The primary objective of this research was to develop and implement a new approach to on-line adaptive radiation therapy (ART) in which daily imaging, plan adaptation and radiation delivery are temporally integrated and performed concurrently. The advantages of this approach are: reduction of treatment time compared to conventional on-line ART; ability to perform a complete plan re-optimization with minimal extension of treatment time; ability to detect and correct for intra-fractional patient motion. This work was motivated by an initial study which compared four radiosurgery techniques. This study was the first quantitative analysis of the correlation between patient anatomy and the quality of treatment plans produced by different radiosurgery techniques. A number of different relationships, both qualitative and quantitative, were discovered between patient anatomy and dosimetric parameters for different techniques. The results were used to successfully predetermine the optimal radiosurgery technique based on patient anatomy. The first step in developing a new approach to on-line ART involved accelerating plan adaptation (re-optimization) using direct aperture optimization (DAO). A series of techniques for adapting the original treatment plan to correct for the deterioration of dose distribution quality caused by the anatomical deformations were investigated. Through modification of the DAO algorithm the optimization search space was reduced and the plan adaptation was significantly accelerated. Next, a new approach to on-line ART was proposed and investigated, in which accelerated plan adaptation and radiation delivery were integrated together and performed concurrently. A fundamental advantage of this approach is that most of the plan re-optimization was performed during radiation delivery, so the time spent adapting the original plan did not significantly increase the overall treatment time. Finally, daily imaging, accelerated plan adaptation and radiation delivery were all temporally integrated using an integrated Linac/Cone Beam CT system. Intra-fractional patient images were used to successfully re-optimize the original treatment plan in near real-time to account for anatomy deformations. This thesis concludes that integration of daily imaging, plan adaptation and radiation delivery for near real-time ART is both feasible and advantageous. With further advances in related technologies, it promises to become a part of clinical practice in the near future.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 93-101).

The primary objective of this research was to develop and implement a new approach to on-line adaptive radiation therapy (ART) in which daily imaging, plan adaptation and radiation delivery are temporally integrated and performed concurrently. The advantages of this approach are: reduction of treatment time compared to conventional on-line ART; ability to perform a complete plan re-optimization with minimal extension of treatment time; ability to detect and correct for intra-fractional patient motion. This work was motivated by an initial study which compared four radiosurgery techniques. This study was the first quantitative analysis of the correlation between patient anatomy and the quality of treatment plans produced by different radiosurgery techniques. A number of different relationships, both qualitative and quantitative, were discovered between patient anatomy and dosimetric parameters for different techniques. The results were used to successfully predetermine the optimal radiosurgery technique based on patient anatomy. The first step in developing a new approach to on-line ART involved accelerating plan adaptation (re-optimization) using direct aperture optimization (DAO). A series of techniques for adapting the original treatment plan to correct for the deterioration of dose distribution quality caused by the anatomical deformations were investigated. Through modification of the DAO algorithm the optimization search space was reduced and the plan adaptation was significantly accelerated. Next, a new approach to on-line ART was proposed and investigated, in which accelerated plan adaptation and radiation delivery were integrated together and performed concurrently. A fundamental advantage of this approach is that most of the plan re-optimization was performed during radiation delivery, so the time spent adapting the original plan did not significantly increase the overall treatment time. Finally, daily imaging, accelerated plan adaptation and radiation delivery were all temporally integrated using an integrated Linac/Cone Beam CT system. Intra-fractional patient images were used to successfully re-optimize the original treatment plan in near real-time to account for anatomy deformations. This thesis concludes that integration of daily imaging, plan adaptation and radiation delivery for near real-time ART is both feasible and advantageous. With further advances in related technologies, it promises to become a part of clinical practice in the near future. / Science, Faculty of / Physics and Astronomy, Department of / Graduate

The thesis Prostor daily as a phenomenon of Czech photojournalism focuses on the analysis of the journalistic photographs in two dailies established after 1989 - Prostor daily and Metropolitan/Metropolitní telegraf daily. The analytical part of the thesis consists of the quantitative content analysis and the qualitative analysis of the pictures; the thesis also contains interviews with seven former members of the photographic department of Prostor daily - Radovan Boček, Karel Cudlín, Jaromír Čejka, Jan Jindra, Zdeněk Lhoták, Roman Sejkot and Tomáš Štanzel. The aim of the thesis is to define the differences between Prostor daily and the other dailies at that time, why it was 'visually extraordinary' and why it became a phenomenon of Czech photojournalism.

No description available.

