Utiliser les liens pour adapter les moteurs de recherche aux spécificités du WEB

International audienceLe WEB, hypertexte mondial, nécessite l'utilisation de moteurs de recherche pour retrouver l'information. Actuellement la notion de page WEB est communément utilisée comme atome d'information retourné à l'utilisateur. Les liens entre pages sont très peu utilisés pour améliorer la qualité des réponses. Nous proposons brièvement une utilisation simple des liens dans les pages WEB, et un niveau d'indexation indépendant de la page WEB, considérée comme granularité physique

Quran-burning 2023: Wake-up call for an "International Declaration for Respect toward Islam and its Symbols"

Koran verbrannt, keine Reaktion?! Als wäre es inzwischen ein normales Ereignis geworden, scheint die kriminelle Tat des Koranverbrennens ohne erwähnenswerte Reaktion in der westlichen Welt hin—bzw. angenommen zu sein. Doch bleiben viele unvermeidliche Fragen offen und keiner traut sich, diese zu stellen: Tragen auch Fachleute, die mit dem Islam und/oder dem Koran zu tun haben, auf eine gewisse Weise einen Teil der Verantwortung mit? Die Indifferenz und die doppelten Standards der westlichen Welt auf der politischen und medialen Ebene befreien Akademiker und Forscher meines Erachtens keineswegs von der ethischen Pflicht, sich mit vielen harten aber lange verschwiegenen notwendigen Fragen auseinanderzusetzen. Ist es nicht Zeit, eine klare Antwort auch auf islamophobe Hassprediger zu geben? Wäre eine Art “Internationale Erklärung zum Respekt des Islam und seiner Symbole” nicht sehr sinnvoll? Dieser Bescheidene Beitrag versucht diesem Traum näher zu kommen, stellt einen Entwurf für einen solche Erklärung dar und lädt alle Akademiker ein, die sich auch als Friedensanhänger identifizieren, sich zumindest darüber Gedanken zu machen und dieses Thema auch in der Wissenschaft zu diskutieren. Es ist eine Einladung an objektive Geister, eine selbstkritische wissenschaftliche Reflexion zu wagen. Das ist meines Erachtens der beste Beitrag, den die Gelehrtenwelt für die Pflege grundsätzlicher ethischer Weltwerte leisten können. Der Respekt gegenüber Islam und Koran sollte endlich auch als einer dieser Grundwerte verstanden u. wahrgenommen werden.Quran burned, no reaction?! As if it had become a normal occurrence in the meantime, the criminal act of burning the Quran seems to have been accepted without any noteworthy reaction in the Western world. But many unavoidable questions remain unanswered and no one dares to ask them: Do experts who have to do with Islam and/or the Quran also share some of the responsibility in a certain way? In my opinion, the indifference and the double standards of the Western world, as manifested in politics and media, do not exempt academics and researchers from the ethical duty to deal with many hard but long-concealed necessary questions. Isn't it time to give a clear answer to Islamophobic hate preachers? Wouldn't a kind of "International Declaration on the Respect of Islam and its Symbols“ make sense? This modest work tries to get closer to this dream, represents a draft for such a declaration, and invites all academics, who also identify themselves as peacekeepers, at least to think about it and to discuss this topic in scientific and academic frameworks. It is an invitation to objective minds to dare a self-critical scientific reflection about their vision of Islam and Muslims. In my opinion, this is the best contribution that scholars around the world could make to the protection of fundamental ethical world values. Respect for Islam and the Quran should finally be understood and perceived as one of these basic universal VALUES

Koran-Verbrennung 2023: Weck- und Aufruf zu einer „Internationalen Erklärung zum Respekt gegenüber dem Islam und seiner Symbole“

