• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• 제47권1호
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• pp.50-57
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• 2022

Background: There are several proton therapy facilities in operation or planned in Taiwan, and these facilities are anticipated to not only treat cancer but also provide beam services to the industry or academia. The simplified approach based on the Monte Carlo-based data sets (source terms and attenuation lengths) with the point-source line-of-sight approximation is friendly in the design stage of the proton therapy facilities because it is intuitive and easy to use. The purpose of this study is to expand the Monte Carlo-based data sets to allow the simplified approach to cover the application of proton beams more widely. Materials and Methods: In this work, the MCNP6 Monte Carlo code was used in three simulations to achieve the purpose, including the neutron yield calculation, Monte Carlo-based data sets generation, and dose assessment in simple cases to demonstrate the effectiveness of the generated data sets. Results and Discussion: The consistent comparison of the simplified approach and Monte Carlo simulation results show the effectiveness and advantage of applying the data set to a quick shielding design and conservative dose assessment for proton therapy facilities. Conclusion: This study has expanded the existing Monte Carlo-based data set to allow the simplified approach method to be used for dose assessment or shielding design for beam services in proton therapy facilities. It should be noted that the default model of the MCNP6 is no longer the Bertini model but the CEM (cascade-exciton model), therefore, the results of the simplified approach will be more conservative when it was used to do the double confirmation of the final shielding design.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제49권6호
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• pp.1165-1171
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• 2017

The traditional form of parallelism in Monte Carlo particle transport simulations, wherein each individual particle history is considered a unit of work, does not lend itself well to data-level parallelism. Event-based algorithms, which were originally used for simulations on vector processors, may offer a path toward better utilizing data-level parallelism in modern computer architectures. In this study, a simple model is developed for estimating the efficiency of the event-based particle transport algorithm under two sets of assumptions. Data collected from simulations of four reactor problems using OpenMC was then used in conjunction with the models to calculate the speedup due to vectorization as a function of the size of the particle bank and the vector width. When each event type is assumed to have constant execution time, the achievable speedup is directly related to the particle bank size. We observed that the bank size generally needs to be at least 20 times greater than vector size to achieve vector efficiency greater than 90%. When the execution times for events are allowed to vary, the vector speedup is also limited by differences in the execution time for events being carried out in a single event-iteration.

• 대한화학회지
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• 제67권5호
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• pp.333-338
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• 2023

In this study, the H₂O reaction with SiO clusters was investigated using ab initio Monte Carlo simulations and density functional theory calculations. Three chemistry models, PBE1/DGDZVP (Model 1), PBE1/DGDZVP (Si atom), and aug-cc-pVDZ (O and H atoms), (Model 2) and PBE1/aug-cc-pVDZ (Model 3), were used. The average bond lengths, as well as the relative and reaction energies, were calculated using Models 1, 2, and 3. The average bond lengths of Si-O and O-H are 1.67-1.75 Å and 0.96-0.97 Å, respectively, using Models 1, 2, and 3. The most stable structures were formed by the H transfer from an H₂O molecule except for Si₃O₃-H₂O-1 cluster. The Si₃O₃ cluster with H₂O exhibited the lowest reaction energy. In addition, the Bader charge distributions of the Si_nO_n and (SiO)_n-H₂O clusters with n = 1-7 were calculated using Model 1. We determined that the reaction sites between H₂O and the SiO clusters possessed the highest fraction of electrons.

• 한국지반신소재학회논문집
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• 제18권4호
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• pp.193-204
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• 2019

본 연구에서는 국내 16개의 무공케이슨 방파제 설계자료를 이용하여 원호활동에 대한 신뢰성분석을 통하여 신뢰성 수준을 분석하였다. 신뢰성 분석을 위하여 지반의 강도 및 단위중량, 피복재와 상치구조물의 단위중량, 상치구조물 상부에 재하되는 하중의 불확실성을 결정하였다. 해석변수의 불확실성을 반영하여 임의로 재현된 무공케이슨 방파제 물성에 대하여 Bishop 간편법을 이용하여 하중 및 저항을 산정하였다. 충분히 많은 회수의 무공케이슨 방파제에 대한 해석을 Monte Carlo Simulation으로 수행하였고, 모든 해석 케이스에 도출된 하중과 저항 값을 수집하여 통계분석을 하였다. Monte Carlo Simulation으로부터 도출되는 파괴확률이 아주 낮은 경우가 파괴확률의 수렴 문제가 발생하여 하중과 저항의 통계특성을 반영하여 FORM(First-Order Reliability Method) 해석을 통해 신뢰수준을 평가하였다. 무공케이슨 방파제의 안전율, 하중 및 저항의 불확실성, 하중 및 저항의 상관성이 신뢰수준에 미치는 영향을 분석하였다.

