Computer programs for calculation of liquid scintillation counting data

Internatmnal

Journal

of Apphed

Radratmn

and Isotopes,

1965, Vol

Computer

Programs

Liquid

Scintillation J. College of Medxme,

L.

16, pp

439-441

Pergamon

for

Press Ltd

Prmted

m Northern

Calculation

Counting

Ireland

of

Data*

SPRATTT

Umverslty

of Iowa,

Iowa City, Iowa

(Receaued 2 February 1965) Computer programs have been written m FORTRAN IV language to calculate dlsmtegratlons per mmute and quench corrections for hquld scmtlllatlon counting data They may be used for enher manually punched or automatically punched IBM cards Each program will accommodate an infinite number of countmg Jobs with up to 200 samples per Job LES PROGRAMMES DE COMPUTEUR POUR DONNEES DE COMPTAGE A SCINTILLATION

LE

CALCUL DES EN LIQUIDE

On a prepare des programmes de computeur dans la symbohzatlon FORTRAN IV afin de calculer les desmtegratlons par mmute et les corrtctlons d’extmctlon pour les don&es de comptage B scmtlllatlon en hqulde On peut s’en servn pour les cartes IBM percCes solt a la mam solt automatlquement Chaque programme peut accommoder un nombre mfim de taches de comptage comprenant Jusqu’B 200 echantlllons par t&he IIPOFPA?IIMLI npO1

paMML1

&WI ;IAIlIILIS A IR

BLI9I/ICJIklTE~LIIbIS CYETA XII~HMP?I

BbI’lEIC.lMTC7bIIOii

MBIIIHHbI

~IAlIlIIH IlPII OIIPEjY@JIEIlMB C~lIIITI&TIJIXITOPO~l FLIJIII

HaIlIiCaHbI

Ha

R3bIKe

FORTRAN

$TH

DL~wcuemm

K0:119qec~11apdcnazeIIIrliB hl1121y~y51nonpauoK Iia 3aTyxaIsIie Z-ICIgamblx c9eTa PhlI~KI/WC~IIHTI~~Jl,JTOpOM. OHII MOI'yT 6bWL yIIOT~e6'IHeMLIliaK~~cII~a~T~e~~O~I~~OB~HHLIx IqW'lHyIO TaK II XIR a~TOMaTI~WCKII ~ep~~OpilpOl~aIIlILIIx IBM KapT KarKJJaFIIIpOI'paMMa NOmeT BMeCTIITb 6echolrewIoe 'IIJC'IO ~'IeTHbIxpa6OT,~pIi6~?H~HTe ILK0 c 200 BLI60pKanIH H3. IGiii~yIO pa6oTy

RECHENMASCHINENPROGRAMM FLUSSIGKEITSSZINTILLATION

ZUR

FESTELLUNG ZAHLRATEN

VON

Zur Berechnung dcr mmuthchen Umwandlungen und der Loschkorrekturenfur Flusslgkeltss zmtlllatlonzahlraten smd hiaschmenproglamme m der FORTRAN I\’ Sprache geschrleben wordcn SW konnen entwrder mlt automatlsch odrr mlt der Hand gelochten IBM Karten benutzt werden Jedes Programm kann eme unendhchc Zahl von Zahlaufgaben aufnehmen mlt bls zu 200 Proben per .\ufgabe INTRODUCTION

dally handling of hcpud scmtrllatron counting data can be rather time consummg, especially when the degree of quenchmg 1s quote varrable among samples To mimmrLe this problem and to avord errors, computer programs have been wrrtten to automatrcally THE

* Supported by U S Public Health Servme Research Grants GhI-09784 and NB-04925 t Research Career Development Awardee of U S Pubhc Health Service (GM-K3-5271) Markle Scholar m Academic Medlcme

calculate drsmtegratrons per mmute and to make quench correctrons$. The programs are written in FORTRAN I\’ language for IBM systems Each will handle an unhmrted amount of data and either automatrcally or manually punched data cards can be used A program written for use with punched paper tapes on Burroughs’ computer systems has already been described by BLANCHARD~~). $ Copies arrangement

439

of these programs with the author

can be obtamed

by

440

.I L Si,ratt

That program and the ones described herem differ m their manner of handling the data hut each emphasl7es the advantages of utlh7mg computers for such repetltlve tasks The concepts are of course applicable to a variety of dlgmal output radiation detection devices Then use m hqmd scmtlllatlon spectrometry should pi eve even more useful since the advent of external standar dlLatlon techmque\ In addltlon, shght alteration of such programs will allow fog output of any fashion desired Fol example, additional mput mformatlon can be used to obtam output m terms of concentr dtion, specific activity, etc The programs can also be “edited” m such a fashion that the computer will reject certain data An example of “edltmg” 1s one of our modlfied countmg programs which will only accept numeric mformatlon and will reject alphabetic mformatlon-which might be erroneously punched for numeric mformatlon METHODS The programs are assembled to accept an unlimited number of countmg ‘(Jobs” with each lob accommodatmg up to 200 samples The first card m eachlob 1s both a title card and a “control” card The “control” card mformatlon mcludes the background rate for the various count channels (1 e based on a known background rather than the dally count), the dlsmtegratlons per minute of sealed isotope standards, and whether or not the samples are If the samples are not to be quench-corrected to be quench-corrected, the total time and If total counts m each channel are computed the total counts m the pertment channel are not to a 95 percent accuracy for a given sample ( 1 e 1500 counts)(s), the sample 1s considered to have no radloactlvlty If the count total 1s greater than 1500, the dlsmtegratlons pel The mmute 1s calculated for the sample efficiencies used for these calculations are based on the computed efficlencles for the respective scaled samples counted during each run The program bemg used for automatic output on IBM cards from a S-channel spectrometer (Model 33 14, Packard Instruments, I,aGrange, Illinolr) IS presently set up to count tritium m one charmel and carbon 111 another channel The simple de\ ice of lea\ mg either one or two

