La qualité de la formation au-delà d’une logique de conformité

Les démarches qualité aujourd’hui mises en œuvre de façon systématique par beaucoup d’entreprises, visent généralement à assurer la stabilité et la fiabilité des processus de production pour obtenir un produit conforme aux spécifications. Pour ce faire, elles s’appuient sur la formalisation du système de production et des tâches des opérateurs ainsi que sur la mobilisation des hommes. Ces démarches reposent en fait sur un modèle qui conçoit la communication comme un instrument chargé d’assurer le fonctionnement apaisé d’une organisation homogène et rationnelle. Pourtant, la qualité ne peut se réduire à la conformité à des spécificités préétablies. Dans les services, notamment dans le secteur de la formation, la qualité est un construit social, un compromis entre les exigences des différents acteurs qu’elle implique. La formation est un bien immatériel dont la qualité dépend de la coopération des acteurs, et notamment des « clients » qui participent au processus de production. Cet article propose une approche communicationnelle de la qualité fondée sur une conception plus constructiviste de l’organisation.Quality processes nowadays systematically developed by many firms, generally aim at ensuring the stability and the reliability of production processes to realize a product that meets their specified requirements. In order to do so, they necessitate the precise definition of the production system and of the tasks to be performed as well as the mobilization of men. These processes are in fact based on the model that considers communication as an instrument that has to ensure the smooth running of the homogeneous and rational organization. Quality cannot be reduced to the conformity to pre-established specifications. In services, and especially in the sector of training, quality is a social construction, a compromise between requirements of various actors involved in it. Training is an immaterial good whose quality depends on cooperation of the actors and especially of « customers » who are part of the production process. This article suggests a communicational approach of quality founded on a more constructivist conception of organization

Yilcan: yield of illicit indoor cannabis plantations

De Belgische justitie merkt de jongste jaren een aanzienlijke stijging in het aantal in beslag genomen indoor cannabisplantages. De veroordeling van de daders is gebaseerd op de (grote) winsten die met de cannabisteelt en –handel gepaard gaan, maar de justiële autoriteiten hanteren hiervoor verouderde cijfers (28 g cannabis per plant en een verkoopsprijs aan de teler van € 3 per gram). Onderzoek van het Federale Wetenschapsbeleid (BELSPO) in het kader van het onderzoeksprogramma ter ondersteuning van het Belgisch beleid inzake drugs, uitgevoerd door de vakgroep Plantaardige Productie en de Vakgroep Strafrecht en Criminologie (Universiteit Gent) bracht aan het licht dat de opbrengstcijfers beter worden uitgedrukt in g per m² (i.p.v. per plant), dat een betrouwbaar, hedendaags opbrengstcijfer voor een doorsnee cannabisplantage 575 g per m² bedraagt (=48 g per plant bij een dichtheid van 12 planten per m²; en 36 g per plant bij een dichtheid van 16 planten per m²), en dat de verkoopsprijs op telersniveau best wordt opgetrokken tot € 4 per g. De onderzoekers formuleren verder een aantal aanbevelingen voor respectievelijk politie en justitie, die deze onderzoeksresultaten bij toekomstige opsporing en vervolging willen gebruiken

Minimally designed thermo-magnetic dual responsive soft robots for complex applications

The fabrication of thermo-magnetic dual-responsive soft robots often requires intricate designs to implement complex locomotion patterns and utilize the implemented responsive behaviors. This work demonstrates a minimally designed soft robot based on poly-N-isopropylacrylamide (pNIPAM) and ferromagnetic particles, showcasing excellent control over both thermo- and magnetic responses. Free radical polymerization enables the magnetic particles to be entrapped homogeneously within the polymeric network. The integration of magnetic shape programming and temperature response allows the robot to perform various tasks including shaping, locomotion, pick-and-place, and release maneuvers of objects using independent triggers. The robot can be immobilized in a gripping state through magnetic actuation, and a subsequent increase in temperature transitions the robot from a swollen to a collapsed state. The temperature switch enables the robot to maintain a secured configuration while executing other movements via magnetic actuation. This approach offers a straightforward yet effective solution for achieving full control over both stimuli in dual-responsive soft robotics

Towards Demystifying Dimensions of Source Code Embeddings

Source code representations are key in applying machine learning techniques for processing and analyzing programs. A popular approach in representing source code is neural source code embeddings that represents programs with high-dimensional vectors computed by training deep neural networks on a large volume of programs. Although successful, there is little known about the contents of these vectors and their characteristics. In this paper, we present our preliminary results towards better understanding the contents of code2vec neural source code embeddings. In particular, in a small case study, we use the code2vec embeddings to create binary SVM classifiers and compare their performance with the handcrafted features. Our results suggest that the handcrafted features can perform very close to the highly-dimensional code2vec embeddings, and the information gains are more evenly distributed in the code2vec embeddings compared to the handcrafted features. We also find that the code2vec embeddings are more resilient to the removal of dimensions with low information gains than the handcrafted features. We hope our results serve a stepping stone toward principled analysis and evaluation of these code representations.Comment: 1st ACM SIGSOFT International Workshop on Representation Learning for Software Engineering and Program Languages, Co-located with ESEC/FSE (RL+SE&PL'20

The 'At-risk mental state' for psychosis in adolescents : clinical presentation, transition and remission.

Despite increased efforts over the last decade to prospectively identify individuals at ultra-high risk of developing a psychotic illness, limited attention has been specifically directed towards adolescent populations (<18 years). In order to evaluate how those under 18 fulfilling the operationalised criteria for an At-Risk Mental State (ARMS) present and fare over time, we conducted an observational study. Participants (N = 30) generally reported a high degree of functional disability and frequent and distressing perceptual disturbance, mainly in the form of auditory hallucinations. Seventy percent (21/30) were found to fulfil the criteria for a co-morbid ICD-10 listed mental health disorder, with mood (affective; 13/30) disorders being most prevalent. Overall transition rates to psychosis were low at 24 months follow-up (2/28; 7.1 %) whilst many participants demonstrated a significant reduction in psychotic-like symptoms. The generalisation of these findings may be limited due to the small sample size and require replication in a larger sample

Wolf in sheep's clothing : primary lung cancer mimicking benign entities

Lung cancer is the most common cancer worldwide. On imaging, it typically presents as mass or nodule. Recognition of these typical cases is often straightforward, whereas diagnosis of uncommon manifestations of primary lung cancer is far more challenging. Lung cancer can mimic a variety of benign entities, including pneumonia, lung abscess, postinfectious scarring, atelectasis, a mediastinal mass, emphysema and granulomatous diseases. Correlation with previous history, clinical and biochemical parameters is necessary in the assessment of these cases, but often aspecific and inconclusive. Whereas F-18-fluorodeoxyglucose (F-18-FDG) Positron Emission Tomography is the cornerstone in staging of lung cancer, its role in diagnosis of these uncommon manifestations is less straightforward since benign entities can present with increased F-18-FDG-uptake and, on the other hand, a number of these uncommon lung cancer manifestations do not exhibit increased uptake. Chest Computed Tomography (CT) is the imaging modality of choice for both lesion detection and characterization. In this pictorial review we present the wide imaging spectrum of CT-findings as well as radiologic-pathologic correlation of these uncommon lung cancer manifestations. Knowledge of the many faces of lung cancer is crucial for early diagnosis and subsequent treatment. A multidisciplinary approach in these cases is mandatory