bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Impact of sediment-seawater cation exchange on Himalayan chemical weathering fluxes
Authors: Lupker Maarten , France-Lanord Christian , Lartiges Bruno
Published: May 2016

Abstract. Continental scale chemical weathering budgets are commonly assessed based on the flux of dissolved elements carried by large rivers to the oceans. However the interaction between sediments and seawater in estuaries can lead to additional cation exchange fluxes that have been very poorly constrained so far. We constrained the magnitude of cation exchange fluxes from the Ganges-Brahmaputra River system based on cation exchange capacity (CEC) measurements of riverine sediments. CEC values of sediments are variable throughout the water column but average at ca. 6.5 meq/100 g for the Ganges-Brahmaputra. The cationic charge of sediments in the river is dominated by bivalent ions Ca2+ (76 %) and Mg2+ (16 %) followed by monovalent K+ (6 %) and Na+ (2 %) and the relative proportion of these ions is constant among all samples and rivers. Assuming a total exchange of exchangeable Ca2+ for marine Na+ yields an maximal additional Ca2+ flux of 28 x 109 mol/yr of calcium to the ocean, which represents an increase of ca. 6 % of the actual dissolved Ca2+ flux. In the more likely event that only a fraction of the adsorbed riverine Ca2+ is exchanged, not only for marine Na+ but also Mg2+ and K+, estuarine cation exchange for the Ganga-Brahmaputra is responsible for an additional Ca2+ flux of 23 x 109 mol/yr, while ca. 27 x 109 mol/yr of Na+, 8 x 109 mol/yr of Mg2+ and 4 x 109 mol/yr of K+ are re-absorbed in the estuaries. This represents an additional riverine Ca2+ flux to the ocean of 5 % compared to the measured dissolved flux. About 15 % of the dissolved Na+ flux, 8 % of the dissolved K+ flux and 4 % of the Mg2+ are reabsorbed by the sediments in the estuaries. The impact of estuarine sediment-seawater cation exchange is therefore limited if evaluated in the context of the long-term carbon cycle and its main effect is the sequestration of a significant fraction of the riverine Na flux to the oceans.
A "mental models" approach to the communication of subsurface hydrology and hazards
Authors: Gibson Hazel , Stewart Iain S. , Pahl Sabine , Stokes Alison
Published: May 2016

Abstract. Communicating information about geological and hydrological hazards relies on appropriately worded communications targeted at the needs of the audience. But what are these needs, and how does the geoscientist discern them? This paper adopts a psychological "mental models" approach to assess the public perception of the geological subsurface, presenting the results of attitudinal studies and surveys in three communities in the south-west of England. The findings reveal important preconceptions and misconceptions regarding the impact of hydrological systems and hazards on the geological subsurface, notably in terms of the persistent conceptualisation of underground rivers and the inferred relations between flooding and human activity. The study demonstrates how such mental models can provide geoscientists with empirical, detailed and generalised data of perceptions surrounding an issue, as well reveal unexpected outliers in perception that they may not have considered relevant, but which nevertheless may locally influence communication. Using this approach, geoscientists can develop information messages that more directly engage local concerns and create open engagement pathways based on dialogue, which in turn allow both geoscience "experts" and local "non-experts" to come together and understand each other more effectively.
Evaluation of snow data assimilation using the Ensemble Kalman Filter for seasonal streamflow prediction in the Western United States
Authors: Huang Chengcheng , Newman Andrew J. , Clark Martyn P. , Wood Andrew W. , Zheng Xiaogu
Published: May 2016

Abstract. In this study we examine the potential of snow water equivalent data assimilation (DA) using the ensemble Kalman Filter (EnKF) to improve seasonal streamflow predictions. There are several goals of this study. First, we aim to examine some empirical aspects of the EnKF, namely the observational uncertainty estimates and the observation transformation operator. Second, we use a newly created ensemble forcing dataset to develop our ensemble model states (e.g. model state uncertainty). Finally, we also examine the impact of varying the observation and model state uncertainty on forecast skill. We use basins from the Pacific Northwest, Rocky Mountains, and California in the western United States with the coupled Snow17 and Sacramento Soil Moisture Accounting (SAC-SMA) models. Results show that most EnKF implementation variations result in improved streamflow prediction, but the methodological choices in the examined components impact predictive performance in a non-uniform way across the basins. Finally, basins with relatively higher calibrated model performance (> 0.80 NSE) without DA generally have lesser improvement with DA, while basins with poorer historical model performance show greater improvements.
Modeling the impact of river discharge and wind on the hypoxia off Yangtze Estuary
Authors: Zheng Jingjing , Gao Shan , Liu Guimei , Wang Hui
Published: May 2016

