of 2.5cm thickness. Photon dose was measured using a Capintec PR-06C ionization chamber with Capintec 192 electrometer (Capintec Inc., Ramsey, NJ), TLD( VICTOREEN 5000. LiF) and film dosimetry V-Omat, Kodak). In case of fetus, the dosimeter was placed at a depth of loom in this phantom at 100cm source to axis distance and located centrally 15cm from the inferior edge of the $30cm{\times}30cm^2$ x-ray beam irradiating the Rando phantom chest wall. A acryl bridge of size $40cm{\times}40cm^2$ and a clear space of about 20 cm was fabricated and placed on top of the rectangular polystyrene phantom representing the abdomen of the patient. The leaf pot for testicle shielding was made as various shape, sizes, thickness and supporting stand. The scattered photon with and without shielding were measured at the representative position of the fetus and testicle. Measurement of radiation scattered dose outside fields and critical organs, like fetus position and testicle region, from chest or pelvic irradiation by large fie]d of high energy radiation beam was performed using an ionization chamber and film dosimetry. The scattered doses outside field were measured 5 - 10% of maximum doses in fields and exponentially decrease from field margins. The scattered photon dose received the fetus and testicle from thorax field irradiation was measured about 1 mGy/Gy of photon treatment dose. Shielding construction to reduce this scattered dose was investigated using lead sheet and blocks. Lead pot shield for testicle reduced the scatter dose under 10 mGy when photon beam of 60 Gy was irradiated in abdomen region. The scattered photon dose is reduced when the lead shield was used while the no significant reduction of scattered photon dose was observed and 2-3 mm lead sheets refuted the skin dose under 80% and almost electron contamination. The results indicate that it was possible to improve shielding to reduce scattered photon for fetus and testicle when a young patients were treated with a high energy photon beam.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.6-11
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• 2015

The purpose of this study was to analyze the rotational errors of roll, pitch, and yaw in the whole breast cancer treated by the three-dimensional radiation therapy (3D-CRT) using TomoDirect (TD). Twenty-patient previously treated with TD 3D-CRT was selected. We performed a retrospective clinical analysis based on 80 images of megavoltage computed tomography (MVCT) including the systematic and random variation with patient setup errors and treatment setup margin (mm). In addition, a rotational error (degree) for each patient was analyzed using the automatic image registration. The treatment margin of X, Y, and Z directions were 4.2 mm, 6.2 mm, and 6.4 mm, respectively. The mean value of the rotational error for roll, pitch, and yaw were $0.3^{\circ}$, $0.5^{\circ}$, $0.1^{\circ}$, and all of systematic and random error was within $1.0^{\circ}$. The errors of patient positioning with the Y and Z directions have generally been mainly higher than the X direction. The percentage in treatment fractions in less than $2^{\circ}$ at roll, pitch, and yaw are 95.1%, 98.8%, and 97.5%, respectively. However, the edge of upper and lower (i.e., bottom) based on the center of therapy region (point) will quite a possibility that it is expected to twist even longer as the length of treatment region. The patient-specific characters should be considered for the accuracy and reproducibility of treatment and it is necessary to confirm periodically the rotational errors, including patient repositioning and repeating MVCT scan.

• The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.75-90
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• 2001

Although it is presumed that cancer patients take various alternative therapies, the present status is not well recognized. The purpose of this study is to survey alternative therapies used by cancer patients receiving radiation therapy and then, find associated factors of taking alternative therapies. The study subjects were composed of those who receiving radiation therapy in the department of radiation oncology in 5 hospitals located at Extended Busan city and who were on follow-up after medical cure. They were 394 male and female patients over 20 years old. The mean age of the subjects was 53.2 years old and the age ranged from 23 to 83 years old. 188 patients($47.7\%$) used alternative therapies. Total 68 different kinds of alterative therapies were used, average 7.3 kinds per patient were experienced, and average total cost expenditure was 2,830,000 won. Among the alternative therapies, black bean($38.8\%$) was the most commonly used and brown rice($38.3\%$), ganoderm lucidum($37.8\%$), elm tree($33.5\%$), and phellinus linteus($30.8\%$) were followed in order of frequency. However in considering the time, cost and effort spent, phellinus linteus was the first. In terms of cost, phellinus linteus was the highest with average expenditure of 2,740,000 won. Among the motivation of using alternative therapies, expecting auxiliary help for the hospital therapy was the highest ($31.4\%$). About half of users($56.9\%$) of alternative therapies were recommended by their relatives to use alternative therapies. In comparing the characteristics of experienced and unexperienced groups, alternative therapy was experienced significantly more in patients of younger age(p=0.001), in patient of higher educational level(p=0.001), and in patients of higher income(p=0.030) The proportion of using alternative therapies was significantly higher in the group treated with chemotherapy(p=0.005), and in the patients who did not satisfy with radiation therapy(p=0.001). The frequency of drinking was significantly higher tendency in the inexperienced group(p=0.046), There was no significant difference in marital status, job, religion, other disease, surgical operation of the cancer and smoking staus between the two groups. Among the unexperienced group, $34.0\%$ of the patients did not take the alternative therapies because they did not have know]edge for the alternatives, and $22.3\%$ worried about negative effects on hospital-based therapy $58.7\%$ of them were willing to take the alternative therapies if the effects and safety were proven by the government or research institutes. $21.9\%$ of the patients wanted to take the alternatives if they were affordable. $72.3\%$ of the patients was willing to take them if their families recommend, but $27.2\%$ responded they would not take them in any situation. Conclusively, various kinds of alternative therapies which were not proved medically were exposed to patients, In these circumstances, it is required to investigate, study and evaluate the medical effects and safety of the alternative therapies.

