Nanomechanics—the whole is more than the sum of its parts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2016-09-01

Nanostructures, such as carbon nanotubes, are often added to polymers and composites to enhance their strength. The extreme mechanical properties of carbon nanotubes suggest an obvious rationale behind this approach. However as Markus Buehler and Isabelle Su at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US highlight in their recent topical review [1] the behaviour that renders nanomaterials soft or strong can be far from trivial, often involving interactions on a range of scales from macrostructures to nanostructures and—in the case of biostructures—the amino acids and proteins they are built from.

Status Report on Speech Research. A Report on the Status and Progress of Studies on the Nature of Speech, Instrumentation for Its Investigation, and Practical Applications.

DTIC Science & Technology

1983-01-01

Satoshi Horiguchi 2 Harriet Magen Leonard Katz’ Sharon Manuel J. A. Scott Kelso Richard McGowan Andrea G. Levitt’ Daniel Recasens Isabelle Y... Martinus Nijhoff, 1959. Collier, R., & ’t Hart, J. The perceptual relevance of formant trajectories in diphthongs. In M. van den Broecke & V. van Heuven...Studies in Dutch phonology (Dutch Studies, Vol. 4). The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1980. FOOTNOTES Ipossible occurrences of these diphthongs in Dutch

Towards Formal Verification of a Separation Microkernel

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Butterfield, Andrew; Sanan, David; Hinchey, Mike

2013-08-01

The best approach to verifying an IMA separation kernel is to use a (fixed) time-space partitioning kernel with a multiple independent levels of separation (MILS) architecture. We describe an activity that explores the cost and feasibility of doing a formal verification of such a kernel to the Common Criteria (CC) levels mandated by the Separation Kernel Protection Profile (SKPP). We are developing a Reference Specification of such a kernel, and are using higher-order logic (HOL) to construct formal models of this specification and key separation properties. We then plan to do a dry run of part of a formal proof of those properties using the Isabelle/HOL theorem prover.

Computational logic: its origins and applications.

PubMed

Paulson, Lawrence C

2018-02-01

Computational logic is the use of computers to establish facts in a logical formalism. Originating in nineteenth century attempts to understand the nature of mathematical reasoning, the subject now comprises a wide variety of formalisms, techniques and technologies. One strand of work follows the 'logic for computable functions (LCF) approach' pioneered by Robin Milner, where proofs can be constructed interactively or with the help of users' code (which does not compromise correctness). A refinement of LCF, called Isabelle, retains these advantages while providing flexibility in the choice of logical formalism and much stronger automation. The main application of these techniques has been to prove the correctness of hardware and software systems, but increasingly researchers have been applying them to mathematics itself.

Nomadic concepts in the history of biology.

PubMed

Surman, Jan; Stráner, Katalin; Haslinger, Peter

2014-12-01

The history of scientific concepts has firmly settled among the instruments of historical inquiry. In our section we approach concepts from the perspective of nomadic concepts (Isabelle Stengers). Instead of following the evolution of concepts within one disciplinary network, we see them as subject to constant reification and change while crossing and turning across disciplines and non-scientific domains. This introduction argues that understanding modern biology is not possible without taking into account the constant transfers and translations that affected concepts. We argue that this approach does not only engage with nomadism between disciplines and non-scientific domains, but reflects on and involves the metaphoric value of concepts as well. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Machine-Checkable Timed CSP

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Goethel, Thomas; Glesner, Sabine

2009-01-01

The correctness of safety-critical embedded software is crucial, whereas non-functional properties like deadlock-freedom and real-time constraints are particularly important. The real-time calculus Timed Communicating Sequential Processes (CSP) is capable of expressing such properties and can therefore be used to verify embedded software. In this paper, we present our formalization of Timed CSP in the Isabelle/HOL theorem prover, which we have formulated as an operational coalgebraic semantics together with bisimulation equivalences and coalgebraic invariants. Furthermore, we apply these techniques in an abstract specification with real-time constraints, which is the basis for current work in which we verify the components of a simple real-time operating system deployed on a satellite.