Abstract. The phenomenon of low dissolved oxygen (known as hypoxia) in coastal ocean system is closely related to a combination of anthropogenic and natural factors. Marine hypoxic occurs in the Yangtze Estuary, China with high frequency and long persistence. It’s known that it related primarily to organic and nutrient enrichment influenced by river discharges and physical factors, such as water mixing. In this paper, a three-dimensional hydrodynamic model was coupled to a biological model to simulate and analyze the ecological system of the East China Sea. By comparing with the observation data, the model results can reasonably capture the physical and biochemical dynamics of the Yangtze Estuary. In addition, the sensitive experiments were also used to examine the role of physical forcing (river discharge, wind speed, wind direction) in controlling hypoxia in waters adjacent to the Yangtze Estuary. The results showed that the wind field and river discharge have significant impact on the hypoxia off the Yangtze Estuary. The seasonal cycle of hypoxia was relatively insensitive to synoptic variability in the river discharge, but integrated hypoxic areas were sensitive to the whole magnitude of river discharge. Increasing the river discharge was shown to increase hypoxic areas, while decreasing the river discharge was tended to decrease hypoxic areas. And the variations of wind speed and direction had great impact on the seasonal variability of hypoxia and the integrated hypoxic areas.
Technical note: Harmonising metocean model data via standard web services within small research groups
Authors: Signell Richard P. , Camossi Elena
Published: May 2016

Abstract. Work over the last decade has resulted in standardised web services and tools that can significantly improve the efficiency and effectiveness of working with meteorological and ocean model data. While many operational modelling centres have enabled query and access to data via common web services, most small research groups have not. The penetration of this approach into the research community, where IT resources are limited, can be dramatically improved by (1) making it simple for providers to enable web service access to existing output files; (2) using free technologies that are easy to deploy and configure; and (3) providing standardised, service-based tools that work in existing research environments. We present a simple, local brokering approach that lets modellers continue to use their existing files and tools, while serving virtual data sets that can be used with standardised tools. The goal of this paper is to convince modellers that a standardised framework is not only useful but can be implemented with modest effort using free software components. We use NetCDF Markup language for data aggregation and standardisation, the THREDDS Data Server for data delivery, pycsw for data search, NCTOOLBOX (MATLAB®) and Iris (Python) for data access, and Open Geospatial Consortium Web Map Service for data preview. We illustrate the effectiveness of this approach with two use cases involving small research modelling groups at NATO and USGS.
Development of a numerical workflow based on μ-CT imaging for the determination of capillary pressure–saturation-specific interfacial area relationship in 2-phase flow pore-scale porous-media systems: a case study on Heletz sandstone
Authors: Peche Aaron , Halisch Matthias , Bogdan Tatomir Alexandru , Sauter Martin
Published: May 2016

Abstract. In this case study, we present the implementation of a finite element method (FEM)-based numerical pore-scale model that is able to track and quantify the propagating fluid–fluid interfacial area on highly complex micro-computed tomography (μ-CT)-obtained geometries. Special focus is drawn to the relationship between reservoir-specific capillary pressure (pc), wetting phase saturation (Sw) and interfacial area (awn). The basis of this approach is high-resolution μ-CT images representing the geometrical characteristics of a georeservoir sample. The successfully validated 2-phase flow model is based on the Navier–Stokes equations, including the surface tension force, in order to consider capillary effects for the computation of flow and the phase-field method for the emulation of a sharp fluid–fluid interface. In combination with specialized software packages, a complex high-resolution modelling domain can be obtained. A numerical workflow based on representative elementary volume (REV)-scale pore-size distributions is introduced. This workflow aims at the successive modification of model and model set-up for simulating, such as a type of 2-phase problem on asymmetric μ-CT-based model domains. The geometrical complexity is gradually increased, starting from idealized pore geometries until complex μ-CT-based pore network domains, whereas all domains represent geostatistics of the REV-scale core sample pore-size distribution. Finally, the model can be applied to a complex μ-CT-based model domain and the pc–Sw–awn relationship can be computed.
The role of working environment in nurses’ career advancement from nursing mangers’ perspectives: A qualitative study
Authors: Sheikhi Mohammad Reza , Khoshknab Masoud Fallahi , Mohammadi Farahnaz , Oskouie Fatemeh
Published: May 2016

Background: Nurses’ career advancement is a dynamic and unique concept which is explained in the context of working environment.Objective: This study aimed to explore the role of working environment in nurses’ career advancement from Nursing Mangers’ Perspectives.Methods: This qualitative study was conducted using content analysis method. Eighteen nursing managers from hospitals affiliated to Qazvin, Tehran, Iran and Shahid Beheshti Medical Sciences Universities participated in the study. A purposive sample of nursing mangers with rich experiences and maximum variations were selected and continued to reaching data saturation. The data were analyzed using content analysis method.Results: Participants believed that working environment have two major roles in nurses’ career advancement including motivating and restricting roles. According to nursing mangers, motivating working environment had facilitating role, while restricting working environment had blocking role in Iranian nurses’ career advancement.Conclusions: It seems that recognizing characteristics of working environment could assist nurses and nursing managers to develop conditions of working environment facilitating career advancement for nurses and decrease restrictive factors.
The Effects of Musical Aptitude and Musical Training on Phonological Production in Foreign Languages
Authors: Pei Zhengwei , Wu Yidi , Xiang Xiaocui , Qian Huimin
Published: May 2016