Koran verbrannt, keine Reaktion?! Als wäre es inzwischen ein normales Ereignis geworden, scheint die kriminelle Tat des Koranverbrennens ohne erwähnenswerte Reaktion in der westlichen Welt hin—bzw. angenommen zu sein. Doch bleiben viele unvermeidliche Fragen offen und keiner traut sich, diese zu stellen: Tragen auch Fachleute, die mit dem Islam und/oder dem Koran zu tun haben, auf eine gewisse Weise einen Teil der Verantwortung mit? Die Indifferenz und die doppelten Standards der westlichen Welt auf der politischen und medialen Ebene befreien Akademiker und Forscher meines Erachtens keineswegs von der ethischen Pflicht, sich mit vielen harten aber lange verschwiegenen notwendigen Fragen auseinanderzusetzen. Ist es nicht Zeit, eine klare Antwort auch auf islamophobe Hassprediger zu geben? Wäre eine Art “Internationale Erklärung zum Respekt des Islam und seiner Symbole” nicht sehr sinnvoll? Dieser Bescheidene Beitrag versucht diesem Traum näher zu kommen, stellt einen Entwurf für einen solche Erklärung dar und lädt alle Akademiker ein, die sich auch als Friedensanhänger identifizieren, sich zumindest darüber Gedanken zu machen und dieses Thema auch in der Wissenschaft zu diskutieren. Es ist eine Einladung an objektive Geister, eine selbstkritische wissenschaftliche Reflexion zu wagen. Das ist meines Erachtens der beste Beitrag, den die Gelehrtenwelt für die Pflege grundsätzlicher ethischer Weltwerte leisten können. Der Respekt gegenüber Islam und Koran sollte endlich auch als einer dieser Grundwerte verstanden u. wahrgenommen werden.Quran burned, no reaction?! As if it had become a normal occurrence in the meantime, the criminal act of burning the Quran seems to have been accepted without any noteworthy reaction in the Western world. But many unavoidable questions remain unanswered and no one dares to ask them: Do experts who have to do with Islam and/or the Quran also share some of the responsibility in a certain way? In my opinion, the indifference and the double standards of the Western world, as manifested in politics and media, do not exempt academics and researchers from the ethical duty to deal with many hard but long-concealed necessary questions. Isn't it time to give a clear answer to Islamophobic hate preachers? Wouldn't a kind of "International Declaration on the Respect of Islam and its Symbols“ make sense? This modest work tries to get closer to this dream, represents a draft for such a declaration, and invites all academics, who also identify themselves as peacekeepers, at least to think about it and to discuss this topic in scientific and academic frameworks. It is an invitation to objective minds to dare a self-critical scientific reflection about their vision of Islam and Muslims. In my opinion, this is the best contribution that scholars around the world could make to the protection of fundamental ethical world values. Respect for Islam and the Quran should finally be understood and perceived as one of these basic universal VALUES

Phosphorus management of dryland winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) in western Kansas

Call number: LD2668 .T4 AGRN 1989 R33Master of ScienceAgronom

Extraction of Insider Attack Scenarios from a Formal Information System Modeling

International audienceThe early detection of potential threats during the modelling phase of a Secure Information System is required because it favours the design of a robust access control policy and the prevention of malicious behaviours during the system execution. This paper deals with internal attacks which can be made by people inside the organization. Such at- tacks are difficult to find because insiders have authorized system access and also may be familiar with system policies and procedures. We are in- terested in finding attacks which conform to the access control policy, but lead to unwanted states. These attacks are favoured by policies involving authorization constraints, which grant or deny access depending on the evolution of the functional Information System state. In this context, we propose to model functional requirements and their Role Based Access Control (RBAC) policies using B machines and then to formally reason on both models. In order to extract insider attack scenarios from these B specifications our approach first investigates symbolic behaviours. The use of a model-checking tool allows to exhibit, from a symbolic behaviour, an observable concrete sequence of operations that can be followed by an attacker. In this paper, we show how this combination of symbolic execution and model-checking allows to find out such insider attack sce- narios

Synthesis and characterization of biocompatible methacrylated Kefiran hydrogels: towards tissue engineering applications

Hydrogel application feasibility is still limited mainly due to their low mechanical strength and fragile nature. Therefore, several physical and chemical cross-linking modifications are being used to improve their properties. In this research, methacrylated Kefiran was synthesized by reacting Kefiran with methacrylic anhydride (MA). The developed MA-Kefiran was physicochemically characterized, and its biological properties evaluated by different techniques. Chemical modification of MA-Kefiran was confirmed by 1H-NMR and FTIR and GPC-SEC showed an average Mw of 793 kDa (PDI 1.3). The mechanical data obtained revealed MA-Kefiran to be a pseudoplastic fluid with an extrusion force of 11.21 ± 2.87 N. Moreover, MA-Kefiran 3D cryogels were successfully developed and fully characterized. Through micro-CT and SEM, the scaffolds revealed high porosity (85.53 ± 0.15%) and pore size (33.67 ± 3.13 μm), thick pore walls (11.92 ± 0.44 μm) and a homogeneous structure. Finally, MA-Kefiran revealed to be biocompatible by presenting no hemolytic activity and an improved cellular function of L929 cells observed through the AlamarBlue® assay. By incorporating methacrylate groups in the Kefiran polysaccharide chain, a MA-Kefiran product was developed with remarkable physical, mechanical, and biological properties, resulting in a promising hydrogel to be used in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine applications.H. Radhouani and C. Goncalveswere supported by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) fromPortugal, with references CEECIND/00111/2017 and SFRH/BPD/94277/2013, respectively. S. Correia and this work were funded by the R&D Project KOAT-Kefiran Exopolysaccharide: Promising Biopolymer for Use in Regenerative Medicine and Tissue Engineering, with reference PTDC/BTMMAT/29760/2017 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-029760), financed by FCT and co-financed by FEDER and POCI. We also thank Duarte N. Carvalho for input on the schematic representation of the process