• The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.9-15
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• 2009

Purpose: We evaluated the device that was created for maintaining the patient's setup and protecting the testicles from scattered radiation during treatment of carcinoma of the penis. Materials and Methods: The phantom testicles were made of vaseline cotton gauze and the device consisted of 5 mm of acryl box and 4 mm of lead shielding. $3{\times}3\;cm^2$, $4{\times}4\;cm^2$, $5{\times}5\;cm^2$, $6{\times}6\;cm^2$, $7{\times}7\;cm^2$ field sizes were used for this study and measurement was made at 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 cm from the lower edge of the field for 10 times with lead shielding and without the shielding respectively. 200 cGy was delivered using 6 MV photons. Results: The scatted radiation without lead shielding at 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 cm from the lower edge of the field were 14.8-4.7 cGy with $3{\times}3\;cm^2$, 15.7-5.2 cGy with $4{\times}4\;cm^2$, 17.6-5.5 cGy with $5{\times}5\;cm^2$, 19.9-6.6 cGy with $6{\times}6\;cm^2$, 22.2-7.6 cGy with $7{\times}7\;cm^2$ and the measured dose without lead shielding were 7.1-2.6 cGy with $3{\times}3\;cm^2$, 8.9-3.6 cGy with $4{\times}4\;cm^2$, 12.3-4.8 cGy with $5{\times}5\;cm^2$, 14.6-5.0 cGy with $6{\times}6\;cm^2$ and 21.1~6.4 cGy with $7{\times}7\;cm^2$. As shown above, the scatted radiation decreased after using lead shielding. Depending of the range of field sizes, the resulting difference between without shielding values and with shielding values were: 7.8-1.1 cGy at 4 cm, 5.1-1.2 cGy at 5 cm, 3.8-1.1 cGy at 6 cm, 3.4-1.7 cGy at 7 cm, 2.8-1.7 cGy at 8 cm, 2.4-2.5 cGy at 9 cm and 2.1-1.8 cGy at 10 cm. In the situation as described above, the range in values depending on the distance was 7.8-1.1 cGy with $3{\times}3\;cm^2$, 6.9-1.6 cGy with $4{\times}4\;cm^2$, 5.3-0.8 cGy with $5{\times}5\;cm^2$, 5.3-1.5 cGy with $6{\times}6\;cm^2$ and 1.1-1.8 cGy with $7{\times}7\;cm^2$. Conclusion: Using the device we created to shield the testicles from scattered radiation during treatment of carcinoma of the penis, we have found that scattered radiation to the testicles is decreased by the phantom testicles, and by increasing the distance between the testicles and penis.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.9
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• pp.3440-3447
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• 2022

The accuracy of the photoatomic cross-section data is of great importance in the field of radiation protection, particularly in the characterization of radiation shielding materials. With the release of the latest and probably the most accurate photoatomic data library, EPDL2017, the need to re-evaluate all the existing and already established mass attenuation coefficients (MACs) of all radiation shielding materials arises. The MACs of several polymers, alloy-based, glasses, and building materials used in a nuclear medicine facility were investigated using the EPDL2017 library embedded in EpiXS software and were compared to MACs available in the literature. The relative differences between MAC_EpiXS and MACXCOM were negligible, ranging from 0.02% to 0.36% for most materials. However, for material like a glass comprising of elements Te and La evaluated near their corresponding K-edge energies, the relative differences in MACs increased up to 1.46%. On the other hand, a comparison with MACs calculated based on EPDL97 (a predecessor of EPDL2017) revealed as much as a 6.61% difference. Also, it would seem that the changes in MACs were more evident in the materials composed of high atomic number elements evaluated at x-ray energies compared to materials composed of low atomic number elements evaluated at gamma-ray energies.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.329-335
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• 2010

