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At least 289 records · Page 16

Sci—Fri AM: Mountain — 05: Unified Optimization and Delivery of Intensity-modulated Radiation Therapy and Volume-modulated Arc Therapy

Purpose: To study the feasibility of a unified intensity-modulated arc therapy (UIMAT) that combines IMRT and VMAT optimization and delivery in order to produce efficient and superior radiation treatment plans. Methods: Inverse planning for UIMAT was prototyped on the Pinnacle treatment planning system (Philips Medical Systems). UIMAT integrates IMRT and VMAT delivery in the same arc where IMRT was delivered with gantry speed close to zero. Optimal gantry angles for the IMRT phases were selected automatically by the inverse optimization algorithm. Optimization of the VMAT phases and IMRT phases were done simultaneously using Pinnacle's direct machine parameter optimization algorithm. Five treatment plans each for prostate, head and neck, and lung were generated using our unified technique and compared with clinical VMAT or IMRT plans. Delivery verification was performed on an ArcCheck phantom (Sun Nuclear) and delivered in clinical mode on a Varian TrueBeam linear accelerator. Results: In this prototype implementation, compared to the VMAT or IMRT plans, with the plans normalized to the same dose coverage to the planning target volumes, the UIMAT plans produced improved OAR sparing for head and neck cases, while for lung and prostate cases, the dosimetric improvements for OARs were not as significant. In this proof-of-concept work, we demonstrated that a novel radiation therapy delivery technique combining VMAT and IMRT delivery in the same arc is feasible. Initial results showed UIMAT has the potential to be superior to either standard IMRT or VMAT.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

TU-CD-304-02: Planning and Delivery of Fully Dynamic Trajectory Modulated Arc Therapy On Pituitary Adenoma: Dosimetric Advantages Over Conventional Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy

Purpose: To assess the potential benefit of trajectory modulated arc therapy (TMAT) for treatments of small benign intracranial tumor, pituitary adenoma. Methods: A TMAT planning platform that incorporates complex source motion trajectory involving synchronized gantry rotation with translational and rotational couch movement was used for the study. The platform couples an interactive trajectory generation tool with a VMAT algorithm that performs multi-resolution, progressive sampling MLC optimization on a user-designed trajectory. A continuous couch rotation of 160° angular span with ±20° mini gantry arcs was used to emulate a non-coplanar horizontal arc-like trajectory. Compared to conventional non-coplanar gantry arcs (60°-100° gantry rotation with couch kicks), TMAT limited the unnecessary low to medium dose spread in the anterior and posterior directions, where primary OARs (e.g., brainstem, optic chiasm, optic nerves, and lens) are in close proximity to the targeted pituitary tumor volume. For 5 standard fractionation pituitary adenoma cases (50.4Gy/28fractions), TMAT and non-coplanar VMAT plans were generated and compared under equivalent objectives/constraints. TMAT delivery was implemented and demonstrated on Varian TrueBeam via XML scripts. Results: Both techniques showed good target coverage while OARs were able to meet the constraints on QUANTEC guidelines. Notably, TMAT decreased the dose deposition in the anterior-to-posterior direction surrounding PTV. TMAT significantly reduced the mean doses on brainstem, optic nerves, eyes and lens by 47.29%±13.17%, 28.51%±8.68%, 80.82%±8.71% and 65.38%±19.99% compared with VMAT, all p≤0.01. Percentage reductions of maximum point dose in eyes and lens were 75.68%±10.30% and 70.72%±18.62% respectively for TMAT versus VMAT, all p≤0.01. A representative isocentric TMAT pituitary plan was delivered via an XML script with 200 control points and 282 MUs. Conclusion: Deliverable TMAT plans were achieved in developer mode in TrueBeam. TMAT was shown to be superior for pituitary adenoma irradiation in terms of OARs sparing.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

A Generic Biogeochemical Module for Earth System Models: Next Generation BioGeoChemical Module (NGBGC), Version 1.0

Physical and biogeochemical processes regulate soil carbon dynamics and CO2 flux to and from atmosphere, influencing global climate changes. Integration of these processes into earth system models (e.g., community land models (CLM)), however, currently faces three major challenges: 1) extensive efforts are required to modify modeling structures and to rewrite computer programs to incorporate new or updated processes as new knowledge is being generated, 2) computational cost is prohibitively expensive to simulate biogeochemical processes in land models due to large variations in the rates of biogeochemical processes, and 3) various mathematical representations of biogeochemical processes exist to incorporate different aspects of fundamental mechanisms, but systematic evaluation of the different mathematical representations is difficult, if not possible. To address these challenges, we propose a new computational framework to easily incorporate physical and biogeochemical processes into land models. The new framework consists of a new biogeochemical module with a generic algorithm and reaction database so that new and updated processes can be incorporated into land models without the need to manually set up the ordinary differential equations to be solved numerically. The reaction database consists of processes of nutrient flow through the terrestrial ecosystems in plants, litter and soil. This framework facilitates effective comparison studies of biogeochemical cycles in an ecosystem using different conceptual models under the same land modeling framework. The approach was first implemented in CLM and benchmarked against simulations from the original CLM-CN code. A case study was then provided to demonstrate the advantages of using the new approach to incorporate a phosphorus cycle into the CLM model. To our knowledge, the phosphorus-incorporated CLM is a new model that can be used to simulate phosphorus limitation on the productivity of terrestrial ecosystems.

Fang, Yilin↗

Impingement effect of service module reaction control system engine plumes. Results of service module reaction control system plume model force field application to an inflight Skylab mission proximity operation situation with the inflight Skylab response

Plume impingement effects of the service module reaction control system thruster firings were studied to determine if previous flight experience would support the current plume impingement model for the orbiter reaction control system engines. The orbiter reaction control system is used for rotational and translational maneuvers such as those required during rendezvous, braking, docking, and station keeping. Therefore, an understanding of the characteristics and effects of the plume force fields generated by the reaction control system thruster firings were examined to develop the procedures for orbiter/payload proximity operations.

Lobb, J. D., Jr.↗

The 25 kW power module evolution study. Part 3: Conceptual designs for power module evolution. Volume 2: Program plans

A plan is presented for the evolutionary development and deployment of the power module system with performance capabilities required to support the 1983 to 1990 user requirements. Aspects summarized include program functional, operational, and hardware elements; program work breakdown and specification items; development plans and schedules for developmental and technology milestones; test concepts and timeliness; and ground and orbit operations concepts.

Source record↗

The 25 kW power module evolution study. Part 3: Conceptual design for power module evolution. Volume 6: WBS and dictionary

Program elements of the power module (PM) system, are identified, structured, and defined according to the planned work breakdown structure. Efforts required to design, develop, manufacture, test, checkout, launch and operate a protoflight assembled 25 kW, 50 kW and 100 kW PM include the preparation and delivery of related software, government furnished equipment, space support equipment, ground support equipment, launch site verification software, orbital verification software, and all related data items.

Source record↗