MR image-guided radiotherapy has the potential to improve patient care, but integration of an MRI scanner with a linear accelerator adds complexity to the commissioning process. This work describes a single institution experience of commissioning an Elekta Unity MR-linac, including mechanical testing, MRI scanner commissioning, and dosimetric validation. Mechanical testing included multileaf collimator (MLC) positional accuracy, measurement of radiation isocenter diameter, and MR-to-MV coincidence. Key MRI tests included magnetic field homogeneity, geometric accuracy, image quality, and the accuracy of navigator-triggered imaging for motion management. Dosimetric validation consisted of comparison between measured and calculated PDDs and profiles, IMRT measurements, and end-to-end testing. Multileaf collimator positional accuracy was within 1.0 mm, the measured radiation isocenter walkout was 0.20 mm, and the coincidence between MR and MV isocenter was 1.06 mm, which is accounted for in the treatment planning system (TPS). For a 350mm-diameter spherical volume, the peak-to-peak deviation of the magnetic field homogeneity was 4.44 ppm and the geometric distortion was 0.8 mm. All image quality metrics were within ACR recommendations. Navigator-triggered images showed a maximum deviation of 0.42, 0.75, and 3.0 mm in the target centroid location compared to the stationary target for a 20 mm motion at 10, 15, and 20 breaths per minute, respectively. TPS-calculated PDDs and profiles showed excellent agreement with measurement. The gamma passing rate for IMRT plans was 98.4 ± 1.1% (3%/ 2 mm) and end-to-end testing of adapted plans showed agreement within 0.4% between ion-chamber measurement and TPS calculation. All credentialing criteria were satisfied in an independent end-to-end test using an IROC MRgRT phantom.

Featured Application: Detailed chemical and structural changes to polylactid acid (PLA) from source material through 3D printing needs to be quantified in order to use PLA 3D printed structures for specific applications. This work was specifically motivated for specific applications for in situ synthesis of silver nanoparticles on printed PLA surfaces used in antimicrobial applications and the development and characterization of PLA constructs for tissue engineering.Abstract: Polylactic acid (PLA) is an organic polymer commonly used in fused deposition (FDM) printing and biomedical scaffolding that is biocompatible and immunologically inert. However, variations in source material quality and chemistry make it necessary to characterize the filament and determine potential changes in chemistry occurring as a result of the FDM process. We used several spectroscopic techniques, including laser confocal microscopy, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and photoacousitc FTIR spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) in order to characterize both the bulk and surface chemistry of the source material and printed samples. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) were used to characterize morphology, cold crystallinity, and the glass transition and melting temperatures following printing. Analysis revealed calcium carbonate-based additives which were reacted with organic ligands and potentially trace metal impurities, both before and following printing. These additives became concentrated in voids in the printed structure. This finding is important for biomedical applications as carbonate will impact subsequent cell growth on printed tissue scaffolds. Results of chemical analysis also provided evidence of the hygroscopic nature of the source material and oxidation of the printed surface, and SEM imaging revealed micro-and submicron-scale roughness that will also impact potential applications.

Metal bonded cobaltferrite composites have been shown to be promising candidate materials for use in magnetoelastic stress sensors, due to their large magnetostriction and high sensitivity of magnetization to stress. However previous results have shown that below 60°C" role="presentation" style="box-sizing: borderbox; display: inline; word-wrap: normal; white-space: nowrap; float: none; direction: ltr; max-width: none; max-height: none; min-width: 0px; min-height: 0px; border: 0px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; position: relative;">60°C60°C the cobaltferritematerial exhibits substantial magnetomechanical hysteresis. In the current study, measurements indicate that substituting Mn for some of the Fe in the cobaltferrite can lower the Curie temperature of the material while maintaining a suitable magnetostriction for stress sensing applications. These results demonstrate the possibility of optimizing the magnetomechanical hysteresis of cobalt ferrite-based composites for stress sensor applications, through control of the Curie temperature. Metal bonded cobalt ferrite composites have been shown to be promising candidate materials for use in magnetoelastic stress sensors, due to their large magnetostriction and high sensitivity of magnetization to stress. However previous results have shown that below 60°C the cobalt ferrite material exhibits substantial magnetomechanical hysteresis. In the current study, measurements indicate that substituting Mn for some of the Fe in the cobalt ferrite can lower the Curie temperature of the material while maintaining a suitable magnetostriction for stress sensing applications. These results demonstrate the possibility of optimizing the magnetomechanical hysteresis of cobalt ferrite-based composites for stress sensor applications, through control of the Curie temperature. Disciplines Materials Science and Engineering | Physics

