Scientific Publications of the University of Toulouse II Le Mirail
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Brain size reduction in dogs was already established at least by the Late Neolithic of western Europe, 5,000 years ago
No full textThe timing and causes of brain size reduction in domestic dogs remain uncertain. Using endocast's volume as a proxy for brain size, this study provides a first insight into long-term brain size evolution in the wolf-dog lineage. We compared endocranial volumes of 185 modern and 22 prehistoric wolves and dogs ranging from Western Europe to Australia, and spanning the Pleniglacial (35 Ky BP) to the Late Neolithic (5 Ky BP). Our results reveal that Pleistocene so called "protodogs" show no brain size reduction compared to coeval Pleistocene wolves. Instead, we observed a slightly larger relative endocranial volume in the 35,000-year-old 'protodog' from Goyet, which could suggest increased behavioural flexibility in the presence of humans. This hypothesis needs to be tested further. In contrast, Late Neolithic dogs show a drastic 46% brain size reduction with an endocranial volumes comparable to modern small terrier and toy breeds. The anxious and wary temperaments of these Late Neolithic dogs, induced by the brain tissue reorganization associated with such a size reduction, could have served an alerting purpose, among the many other potential roles dogs could have played within this Late Neolithic socio-ecosystems
Mapping creative capabilities: skill composition and regional specialisation in the cultural and creative industries
No full textInternational audienceThis study provides the first conceptual and empirical framework to evaluate the cultural and creative industries’ (CCIs) skill composition by utilising the revealed skill requirements method. First, it identifies the most important skills within and across the CCIs. Second, it maps their spatial distribution and links them to the stage-sensitive regional specialisation of the CCIs. Finally, it formalises a framework to assess the specialisation potential patterns. Moving beyond a generic treatment of the CCIs, this study develops a comprehensive, bottom-up approach to regional CCIs policy, focusing on place-specific capabilities and untapped potential of regions by comparing their skill endowments with observed CCIs’ specialisation patterns
Importance of analyzing spasticity and co-activation as complementary biomarkers of gait in children with cerebral palsy
No full textInternational audienceBackground: Cerebral palsy (CP) is a neurological disorder characterized by motor impairments, including muscle spasticity, weakness, and abnormal co-activation leading to gait abnormalities. Understanding the relationship between these factors is essential for optimizing rehabilitation strategies but remains unclear, particularly in terms of phase-specific neuromuscular adaptations during gait. This study investigated the correlations between muscle spasticity, strength, coactivation, and gait variable scores (GVS) in children with CP during clinical gait analysis. Two muscle pairs were analyzed: Gastrocnemius Medialis-Tibialis Anterior (GM-TA) and Rectus Femoris-Semitendinosus (RF-ST). Methods:We retrospectively analyzed 55 children with CP using surface electromyography and clinical scales (Modified Ashworth Scale for spasticity, Medical Research Council scale for strength). Co-activation was computed for stance and swing phases and compared to reference values from literature data about typically developing children. Correlations between variables were assessed using Spearman's coefficient and Chi-square tests evaluated categorical relationships between spasticity and abnormal co-activation.Findings: No clear correlations between spasticity and co-activation were demonstrated, except for RF during swing (moderate correlation). GVS for ankle and hip flexion was moderately correlated with co-activation. Muscle strength negatively correlated with co-activation and deviations of joint angles relative to healthy gait.Interpretation: These findings highlight partial correlations between clinical examination (i.e., spasticity and strength) and gait data (i.e., muscle co-activation and kinematic alterations), reinforcing the importance of assessing multiple biomarkers to better characterize gait abnormalities. Future rehabilitation protocols should comprehensively evaluate spasticity, muscle strength, co-activation, and GVS to better adapt interventions and optimize motor function in children with CP.</div
Polyconvex double well functions
No full textThis version fixes a flaw in the main theorem of the previous version.International audienceWe investigate polyconvexity of the double well function for given matrices . Such functions are fundamental in the modeling of phase transitions in materials, but their non-convex nature presents challenges for the analysis of variational problems. Polyconvexity of is related to the singular values of the matrix difference . We prove that is polyconvex if and only if the square of the largest singular value does not exceed the sum of the squares of the other singular values. This condition allows the function to be decomposed into the sum of a strictly convex part and a null Lagrangean. As a direct application of this result, we prove an existence and uniqueness theorem for the corresponding Dirichlet minimization problem of the integral functional
Degenerating conic Kähler-Einstein metrics to the normal cone
No full text56 pagesInternational audienceLet X be a Fano manifold of dimension at least 2 and D be a smooth divisor in a multiple of the anticanonical class, 1/α (-K_X) with α>1. It is well-known that Kähler-Einstein metrics on X with conic singularities along D may exist only if the angle 2πβ is bigger than some positive limit value 2πβ_*. Under the hypothesis that the automorphisms of D are induced by the automorphisms of the pair (X,D), we prove that for β>β_* close enough to β_*, such Kähler-Einstein metrics do exist. We identify the limits at various scales when β→β_* and, in particular, we exhibit the appearance of the Tian-Yau metric of X\D
Evaluation d'une approche contemplative par des enseignants : entre promesse et prudence
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Gaussian-like fixed point and variational properties of integral discriminants
No full textInternational audienceWe consider partition functions Z(g) = exp (-g(x))dx where g is a nonnegative polynomial action (a degree-2n form) vanishing only at the origin. Such integrals, known as integral discriminants, appear in statistical mechanics, quantum field theory, and the theory of exponential families. We show that the associated Boltzmann measure dµ = exp(-g(x))dx satisfies a fixed-point property identity relating in a simple manner its degree-2n moments to the coefficients of g. This generalizes familiar identities for the exponential distribution (degree-1) on the positive orthant and the Gaussian measure (degree-2). We further show that g is characterized by three variational principles, including a maximum-entropy principle under scaled moments constraints, extending the Gaussian extremality principle to arbitrary even-degree homogeneous actions. Exploiting these identities in a truncatedmoment numerical scheme (known as the Moment-SOS hierarchy), strengthens the standard semidefinite relaxations, and results in a much faster convergence, thus allowing more efficient approximations of the partition function Z(g) as well as moments of µ
Effects of deep brain stimulation on non motor fluctuations in Parkinson’s disease (assessed with the NMF severity scale)
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Enseigner en réalité virtuelle : tensions entre innovation prescrite et pratiques situées en milieu scolaire français
No full textInternational audienceLa réalité virtuelle est de plus en plus mobilisée dans l’enseignement des langues étrangères comme une solution innovante pour favoriser l’engagement, la motivation des apprenant.e.s et développer les compétences langagières et socioculturelles grâce à l’immersion (Lin & Lan, 2015 ; Parmaxi & Demetriou, 2020 ; Suh & Prophet, 2018). Cependant, son appropriation par les enseignant.e.s reste un enjeu complexe, pris dans des tensions entre injonctions institutionnelles à l’innovation et réalités de terrain marquées par des contraintes matérielles, temporelles et institutionnelles (Fiévez, 2016 ; Guichon, 2012 ; Karsenti, 2019 ; Rabardel, 1995).Cette communication s’appuie sur les résultats d’une recherche doctorale menée dans le cadre d’un projet incubateur français, financé par le Ministère de l’Éducation nationale, entre 2019 et 2021. L’étude qualitative longitudinale, réalisée auprès de quatre enseignant.e.s d’anglais en lycée professionnel de l’Académie de Toulouse, visait à explorer les effets de la réalité virtuelle sur leurs pratiques pédagogiques, leurs discours et leurs postures en situation d’enseignement. Le protocole repose sur une triangulation méthodologique articulant entretiens semi-directifs et observations participantes (Paillé & Mucchielli, 2012), afin d’identifier les logiques d’appropriation de cette technologie et leurs incidences sur les dynamiques de la classe. Les résultats montrent que la réalité virtuelle favorise une transformation des rôles, une reconfiguration du rapport au savoir et un renouvellement des formes d’interaction, tout en révélant des tensions entre innovation, autonomie enseignante et cadre institutionnel. Cette étude interroge ainsi les conditions nécessaires à une intégration inclusive, critique et durable de la réalité virtuelle dans l’enseignement des langues, et plaide pour un accompagnement structurel et didactique à la hauteur des mutations pédagogiques en cours
Smartphone-based Cooperative Perception
No full textInternational audienceWe propose a lightweight cooperative perception architecture that leverages smartphones to enhance the situational awareness of non-autonomous vehicles in urban environments. Unlike most existing approaches requiring expensive sensors and dedicated communication modules, our system relies solely on standard smartphone capabilities-namely, the RGB camera and GPS-to detect surrounding vehicles and share their locations with a nearby edge server. The server performs spatio-temporal fusion of the received data and sends back a contextualized, augmented view of the environment to each user.Implemented and evaluated in the CARLA simulation platform, our solution achieves near real-time performance with an average end-to-end latency of 96 ms per frame and a minimal communication overhead (0.35 KB for uplink, 0.15 KB for downlink). Experimental results show a significant increase in perception coverage and recall, especially for occluded vehicles. This work demonstrates the feasibility of smartphone-based cooperative sensing as a cost-effective alternative to V2X-based systems, with promising prospects for large-scale, infrastructureagnostic deployment.</div