Selecting source image sensor nodes based on 2-hop information to improve image transmissions to mobile robot sinks in search \& rescue operations

We consider Robot-assisted Search $\&$ Rescue operations enhanced with some fixed image sensor nodes capable of capturing and sending visual information to a robot sink. In order to increase the performance of image transfer from image sensor nodes to the robot sinks we propose a 2-hop neighborhood information-based cover set selection to determine the most relevant image sensor nodes to activate. Then, in order to be consistent with our proposed approach, a multi-path extension of Greedy Perimeter Stateless Routing (called T-GPSR) wherein routing decisions are also based on 2-hop neighborhood information is proposed. Simulation results show that our proposal reduces packet losses, enabling fast packet delivery and higher visual quality of received images at the robot sink

In Vitro Assessment Of The Antiplasmodial Activity Of Three Plants Extracts Used In Local Traditional Medicine In Saloum (Senegal)

Against the scourge of malaria in Africa and the development of chemo-resistance, discovering new natural cures is a major concern for many researchers. As a consequence, the present study was carried out in order, first, to identify the phytochemical compounds, and second, to assess the antiplasmodial activity, of three medicinal plants extracts, selected from an ethno-botany survey conducted in Senegal. The parts of the plants used were Strychnos spinosa (Strychnaceae) leaves and stems, Combretum glutinosum (Combretaceae) barks, and the whole aerial part of Pennisetum polystachion (Poaceae). Among these plants, the hydromethanolic extracts of Strychnos spinosa stems showed the most important activity against Plasmodium falciparum strains, with a IC50 of 15 μg/ml, followed by the leaves chlorophormic extracts and the ethyl acetate extracts of Pennisetum polystachion, with respective IC50 of 20 μg/ml and 21 μg/ml. Combretum glutinosum extracts showed the least important activity, in all tests

Effet Du Fumier Sur Le Bilan Des Éléments Nutritifs Des Champs Dans Le Terroir De La Néma Au Saloum (Sénégal)

In the land of Nema, fields show low agricultural potential due to high human and climatic pressure. To increase their agricultural production, the populations have opted either for the use of chemical fertilizer or for the supply of manure through the Agriculture-Livestock integration. This paper focuses on evaluating the effect of on-farm use of manure on groundnut pod and groundnut production, and nutrient balance at the field level. 20 square plots of 2m each were used per field on the monitored farms. The hay and pod samples were taken therein, weighed, and dried in an oven at 60° C to a constant weight. This work was carried out for both fertilized fields and unfertilized fields (controls). In these same farms, samples of manure produced were collected and analyzed. The production of peanut and groundnut pods in the fertilized fields and in the control fields shows an overall positive effect of the manure on the yields in the land of the Néma. Taking into account the figures of the average deficits, the nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium balance is deficient in ground-level groundnut peanut fields. This is due to the low manure doses per hectare and its low nutrient content

Optimisation de la transmission d'images dans les réseaux de capteurs pour des applications critiques de surveillance

