Search

Background: Web-based surveys have become a new and popular method for collecting data, but only a few studies have directly compared postal and Web-based surveys among physicians, and none to our knowledge among general practitioners (GPs). Objective: Our aim is to compare two modes of survey delivery (postal and Web-based) in terms of participation rates, response times, and completeness of questionnaires in a study assessing GPs’ preventive practices. Methods: This randomized study was conducted in Western Switzerland (Geneva and Vaud) and in France (Alsace and Pays de la Loire) in 2015. A random selection of community-based GPs (1000 GPs in Switzerland and 2400 GPs in France) were randomly allocated to receive a questionnaire about preventive care activities either by post (n=700 in Switzerland, n=400 in France) or by email (n=300 in Switzerland, n=2000 in France). Reminder messages were sent once in the postal group and twice in the Web-based group. Any GPs practicing only complementary and alternative medicine were excluded from the study. Results: Among the 3400 contacted GPs, 764 (22.47%, 95% CI 21.07%-23.87%) returned the questionnaire. Compared to the postal group, the participation rate in the Web-based group was more than four times lower (246/2300, 10.70% vs 518/1100, 47.09%, P

International audience; This short paper compares two approaches of the state of the art, to implement Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) systems. By com- paring the two approaches, we aim to show that combining them could lead to an improvement of the offered response of the system. It shows that it could be interesting to develop a proof-of-concept system from a combination of these approaches, as it would improve the state of the art in AAL systems.

Profitable use of vegetable oil by-products by anaerobic digestion The productions of vegetable oil and methyl esters of vegetable oil lead to the generation of a lot of by-products. The purpose of this work was to study an alternative solution for a profitable use of vegetable oil by-products: anaerobic digestion. The potential for anaerobic digestion of 24 by-products was studied. The results show that most of oil by-products had a good capacity for anaerobic digestion. Then, the effects of the addition of oil by-products on the behavior of one reactor treating a mixture of grass, cow manure and fruit and vegetable waste and another reactor treating household waste were investigated. Most of the by-products tested improved significantly the production of methane indicating that the addition of by-products from oil production could represent a significant financial earning for the digester operators. Discussions are in progress involving oil producers and biogas plant operators to assess the opportunity of supporting the addition of by-products from oil refining in their facilities. A first evaluation of the costs and potential benefits of by-product treatment was performed. These costs should be reviewed in line with the increased development of anaerobic digestion and the expected benefits due to the digestion of by-products.

In this paper, we propose a method for coarse camera pose computation which is robust to viewing conditions and does not require a detailed model of the scene. This method meets the growing need of easy deployment of robotics or augmented reality applications in any environments, especially those for which no accurate 3D model nor huge amount of ground truth data are available. It exploits the ability of deep learning techniques to reliably detect objects regardless of viewing conditions. Previous works have also shown that abstracting the geometry of a scene of objects by an ellipsoid cloud allows to compute the camera pose accurately enough for various application needs. Though promising, these approaches use the ellipses fitted to the detection bounding boxes as an approximation of the imaged objects. In this paper, we go one step further and propose a learning-based method which detects improved elliptic approximations of objects which are coherent with the 3D ellipsoid in terms of perspective projection. Experiments prove that the accuracy of the computed pose significantly increases thanks to our method and is more robust to the variability of the boundaries of the detection boxes. This is achieved with very little effort in terms of training data acquisition -- a few hundred calibrated images of which only three need manual object annotation. Code and models are released at https://github.com/zinsmatt/3D-Aware-Ellipses-for-Visual-Localization., Comment: Presented at 3DV 2020. Code and models released at https://github.com/zinsmatt/3D-Aware-Ellipses-for-Visual-Localization

Because of deflections under load, contacts on tooth flanks can occur outside the theoretical plane of action between nonconjugated profiles especially when tooth modifications are not appropriate. The main objective of the present paper is to introduce an original model of the dynamic behavior of spur gears when submitted to these particular meshing conditions. The pinion and the gear of a pair are modeled as two rigid cylinders linked by stiffnesses and dampers whose amplitudes and orientations vary in order to simulate the evolutions of the meshing conditions. For the sake of simplicity, only three torsional degrees-of-freedom on the pinion, the gear and the motor are considered. The results show that the contacts between non-conjugated flanks lead to a particular dynamic behavior characterized by i) an actual contact ratio larger than the theoretical one, ii) the possibility of impacts at engagement whose amplitudes depend on transmitted loads and speeds.

International audience; We present the use of a new computationaly efficient 3D physics model for the simulation of cells in a virtual aquatic world. In this model, cells can freely assemble and disconnect along the simulation without any separation between the development and evaluation stages, as is the case in most evo-devo models which only consider one cell cluster. While allowing for the discovery of interesting behaviors through the addition of new degrees of freedom, this 3D center-based physics engine and its associated virtual world also come with their drawbacks when applied to evolutionnary experiments: larger search space and numerous local optima. In this paper, we have designed an experiment in which cells must learn to survive by keeping their genome alive as long as possible in a demanding world. No morphology or strategy is explicitly enforced; the only objective the cells have to optimize is the survival time of the organism they build. We show that a novelty metric, adapted to our evo-devo matter, dramatically improves the outcome of the evolutionary runs. This paper also details some of the developmental strategies the evolved multicellular organisms have found in order to survive.

Given the evolution of wireless technologies, Wireless Mesh Networks (WMN) have appeared as an emerging low-cost solution to ensure last-mile connectivity to the Internet network. However, providing real-time and streaming applications, such as VoIP (Voice over IP) and VoD (Video on Demand), with a satisfying QoS level is considered as an important challenge within these networks. In this paper, we propose a QoS based routing protocol, called Hybrid QoS Mesh Routing (HQMR), jointly with a clustering algorithm to improve the scalability of mesh networks. HQMR is composed of two routing sub- protocols: a reactive QoS based routing protocol for intra-mesh infrastructure communications and a proactive QoS based multi- tree routing protocol for communications with external networks. We analyze in this paper the simulation results of different scenarios conducted on the network simulator ns-3 to demonstrate the effectiveness of the reactive routing sub-protocol while forwarding real-time applications with a QoS guarantee.