Computational logic: its origins and applications

PubMed Central

2018-01-01

Computational logic is the use of computers to establish facts in a logical formalism. Originating in nineteenth century attempts to understand the nature of mathematical reasoning, the subject now comprises a wide variety of formalisms, techniques and technologies. One strand of work follows the ‘logic for computable functions (LCF) approach’ pioneered by Robin Milner, where proofs can be constructed interactively or with the help of users’ code (which does not compromise correctness). A refinement of LCF, called Isabelle, retains these advantages while providing flexibility in the choice of logical formalism and much stronger automation. The main application of these techniques has been to prove the correctness of hardware and software systems, but increasingly researchers have been applying them to mathematics itself. PMID:29507522

Brookhaven highlights, October 1978-September 1979. [October 1978 to September 1979

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1979-01-01

These highlights present an overview of the major research and development achievements at Brookhaven National Laboratory from October 1978 to September 1979. Specific areas covered include: accelerator and high energy physics programs; high energy physics research; the AGS and improvements to the AGS; neutral beam development; heavy ion fusion; superconducting power cables; ISABELLE storage rings; the BNL Tandem accelerator; heavy ion experiments at the Tandem; the High Flux Beam Reactor; medium energy physics; nuclear theory; atomic and applied physics; solid state physics; neutron scattering studies; x-ray scattering studies; solid state theory; defects and disorder in solids; surface physics; the Nationalmore » Synchrotron Light Source ; Chemistry Department; Biology Department; Medical Department; energy sciences; environmental sciences; energy technology programs; National Center for Analysis of Energy Systems; advanced reactor systems; nuclear safety; National Nuclear Data Center; nuclear materials safeguards; Applied Mathematics Department; and support activities. (GHT)« less

Surface-exposure ages of Front Range moraines that may have formed during the Younger Dryas, 8.2 cal ka, and Little Ice Age events

USGS Publications Warehouse

Benson, L.; Madole, R.; Kubik, P.; McDonald, R.

2007-01-01

Surface-exposure (10Be) ages have been obtained on boulders from three post-Pinedale end-moraine complexes in the Front Range, Colorado. Boulder rounding appears related to the cirque-to-moraine transport distance at each site with subrounded boulders being typical of the 2-km-long Chicago Lakes Glacier, subangular boulders being typical of the 1-km-long Butler Gulch Glacier, and angular boulders being typical of the few-hundred-m-long Isabelle Glacier. Surface-exposure ages of angular boulders from the Isabelle Glacier moraine, which formed during the Little Ice Age (LIA) according to previous lichenometric dating, indicate cosmogenic inheritance values ranging from 0 to ???3.0 10Be ka.11Surface-exposure ages in this paper are labeled 10Be; radiocarbon ages are labeled 14C ka, calendar and calibrated radiocarbon ages are labeled cal ka, and layer-based ice-core ages are labeled ka. 14C ages, calibrated 14C ages, and ice core ages are given relative to AD 1950, whereas 10Be ages are given relative to the sampling date. Radiocarbon ages were calibrated using CALIB 5.01 and the INTCAL04 data base Stuiver et al. (2005). Ages estimated using CALIB 5.01 are shown in terms of their 1-sigma range. Subangular boulders from the Butler Gulch end moraine yielded surface-exposure ages ranging from 5 to 10.2 10Be ka. We suggest that this moraine was deposited during the 8.2 cal ka event, which has been associated with outburst floods from Lake Agassiz and Lake Ojibway, and that the large age range associated with the Butler Gulch end moraine is caused by cosmogenic shielding of and(or) spalling from boulders that have ages in the younger part of the range and by cosmogenic inheritance in boulders that have ages in the older part of the range. The surface-exposure ages of eight of nine subrounded boulders from the Chicago Lakes area fall within the 13.0-11.7 10Be ka age range, and appear to have been deposited during the Younger Dryas interval. The general lack of inheritance in the eight samples probably stems from the fact that only a few thousand years intervened between the retreat of the Pinedale glacier and the advance of the Chicago Lakes glacier; in addition, bedrock in the Chicago Lakes cirque area may have remained covered with snow and ice during that interval, thus partially shielding the bedrock from cosmogenic radiation.

