Os aceleradores lineares vêm substituindo gradativamente os irradiadores de fontes gama nos Serviços de Radioterapia no Brasil. Consequentemente, existe a necessidade de aquisição de câmaras de ionização para uso em dosimetria dos feixes de radiação X e de elétrons dos aceleradores lineares. Entretanto, as câmaras de ionização comerciais para radioterapia apresentam alto custo e todas são importadas. Este trabalho teve como objetivo principal projetar, construir e caracterizar câmaras de ionização de placas paralelas em dosimetria de feixes de elétrons de aceleradores clínicos. Foram desenvolvidas cinco câmaras de ionização utilizando-se acrílico como material principal e tintas de grafite e de prata para a confecção dos eletrodos coletores. Uma das câmaras de ionização é a prova dágua. Todas as câmaras de ionização foram submetidas a feixes de radiação no Laboratório de Calibração de Instrumentos do IPEN e em três Serviços de Radioterapia na cidade de São Paulo onde foram realizados testes, como: tempo de estabilização, repetibilidade da resposta, estabilidade a médio prazo, corrente de fuga, corrente de saturação, eficiência de coleção de íons, linearidade de resposta, variação da resposta com a distância fonte-detector, efeito de polaridade, efeito cabo, simetria das câmaras de ionização, dependência angular. Além disso, as cinco câmaras de ionização foram calibradas em feixes padronizados de radiação gama, para aplicação em aceleradores clínicos de radioterapia. Os resultados foram satisfatórios para todos os testes realizados, mesmo para o efeito de polaridade no qual o resultado não foi menor que 1%; está de acordo com as câmaras comerciais reportadas na literatura. Assim, as câmaras de ionização desenvolvidas neste trabalho representam a possibilidade de uso em dosimetria de feixes de elétrons de aceleradores lineares em Serviços de Radioterapia. / Linear accelerators are gradually replacing the gamma radiation sources in the Brazilian Radiotherapy Services. Consequently, there is a need for the acquisition of ionization chambers for dosimetry of X-ray and electron beams of linear accelerators. However, the commercial radiotherapy ionization chambers are expensive and they all are imported. The objectives of this work were to design, build and characterize parallel plates ionization chambers to be used in electron beam dosimetry of clinical accelerators. Five ionization chambers were developed using acrylic as main material, and their collecting electrodes were made using graphite and silver paint. One of the ionization chambers is waterproof. All the ionization chambers were tested in the radiation beams of the Calibration Laboratory of Instruments of IPEN, and they were also tested in three Radiotherapy Services of the São Paulo city. The testes performed were: stabilization time, short-term and mediu-term stability tests, leakage current, saturation curve, ion collection efficiency, linearity curve, response in relation to the distance variation, polarity effect, cable effect, symmetry test and angular dependence test. Furthermore, the ionization chambers were calibrated in gamma radiation standard beams, for application in the radiotherapy clinical accelerators. The results of the ionization chambers were satisfactory for all the tests applied, even for the polarity effect test where the response was higher than 1%; this result agrees with the results of commercial ionization chambers reported in literature. The developed ionization chambers in this work show the possibility of their application in dosimetry of electron beams of linear accelerators of Radiotherapy Services.

Quando uma partícula carregada em movimento uniforme cruza a superfície entre dois meios de propriedades eletromagnéticas diferentes, ela emite a chamada Radiação de Transição (RT). Esta radiação tem espectro amplo, com emissão inclusive no intervalo de radiação visível. Esse processo de produção de radiação tem sido muito empregado em sistemas de monitoramento de feixes em aceleradores de partículas, por ser um processo que responde linearmente à carga que cruza a superfície e por permitir o monitoramento de diversos parâmetros do feixe em um único ponto de observação. Neste trabalho é apresentado o desenvolvimento de um sistema de monitoramento baseado em RT no intervalo óptico para operar em baixas energias de feixe de elétrons (próximas de 2 MeV) e realizar o diagnóstico de parâmetros importantes do feixe na entrada do primeiro estágio de aceleração do Mícrotron do IFUSP. / Transition Radiation (TR) is emitted when a charged particle moving with constant velocity, crosses the boundary between two media with different electromagnetic properties. This radiation is emitted in an wide spectral range, including the optical interval. This physical process has been used in beam diagnostic devices in particle accelerators due to its linear response to the charge that crosses the boundary and also because it allows the measurement of several beam parameters in a single observation point. In this work, we present the design of a device based on TR in the optical range to operate with low energy beams (about 2 MeV). The device enables the determination of the transverse phase space and of the fractional momentum deviation of the beam at the end of the linac, allowing the determination of important beam parameters at the entrance to the Microtron Booster.

