Introduction: GafChromic EBT films are one of the self-developing and modern films commercially available for dosimetric verification of treatment planning systems (TPSs). Their high spatial resolution, low energy dependence and near-tissue equivalence make them suitable for verification of dose distributions in radiation therapy. This study was designed to evaluate the dosimetric parameters of the RtDosePlan TPS such as POD curves, lateral beam profiles, and isodose curves measured in a water phantom using EBT Radiochromic film and EGSnrc Monte Carlo (MC) simulation.Methods and Materials: A Microtek color scanner was used as the film scanning system, where the response in the red color channel was extracted and used for the analyses. A calibration curve was measured using pieces of irradiated films to specific doses. The film was mounted inside the phantom parallel to the beam's central axis and was irradiated in a standard setup (SSD=80 cm, FS=10 x 10 cm2) with a 60Co machine. The BEAMnrc and the DOSXYZnrc codes were used to simulate the Co-60 machine and extracting the voxel-based phantom. The phantom's acquired CT data were transferred to the TPS using DICOM files.Results: Distance-To-Agreement (DTA) and Dose Difference (DO) among the TPS predictions, measurements and MC calculations were all within the acceptance criteria (00=3%, DTA=3 mm).Conclusion: This study shows that EBT film is an appropriate tool for verification of 20 dose distribution predicted by a TPS system. In addition, it is concluded that MC simulation with the BEAMnrc code has a suitable potential for verifying dose distributions.

Presented herein is a new technique and a low cost method to estimate the ratio of air voids in hardened concrete within 30 minutes using available flatbed scanner, black inkjet, personal computer and image treatment software This test method includes contrast enhancement steps ensuring black ink (air voids) in gray concrete (aggregate and paste), image acquisition and computer analysis of scanned image. It is applied on specimens of normal concrete (NSC), high strength concrete (HSC) and high strength concrete with Polypropylene fibers. Results obtained are compared with the peer values of wet concrete ratios of air voids. As compared with other ASTM procedures, it is concluded that this method may have superiority over other methods due to its simplicity, low cost, less time and no need of skilled technicians. It is recommended to be used for hardened concrete as well as rock specimens.

A simple and selective method for the determination of urea based on the paptode technique is described. The sensor was constructed by immobilizing an ionophore on a TLC strip. The procedure is based on the nucleophilic displacement of urea with tetrachloro-p-benzoquinone (chloranil) as an ionophore, and the formed violet-color product was detected using a flatbed scanner. The color of each spot was analyzed to red (R), green (G) and blue (B) values from 0 to 255 using a program written in visual basic (VB) programming language. The calibration graph obtained with the proposed sensor was linear over the range of 0.05-10.00 mg L-1 with a detection limit of 0.01 mg L-1 for urea. Parameters such as pH and concentration of chloranil were optimized. The proposed sensor was successfully applied for the determination of urea in bovine serum, urine and tap water samples.

Recently, solution scanometry, as a new, simple, fast, portable, and economic method has been introduced for determination of acidity constants of indicators and dyes. In this study, a method was applied for the determination of the acidity constant of p-Rosolic acid (RA) and Bromoxylenol blue (BXB) indicators. The method is based on scanning of Plexiglas® sheet containing colored solutions with a flatbed scanner. The obtained images were analyzed to red, green, and blue (RGB) values using software written in visual basic 6. For comparison, the acidity constants of the indicators were determined by spectrophotometric method using the Hypspec program. The corresponding distribution diagrams were also drawn through the Hyss2009 program. The comparison between the presented and traditional UV-Vis spectrophotometric method was performed, and similar trends were observed in the results of both methods. The obtained values of pKa by solution scanometric and spectrophotometric methods showed a good agreement with the corresponding values reported in the literature.

Statement of Problem: Digital Subtraction Radiography (DSR) needs reproducible alignment between the x-ray source, the object, and the film for obtaining identical projections of the same anatomic region.Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of bite registrations (placed on individual bite blocks) on the reproducibility of parallel periapical radiographs, obtained every 2 months, in patients undergoing periodontal surgery for furcation involvement.Materials and Methods: Ninety eight parallel periapical radiographs were used in this study. The radiographs were taken with individual bite-blocks attached to the beam-guiding device. In order to individualize the bite blocks, bite registrations were fabricated using silicon impression material, and were placed on the individual bite blocks. All radiographs in each series were processed under similar conditions and were digitized with the flatbed scanner fitted with a transparency adaptor (hp Scanjet 7400) at 300 dpi resolution. Reproducibility of this method for obtaining similar parallel periapical radiographs was assessed by measuring the horizontal and vertical distances between two selected unchanged reference points on each radiograph and comparing them in each series. Reliability of measurements was analyzed using the one way random model intraclass correlation coefficient for average of raters.Results: For both measurements (Horizontal and Vertical) statistically significant reliability was found between three repeated radiographs with two month intervals in 16 patients, as well as 5 repeated radiographs with two month intervals in 10 patients (P<0.001).Conclusion: The result of this study shows that bite registration on individual bite blocks is enough for obtaining identical parallel periapical radiographs.

