• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.233-241
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• 2014

The aim of this study is to develop a new software tool for 3D dose verification using $PRESAGE^{REU}$ Gel dosimeter. The tool included following functions: importing 3D doses from treatment planning systems (TPS), importing 3D optical density (OD), converting ODs to doses, 3D registration between two volumetric data by translational and rotational transformations, and evaluation with 3D gamma index. To acquire correlation between ODs and doses, CT images of a $PRESAGE^{REU}$ Gel with cylindrical shape was acquired, and a volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) plan was designed to give radiation doses from 1 Gy to 6 Gy to six disk-shaped virtual targets along z-axis. After the VMAT plan was delivered to the targets, 3D OD data were reconstructed from 512 projection data from $Vista^{TM}$ optical CT scanner (Modus Medical Devices Inc, Canada) per every 2 hours after irradiation. A curve for converting ODs to doses was derived by comparing TPS dose profile to OD profile along z-axis, and the 3D OD data were converted to the absorbed doses using the curve. Supra-linearity was observed between doses and ODs, and the ODs were decayed about 60% per 24 hours depending on their magnitudes. Measured doses from the $PRESAGE^{REU}$ Gel were well agreed with the TPS doses at central region, but large under-doses were observed at peripheral region at the cylindrical geometry. Gamma passing rate for 3D doses was 70.36% under the gamma criteria of 3% of dose difference and 3 mm of distance to agreement. The low passing rate was resulted from the mismatching of the refractive index between the PRESAGE gel and oil bath in the optical CT scanner. In conclusion, the developed software was useful for 3D dose verification from PRESAGE gel dosimetry, but further improvement of the Gel dosimetry system were required.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.391-401
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• 2004

3D imaging systems using 2D phased arrays have a large number of active channels, compelling to use a very expensive and bulky beamforming hardware, and suffer from low volume rate because, in principle, at least one ultrasound transmit-receive event is necessary to construct each scanline. A high speed 3D imaging method using a cross array proposed previously to solve the above limitations can implement fast scanning and dynamic focusing in the lateral direction but suffer from low resolution except at the fixed transmit focusing along the elevational direction. To overcome these limitations, we propose a new real-time volumetric imaging method using a cross array based on the synthetic aperture technique. In the proposed method, ultrasound wave is transmitted successively using each elements of an 1D transmit array transducer, one at a time, which is placed along the elevational direction and for each firing, the returning pulse echoes are received using all elements of an 1D receive array transducer placed along the lateral direction. On receive, by employing the conventional dynamic focusing and synthetic aperture method along lateral and elevational directions, respectively, ultrasound waves can be focused effectively at all imaging points. In addition, in the proposed method, a volume of interest consisting of any required number of slice images, can be constructed with the same number of transmit-receive steps as the total number of transmit array elements. Computer simulation results show that the proposed method can provide the same and greatly improved resolutions in the lateral and elevational directions, respectively, compared with the 3D imaging method using a cross array based on the conventional fixed focusing. In the accompanying paper, we will also propose a new real-time 3D imaging method using a cross array for improving transmit power and elevational spatial resolution, which uses linear wave fronts on transmit.

• The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.43-49
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• 2019

