Efficience technique et efficience environnementale en agriculture

Malgré l’imposition de diverses normes environnementales strictes au Québec, la pollution agricole, et plus spécifiquement la qualité de l’eau, demeurent problématiques dans la région de Chaudière-Appalaches. Cette région est intensive en productions animale et végétale ce qui entraîne des surplus de phosphore, d’azote et de sédiments. L’objectif que nous poursuivons à travers cette étude est d’évaluer l’efficience technique et l'efficience environnementale des producteurs agricoles du bassin de la rivière Chaudière localisé au Sud de la ville de Québec. De plus, nous évaluons le degré de corrélation existant entre les deux mesures d’efficience. Nous analysons les liens entre les mesures d’efficience et les caractéristiques des fermes et des opérateurs. Nous adoptons une approche stochastique paramétrique appliquée aux fonctions de distance pour analyser les efficiences techniques et environnementales des exploitations agricoles. Les données utilisées ont été collectées en 2005 et portent sur 210 fermes agricoles. Les résultats obtenus montrent qu’il existe une forte corrélation entre les deux efficiences. De plus, comme le montrent d’autres études, la performance environnementale entraîne des coûts additionnels au niveau des exploitations agricoles

"Automation Surprise" in Aviation

Conflicts between the pilot and the automation, when pilots detect but do not understand them, cause “automation sur- prise” situations and jeopardize flight safety. We conducted an experiment in a 3-axis motion flight simulator with 16 pi- lots equipped with an eye-tracker to analyze their behavior and eye movements during the occurrence of such a situation. The results revealed that this conflict engages participant’s at- tentional abilities resulting in excessive and inefficient visual search patterns. This experiment confirmed the crucial need to design solutions for detecting the occurrence of conflict- ual situations and to assist the pilots. We therefore proposed an approach to formally identify the occurrence of “automa- tion surprise” conflicts based on the analysis of “silent mode changes” of the autopilot. A demonstrator was implemented and allowed for the automatic trigger of messages in the cock- pit that explains the autopilot behavior. We implemented a real-time demonstrator that was tested as a proof-of-concept with 7 subjects facing 3 different conflicts with automation. The results shown the efficacy of this approach which could be implemented in existing cockpits

Efficiences technique et environnementale en agriculture: le cas du bassin de la rivière Chaudière au Québec

Despite the imposition of various environmental regulations in Quebec, the impact of agriculture on water quality remains a concern particularly in the Chaudière-Appalaches. This area is intensive in animal and crop productions leading to excess phosphorus, nitrogen and sediment runoff. This study aims to analyze the technical efficiency and environmental efficiency for agricultural producers in the basin of the Chaudière River located at the south of Quebec City. We adopt a parametric approach applied to stochastic distance functions. The data cover 210 farms and our results show that there is a strong correlation between the two efficiencies. Moreover, as shown in other studies, environmental performance leads to additional costs at the farm

Between Mass Culture and Africa's Cultural Heritage: Possibilities of a Dialectic

With reference to cultural goods, this paper describes the African cultural heritage, stresses its relationship with mass culture, and investigates the possibilities of a dialectic between the two. African cultural goods include archaeological discoveries, ritual and court objects, ordinary or everyday objects, tourist art, and the European-American oriented African art. Although mass culture, as defined by the influence of `eurocentrism', has hitherto tried to underestimate and marginalize African cultural goods, the latter have asserted themselves since the beginning of the last century, and are beginning to reach the current international record prices on the global art market, with exemplars valuated and sold at many millions of U.S. dollars. Also, they are nowadays recognized as part of the `World Heritage'. Because of these features, they have become part of an elitist mass culture, and therefore in a position to attract millions of consumers through tourist activities. However, it is imperative that African countries implement credible cultural policies to index, protect and promote the still existing cultural sites and a somewhat delicate cultural heritage. (The Journal of Cultural Studies: 2001 3(2): 307-315

Infant Feeding Practices and Asthma in Children Aged 6 Months to 5 Years Using a Propensity Score Approach

OBJECTIVES: We examined the association between exclusive breastfeeding, early introduction of feeding formula, early weaning, and asthma in children aged six months to five years in a sample of non-institutionalized US children using a propensity score approach. METHODS: Our study used data from the National Survey of Children\u27s Health (2012-2018) of 3,820 children with physician-diagnosed asthma aged 6 months to 5 years. Propensity score matching (PSM) was applied to control selection bias with age, sex, race, birth weight, Federal Poverty Level, parent\u27s education, and parent smoking history used as covariates in PSM. The total number in the matched sample was 6,904 (3,452 non-asthmatics; 3,452 asthmatics). Matched and unmatched samples were analysed using the χ test and multiple logistic regression. RESULTS: Exclusive breastfeeding was protective against asthma in the pre-matching (AOR 0.72; 95% CI: 0.54-0.97; p = 0.03) and post-matching (AOR 0.66; 95% CI: 0.55-0.81; p \u3c 0.001) samples. Formula feeding before 6 months was associated with asthma in unmatched (AOR 1.38; 95% CI: 1.15-1.66; p \u3c 0.001) and matched (AOR 1.31; 95% CI: 1.16-1.47; p \u3c 0.001) sample. Early weaning before 6 months was associated with asthma in unmatched (AOR 1.62; 95% CI: 1.35-1.54; p \u3c 0.001) and matched sample (AOR 1.37; 95% CI: 1.23-1.54; p \u3c 0.001). CONCLUSION: Public health systems should continue to recommend the implementation of the World Health Organization exclusive breastfeeding guideline in developed countries. Asthma interventions in children under two years should continue to emphasize exclusive breastfeeding to reduce the incidence of infant asthma

Laser-Assisted Hyaluronic Acid Delivery by Fractional Carbon Dioxide Laser in Facial Skin Remodeling: A Prospective Randomized Split-Face Study in France.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Combining the efficacy of ablative fractional carbon dioxide lasers (AFXL) to laser-assisted hyaluronic acid delivery (LAHAD) has not yet been studied. The objective of our study was to evaluate the safety and the efficacy of laser-assisted hyaluronic acid (HA) delivery with AFXL in facial skin remodeling. STUDY DESIGN/MATERIALS AND METHODS We conducted a prospective, double-blinded, randomized split-face study on 20 patients from 30 to 70 years old, with a skin phototype from I to IV. Each patient received full-face treatment with AFXL, immediately followed by the application in droplets into the fractional ablative tunnels of 1 ml of HA gel on one hemiface and 1 ml of physiological saline on the other hemiface. To evaluate postlaser aftermath, the intensity of erythema, edema, and crusts was graded. To assess facial skin remodeling, we scored the improvement of skin texture, firmness, fine lines, and skin radiance from baseline. Patients were evaluated on the 3rd and 7th day, 1st and 3rd month using clinical evaluations, photographs, and patient questionnaires. RESULTS We showed equivalence in postlaser aftermath between HA-treated and nontreated hemiface. Trend data analyses at the 3rd month suggested that immediate application of HA after AFXL resulted in a greater improvement in facial skin remodeling, especially for skin texture (mean score of 2.60 vs. 2.45) and skin firmness (mean score of 2.55 vs. 2.40). Skin radiance showed the best improvement, reaching almost a score of 5/10. CONCLUSIONS LAHAD with AFXL is a safe treatment showing promising results in facial skin remodeling. These findings need to be confirmed by a larger study to evaluate the value of LAHAD in daily clinical practice. Lasers Surg. Med. © 2021 Wiley Periodicals LLC

Human Infection with Orf Virus and Description of Its Whole Genome, France, 2017

International audienc