La cohorte sepsis lausannoise: une opportunité de développer la recherche dans le Réseau latin de médecine intensive [Lausanne Cohort of septic patients as an opportunity to develop multidisciplinary research within the Swiss Latin Network of Intensive Care Medicine]

Despite recent medical progresses in patient support, the mortality of sepsis remains high. Recently, new supporting strategies were proposed to improve outcome. Whereas such strategies are currently considered as standard of care, their real impact on mortality, morbidity, length of stay, and hence, health care resources utilization has been only weakly evaluated so far. Obviously, there is a critical need for epidemiologic surveys of sepsis to better address these major issues. The Lausanne Cohort of septic patients aims at building a large clinical, biological and microbiological database that will be used as a multidisciplinary research platform to study the various pathogenic mechanisms of sepsis in collaboration with the various specialists. This could be an opportunity to strengthen the collaboration within the Swiss Latin network of Intensive Care Medicine.

Social network architecture and the maintenance of deleterious cultural traits.

How have changes in communications technology affected the way that misinformation spreads through a population and persists? To what extent do differences in the architecture of social networks affect the spread of misinformation, relative to the rates and rules by which individuals transmit or eliminate different pieces of information (cultural traits)? Here, we use analytical models and individual-based simulations to study how a 'cultural load' of misinformation can be maintained in a population under a balance between social transmission and selective elimination of cultural traits with low intrinsic value. While considerable research has explored how network architecture affects percolation processes, we find that the relative rates at which individuals transmit or eliminate traits can have much more profound impacts on the cultural load than differences in network architecture. In particular, the cultural load is insensitive to correlations between an individual's network degree and rate of elimination when these quantities vary among individuals. Taken together, these results suggest that changes in communications technology may have influenced cultural evolution more strongly through changes in the amount of information flow, rather than the details of who is connected to whom.

Light intensity modulates the regulatory network of the shade avoidance response in Arabidopsis.

Plants such as Arabidopsis thaliana respond to foliar shade and neighbors who may become competitors for light resources by elongation growth to secure access to unfiltered sunlight. Challenges faced during this shade avoidance response (SAR) are different under a light-absorbing canopy and during neighbor detection where light remains abundant. In both situations, elongation growth depends on auxin and transcription factors of the phytochrome interacting factor (PIF) class. Using a computational modeling approach to study the SAR regulatory network, we identify and experimentally validate a previously unidentified role for long hypocotyl in far red 1, a negative regulator of the PIFs. Moreover, we find that during neighbor detection, growth is promoted primarily by the production of auxin. In contrast, in true shade, the system operates with less auxin but with an increased sensitivity to the hormonal signal. Our data suggest that this latter signal is less robust, which may reflect a cost-to-robustness tradeoff, a system trait long recognized by engineers and forming the basis of information theory.

Online teaching of inflammatory skin pathology by a French-speaking International University Network

INTRODUCTION: Developments in technology, web-based teaching and whole slide imaging have broadened the teaching horizon in anatomic pathology. Creating online learning material including many types of media such as radiologic images, whole slides, videos, clinical and macroscopic photographs, is now accessible to most universities. Unfortunately, a major limiting factor to maintain and update the learning material is the amount of resources needed. In this perspective, a French-national university network was initiated in 2011 to build joint online teaching modules consisting of clinical cases and tests. The network has since expanded internationally to Québec, Switzerland and Ivory Coast. METHOD: One of the first steps of the project was to build a learning module on inflammatory skin pathology for interns and residents in pathology and dermatology. A pathology resident from Québec spent 6 weeks in France and Switzerland to develop the contents and build the module on an e-learning Moodle platform under the supervision of two dermatopathologists. The learning module contains text, interactive clinical cases, tests with feedback, virtual slides, images and clinical photographs. For that module, the virtual slides are decentralized in 2 universities (Bordeaux and Paris 7). Each university is responsible of its own slide scanning, image storage and online display with virtual slide viewers. RESULTS: The module on inflammatory skin pathology includes more than 50 web pages with French original content, tests and clinical cases, links to over 45 virtual images and more than 50 microscopic and clinical photographs. The whole learning module is being revised by four dermatopathologists and two senior pathologists. It will be accessible to interns and residents in the spring of 2014. The experience and knowledge gained from that work will be transferred to the next international resident whose work will be aimed at creating lung and breast pathology learning modules. CONCLUSION: The challenges of sustaining a project of this scope are numerous. The technical aspect of whole-slide imaging and storage needs to be developed by each university or group. The content needs to be regularly updated and its accuracy reviewed by experts in each individual domain. The learning modules also need to be promoted within the academic community to ensure maximal benefit for trainees. A collateral benefit of the project was the establishment of international partnerships between French-speaking universities and pathologists with the common goal of promoting pathology education through the use of multi-media technology including whole slide imaging.