Common methods for commissioning linear accelerators often neglect beam data for small fields. Examining the methods of beam data collection and modeling for commissioning linear accelerators revealed little to no discussion of the protocols for fields smaller than 4 cm x 4 cm. This leads to decreased confidence levels in the dose calculations and associated monitor units (MUs) for Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT). The parameters of commissioning the Novalis linear accelerator (linac) on the Eclipse Treatment Planning System (TPS) led to the study of challenges collecting data for very small fields. The focus of this thesis is the examination of the protocols for output factor collection and their impact on dose calculations by the TPS for IMRT treatment plans. Improving output factor collection methods, led to significant improvement in absolute dose calculations which correlated with the complexity of the plans. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2014. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Os aceleradores lineares vêm substituindo gradativamente os irradiadores de fontes gama nos Serviços de Radioterapia no Brasil. Consequentemente, existe a necessidade de aquisição de câmaras de ionização para uso em dosimetria dos feixes de radiação X e de elétrons dos aceleradores lineares. Entretanto, as câmaras de ionização comerciais para radioterapia apresentam alto custo e todas são importadas. Este trabalho teve como objetivo principal projetar, construir e caracterizar câmaras de ionização de placas paralelas em dosimetria de feixes de elétrons de aceleradores clínicos. Foram desenvolvidas cinco câmaras de ionização utilizando-se acrílico como material principal e tintas de grafite e de prata para a confecção dos eletrodos coletores. Uma das câmaras de ionização é a prova dágua. Todas as câmaras de ionização foram submetidas a feixes de radiação no Laboratório de Calibração de Instrumentos do IPEN e em três Serviços de Radioterapia na cidade de São Paulo onde foram realizados testes, como: tempo de estabilização, repetibilidade da resposta, estabilidade a médio prazo, corrente de fuga, corrente de saturação, eficiência de coleção de íons, linearidade de resposta, variação da resposta com a distância fonte-detector, efeito de polaridade, efeito cabo, simetria das câmaras de ionização, dependência angular. Além disso, as cinco câmaras de ionização foram calibradas em feixes padronizados de radiação gama, para aplicação em aceleradores clínicos de radioterapia. Os resultados foram satisfatórios para todos os testes realizados, mesmo para o efeito de polaridade no qual o resultado não foi menor que 1%; está de acordo com as câmaras comerciais reportadas na literatura. Assim, as câmaras de ionização desenvolvidas neste trabalho representam a possibilidade de uso em dosimetria de feixes de elétrons de aceleradores lineares em Serviços de Radioterapia. / Linear accelerators are gradually replacing the gamma radiation sources in the Brazilian Radiotherapy Services. Consequently, there is a need for the acquisition of ionization chambers for dosimetry of X-ray and electron beams of linear accelerators. However, the commercial radiotherapy ionization chambers are expensive and they all are imported. The objectives of this work were to design, build and characterize parallel plates ionization chambers to be used in electron beam dosimetry of clinical accelerators. Five ionization chambers were developed using acrylic as main material, and their collecting electrodes were made using graphite and silver paint. One of the ionization chambers is waterproof. All the ionization chambers were tested in the radiation beams of the Calibration Laboratory of Instruments of IPEN, and they were also tested in three Radiotherapy Services of the São Paulo city. The testes performed were: stabilization time, short-term and mediu-term stability tests, leakage current, saturation curve, ion collection efficiency, linearity curve, response in relation to the distance variation, polarity effect, cable effect, symmetry test and angular dependence test. Furthermore, the ionization chambers were calibrated in gamma radiation standard beams, for application in the radiotherapy clinical accelerators. The results of the ionization chambers were satisfactory for all the tests applied, even for the polarity effect test where the response was higher than 1%; this result agrees with the results of commercial ionization chambers reported in literature. The developed ionization chambers in this work show the possibility of their application in dosimetry of electron beams of linear accelerators of Radiotherapy Services.

