Observation multimodale de la découverte de technologies par des seniors

International audienceThis article presents a multimodal observation method of older people discovering the use of a smart house and tactile and spoken interaction modes inside a Living Lab. Our observation is based on ethnographic and numerical methods. We highlight the impact of presentation of the different technologies on the change of mind, the preference for voice interaction and some brakes considered as far as the adoption of new technologies is concerned.Cet article présente une méthode d’observation multimodale de personnes seniors découvrant l’utilisation d’un environnement domotisé et les techniques d’interaction tactile et vocale en Living Lab. L’observation repose sur des méthodes ethnographiques et numériques. Nous soulignons en particulier l’impact de la présentation des technologies sur le changement de regard que peuvent porter les participants de l’étude, la préférence de l’interaction vocale et quelques freins considérés comme très importants dans l’adoption des nouvelles technologies par les seniors

Preliminary study of human interactions during entertainment by a facilitator using a cognitive stimulation medium (Mémoire-RED) in a nursing-home setting

International audienceAccording to the literature and our practice, most of the cognitive stimulation based on technological tools are designed for individual, « face to face »use and are a transposition of regular neuropsychological tests and rehabilitation exercises (Tarraga et al. 2006). A different approach is proposed to fulfil the needs for entertainment; such as reminding memories with the help of souvenirs of the patients own life. (Damianakis et al. 2010) could show it was possible, first with the help of a research assistant, then with that of the family or even by personal use, to stimulate remembrance through old souvenirs presented on a digital medium.The difficulty is the high cost in term of manpower to get the relevant information from the family. Other teams have proposed solutions that would limit that preliminary work : using data from the social media (Cosley et al. 2009) and/or wearing a camera to save daily activities (Lee and Key, 2007) et (Sellen et al. 2007). In any case, those tools are based upon individual customization and so limiting the number of patients who could attend a same session. Could use general tools developed for entertainment in nursing-home as a cognitive stimulation alternative? In a preliminary study we have observed the adoption of the Mémoire-red™ tool by the facilitator and the interaction with and between the residents during a regular entertainment session with cognitively impaired residents in a nursing-home. This session was part of a structured animation program where the residents regularly take part

Estimation of Biological Oxygen Demand and Chemical Oxygen Demand for Combined Sewer Systems Using Synchronous Fluorescence Spectra

Real-time monitoring of water quality for sewer system is required for efficient sewer network design because it provides information on the precise loading of pollutant to wastewater treatment facilities and the impact of loading on receiving water. In this study, synchronous fluorescence spectra and its first derivatives were investigated using a number of wastewater samples collected in sewer systems in urban and non-urban areas, and the optimum fluorescence feature was explored for the estimation of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) concentrations of sewer samples. The temporal variations in BOD and COD showed a regular pattern for urban areas whereas they were relatively irregular for non-urban areas. Irrespective of the sewer pipes and the types of the areas, two distinct peaks were identified from the synchronous fluorescence spectra, which correspond to protein-like fluorescence (PLF) and humic-like fluorescence (HLF), respectively. HLF in sewer samples appears to be associated with fluorescent whitening agents. Five fluorescence characteristics were selected from the synchronous spectra and the first-derivatives. Among the selected fluorescence indices, a peak in the PLF region (i.e., Index I) showed the highest correlation coefficient with both BOD and COD. A multiple regression approach based on suspended solid (SS) and Index I used to compensate for the contribution of SS to BOD and COD revealed an improvement in the estimation capability, showing good correlation coefficients of 0.92 and 0.94 for BOD and COD, respectively

Projet CANet : un système de suivi de personnes à mobilité réduite grâce à leur canne de marche

National audienceLe projet CANet (CAne NETwork) a été mis en place en 2011 dans le but de répondre à une problématique sociétale tout en offrant l'opportunité à différents enseignants et enseignants-chercheurs de compétences variées et complémentaires de se regrouper autour d'un projet associant un volet recherche pluridisciplinaire à des activités pédagogiques pour nos étudiants d'IUT

Prediction of BOD, COD, and Total Nitrogen Concentrations in a Typical Urban River Using a Fluorescence Excitation-Emission Matrix with PARAFAC and UV Absorption Indices

The development of a real-time monitoring tool for the estimation of water quality is essential for efficient management of river pollution in urban areas. The Gap River in Korea is a typical urban river, which is affected by the effluent of a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) and various anthropogenic activities. In this study, fluorescence excitation-emission matrices (EEM) with parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC) and UV absorption values at 220 nm and 254 nm were applied to evaluate the estimation capabilities for biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), and total nitrogen (TN) concentrations of the river samples. Three components were successfully identified by the PARAFAC modeling from the fluorescence EEM data, in which each fluorophore group represents microbial humic-like (C1), terrestrial humic-like organic substances (C2), and protein-like organic substances (C3), and UV absorption indices (UV220 and UV254), and the score values of the three PARAFAC components were selected as the estimation parameters for the nitrogen and the organic pollution of the river samples. Among the selected indices, UV220, C3 and C1 exhibited the highest correlation coefficients with BOD, COD, and TN concentrations, respectively. Multiple regression analysis using UV220 and C3 demonstrated the enhancement of the prediction capability for TN

Asian monsoons and aridification response to Paleogene sea retreat and Neogene westerly shielding indicated by seasonality in Paratethys oysters