The Network Company in Catalonia : ICT, Productivity, Competitiveness, Salaries and Performance in Catalonia's Companies. Research report (synthesis document)

Resum en anglès del projecte de recerca L'empresa xarxa a Catalunya. TIC, productivitat, competitivitat, salaris i beneficis a l'empresa catalana té com a objectiu principal constatar que la consolidació d'un nou model estratègic, organitzatiu i d'activitat empresarial, vinculat amb la inversió i l'ús de les TIC (o empresa xarxa), modifica substancialment els patrons de comportament dels resultats empresarials, en especial la productivitat, la competitivitat, les retribucions dels treballadors i el benefici. La contrastació empírica de les hipòtesis de treball l'hem feta per mitjà de les dades d'una enquesta a una mostra representativa de 2.038 empreses catalanes. Amb la perspectiva de l'impacte de la inversió i l'ús de les TIC no s'aprecia una relació directa entre els processos d'innovació digital i els resultats de l'activitat de l'empresa catalana. En aquest sentit, hem hagut de segmentar el teixit productiu català per a buscar les organitzacions en què el procés de coinnovació tecnològica digital i organitzativa és més present i en què la intensitat de l'ús del coneixement és un recurs molt freqüent per a poder copsar impactes rellevants en els principals resultats empresarials. Això és així perquè l'economia catalana, avui, presenta una estructura productiva dual.

Statewide Work-Based Learning Intermediary Network, FY2014, November 26, 2014

The Iowa Department of Education (DE) was appropriated $1.45 million for the development and implementation of a statewide work-based learning intermediary network. This funding was awarded on a competitive basis to 15 regional intermediary networks. Funds received by the regional intermediary networks from the state through this grant are to be used to develop and expand work-based learning opportunities within each region. A match of resources equal to 25 percent was a requirement of the funding. This match could include private donations, in-kind contributions, or public moneys. Funds may be used to support personnel responsible for the implementation of the intermediary network program components.

Computer Aided Detection and measurement of peripheral artery disease.

Computer-Aided Tomography Angiography (CTA) images are the standard for assessing Peripheral artery disease (PAD). This paper presents a Computer Aided Detection (CAD) and Computer Aided Measurement (CAM) system for PAD. The CAD stage detects the arterial network using a 3D region growing method and a fast 3D morphology operation. The CAM stage aims to accurately measure the artery diameters from the detected vessel centerline, compensating for the partial volume effect using Expectation Maximization (EM) and a Markov Random field (MRF). The system has been evaluated on phantom data and also applied to fifteen (15) CTA datasets, where the detection accuracy of stenosis was 88% and the measurement accuracy was with an 8% error.

