Hi-Vision Research Articles

Ideas and Values of the "Yellow Vests" Movement in France

The "yellow vests" movement that stirred up France in November 2018 was a complete surprise not only for its leaders, but also for the whole world. Spontaneously arising in the depths of social networks from a simple petition for refusing to raise taxes on petroleum products, the horizontal, decentralized association of ordinary citizens has become the largest social protest movement since the student unrest of 1968 and the longest in the history of the Fifth Republic. It made it possible to reveal serious problems in the social organism of the country, about which it was not customary to speak publicly before, and to begin to conduct a comprehensive dialogue on them. It also created a new symbol of the struggle of the grassroots of society for social justice - the yellow vest, which has already acquired an international status. This work is devoted to the study of the ideas and values of the "yellow vests" movement in France. Based on the analysis of a wide range of scientific literature, the results of sociological surveys, statistical data and media materials, an attempt is made to identify and describe the ideas and values of the "yellow vests" movement. Achieving this goal allowed us to get an idea of what motivated people who regularly went to protest rallies in 2018 - 2019. The results of the study can be useful both in the study of modern social protest movements and for conducting a general assessment of the French domestic political situation during the current "five-year plan".

The Influence of Different Ultrasonic Machines on Radiomics Models in Prediction Lymph Node Metastasis for Patients with Cervical Cancer.

Objective To investigate the effects of different ultrasonic machines on the performance of radiomics models using ultrasound (US) images in the prediction of lymph node metastasis (LNM) for patients with cervical cancer (CC) preoperatively. Methods A total of 536 CC patients with confirmed histological characteristics and lymph node status after radical hysterectomy and pelvic lymphadenectomy were enrolled. Radiomics features were extracted and selected with US images acquired with ATL HDI5000, Voluson E8, MyLab classC, ACUSON S2000, and HI VISION Preirus to build radiomics models for LNM prediction using support vector machine (SVM) and logistic regression, respectively. Results There were 148 patients (training vs validation: 102:46) scanned in machine HDI5000, 75 patients (53:22) in machine Voluson E8, 100 patients (69:31) in machine MyLab classC, 110 patients (76:34) in machine ACUSON S2000, and 103 patients (73:30) in machine HI VISION Preirus, respectively. Few radiomics features were reproducible among different machines. The area under the curves (AUCs) ranged from 0.75 to 0.86, 0.73 to 0.86 in the training cohorts, and from 0.71 to 0.82, 0.70 to 0.80 in the validation cohorts for SVM and logistic regression models, respectively. The highest difference in AUCs for different machines reaches 17.8% and 15.5% in the training and validation cohorts, respectively. Conclusions The performance of radiomics model is dependent on the type of scanner. The problem of scanner dependency on radiomics features should be considered, and their effects should be minimized in future studies for US images.

Operation «Barkhan»: An inglorious end?

In June 2021, French President Emmanuel Macron announced the forthcoming withdrawal of troops from the states of the Sahel and termination of Operation «Barkhan». It was initiated in 2014 towards to battle with Islamic terrorism in Africa. The theater of war has spread to the five states of the Sahel - Mali, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad. The actions of the expeditionary force were not successful. The presence of French troops in the region caused growing discontent among Africans. It became obvious that they were not here to fight terrorism, but to protect French interests in West Africa. Military-political crisis 2020-2021 in Mali, the removal of President I.B. Keita from power in this country has changed the attitude of the French towards what is happening in the Sahel. E.Macron was unable to attract the EU countries to participate actively in hostilities against Islamists and separatists in West Africa. In the context of the crisis caused by the COVD-19 pandemic, the growth of protest actions of the «yellow vests», criticism of his policy from political opponents, the French president decided to withdraw troops from the Sahel. In addition, Macron sends a signal to the leaders of the countries belonging to the military-political alliance G5 Sahel: you hold on to power as long as you rely on French bayonets. Finally, he hopes to boost his rating on the eve of the election in 2022.

Влияние пандемии коронавируса на экономику и внутриполитическую борьбу во Франции

The article examines the modalities of the French authorities’ fight against the coronavirus pandemic, as well as the impact of the latter on the economic and political situation in the country. As in many other countries, President E. Macron and the government were forced to maneuver between the need to save lives, avoid an excessive burden on the health care system and prevent a catastrophic deterioration in the economy. The head of state, in addition, had to think about the prospects for his re-election in the presidential elections in 2022. Ultimately, a strategy was chosen that combined a some departure from the previous, tough «regime of isolation» with massive state support for the economy and vulnerable social groups. The author shows that although the pandemic crisis hit many economic sectors and caused a certain aggravation of social inequality, the drop in GDP and the growth of social tension turned out to be less than predicted at its initial stage. The pandemic also «muffled» the internal political struggle. The protest movements (especially the movement of the «yellow vests»), which shook the country in 2018–2019 and dramatically affected the personal rating of E. Macron, generally came to naught. The popularity of the head of state in 2020–2021 has slightly increased, which leaves him a chance in the upcoming struggle for re-election, but does not guarantee it.

