Learning and improvig languages for the milennial generation

The idea of my Bachelor thesis was born while I was in Erasmus in Madrid, Spain. In this international environment, I discovered that it was most complicated than I thought to learn a new language and to meet locals. With a friend, we started wondering what could be an adapted tool to help us learning and meeting new people for our generation, the so-called “Millennials”. I had the idea to create an app, that would allow local people and exchange student to meet and speak. I would call it “Meak”. Millennials is the greatest generation in the US and one of the largest in history. This generation has really specific characteristics that have to be understood in order to create products and services that are adapted to its needs and wants. We analyzed those characteristics and could highlight the following points about Millennials: • Multicultural • Digital natives • Internationals • Spending habits and skepticism In this context, an app could match with Millennials behaviors and needs. To ensure the app market is propitious to the launch of a startup, we looked closer at the business environment. It appeared to be crowded but mature. With efficient communication and marketing, it is an interesting market. Then, we designed the features that our app should contains by running surveys and interviews. We adapted our app to our findings. Once the app was designed, we had to ensure the business model would be viable and generate enough revenue. To do so, we used the business model canvas and realized the application is profitable. Finally, we made a prototype that has been shown to potential customers. We gathered feedback and explained which changed had to be done to match with their expectations

The Functions of Mediator in Candida albicans Support a Role in Shaping Species-Specific Gene Expression

The Mediator complex is an essential co-regulator of RNA polymerase II that is conserved throughout eukaryotes. Here we present the first study of Mediator in the pathogenic fungus Candida albicans. We focused on the Middle domain subunit Med31, the Head domain subunit Med20, and Srb9/Med13 from the Kinase domain. The C. albicans Mediator shares some roles with model yeasts Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Schizosaccharomyces pombe, such as functions in the response to certain stresses and the role of Med31 in the expression of genes regulated by the activator Ace2. The C. albicans Mediator also has additional roles in the transcription of genes associated with virulence, for example genes related to morphogenesis and gene families enriched in pathogens, such as the ALS adhesins. Consistently, Med31, Med20, and Srb9/Med13 contribute to key virulence attributes of C. albicans, filamentation, and biofilm formation; and ALS1 is a biologically relevant target of Med31 for development of biofilms. Furthermore, Med31 affects virulence of C. albicans in the worm infection model. We present evidence that the roles of Med31 and Srb9/Med13 in the expression of the genes encoding cell wall adhesins are different between S. cerevisiae and C. albicans: they are repressors of the FLO genes in S. cerevisiae and are activators of the ALS genes in C. albicans. This suggests that Mediator subunits regulate adhesion in a distinct manner between these two distantly related fungal species

Comment mettre en place un SMQ des relations internationales dans une haute école suisse ?: expérience pratique à la Haute école de gestion de Genève

Depuis la ratification de la déclaration de Bologne par la Suisse, une vague de réforme s’est mise en place dans le domaine des hautes écoles. Celles-ci pour s’y conformer, doivent principalement conclure des accords et collaborer avec des hautes écoles partenaires à l’étranger et mettre en place un système de management de qualité. Ce travail de diplôme se veut une aide pour les responsables des relations internationales et les responsables qualité des hautes écoles suisses dans l’accomplissement de cette tâche. Il défini les notions de qualité, de système de gestion de la qualité et présente les référentiels existants en la matière. Il explique en quoi consiste le service des relations internationales d’une haute école et s’appuie sur la méthodologie proposée par les normes ISO 9000 et 9001 pour mettre en place le SMQ de ce service. Suivant cette méthodologie, une analyse détaillée du SMQ des relations internationales de la HEG-GE y est présentée dans le but d’aider le lecteur à en comprendre l’application. En conclusion, vous trouverez les propositions d’amélioration que l’auteur a formulées et qui peuvent bien entendu s’appliquer à n’importe quelle haute école dans une situation comparable

Innovative approach for project viability: from a diversity of business models to harmonized and scalable national services

Within the context of a national-level project on Data Life-Cycle Management (DLCM), we aim to present in this workshop the methodology our team applied for developing service business models for serving the researcher community. Based on this experience, working groups will consider concrete cases of long-term data management, which then will be shared among participants to discuss the challenges and opportunities brought by the proposed methodology

The roles of Med31 in adhesion are different between <i>S. cerevisiae</i> and <i>C. albicans</i>.

