C2IEDM for the GIG: A Tutorial

(with Chuck Turnitsa, ODU/VMASC), Spring Simulation Interoperability Workshop, San Diego CA, 3 April 2005Simulation Interoperability Standards Organization (SISO) SIW Conference Pape

Filling the Ontology Space for Coalition Battle Management Language

The Coalition Battle Management Language is a language for representing and exchanging plans, orders, and reports across live, constructive and robotic forces in multi-service, multi-national and multi-organizational operations. Standardization efforts in the Simulation Interoperability Standards Organization seek to define this language through three parallel activities: (1) specify a sufficient data model to unambiguously define a set of orders using the Joint Command, Control, and Consultation Information Exchange Data Model (JC3IEDM) as a starting point; (2) develop a formal grammar (lexicon and production rules) to formalize the definition of orders, requests, and reports; (3) develop a formal battle management ontology to enable conceptual interoperability across software systems. This paper focuses on the third activity, development of a formal battle management ontology, by describing an ontology space for potential technical approaches. An ontology space is a notional three dimensional space with qualitative axes representing: (1) the Ontological Spectrum; (2) the Levels of Conceptual Interoperability Model; and (3) candidate representation sources that can contribute to conceptual interoperability for the Coalition Battle Management Language. The first dimension is the Ontological Spectrum, which shows increasing levels of semantic formalism using various ontology representation artifacts. The second dimension is the Levels of Conceptual Interoperability Model, which describes varying levels of interoperability that can be attained across systems. The third dimension is a survey of likely candidate sources to provide the representation elements required for interoperability. This third dimension will be further described in relation to the artifact capabilities of the second dimension and the conceptual interoperability capabilities of the first dimension to highlight what is possible for ontological representation in C-BML with existing sources, and what needs to be added. The paper identifies requirements for building the ontology artifacts (starting with a controlled vocabulary) for conceptual interoperability, the highest level described in the LCIM, and gives a path ahead for increasingly logical artifacts

Approche vers la synthèse de la ( - )-thiangazole. Approche vers la synthèse de la cyclothiazomycine

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal

Extreme faint flux imaging with an EMCCD

An EMCCD camera, designed from the ground up for extreme faint flux imaging, is presented. CCCP, the CCD Controller for Counting Photons, has been integrated with a CCD97 EMCCD from e2v technologies into a scientific camera at the Laboratoire d'Astrophysique Experimentale (LAE), Universite de Montreal. This new camera achieves sub-electron read-out noise and very low Clock Induced Charge (CIC) levels, which are mandatory for extreme faint flux imaging. It has been characterized in laboratory and used on the Observatoire du Mont Megantic 1.6-m telescope. The performance of the camera is discussed and experimental data with the first scientific data are presented.Comment: 33 pages, 17 figures, accepted for publication in PAS

Conceptual Requirements for Command and Control Languages

The current Coalition Battle Management Language initiative (C-BML) will define a language to unambiguously exchange command and control information between systems. This paper introduces a categorization that may be used to guide the process of developing C-BML effectively by enumerating the conceptual requirements the authors have identified in model-based data engineering and process engineering based studies in various domains. First, it is important to distinguish if application of the language will support the planning, execution, or observation phase of command and control. While C-BML already distinguishes between tasking and reporting, planning is a category with different requirements. Second, the language must be able to express various spatio-temporal constraints, which can be expressed using fixed expressions, relative to each other, or in mixed forms. In addition to the traditional spatio-temporal constraints, operation-specific constraints – or the perception thereof – need to be expressed. Finally, it must be determined if the constraints are used in support of accomplishment-driven objectives or avoidance-driven objectives. While this category seems to be trivial to most human consumers of the language, it has significant implications for systems. The paper introduces the conceptual constraints using examples and evaluates mathematical means provided by discrete structures needed for computation to describe their ability to cope with these challenges

Performance et cheminement scolaires des jeunes d’origine immigrée au Canada : apport actuel et utilisation des banques de données provinciales