Le discours du roi (Felipe VI) et celui du président (Macron). Analyse comparée de deux allocutions télévisées

Heads of State’s televised addresses can transmit the population very relevant infor- mation, mainly during periods of crisis, but they can also contribute to create and diffuse an orator’s ethos favourable to the exercise of their functions. Starting from the hypothesis that the construction of this ethos depends, to a large extent, on the social image that the country’s legal system attributes to the Head of State, we mean, in this article, to make a comparative analyse of two speeches: the one performed by president Macron after the beginning of the “yellow vests” crisis and the one that the king of Spain, Felipe VI, gave after the referendum about Catalonia’s independence

Design and implementation of a Social Distance Vest for Covid19 prevention (SODIV-COP)

According to research, it is discovered that amongst the Covid19 preventive measures, social distance is easily neglected especially in a public setting such as markets, trading centers, social and political gatherings. Furthermore, according to World Health Organization (WHO), not observing social distance is one the major ways that the corona virus is being transmitted. Hence, working on a vest that can help to remind individuals and alert them in cases where they are not observing social distance. The Social Distance Vest for Covid19 Prevention, is based on Arduino Uno microcontroller board, D6T-44L-06 thermal sensor which detects the presence of a person, HC-SR04 Ultrasonic sensor that calculates the distance from where the person is standing and an alert/warning system that is composed of a Light Emitting Diode and a buzzer. Finally, the whole system is mounted on a reflective vest. The prototype vest works perfectly, in that it is able to detect a person which was not possible in the previous covid 19 distance vests which had only messages, and it is able to calculate the distance from where humans are standing and finally, triggers an alarm in a case where the person is standing at a distance of less than 1 m. The varying temperature ranges were in an array form and from 35 to 38° Celsius it detected the obstacle to be a human and had some ranges of distance 0.334 m measured by the ultrasonic sensor. Key applications of the prototypes are in crowded places like stadiums hospitals and schools.

A importância das Redes Digitais no engajamento político dos jovens da Universidade do Porto: Reflexão sobre a atividade e presença da política em Portugal

e impact of the Fourth Industrial Revolution with the digitization of the world and the internet of things is notorious in the layer of postmodern society. Mobile phones, for example, have changed the way people interact and communicate with others in public space (Abdel-Aziz et al., 2016). These digital tools are often used to keep users informed about events and news, either by broa-dcasting them on public screens or made availa-ble to them over wireless networks anytime and anywhere as shown by Abdel-Aziz (2016). This is especially popular among young people, as shown by Eurostat (2022), in 2021, 95% of young people in the European Union use the internet every day. Digital media also have a profound influence on others in the success of social movements (Kluse-ner, 2018), as seen in movements like #Blackslive-matter or even the Yellow Vests Movement. Now, within this context, we sought to understand how social media platforms can be related to the enga-gement and political presence of young people. For this, we examined the presence of politics in the daily life of this population to be able to induce the weight of this factor in political engagement. Based on data collected from interviews carried out with a sample of 84 university students in Portugal, we analysed their political consumption habits (both in the medium of digital and traditio-nal media) and their opinions on political activism. The impact of the internet and digital media was found not to have a strong relationship with poli-tical engagement, which actually revealed a pre--existing trend: the low participation of young Por-tuguese people in politics, as shown by Accornero e Ramos Pinto (2015). Of those who have some political presence in their daily lives, most are indi-rectly - with the television news in the background - and very few actively seek it. Within this group, digital is the main means of political search.

Disorder and the law: a strange hostage-taking

In the context of the successive crises that have marked France (terrorism, yellow vests protesters and COVID 19), the judge and the police are trying to respond as best they can to complexity. However, law and science seem to be victims of a strange hostage-taking even though complexity and disorder are constituent elements of reality and therefore subjects for scientific research. After illustrating the messiness and the complexity of the law with concrete examples, the author underlines the importance of science in the field of security and justice and regrets that competition between academic disciplines is hindering the development of a French school of criminology.

Anatomy of a Social Crisis and Performance as Protest ritual in Postmodernity: The Chant of the Yellow Vests.

