• The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.57-67
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• 2013

Purpose: Replacing the film which used to be used for checking the set-up of the patient and dosimetry during radiation therapy, more and more EPID equipped devices are in use at present. Accordingly, this article tried to evaluated the accuracy of the position check-up and the usefulness of dosimetry during the use of an electronic portal imaging device. Materials and Methods: On 50 materials acquired with the search of Korea Society Radiotherapeutic Technology, The Korean Society for Radiation Oncology, and Pubmed using "EPID", "Portal dosimetry", "Portal image", "Dose verification", "Quality control", "Cine mode", "Quality - assurance", and "In vivo dosimetry" as indexes, the usefulness of EPID was analyzed by classifying them as history of EPID and dosimetry, set-up verification and characteristics of EPID. Results: EPID is developed from the first generation of Liquid-filled ionization chamber, through the second generation of Camera-based fluoroscopy, and to the third generation of Amorphous-silicon EPID imaging modes can be divided into EPID mode, Cine mode and Integrated mode. When evaluating absolute dose accuracy of films and EPID, it was found that EPID showed within 1% and EDR2 film showed within 3% errors. It was confirmed that EPID is better in error measurement accuracy than film. When gamma analyzing the dose distribution of the base exposure plane which was calculated from therapy planning system, and planes calculated by EDR2 film and EPID, both film and EPID showed less than 2% of pixels which exceeded 1 at gamma values (r%>1) with in the thresholds such as 3%/3 mm and 2%/2 mm respectively. For the time needed for full course QA in IMRT to compare loads, EDR2 film recorded approximately 110 minutes, and EPID recorded approximately 55 minutes. Conclusion: EPID could easily replace conventional complicated and troublesome film and ionization chamber which used to be used for dosimetry and set-up verification, and it was proved to be very efficient and accurate dosimetry device in quality assurance of IMRT (intensity modulated radiation therapy). As cine mode imaging using EPID allows locating tumors in real-time without additional dose in lung and liver which are mobile according to movements of diaphragm and in rectal cancer patients who have unstable position, it may help to implement the most optimal radiotherapy for patients.

• The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.133-140
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• 2005

Purpose : This test is designed to identify the validity of treatment plan by implementing real-time dosimetry by means of dose that is absorbed into PTV and OAR when preparing doses of 3D and POP plans. Materials and Methods : In treatment. error can be calculated be comparing Exp. Dose with the actual dose, which has been converted from 'the reading value obtained by placing diode detector on the area to be measured'. Same test can be repeated using Alderson-Rando phantom. Results : Errors were found: A patient(POP plan): 197.6/199=-1.2%, B patient(3D-plan): 199.9/198.7=+0.6%, C patient: 196/200=-1.5%. In addition, considering the resulted value of measuring OAR besides target-dose for C patient showed 96/200, representing does of 47%, the purpose of protection was judged to be duly accomplished. Also it was acknowledged the resulted value of -3.7% met the targeted dose within the range of ${\pm}5%$. Conclusion : Aimed for identifying the usefulness of pre-treatment dose measurement using diode detector, this test was useful to evaluate the validity of curing because it resulted in the identification of category to be protected as well as t dose. Moreover, it is thought to have great advantage in ascertaining the dose of target, dose of which is not calculated yet. Similar to L-gram before treatment, this test is thought to be very effective so that it can bring great advantages in the aspects such as validity of curing method and post-treatment plan as well.

• The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.23-30
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• 2015

