La ciudadanía: ¿sociedad de iguales? Sufragio universal y pobreza en el Perú, 1978-2011

This article aims at understanding the particularity of the poor’s vote at the Peruvian presidential elections, from the democratic transition in 1978 to the election of President Ollanta Humala in 2011. Based on mapping and statistics, the analysis presents the trends in participation. It unveils the specificity of the vote in the poorest areas, first under the system of political parties in the 1980s, and then under the candidate’s more personal relationship to the population. It reveals the progressive opposition of the vote of the poor districts of Lima on the one hand, and of the underpriviledged provinces of the Andes on the other hand. It shows the growing awareness of the poor electorate as regards the candidates individuality and, more recently, as regards their ethnicity.Este artículo tiene por objeto entender la particularidad del voto de los pobres en las elecciones presidenciales peruanas, desde la transición democrática en 1978 hasta la elección del presidente Ollanta Humala en 2011. Haciendo uso de la cartografía y de las estadísticas, el análisis presenta las tendencias de la participación. Presenta también las especificidades del voto de las zonas más pobres, primero dentro del sistema de partidos políticos en la década de 1980, y luego en una relación más personal del candidato con la población. Revela la oposición progresiva de los votos de los distritos pobres de Lima por una parte y de provincias pobres y muy pobres de los Andes por otra parte. Este artículo demuestra la creciente conciencia de los electores pobres en cuanto al candidato como individual y, más recientemente, en cuanto a su origen étnico

Voto y pobreza en las elecciones presidenciales desde la transición democrática peruana: ¿puede la democracia estar al servicio del bienestar de las mayorías?

La tesis de Alexis de Tocqueville según la cual «el voto universal otorga realmente el gobierno de la sociedad a los pobres» (Tocqueville, 1981: 300) cobra todo su sentido en un país mayoritariamente pobre como lo es Perú cuando se instaura el sufragio universal y que la Asamblea Constituyente, elegida por sufragio universal en 1978, da por primera vez el derecho de voto a los analfabetos. Sin embargo, si el gobierno de la sociedad corresponde a los pobres a través del sufragio universal, ent..

PEFSL: A deployment Pipeline for Embedded Few-Shot Learning on a FPGA SoC

This paper tackles the challenges of implementing few-shot learning on embedded systems, specifically FPGA SoCs, a vital approach for adapting to diverse classification tasks, especially when the costs of data acquisition or labeling prove to be prohibitively high. Our contributions encompass the development of an end-to-end open-source pipeline for a few-shot learning platform for object classification on a FPGA SoCs. The pipeline is built on top of the Tensil open-source framework, facilitating the design, training, evaluation, and deployment of DNN backbones tailored for few-shot learning. Additionally, we showcase our work's potential by building and deploying a low-power, low-latency demonstrator trained on the MiniImageNet dataset with a dataflow architecture. The proposed system has a latency of 30 ms while consuming 6.2 W on the PYNQ-Z1 board

Variability in Grasp Type Distinction for Myoelectric Prosthesis Control Using a Non-Invasive Brain-Machine Interface

Decoding multiple movements from the same limb using electroencephalographic (EEG) activity is a key challenge with applications for controlling prostheses in upper-limb amputees. This study investigates the classification of four hand movements to control a modified Myobock prosthesis via EEG signals. We report results from three EEG recording sessions involving four amputees and twenty able-bodied subjects performing four grasp movements under three conditions: Motor Execution (ME), Motor Imagery (MI), and Motor Observation (MO). EEG preprocessing was followed by feature extraction using Common Spatial Patterns (CSP), Wavelet Decomposition (WD), and Riemannian Geometry. Various classification algorithms were applied to decode EEG signals, and a metric assessed pattern separability. We evaluated system performance across different electrode combinations and compared it to the original setup. Our results show that distinguishing movement from no movement achieved 100% accuracy, while classification between movements reached 70-90%. No significant differences were found between recording conditions in classification performance. Able-bodied participants outperformed amputees, but there were no significant differences in Motor Imagery. Performance did not improve across the sessions, and there was considerable variability in EEG pattern distinction. Reducing the number of electrodes by half led to only a 2% average accuracy drop. These results provide insights into developing wearable brain-machine interfaces, particularly for electrode optimization and training in grasp movement classification

The evolving SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Africa: Insights from rapidly expanding genomic surveillance.

Investment in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) sequencing in Africa over the past year has led to a major increase in the number of sequences that have been generated and used to track the pandemic on the continent, a number that now exceeds 100,000 genomes. Our results show an increase in the number of African countries that are able to sequence domestically and highlight that local sequencing enables faster turnaround times and more-regular routine surveillance. Despite limitations of low testing proportions, findings from this genomic surveillance study underscore the heterogeneous nature of the pandemic and illuminate the distinct dispersal dynamics of variants of concern-particularly Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron-on the continent. Sustained investment for diagnostics and genomic surveillance in Africa is needed as the virus continues to evolve while the continent faces many emerging and reemerging infectious disease threats. These investments are crucial for pandemic preparedness and response and will serve the health of the continent well into the 21st century

The evolving SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Africa: Insights from rapidly expanding genomic surveillance