A presente dissertação estuda a dinâmica uni e tridimensional de uma part cula solitária eletricamente carregada sob a ação de uma onda eletrostática de alta frequência lentamente modulada. A onda dota a partícula de energia potencial elétrica e o seu movimento e conhecido através do emprego do formalismo hamiltoniano, onde se faz a consideração de efeitos relativísticos devido as altas velocidades envolvidas no processo. Enquanto a velocidade máxima experimentada pela partícula permanece suficientemente abaixo da velocidade de fase característica da onda que a acelera, sua dinâmica pode ser bem descrita por uma re nada aproximação ponderomotriz. Com esta abordagem, prevê-se corretamente a velocidade média, máxima e m nima desenvolvida pela partícula ao longo de seu movimento através das curvas que permeiam e envelopam o per l de velocidade. Os limites de validade da aproximação são bem estabelecidos e, uma vez ultrapassados, a partícula com velocidade ressonante e capturada pela onda. Sob as adequadas condições calculadas neste trabalho, o mecanismo de captura instala, espontaneamente, a partícula em fase otima relativa a onda e a acelera a velocidades muito próximas da velocidade da luz no vácuo. Em consonância, o processo de aceleração e otimizado com a focagem da partícula em direção ao eixo de propagação da onda durante um certo intervalo de tempo e de comprimento aproveitáveis. / The present dissertation studies the one and three-dimensional dynamics of an electrically charged solitary particle under the action of a slowly modulated high frequency electrostatic carrier wave. The wave gives the particle electrical potential energy and its movement is known through the use of Hamiltonian formalism, where relativistic e ects are considered due to the high velocities involved in the process. Meanwhile the maximum speed experienced by the particle remains su ciently below the characteristic phase velocity of the accelerating carrier wave, its dynamics can be well described by a re ned ponderomotive approach. With this approach, the average, maximum and minimum speed developed by the particle along its movement through the curves that permeate and envelop the velocity pro le. The limits of validity of the approximation are well established and, once exceeded, the particle with resonant velocity is captured by the wave. Under the appropriate conditions calculated in this work, the capture mechanism spontaneously installs the optimum phase particle relative to the wave and accelerates towards the speed of light in the vacuum. At same time, the acceleration process is optimized by focusing the particle towards the wave propagation axis for a certain usable time interval and length.

