Physical Simulation of Inarticulate Robots

In this note we study the structure and the behavior of inarticulate robots. We introduce a robot that moves by successive revolvings. The robot's structure is analyzed, simulated and discussed in detail

Pose Estimation and Segmentation of Multiple People in Stereoscopic Movies

International audienceWe describe a method to obtain a pixel-wise segmentation and pose estimation of multiple people in stereoscopic videos. This task involves challenges such as dealing with unconstrained stereoscopic video, non-stationary cameras, and complex indoor and outdoor dynamic scenes with multiple people. We cast the problem as a discrete labelling task involving multiple person labels, devise a suitable cost function, and optimize it efficiently. The contributions of our work are two-fold: First, we develop a segmentation model incorporating person detections and learnt articulated pose segmentation masks, as well as colour, motion, and stereo disparity cues. The model also explicitly represents depth ordering and occlusion. Second, we introduce a stereoscopic dataset with frames extracted from feature-length movies "StreetDance 3D" and "Pina". The dataset contains 587 annotated human poses, 1158 bounding box annotations and 686 pixel-wise segmentations of people. The dataset is composed of indoor and outdoor scenes depicting multiple people with frequent occlusions. We demonstrate results on our new challenging dataset, as well as on the H2view dataset from (Sheasby et al. ACCV 2012)

Instance-level video segmentation from object tracks

International audienceWe address the problem of segmenting multiple object instances in complex videos. Our method does not require manual pixel-level annotation for training, and relies instead on readily-available object detectors or visual object tracking only. Given object bounding boxes at input, we cast video segmentation as a weakly-supervised learning problem. Our proposed objective combines (a) a discrim-inative clustering term for background segmentation, (b) a spectral clustering one for grouping pixels of same object instances, and (c) linear constraints enabling instance-level segmentation. We propose a convex relaxation of this problem and solve it efficiently using the Frank-Wolfe algorithm. We report results and compare our method to several base-lines on a new video dataset for multi-instance person seg-mentation

La nécropole du haut Moyen Âge du « Clos II » à Buchères (Aube)

Dans le cadre d’une fouille préventive, réalisée en 2009, une nécropole du haut Moyen Âge a été mise au jour à Buchères (Aube). Cent trente-neuf structures funéraires y ont été dénombrées. L’étude typo-chronologique du mobilier ainsi que les datations radiocarbone permettent de dater l’utilisation de cette nécropole entre la fin du VIe et le tout début du XIe siècle. Le mobilier funéraire exhumé témoigne de la pratique de l’inhumation habillée et du dépôt d’objets dans les sépultures.As part of a rescue archaeology operation carried out in 2009, a medieval graveyard was discovered in Buchères (Aube). One hundred and thirty nine graves were excavated. The typo-chronological study of the funeral deposit and the radiocarbon dating of the skeletons date this site from the end of the VIth to the early beginning of the XIth century. The funeral deposit proves that both dressed burials and artefact deposits were practiced (Nous remercions le Dr. John Sills (Oxford Institute for Archæology) pour sa révision du résumé).Im Rahmen einerPräventivgrabung wurde 2009 in Buchères (Département Aube) eine frühmittelalterliche Nekropole mit 139 Gräbern freigelegt. Die typologische und chronologische Untersuchung der Grabbeigaben und die Radiokarbondaten lassen eine Nutzung dieser Nekropole zwischen dem Ende des 6. und den ersten Jahren des 11. Jahrhunderts erkennen. Die Grabausstattung zeugt von der Sitte die Toten bekleidet beizusetzen und ihnen Beigaben mitzugeben

Construction, assembly and tests of the ATLAS electromagnetic barrel calorimeter

The construction and assembly of the two half barrels of the ATLAS central electromagnetic calorimeter and their insertion into the barrel cryostat are described. The results of the qualification tests of the calorimeter before installation in the LHC ATLAS pit are given

Thrombocytopenia and platelet transfusions in ICU patients: an international inception cohort study (PLOT-ICU)

Purpose Thrombocytopenia (platelet count < 150 × 109/L) is common in intensive care unit (ICU) patients and is likely associated with worse outcomes. In this study we present international contemporary data on thrombocytopenia in ICU patients. Methods We conducted a prospective cohort study in adult ICU patients in 52 ICUs across 10 countries. We assessed frequencies of thrombocytopenia, use of platelet transfusions and clinical outcomes including mortality. We evaluated pre-selected potential risk factors for the development of thrombocytopenia during ICU stay and associations between thrombocytopenia at ICU admission and 90-day mortality using pre-specified logistic regression analyses. Results We analysed 1166 ICU patients; the median age was 63 years and 39.5% were female. Overall, 43.2% (95% confidence interval (CI) 40.4–46.1) had thrombocytopenia; 23.4% (20–26) had thrombocytopenia at ICU admission, and 19.8% (17.6–22.2) developed thrombocytopenia during their ICU stay. Non-AIDS-, non-cancer-related immune deficiency, liver failure, male sex, septic shock, and bleeding at ICU admission were associated with the development of thrombocytopenia during ICU stay. Among patients with thrombocytopenia, 22.6% received platelet transfusion(s), and 64.3% of in-ICU transfusions were prophylactic. Patients with thrombocytopenia had higher occurrences of bleeding and death, fewer days alive without the use of life-support, and fewer days alive and out of hospital. Thrombocytopenia at ICU admission was associated with 90-day mortality (adjusted odds ratio 1.7; 95% CI 1.19–2.42). Conclusion Thrombocytopenia occurred in 43% of critically ill patients and was associated with worse outcomes including increased mortality. Platelet transfusions were given to 23% of patients with thrombocytopenia and most were prophylactic.publishedVersio

