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Dose Escalation, Not “New Biology,” Can Account for the Efficacy of Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy With Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer
No abstract prepared.
Dynamic Collimator Angle Adjustments During Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy to Account for Prostate Rotations
Purpose: Rotations of the prostate gland induce considerable geometric uncertainties in prostate cancer radiation therapy. Collimator and gantry angle adjustments can correct these rotations in intensity modulated radiation therapy. Modern volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) treatments, however, include a wide range of beam orientations that differ in modulation, and corrections require dynamic collimator rotations. The aim of this study was to implement a rotation correction strategy for VMAT dose delivery and validate it for left-right prostate rotations. Methods and Materials: Clinical VMAT treatment plans of 5 prostate cancer patients were used. Simulated left-right prostate rotations between +15° and −15° were corrected by collimator rotations. We compared corrected and uncorrected plans by dose volume histograms, minimum dose (D{sub min}) to the prostate, bladder surface receiving ≥78 Gy (S78) and rectum equivalent uniform dose (EUD; n=0.13). Each corrected plan was delivered to a phantom, and its deliverability was evaluated by γ-evaluation between planned and delivered dose, which was reconstructed from portal images acquired during delivery. Results: On average, clinical target volume minimum dose (D{sub min}) decreased up to 10% without corrections. Negative left-right rotations were corrected almost perfectly, whereas D{sub min} remained within 4% for positive rotations. Bladder S78 and rectum EUD of the corrected plans matched those of the original plans. The average pass rate for the corrected plans delivered to the phantom was 98.9% at 3% per 3 mm gamma criteria. The measured dose in the planning target volume approximated the original dose, rotated around the simulated left-right angle, well. Conclusions: It is feasible to dynamically adjust the collimator angle during VMAT treatment delivery to correct for prostate rotations. This technique can safely correct for left-right prostate rotations up to 15°.
A DGTD method for the numerical modeling of the interaction of light with nanometer scale metallic structures taking into account non-local dispersion effects
The interaction of light with metallic nanostructures is increasingly attracting interest because of numerous potential applications. Sub-wavelength metallic structures, when illuminated with a frequency close to the plasma frequency of the metal, present resonances that cause extreme local field enhancements. Exploiting the latter in applications of interest requires a detailed knowledge about the occurring fields which can actually not be obtained analytically. For the latter mentioned reason, numerical tools are thus an absolute necessity. The insight they provide is very often the only way to get a deep enough understanding of the very rich physics at play. For the numerical modeling of light-structure interaction on the nanoscale, the choice of an appropriate material model is a crucial point. Approaches that are adopted in a first instance are based on local (i.e. with no interaction between electrons) dispersive models, e.g. Drude or Drude–Lorentz models. From the mathematical point of view, when a time-domain modeling is considered, these models lead to an additional system of ordinary differential equations coupled to Maxwell's equations. However, recent experiments have shown that the repulsive interaction between electrons inside the metal makes the response of metals intrinsically non-local and that this effect cannot generally be overlooked. Technological achievements have enabled the consideration of metallic structures in a regime where such non-localities have a significant influence on the structures' optical response. This leads to an additional, in general non-linear, system of partial differential equations which is, when coupled to Maxwell's equations, significantly more difficult to treat. Nevertheless, dealing with a linearized non-local dispersion model already opens the route to numerous practical applications of plasmonics. In this work, we present a Discontinuous Galerkin Time-Domain (DGTD) method able to solve the system of Maxwell's equations coupled to a linearized non-local dispersion model relevant to plasmonics. While the method is presented in the general 3D case, numerical results are given for 2D simulation settings.
