Assessment of vector/host contact: comparison of animal-baited traps and UV-light/suction trap for collecting Culicoides biting midges (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae), vectors of Orbiviruses

BACKGROUND The emergence and massive spread of bluetongue in Western Europe during 2006-2008 had disastrous consequences for sheep and cattle production and confirmed the ability of Palaearctic Culicoides (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) to transmit the virus. Some aspects of Culicoides ecology, especially host-seeking and feeding behaviors, remain insufficiently described due to the difficulty of collecting them directly on a bait animal, the most reliable method to evaluate biting rates.Our aim was to compare typical animal-baited traps (drop trap and direct aspiration) to both a new sticky cover trap and a UV-light/suction trap (the most commonly used method to collect Culicoides). METHODS/RESULTS Collections were made from 1.45 hours before sunset to 1.45 hours after sunset in June/July 2009 at an experimental sheep farm (INRA, Nouzilly, Western France), with 3 replicates of a 4 sites×4 traps randomized Latin square using one sheep per site. Collected Culicoides individuals were sorted morphologically to species, sex and physiological stages for females. Sibling species were identified using a molecular assay. A total of 534 Culicoides belonging to 17 species was collected. Abundance was maximal in the drop trap (232 females and 4 males from 10 species) whereas the diversity was the highest in the UV-light/suction trap (136 females and 5 males from 15 species). Significant between-trap differences abundance and parity rates were observed. CONCLUSIONS Only the direct aspiration collected exclusively host-seeking females, despite a concern that human manipulation may influence estimation of the biting rate. The sticky cover trap assessed accurately the biting rate of abundant species even if it might act as an interception trap. The drop trap collected the highest abundance of Culicoides and may have caught individuals not attracted by sheep but by its structure. Finally, abundances obtained using the UV-light/suction trap did not estimate accurately Culicoides biting rate.This study was funded partly by CIRAD and partly by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food, Fishing and Rural Affairs

Seamless, Static Multi-Texturing of 3D Meshes

In the context of 3D reconstruction, we present a static multi-texturing system yielding a seamless texture atlas calculated by combining the colour information from several photos from the same subject covering most of its surface. These pictures can be provided by shooting just one camera several times when reconstructing a static object, or a set of synchronized cameras, when dealing with a human or any other moving object. We suppress the colour seams due to image misalignments and irregular lighting conditions that multi-texturing approaches typically suffer from, while minimizing the blurring effect introduced by colour blending techniques. Our system is robust enough to compensate for the almost inevitable inaccuracies of 3D meshes obtained with visual hull–based techniques: errors in silhouette segmentation, inherently bad handling of concavities, etc

Host-Seeking Activity of Bluetongue Virus Vectors: Endo/Exophagy and Circadian Rhythm of Culicoides in Western Europe

Feeding success of free-living hematophagous insects depends on their ability to be active when hosts are available and to reach places where hosts are accessible. When the hematophagous insect is a vector of pathogens, determining the components of host-seeking behavior is of primary interest for the assessment of transmission risk. Our aim was to describe endo/exophagy and circadian host-seeking activity of Palaearctic Culicoides species, which are major biting pests and arbovirus vectors, using drop traps and suction traps baited with four sheep, as bluetongue virus hosts. Collections were carried out in the field, a largely-open stable and an enclosed stable during six collection periods of 24 hours in April/May, in late June and in September/October 2010 in western France. A total of 986 Culicoides belonging to 13 species, mainly C. brunnicans and C. obsoletus, was collected on animal baits. Culicoides brunnicans was clearly exophagic, whereas C. obsoletus was able to enter stables. Culicoides brunnicans exhibited a bimodal pattern of host-seeking activity with peaks just after sunrise and sunset. Culicoides obsoletus was active before sunset in spring and autumn and after sunset in summer, thus illustrating influence of other parameters than light, especially temperature. Description of host-seeking behaviors allowed us to discuss control strategies for transmission of Culicoides-borne pathogens, such as bluetongue virus. However, practical vector-control recommendations are difficult to provide because of the variation in the degree of endophagy and time of host-seeking activity.This study was funded by CIRAD, by the Ministe`re de l’agriculture, de l’alimentation, de la peˆche, de la ruralite´ et de l’ame´nagement du terroire and by the EU FP7-HEALTH-2010-single-stage grant 261504 EDENext. This paper is catalogued by the EDENext Steering Committee as EDENext032 (http://www.edenext. eu). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. No additional external funding received for this study