National audience; Research contributions to improve interactive systems reliability as, for now, mainly focused towards fault occurrence prevention by removing software bugs at development time. However, Interactive Systems complexity is so high that whatever efforts are deployed at development time, faults and failures occur at operation time. Root causes of such failures may be due to transient hardware faults or (when systems are used in high atmosphere) may be so called "natural faults" triggered by alpha particles in processors or neutrons from cosmic radiations. This paper proposes an exhaustive identification of faults to be handled in order to improve interactive systems reliability. As currently no research has been carried out in the field of interactive systems to detect and remove natural faults, this paper proposes a software architecture providing fault-tolerant mechanisms dedicated to interactive systems. More precisely, the paper how such architecture addresses the various component of interactive applications namely widgets, user application and window manager. These concepts are demonstrated through a case study from the domain of interactive cockpits of large civil aircrafts. \; La recherche pour améliorer la fiabilité des systèmes interactifs s’est, pour l’instant, principalement dirigée vers la prévention d’introduction de fautes par la suppression des bugs lors du développement. Cependant, la complexité des systèmes interactifs est telle que, quels que soient ces efforts, des défaillances apparaissent lors de leur utilisation. Les causes de telles défaillances peuvent être dues à des pannes matérielles intermittentes ou (quand ces systèmes sont utilisés en haute altitude (avions, véhicules spatiaux …) être déclenchées par des fautes naturelles dues aux particules alpha dans les processeurs ou aux neutrons issus des radiations cosmiques. Cet article propose l’identification exhaustive des problématiques se posant pour améliorer la fiabilité des systèmes interactifs en prenant en compte à la fois les erreurs faites dans les phases de développement et les fautes qui peuvent se produire lors de leur utilisation. Du fait qu’aucune recherche n’a été menée à ce jour pour détecter et éliminer les fautes naturelles, l’article propose aussi une architecture logicielle pour intégrer des mécanismes de tolérance aux fautes dans les systèmes interactifs. L’article présente en particulier comment cette architecture couvre les différents composants d’un système interactif incluant les widgets, le gestionnaire de fenêtres et l’application interactive. Ces concepts sont mis en œuvre sur une application interactive de cockpits d’avions civils.

International audience; In this paper, we present a medical image integrity verification system to detect and approximate local malevolent image alterations (e.g. removal or addition of lesions) as well as identifying the nature of a global processing an image may have undergone (e.g. lossy compression, filtering ...). The proposed integrity analysis process is based on non significant region watermarking with signatures extracted from different pixel blocks of interest and which are compared with the recomputed ones at the verification stage. A set of three signatures is proposed. The two firsts devoted to detection and modification location are cryptographic hashes and checksums, while the last one is issued from the image moment theory. In this paper, we first show how geometric moments can be used to approximate any local modification by its nearest generalized 2D Gaussian. We then demonstrate how ratios between original and recomputed geometric moments can be used as image features in a classifier based strategy in order to determine the nature of a global image processing. Experimental results considering both local and global modifications in MRI and retina images illustrate the overall performances of our approach. With a pixel block signature of about 200 bit long, it is possible to detect, to roughly localize and to get an idea about the image tamper.

National audience; Real-time adaptive production control in the flexible manufacturing cell (FMC) is a complex issue that needs to be addressed to realize good performance and high productivity. In this paper, we have considered a support vector machine (SVM)-based simulation approach to resolve a production control problem in an FMC that operates in a dynamic environment. A SVM-based simulation approach chooses the most relevant scheduling rule out of several predefined ones on the basis of the current states of the system. This paper examines and compares the performance of the SVM-based simulation approach with the competent scheduling rules under two different operational environments which are characterized by the uncertainty of demand. We have also developed a Visual Basic-based simulation approach for scheduling of component parts in the context of FMC under different situations. The SVM methodology to control the production offers better performance than the single-rule-based production control system.

International audience; Given the maturity of Internet standards, inter-organizational workflow is expected to be deployed in environments that are more dynamic and open than before. This paper addresses Inter Organizational Workflow (IOW) coordination in such a context, mainly investigating autonomic coordination managed at run-time. It is based on the idea that an agent-based approach is suitable to deal with this issue. More precisely, this paper introduces a framework for dynamic IOW in which involved processes are encapsulated into agents, called Process Agents (PA) in order to give them the capability to autonomously decide with whom, when and how to cooperate, and in which involved processes can access protocol components for their coordination needs. Our approach is based on the capability of PAs in playing different coordination protocols in order to take part in new business opportunities. This solution has numerous advantages. First, it provides extendable and reusable coordination components. Then, it supports run-time protocol integration. Finally, it eases openness since it imposes very few constraints.

International audience; Multiple-Input/Multiple-Output (MIMO) techniques have recently become an important research field for enhancing the performance of in-home Power Line Communication (PLC) systems by exploiting the additional Protective Earth wire. The development of such systems requires an accurate description of the channel noise. In this paper we have presented a model for PLC background noise based on an extensive set of measurements. We have adopted the framework of multivariate time series to model the PLC background noise.This paper employs the Vector Autoregressive (VAR) modeling technique to extract noise model parameters from the measured noise. We have verified the accuracy of the noise model by comparing time and frequency domain correlation of measured and modeled noises.

International audience; This paper reports an experience feedback about a Master-2 and Engineering-School level training in HCI based on the transfer of knowledge and technology from research and industry. We emphasize the importance of training students to promising research areas such as user interface plasticity and to recent technologies for developing mobile media and MS surface table applications. The whole training enhances user-centered methodsto encourage students to focus on the use of applications.; Cet article présente un retour d'expérience sur une formation en IHM de niveau Master 2 et École d'ingénieurs reposant sur le transfert de savoirs et de technologies issus de la recherche et de l'industrie. Nous mettons l'accent sur l'importance de former les étudiants à des domaines de recherche prometteurs tels que la plasticité des IHM et à des technologies récentes permettant le développement d'applications sur supports mobiles et table MS Surface. L'ensemble de la formation valorise les méthodes centrées utilisateurs afin d'inciter les étudiants à privilégier l'usage des applications. ABSTRACT This paper reports an experience feedback about a Master-2 and Engineering-School level training in HCI based on the transfer of knowledge and technology from research and industry. We emphasize the importance of training students to promising research areas such as user interface plasticity and to recent technologies for developing mobile media and MS surface table applications. The whole training enhances user-centered methods to encourage students to focus on the use of applications.