Zeit im Wandel der Zeit.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aichelburg, P. C.

Contents: Einleitung(P. C. Aichelburg). 1. Über Zeit, Bewegung und Veränderung (Aristoteles). 2. Ewigkeit und Zeit (Plotin). 3. Was ist die Zeit? (Augustinus). 4. Von der Zeit (Immanuel Kant). 5. Newtons Ansichten über Zeit, Raum und Bewegung (Ernst Mach). 6. Über die mechanische Erklärung irreversibler Vorgänge (Ludwig Boltzmann). 7. Das Maß der Zeit (Henri Poincaré). 8. Dauer und Intuition (Henri Bergson). 9. Die Geschichte des Unendlichkeitsproblems (Bertrand Russell). 10. Raum und Zeit (Hermann Minkowski). 11. Der Unterschied von Zeit und Raum (Hans Reichenbach). 12. Newtonscher und Bergsonscher Zeitbegriff (Norbert Wiener). 13. Die Bildung des Zeitbegriffs beim Kinde (JeanPiaget).14. Eine Bemerkung über die Beziehungen zwischen Relativitätstheorie und der idealistischen Philosophie (Kurt Gödel). 15. Der zweite Hauptsatz und der Unterschied von Vergangenheit und Zukunft (Carl Friedrich v. Weizsäcker). 16. Zeit als physikalischer Begriff (Friedrich Hund). 17. Zeitmessung und Zeitbegriff in der Astronomie (Otto Heckmann). 18. Kann die Zeit rückwärts gehen? (Martin Gardner). 19. Zeit und Zeiten (Ilya Prigogine, Isabelle Stengers). 20. Zeit als dynamische Größe in der Relativitätstheorie (P. C. Aichelburg).

Ludwik Zamenhof: a major contributor to world culture, on the 150(th) anniversary of his birth.

PubMed

Grzybowski, Andrzej

2010-01-01

More than 200 universal languages have been proposed to replace the nearly 3,000 existing languages. Esperanto, developed by the Polish-Jewish ophthalmologist Ludwik Zamenhof in 1887, became the most widely used artificial language of the 20(th) century. It is estimated that between one million and 15 million people in the world can speak or read Esperanto. Zamenhof was nominated 14 times for the Nobel Peace Prize, and also received the French Legion of Honor, and the Medal of Isabelle of Spain the Catholic. Ludwik Zamenhof started his professional training in ophthalmology at the Jewish Hospital in Warsaw, later spent several months in Vienna, and finally started a private ophthalmology practice in Warsaw, where he remained for most of his life. His son Adam was an associate professor of ophthalmology at the University of Warsaw and head of ophthalmology in the Jewish Hospital in Czyste, the biggest and most modern hospital in Warsaw at that time. Some lesser known aspects of Zamenhof's life and work drawn from the original 19(th) century Russian and 20(th) century Esperanto documents are described. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Potassium currents in the heart: functional roles in repolarization, arrhythmia and therapeutics.

PubMed

Chiamvimonvat, Nipavan; Chen-Izu, Ye; Clancy, Colleen E; Deschenes, Isabelle; Dobrev, Dobromir; Heijman, Jordi; Izu, Leighton; Qu, Zhilin; Ripplinger, Crystal M; Vandenberg, Jamie I; Weiss, James N; Koren, Gideon; Banyasz, Tamas; Grandi, Eleonora; Sanguinetti, Michael C; Bers, Donald M; Nerbonne, Jeanne M

