Analytical progresses of the International Olympic Committee and World Anti-Doping Agency Olympic laboratories.

The Summer Olympic Games constitute the biggest concentration of human sports and activities in a particular place and time since 776 BCE, when the written history of the Olympic Games in Olympia began. Summer and Winter Olympic anti-doping laboratories, accredited by the International Olympic Committee in the past and the World Anti-Doping Agency in the present times, acquire worldwide interest to apply all new analytical advancements in the fight against doping in sports, hoping that this major human event will not become dirty by association with this negative phenomenon. This article summarizes the new analytical progresses, technologies and knowledge used by the Olympic laboratories, which for the vast majority of them are, eventually, incorporated into routine anti-doping analysis.

Nutrigenomics and nutrigenetics: the emerging faces of nutrition.

The recognition that nutrients have the ability to interact and modulate molecular mechanisms underlying an organism's physiological functions has prompted a revolution in the field of nutrition. Performing population-scaled epidemiological studies in the absence of genetic knowledge may result in erroneous scientific conclusions and misinformed nutritional recommendations. To circumvent such issues and more comprehensively probe the relationship between genes and diet, the field of nutrition has begun to capitalize on both the technologies and supporting analytical software brought forth in the post-genomic era. The creation of nutrigenomics and nutrigenetics, two fields with distinct approaches to elucidate the interaction between diet and genes but with a common ultimate goal to optimize health through the personalization of diet, provide powerful approaches to unravel the complex relationship between nutritional molecules, genetic polymorphisms, and the biological system as a whole. Reluctance to embrace these new fields exists primarily due to the fear that producing overwhelming quantities of biological data within the confines of a single study will submerge the original query; however, the current review aims to position nutrigenomics and nutrigenetics as the emerging faces of nutrition that, when considered with more classical approaches, will provide the necessary stepping stones to achieve the ambitious goal of optimizing an individual's health via nutritional intervention.

XML-based information management environment for PE technologies

Printed electronics is an emerging concept in electronics manufacturing and it is in very early development stage. The technology is not stable, design kits are not developed, and flows and Computer Aided Design (CAD) tools are not fixed yet. The European project TDK4PE addresses all this issues and this PFC has been realized on this context. The goal is to develop an XML-based information system for the collection and management of information from the technology and cell libraries developed in TDK4PE. This system will ease the treatment of that information for a later generation of specific Design Kits (DK) and the corresponding documentation. This work proposes a web application to generate technology files and design kits in a formatted way; it also proposes a structure for them and a database implementation for storing the needed information. The application will allow its users to redefine the structure of those files, as well as export and import XML files, between other formats.

Impacts des technologies de l'information sur les modes de coordination à travers quatre études en systèmes d'information

L'évolution de l'environnement économique, des chaînes de valeur et des modèles d'affaires des organisations augmentent l'importance de la coordination, qui peut être définie comme la gestion des interdépendances entre des tâches réalisées par des acteurs différents et concourants à un objectif commun. De nombreux moyens sont mis en oeuvre au sein des organisations pour gérer ces interdépendances. A cet égard, les activités de coordination bénéficient massivement de l'appui des technologies de l'information et de communication (TIC) qui sont désormais disséminées, intégrées et connectées sous de multiples formes tant dans l'environnement privé que professionnel. Dans ce travail, nous avons investigué la question de recherche suivante : comment l'ubiquité et l'interconnec- tivité des TIC modifient-elles les modes de coordination ? A travers quatre études en systèmes d'information conduites selon une méthodologie design science, nous avons traité cette question à deux niveaux : celui de l'alignement stratégique entre les affaires et les systèmes d'information, où la coordination porte sur les interdépendances entre les activités ; et celui de la réalisation des activités, où la coordination porte sur les interdépendances des interactions individuelles. Au niveau stratégique, nous observons que l'ubiquité et l'interconnectivité permettent de transposer des mécanismes de coordination d'un domaine à un autre. En facilitant différentes formes de coprésence et de visibilité, elles augmentent aussi la proximité dans les situations de coordination asynchrone ou distante. Au niveau des activités, les TIC présentent un très fort potentiel de participation et de proximité pour les acteurs. De telles technologies leur donnent la possibilité d'établir les responsabilités, d'améliorer leur compréhension commune et de prévoir le déroulement et l'intégration des tâches. La contribution principale qui émerge de ces quatre études est que les praticiens peuvent utiliser l'ubiquité et l'interconnectivité des TIC pour permettre aux individus de communi-quer et d'ajuster leurs actions pour définir, atteindre et redéfinir les objectifs du travail commun. -- The evolution of the economic environment and of the value chains and business models of organizations increases the importance of coordination, which can be defined as the management of interdependences between tasks carried out by different actors and con-tributing to a common goal. In organizations, a considerable number of means are put into action in order to manage such interdependencies. In this regard, information and communication technologies (ICT), whose various forms are nowadays disseminated, integrated and connected in both private and professional environments, offer important support to coordination activities. In this work, we have investigated the following research question: how do the ubiquity and the interconnectivity of ICT modify coordination mechanisms? Throughout four information systems studies conducted according to a design science methodology, we have looked into this question at two different levels: the one of strategic alignment between business and information systems strategy, where coordination is about interdependencies between activities; and the one of tasks, where coordination is about interdependencies between individual interactions. At the strategic level, we observe that ubiquity and interconnectivity allow for transposing coordination mechanisms from one field to another. By facilitating various forms of copresence and visibility, they also increase proximity in asynchronous or distant coordination situations. At the tasks level, ICTs offer the actors a very high potential for participation and proximity. Such technologies make it possible to establish accountability, improve common understanding and anticipate the unfolding and integration of tasks. The main contribution emerging from these four studies is that practitioners can use the ubiquity and interconnectivity of ICT in order to allow individuals to communicate and adjust their actions to define, reach and redefine the goals of common work.

