To predict the incidence of moderate-to-severe patient-reported xerostomia among head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) and nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients treated with intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT). Multivariable normal tissue complication probability (NTCP) models were developed by using quality of life questionnaire datasets from 152 patients with HNSCC and 84 patients with NPC. The primary endpoint was defined as moderate-to-severe xerostomia after IMRT. The numbers of predictive factors for a multivariable logistic regression model were determined using the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) with bootstrapping technique. Four predictive models were achieved by LASSO with the smallest number of factors while preserving predictive value with higher AUC performance. For all models, the dosimetric factors for the mean dose given to the contralateral and ipsilateral parotid gland were selected as the most significant predictors. Followed by the different clinical and socio-economic factors being selected, namely age, financial status, T stage, and education for different models were chosen. The predicted incidence of xerostomia for HNSCC and NPC patients can be improved by using multivariable logistic regression models with LASSO technique. The predictive model developed in HNSCC cannot be generalized to NPC cohort treated with IMRT without validation and vice versa.
We investigated the incidence of moderate to severe patient-reported xerostomia among nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients treated with helical tomotherapy (HT) and identified patient- and therapy-related factors associated with acute and chronic xerostomia toxicity. The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) normal tissue complication probability (NTCP) models were developed using quality-of-life questionnaire datasets from 67 patients with NPC. For acute toxicity, the dosimetric factors of the mean doses to the ipsilateral submandibular gland (Dis) and the contralateral submandibular gland (Dcs) were selected as the first two significant predictors. For chronic toxicity, four predictive factors were selected: age, mean dose to the oral cavity (Doc), education, and T stage. The substantial sparing data can be used to avoid xerostomia toxicity. We suggest that the tolerance values corresponded to a 20% incidence of complications (TD20) for Dis = 39.0 Gy, Dcs = 38.4 Gy, and Doc = 32.5 Gy, respectively, when mean doses to the parotid glands met the QUANTEC 25 Gy sparing guidelines. To avoid patient-reported xerostomia toxicity, the mean doses to the parotid gland, submandibular gland, and oral cavity have to meet the sparing tolerance, although there is also a need to take inherent patient characteristics into consideration.
SiO2 particles and red-emitting CaMgSi2O6:Eu2+,Mn2+ phosphor have been added into a yellow phosphor compound YAG:Ce3+ to enhance the optical efficiency of white light LEDs whose average correlated color temperature (CCT) is in the range of 5600 K ÷ 8500 K. It was observed that altering CaMgSi2O6:Eu2+,Mn2+ concentration from 2 % to 30 % while maintaining 5 % of the SiO2 strongly influenced the color rendering index (CRI), color quality scale (CQS), and lumen efficiency of the compound. Besides, through the application of Monte Carlo simulation and Mie-scattering theory, it was possible to improve the optical properties by CaMgSi2O6:Eu2+,Mn2+ and SiO2 addition. The results provided a practical approach to achieve higher luminous efficiency and better color uniformity in remote-phosphor white LEDs (RP-WLEDs).
A novel LED fishing/working light is proposed to enhance the lighting efficiency of a fishing boat. The study is focused on the freeform secondary lens design so as to create a lamp that attracts fish and sheds light on the deck for the crew's work. The experimental results show that the proposed multisegmented freeform lens can deliver the proposed aim, giving 3 times as much illuminating power as the traditional high-intensity discharge fishing lamp does with the same input of electrical power.
A new, highly efficient curved reflex reflector is proposed to meet the requirement of EU ECE (Economic Commission for Europe) regulations based on the commercial design provided by an automotive company which has been in mass production. We used double pins with corner cubes which served as the building element of a SuperPin curved retro-reflector to enhance reflectivity performance. Our experiment outcomes indicated 46% higher retro-reflection efficiency and 33% larger working areas compared with the commercial design.
A highly efficient regular curved retroreflector is proposed to meet the requirements of the US Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) regulations. It is demonstrated that 28% higher retroreflection efficiency and 33% more working area can be accomplished with the new designed retroreflector when compared with the commercial ones used in modern vehicles.Based on pin-bundling technology, the tooling of a reflex reflector mold can be produced, and it can serve as a testing sample or for mass production. In this study, a reflex reflector sample was designed and produced by bundled metal pins for SAE regulations. A curved retroreflector with new cube-corner structure is proposed and demonstrated. By use of genetic algorithms for optimization, the angles and positions of the pins serve as the optimizing parameters to enhance the performance of a curved retroreflector. Compared with conventional retroreflectors, it is found that 28% higher retroreflection efficiency and 33% more working area can be accomplished with our proposed one. effective working area and reflection efficiency are influenced seriously, and that could lead to the retroreflector not complying with SAE regulations [6,16].Based on pin-bundling technology, the tooling of a reflex reflector mold can be produced, and it can serve as a testing sample or for mass production. In this study, a reflex reflector sample was designed and produced by bundled metal pins for SAE regulations. A curved retroreflector with new cube-corner structure is proposed and demonstrated. By use of genetic algorithms for optimization, the angles and positions of the pins serve as the optimizing parameters to enhance the performance of a curved retroreflector. Compared with conventional retroreflectors, it is found that 28% higher retroreflection efficiency and 33% more working area can be accomplished with our proposed one.
When compared with two conformal phosphor and in-cup phosphor structures, the remote phosphor structure has higher luminescent performance. However, it is difficult to control the color quality of the remote phosphor structure, so it has become a research target in recent years. So far, there are two remote phosphor structures used to improve color quality including dual-layer phosphor configuration and triple-layer phosphor configuration. This study suggests using those two configurations to make multi-chip white LEDs (WLEDs) that can achieve adequate values in color rendering index (CRI), color quality scale (CQS), luminous efficacy (LE) and color uniformity. WLEDs with a color temperature of 5600 K are applied. Research results show that the triple-layer phosphor configuration is superior in CRI, CQS, LE. Besides, the color deviation decreases significantly, meaning that the color homogeneity increases with the triple-layer phosphor configuration. This can be demonstrated by analyzing the scattering characteristics of phosphor classes through Mie theory, thus making the research results more reliable and valuable for producing quality WLEDs. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium provided the original work is properly cited.
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