Applied Physics

Prospects for building a practical quantum computer are as unpredictable as quantum mechanics itself. However, physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have demonstrated sustained, reliable information processing operations on electrically charged atoms (ions). The work, described in Science Express, overcomes hurdles in scaling up ion-trapping technology from small demonstrations to larger quantum processors. In the new demonstration, NIST researchers repeatedly performed a combined sequence of five quantum logic operations and ten transport operations while…

    Proton Therapy (PT) is a high-quality radiation therapy and initially used to treat  human patients in Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. For about 50 years of its use in treating cancer, it has been reported to have an excellent clinical result especially in prostate cancer (Smith, 2006). The precise dose deposition to the tumor volume prescribed in a cancer patient (Kim, 2006) improved local control and a disease-free survival (Smith, 2006). What other scientists say Weber et al (2004) concluded that spot-scanning PT is an effective treatment for patient with untreated,…

Recently, there has been an outburst of data from Virtual Telescopes made by linking a number of radio telescopes to create continent wide virtual dishes. While the technique offers astronomers enough details to pin point black holes and research gamma ray bursts from exotic blazers, it also holds applications for space exploration. Virtual telescoping techniques, if appropriately modified, can be adapted for mass communication between interplanetary bases. The former Administrator of NASA, Mike Griffin, purported that the agency -- with successful validation of the Constellation Program,…

    Wilkinson, DA (2006). High dose rate (HDR) brachytherapy quality assurance: a practical guide. Biomedical Imaging and Interventional Journal, pages 1-7.     The purpose of the study is to assist someone who is establishing a new quality assurance program or revising one already in place into adhere to the recently issued Nuclear Regulatory Commision (NRC) regulations and the guidelines from the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM). In my opinion this paper is one of the important reading material for all the medical physicists worldwide…

Sample Radiation Protection and Safety/ALARA Program based on Philippine Perspective Management CommitmentStatement from the management. I. Organization and ResponsibilitiesChairVice-ChairBoard members Personnel     Authorized user     Radiation protection officer     Supervisor     Medical physicist     Radiation therapist     Moulding technologist     Radiation oncology nurse Duties and Responsibilities A. Radiation Protection Committee/Medical…

Positron Emission Tomography (PET) was invented at the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology at Washington University in the mid 1970s and was used as a research tool in neurology, cardiology, and oncology (1). It has been developed as a tool for imaging and quantification of cellular and molecular processes in vivo and made an important role in staging diseases and monitoring response to treatment (2). In comparison to anatomic imaging modalities, PET produces images of biochemical and physiologic processes in tissues that help distinguishing benign and malignant lesions when CT and MRI cannot…

    Liu, L., Prasad, S., Bassano, J.H., Keshler, B., Hahn, S. (2004). A dwell position verification method for high dose rate brachytherapy. Journal of Applied Clinical Medical Physics, Volume 5, Number 1, pages 1-5.     The purpose of the study is to verify the dwell position of the radioactive source during high dose rate (HDR) brachytherapy treatments. The authors presented two methods of dwell position verification using fluoroscopic images. The methods are done in a test phantom and in an interstitial implant. Both methods used a mobile C-arm fluoroscopic…

Many geeks adhere to Stiff Paper Theory (SPT), holding that frogs made of expensive company letterhead will jump higher than those made of flimsy copy paper. However, while SPT adds giddy-up to any origami amphibian, it also adds weight. The trick is to find a paper that offers the happy combination of high spring at low weight. In this regard, linen papers tend to under perform; so too do cardboard mailers, as they lead to bulky, bullfrog-esque hoppers. Like the Mongols conquering much of the known world with their invention of the compound bow (horn and sinew grafted into the wooden grip…

Plancks Law is a well-established physical law describes the transfer of heat between two objects. Some physicists have predicted that the law should break down when the objects are very close together but scientists had never been able to confirm, or measure, this breakdown in practice. MIT researchers say they have now done it but that the heat transfer can be 1,000 times greater than the law predicts.  The new findings could lead to better design of recording heads of the hard disks used for computer data storage,and new kinds of devices for harvesting energy from heat that would…

Professor Wei Sha from Queen’s University Belfast’s School of Planning, Architecture and Civil Engineering is concerned with the combat safety of vehicles that use titanium alloys. Obviously the best way to remain safe is to actually not be at war but since bullets are flying and  terrorists are blowing themselves up, he has examined the damage tolerance of the popular material titanium.   The UK military based in Afghanistan currently use land rovers which have titanium alloys.   It is the first research of its kind to reveal the reasons behind the deformation and damage of…