L émergence de petites caméras CMOS et de microphones MEMS, à coût et puissance réduits, a contribué au développement d une technologie permettant la transmission de flux multimédia (audio, image, vidéo) : les réseaux de capteurs multimédia. Cette technologie, offrant de nouvelles perspectives d applications potentielles où la collecte d informations visuelles et/ou acoustiques apporte une plus- value certaine, suscite un intérêt manifeste. Avec des données multimédia, la qualité de service devient désormais une exigence fondamentale pour la transmission dans un environnement contraint en ressources. Dans le contexte spécifique de cette thèse, nous considérons un déploiement par voie aérienne d une grande quantité de capteurs image pour des applications critiques de surveillance telles que la détection d intrusion ou des opérations de recherche et sauvetage. La prise en compte de la criticité des applications constitue un aspect important de cette thèse, novateur par rapport aux contributions déjà effectuées dans le domaine. Nos travaux se fondent sur une méthode d ordonnancement adaptatif de l activité des capteurs image qui fournit, pour chacun d entre eux, son ensemble de cover-sets. La détection d un événement dans le réseau déclenche la transmission d une large quantité d informations visuelles, émanant de plusieurs sources pour résoudre les ambiguïtés. L objectif de cette thèse est d optimiser cette transmission simultanée d images causant des désagréments sur le réseau. Nous avons tout d abord proposé une stratégie de sélection des cover-sets pertinents à activer pour une transmission efficace des images capturées. Cette stratégie, basée sur des critères d état et de voisinage, assure un compromis entre autonomie et criticité. Une extension multi-chemin de GPSR assure la remontée des images émises des sources sélectionnées au puits. Une seconde contribution, également une approche de sélection, se fonde sur les informations de chemins à 2 sauts pour la sélection des cover-sets. Contrairement à la précédente, elle accorde une priorité à la criticité par rapport à la préservation de l énergie, même si cette préservation est faite de manière indirecte. Un protocole de routage multi-chemin T-GPSR essentiellement basé sur les informations à 2 sauts est associé à la seconde approche de sélection. Une étude de performances de la mobilité du puits sur les propositions basées sur les informations à 2 sauts constitue notre troisième contribution.Recent advances of inexpensive and low-power CMOS cameras and MEMS mi- crophones have led to the emergence of Wireless Multimedia Sensor Networks (WMSNs). WMSNs promise a wide spectrum of potential applications which require to ubiquitously capture multimedia content (visual and audio information). To support the transmission of multimedia content in a resource constrained environment, WMSNs may require a certain level of quality of service (QoS) in terms of delay, bandwidth, jitter, reliability, quality level etc. In this thesis, we consider Wireless Image Sensor Networks (WISNs) where sensor nodes equipped with miniaturized visual cameras to provide accurate information in various geographical parts of an area of interest can be thrown in mass for mission-critical applications such as intrusion detection or search & rescue. An innovative and important aspect of this thesis is to take into account the criticality of applications. The network adopts an adaptive scheduling of image sensor node s activity based on the application criticality level, where each node computes its cover-sets. So, event detection triggers the simulataneous transmission of a large volume of visual data from multiples sources to the Sink. The main objective of this thesis is to optimize this simultaneous transmission of images that can degrade network performance. With this goal in mind, we first proposed a multi-criteria approach to select the suitable cover-sets to be activated for reliable transmission of images in mission-critical applications. The proposed approach takes into account various parameters that affect the image quality at the Sink in a multi-hop transmission network and guarantees a compromise between autonomy and criticality. A modified version of GPSR routing protocol supporting the transmission of multimedia streams ensures the transfer of images from selected sources to the Sink. The second contribution consists in an optimized selection strategy based on 2-hop neighborhood information to determine the most relevant cover-sets to be activated to increase reliability for image transmission. This selection approach prioritizes the application s criticality. A multipath extension of GPSR, called T-GPSR, wherein routing decisions are based 2-hop neighborhood information is also proposed. A performance study of the sink mobility on proposals based on 2-hop information is our third contribution.PAU-BU Sciences (644452103) / SudocSudocFranceF

NTRU-LPR IND-CPA: A New Ideal Lattices-based Scheme

In this paper, we propose NTRU-LPR IND-CPA, a new secure scheme based on the decisional variant of Bounded Distance Decoding problem over rings (DR-BDD). This scheme is IND-CPA secure and has two KEM variants IND-CCA2 secure in the random oracle model. NTRU-LPR IND-CPA is similar to NTRU LPRime and LPR Cryptosystem. NTRU-LPR IND-CPA does not have a problem of decryption failures. Our polynomial ring can be any ring of the form $\mathbb{Z}[x]/(q,f(x))$, where $f$ is a polynomial of degree $n$ and $q$ is an integer. Relatively to the DR-BDD problem, we propose to use square-free polynomials and such polynomials include $f(x)=x^n-x-1$ (as in NTRU LPRime) and $f(x)=x^n-1$ (as in NTRU). To avoid some weaknesses in Ring-LWE or NTRU-like schemes (Meet-in-the-middle attack, Hybrid attack, Weak keys, etc.), we do not use sparse polynomials or inversion of polynomials. Furthermore, to avoid backdoors, all polynomials in our scheme can be generated by hash functions. We also give a short comparative analysis between our new scheme and some proposals of the NIST Post-Quantum call (November 2017)

