YouTube, the Internet and IACCP: Opportunities and Challenges for Cross-Cultural Psychology

We culturalists are an unusual lot! Dispersed geographically and divided socially by potential and real political conflict, economic competition, religious disagreement and vast disparities in wealth and resources, we struggle with the dilemma of studying diversities that can only be understood adequately through effective communication and collaboration. The International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology was conceptualized by psychologists who recognized and participated in this dialectical context. The Founders set out to create an organization that would provide communication venues in order to facilitate the development of a community of psychologists who would collaborate on cultural research. Communication, indeed, was the starting point of IACCP, in face-to-face interactions at international conferences in the 1960s and through a project begun in 1969 by Harry Triandis, the Cross-Cultural Social Psychology Newsletter. These two types of communication were precursors to the founding of the Association in Hong Kong in 1972

Mary Anning’s legacy to French vertebrate palaeontology

peer reviewedThe real nature of marine reptile fossils found in England in between the 1700s to the beginning of the 1900s remained enigmatic, until Mary Anning's incredible fossil discoveries and their subsequent study by eminent English and French scientists. In 1820, Georges Cuvier acquired several ichthyosaur specimens found by Mary Anning, now kept or displayed in the Palaeontology Gallery of the MNHN in Paris. Four years later, Cuvier obtained a plesiosaur specimen from Mary Anning, only the second ever discovered. Cuvier was fascinated by these fossils and their study allowed him to apply his comparative anatomical method and to support his catastrophist theory. We re-examined these important specimens from an historical point of view and herein describe them taxonomically for the first time since Cuvier’s works. The Paris specimens belong to two different ichthyosaur genera (Ichthyosaurus and Leptonectes) and one plesiosaur genus (Plesiosaurus)

Reduction of smoothing levels in LUM FTC filter structure

In this paper, we analyze the possibility of the reduction of smoothing levels in 3-D adaptive lower-upper-middle (LUM) smoother based on the fixed threshold control (FTC). Besides the excellent noise attenuation capability with the simultaneous signal-detail preservation, recently introduced LUM FTC filter with a window size N is characterized by a relatively complex structure, where an estimate is formed according to (N +1)/2 decision rules. This fact can constrain its possible hardware filter implementation in real motion video applications. In order to simplify the filter complexity, however, to retain the excellent filter performance simultaneously, we propose two approaches such as linear reduction of smoothing levels and optimal reduction based on genetic algorithm.Dans cet article, nous analysons la possibilité de réduire le nombre de niveaux de lissage d'un filtre LUM (lower-upper-middle) adaptatif 3-D basé sur un contrôle par seuils fixes (FTC = fixed threshold control). Outre son excellente capacité d'atténuation du bruit tout en assurant la conservation des détails, le filtre LUM FTC avec une fenêtre de taille N, est caractérisé par une structure relativement complexe, où l'estimation de la valeur de sortie est faite en fonction de (N + 1)/2 règles de décision. Ceci peut entraver l'implémentation matérielle de tels filtres dans des applications vidéo temps réel. Afin de simplifier la complexité du filtre tout en gardant ses excellentes performances, nous proposons deux approches qui sont la réduction linéaire du nombre de niveaux de lissage et la réduction optimale basée sur un algorithme génétique

Care coordination in homecare and its relationship with quality of care: A national multicenter cross-sectional study

As health care complexity increases, skilled care coordination is becoming increasingly necessary. This is especially true in homecare settings, where services tend to be highly interprofessional. Poor coordination can result in services being provided twice, at the wrong time, unnecessarily or not at all. In addition to risking harm to the client, such confusion leads to unnecessary costs. From the patient's perspective, then, professional coordination should help both to remove barriers limiting quality of care and to minimize costs. To date, though, studies examining the relationship between care coordination and care quality have faced multiple challenges, leading to mixed results. And in homecare contexts, where the clients are highly vulnerable and diverse care interfaces make coordination especially challenging, such studies are rare.; Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore the relationship, from the perspectives of clients and of homecare professionals, between coordination and quality of care. For both groups, we hypothesized that better coordination would correlate with higher ratings of quality of care. For the clients, we predicted that higher coordination ratings would lead to lower incidence of unplanned health care use, i.e., emergency department (ED) visits, unscheduled urgent medical visits and hospitalizations.; This study is part of a national multi-center cross-sectional study in the Swiss homecare setting. We recruited 88 homecare agencies and collected data between January and September 2021 through written questionnaires for agencies' managers, employees (n = 3223) and clients (n = 1509). To test our hypotheses, we conducted multilevel analyses.; Employee-perceived care coordination ratings correlated positively with employee-rated quality of care (OR = 2.78, p < .001); client-perceived care coordination problems correlated inversely with client-reported quality of care (β = -0.55, p < .001). Client-perceived coordination problems also correlated positively with hospitalizations (IRR = 1.20, p < .05) and unscheduled urgent medical visits (IRR = 1.18, p < .05), but not significantly with ED visits. No associations were discernible between employee-perceived coordination quality and either health care service use or client quality-of-care ratings.; While results indicate relationships between coordination and diverse aspects of care quality, various coordination gaps (e.g., poor information flow) also became apparent. The measurement of both care coordination and quality of care remains a challenge. Further research should focus on developing and validating a coordination questionnaire that measures care coordination

