Improvement of the Intelligent Tutor by Identifying the Face of the E-Learner's

As part of our project which aims at the realization of a system named ASTEMOI. In this article, we display a new and productive facial image representation based on the Local Sensitive Hash (LSH). This technique makes it possible to recognize the learners who follow their training in our learning platform. Once recognized, the student must be oriented towards an appropriate profile that takes into account his strengths and weaknesses. We also use a light processing module on the client device with a compact code so that we don’t need a lot of bandwidth, a lot of network transmission capacity to send the feature over the network, and to be able to index many pictures in a huge database in the cloud

A sharp-front moving boundary model for malignant invasion

We analyse a novel mathematical model of malignant invasion which takes the form of a two-phase moving boundary problem describing the invasion of a population of malignant cells into a population of background tissue, such as skin. Cells in both populations undergo diffusive migration and logistic proliferation. The interface between the two populations moves according to a two-phase Stefan condition. Unlike many reaction-diffusion models of malignant invasion, the moving boundary model explicitly describes the motion of the sharp front between the cancer and surrounding tissues without needing to introduce degenerate nonlinear diffusion. Numerical simulations suggest the model gives rise to very interesting travelling wave solutions that move with speed $c$, and the model supports both malignant invasion and malignant retreat, where the travelling wave can move in either the positive or negative $x$-directions. Unlike the well-studied Fisher-Kolmogorov and Porous-Fisher models where travelling waves move with a minimum wave speed $c \ge c^* > 0$, the moving boundary model leads to travelling wave solutions with $|c| < c^{**}$. We interpret these travelling wave solutions in the phase plane and show that they are associated with several features of the classical Fisher-Kolmogorov phase plane that are often disregarded as being nonphysical. We show, numerically, that the phase plane analysis compares well with long time solutions from the full partial differential equation model as well as providing accurate perturbation approximations for the shape of the travelling waves.Comment: 48 pages, 21 figure

From Sectation to Nation

A sectation is a country consisting of individual parts with disparate identities. Lebanon is classified as such because of the sectarianism that emerged out of the confessional political system’s emphasis on sect and religious affiliation. My work attempts to find a potential solution to the division in the country. It includes: First, an analysis of the history of Lebanon in order to find instances where confessional politics actually induced sectarianism. Second, the use of the Qur’an and political Islamist thinkers to explain how the establishment of an Islamic government may help move Lebanon towards nation. Third, an examination of the present-day Islamic government in Egypt headed by President Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood to illustrate the need for the complete espousal of the current regime to achieve renewal rather than regression. The total abolition of the confessional political system can set the country on the path to renewal. And an Islamic government is a viable alternative, a way out, and an opportunity to transform Lebanon into a nation: a community with a common identity

Clay and Clay Minerals: A Detailed Review

In this study, we focused on the presentation of clay minerals, their conditions of formation and their different categories. We also reported the importance of purification in removing impurities and the responses induced by heat treatment of these minerals. Techniques used to detect clay minerals are also exposed. On the other hand, the mineralogical, physicochemical and thermal properties have a direct impact on the field of use of these minerals. These properties differ from one mineral to another, depending on the structure and chemical composition. Moreover, the remarkable properties of smectites make these minerals the most preferred for the industry and also in the environmental field. Due to their brilliant firing properties, illites are suitable for the construction industry. Moreover, the purification by acids (acetic acid and HCl) allows the removal of most associated minerals, and thus a secure access to the clays' characteristics and a very strong sensitization even to the small variation. Finally, the ethylene glycol (EG) swelling test only affects the basal distance of smectites, increasing this distance to 17 Å, but heating to 500°C destroys kaolinite, and closes the basal distance of smectites and vermiculites to 10 Å. Illites and chlorites show no response to these two treatments (EG, heating to 500°C)

Adsorption of the Polymer on a Clay Matrix : Theoretical Study

Adsorption of polymers is a phenomenon of great importance in a number of areas of our daily life. However, understanding this phenomenon is essential. In the present work, we are interested in the theoretical study of the adsorption phenomenon of the polymer on the sheets of a clay matrix. We have presented the different adsorption regimes encountered as well as the expressions of the surface coverage rate as a function of the volume fraction of monomer for each case. A strong adsorption was noted for the first two regimes (diluted on the surface, and semi-diluted two-dimensional on the surface) confirmed by the exponential term, and when the surface is saturated we meet the plateau regime for which the adsorption varies so logarithmic due to the occupation of most of the sites available on the surface of the clay. Finally, we presented the variation of the volume fraction as a function of z (axis perpendicular to the surface), which helps to estimate the thickness of the layer adsorbed on the surface

Analyse transcriptomique et applications en développement préclinique des médicaments