2017-04-01

This is the second of the two White Papers from the fourth UC Davis Cardiovascular Symposium Systems Approach to Understanding Cardiac Excitation-Contraction Coupling and Arrhythmias (3-4 March 2016), a biennial event that brings together leading experts in different fields of cardiovascular research. The theme of the 2016 symposium was 'K + channels and regulation', and the objectives of the conference were severalfold: (1) to identify current knowledge gaps; (2) to understand what may go wrong in the diseased heart and why; (3) to identify possible novel therapeutic targets; and (4) to further the development of systems biology approaches to decipher the molecular mechanisms and treatment of cardiac arrhythmias. The sessions of the Symposium focusing on the functional roles of the cardiac K + channel in health and disease, as well as K + channels as therapeutic targets, were contributed by Ye Chen-Izu, Gideon Koren, James Weiss, David Paterson, David Christini, Dobromir Dobrev, Jordi Heijman, Thomas O'Hara, Crystal Ripplinger, Zhilin Qu, Jamie Vandenberg, Colleen Clancy, Isabelle Deschenes, Leighton Izu, Tamas Banyasz, Andras Varro, Heike Wulff, Eleonora Grandi, Michael Sanguinetti, Donald Bers, Jeanne Nerbonne and Nipavan Chiamvimonvat as speakers and panel discussants. This article summarizes state-of-the-art knowledge and controversies on the functional roles of cardiac K + channels in normal and diseased heart. We endeavour to integrate current knowledge at multiple scales, from the single cell to the whole organ levels, and from both experimental and computational studies. © 2016 The Authors. The Journal of Physiology © 2016 The Physiological Society.

Identification of hidden relationships from the coupling of hydrophobic cluster analysis and domain architecture information.

PubMed

Faure, Guilhem; Callebaut, Isabelle

2013-07-15

Describing domain architecture is a critical step in the functional characterization of proteins. However, some orphan domains do not match any profile stored in dedicated domain databases and are thereby difficult to analyze. We present here an original novel approach, called TREMOLO-HCA, for the analysis of orphan domain sequences and inspired from our experience in the use of Hydrophobic Cluster Analysis (HCA). Hidden relationships between protein sequences can be more easily identified from the PSI-BLAST results, using information on domain architecture, HCA plots and the conservation degree of amino acids that may participate in the protein core. This can lead to reveal remote relationships with known families of domains, as illustrated here with the identification of a hidden Tudor tandem in the human BAHCC1 protein and a hidden ET domain in the Saccharomyces cerevisiae Taf14p and human AF9 proteins. The results obtained in such a way are consistent with those provided by HHPRED, based on pairwise comparisons of HHMs. Our approach can, however, be applied even in absence of domain profiles or known 3D structures for the identification of novel families of domains. It can also be used in a reverse way for refining domain profiles, by starting from known protein domain families and identifying highly divergent members, hitherto considered as orphan. We provide a possible integration of this approach in an open TREMOLO-HCA package, which is fully implemented in python v2.7 and is available on request. Instructions are available at http://www.impmc.upmc.fr/∼callebau/tremolohca.html. isabelle.callebaut@impmc.upmc.fr Supplementary Data are available at Bioinformatics online.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dahl, P.F.

The magnet system for the Superconducting Super Collider will likely remain the most ambitions-and challenging-application of superconducting technology for the foreseeable future. The centerpiece of the system is the behemoth collider dipole magnet. Its design, still evolving in its detailed features, dates from the mid-1980's when it emerged as the winter in an early technical showdown that occupied the fledgling SSC project. In the present report we chronicle the origins and chief milestones in the development of certain SSC dipole design concepts. Unfortunately, the chronicle must remain incomplete, with the design not yet frozen as we go to press andmore » still subject to important modifications as the SSC Laboratory settles in near its future home in Ellis County, Texas, hard on the heels of a wide-ranging design review in the closing days of the SSC Central Design Group in (CDG) Berkeley. Be that as it may, in what follows we concentrate on the early years in an attempt to recapitulate the birth of the dipole, taking as our point of departure the SSC Reference Designs Study (RDS) of 1984. In Section 3 we touch on the background for the various RDS options, including ISABELLE/CBA and the Tevatron. In Section 4 the narrative focuses on the two final protagonists, a high-field cosine theta (cos {theta}) magnet and a low-field superferric magnet. Section 5 recounts the circumstances surrounding the selection of a particular magnet style'' for further development, and the ups and downs of the first model magnets. We conclude with a smattering of progress highlights in refining the design during the final push under the reign of the CDG. Beyond that, the ongoing chronicle must be left for others to amplify and complete.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dahl, P.F.

