Simulation d'une machine de lecture optique à l'usage des aveugles. 'Simulación de una máquina de lectura óptica para los ciegos'.

Estudio preliminar para la construcción de una máquina que sea capaz de reconocer la letra impresa para su uso por parte de invidentes. Establecen unos métodos de reconocimiento que tratan un mínimo de información con un nivel de reconocimiento aceptable y con el objetivo de que el aparato resultante sea lo más económico posible. El sistema, desde la introducción de la información luminosa hasta la salida en braille, fue simulado en un ordenador. Los resultados obtenidos fueron satisfactorios: con una pequeña cámara de captación de informaciones luminosas, conteniendo aproximadamente 50 elementos fotorreceptores, se obtiene más de un 90 por ciento de reconocimiento, y esto independientemente de la velocidad de desplazamiento de la cámara con relación al texto y con una muestra de datos de calidad bastante mediocre. Suponen que los excelentes resultados obtenidos son aún mejorables y que con este estudio previo y los resultados obtenidos va a permitirles ahora, realizar la construcción definitiva de la máquina.

Les Outils de l’enseignant pour la lecture d’un poème en classe de FLE

Ce travail s’appuie sur des données audiovisuelles d’un cours de «français écrit» (i.e. cours d’entraînement à la compréhension et à la production écrite), destiné à des étudiants non francophones, à l’Ecole de langue et de civilisation françaises (ELCF) de l’Université de Genève. Le public observé se caractérise par une grande hétérogénéité culturelle et linguistique. Les objectifs d’apprentissage entre élèves d’une même classe sont également différents: certains ont besoin d’une remise à niveau linguistique pour pouvoir entrer dans une des Facultés de l’université, d’autres pour pouvoir poursuivre des études de français au sein de l’ELCF afin d’obtenir un diplôme de français langue étrangère

The Assault on Human Rigths and the Resilience of the Andean Dream: Health Inequities in Ecuador. IV Annual Distinguished Lecture sponsored by the Center for Research on Ethnicity, Culture and Health; School of Public Health; University of Michigan

The point of departure for these reflections is life, since its protection is the central purpose encouraging the defense of human rights and of public health. Life in the Andes has an exceptional diversity. Particularly in Ecuador, my country, this diversity constitutes a characteristic sign that is expressed in two main forms: natural megadiversity and multiculturalism. Indeed, Ecuador’s small territory synthesizes practically all types of lifezones that exist on Earth, having received the gift of high average rates of solar energy and abundant nutritional sources, which have facilitated the natural reproduction of countless species that show their beautiful vitality in the variety of ecosystems that compose the Andean mountain range, the tropical plains, the Amazon humid forests, and the Galapagos Islands. But besides being a highly biodiverse country, it is also a plurinational and multi-cultural society, in which the activity of human beings, organized into social conglomerates of different historical and cultural backgrounds, have formed more than a dozen nations and peoples. Regrettably this natural and human wealth has not been able to bear its best fruits due to the violent operation of a deep social inequity – unfortunately also one of the highest in the Americas—which conspires against life and is reproduced in national and international inequitable relations. This structural inequity has changed its form throughout the centuries and currently has reached its highest and most perverse level of development.

Donald Broadbent : 12th annual Broadbent lecture

In the 12th annual Broadbent Lecture at the Annual Conference Dianne Berry outlined Broadbent’s explicit and implicit influences on psychological science and scientists.

British Nutrition Foundation annual lecture: chips with everything? Nutritional genomics and the application of diet in disease prevention

The development of high throughput techniques ('chip' technology) for measurement of gene expression and gene polymorphisms (genomics), and techniques for measuring global protein expression (proteomics) and metabolite profile (metabolomics) are revolutionising life science research, including research in human nutrition. In particular, the ability to undertake large-scale genotyping and to identify gene polymorphisms that determine risk of chronic disease (candidate genes) could enable definition of an individual's risk at an early age. However, the search for candidate genes has proven to be more complex, and their identification more elusive, than previously thought. This is largely due to the fact that much of the variability in risk results from interactions between the genome and environmental exposures. Whilst the former is now very well defined via the Human Genome Project, the latter (e.g. diet, toxins, physical activity) are poorly characterised, resulting in inability to account for their confounding effects in most large-scale candidate gene studies. The polygenic nature of most chronic diseases offers further complexity, requiring very large studies to disentangle relatively weak impacts of large numbers of potential 'risk' genes. The efficacy of diet as a preventative strategy could also be considerably increased by better information concerning gene polymorphisms that determine variability in responsiveness to specific diet and nutrient changes. Much of the limited available data are based on retrospective genotyping using stored samples from previously conducted intervention trials. Prospective studies are now needed to provide data that can be used as the basis for provision of individualised dietary advice and development of food products that optimise disease prevention. Application of the new technologies in nutrition research offers considerable potential for development of new knowledge and could greatly advance the role of diet as a preventative disease strategy in the 21st century. Given the potential economic and social benefits offered, funding for research in this area needs greater recognition, and a stronger strategic focus, than is presently the case. Application of genomics in human health offers considerable ethical and societal as well as scientific challenges. Economic determinants of health care provision are more likely to resolve such issues than scientific developments or altruistic concerns for human health.

Benchmarking or business opportunity: Using milk recording data to expose your clients' weaknesses

Routine milk recording data, often covering many years, are available for approximately half the dairy herds of England and Wales. In addition to milk yield and quality, these data include production events that can be used to derive objective Key Performance Indicators (KPI) describing a herd's fertility and production. Recent developments in information systems give veterinarians and other technical advisers access to these KPIs on-line. In addition to reviewing individual herd performance, advisers can establish local benchmark groups to demonstrate the relative performance of similar herds in the vicinity. The use of existing milk recording data places no additional demands on farmer's time or resources. These developments could also readily be exploited by universities to introduce veterinary undergraduates to the realities of commercial dairy production.

Nutrition Society Silver Medal Lecture Nutrigenetics and personalised nutrition: how far have we progressed and are we likely to get there?

Nutrigenetics and personalised nutrition are components of the concept that in the future genotyping will be used as a means of defining dietary recommendations to suit the individual. Over the last two decades there has been an explosion of research in this area, with often conflicting findings reported in the literature. Reviews of the literature in the area of apoE genotype and cardiovascular health, apoA5 genotype and postprandial lipaemia and perilipin and adiposity are used to demonstrate the complexities of genotype-phenotype associations and the aetiology of apparent between-study inconsistencies in the significance and size of effects. Furthermore, genetic research currently often takes a very reductionist approach, examining the interactions between individual genotypes and individual disease biomarkers and how they are modified by isolated dietary components or foods. Each individual possesses potentially hundreds of 'at-risk' gene variants and consumes a highly-complex diet. In order for nutrigenetics to become a useful public health tool, there is a great need to use mathematical and bioinformatic tools to develop strategies to examine the combined impact of multiple gene variants on a range of health outcomes and establish how these associations can be modified using combined dietary strategies.