Field Evaluation with Cognitively-Impaired Older Adults of Attention Management in the Embodied Conversational Agent Louise

International audienceWe present the first experiment we conducted to evaluate the attention monitoring performance of Louise, following a Wizard of Oz method, during the interactions with a cohort of 8 elderly users in a day hospital environment. Louise is a new, semi-automatic prototype of an Embodied Conversational Agent (ECA), a virtual character interacting with users through social-like communication, adapted to the special needs of older adults with cognitive impairment; it is intended to ultimately provide assistance in their activities of daily living. We recorded and analyzed both videos of the conversation-like interactions and Louise's tracking data. In our experiment, Louise's attention estimation algorithm achieved about 80% accuracy; moreover, in almost all cases, the user's attention was successfully recaptured by Louise after a planned, experimenter-induced distraction. These results are in line with what was observed in previous experiments involving only younger adults, thus suggesting that attention measurement tools embedded in cognitive prostheses will not need to be adapted to elderly patients. Finally, to gain further insights on conversation management and provide evidence-based suggestions for future work, we performed an anthropological analysis of the whole experiment

Like an Open Book? Read Neural Network Architecture with Simple Power Analysis on 32-bit Microcontrollers

Model extraction is a growing concern for the security of AI systems. For deep neural network models, the architecture is the most important information an adversary aims to recover. Being a sequence of repeated computation blocks, neural network models deployed on edge-devices will generate distinctive side-channel leakages. The latter can be exploited to extract critical information when targeted platforms are physically accessible. By combining theoretical knowledge about deep learning practices and analysis of a widespread implementation library (ARM CMSIS-NN), our purpose is to answer this critical question: how far can we extract architecture information by simply examining an EM side-channel trace? For the first time, we propose an extraction methodology for traditional MLP and CNN models running on a high-end 32-bit microcontroller (Cortex-M7) that relies only on simple pattern recognition analysis. Despite few challenging cases, we claim that, contrary to parameters extraction, the complexity of the attack is relatively low and we highlight the urgent need for practicable protections that could fit the strong memory and latency requirements of such platforms.Comment: Accepted CARDIS 2023; ANR PICTURE PROJECT (ANR-20-CE39-0013

Chapitre 1. La ville supérieure : le quartier de la Major

Le tracé du Tunnel de la Major se situe dans la ville prévôtale ; il traverse le quartier de la cathédrale, de la limite de la ville au nord à l’est du chevet de la vieille Major, et se poursuit vers le flanc nord de la butte Saint-Laurent. La ville est protégée au nord par un rempart et ce n’est qu’au XIV e s. que la présence d’un mur défensif est attestée le long de la falaise occidentale . Les axes de circulation hérités des périodes précédentes convergent vers le groupe cathédral. Celui-c..

Virtual Promenade: A New Serious Game for the Rehabilitation of Older Adults with Post-fall Syndrome

International audience—We introduce a novel rehabilitation tool to treat Post-Fall Syndrome (PFS) in older adults: a serious game, called Virtual Promenade, combined with a haptic chair imitating the hips movements of human walk. We report on the user-centered design of our prototype, following " living lab " principles, which was well received by our test participants. This system aims at addressing the psycho-motor consequences of older adults' falls; they are often neglected in current post-fall care practices. We first checked for feasibility and tolerability of such interventions. We then applied a living lab participatory design approach, involving health care professionals and older adults, to build the Virtual Promenade prototype. We found that patients with PFS tolerated the system well and that there were no major obstacles to feasibility. We also report that the aesthetics of the virtual environment is an important motivational factor for older adults and discuss our results in searching for the most suitable game controller for this type of patients and game. Finally, we observed that the chairs' movements improved the immersion in the game

Hardware Engines for Bus Encryption: a Survey of Existing Techniques

International audienceHardware Engines for Bus Encryption: a Survey of Existing Technique

Impact of Head Motion on the Assistive Robot Expressiveness - Evaluation with Elderly Persons