open receptacles m the counter cham “mfol ms” the compute1 whether the next group of samples Any other comare either trltmm or carbon bmatlon of isotopes could be counted 111 thr same fashion by replacmg the sealed standard\ The thud channel 15 with other isotopes presently bemg reserved for the mcorpol atlon of external standardl/atlon mto the program The mput data for the automdtlc progtnm have been arbltrarlly e\tabll\hed as follows on an 80 column IBiLl card for each sequentId count of each sample The sample number 15 entered m cald columns 1 through > Time m hundredths of minutes 1s entered m columns 8 through 13 The count data ft om each 01 the three channels 1s asslgned to columns 16 through 2 1, 24 through 29 and 32 through 37 A second program 1s also available for manually punched cards when an automatic card output IS not available on the spectrometer The operations of this manual program ‘ue quite slmllar to that of the automatic program except that punchmg 1s mmlmlrcd by punchmg pertinent data on only one card per sample If a particular data deck 1s from first counts, an output card IS punched for each slgrnficant sample m addition to the printed page output \Yhen these latter samples have for all samples been counted a second time with internal standards added, the data from the second counts are put through the computer a second time with the appropriate deck of “fitst count” answer cards followmg The program will calculate these second counts as befor c, mcludm~ any number of known “spike” sampler followmg the quenched samples The program will then calculate the mean value of the “spike” and quench-correct all samples, plopcrly matching each sample’s first and second counts RESULTS Sample outputs of the automatm program are shown m Figs 1 and 2 For convemence of the counter was set for a preset illustration, time, although any preset count can also be used In each case, three countmg cycles were perAlthough the mput cards are arranged folmed m countmg sequence, they dlc prlnted out together fo1 each sample for convemence of Sample 1 I\ always a backmspectmg the data aground sample, sample 2 is alway d sedlcd

11ltlum standal d and sample 3 1s always a sealed c-drbon standard 11s shown, data of all the mput cards ale plmted, followed by the sums for each sample This mformatlon 1s for mspectlon purposes only and can be disposed M’hen the answers are pl mted, they always start on a new page. begmmng with the title mformatlon from the fil st card of the group (1 e Sa~zjple Data Dwk m the examples) In addltlon, this title mformatlon 15 printed on each successlvc page so that the mlormatlon is immediately ready for storage m a notebook ablthout confusmg yamplec of one 1un with those of another run DISCUSSION The program5 described herem are presently being used routmely on an IBhl 7044 system and greatly faclhtate data handhng Although the automatic program can be used to count mixed samples durmg the first counts, this 1s usually avoided since this cannot be done for the second counts and quench corrections Since the program will accept an mfimte number of calculating “Jobs”, this has not been a problem The different Isotope “Jobs” can stdl be computed at the same time This “stacking of Jobs” reduces the co51 1~ datum and therefore group use of the program can bc beneficial to all Actual computer cost rstlmntes will depend on the number of Jobs and the samples per Job The total computer time for all computations m Figs 1 and 2 when

run at one time with an obJect deck was 25 set This was a total of 120 samples (mcludmg Comstandards) plus 53 quench corrections puter cost for the run (not mcludlng card punching) was $1 25 The cost per datum decreases with increased samples and increased “stacking ofjobs ” Individual mvestlgators may have I eason to modify the programs and this could readily be For example, m addition to the printed done output, the final quenched data could be obtamed on punched cards for statistical c\ aluatlon Changes m the prmted f&mat at a later time could also be inserted For example, although the 7044 compute1 system calculates to eight significant digits, the SUMTIME printed output has been truncated to whole numbers onl) Smce the programs are wrltten in FoRTRAN I\‘, it might also be noted that a Larlety ot computer systems should be able to implement these programs This would be dependent on I oRrRAN compatlblhty, a feature which 1~ trur of many majo’ computer systems .~lcX-~~o~~le~l~mc~~t~The author acknowledge5 the cooperation of the Umverslth of Iowa Computrl Crnter m the development of these program5

REFERENCES

:! JARRETT .i InformatIon i 1946)

.\ L\ECU-262, iLlon P-126, ‘l’echmcal Dlvlslon, ORE, Oak Ridge, Tenn