When specifying a clinical objective for a target volume and normal organs/tissues in IMRT planni... more When specifying a clinical objective for a target volume and normal organs/tissues in IMRT planning, the user may not be sure if the defined clinical objective could be achieved by the optimizer. To this end, we propose a novel method to predict the achievability of clinical objectives upfront before invoking the optimization. A new metric called “Geometric Complexity (GC)” is used to estimate the achievability of clinical objectives. Essentially GC is the measure of the number of “unmodulated” beamlets or rays that intersect the Region-of-interest (ROI) and the target volume. We first compute the geometric complexity ratio (GCratio) between the GC of a ROI in a reference plan and the GC of the same ROI in a given plan. The GCratio of a ROI indicates the relative geometric complexity of the ROI as compared to the same ROI in the reference plan. Hence GCratio can be used to predict if a defined clinical objective associated with the ROI can be met by the optimizer for a given case. W...
Panpsychism is the view that consciousness is a fundamental feature of reality. Panpsychism addre... more Panpsychism is the view that consciousness is a fundamental feature of reality. Panpsychism addresses the fact that no physical theories can ever be able to explain conscious experience in terms of physical processes. This is known as the hard problem of consciousness. However, Panpsychism dose not define consciousness and the mechanism of interaction with the physical object that possess it. Hence, more details are required to incorporate it into a fully-developed theory. On the other hand, the black hole information paradox (BHIP) is a puzzle resulting from the combination of quantum mechanics and general relativity. Calculations suggest that physical information could permanently disappear in a black hole, allowing many physical states to devolve into the same state, which directly violates the laws of physics. In this work, we have attempted a new approach in which we constrained the properties of consciousness in such a way that it resolves BHIP and provides a concrete functional role of consciousness in the physical realm. We will show that this approach leads to a novel interpretation of wave function collapse and quantum entanglement. We have also suggested ways to falsify the proposed model in this work.
This article aims to introduce a novel algorithm for fast beam angle selection in intensity modul... more This article aims to introduce a novel algorithm for fast beam angle selection in intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT). The algorithm models the optimization problem as a beam angle ranking problem and chooses suitable beam angles according to their rank. A new parameter called "beam intensity profile perturbation score (BIPPS)" is used for ranking the beam angles. The BIPPS-based beam angle ranking implicitly accounts for the dose-volume effects of the involved structures. A simulated phantom case with obvious optimal beam angles is used to verify the validity of the presented technique. In addition, the efficiency of the algorithm was examined in three clinical cases (prostate, pancreas, and head and neck) in terms of DVH and dose distribution. In all cases, the judgment of the algorithm's efficiency was based on the comparison between plans with equidistant beams (equal-angle-plan) and plans with beams obtained using the algorithm (suitable-angle-plan). It is observed from the study that the beam angle ranking function over BIPPS instantly picks up a suitable set of beam angles for a specific case. It takes only about 15 min for choosing the suitable beam angles even for the most complicated cases. The DVHs and dose distributions confirm that the proposed algorithm can efficiently reduce the mean or maximum dose to OARs, while guaranteeing the target coverage and dose uniformity. On the average, about 17% reduction in the mean dose to critical organs, such as rectum, bladder, kidneys and parotids, is observed. Also, about 12% (averaged) reduction in the maximum dose to critical organs (spinal cord) is observed in the clinical cases presented in this study. This study demonstrates that the algorithm can be effectively applied to IMRT scenarios to get fast and case specific beam angle configurations.
When specifying a clinical objective for a target volume and normal organs/tissues in IMRT planni... more When specifying a clinical objective for a target volume and normal organs/tissues in IMRT planning, the user may not be sure if the defined clinical objective could be achieved by the optimizer. To this end, we propose a novel method to predict the achievability of clinical objectives upfront before invoking the optimization. A new metric called “Geometric Complexity (GC)” is used to estimate the achievability of clinical objectives. Essentially GC is the measure of the number of “unmodulated” beamlets or rays that intersect the Region-of-interest (ROI) and the target volume. We first compute the geometric complexity ratio (GCratio) between the GC of a ROI in a reference plan and the GC of the same ROI in a given plan. The GCratio of a ROI indicates the relative geometric complexity of the ROI as compared to the same ROI in the reference plan. Hence GCratio can be used to predict if a defined clinical objective associated with the ROI can be met by the optimizer for a given case. W...
Panpsychism is the view that consciousness is a fundamental feature of reality. Panpsychism addre... more Panpsychism is the view that consciousness is a fundamental feature of reality. Panpsychism addresses the fact that no physical theories can ever be able to explain conscious experience in terms of physical processes. This is known as the hard problem of consciousness. However, Panpsychism dose not define consciousness and the mechanism of interaction with the physical object that possess it. Hence, more details are required to incorporate it into a fully-developed theory. On the other hand, the black hole information paradox (BHIP) is a puzzle resulting from the combination of quantum mechanics and general relativity. Calculations suggest that physical information could permanently disappear in a black hole, allowing many physical states to devolve into the same state, which directly violates the laws of physics. In this work, we have attempted a new approach in which we constrained the properties of consciousness in such a way that it resolves BHIP and provides a concrete functional role of consciousness in the physical realm. We will show that this approach leads to a novel interpretation of wave function collapse and quantum entanglement. We have also suggested ways to falsify the proposed model in this work.
This article aims to introduce a novel algorithm for fast beam angle selection in intensity modul... more This article aims to introduce a novel algorithm for fast beam angle selection in intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT). The algorithm models the optimization problem as a beam angle ranking problem and chooses suitable beam angles according to their rank. A new parameter called "beam intensity profile perturbation score (BIPPS)" is used for ranking the beam angles. The BIPPS-based beam angle ranking implicitly accounts for the dose-volume effects of the involved structures. A simulated phantom case with obvious optimal beam angles is used to verify the validity of the presented technique. In addition, the efficiency of the algorithm was examined in three clinical cases (prostate, pancreas, and head and neck) in terms of DVH and dose distribution. In all cases, the judgment of the algorithm's efficiency was based on the comparison between plans with equidistant beams (equal-angle-plan) and plans with beams obtained using the algorithm (suitable-angle-plan). It is observed from the study that the beam angle ranking function over BIPPS instantly picks up a suitable set of beam angles for a specific case. It takes only about 15 min for choosing the suitable beam angles even for the most complicated cases. The DVHs and dose distributions confirm that the proposed algorithm can efficiently reduce the mean or maximum dose to OARs, while guaranteeing the target coverage and dose uniformity. On the average, about 17% reduction in the mean dose to critical organs, such as rectum, bladder, kidneys and parotids, is observed. Also, about 12% (averaged) reduction in the maximum dose to critical organs (spinal cord) is observed in the clinical cases presented in this study. This study demonstrates that the algorithm can be effectively applied to IMRT scenarios to get fast and case specific beam angle configurations.
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Papers by Vaitheeswaran Ranganathan