Impact of kefiran exopolysaccharide extraction on its applicability for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine

Kefiran is an exopolysaccharide produced by the microflora of kefir grains used to produce the fermented milk beverage kefir. The health-promoting and physicochemical properties of kefiran led to its exploration for a range of applications, mainly in the food industry and biomedical fields. Aiming to explore its potential for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine (TERM) applications, the kefiran biopolymer obtained through three different extraction methodologies was fully characterized and compared. High-quality kefiran polysaccharides were recovered with suitable yield through different extraction protocols. The methods consisted of heating the kefir grains prior to recovering kefiran by centrifugation and differed mainly in the precipitation steps included before lyophilization. Then, kefiran scaffolds were successfully produced from each extract by cryogelation and freeze-drying. In all extracts, it was possible to identify the molecular structure of the kefiran polysaccharide through 1H-NMR and FTIR spectra. The kefiran from extraction 1 showed the highest molecular weight (~3000 kDa) and the best rheological properties, showing a pseudoplastic behavior; its scaffold presented the highest value of porosity (93.2% ± 2), and wall thickness (85.8 µm ± 16.3). All extracts showed thermal stability, good injectability and desirable viscoelastic properties; the developed scaffolds demonstrated mechanical stability, elastic behavior, and pore size comprised between 98â 94 µm. Additionally, all kefiran products proved to be non-cytotoxic over L929 cells. The interesting structural, physicochemical, and biological properties showed by the kefiran extracts and cryogels revealed their biomedical potential and suitability for TERM applications.H. Radhouani and C. Gonçalves were supported by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) from Portugal, with references CEECIND/00111/2017 and SFRH/BPD/94277/ 2013, respectively. S. Correia and this work were funded by the R&D Project KOAT—Kefiran Exopolysaccharide: Promising Biopolymer for Use in Regenerative Medicine and Tissue Engineering, with reference PTDC/BTMMAT/29760/2017 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-029760), financed by FCT and co-financed by FEDER and POCI, and by the Project “HEALTH-UNORTE: Setting-up biobanks and regenerative medicine strategies to boost research in cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, neurological, oncological, immunological and infectious diseases”, ref. NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000039 funded under the program NORTE-45-2020-20—Sistema de Apoio à Investigação Científica e Tecnológica— “Projetos Estruturados de I&D&I” UNorte. We also thank Duarte N. Carvalho for input on the schematic representation of the process

Detection of vanA-containing Enterococcus species in faecal microbiota of gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata)

Vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecalis, E. faecium and E. durans isolates with the genotype vanA were detected in 7 of 118 faecal samples (5.9%) of natural gilthead seabream recovered off the coast of Portugal, and one vancomycinresistant isolate/sample was further characterized. The genes erm(B), tet(L), tet(M), aac(6')-aph(2"), aph(3')-IIIa and/ or ant(6)-Ia were identified in most of the 7 vancomycin-resistant enterococci. Sequence types ST273, ST313 and ST76 were detected in three E. faecium isolates and ST6 in two E. faecalis isolates. VanA-containing enterococci are suggested to be disseminated in fish in marine ecosystems close to areas of human activity

Development of conjugated kefiran-chondroitin sulphate cryogels with enhanced properties for biomedical applications

