Web Page Segmentation for Non Visual Skimming

International audienceWeb page segmentation aims to break a page into smaller blocks, in which contents with coherent semantics are kept together. Examples of tasks targeted by such a technique are advertisement detection or main content extraction. In this paper, we study different seg-mentation strategies for the task of non visual skimming. For that purpose, we consider web page segmentation as a clustering problem of visual elements, where (1) all visual elements must be clustered, (2) a fixed number of clusters must be discovered, and (3) the elements of a cluster should be visually connected. Therefore, we study three different algorithms that comply to these constraints: K-means, F-K-means, and Guided Expansion. Evaluation shows that Guided Expansion evidences statistically-relevant results in terms of compactness and separateness, and satisfies more logical constraints when compared to the other strategies

Study, conception and development of an industrial equipment for wood cutting

Este artigo descreve todo o trabalho desenvolvido no âmbito de estudo, conceção e desenvolvimento de um equipamento destinado ao processamento de madeira à qual se denomina de “Multi-serra de Disco com árvore vertical”. Numa primeira parte, é apresentado um estudo intensivo sobre os tipos de madeira existentes, respetiva morfologia e seus modos de processamento de corte. Seguidamente é apresentada, de forma detalhada, o desenvolvimento e conceção de um equipamento que permita a realização da função de corte, onde se descreve todo o projeto mecânico associado ao desenvolvimento de equipamentos no âmbito de Engenharia. Na ótica do funcionamento, este equipamento, foi desenvolvido com o intuito da sua operação ser intuitiva e amigável para o utilizador bem como realizar as tarefas de forma eficaz e rentável. Derivado do elevado risco no funcionamento do equipamento, todas as funções e subfunções adjacentes ao projeto foram desenvolvidas por forma a minimizar a ação dos operadores, minimizando assim os riscos associados. De forma a concluir a abordagem teórica deste trabalho, são realizadas no seu final, algumas considerações sobre o desenvolvimento deste, o seu estado atual, bem como, são apresentadas algumas propostas de trabalho futuro passível de realização, com o intuito de otimizar a ideia concetual obtida.This article describes the work developed for the study, conception and development of an industrial equipment for the wood processing, which is called “multiple cut discs with vertical tree”. In a first part, a large study is presented related with the wood types, their morphology and their main manners for cutting processing. Continuously, it is presented the development and conception of an idea that it allows the accomplishment of the cut function, where the whole project mechanic associated to the development of equipment’s is described. This equipment was developed with the intention of its operation to be intuitive and friendly for the user as well as to accomplish the tasks in an effective and profitable way. Due to the high human risks associated with the functioning, all of the functions and sub functions of the equipment were developed to minimize the actions of the operators. In way to conclude the theoretical approach of this work accomplished, at the end of the article, were depicts some considerations about the mechanical design realized, as well as, proposed another future works, with the intention of optimizing the conceptual design of the cutting wood equipment

Concurrent Speech Synthesis to Improve Document First Glance for the Blind

International audienceSkimming and scanning are two well-known reading processes, which are combined to access the document content as quickly and efficiently as possible. While both are available in visual reading mode, it is rather difficult to use them in non visual environments because they mainly rely on typographical and layout properties. In this article, we introduce the concept of tag thunder as a way (1) to achieve the oral transposition of the web 2.0 concept of tag cloud and (2) to produce an innovative interactive stimulus to observe the emergence of self-adapted strategies for non-visual skimming of written texts. We first present our general and theoretical approach to the problem of both fast, global and non-visual access to web browsing; then we detail the progress of development and evaluation of the various components that make up our software architecture. We start from the hypothesis that the semantics of the visual architecture of web pages can be transposed into new sensory modalities thanks to three main steps (web page segmentation, keywords extraction and sound spatialization). We note the difficulty of simultaneously (1) evaluating a modular system as a whole at the end of the processing chain and (2) identifying at the level of each software brick the exact origin of its limits; despite this issue, the results of the first evaluation campaign seem promising

Price setting in the euro area: Some stylized facts from Individual Consumer Price Data

This paper documents patterns of price setting at the retail level in the euro area, summarized in six stylized facts. First, the average euro area monthly frequency of price adjustment is 15 p.c., compared to about 25 p.c. in the US. Second, the frequency of price changes is characterized by substantial cross product heterogeneity - prices of oil and unprocessed food products change very often, while price adjustments are less frequent for processed food, non energy industrial goods and services. Third, cross country heterogeneity exists but is less pronounced. Fourth, price decreases are not uncommon. Fifth, price increases and decreases are sizeable compared to aggregate and sectoral inflation rates. Sixth, price changes are not highly synchronized across retailers. Moreover, the frequency of price changes in the euro area is related to several factors, such as seasonality, outlet type, indirect taxation, pricing practices as well as aggregate or product specific inflation.Price-setting, consumer price, frequency of price change.

Price setting in the euro area: Some stylized facts from Individual Consumer Price Data

This paper documents patterns of price setting at the retail level in the euro area. A set of stylized facts on the frequency and size of price changes is presented along with an econometric investigation of their main determinants. Price adjustment in the euro area can be summarized in six stylized facts. First, prices of most products change rarely. The average monthly frequency of price adjustment is 15 p.c., compared to about 25 p.c. in the US. Second, the frequency of price changes is characterized by substantial crossproduct heterogeneity and pronounced sectoral patterns: prices of (oilrelated) energy and unprocessed food products change very often, while price adjustments are less frequent for processed food products, nonenergy industrial goods and services. Third, crosscountry heterogeneity exists but is less pronounced. Fourth, price decreases are not uncommon. Fifth, price increases and decreases are sizeable compared to aggregate and sectoral inflation rates. Sixth, price changes are not highly synchronized across pricesetters. Moreover, the frequency of price changes in the euro area is related to a number of factors, in particular seasonality, outlet type, indirect taxation, use of attractive prices as well as aggregate or productspecific inflation.