Generating a 3D Simulation of a Car Accident from a Written Description in Natural Language: the CarSim System

This paper describes a prototype system to visualize and animate 3D scenes from car accident reports, written in French. The problem of generating such a 3D simulation can be divided into two subtasks: the linguistic analysis and the virtual scene generation. As a means of communication between these two modules, we first designed a template formalism to represent a written accident report. The CarSim system first processes written reports, gathers relevant information, and converts it into a formal description. Then, it creates the corresponding 3D scene and animates the vehicles.Comment: 8 pages, ACL 2001, Workshop on Temporal and Spatial Information Processin

Autocorrélation spatiale et déplacement de la criminalité

This research examines spatial autocorrelation and crime displacement as facts and concepts. The objective of the study concerns both the methodological theory and the practice of applied research in criminology. The two expressions used in the title can be considered a fragmentation of the concept of turbulence. The authors examine the influence of the presence of spatial autocorrelation in the data on tests of the significance of statistics. They attempt to detect it in a part of central Montreal by examining the distribution and evolution of the two types of crime: armed robbery and burglary. Three methods are used: the known coefficients and correlograms, spatial grouping with forces contiguity, and trend surface analysis. The last two methods lead to convincing results. On the other hand, the displacement could not be observed during the time studied. In conclusion, they consider the implications for the methodological practices and usual research strategies in criminology

Comparison of two plant functional approaches to evaluate natural restoration along an old-field-deciduous forest chronosequence

Question: Are direct and indirect trait-based approaches similar in their usefulness to synthesize species responses to successional stages?\ud Location: Northern hardwood forests, Que´bec, Canada\ud (451010–451080N; 731580–741210W).\ud Methods: Two different trait-based approaches were used to relate plant functional traits to succession on an old-field – deciduous forest chronosequence: (i) a frequently used approach based on co-occurrence of traits (emergent groups), and (ii) a new version of a direct functional approach at the trait level (the fourth-corner method). Additionally, we selected two different cut-off levels for the herb subset of the emergent group classification in order to test its robustness and ecological relevance.\ud Results: Clear patterns of trait associations with stand developmental stages emerged from both the emergent group and the direct approach at the trait level. However, the emergent group classification was found to hide some trait-level differences such as a shift in seed size, light requirement and plant form along the chronosequence. Contrasting results were obtained for the seven or nine group classification of the herbaceous subset, illustrating how critical is the number of groups for emergent group classification.\ud Conclusion: The simultaneous use of two different traitbased\ud approaches provided a robust and comprehensive characterization of vegetation responses in the old-field -deciduous forest chronosequence. It also underlines the different goals as well as the limitations and benefits of these two approaches. Both approaches indicated that abandoned pastures of the northern hardwood biome have good potential for natural recovery. Conversion of these lands to other functions may lead to irremediable loss of biodiversity

Overcoming non-radiative losses with AlGaAs PIN junctions for near-field thermophotonic energy harvesting

In a thermophotonic device used in an energy-harvesting configuration, a hot light-emitting diode (LED) is coupled to a photovoltaic (PV) cell by means of electroluminescent radiation in order to produce electrical power. Using fluctuational electrodynamics and the drift-diffusion equations, we optimise a device made of an AlGaAs PIN LED and a GaAs PIN PV cell with matched bandgaps. We find that the LED can work as an efficient heat pump only in the near field, where radiative heat transfer is increased by wave tunnelling. A key reason is that non-radiative recombination rates are reduced compared to radiative ones in this regime. At 10 nm gap distance and for 100 cm.s --1 effective surface recombination velocity, the power output can reach 2.2 W.cm --2 for a 600 K LED, which highlights the potential for low-grade energy harvesting

Ornex – Hameau de Maconnex

Pour faire suite à la délivrance d’un permis de construire dans le hameau de Maconnex (commune d’Ornex), le service régional de l’archéologie a été prévenu par M. Olivier Guichard d’un possible impact du projet sur les vestiges de la chapelle de la maison des Templiers, installés sur ce site dès le xiie s. Un plan du début du xviiie s. semblait en effet indiquer à cet endroit une construction quadrangulaire au lieu-dit « Aux Champ (sic) de la Chapelle ». Des sondages de diagnostic, réalisés g..

Mousson – Rue de la Chapelle

Identifiant de l'opération archéologique : F1354200100036 Date de l'opération : 2001 (EV) Les sondages de diagnostic réalisés par le service régional de l'Archéologie sur un terrain de 2 699 m² devant faire l'objet d'un projet de construction, à proximité d'une des portes des remparts du bourg castral médiéval, n'ont pas révélé la présence de vestige archéologique. LEGENDRE Jean-Pierr

Montigny – Ferme du Moulin

Identifiant de l'opération archéologique : F1354200100034 Date de l'opération : 2001 (EV) La découverte d'une sépulture à inhumation lors de travaux de mises aux normes d'une ferme ayant été signalée par Alain Béné, une fouille préventive a été menée par le service régional de l'Archéologie à cet endroit. Un décapage de l'ensemble de la surface concernée par le projet d'aménagement (150 m²) a été réalisé. La sépulture s'est révélée être isolée : il s'agit d'un individu en décubitus dorsal, sa..

Mousson

Identifiant de l'opération archéologique : F1354200100036 Date de l'opération : 2001 (EV) Les sondages de diagnostic réalisés par le service régional de l'Archéologie sur un terrain de 2 699 m² devant faire l'objet d'un projet de construction, à proximité d'une des portes des remparts du bourg castral médiéval, n'ont pas révélé la présence de vestige archéologique. LEGENDRE Jean-Pierr

Montigny

Identifiant de l'opération archéologique : F1354200100034 Date de l'opération : 2001 (EV) La découverte d'une sépulture à inhumation lors de travaux de mises aux normes d'une ferme ayant été signalée par Alain Béné, une fouille préventive a été menée par le service régional de l'Archéologie à cet endroit. Un décapage de l'ensemble de la surface concernée par le projet d'aménagement (150 m²) a été réalisé. La sépulture s'est révélée être isolée : il s'agit d'un individu en décubitus dorsal, sa..

Body Size Evolution of Oxyurid (Nematoda) Parasites: The Role of Hosts

Studying the diversification of body size in a taxon of parasites allows comparison of patterns of variation observed in the parasites with patterns found in free-living organisms. The distributions of body size of oxyurid nematodes (obligate parasites of vertebrates and invertebrates) are lognormally right-skewed, except for male oxyurids in invertebrates which show left-skewed distributions. In these parasitic forms, speciose genera do not have the smallest body sizes. Parasite body size is positively correlated with host body size, the largest hosts possessing the largest parasites. This trend is shown to occur within one monophyletic group of oxyurids, those of Old World primates. Comparative methods are used to take account of the effects of phylogeny. The use of multiple linear regression on distance matrices allows measurements of the contribution of phylogeny to the evolution of body size of parasites. Evolution of body size in female pinworms of Old World primates appears to be dependent only on the body size of their hosts. The tendency of parasite body size to increase with host body size is discussed in the light of the evolution of life-history traits