Subjective Evaluation of Discomfort in Sitting Positions

International audienceWe study the modelling of the subjective sensation of discomfort for subjectsseated during a long time, in terms of local discomforts. The methodology usesfuzzy measures and integrals in a multicriteria decision making process,which enables the modelling of complex interaction between variables. Resultsof the experiment are detailed, giving models with respect to different kindsof discomfort, and to different macro-zones of the body

CollaStar : Interaction collaborative avec des données multidimensionnelles et temporelles

International audienceAlors que la littérature regorge de représentations pour la visualisation de données multidimensionnelles, peu de travaux traitent du contrôle des valeurs de ces données dans le temps. Nous proposons Collastar, une interface permettant à plusieurs utilisateurs de manipuler collaborativement un ensemble de paramètres dynamiques grâce à des techniques d'interaction et de visualisation pertinentes. L'interface est composée d'une représentation en étoile au centre, dédiée à la manipulation collaborative des paramètres dynamiques, et d'autant de fenêtres de visualisation des données (Linear Wall de l'évolution temporelle des paramètres) que d'utilisateurs. Nous utilisons CollaStar pour contrôler un moteur de création de scènes cinématographiques (manipulation des paramètres de caméra) et évaluons notre système qualitativement avec des experts en création cinématographique

The Baleares 2013 Calibration Campaign of Jason-2 and Saral Altimeters

The 2013 Balearic campaign GNSS position analysis of the 2013 will be performed with different softwares by different groups (similarly as it is being done in the International GNSS Service for their different products), in order improve the high demanded accuracy for JASON2 and SARAL altimeters precise calibration. In particular JPL GIPSY-OASIS software will be used, with the undifferenced PPP ambiguity fixing strategy. In order to improve the results accuracy, two similar networks are being processed. The first network includes the deployed GNSS receivers and the reference stations. The second one is a control network, defined by using the permanent receivers in the California dense network with a similar distribution as the main altimeter campaign network. In this case, the position of the receivers plying the role of buoys are being processed in the same kinematic way than the actual buoys, in order to compare them with the very accurate positions obtained with GIPSY-OASIS static processing.Postprint (published version

Real-time Monitoring for the Next Core-Collapse Supernova in JUNO

Core-collapse supernova (CCSN) is one of the most energetic astrophysical events in the Universe. The early and prompt detection of neutrinos before (pre-SN) and during the SN burst is a unique opportunity to realize the multi-messenger observation of the CCSN events. In this work, we describe the monitoring concept and present the sensitivity of the system to the pre-SN and SN neutrinos at the Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO), which is a 20 kton liquid scintillator detector under construction in South China. The real-time monitoring system is designed with both the prompt monitors on the electronic board and online monitors at the data acquisition stage, in order to ensure both the alert speed and alert coverage of progenitor stars. By assuming a false alert rate of 1 per year, this monitoring system can be sensitive to the pre-SN neutrinos up to the distance of about 1.6 (0.9) kpc and SN neutrinos up to about 370 (360) kpc for a progenitor mass of 30$M_{\odot}$ for the case of normal (inverted) mass ordering. The pointing ability of the CCSN is evaluated by using the accumulated event anisotropy of the inverse beta decay interactions from pre-SN or SN neutrinos, which, along with the early alert, can play important roles for the followup multi-messenger observations of the next Galactic or nearby extragalactic CCSN.Comment: 24 pages, 9 figure

Potential of Core-Collapse Supernova Neutrino Detection at JUNO

JUNO is an underground neutrino observatory under construction in Jiangmen, China. It uses 20kton liquid scintillator as target, which enables it to detect supernova burst neutrinos of a large statistics for the next galactic core-collapse supernova (CCSN) and also pre-supernova neutrinos from the nearby CCSN progenitors. All flavors of supernova burst neutrinos can be detected by JUNO via several interaction channels, including inverse beta decay, elastic scattering on electron and proton, interactions on C12 nuclei, etc. This retains the possibility for JUNO to reconstruct the energy spectra of supernova burst neutrinos of all flavors. The real time monitoring systems based on FPGA and DAQ are under development in JUNO, which allow prompt alert and trigger-less data acquisition of CCSN events. The alert performances of both monitoring systems have been thoroughly studied using simulations. Moreover, once a CCSN is tagged, the system can give fast characterizations, such as directionality and light curve

Detection of the Diffuse Supernova Neutrino Background with JUNO

As an underground multi-purpose neutrino detector with 20 kton liquid scintillator, Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO) is competitive with and complementary to the water-Cherenkov detectors on the search for the diffuse supernova neutrino background (DSNB). Typical supernova models predict 2-4 events per year within the optimal observation window in the JUNO detector. The dominant background is from the neutral-current (NC) interaction of atmospheric neutrinos with 12C nuclei, which surpasses the DSNB by more than one order of magnitude. We evaluated the systematic uncertainty of NC background from the spread of a variety of data-driven models and further developed a method to determine NC background within 15\% with {\it{in}} {\it{situ}} measurements after ten years of running. Besides, the NC-like backgrounds can be effectively suppressed by the intrinsic pulse-shape discrimination (PSD) capabilities of liquid scintillators. In this talk, I will present in detail the improvements on NC background uncertainty evaluation, PSD discriminator development, and finally, the potential of DSNB sensitivity in JUNO

