Designing normative open virtual enterprises

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis Group in Enterprise Information Systems on 23/03/2016, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/17517575.2015.1036927.[EN] There is an increasing interest on developing virtual enterprises in order to deal with the globalisation of the economy, the rapid growth of information technologies and the increase of competitiveness. In this paper we deal with the development of normative open virtual enterprises (NOVEs). They are systems with a global objective that are composed of a set of heterogeneous entities and enterprises that exchange services following a specific normative context. In order to analyse and design systems of this kind the multi-agent paradigm seems suitable because it offers a specific solution for supporting the social and contractual relationships between enterprises and for formalising their business processes. This paper presents how the Regulated Open Multiagent systems (ROMAS) methodology, an agent-oriented software methodology, can be used to analyse and design NOVEs. ROMAS offers a complete development process that allows identifying and formalising of the structure of NOVEs, their normative context and the interactions among their members. The use of ROMAS is exemplified by means of a case study that represents an automotive supply chain.This work was partially supported by the projects [PROMETEOII/2013/019], [TIN2012-36586-C03-01], [FP7-29493], [TIN2011-27652-C03-00] and [CSD2007-00022], and the CASES project within the 7th European Community Framework Programme [grant agreement number 294931].Garcia Marques, ME.; Giret Boggino, AS.; Botti Navarro, VJ. (2016). Designing normative open virtual enterprises. Enterprise Information Systems. 10(3):303-324. https://doi.org/10.1080/17517575.2015.1036927S303324103Cardoso, H. L., Urbano, J., Brandão, P., Rocha, A. P., & Oliveira, E. (2012). 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The GB Virus C (GBV-C) NS3 Serine Protease Inhibits HIV-1 Replication in a CD4+ T Lymphocyte Cell Line without Decreasing HIV Receptor Expression

Introduction: Persistent infection with GBV-C (GB Virus C), a non-pathogenic virus related to hepatitis C virus (HCV), prolongs survival in HIV infection. Two GBV-C proteins, NS5A and E2, have been shown previously to inhibit HIV replication in vitro. We investigated whether the GBV-C NS3 serine protease affects HIV replication. Results: GBV-C NS3 protease expressed in a human CD4+ T lymphocyte cell line significantly inhibited HIV replication. Addition of NS4A or NS4A/4B coding sequence to GBV-C NS3 increased the effect on HIV replication. Inhibition of HI

Frequency and genotypic distribution of GB virus C (GBV-C) among Colombian population with Hepatitis B (HBV) or Hepatitis C (HCV) infection

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>GB virus C (GBV-C) is an enveloped positive-sense ssRNA virus belonging to the <it>Flaviviridae </it>family. Studies on the genetic variability of the GBV-C reveals the existence of six genotypes: genotype 1 predominates in West Africa, genotype 2 in Europe and America, genotype 3 in Asia, genotype 4 in Southwest Asia, genotype 5 in South Africa and genotype 6 in Indonesia. The aim of this study was to determine the frequency and genotypic distribution of GBV-C in the Colombian population.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Two groups were analyzed: i) 408 Colombian blood donors infected with HCV (n = 250) and HBV (n = 158) from Bogotá and ii) 99 indigenous people with HBV infection from Leticia, Amazonas. A fragment of 344 bp from the 5' untranslated region (5' UTR) was amplified by nested RT PCR. Viral sequences were genotyped by phylogenetic analysis using reference sequences from each genotype obtained from GenBank (n = 160). Bayesian phylogenetic analyses were conducted using Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) approach to obtain the MCC tree using BEAST v.1.5.3.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Among blood donors, from 158 HBsAg positive samples, eight 5.06% (n = 8) were positive for GBV-C and from 250 anti-HCV positive samples, 3.2%(n = 8) were positive for GBV-C. Also, 7.7% (n = 7) GBV-C positive samples were found among indigenous people from Leticia. A phylogenetic analysis revealed the presence of the following GBV-C genotypes among blood donors: 2a (41.6%), 1 (33.3%), 3 (16.6%) and 2b (8.3%). All genotype 1 sequences were found in co-infection with HBV and 4/5 sequences genotype 2a were found in co-infection with HCV. All sequences from indigenous people from Leticia were classified as genotype 3. The presence of GBV-C infection was not correlated with the sex (p = 0.43), age (p = 0.38) or origin (p = 0.17).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>It was found a high frequency of GBV-C genotype 1 and 2 in blood donors. The presence of genotype 3 in indigenous population was previously reported from Santa Marta region in Colombia and in native people from Venezuela and Bolivia. This fact may be correlated to the ancient movements of Asian people to South America a long time ago.</p

