pinecone/core-2020-05-10-deduplication huggingface dataset:
Damage in porous media due to salt crystallization

International audienceWe investigate the origins of salt damage in sandstones for the two most common salts: sodium chloride and sulfate. The results show that the observed difference in damage between the two salts is directly related to the kinetics of crystallization and the interfacial properties of the salt solutions and crystals with respect to the stone. We show that, for sodium sulfate, the existence of hydrated and anhydrous crystals and specifically their dissolution and crystallization kinetics are responsible for the damage. Using magnetic resonance imaging and optical microscopy we show that when water imbibes sodium sulfate contaminated sandstones, followed by drying at room temperature, large damage occurs in regions where pores are fully filled with salts. After partial dissolution, anhydrous sodium sulfate salt present in these regions gives rise to a very rapid growth of the hydrated phase of sulfate in the form of clusters that form on or close to the remaining anhydrous microcrystals. The rapid growth of these clusters generates stresses in excess of the tensile strength of the stone leading to the damage. Sodium chloride only forms anhydrous crystals that consequently do not cause damage in the experiments
Excess mortality related to the August 2003 heat wave in France.

Objectives: From August 1st to 20th, 2003, the mean maximum temperature in France exceeded the seasonal norm by 11-12 degrees C on nine consecutive days. A major increase in mortality was then observed, which main epidemiological features are described herein. Methods: The number of deaths observed from August to November 2003 in France was compared to those expected on the basis of the mortality rates observed from 2000 to 2002 and the 2003 population estimates. Results: From August 1st to 20th, 2003, 15,000 excess deaths were observed. From 35 years age, the excess mortality was marked and increased with age. It was 15% higher in women than in men of comparable age as of age 45 years. Excess mortality at home and in retirement institutions was greater than that in hospitals. The mortality of widowed, single and divorced subjects was greater than that of married people. Deaths directly related to heat, heatstroke, hyperthermia and dehydration increased massively. Cardiovascular diseases, ill-defined morbid disorders, respiratory diseases and nervous system diseases also markedly contributed to the excess mortality. The geographic variations in mortality showed a clear age-dependent relationship with the number of very hot days. No harvesting effect was observed. Conclusions: Heat waves must be considered as a threat to European populations living in climates that are currently temperate. While the elderly and people living alone are particularly vulnerable to heat waves, no segment of the population may be considered protected from the risks associated with heat waves
Arabidopsis thaliana cells: a model to evaluate the virulence of Pectobacterium carotovorum.

Pectobacterium carotovorum are economically important plant pathogens that cause plant soft rot. These enterobacteria display high diversity world-wide. Their pathogenesis depends on production and secretion of virulence factors such as plant cell wall-degrading enzymes, type III effectors, a necrosis-inducing protein, and a secreted virulence factor from Xanthomonas spp., which are tightly regulated by quorum sensing. Pectobacterium carotovorum also present pathogen-associated molecular patterns that could participate in their pathogenicity. In this study, by using suspension cells of Arabidopsis thaliana, we correlate plant cell death and pectate lyase activities during coinfection with different P. carotovorum strains. When comparing soft rot symptoms induced on potato slices with pectate lyase activities and plant cell death observed during coculture with Arabidopsis thaliana cells, the order of strain virulence was found to be the same. Therefore, Arabidopsis thaliana cells could be an alternative tool to evaluate rapidly and efficiently the virulence of different P. carotovorum strains
Evaluating Context Descriptions and Property Definition Patterns for Software Formal Validation

International audienceA well known challenge in the formal methods domain is to improve their integration with practical engineering methods. In the context of embedded systems, model checking requires first to model the system to be validated, then to formalize the properties to be satisfied, and finally to describe the behavior of the environment. This last point which we name as the proof context is often neglected. It could, however, be of great importance in order to reduce the complexity of the proof. The question is then how to formalize such a proof context. We experiment a language, named CDL (Context Description Language), for describing a system environment using actors and sequence diagrams, together with the properties to be checked. The properties are specified with textual patterns and attached to specific regions in the context. Our contribution is a report on several industrial embedded system applications
Implementation strategies of a contract-based MRI examination reservation process for stroke patients