Scenario analysis in evaluation of emerging technology - Case Bluetooth

Tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli selvittää millaisia ympäristöskenaarioita tietoliikenteelle toimialana voidaan rakentaa ja mitkä näistä skenaarioista suosivat Bluetoothin diffuusiota ja kehittymistä nykyisten tuote- ja palvelunäkemysten valossa. Lisäksi pyrittiin arvioimaan, mitkä ympäristötekijät ja suuntaukset saattavat vaikuttaa Bluetoothin diffuusioon. Tutkimus rajoittui eurooppalaisen tietoliikenneympäristön tarkasteluun viiden vuoden aikana. Tietoliikennetoimialan nykytilaa ja tulevaisuutta koskevan kirjallisuuden pohjalta luotiin kolme alustavaa skenaariorunkoa. Näitä runkoja arvioitiin asiantuntijahaastattelujen avulla, jotta skenaarioista saataisiin monipuolisempia ja niiden johdonmukaisuutta voitaisiin parantaa. Lopullisia skenaarioita verrattiin Bluetoothin käyttökohteista esitettyihin näkemyksiin. Skenaarioiden teemat olivat “Fokusoidut bisnessovellukset”, “Viihdettä massoille” sekä “Tietoa kaikille”. Havaittiin, että Bluetoothin omaksumiseen vaikuttavat eniten seuraavat tekijät: teknologian sosiaalinen hyväksyntä, toimialan halukkuus teknologian edistämiseen sekä Bluetoothin ja sen kilpailijoiden kehittyminen jatkossa.

Wireless Network Technologies and Terminals for Mobile Applications

Viimeaikainen langattomien teknologioiden kehitys ja evoluutio johtaa uusiin mahdollisuuksiin business-to-business-teollisuussovellusten laatimisessa. Tämän työn tavoite on tutkia teknisten puitteiden ja perustan sekä teknologisen ennustamisen prosessia innovatiivisten langattomien sovellusten kehitysprosessissa. Työ keskittyy langattomiin teknologioihin - verkkoihin ja päätelaitteisiin. Työssä selvitetään saatavilla olevia ja tulevia langattomia verkkoteknologioita ja mobiilipäätelaitteita, arvioidaan niiden päätyypit, ominaisuudet, rajoitteet ja kehitystrendit, sekä määritellään pääasialliset tekniset ominaisuudet, jotka on huomioitava luotaessa langatonta ratkaisua. Tämä tieto vedetään yhteen jatkokäyttöä varten langattomien sovellusten päätelaitetietokantaan rakentamisen aikana. Työ tarjoaa kuvauksen päätelaitetietokannan suunnittelusta ja rakentamisesta sekä tutkii tietokantaa innovatiivisen esimerkkisovelluksen - Reaaliaikaisen On-Line Asiakaspalvelun - avulla.

