An Introduction to Independent Component Analysis: InfoMax and FastICA algorithms

This paper presents an introduction to independent component analysis (ICA). Unlike principal component analysis, which is based on the assumptions of uncorrelatedness and normality, ICA is rooted in the assumption of statistical independence. Foundations and basic knowledge necessary to understand the technique are provided hereafter. Also included is a short tutorial illustrating the implementation of two ICA algorithms (FastICA and InfoMax) with the use of the Mathematica software

How are you Managing, Ethically Speaking? A Typology Proposal of Ethical Culture

Nowadays, integrity management has become a priority. Ethics is formalized in workplaces, within their structures, policies and practices. However, few studies document this formalisation of ethics with regard to its relationship to leadership. Findings from our previous research projects showed that the type of culture prevailing in an organisation is a determining factor for the formalisation of ethics and the promotion of integrity in the workplace. Based on these findings, we proposed four types of ethical cultures: indifferent, controlling, supporting, and capacitating. To verify the theoretical validity of the typology, an action research project was conducted in a large Canadian school. Results confirmed the relevance of the typology, pointing to key characteristics of the cultural transformation taking place

Conception et fabrication d’un tomographe optique et caractérisation d’un porte échantillon à répétabilité de positionnement submicronique

Ce mémoire de maîtrise présente le travail de conception du volet mécanique d’un équipement automatisée pour caractériser en trois dimensions la microstructure des interconnexions d’alliage étain-argent-cuivre, utilisé dans les procédés d’assemblage de puces électroniques par puce renversée. La technique de tomographie consiste à faire plusieurs cycles d’enlèvement de fine couche de matière par polissage et photographier cette surface ainsi obtenue, à l’aide d’un éclairage polarisé croisé. La lumière polarisée croisée permet la mise en évidence des différents domaines cristallographiques présent dans les interconnections. Le processus de développement de produit enseigné à l’Université de Sherbrooke a été employé pour définir les différents besoins, fonctions et critères de conception. Les concepts retenus sont présentés dans l’optique de bien comprendre la stratégie globale de l’équipement ainsi que le rôle spécifique de chaque sous-système. On peut diviser le tomographe en plusieurs sous- systèmes : Structure, manipulation, préparation de surface, nettoyage, caractérisation et contrôle. Une présentation générale des concepts retenus pour chaque sous-système est réalisée et une étude approfondie d’un système de positionnement isostatique, utilisé pour localiser le porte échantillon lorsqu’il est à la station de caractérisation, est présenté via un article scientifique. Tous les essais réalisés dans le cadre du travail de cette maîtrise démontrent la viabilité de l’équipement proposé pour réaliser une reconstruction tridimensionnelle d’interconnexions avec une précision meilleure que 1 micron dans toutes les directions. La qualité des images obtenues permet aussi de bien distinguer les différents domaines cristallographiques présents dans les alliages étain-argent-cuivre

An enhanced automatic speech recognition system for Arabic

International audienceAutomatic speech recognition for Arabic is a very challenging task. Despite all the classical techniques for Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR), which can be efficiently applied to Arabic speech recognition , it is essential to take into consideration the language specificities to improve the system performance. In this article, we focus on Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) speech recognition. We introduce the challenges related to Arabic language, namely the complex morphology nature of the language and the absence of the short vowels in written text, which leads to several potential vowelization for each graphemes, which is often conflicting. We develop an ASR system for MSA by using Kaldi toolkit. Several acoustic and language models are trained. We obtain a Word Error Rate (WER) of 14.42 for the baseline system and 12.2 relative improvement by rescoring the lattice and by rewriting the output with the right hamoza above or below Alif

Machine Translation on a parallel Code-Switched Corpus

International audienceCode-switching (CS) is the phenomenon that occurs when a speaker alternates between two or more languages within an utterance or discourse. In this work, we investigate the existence of code-switching in formal text, namely proceedings of multilingual institutions. Our study is carried out on the Arabic-English code-mixing in a parallel corpus extracted from official documents of United Nations. We build a parallel code-switched corpus with two reference translations one in pure Arabic and the other in pure English. We also carry out a human evaluation of this resource in the aim to use it to evaluate the translation of code-switched documents. To the best of our knowledge, this kind of corpora does not exist. The one we propose is unique. This paper examines several methods to translate code-switched corpus: conventional statistical machine translation, the end-to-end neural machine translation and multitask-learning

Vol. 31, No. 5, pp 323-350

Philippe Boutry et Pierre-Antoine Fabre, directeurs d’études avec Dominique Julia, directeur de recherche au CNRS et Claude Langlois, directeur d’études à l’EPHE-Ve section L’histoire religieuse au XXe siècle Compte rendu non communiqué. André Mary, directeur de recherche au CNRS Anthropologie des formes contemporaines du religieux. Les anthropologues et la religion Le séminaire a poursuivi sa réflexion sur le rapport problématique des anthropologues, et de la tradition anthropologique, à la ..

Increased Atherosclerosis in Mice Deficient in Perilipin1

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Perilipin1, a lipid droplet associated protein has an important role in the regulation of lipolysis and lipid storage in adipocytes. Perilipin1 is also expressed in foam cells of atheroma plaques and could therefore play a role in the accumulation of lipids in arterial wall and in the development of atherosclerosis. The aim of the study was to investigate this possible role of perilipin1 in atherogenesis.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Mice deficient in perilipin1 (<it>Plin1-/-) </it>were crossed with <it>Ldlr-/- </it>mice. <it>Ldlr-/- </it>and <it>Plin1-/- Ldlr-/- </it>mice received an atherogenic diet during 10 or 20 weeks. Blood pressure and plasma lipids concentrations were measured. Aortas were collected at the end of the atherogenic diet periods for quantification of atheroma lesions (<it>en face </it>method), histological and immunohistological studies</p> <p>Results</p> <p><it>Ldlr-/- </it>and <it>Plin1-/- Ldlr-/- </it>mice had comparable blood pressure and plasma lipids levels. <it>Plin1-/- Ldlr-/- </it>mice had a lower body weight and decreased adiposity. The atherosclerotic lesion area in <it>Plin1-/-Ldlr-/- </it>mice was moderately increased after 10 weeks of atherogenic diet (ns) and significantly higher after 20 weeks (p < 0.01). Histology of atheroma plaques was comparable with no sign of increased inflammation in <it>Plin1-/- Ldlr-/- </it>mice.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Perilipin1 ablation in mice results in increased atherosclerosis independently of modifications of risk factors such as raised blood pressure or plasma lipids levels. These data strongly support an atheroprotective role for perilipin1.</p

Estimation de la valeur génétique des chevaux de sport d'après les sommes gagnées dans les compétitions équestres françaises

International audienc