Automated insertion and testing of ads

App developers seek to optimize the number, format, placement, and combination of ads to be served a given user. However, they often don’t know which placements, numbers, or formats are the most effective. Running tests to determine optimal ad combinations to a given user is cumbersome and time-consuming. This disclosure presents analytical techniques to display ads in a variety of formats and measure the efficacy of the ad in terms of, e.g., ad-time vs. app-time; numbers of ads shown; time since last ad; attrition of users; etc. The analytical techniques determine which ads to show based on statistics that optimize the lifetime value of users. Statistics generated by the techniques herein can be used by app developers to drive particular app behavior, e.g., the design of ad units that reduce attrition

Impact of daily consumption of Moringa (Moringa oleifera) dry leaf powder on iron status of Senegalese lactating women

A randomized study was conducted to test the efficacy of Moringa powder on iron status and weight gain in women. In an open-labelled randomized trial, 82 moderately anaemic, lactating women, aged 26.7� 6.5 years, received a weekly dose of either 100g of Moringa powder(Moringa group) or 120 mg iron sulphate with 0.5 mg folicacid (Control group). Data from 64 women (33 from Moringa group and 31 from Control group) were analyzed. Baseline parameters, socio-economic, anthropometry, haematology, plasma ferritin, and acute phase proteins were comparable in both groups. Low plasma ferritin (< 12 �g/l) indicating iron deficiency was found in 13 and 14 women from the Moringa and Control groups, respectively. After 3 months oftreatment, mean haemoglobin concentrations significantly increased in both groups (p<0.001) but iron stores were unchanged in the Moringa group while they significantly increased in the Control group indicating that consumption of Moringa leaves failed to restore iron stores in anaemic subjects. A slight improvement was observed in the prevalence of anaemia in both groups but anaemia still persisted due to other reasons than iron deficiency anaemia. None of the groups gained weightduring the 3 months. However, the average weight lost was less important in the Moringa group (-0.8 � 2.1 kg) compared to the control group (-1.2� 2.3 kg) but the difference was not significant (p=0.45).The amount of digestible protein in the powder could suggest that the consumption of Moringa was beneficial to the rural women by preventing weight loss during the rainy season. Micronutrient status improvement of vulnerable people in developing countries like Senegal shouldcombine diet-based strategies through production and consumption of animal derived food, vegetable, fruits and food fortification program. However, Moringa Oleifera is one example of local food that can be used in nutritional intervention program, but its use needs additional rigorous clinical trials to confirm its nutritional benefits.&nbsp

Fermentation du poisson en Afrique de l'Ouest et défis sociétaux pour une amélioration qualitative des produits (adjuevan, guedj et lanhouin) : revue de la littérature

Le poisson est la principale source de protéines animales dans les zones côtières de l'Afrique de l'Ouest, notamment au Bénin, en Côte d'Ivoire et au Sénégal. Le problème de la conservation des produits halieutiques débarqués est un défi sociétal majeur dans ces pays du fait de l'insuffisance d'infrastructures industrielles. La transformation alimentaire traditionnelle contribue à la réduction des pertes post-capture. Divers produits transformés locaux comme l'adjuevan (Côte d'Ivoire), le lanhouin (Bénin) et le guedj (Sénégal), dont les procédés incluent le salage, la fermentation et le séchage, sont proposés aux consommateurs. Ils sont généralement utilisés comme condiments ou parfois comme sources majeures de protéines animales pour enrichir les apports nutritionnels des aliments à base de céréales locales. Les technologies traditionnelles employées pour ces produits sont peu coûteuses, du fait des équipements rudimentaires utilisés. La non-standardisation des techniques de production, notamment la fermentation, généralement spontanée, contribue à une qualité très fluctuante. Cette synthèse présente les différentes approches de fermentation conduisant aux divers produits ciblés, les caractéristiques physico-chimiques et microbiologiques de ces produits, les initiatives d'amélioration essentiellement basées sur le recours à des ferments et les défis sociétaux (renforcement de la recherche, formation des acteurs locaux, appui à la commercialisation) pour la croissance économique de ce secteur

Interval numerical observer: Application to a discrete time nonlinear fish model

International audienceThe aim of this work is to reconstitute the state of a discrete-time nonlinear system representing a dynamical model of a harvested fish population. For this end, we are going to use a numerical method of building an interval observer for the consider discrete-time model fish population. We adapt to this model an algorithm called "Interval Moving Horizon State Estimation" (IMHSE) which gives an estimated interval of the system states. This algorithm is carried out in [8] and work well for a general class of discrete-time systems.Le but de ce travail est de reconstruire les états d’un système discret non linéaire représentant la dynamique d’une population de poissons soumise à l’action de la pêche. Pour cela nous allons utiliser une méthode numérique de synthèse d’un observateur intervalle du modèle discret de la population de poissons considéré. Nous adaptons à ce modèle un algorithme appelé "Interval Moving Horizon State Estimation" (IMHSE) qui permet d’estimer les états du système par des intervalles. Cet algorithme est développé dans [8] et marche bien pour une classe générale de systèmes discrets