Assessment of vector/host contact: comparison of animal-baited traps and UV-light/suction trap for collecting Culicoides biting midges (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae), vectors of Orbiviruses

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The emergence and massive spread of bluetongue in Western Europe during 2006-2008 had disastrous consequences for sheep and cattle production and confirmed the ability of Palaearctic <it>Culicoides </it>(Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) to transmit the virus. Some aspects of <it>Culicoides </it>ecology, especially host-seeking and feeding behaviors, remain insufficiently described due to the difficulty of collecting them directly on a bait animal, the most reliable method to evaluate biting rates.</p> <p>Our aim was to compare typical animal-baited traps (drop trap and direct aspiration) to both a new sticky cover trap and a UV-light/suction trap (the most commonly used method to collect <it>Culicoides</it>).</p> <p>Methods/results</p> <p>Collections were made from 1.45 hours before sunset to 1.45 hours after sunset in June/July 2009 at an experimental sheep farm (INRA, Nouzilly, Western France), with 3 replicates of a 4 sites × 4 traps randomized Latin square using one sheep per site. Collected <it>Culicoides </it>individuals were sorted morphologically to species, sex and physiological stages for females. Sibling species were identified using a molecular assay. A total of 534 <it>Culicoides </it>belonging to 17 species was collected. Abundance was maximal in the drop trap (232 females and 4 males from 10 species) whereas the diversity was the highest in the UV-light/suction trap (136 females and 5 males from 15 species). Significant between-trap differences abundance and parity rates were observed.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Only the direct aspiration collected exclusively host-seeking females, despite a concern that human manipulation may influence estimation of the biting rate. The sticky cover trap assessed accurately the biting rate of abundant species even if it might act as an interception trap. The drop trap collected the highest abundance of <it>Culicoides </it>and may have caught individuals not attracted by sheep but by its structure. Finally, abundances obtained using the UV-light/suction trap did not estimate accurately <it>Culicoides </it>biting rate.</p

Monthly variation in the probability of presence of adult Culicoides populations in nine European countries and the implications for targeted surveillance

Background: Biting midges of the genus Culicoides (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) are small hematophagous insects responsible for the transmission of bluetongue virus, Schmallenberg virus and African horse sickness virus to wild and domestic ruminants and equids. Outbreaks of these viruses have caused economic damage within the European Union. The spatio-temporal distribution of biting midges is a key factor in identifying areas with the potential for disease spread. The aim of this study was to identify and map areas of neglectable adult activity for each month in an average year. Average monthly risk maps can be used as a tool when allocating resources for surveillance and control programs within Europe. Methods : We modelled the occurrence of C. imicola and the Obsoletus and Pulicaris ensembles using existing entomological surveillance data from Spain, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Poland. The monthly probability of each vector species and ensembles being present in Europe based on climatic and environmental input variables was estimated with the machine learning technique Random Forest. Subsequently, the monthly probability was classified into three classes: Absence, Presence and Uncertain status. These three classes are useful for mapping areas of no risk, areas of high-risk targeted for animal movement restrictions, and areas with an uncertain status that need active entomological surveillance to determine whether or not vectors are present. Results: The distribution of Culicoides species ensembles were in agreement with their previously reported distribution in Europe. The Random Forest models were very accurate in predicting the probability of presence for C. imicola (mean AUC = 0.95), less accurate for the Obsoletus ensemble (mean AUC = 0.84), while the lowest accuracy was found for the Pulicaris ensemble (mean AUC = 0.71). The most important environmental variables in the models were related to temperature and precipitation for all three groups. Conclusions: The duration periods with low or null adult activity can be derived from the associated monthly distribution maps, and it was also possible to identify and map areas with uncertain predictions. In the absence of ongoing vector surveillance, these maps can be used by veterinary authorities to classify areas as likely vector-free or as likely risk areas from southern Spain to northern Sweden with acceptable precision. The maps can also focus costly entomological surveillance to seasons and areas where the predictions and vector-free status remain uncertain

