Accès à l'information biomédicale : vers une approche d'indexation et de recherche d'information conceptuelle basée sur la fusion de ressources termino-ontologiques

La recherche d'information (RI) est une discipline scientifique qui a pour objectif de produire des solutions permettant de sélectionner à partir de corpus d'information celle qui sont dites pertinentes pour un utilisateur ayant exprimé une requête. Dans le contexte applicatif de la RI biomédicale, les corpus concernent différentes sources d'information du domaine : dossiers médicaux de patients, guides de bonnes pratiques médicales, littérature scientifique du domaine médical etc. Les besoins en information peuvent concerner divers profils : des experts médicaux, des patients et leurs familles, des utilisateurs néophytes etc. Plusieurs défis sont liés spécifiquement à la RI biomédicale : la représentation "spécialisée" des documents, basés sur l'usage des ressources terminologiques du domaine, le traitement des synonymes, des acronymes et des abréviations largement pratiquée dans le domaine, l'accès à l'information guidé par le contexte du besoin et des profils des utilisateurs. Nos travaux de thèse s'inscrivent dans le domaine général de la RI biomédicale et traitent des défis de représentation de l'information biomédicale et de son accès. Sur le volet de la représentation de l'information, nous proposons des techniques d'indexation de documents basées sur : 1) la reconnaissance de concepts termino-ontologiques : cette reconnaissance s'apparente à une recherche approximative de concepts pertinents associés à un contenu, vu comme un sac de mots. La technique associée exploite à la fois la similitude structurelle des contenus informationnels des concepts vis-à-vis des documents mais également la similitude du sujet porté par le document et le concept, 2) la désambiguïsation des entrées de concepts reconnus en exploitant la branche liée au sous-domaine principal de la ressource termino-ontologique, 3) l'exploitation de différentes ressources termino-ontologiques dans le but de couvrir au mieux la sémantique du contenu documentaire. Sur le volet de l'accès à l'information, nous proposons des techniques d'appariement basées sur l'expansion combinée de requêtes et des documents guidées par le contexte du besoin en information d'une part et des contenus documentaires d'autre part. Notre analyse porte essentiellement sur l'étude de l'impact des différents paramètres d'expansion sur l'efficacité de la recherche : distribution des concepts dans les ressources ontologiques, modèle de fusion des concepts, modèle de pondération des concepts, etc. L'ensemble de nos contributions, en termes de techniques d'indexation et d'accès à l'information ont fait l'objet d'évaluation expérimentale sur des collections de test dédiées à la recherche d'information médicale, soit du point de vue de la tâche telles que TREC Medical track, CLEF Image, Medical case ou des collections de test telles que TREC Genomics.Information Retrieval (IR) is a scientific field aiming at providing solutions to select relevant information from a corpus of documents in order to answer the user information need. In the context of biomedical IR, there are different sources of information: patient records, guidelines, scientific literature, etc. In addition, the information needs may concern different profiles : medical experts, patients and their families, and other users ... Many challenges are specifically related to the biomedical IR : the document representation, the usage of terminologies with synonyms, acronyms, abbreviations as well as the access to the information guided by the context of information need and the user profiles. Our work is most related to the biomedical IR and deals with the challenges of the representation of biomedical information and the access to this rich source of information in the biomedical domain.Concerning the representation of biomedical information, we propose techniques and approaches to indexing documents based on: 1) recognizing and extracting concepts from terminologies : the method of concept extraction is basically based on an approximate lookup of candidate concepts that could be useful to index the document. This technique expoits two sources of evidence : (a) the content-based similarity between concepts and documents and (b) the semantic similarity between them. 2) disambiguating entry terms denoting concepts by exploiting the polyhierarchical structure of a medical thesaurus (MeSH - Medical Subject Headings). More specifically, the domains of each concept are exploited to compute the semantic similarity between ambiguous terms in documents. The most appropriate domain is detected and associated to each term denoting a particular concept. 3) exploiting different termino-ontological resources in an attempt to better cover the semantics of document contents. Concerning the information access, we propose a document-query matching method based on the combination of document and query expansion techniques. Such a combination is guided by the context of information need on one hand and the semantic context in the document on the other hand. Our analysis is essentially based on the study of factors related to document and query expansion that could have an impact on the IR performance: distribution of concepts in termino-ontological resources, fusion techniques for concept extraction issued from multiple terminologies, concept weighting models, etc