A simple adaptive observer for a class of continuous linear time varying system with discrete output

International audienceIn this preliminary work an adaptive observer for continuous-discrete systems is proposed. It is well known that adaptive observer is very important for state and parameters estimation; most of known results concern continuous systems with continuous-output or discrete-time systems with discrete outputs (see for instance [1,3,7,11]). In this paper we consider a linear system with discrete outputs and we propose an algorithm to estimate both the state and the parameter without any persistence condition. The proposed adaptive observer is shown to be quite promising due to the exponential error convergence

On the stock estimation for some fishery systems

International audienceIn this work we address the stock estimation problem for two fishery models. We show that a tool from nonlinear control theory called "observer" can be helpful to deal with the resource stock estimation in the field of renewable resource management. It is often difficult or expensive to measure all the state variables characterising the evolution of a given population system, therefore the question arises whether from the observation of certain indicators of the considered system, the whole state of the population system can be recovered or at least estimated. The goal of this paper is to show how some techniques of control theory can be applied for the approximate estimation of the unmeasurable state variables using only the observed data together with the dynamical model describing the evolution of the system. More precisely we shall consider two fishery models and we shall show how to built for each model an auxiliary dynamical system (the observer) that uses the available data (the total of caught fish) and which produces a dynamical estimation $\hat x(t)$ of the unmeasurable stock state $x(t)$. Moreover the convergence speed of $\hat x(t)$ towards $x(t)$ can be chosen

An observer for a nonlinear age-structured model of a harvested fish population.

International audienceWe consider an age-structured model of a harvested population. This model is a discrete-time system that includes a nonlinear stock-recruitment relationship. Our purpose is to estimate the stock state. To achieve this goal, we built an observer, which is an auxiliary system that uses the total number of fish caught over each season and gives a dynamical estimation of the number of fish by age class. We analyse the convergence of the observer and we show that the error estimation tends to zero with exponential speed if a condition on the fishing effort is satisfied. Moreover the constructed observer (dynamical estimator) does not depend on the poorly understood stock-recruitment relationship. This study shows how some tools from nonlinear control theory can help to deal with the state estimation problem in the field of renewable resource management

Food insecurity resilience measurement in north and south regions of Senegal

Les stratégies d’adaptation des populations à risque dépendent de la capacité des ménages et des moyens d’existence. L’objectif de cette étude était de mesurer la résilience à l’insécurité alimentaire dans deux Zones de Moyen d’Existence (ZME) SN06 (zone sylvo-pastorale) et SN11 (agroforestière-pêche et tourisme). En se basant sur les données de l’Enquête Nationale de Sécurité Alimentaire et Nutritionnelle (ENSAN) de 2013, des piliers de la résilience à l’insécurité alimentaire comme les Stratégies d’Adaptations, les Actifs Productifs, l’Accès à l’Alimentation, l’Accès aux Services Sociaux de Base ont été déterminés. Ainsi, grâce à la méthodologie d’Alinovi et al. 2010 et par une analyse factorielle basée sur l’Analyse des Composantes Principales, l’indice composite de résilience a été calculé. Les résultats ont montré que l’indicateur de l’Accès à l’Alimentation et celui des Stratégies d’Adaptation sont les plus influents sur la résilience à l’insécurité alimentaire. La résilience des ménages ruraux était influence par l’âge et le sexe du chef de ménage. La SN06 s’est avérée plus résiliente que la SN11. Les programmes qui contribuent à la sécurité alimentaire doivent tenir compte des piliers les plus déterminants pour l’efficacité des interventions visant à réduire l’insécurité alimentaire. Mots Clés : Insécurité Alimentaire, Résilience, Moyens d’Existence, Zone de Moyen d’ExistenceCountries localized in the South of Sahara, such as Senegal, exhibit the highest severity of food insecurity. People living in these countries develop adaptation strategies to survive. This capacity to resist and to recovery from food insecurity called resilience depends on the household capacity and livelihoods. The objective of this study was to measure the resilience to food insecurity in two areas: ZME SN06 (livestock and pastoral areas) and ZME SN 11 (agroforestry-fishing-tourism regions). Based on data from the 2013 National Food and Nutrition Security Survey (ENSAN), the dimensions of resilience to food insecurity such as Adaptation Strategies, Productive Assets, Access to Food and Access to Basic Social Services were determined. Using a methodology developed by Alinovi et al. 2010 a Resilience Index (RI) was calculated for the departments and the ZME. The results showed that the Food Access index and Adaptation Strategies indicators are the most influential factors on resilience to food insecurity. Rural households’ capacity and livelihoods were infleuenced by the age and the sex of the head of the household. The ZME SN 06 (RI: 0.558) was found more resilient than the ZME SN 11 (RI: 0.459). According to the specificity of the ZME, initiatives to improve resilience to food insecurity should be taken. These programs must take into account the dimensions that impact mostly the resilience for the effectiveness of the interventions. Keywords: Food Security, Resilience, Livelihoods, “Zone de Moyens d’Existence