INTRODUCTION Investment in Africa over the past year with regard to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) sequencing has led to a massive increase in the number of sequences, which, to date, exceeds 100,000 sequences generated to track the pandemic on the continent. These sequences have profoundly affected how public health officials in Africa have navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. RATIONALE We demonstrate how the first 100,000 SARS-CoV-2 sequences from Africa have helped monitor the epidemic on the continent, how genomic surveillance expanded over the course of the pandemic, and how we adapted our sequencing methods to deal with an evolving virus. Finally, we also examine how viral lineages have spread across the continent in a phylogeographic framework to gain insights into the underlying temporal and spatial transmission dynamics for several variants of concern (VOCs). RESULTS Our results indicate that the number of countries in Africa that can sequence the virus within their own borders is growing and that this is coupled with a shorter turnaround time from the time of sampling to sequence submission. Ongoing evolution necessitated the continual updating of primer sets, and, as a result, eight primer sets were designed in tandem with viral evolution and used to ensure effective sequencing of the virus. The pandemic unfolded through multiple waves of infection that were each driven by distinct genetic lineages, with B.1-like ancestral strains associated with the first pandemic wave of infections in 2020. Successive waves on the continent were fueled by different VOCs, with Alpha and Beta cocirculating in distinct spatial patterns during the second wave and Delta and Omicron affecting the whole continent during the third and fourth waves, respectively. Phylogeographic reconstruction points toward distinct differences in viral importation and exportation patterns associated with the Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron variants and subvariants, when considering both Africa versus the rest of the world and viral dissemination within the continent. Our epidemiological and phylogenetic inferences therefore underscore the heterogeneous nature of the pandemic on the continent and highlight key insights and challenges, for instance, recognizing the limitations of low testing proportions. We also highlight the early warning capacity that genomic surveillance in Africa has had for the rest of the world with the detection of new lineages and variants, the most recent being the characterization of various Omicron subvariants. CONCLUSION Sustained investment for diagnostics and genomic surveillance in Africa is needed as the virus continues to evolve. This is important not only to help combat SARS-CoV-2 on the continent but also because it can be used as a platform to help address the many emerging and reemerging infectious disease threats in Africa. In particular, capacity building for local sequencing within countries or within the continent should be prioritized because this is generally associated with shorter turnaround times, providing the most benefit to local public health authorities tasked with pandemic response and mitigation and allowing for the fastest reaction to localized outbreaks. These investments are crucial for pandemic preparedness and response and will serve the health of the continent well into the 21st century

Unloading knee braces in the management of knee osteoarthritis: A literature review

IntroductionOsteoarthritis is the eleventh cause of years lived with disability. The non-pharmacological care management of knee osteoarthritis is of major importance according to the international published recommendations (OARSI, EULAR); unloading knee braces are functional devices designed to decrease load across the knee.MethodsWe performed a literature review from Medline database until September 2014. Papers in English and in French have been selected and analyzed if they studied clinical and biomechanical effects of unloading knee braces. The key terms included: “osteoarthritis, knee osteoarthritis, braces, knee braces”. The references mentioned in these papers have been screened.ResultsTwenty-four studies have been selected, two of them were randomized controlled clinical trials, with a total number of patients of 665 (mean age: 57.5 years, 177 women). GII Unloader® Knee Brace was the most used (10/24). Seventeen trials investigated the effects on pain, function and disability. VAS-pain and WOMAC were significantly improved. Walking speed increase has been reported in two studies. Effects on proprioception seemed to be positive and two studies reported a decrease of muscular co-contraction. Seven trials showed a decrease of the external knee adduction moment. A decrease of varus angulation and an increase of condylar separation have been reported. We noticed a poor compliance due to the large volume of the brace and just one case of deep venous thrombosis has been shown.Discussion/conclusionFew studies were controlled and randomized, and methodological quality was weak in lot of them. Biomechanical effects of the unloading knee braces remain unclear. It would be interesting to evaluate their effect on the osteoarthritis disease progression

Synthèse et fonctionnalisation du motif pyridine-[b]-bicyclique

Bicyclic unsaturated structures containing one or more nitrogen atom appear in a widerange of organic compounds. In particular, the [b]-fused pyridine is a frequent structural motif,with striking biological activities. However, there is still a lack for general methods, withrespect to the reaction conditions or the scope. In order to override these limitations, a newsynthetic procedure for preparation of the pyridine ring starting from ß–aminoacrylonitrile isproposed. This procedure relies on a trichloromethyl-activated alkene.The reactivity of pyrazolo[3,4-b]pyridine, a subclass of [b]-fused pyridine, have beeninvestigated. Some late-stage functionnalization have been developped, relying on palladiumcatalyzed chemistry. Three positions of the pyrazolopyridine core have been arylated, thusgiving access to new structuresUne multitude de composés organiques présente une structure bicyclique azotée insaturée.Parmi ceux-ci, le motif pyridine-[b]-bicyclique est extrêmement fréquent, et se compose d’unepyridine accolée à un autre cycle aromatique. Cependant, les méthodes de synthèse de cescomposés sont aujourd’hui encore trop spécifiques. Les conditions réactionnelles ne sont pastoujours utilisables, ou ne permettent pas de préparer certains produits spécifiques. Afin des’affranchir de ces limitations, une nouvelle méthode de construction du cycle pyridine à partirdu motif ß–aminoacrylonitrile est proposée dans ce manuscrit, utilisant un alcène activé par unmotif trichlorométhyle.Outre la préparation de ces pyridines-[b]-bicycliques, la réactivité des pyrazolo[3,4-b]pyridines a été étudiée. Des réactions de fonctionnalisation de fin de synthèse ont étédéveloppées, qui exploitent des procédures basées sur la chimie du palladium. Trois positionsdes pyrazolopyridines ont pu être arylées, permettant d’accéder à de nouveaux composé