Éditeur(s) : George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida ( Gainesville, FL )

Droits : [cc0] The author dedicated the work to the Commons by waiving all of his or her rights to the work worldwide under copyright law and all related or neighboring legal rights he or she had in the work, to the extent allowable by law.
http://ufdc.ufl.edu/AA00017907/00001

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
After defining the High Performance Pre- Computing --referred as HPPC-- concept, the aim of the present study is to develop a prototype whether to approve or not the benefits of this concept. Our application case tries to answer the geophysical issue of coastal flooding. This is an example of an alert system based on the HPPC architecture, thus on pre-computed scenarios. The prototype provides the scientists with an ergonomic and on-demand tool allowing the run of scenarios of any implemented numerical models. These runs are available through a web application which submits the corresponding jobs on the remote french public cluster of HPC@LR. In this study we simulate the waves propagation over a Mediterranean grid using the wave model WaveWatch III⃝R . A reference simulation using usual conditions is approximated using the k-NN algorithm over 12, 98 and then 980 pre-computed scenarios. This simple experiment demonstrates how useful the pre-computing of scenarios is for alert systems as far as enough and relevant scenarios are pre-computed. This is the reason why searches continue in each critical points of the HPPC architecture such as the design of experiment, the approximation of the results by meta-models and the research of the closest scenarios in this big data context.
4th International Conference on Knowledge and Systems Engineering
Danang, Vietnam

lirmm-00736797
https://hal-lirmm.ccsd.cnrs.fr/lirmm-00736797
https://hal-lirmm.ccsd.cnrs.fr/lirmm-00736797/document
https://hal-lirmm.ccsd.cnrs.fr/lirmm-00736797/file/PID2396685.pdf
DOI : 10.1109/KSE.2012.36

Éditeur(s) : Springer
Résumé : Terrestrial and marine biodiversity provides the basis for both ecosystems functioning and numerous commodities or services that underpin human well-being. From several decades, alarming trends have been reported worldwide for both biodiversity and ecosystem services. Therefore the sustainable management of biodiversity requires a double viewpoint balancing ecological conservation with the welfare of human societies. Understanding the underlying trade-offs, synergies and interactions imposes the development of interdisciplinary researches and methods. In that respect, bio-economic or ecological economic modeling is likely to play a major role. The present paper intends to elicit the key features, strengths and challenges of bio-economic approaches especially in mathematical and computational terms. It first recall the main bio-economic methods, models and decisional instruments used in these types of analyses. Then the paper shows to what extent bio-economic sustainability lies between equilibrium, viability and optimality mathematical frameworks. It ends up by identifying new major challenges among which the operationalization of ecosystem based management, the precautionary principle and the implementation of governance are especially important. Computational Management Science Computational Management Science Look Inside
Computational Management Science (1619-697X) (Springer), 2013-12 , Vol. 10 , N. 4 , P. 353-364

Droits : Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00171/28208/26510.pdf
DOI:10.1007/s10287-013-0194-2
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00171/28208/