Purpose : External markers respiratory movement measuring device (RPM; Real-time Position Management, Varian Medical System, USA) Liver Cancer Radiation Therapy Respiratory gated with respiratory signal with irradiation time and the actual research by analyzing the respiratory phase with the breathing motion measurement device respiratory tuning evaluate the accuracy of radiation therapy Materials and Methods : May-September 2014 Novalis Tx. (Varian Medical System, USA) and liver cancer radiotherapy using respiratory gated RPM (Duty Cycle 20%, Gating window 40% ~ 60%) of 16 patients who underwent total when recording the analyzed respiratory movement. After the breathing motion of the external markers recorded on the RPM was reconstructed by breathing through the acts phase analysis, for Beam-on Time and Duty Cycle recorded by using the reconstructed phase breathing breathing with RPM gated the prediction accuracy of the radiation treatment analysis and analyzed the correlation between prediction accuracy and Duty Cycle in accordance with the reproducibility of the respiratory movement. Results : Treatment of 16 patients with respiratory cycle during the actual treatment plan was analyzed with an average difference -0.03 seconds (range -0.50 seconds to 0.09 seconds) could not be confirmed statistically significant difference between the two breathing (p = 0.472). The average respiratory period when treatment is 4.02 sec (${\pm}0.71sec$), the average value of the respiratory cycle of the treatment was characterized by a standard deviation 7.43% (range 2.57 to 19.20%). Duty Cycle is that the actual average 16.05% (range 13.78 to 17.41%), average 56.05 got through the acts of the show and then analyzed% (range 39.23 to 75.10%) is planned in respiratory research phase (40% to 60%) in was confirmed. The investigation on the correlation between the ratio Duty Cycle and planned respiratory phase and the standard deviation of the respiratory cycle was analyzed in each -0.156 (p = 0.282) and -0.385 (p = 0.070). Conclusion : This study is to analyze the acts after the breathing motion of the external markers recorded during the actual treatment was confirmed in a reproducible ratios of actual treatment of breathing motion during treatment, and Duty Cycle, planned respiratory gated window. Minimizing an error of the treatment plan using 4DCT and enhance the respiratory training and respiratory signal monitoring for effective treatment it is determined to be necessary.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.52-68
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• 2014

In this study, we investigated the seasonal variation of SST(Sea Surface Temperature) and thermal effluents estimated by using Landsat-7 ETM+ around the Kori Nuclear Power Plant for 10 years(2000~2010). Also, we analyzed the direction and range of thermal effluents dispersion by the tidal current and tide. The results are as follows, First, we figured out the algorithm to estimate SST through the linear regression analysis of Landsat DN(Digital Number) and NOAA SST. And then, the SST was verified by compared with the in situ measurement and NOAA SST. The determination coefficient is 0.97 and root mean square error is $1.05{\sim}1.24^{\circ}C$. Second, the SST distribution of Landsat-7 estimated by linear regression equation showed $12{\sim}13^{\circ}C$ in winter, $13{\sim}19^{\circ}C$ in spring, and $24{\sim}29^{\circ}C$ and $16{\sim}24^{\circ}C$ in summer and fall. The difference of between SST and thermal effluents temperature is $6{\sim}8^{\circ}C$ except for the summer season. The difference of SST is up to $2^{\circ}C$ in August. There is hardly any dispersion of thermal effluents in August. When it comes to the spread range of thermal effluents, the rise range of more than $1^{\circ}C$ in the sea surface temperature showed up to 7.56km from east to west and 8.43km from north to south. The maximum spread area was $11.65km^2$. It is expected that the findings of this study will be used as the foundational data for marine environment monitoring on the area around the nuclear power plant.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.99-105
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• 2011

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the accuracy of IMRT in our clinic from based on TG119 procedure and establish action level. Five IMRT test cases were described in TG119: multi-target, head&neck, prostate, and two C-shapes (easy&hard). There were used and delivered to water-equivalent solid phantom for IMRT. Absolute dose for points in target and OAR was measured by using an ion chamber (CC13, IBA). EBT2 film was utilized to compare the measured two-dimensional dose distribution with the calculated one by treatment planning system. All collected data were analyzed using the TG119 specifications to determine the confidence limit. The mean of relative error (%) between measured and calculated value was $1.2{\pm}1.1%$ and $1.2{\pm}0.7%$ for target and OAR, respectively. The resulting confidence limits were 3.4% and 2.6%. In EBT2 film dosimetry, the average percentage of points passing the gamma criteria (3%/3 mm) was $97.7{\pm}0.8%$. Confidence limit values determined by EBT2 film analysis was 3.9%. This study has focused on IMRT commissioning and quality assurance based on TG119 guideline. It is concluded that action level were ${\pm}4%$ and ${\pm}3%$ for target and OAR and 97% for film measurement, respectively. It is expected that TG119-based procedure can be used as reference to evaluate the accuracy of IMRT for each institution.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.45-52
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• 1995

