Optimal Probabilistic Ring Exploration by Asynchronous Oblivious Robots

We consider a team of $k$ identical, oblivious, asynchronous mobile robots that are able to sense (\emph{i.e.}, view) their environment, yet are unable to communicate, and evolve on a constrained path. Previous results in this weak scenario show that initial symmetry yields high lower bounds when problems are to be solved by \emph{deterministic} robots. In this paper, we initiate research on probabilistic bounds and solutions in this context, and focus on the \emph{exploration} problem of anonymous unoriented rings of any size. It is known that $\Theta(\log n)$ robots are necessary and sufficient to solve the problem with $k$ deterministic robots, provided that $k$ and $n$ are coprime. By contrast, we show that \emph{four} identical probabilistic robots are necessary and sufficient to solve the same problem, also removing the coprime constraint. Our positive results are constructive

Mercury sources and bioavailability in lakes located in the mining district of Chibougamau, eastern Canada

The presence of Hg in the fish of the lakes from the Cu–Zn–Au mining region of Chibougamau (Canada) represents a serious source of concern for the health of local sports and subsistence fishers. This study focuses on identifying the origin of Hg present in the sediments of lakes with mine wastes stored in tailing facilities located on their shores. In addition to C/N ratios and determination of total Hg, Methyl Hg and other metals, a series of lignin biomarkers were used to contrast the history of the mining contamination with the nature and the intensity of terrigenous organic matter (TOM) inputs from the watersheds to the sampled lakes. It appears that sediments located nearest to mine tailings are as expected most enriched in total Hg and other metals (Cu, As, Al, Fe, Pb). Nevertheless, the presence of only small amounts of refractory TOM in these contaminated sediments could explain why only a very small fraction of Hg is found as Methyl Hg. In sediments with little or no impact by mining activities, a relationship was observed between logging activities in the lake watershed and increased TOM derived from inorganic gymnosperms soils horizons and increased Hg transport to the lakes. Nevertheless, it appears that the additional TOM transported to logged lakes is refractory enough not to promote high levels of Methyl Hg. The highest fractions of Methyl Hg relative to total Hg in lake sediments of the studied area were thus observed in relatively pristine environments where least degraded TOM is brought from the watersheds

Reconstitution de la dynamique du paysage alluvial de trois secteurs fonctionnels de la rivière allier (1946-2000), Massif central, France

L’écocomplexe de la plaine d’inondation de la rivière Allier a été étudié dans trois secteurs fonctionnels présentant une dynamique géomorphologique contrastée : le secteur à méandres de Joze-Maringues où l’Allier est corseté par des enrochements et touché par les extractions de granulats, le secteur à méandres mobiles de la Réserve Naturelle du Val d’Allier et le secteur à bras multiples situé entre les villages de Villeneuve-sur-Allier et du Veurdre. L’étude se fonde sur six à huit missions de photographies aériennes prises entre 1946 et 2000 pour déceler la dynamique du paysage alluvial. L’occupation du sol, la largeur de la bande active et le taux d’érosion des berges ont été estimés par photo-interprétation et leur évolution spatiotemporelle a été mise en évidence par des traitements statistiques et cartographiques. Les résultats indiquent un accroissement des surfaces vouées à l’agriculture à partir des années 1950 et une progression du recouvrement de la végétation arborée en lien avec la modification des pratiques culturales et la rétroaction de la bande active. Dans les trois secteurs, le pourcentage de la végétation arborée est passé de 10 à 17 % en 50 ans. Depuis la seconde moitié du 20e siècle, la modification des pratiques agro-pastorales semble être un agent prépondérant pour expliquer la végétalisation progressive de la plaine alluviale de la rivière Allier. L’érosion des berges ne s’est pas atténuée durant cette période. Elle était plus active pendant la décennie 1970-1980 en raison des crues plus fréquentes et plus intenses.The landscape mosaics of the Allier river floodplain has been studied in three functional reaches with contrasted geomorphic activities : the Joze-Maringues meander reach where the river is constrained by embankments and affected by gravel mining, the shifting meander reach of the Val d’Allier Natural Reserve, and the anabranching reach between the village of Villeneuve-sur-Allier and Le Veurdre. This study is based on six to eight aerial photography, series taken between 1946 and 2000, to underline the dynamics of the alluvial landscape. Land cover types, active channel width and river bank erosion rate have been assessed from the photo interpretation, and their change in space and time has been statistically analysed and mapped. The results point to an increase of the cultivated areas from the 1950’s, and an extension of the tree-cover in relation with a change of agricultural practices and the decrease of the channel activity. In the three reaches, the percentage of the tree-cover has moved from 10 to 17% in 50 years. From the second half of the 20th century, the change in the agro-pastoral practices seems to be a major factor explaining the increase of the floodplain tree and bush cover. Bank erosion has not diminished during this period. It was more active in the 1970-1980 decade owing to more severe and frequent floods

