A semantic web approach for built heritage representation

In a built heritage process, meant as a structured system of activities aimed at the investigation, preservation, and management of architectural heritage, any task accomplished by the several actors involved in it is deeply influenced by the way the knowledge is represented and shared. In the current heritage practice, knowledge representation and management have shown several limitations due to the difficulty of dealing with large amount of extremely heterogeneous data. On this basis, this research aims at extending semantic web approaches and technologies to architectural heritage knowledge management in order to provide an integrated and multidisciplinary representation of the artifact and of the knowledge necessary to support any decision or any intervention and management activity. To this purpose, an ontology-based system, representing the knowledge related to the artifact and its contexts, has been developed through the formalization of domain-specific entities and relationships between them

Observability of dynamical networks from graphic and symbolic approaches

A dynamical network, a graph whose nodes are dynamical systems, is usually characterized by a large dimensional space which is not always accesible due to the impossibility of measuring all the variables spanning the state space. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance to determine a reduced set of variables providing all the required information for non-ambiguously distinguish its different states. Inherited from control theory, one possible approach is based on the use of the observability matrix defined as the Jacobian matrix of the change of coordinates between the original state space and the space reconstructed from the measured variables. The observability of a given system can be accurately assessed by symbolically computing the complexity of the determinant of the observability matrix and quantified by symbolic observability coefficients. In this work, we extend the symbolic observability, previously developed for dynamical systems, to networks made of coupled $d$-dimensional node dynamics ($d>1$). From the observability of the node dynamics, the coupling function between the nodes, and the adjacency matrix, it is indeed possible to construct the observability of a large network with an arbitrary topology.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures made from 12 eps file

Assessment of the efficiency of ozonated water as bacterial contamination reduction tool in a pork cutting plant

The food industry is constantly searching for new tools to reduce bacterial contamination in the plants. In this study we assessed the efficiency of ozonated water as a tool to improve reduction of residual bacterial contamination in a pork cutting plant as a complement of sanitation procedures. First, the effectiveness of the ozonated water was tested on conveyors to reduce residual Salmonella, coliforms and aerobic flora load

Evolution of Salmonella excretion by sows during gestation in link with the faecal microbiome

Pork meat is estimated to be responsible of 10 to 20% of human salmonellosis cases. Control strategies at the farm could reduce contamination at the slaughterhouse. One of the targeted sector of the production is the maternity, where sows could be Salmonella reservoirs. The aim of this study was to characterize the faecal microbiome of sows excreting or not Salmonella during gestation phases. A total of 76 sows were selected and fecal matters were analysed at the beginning or the end of gestation period. Salmonella detection was conducted using a method including two selective enrichment media (MSRV and TBG). Nine (9) isolates per positive samples were collected. Among the 76 sows tested, 31 were shedding Salmonella. The sows in the first third of their gestation shed significantly more frequently Salmonella (22/29) than those in the last third (9/47) (χ² P \u3c 0.05). The shedding status of 19 of the sows that were previously sampled in the first third of their gestation was followed, this time in the last third, confirming reduction of the shedding. Association between changes in the intestinal microbiome and this evolution of Salmonella shedding will be explored. MiSeq sequencing is currently being conducted on the feces to identify shifts in the composition or diversity in the microbial community that could be associated to these variations. A large number of Salmonella isolates that were collected were genotyped by a high resolution melt (HRM) technique. These results showed the presence of a major HRM profile (136 isolates / 169) and two minor profiles (24 and 9 /169)

Evaluation of ozonated water as a microbiological risk mitigation option in pork production

Ozone is an oxidative moleculewith a bactericidal effect. This molecule can be solubilized in water and was proposed as an alternative disinfecting solution to be used in food production plants. Ozone molecule possesses many industrially relevant characteristics, such as the absence of residues following its application, usability at meat industries’ room temperature, and applicability during production activities. The objective of this study was to evaluate the benefits of an ozonated water rinse on the wrapping of meat logs at the entrance of a slicing plant

Laser frequency stabilization by modulation transfer spectroscopy and balanced detection of molecular iodine for laser cooling of 174{}^{174}Yb

We report laser frequency stabilization by the combination of modulation transfer spectroscopy and balanced detection of a relatively weak hyperfine transition of the R(158)25-0 line of molecular iodine (${}^{127}$I$_{2}$), which is used as a new frequency reference for laser trapping and cooling of ${}^{174}$Yb on the $^{1}S_{0} - {}^{3}P_{1}$ transition. The atomic cloud is characterized by time-of-flight measurements, and an on-resonance optical depth of up to 47 is obtained. We show laser noise reduction and characterize the short-term laser frequency instability by the Allan deviation of the laser fractional frequency. The minimum measured value is 3.9 x $10^{-13}$ at 0.17 s of averaging time

Data on distribution and characterization of Listeria monocytogenes strains in a pork slaughter and cutting plant in Quebec support an earlier surveillance in the meat production chain

Listeria monocytogenes is a major public health concern. It has been associated with highly mediatised outbreaks. It was the case in 2008, when an important episode (23 deaths) in Canada showed the need to reinforce the policies to better control Listeria in ready-to-eat products. Improved surveillance in the production plants environment increased the detection levels and represents a challenge for both industries and control agencies

Protein secondary structure assignment revisited: a detailed analysis of different assignment methods

BACKGROUND: A number of methods are now available to perform automatic assignment of periodic secondary structures from atomic coordinates, based on different characteristics of the secondary structures. In general these methods exhibit a broad consensus as to the location of most helix and strand core segments in protein structures. However the termini of the segments are often ill-defined and it is difficult to decide unambiguously which residues at the edge of the segments have to be included. In addition, there is a "twilight zone" where secondary structure segments depart significantly from the idealized models of Pauling and Corey. For these segments, one has to decide whether the observed structural variations are merely distorsions or whether they constitute a break in the secondary structure. METHODS: To address these problems, we have developed a method for secondary structure assignment, called KAKSI. Assignments made by KAKSI are compared with assignments given by DSSP, STRIDE, XTLSSTR, PSEA and SECSTR, as well as secondary structures found in PDB files, on 4 datasets (X-ray structures with different resolution range, NMR structures). RESULTS: A detailed comparison of KAKSI assignments with those of STRIDE and PSEA reveals that KAKSI assigns slightly longer helices and strands than STRIDE in case of one-to-one correspondence between the segments. However, KAKSI tends also to favor the assignment of several short helices when STRIDE and PSEA assign longer, kinked, helices. Helices assigned by KAKSI have geometrical characteristics close to those described in the PDB. They are more linear than helices assigned by other methods. The same tendency to split long segments is observed for strands, although less systematically. We present a number of cases of secondary structure assignments that illustrate this behavior. CONCLUSION: Our method provides valuable assignments which favor the regularity of secondary structure segments