• Molecules and Cells
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• v.45 no.11
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• pp.806-819
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• 2022

Synaptic accumulation of α-synuclein (α-Syn) oligomers and their interactions with VAMP2 have been reported to be the basis of synaptic dysfunction in Parkinson's disease (PD). α-Syn mutants associated with familial PD have also been known to be capable of interacting with VAMP2, but the exact mechanisms resulting from those interactions to eventual synaptic dysfunction are still unclear. Here, we investigate the effect of α-Syn mutant oligomers comprising A30P, E46K, and A53T on VAMP2-embedded vesicles. Specifically, A30P and A53T oligomers cluster vesicles in the presence of VAMP2, which is a shared mechanism with wild type α-Syn oligomers induced by dopamine. On the other hand, E46K oligomers reduce the membrane mobility of the planar bilayers, as revealed by single-particle tracking, and permeabilize the membranes in the presence of VAMP2. In the absence of VAMP2 interactions, E46K oligomers enlarge vesicles by fusing with one another. Our results clearly demonstrate that α-Syn mutant oligomers have aberrant effects on VAMP2-embedded vesicles and the disruption types are distinct depending on the mutant types. This work may provide one of the possible clues to explain the α-Syn mutant-type dependent pathological heterogeneity of familial PD.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.8
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• pp.2734-2741
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• 2023

Brachytherapy is a special case of radiotherapy. It should be arranged according to some principles in medical radiation applications and radiation physics. The primary principle is to use as low as reasonably achievable dose in all ionizing radiation applications for diagnostic and therapeutic treatments. Dosimetric distributions are dependent on radioactive source properties and radiation-matter interactions in an absorber medium such as phantom or tissue. In this consideration, the geometrical structure and material of the seed capsule, which surrounds a radioactive material, are directly responsible for isodose profiles and dosimetric functions. In this study, the radiometric properties of capsule material were investigated on dose distribution in a water phantom by changing its nuclear properties using the EGSnrc Monte Carlo (MC) simulation code. Effective atomic numbers of hypothetic mixtures were calculated by using different elements with several fractions for capsule material. Model 6711 brachytherapy seed was modeled by EGSnrc/Dosrcnrc Code and dosimetric functions were calculated. As a result, dosimetric parameters of hypothetic sources have been acquired in large-scale atomic number. Dosimetric deviations between the data of hypothetic seeds and the original one were analyzed. Unit dose (Gy/Particle) distributions belonging to different types of material in seed capsule have remarkably differed from the original capsule's data. Capsule type is major variable to manage the expected dose profile and isodose distribution around a seed. This study shows us systematically varied scale of material type (cross section or effective atomic number dependent) offers selective material usage in production of seed capsules for the expected isodose profile of a specific source.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.11
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• pp.4209-4214
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• 2022

Precise modelling of the interaction of ions with materials is important for many applications including material characterization, ion implantation in devices, thermonuclear fusion, hadron therapy, secondary particle production (e.g. neutron), etc. In this study, a new approach using the Geant4 toolkit in combination with the Bayesian regularization (BR) learning algorithm of the feed-forward neural network (FFNN) is developed to estimate the range of ions in materials accurately and quickly. The different incident ions at different energies are interacted with the target materials. The Geant4 is utilized to model the interactions and to calculate the range of the ions. Afterward, the appropriate architecture of the FFNN-BR with the relevant input features is utilized to learn the modelled ranges and to estimate the new ranges for the new cases. The notable achievements of the proposed approach are: 1- The range of ions in different materials is given as quickly as possible and the time required for estimating the ranges can be neglected (i.e. less than 0.01 s by a typical personal computer). 2- The proposed approach can generalize its ability for estimating the new untrained cases. 3- There is no need for a pre-made lookup table for the estimation of the range values.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.215-221
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• 2023

Proton treatment may deliver a larger dose to a patient's skin than traditional photon therapy, especially when a range shifter (RS) is inserted in the beam path. This study investigated the effects of an RS on skin dose while considering RS with different thicknesses, airgaps and materials. First, the physical model of the scanning nozzle with RS was established in the TOol for PArticle Simulation (TOPAS) code, and the effects of the RS on the skin dose were studied. Second, the variations in the skin dose and isocenter beam size were examined by reducing the air gap. Finally, the effects of different RS materials, such as polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA), Lexan, polyethylene and polystyrene, on the skin dose were analysed. The results demonstrated that the current RS design had a negligible effect on the skin dose, whereas the RS significantly impacted the isocenter beam size. The skin dose was increased considerably when the RS was placed close to the phantom. Moreover, the magnitude of the increase was related to the thickness of the inserted RS. Meanwhile, the results also revealed that the secondary proton primarily contributed to the increased skin dose.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.7
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• pp.2419-2431
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• 2023

