Un système interactif pour le prototypage virtuel coopératif

We present in this thesis the study and implementation of an interactive system for cooperative prototyping of virtual models. These works make use of several technologies from different scientific backgrounds; Virtual Reality is at the crossroads of many disciplines. Our goal is not to replace right now a CAD system with a system such as that we propose in this thesis. Indeed, the power of the machines does not allow yet the management of virtual objects with an accuracy comparable to that of CAD tools. While our system is intuitive and interactive but does not have enough machine power to compete with such precision tools; This precision is however necessary for the industry. This development will be achieved, for sure, but it is more reasonable for the moment to see virtual reality as a complement to CAD.Nous présentons dans ce mémoire l’étude et la réalisation d’un système interactif pour le prototypage coopératif de maquettes virtuelles. Ces travaux font usage de plusieurs technologies issues de milieux scientifiques variés ; la réalité virtuelle n’est elle pas à la croisée des chemins de nombreuses disciplines ? Notre objectif n’est pas de remplacer dès à présent un système de CAO par un système tel que celui que nous proposons dans ce mémoire. En effet, la puissance des machines ne permet pas encore la gestion d’objets virtuels avec une précision comparable à celle des outils de CAO. Certes notre système est intuitif et interactif mais il ne dispose pas d’assez de puissance machine pour rivaliser en précision avec de tels outils ; cette précision est pourtant nécessaire pour l’industrie. Cette évolution se fera, c’est sûr, mais il est pour l’instant plus raisonnable de voir la réalité virtuelle comme un complément de la CAO

Authoring and Living Next-Generation Location-Based Experiences

Authoring location-based experiences involving multiple participants, collaborating or competing in both indoor and outdoor mixed realities, is extremely complex and bound to serious technical challenges. In this work, we present the first results of the MAGELLAN European project and how these greatly simplify this creative process using novel authoring, augmented reality (AR) and indoor geolocalisation techniques

Simulating Populations in Massive Urban Environments

This short paper reviews some of the results obtained withing the European Project CRIMSON.The United Nations recently reported that the global proportion of urban population reached 49% in 2005 and that 60% of the global population is expected to live in cities by 2030. Urbanised areas are extremely vulnerable to all sorts of threats. Indeed, the combination of heavy population concentrations, critical infrastructures and built environments make it possible for environmental, industrial or man-made incidents to rapidly escalate into major disorders. Recent events have forcefully demonstrated that authorities at all levels of government turn out to be inadequately prepared for the intricacies and dilemmas of disasters in large urban environments. Therefore, innovative tools are needed to assist them in the studies, planning and inter-organizational preparation efforts, enabling to understand vulnerabilities and security issues, define and assess crisis management procedures, and train personnel. The CRIMSON research project has been funded by the European Commission in the field of Security Research to address this challenging need by researching, implementing and validating an innovative framework combining the latest virtual reality and simulation technologies. For that purpose, several technological challenges have been tackled by an international team of researchers, industrials and users, and important advances have been made in the following fields

SafePASS : a new chapter for passenger ship evacuation and marine emergency response

Despite the current high level of safety and the efforts to make passenger ships resilient to most fire and flooding scenarios, there are still gaps and challenges in the marine emergency response and ship evacuation processes. Those challenges arise from the fact that both processes are complex, multi-variable problems that rely on parameters involving not only people and technology but also procedural and managerial issues. SafePASS Project, funded under EU's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme, is set to radically redefine the evacuation processes by introducing new equipment, expanding the capabilities of legacy systems on-board, proposing new Life-Saving Appliances and ship layouts, and challenging the current international regulations, hence reducing the uncertainty, and increasing the efficiency in all the stages of ship evacuation and abandonment process

A Permeable Cuticle Is Associated with the Release of Reactive Oxygen Species and Induction of Innate Immunity

Wounded leaves of Arabidopsis thaliana show transient immunity to Botrytis cinerea, the causal agent of grey mould. Using a fluorescent probe, histological staining and a luminol assay, we now show that reactive oxygen species (ROS), including H2O2 and O2−, are produced within minutes after wounding. ROS are formed in the absence of the enzymes Atrboh D and F and can be prevented by diphenylene iodonium (DPI) or catalase. H2O2 was shown to protect plants upon exogenous application. ROS accumulation and resistance to B. cinerea were abolished when wounded leaves were incubated under dry conditions, an effect that was found to depend on abscisic acid (ABA). Accordingly, ABA biosynthesis mutants (aba2 and aba3) were still fully resistant under dry conditions even without wounding. Under dry conditions, wounded plants contained higher ABA levels and displayed enhanced expression of ABA-dependent and ABA-reporter genes. Mutants impaired in cutin synthesis such as bdg and lacs2.3 are already known to display a high level of resistance to B. cinerea and were found to produce ROS even when leaves were not wounded. An increased permeability of the cuticle and enhanced ROS production were detected in aba2 and aba3 mutants as described for bdg and lacs2.3. Moreover, leaf surfaces treated with cutinase produced ROS and became more protected to B. cinerea. Thus, increased permeability of the cuticle is strongly linked with ROS formation and resistance to B. cinerea. The amount of oxalic acid, an inhibitor of ROS secreted by B. cinerea could be reduced using plants over expressing a fungal oxalate decarboxylase of Trametes versicolor. Infection of such plants resulted in a faster ROS accumulation and resistance to B. cinerea than that observed in untransformed controls, demonstrating the importance of fungal suppression of ROS formation by oxalic acid. Thus, changes in the diffusive properties of the cuticle are linked with the induction ROS and attending innate defenses

Preparation Slip Name Company Date Signature

This is the compilation deliverable for the research and implementation activities in INSCAPE. It consists of selected and edited reports from five of the partners: the Royal Institute of Technolog