• 한국의학물리학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국의학물리학회 2002년도 Proceedings
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• pp.291-293
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• 2002

Accurate dose calculation in radiation treatment planning is most important for successful treatment. Since human body is composed of various materials and not an ideal shape, it is not easy to calculate the accurate effective dose in the patients. Many methods have been proposed to solve the inhomogeneity and surface contour problems. Monte Carlo simulations are regarded as the most accurate method, but it is not appropriate for routine planning because it takes so much time. Pencil beam kernel based convolution/superposition methods were also proposed to correct those effects. Nowadays, many commercial treatment planning systems, including Pinnacle and Helax-TMS, have adopted this algorithm as a dose calculation engine. The purpose of this study is to verify the accuracy of the dose calculated from pencil beam kernel based treatment planning system Helax-TMS comparing to Monte Carlo simulations and measurements especially in inhomogeneous region. Home-made inhomogeneous phantom, Helax-TMS ver. 6.0 and Monte Carlo code BEAMnrc and DOSXYZnrc were used in this study. Dose calculation results from TPS and Monte Carlo simulation were verified by measurements. In homogeneous media, the accuracy was acceptable but in inhomogeneous media, the errors were more significant.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• 제42권1호
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• pp.48-55
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• 2017

Background: Simultaneous detection of neutrons and gamma rays have become much more practicable, by taking advantage of good gamma-ray discrimination properties using pulse shape discrimination (PSD) technique. Recently, we introduced a commercial CLYC system in Korea, and performed an initial characterization and simulation studies for the CLYC detector system to provide references for the future implementation of the dual-mode scintillator system in various studies and applications. Materials and Methods: We evaluated a CLYC detector with 95% $^6Li$ enrichment using various gamma-ray sources and a $^{252}Cf$ neutron source, with validation of our Monte Carlo simulation results via measurement experiments. Absolute full-energy peak efficiency values were calculated for gamma-ray sources and neutron source using MCNP6 and compared with measurement experiments of the calibration sources. In addition, behavioral characteristics of neutrons were validated by comparing simulations and experiments on neutron moderation with various polyethylene (PE) moderator thicknesses. Results and Discussion: Both results showed good agreements in overall characteristics of the gamma and neutron detection efficiencies, with consistent ~20% discrepancy. Furthermore, moderation of neutrons emitted from $^{252}Cf$ showed similarities between the simulation and the experiment, in terms of their relative ratios depending on the thickness of the PE moderator. Conclusion: A CLYC detector system was characterized for its energy resolution and detection efficiency, and Monte Carlo simulations on the detector system was validated experimentally. Validation of the simulation results in overall trend of the CLYC detector behavior will provide the fundamental basis and validity of follow-up Monte Carlo simulation studies for the development of our dual-particle imager using a rotational modulation collimator.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• 제47권3호
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• pp.111-133
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• 2022

The exciting advancement related to the "modeling of digital human" in terms of a computational phantom for radiation dose calculations has to do with the latest hype related to deep learning. The advent of deep learning or artificial intelligence (AI) technology involving convolutional neural networks has brought an unprecedented level of innovation to the field of organ segmentation. In addition, graphics processing units (GPUs) are utilized as boosters for both real-time Monte Carlo simulations and AI-based image segmentation applications. These advancements provide the feasibility of creating three-dimensional (3D) geometric details of the human anatomy from tomographic imaging and performing Monte Carlo radiation transport simulations using increasingly fast and inexpensive computers. This review first introduces the history of three types of computational human phantoms: stylized medical internal radiation dosimetry (MIRD) phantoms, voxelized tomographic phantoms, and boundary representation (BREP) deformable phantoms. Then, the development of a person-specific phantom is demonstrated by introducing AI-based organ autosegmentation technology. Next, a new development in GPU-based Monte Carlo radiation dose calculations is introduced. Examples of applying computational phantoms and a new Monte Carlo code named ARCHER (Accelerated Radiation-transport Computations in Heterogeneous EnviRonments) to problems in radiation protection, imaging, and radiotherapy are presented from research projects performed by students at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) and University of Science and Technology of China (USTC). Finally, this review discusses challenges and future research opportunities. We found that, owing to the latest computer hardware and AI technology, computational human body models are moving closer to real human anatomy structures for accurate radiation dose calculations.