La recherche présentée ici concerne la performance et le cheminement scolaires des jeunes Canadiens d’origine immigrée, aux niveaux primaire et secondaire, et porte sur les banques de données recueillies par les ministères de l’Éducation ou les conseils ou commissions scolaires du Québec, de l’Ontario et de la Colombie-Britannique. Son objectif est de réaliser un bilan critique de l’état des données, de contraster les conclusions d’études menées à partir d’elles et d’identifier les lacunes existantes en vue d’un projet pancanadien plus large. Diverses questions pourraient être éclairées par l’une ou l’autre des banques, tels les sous-groupes d’origine immigrée qui devraient recevoir un soutien prioritaire, les moments charnières où se joue leur scolarité, le lien entre la durée du soutien en langue seconde et la performance des élèves allophones, ainsi que la différence des défis vécus dans les écoles de langue française ou de langue anglaise, et dans les métropoles ou en région.The study presented here deals with the academic achievement and educational trajectories of young Canadians of immigrant origin, at the primary and secondary levels, in focusing on databases developed by education departments and school boards or commissions in Québec, Ontario and British Columbia. The aim of the study is to provide a critical assessment of the state of the data, compare the conclusions of studies conducted using these data, and pinpoint existing shortcomings in view of a larger Canada-wide project. These various databases could shed light on a wide range of questions, in helping to identify, for example, the subgroups of immigrant origin that should receive priority support, the crucial turning points in students’ lives, the relation between the duration of second-language support and the performance of allophone students, and the different challenges faced by French-language and English-language schools, in large population centres and in demographically smaller regions

Coalition Battle Management Language (C-BML) Study Group Final Report

Interoperability across Modeling and Simulation (M&S) and Command and Control (C2) systems continues to be a significant problem for today\u27s warfighters. M&S is well-established in military training, but it can be a valuable asset for planning and mission rehearsal if M&S and C2 systems were able to exchange information, plans, and orders more effectively. To better support the warfighter with M&S based capabilities, an open standards-based framework is needed that establishes operational and technical coherence between C2 and M&S systems

Diagnosis, Treatment and Follow Up of Acute Pulmonary Embolism: Consensus Practice from the PERT Consortium

Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a life-threatening condition and a leading cause of morbidity and mortality. There have been many advances in the field of PE in the last few years, requiring a careful assessment of their impact on patient care. However, variations in recommendations by different clinical guidelines, as well as lack of robust clinical trials, make clinical decisions challenging. The Pulmonary Embolism Response Team Consortium is an international association created to advance the diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes of patients with PE. In this consensus practice document, we provide a comprehensive review of the diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up of acute PE, including both clinical data and consensus opinion to provide guidance for clinicians caring for these patients

A step towards personalizing next line therapy for resected pancreatic and related cancer patients: A single institution\u27s experience

Background: There is a lack of precision medicine in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) and related cancers, and outcomes for patients with this diagnosis remain poor despite decades of research investigating this disease. Therefore, it is necessary to explore novel therapeutic options for these patients who may benefit from personalized therapies. Objective: Molecular profiling of hepatopancreaticobiliary malignancies at our institution, including but not limited to PDA, was initiated to assess the feasibility of incorporating molecular profiling results into patient oncological therapy planning. Methods: All eligible patients from Thomas Jefferson University (TJU) with hepatopancreaticobiliary tumors including PDA, who agreed to molecular testing profiling, were prospectively enrolled in a registry study from December 2014 to September 2017 and their tumor samples were tested to identify molecular markers that can be used to guide therapy options in the future. Next generation sequencing (NGS) and protein expression in tumor samples were tested at CLIA-certified laboratories. Prospective clinicopathologic data were extracted from medical records and compiled in a de-identified fashion. Results: Seventy eight (78) patients were enrolled in the study, which included 65/78 patients with PDA (local and metastatic) and out of that subset, 52/65 patients had surgically resected PDA. Therapy recommendations were generated based on molecular and clinicopathologic data for all enrolled patients. NGS uncovered actionable alterations in 25/52 surgically resected PDAs (48%) which could be used to guide therapy options in the future. High expression of three proteins, TS (p = 0.005), ERCC1 (p = 0.001), and PD-1 (p = 0.04), was associated with reduced recurrence-free survival (RFS), while TP53 mutations were correlated with longer RFS (p = 0.01). Conclusions: The goal of this study was to implement a stepwise strategy to identify and profile resected PDAs at our institution. Consistent with previous studies, approximately half of patients with resected PDA harbor actionable mutations with possible targeted therapeutic implications. Ongoing studies will determine the clinical value of identifying these mutations in patients with resected PDA