Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / The objectives: 1. To compare the flexural strength, flexural modulus, and fracture toughness of specimens fabricated from recently marketed translucent full-contour zirconia, traditional zirconia, and lithium disilicate glass ceramic. 2. To compare the load-to-failure of crowns fabricated from recently marketed translucent full-contour zirconia, traditional zirconia, and lithium disilicate glass ceramic at their recommended tooth-reduction thickness. Methodology: Four groups of translucent zirconia (BruxZir, KDZ Bruxer, CAP FZ, Suntech zirconia), one group of traditional zirconia (CAP QZ) and IPS e.maxCAD) were tested. Twelve bars of each material were made and tested for flexural strength, and fracture toughness. Fracture patterns were imaged under SEM. Forty-eight crowns (8 from each group) were fabricated with CAD/CAM technique following manufacturers’ recommendations for the amount of tooth reduction. All the crowns were cemented to prepared epoxy resin dies with RelyX Unicem and tested for static load to failure in a universal machine. Result: In bar-shape samples, CAP QZ (traditional zirconia) showed the highest flexural strength (788.12 MPa), fracture toughness (6.85 MPa.m1/2), and fracture resistance (2489.8 N). All translucent zirconia groups show lower mechanical properties than QZ. However, there were no differences between translucent and traditional zirconia in the fracture resistance of the crown-shape samples. There was no significant difference in fracture resistance between IPS e.max crowns at recommended thickness and other zirconia crowns at recommended thickness. Conclusion: With less reduction of tooth structure, a high inherent strength and chip resistance make full-zirconia crowns a good alternative to porcelain-fused-to-metal crowns and all other ceramic crowns.

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Background:The dynamic field of computer vision and artificial intelligence has continually evolved, pushing the boundaries in areas like semantic segmentation andenvironmental recognition, pivotal for indoor scene analysis. This research investigates the integration of these two technologies, examining their synergy and implicayions for enhancing indoor scene understanding. The application of this integrationspans across various domains, including smart home systems for enhanced ambientliving, navigation assistance for Cleaning robots, and advanced surveillance for security. Objectives: The primary goal is to assess the impact of integrating semantic segmentation data on the accuracy of environmental recognition algorithms in indoor environments. Additionally, the study explores how environmental context can enhance the precision and accuracy of contour-aware semantic segmentation. Methods: The research employed an extensive methodology, utilizing various machine learning models, including standard algorithms, Long Short-Term Memorynetworks, and ensemble methods. Transfer learning with models like EfficientNet B3, MobileNetV3 and Vision Tranformer was a key aspect of the experimentation. The experiments were designed to measure the effect of semantic segmentation on environmental recognition and its reciprocal influence. Results: The findings indicated that the integration of semantic segmentation data significantly enhanced the accuracy of environmental recognition algorithms. Conversely, incorporating environmental context into contour-aware semantic segmentation led to notable improvements in precision and accuracy, reflected in metrics such as Mean Intersection over Union(MIoU). Conclusion: This research underscores the mutual enhancement between semantic segmentation and environmental recognition, demonstrating how each technology significantly boosts the effectiveness of the other in indoor scene analysis. The integration of semantic segmentation data notably elevates the accuracy of environmental recognition algorithms, while the incorporation of environmental context into contour-aware semantic segmentation substantially improves its precision and accuracy.The results also open avenues for advancements in automated annotation processes, paving the way for smarter environmental interaction.

