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Existe-t-il un retour à la moyenne sur les marchés financiers des PECO après les crises ?
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Rhythm training improves word-reading in children with dyslexia
No full textInternational audienceSpecific learning disorder with reading deficit (SLD-reading), or dyslexia, is one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders. Intensive training with reading specialists is recommended, but delayed access to care is common. In this study, we tested an innovative user-friendly and accessible intervention, the medical device Mila-Learn, which is a video game based on cognitive and rhythmic training to improve phonological and reading ability. This randomized placebo-controlled trial (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05154721) included children aged 7 to 11 y/o with SLD-reading. The children were in 2nd to 5th grade and had been in school for more than 3 years. The exclusion criteria were reading or writing remediation during the past 12 months, previous use of Mila-Learn, and severe chronic illness. The patients, who were all native French speakers, were recruited from throughout France and were randomly assigned to Mila-Learn or a matched-placebo game for an 8-week training. The primary variable was nonword decoding. The secondary variables included phonological skills, 2-min word-reading accuracy and speed, grapheme-to-phoneme conversion skills, and self-esteem. Between September 2021 and April 2023, 151 children were assigned to Mila-Learn (n = 75; male = 36; female = 39) or the placebo (n = 76; male = 42; female = 34). We registered 39 adverse events; only one was due to the protocol and was in the placebo group. We found no differences between the groups in nonword decoding in the intention-to-treat (N = 151; p = 0.39) or per-protocol analysis (N = 93; p = 0.21). However, the per-protocol analysis revealed the superiority of Mila-Learn over the placebo by 5.05 score points (95% CI 0.21; 10.3, p < 0.05) for 2-minute word-reading accuracy and by 5.44 score points (95% CI 0.57; 10.99, p < 0.05) for 2-min word-reading speed. We found no other significant effects. Mila-Learn is safe for children with SLD-reading who might benefit from this medical device
Unequal Lives and Shared Spaces: Relocating Caste Inequalities in Displacement
No full textInternational audienceNaya Ambhora, a multi-caste agrarian settlement in Maharashtra, Central India, emerged from the displacement of four villages submerged by the Gosikhurd dam. Over 15 years have passed since this once-thriving farmland was transformed into a resettlement site, leaving behind submerged ruins and fractured communities across an altered riverine landscape. What has become of the farmers, daily labourers, small merchants and fishermen who once lived there? Have caste-based inequalities endured, or have they taken new forms? This article builds on previous analyses of displacement in Naya Ambhora, offering a deeper examination of its material and symbolic dimensions in relation to caste. It highlights how resettlement policies often reinforce existing caste and class inequalities, exacerbating disparities precisely when communities most need stability. By exploring how displaced families navigate the inequitable realities of resettlement—whether by bypassing, resisting or adapting to them—this study provides critical insights into the long-term impacts of displacement, particularly for scholars and policymakers seeking to understand the intersection of caste and forced displacement
Watermarks and Paper Features in Modern Italian Manuscripts: A Digital and Archival Approach
No full textInternational audienceThe ERC-funded PRIMA project, based at the Centre d’Études Supérieures de la Renaissance (CESR), University of Tours, investigates modern manuscript production, with a particular focus on Italian collections from the late 16th century to the end of the 18th century. Despite the widespread assumption that print replaced manuscripts, an overwhelming number of manuscripts continued to be produced during this period, accounting for a significant portion of Italian library holdings. Given the vast scale of this manuscript tradition, our approach prioritises the structured yet selective documentation of laid paper features, including watermarks. While full-scale recording of all paper characteristics is impractical, our methodology ensures the systematic collection of essential data to support research in watermark studies.In parallel, we will conduct an archival study of paper production and trade, employing an archivist to analyse watermarks and paper features in archival documents from the period. This will include tracing paper and ink acquisition records from family account books and other financial documents, shedding light on the economic networks behind manuscript production.To enhance our analysis, we are collaborating with Robert Erdmann to apply machine vision and AI tools. His Magic Eraser technology (https://images.erdmann.io/magic_eraser/) will be used to digitally remove ink, allowing for clearer watermark identification. Additionally, a specialised imaging pipeline will be employed to help differentiate between felt and mould sides of paper.Our findings and dataset will be made available for integration into the Bernstein database, contributing to the broader study of watermarks and historical paper research
Estimation of the Hurst exponent of noisy or blurred fractal textures. Application to computer-aided mammogram analysis
No full textOne over eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime. As early detection is key to the survival of the patient, recent works aiming at improving the prognosis of breast cancer focused on upstream assessment of cancer risk, so that women at higher risk are prescribed more frequent screenings. A promising research avenue relies on the characterization of mammographic textures through their fractal attributes. However, the presence of noise or blur in mammograms, inherent to real data acquired in a clinical context, might significantly impairs both the accuracy and the robustness of fractal attribute estimators. The aim of the present work is twofold. First, the sensitivity to noise and blur of two state-ofthe-art estimators of the Hurst exponent, a widely used fractal attribute, is quantified on different synthetic texture models. Second, these estimators, respectively based on wavelet leaders and monogenic wavelets, are applied to real mammograms extracted from the VinDr-Mammo public dataset. The comparison of the estimated Hurst exponents to the values in the literature shows an overestimation of the Hurst exponents of dense tissues from old datasets, suspected to originate from a model mismatch or from a lack of robustness to changes in the screened population
Les délits d'atteintes au patrimoine naturel commis en bande organisée
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Does group living protect offspring from the toxic effects of cadmium ingestion in juvenile earwigs?
No full textInternational audienceGroup living is generally known to enhance the protection of offspring against a wide range of environmental risks, such as predation, temperature extremes and pathogen infections. However, its role in mitigating the effect of toxic stressors, such as anthropogenic chemical pollution, remains unclear. This is particularly surprising given that chemical pollution is steadily increasing and is one of the greatest environmental threats to biodiversity. Here, we investigated whether family group living, by mitigating individual stress response, contribute to the remarkable robustness of European earwig juveniles to cadmium -a toxic pollutant for many animal species. We reared earwig nymphs either alone, with siblings or in a full family group (siblings plus mother) while feeding them with one of five cadmium concentrations (from 0 to 100 mg/L) throughout their three months of development. During this time, we measured a series of parameters at juvenile and adult stages. Overall, our results show that family group living does not mitigate the toxic effects of cadmium, as exposure to cadmium did not affect any of the measured parameters, regardless of whether juveniles had access to siblings, mother or none. However, the social environment overall influenced juvenile activity, survival and development, though it had no detectable impact on adult morphometry, sperm viability and DNA damage. These findings suggests that while the absence of social interactions can alter juvenile development and survival, it does not modulate the toxic effect of chemical pollutants such as cadmium in facultative family living species. More generally, this study highlights the need to explore the physiological, genetic and/or microbial mechanisms underlying the apparent robustness to cadmium in the European earwig.</div
Impact of Analog FeedForward Equalizer Cells Initialization and Optimization in 50G-PON
No full textInternational audienceThis paper examines Analog FeedForward Equalizer cell initialization in 50G-PON systems. Setting extreme cells to 0 and others randomly yields 98.7% convergence, a 48.3% improvement over fully random initialization.</div
Outer Membrane Vesicles as a Versatile Platform for Vaccine Development: Engineering Strategies, Applications and Challenges
No full textInternational audienceOuter membrane vesicles (OMVs) are nanosized vesicles naturally secreted by Gram‐negative bacteria and represent a promising platform for vaccine development. OMVs possess inherent immunostimulatory properties due to the presence of pathogen‐associated molecular patterns (PAMPs), providing self‐adjuvanting capabilities and the ability to elicit both innate and adaptive immune responses. This review outlines the advantages of OMVs over traditional vaccine strategies, including their safety, modularity, and the potential for genetic engineering to enable targeted antigen delivery. We describe approaches to enhance OMVs yield and immunogenicity, such as modifications to reduce lipopolysaccharide (LPS) toxicity and systems enabling antigen localization—either on the surface or within the lumen—using fusion constructs like ClyA, Lpp‐OmpA, AIDA‐I, Hbp, and Sec/Tat signal peptides. We further summarize preclinical applications of OMVs‐based vaccines targeting bacterial pathogens, viral infections, and cancer. In addition, we address key challenges in large‐scale production, purification, and long‐term stability, and explore strategies for conjugating or encapsulating heterologous antigens. Overall, OMVs offer a versatile and scalable extracellular vesicle‐based platform with strong potential for next‐generation vaccines targeting diverse infectious diseases and beyond