Infant placement and language exposure in daily life

Children's daily contexts shape their experiences. In this study, we assessed whether variations in infant placement (e.g., held, bouncy seat) are associated with infants' exposure to adult speech. Using repeated survey sampling of mothers and continuous audio recordings, we tested whether the use of independence-supporting placements was associated with adult speech exposure in a Southeastern U.S. sample of 60 4- to 6-month-old infants (38% male, predominately White, not Hispanic/Latinx, from higher socioeconomic status households). Within-subject analyses indicated that independence-supporting placements were associated with exposure to fewer adult words in the moment. Between-subjects analyses indicated that infants more frequently reported to be in independence-supporting placements that also provided posture support (i.e., an exersaucer) were exposed to relatively fewer adult words and less consistent adult speech across the day. These findings indicate that infants' opportunities for exposure to adult speech ‘in the wild’ may vary based on immediate physical context.     

Implantologie orale et responsabilité : à propos du choix du dispositif implantaire

Dental implants are medical devices designed to create stable, strong, non-iatrogenic and durable anchors in the maxilla or mandible to which a removable or fixed dental prothesis fits, to replace one or more missing teeth. From the 1970s to 2000, these medical devices experienced changes in shape and materials before a consensus was reached on a type of implant that responded to the standard of care. This raises the question of the medical liability of healthcare professionals who use different implant systems in their practices. The present article proposes to highlight the choice of the dental implant by dental practitioner, its design and the materials used, on the field of the medical liability, through a retrospective study of judicial decisions in France. The “Brånemark-type” endosseous cylindrical-conical screw implant is considered as standard of care in France. The dental surgeon has the possibility to use other types of dental implants when the clinical situation strictly contraindicates the use of cylindrical-conical screw implants. In case of litigation, he must be able to justify his choices.     

Un point sur la responsabilité civile du fait des prothèses

The evolutions of the medical liability depend on the walking (step) of the jurisprudence, and on that of the European law. Crossings renewed the reflection on the consequences of the protheses failures, and make paradoxically return to the contractual obligation.     

The effects of speech output technology in the learning of graphic symbols

The effects of auditory stimuli in the form of synthetic speech output on the learning of graphic symbols were evaluated. Three adults with severe to profound mental retardation and communication impairments were taught to point to lexigrams when presented with words under two conditions. In the first condition, participants used a voice output communication aid to receive synthetic speech as antecedent and consequent stimuli. In the second condition, with a nonelectronic communications board, participants did not receive synthetic speech. A parallel treatments design was used to evaluate the effects of the synthetic speech output as an added component of the augmentative and alternative communication system. The 3 participants reached criterion when not provided with the auditory stimuli. Although 2 participants also reached criterion when not provided with the auditory stimuli, the addition of auditory stimuli resulted in more efficient learning and a decreased error rate. Maintenance results, however, indicated no differences between conditions. Finding suggest that auditory stimuli in the form of synthetic speech contribute to the efficient acquisition of graphic communication symbols.     

Mixed Generation Sensitivity Analysis: An Optimal Scenario Study

There are several generating units available to meet the load demand on any given day. The mixed‐integer programme case engages generating units that can be shut down or operated between minimum and maximum output levels within a specific time demand block. An examination of these conditions espouses the utilization of renewable energy technology as a reliable power generation source and its effectiveness and augmentation in a robust, heavily subjugated thermal generation system. The mixed‐integer problem has the predisposition to generate many subproblems during the computation. However, with careful selection of the parameters in the model, the challenges are easily overcome. Hydroelectric energy is significant from an operational standpoint as it requires little or no ramp‐up time, commonly found in many combustion technologies. The essential load‐following capability, peaking capacity and voltage stability attributes render hydroelectric energy as a significant part in ensuring reliable electricity service and in meeting customer needs in a market‐driven industry. When this renewable resource is combined with the thermal generation, an improved reliability function is apparent. Yet, in order to minimize the environmental effects inherent in this type of energy resource, the renewable power supply is expected to produce an effectual, consistent output. The integration of renewable generation within the electrical system entails intricate analysis of the transmission line upgrades throughout the system. These upgrades are designed to relieve congestion, improve reliability and provide voltage support by thoroughly evaluating the alternatives to accommodate the new expansion efforts. This paper examines the system integration of renewable generators, via simulated studies, in the context of electrical operations from the hydroelectric generation perspective. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A Multi‐criteria Usability Assessment of Similar Types of Touch Screen Mobile Phones