The magnet system for the Superconducting Super Collider will likely remain the most ambitions-and challenging-application of superconducting technology for the foreseeable future. The centerpiece of the system is the behemoth collider dipole magnet. Its design, still evolving in its detailed features, dates from the mid-1980`s when it emerged as the winter in an early technical showdown that occupied the fledgling SSC project. In the present report we chronicle the origins and chief milestones in the development of certain SSC dipole design concepts. Unfortunately, the chronicle must remain incomplete, with the design not yet frozen as we go to press andmore » still subject to important modifications as the SSC Laboratory settles in near its future home in Ellis County, Texas, hard on the heels of a wide-ranging design review in the closing days of the SSC Central Design Group in (CDG) Berkeley. Be that as it may, in what follows we concentrate on the early years in an attempt to recapitulate the birth of the dipole, taking as our point of departure the SSC Reference Designs Study (RDS) of 1984. In Section 3 we touch on the background for the various RDS options, including ISABELLE/CBA and the Tevatron. In Section 4 the narrative focuses on the two final protagonists, a high-field cosine theta (cos {theta}) magnet and a low-field superferric magnet. Section 5 recounts the circumstances surrounding the selection of a particular magnet ``style`` for further development, and the ups and downs of the first model magnets. We conclude with a smattering of progress highlights in refining the design during the final push under the reign of the CDG. Beyond that, the ongoing chronicle must be left for others to amplify and complete.« less

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry Brownfields/ land-reuse site tool.

PubMed

Perlman, Gary D; Berman, Laurel; Leann, Kathryn; Bing, Lemley

2012-12-01

As part of our continuing effort to highlight innovative approaches to improving the health and environment of communities, the Journal is pleased to bring back the bimonthly column from the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR). The ATSDR, based in Atlanta, Georgia, is a federal public health agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and shares a common office of the Director with the National Center for Environmental Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). ATSDR serves the public by using the best science, taking responsive public health actions, and providing trusted health information to prevent harmful exposures and diseases related to toxic substances. The purpose of this column is to inform readers of ATSDR's activities and initiatives to better understand the relationship between exposure to hazardous substances in the environment and their impact on human health and how to protect public health. We believe that the column will provide a valuable resource to our readership by helping to make known the considerable resources and expertise that ATSDR has available to assist communities, states, and others to assure good environmental health practice for all is served. The conclusions of this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of ATSDR, CDC, or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Gary D. Perlman is an environmental health scientist for ATSDR. He is a commissioned officer with the U.S. Public Health Service and has been deployed in support of numerous environmental disasters including hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Isabelle, and Irene, as well as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Laurel Berman is the national brownfields coordinator with ATSDR. She coordinates the ATSDR Brownfields/Land-Reuse Health Initiative. Kathryn Leann Lemley Bing is an environmental health scientist and an ATSDR regional representative in Atlanta. She has specialized expertise working in brownfield/land-reuse communities.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dahl, P.F.

The magnet system for the Superconducting Super Collider will likely remain the most ambitious -- and challenging -- application of superconducting technology for the foreseeable future. The centerpiece of the system is the behemoth collider dipole magnet. Its design, still evolving in its detailed features, dates from the mid-1980's when it emerged as the winner in an early technical showdown that occupied the fledgling SSC project. However, some of its gross features can be traced back to three path-breaking superconducting accelerator initiatives under way a decade earlier -- on the East Coast, on the West Coast, and in the Midwest.more » Other features have a still earlier legacy. In the present report we chronicle the origins and chief milestones in the development of certain SSC dipole design concepts. Unfortunately, the chronicle must remain incomplete, with the design not yet frozen as we go to press and still subject to important modifications as the SSC Laboratory settles in near its future home in Ellis County, Texas, hard on the heels of a wide-ranging design review in the closing days of the SSC Central Design Group in (CDG) Berkeley. Be that as it may, in what follows we concentrate on the early years in an attempt to recapitulate the birth of the dipole, taking as our point of departure the SSC Reference Designs Study (RDS) of 1984. In Section 3 we touch on the background for the various RDS options, including ISABELLE/CBA and the Tevatron. In Section 4 the narrative focuses on the two final protagonists, a high-field cosine theta (cos {theta}) magnet and a low-field superferric magnet. Section 5 recounts the circumstances surrounding the selection of a particular magnet style'' for further development, and the ups and downs of the first model magnets. We conclude with a smattering of progress highlights in refining the design during the final push under the reign of the CDG.« less