International audience; Several separate displays are used by Air Traffic Controllers, such as radar view, flight lists view or paper strips. In order to link the information between these views and keep focus on a subset of flights, controllers are required to do visual operations (eye gaze, analysis of visual properties etc.). This process can be disruptive when traffic increases and when visualizations display large amounts of objects. In this paper we propose the use of animated transitions to replace the visual paths controllers take. We discuss this technique and show results of a predictive evaluation that suggests an improvement in users' performance.

International audience; This paper addresses the use of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) as a remote sensing tool for oceanographic applications. In this paper we use the Global Positioning System (GPS) signals reflected off the sea surface along with a coastal receiver to perform detection and tracking of a near sea surface mobile target. Because these signals have a very low Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) in a non stationary medium, a matched filter is required. A filter based on the Extended Kalman process is presented here.

The constantly increasing market request of high quality vehicles ask the automotive manufacturers to perform lifetime testing in order to verify the reliability levels of new products. In this paper, we deal with two difficulties in reliability assessment for mechanical parts. On one hand, there is the small number of parts available for testing. On the other hand, there is the problem of wear. In the automotive applications, mechanical components subjected to relative motion of parts have to be designed against wear. In this paper, the Bayesian estimation of Wiener process parameters (usually used to define the degradation process) is studied to improve the estimation accuracy in incorporating the available knowledge on the product. In particular, the finite element results and expert knowledge are considered as “a priori”. For wear prediction by FEM, a model based on Archard law was developed for the brake disc wear.

This paper deals with face gear design. The goal is to propose a simple formula for predicting the width of the wheel as a function of the main design parameters. A specific software was used to achieve this goal. This numerical tool is able to simulate the geometry and the quasistatic loaded behavior of a face gear. The statistical method used for analyzing the influence of data is described: The design of experiments leads to a simple regression model taking into account the influential parameters and their couplings. In the last part of this paper, the results of the formulas are compared to those of the software and an optimal design is proposed based on the regression model.

In this paper, the duality in differential form is developed between a 3D primal surface and its dual manifold formed by the surface's tangent planes, that is, each tangent plane of the primal surface is represented as a four-dimensional vector that constitutes a point on the dual manifold. The iterated dual theorem shows that each tangent plane of the dual manifold corresponds to a point on the original 3D surface, that is, the "dual" of the "dual" goes back to the "primal." This theorem can be directly used to reconstruct 3D surface from image edges by estimating the dual manifold from these edges. In this paper, we further develop the work in our original conference papers resulting in the robust differential dual operator. We argue that the operator makes good use of the information available in the image data by using both points of intensity discontinuity and their edge directions; we provide a simple physical interpretation of what the abstract algorithm is actually estimating and why it makes sense in terms of estimation accuracy; our algorithm operates on all edges in the images, including silhouette edges, self occlusion edges, and texture edges, without distinguishing their types (thus, resulting in improved accuracy and handling locally concave surface estimation if texture edges are present); the algorithm automatically handles various degeneracies; and the algorithm incorporates new methodologies for implementing the required operations such as appropriately relating edges in pairs of images, evaluating and using the algorithm's sensitivity to noise to determine the accuracy of an estimated 3D point. Experiments with both synthetic and real images demonstrate that the operator is accurate, robust to degeneracies and noise, and general for reconstructing free-form objects from occluding edges and texture edges detected in calibrated images or video sequences.

This paper introduces a new modeling method suitable for the simulation of shell fracture under impact. This method relies on an entirely meshless approach based on the smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method. The paper also presents the SPH shell formulation being used as well as the different test cases used for its validation. A plasticity model of the global type throughout the thickness is also proposed and validated. Finally, in order to illustrate the capabilities of the method, fracture simulations using a simplified fracture criterion are presented.

4 pages, démonstrations; National audience; In this paper, we discuss a choice of props for a dedicated task: selecting a cutting line from a top map. We present GeoTUI, a tabletop and a Tangible User Interface intended to geosciences. Several props have been evaluated for both usability and task performance. We begin with an analysis of the advantages of addressing a specific domain in this kind of study.; Nous nous intéressons à la sélection d'une ligne de coupe dans un modèle 3D. Nous nous situons donc dans le pa-radigme des interfaces utilisateurs 3D (3DUI). Dans ce contexte, il est intéressant pour adresser un problème gé-néral d'expérimenter sur des applications métiers complexes porteuses de contraintes et d'exigences, ici les géosciences. Dans le cadre de l'interface proposée, table interactive et interface tangible, nous étudions les diffé-rentes métaphores d'interaction possibles et déterminons le meilleur interacteur pour la tâche ciblée. ABSTRACT In this paper, we discuss a choice of props for a dedicated task: selecting a cutting line from a top map. We present GeoTUI, a tabletop and a Tangible User Interface intended to geosciences. Several props have been evaluated for both usability and task performance. We begin with an analysis of the advantages of addressing a specific domain in this kind of study.