International audienceTimely imaging examinations are critical for stroke patients due to the potential life threat. We have proposed a contract-based Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) reservation process [1] in order to reduce their waiting time for MRI examinations. Contracted time slots (CTS) are especially reserved for Neural Vascular Department (NVD) treating stroke patients. Patients either wait in a CTS queue for such time slots or are directed to Regular Time Slot (RTS) reservation. This strategy creates "unlucky" patients having to wait for lengthy RTS reservation. This paper proposes and analyzes other contract implementation strategies called RTS reservation strategies. These strategies reserve RTS for NVD but do not direct patients to regular reservations. Patients all wait in the same queue and are served by either CTS or RTS on a FIFO (First In First Out) basis. We prove that RTS reservation strategies are able to reduce the unused time slots and patient waiting time. Extensive numerical results are presented to show the benefits of RTS reservation and to compare various RTS reservation strategies
Which way does the citric acid cycle turn during hypoxia? The critical role of alpha-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase complex

The citric acid cycle forms a major metabolic hub and as such it is involved in many disease states involving energetic imbalance. In spite of the fact that it is being branded as a "cycle", during hypoxia, when the electron transport chain does not oxidize reducing equivalents, segments of this metabolic pathway remain operational but exhibit opposing directionalities. This serves the purpose of harnessing high-energy phosphates through matrix substrate-level phosphorylation in the absence of oxidative phosphorylation. In this Mini-Review, these segments are appraised, pointing to the critical importance of the alpha-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase complex dictating their directionalities. (c) 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc
Crack identification by 3D time-domain elastic or acoustic topological sensitivity

pole_structuresInternational audienceThe topological sensitivity analysis, based on the asymptotic behaviour of a cost functional associated with the creation of a small trial flaw in a defect-free solid, provides a computationally-fast, non-iterative approach for identifying flaws embedded in solids. This concept is here considered for crack identification using time-dependent measurements on the external boundary. The topological derivative of a cost function under the nucleation of a crack of infinitesimal size is established, in the framework of time-domain elasticity or acoustics. The simplicity and efficiency of the proposed formulation is enhanced by the recourse to an adjoint solution. Numerical results obtained on a 3-D elastodynamic example using the conventional FEM demonstrate the usefulness of the topological derivative as a crack indicator function
Formal Analysis of Security Properties on the OPC-UA SCADA Protocol

International audienceIndustrial systems are publicly the target of cyberattacks since Stuxnet [1]. Nowadays they are increasingly communicating over insecure media such as Internet. Due to their interaction with the real world, it is crucial to prove the security of their protocols. In this paper, we formally study the security of one of the most used industrial protocols: OPC-UA. Using ProVerif, a well known cryptographic protocol verification tool, we are able to check secrecy and authentication properties. We find several attacks on the protocols and provide countermeasures
relax: the analysis of biomolecular kinetics and thermodynamics using NMR relaxation dispersion data

International audienceNuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) is a powerful tool for observing the motion of biomolecules at the atomic level. One technique, the analysis of relaxation dispersion phenomenon, is highly suited for studying the kinetics and thermodynamics of biological processes. Built on top of the relax computational environment for NMR dynamics is a new dispersion analysis designed to be comprehensive, accurate and easy to use. The software supports more models, both numeric and analytic, than current solutions. An automated protocol, available for scripting and driving the GUI, is designed to simplify the analysis of dispersion data for NMR spectroscopists. Decreases in optimisation time are granted by parallelisation for running on computer clusters and by skipping an initial grid search by using parameters from one solution as the starting point for another – using analytic model results for the numeric models, taking advantage of model nesting, and using averaged non-clustered results for the clustered analysis. Availability: The software relax is written in Python with C modules and is released under the GPLv3+ licence. Source code and precompiled binaries for all major operating systems are available from http://www.nmr-relax.com
Fermi Surface Studies of Co-Based Heusler Alloys: Ab-Initio Study