Background: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the dosimetric difference in calculated and measured doses for volumetric modulated arc therapy enabled total body irradiation (VMAT-TBI) technique. The study also aims to find the uniformity of doses delivered at the junction region of two adjacent isocentric arcs using three different detectors. Material and Methods: This phantom study was performed on arc phantom and contains three different detectors: Gafchromic films, silicon diodes, and 0.6cc ionisation chamber. Measured doses using Gafchromic films and silicon diodes were the representative of skin surface doses and the 0.6cc chamber measured the mid plane doses at each isocenter. Ten (10) selected patients from the data base were the representative for this retrospective dosimetric analysis, verification and in-vivo dosimetry, however, the pre-treatment verification of all VMAT-TBI plans were already completed using EPIQA and Octavious phantom. Epson 1100 flatbed scanner was used for film scanning. The Gamma analysis and average dose difference between TPS calculated and measured with different dosimeters were found.Results: The found dose difference in surface doses measured using Gafchromic film is in the range from 0.044 to 0.204 cGy and for diodes the range is from 0 to 0.112 cGy with respect to planned values. The point doses at each arc isocenter were within 3% of TPS calculated.Conclusion: The diodes, gafchromic films and used ionisation chamber are in good agreement with the TPS doses. Hence, it can be concluded and suggested that any available detector is good for dose determination in TBI.

Sesame plant is adapted to semi-arid conditions and one of its distinctive features is tolerance to water stress, and the correct management of irrigation plays a significant role in increasing the quantity and quality of sesame seeds. This research was conducted to determine the optimal irrigation method, applied water volume, and planting arrangement to achieve the maximum yield and water productivity of sesame in Gorgan region. The study was carried out as completely randomized blocks at the Agricultural Research Station in Gorgan. The treatments included 3 irrigation methods (sprinkle, T-tape drip and surface) along with three arrangements of planting on a raised bed (2 rows of planting on a raised bed 50 cm wide, 1 planting row on a 50 cm wide ridge, and one planting row with 50 cm intervals on a flatbed). Based on the results, the maximum seed yield in both years of the experiment 2021-22 was in the T-tape drip irrigation system and in the 1 planting row on a 50 cm wide ridge planting arrangement (1305 kg.ha-1) and the lowest was in the surface irrigation treatment with the flat planting method (735 kg.ha-1). The average amount of applied water for the two years of testing for the strip drip irrigation system was measured to be about 4180 m3.ha-1, and for sprinkler and surface irrigation methods was about 4675 and 5930 m3/ha, respectively. The maximum water productivity for irrigation method (T-tape drip irrigation) and for ridge planting was 0.31 and 0.45 kg/m3, respectively. In total, with the aim of achieving maximum seed yield and water productivity with minimal water consumption, T-tape drip irrigation and ridge planting are suitable for sesame and are recommended.

In radiotherapy, the delivered dose to a target tissue should be of high accuracy, where any inaccuracy in the delivered dose can affect the treatment outcomes. Radiochromic films, in this respect, have an essential role in the verification and quality assurance of the radiotheraphy treatment. Gafchromic EBT2 films are widely used in radiation dosimetry due to their advantages such as high sensitivity, good reproducibility, high spatial resolution, easy readout and portability. The first step in applying these films in dosimetry is preparing the calibration profile and determining the uncertainty and absolute error of the films calibration protocol. In this paper, first, the uniformity of a suitable flatbed scanner which is used in dosimetry readout procedure is studied. Then the calibration process of the EBT2 film is carried out using Cobalt radiotherapy. After the detailed specification of error and uncertainty of measurements, the used protocol is evaluated. Also, the analysis of the films is performed by homemade functions using the Matlab software and program along with the image processing toolbox. The percentage depth dose curve of high energy electron beam obtained by the EBT2 film is compared with the standard ionization chamber data. The results show that within the central scan region (20×20 cm2) the scanner nonuniformity is less than ± 1%, and no correction method was required. By the use of the described protocol, the error for the dose measurements was evaluted to be less than 1% for a uniform field. A comparison of the percentage depth dose curves obtained from the ionization chamber and EBT2 film shows a 4% difference in values between two curves. The protocol described in this paper is recommended for accurate dosimetry using EBT2 film.