L’émergence des Mégadonnées (« Big Data ») en biologie moléculaire, surtout à travers la transcriptomique, a révolutionné la façon dont nous étudions diverses disciplines telles que le processus de développement du médicament ou la recherche sur le cancer. Ceci fut associé à un nouveau concept, la médecine de précision, dont le principal but est de comprendre les mécanismes moléculaires entraînant une meilleure réponse thérapeutique chez le patient. Cette thèse est à mi-chemin entre les études pharmaco — et toxicogénomiques expérimentales, et les études cliniques et translationnelles. Le but de cette thèse est surtout de montrer le potentiel et les limites de ces jeux de données et leur pertinence pour la découverte de biomarqueurs de réponse ainsi que la compréhension des mécanismes d’action/toxicité de médicaments, en vue d’utiliser ces informations à des fins thérapeutiques. L’originalité de cette thèse réside dans son approche globale pour analyser les plus larges jeux de données pharmaco/toxicogénomiques publiés à ce jour et ceci pour : 1) Aborder la notion de biomarqueurs de réponse aux médicaments en pharmacogénomique du cancer, en étudiant les facteurs discordants entre deux grandes études publiées en 2012; 2) Comprendre le mécanisme d’action des médicaments et construire une taxonomie performante en utilisant une approche intégrative; et 3) Créer un répertoire toxicogénomique à partir des hépatocytes humains, exposés à différentes classes de médicaments et composés chimiques. Mes contributions principales sont les suivantes : • J’ai développé une approche bioinformatique pour étudier les facteurs discordants entre deux grandes études pharmacogénomiques et suggérées que les différences observées émergeaient plutôt de l’absence de standardisation des mesures pharmacologiques qui pourrait limiter la validation de biomarqueurs de réponse aux médicaments. • J’ai implémenté une approche bioinformatique qui montre la supériorité de l’intégration tenant en compte des différents paramètres pour les médicaments (structure, cytotoxicité, perturbation du transcriptome) afin d’élucider leur mécanisme d’action (MoA). • J’ai développé un pipeline bioinformatique pour étudier le niveau de conservation des mécanismes moléculaires entre les études toxicogénomiques in vivo et in vitro démontrant que les hépatocytes humains sont un modèle fiable pour détecter les produits toxiques hépatocarcinogènes. Au total, nos études ont permis de fournir un cadre de travail original pour l’exploitation de différents types de données transcriptomiques pour comprendre l’impact des produits chimiques sur la biologie cellulaire.The emergence of Big Data in molecular biology, especially through the study of transcriptomics, has revolutionized the way we look at various disciplines, such as drug development and cancer research. Big data analysis is an important part of the concept of precision medicine, which primary purpose is to understand the molecular mechanisms leading to better therapeutic response in patients. This thesis is halfway between pharmaco-toxicogenomics experimental studies, and clinical and translational studies. The aim of this thesis is mainly to show the potential and limitations of these studies and their relevance, especially for the discovery of drug response biomarkers and understanding the drug mechanisms (targets, toxicities). This thesis is an original work since it proposes a global approach to analyzing the largest pharmaco-toxicogenomic datasets available to date. The key aims were: 1) Addressing the challenge of reproducibility for biomarker discovery in cancer pharmacogenomics, by comparing two large pharmacogenomics studies published in 2012; 2) Understanding drugs mechanism of action using an integrative approach to generate a superior drug-taxonomy; and 3) Evaluating the conservation of toxicogenomic responses in primary hepatocytes vs. in vivo liver samples in order to check the feasability of cell models in toxicology studies. My main contributions can be summarized as follow: - I developed a bioinformatics pipeline to study the factors that trigger (in)consistency between two major pharmacogenomic studies. I suggested that the observed differences emerged from the non-standardization of pharmacological measurements, which could limit the validation of drug response biomarker. - I implemented a bioinformatics pipeline that demonstrated the superiority of the integrative approach, since it takes into account different parameters for the drug (structure, cytotoxicity, transcriptional perturbation) to elucidate the mechanism of action (MoA). - I developed a bioinformatics pipeline to study the level of conservation of toxicity mechanisms between the in vivo and in vitro system, showing that human hepatocytes is a reliable model for hepatocarcinogens testing. Overall, our studies have provided a unique framework to leverage various types of transcriptomic data in order to understand the impact of chemicals on cell biology

An Ontology-Driven Sociomedical Web 3.0 Framework

Web 3.0, the web of social and semantic cooperation, calls for a methodological multidisciplinary architecture in order to reach its mainstream objectives. With the lack of such an architecture and the reliance of existing efforts on lightweight semantics and RDF graphs, this thesis proposes "Web3.OWL", an ontology-driven framework towards a Web 3.0 knowledge architecture. Meanwhile, the online social parenting data and their corresponding websites users known as "mommy bloggers" undergo one of the fastest online demographics growth, and the available literature reflects the very little attention this growth has so far been given and the various deficiencies the parenting domain suffers from; these deficiencies all fall under the umbrella of the scarcity of parenting sociomedical analysis and decision-support systems. The Web3.OWL framework puts forward an approach that relies on the Meta-Object Facility for Semantics standard (SMOF) for the management of its modeled OWL (Web Ontology Language) expressive domain ontologies on the one hand, and the coordination of its various underlined Web 3.0 prerequisite disciplines on the other. Setting off with a holistic portrayal of Web3.OWL’s components and workflow, the thesis progresses into a more analytic exploration of its main paradigms. Out of its different ontology-aware paradigms are notably highlighted both its methodology for expressiveness handling through modularization and projection techniques and algorithms, and its facilities for tagging inference, suggestion and processing. Web3.OWL, albeit generic by conception, proves its efficiency in solving the deficiencies and meeting the requirements of the sociomedical domain of interest. Its conceived ontology for parenting analysis and surveillance, baptised "ParOnt", strongly contributes to the backbone metamodel and the various constituents of this ontology-driven framework. Accordingly, as the workflow revolves around Description Logics principles, OWL 2 profiles along with standard and beyond-standard reasoning techniques, conducted experiments and competency questions are illustrated, thus establishing the required Web 3.0 outcomes. The empirical results of the diverse preliminary decision-support and recommendation services targeting parenting public awareness, orientation and education do ascertain, in conclusion, the value and potentials of the proposed conceptual framework