The electronic, Fermi surface (FS) and magnetic properties of ferromagnetic Heusler alloys Co2XY (X = Cr, Mn, Fe; Y=Al, Ga) have been investigated by means of first principles calculation. Out of these compounds, Co2CrAl is found to be perfectly half-metallic (HM) at ambient. Under pressure HM to nearly HM (NHM) transition is observed around 75 GPa for Co 2CrAl and NHM to HM transition is observed around 40 GPa and 18 GPa for Co2CrGa and Co2MnAl, respectively, while no transition is observed for other compounds under study and is also analyzed from the FS studies. The states at the Fermi level in the majority spin are strongly hybridized Co-d and X-d like states. The majority band FS topology change is observed under pressure for the compounds where we observe a transition, while the minority band FS remain unaltered under pressure for all compounds except in Co2FeGa, where we observed an electron sheet at X point instead of hole pocket at Γ poin
Incidence of Herpes Zoster in HIV-Infected Adults in the Combined Antiretroviral Treatment (cART) Era: Results from the FHDH-ANRS CO4 Cohort

International audienceBackground: Recent studies have shown a decrease in the incidence of herpes zoster (HZ) among HIV-infected patients since the cART era, but more data are needed on a possible increase in the risk early after cART initiation.Methods:  We studied the HZ incidence and risk factors among patients followed in the French Hospital Database on HIV (FHDH) between 1992 and 2011. Standardized incidence ratios (SIR) were used for comparison with the general population between 2005 and 2008. The risk of HZ following cART initiation (0-6, ≥6 months) was studied with Poisson regression models.Results: 7167 cases of incident HZ were diagnosed among 91 044 individuals (583 125 person-years). The incidence declined significantly from 2955 per 100 000 person-years in 1992-1996 to 628 in 2009-2011. This decline was mainly explained by cART (RR=0.60; 95%CI, 0.57-0.64). The risk of HZ was associated with low CD4 cell counts, high HIV-RNA levels, low CD4/CD8 ratios and prior AIDS. Compared to the general population, the risk of HZ was higher in HIV-infected patients (overall SIR=2.7; 95%CI, 2.6-2.9), particularly between ages 15 and 45 years (SIR=4-6). In ART-naive patients a moderate increase in the HZ risk was observed during the first 6 months of cART, with a peak at 3 months (RR=1.47 95%CI, 1.26-1.73) a finding that disappeared after adjustment for the current CD4 cell count (RR=1.03; 95%CI, 0.81-1.32). Conclusions:  The risk of HZ has declined markedly among HIV-infected patients in the cART era but remains 3 times higher than in the general population. The risk increases moderately during the first 6 months of cART
A new catalogue of observations of the eight major satellites of Saturn (1874-2007)

The original publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics is available at www.aanda.org.International audienceContext : The lastest catalogue of observations includes about 51 000 observations (over 3500 nights) of Saturn's satellites from 1874 to 1989. Since 1989, many observations have been published, often in different formats, based on the publication. Aims : Our new catalogue of observations of the eight major satellites of Saturn includes the observations of the previous catalogues, newly published data and also old observations left out of the previous catalogue. The observations are tabulated in a consistent format. Methods : We give, for each observation, the corrections applied for reduction such as refraction, aberration or phase effects. Furthermore, when it was possible, the instrument and catalogue are also indicated. Results : The new catalogue presents more than 130 000 observations (over 6000 nights) of the eight major satellites of Saturn from 1874 to 2007
AC conductance and non-symmetrized noise at finite frequency in quantum wires and carbon nanotubes