Snap-Stabilizing Committee Coordination

International audienceIn the committee coordination problem, a committee consists of a set of professors and committee meetingsare synchronized, so that each professor participates in at most one committee meeting at a time. Inthis paper, we propose two snap-stabilizing distributed algorithms for the committee coordination. Snapstabilizationis a versatile property which requires a distributed algorithm to efficiently tolerate transientfaults. Indeed, after a finite number of such faults, a snap-stabilizing algorithm immediately operates correctly,without any external intervention. We design snap-stabilizing committee coordination algorithmsenriched with some desirable properties related to concurrency, (weak) fairness, and a stronger synchronizationmechanism called 2-Phase Discussion. In our setting, all processes are identical and each processhas a unique identifier. The existing work in the literature has shown that (1) in general, fairness cannotbe achieved in committee coordination, and (2) it becomes feasible if each professor waits for meetingsinfinitely often. Nevertheless, we show that even under this latter assumption, it is impossible to implementa fair solution that allows maximal concurrency. Hence, we propose two orthogonal snap-stabilizingalgorithms, each satisfying 2-phase discussion, and either maximal concurrency or fairness. The algorithmthat implements fairness requires that every professor waits for meetings infinitely often. Moreover, forthis algorithm, we introduce and evaluate a new efficiency criterion called the degree of fair concurrency.This criterion shows that even if it does not satisfy maximal concurrency, our snap-stabilizing fair algorithmstill allows a high level of concurrency

Source et devenir du mercure dans les lacs de la région minière de Chibougamau

Les communautés autochtones et non autochtones de la région de Chibougamau s'inquiètent de la présence de mines sur le bassin versant de lacs fréquemment utilisés pour la pêche sportive et de subsistance. Cette étude concerne quatre lacs dont trois sont impactés par le lessivage de parcs à résidus issus de l'extraction industrielle de cuivre et de zinc. Cette recherche caractérise la pollution au mercure due à la biodisponibilité de cet élément et les risques de contamination des poissons. L'objectif est de différencier l'origine du Hg sédimentaire, entre le lessivage du bassin versant et celui des parcs à résidus, puis d'évaluer le potentiel de méthylation du Hg par rapport aux particularités biogéochimiques de ces milieux. Cette recherche utilise des indicateurs de géochimie inorganique (concentrations en métaux et métaux lourds, diffractométrie aux rayons X, granulométrie) de manière à caractériser l'intensité, l'extension géographique et l'évolution chronologique de la contamination des sédiments. Ces données sont complétées par des indicateurs organiques tels que le rapport (C/N)a et les biomarqueurs de la lignine pour caractériser le transfert de matière organique terrigène (MOT) depuis les bassins versants. Les différences observées dans la nature et l'origine de la matière organique terrigène permettent d'expliquer certaines variations des teneurs en mercure. Par ailleurs la caractérisation moléculaire de la MOT permet d'évaluer son état de dégradation. Ces nouvelles données sont mises en relation avec les teneurs en méthyle mercure afin d'expliquer dans une certaine mesure le potentiel de méthylation des milieux caractérisés. Il apparaît ainsi que des milieux situés à proximité des mines ont subi une contamination importante en Hg. Pourtant le potentiel de méthylation de ces milieux est moins élevé que celui des sédiments situés plus en aval, ayant reçu des apports en Hg moins importants. De la même façon des sédiments situés en dehors de toute influence minière ont des teneurs en Hg plus élevées que certains milieux proches des mines. Ces différences s'expliquent notamment par la quantité et la qualité de la MOT arrivant dans le système aquatique qui agit sur le métabolisme des bactéries méthylatrices

Optimal Torus Exploration by Oblivious Robots

International audienceWe consider autonomous robots that are endowed with motion actuators and visibility sensors. The robots we consider are weak, i.e., they are anonymous, uniform, unable to explicitly communicate, and oblivious (they do not remember any of their past actions). In this paper, we propose an optimal (w.r.t. the number of robots) solution for the terminating exploration of a torus-shaped network by a team of $k$ such robots. In more details, we first show that it is impossible to explore a simple torus of arbitrary size with (strictly) less than four robots, even if the algorithm is probabilistic. If the algorithm is required to be deterministic, four robots are also insufficient. This negative result implies that the only way to obtain an optimal algorithm (w.r.t. the number of robots participating to the algorithm) is to make use of probabilities. Then, we propose a probabilistic algorithm that uses four robots to explore all simple tori of size $\ell \times L$, where $7 \leq \ell \leq L$. Hence, in such tori, four robots are necessary and sufficient to solve the (probabilistic) terminating exploration. As a torus can be seen as a 2-dimensional ring, our result shows, perhaps surprisingly, that increasing the number of possible symmetries in the network (due to increasing dimensions) does not come at an extra cost w.r.t. the number of robots that are necessary to solve the problem

