Changes in speech and breathing rate while speaking and biking

International audienceSpeech communication is embedded in many daily activities. In this paper we investigate the effect of biking on respiratory and speech parameters. Breathing and speech production were recorded in eleven subjects while speaking alone and while speaking and biking with different rates. Breathing frequency, speaking rate, speech and pause intervals, overall intensity and f0 were analyzed for the different tasks. It was hypothesized that cyclical motion increases breathing frequency, which leads to a restructuring of speech and pause intervals or an increase in speech rate. Our results generally confirm these predictions and are of relevance for applied sciences

Neutronic study of slightly modified water reactors and application to transition scenarios

International audienceIn this paper we have studied slightly modified water reactors and their applications to transition scenarios. The PWR and CANDU reactors have been considered. New fuels based on Thorium have been tested : Thorium/Plutonium and Thorium/Uranium- 233, with different fissile isotope contents. Changes in the geometry of the assemblies were also explored to modify the moderation ratio, and consequently the neutron flux spectrum. A core equivalent assembly methodology was introduced as an exploratory approach and to reduce the computation time. Several basic safety analyses were also performed. We have finally developed a new scenario code, named OSCAR (Optimized Scenario Code for Advanced Reactors), to study the efficiency of these modified reactors in transition to GenIV reactors or in symbiotic fleet

Natura Alert: Monitoring biodiversity threats using citizen science

Since the late 1970s, the BirdLife Partnership has been working collectively to identify, document and protect places on the Earth with the greatest significance for the conservation of the world’s birds. As a result, over 13,000 Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBAs) have been identified. However, we lack comprehensive monitoring of the condition of these sites, with an increasing number of IBAs under threat from damaging development – the majority of which appears to be poorly planned and does not take environmental values into account. Sites face a wide range of problems, which require an equally wide range of solutions. To address this problem, Natura Alert has been developed within the Horizon 2020-funded LandSense Citizen Observatory project. Natura Alert is a mobile app and web portal that allows users to pinpoint the location of threats to biodiversity and habitat changes, to prevent the further damage or loss to our biodiversity. We are particularly interested in threats that are occurring inside IBAs, Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) and Natura 2000 sites in the European Union, although submitting records in other areas is also possible. Information on the condition of these sites, the threats to them, the conservation measures in place and the changes in these aspects over time are essential to set priorities, hold governments to account and inform policies and decision-makers. Volunteers can share their observations with the wider community and help to map the state of our most valuable sites around the world. They can download our mobile app to quickly record their observations in the field or use the web app to discover more functionalities, such as visualizing reports from other users, creating dashboards per country and downloading their own reports. Natura Alert is being tested in Spain and Indonesia, thanks to the volunteer network of two BirdLife partners: SEO/BirdLife and Burung. While the Spanish volunteers are focusing on threats to birds and habitats within IBAs and Natura 2000 sites, the Indonesian communities are validating alerts from satellite-image analysis for forest change on Flores island. Citizen observations trigger real-time alerts to national and regional IBA/KBA coordinators at BirdLife International, who will ensure that the data are of high quality and produce regional and global monitoring assessments that could help monitor the indicators of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Also, researchers and practitioners around the globe can benefit from this type of data, as well as institutions and stakeholders from the private sector willing to make better decisions based on high quality data via the Integrated Biodiversity Assessment Tool (IBAT)