This paper reviews the empirical and theoretical literature on economic growth to examine how the four components of the climate change bill, namely mitigation, proactive (ex ante) adaptation, reactive (ex post) adaptation, and ultimate damages of climate change affect growth, especially in developing countries. The authors consider successively the Cass-Koopmans growth model and three major strands of the subsequent literature on growth: with multiple sectors, with rigidities, and with increasing returns. The paper finds that although the growth literature rarely addresses climate change per se, some issues discussed in the growth literature are directly relevant for climate change analysis. Notably, destruction of production factors, or decrease in factor productivity may strongly affect long-run equilibrium growth even in one-sector neoclassical growth models; climatic shocks have had large impacts on growth in developing countries because of rigidities; and the introducing increasing returns has a major impact on growth dynamics, in particular through induced technical change, poverty traps, or lock-ins. Among the most important gaps identified in the literature are lack of understanding of the channels by which shocks affect economic growth, lack of understanding of lock-ins, heavy reliance of numerical models assessing climate policies on neoclassical-type growth frameworks, and frequent use of an inappropriate

A semi-analytical method for the tridimensional thermal-elastic-plastic contact between two hemispherical asperities is proposed. This first part of the paper describes the algorithm used to deal with the normal contact, which can be either load-driven (ld) or displacement-driven (dd). Both formulations use the Conjugate Gradient (CG) method and the Discrete Convolution and Fast Fourier Transform (DC-FFT) technique. A validation of the code is made in the case of the displacement-driven formulation for an elastic-plastic body in contact with a rigid punch, simulating a nano-indentation test. For both formulations (ld and dd) a very good convergence rate is found. Another new feature is the treatment of the contact between two elastic-plastic bodies. The model is first validated through comparison with the Finite Element Method (FEM). The contact pressure distribution, the hydrostatic pressure and the equivalent plastic strain state below the contacting surfaces are also found to be strongly modified in comparison to the case of an elastic-plastic body in contact with a purely elastic body. An application to the tugging between two spherical asperities in simple sliding (dd formulation) is made in part II of the paper.© 2006 ASME

International audience; In this paper we perform a theoretical study of a potential design of a carbon nanotube device able to transduce forces developed at the scale of basic cellular processes into electric current variations. The first part of this study consists of an assessment of the sensitivity of the device with forces in the tens of pico Newtons (pN), developed typically at the cellular scale. In the second stage, we focus on the transduction of the deflection of a cantilever into an electrical signal, employing methods borrowed from non-equilibrium Green's functions. Several issues related to the importance of thermal effects in the proper operation of the sensor are then discussed. Following a simple method we include non-zero temperature through molecular dynamics in quantum conductance calculations that results in the displacement-current characteristic found at the end of this paper.

For high-precision mechanisms such as machine tools or gas-turbine engines, which operate at extreme conditions, it is particularly important to accurately predict the behavior of the included bearing. This prediction includes, among other things, its load distribution, stiffness, and power dissipation. Although shaft speeds tend to increase, rings and shaft walls are becoming thinner due to size and weight constraints. Thus, bearing behavior is no longer independent of the housing and ring stiffness. This paper focuses on the problem of elastic ring deformation and certain behaviors of high-speed intershaft cylindrical roller bearings such as heat dissipation, contact pressure, and risk of bearing failure due to scuffing. The paper presents an analytical method to account for the structural deformation of the rings based on Roark's formulas. The elastic deformation of thin cylindrical rings has been introduced in the set of displacement and load equations that describes the bearing equilibrium. A correla...

International audience; This paper deals with a tunable bandpass filter topology which controls independently and simultaneously both the central frequency and bandwidth. This tunable filter results from the association of MEMS cantilevers, used as variable capacitors, with an original passive topology. The latter is based on dual behavior resonators (DBRs), each of them is constituted of low- and high-frequency open-ended stubs. The associated filter electrical response is characterized by tunable frequency transmission zeros. A millimeter bandpass filter with central frequency and relative bandwidth tunability of about 10 and 75%, respectively, is presented.; This paper deals with a tunable bandpass filter topology which controls independently and simultaneously both the central frequency and bandwidth. This tunable filter results from the association of MEMS cantilevers, used as variable capacitors, with an original passive topology. The latter is based on dual behavior resonators (DBRs), each of them is constituted of low- and high-frequency open-ended stubs. The associated filter electrical response is characterized by tunable frequency transmission zeros. A millimeter bandpass filter with central frequency and relative bandwidth tunability of about 10 and 75%, respectively, is presented.

International audience; This paper presents a tunable interdigital coplanarfilter with tapped-line feedings. Microelectromechanical systems capacitors are used as a high contrast capacitive switch betweena quarter-wavelength resonator and an open-ended stub to per-form the frequency shift. A two-pole tunable filter with a 13% relative bandwidth has been designed, fabricated, and measured. The center frequency can be switched from 18.5 to 21.05 GHz with low return losses (less than 15 dB) and low insertion losses (3.5 dB).; This paper presents a tunable interdigital coplanarfilter with tapped-line feedings. Microelectromechanical systems capacitors are used as a high contrast capacitive switch betweena quarter-wavelength resonator and an open-ended stub to per-form the frequency shift. A two-pole tunable filter with a 13% relative bandwidth has been designed, fabricated, and measured. The center frequency can be switched from 18.5 to 21.05 GHz with low return losses (less than 15 dB) and low insertion losses (3.5 dB).

The first part of this two-part paper presents an analytical model to predict the performances of double-row tapered roller bearings (DRTRB). The model has been structured in two major parts: (1)- A conventional quasi-static analysis to determine the internal load distribution, the bearing stiffness and the fatigue life and (2)- A quasi-dynamic analysis which integrates the differential equations for each bearing element in order to determine the amount of skidding, the friction forces and moments and consequently the heat dissipation. The proposed model allows one to take into account a general external loading (shaft tilting moments, radial and axial loads), the initial axial compression introduced while mounting, the operating speed and the lubricant properties. Some numerical results are presented in the second part of this two-part paper. Presented at the 56th Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida May 20–24, 2001

International audience; In this paper we discuss about various modifications of classical coupled-lines narrow bandpass filter to obtain some frequency response improvement. The first modification concerns the broadening of the resonator strip-widths to improve their unloaded Q-factor. The second modification consists in replacing the in/out coupled lines section by tapped lines feeding. Finally a transmission zero is added using a geometrical modification that favor coupling between non-adjacent resonators. The theoretical investigation is carried out through a DOE based sensitivity study using both a circuit modeling approach and a full wave analysis. Theoretical and experimental results on microstrip filters are compared.; In this paper we discuss about various modifications of classical coupled-lines narrow bandpass filter to obtain some frequency response improvement. The first modification concerns the broadening of the resonator strip-widths to improve their unloaded Q-factor. The second modification consists in replacing the in/out coupled lines section by tapped lines feeding. Finally a transmission zero is added using a geometrical modification that favor coupling between non-adjacent resonators. The theoretical investigation is carried out through a DOE based sensitivity study using both a circuit modeling approach and a full wave analysis. Theoretical and experimental results on microstrip filters are compared.