Cardiovascular dysfunction in children conceived by assisted reproductive technologies.

Epidemiological studies demonstrate a relationship between pathological events during foetal development and future cardiovascular risk and the term 'foetal programming of cardiovascular disease' has been coined to describe this phenomenon. The use of assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) is growing exponentially and 2-5% of children are now born by this procedure. Emerging evidence indicates that ART represents a novel important example of foetal programming. Assisted reproductive technology may modify the cardiovascular phenotype in two ways: (i) ART involves manipulation of the early embryo which is exquisitely sensitive to environmental insults. In line with this concern, ART alters vascular and cardiac function in children and studies in mice show that ART alters the cardiovascular phenotype by epigenetic alterations related to suboptimal culture conditions. (ii) Assisted reproductive technology markedly increases the risk of foetal insults that augment cardiovascular risk in naturally conceived individuals and are expected to have similar consequences in the ART population. Given the young age of the ART population, it will take another 20-30 years before data on cardiovascular endpoints will be available. What is clear already, however, is that ART emerges as an important cardiovascular risk factor. This insight requires us to revise notions on ART's long-term safety and to engage on a debate on its future. There is an urgent need to better understand the mechanisms underpinning ART-induced alteration of the cardiovascular phenotype, improve the procedure and its long-term safety, and, while awaiting this aim, not to abandon medicine's fundamental principle of doing no harm (to future children) and use ART parsimoniously.

Modélisation d'une ontologie et conceptualisation d'une application sémantique dédiée au e-recrutement dans le domaine des technologies de l'information

Ce mémoire présente les recherches et réflexions entourant la conception d’une application à base d’ontologie dédiée au e-recrutement dans le domaine des services de dotation de personnel en technologies de l’information à l’ère du Web Social. Cette application, nommée Combine, vise essentiellement à optimiser et enrichir la Communication Médiée par Ordinateur (CMO) des acteurs du domaine et utilise des concepts issus du paradigme technologique émergent qu’est le Web sémantique. Encore très peu discuté dans une perspective CMO, le présent mémoire se propose donc d’examiner les enjeux communicationnels relatifs à ce nouveau paradigme. Il présente ses principaux concepts, dont la notion d’ontologie qui implique la modélisation formelle de connaissances, et expose le cas de développement de Combine. Il décrit comment cette application fut développée, de l’analyse des besoins à l’évaluation du prototype par les utilisateurs ciblés, tout en révélant les préoccupations, les contraintes et les opportunités rencontrées en cours de route. Au terme de cet examen, le mémoire tend à évaluer de manière critique le potentiel de Combine à optimiser la CMO du domaine d’activité ciblé. Le mémoire dresse au final un portrait plutôt favorable quant à la perception positive des acteurs du domaine d’utiliser un tel type d’application, et aussi quant aux nets bénéfices en frais d’Interactions Humain-Ordinateur (IHO) qu’elle fait miroiter. Il avertit toutefois d’une certaine exacerbation du problème dit « d’engagement ontologique » à considérer lors de la construction d’ontologies modélisant des objets sociaux tels que ceux dont le monde du recrutement est peuplé.

Re-engineering and Re-defining University Libraries in the context of modern Information and Communication Technologies: a study with special reference to the University Libraries in Kerala

