The economics of Information Technologies Standards &

This research investigates the problem of Information Technologies Standards or Recommendations from an economical point of view. In our competitive economy, most enterprises adopted standardization’s processes, following recommendations of specialized Organisations such as ISO (International Organisation for Standardization), W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) and ISOC (Internet Society) in order to reassure their customers. But with the development of new and open internet standards, different enterprises from the same sector fields, decided to develop their own IT standards for their activities. So we will hypothesis that the development of a professional IT standard required a network of enterprises but also a financial support, a particular organizational form and a precise activity to describe. In order to demonstrate this hypothesis and understand how professional organise themselves for developing and financing IT standards, we will take the Financial IT Standards as an example. So after a short and general presentation of IT Standards for the financial market, based on XML technologies, we will describe how professional IT standards could be created (nearly 10 professional norms or recommendations appear in the beginning of this century). We will see why these standards are developed outside the classical circles of standardisation organisations, and what could be the “key factors of success” for the best IT standards in Finance. We will use a descriptive and analytical method, in order to evaluate the financial support and to understand these actors’ strategies and the various economical models described behind. Then, we will understand why and how these standards have emerged and been developed. We will conclude this paper with a prospective view on future development of standards and recommendations.information technologies, financial standards, development of standards, evaluation of the economical costs of standards

Towards a typing strategy for Arcobacter species isolated from humans and animals and assessment of the in vitro genomic stability

Arcobacter species have a widespread distribution with a broad range of animal hosts and environmental reservoirs, and are increasingly associated with human illness. To elucidate the routes of infection, several characterization methods such as pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), amplified fragment-length polymorphism, and enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus (ERIC)-PCR have already been applied, but without proper validation or comparison. At present, no criterion standard typing method or strategy has been proposed. Therefore, after the validation of PFGE, those commonly applied typing methods were compared for the characterization of six human- and animal-associated Arcobacter species. With a limited number of isolates to be characterized, PFGE with restriction by KpnI is proposed as the first method of choice. However, ERIC-PCR represents a more convenient genomic fingerprinting technique when a large number of isolates is involved. Therefore, a first clustering of similar patterns obtained after ERIC-PCR, with a subsequent typing of some representatives per ERIC cluster by PFGE, is recommended. As multiple genotypes are commonly isolated from the same host and food, genomic plasticity has been suggested. The in vitro genomic stability of Arcobacter butzleri and A. cryaerophilus was assessed under two temperatures and two oxygen concentrations. Variability in the genomic profile of A. cryaerophilus was observed after different passages for different strains at 37 degrees C under microaerobic conditions. The bias due to these genomic changes must be taken into account in the evaluation of the relationship of strains

MICROBIAL CHARACTERIZATION OF ABANDONED MINING AREA OF SIDI KAMBER NORTH-EAST OF ALGERI

The ecological importance of soil bacteria is not limited to their number or biomass, although these parameters contribute greatly. Indeed, their main asset lies in their great genetic and functional diversity. In this study carried out in the abandoned mine, located in Sidi Kamber (Oum Toub, Skikda, North-Est of Algeria) our objectives was to determine: a) contamination levels of this area by heavy metals b) heavy metal impact on bacterial communities and diversity c) possible risk on the ecological integrity of this area

PHYSIOLOGICAL AND BIOCHEMICAL MARKERS IN THE PROCESS OF RESISTANCE OF HEAVY METALS IN THE ABANDONED MINING AREA OF SIDI KAMBER, SKIKDA, ALGERIA

Mining activities produce large quantities of wastes which are highly contaminated with heavy metals. This can cause adverse effects on natural ecosystems, particularly on living organisms. The study reported here concerned the biomonitoring of pollution in the Sidi Kamber mining area, through the determination of various physiological mechanisms (bioaccumulation and translocation) and biochemical markers (chlorophyll (a) and (b), proline, total sugars and total proteins) active in resistance to heavy metals (Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn) contamination, using three plant species Cistus monspeliensis, Rumex bucephalophorus and Verbascum sinuatum as bioindicators

Changing practice: The possibilities and limits for reshaping social work practice

Since 2010, the United Kingdom has witnessed a number of initiatives that shift away from reliance on performance management to improve social work with children and families, towards a renewed interest in practice models. This study reports on the evaluation of a local government programme in England to introduce and embed systemic family practice through the roll out of intensive training to social workers and frontline managers. It was anticipated through the programme that child protection social workers would undertake more direct work with families and build more positive relationships, resulting in a fall in the number of child protection plans and children experiencing repeat periods of care. The evaluation adopted a mixed-method approach encompassing an online survey of social workers, interviews with team managers and family members, a case audit and statistical analysis of local level metrics. It found limited employment of systemic family practice or improvement due to the programme. Adopting the 7 S framework, this study examines the barriers to and facilitators of successful change and identifies generic considerations for change programmes in child protection social work