Graph segmentation paradigms : comparisons and applications in image processing

Les techniques de segmentation de graphe sont souvent utilisées en traitement d’images puisque ces dernières peuvent être vues comme des graphes valués. Dans cette thèse, nous montrons des liens existant entre plusieurs paradigmes de segmentation de graphes valués. Nous présentons tout d’abord différentes définitions de ligne de partage des eaux et sélectionnons celle dont le cadre permet la comparaison avec des forêts couvrantes particulières. Nous montrons qu’une telle ligne de partage des eaux relative à des marqueurs arbitraires est équivalente à une coupe induite par une forêt couvrante de chemins de moindre altitude. Ensuite, les coupes induites par des forêts couvrantes de poids minimum sont démontrées comme étant des cas particuliers ayant l’avantage d’éviter certaines segmentations non souhaitées. Enfin, nous montrons qu’une coupe minimale coïncide avec une coupe induite par une forêt couvrante de poids maximum pour certaines fonctions de poids particulières. Dans une seconde partie, nous présentons deux applications utilisant la segmentation de graphe : la renaissance d’images et le mélange de textures pour la reconstruction 3DGraph segmentation techniques are often used in image processing since an image can be seen as a weighted graph. In this thesis, we show some links existing between several weighted graph segmentation paradigms. We first present different definitions of watersheds and select the one which framework allows comparison with specific spanning forests. We show that such a watershed relative to arbitrary markers is equivalent to a cut induced by a shortest path spanning forest. Then, cuts induced by minimum spanning forests are demonstrated as being particular cases which advantageously avoid some undesirable results. Finally, we show that minimum cuts coincide with cuts induced by maximum spanning forests for some particular weight functions. In a second part, we present two applications using graph segmentation : image renaissance and texture blending for 3D reconstructio

Paradigmes de segmentation de graphe : comparaisons et applications en traitement d'images

Graph segmentation techniques are often used in image processing since an image can be seen as a weighted graph. In this thesis, we show some links existing between several weighted graph segmentation paradigms. We first present different definitions of watersheds and select the one which framework allows comparison with specific spanning forests. We show that such a watershed relative to arbitrary markers is equivalent to a cut induced by a shortest path spanning forest. Then, cuts induced by minimum spanning forests are demonstrated as being particular cases which advantageously avoid some undesirable results. Finally, we show that minimum cuts coincide with cuts induced by maximum spanning forests for some particular weight functions. In a second part, we present two applications using graph segmentation : image renaissance and texture blending for 3D reconstructionLes techniques de segmentation de graphe sont souvent utilisées en traitement d’images puisque ces dernières peuvent être vues comme des graphes valués. Dans cette thèse, nous montrons des liens existant entre plusieurs paradigmes de segmentation de graphes valués. Nous présentons tout d’abord différentes définitions de ligne de partage des eaux et sélectionnons celle dont le cadre permet la comparaison avec des forêts couvrantes particulières. Nous montrons qu’une telle ligne de partage des eaux relative à des marqueurs arbitraires est équivalente à une coupe induite par une forêt couvrante de chemins de moindre altitude. Ensuite, les coupes induites par des forêts couvrantes de poids minimum sont démontrées comme étant des cas particuliers ayant l’avantage d’éviter certaines segmentations non souhaitées. Enfin, nous montrons qu’une coupe minimale coïncide avec une coupe induite par une forêt couvrante de poids maximum pour certaines fonctions de poids particulières. Dans une seconde partie, nous présentons deux applications utilisant la segmentation de graphe : la renaissance d’images et le mélange de textures pour la reconstruction 3

Image Renaissance Using Discrete Optimization

In this paper we propose a novel technique to image completion that addresses image renaissance through a graph-based matching process. To this end, a number of candidate seeds with content similar to the one of the area to be inpainted are considered. They are selected through a particle filter method and then positioned over the missing area. Markov Random Fields are used to formalize inpainting as a labeling estimation problem while a combinatorial approach is used to recover the optimal partition of patches that completes the missing area with the α-expansion process. Promising results in image and texture completion demonstrate the potentials of the proposed method. 1