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Since the turn of the century, the pharmaceutical industry has actively supported the steady increase in the use of digital health technologies, including the important transition from paper-based health records [...]

The article offers news briefs on recent developments in various sectors, highlighting political instability's impact on markets, advertising industry trends, public broadcasting financing challenges, and the visibility efforts for the France, Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. It the potential slowdown in the digital advertising market due to political uncertainties and revised forecasts for 2024 advertising growth.

Simuleau is a modeling, analysis and simulation tool for discrete event models expressed by batches Petri nets, a formalism that enriches hybrid Petri nets of David and Alla. Batches PNs incorporate timed-transition discrete PNs, constant continuous PNs, and new types of nodes called batch nodes. This formalism and Simuleau have been exploited among diverse application areas such as manufacturing systems, communication networks, and traffic road. After presenting batches PN formalisms and their application domains, this paper focuses on the main characteristics of Simuleau, including the tool structure, its menu interface, the input model description and the outputs obtained after simulation.

This paper presents a timed extension of Synchronized Petri nets that can be controlled and observed. Output Synchronized Petri Nets have been previously defined for allowing a Cyber-Physical System to be controlled through input event associated with controllable transitions and to be observed thanks to output events issued by the marking values and/or marking changes. The proposed new timed extension, called timed Output Synchronized Petri nets, is obtained by assigning firing durations to transitions. As the state space of such formalism involves dense time variables, we propose a state class graph abstraction called Synchronized State Class Graph.

The article focuses on the strategic moves by audiovisual groups to adapt to changing audience behaviors and advertiser challenges and partnerships with telecom operators. Topics include the repositioning of TF1+ as a streaming platform competing with services like Netflix, the utilization of data and collaborations with telecom operators for TV segmenting, and the exploration of retail media partnerships as audiovisual groups aim to address evolving market dynamics.

The Central Government and the LDP The absence of national guidance and political will to pass laws from Japan's ruling LDP is stark. This is not the first time that remarks and comments or misinformation of such derogatory nature have come from Japan's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)-the majority party in power. On February 4, news broke that the Japanese prime minister's executive secretary Arai Masayoshi, an elite bureaucrat, was fired over discriminatory remarks that he had made regarding sexual minorities in Japan. [Extracted from the article]

This paper addresses an event-driven control problem of controlled generalized batches Petri nets without discrete nodes, i.e., a class of hybrid Petri net formalisms. The goal of the controller is to reach a given steady state from an initial marking qualified as blocking, by controlling the flow of transitions. To this end, we firstly characterize an attractive region of the steady state as an optimal solution of a linear programming problem (LPP). Next, based on the ON/OFF state of transitions, which depends on the enabling conditions and the firing quantities, an ON/OFF event-driven control strategy is proposed for reaching, from a blocking initial marking quantity, the nearest marking quantity in the attractive region. The admissible controlled firing flow vector is computed according to a LPP which maximizes the firing flow of ON-transitions to its maximal firing flow while it imposes a null firing flow to OFF-transitions. The proposed strategy is event-driven and the control actions are updated only when specific events occur. The basic idea of this new control strategy is to fire each transition as fast as possible at any event step until the minimal firing quantity vector is reached.

Introduction Following traumatic injury, occupational therapists (OTs) are pivotal in supporting people to return-to-work (RTW) and regain independence. Aim: to identify priorities for RTW after traumatic injury and highlight barriers hindering the process.Method We recruited 17 participants with direct (i.e. trauma survivor [n= 11]; OT trauma survivor [n= 2]) or indirect (i.e. OT [n= 4]) experience of returning to work following traumatic injury. Online consultations, lasting 60 min, were guided by a semi-structured script ensuring relevant topics were covered. An inductive approach was used for coding themes using thematic analysis.Findings Sense of purpose, identity and social interaction were greater priorities for RTW, than financial stability. Major barriers were: pain and fatigue; adapting to physical changes; impacts on mental health; and lack of support (healthcare and the workplace). Participants (public and healthcare professionals) reported a lack of vocational rehabilitation in supporting trauma survivors RTW, but advocated occupational therapy for psychological recovery; purposeful engagement in occupations; and community support.Conclusion Restoring an individual’s self-identity and social connections, whilst helping control pain and fatigue, should be prioritised when planning occupational therapy for those returning to work after traumatic injury. This study was limited to ‘returners’, but can inform occupational therapy interventions for RTW.