• 한국의학물리학회지:의학물리
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• 제19권1호
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• pp.21-34
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• 2008

환자의 CT자료를 기반으로 만들어진 3차원상의 표적물질에 전자 및 광자의 전달 현상을 계산하는 몬테카를로(MC) 도즈계산용 병렬프로그램 (PMCEPT 코드)을 개발하여 베어울프 PC 클러스터에 탑제하였다. 시뮬레이션에서 오차를 최소화하고 코드를 더욱 발전시키기 위해서는 현재의 MC 코드의 한계를 아는 것이 매우 유익하다. 이러한 관점에서 저자는 PMCEPT코드를 이용하여 이질 혹은 동질의 표적물질에서 표준화된 깊이 도즈를 계산하여 잘 알려진 다른 코드들, MCNP5, EGS4, DPM, GEANT4 및 실험결과와 비교를 하였다. PMCEPT결과는 이질 혹은 동질의 표적에서 다른 코드들과 $1{\sim}3%$ 오차 범위 안에서 잘 일치하였다. 계산시간 비교에 있어서도 PMCEPT 코드가 MCNP5 보다는 약 20배, GEANT4코드보다는 약 3배정도 빨랐다. 이러한 결과를 종합하면, PMCEPT코드는 의학물리분야의 시뮬레이션 코드로 사용하기에 매우 좋은 것으로 사료된다.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제47권4호
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• pp.472-478
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• 2015

The patient dose incurred from diagnostic procedures during advanced radiotherapy has become an important issue. Many researchers in medical physics are using computational simulations to calculate complex parameters in experiments. However, extended computation times make it difficult for personal computers to run the conventional Monte Carlo method to simulate radiological images with high-flux photons such as images produced by computed tomography (CT). To minimize the computation time without degrading imaging quality, we applied a deterministic adaptation to the Monte Carlo calculation and verified its effectiveness by simulating CT image reconstruction for an image evaluation phantom (Catphan; Phantom Laboratory, New York NY, USA) and a human-like voxel phantom (KTMAN-2) (Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, USA). For the deterministic adaptation, the relationship between iteration numbers and the simulations was estimated and the option to simulate scattered radiation was evaluated. The processing times of simulations using the adaptive method were at least 500 times faster than those using a conventional statistical process. In addition, compared with the conventional statistical method, the adaptive method provided images that were more similar to the experimental images, which proved that the adaptive method was highly effective for a simulation that requires a large number of iterations-assuming no radiation scattering in the vicinity of detectors minimized artifacts in the reconstructed image.

• 한국전자파학회논문지
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• 제17권1호
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• pp.39-44
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• 2006

본 논문에서는 바다 표면에서 전파의 페이딩 현상을 해석하는데 필요한 bistatic coherent reflectivity를 Monte-Carlo/모멘트 법과 physical optics(PO) 모델을 이용하여 비교하고 계산하였다. 모멘트 법 계산을 위해서 우선 Gaussian 형태로 불규칙한 바다 표면을 생성하였다. 풍속과 유의 파고 등에 대한 태안 앞바다에서의 실제 측정 데이터를 사용하여 이 표면을 생성하였으며, 두 변수간의 관계식을 유도함으로써 측정하기 쉬운 변수인 풍속에 의해 바다 표면 상태를 예측할 수 있는 모델을 만들었다. 평면에서의 결과를 비교함으로써 모멘트 법 모델을 검증하였고, 거친 표면의 경우에 비교적 정확한 수치 해석 방법인 Monte-Carlo/모멘트 법과 간단히 계산이 가능한 이론식인 PO 모델을 비교함으로써 거친 표면에서 PO 모델의 적용 가능한 조건을 찾아내었으며, 전파 경로 해석법을 이용하여 실제 전파의 페이딩 현상을 해석할 때에 사용되는 PO 모델의 유효성을 검증하였다.