Éditeur(s) : Gauthier-Villars
Résumé : Pegasus current measurements carried out along a section located off French Guiana are presented; the section was repeated five times from September 1989 to June 1991 during the NOE (region Nord-Ouest equatoriale)/STACS (Sub Tropical Atlantic Climate Studies) cruises on board the NOAA (National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration) research vessels. The data (vertical and horizontal distributions) show, as suggested by earliest observations, the presence of different currents. At the surface, and in winter, the North Brazil Current (NBC) flows northwestward (positive), is strong (120 cm/s), confined in the first 250 m, coastally trapped (within 250 km) and fed by offshore waters; in summer the NBC strengthens (the velocity increases to 150 cm/s), vertically extends (down to 800 m) and veers offshore; the mean NBC mass flux computed from all the sections available is 34 +/- 9 Sv with absolute maximum and minimum respectively in September 1989 (81 +/- 4 Sv) and February 1990 (13 +/- 1 Sv). Subsurface, a southeastward (negative) undercurrent (herein after named Western Boundary UnderCurrent) is present in winter-spring and located in the layer 250-800 m with similar velocities in February 1990 (- 33 cm/s) and June 1991 (- 29 cm/s) but with largest vertical and horizontal extensions in the latter case; in summer (September 1989 and September 1990) this undercurrent is absent; the mean mTBUC mass flux is - 9 +/- 3 Sv; the maximum is observed in June 1991 (- 19 +/- 2 Sv) and the minimum in February 1990 (- 3 +/- 0.4 Sv) and January 1991 (- 5 +/- I Sv). Deeper, the equatorward Deep Western Boundary Current is trapped against the continental shelf (within 100 km of the shelf break), extends downward from 1 200 to 3 000 m depth with the velocity core centred in the 1 700-2 000 m layer, is maximum (- 50 cm/s) in spring-summer and minimum (- 23 cm/s) in winter; the absolute velocity (- 92 cm/s) has been recorded at 2 000 m depth in September 1989 suggesting a strong variability at this level; the mean equatorward DWBC mass flux is - 30 +/- 14 Sv with absolute maximum and minimum respectively in September 1989 (- 59 +/- 6 Sv) and September 1990 (- 7 +/- 1 Sv). The Integrated Mass, Temperature and Salt Fluxes (IMF, ITF and ISF) with the cumulated errors, computed across the whole section and down to 3 000 m depth for the September 1990, January 1991 and June 1991 cruises, are all positive in September 1990 (respectively 1.9 +/- 19 Sv, 3.1 +/- 30.1 PW and 74 +/- 1 845 Tt/s) but all negative both in January 1991 (- 13.3 +/- 17.0 Sv, - 15.6 +/- 26.5 PW and - 478 +/- 1594 Tt/s) and June 1991 (- 3.8 +/- 10.1 Sv, - 4.0 +/- 16.3 PW, - 130 +/- 989 Tt/s) showing a strong variability between the summer and winter periods. The mean IMF, ITF and ISF values (respectively - 5.1 +/- 46.4 Sv, - 5.2 +/- 73 PW and - 178 +/- 4428 Tt/s) are high and negative, indicating the large influence of the DWBC and the associated North Atlantic Deep Water (upper part) off French Guiana at 5 degrees N.
Oceanologica Acta (0399-1784) (Gauthier-Villars), 1994 , Vol. 17 , N. 2 , P. 143-157

Droits : info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00098/20881/18495.pdf
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00098/20881/

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Hindawi Publishing Corporation
Résumé : During the 1982-1984 bradyseismic crises in the Campi Flegrei area (Italy), the University of Wisconsin deployed a network of seismological stations to record local earthquakes. In order to analyse the potential of the recorded data in terms of tomographic imaging, a blind test was recently set up and carried out in the framework of a research project. A model representing a hypothetical 3D structure of the area containing the Campi Flegrei caldera was also set up, and a synthetic dataset of time arrivals was in turn computed. The synthetic dataset consists of several thousand P- and S-time arrivals, computed at about fourteen stations. The tomographic inversion was performed by four independent teams using different methods. The teams had no knowledge of either the input velocity model or the earthquake hypocenters used to create the synthetic dataset. The results obtained by the different groups were compared and analysed in light of the true model. This work provides a thorough analysis of the earthquake tomography potential of the dataset recording the seismic activity at Campi Flegrei in the 1982-1984 period. It shows that all the tested earthquake tomography methods provide reliable low-resolution images of the background velocity field of the Campi Flegrei area, but with some differences. However, none of them succeeds in detecting the hypothetical structure details (i.e. with a size smaller than about 1.5-2 km), such as a magmatic chamber 4 km deep and especially the smaller, isolated bodies, which represent possible magmatic chimneys and intrusions.
ISSN: 1687-885X

hal-00795584
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00795584
DOI : 10.1155/2012/505286

