Pre-Eocene Synmetamorphic Structure in the Mindoro-Romblon-Palawan Area, West Philippines, and implications for the history of southeast Asia

International audienceThe structure of the pre-Eocene rocks, considered as the "basement" of the Philippines, has been investigated in the Mindoro-Lubang, Romblon-Tablas-Sibuyan, and North Palawan areas. In the former two areas the same pre-Eocene succession of units is recognized from top to bottom: (1) a pre-Eocene olistostrome; (2) an ophiolitic nappe; (3) a schistose sequence (pelites, sandstones, basic schists and marbles); and (4) a gneissic unit. The nature of the contact between the olistostrome and the underlying units is unclear, but the ophiolite and the schistose sequence form two thrust sheets of oceanic origin thrust upon the gneissic unit that is considered a part of a continental basement called the West Philippines Block. Small-scale structures show that the early deformation stage is characterized by a submeridian (0°-N40°E) lineation formed in greenschist to amphibolite facies conditions during the thrusting. Kinematic analysis show that the thrusting was from north to south. In North Palawan, metamorphic rocks with similar microtectonic and kinematic characteristics are found. They are overlain by a Late Jurassic olistostrome which is correlated with the olistostromes found in Calamian, North Mindoro, Carabao, and Buruanga peninsula (North Panay). The microstructural features and the presence of the olistostrome suggest that the North Palawan, Mindoro, Tablas, Romblon, Sibuyan, and Carabao islands belong to the same North Palawan block of Hamilton (1979) which is a continental fragment rifted from Asia in Cenozoic times. It is assumed that the Western Panay and Zamboanga areas, which are characterized by Mesozoic ophiolites and metamorphic rocks, also belong to the North Palawan Block. All these islands experienced, to some extent, the same Mesozoic geohistory: the south verging thrusting is interpreted as the result of an oblique collision of the West Philippines Block with Asia. The contemporaneous left-lateral strike-slip faulting and the calc-alkaline magmatism widespread along the Chinese margin are also included in the geodynamic model

Experimental study on the cyclic resistance of a natural loess from Northern France

In order to analyze the instability phenomenon observed along the Northern High Speed Line of R\'eseau Ferr\'e de France (RFF), soil blocks were taken at a site near the railway, at four different depths (1.2, 2.2, 3.5 and 4.9 m). Cyclic triaxial tests were carried out on saturated and unsaturated soil specimens. The results from tests on initially saturated specimens showed that the soil taken at 2.2 m depth has the lowest resistance to cyclic loading, in relation to its highest porosity and lowest clay fraction. This soil was then studied at unsaturated state with various initial water contents. Unsaturated soil specimens were first subjected to cyclic loadings to decrease their volume. These cyclic loadings was stopped when the volume decrease was approximately equal to the initial pore air volume, or when the pores filled by air were eliminated and the soil was considered to become saturated. Afterwards, the back-pressure tubing was saturated with de-aired water and cycles were applied under undrained condition. Significant effect of initial water content was evidenced: the lower the initial water content, the higher the cyclic resistance. This can be explained by the densification of the soil during the initial cyclic loadings

Comparaison de méthodes de recalage visuel de modèles 3D pour l'orthodontie

National audienceIn this paper, we compare two vision registration methods of 3D models to develop a main tool for orthodontics based on the virtual occlusion of two dental casts. For that purpose, we process photos of the patient mouth and match points between pictures and dental geometrical models. From a set of 2D/3D matches of the two arcades, we calculate the projection matrix, and after we do the registration of the mandible under the maxillary through a rigid transformation. Two methods with or without the knowledge of camera intrinsic parameters are compared. Minimizing the reprojection errors, we perform the registration of the mandible. Tests are carried out on virtual data and real images. Using a virtual case, assumed as perfect, we evaluate the robustness against noise and the increase of performance using several views. Projection matrices and registration are evaluated, respectively, by reprojection errors and the recorded differences on the 6 parameters of rigid transformation compared with the reference pose.Dans cet article, nous comparons des méthodes de recalage de modèles 3D par vision pour développer un outil essentiel en orthodontie : la mise en occlusion virtuelle des deux moulages des mâchoires. Pour cela, on utilise des photos de la bouche du patient et des points mis en correspondance entre les images et les modèles dentaires surfaciques. A partir d'un ensemble de correspondances 2D/3D disponibles établies sur les deux arcades, on calcule la matrice de projection, puis on effectue le recalage de la mandibule sous le maxillaire en estimant une transformation rigide. Deux approches sont comparées selon que l'on dispose ou non de la connaissance des paramètres intrinsèques de la caméra. Le recalage de la mandibule est ensuite estimé en minimisant l'erreur de reprojection. Les tests sont effectués sur des données virtuelles puis des images réelles. A partir d'un cas virtuel " parfait ", nous évaluons la dégradation des performances avec l'ajout de bruit et l'intérêt de combiner plusieurs vues. Les matrices de projections estimées sont évaluées par les erreurs de reprojection et les recalages par les écarts constatés sur les 6 paramètres de la transformation rigide par rapport à un positionnement de référence

Development and evaluation of a building energy model integrated in the TEB scheme

