1,720,998 research outputs found
Fricke gel dosimetry for 3D imaging of absorbed dose in radiotherapy
No full textThe overall aim of this thesis was to develop improvements for 3D dosimetry system, based on Fricke solution, in order to achieve accurate 3D absorbed dose distributions by means of visible light transmittance analysis. Such a system would represent a useful tool for 3D treatment planning verification.
In particular, the main objectives were:
To make a Fricke gel dosimeter selecting proper gelling substance and optimizing gel quantity according to the dosimeter response.
To develop a Fricke gel dosimeter preparation protocol in order to establish an optimal elaboration process.
To evaluate the characteristics of the Fricke gel dosimeter for dose distribution measurements.
To reduce the uncertainties in dose distribution determination using Fricke gel dosimeters.
To study the diffusion properties of the Fricke gel dosimeter, allowing a comparison with alternative non-diffusive polymer gel
An optimized Monte Carlo (PENELOPE) code for the characterization of gel-layer detectors in radiotherapy
No full textMonte Carlo (MC) simulation of radiation transport is considered to be one of the most accurate methods of radiation therapy dose calculation. A basic requirement for MC treatment planning is a detailed knowledge of the characteristics of radiation beam generated from medical linear accelerators (LINACs). One of the most important input parameters is the photon fluence of the beam, usually not determinable experimentally. Thus, an MC simulation code based on the PENELOPE package was developed in order to survey the influence of the incident spectrum on the in-phantom dose distributions. Different spectra for the incident photon fluence have been considered in order to establish the most adequate one. The resulting planned dose distributions have been compared with those determined experimentally with ionization chamber measurements and gel dosimeter layers analyzed with optical technique. The specific gel composition has been implemented in the MC simulation code. Comparisons between experimental measurements, approximated simulations (water) and specific simulations (gel composition) have been performed
Gel-layer dosimetry for dose verification in intensity-modulated radiation therapy
No full textIntensity Modulated Radiotherapy (IMRT) is a technique in which the radiation fluence within each of the treatment beams is not uniformly distributed. This allows the patient dose to follow the boundaries even of a target volume of complex shape, and, virtually, to spare critical healthy organs at risk. The agreement between planned and delivered IMRT dose is verified by means of standard dosimetric methods such as film dosimetry or semiconductors array dosimetry. In this paper we compare the output of a commercial device using an array of diodes for IMRT absolute dose verification with the output of a gel dosimeter, composed by a 10x8 cm2 rectangular layer of a tissue-equivalent gel matrix in which a proper chemical dosimeter has been incorporated. The dose distribution is derived from the images of visible light transmittance, detected with a CCD camera before and after the gel exposure. The analysis was carried out on a single IMRT field chosen among those archived at the Istituto Nazionale Tumori of Milan. The radiation field was examined in an area common to both dosimeters. The agreement between the two detectors was good, as shown by analysis of dose profiles, especially for doses above 15-20 cGy. Gel dosimeter was in good agreement with the planned dose too, with a percentage of dosimeter points passing a dose to agreement test ranging between 90 to 93%. Although preliminary, our data suggest that gel dosimetry is a reliable method for IMRT dose verification. Due to the good spatial resolution and to the tissue equivalent properties of its composition, it would be suitable also for 3D IMRT dose reconstruction and verification in the form of multiple piled-up gel layers
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
No full textWe have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
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