Cartes de communautés pour l'adaptation interactive de profils dans un système de filtrage d'information

National audienceDans le contexte actuel de surcharge d'informations, les utilisateurs peuvent s'en remettre à des systèmes de filtrage qui leur recommandent en permanence, en se basant sur leur profil, des informations vraisemblablement pertinentes. Néanmoins, un changement dans leur besoin d'information n'est pas toujours bien pris en compte à cause du rôle relativement passif des utilisateurs dans la plupart des systèmes existants. Nous présentons dans cet article la possibilité d'utilisation interactive de " cartes de communautés " pour cette tâche d'adaptation des profils, dans la perspective à plus long terme d'enrichir l'interaction entre utilisateurs et système de filtrage. Nous adoptons un processus de formation des communautés d'utilisateurs qui exploite un algorithme de positionnement en 2 dimensions et un algorithme classique de classification non supervisée afin d'obtenir de véritables " cartes " des communautés. Ces cartes s'appuient sur deux critères différents de formation des communautés

Modèle d'espaces de communautés basé sur la théorie des ensembles d'approximation dans un système de filtrage hybride

International audienceLes systèmes de filtrage ont pour but de distribuer des informations de façon personnalisée aux utilisateurs, tout en s'adaptant en permanence au besoin en information de chacun. Dans un système de filtrage hybride s'appuyant sur le filtrage collaboratif, la production de recommandations se base sur des communautés d'utilisateurs qui sont généralement formées conformément au seul critère de proximité des évaluations des utilisateurs sur les recommandations reçues dans le passé. De plus ces communautés restent généralement implicites. Nous proposons un modèle d'espaces de communautés multicritères et explicites, et des mesures se basant sur la théorie des ensembles d'approximation pour analyser la dépendance entre les critères de formation des communautés. Le modèle d'espaces de communautés permet de diversifier les recommandations qui peuvent émaner de communautés variées. Les mesures permettent de comparer des critères entre eux afin de déterminer une priorité entre les critères dans la tâche d'amélioration du positionnement des utilisateurs dans les communautés

Exploitation des données "disponibles à froid" pour améliorer le démarrage à froid dans les systèmes de filtrage d'information

International audienceDans les systèmes de filtrage d'information, les utilisateurs reçoivent des documents que leur recommande le système sur la base de leurs profils et/ou de leurs communautés, mais le problème du " démarrage à froid " conduit à des performances très pauvres pour les nouveaux utilisateurs. Nous améliorons ici les techniques classiques de démarrage à froid en exploitant les données " disponibles à froid " (par exemple âge, profession, lieu de résidence, etc.) afin d'associer automatiquement les meilleures communautés initiales aux nouveaux utilisateurs. Nous nous appuyons sur le modèle existant des " espaces de communautés ", et nous utilisons un processus de classification par règles et définissons un processus de recommandations par niveau d'accord. L'évaluation montre que cette approche fournit des recommandations meilleures que celles obtenues suite à un processus de démarrage à froid classique

Increasing proportion of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae and emergence of a MCR-1 producer through a multicentric study among hospital-based and private laboratories in Belgium from September to November 2015

Carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE) strains have been increasingly reported in Belgium. We aimed to determine the proportion of CPE among Enterobacteriaceae isolated from hospitalised patients and community outpatients in Belgium in 2015. For the hospitalised patients, the results were compared to a previous similar survey performed in the same hospitals in 2012. Twenty-four hospital-based and 10 private laboratories collected prospectively 200 non-duplicated Enterobacteriaceae isolates from clinical specimens. All isolates were screened locally by carbapenem disk diffusion using European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing methodology. Putative CPE strains with inhibition zone diameters below the screening breakpoints were referred centrally for confirmation of carbapenemase production. From September to November 2015, we found a proportion of clinical CPE of 0.55% (26/4,705) and of 0.60% (12/1,991) among hospitalised patients and among ambulatory outpatients respectively. Klebsiella pneumoniae (26/38) and OXA-48-like carbapenemase (28/38) were the predominant species and enzyme among CPE. One OXA-48-producing Escherichia coli isolated from a hospital was found carrying plasmid-mediated MCR-1 colistin resistance. Compared with the 2012 survey, we found a significant increased proportion of clinical CPE (0.55% in 2015 vs 0.25% in 2012; p = 0.02) and an increased proportion of hospitals (13/24 in 2015 vs 8/24 in 2012) with at least one CPE detected. The study results confirmed the concerning spread of CPE including a colistin-resistant MCR-1 producer in hospitals and the establishment of CPE in the community in Belgium

Synergistic effect of phosphodiesterase 4 inhibitor and serum on migration of endotoxin-stimulated macrophages.