Partial correlation : Network analysis

The final year project came to us as an opportunity to get involved in a topic which has appeared to be attractive during the learning process of majoring in economics: statistics and its application to the analysis of economic data, i.e. econometrics.Moreover, the combination of econometrics and computer science is a very hot topic nowadays, given the Information Technologies boom in the last decades and the consequent exponential increase in the amount of data collected and stored day by day. Data analysts able to deal with Big Data and to find useful results from it are verydemanded in these days and, according to our understanding, the work they do, although sometimes controversial in terms of ethics, is a clear source of value added both for private corporations and the public sector. For these reasons, the essence of this project is the study of a statistical instrument valid for the analysis of large datasets which is directly related to computer science: Partial Correlation Networks.The structure of the project has been determined by our objectives through the development of it. At first, the characteristics of the studied instrument are explained, from the basic ideas up to the features of the model behind it, with the final goal of presenting SPACE model as a tool for estimating interconnections in between elements in large data sets. Afterwards, an illustrated simulation is performed in order to show the power and efficiency of the model presented. And at last, the model is put into practice by analyzing a relatively large data set of real world data, with the objective of assessing whether the proposed statistical instrument is valid and useful when applied to a real multivariate time series. In short, our main goals are to present the model and evaluate if Partial Correlation Network Analysis is an effective, useful instrument and allows finding valuable results from Big Data.As a result, the findings all along this project suggest the Partial Correlation Estimation by Joint Sparse Regression Models approach presented by Peng et al. (2009) to work well under the assumption of sparsity of data. Moreover, partial correlation networks are shown to be a very valid tool to represent cross-sectional interconnections in between elements in large data sets.The scope of this project is however limited, as there are some sections in which deeper analysis would have been appropriate. Considering intertemporal connections in between elements, the choice of the tuning parameter lambda, or a deeper analysis of the results in the real data application are examples of aspects in which this project could be completed.To sum up, the analyzed statistical tool has been proved to be a very useful instrument to find relationships that connect the elements present in a large data set. And after all, partial correlation networks allow the owner of this set to observe and analyze the existing linkages that could have been omitted otherwise.

Online teaching of inflammatory skin pathology by a French-speaking International University Network.

INTRODUCTION: Developments in technology, web-based teaching and whole slide imaging have broadened the teaching horizon in anatomic pathology. Creating online learning material including many types of media such as radiologic images, whole slides, videos, clinical and macroscopic photographs, is now accessible to most universities. Unfortunately, a major limiting factor to maintain and update the learning material is the amount of resources needed. In this perspective, a French-national university network was initiated in 2011 to build joint online teaching modules consisting of clinical cases and tests. The network has since expanded internationally to Québec, Switzerland and Ivory Coast. METHOD: One of the first steps of the project was to build a learning module on inflammatory skin pathology for interns and residents in pathology and dermatology. A pathology resident from Québec spent 6 weeks in France and Switzerland to develop the contents and build the module on an e-learning Moodle platform under the supervision of two dermatopathologists. The learning module contains text, interactive clinical cases, tests with feedback, virtual slides, images and clinical photographs. For that module, the virtual slides are decentralized in 2 universities (Bordeaux and Paris 7). Each university is responsible of its own slide scanning, image storage and online display with virtual slide viewers. RESULTS: The module on inflammatory skin pathology includes more than 50 web pages with French original content, tests and clinical cases, links to over 45 virtual images and more than 50 microscopic and clinical photographs. The whole learning module is being revised by four dermatopathologists and two senior pathologists. It will be accessible to interns and residents in the spring of 2014. The experience and knowledge gained from that work will be transferred to the next international resident whose work will be aimed at creating lung and breast pathology learning modules. CONCLUSION: The challenges of sustaining a project of this scope are numerous. The technical aspect of whole-slide imaging and storage needs to be developed by each university or group. The content needs to be regularly updated and its accuracy reviewed by experts in each individual domain. The learning modules also need to be promoted within the academic community to ensure maximal benefit for trainees. A collateral benefit of the project was the establishment of international partnerships between French-speaking universities and pathologists with the common goal of promoting pathology education through the use of multi-media technology including whole slide imaging.

SiMR: A simulator for learning computer architecture

This paper presents SiMR, a simulator of the Rudimentary Machine designed to be used in a first course of computer architecture of Software Engineering and Computer Engineering programmes. The Rudimentary Machine contains all the basic elements in a RISC computer, and SiMR allows editing, assembling and executing programmes for this processor. SiMR is used at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya as one of the most important resources in the Virtual Computing Architecture and Organisation Laboratory, since students work at home with the simulator and reports containing their work are automatically generated to be evaluated by lecturers. The results obtained from a survey show that most of the students consider SiMR as a highly necessary or even an indispensable resource to learn the basic concepts about computer architecture.

