Analysis of the Dose Drop at the Edge of the Target Area in Heavy Ion Radiotherapy

Background. The dose distribution of heavy ions at the edge of the target region will have a steep decay during radiotherapy, which can better protect the surrounding organs at risk. Objective. To analyze the dose decay gradient at the back edge of the target region during heavy ion radiotherapy. Methods. Treatment planning system (TPS) was employed to analyze the dose decay at the edge of the beam under different incident modes and multiple dose segmentation conditions during fixed beam irradiation. The dose decay data of each plan was collected based on the position where the rear edge of the beam began to fall rapidly. Uniform scanning mode was selected in heavy ion TPS. Dose decay curves under different beam setup modes were drawn and compared. Results. The dose decay data analysis showed that in the case of single beam irradiation, the posterior edge of the beam was 5 mm away, and the posterior dose could drop to about 20%. While irradiation in opposite direction, the posterior edge of the beam was 5 mm away, and the dose could drop to about 50%. In orthogonal irradiation of two beams, the posterior edge of the beam could drop to about 30-38% in a distance of 5 mm. Through the data analysis in the TPS, the sharpness of the dose at the back edge of the heavy ion beam is better than that at the lateral edge, but the generated X-ray contamination cannot be ignored. Conclusions. The effect of uneven CT value on the dose decay of heavy ion beam should also be considered in clinical treatment.

Determination of perturbative QCD coupling from ALEPH $$\tau $$ decay data using pinched Borel–Laplace and Finite Energy Sum Rules

We present a determination of the perturbative QCD (pQCD) coupling using the V+A channel ALEPH $$\tau $$ τ -decay data. The determination involves the double-pinched Borel–Laplace Sum Rules and Finite Energy Sum Rules. The theoretical basis is the Operator Product Expansion (OPE) of the V+A channel Adler function in which the higher order terms of the leading-twist part originate from a model based on the known structure of the leading renormalons of this quantity. The applied evaluation methods are contour-improved perturbation theory (CIPT), fixed-order perturbation theory (FOPT), and Principal Value of the Borel resummation (PV). All the methods involve truncations in the order of the coupling. In contrast to the truncated CIPT method, the truncated FOPT and PV methods account correctly for the suppression of various renormalon contributions of the Adler function in the mentioned sum rules. The extracted value of the $${\overline{\mathrm{MS}}}$$ MS ¯ coupling is $$\alpha _s(m_{\tau }^2) = 0.3116 \pm 0.0073$$ α s ( m τ 2 ) = 0.3116 ± 0.0073 [$$\alpha _s(M_Z^2)=0.1176 \pm 0.0010$$ α s ( M Z 2 ) = 0.1176 ± 0.0010 ] for the average of the FOPT and PV methods, which we regard as our main result. On the other hand, if we include in the average also the CIPT method, the resulting values are significantly higher, $$\alpha _s(m_{\tau }^2) = 0.3194 \pm 0.0167$$ α s ( m τ 2 ) = 0.3194 ± 0.0167 [$$\alpha _s(M_Z^2)=0.1186 \pm 0.0021$$ α s ( M Z 2 ) = 0.1186 ± 0.0021 ].

Complex Decay Prediction of Marine Machinery Using Multilabel SVM

In this article, a multilabel support vector machine (SVM)-based approach is investigated to address the simultaneous decay detection of the marine propulsion system. To verify the performance of the algorithm, we perform some experiments using a simulation dataset from a real-data validated numerical simulator of a Frigate. In particular, we try to train the model without simultaneous decay data, considering the great difficulty of obtaining simultaneous decay data in practice. The experimental results show that the proposed approach can identify the complex decay modes of the marine propulsion system effectively using only simple decay data in the training process. Introduction The propulsion system is considered to be the “heart” of a marine ship (Li et al. 2019a). Its safety and reliability are critical to the regular operation of the ship (Bayer et al. 2018; Cheliotis & Lazakis, 2018; Lazakis et al. 2016). However, performance decay may occur to the propulsion system due to the high humidity and high salt characteristics of the marine environment (Fang et al. 2018; Kang et al. 2019; Wang et al. 2019). The decay modes can be divided into single decay and simultaneous decay. Single decay indicates a simple decay mode that only one kind of decay occurs at a time, and simultaneous decay indicates a complex decay mode that multiple decays occur at the same time. To improve the safety and reliability of the marine propulsion system, researchers have proposed many related approaches from the perspective of fault diagnosis.

