Formalisation and use of competencies for industrial performance optimisation : a survey.

For many years, industrial performance has been implicitly considered as deriving from the optimisation of technological and material resources (machines, inventories,...), made possible by centralized organisations. The topical requirements for reactive and flexible industrial systems have progressively reintroduced the human workforce as the main source of industrial performance. Making this paradigm operational requires the identification and careful formalisation of the link between human resource and industrial performance, through concepts like skills, competencies or know-how. This paper provides a general survey of the formalisation and integration of competence-oriented concepts within enterprise information systems and decision systems, aiming at providing new methods and tools for performance management

La mobilité ethnique intergénérationnelle des enfants de moins de cinq ans chez les populations autochtones, Canada, 1996 et 2001

Grâce aux données provenant des recensements canadiens de 1996 et 2001, nous avons étudié la mobilité ethnique intergénérationnelle (la transmission ou non de l’identité ethnique d’un parent à son enfant) chez les populations autochtones. Dans l’ensemble, les populations autochtones tirent profit de la mobilité ethnique intergénérationnelle au détriment de la population non autochtone. Un facteur déterminant de ce phénomène est le type d’union au sein duquel vit l’enfant : union endogame ou exogame. Alors que la mobilité ethnique intergénérationnelle est presque inexistante au sein des unions endogames, il en est tout autrement lorsqu’il est question d’unions exogames. Pour le cas particulier de l’exogamie autochtone — non autochtone, l’identité ethnique d’un enfant est, le plus souvent, une identité autochtone. Ainsi, l’exogamie entre Autochtones et non-Autochtones profite beaucoup plus aux effectifs des populations autochtones qu’à ceux de la population non autochtone.Using Canadian census data from 1996 and 2001, this paper studies intergenerational ethnic mobility (transmission or non-transmission of ethnic identity from parent to child) among Aboriginal populations. Overall, intergenerational ethnic mobility benefits Aboriginal over non-Aboriginal populations. A determining factor for this phenomenon is the type of union within which a child lives, whether this is endogamous or exogamous. Intergenerational ethnic mobility is almost non-existent in endogamous unions, quite the opposite of exogamous unions. In the particular case of Aboriginal — Non-Aboriginal exogamy, the ethnic identity of the child is usually Aboriginal. As such, Aboriginal — Non-Aboriginal exogamy contributes positively to the population size of Aboriginal populations than on those of non-Aboriginal populations

Refuting phylogenetic relationships

BACKGROUND: Phylogenetic methods are philosophically grounded, and so can be philosophically biased in ways that limit explanatory power. This constitutes an important methodologic dimension not often taken into account. Here we address this dimension in the context of concatenation approaches to phylogeny. RESULTS: We discuss some of the limits of a methodology restricted to verificationism, the philosophy on which gene concatenation practices generally rely. As an alternative, we describe a software which identifies and focuses on impossible or refuted relationships, through a simple analysis of bootstrap bipartitions, followed by multivariate statistical analyses. We show how refuting phylogenetic relationships could in principle facilitate systematics. We also apply our method to the study of two complex phylogenies: the phylogeny of the archaea and the phylogeny of the core of genes shared by all life forms. While many groups are rejected, our results left open a possible proximity of N. equitans and the Methanopyrales, of the Archaea and the Cyanobacteria, and as well the possible grouping of the Methanobacteriales/Methanoccocales and Thermosplasmatales, of the Spirochaetes and the Actinobacteria and of the Proteobacteria and firmicutes. CONCLUSION: It is sometimes easier (and preferable) to decide which species do not group together than which ones do. When possible topologies are limited, identifying local relationships that are rejected may be a useful alternative to classical concatenation approaches aiming to find a globally resolved tree on the basis of weak phylogenetic markers. REVIEWERS: This article was reviewed by Mark Ragan, Eugene V Koonin and J Peter Gogarten

How Plasma Membrane and Cytoskeletal Dynamics Influence Single-Cell Wound Healing: Mechanotransduction, Tension and Tensegrity

Organisms are able to recover from injuries by replacing damaged tissues, which recover by replacing damaged cells and extracellular structures. Similarly, a cell recovers from injuries by replacing damaged components of its structural integrity: its plasma membrane and cytoskeletal structures. Cells can be thought of as tensegral structures, their structural integrity relying on the interplay between tensile forces generated within and without the cell, and the compressive elements that counteracts them. As such, direct or indirect insults to the plasma membrane or cytoskeleton of a cell may not only result in the temporary loss of structural integrity, but also directly impact its ability to respond to its environment. This chapter will focus on the various aspects linking tensile forces and single-cell wound healing: where and how are they generated, how does the cell counteract them and how does the cell return to its previous tensegrity state? These questions will be explored using ubiquitous and cell-type specific examples of single-cell repair processes. Special attention will be given to changes in plasma membrane composition and area to cytoskeletal dynamics, and how these factor each other to influence and effect single-cell repair