Purpose: This study examined changes in the position of the heat and lungs depending on the patient's breathing method during left breast cancer radiotherapy and used treatment plans to compare the resulting radiation dose. Materials and methods: The participants consisted of 10 patients with left breast cancer. A CT simulator(SIMENS SOMATOM AS, Germany) was used to obtain images when using three different breathing methods: free breathing(FB), deep inspiration breath hold(DIBH with Abches, DIBH), inspiration breath hold(IBH with CPAP, CPAP). A Ray Station(5.0.2.35, Sweden) was used for treatment planning, the treatment method was volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) with one partial arc of the same angle, and the prescribed dose to the planning target volume (PTV) was a total dose of 50Gy(2Gy/day). In treatment plan analysis, the 95% dose (D95) to the PTV, the conformity index(CI), and the homogeneity index (HI) were compared. The lungs, heart, and left anterior descending artery (LAD) were selected as the organs at risk(OARs). Results: The mean volume of the ipsilateral lung for FB, DIBH, and CPAP was 1245.58±301.31㎤, 1790.09±362.43 ㎤, 1775.44±476.71 ㎤. The mean D95 for the PTV was 46.67±1.89Gy, 46.85±1.72Gy, 46.97±23.4Gy, and the mean CI and HI were 0.95±0.02, 0.96±0.02, 0.95±0.02 and 0.91±0.01, 0.90±0.01, 0.92±0.02. The V20 of Whole Lung was 10.74±4.50%, 8.29±3.14%, 9.12±3.29% and The V20 of the ipsilateral lung was 20.45±8.65%, 17.18±7.04%, 18.85±7.85%, the Dmean of the heart was 7.82±1.27Gy, 6.10±1.27Gy, 5.67±1.56Gy, and the Dmax of the LAD was 20.41±7.56Gy, 14.88±3.57Gy, 14.96±2.81Gy. The distance from the thoracic wall to the LAD was measured to be 11.33±4.70mm, 22.40±6.01mm, 20.14±6.23mm. Conclusion: During left breast cancer radiotherapy, the lung volume was 46.24% larger for DIBH than for FB, and 43.11% larger for CPAP than FB. The larger lung volume increases the distance between the thoracic wall and the heart. In this way, the LAD, which is one of the nearby OARs, can be more effectively protected while still satisfying the treatment plan. The lung volume was largest for DIBH, and the distance between the LAD and thoracic wall was also the greatest. However, when performing treatment with DIBH, the intra-fraction error cannot be ignored. Moreover, communication between the patient and the radiotherapist is also an important factor in DIBH treatment. When communication is problematic, or if the patient has difficulty holding their breath, we believe that CPAP could be used as an alternative to DIBH. In order to verify the clinical efficacy of CPAP, it will be necessary to perform long-term follow-up of a greater number of patients.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.367-372
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• 1988

A series of field experiment was conducted to find out error range and to compare precision based on error analysis of soil water content measured with gravimetric, surface & depth neutron and gypsum block methods in a sandy loam soil. The error of soil water content measured with gravimetric (core-sampling), surface and depth neutron method showed quardratic curve, whereas that with gypsum block was exponential curve in relation to soil water content. Within the range of volumetric soil water content from 11 to 33%, the error of soil water content measured with gravimetric, surface neutron, depth neutron and gypsum block method was ranged from 0.28 to 3.49%, 0.71 to 2.63%, 0.52% to 1.01% and 0.05 to 21.89%, respectively. The error of soil water content measured with depth neutron method was lower than those of other methods, when the soil water content was more than 14% in sandy loam soil. The relative number of replicates of soil water measurement for surface neutron, depth neutron and gypsum block method to attain same precision for gravimetric method was 0.6-1.7, 0.07-0.8 and 0.1-125, respectively.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.53 no.5
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• pp.653-662
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• 2015

In general, the coal gasification has to be operated under high temperature ($1300{\sim}1400^{\circ}C$) and pressure (30~40 bar). However, to keep this conditions, it needs unnecessary and excessive energy. In this work, to reduce the temperature of process, alkali catalysts such as $K_2CO_3$ and $Na_2CO_3$ were added into Cyprus coal. We investigated the kinetic of Cyprus char-$CO_2$ gasification. To determine the gasification conditions, the coal (with and without catalysts) gasified with fixed variables (catalyst loading, catalytic effects of $Na_2CO_3$ and $K_2CO_3$, temperatures) by using TGA. When catalysts are added by physical mixing method into Cyprus coal the reaction rate of coal added 7 wt% $Na_2CO_3$ is faster than raw coal for Cyprus char-$CO_2$ gasification. The activation energy of coal added 7 wt% $Na_2CO_3$ was calculated as 63 kJ/mol which was lower than raw char. It indicates that $Na_2CO_3$ can improve the reactivity of char-$CO_2$ gasification.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.267-275
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• 2020

Purpose: In this study, GPR exploration equipment, spray vehicles and flow meters, core drill, borehole image processing system(BIPS), 3D cavity imagery equipment, and cavity formatting equipment were used to identify this cavity growth process. Method: A certain amount of water was injected in proportion to the mass of the cavity, and the cavity was observed to expand as the injected water was drained out. The cavity rating change was evaluated by quantitatively evaluating the expansion factors and the speed of growth. Results: According to the results of examining the volume change through injection time - injection flow rate - volume increase for the four experimenters, the volume increase decreased as the injection time increased, and there was no further increase in volume if injected for one hour or so. Conclusion: In addition, the injection test analyzed the volumetric variation to determine whether the cause of the cavity occurrence was the effect of the underground burial in the vicinity of the cavity. Therefore, it was found that the cavity expansion is caused by the repetition of the relaxation soil collapse due to the groundwater flow and the loss of the collapsed soil below the cavity.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.477-484
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• 2020