Information and communication technologies are the tools that underpin the emerging “Knowledge Society”. Exchange of information or knowledge between people and through networks of people has always taken place. But the ICT has radically changed the magnitude of this exchange, and thus factors such as timeliness of information and information dissemination patterns have become more important than ever.Since information and knowledge are so vital for the all round human development, libraries and institutions that manage these resources are indeed invaluable. So, the Library and Information Centres have a key role in the acquisition, processing, preservation and dissemination of information and knowledge. ln the modern context, library is providing service based on different types of documents such as manuscripts, printed, digital, etc. At the same time, acquisition, access, process, service etc. of these resources have become complicated now than ever before. The lCT made instrumental to extend libraries beyond the physical walls of a building and providing assistance in navigating and analyzing tremendous amounts of knowledge with a variety of digital tools. Thus, modern libraries are increasingly being re-defined as places to get unrestricted access to information in many formats and from many sources.The research was conducted in the university libraries in Kerala State, India. lt was identified that even though the information resources are flooding world over and several technologies have emerged to manage the situation for providing effective services to its clientele, most of the university libraries in Kerala were unable to exploit these technologies at maximum level. Though the libraries have automated many of their functions, wide gap prevails between the possible services and provided services. There are many good examples world over in the application of lCTs in libraries for the maximization of services and many such libraries have adopted the principles of reengineering and re-defining as a management strategy. Hence this study was targeted to look into how effectively adopted the modern lCTs in our libraries for maximizing the efficiency of operations and services and whether the principles of re-engineering and- redefining can be applied towards this.Data‘ was collected from library users, viz; student as well as faculty users; library ,professionals and university librarians, using structured questionnaires. This has been .supplemented by-observation of working of the libraries, discussions and interviews with the different types of users and staff, review of literature, etc. Personal observation of the organization set up, management practices, functions, facilities, resources, utilization of information resources and facilities by the users, etc. of the university libraries in Kerala have been made. Statistical techniques like percentage, mean, weighted mean, standard deviation, correlation, trend analysis, etc. have been used to analyse data.All the libraries could exploit only a very few possibilities of modern lCTs and hence they could not achieve effective Universal Bibliographic Control and desired efficiency and effectiveness in services. Because of this, the users as well as professionals are dissatisfied. Functional effectiveness in acquisition, access and process of information resources in various formats, development and maintenance of OPAC and WebOPAC, digital document delivery to remote users, Web based clearing of library counter services and resources, development of full-text databases, digital libraries and institutional repositories, consortia based operations for e-journals and databases, user education and information literacy, professional development with stress on lCTs, network administration and website maintenance, marketing of information, etc. are major areas need special attention to improve the situation. Finance, knowledge level on ICTs among library staff, professional dynamism and leadership, vision and support of the administrators and policy makers, prevailing educational set up and social environment in the state, etc. are some of the major hurdles in reaping the maximum possibilities of lCTs by the university libraries in Kerala. The principles of Business Process Re-engineering are found suitable to effectively apply to re-structure and redefine the operations and service system of the libraries. Most of the conventional departments or divisions prevailing in the university libraries were functioning as watertight compartments and their existing management system was more rigid to adopt the principles of change management. Hence, a thorough re-structuring of the divisions was indicated. Consortia based activities and pooling and sharing of information resources was advocated to meet the varied needs of the users in the main campuses and off campuses of the universities, affiliated colleges and remote stations. A uniform staff policy similar to that prevailing in CSIR, DRDO, ISRO, etc. has been proposed by the study not only in the university libraries in kerala but for the entire country.Restructuring of Lis education,integrated and Planned development of school,college,research and public library systems,etc.were also justified for reaping maximum benefits of the modern ICTs.

Pervasive technologies for workplace management

Purpose – Facilities managers have less visibility of how buildings are being used due to flexible working and unpredictable workers. The purpose of this paper is to examine the current issues in workspace management and an automatic solution through radio frequency identification (RFID) that could provide real time information on the volume and capacity of buildings. Design/methodology/approach – The study described in this paper is based on a case study at a facilities management (FM) department. The department is examining a ubiquitous technology in the form of innovative RFID for security and workspace management. Interviews and observations are conducted within the facilities department for the initial phase of the implementation of RFID technology. Findings – Research suggests that work methods are evolving and becoming more flexible. With this in mind, facilities managers face new challenges to create a suitable environment for an unpredictable workforce. RFID is one solution that could provide facilities managers with an automatic way of examining space in real time and over a wider area than currently possible. RFID alone for space management is financially expensive but by making the application multiple for other areas makes more business sense. Practical implications – This paper will provide practicing FM and academics with the knowledge gained from the application of RFID in this organisation. While the concept of flexible working seems attractive, there is an emerging need to provide various forms of spaces that enable employees' satisfaction and enhance the productivity of the organisation. Originality/value – The paper introduces new thinking on the subject of “workspace management”. It highlights the current difficulties in workspace management and how an RFID solution will benefit workspace methods.