International audience; An original implementation of a TX/RX transceiver for future UMTS base stations is proposed in this paper. Machined Foam substrates are stacked at first for implementing a square patch antenna on a composite thick support, then delivering interesting performances in terms of bandwidth and efficiency with respect to planar solutions. Active and passive devices are inserted within a shielded cavity created under the patch, then preventing from size constraints at such frequencies as well as insertion loss and parasitic radiations. A complete experimental procedure is presented for both TX and RX operating modes.; An original implementation of a TX/RX transceiver for future UMTS base stations is proposed in this paper. Machined Foam substrates are stacked at first for implementing a square patch antenna on a composite thick support, then delivering interesting performances in terms of bandwidth and efficiency with respect to planar solutions. Active and passive devices are inserted within a shielded cavity created under the patch, then preventing from size constraints at such frequencies as well as insertion loss and parasitic radiations. A complete experimental procedure is presented for both TX and RX operating modes.

International audience; This paper deals about the design and the implementation of a very compact microstrip Tx/Rx diplexer for future UMTS mobile terminals. Miniaturized loop-resonators filters have been developed and combined INTO data_ds.tmp_pub_a diplexer structure, satisfying different constraints such as a high electrical performance level (especially, a very narrow bandwidth, low insertion losses and a high out-of-band rejection), or also a great compactness and a compatibility with a standard planar integration.; This paper deals about the design and the implementation of a very compact microstrip Tx/Rx diplexer for future UMTS mobile terminals. Miniaturized loop-resonators filters have been developed and combined INTO data_ds.tmp_pub_a diplexer structure, satisfying different constraints such as a high electrical performance level (especially, a very narrow bandwidth, low insertion losses and a high out-of-band rejection), or also a great compactness and a compatibility with a standard planar integration.

In this paper, the hydroforming limit of isotropic tubes subjected to internal hydraulic pressure and independent axial load is discussed. Swift's criterion is often used in this case for the prediction of diffuse plastic instability. Here, we first highlight the existence of two different Swift's criteria (for sheets and for tubes). Then, we recall that these types of approaches do not take into account buckling induced by axial loading. In fact, buckling may obviously occur before plastic instability; consequently, Swift's criteria must not be used alone to predict instability in the case of tube hydroforming. Numerical simulation was used to confirm these points and to analyse both the buckling and striction phenomena together. The two types of instability must be treated together in a reasonable approach to the hydroforming process. In this paper, the material verifies a “J2-flow” constitutive rate constitutive law. Jaumann's derivative was chosen and the Prandtl–Reuss equations with von Mises’ yield criterion and the associated flow rule were used. Isotropic hardening was taken into account.

International audience; In this paper, we discuss the control and suppression of spurious resonances commonly encountered with distributed bandpass filters. The basic idea consists of introducinglow-pass structures within bandpass topologies. By adjusting low-pass filter cutoff frequencies, harmonic resonances are attenuated, while maintaining in-band performances. In addition, transmission losses may be reduced as the insertion technique leads to optimum designs in terms of overall size. The approach described here is based upon the combination of classical synthesis techniques and optimization proceduresprovided by conventional computer-aided-design tools. Experimental results are obtained in the case of /spl lambda//sub g//4 shunt-stub filters implemented in classical semilumped low-pass architectures. Then, we investigate alternative integration technologies and techniques to improve the out-of-band rejection over very wide operating bandwidth. To overcome some design limitations, i.e., workable characteristicimpedance value, we propose and validate a multilayer solution. Finally, new low-pass topologies are suggested to improve low-pass filter band rejection.; In this paper, we discuss the control and suppression of spurious resonances commonly encountered with distributed bandpass filters. The basic idea consists of introducinglow-pass structures within bandpass topologies. By adjusting low-pass filter cutoff frequencies, harmonic resonances are attenuated, while maintaining in-band performances. In addition, transmission losses may be reduced as the insertion technique leads to optimum designs in terms of overall size. The approach described here is based upon the combination of classical synthesis techniques and optimization proceduresprovided by conventional computer-aided-design tools. Experimental results are obtained in the case of /spl lambda//sub g//4 shunt-stub filters implemented in classical semilumped low-pass architectures. Then, we investigate alternative integration technologies and techniques to improve the out-of-band rejection over very wide operating bandwidth. To overcome some design limitations, i.e., workable characteristicimpedance value, we propose and validate a multilayer solution. Finally, new low-pass topologies are suggested to improve low-pass filter band rejection.

International audience; System-on-Chip Methodologies & Design Languages brings together a selection of the best papers from three international electronic design language conferences in 2000. The conferences are the Hardware Description Language Conference and Exhibition (HDLCon), held in the Silicon Valley area of USA; the Forum on Design Languages (FDL), held in Europe; and the Asia Pacific Chip Design Language (APChDL) Conference. The papers cover a range of topics, including design methods, specification and modeling languages, tool issues, formal verification, simulation and synthesis. The results presented in these papers will help researchers and practicing engineers keep abreast of developments in this rapidly evolving field

International audience; In recent years, metasurfaces have become a rapidly growing domain of research in several fields of engineering and applied physics due to their ability to manipulate both phase and amplitude of electromagnetic fields. These artificial 2D-materials, usually composed of metallic elements printed on dielectric substrates, have the advantages of being low profile, lightweight as well as easy to fabricate and integrate with standard circuit technologies. In this context, this paper reviews the latest progress in metasurface antenna design, where metasurfaces are used to miniaturize the profile, increase the bandwidth, and control the radiation pattern in the near- and far-field regions.; Ces dernières années, la thématique des métasurfaces est devenue un sujet de recherche en pleine expansion dans plusieurs domaines de l’ingénierie et de la physique appliquée, en raison de leur capacité à manipuler à la fois la phase et l’amplitude des champs électromagnétiques. Ces matériaux artificiels bi-dimensionnels, généralement composés d’éléments métalliques imprimés sur des substrats diélectriques, ont l’avantage d’être de très faible épaisseur, légers et faciles à fabriquer et à intégrer avec les circuits imprimés. Cet article passe en revue les dernières avancées dans la conception d’antennes à métasurface, où les métasurfaces sont utilisées pour minimiser l’épaisseur, augmenter la bande passante et contrôler le diagramme de rayonnement en champ proche et en champ lointain.

