Optimization of the mounting position and angle for RKE antennas

This paper proposes optimization of a mounting position and angle for vehicle RKE antennas. To take into consideration the platform effect that degrades the radiation characteristic of the antenna, both interior and exterior vehicle structures are re-modeled as piece-wise mesh elements in a full-wave electromagnetic (EM) simulator. The optimum placement is found by evaluating radiation characteristics for all possible placements, and its average gain is improved by 4.7 dB, while the minimum gain is increased by 8.4 dB, compared to the conventional placement. The results demonstrate that the proposed method is suitable for maximizing the reading distance of the antenna by minimizing the platform effect

A prospective study of the adaptive changes in the gut microbiome during standard-of-care chemoradiotherapy for gynecologic cancers.

BackgroundA diverse and abundant gut microbiome can improve cancer patients' treatment response; however, the effect of pelvic chemoradiotherapy (CRT) on gut diversity and composition is unclear. The purpose of this prospective study was to identify changes in the diversity and composition of the gut microbiome during and after pelvic CRT.Materials and methodsRectal swabs from 58 women with cervical, vaginal, or vulvar cancer from two institutions were prospectively analyzed before CRT (baseline), during CRT (weeks 1, 3, and 5), and at first follow-up (week 12) using 16Sv4 rRNA gene sequencing of the V4 hypervariable region of the bacterial 16S rRNA marker gene. 42 of these patients received antibiotics during the study period. Observed operational taxonomic units (OTUs; representative of richness) and Shannon, Simpson, Inverse Simpson, and Fisher diversity indices were used to characterize alpha (within-sample) diversity. Changes over time were assessed using a paired t-test, repeated measures ANOVA, and linear mixed modeling. Compositional changes in specific bacteria over time were evaluated using linear discriminant analysis effect size.ResultsGut microbiome richness and diversity levels continually decreased throughout CRT (mean Shannon diversity index, 2.52 vs. 2.91; all P ConclusionAfter CRT, the diversity of the gut microbiomes in this population tended to return to baseline levels by the 12 week follow-up period, but structure and composition remained significantly altered. These changes should be considered when designing studies to analyze the gut microbiome in patients who receive pelvic CRT for gynecologic cancers