Su Shih's Copy of the "Letter on the Controversy over Seating Protocol"

This is the publisher's version, also available electronically from http://www.jstor.org/stable/20111205?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

In Vivo Evaluation of the Secure Opportunistic Schemes Middleware using a Delay Tolerant Social Network

Over the past decade, online social networks (OSNs) such as Twitter and Facebook have thrived and experienced rapid growth to over 1 billion users. A major evolution would be to leverage the characteristics of OSNs to evaluate the effectiveness of the many routing schemes developed by the research community in real-world scenarios. In this paper, we showcase the Secure Opportunistic Schemes (SOS) middleware which allows different routing schemes to be easily implemented relieving the burden of security and connection establishment. The feasibility of creating a delay tolerant social network is demonstrated by using SOS to power AlleyOop Social, a secure delay tolerant networking research platform that serves as a real-life mobile social networking application for iOS devices. SOS and AlleyOop Social allow users to interact, publish messages, and discover others that share common interests in an intermittent network using Bluetooth, peer-to-peer WiFi, and infrastructure WiFi.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, accepted in ICDCS 2017. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1702.0565

Satisfactory Academic Progress Standards: Jeopardizing Efforts Toward Educational Equity?

This study evaluated the academic performance of financial aid recipients at the Southern College of Technology over a two year period after the U.S. Department of Education required that a satisfactory academic progress policy be imposed as a condition for receiving further financial aid. Based on the findings of this study, the author argues that the students who are academically disadvantaged are not served equitably by the satisfactory academic progress policy

Conservation Agriculture and Household Wellbeing: A Non-Causal Comparison among Smallholder Farmers in Mozambique

This research examines the relationship between household wellbeing and the use of conservation agriculture (CA) by smallholder farmers in Mozambique. Wellbeing indicators are regressed on household demographic attributes, farm management practices, and a variable indicating farmer adoption of CA. Findings suggest that households using CA have higher wellbeing index scores related to farm tool and implement ownership and housing material quality, but lower index scores related to livestock ownership. The findings present an encouraging, baseline picture of the association between the use of CA technologies by farmers in Mozambique and household wellbeing

Confinement-induced drift in Marangoni-driven transport of surfactant:a Lagrangian perspective

Successive drops of coloured ink mixed with surfactant are deposited onto a thin film of water to create marbling patterns in the Japanese art technique of Suminagashi. To understand the physics behind this and other applications where surfactant transports adsorbed passive matter at gas-liquid interfaces, we investigate the Lagrangian trajectories of material particles on the surface of a thin film of a confined viscous liquid under Marangoni-driven spreading by an insoluble surfactant. We study a model problem in which several deposits of exogenous surfactant simultaneously spread on a bounded rectangular surface containing a pre-existing endogenous surfactant. We derive Eulerian and Lagrangian formulations of the equations governing the Marangoni-driven surface flow. Both descriptions show how confinement can induce drift and flow reversal during spreading. The Lagrangian formulation captures trajectories without the need to calculate surfactant concentrations; however, concentrations can still be inferred from the Jacobian of the map from initial to current particle position. We explore a link between thin-film surfactant dynamics and optimal transport theory to find the approximate equilibrium locations of material particles for any given initial condition by solving a Monge-Ampère equation. We find that, as the endogenous surfactant concentration δ vanishes, the equilibrium shapes of deposits using the Monge-Ampère approximation approach polygons with corners curving in a self-similar manner over lengths scaling as δ1/2. We explore how Suminagashi patterns may be produced by using computationally efficient successive solutions of the Monge-Ampère equation

Assisted Probe Positioning for Ultrasound Guided Radiotherapy Using Image Sequence Classification

Effective transperineal ultrasound image guidance in prostate external beam radiotherapy requires consistent alignment between probe and prostate at each session during patient set-up. Probe placement and ultrasound image interpretation are manual tasks contingent upon operator skill, leading to interoperator uncertainties that degrade radiotherapy precision. We demonstrate a method for ensuring accurate probe placement through joint classification of images and probe position data. Using a multi-input multi-task algorithm, spatial coordinate data from an optically tracked ultrasound probe is combined with an image classifier using a recurrent neural network to generate two sets of predictions in real-time. The first set identifies relevant prostate anatomy visible in the field of view using the classes: outside prostate, prostate periphery, prostate centre. The second set recommends a probe angular adjustment to achieve alignment between the probe and prostate centre with the classes: move left, move right, stop. The algorithm was trained and tested on 9,743 clinical images from 61 treatment sessions across 32 patients. We evaluated classification accuracy against class labels derived from three experienced observers at 2/3 and 3/3 agreement thresholds. For images with unanimous consensus between observers, anatomical classification accuracy was 97.2% and probe adjustment accuracy was 94.9%. The algorithm identified optimal probe alignment within a mean (standard deviation) range of 3.7° (1.2°) from angle labels with full observer consensus, comparable to the 2.8° (2.6°) mean interobserver range. We propose such an algorithm could assist radiotherapy practitioners with limited experience of ultrasound image interpretation by providing effective real-time feedback during patient set-up