Performance of the ATLAS electromagnetic calorimeter end-cap module 0

The construction and beam test results of the ATLAS electromagnetic end-cap calorimeter pre-production module 0 are presented. The stochastic term of the energy resolution is between 10% GeV^1/2 and 12.5% GeV^1/2 over the full pseudorapidity range. Position and angular resolutions are found to be in agreement with simulation. A global constant term of 0.6% is obtained in the pseudorapidity range 2.5 eta 3.2 (inner wheel)

Death and the Societies of Late Antiquity

Ce volume bilingue, comprenant un ensemble de 28 contributions disponibles en français et en anglais (dans leur version longue ou abrégée), propose d’établir un état des lieux des réflexions, recherches et études conduites sur le fait funéraire à l’époque tardo-antique au sein des provinces de l’Empire romain et sur leurs régions limitrophes, afin d’ouvrir de nouvelles perspectives sur ses évolutions possibles. Au cours des trois dernières décennies, les transformations considérables des méthodologies déployées sur le terrain et en laboratoire ont permis un renouveau des questionnements sur les populations et les pratiques funéraires de l’Antiquité tardive, période marquée par de multiples changements politiques, sociaux, démographiques et culturels. L’apparition de ce qui a été initialement désigné comme une « Anthropologie de terrain », qui fut le début de la démarche archéothanatologique, puis le récent développement d’approches collaboratives entre des domaines scientifiques divers (archéothanatologie, biochimie et géochimie, génétique, histoire, épigraphie par exemple) ont été décisives pour le renouvellement des problématiques d’étude : révision d’anciens concepts comme apparition d’axes d’analyse inédits. Les recherches rassemblées dans cet ouvrage sont articulées autour de quatre grands thèmes : l’évolution des pratiques funéraires dans le temps, l’identité sociale dans la mort, les ensembles funéraires en transformation (organisation et topographie) et les territoires de l’empire (du cœur aux marges). Ces études proposent un réexamen et une révision des données, tant anthropologiques qu’archéologiques ou historiques sur l’Antiquité tardive, et révèlent, à cet égard, une mosaïque de paysages politiques, sociaux et culturels singulièrement riches et complexes. Elles accroissent nos connaissances sur le traitement des défunts, l’emplacement des aires funéraires ou encore la structure des sépultures, en révélant une diversité de pratiques, et permettent au final de relancer la réflexion sur la manière dont les sociétés tardo-antiques envisagent la mort et sur les éléments permettant d’identifier et de définir la diversité des groupes qui les composent. Elles démontrent ce faisant que nous pouvons véritablement appréhender les structures culturelles et sociales des communautés anciennes et leurs potentielles transformations, à partir de l’étude des pratiques funéraires.This bilingual volume proposes to draw up an assessment of the recent research conducted on funerary behavior during Late Antiquity in the provinces of the Roman Empire and on their borders, in order to open new perspectives on its possible developments. The considerable transformations of the methodologies have raised the need for a renewal of the questions on the funerary practices during Late Antiquity, a period marked by multiple political, social, demographic and cultural changes. The emergence field anthropology, which was the beginning of archaeothanatology, and then the recent development of collaborative approaches between various scientific fields (archaeothanatology, biochemistry and geochemistry, genetics, history, epigraphy, for example), have been decisive. The research collected in this book is structured around four main themes: Evolution of funerary practices over time; Social identity through death; Changing burial grounds (organisation and topography); Territories of the Empire (from the heart to the margins). These studies propose a review and a revision of the data, both anthropological and archaeological or historical on Late Antiquity, and reveal a mosaic of political, social, and cultural landscapes singularly rich and complex. In doing so, they demonstrate that we can truly understand the cultural and social structures of ancient communities and their potential transformations, based on the study of funerary practices

Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation for Severe Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome associated with COVID-19: An Emulated Target Trial Analysis.

RATIONALE: Whether COVID patients may benefit from extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) compared with conventional invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) remains unknown. OBJECTIVES: To estimate the effect of ECMO on 90-Day mortality vs IMV only Methods: Among 4,244 critically ill adult patients with COVID-19 included in a multicenter cohort study, we emulated a target trial comparing the treatment strategies of initiating ECMO vs. no ECMO within 7 days of IMV in patients with severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (PaO2/FiO2 <80 or PaCO2 ≥60 mmHg). We controlled for confounding using a multivariable Cox model based on predefined variables. MAIN RESULTS: 1,235 patients met the full eligibility criteria for the emulated trial, among whom 164 patients initiated ECMO. The ECMO strategy had a higher survival probability at Day-7 from the onset of eligibility criteria (87% vs 83%, risk difference: 4%, 95% CI 0;9%) which decreased during follow-up (survival at Day-90: 63% vs 65%, risk difference: -2%, 95% CI -10;5%). However, ECMO was associated with higher survival when performed in high-volume ECMO centers or in regions where a specific ECMO network organization was set up to handle high demand, and when initiated within the first 4 days of MV and in profoundly hypoxemic patients. CONCLUSIONS: In an emulated trial based on a nationwide COVID-19 cohort, we found differential survival over time of an ECMO compared with a no-ECMO strategy. However, ECMO was consistently associated with better outcomes when performed in high-volume centers and in regions with ECMO capacities specifically organized to handle high demand. This article is open access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives License 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)