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
“Affective Computing is computing that relates to, arises from, or deliberately influences emotions” (R.W. Picard, MIT Press, 1997). Specifically, psychosocial equilibrium is now considered as a major issue for both individual and public health. Predicting human emotions via non-intrusive methods is a great challenge triggered by the rise of intelligent assisting systems. In order to determine the emotional state of a subject having a potential psychosocial disorder, it is required to process both neutral and expressive emotions. A computer-engineered method aiming to provide emotional information from videos is proposed. An original approach for affect classification and its interpretation is presented.The database is part of the HUMAINE database, and consists of a large volume of video clips, each displaying individuals, depressed or not, talking with a conversational agent. Both the high-dimensionality of data and its temporal aspect require a pre-training that consists of cleaning, sorting and feature selection, in order to make relevant information usable for further processing by MachineLearning methods. Next step consists in classifying the affective state of subjects according to their positivity or negativity (Russell's model, 1980). By means of six independent classifiers, each running a Support Vector Machine algorithm, separate performances are obtained for each class of emotions. The results reveal an interesting “neutral area phenomenon”, where emotions tend to be harder to be detected.Though more frequent, neutral emotions seem to carry less discriminant information than expressive ones. This issue will be a key for designing a tuning step in further research.
Caribbean Academy Of Science
Deshaies, France

hal-01408029
https://hal.univ-antilles.fr/hal-01408029

Éditeur(s) : Université de la Rochelle
Résumé : In order to better understand the functioning of the Brouage intertidal mudflat (Marennes- Oléron Basin, France), its carbon-based trophic web has been modelled and analyzed. The foodweb building is based on the 4 step method of Inverse Analysis: 1) conceive an a priori model as the graph of compartments (nodes) between which exist fluxes of material (vertices). These vertices are the unknowns for the problem; 2) gather all the existing knowledge about the ecosystem and translate it into linear equations and inequalities involving the fluxes; 3) complete this set of data by common knowledge on the behaviour of the compartments and translate it into inequalities, 4) solve the obtained linear system under the parsimony principle to find a unique solution vector. The food-web analysis is based on. The first purpose of this work was a methodological one: inverse analysis method has been adapted to consider the seasonal and spatial variability of the temperate ecosystem: two seasons have been coupled in the computation and the area has been divided into three geographical zones along a cross-shore gradient. Hence, two types of physical exchanges are involved: the benthicpelagic ones and the advection ones. Statistical results can also be obtained by coupling Monte Carlo methods to Inverse Analysis. To study the obtained networks, new indices based on Markov Chains take delay into account in describing integrative transfers of material between compartments. This lets emerge the systems' properties that are not obvious at first sight and emphasizes the role of peculiar components. The second purpose was to apply such methods to the Brouage mudflat ecosystem in order to better understand its functioning. As the knowledge and methods evolve, various food webs were computed and analyzed with the help such indices and existing ones. Sensitivity analyses allow to point at the most crucial lacks of knowledge, which can orientate future field research. New data would improve the quality of the model in two ways: one the one hand, they would validate or invalidate the outcomes and on the other hand, they would give useful information to better constrain some of the black boxes and most uncertain fluxes, especially the advection and vertical flows. The main results of the study show a strongly seasonal system in which benthic and pelagic components are linked with intensity. The system is driven by its high local benthic primary production, but also depends on imports from the basin. Each of the 3 geographic zones has a peculiar functioning. The central zone corresponds to the classical description of European intertidal mudflats: very productive, it can feed the other regions. It is a production zone. The upper part is less productive but is fed by the middle one via the water column and can be exploited by shorebirds. It is a degradation zone (material is transformed for less qualitative). The lower part strongly depends on the basin imports for its functioning, as the cultivated bivalves act as a pump for pelagic material of which a great part is deposited under the cultivation structures (oyster racks or mussels "bouchots"). It is a transformation zone.
Un double objectif (méthodologique et appliqué) a été visé par une modélisation du réseau trophique de la vasière de Brouage (Bassin de Marennes Oléron, France) à l'aide de l'analyse inverse, et son étude à l'aide de l'analyse des réseaux. L'Analyse Inverse permet en effet de reconstruire l'ensemble du réseau à partir de données éparses, le problème du manque de données étant récurrent en Ecologie. Au plan méthodologique, l'analyse inverse a été adaptée à la prise en compte des caractères saisonnier et spatialement hétérogène d'un écosystème tempéré de zone intertidale : deux saisons ont ainsi été couplées et la vasière a été considérée le long d'un transect perpendiculaire au rivage et divisé en trois zones spatiales. Deux types de flux physiques interviennent donc : les flux verticaux de dépôt et remise en suspension, et les flux d'advection via la colonne d'eau. Des pistes d'amélioration et de nouvelles méthodes sont proposées. Un résultat sous forme statistique peut être obtenu en couplant l'utilisation de méthodes de Monte Carlo à l'analyse inverse pour la construction des réseaux trophiques. Les moyens d'étude des modèles ont été enrichis par la mise au point d'indices issus de la construction de chaînes de Markov et prenant en compte le caractère temporel des transferts de matière entre compartiments. Enfin, la transformation mathématique du modèle statique pour une étude dynamique de la stabilité de l'équilibre décrit est abordée. Plusieurs modèles ont été construits au cours de l'évolution des méthodes et de l'acquisition de connaissances sur le site. Des méthodes d'analyses existantes et d'autres mises au point dans le cadre de cet ouvrage ont été appliquées aux réseaux obtenus afin de faire émerger les propriétés du fonctionnement de la vasière et de souligner le rôle de certains compartiments. Des analyses de sensibilité permettent d'évaluer la robustesse des résultats et d'orienter les recherches futures en mettant en évidence les manques les plus cruciaux. Des données supplémentaires, notamment concernant les foraminifères benthiques, le zooplancton ou les mouvements verticaux du microphytobenthos permettront de fournir de meilleures contraintes et de valider (ou non) les résultats obtenus. Les principaux résultats montrent un système au fort caractère saisonnier dont les compartiments benthiques et pélagiques sont très liés. La production primaire benthique locale est un moteur important, mais qui ne suffirait pas à suppléer l'indispensable importation de matériel détritique. Le découpage de la vasière en trois zones fait apparaître les particularités de chacune. La zone centrale correspond à la description classique des « vasières intertidales européennes » : très productive, elle peut alimenter les autres régions. C'est une zone de production et d'exportation. La partie supérieure est moins productive et reçoit de la matière de la zone de milieu d'estran via la colonne d'eau. Sa production secondaire peut alors être exploitée par les limicoles, nombreux en hiver. C'est une zone de dégradation et d'exportation. Le bas d'estran dépend fortement des importations extérieures, « pompées » par les bivalves cultivés qui sont ainsi directement responsables d'une forte sédimentation sous les structures mytilicoles et ostréicoles. C'est une zone de transformation.

