Identification with iterative nearest neighbors using domain knowledge

A new iterative and interactive algorithm called CSN (Classification by Successive Neighborhood) to be used in a complex descriptive objects identification approach is presented. Complex objects are those designed by experts within a knowledge base to describe taxa (monography species) and also real organisms (collection specimens). The algorithm consists of neighborhoods computations from an incremental basis of characters using a dissimilarity function which takes into account structures and values of the objects. A discriminant power function is combined with domain knowledge on the features set at each iteration. It is shown that CSN consistently outperforms methods such as identification trees and simplifies interactive classification processes comparatively to search for K-Nearest-Neighbors method

Learning, Identifying, Sharing

This article argues that a cooperatively-built, well-organized, shared knowledge base is a new – and, from certain viewpoints, optimal – kind of support (refining and integrating other kinds of supports) for three complementary tasks: learning about living entities (and how to identify them), supporting their identification, and sharing knowledge about them. This article gives the ideas behind our prototype, and argues that knowledge providers can be not solely specialists, but also amateurs. In essence, for these three tasks, it argues for the (re-)use of much more semantically organized and interconnected versions of semantic wikis or scratchpads

Postoje k jazyku v preskriptivních gramatikách v době racionalismu

Tato práce se zabývá formováním názorů na jazyk v rámci standardizace angličtiny v osmnátém století. Cílem práce je ukázat, že nástup preskriptivních gramatik byl podmíněn určitými ideologickými předpoklady o povaze jazyka a jistými procesy ve společnosti a že porozumění tomuto ideovému a historickému pozadí je klíčové pro interpretaci těchto gramatik. První kapitola se zabývá zkoumáním tzv. návrhů na projekt anglické akademie. Ukazuje se, že tyto návrhy prezentovaly a šířily myšlenky, které tvoří základ preskriptivního náhledu na jazyk a že tedy byly nezbytnou předehrou pro rozmach preskriptivistické ideologie v pozdějších dekádách osmnáctého století. Druhá kapitola pojednává o důsledcích snahy nově vznikajících silných středních vrstev o sociální sebe-identifikaci. Ukazuje se, jak důležitou roli hrál v tomto procesu jazyk a jak touha vyrovnat se vyšším vrstvám vyústila v nebývalou poptávku po jazykové kodifikaci a ovlivnila její podobu. V poslední kapitole se za využití poznatků z druhé kapitoly zkoumá povaha normy preskriptivních gramatik a ukazuje se, že byla založena na úzu vyšších společenských vrstev. Dále se dokazuje na příkladech Lowtha a Priestleyho, že gramatiky tohoto období nelze v posledku označit jako preskriptivní či jako deskriptivní, protože obsahují jak deskriptivní tak preskriptivní...This thesis concerns itself with the formation of the attitudes to language in the course of the standardization of the English language in the eighteenth century. It is the aim of this thesis to show that the rise of the prescriptive grammars was caused by certain ideological presumptions about the nature of language and by certain social processes and that the understanding of the ideological and historical background is crucial for the interpretation of these grammars. The first chapter discusses the proposals for the English academy. It is shown that these proposals presented and propagated the ideas that formed the basis of the prescriptive attitude to language and that they, therefore, represent the essential prelude for the flowering of the prescriptive ideology in the later decades of the eighteenth century. The second chapter deals with the consequences of the effort of the strong rising middle classes for the social selfidentification. It is shown that language played an important role in this process and that the desire of reaching the standard of the upper classes caused an unprecedented demand after the language codification and influenced its shape. In the last chapter, the nature of the norm of the prescriptive grammars is examined and it is argued that it was based on the usage of the upper...Department of the English Language and ELT MethodologyÚstav anglického jazyka a didaktikyFaculty of ArtsFilozofická fakult

Two identification tools applied on Mascarene’s corals genera (Xper2) and species (IKBS)

For future biodiversity studies relying on species identification, environmental officers and researchers will only be left with monographic descriptions and collections in museums. This is why a knowledge base on the zooxanthellate scleractinian corals of the Mascarene Archipelago is being developed. This project offers results for both biologists/taxonomists and students or MPA-teams. Two online computer-based applications permit to identify genera and species. The first identification tool, called Xper², was developed by LIS (Informatic and Systematics Laboratory) in Paris, and is used for identifications to genera. The second tool, named IKBS (Iterative Knowledge Base System), was developed by IREMIA (Institute for Research in Applied Mathematics and Computer Science) in La Réunion, and is used for identifications from families to species. The tools presently work for Astrocoeniidae, Pocilloporidae, Acroporidae (only Acropora + Isopora), Psammocoridae, Siderastreidae (owns Psammocoridae as genera), Fungiidae, Poritidae, Faviidae Faviinae, Faviidae Montastreinae, Mussidae. We plan to start a new phase to add the last families, fully translate the web site in English and extend the Xper² identification to all the western Indian Ocean genera