International audienceIn the near future, robots will support human to perform tasks in many domains (industrial, domestic, educational and health tasks).Such robot behaviors need to take into account the social interaction between robot and human.In this context, we focus on the expressiveness of a moving head for an assistive robot for the elderly.We designed a new moving head for the Kompaï companion robot.On one hand, this new head improves its perception capabilities.On the other hand, we expect to jointly increase its social skills and thus its acceptability.This new head is composed of a tablet to animate a virtual face according to 4 facial expressions and a mechanical neck with 4 degrees of freedom to enhance the robot's expression.Before improving face expressions and adding more complex head movements, it is essential to evaluate the combination of simple head movements with virtual face expressions. A study was held jointly with physicians (psychologists, ergonomists) at the Broca Hospital in Paris to assess the impact to combine head movements with virtual face expressions, and the global acceptability of the Kompaï head by the elderly

The Aurignacian and Gravettian in northern Aquitaine: the contribution of Flageolet I

The site of Le Flageolet (Bézenac, Dordogne) contains two rock shelters excavated between 1966 and 1993. Le Flageolet I, the subject of this paper, opens to the west. On the bedrock, a first lithostratigraphic unit yielded three Aurignacian archaeostrata in a mass of very large blocks that collapsed before or during the earliest human occupations. A second overlying lithostratum contained at least six Gravettian archaeostrata. Due to the complexity of this archaeostratigraphy, we conceived and applied a method of excavation based on the three-dimensional recording of all artefacts with a maximum dimension over 1.5 cm, the use of artefact drawings at a scale of 1/5, and feature distributions, and the concomitant production of narrow vertical artefact projections along various frontal and sagittal axes. This method allowed for tight control over the definition and integrity of artefact levels. Analyses of the resulting assemblages show that the traditional regional cultural “markers” do not have the unambiguous chronological significance attributed to them in the past based on interpretations from excavations at La Ferrassie, Pataud, Caminade, and Roc-de-Combe. The large ungulate mammal biostratigraphy enabled us to chronologically position all the Aurignacian and Gravettian faunal assemblages from Le Flageolet I in relation to those from other Aquitaine sites; the faunal remains allow for the identification of particular environmental conditions that may be considered as “key events,” marking certain specific periods during the development of the Aurignacian-Gravettian sequence. Based on radiocarbon ages, several major Aquitaine sites, including Le Flageolet I, have been situated on the NGRIP climatic curve, thereby providing a chronological context independent of stone tool technology and typology. Based on all of this, a chronological-cultural model can be proposed that considers functional variation as an important influence on Aurignacian and Gravettian assemblage composition at Le Flageolet I and elsewhere. Since 1982, numerous publications on Le Flageolet I have contributed to a lively debate on the Western European Early Upper Palaeolithic. This paper addresses some recently expressed criticisms

L’Aurignacien et le Gravettien du nord de l’Aquitaine : la contribution du Flageolet I (Bézenac, Dordogne, France)

