• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.230-235
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• 2005

Purpose: To evaluate the contralateral breast dose using a virtual wedge compared with that using a Physical wedge and an open beam in a Siemens linear accelerator. Materials and Methods: The contralateral breast dose was measured using diodes placed on a humanoid phantom. Diodes were placed at 5.5 cm (position 1), 9.5 cm (position 2), and 14 cm (position 3) along the medial-lateral line from the medial edge of the treatment field. A 6-MV photon beam was used with tangential irradiation technique at 50 and 230 degrees of gantry angle. Asymmetrically collimated $17{\times}10cm$ field was used. for the first set of experiment, four treatment set-ups were used, which were an open medial beam with a 30-degree wedged lateral beam (physical and virtual wedges, respectively) and a 15-degree wedged medial beam with a 15-degree wedged lateral beam (physical and virtual wedges, respectively). The second set of experiment consists of setting with medial beam without wedge, a 15-degree wedge, and a 50-degree wedge (physical and virtual wedges, respectively). Identical monitor units were delivered. Each set of experiment was repeated for three times. Results: In the first set of experiment, the contralateral breast dose was the highest at the position 1 and decreased in order of the position 2 and 3. The contralateral breast dose was reduced with open beam on the medial side ($2.70{\pm}1.46%$) compared to medial beam with a wedge (both physical and virtual) ($3.25{\pm}1.59%$). The differences were larger with a physical wedge ($0.99{\pm}0.18%$) than a virtual wedge ($0.10{\pm}0.01%$) at all positions. The use of a virtual wedge reduced the contralateral breast dose by 0.12% to 1.20% of the proscribed dose compared to a physical wedge with same technique. In the second experiment, the contralateral breast dose decreased in order of the open beam, the virtual wedge, and the physical wedge at the position 1, and it decreased in order of a physical wedge, an open beam, and a virtual wedge at the position 2 and 3. Conclusion: The virtual wedge equipped in a Siemens linear accelerator was found to be useful in reducing dose to the contralateral breast. Our additional finding was that the surface dose distribution from the Siemens accelerator was different from a Varian accelerator.

• Korean Journal of Digital Imaging in Medicine
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.51-58
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• 2010

Ionization chambers often exhibit a stem effect, caused by interactions of radiation with air near the chamber end, or with dielectric in the chamber stem or cable. In this study measured stem effect correction factor for length of ionization chamber from medical linear accelerator recommend to with the use of stem correction method. For a model of the Farmer-type chamber, were used to calculate the beam quality correction factor. These interactions contribute to the apparent measured exposure. Additionally, it needs to consider ionization chamber use of small volume and stem effect of cable by a large field. Linear accelerator generated photons energy and increased dose repeatedly measured by using stem correction method. Stem effect was dependence of the energy and increases with photon energy conditions improved of beam quality. In conclusion, stem effect correction factor was measured within 0.4% calculated according to the exposures stem length and also supposed to determined below 1% of another stem correction method.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.69-73
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• 2002

Exposure measurement data with parallel plate ionization chambers were known to depend on the polarity ($k_{pol}$) effect. In this work, the polarity effect were investigated for three parallel plate ionization chambers with different volume. The ionization chamber was fabricated using acrylic plate for the chamber medium and printed circuit board for electrical configuration. The various sizes of the sensitive volumes designed so far were 0.9, 1.9, and 3.1 co. High voltage generator was fabricated using the conventional 9 V batteries to apply the high voltage (300-500 V) to the electrode of the parallel plate ionization chamber. The gap between two electrodes ranged from 3, 6, and 10mm. As the result of our experiment, the polarity effect was within 0.5% in photon beam and 1% to 3.5% in the electron beams. Among electron beams, 16 MeV beam, which had highest energy, showed less polarity effect than electron beams with other energies.