Development of a Questionnaire to Measure the Attitudes of Laypeople, Physicians, and Psychotherapists Toward Telemedicine in Mental Health.

PubMed

Tonn, Peter; Reuter, Silja Christin; Kuchler, Isabelle; Reinke, Britta; Hinkelmann, Lena; Stöckigt, Saskia; Siemoneit, Hanna; Schulze, Nina

2017-10-03

In the field of psychiatry and psychotherapy, there are now a growing number of Web-based interventions, mobile phone apps, or treatments that are available via remote transmission screen worldwide. Many of these interventions have been shown to be effective in studies but still find little use in everyday therapeutic work. However, it is important that attitude and expectation toward this treatment are generally examined, because these factors have an important effect on the efficacy of the treatment. To measure the general attitude of the users and prescribers toward telemedicine, which may include, for instance, Web-based interventions or interventions through mobile phone apps, there are a small number of extensive tests. The results of studies based on small groups of patients have been published too, but there is no useful short screening tool to give an insight into the general population's attitude. We have developed a screening instrument that examines such attitude through a few graded questions. This study aimed to explore the Attitude toward Telemedicine in Psychiatry and Psychotherapy (ATiPP) and to evaluate the results of general population and some subgroups. In a three-step process, the questionnaire, which is available in three versions (laypeople, physicians, and psychologists), was developed. Afterwards, it was evaluated by four groups: population-representative laypeople, outpatients in different faculties, physicians, and psychotherapists. The results were evaluated from a total of 1554 questionnaires. The sample population included 1000 laypeople, 455 outpatients, 62 physicians, and 37 psychotherapists. The reliability of all three versions of the questionnaire seemed good, as indicated by the Cronbach alpha values of .849 (the laypeople group), .80 (the outpatients' group), .827 (the physicians' group), and .855 (the psychotherapists' group). The ATiPP was found to be useful and reliable for measuring the attitudes toward the Web-based interventions in psychiatry and psychotherapy and should be used in different studies in this field in the future to evaluate and reflect the attitude of the participants. ©Peter Tonn, Silja Christin Reuter, Isabelle Kuchler, Britta Reinke, Lena Hinkelmann, Saskia Stöckigt, Hanna Siemoneit, Nina Schulze. Originally published in JMIR Mental Health (http://mental.jmir.org), 03.10.2017.

Water: from the source to the treatment plan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baude, I.; Marquet, V.

2012-04-01

Isabelle BAUDE isa.baude@free.fr Lycee français de Vienne Liechtensteinstrasse 37AVienna As a physics and chemistry teacher, I have worked on water from the source to the treatment plant with 27 pupils between 14 and 15 years old enrolled in the option "Science and laboratory". The objectives of this option are to interest students in science, to introduce them to practical methods of laboratory analyses, and let them use computer technology. Teaching takes place every two weeks and lasts 1.5 hours. The theme of water is a common project with the biology and geology teacher, Mrs. Virginie Marquet. Lesson 1: Introduction: The water in Vienna The pupils have to consider why the water is so important in Vienna (history, economy etc.) and where tap water comes from. Activities: Brainstorming about where and why we use water every day and why the water is different in Vienna. Lesson 2: Objectives of the session: What are the differences between mineral waters? Activities: Compare water from different origins (France: Evian, Vittel, Contrex. Austria: Vöslauer, Juvina, Gasteiner and tap water from Vienna) by tasting and finding the main ions they contain. Testing ions: Calcium, magnesium, sulphate, chloride, sodium, and potassium Lesson 3: Objectives of the session: Build a hydrometer Activities: Producing a range of calibration solutions, build and calibrate the hydrometer with different salt-water solutions. Measure the density of the Dead Sea's water and other mineral waters. Lesson 4: Objectives of the session: How does a fountain work? Activities: Construction of a fountain as Heron of Alexandria with simple equipment and try to understand the hydrostatic principles. Lesson 5: Objectives of the session: Study of the physical processes of water treatment (decantation, filtration, screening) Activities: Build a natural filter with sand, stone, carbon, and cotton wool. Retrieve the filtered water to test it during lesson 7. Lesson 6: Visit of the biggest treatment plant of Europe in Vienna. Lesson 7: Objectives of the session: Water Quality Monitoring: Biochemical Oxygen Demand (chemical analysis) in common with my colleague.