Protest has long occurred as an effective communication tool for societies that have suffered from the oppression of their ruling structures. This article therefore aims primarily to analyze the components of the social drama and conflict that gave rise to the citizen mobilizations of the “Gilets jaunes” Yellow Vests in France at the end of 2018 and throughout 2019. In this sense, the ritual dimension is studied, emphasizing the role of performance and its diffusion on social media as fundamental elements of the current activist context. The symbolic object, performative acts such as music and, especially chants, are configured as an indispensable part of citizen mobilizations.
 For this analysis, the methodology employed was through the ethnographic observation in situ during the marches on the city of Paris; in addition to the hemerographic review and the netnographic monitoring of the protests after 2018 in other cities of France. Through comparative analysis, these observations were contrasted with a part of the bibliography relevant to the different elements that compose this object of study comprises and with other protests that have had an important broadcasting in the globalized world.
 The above confirms the importance given by democratic societies to protest as a form of citizen communication, as well as to its ritual codes. In the French context, La Marseillaise and Le Chant des Partisans stand out for their symbolic and textual load of civil resistance and active opposition to the alienations produced by the governing structures.
 Finally, this research aims to offer an approximation of the forms of peaceful resistance in the specific phenomenon of the Yellow Vests, a model that, in a general way, will allow us to study to a certain extent the most relevant cases of protest in recent years. The function of their performative codes, their reception and dissemination on the various platforms that support social networks, whose easy accessibility does not imply the infinite return to nostalgic memory, but a forceful evidence and the clamor for justice.

The Contours of New Social and Political Сleavages in the EU Countries

Using Lipset and Rokkan's concept of political cleavages as a base, the authors identify the contours of new social and political divisions in EU countries which have been exacerbated by a series of crises. New divisions are caused by two kinds of factors: socio-economic and value-based. The authors characterize the growing gap between the center (metropolis) and the periphery (province cities and towns). The article also examines the processes of erosion of the middle class and the formation of a new working class in European countries, which go beyond the classical opposition of employers and employees. The article outlines the impact of these splits on value orientations of EU citizens and the possible emergence of new political conflicts. The authors conclude that new divides can lead to protest mobilization in the European Union, a vivid example of which was the "yellow vest" movement and demonstrations against lockdown measures during the COVID pandemic. Another consequence of those divisions will be a change in the electorate structure and the transformation of the party landscape. The article concludes with a brief analysis of the significance of new social cleavages for further development of European integration. It is noted that during the coronavirus crisis citizens' demand for a "Social Europe" has increased.

On-site personal protective equipment signage and use by road construction workers in Ghana: a comparative study of foreign- and locally-owned companies

BackgroundRoad construction work has specific risks and safety issues which have not been adequately addressed in most low- and middle-income countries, especially Africa. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of personal protective equipment (PPE) use during road construction activities by workers in foreign- owned against locally-owned road construction companies in Ghana.MethodsAn institution-based cross-sectional survey was undertaken during January – March, 2020 to study 389 road construction workers who were actively working on site. They were unobtrusively observed to capture whether or not they wore the appropriate PPE at the time of the survey. The PPE of interest were: hard hat, goggles, shoes, nose masks, hearing protection, gloves and reflective vests/apparel. On-site posted PPE signage was also checked.ResultsMajority of workers were males (96.9%) and labourers (53.5%). Similar numbers of workers in locally-owned (195) and foreign-owned (194) companies were studied. Use of PPE varied considerably by type: shoes (78.7%), reflective vest (44.5%), gloves (30.6%), hard hat (27.0%), nose mask (17.2%), goggles (11.3%) and hearing protection (10.8%). For all types of PPE, use was higher for workers in foreign-owned companies compared with locally-owned companies: goggles (Odds ratio [OR] 55.2), hearing protection (OR 52.0), gloves (OR 23.7), hard hat (OR 20.2), nose mask (OR 17.8), reflective vest (OR 5.3) and shoes (OR 4.1), (p<0.001 for all ORs). No site had any signage to promote PPE use.ConclusionsMajority of workers used shoes. Less than half of workers used other types of PPE and use of some types (goggles and hearing protection) was minimal. Workers in foreign-owned companies were significantly more likely to use all the seven types of PPE than locally-owned companies. Although there is still room for improvement in foreign-owned companies, locally-owned companies should be able to attain similar PPE use to that in foreign-owned companies. Necessary PPE should be provided and site supervisors should encourage workers to wear PPE when on site.