The acceptance of mobile applications for accommodation booking in Vietnam: Case of gen Z

The development of technology and smart mobile devices such as phones and tablets has changed the behavior of tourists when booking tourism services. Based on the technology acceptance model, this study aims to explore the factors influencing the intention to use mobile applications for accommodation booking among GENZ in Vietnam. The analysis of 218 users revealed that four factors influence the behavior of using mobile applications for booking: performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, and hedonic motivation. In addition to identifying the factors affecting usage intention, this study also proposes implications to assist developers and providers in improving their applications and developing suitable product strategies for the future

ANALYSIS OF THE POPULARITY OF VOCABULARY USED WHEN PERFORMING SPEAKING ACTIVITIES IN THE CLASS OF FIRST-YEAR ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDENTS IN THE DIRECTION OF DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

Vocabulary learning is extremely important when learning a foreign language. Fluency in a language depends on vocabulary and its use in specific situations. Speaking well is using vocabulary flexibly and speaking fluently. Researching the popularity of vocabulary is analyzing the prevalence of vocabulary used by linguistics students in communication from discourse analysis. This is a topic the research team is working on. This project will help the researchers learn about common vocabulary that students often use to communicate outside or in the classroom. Thereby understanding whether the vocabulary that students use is diverse, rich, and for the right purpose or not. This study will help students have a more comprehensive view of the ways to use words in communication. In addition, it also helps students improve their communication vocabulary, helps in exams and can be useful for later work. In this study, the research team will investigate the students' ability to use spoken vocabulary, i.e., frequency and extent of vocabulary usage.  Article visualizations

Lung Volume Reduction Surgery in Patients with Heterogenous Emphysema: Selecting Perspective

BACKGROUND: Lung volume reduction surgery (LVRS) was introduced to alleviate clinical conditions in selected patients with heterogenous emphysema. Clarifying the most suitable patients for LVRS remained unclear. AIM: This study was undertaken to specifically analyze the preoperative factor affecting to LVRS. METHODS: The prospective study was conducted at 103 Military Hospital between July 2014 and April 2016. Severe heterogenous emphysema patients were selected to participate in the study. The information, spirometry, and body plethysmographic pulmonary function tests in 31 patients who underwent LVRS were compared with postoperative outcomes (changing in FEV1 and CAT scale). RESULTS: Of the 31 patients, there was statistically significant difference in the outcome of functional capacity, lung function between two groups (FEV1 ≤ 50% and > 50%) (∆FEV1: 22.46 vs 18.32%; p = 0.042. ∆CAT: 6.85 vs 5.07; p = 0.048). Changes of the FEV1 and CAT scale were no statistically significant differences in three groups residual volume. Patients with total lung capacity < 140% had more improved than others (∆FEV1: 23.81 vs 15.1%; p = 0.031). CONCLUSION: Preoperative spirometry and body plethysmographic pulmonary function tests were useful measures to selected severe heterogenous emphysema patients for LVRS. Patients with FEV1 ≤ 50%, TLC in the range of 100-140% should be selected

Safety and efficacy of fluoxetine on functional outcome after acute stroke (AFFINITY): a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial

Background Trials of fluoxetine for recovery after stroke report conflicting results. The Assessment oF FluoxetINe In sTroke recoverY (AFFINITY) trial aimed to show if daily oral fluoxetine for 6 months after stroke improves functional outcome in an ethnically diverse population. Methods AFFINITY was a randomised, parallel-group, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial done in 43 hospital stroke units in Australia (n=29), New Zealand (four), and Vietnam (ten). Eligible patients were adults (aged ≥18 years) with a clinical diagnosis of acute stroke in the previous 2–15 days, brain imaging consistent with ischaemic or haemorrhagic stroke, and a persisting neurological deficit that produced a modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score of 1 or more. Patients were randomly assigned 1:1 via a web-based system using a minimisation algorithm to once daily, oral fluoxetine 20 mg capsules or matching placebo for 6 months. Patients, carers, investigators, and outcome assessors were masked to the treatment allocation. The primary outcome was functional status, measured by the mRS, at 6 months. The primary analysis was an ordinal logistic regression of the mRS at 6 months, adjusted for minimisation variables. Primary and safety analyses were done according to the patient's treatment allocation. The trial is registered with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry, ACTRN12611000774921. Findings Between Jan 11, 2013, and June 30, 2019, 1280 patients were recruited in Australia (n=532), New Zealand (n=42), and Vietnam (n=706), of whom 642 were randomly assigned to fluoxetine and 638 were randomly assigned to placebo. Mean duration of trial treatment was 167 days (SD 48·1). At 6 months, mRS data were available in 624 (97%) patients in the fluoxetine group and 632 (99%) in the placebo group. The distribution of mRS categories was similar in the fluoxetine and placebo groups (adjusted common odds ratio 0·94, 95% CI 0·76–1·15; p=0·53). Compared with patients in the placebo group, patients in the fluoxetine group had more falls (20 [3%] vs seven [1%]; p=0·018), bone fractures (19 [3%] vs six [1%]; p=0·014), and epileptic seizures (ten [2%] vs two [<1%]; p=0·038) at 6 months. Interpretation Oral fluoxetine 20 mg daily for 6 months after acute stroke did not improve functional outcome and increased the risk of falls, bone fractures, and epileptic seizures. These results do not support the use of fluoxetine to improve functional outcome after stroke

Accès à l'information biomédicale (vers une approche d'indexation et de recherche d'information conceptuelle basée sur la fusion de ressources termino-ontologiques)

TOULOUSE3-BU Sciences (315552104) / SudocSudocFranceF

Deformation capturing of concrete structures at elevated temperatures

Reliable deformation measurement is required for proper quantification of fire performance of concrete structures. Predictive capability of models for many critical properties, including Young's moduli, stress-strain relationships and load-induced thermal strains, is first and foremost dependent on such reliable deformation capturing. This paper first presents a state-of-the-art review of existing methods for capturing deformation of concrete structures at elevated temperatures. Key merits, limitations and challenges associated with each measuring technique are discussed. It is shown that existing testing facilities and measuring instruments generally do not allow reliable direct measurement of deformation and strain of high-temperature concrete. As a result, the deformation has typically been captured either indirectly or outside the heated zones, inevitably introducing additional uncertainty and errors that are difficult to be adequately quantified. On the basis of that review, the paper details a new test set-up for reliable non-contact full-field deformation capturing of concrete structures at high temperatures using 3D Digital Image Correlation technique. Key features of the new setup that enable to successfully address major challenges of thermal boundary condition, thermal stability of speckle pattern, contrast of image and hot air movement are presented; together with evidences giving confidence to the reliability of such set-up. With its combined advantages of reliable full-field deformation capturing and thermal boundary conditions on test specimens, the new set-up allows to generate required reliable data on performance of concrete at elevated temperatures, thereby facilitating the development of effective rational fire design and analysis of concrete structures

Application of digital image correlation system for reliable deformation measurement of concrete structures at high temperatures

Reliable data on concrete deformation at high temperatures are critical to ensure the suitable predictive capability of the models for such important deformation-related properties as stress-strain relations, modulus of elasticity and load-induced thermal strains. This paper first reviews currently available technologies for measuring the deformation of concrete at high temperatures and the relevant major experiments. It is shown that such deformation has usually been determined either indirectly or outside the heated zones, thereby resulting in uncertainties that are difficult to be properly quantified. Key details of a newly-developed test setup using an optimised 3D digital image correlation technique, a radiant heating facility and an optical system with a blue illumination and a band-pass filter are then reported. It is shown via both theoretical and experimental evidence that the new system allows to successfully overcome the challenges related to thermal radiation, contrast of image, stability of speckle pattern and presence of hot air; thereby proving the reliability and capability of this innovative setup. Finally, several key potential applications of the new system are suggested