Deep Stucture of the Northwestern Atlantic Moroccan Margin Studied by OBS and Deep Multichannel Seismic Reflection.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

MALOD, J. A.; Réhault, J.; Sahabi, M.; Géli, L.; Matias, L.; Diaz, J.; Zitellini, N.

2001-12-01

The Northwestern Atlantic Moroccan margin, a conjugate of the New Scotland margin, is one of the oldest passive margin of the world. Continental break up occurred at early Liassic time and the deep margin is characterized by a large salt basin. A good knowledge of this basin is of major interest to improve the initial reconstruction between Africa, North America and Iberia (Eurasia). It is also a good opportunity to study a mature passive margin and model its structure and evolution.Moreover, there is a need to assess the geological hazards linked to the neotectonic activity within the Africa-Eurasia plate boundary. These topics have been adressed during the SISMAR cruise carried out from April 9th to May 4th 2001.During this cruise, 3667 km of multichannel seismic reflection (360 channels, 4500 m long streamer, 4800 ci array of air guns) were recorded together with refraction records by means of 48 OBH/OBS drops. Simultaneously, some of the marine profiles have been extended onshore with 16 portable seismic land stations. We present the initial results of this study. Off El Jadida, the Moho and structures within the thinned continental crust are well imaged on both the reflection and refraction records. In the northern area, off Casablanca, we follow the deepening of the moroccan margin beneath the up to 9 sec (twtt) allochtonous series forming a prism at the front the Rif-Betic chain. Sismar cruise has been also the opportunity to record long seismic profiles making the junction between the Portuguese margin and the Moroccan one, and crossing the Iberian-African plate boundary. This allows to observe the continuity of the sedimentary sequence after the end of the large inter-plate motion in Early Cretaceous. In addition to the authors, SISMAR Group includes: AMRHAR Mostafa, BERMUDEZ VASQUEZ Antoni, CAMURRI Francesca, CONTRUCCI Isabelle, CORELA Carlos, DIAZ Jordi, DORVAL Philippe, EL ARCHI Abdelkrim, EL ATTARI Ahmed, GONZALEZ Raquel, HARMEGNIES Francois, JAFFAL Mohamed, KLINGELÖFER Fraucke, LANDURÉ Jean Yves, LEGALL Bernard, MAILLARD-LENOIR Agnès, MARTIN Christophe, MEHDI Khalid, MERCIER Eric, MOULIN Maryline, OUAJHAIN Brahim, PERROT Julie, ROLET Joël, RUELLAN Etienne, TEIXIRA Fernando, TERRINHA Pedro, ZOURARAH Bendehhou.

Abstracts from Dietetic Research Event: June 09-11, 2016.