• Journal of Korea Multimedia Society
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.434-442
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• 2008

The parallel beam SPECT acquires projection data by using parallel hole collimators in conjunction with photon detectors. Those projection data of the parallel beam SPECT are, however, contaminated by the distance dependent blurring because of the inaccuracy of the point response function of the collimator that is used to define the range of directions where photons can be detected. Thus an efficient aperture correction is required. In this paper we propose a distance dependent backprojection method to overcome the time limitation of iterative aperture correction methods and the performance limitation of Fourier-Distance Relation based method. The proposed method achieves aperture correction and fast image reconstruction by replacing the distance independent backprojection of the direct image reconstruction with the distance dependent one. We conducted several simulations to compare the performance of the proposed method with that of the conventional Fourier-Distance Relation based method. The simulation result shows that the proposed method outperforms the Fourier-Distance Relation based method in spatial resolution and robustness against noise.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.6
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• pp.1970-1978
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• 2021

The aim of this study was to optimize the target, moderator, and collimator (TMC) in a neutron beam generator for the accelerator-based BNCT (A-BNCT) system. The optimization employed the Monte Carlo Neutron and Photon (MCNP) simulation. The optimal geometry for the target was decided as the one with the highest neutron flux among nominates, which were called as angled, rib, and tube in this study. The moderator was optimized in terms of consisting material to produce appropriate neutron energy distribution for the treatment. The optimization of the collimator, which wrapped around the target, was carried out by deciding the material to effectively prevent the leakage radiations. As results, characteristic of the neutron beam from the optimized TMC was compared to the recommendation by the International Atomic Energy Agent (IAEA). The tube type target showed the highest neutron flux among nominates. The optimal material for the moderator and collimator were combination of Fluental (Al₂0₃+AlF₃) with ⁶⁰Ni filter and lead, respectively. The optimized TMC satisfied the IAEA recommendations such as the minimum production rate of epithermal neutrons from thermal neutrons: that was 2.5 times higher. The results can be used as source terms for shielding designs of treatment rooms.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.201-207
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the performance of a "stealth chamber" as a novel reference chamber for measuring percentage depth dose (PDD) and profile of 6, 8 and 10 MV photon energies. The PDD curves and dose profiles with fields ranging from $3{\times}3$ to $25{\times}25cm^2$ were acquired from measurements by using the stealth chamber and CC 13 chamber as reference chamber. All measurements were performed with Varian VitalBeam linear accelerator. In order to assess the performance of stealth chamber, PDD curves and profiles measured with stealth chamber were compared with measurement data using CC13 chamber. For PPDs measured with both chambers, the dosimetric parameters such as $d_{max}$ (depth of maximum dose), $D_{50}$ (PDD at 50 mm depth), and $D_{100}$ (PDD at 100 mm depth) were analyzed. Moreover, root mean square error (RMSE) values for profiles at $d_{max}$ and 100 mm depth were evaluated. The measured PDDs and profiles between the stealth chamber and CC13 chamber as reference detector had almost comparable. For PDDs, the evaluated dosimetric parameters were observed small difference (<1%) for all energies and field sizes, except for $d_{max}$ less than 2 mm. In addition, the difference of RMSEs for profiles at $d_{max}$ and 100 mm depth was similar for both chambers. This study confirmed that the use of stealth chamber for measuring commission beam data is a feasible as reference chamber for fields ranging from $3{\times}3$ to $20{\times}20cm^2$. Furthermore, it has an advantage with respect to measurement of the small fields (less than $3{\times}3cm^2$ field) although not performed in this study.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.33-47
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• 1998