We present Mn K-edge x-ray absorption near-edge structure ͑XANES͒ data for a number of manganite systems as a function of temperature. The 1s absorption edge for the Ca-substituted samples is very sharp, almost featureless, and shifts uniformly upwards with increasing Ca content. The interpretation of this result is controversial because the lack of structure appears difficult to reconcile with a mixture of Mn ϩ3 and Mn ϩ4 ions or with several different Mn-O bond lengths at high T. We propose a possible solution in terms of covalency and considerable overlap of the Mn p states ͑mostly Mn 4p). The manganite preedge structure is quite similar to that for a large number of other Mn compounds, with two or three small peaks that are ascribed to 1s-3d weakly allowed dipole transitions plus possibly a small quadrupole component. The weak dipole transitions are explained as arising from a hybridization of the Mn 4p state of the excited atom with an odd symmetry combination of Mn 3d states on adjacent Mn atoms. The first preedge peak A 1 has a small shift to higher energy with increasing valence while the next peak A 2 is nearly independent of dopant concentration at 300 K. However, for the colossal magnetoresistance ͑CMR͒ samples the A 2 preedge peak shifts to a lower energy below the ferromagnetic transition temperature T c , resulting in a decrease in the A 2 -A 1 splitting by ϳ0.4 eV. This indicates a change in the higher-energy 3d bands, most likely the minority spin e g , plus some change in covalency. In addition, the amplitudes are temperature dependent for the CMR materials, with the change in A 1 , A 2 correlated with the change in sample magnetization. For the charge ordered ͑CO͒ sample, the analysis suggests that the change in the preedge is produced by a distortion that increases below T CO . We discuss these results in terms of some of the theoretical models that have been proposed and other recent XANES studies.

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A new class of magnetomechanical sensor materials, Co-ferrite (Co0.Fe203) and metal-bonded (Ag, Ni, CO) Co-ferrite composites, has been investigated. These materials exhibited magnetostriction in excess of 200 ppm and high d3, (aUiJH), coefficient, 1.3~10' A'm, at low applied field (

Recent availability of MRI-guided linear accelerators has introduced a number of clinical challenges, particularly in the context of online plan adaptation. Paramount among these is verification of plan quality prior to patient treatment. Currently, there are no commercial products available for monitor unit verification that fully support the newly FDA cleared Elekta Unity 1.5 T MRI-linac. In this work, we investigate the accuracy and precision of RadCalc for this purpose, which is a software package that uses a Clarkson integration algorithm for point dose calculation. To this end, 18 IMRT patient plans (186 individual beams) were created and used for Rad-Calc point dose calculations. In comparison with the primary treatment planning system (Monaco), mean point dose deviations of 0.0 ± 1.0% (n = 18) and 1.7 ± 12.4% (n = 186) were obtained on a per-plan and per-beam basis, respectively. The dose plane comparison functionality within RadCalc was found to be highly inaccurate, however, modest improvements could be made by artificially shifting jaws and multi leaf collimator positions to account for the dosimetric shift due to the magnetic field (67.3% vs 96.5% mean 5%/5 mm gamma pass rate). K E Y W O R D S dose calculation, Elekta Unity, MRI-Linac, RadCalc The first 1.5 T MRI-equipped linear accelerator (Elekta Unity, Elekta AB, Stockholm, Sweden) was cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in December of 2018. Coupling a high-magnetic field MRI with a linear accelerator introduces a number of commissioning and routine quality assurance challenges that are not associated with conventional linear accelerators. Notably, all equipment ---

The temperature variation of magnetic anisotropy and coercive field of magnetoelastic manganese-substituted cobaltferrites (CoMnxFe2−xO4 with 0⩽x⩽0.6) was investigated. Major magnetic hysteresis loops were measured for each sample at temperatures over the range 10-400 K, using a superconducting quantum interference device magnetometer. The high-field regimes of the hysteresis loops were modeled using the law of approach to saturation equation, based on the assumption that at sufficiently high field only rotational processes remain, with an additional forced magnetization term that was linear with applied field. The cubic anisotropy constant K1 was calculated from the fitting of the data to the theoretical equation. It was found that anisotropy increases substantially with decreasing temperature from 400 to 150 K, and decreases with increasing Mn content. Below 150 K, it appears that even under a maximum applied field of 5 T, the anisotropy of CoFe2O4 and CoMn0.2Fe1.8O4 is so high as to prevent complete approach to saturation, thereby making the use of the law of approach questionable in these cases. The temperature variation of magnetic anisotropy and coercive field of magnetoelastic manganese-substituted cobalt ferrites ͑CoMn x Fe 2−x O 4 with 0 ഛ x ഛ 0.6͒ was investigated. Major magnetic hysteresis loops were measured for each sample at temperatures over the range 10-400 K, using a superconducting quantum interference device magnetometer. The high-field regimes of the hysteresis loops were modeled using the law of approach to saturation equation, based on the assumption that at sufficiently high field only rotational processes remain, with an additional forced magnetization term that was linear with applied field. The cubic anisotropy constant K 1 was calculated from the fitting of the data to the theoretical equation. It was found that anisotropy increases substantially with decreasing temperature from 400 to 150 K, and decreases with increasing Mn content. Below 150 K, it appears that even under a maximum applied field of 5 T, the anisotropy of CoFe 2 O 4 and CoMn 0.2 Fe 1.8 O 4 is so high as to prevent complete approach to saturation, thereby making the use of the law of approach questionable in these cases.