This study investigates 128 Chinese college students to examine the effects of their musical aptitude and musical training on phonological production in four foreign languages. Results show that musically-trained students remarkably possessed stronger musical aptitude than those without musical training and performed better than their counterpart in foreign language suprasegmental production. Students of high musical aptitude performed significantly better in suprasegmental production and Russian production as compared with those of low musical aptitude. Musical aptitude could exert some effects on foreign language phonological production. With the music-phonology link confirmed in this study, pedagogical implications for teaching and learning of foreign language phonology are discussed.
An Investigation on the R&D Expenditures in Turkey: A Firm-Level Approach
Authors: Tras Mehmet Fatih , Balli Esra , Sigeze Ciler
Published: May 2016

Access to foreign technology is important for small and medium sized companies. Most small and medium sized firms face with constraints resulting from financial, institutional and structural issues. In developing countries, most firms tend not to invest in Research and Development (R&D), resulting in lack of innovation. Besides, R&D is important to enter in international markets, in the determination of firm’s competition level, sustaining growth as well as to obtain a more advanced technology. Therefore, exhibiting the factors determining R&D level for companies becomes crucial to make well-targeted policies both in government and firm levels. This study aims to analyze the participation and expenditure decisions of Turkish manufacturing firms in R&D activities employing Heckman selection model taking region and industry effects into consideration. The results demonstrate that human capital, government funding of R&D and the scale of the firm are related to R&D decisions.
Working Capital Management and Firms’ Profitability: Evidence from Vietnam’s Stock Exchange
Authors: Nguyen Huy-Cuong , Tran Manh-Dung , Nguyen Duc-Trung
Published: May 2016

The paper investigates what effect Working Capital Management has on firms’ profitability by using the data from listed companies on Vietnamese Stock Exchange. The sample is collected from 127 public companies for the period of 9 years from 2006 to 2014. The research uses four variables to represent Working Capital Management, which are Day of Sales Outstanding (DSO), Day Sales of Inventories (DSI), Day of Payables Outstanding (DPO), and Cash Conversion Cycle (CCC). Moreover, in order to robust the result, the study also takes into the account the following variables: “Leverage, Growth, Tangibility, Size, Industrial Factors, and Macroeconomic Effects”, which were proven to have significant effects on firms’ profitability. The result implies that there is no correlation between Working Capital Management and firms’ profitability. Hence the conclusion is that Working Capital Management can help companies solve the short-term obligations and improve the efficiency by improving the supply chain and credit policies, however it has nothing to do with firms’ profitability of the companies in the sample.
Triggerfactoren in het radicaliseringsproces
Authors: Feddes A.R. , Nickolson L. , Doosje B.
Published: May 2016

Trigger factors in the process of radicalization

In order to understand why people can turn to violence to achieve political or societal changes, it is important to examine factors that can trigger a process of radicalization. In this article the authors outline such a model of trigger factors. In this model they specify trigger factors at the micro level (individual level), meso level (group level), and macro level (societal level). In addition, the authors argue that it is important to take into account personal characteristics, such as age, gender, and the type of motivation, behind a radicalization process. With respect to these types of motivation, the authors distinguish between sensation seekers, justice seekers, identity seekers, and meaning seekers. This model enables to discern triggers in the radicalization process of specific people in specific contexts.
Multimodal Assessment of Shopping Behavior
Authors: Popa Mirela Carmia
Published: May 2016

Automatic understanding and recognition of human shopping behavior has many potential applications, attracting an increasing interest in the marketing domain. A first behavior cue regards the human movement patterns, then for obtaining a better overview of what is happening inside an environment, context information is used. More information regarding behavior can be extracted, by analyzing the interaction patterns with objects in the environment. Finally, facial expressions, which can be used to assess a person's reaction to an object or in our case study to a product are employed as another informative behavior cue. Each intermediary analysis stream (trajectory analysis, action recognition, ROI detection module, and facial expression analysis), provides an input to the reasoning model, which based on the observables formulates a hypothesis regarding the most likely behavioral model. We integrated the different types of information on the semantic level, by implementing a multi-level framework. Finally, we evaluated this system in the ShopLab, in a real supermarket, and the product appreciation in a laboratory setting. The results show the feasibility of the approach in the recognition of trajectories (93%), shopping actions (91.6%), action units (93%), facial expressions (84%), and the most important behavioral types (87%).
Illumination Inconsistency Sleuthing for Exposing Fauxtography and Uncovering Composition Telltales in Digital Images
Authors: Carvalho Tiago
Published: May 2016

Think about how capture device’s technology is improved day after day. Add to this condition that digital image manipulation tools are increasingly powerful and simple to use. Finally, when a malicious user is added at this equation, the result is an astonishing number of digital images forgeries spread out in the internet as fast as possible. This work present four different methods to fight against image splicing, an special kind of image forgery. Each one of the methods, present significant contributions to state of the art.
Image Analysis and Processing with Applications in Proteomics and Medicine
Authors: Mylona Eleftheria
Published: May 2016

