471 research outputs found
How to Finance the Security of the International Trade ? A Global Public Good Approach
The aim of this article is to identify the modalities of financing international trade security. Our analysis is more specifically oriented by the issue of financing the developing countries which must make a considerable effort to attain the required level, whereas the developed countries have already largely invested in trade security since the events of 11th September 2001. We first characterise security in the context of a global public good, before studying the financing conditions and the discriminating criteria of the supply of the global public good security. We then presents a critical analysis of the various possible sources and instruments for financing the global public good security and propose different financing scenarios, each one based on a specific allocation of responsibilities among the players in security. We conclude by considering the role of the international institutions as project managers of the financing and implementation of the security of international trade.international, financing, global public goods, international trade, security
Le financement de la sécurisation du commerce international pour les pays en développement - une approche en termes de bien public mondial -
The aim of this article is to identify the modalities of financing international trade security. Our analysis is more specifically oriented by the issue of financing the developing countries which must make a considerable effort to attain the required level, whereas the developed countries have already largely invested in trade security since the events of 11th September 2001. We first characterise security in the context of a global public good, before studying the financing conditions and the discriminating criteria of the supply of the global public good security. We then presents a critical analysis of the various possible sources and instruments for financing the global public good security and propose different financing scenarios, each one based on a specific allocation of responsibilities among the players in security. We conclude by considering the role of the international institutions as project managers of the financing and implementation of the security of international trade.WCO., international institutions, financing, global public goods, international trade, security
Towards Experience Management for Very Small Entities
International audienceThe ISO/IEC 29110 standard: Lifecycle profiles for Very Small Entities, provides several Process Reference Models applicable to the vast majority of very small entities (defined by the ISO as "an entity (enterprise, organization, department or project) having up to 25 people") which do not develop critical software and share typical situational factors. An ISO/IEC 29110 pilot project has been established between the Software Engineering group at Brest University and a 14-employee company with the aim of establishing an engineering discipline for a new Web-based project. As the project proceeded, it became apparent that setting up the ISO/IEC 29110 standard has to be performed in two steps: 1) provide self-training materials to the VSE employees on this new standard; and 2) support good practices with a simple Experience Management system which is compatible with the ISO/IEC 29110 standard. This paper reports the lessons learned about training from the pilot project, and addresses the research issues associated with the Experience Management system
Experience Management for Very Small Entities: Improving the Copy-paste Model
International audienceThe emerging ISO/IEC 29110 standard Lifecycle profiles for Very Small Entities is developing a "Generic" profile group applicable to a vast majority of very small entities (enterprises, organizations, departments or projects) having up to 25 people, that do not develop critical software and have typical situational factors. The developers of the standard, ISO/IEC JCT1/SC7 Working Group 24, recommended the use of pilot projects as a mean to trial the adoption of the new International standard in small organizations. Accordingly an ISO/IEC 29110 pilot project has been established between the Software Engineering group of Brest University and a 14-person company with the aim of establishing an engineering discipline for a new web-based project. As the project proceeded, it became apparent that the current set of ISO/IEC 29110 documents describing a first profile, the Basic profile, was not sufficient to sustain this VSE in its SE activities. What was needed was to organize the knowledge contained in them. The results of this pilot study are providing VSEs with a simple Experience Management system which is compatible with the emerging ISO/IEC 29110 standard. It is founded on two principles: 1) keeping the Content Management System-based Experience Management infrastructure as simple as possible, structured with the decomposition of the ISO/IEC 29110 processes; and 2) the requirement of Experience Management dedicated processes, taken from D. Schon's work on the reflection-on-action approach to learning
Un assistant de mémoire pour les très petits projets d'ingénierie du logiciel
International audienceNous proposons d'assister la mémoire des très petits projets d'ingénierie du logiciel avec une infrastructure la plus simple possible (un wiki sémantique) et des activités de gestion de connaissances intégrées dans deux processus issus de la norme ISO/IEC 29110, la gestion de projet (Project Management) et l'implémentation du logiciel (Software Implementation). L'enregistrement, la réutilisation, la recherche et le partage de connaissances sont facilités par l'emploi d'un noyau ontologique basé sur le modèle de référence CIDOC CRM, enrichi par la modélisation du domaine de la norme 29110
Static Segmentations in Dynamic PET Images: The need for a new method
The Task Group 211 report of the American Association of Physicists in
Medicine (AAPM) reviewed static segmentation techniques in nuclear
positronemission tomography (PET) imaging used in nuclear medicine. These
methods, when applied to a dynamic image, such as the ones obtained in
pharmacokinetic analyses, fail to take into account the dynamic nature of the
acquisitions. In this article, the leading hypothesis was that a static
