The Human side of organizational change : improving appropriation of project evolutions

This paper deals with the success of organisational change. Our empirical study starts with an illustration of our industrial problem: how to structure organisational change to ensure a future desired state is correctly appropriated. Based on an analysis of the literature, we propose considering organisational change as a dual appropriation process: the first at the company level and the second at an individual level. We then show that the project is a valid way to manage it and to structure a business' appropriation process. In order to support individual appropriation processes, we developed an approach consisting of managing individual change within the framework of projects. We propose the generic phasing of individual change management actions in relation to project phases, organisational and individual appropriation processes. Based on a three-year in-situ study of several major projects in a French aeronautical company, we verified the advantages of our approach with regard to organisational and individual appropriation

A language proposition for system requirements

International audienceNatural language is currently the basis of the majority of system specifications, even if it has several drawbacks. In particular, natural language is inherently ambiguous. In this article, we propose a way to complete the natural language text of requirements by giving a formal syntax to this text. We introduce and use an example to illustrate our ideas

Deciphering bartonella diversity, recombination, and host specificity in a rodent community.

Host-specificity is an intrinsic feature of many bacterial pathogens, resulting from a long history of co-adaptation between bacteria and their hosts. Alpha-proteobacteria belonging to the genus Bartonella infect the erythrocytes of a wide range of mammal orders, including rodents. In this study, we performed genetic analysis of Bartonella colonizing a rodent community dominated by bank voles (Myodes glareolus) and wood mice (Apodemus sylvaticus) in a French suburban forest to evaluate their diversity, their capacity to recombine and their level of host specificity. Following the analysis of 550 rodents, we detected 63 distinct genotypes related to B. taylorii, B. grahamii, B. doshiae and a new B. rochalimae-like species. Investigating the most highly represented species, we showed that B. taylorii strain diversity was markedly higher than that of B. grahamii, suggesting a possible severe bottleneck for the latter species. The majority of recovered genotypes presented a strong association with either bank voles or wood mice, with the exception of three B. taylorii genotypes which had a broader host range. Despite the physical barriers created by host specificity, we observed lateral gene transfer between Bartonella genotypes associated with wood mice and Bartonella adapted to bank voles, suggesting that those genotypes might co-habit during their life cycle

Analysis of a French cohort of patients with large granular lymphocyte leukemia: a report on 229 cases

International audienceBACKGROUND: Large granular lymphocyte leukemia is a rare lymphoproliferative disorder associated with autoimmune diseases and impaired hematopoiesis. This study describes the clinical and biological characteristics of 229 patients with T-cell or NK-cell large granular lymphocyte leukemia. DESIGN AND METHODS: The diagnosis was based on a large granular lymphocyte expansion (> 0.5x10(9)/L) lasting more than 6 months. Monoclonal T-cell receptor gamma gene rearrangement was detected in all the cases of T-cell large granular lymphocyte leukemia. Patients with chronic NK-cell lymphocytosis had an indolent disease, while those with multiorgan large granular lymphocyte infiltration and an aggressive clinical disease were considered to have NK-cell large granular lymphocyte leukemia. RESULTS: The diagnosis of T-cell large granular lymphocyte leukemia was confirmed in 201 cases, chronic NK-cell lymphocytosis in 27 cases and NK-cell large granular lymphocyte leukemia in one case. Associated autoimmune diseases or other neoplasms were present in 74 and 32 cases, respectively. One hundred patients (44%) required treatment, mainly for neutropenia-associated infections (n=45), symptomatic autoimmune diseases (n =24), transfusion-dependant anemia (n=18), and other causes (n=13). Patients were treated with steroids (n= 33), methotrexate (n=62), cytoxan (n=32), or cyclosporine (n=24) either as first-, second-, third- or fourth-line therapy. The overall response rate at 3 months and complete response rate for the various treatments were as follows: steroids (12% and 3%), methotrexate (55% and 21%), cytoxan (66% and 47%), cyclosporine (21% and 4%), respectively. Four out of 13 patients responded to splenectomy. Eleven out of 15 patients responded to cytoxan after methotrexate treatment had failed. The mean number of treatments was 3.4 (range, 1-7). There were 15 large granular lymphocyte leukemia-related deaths. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with T-cell large granular lymphocyte leukemia and chronic NK-cell lymphocytosis have similar clinical and biological features and responses to treatment. First-line therapy with cytoxan should be tested in a prospective trial

Neighbor-Net graph based on concatenated sequences of the six housekeeping genes of <i>Bartonella</i> genotypes.

<p>Note the bushy network structure among <i>Bartonella</i> strains indicative of pervasive homologous recombination.</p

Phylogeny of <i>virB5</i> gene sequences using Maximum likelihood, with a GTR substitution model.

<p>Clusters in which <i>virB5</i> alleles were found are indicated by colors and shapes identical to <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0068956#pone-0068956-g001" target="_blank">Figure 1</a> (see legend). Bootstrap values higher than 80% are given at the nodes. Arrows indicate <i>virB5</i> sequences amplified and sequenced from strains obtained from wood mice.</p

Description of the 63 genotypes of <i>Bartonella</i> identified in rodents.

<p>The description includes the rodent species and the number of animals from where gentoypes were detected or isolated, as well as the <i>Bartonella</i> species and clusters of the corresponding genotype.</p