This thesis introduces unsupervised image analysis algorithms for the segmentation of several types of images, with an emphasis on proteomics and medical images. Segmentation is a challenging task in computer vision with essential applications in biomedical engineering, remote sensing, robotics and automation. Typically, the target region is separated from the rest of image regions utilizing defining features including intensity, texture, color or motion cues. In this light, multiple segments are generated and the selection of the most significant segments becomes a controversial decision as it highly hinges on heuristic considerations. Moreover, the separation of the target regions is impeded by several daunting factors such as: background clutter, the presence of noise and artifacts as well as occlusions on multiple target regions. This thesis focuses on image segmentation using deformable models and specifically region-based Active Contours (ACs) because of their strong mathematical foundation and their appealing properties.
Learning of invariant object recognition in hierarchical neural networks using temporal continuity
Authors: Lessmann Markus
Published: May 2016

A lot of progress in the field of invariant object recognition has been
made in recent years using so called deep neural networks with several
layers to be trained which can learn patterns of increasing complexity. This
architectural feature can alreay be found in older neural models as, e.g.,
the Neocognitron and HMAX but also newer ones as Convolutional Nets. Additionally
researchers emphasized the importance of temporal continuity in input data
and devised learning rules utilizing it (e.g. the trace rule by F\"oldiak
used by Rolls in VisNet). Finally Jeff Hawkins collected a lot of these ideas
concerning functioning of the neocortex in a coherent framework and proposed
three basic principles for neocortical computations (later implemented in HTM):Learning of temporal sequences for creating invariance to transformations contained in the training data.Learning in a hierarchical structure, in which lower level knowledge can be reused in higher level context and thereby makes memory usage efficient.Prediction of future signals for disambiguation of noisy input by feedback.In my thesis I developed two related systems: the \emph{Temporal Correlation Graph} (TCG)
and the \emph{Temporal Correlation Net} (TCN). Both make use of these principles and
implement them in an efficient manner. The main aim was to create systems that are trained
mostly unsupervised (both) and can be trained online, which is possible with TCN. Both achieve
very good performance on several standard datasets for object recognition.
Tracheal Structure Characterization using Geometric and Appearance Models for Efficient Assessment of Stenosis in Videobronchoscopy
Authors: Sánchez Carles
Published: May 2016

Recent advances in endoscopic devices have increased their use for minimal invasive diagnostic and intervention procedures. Among all endoscopic modalities, bronchoscopy is one of the most frequent with around 261 millions of procedures per year. Although the use of bronchoscopy is spread among clinical facilities it presents some drawbacks, being the visual inspection for the assessment of anatomical measurements the most prevalent of them. In particular, inaccuracies in the estimation of the degree of stenosis (the percentage of obstructed airway) decreases its diagnostic yield and might lead to erroneous treatments. An objective computation of tracheal stenosis in bronchoscopy videos would constitute a breakthrough for this non-invasive technique and a reduction in treatment cost.This thesis settles the first steps towards on-line reliable extraction of anatomical information from videobronchoscopy for computation of objective measures. In particular, we focus on the computation of the degree of stenosis, which is obtained by comparing the area delimited by a healthy tracheal ring and the stenosed lumen. In this sense, we have to consider that reliable extraction of airway structures in interventional videobronchoscopy is a challenging task. This is mainly due to the large variety of acquisition conditions (positions and illumination), devices (different digitalizations) and in videosacquired at the operating room the unpredicted presence of surgical devices (such as probe ends). This thesis contributes to on-line stenosis assessment in several ways. We propose a parametric strategy for the extraction of lumen and tracheal rings regions based on the characterization of their geometry and appearance that guide a deformable model. The geometric and appearance characterization is based on a physical model describing the way bronchoscopy images are obtained and includes local and global descriptions. In order to ensure a systematic applicability we present a statistical framework to select the optimal parameters of our method. Experiments perform on the first public annotated database, show that the performance of our method is comparable to the one provided by clinicians and its computation time allows for a on-line implementation in the operating room.
From pixels to gestures: learning visual representations for human analysis in color and depth data sequences
Authors: Hernandez-Vela Antonio
Published: May 2016

