Consumer practical wisdom: Toward a conceptual clarification of an emergent consumer culture

This article is a continuation of the previous works related to the new rationalization and control tendencies in purchasing behavior and consumption. More precisely, it is enrolled in the perspective of the contribution to a better understanding of the postmodern consumer wisdom which continues to be met more frequently in outlets. Since there is a lack of research on consumer wisdom conceptualization, we attempt in this article to present a conceptual framework used to delineate this concept in consumer behavior. To achieve this objective, we adopted an interdisciplinary theoretical framework. Then, we compared the concept to some others considered as close to consumer behavior field. Finally, semi-structured individual interviews have enabled us to propose a definition basing on three main facets of wisdom in consumption. This conceptual framework makes identifying contours of this research field possible. Then, the target will be to understand the nature, origin and consequences to offer coping strategies which will be undertaken by companies

A year of genomic surveillance reveals how the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic unfolded in Africa.

The progression of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic in Africa has so far been heterogeneous, and the full impact is not yet well understood. In this study, we describe the genomic epidemiology using a dataset of 8746 genomes from 33 African countries and two overseas territories. We show that the epidemics in most countries were initiated by importations predominantly from Europe, which diminished after the early introduction of international travel restrictions. As the pandemic progressed, ongoing transmission in many countries and increasing mobility led to the emergence and spread within the continent of many variants of concern and interest, such as B.1.351, B.1.525, A.23.1, and C.1.1. Although distorted by low sampling numbers and blind spots, the findings highlight that Africa must not be left behind in the global pandemic response, otherwise it could become a source for new variants

The evolving SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Africa: Insights from rapidly expanding genomic surveillance

INTRODUCTION Investment in Africa over the past year with regard to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) sequencing has led to a massive increase in the number of sequences, which, to date, exceeds 100,000 sequences generated to track the pandemic on the continent. These sequences have profoundly affected how public health officials in Africa have navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. RATIONALE We demonstrate how the first 100,000 SARS-CoV-2 sequences from Africa have helped monitor the epidemic on the continent, how genomic surveillance expanded over the course of the pandemic, and how we adapted our sequencing methods to deal with an evolving virus. Finally, we also examine how viral lineages have spread across the continent in a phylogeographic framework to gain insights into the underlying temporal and spatial transmission dynamics for several variants of concern (VOCs). RESULTS Our results indicate that the number of countries in Africa that can sequence the virus within their own borders is growing and that this is coupled with a shorter turnaround time from the time of sampling to sequence submission. Ongoing evolution necessitated the continual updating of primer sets, and, as a result, eight primer sets were designed in tandem with viral evolution and used to ensure effective sequencing of the virus. The pandemic unfolded through multiple waves of infection that were each driven by distinct genetic lineages, with B.1-like ancestral strains associated with the first pandemic wave of infections in 2020. Successive waves on the continent were fueled by different VOCs, with Alpha and Beta cocirculating in distinct spatial patterns during the second wave and Delta and Omicron affecting the whole continent during the third and fourth waves, respectively. Phylogeographic reconstruction points toward distinct differences in viral importation and exportation patterns associated with the Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron variants and subvariants, when considering both Africa versus the rest of the world and viral dissemination within the continent. Our epidemiological and phylogenetic inferences therefore underscore the heterogeneous nature of the pandemic on the continent and highlight key insights and challenges, for instance, recognizing the limitations of low testing proportions. We also highlight the early warning capacity that genomic surveillance in Africa has had for the rest of the world with the detection of new lineages and variants, the most recent being the characterization of various Omicron subvariants. CONCLUSION Sustained investment for diagnostics and genomic surveillance in Africa is needed as the virus continues to evolve. This is important not only to help combat SARS-CoV-2 on the continent but also because it can be used as a platform to help address the many emerging and reemerging infectious disease threats in Africa. In particular, capacity building for local sequencing within countries or within the continent should be prioritized because this is generally associated with shorter turnaround times, providing the most benefit to local public health authorities tasked with pandemic response and mitigation and allowing for the fastest reaction to localized outbreaks. These investments are crucial for pandemic preparedness and response and will serve the health of the continent well into the 21st century

An efficient hardware architecture for interpolation filter of HEVC decoder

International audienceIn most video coding standard, motion compensation MC is applied to remove temporal redundancy and reduce the size of bit stream significantly. In the decoder, the reconstructed MV (Motion Vector) is generated from the prediction error and neighboring information. However, due to the finite sampling the motion of blocks does not match exactly in the integer positions of samples grid. The High efficiency video coding standard HEVC introduced 7 taps filter and 8 taps filter for the interpolation of ¼ and ½ luminance sub positions respectively which can give a better precision in the inter prediction process. Furthermore, the profiling of the HM reference software proves that the interpolation filter consume more than 50% of the complexity of Motion Compensation block in the HEVC decoder with random access configuration. Therefore, a new flexible hardware architecture for half and quarter fractional pixels used in the interpolation filter is proposed in this paper. This architecture can process the whole fractional positions of 4×4 PU (prediction unit) in only 30 clock cycles and support a maximal throughput of QFHD@30fps at 185 MHZ. The implementation is performed with the technology TSMC 0.18 um