Petro-Nostalgia and the Politics of Yellow Vests Canada

Background: This article presents a critical discourse analysis of the conservative political organization Yellow Vests Canada and its 100,000-plus member Facebook group (now deplatformed) to theorize far-right groups that harness pro-fossil-fuel/anti-environmental discourses to ideologically cultivate a broader assemblage of traditionally ultra-conservative political positions.Analysis: Yellow Vests Canada commonly utilized “petro-nostalgic” discourses, highly ideological beliefs that tie fossil fuels to a mythological nostalgia for an era of unbridled extraction and consumption, but also to this era’s hegemonic white supremacy, heteronormativity, masculinity, and settler-colonial nationalism.Conclusions and implications: Understanding far-right petro-political groups is imperative for environmental humanities researchers. The recent growth of these groups presents an alarming threat to progressive and equitable sociocultural politics, but especially to more environmentally sustainable government policies and a post-fossil-fuel future.

100+ FPS detector of personal protective equipment for worker safety: A deep learning approach for green edge computing.

In industrial production, personal protective equipment (PPE) protects workers from accidental injuries. However, wearing PPE is not strictly enforced among workers due to all kinds of reasons. To enhance the monitoring of workers and thus avoid safety accidents, it is essential to design an automatic detection method for PPE. In this paper, we constructed a dataset called FZU-PPE for our study, which contains four types of PPE (helmet, safety vest, mask, and gloves). To reduce the model size and resource consumption, we propose a lightweight object detection method based on deep learning for superfast detection of whether workers are wearing PPE or not. We use two lightweight methods to optimize the network structure of the object detection algorithm to reduce the computational effort and parameters of the detection model by 32% and 25%, respectively, with minimal accuracy loss. We propose a channel pruning algorithm based on the BN layer scaling factor γ to further reduce the size of the detection model. Experiments show that the automatic detection of PPE using our lightweight object detection method takes only 9.5 ms to detect a single video frame and achieves a detection speed of 105 FPS. Our detection model has a minimum size of 1.82 MB and a model size compression rate of 86.7%, which can meet the strict requirements of memory occupation and computational resources for embedded and mobile devices. Our approach is a superfast detection method for green edge computing.

The Covid-19 Pandemic and the Political Situation in France before 2022 Elections

The article explores the political situation in modern France the year before the next presidential election. It is revealed that during Emmanuel Macron’s presidency, a social divide between wealthy and poor social groups has taken root in the country manifested in the “yellow vests” movement and a wide-range public disagreement with the reforms proposed by the government. The negative impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, which overlapped with the previous contradictions and aggravated them, is discussed. The article also shows that, apart from the “National Rally”, no other political forces now represent a real opposition to Macron’s policy, thus helping him to keep relatively high chances for re-election. This is especially true in case of two traditional parties – the Republicans and the Socialists – which have suffered from a profound internal crisis. In conclusion, regarding a likely contest between Macron and Le Pen in 2022, prospects of changes in domestic and foreign policy of France after the election are formulated. The author concludes that even in the “Le Pen wins” scenario, any innovations will have a limited impact, taking into account the role of continuity in the French state policy and the growing moderation of the far right platform.

Unrepresentative Claims: Speaking for Oneself in a Social Movement

Sometimes, people engaged in politics actively refuse to speak for anyone but themselves. These unrepresentative claims multiply in social movements in times of crisis. During the French Yellow Vest movement of 2018–2019, such unrepresentative claims were routinely made by Yellow Vest leaders, to the point of being a condition for having a leadership position in the movement. By making these unrepresentative claims, they declined any representative mandate, asserting their freedom from any instituted influence. However, by claiming to speak only for themselves, they also selected the aspects of their identity they performed. This allowed them to embody the people sharing this identity, recalling the medieval repraesentatio identitatis, but in a way adjusted to today’s greater personalization of politics. Drawing on this movement and on other examples of unrepresentative claims, we can delineate three broad ideal-types of identities that may be put forward by unrepresentative claims: generality, particularity, and individuality.

Presentation of the 5Ds in Energy Policy: A Policy Paper to Show How Germany Can Regain Its Role as a Pioneer in Energy Policy

The widely recognised Energiewende, (“energy transition”) in Germany has lost its original momentum. We therefore address the question of how the transition process to a new energy system can be reignited. To do so, we developed the “5Ds approach”, which lays the groundwork for a process analysis and the identification of important catalysts and barriers. Focusing on the five major fields required for the energy transition, we analyse the effects of: (1) Decarbonisation: How can efficiency and renewable energies be expanded successfully? (2) Digitalisation: Which digital solutions facilitate this conversion and would be suitable as sustainable business models? (3) Decentralisation: How can potential decentralised energy and efficiency opportunities be developed? (4) Democratisation: How can participation be strengthened in order to foster acceptance (and prevent “yellow vest” protests, etc.)? (5) Diversification of service: Which services can make significant contributions in the context of flexible power generation, demand-side management, storage and grids? Our paper comes to the conclusion that German policy efforts in the “5D” fields have been implemented very differently. Particularly with regard to democratisation, the opportunities for genuine participation among the different social actors must be further strengthened to get the Energiewende back on track. New market models are needed to meet the challenges of the energy transition and to increase the performance of “5D” through economic incentives.