The visual analysis of humans from images is an important topic of interest due to  its relevance to many computer vision applications likepedestrian detection, monitoring and surveillance, human-computer interaction, e-health or content-based image retrieval, among others.In this dissertation we are interested in learning different visual representations of the human body that are helpful for the visual analysis of humans in images and video sequences. To that end, we analyze both RGB and depth image modalities  and address the problem from three different research lines,  at different levels of abstraction; from pixels to gestures: human segmentation, human pose estimation and gesture recognition.First, we show how binary segmentation (object vs. background)  of the human body in image sequences is helpful to remove all the background clutter present in the scene. The presented method, based on Graph cuts optimization, enforces spatio-temporal consistency of the produced segmentation masks among consecutive frames. Secondly, we present a framework for multi-label segmentation for obtaining much more detailed segmentation masks: instead of just obtaining a binary representation separating the human body from the background, finer segmentation masks can be obtained separating the different body parts.At a higher level of abstraction, we aim for a simpler yet descriptive representation of the human body. Human pose estimation methods usually rely on skeletal models of the human body, formed by segments (or rectangles) that represent the body limbs, appropriately connected following the kinematic constraints of the human body. In practice, such skeletal models must fulfill some constraints in order to allow  for efficient inference, while actually limiting the expressiveness of the model. In order to cope with this, we introduce a top-down approach for predicting the position of the body parts in the model, using a mid-level part representation based on Poselets.Finally, we propose a framework for gesture recognition based on the bag of visual words framework. We leverage the benefits of RGB and depth image modalities by combining modality-specific visual vocabularies in a late fusion fashion. A new rotation-variant depth descriptor is presented, yielding better results than other state-of-the-art descriptors. Moreover, spatio-temporal pyramids are used to  encode rough spatial and temporal structure. In addition, we present a probabilistic reformulation of Dynamic Time Warping for gesture segmentation in video sequences. A Gaussian-based probabilistic model of a gesture is learnt, implicitly encoding possible deformations in both spatial and time domains.
Interpreting the Structure of Single Images by Learning from Examples
Authors: Haines Osian
Published: May 2016

An important problem in computer vision is the interpretation of the content of a single image. In our work we investigated the challenging case of recovering the underlying 3D structure of a scene from a single image, by learning from trainig data. Toward this, we developed a plane detection algorithm, which is able to find planar surfaces in a single still image and estimate their orientation with respect to the camera. This comprises two parts: a plane recognition stage, to classify individual regions as being planar or not, and to estimate their orienation; followed by a Markov-random field based segmentation stage to find distinct planes in the image. We also demonstrated an application of this to visual odometry, where single-image plane detection allows structure-rich maps to be built quickly. (Please note that this abstract does not appear in the submitted article itself, since that is itself an extended thesis abstract! But the above describes the main points of our work as described in our submission.)
Multi-focus image fusion using maximum symmetric surround saliency detection
Authors: Bavirisetti Durga Prasad , Dhuli Ravindra
Published: May 2016

In digital photography, two or more objects of a scene cannot be focused at the same time. If we focus one object, we may lose information about other objects and vice versa. Multi-focus image fusion is a process of generating an all-in-focus image from several out-of-focus images.  In this paper, we propose a new multi-focus image fusion method based on two-scale image decomposition and saliency detection using maximum symmetric surround. This method is very beneficial because the saliency map used in this method can highlight the saliency information present in the source images with well defined boundaries. A weight map construction method based on saliency information is developed in this paper. This weight map can identify the focus and defocus regions present in the image very well. So we implemented a new fusion algorithm based on weight map which integrate only focused region information into the fused image. Unlike multi-scale image fusion methods, in this method two-scale image decomposition is sufficient. So, it is computationally efficient. Proposed method is tested on several multi-focus image datasets and it is compared with traditional and recently proposed fusion methods using various fusion metrics. Results justify that our proposed method outperforms the existing methods.
Fast Region-based Active Contour Model Driven by Local Signed Pressure Force
Authors: Azizi Abdallah , Elkourd Kaouther
Published: May 2016

Intensity inhomogeneity is a well-known problem in image segmentation. In this paper, we present a new region-based active contour model for image segmentation which can handle intensity inhomogeneity problem. This model introduced a new region-based signed pressure force (SPF) function, which uses the local mean values provided by the local binary fitted (LBF) model. In addition, the proposed model utilizes a new regularization operation such as morphological opening and closing to regularize the level set function in the evolution process. Experimental results on synthetic and real images show that the proposed model gives satisfactory segmentation results as well as less sensitivity to the initial contour location and less time consuming compared to the LBF model.
Why Worry about Epistemic Circularity?
Authors: Lynch Michael P. , Silva Paul ,   Philosophy Documentation Center
Published: May 2016

Although Alston believed epistemically circular arguments were able to justify their conclusions, he was also disquieted by them. We will argue that Alston was right to be disquieted. We explain Alston’s view of epistemic circularity, the considerations that led him to accept it, and the purposes he thought epistemically circular arguments could serve. We then build on some of Alston’s remarks and introduce further limits to the usefulness of such arguments and introduce a new problem that stems from those limits. The upshot is that adopting Alston’s view that epistemically circular arguments can be used to justify their conclusions is more costly than even he thought.
Digital indsamling som metode: Erfaringer fra undersøgelsen Lokaleliv.dk
Authors: Pedersen Marianne Holm
Published: May 2016