Jamming transitions in cancer

The traditional picture of tissues, where they are treated as liquids defined by properties such as surface tension or viscosity has been redefined during the last few decades by the more fundamental question: under which conditions do tissues display liquid-like or solid-like behaviour? As a result, basic concepts arising from the treatment of tissues as solid matter, such as cellular jamming and glassy tissues, have shifted into the current focus of biophysical research. Here, we review recent works examining the phase states of tissue with an emphasis on jamming transitions in cancer. When metastasis occurs, cells gain the ability to leave the primary tumour and infiltrate other parts of the body. Recent studies have shown that a linkage between an unjamming transition and tumour progression indeed exists, which could be of importance when designing surgery and treatment approaches for cancer patient

Type IV Pili Can Mediate Bacterial Motility within Epithelial Cells.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is among bacterial pathogens capable of twitching motility, a form of surface-associated movement dependent on type IV pili (T4P). Previously, we showed that T4P and twitching were required for P. aeruginosa to cause disease in a murine model of corneal infection, to traverse human corneal epithelial multilayers, and to efficiently exit invaded epithelial cells. Here, we used live wide-field fluorescent imaging combined with quantitative image analysis to explore how twitching contributes to epithelial cell egress. Results using time-lapse imaging of cells infected with wild-type PAO1 showed that cytoplasmic bacteria slowly disseminated throughout the cytosol at a median speed of >0.05 μm s-1 while dividing intracellularly. Similar results were obtained with flagellin (fliC) and flagellum assembly (flhA) mutants, thereby excluding swimming, swarming, and sliding as mechanisms. In contrast, pilA mutants (lacking T4P) and pilT mutants (twitching motility defective) appeared stationary and accumulated in expanding aggregates during intracellular division. Transmission electron microscopy confirmed that these mutants were not trapped within membrane-bound cytosolic compartments. For the wild type, dissemination in the cytosol was not prevented by the depolymerization of actin filaments using latrunculin A and/or the disruption of microtubules using nocodazole. Together, these findings illustrate a novel form of intracellular bacterial motility differing from previously described mechanisms in being directly driven by bacterial motility appendages (T4P) and not depending on polymerized host actin or microtubules.IMPORTANCE Host cell invasion can contribute to disease pathogenesis by the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa Previously, we showed that the type III secretion system (T3SS) of invasive P. aeruginosa strains modulates cell entry and subsequent escape from vacuolar trafficking to host lysosomes. However, we also showed that mutants lacking either type IV pili (T4P) or T4P-dependent twitching motility (i) were defective in traversing cell multilayers, (ii) caused less pathology in vivo, and (iii) had a reduced capacity to exit invaded cells. Here, we report that after vacuolar escape, intracellular P. aeruginosa can use T4P-dependent twitching motility to disseminate throughout the host cell cytoplasm. We further show that this strategy for intracellular dissemination does not depend on flagellin and resists both host actin and host microtubule disruption. This differs from mechanisms used by previously studied pathogens that utilize either host actin or microtubules for intracellular dissemination independently of microbe motility appendages

Use of Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs That Elevate Cardiovascular Risk: An Examination of Sales and Essential Medicines Lists in Low-, Middle-, and High-Income Countries

PMCID: PMC3570554This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

NLRP3 and ASC suppress lupus-like autoimmunity by driving the immunosuppressive effects of TGF-beta receptor signalling

Objectives: The NLRP3/ASC inflammasome drives host defence and autoinflammatory disorders by activating caspase-1 to trigger the secretion of mature interleukin (IL)-1β/IL-18, but its potential role in autoimmunity is speculative. Methods: We generated and phenotyped Nlrp3-deficient, Asc-deficient, Il-1r-deficient and Il-18-deficient C57BL/6-lpr/lpr mice, the latter being a mild model of spontaneous lupus-like autoimmunity. Results: While lack of IL-1R or IL-18 did not affect the C57BL/6-lpr/lpr phenotype, lack of NLRP3 or ASC triggered massive lymphoproliferation, lung T cell infiltrates and severe proliferative lupus nephritis within 6 months, which were all absent in age-matched C57BL/6-lpr/lpr controls. Lack of NLRP3 or ASC increased dendritic cell and macrophage activation, the expression of numerous proinflammatory mediators, lymphocyte necrosis and the expansion of most T cell and B cell subsets. In contrast, plasma cells and autoantibody production were hardly affected. This unexpected immunosuppressive effect of NLRP3 and ASC may relate to their known role in SMAD2/3 phosphorylation during tumour growth factor (TGF)-β receptor signalling, for example, Nlrp3-deficiency and Asc-deficiency significantly suppressed the expression of numerous TGF-β target genes in C57BL/6-lpr/lpr mice and partially recapitulated the known autoimmune phenotype of Tgf-β1-deficient mice. Conclusions: These data identify a novel non-canonical immunoregulatory function of NLRP3 and ASC in autoimmunity