The use of air-conditioning systems is expected to increase as a consequence of global-scale and urban-scale climate warming. In order to represent future scenarios of urban climate and building energy consumption, the Town Energy Balance (TEB) scheme must be improved. This paper presents a new building energy model (BEM) that has been integrated in the TEB scheme. BEM-TEB makes it possible to represent the energy effects of buildings and building systems on the urban climate and to estimate the building energy consumption at city scale (~10 km) with a resolution of a neighbourhood (~100 m). The physical and geometric definition of buildings in BEM has been intentionally kept as simple as possible, while maintaining the required features of a comprehensive building energy model. The model considers a single thermal zone, where the thermal inertia of building materials associated with multiple levels is represented by a generic thermal mass. The model accounts for heat gains due to transmitted solar radiation, heat conduction through the enclosure, infiltration, ventilation, and internal heat gains. BEM allows for previously unavailable sophistication in the modelling of air-conditioning systems. It accounts for the dependence of the system capacity and efficiency on indoor and outdoor air temperatures and solves the dehumidification of the air passing through the system. Furthermore, BEM includes specific models for passive systems, such as window shadowing devices and natural ventilation. BEM has satisfactorily passed different evaluation processes, including testing its modelling assumptions, verifying that the chosen equations are solved correctly, and validating the model with field data.French National Research Agency (ANR). MUSCADE project (ANR-09-VILL-003)European Commission Framework Program (FP7/2007–2013) (BRIDGE Project grant 211345

La transition du Bronze final au premier âge du Fer (XIIIe-VIIe siècles av. J.-C.) dans le Centre-Ouest de la France et sur ses marges.

International audienceCultural evolution since IXth century B.C. & VIIth c. B.C. in France between Moire River & North AquitaniaEvolution entre le IXe s. et le VIIe s. av. J.-C. en france de l'Ouest, de la loire à l'Aquitaine septentrional

Analysis of the railway heave induced by soil swelling at a site in southern France

International audienceIn order to better understand the heave observed on the railway roadbed of the French high-speed train (TGV) at Chabrillan in southern France, the swelling behaviour of the involved expansive clayey marl taken from the site by coring was investigated. The aim the study is to analyse the part of heave induced by the soil swelling. First, the swell potential was determined by flooding the soil specimen in an oedometer under its in-situ overburden stress. On the other hand, in order to assess the swell induced by the excavation undertaken during the construction of the railway, a second method was applied. The soil was first loaded to its in situ overburden stress existing before the excavation. It was then flooded and unloaded to its current overburden stress (after the excavation). The swell induced by this unloading was considered. Finally, the experimental results obtained were analyzed, together with the results from other laboratory tests performed previously and the data collected from the field monitoring. This study allowed estimating the heave induced by soil swelling. Subsequently, the part of heave due to landslide could be estimated which corresponds to the difference between the monitored heave and the swelling heave

The Evolution of Calcium-Based Signalling in Plants

The calcium-based intracellular signalling system is used ubiquitously to couple extracellular stimuli to their characteristic intracellular responses. It is becoming clear from genomic and physiological investigations that while the basic elements in the toolkit are common between plants and animals, evolution has acted in such a way that, in plants, some components have diversified with respect to their animal counterparts, while others have either been lost or have never evolved in the plant lineages. In comparison with animals, in plants there appears to have been a loss of diversity in calcium-influx mechanisms at the plasma membrane. However, the evolution of the calcium-storing vacuole may provide plants with additional possibilities for regulating calcium influx into the cytosol. Among the proteins that are involved in sensing and responding to increases in calcium, plants possess specific decoder proteins that are absent from the animal lineage. In seeking to understand the selection pressures that shaped the plant calcium-signalling toolkit, we consider the evolution of fast electrical signalling. We also note that, in contrast to animals, plants apparently do not make extensive use of cyclic-nucleotide-based signalling. It is possible that reliance on a single intracellular second-messenger-based system, coupled with the requirement to adapt to changing environmental conditions, has helped to define the diversity of components found in the extant plant calcium-signalling toolkit

On making nD images well-composed by a self-dual local interpolation

International audienceNatural and synthetic discrete images are generally not well-composed, leading to many topological issues: connectivities in binary images are not equivalent, the Jordan Separation theorem is not true anymore, and so on. Conversely, making images well-composed solves those problems and then gives access to many powerful tools already known in mathematical morphology as the Tree of Shapes which is of our principal interest. In this paper, we present two main results: a characterization of 3D well-composed gray-valued images; and a counter-example showing that no local self-dual interpolation satisfying a classical set of properties makes well-composed images with one subdivision in 3D, as soon as we choose the mean operator to interpolate in 1D. Then, we briefly discuss various constraints that could be interesting to change to make the problem solvable in nD

Spectaculaire et méfiance : le hors-scène dans le théâtre de Victorien Sardou

« Il a tout naturellement abondé dans l’esprit de son temps, et, admirable­ment doué comme il l’est, il y a mis une fougue, une vigueur, une grâce, une aisance, qui le désignent comme le poète dramatique de cette génération. » Auguste de Belloy désigne ainsi le jeune auteur qui, en 1861, vient de faire représenter au Théâtre du Vaudeville l’étonnante comédie Nos intimes ! : « Car c’est une forme nouvelle, une école, une veine, une mine, que cette pièce où il y a un drame, deux comédies au moi..