Peak Area Consistency Evaluation in Gamma Spectrometry

Quantification of radionuclide activities in gamma spectrometry can be a challenging task. It depends on efficiency calibration, peak area calculation, nuclide decay data and correction factors, such as attenuation correction or true coincidence summing corrections. These quantities can present significant challenges to an accurate analysis. It is therefore desirable to have a way of assessing the quality of the radionuclide quantification that can be applied to samples with unknown activities and radionuclide compositions. A verification of the self-consistency of the analysis is one possible way of accomplishing this. In gamma spectrometry it is possible to calculate radionuclide activities using information from multiple gamma emission energies. This leads to an overdetermined system for which the solution can be used to look for inconsistencies. By calculating the recovered peak areas from the radionuclide activities and comparing these to the measured peak areas, outliers can be identified and by resolving these inconsistencies the analysis of the spectrum can be improved. This peak area consistency evaluation can be used to find incorrect shape of the efficiency calibration, missing interferences in the nuclide decay data, and point to peaks where the peak area calculation needs to be optimized. The performance of the method has been shown on a simple spectrum consisting of three radionuclides that are interfering with each other as well as a complex spectrum with unknown radionuclide composition and activities. The method will be integrated into a future version the Genie 2000 Gamma Spectroscopy Software.

NUCLEAR DATA V&V ANALYSIS FOR FUSION APPLICATIONS: INTEGRAL BENCHMARKS AND DECAY DATA

A reliable estimation of the operational parameters is one of the primary concerns in the design of magnetic fusion devices such as ITER and DEMO. Methods of diagnostics and control over the critical plasma parameters determining its stability and efficiency rely on the high-energy neutron field monitoring. Extreme operational environment, such as high-energy neutron flux, electromagnetic radiation, and high temperatures might reduce the performance of the detector systems. Therefore, research and development activities in detector prototyping are carried out to address this problem. To predict the performance of the detector materials, simulations using the latest releases of the nuclear data libraries as input for the inventory codes are carried out. This paper describes the latest validation and verification (V&V) benchmark exercise for FISPACT-II & TENDL-2017 based on the fusion decay heat measurements performed at the Japanese FNS facility for the materials in the diagnostic components for the radiation measurements. The breakdown of decay-heat contributions from individual radionuclides have been employed to interpret the simulated results, benchmark the data against the experimental measurements, and revise the neutron-induced reactions cross-section and decay data for the associated radionuclides for the upcoming release of the TENDL-2019 nuclear data library.

ADVANCES IN STUDSVIK’S SYSTEM FOR SPENT FUEL ANALYSES

Studsvik’s approach to spent nuclear fuel analyses combines isotopic concentrations, fluxes, and cross-sections, calculated by the CASMO5 neutron transport and depletion code, with irradiation history data from the SIMULATE5 reactor core simulator and tabulated isotopic decay data. These data sources are used and processed by the SNF code to compute the spent nuclear fuel characteristics. Recent advances in the system, including cross-sections and decay data from ENDF/B-VIII.R0, are presented in this paper, together with validation results against decay heat power and isotopic compositions measurements. Measurements conducted at the Swedish interim storage facility, CLAB, are used for validation of the decay heat power, while comparisons to the results of the international program ARIANE are used to demonstrate the capability of CMS5/SNF to accurately predict isotopic compositions. The paper shows the results calculated with ENDF/B-VIII.R0, and the effect on the spent fuel characteristics is evaluated by comparisons to the earlier ENDF/B-VII.R1 results.