International audience; The increasing use of embedded software, often implemented on a core processor in a single-chip system, is a clear trend in the telecommunications, multimedia, and consumer electronics industries. A companion paper in this issue presents a survey of application and architecture trends for embedded systems in these growth markets. However, the lack of suitable design technology remains a significant obstacle in the development of such systems. One of the key requirements is more efficient software compilation technology. Especially in the case of fixed-point digital signal processor (DSP) cores, it is often cited that commercially available compilers are unable to take full advantage of the architectural features of the processor. Moreover, due to the shorter lifetimes and the architectural specialization of many processor cores, processor designers are often compelled to neglect the issue of compiler support. This situation has resulted in an increased research activity in the area of design tool support for embedded processors. This paper discusses design technology issues for embedded systems using processor cores, with a focus on software compilation tools. Architectural characteristics of contemporary processor cores are reviewed and tool requirements are formulated. This is followed by a comprehensive survey of both existing and new software compilation techniques that are considered important in the context of embedded processors.

International audience; This paper deals with linking system-level design tools with existing hardware design and synthesis tools. The main difficulty is the gap that exists between concepts handled at the system level and concepts accepted by existing synthesis tools. The paper gives an overview of the state of the art and presents COSMOS, a design methodology intended to fill this gap. The methodology allows the combination of a system-level design language (SDL) and a hardware design language (VHDL). The use of such a system-level specification can dramatically reduce the volume of information handled.

The placement of Virtual Network Function - Forwarding Graphs (VNF-FGs) is one of the basic operations in the networks of the future. Being NP-hard, several heuristics and metaheuristics have been proposed. However, these approaches are inefficient due to the need to recalculate the solution at each service placement. In this paper, we adapt one of the most advanced approaches in Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL), in order to improve exploration by generalizing the neural network calculating action values. We also propose an evolutionary algorithm to evolve these neural networks in order to discover better ones, which also avoids getting stuck in local minima. In order to avoid going through the almost innumerable number of infeasible solutions, we propose a heuristic, which combined with our DRL, makes it possible to guarantee the feasibility of the solutions and therefore to make the placement much more efficient. The simulation results we obtained confirm the quality of the solutions obtained as well as the superiority of the proposed solution over the existing one.

International audience; Most infectious diseases in humans originate from animals. In this paper, we explore the role of animal farming and meat consumption in the emergence and amplification of infectious diseases. First, we discuss how meat production increases epidemic risks, either directly through increased contact with wild and farmed animals or indirectly through its impact on the environment (e.g., biodiversity loss, water use, climate change). Traditional food systems such as bushmeat and backyard farming increase the risks of disease transmission from wild animals, while intensive farming amplifies the impact of the disease due to the high density, genetic proximity, increased immunodeficiency, and live transport of farmed animals. Second, we describe the various direct and indirect costs of animal-based infectious diseases, and in particular, how these diseases can negatively impact the economy and the environment. Last, we discuss policies to reduce the social costs of infectious diseases. While existing regulatory frameworks such as the "One Health" approach focus on increasing farms' biosecurity and emergency preparedness, we emphasize the need to better align stakeholders' incentives and to reduce meat consumption. We discuss in particular the implementation of a "zoonotic" Pigouvian tax, and innovations such as insect-based food or cultured meat.

This paper presents a collection of frameworks aiming at mapping land cover, land use and estimate population densities from very-high resolution images and relying on open-source software. Using height information and landscape metrics, slums location and extent can be accurately extracted from the rest of the city. Moreover, the processing chain developed can deal with large amount of data and produce useful pieces of geographical information citywide. All the results, methods and computer code are available in open-access for anyone and any purpose., info:eu-repo/semantics/published

The interest on the use of renewable energy resources is increasing, especially wind and hydro powers. To this aim, fuzzy control techniques represent viable strategies that can be employed for this purpose, thanks to the features of these nonlinear dynamic processes working over a wide range of operating conditions, driven by stochastic inputs, excitations and disturbances. Based on past investigations carried out by the authors about the control of wind turbines and hydroelectric power plants, this paper provides some guidelines on the design and application of the control strategies suitable to these energy conversion systems. The working conditions of these energy conversion systems are also taken into account to highlight the reliability and robustness characteristics of the developed control strategies.

International audience; Decreasing electricity consumption is a major challenge of our society. Eco-feedback methods allow users to get information about their electricity consumption to reduce it. However it is still difficult to determine what are the actions that impact the consumption in practice. In this paper we suggest to apply a What if approach to eco-feedback in a household context. We deploy the Activelec system in personal housings, which allows to apply virtual modifications in appliances usage and to evaluate the savings realized. The results of our experimentation show that participants appreciated the interaction method based on the What if. It allowed them to find and to evaluate efficient modifications in their appliances usage, and several have been applied in practice by the participants. This experimentation shows that the What if paradigm is a potential way for eco-feedback technologies.; Réduire la consommation d’électricité est un enjeu majeur de notre société. Les méthodes eco-feedback permettent aux utilisateurs d’obtenir un retour sur leur consommation d’électricité afin de la diminuer. Toutefois, il est toujours difficile de déterminer concrètement quelles actions impactent la consommation. Dans cet article, nous proposons d’appliquer une méthode What if à l’eco-feedback en contexte domestique. Nous déployons le système Activelec dans des logements personnels, qui permet d’appliquer des changements virtuels dans l’utilisation des appareils et d’évaluer les économies réalisées. Les résultats de notre expérimentation montrent que les participants ont apprécié la méthode d’interaction basée sur le What if. Celle-ci leur a permis de trouver et d’évaluer des modifications efficaces dans l’utilisation de leurs appareils, et certaines ont été appliquées en pratique par les participants. Cette expérimentation montre que le paradigme What if est une piste potentielle pour les technologies eco-feedback.