Increasing focus is being paid to ensuring safety in autonomous driving. The current paper addresses the challenge of collision avoidance with dynamic surrounding vehicles in different driving situations. The established solution formulated utilizing Model Predictive Control (MPC) includes decision making and trajectory planning. A simplified prediction model is used, which takes into account the relative positions and velocities of the surrounding vehicles and the ego vehicle. Depending on traffic conditions, which are stated as constraints in the MPC formulation, the ego vehicle may perform lane keeping, lane shift, overtaking or braking to avoid collision with the road participants. The decision making constraints are included into the MPC in a mixed integer formulation-like manner. The safety constraints are defined using the Sigmoid function and the braking barrier to define the navigable zone of the ego vehicle. The proposed algorithm has been evaluated through simulation, with different scenarios revealing its effectiveness.

The application of polymer flooding for enhanced oil recovery has resulted in the retrieval of an additional 10%–20% from the original oil in place (OOIP). The main objective of this study was to investigate the rheological behavior of terpolymer (PAM-ATBS-NVP) in polymer flooding for enhanced oil recovery. The effect of concentration, temperature, salinity/hardness, and nanoparticle type/concentration was assessed under different reservoir conditions. The results showed that, as the shear rate increased, the viscosity of the polymer decreased which reflected shear thinning behavior and when the polymer concentration increased, the viscosity of the polymer increased. The polymer also provided good thermal stability. Despite this terpolymer being designed to tolerate harsh condition of temperature and salinity/hardness, the viscosity of the polymer decreased with higher salinity/hardness. Using three types of nanoparticles (NPs), the viscosity of the polymer did not change for two NPs which were alumina NP and titanium NP while the viscosity of the silica NP-polymer mixture decreased with respect to the silica NP concentration. This difference in the behavior between NPs was due to the adsorption of the polymer molecules to the silica NP surface.

The article focuses on highlighting five startups created or co-founded by women, showcasing their entrepreneurial endeavors in sectors traditionally dominated by men. Topics include Tehtris, led by Élena Poincet and Laurent Oudot, innovating in cybersecurity; Gamma Pulse, founded by physicist Carmen Dumitrescu, pioneering air purification technology; and HappyPal by Alyssa Emmungil, simplifying employee benefits management.

The article focuses on the persistent gender disparity in the tech sector despite numerous initiatives, with statistics revealing low representation of women in technical roles and leadership positions. Topics include the underrepresentation of women in startups and funding, efforts to promote diversity through programs like "Tech for All" and "We All Look Like We Work in Tech," and strategies to address the gender gap, such as implementing quotas and improving workplace culture.

Le cancer constitue un problème de santé publique en Algérie. L’objectif de cet article était d’estimer les tendances de l’incidence des cancers à Oran, Algérie, sur la période 1996–2019.

The article focuses on the entry of Prime Video into the digital video advertising market in April, 2023 potentially awakening interest among advertisers. The discussions include Prime Video's advantage in qualitative targeting due to detailed user data, a strategy differentiation from competitors like Disney and Netflix, and challenges faced by existing streaming platforms in building advertising revenue and satisfying advertisers.

The article focuses on channels now see the threat of platforms extending to the field advertising and improving market indicators and an increasingly hybrid offer. It mentions traditional television could rejoice to see their media show off his power who signed for the World Cup final football its audience record since the creation of the Médiamat de Médiamétrie. It also mentions French spend more and more time watching video content.

This paper addresses the problem of cyber-attacks in discrete-event systems framework. Labeled finite state automata with inputs derived from a particular class of Petri net, called Output Synchronized Petri nets, are used to model a given cyber-physical system along with the information that circulate between controllers and plant. Stealthy cyber-attacks that may alter the control symbols, i.e., the orders sent by the controllers to the actuators, are considered. The objective is to construct an observer that uses both input and output information to provide a state estimation of the system under such stealthy actuators attacks. This observer provides a refined state estimation related to both normal and attack conditions.

An interview with Havas Worldwide Executive President Mercedes Erra of advertising is presented. Topics include talks about joining an advertising agency in 1981 as what attracted him to this activity which is because of his initial activity was a professor of letters and as he did not want the civil service offered by the teaching, therefore passed HEC, to equip himself with a wider range of skills.

The article presents an interview with Clara Chappaz, President of the French Tech, discussing the progress of measures aimed at promoting gender parity in startups, which have historically lacked female representation. Topics include the effectiveness of the Parity Pact, concrete actions taken to promote inclusivity in recruitment, efforts to address the gender gap in investment funding, and the importance of utilizing indicators like the Gender Score.

The article offers information on the positive outlook for the French advertising market, driven by major sports events like the Euro football championship and the Paris Olympics. Topics include the expected growth in total advertising spending to reach 19.6 billion euros, a 6.3% increase, with traditional media benefiting, particularly TV (+2.6%), outdoor advertising (+7.3%), audio (+3.3%), and cinema (+10%).

The article informs on the 47th Outdoor Communication Grand Prix from March 10 to 12, 2022, at Rotterdam. It is strongly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, the media of outdoor communication is experiencing a resurgence of activity, driven in particular by digital players, and mentions revival in transport and shopping centers in particular, and the return of advertisers from the culture sector.

This paper deals with the planning of collision-free trajectory for autonomous vehicle on highway. The problem is formulated using Model Predictive Control (MPC) where a simplified prediction model that integrates the relative positions and velocities between the surrounding vehicles and the ego vehicle is employed. The MPC provides the necessary lateral and longitudinal accelerations to the ego vehicle to track the reference path and to drive at the desired speed without hitting the road boundaries or colliding with the neighbouring vehicles. The collision avoidance is guaranteed through the integration of a time varying, Sigmoid-based, safety constraint. This constraint plays the role of an S-shaped barrier, enforcing the host vehicle to move apart and change the lane when the inter-vehicular safety distance is not kept. The proposed approach is focused on avoiding collision by performing lane change and overtaking maneuvers since in many traffic situations, an imminent collision cannot be avoided by braking. Satisfactory results are obtained from the set of the simulated scenarios.

This paper addresses the control problem of controlled generalized batches Petri nets. The considered problem is to reach a given steady state from an initial one by controlling the firing flow of transitions. The proposed strategy is event-driven and the control actions are updated only when specific events occur. It is based on an algorithm with a linear programming problem that computes a new control firing flow vector when the considered events occur. The convergence of the marking to its steady state marking by the proposed strategy is proved and an example is provided to illustrate the computation steps.

Socially assistive robots can play an important role in the monitoring and training of health of older adults. But before their benefits can be reaped, proper usability and a positive user experience need to be ensured. In this study, we tested the usability and user experience of a socially assistive robot (the NAO humanoid robot) to monitor and train the health of frail older adults. They were asked to complete a set of health monitoring and physical training tasks, once provided by the NAO robot, and once provided by a Tablet PC application (as a reference technology). After using each technology, they completed the System Usability Scale for usability, and a set of rating scales for perceived usefulness, enjoyment, and control. Finally, we questioned the participants’ preference for one of the technologies. All interactions were recorded on video and scrutinized for usability issues. Twenty older adults participated. They awarded both technologies ‘average’ usability scores. Perceived usefulness and enjoyment were rated as very positive for both modalities; control was scored positively. Main usability issues for NAO for these tasks were related to speech interaction (e.g., NAO’s limited speech library, NAO’s difficulty to cope with Dutch dialect), older adults’ difficulties with taking their proper role in human-robot interaction, and a lack of affordances of NAO. Seven participants preferred NAO: it was easier to use and more personal. Social robots have the potential to monitor and train the health of frail older adults, but some critical usability challenges need to be overcome first.

This technical note concerns the fault diagnosis of stochastic discrete event systems. Specifically, the goal is to characterize a detected fault by estimating its occurrence date. For that purpose, partially observed stochastic Petri nets are used to model the system, the failure processes, and the sensors. From the proposed modeling and collected dated measurements, the probabilities of consistent trajectories are computed and diagnosis in terms of faults probability is established as a consequence. For each detected fault, the probability density function of its occurrence date is approximated. This estimation improves the diagnosis by providing the most probable time interval of the fault occurrence. The interest of fault datation and the applicability of the proposed approach are showed through a case study that represents a distribution system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the well-known random oracle Methodology, a cryptographic hash function is required to satisfy the property of pseudo-random oracle (PRO), that is indifferentiable from a random oracle. This paper revisits the PRO property of popular hash function modes purely from a theoretical point of view. OriginalMerkle-Damgård mode (sometimes referred to as Strengthened Merkle-Damgård) does not satisfy the PRO security due to the length-extension attack. To remedy it, a series of variants have been proposed with tweaks of either adopting a prefix-free padding or modifying the final primitive call. From these tweaks, we derive a common structural property named prefix-free computing. Indeed, all PRO-secure Merkle-Damgård variants published so far are prefix-free computing. Hence, an interesting question with respect to the nature of PRO security arises: is prefix-free computing a necessary condition for PRO-secure Merkle-Damgård hash function? This paper gives a negative answer. We investigate the difference between length-extension resistance and prefix-free computing, and find that length-extension resistance does not necessarily imply prefix-free computing. Consequently, we construct a dedicated Merkle-Damgård variant as a counterexample that is PRO-secure but not prefix-free computing.

A multi-modal biometric system is used to verify or identify a person by exploiting information of more than one biometric modality. It combines the strengths of the unimodal biometric system to solve their limitations. This study proposes schemes of multi-modal biometric system based on texture information extracted from face and two iris (left and right) using hybrid level of fusion. Feature extraction is the key step to get a robust recognition system. Multi-resolution two-dimensional Log-Gabor filter combined with spectral regression kernel discriminant analysis is exploited to extract features from both face and iris modalities. These features are used in the fusion and the classification process. The proposed schemes were tested using CASIA Iris Distance database in the verification mode. The experimental results show that the proposed multi-modal biometric system yields attractive performances of up to 0.24% in terms of equal error rate and outperforms the recent similar existing state-of-the-art methods.

This paper studies the fault prognosis of timed stochastic discrete event systems. For that purpose, stochastic Petri nets are considered to model both the healthy and faulty behaviors of the system. Assuming that the possible current markings with their associated probabilities are known, the objective is to estimate the probability of faults occurrence within a future time interval. Two approaches, lmax-prognosisand (Ƿ, δ)-prognosis, are presented and compared to deal with this problem. A case study describing a distribution system is proposed to show the applicability of the proposed methods.

The article reports on large media groups growing the brand and above all their income by increasingly leaving their core business.

The article reports that Independent commercial radio stations, local outlets and public service rely on proximity with a program mixing music and local information. Topics include public service and the major national networks with the closure of local Virgin Radio and Fun Radio; and private employer with journalists and presenters is deployed through information and local broadcasts of regional events with relocation of flagship programs.

The article informs on rise in trend of mix of traditional and digital panels among advertisers. It mentions sectors such as automotive, fast food or a brand such as Schmidt even devoted most of it to traditional panels, hence their tendency to integrate digital signs into their commercial systems, along with the use of billboard and digital displays.

The article reports that under-35s are turning more and more away from the television set, benefiting the multiple screens that punctuate their daily lives. The annual Mediamat, published on December 31, 2018, indicated indeed a general decline of the media TV in 2018, particularly marked in young adults.

The article focuses on challenge of the interface to access to the programs and connected televisions, channels and platforms must review their distribution strategy to rely on the best possible referencing. It presents views of Marc Herbault, director commercial, media and display of Rakuten Advertising. It also mentions supranational platforms for Netflix, Disney, Amazon and want to expand their audience.

The article focuses on Pluto TV and Rakuten, operators increasingly rely on more about advertising to offer content rarely fresh to a submissive audience hyperchoice and inflation. It mentions AVOD services (ad-supported video on demand), funded by advertising, could benefit from the economic situation inflationary. It also mentions gradually adding live, with information, or sports channels offering the replay of events or the broadcast of second or third choice competitions.

