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Proper quality assurance (QA) of the radiotherapy process can be time-consuming and expensive. Many QA efforts, such as data export and import, are inefficient when done by humans. Additionally, humans can be unreliable, lose attention, and fail to complete critical steps that are required for smooth operations. In our group we have sought to break down the QA tasks into separate steps and to automate those steps that are better done by software running autonomously or at the instigation of a human. A team of medical physicists and software engineers worked together to identify opportunities to streamline and automate QA. Development efforts follow a formal cycle of writing software requirements, developing software, testing and commissioning. The clinical release process is separated into clinical evaluation testing, training, and finally clinical release. We have improved six processes related to QA and safety. Steps that were previously performed by humans have been automated or streamlined to increase first-time quality, reduce time spent by humans doing low-level tasks, and expedite QA tests. Much of the gains were had by automating data transfer, implementing computer-based checking and automation of systems with an event-driven framework. These coordinated efforts by software engineers and clinical physicists have resulted in speed improvements in expediting patient-sensitive QA tests.

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Summary Dynamic impact safety of lithium‐ion batteries (LIBs) is a hot subject. The mechanical‐electrical behavior of LIBs under dynamic loading was studied in this study. Drop‐weight tests of two types of indenter, namely, round and flat heads, were conducted. Strain rate and state of charge (SOC) effects on the mechanical properties of LIBs under different indenters were fully discussed. The interaction between mechanical performance and electrical behavior was studied. Experiments show that the structural stiffness of batteries increases with strain rate increase but exhibits little effect from SOC. Different indenters have a significant influence on the mechanical behavior of the prismatic LIBs. Under the same impact rate and SOC, the peak load of a flat head is considerably larger than that of a round head. The battery exhibits a hard short‐circuit under the impact of a round head and a soft short‐circuit under the impact of a flat head. This result shows that the larger the contact area between the indenter and the battery is, the larger the impact load under the same drop‐weight and impact rate will be, although the impact safety of the battery does not decrease. The results provide useful insights into the basic understanding of the electromechanical coupling integrity of LIBs.