Droits : info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/2005/these-2260.pdf
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00000/2260/

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : Proceedings of the 10th International and Interdisciplinary Conference, CONTEXT 2017, Paris, France, June 20-23, 2017
International audience
This paper presents a research project in science education that is positioned at the intersection of computer science and context in learning. The main objective is to improve learning process by creating a software tool that participates, from the inception to the achievement, in the design of leaning scenarios, based on context effects, and, to show that context effects' learning is an efficient method in the development of student's knowledge regarding a concept. The software will compute differences between two – or more – external contexts based on specific parameters, related to the phenomenon or object that students are expected to study. The elaboration of the calculator (" the MazCalc ") is conducted using the design based research theory, meaning that several iterations of learning field experiments are conducted in order to collect relevant data which are used for the tool creation. In this paper, the design of the scenario involves students from North America and from the French West Indies and the concept studied is about geothermal energy. The instantiation of the context calculator is made with the geothermal object of study, and the differences are computed in the calculator between the two contexts mentioned. This example makes possible to validate the link between context effects predicted and observed, and also to study the impact of external context on the learning process. This study has been conducted thanks to the GEOTREF project support.
Modeling and Using Context

ISBN : 978-3-319-57837-8
hal-01625781
https://hal.univ-antilles.fr/hal-01625781
https://hal.univ-antilles.fr/hal-01625781/document
https://hal.univ-antilles.fr/hal-01625781/file/Elaborating%20the%20context%20calculator%20CONTEXT2017.pdf