An information privacy model for primary health care facilities

The revolutionary migration within the health care sector towards the digitisation of medical records for convenience or compliance touches on many concerns with respect to ensuring the security of patient personally identifiable information (PII). Foremost of these is that a patient’s right to privacy is not violated. To this end, it is necessary that health care practitioners have a clear understanding of the various constructs of privacy in order to ensure privacy compliance is maintained. This research project focuses on an investigation of privacy from a multidisciplinary philosophical perspective to highlight the constructs of information privacy. These constructs together with a discussion focused on the confidentiality and accessibility of medical records results in the development of an artefact represented in the format of a model. The formulation of the model is accomplished by making use of the Design Science research guidelines for artefact development. Part of the process required that the artefact be refined through the use of an Expert Review Process. This involved an iterative (three phase) process which required (seven) experts from the fields of privacy, information security, and health care to respond to semi-structured questions administered with an interview guide. The data analysis process utilised the ISO/IEC 29100:2011(E) standard on privacy as a means to assign thematic codes to the responses, which were then analysed. The proposed information privacy model was discussed in relation to the compliance requirements of the South African Protection of Personal Information (PoPI) Bill of 2009 and their application in a primary health care facility. The proposed information privacy model provides a holistic view of privacy management that can residually be used to increase awareness associated with the compliance requirements of using patient PII

Gene Capture Coupled to High-Throughput Sequencing as a Strategy for Targeted Metagenome Exploration

International audienceNext-generation sequencing (NGS) allows faster acquisition of metagenomic data, but complete exploration of complex ecosystems is hindered by the extraordinary diversity of microorganisms. To reduce the environmental complexity, we created an innovative solution hybrid selection (SHS) method that is combined with NGS to characterize large DNA fragments harbouring biomarkers of interest. The quality of enrichment was evaluated after fragments containing the methyl coenzyme M reductase subunit A gene (mcrA), the biomarker of methanogenesis, were captured from a Methanosarcina strain and a metagenomic sample from a meromictic lake. The methanogen diversity was compared with direct metagenome and mcrA-based amplicon pyrosequencing strategies. The SHS approach resulted in the capture of DNA fragments up to 2.5 kb with an enrichment efficiency between 41 and 100%, depending on the sample complexity. Compared with direct metagenome and amplicons sequencing, SHS detected broader mcrA diversity, and it allowed efficient sampling of the rare biosphere and unknown sequences. In contrast to amplicon-based strategies, SHS is less biased and GC independent, and it recovered complete biomarker sequences in addition to conserved regions. Because this method can also isolate the regions flanking the target sequences, it could facilitate operon reconstructions

Detecting variants with Metabolic Design, a new software tool to design probes for explorative functional DNA microarray development

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Microorganisms display vast diversity, and each one has its own set of genes, cell components and metabolic reactions. To assess their huge unexploited metabolic potential in different ecosystems, we need high throughput tools, such as functional microarrays, that allow the simultaneous analysis of thousands of genes. However, most classical functional microarrays use specific probes that monitor only known sequences, and so fail to cover the full microbial gene diversity present in complex environments. We have thus developed an algorithm, implemented in the user-friendly program Metabolic Design, to design efficient explorative probes.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>First we have validated our approach by studying eight enzymes involved in the degradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from the model strain <it>Sphingomonas paucimobilis </it>sp. EPA505 using a designed microarray of 8,048 probes. As expected, microarray assays identified the targeted set of genes induced during biodegradation kinetics experiments with various pollutants. We have then confirmed the identity of these new genes by sequencing, and corroborated the quantitative discrimination of our microarray by quantitative real-time PCR. Finally, we have assessed metabolic capacities of microbial communities in soil contaminated with aromatic hydrocarbons. Results show that our probe design (sensitivity and explorative quality) can be used to study a complex environment efficiently.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We successfully use our microarray to detect gene expression encoding enzymes involved in polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon degradation for the model strain. In addition, DNA microarray experiments performed on soil polluted by organic pollutants without prior sequence assumptions demonstrate high specificity and sensitivity for gene detection. Metabolic Design is thus a powerful, efficient tool that can be used to design explorative probes and monitor metabolic pathways in complex environments, and it may also be used to study any group of genes. The Metabolic Design software is freely available from the authors and can be downloaded and modified under general public license.</p

A 3D simulator for intelligent environment experiments

The advances in sensor networks, electronics and ambient intelligence make creation of intelligent environments (IEs) possible. However, on account of economic and logistic issues the implementation of physical IEs is difficult in research domain. That makes it harder for researchers to experiment new approaches in IE domain. In this article, we propose a simulator to build virtual IEs. Simulators are a good alternative to physical IEs. Indeed, virtual IEs does not require expensive resources. Moreover, researchers and designers can conduct experiments anytime and repeat scenarios easily. Our simulator provides users with a set of virtual sensors and actuators. Our virtual sensors try to reproduce behavior of physical sensors and to produce datasets with the same properties as those generated by real sensors. Our proposition contains a tool to build a home from scratch and a model to define scenarios and behaviors of occupants. It also proposes an interface to control occupants directly. Virtual sensors collect data and generate datasets. Scientists and designers can use these datasets to evaluate and design new approaches in IE domain