<p>A) Colonies of wild type <i>S. cerevisiae</i> Σ1278b and the <i>med31Δ</i> mutant were grown on YPD plates at 30°C and photographed. The <i>flo11Δ</i> strain was used as the negative control, to show smooth colony morphology in the absence of <i>FLO11</i>. B) Expression of <i>FLO11</i> was tested by qPCR after 90 min in 0.2% glucose synthetic complete media, the condition used for biofilm formation in C). Levels of <i>FLO11</i> were normalized to <i>ACT1</i>, and expressed related to the wild type, which was set to 1. Shown are averages from at least three independent biological repeats and the standard error. C) The ability of the <i>S. cerevisiae med31Δ</i> mutant to adhere to polystyrene was assessed in 0.2% glucose synthetic complete media as described in <a href="http://www.plosgenetics.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pgen.1002613#s4" target="_blank">Materials and Methods</a>. Quantification was performed by crystal violet staining. At least three independent cultures were used, assayed in quadruplicates. For the mutant, two independently constructed deletion strains were used and gave equivalent results. The <i>flo11Δ</i> mutant was assayed in parallel as a negative control and showed no adherence at any of the time points (not shown). p&lt;0.001.</p

Cell wall–related genes differentially expressed in the <i>C. albicans med31ΔΔ</i> mutant.

<p>Cell wall–related genes differentially expressed in the <i>C. albicans med31ΔΔ</i> mutant.</p

Regulation of adhesins and Ace2-dependent genes by <i>MED20</i> and <i>SRB9/MED13</i> in <i>C. albicans</i>.

<p>A) Cells from the indicated strains were grown in yeast form (YPD) and relative mRNA levels for the indicated genes determined by qPCR. <i>ACT1</i> was used for normalization. Similar results were obtained when <i>THD3</i> was used as the normalization control (<a href="http://www.plosgenetics.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pgen.1002613#pgen.1002613.s005" target="_blank">Figure S3</a>). Shown are averages for three independent biological repeats and the standard error. B) Yeast cell morphology of the wild type and Mediator mutants was assessed in YPD at 30°C. The scale bar is 20 µm.</p

Med31 is required for cytokinesis and filamentous growth of <i>C. albicans</i>.

<p>A) Cultures of wild type C. <i>albicans</i>, the <i>med31ΔΔ</i> mutant and the complemented <i>med31ΔΔ</i>+<i>MED31</i> strain were grown to log phase and cells were observed by microscopy using DIC for bright field (left panel) or through the DAPI filter for calcofluor white staining (right panel). Strains lacking Med31 display a cell separation defect, forming cell chains with the cells attached at the mother-daughter junction, as judged by staining with calcofluor white. B) To determine the proportion of cell chains at least 200 cells were counted for each of the strains. Cell counts were performed after a brief 1 s sonication to disperse cell aggregates. Shown are averages of three independent experiments and the standard error. C) Wild type or mutant strains were streaked on plates containing filamentation-inducing media and incubated at 37°C for 4–5 days. The colonies were photographed using a stereo dissecting microscope. The <i>med31ΔΔ</i> mutant was unable to undergo filamentous differentiation on plates in all media tested. The mutant was also compromised for filamentation in liquid media (data shown in <a href="http://www.plosgenetics.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pgen.1002613#pgen.1002613.s007" target="_blank">Figure S5</a>).</p

The <i>med31ΔΔ</i> mutant is defective for filamentation and virulence in an animal host.

<p>A) The worm <i>C. elegans</i> was infected by wild type <i>C. albicans</i>, the <i>med31ΔΔ</i> mutant and the <i>med31ΔΔ</i>+<i>MED31</i> complemented strain and the appearance of penetrative filamentation was monitored daily over a period of seven days. The worms were photographed with a 40× magnification objective. B) The percentage of worm filamentation was determined after three days of infection. Shown are averages of 4 experiments and the standard deviation. The p value was &lt;0.002 for both the comparison of the mutant with the wild type, and the mutant with the complemented strain. C) The ability of the <i>med31ΔΔ</i> mutant to kill worms was determined in the first 80 h post infection, when most of the worm death due to penetrative filamentation occurs. Three independent experiments were performed and equivalent results obtained. A representative experiment is shown. The <i>med31ΔΔ</i> mutant killed the <i>C. elegans</i> host with delayed kinetics compared to the wild type and the reconstituted strains (blue line- <i>med31ΔΔ</i>, grey line- WT, red line- <i>med31ΔΔ</i>+<i>MED31</i>). The log-rank test used for statistical analysis returned a p value of 0.0032 for the wild type versus <i>med31ΔΔ</i> mutant comparison, while there was no significant difference between the wild type and the <i>med31ΔΔ</i>+<i>MED31</i> complemented strain p = 0.5572).</p