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Résumé : International audience
An important issue in epilepsy research is to understand the structural and functional modifications leading to chronic epilepsy, characterized by spontaneous recurrent seizures, after initial brain insult. To address this issue, we recorded and analyzed electroencephalography (EEG) and quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data during epileptogenesis in the in vivo mouse model of Medial Temporal Lobe Epilepsy (MTLE, kainate). Besides, this model of epilepsy is a particular form of drug-resistant epilepsy. The results indicate that high-field (4.7T) MRI parameters (T2-weighted; T2-quantitative) allow to detect the gradual neuro-anatomical changes that occur during epileptogenesis while electrophysiological parameters (number and duration of Hippocampal Paroxysmal Discharges) allow to assess the dysfunctional changes through the quantification of epileptiform activity. We found a strong correlation between EEG-based markers (invasive recording) and MRI-based parameters (non-invasive) periodically computed over the 'latent period' that spans over two weeks, on average. These results indicated that both structural and functional changes occur in the considered epilepsy model and are considered as biomarkers of the installation of epilepsy. Additionally, such structural and functional changes can also be observed in human temporal lobe epilepsy. Interestingly, MRI imaging parameters could be used to track early (day-7) structural changes (gliosis, cell loss) in the lesioned brain and to quantify the evolution of epileptogenesis after traumatic brain injury. © 2016 IEEE.
38th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, EMBC 2016
Unknown, Unknown or Invalid Region

hal-01467552
https://hal-univ-rennes1.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01467552
DOI : 10.1109/EMBC.2016.7591605

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : National audience
Designing systems able to interact with students in a natural manner is a complex and far from solved problem. A key aspect of natural interaction is the ability to understand and appropriately respond to human emotions. This paper details our response to the continuous Audio/Visual Emotion Challenge (AVEC'12) whose goal is to predict four affective signals describing human emotions. The proposed method uses Fourier spectra to extract multi-scale dynamic descriptions of signals characterizing face appearance, head movements and voice. We perform a kernel regression with very few representative samples selected via a supervised weighted-distance-based clustering, that leads to a high generalization power. We also propose a particularly fast regressor-level fusion framework to merge systems based on different modalities. Experiments have proven the efficiency of each key point of the proposed method and our results on challenge data were the highest among 10 international research teams.
IHM'14, 26e conférence francophone sur l'Interaction Homme-Machine
Lille, France

hal-01089628
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01089628
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01089628/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01089628/file/p44-nicole.pdf

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD InTech
Résumé : Available from: http://www.intechopen.com/books/evaporation-condensation-and-heat-transfer/heat-transfer-in-buildings-application-to-solar-air-collector-and-trombe-wall-design
International audience
The aim of this paper is to briefly recall heat transfer modes and explain their integration within a software dedicated to building simulation (CODYRUN). Detailed elements of the validation of this software are presented and two applications are finally discussed. One concerns the modeling of a flat plate air collector and the second focuses on the modeling of Trombe solar walls. In each case, detailed modeling of heat transfer allows precise understanding of thermal and energetic behavior of the studied structures. Recent decades have seen a proliferation of tools for building thermal simulation. These applications cover a wide spectrum from very simplified steady state models to dynamic simulation ones, including computational fluid dynamics modules (Clarke, 2001). These tools are widely available in design offices and engineering firms. They are often used for the design of HVAC systems and still subject to detailed research, particularly with respect to the integration of new fields (specific insulation materials, lighting, pollutants transport, etc.). Available from: http://www.intechopen.com/books/evaporation-condensation-and-heat-transfer/heat-transfer-in-buildings-application-to-solar-air-collector-and-trombe-wall-design
Evaporation, condensation and heat transfer

Droits : info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess
ISBN : 978-953-307-583-9
hal-00767482
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00767482
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00767482/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00767482/file/InTecSubmitted.pdf

