Search

This paper deals with a “strange case of topicalization” in the poem Idylle Moderne by Alphonse Allais. On the one hand we can find, at the very beginning of the text, an accentuated form of the “pronoun”, that is to say a nominal substitute; on the other hand, it seems that the comma of the first line has disappeared, while it is maintained in the latter. Between a “false” double-marking and a zero anaphora, we try to describe the syntactical and the informational organization of the first sentences in terms of a hybrid form of operation, where (and when) a topic plays a focal part too..

This study investigates how two existing pan-tropical above-ground biomass (AGB) maps (Saatchi 2011, Baccini 2012) can be combined to derive forest ecosystem specific carbon estimates. Several data-fusion models which combine these AGB maps according to their local correlations with independent datasets such as the spectral bands of SPOT VEGETATION imagery are analyzed. Indeed these spectral bands convey information about vegetation type and structure which can be related to biomass values. Our study area is the island of Borneo. The data-fusion models are evaluated against a reference AGB map available for two forest concessions in Sabah. The highest accuracy was achieved by a model which combines the AGB maps according to the mean of the local correlation coefficients calculated over different kernel sizes. Combining the resulting AGB map with a new Borneo land cover map (whose overall accuracy has been estimated at 86.5%) leads to average AGB estimates of 279.8 t/ha and 233.1 t/ha for forests and degraded forests respectively. Lowland dipterocarp and mangrove forests have the highest and lowest AGB values (305.8 t/ha and 136.5 t/ha respectively). The AGB of all natural forests amounts to 10.8 Gt mainly stemming from lowland dipterocarp (66.4%), upper dipterocarp (10.9%) and peat swamp forests (10.2%). Degraded forests account for another 2.1 Gt of AGB. One main advantage of our approach is that, once the best fitting data-fusion model is selected, no further AGB reference dataset is required for implementing the data-fusion process. Furthermore, the local harmonization of AGB datasets leads to more spatially precise maps. This approach can easily be extended to other areas in Southeast Asia which are dominated by lowland dipterocarp forest, and can be repeated when newer or more accurate AGB maps become available.

Essential Climate Variables were listed by the Global Climate Observing System as critical information to further understand the climate system and support climate modelling. The European Space Agency launched its Climate Change Initiative in order to provide an adequate response to the set of requirements for long-term satellite-based products for climate. Within this program, the CCI Land Cover project aims at revisiting all algorithms required for the generation of global land cover products that are stable and consistent over time, while also reflecting the land surface seasonality. To this end, the land cover concept is revisited to deliver a set of three consistent global land cover products corresponding to the 1998-2002, 2003-2007 and 2008-2012 periods, along with climatological 7-day time series representing the average seasonal dynamics of the land surface over the 1998-2012 period. The full Envisat MERIS archive (2003-2012) is used as main Earth Observation dataset to derive the 300-m global land cover maps, complemented with SPOT-Vegetation time series between 1998 and 2012. Finally, a 300-m global map of open permanent water bodies is derived from the 2005-2010 archive of the Envisat Advanced SAR imagery mainly acquired in the 150m Wide Swath Mode.

Monitoring tropical forest cover is central to biodiversity preservation, terrestrial carbon stocks, essential ecosystem and climate functions, and ultimately, sustainable economic development. The Amazon forest is the Earth’s largest rainforest, and despite intensive studies on current deforestation rates, relatively little is known as to how these compare to historic (pre 1985) deforestation rates. We quantified land cover change between 1975 and 2014 in the so-called Arc of Deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon, covering the southern stretch of the Amazon forest and part of the Cerrado biome. We applied a consistent method that made use of data from Landsat sensors: Multispectral Scanner (MSS), Thematic Mapper (TM), Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) and Operational Land Imager (OLI). We acquired suitable images from the US Geological Survey (USGS) for five epochs: 1975, 1990, 2000, 2010, and 2014. We then performed land cover analysis for each epoch using a systematic sample of 156 sites, each one covering 10 km × 10 km, located at the confluence point of integer degree latitudes and longitudes. An object-based classification of the images was performed with five land cover classes: tree cover, tree cover mosaic, other wooded land, other land cover, and water. The automatic classification results were corrected by visual interpretation, and, when available, by comparison with higher resolution imagery. Our results show a decrease of forest cover of 24.2% in the last 40 years in the Brazilian Arc of Deforestation, with an average yearly net forest cover change rate of -0.71% for the 39 years considered.

This paper presents a new approach for estimating burned areas at a regional scale, using a systematic sample of medium spatial resolution satellite images. This approach is based on a pan-tropical deforestation survey developed by the Joint Research Centre. We developed and tested our approach over Mato Grosso State, located in the Brazilian Legal Amazon region, with a total area of 903 366 km2. We analyze Landsat-5 TM imagery over 77 sample sites (20 km × 20 km in size) located at each full degree confluence of latitude and longitude. Our new approach leads to an estimate of burned area for year 2010 at 66 368 km2, representing approximately 7.3% of the Mato Grosso area. This estimate is compared to estimates from two different approaches: 1) from a method developed by the Brazilian Institute for Space Research, applied to a wall-to-wall coverage of Landsat-5 TM imagery and 2) from a method using MODIS MCD64A1 products of the University of Maryland, resulting in 70 232 and 55 157 km2 of burned area, respectively (representing 7.8% or 6.1% of Mato Grosso area). Our method produces statistically valid estimates of burned areas for the Brazilian State of Mato Grosso in a more efficient manner than previous methods and enables the inclusion of small burn scars typically missed by coarse resolution satellites. This approach can be applied for regional and global assessments as well as for refining and evaluating burned area products based on coarse spatial resolution imagery like MODIS or SPOT-VEGETATION.

In this review paper we present geographical, ecological and historical aspects of Southeast Asia from the perspective of forest degradation monitoring and critically discuss available approaches for large area forest degradation monitoring with satellite remote sensing data at high to medium spatial resolution (5–30 m). Several authors have achieved promising results in geographically limited areas within Southeast Asia using automated detection algorithms. However, the application of automated methods to large area assessments remains a major challenge. To-date, nearly all large area assessments of forest degradation in the region have included a strong visual interpretation component. We conclude that due to the variety of forest types and forest disturbance levels, as well as the variable image acquisition conditions in Southeast Asia, it is unlikely that forest degradation monitoring can be conducted throughout the region using a single automated approach with currently available remote sensing data. The provision of regionally consistent information on forest degradation from satellite remote sensing data remains therefore challenging. However, the expected increase in observation frequency in the near future (due to Landsat 8 and Sentinel-2 satellites) may lead to the desired improvement in data availability and enable consistent and robust regional forest degradation monitoring in Southeast Asia. Keywords: Tropical forest disturbance, Selective logging, Shifting cultivation, Satellite data, Indochina peninsula, Maritime continent

The study assesses the extent and trends of forest cover in Southeast Asia for the periods 1990–2000 and 2000–2010 and provides an overview on the main causes of forest cover change. A systematic sample of 418 sites (10 km × 10 km size) located at the one-degree geographical confluence points and covered with satellite imagery of 30 m resolution is used for the assessment. Techniques of image segmentation and automated classification are combined with visual satellite image interpretation and quality control, involving forestry experts from Southeast Asian countries. The accuracy of our results is assessed through an independent consistency assessment, performed from a subsample of 1572 mapping units and resulting in an overall agreement of >85% for the general differentiation of forest cover versus non-forest cover. The total forest cover of Southeast Asia is estimated at 268 Mha in 1990, dropping to 236 Mha in 2010, with annual change rates of 1.75 Mha (∼0.67%) and 1.45 Mha (∼0.59%) for the periods 1990–2000 and 2000–2010, respectively. The vast majority of forest cover loss (∼2 / 3 for 2000–2010) occurred in insular Southeast Asia. Complementing our quantitative results by indicative information on patterns and on processes of forest change, obtained from the screening of satellite imagery and through expert consultation, respectively, confirms the conversion of forest to cash crops plantations (including oil palm) as the main cause of forest loss in Southeast Asia. Logging and the replacement of natural forests by forest plantations are two further important change processes in the region.

Les dernières décennies sont dominées par de nouvelles normes sociales de réussite individuelle enjoignant chacun à « devenir soi-même » (Ehrenberg) et à mettre en scène cette conquête de soi : exister, c’est se rendre visible. Ces assignations identitaires et ce régime d’hypervisibilité favorisent la surveillance généralisée. Des expériences existentielles, qu’elles se nomment « discrétion » (Zaoui) ou « blancheur » (Le Breton), se présentent comme des oppositions à ce double impératif d’être soi et d’être visible. Prolongeant l’hypothèse de Dominique Rabaté, pour qui le roman constituerait un lieu de résistance à des dispositifs de contrôle et d’assignation, cet article étudie des modalités paradoxales d’existence du personnage chez Alféri, Chevillard, Modiano et Vasset. Tous ces personnages ont en commun d’être moins, de se dessaisir d’une partie de leur identité personnelle, de rechercher l’anonymat ou l’invisibilité ; ils proposent des formes de vie et les régimes de visibilité qui pourraient bien constituer une possibilité de résistance à toute injonction à la mise en scène de soi.

Imagery from medium resolution satellites, such as Landsat, have long been used to map forest disturbances in the tropics. However, the Landsat spatial resolution (30 m) has often been considered too coarse for reliably mapping small-scale selective logging. Imagery from the recently launched Sentinel-2 sensor, with a resampled 10 m spatial resolution, may improve the detection of forest disturbances. This study compared the performance of Landsat 8 and Sentinel-2 data for the detection of selective logging in an area located in the Brazilian Amazon. Logging impacts in seven areas, which had governmental authorization for harvesting timber, were mapped by calculating the difference of a self-referenced normalized burn ratio (ΔrNBR) index over corresponding time periods (2016–2017) for imagery of both satellite sensors. A robust reference dataset was built using both high- and very-high-resolution imagery. It was used to define optimum ΔrNBR thresholds for forest disturbance maps, via a bootstrapping procedure, and for estimating accuracies and areas. A further assessment of our approach was also performed in three unlogged areas. Additionally, field data regarding logging infrastructure were collected in the seven study sites where logging occurred. Both satellites showed the same performance in terms of accuracy, with area-adjusted overall accuracies of 96.7% and 95.7% for Sentinel-2 and Landsat 8, respectively. However, Landsat 8 mapped 36.9% more area of selective logging compared to Sentinel-2 data. Logging infrastructure was better detected from Sentinel-2 (43.2%) than Landsat 8 (35.5%) data, confirming its potential for mapping small-scale logging. We assessed the impacted area by selective logging with a regular 300 m × 300 m grid over the pixel-based results, leading to 1143 ha and 1197 ha of disturbed forest on Sentinel-2 and Landsat 8 data, respectively. No substantial differences in terms of accuracy were found by adding three unlogged areas to the original seven study sites.

Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, and enhancing carbon stocks (REDD+) is a crucial component of global climate change mitigation. Remote sensing can provide continuous and spatially explicit above-ground biomass (AGB) estimates, which can be valuable for the quantification of carbon stocks and emission factors (EFs). Unfortunately, there is little information on the fate of the land following tropical deforestation and of the associated carbon stock. This study quantified post-deforestation land use across the tropics for the period 1990–2000. This dataset was then combined with a pan-tropical AGB map at 30 m resolution to refine EFs from forest conversion by matching deforestation areas with their carbon stock before and after clearing and to assess spatial dynamics of EFs by follow-up land use. In Latin America, pasture was the most common follow-up land use (72%), with large-scale cropland (11%) a distant second. In Africa deforestation was often followed by small-scale cropping (61%) with a smaller role for pasture (15%). In Asia, small-scale cropland was the dominant agricultural follow-up land use (35%), closely followed by tree crops (28%). Deforestation often occurred in forests with lower than average carbon stocks. EFs showed high spatial variation within eco-zones and countries. While our EFs are only representative for the studied time period, our results show that EFs are mainly determined by the initial forest carbon stock. The estimates of the fraction of carbon lost were less dependent on initial forest biomass, which offers opportunities for REDD+ countries to use these fractions in combination with recent good quality national forest biomass maps or inventory data to quantify emissions from specific forest conversions. Our study highlights that the co-location of data on forest loss, biomass and fate of the land provides more insight into the spatial dynamics of land-use change and can help in attributing carbon emissions to human activities.

The purpose of this paper is to examine two conflicting conceptions of identity: the first, trivial, is actually a scholarly term specific to formal logic; the second one, which we will call naïve, is revealed to us through ordinary language, including fiction. Utterances often appear fuzzy from a logical point of view – that is to say if we consider their truth value; hence their flexibility and ability to adapt to contexts which do not fulfil truth conditions, i.e. they cannot be reduced to a true vs false binary opposition, and thus they contradict the principle of the excluded third. This claim is striking for the apparently contradictory statements of identity like: The room was, yet was not mine (The lost room, Fitz James O’Brien). To conclude, we will study among other cases of duplication, the famous but Strange Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde to see precisely how common language used in fiction enables us to grasp and represent this kind of experience about personal identity – knowing that identity is largely made up of identifications.

Blind source separation is a common processing tool to analyse the constitution of pixels of hyperspectral images. Such methods usually suppose that pure pixel spectra (endmembers) are the same in all the image for each class of materials. In the framework of remote sensing, such an assumption is no longer valid in the presence of intra-class variability due to illumination conditions, weathering, slight variations of the pure materials, etc. In this paper, we first describe the results of investigations highlighting intra-class variability measured in real images. Considering these results, a new formulation of the linear mixing model is presented leading to two new methods. Unconstrained pixel-by-pixel NMF (UP-NMF) is a new blind source separation method based on the assumption of a linear mixing model, which can deal with intra-class variability. To overcome the limitations of UP-NMF, an extended method is also proposed, named Inertia-constrained Pixel-by-pixel NMF (IP-NMF). For each sensed spectrum, these extended versions of NMF extract a corresponding set of source spectra. A constraint is set to limit the spreading of each source’s estimates in IP-NMF. The proposed methods are first tested on a semi-synthetic data set built with spectra extracted from a real hyperspectral image and then numerically mixed. We thus demonstrate the interest of our methods for realistic source variabilities. Finally, IP-NMF is tested on a real data set and it is shown to yield better performance than state of the art methods.

• RVOT PVCs induce anatomical displacement during 3D electroanatomical mapping. • Target ablation site displacement occurs predominantly along a vertical axis. • RVOT PVC-induced displacement can mislead the operator about the site of origin. Catheter ablation is a first-line treatment for symptomatic right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT) premature ventricular complexes (PVCs). There is evidence of displacement of the ablation target site during PVCs relative to the location in sinus rhythm (SR). To analyse the extent of displacement induced by RVOT PVCs and its effect on the ablation sites and the mid-term efficacy of ablation. In this multicentre French study, we retrospectively included 18 consecutive adults referred for ablation of RVOT PVCs using a three-dimensional (3D) mapping system. PVC activation maps were performed conventionally (initial map), then each PVC activation point was manually reannotated considering the 3D location on a previous SR beat (corrected map). The ablation-site locations on the initial or the corrected area, including the 10 best activation points, were analysed. Mid-term efficacy was evaluated. The direction of map shift during PVCs relative to the map in SR occurred along a vertical axis in 16 of 18 patients. The mean activation-point displacement for each of the 18 mapped chambers was 5.6 ± 2.2 mm. Mid-term recurrence of RVOT PVCs occurred in 5 (28%) patients. In all patients with recurrences, no significant ablation lesion was located on the corrected (true) site of origin. RVOT PVCs induce a vertical anatomical shift that can mislead physicians about the true location of the arrhythmia's site of origin. Our study highlights the association between mid-term PVC recurrence and the absence of spatial overlap between ablation points and the corrected site of origin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objetivo: describir los resultados obtenidos en la realización de laparoscopía por cáncer de endometrio en el servicio de Endoscopía Ginecológica y Ginecología Oncológica del Centro Hospitalario Pereira Rossell. Material y método: se realizó un estudio descriptivo que incluyó a 11 pacientes programadas para histerectomía laparoscópica en un período de 12 meses, entre marzo de 2011 y marzo de 2012. Se registraron variables como edad, diagnóstico de ingreso, antecedentes quirúrgicos, peso corporal, tiempo operatorio, pérdida sanguínea, complicaciones intraoperatorias, tiempo de estadía hospitalaria y evolución posoperatoria. Resultados: se incluyeron 11 pacientes con una edad promedio de 60 años y un peso corporal promedio de 65 kilos. Se completó el procedimiento por laparoscopía en diez pacientes para un porcentaje de conversión de 9%. Ocurrió lesión accidental de sigmoides en un caso, que se resolvió sin incidentes en el mismo acto endoscópico con sutura de la lesión y buena evolución. El tiempo quirúrgico promedio fue de 134 minutos y el sangrado intraoperatorio promedio fue de 140 ml. En tres casos se realizó linfadenectomía. El número de ganglios fue de diez pelvianos y siete lumboaórticos. El tiempo de hospitalización promedio fue de dos días. Conclusiones: la histerectomía laparoscópica con linfadenectomía es un procedimiento que puede ser realizado con baja morbilidad y con ventajas para las pacientes. Este procedimiento puede ser introducido en el Servicio de Ginecología Oncológica para el abordaje y el tratamiento secuencial de las patologías ginecológicas malignas.

Stroke, resulting in focal structural damage, induces changes in brain function at both local and global levels. Following stroke, cerebral networks present structural and functional reorganization to compensate for the dysfunctioning provoked by the lesion itself and its remote effects. As some recent studies underlined the role of the contralesional hemisphere during recovery, we studied its role %of the contralesional hemispherein the reorganization of brain function of stroke patients using resting state fMRI and graph theory. We explored this reorganization using the 'hub disruption index' (kappa), a global index sensitive to the reorganization of nodes within the graph. For a given graph metric, kappa of a subject corresponds to the slope of the linear regression model between the mean local network measures of a reference group, and the difference between that reference and the subject under study. In order to translate the use of kappa in clinical context, a prerequisite to achieve meaningful results is to investigate the reliability of this index. In a preliminary part, we studied the reliability of kappa by computing the intraclass correlation coefficient in a cohort of 100 subjects from the Human Connectome Project. Then, we measured intra-hemispheric kappa index in the contralesional hemisphere of 20 subacute stroke patients compared to 20 age-matched healthy controls. Finally, due to the small number of patients, we tested the robustness of our results repeating the experiment 1000 times by bootstrapping on the Human Connectome Project database. Statistical analysis showed a significant reduction of kappa for the contralesional hemisphere of right stroke patients compared to healthy controls. Similar results were observed for the right contralesional hemisphere of left stroke patients. We showed that kappa, is more reliable than global graph metrics and more sensitive to detect differences between groups of patients as compared to healthy controls. Using new graph metrics as kappa allows us to show that stroke induces a network-wide pattern of reorganization in the contralesional hemisphere whatever the side of the lesion. Graph modeling combined with measure of reorganization at the level of large-scale networks can become a useful tool in clinic.

In France, and in Europe in general, the building sector is the largest consumer of energy and accounts for about 43% of the total energy consumption and around 25% of CO2 emissions [1]. The building sector offers significant potential for improved energy efficiency through the use of high-performance insulation and energy-efficient systems In this study, the thermal behavior of buildings with an advanced thermal insulation system, particularly, with the aerogel-based rendering/mortar exterior insulation system is examined. In addition to new buildings, the rendering is very suitable for application to retrofit existing ones since it has a high insulation performance and its application is easy, compatible with the traditional masonry facades, and using the ordinary well-known techniques. Numerical modeling simulations are carried out on three different scales: (a) 1D envelope scale to examine the aerogel-rendering’s impact on the thermal and moisture transfer of exterior walls, (b) 2D envelope scale to examine its impact to limit the heat losses through some types of thermal bridges, and (c) full scale house to examine its impact on reducing the heating demands. Results show that adding the aerogel-based rendering on the exterior surface of the un-insulated or the already internally insulated walls reduces significantly or removes the moisture risks. It reduces significantly the wall heat losses, especially for old un-insulated buildings, and consequently the building’s energy consumption. In addition, this insulating rendering can act as a very suitable solution for some thermal bridges such as the window reveals. Due to its application technique and its high insulating performance, a small thickness can have great impact on reducing these heat losses. So, this type of insulating renderings/plasters can serve as a good solutions for places where traditional insulation is difficult to apply or where small insulation thicknesses are needed due to space or construction constraints.

The secondary phosphine oxides are known to exist in equilibrium between the pentavalent phosphine oxides (SPO) and the trivalent phosphinous acids (PA). This equilibrium can be displaced in favour of the trivalent tautomeric form upon coordination to late transition metals. This tutorial review provides the state of the art of the use of secondary phosphine oxides as pre-ligands in transition metal-catalysed reactions. Using a combination of SPOs and several metals such as Pd, Pt, Ru, Rh and Au, a series of effective and original transformations have been obtained and will be discussed here.

In this paper, I want to present the personality of Robert Martin, whose works are not well known outside France, and analyse the important role he played in the early eighties for the revival of linguistics – considering at the same time the rising influence of his colleagues Bernard Combettes, Jean-Michel Adam and Michel Charolles, that is to say the influence they had on the introduction of text linguistics in France, specifically thanks to the creation in Metz of a new journal in the second part of the seventies: Pratiques. If Robert Martin first wanted to introduce natural logics in formal semantics, he was not insensible to the Prague School’s legacy either; but for him, the manner to introduce a discursive dimension or level in his linguistic model, that is to say a textual one between sentence and utterance, finally was a way to affirm and preserve the independence of semantics from pragmatics – the growing part of pragmatics in linguistics or the so called “language sciences” at the beginning of the same decade.

The podzol-ferralsol soil systems, which cover great areas of Amazonia and other equatorial regions, are frequently associated with kaolin deposits and store and export large amounts of carbon. Although natural organic matter (NOM) plays a key role in their dynamics, little is known about their biogeochemistry. In order to assess the specific role of dissolved organic matter (DOM) on NOM storage in deep horizons and to determine possible relationships between kaolin formation and DOM properties, we studied the groundwater composition of a typical podzol-ferralsol soil catena from the Alto Rio Negro region, Brazil. Groundwater was sampled using tension-free lysimeters placed according to soil morphology. DOC, EH, pH, and dissolved Si, Al3+, Fe2+, and Fe3+ were analyzed for all samples and values are given in a database. Quantification of other dissolved ions, small carboxylic acids and SUVA254 index and acid-base microtitration was achieved on selected samples. Part of the DOM produced by the hydromorphic podzols is directly exported to the blackwater streams; another part percolates at greater depth, and more than 90% of it adsorbs in the Bh-Bhs horizons, allowing carbon storage at depth. Humic substances are preferentially adsorbed with regard to small carboxylic compounds. With regard to kaolin genesis, kaolinite precipitation is favored by Al release from NOM mineralization within the Bh-Bhs and kaolin bleaching is ensured by iron reduction due to acidity and relatively low EH. Fe2+ mobility can be related to small EH variations and enhanced by the significant concentration of small carboxylic acids. The long-term result of these processes is the thickening of the kaolin, and it can be inferred that kaolin is likely to occur where active, giant podzols are close to a slope gradient sufficient enough to lower the deep water table.

This paper outlines the methods and results for monitoring forest change and resulting carbon emissions for the 1990–2000 and 200–2005 periods carried out over tropical Central and South America. To produce our forest change estimates we used a systematic sample of medium resolution satellite data processed to forest change maps covering 1230 sites of 20 km by 20 km, each located at the degree confluence. Biomass data were spatially associated to each individual sample site so that annual carbon emissions could be estimated. For our study area we estimate that forest cover in the study area had fallen from 763 Mha (s.e. 10 Mha) in 1990 to 715 Mha (s.e. 10 Mha) in 2005. During the same period other wooded land (i.e., non-forest woody vegetation) had fallen from 191 Mha (s.e. 5.5 Mha) to 184 Mha (s.e. 5.5 Mha). This equates to an annual gross loss of 3.74 Mha∙y−1 of forests (0.50% annually) between 1990 and 2000, rising to 4.40 Mha∙y−1 in the early 2000s (0.61% annually), with Brazil accounting for 69% of the total losses. The annual carbon emissions from the combined loss of forests and other wooded land were calculated to be 482 MtC∙y−1 (s.e. 29 MtC∙y−1) for the 1990s, and 583 MtC∙y−1 (s.e. 48 MtC∙y−1) for the 2000 to 2005 period. Our maximum estimate of sinks from forest regrowth in tropical South America is 92 MtC∙y−1. These estimates of gross emissions correspond well with the national estimates reported by Brazil, however, they are less than half of those reported in a recent study based on the FAO country statistics, highlighting the need for continued research in this area.

The relative role of fire and of climate in determining canopy species composition and aboveground carbon stocks were investigated. Measurements were made along a transect extending from the dark taiga zone of central Siberia, where Picea and Abies dominate the canopy, into the Larix zone of eastern Siberia. We test the hypotheses that the change in canopy species composition is based (1) on climate-driven performance only, (2) on fire only, or (3) on fire-performance interactions. We show that the evergreen conifers Picea obovata and Abies sibirica are the natural late-successional species both in central and eastern Siberia, provided there has been no fire for an extended period of time. There are no changes in performance of the observed species along the transect. Fire appears to be the main factor explaining the dominance of Larix and of soil carbon. Of lesser influence were longitude as a proxy for climate, local hydrology and active-layer thickness. We can only partially explain fire return frequency, which is not only related to climate and land cover, but also to human behavior. Stand-replacing fires decreased from 300 to 50 yrs between the Yenisei Ridge and the upper Tunguska. Repeated non-stand-replacing surface fires eliminated the regeneration of Abies and Picea. With every 100 yrs since the last fire, the percentage of Larix decreased by 20%. Biomass of stems of single trees did not show signs of age-related decline. Relative diameter increment was 0.41 ± 0.20% at breast height and stem volume increased linearly over time with a rate of about 0.36 t C ha−1 yr−1 independent of age class and species. Stand biomass reached about 130 t C ha−1(equivalent to about 520 m3 ha−1). Individual trees of Larix were older than 600 yrs. The maximum age and biomass seemed to be limited by fungal rot of heart wood. 60% of old Larix and Picea and 30% of Pinus sibirica trees were affected by stem rot. Implications for the future role of fire and of plant diseases are discussed.

3D upper body pose estimation is a topic greatly studied by the computer vision society because it is useful in a great number of applications, mainly for human robots interactions including communications with companion robots. However there is a challenging problem: the complexity of classical algorithms that increases exponentially with the dimension of the vectors’ state becomes too difficult to handle. To tackle this problem, we propose a new approach that combines several annealing particle filters defined independently for each limb and belief propagation method to add geometrical constraints between individual filters. Experimental results on a real human gestures sequence will show that this combined approach leads to reliable results.

In this article, I use and analyze the notion of extravagance in the sense of its etymological composition, “extra-vagance”, in exploring a domain, between literature and linguistics, constituted by a corpus of stories telling metamorphosis, that is to say by texts or narrations which refer to unconventional, counterfactual cases or phenomena; but as a linguist, I observe and, I hope, I demonstrate that the language is able to represent them, sometimes with ambiguity. Nevertheless, I do make a great difference, even if they appear in the same context, between a metamorphosis, which is a process de re, and a metaphor, which is a procedure de dicto.

This article explores the collective (cultural and linguistic) dimension of memory as realized in proverbs. These simple forms are called “frozen” because they are supposed to be the preservers of common sense in terms of intersubjectivity and mutual understanding. We try to show, however, by means of a questionnaire, how the syntactic and semantic structure of proverbial expressions can have a dynamic dimension manifested in a paremic competence of interlocutors who are able to understand, interpret, adapt or create “proverbial forms” that may not actually exist.

In questo articolo SI ESPONE l’influenza della Scuola di Praga sulla linguistica testuale francese, più o meno trent’anni fa. Due tendenze sono emerse: la prima incentrata sulla dinamica del testo, grazie a la sua progressione tematica; la seconda, di tradizione logica, ma anche in direzione della pragmatica, sui presupposti della frase.

Equatorial podzols are soils characterized by thick sandy horizons overlying more clayey horizons. Organic matter produced in the topsoil is transferred in depth through the sandy horizons and accumulate at the transition, at a depth varying from 1 to more than 3 m, forming deep horizons rich in organic matter (Bh horizons). Although they cover great surfaces in the equatorial zone, these soils are still poorly known. Studying podzols from Amazonia, we found out that the deep Bh horizons in poorly drained podzol areas have a thickness higher than 1 m and store unexpected amounts of carbon. The average for the studied area was 66.7 ± 5.8 kgC m−2 for the deep Bh and 86.8 ± 7.1 kgC m−2 for the whole profile. Extrapolating to the podzol areas of the whole Amazonian basin has been possible thanks to digital maps, giving an order of magnitude around 13.6 ± 1.1 PgC, at least 12.3 PgC higher than previous estimates. This assessment should be refined by additional investigations, not only in Amazonia but in all equatorial areas where podzols have been identified. Because of the lack of knowledge on the quality and behaviour of the podzol organic matter, the question of the feedback between the climate and the equatorial podzol carbon cycle is open.

Community centres play an important role in offering protection for displaced communities, particularly for members of those communities who have specific needs. Somali refugees in Yemen formed the Al Ghaith Association and are now running their own community centres to support fellow refugees. Below, UNHCR and Al Ghaith discuss their approaches.

Global land cover is one of the essential terrestrial baseline datasets available for ecosystem modeling, however uncertainty remains an issue. Tools such as Google Earth offer enormous potential for land cover validation. With an ever increasing amount of very fine spatial resolution images (up to 50 cm × 50 cm) available on Google Earth, it is becoming possible for every Internet user (including non remote sensing experts) to distinguish land cover features with a high degree of reliability. Such an approach is inexpensive and allows Internet users from any region of the world to get involved in this global validation exercise. The Geo-Wiki Project is a global network of volunteers who wish to help improve the quality of global land cover maps. Since large differences occur between existing global land cover maps, current ecosystem and land-use science lacks crucial accurate data (e.g., to determine the potential of additional agricultural land available to grow crops in Africa), volunteers are asked to review hotspot maps of global land cover disagreement and determine, based on what they actually see in Google Earth and their local knowledge, if the land cover maps are correct or incorrect. Their input is recorded in a database, along with uploaded photos, to be used in the future for the creation of a new and improved hybrid global land cover map.

The adsorption isotherms for phenol and 4-chlorophenol from water onto asphaltenes flocculated in bulk and asphaltenes deposited on silica were established by frontal analysis chromatography at 293, 298, 303, and 308 K. The adsorption was more important with asphaltenes flocculated in bulk and corresponded to a Freundlich isotherm mechanism. The high adsorbed amount of phenols suggests possible migration of phenols through the loose asphaltene structure. Isotherms observed with the silica coated by asphaltenes showed that adsorption occurs in two stages corresponding probably to two different organizations of solute molecules at the surface. Les isothermes d'adsorption du phénol et du 4-chlorophénol en solution dans l'eau sur des asphaltènes floculés en masse et sur des asphaltènes déposés sur de la silice ont été déterminés par analyse chromatographique frontale à 293, 298, 303 et 308 K. L'adsorption sur des asphaltènes floculés en masse était la plus importante avec des isothermes correspondant à un mécanisme de Freundlich. La quantité élevée de phénols adsorbés suggère une migration possible des molécules du phénol à travers la structure peu compacte des asphaltènes. Les isothermes observés dans le cas de silice tapissée d'asphaltènes ont montré que l'adsorption se produit en deux étapes correspondant probablement à deux organisations différentes des molécules de soluté à la surface.

The asphaltene interactions in model solutions were studied using a technique based on the electrical conductivity measurement. Interactions with n-heptane, resins, surfactants, water, phenol and NaCI were investigated. The conclusions drawn from this study confirmed previous opinions on aggregation mechanism of asphaltenes in solutions. They confirmed also the interpretation of asphaltene behaviour in terms of colloidal solution theories. Les interactions des asphaltènes avec leur environnement moléculaire dans des solutions modèles ont été étudiées par la mesure de la conductivité électrique de ces solutions. Les interactions avec le n-heptane, des résines, des tensioactifs, l'eau, le phénol et le chlorure de sodium ont été explorées. Les conclusions tirées de cette étude ont confirmé certaines hypothèses faites sur les mécanismes d'agrégation des asphaltènes en solution, en particulier dans le cadre de la théorie des solutions colloïdales.

Deep learning algorithms have been widely used for cardiac image segmentation. However, most of these architectures rely on convolutions that hardly model long-range dependencies, limiting their ability to extract contextual information. Moreover, the traditional U-net architecture suffers from the difference of semantic information between feature maps of the encoder and decoder (also known as the semantic gap). To address this issue, a new network architecture relying on attention mechanism was introduced. Swin Filtering Blocks (SFB), that use Swin Transformer blocks in a cross-attention manner, were added between the encoder and the decoder to filter information coming from the encoder based on the feature map from the decoder. Attention was also employed at the lowest resolution in the form of a transformer layer to increase the receptive field of the network. We conducted experiments to assess both generalization capability and to evaluate how training on all frames of the cardiac cycle rather than only the end-diastole and end-systole impacts strain and segmentation performances. Visual inspection of feature maps suggested that Swin Filtering Blocks contribute to the reduction of the semantic gap. Performing attention between all patches using a transformer layer brought higher performance than convolutions. Training the model with all phases of the cardiac cycle resulted in slightly more accurate segmentations while leading to a more noticeable improvement for strain estimation. A limited decrease in performance was observed when testing on out-of-distribution data, but the gap widens for the most apical slices. • Neural network architecture relying on attention to bridge the semantic gap. • Tested on both ACDC and an in-house dataset containing 271 patients. • Generalization capabilities assessed by testing on out-of-distribution data. • Comparison between training on all cardiac phases or only on ED and ES frames. • State of the art performance and accurate volumetric indices are obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Materials selected for microfluidic technology exhibit mechanical properties that can be a source of innovation. For instance, devices that take advantage of rigid (glass, silicon) or soft (elastomer, PDMS) materials, as well as porous materials, such as paper, are widely reported in the literature. In this paper, we illustrate the potentialities of hyper elastic materials for lab-on-chip developments. Two breakthrough examples are reported: (i) a new digital microfluidics approach based on a stretchable membrane for addressing a large range of liquid volumes in complex protocols and (ii) a new low-cost approach for prototyping fully deformable microfluidic devices based on a polymeric foam.

Exposure to molds and mycotoxins not only contributes to the onset of respiratory disease, it also affects the ocular surface. Very few published studies concern the evaluation of the effect of mycotoxin exposure on ocular cells. The present study investigates the effects of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) and gliotoxin, two mycotoxins secreted by Aspergillus molds, on the biological activity of the human corneal epithelial (HCE) cells. After 24, 48, and 72 h of exposure, cellular viability and inflammatory response were assessed. Both endpoint cell viability colorimetric assays and continuous cell impedance measurements, providing noninvasive real-time assessment of the effect on cells, were performed. Cytokine gene expression and interleukin-8 release were quantified. Gliotoxin appeared more cytotoxic than AFB1 but, at the same time, led to a lower increase of the inflammatory response reflecting its immunosuppressive properties. Real-time cell impedance measurement showed a distinct profile of cytotoxicity for both mycotoxins. HCE cells appeared to be a well-suited in vitro model to study ocular surface reactivity following biological contaminant exposure. Low, but persistent inflammation, caused by environmental factors, such as fungal toxins, leads to irritation and sensitization, and could be responsible for allergic manifestations which, in turn, could lead to mucosal hyper-reactivity.

This paper deals with a study of H ^− /D ^− negative ion surface production on diamond in low pressure H _2 /D _2 plasmas. A sample placed in the plasma is negatively biased with respect to plasma potential. Upon positive ion impacts on the sample, some negative ions are formed and detected according to their mass and energy by a mass spectrometer placed in front of the sample. The experimental methods developed to study negative ion surface production and obtain negative ion energy and angle distribution functions are first presented. Different diamond materials ranging from nanocrystalline to single crystal layers, either doped with boron or intrinsic, are then investigated and compared with graphite. The negative ion yields obtained are presented as a function of different experimental parameters such as the exposure time, the sample bias which determines the positive ion impact energy and the sample surface temperature. It is concluded from these experiments that the electronic properties of diamond materials, among them the negative electron affinity, seem to be favourable for negative-ion surface production. However, the negative ion yield decreases with the plasma induced defect density.

The generator for the 3.7 GHz Lower Hybrid Current Drive (LHCD) system on Tore Supra consists of 16 klystrons capable of delivering 600kW/1000s each on plasma. Such a powerful installation needs to be operated on a regular basis in order to preserve the specifications of the klystrons in terms of output power and pulse duration. This has been of particular importance during the long shutdown between the last Tore Supra campaign in 2011 [1] and the start of LHCD experiments on WEST in 2017. The TH2103C klystrons have been operated on matched load once a year during the shutdown. A reduction of 14% of the available RF power for the experimental program is found, which is partly due to the loss of one klystron. Another important aspect of the maintenance procedure is to maintain the knowledge of the operating team at a good level. This paper describes the procedure and tests performed during six years of shut-down. It also summarizes the technical problems encountered and the consequences on the test schedule, and highlights the importance of maintaining such large plants in operating condition during shutdowns.

Durant ces dernières décennies, l'imagerie par télédétection aéroportée des milieux urbains reste un enjeu scientifique majeur. L'arrivée d'une nouvelle génération de caméras aéroportées permettant d'effectuer des acquisitions à très haute résolution spatiale et possédant un meilleur rapport signal sur bruit ouvre de nouvelles perspectives pour extraire l'information de ces environnements. En effet, la principale limitation de la plupart des méthodes de traitement des images dans ces milieux est due à la grande variété des matériaux qui les compose et à la géométrie dense et complexe qui les caractérise et peut induire de larges zones d'ombre. La campagne (UMBRA) a pour but d'acquérir un nouveau jeu de données de référence représentatif de deux villes françaises distinctes en vue de développer de nouvelles méthodes de correction atmosphérique au soleil et à l'ombre, de concevoir de futures caméras superspectrales dédiées à des applications de télédétection urbaine, et d'étudier des applications pour ``ré-éclairer'' des scènes à partir d'images urbaines terrestres. Ce papier détaille cette campagne ainsi que les prétraitements qui ont été effectués sur les différentes données acquises. De premiers résultats sont également présentés.

Using ?-diazo-?-ketoesters as reagents and combinations of CpRu fragments and diimine ligands as catalysts, a series of original transformations have been obtained that can be rationalized by the formation of metal carbenes and metal-bound ylide intermediates. Interesting 1,3-dioxole, enol-acetal and 1,4-dioxene motifs are obtained directly when the reactive mixture is reacted in presence of aldehydes or ketones, THF and epoxides.