Voluntary versus ABC breath-hold in the context of VMAT for breast and locoregional lymph node radiotherapy including the internal mammary chain

Background: Deep-inspiration breath-hold (DIBH) reduces radiation dose to the heart in patients undergoing locoregional breast radiotherapy. In the context of tangential irradiation of the breast/ chest wall, a voluntary breath hold (vDIBH) technique has been shown to be as reproducible as a machine-assisted breath hold technique using the active breathing co-ordinator (ABCTM, Elekta, Crawley, UK, ABC_DIBH). This study compares set-up reproducibility for vDIBH versus ABC_DIBH in patients undergoing volumetric-modulated arc radiotherapy (VMAT) for breast cancer, both with and without wax bolus. Method: Patients with breast cancer requiring pan regional lymph node VMAT +/� wax bolus in breathhold were CT scanned in vDIBH and ABC_DIBH. Patients were randomised to receive one technique for fractions 1–7 and the other for fractions 8–15. Daily cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) was performed and registered to planning-CT using bony anatomy. Within-patient comparisons of mean daily chest wall position were made using a paired t-test. Population, systematic (P) and random errors (a) were estimated. Intrafraction reproducibility was assessed by comparing chest wall position and diaphragm movement between consecutive breath holds on CBCT. Results: 16 patients were recruited. All completed treatment with both techniques (9 patients with wax bolus, 7 patients without). CBCT derived P were 2.1–6.4 mm (ABC_DIBH) and 2.1–4.9 mm (vDIBH), a were 1.7–2.6 mm (ABC_DIBH) and 2.2–2.7 mm (vDIBH) and mean daily chest wall displacements (MD) were 0.0–1.5 mm (ABC_DIBH) and - 0.1–1.6 vDIBH (all p non-significant). Chest wall and diaphragm position was equivalent between consecutive breath holds in ABC and vDIBH (median difference 1.0 mm and 0.8 mm respectively, non p significant) demonstrating equivalent intrafraction reproducibility. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that a simple voluntary breath hold technique is feasible in combination with VMAT (+/� bolus) and is as reproducible as ABC_DIBH with VMAT for the irradiation of the breast and axillary and IMC lymph nodes in breast cancer patients

Infants’ emotional and social experiences during and after the transition to early childhood education and care

The socio-emotional experiences of infants during transitions to early childhood education and care (ECEC) and across their first year in these out-of-home contexts are not well known. In an international project across five countries (New Zealand, Finland, Australia, Scotland and the United States), observational data, video of key moments, plus re-probing interviews with parents and teachers concerning 10 infants (six females) aged 5–13 months were collected across the first year of ECEC. An embedded case study design was used to analyse infant experiences from both quantitative and qualitative perspectives. Findings indicated low positive affect on infants’ first day of ECEC that increased after the first week and throughout the first year of ECEC. Drop-off periods remained a time of negative emotionality for the first month of ECEC. Over time more positive emotional experiences were evident, with peer interactions fostering positive affect, activeness and involvement, while one-on-one interactions with teachers were an important context for interpersonal engagement and well-being. These findings shed light on the highly charged emotional experience for infants when they transition to institutional care, and how these might be ameliorated in practice.peerReviewe

Therapeutic Challenge with a CDK 4/6 Inhibitor Induces an RB-Dependent SMAC-Mediated Apoptotic Response in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.

Purpose: The retinoblastoma tumor suppressor (RB), a key regulator of cell-cycle progression and proliferation, is functionally suppressed in up to 50% of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). RB function is exquisitely controlled by a series of proteins, including the CyclinD-CDK4/6 complex. In this study, we interrogated the capacity of a CDK4/6 inhibitor, palbociclib, to activate RB function. Experimental Design and Results: We employed multiple isogenic RB-proficient and -deficient NSCLC lines to interrogate the cytostatic and cytotoxic capacity of CDK 4/6 inhibition in vitro and in vivo We demonstrate that while short-term exposure to palbociclib induces cellular senescence, prolonged exposure results in inhibition of tumor growth. Mechanistically, CDK 4/6 inhibition induces a proapoptotic transcriptional program through suppression of IAPs FOXM1 and Survivin, while simultaneously augmenting expression of SMAC and caspase-3 in an RB-dependent manner. Conclusions: This study uncovers a novel function of RB activation to induce cellular apoptosis through therapeutic administration of a palbociclib and provides a rationale for the clinical evaluation of CDK 4/6 inhibitors in the treatment of patients with NSCLC