Le site du Flageolet (Bézenac, Dordogne) comporte deux abris sous roche fouillés entre 1966 et 1993. Le Flageolet I, objet de cet article, est orienté vers l’ouest. Sur le sol rocheux, une première unité lithostratigraphique a livré trois niveaux aurignaciens dans une structure d’accueil composée de blocs rocheux volumineux correspondant à l’effondrement de l’abri précédant ou contemporain des premières occupations. La seconde unité a livré plus de six niveaux gravettiens. En raison de la complexité de l’archéostratigraphie, nous avons conçu et appliqué une méthode de fouille basée sur l’enregistrement tridimensionnel de tous les vestiges lithiques et osseux de plus de 1,5 cm mis au jour, sur le relevé planimétrique au 1/5e des vestiges et des structures anthropiques ou naturelles et sur la réalisation concomitante de projections géométrales frontales et sagittales de faible épaisseur. Cette méthode a permis d’exercer un contrôle taphonomique sur l’homogénéité des nappes de vestiges. L’analyse des industries lithiques des ensembles aurignaco-gravettiens montre que les principaux marqueurs culturels n’ont pas la signification chronologique qui leur avait été attribuée précédemment sur la base de l’interprétation univoque des résultats des fouilles des abris de La Ferrassie, Pataud, Caminade et Roc de Combe. Les recherches fondées sur la biostratigraphie des grands mammifères ongulés ont permis de situer dans le temps les ensembles aurignaciens et gravettiens du Flageolet I relativement à ceux d’autres sites aquitains ; elles ont aussi conduit à la mise en évidence d’environnements particuliers qui peuvent être considérés comme des événements clés, marqueurs de certaines périodes au cours desquelles s’est développée la séquence aurignaco-gravettienne. À partir de leurs datations radiocarbones, plusieurs sites majeurs d’Aquitaine ont été situés relativement à la courbe NGRIP fournissant ainsi un cadre chronologique indépendant des données techno-typologiques. Sur cette base, une interprétation alternative au modèle chrono-culturel a été alors proposée faisant intervenir une variabilité d’ordre fonctionnel applicable au Flageolet I ainsi qu’à bien d’autres sites aurignaco-gravettiens. Depuis 1982, de nombreuses publications sur le Flageolet I ont contribué à un débat vigoureux sur les premières industries du Paléolithique supérieur de l’Europe de l’Ouest. Cet article répond également à quelques critiques récemment exprimées.The site of Le Flageolet (Bézenac, Dordogne) contains 2 rockshelters excavated between 1966 and 1993. Le Flageolet I, the subject of this paper, opens to the west. On the bedrock, a first lithostratigraphic unit yielded 3 Aurignacian archaeostrata within a mass of very large breakdown blocks that fell before or during the earliest human occupations. A second overlying lithostratum contained at least six Gravettian archaeostrata. Because of the complexity of this archaeostratigraphy, we conceived and applied a method of excavation based on three-dimensional recording of every artifact over 1,5 cm in maximum dimension, the use of scale drawings at 1/5 of artifact and feature distributions, and the concomitant production of narrow vertical artifact projections along various frontal and sagittal axes. This method allowed for fine control over the definition and integrity of artifact levels. Analyses of the resulting assemblages show that the traditional regional cultural “markers” do not have the unambiguous chronological significance attributed to them in the past based on interpretations from excavations at La Ferrassie, Pataud, Caminade, and Roc de Combe. Large ungulate mammal biostratigraphy allows chronological placement for all Aurignacian and Gravettian faunal assemblages from Le Flageolet I in relation to those from other Aquitaine sites ; the faunal remains permit the identification of particular environmental conditions that may be considered as “key events,” marking certain specific periods during the development of the Aurignacian-Gravettian sequence. Based on radiocarbon ages, several major Aquitaine sites, including Le Flageolet I, have been situated within the NGRIP climatic curve, thereby providing a chronological context independent of stone tool technology and typology. Based on all of this, a chronological-cultural model can be proposed that sees functional variation as an important influence on Aurignacian and Gravettian assemblage composition at Le Flageolet I and elsewhere. Since 1982, numerous publications on Le Flageolet I have contributed to a vigorous debate on the Western European Early Upper Paleolithic. This paper answers some recently expressed criticisms

Chapitre 2. La ville basse : le quartier du Mazeau et de la Loge

Les fouilles autour de la Mairie (et particulièrement au nord, sur l’emprise de la place Villeneuve-Bargemon) ont jeté un éclairage nouveau sur le quartier du port compris la Loge et l’église des Accoules. 1. La ville basse à la lumière des sources écrites Avant d’entrer dans le détail des résultats archéologiques, le cadre topographique et historique du développement et de l’occupation du quartier peut être appréhendé au moyen des textes d’archives, particulièrement nombreux pour cette zone ..