Riqueza de espécies e diversidade de Marchantiophyta (hepáticas) de capões de mata, no parque nacional da Chapada dos Veadeiros, Goías, Brasil

O Parque Nacional da Chapada dos Veadeiros (PNCV) está localizado ao nordeste do estado de Goiás, e é reconhecido como Patrimônio Mundial Natural pela UNESCO. Na área de campo rupestre do PNCV encontram-se capões de mata, fitofisionomia que proporciona um ambiente favorável ao desenvolvimento de musgos e hepáticas. O objetivo deste trabalho foi realizar um levantamento das hepáticas associadas aos capões de mata no PNCV, a fim de ampliar o conhecimento sobre a riqueza de espécies e a diversidade, bem como a similaridade entre esses capões. O resultado mostrou uma riqueza específica com 36 espécies, distribuídas em 11 famílias, sendo seis novas ocorrências para o Centro-Oeste e oito novas ocorrências para o estado de Goiás. As famílias mais representativas em quantidade de espécies foram Lejeuneaceae (15 spp.) e Frullaniaceae (cinco spp.), comportando juntas 54% da riqueza total dos capões. Do total de espécies encontradas, todas ocorrem no bioma Mata Atlântica (100%); 24 espécies ocorrem na Amazônia (66%); 16 espécies ocorrem no Pantanal (44%); oito espécies ocorrem na Caatinga (22%) e quatro espécies têm ocorrência nos Pampas (11%). Nenhuma das espécies de hepáticas registradas para os capões de mata consta na Lista Vermelha de espécies ameaçadas da International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). _________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACTThe Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park (PNCV), is located northeast of the state of Goiás, and is recognized as World Heritage by UNESCO. In “campo rupestre” area of PNCV, located a phytophysiognomy classified as “capões de mata” which provides a favorable environment for the development of mosses and liverworts. The objective of this study was to survey of liverworts associated with “capões de mata” in PNCV, in order to increase knowledge of species richness and diversity, as well as the similarity between these “capões”. The result showed richness with 36 species belonging to 11 families, six new records for the Centro-Oeste and eight new records for the state of Goiás. The most representative families in number of species were Lejeuneaceae (15 spp.) and Frullaniaceae (five spp.), together comprising 54% of total richness capões. Of the total number of species, all occurring in the Atlantic Forest biome (100%), 24 species occur in Amazonia (66%), 16 species occur in the Pantanal (44%), eight species occur in the Caatinga (22%) and four species have occurrence in the Pampas (11%). None of the species recorded for “capões de mata” consists in IUCN Red List of Threatened Species

Presence and analysis of plasmids in human and animal associated Arcobacter species

In this study, we report the screening of four Arcobacter species for the presence of small and large plasmids. Plasmids were present in 9.9% of the 273 examined strains. One Arcobacter cryaerophilus and four Arcobacter butzleri plasmids were selected for further sequencing. The size of three small plasmids isolated from A. butzleri and the one from A. cryaerophilus strains ranged between 4.8 and 5.1 kb, and the size of the large plasmid, isolated from A. butzleri, was 27.4 kbp. The G+C content of all plasmids ranged between 25.4% and 26.2%. A total of 95% of the large plasmid sequence represents coding information, which contrasts to the 20 to 30% for the small plasmids. Some of the open reading frames showed a high homology to putative conserved domains found in other related organisms, such as replication, mobilization and genes involved in type IV secretion system. The large plasmid carried 35 coding sequences, including seven genes in a contiguous region of 11.6 kbp that encodes an orthologous type IV secretion system found in the Wolinella succinogenes genome, Helicobacter pylori and Campylobacter jejuni plasmids, which makes this plasmid interesting for further exploration

You Did That on Purpose! An Investigation of the Knobe Effect in Human-Robot Interactions

As robots are becoming increasingly intelligent and autonomous, situations will increase where robots make decisions that cause side-effects. To investigate humans’ intentionality judgments in these situations, this study examines the Knobe effect in human-robot interactions. The Knobe effect describes the phenomenon that the perceived goodness or badness of the side effect of actions asymmetrically influences people’s intentionality attributions. Examining three different agents (i.e., human, humanoid robot, android robot), we found a Knobe effect for the human agent and the android robot, but not for the humanoid robot. The results suggest that as robots become more human-like, the Knobe effect becomes more relevant. Furthermore, a mediation analysis shows that existing explanatory approaches of the Knobe effect cannot mediate the effect of the nature of the side effect on intentionality judgments in the android robot. This work provides important insights into the debate about robots as intentional agents