Methodology – A Review of Intelligent Manufacturing Scope, Strategy and Simulation

This paper presents a critical review of some existing modelling, control and optimization techniques for energy saving, carbon emission reduction in manufacturing processes. The study on various production issues reveals different levels of intelligent manufacturing approaches. Then methods and strategies to tackle the sustainability issues in manufacturing are summarized. Modelling tools such as discrete (dynamic) event system (DES/DEDS) and agent-based modelling/simulation (ABS) approaches are reviewed from the production planning and control prospective. These approaches will provide some guidelines for the development of advanced factory modelling, resource flow analysis and assisting the identification of improvement potentials, in order to achieve more sustainable manufacturing

Le niveau de compétences de base peut-il expliquer le déclassement ou le surclassement sur le marché du travail ?

International audienceCet article porte sur le lien entre le déclassement et le surclassement sur le marché du travail et les compétences de base qu'ont pu acquérir les individus au cours de leurs parcours scolaire et professionnel. En observant une certaine hétérogénéité des compétences de base par niveau de diplôme, nous faisons l'hypothèse que ces différences peuvent expliquer les situations de déclassement ou de surclassement. Nos travaux, à partir des données de l'enquête nationale " Information et Vie Quotidienne " (2004), montrent effectivement que les situations de déclassement (surclassement), pour un même niveau de diplôme, peuvent résulter d'un plus faible (fort) niveau de compétences de base, notamment en numératie et dans certains secteurs. Les compétences de base semblent donc être de bons indicateurs de la capacité à être formé dans un emploi et peuvent expliquer la position des individus dans les files d'attente pour accéder aux emplois les plus qualifiés

On LAGOON Nose Landing Gear CFD/CAA Computation over Unstructured Mesh using a ZDES approach

This paper is part of ONERA's effort to compute the noise generation around landing gears, effort that has been shown with studies on a variety of configurations such as the ones included inside the BANC-II (Benchmark problems for Airframe Noise Computations). In this case, the addressed geometry is the LAGOON baseline nose landing gear. On the present computation, a refined unstructured mesh is generated for resolving the boundary layer up to y+ around one. The simulation of the flow was performed using a Zonal Detached Eddy Simulation (ZDES) model, implemented inside ONERA's code CEDRE. The transient data obtained were used as input for a Ffowcs-Williams and Hawkings computation over the skin of the landing gear and on a porous surface around it, which was performed using ONERA's in-house code KIM. Both the aerodynamic and aeroacoustic results are compared with the experimental ones obtained at F2 and CEPRA19 test campaigns. The comparisons obtained show a good agreement in terms of mean field, wall pressure (mean and spectral content) and aeroacoustic far-field measurements

Geochemical Characteristics of the Youngest Volcano (Mount Ross) in the Kerguelen Archipelago: Inferences for Magma Flux, Lithosphere Assimilation and Composition of the Kerguelen Plume

Mount Ross is the youngest, ~1-0.1 Ma, volcanic edifice recognized in the Kerguelen Archipelago, which is located on the northern part of the submarine Kerguelen Plateau. Lava types range from basaltic trachyandesite to trachyte and extensive glaciation has exposed an intrusive core ranging from gabbro to syenite. Mount Ross rocks are not as silica undersaturated as the basanite to phonolite Upper Miocene lavas erupted in the Southeast Province of the archipelago; however, both lava suites are characterized by relatively high 87Sr/86Sr (0.7051-0.7054 and 0.7054-0.7058, respectively) and low 206Pb/204Pb (18.02-18.14 and 18.06-18.27, respectively). The abundant trachytes and phonolites in the age range from Lower Miocene to Pleistocene on the Kerguelen Archipelago indicate that the supply of basaltic magma has been low for the last 20 m.y. Despite the prolonged time period required for extensive mineral fractionation, there is no evidence for assimilation of geochemically distinctive lithosphere; i.e. most of the trachytes and syenites have initial isotopic ratios within the narrow range of the more mafic rocks. Volcanic and plutonic rocks of diverse composition and age (~0.1-30 Ma) in the Kerguelen Archipelago have similar initial isotopic ratios; consequently, we infer that the Kerguelen plume is characterized by 87Sr/86Sr = 0.7051-0.7058, 143Nd/144Nd = 0.51263-0.51249 and 206Pb/204Pb = 18.02-18.27.SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe