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Pork is the most common and widely consumed meat product in Vietnam. The study aimed to assess nutrition and food safety risks and opportunities associated with pork value chains in Vietnam. Twenty-nine focus group discussions (FGD) were conducted in Hung Yen and Nghe An provinces with 164 participants who were both regular pork consumers and mothers with young children. In each province, three districts were selected, and in each district we selected one commune. To assess the quality of pork, we took 30 swab samples of pig carcasses at slaughterhouses, 90 pork samples at slaughterhouses and markets and analysed all samples for total bacterial count (TBC), coliforms, water holding capacity and pH. The results showed that pork was the main livestock product consumed and women are responsible for buying and preparing food for daily meals. Pork was the main animal sourced food (ASF) for Vietnamese consumers, for 50–60% of ASF. There was little knowledge of zoonotic diseases. The findings suggest further studies to address consumers’ concern on chemical contamination. Most market pork samples were not within the allowable range of limits standards of Vietnam for bacterial contamination: 90% of samples were above the official permissible limit for TBC and 98% did not meet standards for coliforms. Fifty percent of samples had acceptable pH but only 5% had acceptable water holding capacity. There were no significant differences in pork quality between intensifying Hung Yen and traditional Nghe An provinces, although there was a tendency for samples from Hung Yen to have better compliance. This rapid assessment revealed considerable interest and knowledge on pork nutrition and safety and found some behavioural but few quality and safety differences between traditional and intensifying systems. This indicated marketed pork is of low quality and safety, and a lack of support to consumers in making good choices.

Since its birth over 70 years ago, the computing area has gone over several generations, with significant reduction in size and cost. We are now entering a new generation of computing, called ubiquitous computing, where many small computers (smartphones, tablets, sensors, actuators, etc.) are placed on user's body or in the environments and provide many useful services to users. However, current devices and communication methods have not been able to provide fully smart and seamless interaction between users and the environments yet: either users are required to explicitly give attentions to devices and give them instructions to run, or environments need to be equipped with additional infrastructure, often expensive or inconvenient, to monitor user's presence and activities. Therefore, the next generation of computing requires devices that implicitly align with user's intention, obtain necessary information from environments as well as implicitly control them, and smart environments with minimal infrastructure setup to monitor user presence and behaviors.The goal of this research is to propose novel communication and sensing methods to enable such requirements. In particular, the proposed solutions include: (i) TextureCode, a flicker-free high-speed screen-camera communication technique to help smart glasses equipped with cameras obtain useful information from video stream on electronics displays, (ii) a body-guided communication technique that are used for authenticating users with devices and objects on every single touch interaction, (iii) EyeLight, a sensing system based on visible light to provide indoor occupancy estimation and room activity recognition services, and (iv) HandSense, an on-hand capacitive coupling-based sensing system for recognizing micro, dynamic finger gestures suitable for controlling head-mounted devices. We believe these systems provide users with more seamless interaction with surrounding environments: as the environment-user interactions implicitly align well with user's intention, data exchange, sensing, or authentication happens in the background without interruption to user's workflow.

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Results: Compared with Taiwanese, the Vietnamese diabetes had significantly lower in BMI (23.1±4.1 vs. 25.9 ± 3.4 kg/m2, p< 0.001), and waist circumference (82.2 ± 10.2 vs. 86.8± 9.4 cm, p< 0.001; respectively). Conclusion: Vietnamese people may develop diabetes at smaller increase of BMI and waist circumference than the increase in these indices to induce diabetes in Taiwanese, thus indicating that the factors of Type 2 DM in Vietnam such as BMI, genetic, dietary and life-style which have inter-correlate complexly. It requires further in-vestigations.

The topic of this work is the theoretical study of a disc-shaped acoustic transducer made with a 1-3 piezoelectric composite material. This material consists of PZT ceramic rods embedded in a polymer matrix. A modeling of this ideal transversally periodic structure is proposed. It is based on a finite element approach derived from homogenization techniques mainly used for composite material studies. The analysis focuses on a representative unit cell with specific boundary conditions on the lateral surfaces taking accurately into account the periodicity of the structure. The first step proposed is the development of a three-dimensional Fortran code with complex variables, especially adapted for this problem. Using the principle of correspondence of Lee-Mandel, this technique allows the prediction of the damping properties of the transducer from the complex modulus of the constituents. Both the versatility of the method and the rigorous character of the model are pointed out through various boundary conditions and mixed loadings. An interesting result is that, despite the lossy polymer matrix, a 1-3 composite can advantageously replace a much heavier massive transducer, in terms of efficiency and loss factor.El objetivo de este trabajo es el estudio teórico de un transductor acústico con forma de disco construido con un composite piezoeléctrico 1-3. Este material consiste en barras cerámicas de PZT embebidas en una matriz polimérica. Se propone un modelo de su estructura periódica transversal ideal basándose en una aproximación mediante elementos finitos derivada de técnicas de homogeneización usadas principalmente para estudios de materiales compuestos. El análisis se enfoca a una celdilla unidad representativa con unas condiciones de contorno específicas sobre las superficies laterales, teniendo en cuenta adecuadamente la periodicidad de la estructura. El primer paso propuesto es el desarrollo de un código Fortran tridimensional con variables complejas, adaptado especialmente a este problema. Usando el principio de correspondencia de Lee- Mandel, esta técnica permite la predicción de las propiedades amortiguadas del transductor a partir de los módulos complejos de los constituyentes. Tanto la versatilidad del método como el carácter riguroso del modelo se ponen de manifiesto a través de varias condiciones de contorno y mezcla de cargas. Un resultado interesante es que, a pesar de la matriz polimérica, un composite 1-3 puede reemplazar ventajosamente a un transductor masivo mucho más pesado en términos de eficacia y factor de pérdidas.

Peripheral neuropathy is characterized as a generalized, relatively homogeneous process affecting many peripheral nerves and predominantly affecting distal nerves. The epidemiology of peripheral neuropathy is limited since the disease presents with varying etiology, pathology, and severity. Toxic, inflammatory, hereditary, and infectious factors can cause damage to the peripheral nerves resulting in peripheral neuropathy. Peripheral neuropathy is most commonly caused by diabetes, alcohol, HIV infection, and malignancy. We report a case of a 42-year-old female with 10-year history of progressively worsening peripheral neuropathy, hypothyroidism, and skin changes who presents with dyspnea secondary to recurrent pleural and pericardial effusions. Prior to her arrival, her peripheral neuropathy was believed to be secondary to chronic demyelinating inflammatory polyneuropathy (CDIP) given elevated protein in the cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) which was treated with intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) and corticosteroids. Unfortunately, her peripheral neuropathy did not have any improvement. Incidentally, patient was found to have splenomegaly and papilledema on physical exam. Serum protein electrophoresis showed a monoclonal pattern of IgA lambda. Patient met the diagnostic criteria for POEMS (polyneuropathy, organomegaly, endocrinopathy, M-protein, and skin changes) syndrome. An underlying diagnosis of POEMS syndrome should be considered in patients with chronic debilitating neuropathy and an elevated protein in the CSF.

To assess the potential use of testate amoebae as biomonitors of atmospheric pollution we studied the relationship between atmospheric nitrogen dioxide (NO2) pollution and testate amoebae density, diversity, and community structure (Protista: Rhizopoda) in (zone 1) and around (zone 2) the city of Besançon, France. NO2 concentrations were on average significantly lower in the city zone (mean: 34.8±9.5 µg/m3) than in the periphery zone (mean: 14.6±4.7 µg/m3). The density of living amoebae was correlated with that of empty tests (0.001

International audience

International audience; To assess the potential use of testate amoebae as biomonitors of atmospheric pollution we studied the relationship between atmospheric nitrogen dioxide (NO2) pollution and testate amoebae density, diversity, and community structure (Protista: Rhizopoda) in (zone 1) and around (zone 2) the city of Besançon, France. NO2 concentrations were on average significantly lower in the city zone (mean: 34.8 ± 9.5 μg/m3) than in the periphery zone (mean: 14.6 ± 4.7 μg/m3). The density of living amoebae was correlated with that of empty tests (0.001