﻿The method of digital collection: Experiences from Lokaleliv.dk  Collection and research are two central purposes for the Danish Folklore Archives at the Royal Library. Like many other archives in the Nordic countries, the archive is experimenting with digital collection via the internet. In 2009-2010, the Danish Folklore Archives carried out the internet based questionnaire Lokaleliv.dk (“Local lives in Denmark”) together with a number of Danish archives and museums. The purpose of the questionnaire was to gather information about voluntary activities taking place in different local communities in Denmark and to examine how local communities come into being. The questionnaire thus focused on leisure activities and social relations among people in Denmark. It consisted of 73 questions, with the last question including the option of writing a text about one’s activities in the local area. While the questionnaire responses document a rich and varied life of local communities all over the country, it has turned out that it is difficult to analyze the collected material with regard to the questions initially posed when the project was launched. Based on the initial experiences and results from Lokaleliv.dk, the purpose of this article is to discuss some of the challenges of digital collection. It discusses conceptual and methodological issues related to the study, and it argues that one of the key challenges in working with the findings from Lokaleliv.dk is based on a discrepancy between the questions asked and the methods used.
La Direction générale de la pratique de la Société canadienne de psychologie : à la défense des intérêts de la psychologie partout au Canada
Authors: Piotrowski Andrea S.
Published: May 2016

Depuis longtemps, les organismes nationaux, provinciaux et territoriaux de défense des intérêts de la psychologie militent pour l’amélioration de l’accès aux services psychologiques au Canada. La Direction générale de la pratique (DGP) de la Société canadienne de psychologie (SCP) est composée de représentants de chaque association de psychologues vouée à la défense de la psychologie et d’un représentant de la SCP. Elle a comme mandat d’accroître l’efficience et l’efficacité des activités de représentation, en partageant de l’information et en collaborant avec les provinces et les territoires du Canada. Le présent commentaire précise les initiatives passées, présentes et futures, dirigées par la DGP par le truchement d’énoncés de politique, de campagnes, de sensibilisation du public, de sondages et de possibilités de formation visant à appuyer les activités de représentation en vue d’améliorer l’accès aux services psychologiques pour le bien de tous les Canadiens.
Collaboration médecine-psychologie : évolution des mentalités en Belgique et évolution du système de soins de santé au Canada
Authors: Chomienne Marie-Hélène , Vanneste Patrick , Grenier Jean , Hendrick Stephan
Published: May 2016

L’expertise des psychologues dans l’évaluation et la prise en charge des troubles communs de santé mentale comme l’anxiété et la dépression qui sont fréquents en soins primaires et co-morbides avec les maladies chroniques font des psychologues une ressource essentielle pour les médecins. Les psychologues représentent un large bassin de professionnels spécialisés dans le diagnostic et la pratique de la psychothérapie ; la collaboration médecins-psychologues est d’autant plus critique dans le contexte visant à augmenter l’accès des populations aux traitements psychologiques et aux psychothérapies. Cet article se veut un regard sur l’état de la collaboration entre médecins et psychologues en Belgique et au Canada. Il examine l’évolution des mentalités entre ces deux professions dans une perspective européenne belge et la façon dont le contexte et le système de soins de santé publique au Canada influencent le potentiel de collaboration entre ces deux professions. Les études démontrent la volonté et la facilité qu’ont ces deux professions à collaborer. Mais ceci doit être appuyé par des structures systémiques et académiques facilitantes notamment dans l’apprentissage précoce à la collaboration dans le cursus de ces professions.
Plaidoyer pour l’inclusion de psychologues dans les équipes de santé familiale en Ontario, Canada
Authors: Grenier Jean , Chomienne Marie-Hélène , Gaboury Isabelle
Published: May 2016

Le présent article se veut un plaidoyer pour augmenter l’accessibilité des services psychologiques au niveau des soins de santé primaires en se penchant plus particulièrement sur la pertinence d’inclure des psychologues dans les équipes de santé familiale (ÉSF) en soins primaires en Ontario.

Les auteurs présentent leur plaidoyer à partir de deux niveaux d’informations : 1) les résultats scientifiques d’un projet de démonstration financé par les Fonds pour l’adaptation des soins de santé primaires (FASSP) dans lequel des psychologues ont été intégrés à des cliniques de médecine familiale ; et 2) les commentaires, expériences et observations générales des auteurs au cours des dix dernières années en ce qui concerne l’inclusion de psychologues en soins primaires en Ontario.

Le projet de démonstration ainsi que l’expérience clinique soutenue des auteurs en santé mentale en soins primaires sont à divers égards, cohérents avec la littérature scientifique. Les équipes interprofessionnelles devraient bénéficier davantage d’une combinaison judicieuse de divers types de professionnels de la santé mentale pour répondre efficacement aux complexités des problèmes de santé mentale de la population desservie. On ne peut s’attendre à ce qu’un seul type de professionnel de la santé mentale sur une équipe soit en mesure de répondre adéquatement à tous les niveaux de complexité des problèmes rencontrés en soins primaires. En ce moment, il y a un manque à combler dans les ÉSF et les soins primaires au sens large, et il semble tout à fait logique que les psychologues soient davantage invités à joindre l’équipe.
Coûts et bénéfices d’un programme de financement des psychothérapies auprès des Français souffrant de troubles dépressifs ou anxieux
Authors: Dezetter Anne , Briffault Xavier
Published: May 2016

Les psychothérapies structurées sont des traitements des troubles dépressifs ou anxieux recommandés par les guides de bonne pratique internationaux, dont l’efficacité et l’impact positif sur la santé et les coûts, ont été largement démontrés. Toutefois en France, malgré le lourd fardeau économique que ces troubles représentent, les psychothérapies effectuées avec un psychothérapeute non-médecin ne sont pas remboursées.