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<p>This study argues that the observed-over-expected ratio, or O/E, is an inadequate metric for measuring the strength of consonant co-occurrence in Similar Place Avoidance. I advocate for the use of Yule's Q, an odds ratio based statistic that is not influenced by the relative proportions of labials, coronals, and dorsals in the dataset. This position is advanced on general statistical and linguistic considerations as well as through the analysis of empirical data from 32 languages. </p> <p><br></p> <p>Parallel typological analyses are conducted using O/E and Yule's Q. Cross-linguistic comparisons using O/E suggest that CVC sequences with two coronals are the least marked of the homorganic pairs. The same analysis using Yule's Q suggests any place of articulation may be the least/most marked in a given language; there are no cross-linguistic preferences. The disagreement between the two statistics can be accounted for by the fact that O/E is sensitive to the margin totals: coronals only appear to pattern separately from the labials and dorsals in the O/E analysis because they are considerably more frequent than are labial and dorsal segments.</p> <p><br></p> <p>To advance the use of Yule's Q in the study of Similar Place Avoidance, the paper provides guidance on constructing confidence intervals, measuring/interpreting effect size, and appropriate use of significance testing. Two case studies on aspects of Similar Place Avoidance in Latin and Medieval Castilian illustrate the proposed methodology.</p>

Notre thèse focalise sur une analyse phonostylistique du discours politique oral de M. Dominique de Villepin. Une étude qui aborde les variations de son style vocal dans plusieurs de ces discours oraux, d'une manière qui nous permet d'analyser les éléments discursifs et prosodiques tout au long de ses discours politiques. L'étude portera sur le double codage (linguistique et paralinguistique) caché derrière ses propos politiques. Notre corpus d'étude est l'ensemble d'échantillons tirés d'entretien, débat, conférence, interview. Cette étude, par ailleurs, soulève sa compétence discursive et communicationnelle manifestée quant à l'emploi des unités linguistiques, prosodiques, et discursive perçus comme un rôle praxéologique de pratiques sociales, politiques et de l'expérience dans son discours. Au niveau discursif, l'étude analyse des éléments pragmatiques tels que le tour de la parole les temps verbaux et les effets persuasifs. Au niveau phonostylistique, plusieurs phénomènes prosodiques de valeurs phonostylistiques (intonation, mélodie, accent et pause) seront analysés à l'aide du logiciel Praat pour connaître les différentes rôles pragmatiques et énonciatives en termes de stratégie de persuasion de cet homme politique. La thèse consiste à démontrer le rôle de ces phénomènes prosodiques dans l'établissement des informations nouvelles capables de transmettre un deuxième message vocal à son public. Ce message phonostylistique, qui renforce le premier message discursif des forces illocutoires, rajoute au style de Dominique de Villepin un nouveau procédé d'influence et de convaincre sur un public auditoire. / This thesis studies the phonostylistical analysis of Mr. Dominique de Villepin's political oral discourse. A study which requires several of his vocal style in his different oral speeches in a way that allows us to analyze the discourse and prosodic elements throughout his political speeches. The study will focus on the dual coding (linguistic and paralinguistic) hidden behind his political purposes. The corpus of study is the set of samples taken from his different speeches: debate, conference, interviews. This study also rises to explain his discursive and communicative competence which is manifested by using linguistic, prosodic and discursive units in order to disclose the praxeological role of social practices, political roles and the role of experience in his speeches. Concerning the discursive level, the present study aims to analyze the pragmatic elements such as the tour of speech and verbal and persuasive effects. Concerning the phonostylistical level, several of phonostylistic phenomena which have prosodic values (intonation, melody, accent and pause) are analyzed under the Praat software to identify different pragmatic and enunciative roles in terms of persuasive strategy of this political man. The thesis is to demonstrate the role of prosodic phenomena in the establishment of new information, capable of transmitting a second vocal message to his audience. This phonostylistical message, which supports the first message carried through discursive illocutionary forces, adds to the style of Dominique de Villepin a new method to influence and persuade the public audience