Slogger: a profiling and analysis system based on semantic web technologies

Increasingly, distributed systems are being used to host all manner of applications. While these platforms provide a relatively cheap and effective means of executing applications, so far there has been little work in developing tools and utilities that can help application developers understand problems with the supporting software, or the executing applications. To fully understand why an application executing on a distributed system is not behaving as would be expected it is important that not only the application, but also the underlying middleware, and the operating system are analysed too, otherwise issues could be missed and certainly overall performance profiling and fault diagnoses would be harder to understand. We believe that one approach to profiling and the analysis of distributed systems and the associated applications is via the plethora of log files generated at runtime. In this paper we report on a system (Slogger), that utilises various emerging Semantic Web technologies to gather the heterogeneous log files generated by the various layers in a distributed system and unify them in common data store. Once unified, the log data can be queried and visualised in order to highlight potential problems or issues that may be occurring in the supporting software or the application itself.

Emerging hybrid practices in construction design work: role of mixed media

Information technologies are used across all stages of the construction process, and are crucial in the delivery of large projects. Drawing on detailed research on a construction megaproject, we take a practice-based approach to examining the practical and theoretical tensions between existing ways of working and the introduction of new coordination tools in this paper. We analyze the new hybrid practices that emerge, using insights from actor-network theory to articulate the delegation of actions to material and digital objects within ecologies of practice. The three vignettes that we discuss highlight this delegation of actions, the “plugging” and “patching” of ecologies occurring across media and the continual iterations of working practices between different types of media. By shifting the focus from tools to these wider ecologies of practice, the approach has important managerial mplications for the stabilization of new technologies and practices and for managing technological change on large construction projects. We conclude with a discussion of new directions for research, oriented to further elaborating on the importance of the material in understanding change.

Taking time to understand: articulating relationships between technologies and organizations

Dynamic relationships between technologies and organizations are investigated through research on digital visualization technologies and their use in the construction sector. Theoretical work highlights mutual adaptation between technologies and organizations but does not explain instances of sustained, sudden, or increasing maladaptation. By focusing on the technological field, I draw attention to hierarchical structuring around inter-dependent levels of technology; technological priorities of diverse groups; power asymmetries and disjunctures between contexts of development and use. For complex technologies, such as digital technologies, I argue these field-level features explain why organizations peripheral to the field may experience difficulty using emerging technology.

Pervasive technologies for workspace management

Purpose – Facilities managers have less visibility of how buildings are being used due to flexible working and unpredictable workers. The purpose of this paper is to examine the current issues in workspace management and an automatic solution through radio frequency identification (RFID) that could provide real time information on the volume and capacity of buildings. Design/methodology/approach – The study described in this paper is based on a case study at a facilities management (FM) department. The department is examining a ubiquitous technology in the form of innovative RFID for security and workspace management. Interviews and observations are conducted within the facilities department for the initial phase of the implementation of RFID technology. Findings – Research suggests that work methods are evolving and becoming more flexible. With this in mind, facilities managers face new challenges to create a suitable environment for an unpredictable workforce. RFID is one solution that could provide facilities managers with an automatic way of examining space in real time and over a wider area than currently possible. RFID alone for space management is financially expensive but by making the application multiple for other areas makes more business sense. Practical implications – This paper will provide practicing FM and academics with the knowledge gained from the application of RFID in this organisation. While the concept of flexible working seems attractive, there is an emerging need to provide various forms of spaces that enable employees’ satisfaction and enhance the productivity of the organisation. Originality/value – The paper introduces new thinking on the subject of “workspace management”. It highlights the current difficulties in workspace management and how an RFID solution will benefit workspace methods.

A survey of VANET technologies

Recent advancement in wireless communication technologies and automobiles have enabled the evolution of Intelligent Transport System (ITS) which addresses various vehicular traffic issues like traffic congestion, information dissemination, accident etc. Vehicular Ad-hoc Network (VANET) a distinctive class of Mobile ad-hoc Network (MANET) is an integral component of ITS in which moving vehicles are connected and communicate wirelessly. Wireless communication technologies play a vital role in supporting both Vehicle to Vehicle (V2V) and Vehicle to Infrastructure (V2I) communication in VANET. This paper surveys some of the key vehicular wireless access technology standards such as 802.11p, P1609 protocols, Cellular System, CALM, MBWA, WiMAX, Microwave, Bluetooth and ZigBee which served as a base for supporting both Safety and Non Safety applications. It also analyses and compares the wireless standards using various parameters such as bandwidth, ease of use, upfront cost, maintenance, accessibility, signal coverage, signal interference and security. Finally, it discusses some of the issues associated with the interoperability among those protocols.