The evolving SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Africa: Insights from rapidly expanding genomic surveillance

INTRODUCTION Investment in Africa over the past year with regard to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) sequencing has led to a massive increase in the number of sequences, which, to date, exceeds 100,000 sequences generated to track the pandemic on the continent. These sequences have profoundly affected how public health officials in Africa have navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. RATIONALE We demonstrate how the first 100,000 SARS-CoV-2 sequences from Africa have helped monitor the epidemic on the continent, how genomic surveillance expanded over the course of the pandemic, and how we adapted our sequencing methods to deal with an evolving virus. Finally, we also examine how viral lineages have spread across the continent in a phylogeographic framework to gain insights into the underlying temporal and spatial transmission dynamics for several variants of concern (VOCs). RESULTS Our results indicate that the number of countries in Africa that can sequence the virus within their own borders is growing and that this is coupled with a shorter turnaround time from the time of sampling to sequence submission. Ongoing evolution necessitated the continual updating of primer sets, and, as a result, eight primer sets were designed in tandem with viral evolution and used to ensure effective sequencing of the virus. The pandemic unfolded through multiple waves of infection that were each driven by distinct genetic lineages, with B.1-like ancestral strains associated with the first pandemic wave of infections in 2020. Successive waves on the continent were fueled by different VOCs, with Alpha and Beta cocirculating in distinct spatial patterns during the second wave and Delta and Omicron affecting the whole continent during the third and fourth waves, respectively. Phylogeographic reconstruction points toward distinct differences in viral importation and exportation patterns associated with the Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron variants and subvariants, when considering both Africa versus the rest of the world and viral dissemination within the continent. Our epidemiological and phylogenetic inferences therefore underscore the heterogeneous nature of the pandemic on the continent and highlight key insights and challenges, for instance, recognizing the limitations of low testing proportions. We also highlight the early warning capacity that genomic surveillance in Africa has had for the rest of the world with the detection of new lineages and variants, the most recent being the characterization of various Omicron subvariants. CONCLUSION Sustained investment for diagnostics and genomic surveillance in Africa is needed as the virus continues to evolve. This is important not only to help combat SARS-CoV-2 on the continent but also because it can be used as a platform to help address the many emerging and reemerging infectious disease threats in Africa. In particular, capacity building for local sequencing within countries or within the continent should be prioritized because this is generally associated with shorter turnaround times, providing the most benefit to local public health authorities tasked with pandemic response and mitigation and allowing for the fastest reaction to localized outbreaks. These investments are crucial for pandemic preparedness and response and will serve the health of the continent well into the 21st century

Presentazione della Sezione 13: Philologie textuelle et éditoriale

Introduzione alla sezione filologica del principale convegno triennale internazionale di filologia e linguistica romanza

Correlating Interictal Spikes with Sigma and Delta Dynamics during Non-Rapid-Eye-Movement-Sleep.

Interictal spikes (IS) are one of the major hallmarks of epilepsy. Understanding the factors promoting or suppressing IS would increase our comprehension of epilepsy and possibly open new avenues for therapy. Sleep strongly influences epileptic activity, and the modulatory effects of the different sleep stages on IS have been studied for decades. However, several aspects are still disputed, in particular the role of sleep spindles and slow waves in the activation of IS during Non-REM sleep. Here, we correlate the rate of IS with quantitative measures derived from stereo-EEG during one Non-REM cycle in 10 patients suffering from drug-resistant epilepsy due to type 2 focal cortical dysplasia. We show that the IS rate (ISR) is positively correlated with sigma power (a surrogate for sleep-spindle density) but negatively correlated with delta power (surrogate for slow wave activity). In addition, we present two new indices for quantifying the spatial and temporal instability of sleep. We found that both instability indices are correlated with a high ISR. The main contribution of this study is to confirm the suppressive effect of stable deep sleep on IS. This result might influence future guidelines for therapy of patients suffering from epilepsy and sleep disorders

A segmentation approach to long duration surface EMG recordings

The purpose of this study was to develop an automatic segmentation method in order to identify postural surface EMG segments in long-duration recordings. Surface EMG signals were collected from the cervical erector spinae (CES), erector spinae (ES), external oblique (EO), and tibialis anterior (TA) muscles of 11 subjects using a bipolar electrode configuration. Subjects remained seated in a car seat over the 150-min data-collection period. The modified dynamic cumulative sum (MDCS) algorithm was used to automatically segment the surface EMG signals. Signals were rejected by comparison with an exponential mathematical model of the spectrum of a surface EMG signal. The average power ratio computed between two successive retained segments was used to classify segments as postural or surface EMG. The presence of a negative slope of a regression line fitted to the median frequency values of postural surface EMG segments was taken as an indication of fatigue. Alpha level was set at 0.05. The overall classification error rate was 8%, and could be performed in 25 min for a 150-min signal using a custom-built software program written in C (Borland Software Corporation, CA, USA). This error rate could be enhanced by concentrating on the rejection method, which caused most of the misclassification (6%). Furthermore, the elimination of non-postural surface EMG segments by the use of a segmentation approach enabled muscular fatigue to be identified in signals that contained no evidence of fatigue when analysed using traditional methods