International audience; Simultaneous interpreting in the context of mental health care for migrants faces several political issues, which result in questioning such professional practices towards patients whose mental suffering is often related to the experience ofexile. Consultation sessions with migrants represent a challenge for interpreters as well. These professionals are required to position themselves in a caring relationship, while dealing with mental health professionals’ expectations together with employers’ directives, which may overlap and contradict each other. Through the prism of interpretation, the paper aims at examining the social, moral and spatial division of labour in migrants’ care, namely in the context of mental health services. The presentation is based on two separate field-works, in the cities of Rennes and Strasbourg: both regional capitals are marked by recent significant changes in migration flows and have been considered for experimenting innovative practices in promoting simultaneous interpretation in the context of mental health care.; L’interprétariat dans la prise en charge des migrants en santé mentale est inséré dans de nombreux enjeux politiques qui interpellent les pratiques des professionnels à l’égard d’une patientèle dont souffrances psychiques et conditions de l’exil sont souvent entremêlées. Les consultations mettent également à l’épreuve les interprètes qui doivent se situer dans une relation de soin complexe, alors même qu’ils peuvent se retrouver face à des exigences contradictoires entre les attentes des professionnels de santé mentale et les prescriptions des associations qui les emploient. À travers le prisme de l’interprétariat, l’article interroge les divisions sociale, morale et spatiale du travail dans la prise en charge des migrants en santé mentale. Il s’appuie sur deux terrains d’enquête à Rennes et à Strasbourg, deux capitales régionales marquées par une évolution des flux migratoires, et comptant des initiatives importantes en matière de promotion de l’interprétariat professionnel.

This research explores the political dimension of sonic environments within public space, with special attention on marginal stakeholders and their sonic behaviour. The aim is to investigate how public policies can relate to issues around the sonic environment and, more generally, how institutions can deal with social conflicts originated by a plurality of sonic perceptions. In order to do so, the paper presents the outcomes of field research developed in Grenoble in 2015, focusing on the “sonic deterritorialisation” of groups of homeless people in the inner city. The case study shows how certain kinds of everyday practices shape and affect sonic and public space and, in particular, the way in which sonic traces reveal social conflict. Homeless people’s occupation of public space often involves a sonic challenge to the status quo, which pits marginal stakeholders, citizens, and city users against one another – reflecting the necessity to establish new forms of coexistence. “Sonic marginality” is thus the consequence of a lack of understanding. It constitutes a ground upon which a new sonic acknowledgment of “otherness” might develop, and points up the necessary role of sonic studies in better implementing political awareness, and to propose innovative resolutions for social conflict.

International audience; The development of a network centered life has increased overall data rates in core networks. Thus, data centers face the challenge to provide always more services at higher data rates while reacting quickly to complex failures and more powerful attacks thanks to efficient network forensics. Moreover, Software-Defined Networking (SDN) becomes a standard which offers agility but also requires forensic devices able to handle multiple configurations. Although conventional software probes are programmable and thus agile, they cannot support high data rate packet processing any more. Probes could benefit from Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASIC) to cope with high data rates, but ASICs development time of many months makes them unable to satisfy agility requirements. With reconfiguration ability and high throughput processing without packet loss, Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA) are the key technology chosen by some companies, such as Microsoft, Amazon and OVH, to be integrated into smart Network Interface Cards (NIC). Nevertheless, while high performance criteria is fulfilled, current FPGA probes benefit from an agility still limited to their conventional firmware upgrades which require proprietary tools and hardware-design time and knowledge. This paper proposes the first solution to offer FPGA probes with runtime agility thanks to a flexible packet parser which can be parameterized continuously by a software, endorsing complex tasks and SDN control. This allows a live adaptation of protocol processings from computer host alongside handling packets at line rate without data loss. The proposed parser is open-source and easily usable by network engineers through a Python software API. Benchmark results illustrate the performance of the agile high-level probe implemented on a NetFPGA SUME board, with XC7VX690T FPGA. 60 millions of 64-byte packets are counted based on features provided at runtime. These are selected by the software part, allowing the detection of different volumetric attacks within a few tens of microseconds. This represents a 40 Gb/s traffic of smallest Ethernet packets with no packet loss. With adequate boards, the generic design of the probe offers 160 Gb/s data rates and beyond on modern hardware, assuring probe scalability.

International audience; With the popularity of smart phones and tablets, people make intensive use of these devices on public transport. The deployment of mobile relays on public transport may increase the quality of mobile services. The objective of this paper is to study the performance of cellular networks when mobile relays are deployed in public transport vehicles. We consider two modes: in the FDD mobile relay mode, the same spectrum is reused for all links while in the TDD/FDD hybrid mode, a small part of the spectrum is dedicated to the access link between the terminals inside a transport vehicle and the mobile relay. We provide a general analytical model for the two mobile relay modes by using the stochastic geometry approach. Key metrics like the CDF of the SINR and the CDF of the end-to-end rate are computed. Furthermore, the cell total average rate and the energy efficiency in different modes are evaluated. It has been found that penetration loss is a factor that determines how much gain mobile relay can bring. Numerical results show that when the ratio of vehicular UEs in the cell is 0.4 and the penetration loss is 20 dB, the FDD mobile relay mode and the TDD/FDD hybrid mobile relay mode can achieve +16.3, +29.1% cell rate gain respectively compared with the direct mode.