Natura Alert: Monitoring biodiversity threats using citizen science

Since the late 1970s, the BirdLife Partnership has been working collectively to identify, document and protect places on the Earth with the greatest significance for the conservation of the world’s birds. As a result, over 13,000 Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBAs) have been identified. However, we lack comprehensive monitoring of the condition of these sites, with an increasing number of IBAs under threat from damaging development – the majority of which appears to be poorly planned and does not take environmental values into account. Sites face a wide range of problems, which require an equally wide range of solutions. To address this problem, Natura Alert has been developed within the Horizon 2020-funded LandSense Citizen Observatory project. Natura Alert is a mobile app and web portal that allows users to pinpoint the location of threats to biodiversity and habitat changes, to prevent the further damage or loss to our biodiversity. We are particularly interested in threats that are occurring inside IBAs, Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) and Natura 2000 sites in the European Union, although submitting records in other areas is also possible. Information on the condition of these sites, the threats to them, the conservation measures in place and the changes in these aspects over time are essential to set priorities, hold governments to account and inform policies and decision-makers. Volunteers can share their observations with the wider community and help to map the state of our most valuable sites around the world. They can download our mobile app to quickly record their observations in the field or use the web app to discover more functionalities, such as visualizing reports from other users, creating dashboards per country and downloading their own reports. Natura Alert is being tested in Spain and Indonesia, thanks to the volunteer network of two BirdLife partners: SEO/BirdLife and Burung. While the Spanish volunteers are focusing on threats to birds and habitats within IBAs and Natura 2000 sites, the Indonesian communities are validating alerts from satellite-image analysis for forest change on Flores island. Citizen observations trigger real-time alerts to national and regional IBA/KBA coordinators at BirdLife International, who will ensure that the data are of high quality and produce regional and global monitoring assessments that could help monitor the indicators of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Also, researchers and practitioners around the globe can benefit from this type of data, as well as institutions and stakeholders from the private sector willing to make better decisions based on high quality data via the Integrated Biodiversity Assessment Tool (IBAT)

LandSense: Coupling citizen science and earth observation data to promote environmental monitoring

The Horizon 2020 project, LandSense, is a modern citizen observatory for Land Use & Land Cover (LULC) monitoring, that connects citizens with Earth Observation (EO) data to transform current approaches to environmental decision making. Citizen Observatories are community-driven mechanisms to complement existing environmental monitoring systems and can be fostered through EO-based mobile and web applications, allowing citizens to not only play a key role in LULC monitoring, but also to be directly involved in the co-creation of such solutions. Within LandSense, citizens can participate in ongoing demonstration pilots using their own devices (e.g. mobile phones and tablets), through interactive reporting, gaming applications and mapathons. Campaigns in Vienna, Toulouse, Amsterdam, Serbia, Spain and Indonesia address topics such as urban greenspaces, agricultural management and biodiversity/habitat threat monitoring. For example, in the case of Toulouse and Indonesia, hotspots of change in LULC are identified through Sentinel 2 time series analysis. These hotspots are then validated by citizens and interested stakeholders either directly on-site via customized mobile applications, providing geotagged photos, or remotely via the online LandSense Engagement platform. The presentation will not only showcase the tools and results from these campaigns, but also highlight how citizen-driven observations can contribute to sustainable development. Such initiatives present clear opportunities to integrate citizen-driven observations with established authoritative data sources to further extend GEOSS and Copernicus capacities, and support comprehensive environmental monitoring systems. In addition, these applications have considerable potential in lowering expenditure costs on in-situ data collection and current calibration/validation approaches within the processing chain of environmental monitoring activities both within and beyond Europe

Neutron-induced fission cross sections of short-lived actinides with the surrogate reaction method

Neutron-induced fission cross sections for 242,243Cm and 241Am have been obtained with the surrogate reaction method. Recent results for the neutron-induced cross section of 243Cm are questioned by the present data. For the first time, the 242Cm cross section has been determined up to the onset of second-chance fission. The good agreement at the lowest excitation energies between the present results and the existing neutron-induced data indicates that the distributions in spin and parity of states populated with both techniques are similar

Timing of treatment initiation for mild gestational diabetes mellitus and perinatal outcomes

To examine the association between gestational age (GA) at the time of treatment initiation for gestational diabetes (GDM) and maternal and perinatal outcomes

The Early Warning Procedure in an International Context

The globalized business and organizational environment is creating a growing need for project managers that can operate in a variety of cultural and socio-economic settings and are capable of handling the complexities that arise while working in an international context. It is of course a very important aspect to be considered by project managers to identify the early warning signs of problems timely enough to take preventive actions in order to avoid undesired consequences. This act can be more challenging when performed in an international context which in nature is more complex. In this study we endeavour to scrutinize the early warning identification process as part of the management system in international projects and the possible obstacles which exist within this procedure. A real ongoing international R&D project will be used as an example to help us better clarifies the concept