Macrophage migration is an essential step in host defense against infection and wound healing. Elevation of cAMP by inhibiting phosphodiesterase 4 (PDE4), enzymes that specifically degrade cAMP, is known to suppress various inflammatory responses in activated macrophages, but the role of PDE4 in macrophage migration is poorly understood. Here we show that the migration of Raw 264.7 macrophages stimulated with LPS was markedly and dose-dependently induced by the PDE4 inhibitor rolipram as assessed by scratch wound healing assay. Additionally, this response required the involvement of serum in the culture medium as serum starvation abrogated the effect. Further analysis revealed that rolipram and serum exhibited synergistic effect on the migration, and the influence of serum was independent of PDE4 mRNA expression in LPS-stimulated macrophages. Moreover, the enhanced migration by rolipram was mediated by activating cAMP/exchange proteins directly activated by cAMP (Epac) signaling, presumably via interaction with LPS/TLR4 signaling with the participation of unknown serum components. These results suggest that PDE4 inhibitors, together with serum components, may serve as positive regulators of macrophage recruitment for more efficient pathogen clearance and wound repair

Temocillin and piperacillin/tazobactam resistance by disc diffusion as antimicrobial surrogate markers for the detection of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae in geographical areas with a high prevalence of OXA-48 producers

Objectives To assess the performance of the agar disc diffusion method for the detection of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE) referred to the national reference laboratories (NRLs) in Belgium and France. Methods All Enterobacteriaceae isolates referred to the NRLs for the confirmation of CPE in 2012 were included. The inhibition zone diameters of meropenem, piperacillin/tazobactam and temocillin using CLSI disc diffusion methodology were recorded. Phenotypic and molecular detection of carbapenemases was performed on all isolates. Results A total of 1354 Enterobacteriaceae isolates, including 435 (32.1%) confirmed CPE isolates [OXA-48 (n = 323), KPC (n = 60), VIM (n = 32) and NDM (n = 20)] and 919 carbapenemase-negative isolates, were tested. Using recommended interpretative criteria, non-susceptibility to meropenem had poor sensitivity (52.0% by CLSI susceptibility breakpoint and 80.0% by EUCAST screening breakpoints), while non-susceptibility to piperacillin/tazobactam (according to CLSI breakpoint) or to temocillin (according to Fuchs, Barry, Thornsberry et al. Eur J Clin Microbiol 1985; 4: 30-3) was highly sensitive (99.8% and 98.2%, respectively) but poorly specific (29.4% and 42.9%, respectively) for the detection of CPE. Temocillin diameters <12 mm alone had high specificity (90.0%) and the combination of temocillin diameters ≥12 mm with piperacillin/tazobactam diameters ≥16 mm observed in 40% of all referred isolates displayed excellent negative predictive value (99.2%). Conclusions In geographical areas with a high prevalence of OXA-48 producers, recommended meropenem susceptibility or screening breakpoints failed to detect CPE in a large proportion of isolates. The combination of modified zone diameter cut-offs for piperacillin/tazobactam (≥16 mm) and temocillin (≥12 mm) can be used to rule out the presence of carbapenemase and avoid unnecessary additional testing for confirmation of CP

Conflation of reforestation with restoration is widespread.

Across Africa, vast areas of nonforest are threatened by inappropriate restoration in the form of tree planting

The preservation of Māori textiles: Collaboration, research and cultural meaning.

Māori artefacts discovered in 1895 at Puketoi Station, Otago, South Island New Zealand, were re-examined using multiple methods to gather information of relevance and meaning to contemporary Māori culture. This paper discusses aspects of an interdisciplinary project including conservation treatment, plant material identification and examination of textile structure and details of cultural information thus uncovered. One artefact, the pukoro kete, or tutu-berry bag, is used as a case study to illustrate how knowledge uncovered about past material culture in collaboration with traditional owners can influence contemporary cultural practice and aid in affirmation of distinctive cultural identity

Conflation of reforestation with restoration is widespread

The Bonn Challenge was launched by the German government and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in 2011 with the goal of restoring 350 million ha of degraded and deforested landscapes by 2030. Although there is acknowledgment that forest landscape restoration (FLR) promoting tree planting should not cause the loss or conversion of open, nonforested ecosystems (i.e., they should not be afforested) (1), concerns have been raised that the focus on tree-based restoration combined with misclassification of grassy ecosystems could lead to misplaced restoration and destruction of intact, ancient ecosystems (2). Yet, the potential scale of the issue, or whether concerns are playing out in practice, are unknown. To understand the potential scale of tree planting in savannas and grasslands, we examined restoration pledges under the African Forest Restoration Initiative (AFR100) and on-the-ground projects, finding that tree planting is widespread across nonforest systems