International audience; The RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) technology is a well-known wireless application for traceability, logistics, and access control. It became ubiquitous in industry and our daily life (ticketing, payment, passports, car keys, etc.). RFID is nowadays a standardized technology; its inherent advantages, which are unitary, identification, wireless communication, and low cost of tags, provide it with decisive practical benefits that drive new developments in terms of concepts and applications. This trend is largely confirmed by the market forecast, but also by its implementation in the area of health (smart hospital), assistance to persons, anti-counterfeiting, as well as by its perspective in terms of new paradigms for distributed ambient intelligence and the Internet of Things. The first part of this paper briefly reviews the fundamental concepts of the RFID technology, and shows its link with the radio science. A state of the art including the presentation of current performance and developments is also summarized. The second part illustrates the impact of RFID to the service of our society with a focus of applications in the field of autonomy and handicap. Finally, the last part highlights a panorama of perspectives and the future directions of RFID applications dedicated to the service of Humanity.; La RFID (radio par identification) est aujourd'hui une technologie sans fil bien connue pour ses applications en traçabilité, logistique et contrôle d'accès. Elle est devenue omniprésente dans l'industrie et notre vie de tous les jours (tickets de transport, systèmes de paiement, passeports, clés de voiture, etc.). Technologie standardisée, ses avantages inhérents (identification unitaire et télé-alimentation) et le coût modeste des tags lui procurent des avantages pratiques déterminants qui impulsent de nouvelles évolutions, aussi bien applicatives que conceptuelles. Cette tendance est largement démontrée, que ce soit par les projections économiques en termes de croissance et de marchés, son succès déjà actuel dans les secteurs de la santé ( « Intelligent Hospital ») et de l'assistance aux personnes, ses aptitudes dédiées aux applications d'anti-contrefaçons, ou encore ses promesses pour les paradigmes naissant d'intelligence ambiante distribuée et d'Internet des objets. Le premier volet de ce papier rappelle brièvement les fondamentaux conceptuels de la RFID et leur lien avec les radiosciences. L'état de l'art, les performances et les développements actuels sont résumés. Dans un deuxième volet, l'impact de la RFID au service de notre société avec un focus d'applications autour de l'autonomie et du handicap est présenté. Le dernier volet dresse un panorama des perspectives et tendances futures, annonciateurs de l'évolution grandissante des applications visées par la RFID et de la place qu'elle prendra au service de l'humanité.

International audience; Genetic Regulatory Networks (GRNs) implementations have a high degree of variability in their details. Parameters, encoding methods, and dynamics formulas all differ in the literature, and some GRN implementations have a high degree of model complexity. In this paper, we present a comparative study of different implementations of a GRN and introduce new variants for comparison. We use a modified Genetic Algorithm (GA) to evaluate GRN performance on a number of common benchmark tasks, with a focus on real-time control problems. We propose an encoding scheme and set of dynamics equations that simplifies implementation and evaluate the evolutionary fitness of this proposed method. Lastly, we use the comparative modifications study to demonstrate overall enhancements for GRN models.

International audience; In desktop 3D modeling applications, object manipulation relies on the use of standard transformation widgets. However, these widgets are less efficient on touchscreens due to the low accuracy of touch inputs, and also to the fingertip occlusion issue. In this paper, we propose two unimanual constrained manipulation techniques on TabletPCs. Based on finger identification, our techniques map the index, middle and ring fingers of the dominant hand to the X, Y and Z axes of the coordinate system. After registering the axis-fingers mapping on the screen, users can perform different chording gestures to trigger axis-, plane-constrained or uniform manipulations. We have conducted a user study to examine the learnability and usability of the proposed gestures. The results indicate that these gestures can be memorized quickly after a short training period. Users found some gestures to be easy to use and comfortable while others require additional investigations. These findings permits to give recommendations for designing a unimanual constrained manipulation technique that can be used efficiently in a 3D modeling application on TabletPCs.; Dans les applications de modélisation 3D sur PC, la manipulation avec contraintes d'objets repose sur l’utilisation des widgets de transformation 3D. Cependant, ces widgets sont moins efficaces pour une utilisation sur des écrans tactiles en raison de la faible précision des dispositifs d’entrée et des problèmes d'occultation. Dans ce papier, deux nouvelles techniques uni-manuelles de manipulation 3D sur TabletPC sont proposées. Basées sur l’identification des doigts, nos deux techniques associent l'index, le majeur et l'annulaire de la main dominante aux axes x, y et z du système de coordonnées. Après l’enregistrement de cette association axe-doigts, les utilisateurs peuvent effectuer différents gestes d’accords pour des manipulations avec contraintes sur les axes, sur les plans et des manipulations uniformes. Nous avons mené une étude préliminaire pour examiner l'apprenabilité et l’utilisabilité des gestes proposées. Les résultats indiquent que ces derniers peuvent être mémorisés rapidement. Certains gestes ont été jugés confortables et faciles à utiliser par les utilisateurs alors que d’autres nécessitent davantage d’investigations. Ces résultats permettent de donner des recommandations quant à la conception d’une technique uni-manuelle de manipulation avec contraintes qui peut être utilisée efficacement pour la modélisation 3D sur TabletPC.

International audience; In order to face the continuous increase of the data traffic on cellular networks, using WiFi to offload the LTE network can be an interesting solution for the operators. The convergence between fixed and mobile access allows the WiFi access points to be connected to the cellular eNodeBs. This is known as very tight coupling between LTE and WiFi. WiFi and LTE flows are merged just bellow the IP layer which allows faster attachment procedures to WiFi access points and dual WiFi/LTE transmission while providing a seamless experience to the end user. However, WiFi networks are very different from LTE in terms of delays and loss rates which may have a bad impact on higher layers such as TCP. In this paper, we study the performance of TCP with Very Tight Coupling. We perform experimentation on a real testbed based on the Open Air Interface framework.

International audience; Noncooperative underwater acoustic (UWA) communication systems are prone to interfere with each other since the limited resource offered by the channel is not regulated by any standard. Mutual inteferences can significantly degrade the performances of such systems and it is necessary to find policies allowing UWA devices to access the same physical resource. In this paper, we consider noncooperative UWA OFDM systems competing to access the same portion of the spectrum. We show that an efficient decentralized power allocation strategy can be achieved when all the communication links apply a waterfilling policy only based on little knowledge about their environment. Numerical simulations performed with real UWA channels sounded at-sea demonstrate the relevance of our approach.