International audienceWe calculate the AC conductance and the finite-frequency non-symmetrized noise in interacting quantum wires and single-wall carbon nanotubes in the presence of an impurity. We observe a strong asymmetry in the frequency spectrum of the non-symmetrized excess noise, even in the presence of the metallic leads. We find that this asymmetry is proportional to the differential excess AC conductance of the system, defined as the difference between the AC differential conductances at finite and zero voltage, and thus disappears for a linear system. In the quantum regime, for temperatures much smaller than the frequency and the applied voltage, we find that the emission noise is exactly equal to the impurity partition noise. For the case of a weak impurity we expand our results for the AC conductance and the noise perturbatively. In particular, if the impurity is located in the middle of the wire or at one of the contacts, our calculations show that the noise exhibits oscillations with respect to frequency, whose period is directly related to the value of the interaction parameter $g$
Arrival Time Statistics in Global Disease Spread

Metapopulation models describing cities with different populations coupled by the travel of individuals are of great importance in the understanding of disease spread on a large scale. An important example is the Rvachev-Longini model [{\it Math. Biosci.} {\bf 75}, 3-22 (1985)] which is widely used in computational epidemiology. Few analytical results are however available and in particular little is known about paths followed by epidemics and disease arrival times. We study the arrival time of a disease in a city as a function of the starting seed of the epidemics. We propose an analytical Ansatz, test it in the case of a spreading on the world wide air transportation network, and show that it predicts accurately the arrival order of a disease in world-wide cities
Fictitious domain method for acoustic waves through a granular suspension of movable rigid spheres

International audienceWe develop a model to couple acoustic waves and the motion of rigid movable grains in a submerged suspension. To do so, we use the fictitious domain method based on distributed Lagrange multipliers to enforce the natural jump condition of the wave equation and a rigidity constraint. One can then model the granular medium with “Molecular Dynamics” or related methods. Both dynamic and acoustic numerical results are compared with analytic solutions of acoustics and an estimation of the error is given. We show energy transfers between two submerged grains separated by water and linked to their own spring while oscillating. The model is applied at large scale with a suspension of many grains to foresee its future possibilities
Selective and quantitative nitrate electroreduction to ammonium using a porous copper electrode in an electrochemical flow cell

International audienceThe aim of this work was to set up a novel electrochemical system allowing an efficient transformation of concentrated nitrate solutions to ammonium and which can be subsequently implemented on a large scale application. First, this paper describes the preparation of a porous copper modified electrode by successive electrodeposition of nickel then copper on a graphite felt of large specific surface area. Homogeneous Cu coating of all fibers in the 3D porous structure was successfully obtained using low concentrations of copper salts and high applied current intensities. The porous copper electrode was then used in a flow electrochemical process to achieve a selective and quantitative transformation of concentrated nitrate into ammonium. Different electrolytic solutions, slightly acid (acetate buffer) or neutral (phosphate buffer), and flow rates were investigated. The nitrate solution was quantitatively reduced into NH4+ with high selectivity in only one pass through the electrode. When the applied current was similar to the theoretical one, the maximum selectivity (96%) and the best current efficiency (72%) for NH4+ formation were reached at pH 7.2 with a flow rate of 2 mL min−1. The obtained ammonium solution can be subsequently used either as a potential nitrogen source during microbial culture or simply as a fertilizer
A revision of the structure and stratigraphy of pre-Green Tuff ignimbrites at Pantelleria (Strait of Sicily)

International audienceAt Pantelleria, peralkaline silicic magmas were erupted across a range of eruptive typologies and magnitudes: pyroclastic flows, Plinian to strombolian pumice fallout and lava flows. In this paper we focus on the intermediate cycle of eruptive activity which is bracketed by ignimbrite units slightly older than the two caldera collapses which marked the volcanological activity of the island. This age interval (180-85 ka) was punctuated by six ignimbrite-forming eruptions (silicic and variably peralkaline) for a cumulative erupted magma volume of approximately 6 km3 dense rock equivalent. Based on new 40Ar/39Ar (Na,K)-feldspar ages and petrographic data, we propose an updated volcanostratigraphic scheme for these welded and rheomorphic ignimbrites that can be summarised as follows: (i) the age of the old ('La Vecchia') caldera collapse is now tightly constrained between 140 and 146 ka and the caldera-forming eruption can be traced to a lithic-rich welded tuff breccia that outcrops in two opposite sectors of the island (south-west and north-east); (ii) four ignimbrite units previously considered unrelated are now merged in two distinct eruptive paroxysmal events at 107 and 85 ka. In particular, the 85 ka eruptive event is comparable in magnitude to the younger (caldera forming) Green Tuff Plinian eruption; (iii) the recurrence patterns of the 107 and 85 ka eruptions, compared to the Green Tuff, allow us to qualitatively assess that the climax in production of low-temperature silicic and peralkaline melt was focused in the age interval 85-45 ka
Elasticity of AlFeO(3) and FeAlO(3) perovskite and post-perovskite from first-principles calculations