Network governance and the domestic adoption of soft rules

European regulatory networks (ERNs) are in charge of producing and disseminating non-bindings standards, guidelines and recommendations in a number of important domains, such as banking and finance, electricity and gas, telecommunications, and competition regulation. The goal of these soft rules is to promote 'best practices', achieve co-ordination among regulatory authorities and ensure the consistent application of harmonized pro-competition rules across Europe. This contribution examines the domestic adoption of the soft rules developed within the four main ERNs. Different factors are expected to influence the process of domestic adoption: the resources of regulators; the existence of a review panel; and the interdependence of the issues at stake. The empirical analysis supports hypotheses about the relevance of network-level factors: monitoring and public reporting procedures increase the final level of adoption, while soft rules concerning highly interdependent policy areas are adopted earlier.

Transparent and secure remote network storage system using an untrusted server

Työssä kehitettin läpinäkyvä Internet Small Computer Systems Interface-verkkolevyä (iSCSI) käyttävä varmistusjärjestelmä. Verkkolevyn sisältö suojattiin asiakaspään salauskerroksella (dm-crypt). Järjestely mahdollisti sen, että verkkolevylle tallennetut varmuuskopiot pysyivät luottamuksellisina, vaikka levypalvelinta tarjoava taho oli joko epäluotettava tai suorastaan vihamielinen. Järjestelmän hyötykäyttöä varten kehitettiin helppokäyttöinen prototyyppisovellus. Järjestelmän riskit ja haavoittuvuudet käytiin läpi ja analysoitiin. Järjestelmälle tehtiin myös karkea kryptoanalyysi sen teknistenominaisuuksien pohjalta. Suorituskykymittaukset tehtiin sekä salatulle että salaamattomalle iSCSI-liikenteelle. Näistä todettiin, että salauksen vaikutus suorituskykyyn oli häviävän pieni jopa 100 megabittiä sekunnissa siirtävillä verkkonopeuksilla. Lisäksi pohdittiin teknologian muita sovelluskohteita ja tulevia tutkimusalueita.

The maximum voltage drop in an on-chip power distribution network: analysis of square, triangular and hexagonal power pad arrangements

A mathematical model of the voltage drop which arises in on-chip power distribution networks is used to compare the maximum voltage drop in the case of different geometric arrangements of the pads supplying power to the chip. These include the square or Manhattan power pad arrangement, which currently predominates, as well as equilateral triangular and hexagonal arrangements. In agreement with the findings in the literature and with physical and SPICE models, the equilateral triangular power pad arrangement is found to minimize the maximum voltage drop. This headline finding is a consequence of relatively simple formulas for the voltage drop, with explicit error bounds, which are established using complex analysis techniques, and elliptic functions in particular.

ENFIN--A European network for integrative systems biology.

Integration of biological data of various types and the development of adapted bioinformatics tools represent critical objectives to enable research at the systems level. The European Network of Excellence ENFIN is engaged in developing an adapted infrastructure to connect databases, and platforms to enable both the generation of new bioinformatics tools and the experimental validation of computational predictions. With the aim of bridging the gap existing between standard wet laboratories and bioinformatics, the ENFIN Network runs integrative research projects to bring the latest computational techniques to bear directly on questions dedicated to systems biology in the wet laboratory environment. The Network maintains internally close collaboration between experimental and computational research, enabling a permanent cycling of experimental validation and improvement of computational prediction methods. The computational work includes the development of a database infrastructure (EnCORE), bioinformatics analysis methods and a novel platform for protein function analysis FuncNet.

Scaffolding through the network: analysing the promotion of improved online scaffolds among university students

This article explores how to enrich scaffolding processes among university students using specific Computer Supported Collaborative Learning –CSCL- software. A longitudinal case study was designed, in which eighteen students participated in a twelve-month learning project. During this period the students followed an instructional process, using the CSCL software to support and improve the students’ interaction processes, in particular the processes of giving and receiving assistance. Our research analyzed the evolution of the quality of the students’ interaction processes and the students’ learning results. The effects of the students’ participation in the CSCL environment have been described in terms of their development of affective, cognitive and metacognitive learning processes. Our results showed that the specific activities that students performed while working with the CSCL system triggered specific learning processes, which had a positive incidence on their learning results.