Preparation and characterization of jellies with reduced sugar content from date (Phoenix dactylifera L.) and lemon (Citrus limon L.) by-products

Introduction. The increase in diabetes and obesity has increased the demand for reduced sugar products such as jams and jellies. Four jelly formulations were prepared using date juice which was enriched with pectin and lemon flavors. Materials and methods. Reduced quantities of sugars (45% and 55%) were added to the juice at different pH (3 and 3.5). The prepared jellies were evaluated for physico-chemical and sensory properties. Results and discussion. The water activity values for jellies ranged between 0.767 and 0.804, making them safe from the development of the majority of bacteria. The addition of less quantity of sugar, as well as the decreased pH, resulted in significantly firmer jellies, with higher adhesiveness, chewiness and cohesiveness. Sensory evaluation showed that the prepared jellies averaged 4.17-5.47 and 4.59-5.67 for taste and firmness, respectively, in a 7-point hedonic scale consumer acceptance study. The most appreciated jellies were those prepared with the lowest sugar content, with a slight preference for that with a pH of 3.5. Significant differences were not found between scores for the other sensory attributes (color, transparency, brightness, odor and springiness)

AN OPTIMIZED HARDWARE ARCHITECTURE OF 4×4, 8×8, 16×16 AND 32×32 INVERSE TRANSFORM FOR HEVC

International audienceMost video coding standards use transform algorithms to reduce the size of data characterizing a video signal. The traditional transform matrices as in H.264 are limited on 4×4 and 8×8 sizes. However, the flexibility of coding structure presented in the next generation of video coding standard HighEfficiency Video Coding standard HEVC allows the definition of various sizes of transform matrices which can vary from 4×4 to 32×32. This paper describes a unified hardware architecture for 4×4,8×8,16×16 and 32×32 inverse 2D core transform IDCT in HEVC standard. It used only one block 1D transform and a transpose buffer based on FIFO memory blocs instead of the traditional register array in order to further reduce the memoryresources. The synthesis results under TSMC 180 nm CMOS technology show that the total gate count of the design is more than 30% improved compared to previous works . However, the operating frequency of the hardware design is about 130 MHz. This last can perform the decoding of 25 frames per second of Quad HD (3840×2160) resolution

AN EFFICIENT ARCHITECTURE VLSI FOR 4×4 INTRA PREDICTION IN HEVC STANDARD

International audienceThe HEVC is a proposal of new video coding standard that will be used for a wide range of applications like ULTRA HD and 3D applications. MPEG and VCEG have established a Joint Collaborative Team on Video Coding (JCT-VC) to develop the HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding) standard which is expected to provide a significant improvement in data transmission and streaming efficiency compared to H.264. In this proposal standard, various modules of coding are defined. Among the most complex is the module of the intra prediction. The HEVC defines 35 modes of intra prediction for 8 × 8, 16 × 16, 32 × 32, 3 modes for 64 × 64 and 17 modes for 4 × 4 while the H.264/AVC (Advanced Video Coding) uses 9 modes for intra 4 × 4 and 4 modes for intra 16 × 16. In this paper, we propose an efficient uniform architecture for all of the 4 × 4 intra directional modes. This architecture offers an important gain in case of treatment time compared to the literature. Our proposed architecture is implemented with the technology TSMC 0.18μm CMO

Design exploration of efficient implementation on SoC heterogeneous platform: HEVC intra prediction application

International audienceThe relationship between CPU and hardware accelerator is critical especially in some systems that require intensive tasks and large amount of data to deal with such as video coding systems. This cooperation provides significant improvements in run-time speed and power consumption. As software (SW) and hardware (HW) solutions provide better flexibility and performance, HW/SW implementation has emerged as a more efficient and desirable methodology for real-time implementation. In order to evaluate different implementation methods (SW) and (HW/SW) in terms of power consumption, run-time and area cost, we choose the Xilinx Zynq-based FPGA as a target to perform some hardware acceleration tasks. In this case, we choose to accelerate the intra prediction block because it is one of the most complex modules defined in the high efficiency video coding decoder chain. Experimental results show that HW/SW accelerations are more than 50% improved in term of run-time speed relative to SW modules. Moreover, the power consumption of HW/SW designs is saved by nearly 80% compared with SW cases

EFFECT OF DATE FLESH FIBER CONCENTRATE ADDITION ON DOUGH PERFORMANCE AND BREAD QUALITY

Date flesh fiber concentrate (DFFC) of Deglet Nour variety were extracted and incorporated in a bakery product. Dough rheological characteristics showed that water absorption, stability, index quality, resistance to deformation increased with the amount of added fiber, whereas degree of softening and extensibility decreased in all levels of fiber. Bread evaluation revealed that DFFC addition caused an increase of bread yield especially for the highest levels, a change of crumb color and an insignificant decrease of bread volume. Breads are subjected to sensory evaluation for odor, taste, crumb color, crumb smoothness and overall acceptability. Significant differences were not found (P > 0.05) between scores for all sensory parameters