Hydrogels based on natural polysaccharides can have unique properties and be tailored for several applications, which may be mainly limited by the fragile structure and weak mechanical properties of this type of system. We successfully prepared cryogels made of newly synthesized kefiran exopolysaccharide-chondroitin sulfate (CS) conjugate via carbodiimide-mediated coupling to overcome these drawbacks. The freeze-thawing procedure of cryogel preparation followed by lyophilization is a promising route to fabricate polymer-based scaffolds with countless and valuable biomedical applications. The novel graft macromolecular compound (kefiran-CS conjugate) was characterized through 1H-NMR and FTIR spectroscopy—which confirmed the structure of the conjugate, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA)—which mirrored good thermal stability (degradation temperature of about 215 °C) and, finally, gel permeation chromatography–size exclusion chromatography (GPC-SEC)—which proved an increased molecular weight due to chemical coupling of kefiran with CS. At the same time, the corresponding cryogels physically crosslinked after the freeze-thawing procedure were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Micro-CT, and dynamic rheology. The results revealed a prevalent contribution of elastic/storage component to the viscoelastic behavior of cryogels in swollen state, a micromorphology with micrometer-sized open pores fully interconnected, and high porosity (ca. 90%) observed for freeze-dried cryogels. Furthermore, the metabolic activity and proliferation of human adipose stem cells (hASCs), when cultured onto the developed kefiran-CS cryogel, was maintained at a satisfactory level over 72 h. Based on the results obtained, it can be inferred that the newly freeze-dried kefiran-CS cryogels possess a host of unique properties that render them highly suitable for use in tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, drug delivery, and other biomedical applications where robust mechanical properties and biocompatibility are crucial.This research was funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) from Portugal, with references CEECIND/00111/2017 and SFRH/BPD/94277/2013, respectively.H.R. and C.G. were supported by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) from Portugal, with references CEECIND/00111/2017 and SFRH/BPD/94277/2013, respectively. The authors would like to express their sincere gratitude to Emanuel Fernandes for his invaluable contribution to this research by performing the STA experiment. The authors thank the financial support provided under the project “HEALTH-UNORTE: Setting-up biobanks and regenerative medicine strategies to boost research in cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, neurological, oncological, immunological and infectious diseases”, reference NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000039, funded by the Norte Portugal Regional Coordination and Development Commission (CCDR-N), under the NORTE2020 Program

Proteomic characterization of vanA-containing Enterococcus recovered from Seagulls at the Berlengas Natural Reserve, W Portugal

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Enterococci have emerged as the third most common cause of nosocomial infections, requiring bactericidal antimicrobial therapy. Although vancomycin resistance is a major problem in clinics and has emerged in an important extend in farm animals, few studies have examined it in wild animals. To determine the prevalence of <it>van</it>A-containing <it>Enterococcus </it>strains among faecal samples of Seagulls (<it>Larus cachinnans</it>) of Berlengas Natural Reserve of Portugal, we developed a proteomic approach integrated with genomic data. The purpose was to detect the maximum number of proteins that vary in different enterococci species which are thought to be connected in some, as yet unknown, way to antibiotic resistance.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>From the 57 seagull samples, 54 faecal samples showed the presence of <it>Enterococcus </it>isolates (94.7%). For the enterococci, <it>E. faecium </it>was the most prevalent species in seagulls (50%), followed by <it>E. faecalis </it>and <it>E. durans </it>(10.4%), and <it>E. hirae </it>(6.3%). <it>VanA-containing </it>enterococcal strains were detected in 10.5% of the 57 seagull faecal samples studied. Four of the <it>vanA</it>-containing enterococci were identified as <it>E. faecium </it>and two as <it>E. durans</it>. The <it>tet</it>(M) gene was found in all five tetracycline-resistant <it>vanA </it>strains. The <it>erm</it>(B) gene was demonstrated in all six erythromycin-resistant <it>vanA </it>strains. The <it>hyl </it>virulence gene was detected in all four <it>van</it>A-containing <it>E. faecium </it>isolates in this study, and two of them harboured the <it>pur</it>K1 allele. In addition these strains also showed ampicillin and ciprofoxacin resistance. The whole-cell proteomic profile of <it>van</it>A-containing <it>Enterococcus </it>strains was applied to evaluate the discriminatory power of this technique for their identification. The major differences among species-specific profiles were found in the positions corresponding to 97-45 kDa. Sixty individualized protein <it>spots </it>for each <it>vanA </it>isolate was identified and suitable for peptide mass fingerprinting measures by spectrometry measuring (MALDI/TOF MS) and their identification through bioinformatic databases query. The proteins were classified in different groups according to their biological function: protein biosynthesis, ATP synthesis, glycolysis, conjugation and antibiotic resistance. Taking into account the origin of these strains and its relation to infectious processes in humans and animals, it is important to explore the proteome of new strains which might serve as protein biomarkers for biological activity.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The comprehensive description of proteins isolated from vancomycin-resistant <it>Enterococcus faecium </it>and <it>E. durans </it>may provide new targets for development of antimicrobial agents. This knowledge may help to identify new biomarkers of antibiotic resistance and virulence factors.</p