Bottom-up populism: How relative deprivation and populist attitudes mobilize leaderless anti-government protest

The present research focuses on populism as a bottom-up phenomenon that emerges from shared perceptions of relative deprivation. We predict that by serving as a shared ideological basis, populist attitudes can mobilize leaderless anti-government protest across ideological boundaries. We test this prediction in the context of the French Yellow Vests movement. Using a sample of French citizens (N = 562), we compare the effects of different indicators of relative deprivation on Yellow Vest protest participation and the extent to which populist attitudes account for these relationships. Results indicate that protests were fuelled by indicators of relative deprivation at the individual and group levels. Populist attitudes were best predicted by vertical comparisons between “the people” and “the elite” and fully accounted for the relationship between this type of group relative deprivation and protesting. Conversely, populist attitudes only partially accounted for the relationships between protesting and traditional measures of relative deprivation that either contrast natives with immigrants or individuals with fellow citizens. The findings strengthen the understanding of populism as a “thin centred” belief set that can unite and mobilize those who feel unfairly disadvantaged compared to a socio-political elite.

Innovative High-Visibility Protective Clothing Development

Technical clothing with light-responsive features for outdoor sports practiced in environments with low visibility is extremely important for athletes’ safety. Lack of signaling by users and visibility for drivers is one of accidents causes, namely run overs, which can leave serious consequences. The products available on the market lack efficiency and their design is not appealing which makes the development of these new materials a compelling need. Therefore, fluorescent and phosphorescent functional finishings with ability to provide illuminant signalization without compromising the design and/or color of clothing as well as comfort and ergonomics, were developed and applied in the textile structure by knife over roll coating technology. The greatest challenge is to integrate the high visibility materials without compromising the design of the garment and accomplish the European Standard of Protective clothing: Enhanced visibility equipment for medium risk situations and test methods and requirements—EN 17353 (that supersedes EN1150:1999 and allows more freedom in the design of the apparel) published in 2020. Phosphorescent materials were evaluated by luminance decay according to DIN 67510, before and after fastness to wash tests. Results obtained regarding high visibility functional finishings and the integration of the materials developed in the final sports collection will be presented.

Construction 4.0: Industry 4.0 enabling technologies applied to improve workplace safety in construction

Industry 4.0, the new production paradigm, has been arousing the interest of researchers around the world, due to its potential for improvements for companies, however little has been studied of its potential in the construction industry. This paper aims to identify which enabling technologies of Industry 4.0 can be applied to improve job security in civil construction. The methodology adopted was literature review, followed by field study / research with interviews with specialists, to identify the possibility of improving work safety in civil construction, through the technologies of Industry 4.0. The results of this research showed that the main technologies listed were: (1st) 3D printing and drone, (2nd) Augmented Reality and Wearable sensors, (3rd) safety vest, (4th) Virtual Reality, (5th) Bionic exoskeleton, (6th) Building Information Modeling (BIM), Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), helmet with sensors and smart helmets, (7th) Internet of Things (IoT) and finally, (8th) concrete mixer truck. The theoretical and practical contribution of this work is given by the presentation of technologies from Industry 4.0 that can maximize work safety in the construction industry, mitigating accidents at work, thus collaborating for the management of technology and innovation.

A discourse analysis of yellow-vest resistance against carbon taxes

Carbon taxation is a core instrument for climate mitigation. Its implementation, however, faces popular resistance. In this paper we study one of the most emblematic mobilizations triggered by the carbon tax issue, the Yellow Vest movement in France. We use Q-methodology, a mixed-method approach to identify discourses (or viewpoints) held by protesters. We find four statistically-distinctive viewpoints, emphasizing respectively: a systemic critique of capitalism; environmental action that is fair; priority over incomes and purchasing power of common people; and inequality and the responsibilities of corporations. Our research points to the importance of ideology in shaping viewpoints and filtering attitudes towards carbon taxes. Yet beyond ideological differences, we find consensus among all discourses, in that there should be more consultation in energy transition policy; the rich and not the poor should pay the cost of transition; and the government should use tax revenue for the transition only. We conclude that, for bold carbon tax schemes to be implemented with less conflict, a much more participatory, transparent and equitable design would be necessary than the one experienced in France.