segmentation was not adequate in even the simplest dynamic PET images. To put
this idea forward, a simple dynamic PET phantom was devised. Many dynamic
acquisitions were obtained using FDG. To analyze them, different static
segmentations were performed on each timeframe. These were followed by
quantitative analyses to determine whether the segmentations were consistant
between various timeframes of reference. The quantitative analytical tools used
were the S{\o}rensen-Dice coefficients, the overlapping of the time-activity
curves (TACs), and the pharmacokinetic parameters extracted from the images
using the Dynesty Python package. In order to perform some of the analyses, an
uncertainty had to be added to the TACs themselves: to do so, the individual
segmentations were spatially displaced to estimate the sensibility of the TAC
to the underlying segmentation. Using these analytical tools, we propose that
static segmentations are not sufficient tools for segmenting dynamic images in
a nuclear medicine context. The specific case of pharmacokinetic modelling is
used to exemplify this idea. Further work could include a method of estimating
uncertainties on segmentations or a novel method for dynamic segmentations in
dynamic PET images.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figure
FALCON: a concept to extend adaptive optics corrections to cosmological fields
FALCON is an original concept for a next generation spectrograph at ESO VLT
or at future ELTs. It is a spectrograph including multiple small integral field
units (IFUs) which can be deployed within a large field of view such as that of
VLT/GIRAFFE. In FALCON, each IFU features an adaptive optics correction using
off-axis natural reference stars in order to combine, in the 0.8-1.8 \mu m
wavelength range, spatial and spectral resolutions (0.1-0.15 arcsec and
R=10000+/-5000). These conditions are ideally suited for distant galaxy
studies, which should be done within fields of view larger than the galaxy
clustering scales (4-9 Mpc), i.e. foV > 100 arcmin2. Instead of compensating
the whole field, the adaptive correction will be performed locally on each IFU.
This implies to use small miniaturized devices both for adaptive optics
correction and wavefront sensing. Applications to high latitude fields imply to
use atmospheric tomography because the stars required for wavefront sensing
will be in most of the cases far outside the isoplanatic patch.Comment: To appear in the Backaskog "Second Workshop on ELT" SPIE proceeding
Un assistant de mémoire pour les très petits projets d’ingénierie du logiciel
Nous proposons d’assister la mémoire des très petits projets d’ingénierie du logiciel avec une infrastructure la plus simple possible (un wiki sémantique) et des activités de gestion de connaissances intégrées dans deux processus issus de la norme ISO/IEC 29110, la gestion de projet et l’implémentation du logiciel. L’enregistrement, la réutilisation, la recherche et le partage de connaissances sont facilités par l’emploi d’un noyau ontologique basé sur le modèle de référence CIDOC CRM, enrichi par la modélisation du domaine de la norme 29110.We propose assisting the memory of very small software engineering projects thanks to an infrastructure kept as simple as possible (a semantic wiki) as well as knowledge management activities integrated into two  ISO/IEC 29110 standard processes, namely Project Management and Software Implementation. The recording, re-using, researching, and sharing of knowledge are facilitated by the use of an ontological core based on the CIDOC CRM and enhanced by the domain modeling of the 29110 standard
Impact of Agriculture on the Selection of Insecticide Resistance in the Malaria Vector Anopheles gambiae : A Multigenerational Study in Controlled Conditions.
Resistance of mosquitoes to insecticides is mainly attributed to their adaptation to vector control interventions. Although pesticides used in agriculture have been frequently mentioned as an additional force driving the selection of resistance, only a few studies were dedicated to validate this hypothesis and characterise the underlying mechanisms. While insecticide resistance is rising dramatically in Africa, deciphering how agriculture affects resistance is crucial for improving resistance management strategies. In this context, the multigenerational effect of agricultural pollutants on the selection of insecticide resistance was examined in Anopheles gambiae. An urban Tanzanian An. gambiae population displaying a low resistance level was used as a parental strain for a selection experiment across 20 generations. At each generation larvae were selected with a mixture containing pesticides and herbicides classically used in agriculture in Africa. The resistance levels of adults to deltamethrin, DDT and bendiocarb were compared between the selected and non-selected strains across the selection process together with the frequency of kdr mutations. A microarray approach was used for pinpointing transcription level variations selected by the agricultural pesticide mixture at the adult stage. A gradual increase of adult resistance to all insecticides was observed across the selection process. The frequency of the L1014S kdr mutation rose from 1.6% to 12.5% after 20 generations of selection. Microarray analysis identified 90 transcripts over-transcribed in the selected strain as compared to the parental and the non-selected strains. Genes encoding cuticle proteins, detoxification enzymes, proteins linked to neurotransmitter activity and transcription regulators were mainly affected. RT-qPCR transcription profiling of candidate genes across multiple generations supported their link with insecticide resistance. This study confirms the potency of agriculture in selecting for insecticide resistance in malaria vectors. We demonstrated that the recurrent exposure of larvae to agricultural pollutants can select for resistance mechanisms to vector control insecticides at the adult stage. Our data suggest that in addition to selected target-site resistance mutations, agricultural pollutants may also favor cuticle, metabolic and synaptic transmission-based resistance mechanisms. These results emphasize the need for integrated resistance management strategies taking into account agriculture activities
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