Éditeur(s) : Editions de l'ORSTOM
Résumé : A research programm on the marine green turtle Chelonia mydas nesting on the two major reproduction sites for the species in the Indian Ocean, conducled over last 15 years, included intensive tagging programm. Processing of these lagging data provides estimations of adult female populations {or each site and season from two independent methods. First classical method is the ratio of total number of nests produced over a define time on the mean individual number of nests by female during the same time (November, December, January). The computed mean individual number ranges from 3 to 3.5 obtained over 2 to 3 months. The second method is the multiple capture-recapture method (JOLLY, 1965; SEBER, 1965; MANLY, 1984). Il is an original tentative of applying this method for the daily estimation of females number on a nesting site. The results obtained suggest this method to be applied for the species on other sites and to other marine turtle species. Population estimates obtained by these two independent methods are coherent Roughly, the two populations through seasonal nesting activity appear in wealthy state with a mean estimation number of 850 to 1100 females for Tromelin and more variable eslimations ranging from 2000 lo 11 000 females by season for Europa, considering lhe three major nesting months: November to January
Un programme d'observations sur les populations de tortue verte marine Chelonia mydas pondant sur les deux sites de ponte majeurs de l'espèce dans l'océan Indien, Tromelin et Europa, comportait notamment un programme intensif de marquage. L'exploitation de ces données de marquage a permis de réaliser des estimations du nombre de femelles pondant sur chaque site par deux méthodes différentes. La première méthode est celle, classiquement utilisée, du rapport entre le nombre total de pontes déposées pour une période donnée et le nombre moyen de pontes par femelle durant le même temps. On démontre que le nombre moyen individuel de ponte est de l'ordre de 3 à 3,5 pontes par saison. La deuxième méthode est celle des estimations par marquages-recaptures multiples (J OLL Y -SEBER, 1965; MANLY, 1984). C'est une utilisation originale de cette méthode pour l'estimation journalière des populations de tortues femelles sur un site de ponte, qui doit pouvoir être appliquée sur d'autres sites pour la même espèce et pour d'autres espèces de tortues marines. Les résultats obtenus par ces deux méthodes différentes sont cohérents. Schématiquement, on peut conclure à deux populations abondantes de 850 à 1 ZOO femelles sur Tromelin par saison et des estimations moyennes variant de 2 000 à Il 000 tortues par saison pour l'ensemble des plages d'Europa pour les trois mois principaux de ponte par saison: novembre à janvier.
Océanographie tropicale (0245-9418) (Editions de l'ORSTOM), 1986 , Vol. 21 , N. 1 , P. 3-22

Droits : ORSTOM
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00113/22406/20103.pdf
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00113/22406/

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Oxford University Press (OUP)
Résumé : International audience
STUDY QUESTION: Is there evidence at the population level of associations between different male genital disorders, outside Scandinavian countries? SUMMARY ANSWER: At an international scale, there is evidence for a number of correlations between rates of four male reproductive disorders (hypospadias, cryptorchidism, testicular cancer and low sperm concentration). WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY: Some associations between these outcomes have been shown in studies focusing on individuals and mainly in Nordic European countries. These associations, together with histological evidence of a dysgenesis pattern in testicular tissue specimens, have generated the concept of the existence of a 'testicular dysgenesis syndrome' originating in utero. STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION: This is a geographical correlation study using cancer, malformations rates and sperm quality data collected between the years 1998 and 2005. PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS: Incidence rates of testicular cancer were extracted from International Agency for Research on Cancer registries and Globocan, while cryptorchidism and hypospadias prevalence rates were obtained from EUROCAT and International Clearinghouse for Birth Defects Surveillance and Research registries. Sperm concentration data were extracted from recent studies using standardized methodology. A total of 39 registries and 9 sperm studies were selected. Non-parametric Spearman correlation tests were used to test the association between these four disorders. Correlations were computed for all registries together, for registries with high-quality matching coverage only and by continents. Sensitivity analyses were also conducted using data from prospective clinical studies to take into account potential bias related mainly to ascertainment of malformation rates. MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE: We found positive correlations between testicular cancer and hypospadias (r = 0.32, P = 0.05) and between hypospadias and cryptorchidism (r = 0.70, P = 0.008). Stronger correlations were observed when using registries with high-quality matching coverage. Among these registries, differences between Europe and the rest of the world appeared (the positive correlation between testicular cancer and cryptorchidism was stronger outside Europe, r = 0.83, P = 0.01 compared with 0.40, P = 0.60 for European registries). A negative correlation between testicular cancer and sperm concentration was observed (r = -0.88, P = 0.002). These correlations support our initial hypothesis but remain only suggestive due to the intrinsic limitations in the study design (i.e. geographical correlation study) and do not allow causal inference. LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION: Differences in the ascertainment of malformations rates (definition, length of follow-up) make the international comparison difficult. The small number of registries for some conditions (cryptorchidism) or of studies (for sperm quality) and the absence of information about major risk factors such as ethnicity and socioeconomic status in the registries are also limitations. WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS: Our findings are in agreement with results of studies focusing on individuals and suggest that shared risk factors are present in the populations studied.
ISSN: 0268-1161