This paper concerns state estimation of stochastic discrete event systems. For that purpose, partially observed stochastic Petri nets are used to model the system and the sensors. From the proposed modelling and the collected measurements, timed sequences which are consistent with those measurements are obtained. Based on the events date, our approach consists on evaluating the probabilities of the marking trajectories using probabilistic model. Such probabilities are important since they reflect the most probable behavior of the system. State estimation is obtained as a consequence.

In this paper, a method for fault occurrence date evaluation in stochastic discrete event systems is proposed. The system is modeled using partially observed stochastic Petri nets. This model includes the faulty behavior that represents the failure processes of the system. From timed observation sequences resulting from this modeling, our approach consists, first, on evaluating the probabilities of marking trajectories consistent with the observations. Diagnosis in terms of faults probability is obtained as a consequence. Thereafter, a probabilistic model based on the sum of random exponential variables is presented to determine the fault date probability.

Algeria, like other southern Mediterranean countries, is enduring water shortage which will get worse over the few next years. Algeria is known as the country most severely threatened by water stress and scarcity by early 2020. One of the important factors exacerbating this problem is the concentration of three quarters of the inhabitants and consequently the industrial and agricultural activities along the 1200 km coastal zone, which has led to an increase in the pollution of the existing water resources. Droughts due to climate change and pollution are the most important factors destabilizing the existing balance. Therefore, the desalination of sea water can provide a solution to one of the most urgent and vital and problems, of balancing and enhancing water resources, as the wide variation of rainfall, from more than 2000 mm/y in the north coastal region dropping to less than 100 mm/y in the southern Sahara, should be taken in account. Given these circumstances, we will focus on the need for desalination, the desalination program, and also the strategy and the vision of desalination in addition to other non-conventional water resources that might guarantee the optimum conditions for integrated management and sustainable development.

Abstract: In this paper, a sliding mode control design for fractional order systems with input and state time-delay is proposed. First, we consider a fractional order system without delay for which a sliding surface is proposed based on fractional integration of the state. Then, a stabilizing switching controller is derived. Second, a fractional system with state delay is considered. Third, a strategy including a fractional state predictor input delay compensation is developed. The existence of the sliding mode and the stability of the proposed control design are discussed. Numerical examples are given to illustrate the theoretical developments. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Integrity relates to the trust that can be placed in the correctness of information supplied by a navigation system. It includes the ability of the navigation system to provide timely warning to users when the system fails to meet its stated accuracy. Specifically, a navigation system is required to deliver a warning (alarm) when the error in the derived user position solution exceeds an allowable level (alarm limit). This warning must be issued to the user within a given period of time (time-to-alarm) and with a given probability (integrity risk). The two main approaches to monitoring the integrity of satellite navigation systems are Receiver Autonomous Integrity Monitoring (RAIM), and monitoring based on an independent network of integrity monitoring stations and a dedicated Ground Integrity Channel (GIC). More recently Satellite Autonomous Integrity Monitoring (SAIM) methods have also been investigated.

This paper presents the results of a research project that investigated the potential benefits of a combined Galileo/GPS navigation system. The research addressed in detail the two key required navigation performance (RNP) parameters of accuracy and integrity. The project was supported by Alcatel Space and was a contribution to the Galileo definition studies (supported by the European Community under the GALA project). The results show significant improvements in both accuracy and integrity (achievable through RAIM) when a combined constellation is used rather than Galileo alone.

An interview with Luc Julia, the vice president of innovation at the firm, Samsung Monde, is presented. When asked about artificial intelligence (AI), he refers to the evil robots who may kill human beings in future and become more smarter than them. He also mentions about the increasing use of AI in marketing.

The article offers information on a webinar organized by the communication and marketing firm Strategies on May 18-19, 2021 on digital media. The event featured Fleur Toutain of Havas Media France, Florian Chavanelle of the social media platform TikTok France and Jean-Damien Arguto-Levy of the global media agency Initiative.