La reconstruction 3D monoculaire déformable est le problème général d'estimation de forme 3D d'un objet déformable à partir d'images 2D. Plusieurs scénarios ont émergé : le Shape-from-Template (SfT) et le Non-Rigid Structure-from-Motion (NRSfM) sont deux approches qui ont été grandement étudiées pour leur applicabilité. La première utilise une seule image qui montre un objet se déformant et un patron (une forme 3D texturée de l'objet dans une pose de référence). La seconde n'utilise pas de patron, mais utilise plusieurs images et estime la forme 3D dans chaque image. Les deux approches s'appuient sur le mouvement de points de correspondances entre les images et sur des a priori de déformations, restreignant ainsi leur utilisation à des surfaces texturées qui se déforment de manière lisse. Cette thèse fait avancer l'état de l'art du SfT et du NRSfM dans deux directions. La première est l'étude du SfT dans le cas de patrons 1D (c’est-à-dire des courbes comme des cordes et des câbles). La seconde direction est le développement d'algorithmes de SfT et de NRSfM qui exploitent plusieurs indices visuels et qui résolvent des cas réels et complexes non-résolus précédemment. Nous considérons des déformations isométriques et reconstruisons la partie extérieure de l'objet. Les contributions techniques et scientifiques de cette thèse sont divisées en quatre parties.La première partie de cette thèse étudie le SfT curvilinéaire, qui est le cas du patron curvilinéaire plongé dans un espace 2D ou 3D. Nous proposons une analyse théorique approfondie et des solutions pratiques pour le SfT curvilinéaire. Malgré son apparente simplicité, le SfT curvilinéaire s'est avéré être un problème complexe : il ne peut pas être résolu à l'aide de solutions locales non-holonomes d'une équation différentielle ordinaire et ne possède pas de solution unique, mais un nombre fini de solutions ambiguës. Une contribution technique majeure est un algorithme basé sur notre théorie, qui génère toutes les solutions ambiguës. La deuxième partie de cette thèse traite d'une limitation des méthodes de SfT : la reconstruction de plis. Cette limitation vient de la parcimonie de la contrainte de mouvement et de la régularisation. Nous proposons deux contributions qui s'appuient sur un cadre de minimisation d'énergie non-convexe. Tout d'abord, nous complétons la contrainte de mouvement avec une contrainte robuste de bord. Ensuite, nous modélisons implicitement les plis à l'aide d'une représentation dense de la surface basée maillage et d'une contrainte robuste de lissage qui désactive automatiquement le lissage de la courbure sans connaître a priori la position des plis.La troisième partie de cette thèse est dédiée à une autre limitation du SfT : la reconstruction de surfaces peu texturées. Cette limitation vient de la difficulté d'obtenir des correspondances (parcimonieuses ou denses) sur des surfaces peu texturées. Comme l'ombrage révèle les détails sur des surfaces peu texturées, nous proposons de combiner l'ombrage avec le SfT. Nous présentons deux contributions. La première est une initialisation en cascade qui estime séquentiellement la déformation de la surface, l'illumination de la scène, la réponse de la caméra et enfin les albédos de la surface à partir d'images monoculaires où la surface se déforme. La seconde est l'intégration de l'ombrage à notre précédent cadre de minimisation d'énergie afin de raffiner simultanément les paramètres photométriques et de déformation.La dernière partie de cette thèse relâche la connaissance du patron et aborde deux limitations du NRSfM : la reconstruction de surfaces peu texturées avec des plis. Une contribution majeure est l'extension du second cadre d'optimisation pour la reconstruction conjointe de la forme 3D de la surface sur toutes les images d'entrée et des albédos de la surface sans en connaître un patron. / Monocular deformable 3D reconstruction is the general problem of recovering the 3D shape of a deformable object from monocular 2D images. Several scenarios have emerged: the Shape-from-Template (SfT) and the Non-Rigid Structure-from-Motion (NRSfM) are two approaches intensively studied for their practicability. The former uses a single image depicting the deforming object and a template (a textured 3D shape of this object in a reference pose). The latter does not use a template, but uses several images and recovers the 3D shape in each image. Both approaches rely on the motion of correspondences between the images and deformation priors, which restrict their use to well-textured surfaces which deform smoothly. This thesis advances the state-of-the-art in SfT and NRSfM in two main directions. The first direction is to study SfT for the case of 1D templates (i.e. curved, thin structures such as ropes and cables). The second direction is to develop algorithms in SfT and NRSfM that exploit multiple visual cues and can solve complex, real-world cases which were previously unsolved. We focus on isometric deformations and reconstruct the outer part of the object. The technical and scientific contributions of this thesis are divided into four parts. The first part of this thesis studies