Using a combination of an X-ray generator Installed in radiation calibration laboratory of Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) and a series of 8 radiators and filters described in ISO-4037, monoenergetic fluorescent X-rays from 8.6 keV to 75 keV were produced. This fluorescent X-rays generated by primary X-rays from radiator were discriminated $K_{\beta}$ lines with the aid of filter material and the only $K_{\alpha}$ X-rays were analyzed with the high purity Ge detector and portable MCA. The air kerma rates were measured with the 35 co ionization chamber and compared with the calculational results, and the beam uniformity and the scattered effects of radiation fields were also measured. The beam purities were more than 90 % for the energy range of 8.6 keV to 75 keV and the air kerma rates were from 1.91 mGy/h (radiator : Au, filter : W) to 54.2 mGy (radiator : Mo, filter : Zr) at 43 cm from center of the radiator. The effective area of beam at the measurement point of air kerma rates was 12 cm ${\times}$ 12 cm and the influence of scattered radiation was less than 3 %. The fluorescent X-rays established in this study could be used for the determination of energy response of the radiation measurement devices and the personal dosemeters in low photon energy regions.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.449-454
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• 1993

The skin sparing effect associated with high energy x-ray or gamma ray beams may be reduce or lost under certain conditions of treatment. Current trends in using large fields. Shield carrying trays, compensating filters, and isocentric methods of treatment have posed problems of increased skin dose which sometimes become a limiting factor in giving adquate tumor doses. We used the shallow ion chamber to measure the phantom surface dose and the physical treatment variables for Co-60 gamma ray, 4MV and 10 MV x-ray beam. The dependence of percent surface dose on field sizes, atomic number of the shielding tray materials and its distance from the surface for 4, 10MV x-rays and Co-60 gamma ray is qualitatively similar. The use of 2 mm thick tin filter is recommended for situations where a low atomic number tray is introduced into the beam at distances less than 15 cm from the surface and with the large field sized for 4 MV x-ray beam. In case of Co-60 gamma ray, the lead glass tray is suitable for enhancement of skin sparing. Also, the filter distance should be as large as possible to achieve substantial skin sparing.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.791-794
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• 2005

A visible photochemistry of maleic to fumaric acid adsorbed on silver nanoparticle surfaces was investigated as probed by SERS using a simple flow method. Photoisomerization of maleic to fumaric acid was consecutively observed in the condition of various flow rates, which varied the exposure time of laser beam. The sequential SERS spectra of maleic acid indicated that the photochemical isomerization and desorption took place simultaneously on silver nanoparticle surfaces as a function of laser fluency and wavelength. For 530.9nm laser line excitation, the rate constant coefficients were obtained with a = 5.9 $sec^{-1}$ mW for isomerization and b = 13.9 $sec^{-1}$ mW for desorption, which $k_1\;=\;aI^n\;and\;k_2\;=\;bI^m$. Both reactions were one photon process (n = 1, m = 1) of a visible light and relatively fast process whose decay time was in the range of milli-second for 50 mW laser power. The rate of photochemical reaction increased on going toward the blue and photodesorption was a dominant process. A simple flow method used in this study was very useful to study a relatively fast photochemical reaction of molecules adsorbed on silver nanoparticle surfaces.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.175-180
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• 2004

A prompt gamma-ray neutron activation (PGNA) system was simulated by the Monte Carlo N-Particle transport code (MCNP-4A) to estimate the level at which the scattered photon fluence rate, the absolute efficiency of the HPGe-detector, the volume of the concrete sample and the $^{35}$ /Cl(n, ${\gamma}$) reaction rate in this sample contribute to the count rate in the NaCl concentration measurement. The n- ${\gamma}$ fluence rates at the ST-2 beam tube exit of the HANARO reactor were used as input data, and the GAMMA-X type HPGe detector was modeled to tally 1.1649 MeV ${\gamma}$ -rays emitted from the $^{35}$ Cl(n, ${\gamma}$) reaction in the concrete sample. For three cylindrical concrete samples of 13.8, 46.8 and 157.1 ㎤ volumes, respectively, the relations between the NaCl weight fractions of 0.1, 1, 2 and 5 % in each of the concrete samples and the 1.1 649 MeV pulses created in the HPGe detector model were studied. As a result, it was found that the count rate at the same NaCl concentration nearly depends on the volume of the samples in a simulated condition of the same NaCl concentration samples, and that the linearities of the NaCl concentration calibration curves were reasonable in the narrow range of the NaCl weight fraction.