Imaging standardization in metastatic colorectal cancer : a joint EORTC-ESOI-ESGAR expert consensus recommendation

Background: Treatment monitoring in metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) relies on imaging to evaluate the tumor burden. Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) provide a framework on reporting and interpretation of imaging findings yet offer no guidance on a standardized imaging protocol tailored to mCRC patients. Imaging protocol heterogeneity remains a challenge for the reproducibility of conventional imaging endpoints and is an obstacle for research on novel imaging endpoints. Patients and methods: Acknowledging the recently highlighted potential of radiomics and artificial intelligence (AI) tools as decision support for patient care in mCRC, a multidisciplinary, international, and expert panel of imaging specialists was formed to find consensus on mCRC imaging protocols using the Delphi method. Results: Under the guidance of the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) Imaging and Gastrointestinal Tract Cancer Groups, the European Society of Oncologic Imaging (ESOI) and the European Society of Gastrointestinal and Abdominal Radiology (ESGAR), the EORTC-ESOI-ESGAR core imaging protocol was identified. Conclusion: This consensus protocol attempts to promote standardization and to diminish variations in patient preparation, scan acquisition and scan reconstruction. We anticipate that this standardization will increase reproducibility of radiomics and AI studies and serve as a catalyst for future research on imaging endpoints. For ongoing and future mCRC trials, we encourage principal investigators to support the dissemination of these imaging standards across recruiting centers.peer-reviewe

Roles and Dynamics of Communities of Practice in a Changing Media Sector: The Case of Brussels-Based Journalists

“Communities of practice are everywhere. They are a familiar experience, so familiar perhaps that it often escapes our attention. Yet when it is given a name and brought into focus, it becomes a perspective that can help us understand our world better” (Wenger, 2006). The media landscape is experiencing an on-going evolution, and journalists, in Brussels like in other places, are facing increasing challenges: insecurity, difficult access to the job market, new trans- and multi-media productions (Standaert, 2015), for which they have to find solutions. They need places where to talk to each other, to share about their experiences, to learn new practices and to create useful networks. In these places, what was identified by the literature as communities of practice can emerge and provide an essential response to these challenges. Journalists and other media workers are gathering together, blurring the lines between the different job qualifications (journalists, cameramen, web developers, web designers etc.), in search for new projects, new ideas, and more innovation. This study, which is part of a broader research funded by the Brussels Region on Brussels based media workers and media companies, looks at communities of practice in order to understand this new socio-economic context faced by journalists, and shows how these communities help them to adapt and to cope with these new challenges. Using insights from the literature on media clusters, media workers and communities of practice, the first part of this paper elaborates further on the conceptual framework proposed by Komorowski, Wiard & Plazy (2015) to provide a comprehensive approach on the different dimensions inherent to communities of practice for journalists. Thus the seven conceptual parameters (called the 7P’s) of communities of practice addressed in this study are: Place (locations of communities of practice), Proximity (links between members of these communities), Pertinence (different domains of the communities), Profile (members’ roles), Path-dependency (historical and institutional factors explaining why communities of practice are what they are today), Policies (policy incentives or obstacles towards creating or taking part in communities of practice), and finally Performance (achievements of such communities, workers’ gains from joining them). We argue that this conceptual framework is useful to grasp the changes faced by journalists and helps to understand the evolutions of the identity of journalists, of their practices, of their profession. The second part of this paper presents the results of an ongoing empirical research based on semi-structured interviews and on an online questionnaire addressed to Brussels-based journalists and media workers. This study aims at elucidating the roles and dynamics of communities of practice for journalists and provides insights into the questions stated in the first part of the paper. As a result we hope to demonstrate that communities of practice are a reflection of the evolution of the journalistic profession. In these communities, created by the needs and desires of journalists and media workers, the profession redefines itself both in sociological and economical terms in order to respond to the new challenges it faces

Compression behaviour of cellular structures produced by selective laser beam additive manufacturing: X-ray tomography based finite element and experimental approaches

Selective laser melting is a novel additive manufacturing technique to produce cellular structures with desired shape and pattern provided by a computer-aided design software. During the process, series of layers consisting of metal powders are molten and solidified on top of each other using a laser beam. Two face-centred cubic structures with the same shape and repetitive pattern but different beam and node thicknesses were produced for this work using this technique. Deformation of the structures under compression is imaged by in situ and ex-situ X-ray tomography scanning. The initial state of the structures is scanned using the stitching tomography method to capture high-resolution 3D images illustrating micro and macro porosities. A 3D image-based conformal finite element model is then built for the simulation of the compression test using porous plasticity. The local porosity of each element is directly informed from high resolution tomography. Simulations considering a homogeneous matrix with an average initial porosity everywhere are compared to the new inhomogeneous model. A fairly good agreement is found between the inhomogeneous model and experiments