This study is to compare A point doses in human pelvic phantom by film dosimetry, computer planning and manual calculation by using of along-away table. We developed tissue equivalent human pelvic phantom composed of four pieces of cylindrical acryl tubes with water, to simulate intracavitary radiation (ICR) in patients with cervix cancer. When the phantom assembled from 4 pieces, it has a small space for inserting Fletcher-Suit-Delclos applicator like a human vagina. Fletcher-Suit-Delclos applicator inserted into the space was packed tightly with furacin gauzes, and three $^{137}Cs$ sources with radioactivity of $15.7mg\;Ra-eq$ were inserted into the tandem. For the film dosimetry, two pieces of X-OMAT V film (Kodak Co.) of which planes include point A, were arranged orthogonally in the slits between phantoms. A point dose and iso-dose curves were measured by means of optical densitometer. A point doses by film dosimetry, RTP system and manual calculation by using of along-away table were compared, and iso-dose curves by film dosimetry and computer planning were also compared. The dose of A point was 51.2cGy/hr by film dosimetry, 46.7cGy/hr by RTP system and 47.9 cGy/hr by along-away table. A point dose by computer planning was similar to the dose by calculation using of along-away table with acceptable accuracy $({\pm}3%)$, however, the dose by film dosimetry was different from two others with about 10% error. Since most clinical beams contains a scatter component of low energy photons, the correlation between optical density and dose becomes tenuous. In addition, film suffers from several potential errors such as changes in processing conditions, interfilm emulsion differences, and artifacts caused by air pockets adjacent to the film. For these reasons, absolute dosimetry with film is impractical, however, it is very useful for checking qualitative patterns of a radiation distribution. In future, solid state dosimeter such as TLD must be used for the dosimetry of ionizing radiation. When considerable care is used, precision of approximately 3% may be obtained using TLD.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.127-153
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• 2009

There is a growing concern about potential harmful effect of second-hand or environmental tobacco smoking. As a result, smoking bans in workplace become more prevalent worldwide. In Korea, workplace smoking ban policy become more restrictive in 2003 when National health enhancing law was amended. The new law requires all office buildings larger than 3,000 square meters (multi-purpose buildings larger than 2,000 square meters) should be smoke free. Therefore, a lot of indoor office became non smoking area. Previous studies in other counties often found contradicting answers for the effects of workplace smoking ban on smoking behavior. In addition, there was no study in Korea yet that examines the causal impacts of smoking ban on smoking behavior. The situation in Korea might be different from other countries. Using 2001 and 2005 Korea National Health and Nutrition surveys which are representative for population in Korea we try to examine the impacts of law change on current smoker and cigarettes smoked per day. The amended law impacted the whole country at the same time and there was a declining trend in smoking rate even before the legislation update. So, the challenge here is to tease out the true impact only. We compare indoor working occupations which are constrained by the law change with outdoor working occupations which are less impacted. Since the data has been collected before (2001) and after (2005) the law change for treated (indoor working occupations) and control (outdoor working occupations) groups we will use difference in difference method. We restrict our sample to working age (between 20 and 65) since these are the relevant population by the workplace smoking ban policy. We also restrict the sample to indoor occupations (executive or administrative and administrative support) and outdoor occupations (sales and low skilled worker) after dropping unemployed and someone working for military since it is not clear whether these occupations are treated group or control group. This classification was supported when we examined the answers for workplace smoking ban policy existing only in 2005 survey. Sixty eight percent of indoor occupations reported having an office smoking ban policy compared to forty percent of outdoor occupation answering workplace smoking ban policy. The estimated impacts on current smoker are 4.1 percentage point decline and cigarettes per day show statistically significant decline of 2.5 cigarettes per day. Taking into account consumption of average sixteen cigarettes per day among smokers it is sixteen percent decline in smoking rate which is substantial. We tested robustness using the same sample across two surveys and also using tobit model. Our results are robust against both concerns. It is possible that our measure of treated and control group have measurement error which will lead to attenuation bias. However, we are finding statistically significant impacts which might be a lower bound of the true estimates. The magnitude of our finding is not much different from previous finding of significant impacts. For cigarettes per day previous estimates varied from 1.37 to 3.9 and for current smoker it showed between 1%p and 7.8%p.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.61 no.1
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• pp.37-44
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• 1983