Experiments related to Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT) accomplished at the Institute of Nuclear Techniques (INT), Budapest University of Technology and Economics (TUB) are presented. Relevant investigations are required before designing BNCT for vivo applications. Samples of relevant boron compounds (H₃BO₃, BDTPA) usually employed in BNCT were investigated with neutron beam. Channel #5 in the research reactor (100 kW) of INT-TUB provides the neutron beam. Boron samples are mounted on a carrier for neutron irradiation. The particle attenuation of several carrier materials was investigated, and the one with the lowest attenuation was selected. The effects of boron compound type, mass, and compound phase state were also investigated. To detect the emitted charged particles, a traditional ZnS(Ag) detector was employed. The neutron beam's interaction with the detector-detecting layer is investigated. Graphite (as a moderator) was employed to change the neutron beam's characteristics. The fast neutron beam was also thermalized by placing a portable fast neutron source in a paraffin container and irradiating the H₃BO₃. The obtained results suggest that the direct measurement approach appears to be insufficiently sensitive for determining the radiation dose committed by the Alpha particles from the ¹⁰B (n,α) reaction. As a result, a new approach must be used.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.25 no.12
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• pp.974-978
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• 2012

The effect of Cu coating on the sensing properties of nano $SnO_2:Cu$ based sensors for the $CH_4$, $CH_3CH_2CH_3$ gas was studied. This work was focussed on investigating the change of sensitivity of nano $SnO_2:Cu$ based sensors for $CH_4$, $CH_3CH_2CH_3$ gas by Cu coating. Nano sized $SnO_2$ powders were prepared by solution reduction method using stannous chloride($SnCl_2{\cdot}2H_2O$), hydrazine($N_2H_2$) and NaOH and subsequent heat treatment. XRD patterns showed that nano $SnO_2$ powders with rutile structure were grown with (110), (101), (211) dominant peak. The particle size of nano $SnO_2:Cu$ powders at 8 wt% Cu was about 50 nm. $SnO_2$ particles were found to contain many pores, according to SEM analysis. The sensitivity of nano $SnO_2:Cu$ based sensors was measured for 5 ppm $CH_4$ gas and $CH_3CH_2CH_3$ gas at room temperature by comparing the resistance in air with that in target gases. The sensitivity for both $CH_4$ and $CH_3CH_2CH_3$ gases was improved by Cu coating on the nano $SnO_2$ surface. The response time and recovery time of the $SnO_2:Cu$ gas sensors for the $CH_4$ and $CH_3CH_2CH_3$ gases were 18~20 seconds, and 13~15 seconds, respectively.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.117-122
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• 2000

The IP(imaging plate) has been widely used to measure the two-dimensional distribution of incident radiation since it has a high sensitivity, reusability, a wide dynamic range, a high position resolution. Particularly, the easiness of acquiring digitized image using IP poses a strong merit because recent trend of data handling prefers image digitization. In order to test its usefulness in photon beam dosimetry, we measured the off-axis ratio(OAR) on portal planes and percent depth dose(PDD) within a phantom using IP, and compared the results with the data based on EGS4 Monte Carlo particle transport code, ion-chambers, conventional films. For the measurement, we used 6 MV X-rays, various field sizes. As a result, IP showed significant deviation from ion-chamber measurement: a significant overresponse, 100% greater than that of ion-chamber measurement at deep part of the phantom. Filtration of low-energy scattered photons at deep part of the phantom using 0.5 mm thick lead sheets did improve the result, only to the unacceptable extent. However, portal dose measurement showed possibilities of If as a dosimeter by showing errors less than 5%, as compared with film measurement.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.5-17
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• 2020