abstract: Hardware implementation of deep neural networks is earning significant importance nowadays. Deep neural networks are mathematical models that use learning algorithms inspired by the brain. Numerous deep learning algorithms such as multi-layer perceptrons (MLP) have demonstrated human-level recognition accuracy in image and speech classification tasks. Multiple layers of processing elements called neurons with several connections between them called synapses are used to build these networks. Hence, it involves operations that exhibit a high level of parallelism making it computationally and memory intensive. Constrained by computing resources and memory, most of the applications require a neural network which utilizes less energy. Energy efficient implementation of these computationally intense algorithms on neuromorphic hardware demands a lot of architectural optimizations. One of these optimizations would be the reduction in the network size using compression and several studies investigated compression by introducing element-wise or row-/column-/block-wise sparsity via pruning and regularization. Additionally, numerous recent works have concentrated on reducing the precision of activations and weights with some reducing to a single bit. However, combining various sparsity structures with binarized or very-low-precision (2-3 bit) neural networks have not been comprehensively explored. Output activations in these deep neural network algorithms are habitually non-binary making it difficult to exploit sparsity. On the other hand, biologically realistic models like spiking neural networks (SNN) closely mimic the operations in biological nervous systems and explore new avenues for brain-like cognitive computing. These networks deal with binary spikes, and they can exploit the input-dependent sparsity or redundancy to dynamically scale the amount of computation in turn leading to energy-efficient hardware implementation. This work discusses configurable spiking neuromorphic architecture that supports multiple hidden layers exploiting hardware reuse. It also presents design techniques for minimum-area/-energy DNN hardware with minimal degradation in accuracy. Area, performance and energy results of these DNN and SNN hardware is reported for the MNIST dataset. The Neuromorphic hardware designed for SNN algorithm in 28nm CMOS demonstrates high classification accuracy (>98% on MNIST) and low energy (51.4 - 773 (nJ) per classification). The optimized DNN hardware designed in 40nm CMOS that combines 8X structured compression and 3-bit weight precision showed 98.4% accuracy at 33 (nJ) per classification. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Electrical Engineering 2018

Neste trabalho apresentamos o projeto do microtron principal do IFUSP. Inicialmente são apresentados os fundamentos teóricos relativos à estabilidade do feixe em um microtron, bem como discussões sobre a ótica do feixe. No trabalho são feitas basicamente 3 tipos de simulações distintas: simulação da dinâmica longitudinal e transversal da etapa síncrona, simulação da dinâmica transversal das linhas de transferência (inserção e extração) e a simulação relativa à otimização do projeto dos eletroímãs principais. As simulações longitudinais mostraram que é possível reduzir a energia de entrada do microtron principal de 4,9 para 2,5 MeV, o que permitira a eliminação do primeiro estágio síncrono (microtron booster). A energia final do microtron principal passa a ser 38 MeV. Foram realizados os projetos de duas linhas de inserção no principal para essas as duas energias (2,5 e 4,9 MeV) e foi feita uma análise comparativa desses dois projetos. O projeto da linha de extração também foi analisado levando em consideração duas energias de extração (5,8 e 38 MeV) para se mostrar a viabilidade dessa etapa. / In this work we present the design of the IFUSP main microtron. Initially, the theoretical foundations for the beam stability in the microton are presented as well as the beam optics is discussed. Three different kinds of simulations were done: Longitudinal and transversal beam dynamics in the synchronous part of the machine, transversal beam dynamics concerning the transfer lines and simulations related to the design of the main magnets. The longitudinal simulations sugested that it is possible to reduce the initial energy of the main microtron from 4.9 to 2.5 MeV, this would permit the elimination of the first synchronous stage (booster microtron). The final energy of the main microtron will be 38 MeV. The design of two insertion lines in the main microtron for the two different energies (2.5 and 4.9 MeV) was done and a comparative analysis between these two designes is presented. The design of the extraction line also takes into account two different extraction energies (5.8 and 38 MeV) in order to show de viability of this part.

Neste trabalho apresentamos o projeto, construção e testes de eletroímãs dipolares usados na linha de transporte do feixe do Microtron do IFUSP. Inicialmente são feitos estudos da contribuição do campo de borda dos eletroímãs na curvatura total do feixe e posteriormente esses valores foram usados para a definição de parâmetros de projeto. Foram construídos e caracterizados dois dipolos (30 e 45o) e ainda um eletroímã seletor (+/- 90o) com simetria azimutal. Os resultados obtidos nos testes realizados com os dipolos mostraram um desempenho adequado à operação do acelerador. Também é descrito um método para a simulação da trajetória de elétrons na presença de um campo magnético. / In this work we present the design, construction and testing of dipole magnets used on the beam line of IFUSP-Microtron. Initially we studied the fringe field of the magnets on the total beam bending, these values had been used for the definition of design parameters. It has been constructed two dipoles (30 and 45o) as well as a switch magnet (+/- 90o) with azimuthal symmetry. The tests results of the dipoles had shown an adequate performance to the accelerators operation. A method for the simulation of the electron path in the presence of a magnetic field is also described.