La grossesse des adolescentes : quel modèle de suivi adéquat ?: travail de Bachelor

Introduction :L’adolescence, une étape de la vie remplie de changements identitaires, sociétaux, physiques, et hormonaux ; quelles conséquences lorsqu’elle est vécue parallèlement à une grossesse ? Objectif I: dentifier une prise en soins adéquate et réalisable afin de réduire les risques obstétricaux et psycho-sociaux des adolescentes enceintes en Suisse. Méthode : A partir de différentes bases de données d’articles scientifiques, cinq études ont été choisies par rapport à leur pertinence sur le sujet. Les cinq articles donnent des résultats concernant les aspects obstétricaux et psycho-sociaux. Les articles ont été analysés de manière descriptive et critique. Les résultats ont été développés dans la discussion. Résultats :Le concept d’âge gynécologique, mis en évidence par une des études, permet d’évaluer les risques selon l’immaturité biologique des jeunes femmes. Les principaux risques développés sont : la prématurité, le poids de naissance ainsi que la dépression du post-partum. Les risques obstétricaux et psycho-sociaux tendent à diminuer avec l’introduction d’interventions spécifiques pendant la période prénatale. Elles permettent aussi une augmentation du taux d’allaitement et une diminution de la dépression post-partum. Conclusion : Des propositions de prévention et de réseau de soins pour les adolescentes ont été développées. Même si la Suisse a un taux d’adolescentes enceintes bas, assurer un suivi sur le long terme et mettre en place un réseau de soutien autour de la jeune femme permettraient de prévenir les risques. Le concept d’âge gynécologique amène à la mise en place de protocoles qui assurent la vigilance pour les adolescentes présentant plus de risques

A Rat Model of Human Lipid Emulsion Digestion

A better understanding of how dietary lipids are processed by the human body is necessary to allow for the control of satiation and energy intake by tailored lipid systems. To examine whether rats are a valid model of human dietary lipid processing and therefore useful for further mechanistic studies in this context, we tested in rats three lipid emulsions of different stability, which alter satiety responses in humans. Different sets of 15 adult male Sprague Dawley rats, equipped with gastric catheters alone or combined with hepatic portal vein (HPV) and vena cava (VC) catheters were maintained on a medium-fat diet and adapted to an 8 h deprivation/16 h feeding schedule. Experiments were performed in a randomized cross-over study design. After gastric infusion of the lipid emulsions, we assessed gastric emptying by the paracetamol absorption test and recorded in separate experiments food intake and plasma levels of gastrointestinal hormones and metabolites in the HPV. For an acid stable emulsion, slower gastric emptying and an enhanced release of satiating gastrointestinal (GI) hormones were observed and were associated with lower short-term energy intake in rats and less hunger in humans, respectively. The magnitude of hormonal responses was related to the acid stability and redispersibility of the emulsions and thus seems to depend on the availability of lipids for digestion. Plasma metabolite levels were unaffected by the emulsion induced changes in lipolysis. The results support that structured lipid systems are digested similarly in rats and humans. Thus unstable emulsions undergo the same intragastric destabilization in both species, i.e., increased droplet size and creaming. This work establishes the rat as a viable animal model for in vivo studies on the control of satiation and energy intake by tailored lipid systems

Evariste III: A new multi-FPGA system for fair benchmarking of hardware dependent cryptographic primitives

International audienceCryptographic primitives such as True Random Number Generator (TRNG), Physical Unclonable Function (PUF) but also cryptographic algorithms need to be tested and evaluated in different technologies, but with identical system architecture and operating conditions in order to be fairly compared. The random data generated by a TRNG or responses of a PUF are strongly linked to the underlying technology, but also to the environment conditions (EMI, temperature, power supply voltage…). Similarly, success of the side channel attacks on cryptographic algorithms depends strongly on technology, system architecture and operating conditions. Most of FPGA families have their own evaluation boards developed by their constructors and they are not adapted to fair benchmarking and side channel analysis (SCA). Indeed, all these boards are built in a completely different ways and have different architectures, communication protocols and peripherals. Consequently, fair comparison of TRNGs, PUFs or side channel attacks using standard evaluation boards is clearly impossible. The proposed multi-FPGA modular system Evariste III that is derived from the older Evariste II modular system [1], which was aimed at testing TRNGs, is now extended to be suitable for testing all hardware dependent cryptographic primitives: TRNGs, PUFs, but also for performing side channel attacks on cryptographic algorithms in different FPGA technologies with a unified hardware platform. Figure 1: Evariste III system (left), Evariste III hardware (right): motherboards and application modules The hardware system of Evariste III is composed of a set of motherboards with ZIF (zero insertion force) connectors and application modules (see Figure 1). A base of six motherboards placed in a box interconnected by a JTAG chain makes a parallel evaluation of up to six modules possible. This is very helpful in PUF characterization that needs numerous data acquisitions to be performed in different operating conditions [2]. Besides the ZIF connectors for application modules, the Evariste III motherboards contain a USB interface controller, linear power supplies, high quality low pass filters and all necessary connectors. Three types of application modules have been designed for this new modular system. Each module is built around different FPGA family: Altera Cyclone V, Xilinx Spartan 6 and Microsemi Smart Fusion 2 with an embedded SoC based on an ARM processor. All daughter modules contain SMA connectors making SCA easier. The Evariste III motherboards are compatible with old modules of Evariste II (9 types of modules are available). The software tools and IP functions are open source. Reference designs can be freely downloaded. For academic institutions, the hardware can be made available remotely. Researchers can download related tools from the website and can upload their configuration bitstream to the remote FPGA. They can then download random data or PUF responses that were generated in the same hardware and in the same working conditions, in order to compare fairly different state-of-the-art TRNGs or PUFs. [1] http://labh-curien.univ-st-etienne.fr/wiki-evariste/index.php/Main_Page [2] http://www.univ-st-etienne.fr/salware