Reservoir operation affects the sustainability of a water supply. However, the increase in the temporal and spatial variability of rainfall, attributed to climate change, has led to severe droughts and increased difficulty in maintaining a sustainable discharge at certain locations in a reservoir system operation. In this study, water yield was evaluated using reservoir simulation with varied water supply. Three reservoir system models were simulated for nine reservoirs in the Han River basin. The time-based reliability, volumetric reliability, and resiliency were used to evaluate the results. Each case was simulated by applying firm supply, deficit supply, and deficit supply with historical power release of the Hwacheon Reservoir. As a result of the simulation, all indexes were increased when the deficit supply was applied. In particular, the time-based reliability increased by more than 30%, and the supply reliability increased by about 4%. The result showed that the water supply of the entire water system could be increased when all reservoirs in the water system were operated to supply water and maintain sustainable discharge at the same downstream point. The deficit supply was an efficient reservoir operation method for responding to climate change, especially increased rainfall variability.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.577-585
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• 2020

Purpose: The presence of the matric suction in unsaturated soil increases the stability of the slope, but the reduction of the matric suction due to precipitation can cause sudden slope failure, resulting in a major disaster. In this paper, engineering characteristics in unsaturated state were analyzed for granite weathering soil, which is the representative mountain soil of Korea. Method: Experiments and analysis were conducted on granulated weathering soil as unsaturated shear strength relationships for moisture characteristic curves, unsaturated injection curves, and matric suction under unsaturated conditions. Result: It was analyzed that a rapid change in the matric suction for volumetric water content occurs compared to the case where the particle size distribution is poor and the particle size distribution is good. A good case for the particle size distribution indicates a relatively small permeability coefficient at the same matric suction capacity compared to a poor case. The greater thematric suction, the greater the shear strength. Conclusion: For Korea's representative soil, granulated weathering soil, the functional characteristic curves, unsaturated permeability coefficients, unsaturated shear strength, etc., which are engineering characteristics in unsaturated state, were tested to secure each correlation.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.28-35
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• 2020

This study is to compare irrigation efficiency between sap flow sensor automated system (SF) and conventional irrigation system based on integrated solar radiation automated system (ISR) in tomato rockwool hydroponics. Total irrigated volumes was higher in the ISR system by 5.0L per plant, a lower drainage rate was found in the SF system, compared to the ISR system. There was no difference in shoot and fruit fresh weights, water use efficiency (WUE) and water amount consumed for producing 200g of tomato fruit. The daily average sap flow density (SFD) was closer to the change of solar irradiance (SI) in the plant grown under the SF system, compared to the ISR system. The correlation coefficient (r²) between the fruit diameter and the volumetric water content during the 56 and 82 days after transplant showed the SF treatment was higher than the ISR at night and daytime, and the correlation was higher at night time. The sap flow density and humidity deficit (HD) of SF treatment was related as closely as the solar irradiance. Further studies should demonstrate that SF irrigation system is a convenient method for hydroponic farmers with advantages, such as growth, higher yield, WUE, and accuracy.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.22 no.11
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• pp.1995-2005
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• 2000

The use of heterotrophic denitrification as an alternative method for supplying alkalinity during sulfur-utilizing autotrophic denitrification was evaluated by examining the effects of external carbon source (both type and concentration) and HRT on denitrification efficiency. Concentrations of $NO_3{^-}-N$ and $COD_{Cr}$ of nitrified landfill leachate used for experiment were 700-900mg/L and 900-2500mg/L. respectively, All experiment was conducted with sulfur packed bed reactors (SPBRs) which were operated at $35^{\circ}C$. The fraction of $NO_3{^-}-N$ removed by heterotrophic denitrification ($HDNR_{fraction}$) to balance the alkalinity consumption by autotrophic denitrification varied with the type of external carbon source. When methanol and sodium acetate was added at theoretical HDNRfraction value. 100% denitrification was achieved without alkalinity addition. However, glucose and molasses require $HDNR_{fraction}$ value greater than theoretical value for complete denitrification. The EBCT and volumetric loading rate at which 100% denitrification efficiency could be achieved were 6.76 h and $2.84kg-NO_3{^-}-N/m^3{\cdot}d$, respectively, based on the fact that 100% denitrification occurred within the bottom 11.5 cm layer of the SPBR. The maximum nitrogen removal rate occurred with 89% removal efficiency at loading rate of $5.05kg-NO_3{^-}-N/m^3{\cdot}d$. However, at short EBCT, clogging of SPBR was observed with excess growth of heterotrophic denitrifiers. This problem may be eliminated by back washing or by separating of heterotrophic denitrification from sulfur-utilizing denitrification.