the case of a curvilinear template embedded in 2D or 3D space, referred to Curve SfT. We propose a thorough theoretical analysis and practical solutions for Curve SfT. Despite its apparent simplicity, Curve SfT appears to be a complex problem: it cannot be solved locally using exact non-holonomic partial differential equation and is only solvable up to a finite number of ambiguous solutions. A major technical contribution is a computational solution based on our theory, which generates all the ambiguous solutions.The second part of this thesis deals with a limitation of SfT methods: reconstructing creases. This is due to the sparsity of the motion constraint and regularization. We propose two contributions which rely on a non-convex energy minimization framework. First, we complement the motion constraint with a robust boundary contour constraint. Second, we implicitly model creases with a dense mesh-based surface representation and an associated robust smoothing constraint, which deactivates curvature smoothing automatically where needed, without knowing a priori the crease location. The third part of this thesis is dedicated to another limitation of SfT: reconstructing poorly-textured surfaces. This is due to correspondences which cannot be obtained so easily on poorly-textured surfaces (either sparse or dense). As shading reveals details on poorly-textured surfaces, we propose to combine shading and SfT. We have two contributions. The first is a cascaded initialization which estimates sequentially the surface's deformation, the scene illumination, the camera response and then the surface albedos from deformed monocular images. The second is to integrate shading to our previous energy minimization framework for simultaneously refining deformation and photometric parameters.The last part of this thesis relaxes the knowledge of the template and addresses two limitations of NRSfM: reconstructing poorly-textured surfaces with creases. Our major contribution is an extension of the second framework to recover jointly the 3D shapes of all input images and the surface albedos without any template.

La thèse se répartit en deux tomes. Les quadriconsonantiques forment deux groupes de radicaux distincts, à savoir : les radicaux de forme ABAB et les radicaux de forme ABCD. L’analyse de ces radicaux, en appliquant la TME (Théorie, Matrice, Etymon) élaborée par G. Bohas, permet de définir leur fonctionnement aux plans sémantique, sémantico phonétique et structurel. La première partie Tome 1 analyse les quadriconsonantiques de forme ABAB. La deuxième partie Tome 2 est consacrée aux quadriconsonantiques de forme ABCD.Concernant les radicaux ABAB, dont la structure est issue d’un redoublement de l’unique étymon AB, le travail d’analyse va plus s’orienter sur la sémantique. Il est démontré que le redoublement ne s’accompagne pas d’une modification sémantique systématique, contrairement à ce que l’on observe dans les parlers d’orient et d’occident.La deuxième partie de la thèse, Tome 2, dans les mêmes conditions que précédemment, étudie les radicaux ABCD dans le cadre de la TME en prenant en compte la contrainte phonétique formulée par Angoujard (1997), notée : CPA. L’objectif est de déterminer leur mode de fonctionnement tant sur le plan structurel que sur le plan sémantico phonétique. L’étude de ces radicaux ABCD ne se limite pas uniquement à montrer le fonctionnement structurel des radicaux mais établit une relation entre la TME de Bohas et la CPA d’Angoujard. / The thesis is divided into two volumes. Quadri-consonant groups form two distinct sets of radicals: ABAB and ABCD pattern radicals. Applying the Theory of Matrices and Etymons (TME) elaborated by Georges Bohas to the analysis of these radicals enables their functioning at the semantic, semantic-phonetic and structural levels to be defined.The first part which constitutes Volume 1 consists in the analysis of ABAB pattern quadric-consonant groups while the second part contained in Volume 2 is devoted to ABCD pattern quadric-consonant groups. In the study of the ABAB pattern radicals, the structure of which is the result of a reduplication of the single AB etymon, the analytical work focuses more on semantics. The analysis demonstrates that reduplication is not accompanied by a systematic semantic modification, contrary to what may be observed in eastern and western dialects.Under the same conditions, the second part of the thesis, Volume 2, consists in a study of ABCD pattern radicals which employs the framework of TME while also taking into consideration the phonetic constraints formulated by Angoujard (1997): CPA. The objective is to determine the modes of functioning of the ABCD pattern radicals on both the structural and semantic-phonetic levels. The study of these ABCD pattern radicals is not merely restricted to demonstrating the structural functioning of these radicals but also establishes a relationship between TME elaborated by Bohas and Angoujard’s CPA.