• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.75-82
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• 2007

This paper addresses a method for shape optimization of a continuous elastic body considering stability, i.e., buckling behavior. The sensitivity formula for critical load is analytically derived and expressed in terms of shape variation, based on the continuum formulation of the stability problem. Unlike the conventional finite difference method (FDM), this method is efficient in that only a couple of analyses are required regardless of the number of design parameters. Commercial software such as ANSYS can be employed since the method requires only the result of the analysis in computation of the sensitivity. Though the buckling problem is more efficiently solved by structural elements such as a beam and shell, elastic solids have been chosen for the buckling analysis because solid elements can generally be used for any kind of structure whether it is thick or thin. Sensitivity is then computed by using the mathematical package MATLAB with the initial stress and buckling analysis of ANSYS. Several problems we chosen in order to illustrate the efficiency of the presented method. They are applied to the shape optimization problems to minimize weight under allowed critical loads and to maximize critical loads under same volume.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.53-58
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• 2013

Purpose: To optimize correction method for SPECT/CT, image quality consisting of resolution and contrast was evaluated using three radioisotopes ($^{99m}Tc$, $^{201}Tl$ and $^{131}I$) and three different correction methods; attenuation correction (AC), scatter correction (SC) and both attenuation and scatter correction (ACSC). Materials and Methods: Images were acquired with a SPECT/CT scanner and a conventional CT protocol with an OESM reconstruction algorithm (2 iterations and 10 subsets). For resolution measurement, fixed radioactivity (2.22 kBq) was infused into a spatial resolution phantom and full width at half maximum (FWHM) was measured using a vendor-provided software. For contrast evaluation, radioactive source with a ratio of 1:8 to background was filled in a Flanged Jaszczak phantom and percent contrast (%) were calculated. All the parameters for image quality were compared with non-correction (NC) method. Results: As compared with NC, image resolution of all three isotopes were significantly improved by AC and ACSC, not by SC. In particular, ACSC showed better resolution than AC alone for $^{99m}Tc$ and $^{201}Tl$. Image contrast of all three radioisotopes in a sphere with the largest diameter were enhanced by all correction methods. ACSC showed the highest contrast in all three radioisotopes, which was the most accurate in $^{99m}Tc$ (85.9%). Conclusion: Image quality of SPECT/CT was improved in all the radioisotopes by CT-based attenuation correction methods, except SC alone. SC failed to improve resolution in any radioisotopes, but it was effective in contrast enhancement. ACSC would be the best correction method as it improved resolution in radioisotopes with low energy levels and contrast in radioisotope with low energy levels. However, in radioisotope with high energy level, AC would be better than ACSC for resolution improvement.