Exploiting textual source information for epidemiosurveillance

In recent years as a complement to the traditional surveillance reporting systems there is a great interest in developing methodologies for early detection of potential health threats from unstructured text present on the Internet. In this context, we examined the relevance of the combination of expert knowledge and automatic term extraction in the creation of appropriate Internet search queries for the acquisition of disease outbreak news. We propose a measure that is the number of relevant disease outbreak news detected in function of the terms automatically extracted from a set of example Google and PubMED corpora. Due to the recent emergence we have used the African swine fever as a disease example. (Résumé d'auteur

Multi-Objective Design Optimization of the Leg Mechanism for a Piping Inspection Robot

This paper addresses the dimensional synthesis of an adaptive mechanism of contact points ie a leg mechanism of a piping inspection robot operating in an irradiated area as a nuclear power plant. This studied mechanism is the leading part of the robot sub-system responsible of the locomotion. Firstly, three architectures are chosen from the literature and their properties are described. Then, a method using a multi-objective optimization is proposed to determine the best architecture and the optimal geometric parameters of a leg taking into account environmental and design constraints. In this context, the objective functions are the minimization of the mechanism size and the maximization of the transmission force factor. Representations of the Pareto front versus the objective functions and the design parameters are given. Finally, the CAD model of several solutions located on the Pareto front are presented and discussed.Comment: Proceedings of the ASME 2014 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences \& Computers and Information in Engineering Conference, Buffalo : United States (2014

Une analyse des écrits sur les impacts du jeu sur l’apprentissage

Cet article présente une synthèse des publications récentes (1998-2005) qui traitent des impacts du jeu, en tant que formule pédagogique, sur l’apprentissage. Constatant une grande variété d’approches, une certaine disparité dans la manière de présenter et d’interpréter les résultats, et souhaitant vérifier si les jeux éducatifs ont un impact réel sur l’apprentissage, les auteurs ont procédé à une recension des écrits sur le sujet à partir d’une grille d’analyse validée. Ces impacts sont détaillés après un résumé des attributs essentiels du jeu, attributs sur lesquels cette recherche a été fondée pour être menée à bien. L’analyse des écrits montre que le jeu a des impacts positifs sur l’apprentissage.This article presents a synthesis of recent (1998-2005) publications on the impact of play, as a pedagogical technique, on learning. While confirming that there are a great number of approaches, a certain disparity in the way of presenting and interpreting results, and hoping to verify if educational games have a real impact on learning, the authors used a validated analysis grid to produce a review of the literature in this area. The authors present a summary of the essential attributes of games, these attributes being used to frame this research, as well as details regarding the impacts noted. The analysis shows that play has positive impacts on learning.Este artículo presenta una síntesis de las publicaciones recientes (1998-2005) que tratan de los impactos del juego, como formula pedagógica, sobre el aprendizaje. Al observar una gran variedad de enfoques, una cierta disparidad en la manera de presentar y de interpretar los resultados, y con el deseo de comprobar si los juegos educativos tienen un real impacto sobre el aprendizaje, los autores procedieron a una recensión de los escritos sobre el tema a partir de una matriz de análisis validada. Estos impactos se detallan a continuación de un resumen de los atributos esenciales del juego, atributos que fundamentaron esta investigación para poder llevarla a cabo. El análisis de los escritos muestra que el juego tiene impactos positivos sobre el aprendizaje

Microstructure Formation in Freezing Nanosuspension Droplets

The structural evolution of suspensions upon freezing is studied with optical microscopy in a suspended droplet configuration. Droplets have millimeter size and consist in an aqueous mixture of silica particles while the surroundings phase is hexane. Freeze-thaw cycles are applied to this system and a two-step freezing mechanism evidenced. A fast adiabatic growth of dendrites that invade the full droplets is first observed, and occurs within a few milliseconds. Then a slow process lasts for several seconds and corresponds to the release of solidification latent heat into the hexane phase. The striking feature of this work is to evidence that after the first freeze-thaw cycle flocculated microstructures are generated. When a second cycle is performed, microstructures further flocculate and generate, for dense silica suspensions, stable porous spheres of the size of the droplets. A phenomenological description based on repulsion or engulfment of particles by solidifying ice fronts is proposed

Mapping of Rice Areas in Egypt using SAR Imagery

Egypt is the second biggest rice producer in Africa after Nigeria and produces rice mostly during the summer season. Annual estimations of crop areas and yield are derived using information collected on the ground by extension services and released by the Ministry of Agriculture. However, sample sizes are usually small and can not be easily expanded due to costs and staff shortages. In addition, crop area and production estimates are released after harvest, which is too late to be used for interventions. Timely, accurate, and actionable information on rice areas and production is essential for improving food security policy decisions. This use case aims to develop a digital rice monitoring platform in Egypt based on near-real-time satellite data to support national policies, food security, and market management, as well as to facilitate farmers’ resilience through the development of insurance and microfinance products. This report presents the preliminary results of mapping rice areas across the Nile Delta during the 2022 summer season using IRRI’s RIICE platform in collaboration with Tanta University and European Space Agenc