inserm-00863412
http://www.hal.inserm.fr/inserm-00863412
DOI : 10.1093/humrep/det111
PUBMED : 23670171

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
Identifying the writer of a document establishes its authenticity or authorship and has several applications, notably in forensic and historical document analysis. Previous research has shown the potential of Interest Points (IP) for writer identification, but existing methods require segmentation or training. This paper evaluates the performance of intuitive features computed directly from IP properties rather than extracting descriptors at their locations; allowing for a training-free approach. Secondly, we show that adapting detectors to the specific task of writer identification is not only vital for performance but also allows for segmentation-free approaches. Experiments on widely-used datasets show the potential of the method applied self-contained and when combined with existing methods. Limitations of our method relate to the amount of data needed in order to obtain reliable models.
17th Biennial Conference of the International Graphonomics Society
Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe

hal-01165881
https://hal.univ-antilles.fr/hal-01165881
https://hal.univ-antilles.fr/hal-01165881/document
https://hal.univ-antilles.fr/hal-01165881/file/IGS_2015_submission_15.pdf

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The cyanobacteria-derived neurotoxin β-methylamino-l-alanine (BMAA) represents a plausible environmental trigger for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a debilitating and fatal neuromuscular disease. With the eutrophication of water bodies, cyanobacterial blooms and their toxins are becoming increasingly prevalent in France, especially in the Brittany region. Cyanobacteria are monitored at only a few recreational sites, preventing an estimation of exposure of the human population. By contrast, phosphorus, a limiting nutrient for cyanobacterial growth and thus considered a good proxy for cyanobacteria exposure, is monitored in many but not all surface water bodies. Our goal was to develop a geographic exposure indicator that could be used in epidemiological research. We considered the total phosphorus (TP) concentration (mg/L) of samples collected between October 2007 and September 2012 at 179 monitoring stations distributed throughout the Brittany region. Using readily available spatial data, we computed environmental descriptors at the watershed level with a Geographic Information System. Then, these descriptors were introduced into a backward stepwise linear regression model to predict the median TP concentration in unmonitored surface water bodies. TP concentrations in surface water follow an increasing gradient from West to East and inland to coast. The empirical concentration model included five predictor variables with a fair coefficient of determination (R2 = 0.51). The specific total runoff and the watershed slope correlated negatively with the TP concentrations (p = 0.01 and p < 10− 9, respectively), whereas positive associations were found for the proportion of built-up area, the upstream presence of sewage treatment plants, and the algae volume as indicated by the Landsat red/green reflectance ratio (p < 0.01, p < 10− 6 and p < 0.01, respectively). Complementing the monitoring networks, this geographical modeling can help estimate TP concentrations at the watershed level, delivering a proxy for cyanobacteria exposure that can be used along with other risk factors in further ALS epidemiologic case–control studies
ISSN: 0160-4120

hal-01175538
https://hal-univ-rennes1.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01175538
DOI : 10.1016/j.envint.2015.04.007
PUBMED : 25913322