Optimal torus exploration by oblivious robots

International audienceWe deal with a team of autonomous robots that are endowed with motion actuators and visibility sensors. Those robots are weak and evolve in a discrete environment. By weak, we mean that they are anonymous, uniform, unable to explicitly communicate, and oblivious. We first show that it is impossible to solve the terminating exploration of a simple torus of arbitrary size with less than 4 or 5 such robots, respectively depending on whether the algorithm is probabilistic or deterministic. Next, we propose in the SSYNC model a probabilistic solution for the terminating exploration of torus-shaped networks of size ℓ×L, where 7≤ℓ≤L, by a team of 4 such weak robots. So, this algorithm is optimal w.r.t. the number of robots

Environment-aware non-rigid registration in surgery using physics-based simulation

International audienceThis paper presents a system for capturing the deformations of soft objects undergoing elastic deformations and contacts with their environment, using image and point cloud data provided by an RGB-D sensor. We improve upon previous works by integrating environment constraints in the frame-by-frame registration process. The approach combines a physics-based elastic model of the considered objects, computed in real-time using an optimized Finite Element Method (FEM), which is driven by surface constraints on the objects. Additional forces, such as gravity are added. A case study in open surgery on the liver is here described. Yet in this case a major improvement in the accuracy of the registration is provided by the integration of anatomical shape constraints, which are naturally hidden from the RGB-D camera, and that we account for through a registration with the pre-operative CT data. With a comparative study, we demonstrate the relevance of our method in a real world application mimicking an open surgery scenario where the liver has to be tracked to provide an augmented reality view

100 kHz Yb-fiber laser pumped 3 μm optical parametric amplifier for probing solid-state systems in the strong field regime

We report on a laser source operating at 100 kHz repetition rate and delivering 8 μJ few-cycle mid-IR pulses at 3 μm. The system is based on optical parametric amplification pumped by a high repetition rate Yb-doped femtosecond fiber-chirped amplifier. This high-intensity ultrafast system is a promising tool for strong-field experiments (up to 50 GV/m and 186 T) in low ionization potential atomic and molecular systems, or solid-state physics with coincidence measurements. As a proof of principle, up to the sixth harmonic has been generated in a 1 mm zinc selenide sample

Réactivité de polyphénols du vin sous conditions oxydantes (hémisynthèse des mongolicaïnes, et d'adduits entre polyphénols et thiols odorants)

Le vin est un milieu complexe qui évolue tout au long des étapes devinification. Pour mieux appréhender ses qualités et ses défauts, de nombreuses équipesde recherche s intéressent à la compréhension de la chimie du vin. Dans ce contexte, lesujet de ce mémoire concerne l étude de l évolution chimique de certaines moléculespolyphénoliques du vin sous conditions oxydantes et/ou acides, afin d isoler et decaractériser de nouveaux composés susceptibles de se former dans le vin. Deux aspectssont examinés. Le premier concerne l oxydation de deux flavano ellagitannins, lesacutissimines A et B, formées à partir d un monomère de tannins condensés, lacatéchine, et d un ellagitannin C glucosidique, la vescalagine, extraite du bois de chênepar le vin lors de l élevage en barrique. Cette étude a permis d isoler les mongolicaïnes Aet B et deux analogues du camelliatannin G et de mettre en évidence leur formation parun mécanisme d autoxydation. Le deuxième aspect concerne l évaluation desconséquences de la présence de certains polyphénols dans le vin sur les composésthiolés odorants. Leur comportement et leur réactivité chimiques sont décrits dans desmilieux différents, avec l hémisynthèse de thio ellagitannins sous conditions acides, et laformation d adduits thio catéchols et thio pyrogallols sous conditions oxydantes,transformations chimiques pouvant occasionner la perte des odeurs et arômes du vindus aux composés thiolés odorants.The wine is a complex medium that evolves throughout the different stages ofthe wine making process. To understand both the qualities and defects of wine,numerous research team worldwide investigate the chemistry of wine. In this context,the subject of this thesis concerns the study of the chemical evolution of some winepolyphenolic molecules under oxidizing and/or acidic conditions in the aim of isolatingand characterizing new compounds likely formed in wine. Two aspects are examined.The first one is the study of the oxidation of two flavano ellagitannins, acutissimins Aand B, formed from a monomer of condensed tannins, catechin, and a C glucosidicellagitannin, vescalagin, extracted from oak wood by the wine solution during its agingin barrels. This study led to the isolation of mongolicains A and B and two analogues ofcamelliatannin G, and revealed their formation according to an autoxydationmechanism. The second aspect of this work concerns the consequences of the presencein wine of some polyphenols on wine odorous thiols. Their chemical behavior andreactivity are described in different media, with the hemisynthesis of thio ellagitanninsunder acidic conditions, and the formation of thio catechol and thio pyrogallol adductsunder oxidizing conditions, chemical transformations that could explain the loss ofodors and aromas due to wine odorous thiols.BORDEAUX1-Bib.electronique (335229901) / SudocSudocFranceF