International audienceWe use state-of-the-art ab initio calculations based on the generalized gradient approximation of the density functional theory in the planar augmented wavefunction formalism to determine the elastic constants tensor of perovskite and post-perovskite with formulas AlFeO(3) and FeAlO(3) in which Fe or Al respectively occupy only octahedral sites, for the stable magnetic configurations. The phase transition between perovskite and post-perovskite is associated with a site exchange, during which Fe from the inter-octahedral site in perovskite moves into the octahedral site in post-perovskite. Following this transition path the elastic moduli show positive jumps, considerably larger than for MgSiO(3). The phase transition is marked by a positive jump of 0.04 km/s (0.33\%) in the velocity of the compressional waves and by a negative jump of -0.15 km/s (-1.87\%) in shear wave velocity. We find that the effects of the Mg + Si <=> Al + Fe substitution on the seismic properties of MgSiO(3) perovskite and post-perovskite depend on the crystallography of the substitution, namely the position the exchanged cations take in the structure. Citation: Caracas, R. (2010), Elasticity of AlFeO(3) and FeAlO(3) perovskite and post-perovskite from first-principles calculations, Geophys. Res. Lett., 37, L20306, doi:10.1029/2010GL044404
Occurrence of fossil organic matter in modern environments: optical, geochemical and isotopic evidence

International audienceThis study relates to the input and fate of fossil organic matter (FOM) in the modern environment, and focuses on two experimental watersheds overlying Jurassic marls: Le Laval and Le Brusquet (1km2 in area), located near Digne, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, France. Considering that FOM delivery is mainly a result of different processes affecting sedimentary rocks [(bio)chemical and mechanical weathering], samples from different pools were collected: bedrocks, weathering profiles, soils and riverine particles. The samples were examined using complementary techniques: optical (palynofacies methods), geochemical (Rock-Eval 6 pyrolysis, C/N ratio), molecular (gas chromatography/mass spectrometry) and isotopic (stable C isotopic composition). As a result, FOM markers were identified and tracked through the different pools. The results highlight the contribution of FOM, which can be found in all the studied pools. Transfer of FOM between bedrocks/weathering profiles (governed mainly by chemical weathering) and bedrocks/riverine particles (governed mainly by mechanical weathering) reveals any qualitative change. Weathering profiles/soils transition [governed by (bio)chemical weathering] is characterized by alteration of the FOM, which is difficult to describe because fossil material is mixed with recent organic matter (ROM). Despite this latter point, the study provides evidence for a relative resistance of FOM to weathering processes and points to its contribution to the modern geosystem and the C cycle
Backtracking and exchange of information: Methods to enhance a beam search algorithm for assembly line scheduling

Cataloged from PDF version of article.Beam search (BS) is used as a heuristic to solve various combinatorial optimization problems, ranging from scheduling to assembly line balancing. In this paper, we develop a backtracking and an exchange-of-information (EOI) procedure to enhance the traditional beam search method. The backtracking enables us to return to previous solution states in the search process with the expectation of obtaining better solutions. The EOI is used to transfer information accumulated in a beam to other beams to yield improved solutions. We developed six different versions of enhanced beam algorithms to solve the mixed-model assembly line scheduling problem. The results of computational experiments indicate that the backtracking and EOI procedures that utilize problem specific information generally improve the solution quality of BS. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved