pinecone/core-2020-05-10-deduplication huggingface dataset:
A lightweight assessment method for medical device\ud
software processes

This paper outlines the MDevSPICE-Adept process assessment method. MDevSPICE-Adept is a lightweight process assessment method that has been created for the MDevSPICE software process assessment model which is currently being developed for the medical device industry. MDevSPICE is a fully validated release of a medical device software process assessment model (formerly known as Medi SPICE), which was developed by the authors. While the MDevSPICE process assessment model is detailed and comprehensive, there is industry demand for a lightweight medical device software process assessment method. To address this requirement the MDevSPICE-Adept method has been developed. Details on how this has taken place and the procedures for implementing an MDevSPICE-Adept process assessment are presented. Information is also provided regarding how an MDevSPICE process assessment was undertaken in an Irish based medical device company. A summary of the issues identified from this process assessment and the actions taken to facilitate process improvement is also presented. Finally, plans for future work are discussed
Changing assessment methods: New rules, new roles

Over the past 20 years,theuse of Computer Algebra Systems(CAS) has helped with the teaching of mathematics inengineer-ingschools. However the traditional use of CAS only in math labs has led to a narrow view by the student: the CAS is an additional work, not included in the learning process. The didactic guidelines of the European Higher Education Area(EHEA) propose a new teaching–learning model based on competencies. We suggest the use of  the CAS be adapted to the new rules. In this paper,we present a model for the integrated use of the CAS,and we describe and analyze two experiments carried out in the academic year2011–2012. Our analysis suggests that the use of CAS in all learning and assessment activities has the potential to positively influence the development of competencies
Conventionalism about what? Where Duhem and Poincaré part ways

This paper examines whether, and in what contexts, Duhem’s and Poincaré’s views can be regarded as conventionalist or structural realist. After analysing the three different contexts in which conventionalism is attributed to them – in the context of the aim of science, the underdetermination problem and the epistemological status of certain principles – I show that neither Duhem’s nor Poincaré’s arguments can be regarded as conventionalist. I argue that Duhem and Poincaré offer different solutions to the problem of theory choice, differ in their stances towards scientific knowledge and the status of scientific principles, making their epistemological claims substantially different
The great synchronization of international trade collapse

In this paper we examine the extent of international trade synchronization during periods of international trade collapses and US recessions. Using dynamic correlations based on monthly trade data for the G7 economies over the period 1961-2011, our results suggest rather idiosyncratic patterns of international trade synchronization during collapses of international trade and US recessions. During the great recession of 2007-2009, however, international trade experienced the most sudden, severe and globally synchronized collapse. (author's abstract
Effect of electro-co-deposition parameters on surface mechanical properties of Cu-TiO2 composite coating

The present work describes processing and properties of Cu–TiO2 electrodeposited coating on copper substrate with optimized current density and ultrafine ceramic TiO2 powder in the plating bath. Direct current electrodeposition process was employed to develop the composite coating with Cu matrix and ceramic oxide (TiO2) nanoparticles as reinforcement on copper substrate. The coatings were developed with 0 (unreinforced), 10 and 30 g l −1 TiO2 powder in bath, at four different current densities (5, 8, 11 and 14 A dm −2 ) to study the effect of current density and particle concentration in bath on the structure and properties of the developed coatings. Phase, microstructure and compositional analysis of the coatings were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), respectively. Hardness and wear resistance of the coatings were analysed by using microhardness tester and ball on plate wear tester and improvement in these properties was observed due to particle reinforcement and crystallographic texture
BET_EF: a probabilistic tool for long- and short-term eruption forecasting

The main purpose of this paper is to introduce a Bayesian event tree model for eruption forecasting (BET EF). The model represents a flexible tool to provide probabilities of any specific event at which we are interested in, by merging all the relevant available information, such as theoretical models, a priori beliefs, monitoring measures, and any kind of past data. BET EF is based on a Bayesian procedure and it relies on the fuzzy approach to manage monitoring data. The method deals with short- and long-term forecasting, therefore it can be useful in many practical aspects, as land use planning, and during volcanic emergencies. Finally, we provide the description of a free software package that provides a graphically supported computation of short- to long-term eruption forecasting, and a tutorial application to the recent MESIMEX exercise at Vesuvius
Design and fabrication of diffractive atom chips for laser cooling and trapping

It has recently been shown that optical reflection gratings fabricated directly into an atom chip provide a simple and effective way to trap and cool substantial clouds of atoms [1,2]. In this article we describe how the gratings are designed and micro-fabricated and we characterise their optical properties, which determine their effectiveness as a cold atom source. We use simple scalar diffraction theory to understand how the morphology of the gratings determines the power in the diffracted beams
Metallic, Magnetic and Molecular Nanocontacts

Scanning tunnelling microscopy and break-junction experiments realize
metallic and molecular nanocontacts that act as ideal one-dimensional channels
between macroscopic electrodes. Emergent nanoscale phenomena typical of these
systems encompass structural, mechanical, electronic, transport, and magnetic
properties. This Review focuses on the theoretical explanation of some of these
properties obtained with the help of first-principles methods. By tracing
parallel theoretical and experimental developments from the discovery of
nanowire formation and conductance quantization in gold nanowires to recent
observations of emergent magnetism and Kondo correlations, we exemplify the
main concepts and ingredients needed to bring together ab initio calculations
and physical observations. It can be anticipated that diode, sensor, spin-valve
and spin-filter functionalities relevant for spintronics and molecular
electronics applications will benefit from the physical understanding thus
obtained
Modeling the complexation properties of mineral-bound organic polyelectrolyte: An attempt at comprehension using the model system alumina/polyacrylic acid/M (M = Eu, Cm, Gd)

International audienceThis paper contributes to the comprehension of kinetic and equilibrium phenomena governing metal ion sorption on organic-matter-coated mineral particles. Sorption and desorption experiments were carried out with Eu ion and polyacrylic acid (PAA)-coated alumina colloids at pH 5 in 0.1 M NaClO4 as a function of the metal ion loading. Under these conditions, M interaction with the solid is governed by sorbed PAA (PAAads). The results were compared with spectroscopic data obtained by time-resolved laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy (TRLFS) with Cm and Gd. The interaction between M and PAAads was characterized by a kinetically controlled process: after rapid metal adsorption within less than 1 min, the speciation of complexed M changed at the particle surface till an equilibrium was reached after about 4 days. At equilibrium, one part of complexed M was shown to be not exchangeable. This process was strongly dependent on the ligand-to-metal ratio. Two models were tested to explain the data. In model 1, the kinetically controlled process was described through successive kinetically controlled reactions that follow the rapid metal ion adsorption. In model 2, the organic layer was considered as a porous medium: the kinetic process was explained by the diffusion of M from the surface into the organic layer. Model 1 allowed a very good description of equilibrium and kinetic experimental data. Model 2 could describe the data at equilibrium but could not explain the kinetic data accurately. In spite of this disagreement, model 2 appeared more realistic considering the results of the TRLFS measurements
Stump closure reinforcement with absorbable fibrin collagen sealant sponge (TachoSil®) does not prevent pancreatic fistula after distal pancreatectomy: the FIABLE* multicenter controlled randomized study

International audienceBackground evaluate the effectiveness of TachoSil® sponge on distal pancreatectomy remnant stump in reducing the rate and severity of post-operative pancreatic fistula (POPF). Methods All consecutive patients requiring distal pancreatectomy were randomized in 45 centers. Principal endpoint: onset of “clinically relevant” POPF. Univariate and multivariate analyses searched for predictive factors. Results Of 270 patients randomized in 45 centers (134 with TachoSil®;136 without), 150/270(55.6%) sustained a POPF (74 clinically relevant;76 clinically silent (27.4% and 28.1%, respectively): no statistically significant difference (NS) was found between patients with (41(30.6%) vs. 33(24.3%) without TachoSil®(p=0.276), or overall POPF (73(54.5%) with vs. 77(56.6%) without TachoSil®(p=0.807), but more clinically relevant POPF after hand-sewn (32.3%) vs. mechanical closure (19.8%)(p=0.025) and, in case of splenic preservation, after splenic vessel ligation (15/32,46.9%) vs. vascular preservation (17/72,23.6%)(p=0.024). Hand-sewn pancreatic remnant closure (p=0.023) and splenic vessel ligation in splenic preservation (p=0.035) were independent predictive factors for the onset of clinically relevant POPF. Conclusion TachoSil® sponge reinforcement of the proximal remnant after distal pancreatectomy reduced neither the rate nor the severity of POP
Multifractal Analysis on the Return Series of Stock Markets Using MF-DFA Method

Part 3: Finance and Service ScienceInternational audienceAnalyzing the daily returns of NASDAQ Composite Index by using MF-DFA method has led to findings that the return series does not fit the normal distribution and its leptokurtic indicates that a single-scale index is insufficient to describe the stock price fluctuation. Furthermore, it is found that the long-term memory characteristics are a main source of multifractality in time series. Based on the main reason causing multifractality, a contrast of the original return series and the reordered return series is made to demonstrate the stock price index fluctuation, suggesting that the both return series have multifractality. In addition, the empirical results verify the validity of the measures which illustrates that the stock market fails to reach the weak form efficiency
Structure of the Synthetic K-rich Phyllomanganate Birnessite Obtained by High-Temperature Decomposition of KMnO4. Substructures of K-rich Birnessite from 1000°C Experiment

International audienceThe structure of a synthetic potassium-rich birnessite prepared from the thermal decomposition of KMnO4 at 1000°C in air has been refined by Rietveld analysis of the powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) data, and the structure model shown to be consistent with extended X-ray absorption fine structure data. K-rich birnessite structure is a two-layer orthorhombic polytype (2O) with unit-cell parameters a = 5.1554(3) Ä, b = 2.8460(1) Ä, c = 14.088(1) Ä, α = β = γ = 90°, a/b = √3.281, and was refined in the Ccmm space group. The structure is characterized by the regular alternation of octahedral layers rotated with respect to each other by 180°. Octahedral layers are essentially devoid of vacant sites, the presence of 0.25 Mn 3+ layer cations within these layers being the main source of their deficit of charge, which is compensated for by interlayer K + cations. Mn3+ octahedra, which are distorted by the Jahn-Teller effect, are systematically elongated along the a axis (cooperative Jahn-Teller effect) to minimize steric strains, thus yielding an orthogonal layer symmetry. In addition, Mn 3+ octahedra are segregated in Mn3+-rich rows parallel to the b axis that alternate with two Mn 4+ rows according to the sequence ...-Mn3+-Mn4+-Mn4+-Mn3+-... along the a direction, thus leading to a A = 3a super-periodicity. At 350°C, the structure partially collapses due to the departure of interlayer H2O molecules and undergoes a reversible 2O-to-2H phase transition. This transition results from the relaxation of the cooperative Jahn-Teller effect, that is from the random orientation of elongated Mn 3+ octahedra
Towards a “typification” of the Pedestrian Surrounding Space: Analysis of the Isovist Using Digital Signal processing Method

International audienceThe aim of this paper is to couple the isovists field (a useful tool to determine the surroundings) with a classical digital signal processing method so as to classify the open spaces all along a pedestrian pathway and identify some urban patterns. Indeed, it could be of a great interest to determine automatically the type of surrounding spaces to improve the knowledge of the urban fabric at an intermediate level (the one of someone immersed in the city) and to make it possible to enrich its visual perception in real time using dedicated numerical devices. After a brief overview of visibility analysis methods, we focus on the isovist one. The remainder of this paper is dedicated to the methodology of visualscape fingerprint characterization we developed. At last, before concluding, we present a use case based on a real pathway
Climate change, society issues and sustainable agriculture

Despite its prediction 100 years ago by scientists studying CO2, man-made climate change has been officially recognised only in 2007 by the Nobel prize committee. Climate changes since the industrial revolution have already deeply impacted ecosystems. I report major impacts of climate change on waters, terrestrial ecosystems, agriculture, and economy in Europe. The lesson of the climate change story is that humans do not learn from scientists until it really hurts. Furthermore, all society issues cannot be solved anymore using the old, painkiller approach because all issues are now huge, linked, global and fast-developing. In that respect, actual society structures are probably outdated. Here, agronomists are the most advanced scientists to solve society issues because they master the study of complex systems, from the molecule to the global scale. Now more than ever agriculture is a central point to which all society issues are bound. Indeed, humans eat food
Robust hashing for image authentication using quaternion discrete Fourier transform and log-polar transform

International audienceIn this work, a novel robust image hashing scheme for image authentication is proposed based on the combination of the quaternion discrete Fourier transform (QDFT) with the log-polar transform. QDFT offers a sound way to jointly deal with the three channels of color images. The key features of the present method rely on (i) the computation of a secondary image using a log-polar transform; and (ii) the extraction from this image of low frequency QDFT coefficients' magnitude. The final image hash is generated according to the correlation of these magnitude coefficients and is scrambled by a secret key to enhance the system security. Experiments were conducted in order to analyze and identify the most appropriate parameter values of the proposed method and also to compare its performance to some reference methods in terms of receiver operating characteristics curves. The results show that the proposed scheme offers a good sensitivity to image content alterations and is robust to the common content-preserving operations, and especially to large angle rotation operations
Homozygous deletion of an 80kb region comprising part of DNAJC6 and LEPR genes on chromosome 1P31.3 is associated with early onset obesity, mental retardation and epilepsy.
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Homozygous deletion of the DNAJ6C and the LEPR gene

International audienceCONTEXT: The genomic organization of the LEPR gene is complex and generates three independent transcripts whose respective functions are still poorly understood. METHODS/RESULTS: We describe here a 7-year old patient with a homozygous 80kb deletion in the chromosomal 1p31.3 region with early onset obesity, mental retardation and epilepsy. The deleted region comprises the proximal promoter and exons 1 and 2 of the LEPR gene and exons 5 to 19 of the DNAJC6 gene. The deletion leads to the deficiency of all canonical OB-R isoforms but maintains the B219 OB-R short isoforms controlled by the preserved second LEPR promoter. The DNAJC6 gene encodes auxilin-1, a protein required for clathrin-dependent recycling of synaptic vesicles in neurons that is possibly at the origin of the mental retardation and epilepsy phenotype. The obese phenotype and the absence of signaling-competent OB-R are consistent with previously reported individuals with OB-R deficiency. The deletion eliminates an additional transcript of the LEPR gene that encodes endospanin-1, a protein that has been genetically and biochemically linked to OB-R function. CONCLUSIONS: Our study confirms the phenotype of individuals with OB-R deficiency and postulates the effects of auxilin-1 deficiency (mental retardation/epilepsy) and endospanin-1 deficiency (OB-R specific functions) in humans
Heuristic algorithms for a vehicle routing problem with simultaneous delivery and pickup and time windows in home health care

International audienceThis paper addresses a vehicle scheduling problem encountered in home health care logistics. It concerns the delivery of drugs and medical devices from the home care company's pharmacy to patients' homes, delivery of special drugs from a hospital to patients, pickup of bio samples and unused drugs and medical devices from patients. The problem can be considered as a special vehicle routing problem with simultaneous delivery and pickup and time windows, with four types of demands: delivery from depot to patient, delivery from a hospital to patient, pickup from a patient to depot and pickup from a patient to a medical lab. Each patient is visited by one vehicle and each vehicle visits each node at most once. Patients are associated with time windows and vehicles with capacity. Two mixed-integer programming models are proposed. We then propose a Genetic Algorithm (GA) and a Tabu Search (TS) method. The GA is based on a permutation chromosome, a split procedure and local search. The TS is based on route assignment attributes of patients, an augmented cost function, route re-optimization, and attribute-based aspiration levels. These approaches are tested on test instances derived from existing VRPTW benchmarks
Contamination by metallic elements released from joint prostheses