Development and validation of sensitive real-time RT-PCR assay for broad detection of rabies virus

Rabies virus (RABV) remains one of the most important global zoonotic pathogens. RABV causes rabies, an acute encephalomyelitis associated with a high rate of mortality in humans and animals and affecting different parts of the world, particularly in Asia and Africa. Confirmation of rabies diagnosis relies on laboratory diagnosis, in which molecular techniques such as detection of viral RNA by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) are increasingly being used.  In this study, two real-time quantitative RT-PCR assays were developed for large-spectrum detection of RABV, with a focus on African isolates. The primer and probe sets were targeted highly conserved regions of the nucleoprotein (N) and polymerase (L) genes.  The results indicated the absence of non-specific amplification and cross-reaction with a range of other viruses belonging to the same taxonomic family, i.e Rhabdoviridae, as well as negative brain tissues from various host species. Analytical sensitivity ranged between 100 to 10 standard RNA copies detected per reaction for N-gene and L-gene assays, respectively. Effective detection and high sensitivity of these assays on African isolates showed that they can be successfully applied in general research and used in diagnostic process and epizootic surveillance in Africa using a double-check strategy

Etude Comparative de Deux Garnitures (Noix de Pain de Singe et de Jujube) Dans une Colonne Garnie: Hydrodynamique et Transfert de Matière

Pour bien comprendre l’efficacité de transfert de matière dans les biofiltres, les paramètres hydrodynamiques et de transfert de matière ont été étudiés pour deux garnitures différentes (noix de pain de singe et de jujube) dans un réacteur triphasé à lit fixe fonctionnant à co-courant gaz-liquide. Dans le cadre de ce travail, après la caractérisation des graines une étude d’hydrodynamique et de transfert de matière de l’oxygène a été faite. Les expériences ont été réalisées au sein d’une colonne en verre cylindrique de 0,1 m de diamètre et 1,5 m de hauteur. Cette dernière a été remplie avec des noix de pain de singe ou de jujube comme matériaux de garnissage. Les résultats obtenus ont montré que les pertes d’énergie ou la chute de pression (P) est 3,1875 cmCE contre 0,725 cmCE en moyenne respectivement pour le pain de singe et le jujube, la rétention liquide dynamique (εLD) est 0,223 contre 0,348 en moyenne respectivement pour le pain de singe et le jujube ainsi que la capacité d’oxygénation (CO) est 70,282 g.m-3 .h-1 contre 163,674 g.m-3 .h-1 en moyenne respectivement pour le pain de singe et le jujube. Au vue de ces résultats, les noix de jujube présentent sur tous les plans, les meilleures caractéristiques pour être utilisés comme matériaux de garnissage en vue des études pilotes ultérieures. To fully understand the mass transfer efficiency in biofilters, hydrodynamics and mass transfer parameters were investigated for two different fillings (monkey bread and jujube) in a three-phase fixed-bed reactor operating at co-flow gas-liquid. As part of this work, after the characterization of seeds a hydrodynamic study and transfer of oxygen mass were made. The experiments were carried out in a cylindrical glass column 0.1 m in diameter and 1.5 m in height. The latter wasfilled with monkey bread or jujube as filling materials. The results obtained showed that the energy losses or the pressure drop (P) is 3.11875 cmCE against 0.725 cmCE on average respectively for monkey bread and jujube, the dynamic liquid retention (εLD) is 0.223 against 0.348 on average respectively for monkey bread and jujube and the oxygenation capacity (OC) is 70.282 gm-3 .h-1 against 163.674 gm-3 .h-1 on average respectively for monkey bread and jujube. As a result, jujube nuts have the best characteristics on all levels for use as packing materials for pilot studies