L’étude vise à évaluer les coûts et bénéfices qu’un programme de prise en charge partiel des psychothérapies permettrait pour les Français souffrant de troubles dépressifs ou anxieux.

Les données sont issues d’une enquête transversale portant sur 20 777 adultes en population générale. L’évaluation économique s’est inspirée de la méthodologie du programme anglais Improving Access for Psychological Therapies adaptée à la France. Le coût de la séance a été estimé à 41 EUR, le taux de remboursement à 60 % ; les coûts annuels induits par les troubles dépressifs à 4 702 EUR, par les troubles anxieux à 1 500 EUR ; et le taux de rémission attribuable aux psychothérapies à 30 % +/-10 %.

Résultats Pour le suivi moyen de 12,1 séances, le coût du suivi psychothérapeutique annuel s’élèverait à 308 millions EUR pour le régime obligatoire, pour traiter 2,3 % de la population. Le ratio coût-bénéfice de la psychothérapie s’élèverait, pour les troubles dépressifs à 1,95 EUR (1,30-2,60) et pour les troubles anxieux à 1,14 EUR (0,76-1,52).

Financer les psychothérapies s’avère être un investissement rentable à court et long terme, d’autant plus que l’impact sur la rémission des troubles somatiques n’a pas été évalué. Le nombre de psychothérapeutes nécessaires s’avère suffisant pour cette prise en charge.
Efficacité de la psychothérapie comparativement à la pharmacothérapie dans le traitement des troubles anxieux et dépressifs chez l’adulte : une revue de la littérature
Authors: Fansi Alvine , Jehanno Cedric , Lapalme Micheline , Drapeau Martin , Bouchard Sylvie
Published: May 2016

Dans l’optique de l’amélioration d’une couverture de la psychothérapie au Québec, le ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux a confié à l’Institut national d’excellence en santé et en services sociaux le mandat d’évaluer l’efficacité de la psychothérapie comparée à la pharmacothérapie dans le traitement des adultes souffrant de troubles anxieux et dépressifs. Une mise à jour d’une revue de la littérature récente et de bonne qualité a été effectuée grâce à une revue des revues systématiques traitant de la psychothérapie comparée à la pharmacothérapie dans le traitement des adultes anxieux et dépressifs avec un horizon temporel compris entre 2009 et 2013. Le niveau de l’ensemble de la preuve scientifique permet de dire que de manière générale, il n’y a pas de différence significative entre la psychothérapie et la pharmacothérapie sur le plan de la réduction des symptômes des patients souffrant de troubles anxieux ou dépressifs modérés, ce qui indique une efficacité comparable de ces deux modes de traitement. Cependant, les avantages de la psychothérapie sont maintenus plus longtemps après la fin du traitement que ceux des médicaments. La psychothérapie offre donc une meilleure protection contre la rechute. Par ailleurs, la combinaison de la psychothérapie et de la pharmacothérapie présente une efficacité supérieure à celle de la psychothérapie seule dans les cas chroniques ou graves.
La formation aux psychothérapies des internes en psychiatrie en France : résultats d’une analyse qualitative
Authors: Van Effenterre Aude , Azoulay Marion , Briffault Xavier , Dezetter Anne , Champion Françoise
Published: May 2016

Objectif Connaître l’opinion des internes en psychiatrie sur la qualité perçue de leur formation aux psychothérapies et leurs souhaits de formation.

Méthode Une enquête en deux volets, quantitative et qualitative a été effectuée auprès de 869 internes sur 1 334 inscrits au Diplôme d’Etudes Spécialisées en psychiatrie pour l’année 2009-2010. Cinq thématiques ont été abordées dans les deux volets : formation théorique universitaire, psychanalyse, formation extra-universitaire, supervision, souhaits de formation. Cet article présente les résultats de l’enquête sociologique qualitative qui a été réalisée par entretiens semi-directifs auprès de 27 internes. L’enquête questionnait en détail leurs conceptions et pratiques des psychothérapies et la place qu’ils leur donnent dans l’exercice de la psychiatrie.

Résultats La grande majorité des internes est intéressée par la psychothérapie tout en considérant sa formation insatisfaisante. Un interne sur deux opte pour des formations extra-universitaires, coûteuses en temps et en finances. Les orientations et méthodes psychothérapeutiques choisies sont diverses, parce que cette diversité est considérée comme une richesse et pour une bonne pratique de la psychiatrie. Ils conçoivent la psychothérapie comme une pratique médicale, estimant qu’il est de la responsabilité de la psychiatrie d’assurer la formation aux psychothérapies.