In recent years, the frequency of heavy rainfall associated with high rainfall intensity has been continuously increasing due to the effects of climate change; and thus also causes an increase in watershed soil erosion. The existing estimation techniques, used for the prediction of soil erosion in Korea have limitations in predicting the: average soil erosion in watersheds, and the soil erosion associated with abnormal short-term rainfall events. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the characteristics of torrential rainfall, and utilize physics-based model to accurately determine the soil erosion characteristics of a watershed. In this study, the rainfall kinetic energy equation, in the form of power function, is proposed by applying the probability density function, to analyze the rainfall particle distribution. The distributed rainfall-erosion model, which utilizes the proposed rainfall kinetic energy equation, was utilized in this study to determine the soil erosion associated with various typhoon events that occurred at Cheoncheon watershed. As a result, the model efficiency parameters of the model for NSE and RMSE are 0.036 and 4.995 ppm, respectively. Therefore, the suggested soil erosion model, coupled with the proposed rainfall-energy estimation, shows accurate results in predicting soil erosion in a watershed due to short-term rainfall events.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.419-436
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• 2002

The current paper reports on the enhancement of O$_3$, CO, NO$_2$, and aerosols during the Asian dust event that occurred over Korea on 1 May 1999. To confirm the origin and net flux of the O$_3$, CO, NO$_2$, and aerosols, the meteorological parameters of the weather conditions were investigated using Mesoscale Meteorological Model 5(MM5) and the TOMS total ozone and aerosol index, the back trajectory was identified using the Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory Model(HYSPLIT), and the ozone and ozone precursor concentrations were determined using the Urban Ashed Model(UAM). In the presence of sufficiently large concentrations of NO$\sub$x/, the oxidation of CO led to O$_3$ formation with OH, HO$_2$, NO, and NO$_2$ acting as catalysts. The sudden enhancement of O$_3$, CO, NO$_2$ and aerosols was also found to be associated with a deepening cut-off low connected with a surface cyclone and surface anticyclone located to the south of Korea during the Asian dust event. The wave pattern of the upper trough/cut-off low and total ozone level remained stationary when they came into contact with a surface cyclone during the Asian dust event. A typical example of a stratosphere-troposphere exchange(STE) of ozone was demonstrated by tropopause folding due to the jet stream. As such, the secondary maxima of ozone above 80 ppbv that occurred at night in Busan, Korea on 1 May 2001 were considered to result from vertical mixing and advection from a free troposphere-boundary layer exchange in connection with an STE in the upper troposphere. Whereas the sudden enhancement of ozone above 100 ppbv during the day was explained by the catalytic reaction of ozone precursors and transport of ozone from a slow-moving anticyclone area that included a high level of ozone and its precursors coming from China to the south of Korea. The aerosols identified in the free troposphere over Busan, Korea on 1 May 1999 originated from the Taklamakan and Gobi deserts across the Yellow River. In particular, the 1000m profile indicated that the source of the air parcels was from an anticyclone located to the south of Korea. The net flux due to the first invasion of ozone between 0000 LST and 0600 LST on 1 May 1999 agreed with the observed ground-based background concentration of ozone. From 0600 LST to 1200 LST, the net flux of the second invasion of ozone was twice as much as the day before. In this case, a change in the horizontal wind direction may have been responsible for the ozone increase.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.311-322
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• 2010

In proton therapy, the analysis of secondary particles is important due to delivered dose outside the target volume and thus increased potential risk for the development of secondary cancer. The purpose of this study is to analyze the influence of secondary particles from proton beams on fluence and energy deposition in the presence of inhomogeneous material by using Geant4 simulation toolkit. The inhomogeneity was modeled with the condition that the adipose tissue, bone and lung equivalent slab with thickness of 2 cm were inserted at 30% (Plateau region) and 80% (Bragg peak region) dose points of maximum dose in Bragg curve. The energy of proton was varied with 100, 130, 160 and 190 MeV for energy dependency. The results for secondary particles were presented for the fluence and deposited energy of secondary particles at inhomogeneous condition. Our study demonstrates that the fluence of secondary particles is neither influenced insertion of inhomogeneties nor the energy of initial proton, while there is a little effect by material density. The deposited energy of secondary particles has a difference in the position placed inhomogeneous materials. In the Plateau region, deposited energy of secondary particles mostly depends on the density of inserted materials. Deposited energy in the Bragg region, in otherwise, is influenced by both density of inserted material and initial energy of proton beams. Our results suggest a possibility of prediction about the distribution of secondary particles within complex heterogeneity.