When a metallic implant is in contact with human tissues, the organism reacts and a corrosion process starts. Consequently, we might observe liberation of metallic debris and wear. Our purpose is to measure the contamination and the migration of these metallic elements in the surrounding tissues of the implant. Two types of samples have been studied. First type is sample taken on post-mortem tissues around prostheses to study contamination gradients. Second type is sample taken on pathologic joints on periprosthetic capsular tissues in surgical conditions. These allow estimating contamination degree. The experiments were made on a Van de Graaff accelerator located at CERI (Centre d'Etude et de Recherche par Irradiation, Orléans, France). We measure elemental concentrations resulting from the contamination of the surface of each sample. Results are analysed in function of the pathology and the type of implants. According to the pathology and the location of the sampling, these measurements show a very heterogeneous contamination by metallic elements under particles and/or ionic species which can migrate through soft tissues by various mechanism
Model-driven Standardization of Public Authority Data Interchange

International audienceIn the past decade, several electronic data exchange processes between public authorities have been established by the German public administration. In the context of various legacy systems and numerous suppliers of software for public authorities, it is crucial that these interfaces are open and precisely and uniformly defined, in order to foster free competition and interoperability. A community of such projects and specifications for various public administration domains has arisen from an early adopter project in the domain of data interchange between the 5,400 German municipal citizen registers. A central coordination office provides a framework for these projects that is put into operation by a unified model-driven method, supported by tools and components, involving UML profiles, model validation, and model-to-text transformations into several technical domains. We report how this model-driven approach has already proven to be effective in a number of projects, and how it could contribute to the development of standardized e-government specifications in various ways
Spatio-temporal variability in benthic silica cycling in two macrotidal estuaries: causes and consequences for local to global studies

International audienceThe high heterogeneity of silica cycling in coastal margins and the lack of silica data (compared to nitrogen and phosphorus) prevent the estimation of global silica retention in estuaries. In this study, the spatial and temporal variability of pore water silicic acid (Si(OH)4) profiles - that integrate benthic transport and reaction processes - was investigated at different spatial (meter, longitudinal and cross-section, intra-estuary) and temporal (tidal, seasonal) scales in two macrotidal estuaries, very close geographically but differing essentially in their shape. Studying the spatial and temporal variability of Si(OH)4 concentrations in pore waters provided evidence for the importance of transport processes, e.g. bio-irrigation, tidal pumping, resuspension and any combination of these processes, in affecting Si(OH)4 concentrations and fluxes and hence, temporary or permanent retention along the land-ocean continuum. We confirm that aSiO2 transported by rivers and estuaries clearly deserves to be better characterized as it provides an important source of reactive aSiO2 to sediments. This study brings crucial information which allows to (1) deconvoluate spatial and temporal scales, although both are most often in complete interaction, (2) design the most appropriate sampling schemes to be representative of any given system and to extrapolate at the scale of the whole estuary, (3) quantify uncertainty associated to the estimations of Si(OH)4 stocks and fluxes in this type of ecosystem, essential for budget calculations. We showed that two adjacent small macrotidal estuaries, may exhibit different behaviors regarding Si retention. Temporary retention has been observed in the meanders of the Aulne Estuary and not along the more linear Elorn Estuary, demonstrating the importance of the morphology and hydrodynamism component of the estuarine filter. This effort needs to be pursued in other systems and climatic zones, but our study suggests that the typology should not only account for the different types of land-ocean continuum (fjord, delta, mangrove...), but also incorporate the physical or biological attributes of the estuarine filter