Designing products possessing only technical perfectness does not seem to be enough in today's market. New expectations adding value to the product such as product usability and feelings have become more important. Consequently, product usability has become a major focus of manufacturing companies. In this study, touch screen cell phones are examined, and various specifications that affect the usability are researched. Usability tests were carried out with the participation of 15 subjects for four different brands of touch screen phones having the highest market share. The usability factors regarding questionnaires were evaluated by taking into consideration the relationships between them in a three‐stage (strategic, tactical and operational) hierarchical network model. Analytical network process method was used in order to analyse the network for end consumer. The results were evaluated within the general framework of the hierarchy, and the most important factors in respect of usability were calculated. Moreover, the usability levels of four brands were ranked evaluating the usability scores. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Les figures temporelles de l’adulte en reconversion vers la création d’entreprise

IntroductionMore and more vocational retraining in France lead the adults to break with his former career for engaging in a new occupation. This entrepreneurial project is at the crossroads of several temporalities, which this paper has investigated.ObjectiveWe study mainly the processes of retraining to start up a company. The goal is to know if the devices of accompaniment to the construction of the entrepreneurial project come to support or interfere the temporalities of the adult in retraining to creation of company. We want to know how these adults in retraining seize these temporalities of the entrepreneurial process (beliefs, feelings, representations) and these temporalities of the assistance and counseling devices (in a structuring way, to gradually build this new professional identity of entrepreneur, or limiting way, like a form of subjugation).MethodNine adults were interviewed in semi-structured interviews about their experience of retraining to start a new business. This research provides a key to seeing the plural temporalities arising from the relationship between the desire for autonomy and the normative framework of the devices.ResultsA thematic content analysis was carried out, to identify the phases of the transition, the temporalities of the processes of retraining and creation, the logics of actions and the forms of relationships.ConclusionThe actor strives to make the limiting and emancipatory temporalities coexist through a personal work of appropriation. This allowed to construct four figures of adulthood in retraining towards entrepreneurship: the author of his artwork, the decision maker of his future, the coin adult of his actions and his time, and the runner.     

Energy management solutions in the Internet of Things applications: Technical analysis and new research directions

By advancement of Internet of Things (IoT) technology in smart life such as smart city, smart home, smart healthcare and smart transportation, interconnections between smart things are growing that complicate evaluation of efficiency factors on the intelligent systems. Energy consumption as one of the most challenging issues is increasing with the growing IoT devices and existing interconnections between cloud data centers, mobile applications and human activities. Managing energy efficiency and power consumption is one of the important issues in green IoT-enabled technologies. This paper presents an overview on the energy management solutions in the IoT based on Systematic Literature Review (SLR). The main goal of this SLR-based overview is to recognize significant research trends in the field of energy management and power consumption techniques which need additional consideration to highlight more efficient and effective methods in IoT. Also, a taxonomy is proposed to categorize the existing research studies on energy management solutions. A statistical and technical analysis of reviewed existing papers are provided, and evaluation factors and attributes are discussed. We observed that variety of published research papers in smart home have highest percentage to evaluate energy management in the IoT. Also, deep learning and clustering methods are must popular techniques that were applied to evaluate the energy management in IoT case studies. Finally, new challenges and forthcoming issues of the energy management and efficient power consumption methods are presented.     

How navigation systems transform epistemic virtues: Knowledge,issues and solutions

In this paper, we analyse how GPS-based navigation systems are transforming some of our intellectual virtues and then suggest two strategies to improve our practices regarding the use of such epistemic tools. We start by outlining the two main approaches in virtue epistemology, namely virtue reliabilism and virtue responsibilism. We then discuss how navigation systems can undermine five epistemic virtues, namely memory, perception, attention, intellectual autonomy, and intellectual carefulness. We end by considering two possible interlinked ways of trying to remedy this situation: [i] redesigning the epistemic tool to improve the epistemic virtues of memory, perception, and attention; and [ii] the cultivation of cognitive diligence for wayfinding tasks scaffolding intellectual autonomy and carefulness.     

Improving drivers’ eye fixation using accident scenes of the HazardTouch driver-training tool

This study investigated the effect of a driver-training tool that uses “HazardTouch” software and videos of actual accidents on drivers’ eye fixation through a tablet device (iPad). Drivers’ eye fixation of a video of a car passing thirteen intersections without signals was measured before and after training, using an eye-mark recorder. Three training exposures of four scenes using HazardTouch improved drivers’ eye fixation on the stimulus movie. In particular, the first fixation on the edge of the blind spot at intersections appeared significantly sooner after training. Moreover, fixation frequency for this blind spot increased significantly at post-training. These results suggest that the proposed driver-training tool effectively improves eye-fixation behavior in drivers and may prevent accidents.