This study was to estimate total annual volume growth by the measurement of mean tree growth during the last 10 years. Surveyed Forest stand was the second block (20.80 ha.)of Kyung Hee University Forests located at San 58 and 64, Gaegok-Ri, Gapyung-Yeup, Gapyung-Goon, Kyunggi province in Korea. The stand was mainly composed of uneven-aged Pinus densiflora and the estimation of tree volume was conducted by taking the cores at the D.B.H. of the sample tree which was selected by sub-sampling. The results obtained were as follows; 1) The regression between the diameter (D) and diameter growth ($\hat{I}$) was $\hat{I}=0.5499+0.0101D$. 2) The estimated equation of confidence interval for the diameter growth was $S^2{\hat{I}}=0.00817(0.09538-0.00952D+0.00027D^2$) 3) The equation for estimating tree height (H) from diameter was $H=1.32376D^{0.77958}$ 4) The equation for estimating tree volume from diameter and height $V=0.0000622D^{1.6918}H^{1.1397}$ 5) Total annual tree volume growth was $5.4041m^3/ha$, and ranged from 5.6131 to $5.1984m^3/ha$. 6) Annual growth rate of total tree volume and its error were 8.8% and 3.9%, respectively. The annual volume growth per tree for any districts can be estimated by this method, and the annual volume growth will be successfully predicted. Because of poor forest growing stock in Korea, annual amount of allowable cut should not exceed annual tree volume growth for better forest management. Accordingly, annual amount of allowable cut should be either equal to or less than annual tree volume growth for the balanced establishment between timber supply and demand in Korea. Demand shortage will be substituted with imported timber. Such plans enable Korean Government to develop a better policy of forest resources management.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.132-138
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• 2009

Studies on target motion in 4-dimensional radiotherapy are being world-widely conducted to enhance treatment record and protection of normal organs. Prediction of tumor motion might be very useful and/or essential for especially free-breathing system during radiation delivery such as respiratory gating system and tumor tracking system. Neural network is powerful to express a time series with nonlinearity because its prediction algorithm is not governed by statistic formula but finds a rule of data expression. This study intended to assess applicability of neural network method to predict tumor motion in 4-dimensional radiotherapy. Scaled Conjugate Gradient algorithm was employed as a learning algorithm. Considering reparation data for 10 patients, prediction by the neural network algorithms was compared with the measurement by the real-time position management (RPM) system. The results showed that the neural network algorithm has the excellent accuracy of maximum absolute error smaller than 3 mm, except for the cases in which the maximum amplitude of respiration is over the range of respiration used in the learning process of neural network. It indicates the insufficient learning of the neural network for extrapolation. The problem could be solved by acquiring a full range of respiration before learning procedure. Further works are programmed to verify a feasibility of practical application for 4-dimensional treatment system, including prediction performance according to various system latency and irregular patterns of respiration.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.51-63
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• 2015

I produced a secular variation model of geomagnetic field by using the magnetic component data from four geomagnetic observatories located in Northeast Asia during the years between 1997 and 2011. The Earth's magnetic field varies with time and location due to the dynamics of fluid outer core and the magnetic observatories on the surface measure in time series. To adequately represent the magnetic field or secular variations of the Earth, a spatio-temporal model is required. In making a global model, satellite observations as well as limited observatory data are necessary to cover the regions and time intervals. However, you need a considerable work and time to process a huge amount of the dataset with complicated signal separation procedures. When you update the model, the same amount of chores is demanded. Besides, the global model might be affected by the measurement errors of each observatory that are biased and the processing errors in satellite data so that the accuracy of the model would be degraded. In this study, as considered these problems, I introduced a localized method in modeling secular variation of the Earth's magnetic field over Northeast Asia region. Secular variation data from three Japanese observatories and one Chinese observatory that are all in the INTERMAGNET are implemented in the model valid between 1997 to 2011 with the interval of 6 months. With the resulting model, I compared with the global model called CHAOS-4, which includes the main, secular variation and secular acceleration models between 1997 to 2013 by using the three satellites' databases and INTERMAGNET observatory data. Also, the geomagnetic 'jerk' which is known as a sudden change in the time derivatives of the main field of the Earth, was discussed from the localized secular acceleration coefficients derived from spline models.