Seasonal microbial variation accounts for arsenic dynamics in shallow alluvial aquifer systems
Determining the temporal variation of microbial communities in groundwater systems is essential to improve our understanding of hydrochemical dynamics in aquifers, particularly as it relates to the fate of redox-sensitive contaminants like arsenic (As). Therefore, a high-resolution hydrobiogeochemical investigation was conducted in the As-affected alluvial aquifer systems of the Jianghan Plain. In two 25 m-deep monitoring wells, the seasonal variation in the composition of groundwater microbial communities was positively correlated with the change in groundwater level (R = 0.47 and 0.39 in NH03B and NH05B, respectively, P < 0.01), implying that the latter could be a primary driver of the seasonal microbial dynamics. In response to the fluctuating groundwater level, iron (Fe) reducers within the Desulfuromonadales were dominant (9.9 ± 4.7% among different sampling sites) in groundwater microbial communities during the monsoon season and associated with high concentrations of Fe(II) and As, while the predominance (16.7 ± 15.2% among different sampling sites) of iron-oxidizers the Gallionellaceae was accompanied by low Fe(II) and As in the non-monsoon season. Here, these results suggest that microbially-mediated iron reduction/oxidation may have governed the seasonal mobilization/scavenging of As in groundwater. Our results provide new insights into mechanisms responsible for seasonal variations in groundwater As concentrations in similar aquifer systems.
A short account of thermoelectric film characterization techniques
Thermoelectric films and periodic structures have particularly intriguing electrical and thermal transport features due to their low dimensionality. As a result, they have piqued the attention of researchers from across the spectrum of disciplines. Their applications span from cooling fast CPUs to providing energy for wearable devices. The progress in the techniques for synthesizing TE materials and fabricating thin films has facilitated the emergence of a flourishing research domain in the field of electrical and thermal transport at the nanoscale. Further, a significant proportion of contemporary electronic, opto-electronic, and solar energy components are composed of materials featuring numerous interfaces and nanoscale contacts. Consequently, it is imperative to explore the thermal energy transfer and charge carrier transport across the films with thickness dimensions in the nanometer range. The development of cutting-edge approaches for grasping complicated processes at the nanoscale is critical. This review provides a concise overview of the prevalent methodologies developed over the last two decades and employed for the characterization of the Seebeck coefficient and electrical and thermal conductivity of thermoelectric films.
A new model to account for track overlap in CR-39 data
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Survival analysis approach to account for non-exponential decay rate effects in lifetime experiments
Not Available
Method for accounting for macroscopic heterogeneities in reactor material balance generation in fuel cycle simulations
Not Available
Gamma-ray spectra of post-irradiated uranium salt for total mass accounting with sodium-22 tracer
Not provided.
Accounting for Sustainability and Performance: Contrasting Effects of PET-Derived Modifiers on Asphalt Durability
The valorization of waste plastics in roadway infrastructure requires careful balance between sustainability and performance, as ineffective modifiers may incur both environmental and financial costs. This study shows that two modifiers derived from the same waste plastic source (PET)-DOTP (N1,N4-(dioctyl)terephthalamide) and HETP (N1,N4-Bis(2-hydroxyethyl)terephthalamide)-exhibit opposite effects on asphalt properties, despite having nearly the same carbon footprint. DOTP improves elastic recovery in multiple creep recovery tests (MCRT), while HETP increases strain accumulation and reduces elasticity. Density functional theory (DFT) shows that DOTP's molecular structure can disperse well in bitumen mixtures by binding to both polar and non-polar components. In contrast, HETP binds only to the binder's polar sites, lacking adequate dispersion. This increases the risk of aggregation of polar compounds in the bitumen mixture, resulting in a more deformation-prone binder. A techno-economic analysis highlights trade-offs between sustainability and performance in industrial-scale synthesis. This study advocates for applying first-principles thinking in material design, coupled with experimental validation, to engineer plastic waste-derived additives that achieve both performance and sustainability goals.
Accounting for erroneous model structures in biokinetic process models
In engineering practice, model-based design requires not only a good process-based model, but also a good description of stochastic disturbances and measurement errors to learn credible parameter values from observations. However, typical methods use Gaussian error models, which often cannot describe the complex temporal patterns of residuals. Consequently, this results in overconfidence in the identified parameters and, in turn, optimistic reactor designs. Here, we assess the strengths and weaknesses of a method to statistically describe these patterns with autocorrelated error models. This method produces increased widths of the credible prediction intervals following the inclusion of the bias term, in turn leading to more conservative design choices. However, we also show that the augmented error model is not a universal tool, as its application cannot guarantee the desired reliability of the resulting wastewater reactor design.