Marine tetrapod feeding guilds using automated high-density 3D geometric morphometrics

Defining feeding guilds based on tooth morphology is an entire subfield in marine tetrapod science. However, these assessments have mostly been qualitative, relying on gross tooth shape, rarely preserved gut content, and killing behaviour. Moreover, some of the data at the foundation of these guilds have proven to be debatable and there is an ever clearer need for a testable, quantitative framework to assess feeding guilds. We develop a novel protocol that incorporates the pseudo-landmarking technique into high-density geometric morphometrics procedures, sampling 3D surface models of tooth crowns automatically and densely (e.g. 2000 surface landmarks) after placing just 5 fixed landmarks on each tooth. A crushing-to-piercing transition is evident along the first axis of the PCA-based morphospace, while the presence and shape of carinae, as well as crown curvature, is captured by the second axis. This allows an efficient visualisation of tooth shapes with just two axes. Peculiar structures such as strong crown curvature or carinae are mostly recorded on medium-sized teeth, suggesting that a scaling factor is at play. We attempt a new definition of marine reptile feeding guilds based on tooth morphology and size, using extant polarizers.SEASCAP

Relationship between atomic structure and excellent glass forming ability in Pd42.5Ni7.5Cu30P20 metallic glass

International audienceTo understand the relation of the glass-forming ability (GFA) to the local atomic configurations of a PdNiCuP (PNCP) metallic glass having the best GFA at present, the local structures were investigated by combining data obtained from anomalous X-ray scattering, X-ray and neutron diffraction, and applying reverse Monte Carlo modeling. By comparing the results of PNCP with PdNiP (PNP) and PdCuP (PCP) having a slightly and much worse GFAs, respectively, characteristic features were observed in the hyper-ordered atomic structures. Firstly, the concentration inhomogeneity of Ni/Cu in PNCP is larger than that of Ni in PNP and Cu in PCP. Secondly, a Voronoi tessellation showed that the fraction of pure icosahedral arrangements around the Cu atoms increases significantly in PNCP by adding icosahedral-preferred Ni atoms in PCP. Finally, a persistent homology (PH) analysis reveals the largest intermediate-size Cu PH rings in PNCP among the PH rings in these Pd-based BMGs. The structural heterogeneity for the excellent GFA of PNCP would be considered by an incompatible mixture of specific Pd-P configurations and icosahedral clusters around the secondary Ni and Cu metals

Characteristics of acute ischemic stroke and unusual aura in patients with migraine with aura.

BACKGROUND Sometimes migraine aura changes from attack to attack, raising the question of whether the change is heralding an ischemic stroke or an unusual aura. Differentiating unusual migraine aura from the onset of an acute ischemic stroke in patients with migraine with aura (MwA) can be challenging. OBJECTIVE The aim of this cohort study was to assess clinical characteristics that help distinguish between MwA and minor stroke in patients with a previous history of MwA who presented with suspicion of stroke. METHODS We interviewed patients with MwA and ischemic stroke (MwA + IS) and patients with MwA and unusual aura, but without ischemic stroke (MwA - IS) from a tertiary hospital using a structured questionnaire. We assessed how symptoms of ischemic stroke or unusual aura differed from usual, that is, the typical aura in each patient. Stroke or exclusion of stroke was verified by multimodal magnetic resonance imaging. RESULTS Seventeen patients with MwA + IS and twelve patients with MwA - IS were included. New focal neurological symptoms (13/17 [76%] vs. 3/12 [25%]), change of the first symptom (10/17 [59%] vs. 1/12 [8%]), and absence of headache (6/15 [40%] vs. 2/10 [20%]) were more often reported during ischemic stroke. The physical examination was normal in 8/17 (47%) MwA + IS and in 6/12 (50%) MwA - IS patients. In 5/17 (29%) patients with MwA + IS, there were unequivocal physical signs suggestive of stroke such as persistent visual loss, ataxia, or paresis. CONCLUSION There are clues from the history that might help identify stroke in patients with MwA with changed aura symptoms. These might be particularly useful in patients presenting without physical findings suggestive of stroke