Scale of time William Empson writes that the length of a human life and the conscious moment are the two main scales by which the human mind measures time. With one too large to sense and the other too difficult to identify, my project instead uses the length of individual daily activities as units - eating breakfast is a time unit, cooking a lunch is another time unit – to help make time perceptible, to be aware of the present, and to experience the ritual in daily life. Not every daily activity possesses its own specific time span and therefore I chose basic everyday activities that do (eating, cooking, sleeping, etc.) and defined them as specific activities.   Activity modules Based on informal surveys and my own everyday routine at home, I have defined 7 specific activities. Each specific activity has been given a customized moveable activity module to provide a place for that activity. The negative space created between activity modules within the project's spatial framework I called generic space and is used for interstitial unintentional activities.   Spatialframework Sarah Wigglesworth’s Straw Bale House and Go Hasegawa’s House in Sakuradairepresent two approaches to organizing space based on activities – combining and breaking down. My project takes a third approach by providing a spatial framework within which functional layouts can be rearranged.Each activity module can easily change location inside the spatial framework based on which activity is taking place.

Den politiska rapporteringen i Kinas näst största nyhetstidning People’s Daily består enligt resultaten i vår studie nästan uteslutande av det styrande kommunistpartiets helt okritiskt vidarebefordrade propaganda. Journalisterna som skriver för Dagens Nyheter har däremot ett mycket lågt förtroende för den kinesiska regimen som de inte drar sig för att kritisera hårt. Vi fann det intressant att jämföra nyhetsdiskurser i svenska och kinesiska tidningar eftersom mediesystem till synes inte har något alls gemensamt. Vi ville ta reda på vilka eventuella skillnader som fanns i rapporteringen om den kinesiska regimen och vilka de bakomliggande orsakerna i så fall kunde tänkas vara. Artiklar som handlade om de senaste politiska ledarskiftena som publicerats i Dagens Nyheter och People’s Daily valdes därför som material till en kvalitativ analys. Den tidigare forskningen och det teoretiska ramverket som vi använde som stöd till våra reflektioner handlade både om hur ländernas mediesystem fungerar i allmänhet och om hur nyhetsvärderingen ser ut så att vi även skulle kunna analysera artiklarna på detaljnivå. Dagens Nyheter förmedlar alltså en negativ bild av den kinesiska regimen, medan dessa istället glorifieras i People’s Dailys redaktionella material. Det beror antagligen till stor del på att skillnaderna mellan de dominanta politiska ideologierna i länderna i allmänhet och i synnerhet gällande nyhetsmediernas funktioner är markanta. Pressfrihet kännetecknar de svenska medierna, medan de kinesiska motsvarigheterna istället fungerar som kommunistpartiets språkrör. Tidningarna anses från båda perspektiven stå i medborgarnas tjänst eftersom de på sina helt olika vis ska verka för att förbättra samhället.

University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences. / Department of Communication

Fourth-century Cappadocia was a pivotal time and place for the Christian church. The purpose of this thesis is to examine the development of the daily office of prayer within that context. The comparative methodology of Anton Baumstark is examined in some detail, as is the proposal by Paul Bradshaw that liturgical scholars should adopt the hermeneutics of suspicion. Based on the latter, a methodology for the analysis of texts is derived from the socio-rhetorical exegesis of Vernon K. Robbins. The idea, formerly current, that the daily office derived from synagogue wor-ship, is examined in the light of modern scholarship and shown to be falla-cious. Other influences from Judaism and paganism are, however, found but these are seen to be at a fundamental level. A major movement in fourth-century Christianity was the development of mo-nasticism in which the Cappadocian Fathers, particularly Basil of Caesarea, played an important part. The out-dated belief that monasticism originated in the Egyptian desert, from where Basil adopted it, is examined in the light of re-cent scholarship and rejected. Instead, existing Anatolian monastic practice, and the influence of Basil’s sister Macrina must be acknowledged, with the consequence that the daily office of Cappadocian monastics is seen to have developed from domestic prayer. Two major texts from Basil are examined. His so called ‘Longer Rule’ provides a scheme of daily prayer times which has had major influence. His letter num-ber 207 has been seen as a description of an all-night vigil for a Cathedral congregation, but in-depth analysis shows that this is a monastic dawn service. Evening prayer, and in particular the lamp-lighting hymn known as Phōs Hilaron, is considered. Two distinct Christian lamp-lighting ceremonies are identified. Various proposed origins are examined with the conclusion that in the case of the Phōs Hilaron, a domestic origin is most likely. Finally, particular aspects of the Cappadocian Fathers’ theology of worship are examined, demonstrating a strong eschatological theme.

Zugl.: Hamburg, Univ., Diss., 2006