Conclusion L’absence de véritable formation aux psychothérapies des internes en psychiatrie est un préjudice pour la qualité des soins en psychiatrie. La création récente d’un titre protégé de psychothérapeute auquel les psychiatres peuvent prétendre de droit, sans formation additionnelle, appelle d’urgence l’élaboration d’une formation. Une proposition des auteurs devrait être discutée en relation avec les réflexions déjà menées ou en cours dans d’autres pays.
La thérapie informatisée : une option pouvant faciliter l’accès à la thérapie chez les jeunes adultes ?
Authors: Talbot France , LeBlanc Josée , Jbilou Jalila
Published: May 2016

Introduction Les jeunes adultes ont, au Canada, les plus hauts taux de prévalence de l’anxiété et de la dépression, et sont aussi ceux qui utilisent le moins les services traditionnels de santé mentale. Faciliter l’accès à la thérapie chez les jeunes est ainsi particulièrement important, et ce, encore davantage dans les régions canadiennes plus rurales et auprès des minorités linguistiques. La thérapie informatisée pourrait être une option.

Objectifs Cette étude vise à évaluer jusqu’à quel point l’autostigmatisation, un besoin d’autonomie et les attitudes face à la thérapie informatisée permettent de prédire l’intention d’utiliser cette thérapie chez de jeunes adultes francophones. L’impact de la visite du site Web d’une clinique virtuelle sur cette intention a également été évalué.

Méthode Quarante-quatre étudiants fréquentant une université francophone du Nouveau-Brunswick ont complété, en ligne, des mesures autorapportées avant et suite à la visite du site Web de la clinique virtuelle MindSpot, en Australie, qui offre des thérapies informatisées.

Résultats Une séquence de corrélations significatives entre les variables étudiées est observée, mais seules des attitudes plus positives à l’égard de la thérapie informatisée sont directement corrélées à une plus grande intention de l’utiliser. La visite du site Web a produit une augmentation significative et importante de l’intention d’utiliser la thérapie informatisée.

Conclusions La thérapie informatisée pourrait faciliter l’accès aux traitements fondés sur les données probantes du stress, de l’anxiété et de la dépression chez les jeunes adultes francophones du Nouveau-Brunswick, voir d’autres parties du Canada. Cette approche demeure peu répandue encore à travers le pays.
Single/Dual-Polarized Infrared Rectenna for Solar Energy Harvesting
Authors: Zainud-Deen S. H. , Eltresy N. A. , Malhat H. A. , Awadalla K. H.
Published: May 2016

Single and dual linearly-polarized receiving mode nanoantennas are designed for solar energy harvesting at 28.3 THz. The infrared rectennas are used to harvest the solar energy and converting it to electrical energy.  The proposed infrared rectenna is a thin dipole made of gold and printed on a silicon dioxide substrate. Different shapes of the dipole arms have been investigated for maximum collected energy. The two poles of the dipole have been determined in a rectangular, circular and rhombus shapes. The rectenna dipole is used to concentrate the electromagnetic energy into a small localized area at the inner tips of the gap between the dipole arms. The dimensions of the different dipole shapes are optimized for maximum near electric field intensity at a frequency of 28.3 THz. A Metal Insulator Metal (MIM) diode is incorporated with the nanoantenna dipole to rectify the received energy. The receiving efficiency of the solar energy collector with integrated MIM diode has been investigated. A dual-polarized, four arms, rhombus shaped nanoantenna dipole for solar energy harvesting has been designed and optimized for 28.3 THz applications.
Stepwise tailward retreat of magnetic reconnection: THEMIS observations of an auroral substorm
Authors: Ieda A. , Nishimura Y. , Miyashita Y. , Angelopoulos V. , Runov A. , Nagai T. , Frey H. U. , Fairfield D. H. , Slavin J. A. , Vanhamäki H. , Uchino H. , Fujii R. , Miyoshi Y. , Machida S.
Published: May 2016

Auroral stepwise poleward expansions were clarified by investigating a multiple‐onset substorm that occurred on 27 February 2009. Five successive auroral brightenings were identified in all‐sky images, occurring at approximately 10 min intervals. The first brightening was a faint precursor. The second brightening had a wide longitude; thus, it represented the Akasofu substorm onset. Other brightenings expanded poleward; thus, they were interpreted to be auroral breakups. These breakups occurred stepwise; that is, later breakups were initiated at higher latitudes. Corresponding reconnection signatures were studied using Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS) satellite observations between 8 and 24 RE down the magnetotail. The Akasofu substorm onset was not accompanied by a clear reconnection signature in the tail. In contrast, the three subsequent auroral breakups occurred simultaneously (within a few minutes) with three successive fast flows at 24 RE; thus, these were interpreted to be associated with impulsive reconnection episodes. These three fast flows consisted of a tailward flow and two subsequent earthward flows. The flow reversal at the second breakup indicated that a tailward retreat of the near‐Earth reconnection site occurred during the substorm expansion phase. In addition, the earthward flow at the third breakup was consistent with the classic tailward retreat near the end of the expansion phase; therefore, the tailward retreat is likely to have occurred in a stepwise manner. We interpreted the stepwise characteristics of the tailward retreat and poleward expansion to be potentially associated by a stepwise magnetic flux pileup.