Fast Monte Carlo Simulation for Patient-specific CT/CBCT Imaging Dose Calculation

Recently, X-ray imaging dose from computed tomography (CT) or cone beam CT (CBCT) scans has become a serious concern. Patient-specific imaging dose calculation has been proposed for the purpose of dose management. While Monte Carlo (MC) dose calculation can be quite accurate for this purpose, it suffers from low computational efficiency. In response to this problem, we have successfully developed a MC dose calculation package, gCTD, on GPU architecture under the NVIDIA CUDA platform for fast and accurate estimation of the x-ray imaging dose received by a patient during a CT or CBCT scan. Techniques have been developed particularly for the GPU architecture to achieve high computational efficiency. Dose calculations using CBCT scanning geometry in a homogeneous water phantom and a heterogeneous Zubal head phantom have shown good agreement between gCTD and EGSnrc, indicating the accuracy of our code. In terms of improved efficiency, it is found that gCTD attains a speed-up of ~400 times in the homogeneous water phantom and ~76.6 times in the Zubal phantom compared to EGSnrc. As for absolute computation time, imaging dose calculation for the Zubal phantom can be accomplished in ~17 sec with the average relative standard deviation of 0.4%. Though our gCTD code has been developed and tested in the context of CBCT scans, with simple modification of geometry it can be used for assessing imaging dose in CT scans as well.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figures, and 1 tabl

Stochastic stability of viscoelastic systems under Gaussian and Poisson white noise excitations

As the use of viscoelastic materials becomes increasingly popular, stability of viscoelastic structures under random loads becomes increasingly important. This paper aims at studying the asymptotic stability of viscoelastic systems under Gaussian and Poisson white noise excitations with Lyapunov functions. The viscoelastic force is approximated as equivalent stiffness and damping terms. A stochastic differential equation is set up to represent randomly excited viscoelastic systems, from which a Lyapunov function is determined by intuition. The time derivative of this Lyapunov function is then obtained by stochastic averaging. Approximate conditions are derived for asymptotic Lyapunov stability with probability one of the viscoelastic system. Validity and utility of this approach are illustrated by a Duffing-type oscillator possessing viscoelastic forces, and the influence of different parameters on the stability region is delineated

Elliptic blowup equations for 6d SCFTs. Part II: Exceptional cases

The building blocks of 6d $(1,0)$ SCFTs include certain rank one theories with gauge group $G=SU(3),SO(8),F_4,E_{6,7,8}$. In this paper, we propose a universal recursion formula for the elliptic genera of all such theories. This formula is solved from the elliptic blowup equations introduced in our previous paper. We explicitly compute the elliptic genera and refined BPS invariants, which recover all previous results from topological string theory, modular bootstrap, Hilbert series, 2d quiver gauge theories and 4d $\mathcal{N}=2$ superconformal $H_{G}$ theories. We also observe an intriguing relation between the $k$-string elliptic genus and the Schur indices of rank $k$ $H_{G}$ SCFTs, as a generalization of Lockhart-Zotto's conjecture at the rank one cases. In a subsequent paper, we deal with all other non-Higgsable clusters with matters

'BioNessie(G) - a grid enabled biochemical networks simulation environment

The simulation of biochemical networks provides insight and understanding about the underlying biochemical processes and pathways used by cells and organisms. BioNessie is a biochemical network simulator which has been developed at the University of Glasgow. This paper describes the simulator and focuses in particular on how it has been extended to benefit from a wide variety of high performance compute resources across the UK through Grid technologies to support larger scale simulations

BioNessie - a grid enabled biochemical networks simulation environment

The simulation of biochemical networks provides insight and understanding about the underlying biochemical processes and pathways used by cells and organisms. BioNessie is a biochemical network simulator which has been developed at the University of Glasgow. This paper describes the simulator and focuses in particular on how it has been extended to benefit from a wide variety of high performance compute resources across the UK through Grid technologies to support larger scale simulations

Shear stiffness of granular material at small strains: does it depend on grain size?

The shear stiffness of granular material at small strain levels is a subject of both theoretical and practical interest. This paper poses two fundamental questions that appear to be interrelated: (a) whether this stiffness property is dependent on particle size; and (b) whether the effect of testing method exists in terms of laboratory measurements using resonant column (RC) and bender element (BE) tests. For three uniformly graded types of glass beads of different mean sizes (0195 mm, 0.920 mm and 1.750 mm), laboratory tests were conducted at a range of confining stresses and void ratios, using an apparatus that incorporates both RC and BE functions and thus allows reliable and insightful comparisons. It is shown that the small-strain stiffness, determined by either the RC or BE tests, does not vary appreciably with particle size, and it may be practically assumed to be size independent. The laboratory experiments also indicate that the BE measurements of small-strain stiffness are comparable to the corresponding RC measurements, with differences of less than 10%. Furthermore, the BE measurements for fine glass beads are found to be consistently higher than the RC measurements, especially at large stress levels, whereas this feature becomes less evident for medium-coarse glass beads, and eventually diminishes for coarse glass beads. The study indicates that the characteristics of output signals in BE tests can be largely affected by the frequency of the input signal, the mean particle size of the material and the confining stress level, and that these factors are interrelated. Improper interpretation of wave signals may lead to shear stiffness measurements that are unreasonably low, either showing a substantial increase with particle size or showing the opposite. A micromechanics-based analysis assuming the Hertz-Mindlin contact law is presented to offer an understanding of the size effect from the grain scale. © 2013 Thomas Telford Ltd.published_or_final_versio

A complex autoregressive model and application to monthly temperature forecasts

A complex autoregressive model was established based on the mathematic derivation of the least squares for the complex number domain which is referred to as the complex least squares. The model is different from the conventional way that the real number and the imaginary number are separately calculated. An application of this new model shows a better forecast than forecasts from other conventional statistical models, in predicting monthly temperature anomalies in July at 160 meteorological stations in mainland China. The conventional statistical models include an autoregressive model, where the real number and the imaginary number are separately disposed, an autoregressive model in the real number domain, and a persistence-forecast model

The composition of R. Cohen's elements and the third periodic elements in stable homotopy groups of spheres

In this paper, we study the cohomology of the Morava stabilizer algebra $S(3)$. As an application, we show that for $p \geq 7$, if $s\not \equiv 0, \pm 1 \,\, mod \,p$, $n\not \equiv 1 \,\, mod\, 3$, $n>1$, then $\zeta_n\gamma_s$ is a nontrivial product in $\pi_*(S)$ by Adams-Novikov spectral sequence, where $\zeta_n$ is created by R. Cohen \cite{Co}, $\gamma_s$ is a third periodic homotopy elements

IDS Rising Powers in International Development Programme, Development Studies Learning Partnership, Teaching & Learning Visiting Fellowship

Module outline and PowerPoint presentations for the Emerging Powers and International Development module, taught by Xiuli Xu as part of a Teaching and Learning Visiting Fellowship under the IDS Rising Powers in International Development programme's Development Studies Learning Partnership.UK Department for International Developmen