RF Roaming System Locator: A Modular Omnidirectional Antenna System

Drones are increasingly common in everything from entertainment to delivery services. Currently, GPS and wireless triangulation are the two main methods of tracking drones and collision avoidance. The main problem with these two methods are accuracy and mobility. This thesis goes into building a system that is able to solve the two main drawbacks, by using a completely contained antenna system. The system is robust and can work in a variety of environments and situations. While the thesis focuses on drone tracking, the system is built with modularity in mind and can be adapted to track other RF signals with proper RF down conversion modules. This thesis will go in depth in how this aforementioned system was conceptualized, designed, built, and evaluated

Body pain during daily activities in patients on peritoneal dialysis

Objective. To review the prevalence of body pain during daily activities in patients on peritoneal dialysis (PD) and to correlate it with various demographic and renal osteodystrophy markers such as calcium (Ca), phosphorus (P), intact parathyroid hormone (iPTH), and vitamin D-3 levels. Methods. A cross-sectional study was conducted involving 530 chronic PD patients (44.3 % female, 55.6 % male) from 24 centers in Canada, Greece, and Turkey. Pain severity scoring during daily activities was performed using the pain scoring table of the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC). Results. The overall prevalence of pain was 52.9 % (61.3 % in females and 49.5 % in males, p 0.05). Mean serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D-3 [25(OH)D-3] levels were lower in patients with pain compared to those without pain (p < 0.05). Conclusions. A high percentage of the PD patients (53 %) had body pain; iPTH levels and other biochemical parameters of renal osteodystrophy were not different between those with and without pain. Patients with pain had lower 25(OH)D-3 levels than did those without. Factors such as age, gender, obesity, and metabolic factors may interact to cause varying degrees of articular/bone pain in patients on PD. Since vitamin D deficiency aggravates the signs and symptoms of joint disease such as pain and stiffness, one should attempt to correct levels of 25(OH)D-3, as well as 1,25(OH)(2)D-3 levels, in these patients

AAPM Task Group 264: The safe clinical implementation of MLC tracking in radiotherapy

The era of real-time radiotherapy is upon us. Robotic and gimbaled linac tracking are clinically established technologies with the clinical realization of couch tracking in development. Multileaf collimators (MLCs) are standard equipment for most cancer radiotherapy systems, and therefore MLC tracking is a potentially widely available technology. MLC tracking has been the subject of theoretical and experimental research for decades and was first implemented for patient treatments in 2013. The AAPM Task Group 264-Safe Clinical Implementation of MLC Tracking in Radiotherapy Report was charged to proactively provide the broader radiation oncology community with 1) clinical implementation guidelines including hardware, software, and clinical indications for use, 2) commissioning and quality assurance recommendations based on early user experience, as well as guidelines on Failure Mode and Effects Analysis, and 3) a discussion of potential future developments. The deliverables from this report include: an explanation of MLC tracking and its historical development; terms and definitions relevant to MLC tracking; the clinical benefit of, clinical experience with and clinical implementation guidelines for MLC tracking; quality assurance guidelines, including example quality assurance worksheets; a clinical decision pathway, future outlook and overall recommendations