Asian climate patterns, characterised by highly seasonal monsoons and continentality, are thought to originate in the Eocene epoch (56 to 34 million years ago – Ma) in response to global climate, Tibetan Plateau uplift and the disappearance of the giant Proto-Paratethys sea formerly extending over Eurasia. The influence of this sea on Asian climate has hitherto not been constrained by proxy records despite being recognised as a major driver by climate models. We report here strongly seasonal records preserved in annual lamina of Eocene oysters from the Proto-Paratethys with sedimentological and numerical data showing that monsoons were not dampened by the sea and that aridification was modulated by westerly moisture sourced from the sea. Hot and arid summers despite the presence of the sea suggest a strong anticyclonic zone at Central Asian latitudes and an orographic effect from the emerging Tibetan Plateau. Westerly moisture precipitating during cold and wetter winters appear to have decreased in two steps. First in response to the late Eocene (34–37 Ma) sea retreat; second by the orogeny of the Tian Shan and Pamir ranges shielding the westerlies after 25 Ma. Paleogene sea retreat and Neogene westerly shielding thus provide two successive mechanisms forcing coeval Asian desertification and biotic crises

Potential seasonal calibration for palaeoenvironmental reconstruction using skeletal microstructures and strontium measurements from the cold-water coral Lophelia pertusa

Lophelia pertusa is a colonial cold-water coral species with a wide spatial distribution in recent marine waters. Analysing the chemistry of its skeleton allows reconstruction of environmental parameter variations. While numerous studies have attempted to interpret such analyses, little information is available on the microstructures of Lophelia pertusa and their temporal constraints. This study introduces newly recognized microstructures in the coral wall following growth along the radial axis. The thicknesses of these ‘micro-layers’ are correlated with strontium concentrations and can be used to estimate seasonal growth rates of single polyps from the colony. We propose that each of these micro-layers represents a period of 1 month of mineralization and can locate two decreasing periods in growth rate during a year: one caused by limited food availability during winter months and one in autumn linked to gametogenesis. High-frequency study of strontium concentrations using this interpretation shows a lunar cycle. We demonstrate that while the micro-layers are present in all L. pertusa specimens from four locations in the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, growth patterns reveal a complex organization that limits their visibility. Strontium fluctuations, however, appear to be a promising mechanism by which to establish a temporal calibration.Postprint3,199

Paleogene seasonal variability in Central Asia : constraints from high-resolution geochemistry on oyster shells

Le climat asiatique est aujourd'hui caractérisé par une forte dualité entre un climat de moussons au Sud-Est et un climat aride en Asie centrale. Ces climats sont tous les deux définis par une saisonnalité marquée, que ce soit en terme de précipitations pour le premier ou de températures pour le second. Si l'intensification des moussons asiatiques au Néogène, liée à l'influence du soulèvement final du plateau tibétain sur les climats asiatiques, semble faire consensus dans la communauté scientifique, la caractérisation des climats paléogènes est encore peu établie. Ainsi la question de savoir quand cette dualité climatique s'est installée en Asie reste encore ouverte. Au Paléogène, les reliefs liés à la collision entre les plaques indienne et eurasiatique étaient encore naissant et la distribution entre les terres et les mers très différente de l'actuelle. Notablement, une vaste mer épicontinentale et peu profonde (la Proto-Paratethys) s'étendait à travers l'Europe et l'Asie Centrale. À la fin du Paléogène, la Proto-Parathetys se retire de l'Asie Centrale, et les hautes topographies asiatiques se mettent en place. Dans ce contexte géodynamique, cette thèse cherche à caractériser les fluctuations à haute fréquence du climat en Asie Centrale afin de comprendre l'évolution de la saisonnalité au cours du Paléogène, et plus précisément pendant la période de l'Éocène (-55 à -34 Ma). Pour cela une approche originale utilisant une méthode géochimique multi- proxy sur des coquilles d'huîtres a été établie. Grâce à l'apport de l'analyse incrémentielle de marqueurs élémentaires et isotopiques sur les coquilles nous accédons aux variations saisonnières de la température et de la salinité de l'eau de mer. Ceci nous permet de mieux cerner les bilans hydriques et thermiques à l'échelle de l'année et ainsi de caractériser le climat d'Asie Centrale à très haute résolution. Combinant cette approche géochimique avec une étude sédimentologique et une étude numérique à plus grande échelle, cette thèse cherche à mieux établir les causes de l'évolution du climat régional au cours du Paléogène.The modern Asian climate is mainly characterized by a monsoonal duality between humid summers in southern and eastern Asia and arid winters in Central Asia resulting in a strong seasonality in terms of precipitation and temperature in these respective regions. Although Neogene monsoonal intensification - mainly attributed to Tibetan plateau uplift - is well established, Paleogene Asian climate is still poorly understood such that the question of how and when this climate duality was established remains open. During Paleogene times, paleoreliefs due to the ongoing Indo-Asia collision and the land-sea distribution were very different compared to modern. Notably, a shallow epicontinental sea (the Proto-Paratethys) covered part of Europe and Central Asia. During the Eocene (-55 to -34 Ma), the Proto-Paratethys retreated westward while high Asian topographies formed. In this peculiar context, this PhD thesis aims to characterize the evolution of high-frequency climatic fluctuations in Central Asia in order to better constrain the seasonality changes associated with sea retreat, topographic uplift or nascent monsoons. We develop a novel approach using a geochemical multi-proxy methodology on oyster shells. Thanks to incremental analyses of elements and isotopes on bivalve shells, we estimate seasonal variations of temperature and salinity in seawater at high resolution. This enables to constrain precisely the annual-scale water and thermal balances and, by applying this technique to successive oyster bearing deposits widely distributed over Central Asia, aims to characterize Central Asian climate evolution. Combining this geochemical approach with a sedimentological and a numerical studies at larger time- and geographic- scale, this PhD thesis is aiming at better understanding the causes of the Eocene regional climate evolution