This thesis contains both physics analysis and hardware studies. It consists of two primary sections: the results of a search for heavy Majorana mass neutrinos, using the event signature of same (like) sign charged electron pairs ($e^{\pm} e^{\pm}$ ) and two jets, and the results of studies to upgrade the Hadronic Forward (HF) and Hadronic Endcap (HE) subdetectors in the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) detector in response to the high intensity proton-proton collisions generated at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN, Conseil Europ\'{e}en pour la Recherche Nucl\'{e}aire). In this search for Majorana mass neutrinos, same sign dielectron ($e^{\pm} e^{\pm}$) + dijet events in the final state have been considered as a signature for neutrino particles. The analyzed data corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 fb\textsuperscript{-1} of proton-proton collisions at a center of mass energy of \begin{math}\sqrt{s} = 8\ TeV \end{math}, collected using the CMS detector during the 2012 operation at the LHC. Monte Carlo simulations accounting for the theoretical expectations of the Standard Model (SM) and the detector limitations are used to prototype the experiment and to test proposed analysis steps. No excess of events is observed in the data beyond the expected SM background. Upper limits are set on the mixing element squared, $|{V}_{eN}|^{2}$, of the heavy Majorana neutrino with standard model neutrinos, as a function of Majorana neutrino mass for masses in the range of 40-500 $GeV/c^2$. The detector upgrade search comprises three sections of this thesis. The first section describes the test results of 1785 multianode Hamamatsu R7600U-200-M4 photomultiplier tubes (PMT) in numerous parameters such as gain, dark current, and timing characteristics, which provide insights on the expected performance of the upgraded CMS-HF detector. These PMTs replaced the previous single anode R7525 PMTs because the glass windows of previous PMTs are the source of Cherenkov radiation, which causes a background noise in the experiment. The second section reports characterization results of two types of PMTs in a novel operation mode for Secondary Emission (SE) Ionization Calorimetry, which is a novel technique to measure electromagnetic shower particles in extreme radiation environments. The third section presents the test results of novel scintillating materials for CMS experiment in specific and future particle accelerators in general. These materials are Polyethylene Naphthalate (PEN), Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET), high efficiency mirror (HEM) and quartz plates with various organic and inorganic coating materials such as p-Terphenyl (pTp), Anthracene and Gallium-doped Zinc Oxide (ZnO:Ga). We have investigated them for radiation hardness, light yield, timing characteristics, and scintillation and transmission properties.

Field programmable grid arrays (FPGA) are increasingly being adopted as the primary on-board computing system for autonomous deep space vehicles. There is a need to support several complex applications for navigation and image processing in a rapidly responsive on-board FPGA-based computer. This requires exploring and combining several design concepts such as systolic arrays, hardware-software partitioning, and partial dynamic reconfiguration. A microprocessor/co-processor design that can accelerate two single precision oating-point algorithms, extended Kalman lter and a discrete wavelet transform, is presented. This research makes three key contributions. (i) A polymorphic systolic array framework comprising of recofigurable partial region-based sockets to accelerate algorithms amenable to being mapped onto linear systolic arrays. When implemented on a low end Xilinx Virtex4 SX35 FPGA the design provides a speedup of at least 4.18x and 6.61x over a state of the art microprocessor used in spacecraft systems for the extended Kalman lter and discrete wavelet transform algorithms, respectively. (ii) Switchboxes to enable communication between static and partial reconfigurable regions and a simple protocol to enable schedule changes when a socket's contents are dynamically reconfigured to alter the concurrency of the participating systolic arrays. (iii) A hybrid partial dynamic reconfiguration method that combines Xilinx early access partial reconfiguration, on-chip bitstream decompression, and bitstream relocation to enable fast scaling of systolic arrays on the PolySAF. This technique provided a 2.7x improvement in reconfiguration time compared to an o-chip partial reconfiguration technique that used a Flash card on the FPGA board, and a 44% improvement in BRAM usage compared to not using compression.