Digital imaging detectors can use a variety of detection materials to convert X-ray radiation either to light or directly to electron charge. Many detectors such as amorphous silicon flat panels, CCDs, and CMOS photodiode arrays incorporate a scintillator screen to convert x-ray to light. The digital radiography systems based on semiconductor detectors, commonly referred to as flat panel detectors, are gaining popularity in the clinical & hospital. The X-ray detectors are described between a-Silicon based indirect type and a-Selenium based direct type. The DRS of detectors is used to convert the x-ray to electron hole pairs. Image processing is described by specific image features: Latitude compression, Contrast enhancement, Edge enhancement, Look up table, Noise suppression. The image features are tuned independently. The final enhancement result is a combination of all image features. The parameters are altered by using specific image features in the different several hospitals. The image in a radiological report consists of two image evaluation processes: Clinical image parameters and MTF is a descriptor of the spatial resolution of a digital imaging system. We used the edge test phantom and exposure procedure described in the IEC 61267 to obtain an edge spread function from which the MTF is calculated. We can compare image in the processing parameters to change between original and processed image data. The angle of the edge with respect to the axes of detector was varied in order to determine the MTF as a function of direction. Each MTF is integrated within the spatial resolution interval of 1.35-11.70 cycles/mm at the 50% MTF point. Each image enhancement parameters consists of edge, frequency, contrast, LUT, noise, sensitometry curve, threshold level, windows. The digital device is also shown to have good uniformity of MTF and image parameters across its modality. The measurements reported here represent a comprehensive evaluation of digital radiography system designed for use in the DRS. The results indicate that the parameter enables very good image quality in the digital radiography. Of course, the quality of image from a parameter is determined by other digital devices in addition to the proper clinical image.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.31-38
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• 2021

In this paper, we present observations of the Space Radiation Detectors (SRDs) onboard the Next Generation Small Satellite-1 (NEXTSat-1) satellite. The SRDs, which are a part of the Instruments for the study of Stable/Storm-time Space (ISSS), consist of the Medium-Energy Particle Detector (MEPD) and the High-Energy Particle Detector (HEPD). The MEPD can detect electrons, ions, and neutrals with energies ranging from 20 to 400 keV, and the HEPD can detect electrons over an energy range from 0.35 to 2 MeV. In this paper, we report an event where particle flux enhancements due to substorm injections are clearly identified in the MEPD A observations at energies of tens of keV. Additionally, we report a specific example observation of the electron distributions over a wide energy range in which we identify electron spatial distributions with energies of tens to hundreds of keV from the MEPD and with energy ranging up to a few MeV from the HEPD in the slot region and outer radiation belts. In addition, for an ~1.5-year period, we confirm that the HEPD successfully observed the well-known outer radiation belt electron flux distributions and their variations in time and L shell in a way consistent with the geomagnetic disturbance levels. Last, we find that the inner edge of the outer radiation belt is mostly coincident with the plasmapause locations in L, somewhat more consistent at subrelativistic energies than at relativistic energies. Based on these example events, we conclude that the SRD observations are of reliable quality, so they are useful for understanding the dynamics of the inner magnetosphere, including substorms and radiation belt variations.

• Proceedings of the KOSOMBE Conference
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• v.1997 no.05
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• pp.414-417
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• 1997

This paper presents vessel contour for extracting features and segmentating narrow blood vessels down to a diameter of two pixels in digital subtraction angiographic image. We present a new tracking algorithm for contour, mainly blood vessels in DSA image, and extracting properties such as their intensities, diameters, and center lines by exploiting spatial continuity. The proposed algorithm comes to detect blood vessel's boundary using difference edge detector one of homogeneity operator and find a next centerline position by direction vector of edge information. This algorithm enhanced variation of vessel's diameter compared to Sun's tracking algorithm and lessoned to compute as direction vector decide adaptively entire vessel's direction field. The processed images are intended to support radiologists in diagnosis, radiation therapy planning, and surgical planning. The algorithm should be useful for automating angiographic analyses of blood vessels.