PubMed

2016-09-01

Winnipeg, Manitoba was the host city of the 2016 Dietitians of Canada Annual Conference. Through the support of Dietitians of Canada and CFDR, the 2016 event was both an exciting and informative exchange of research and experience-sharing efforts that inspired attendees. The submissions for this year's Canadian Foundation for Dietetic Research (CFDR) event represented the diversity of dietetic research conducted within Canada. The topics highlighted from this year's abstracts include Community Based Nutritional Care, Wellness & Public Health, Determinants of Food Choice, Dietary Intake, Nutrition Health & Education, Dietetic Practice & Education, Clinical Research & Patient Service, and Nutrition Social Media & the Web. Each presenter provided an 11-minute oral presentation (8 minutes for presenting and 3 minutes for questions). This allowed for meaningful interaction between the presenters and those attending the sessions. This year there were professional and student oral research presentations on each day of the conference. These presentations offered the newest insights into important research findings that apply to dietetic practice. This research event would not be possible without the commitment and dedication of many people. On behalf of Dietitians of Canada and CFDR, I would like to extend a special thank you to the 2016 Abstract Review Committee who represented research, clinical nutrition, community nutrition, and education: Masha Jessri (Ph.D Candidate, University of Toronto), Joyce Slater (Associate Professor, University of Manitoba) and Miyoung Suh (Associate Professor, University of Manitoba). We would also like to thank all of our moderators who assisted during the conference to keep our research presentation sessions on time: Marcia Cooper, Miyoung Suh, Andrea Buchholz, Dawna Royall, Paul Fieldhouse, Joyce Slater, Isabelle Giroux, and Bethany Hopkins. Finally, a special thank you to Michelle Naraine and Greg Sarney at CFDR for their assistance and support throughout the review process. I enjoyed interacting with many of you at the oral research presentations as we highlighted the findings from our dietetic colleagues across our country! Christina Lengyel, PhD, RD Chair, 2016 Abstracts Review Committee Associate Professor Director of the Dietetics Program Human Nutritional Sciences University of Manitoba.

Correction to "Asian chemical Outflow to the Pacific in Spring: Origins, Pathways, and Budgets" by Isabelle Bey et al.

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bey, Isabelle; Jacob, Daniel J.; Logan, Jennifer A.; Yantosca, Robert M.

2003-01-01

We analyze the Asian outflow of CO, ozone, and nitrogen oxides (NOx) to the Pacific in spring by using the GEOS-CHEM global three-dimensional model of tropospheric chemistry and simulating the Pacific Exploratory Mission-West (PEM-West B) aircraft mission in February-March 1994. The GEOS-CHEM model uses assimilated meteorological fields from the NASA Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS). It reproduces relatively well the main features of tropospheric ozone, CO, and reactive nitrogen species observed in PEM-West B, including latitudinal and vertical gradients of the Asian pollution outflow over the western Pacific although simulated concentrations of CO tend to be too low (possibly because biogenic sources are underestimated). We use CO as a long-lived tracer to diagnose the processes contributing to the outflow. The highest concentrations in the outflow are in the boundary layer (0-2 km), but the strongest outflow fluxes are in the lower free troposphere (2-5 km) and reflect episodic lifting of pollution over central and eastern China ahead of eastward moving cold fronts. This frontal lifting, followed by westerly transport in the lower free troposphere, is the principal process responsible for export of both anthropogenic and biomass burning pollution from Asia. Anthropogenic emissions from Europe and biomass burning emissions from Africa make also major contributions to the Asian outflow over the western Pacific; European sources dominate in the lower troposphere north of 40 degrees N, while African sources are important in the upper troposphere at low latitudes. For the period of PEM-West B (February-March) we estimate that fossil fuel combustion and biomass burning make comparable contributions to the budgets of CO, ozone, and NO, in the Asian outflow. We find that 13% of NO, emitted in Asia is exported as NO, or PAN, a smaller fraction than for the United States because of higher aerosol concentrations that promote heterogeneous conversion of NOx to HNO3. Production and export of ozone from Asia in spring is much greater than from the United States because of the higher photochemical activity.

MAX-DOAS observations and their application to the validation of satellite and model data in Wuxi, China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Y.; Wagner, T.; Xie, P.; Theys, N.; De Smedt, I.; Koukouli, M.; Stavrakou, T.; Beirle, S.; Li, A.

2015-12-01

Thomas Wagner1, Pinhua Xie2, Nicolas Theys3, Isabelle De Smedt3, MariLiza Koukouli4, Trissevgeni Stavrakou3, Steffen Beirle1, Ang Li2,1) Satellite group, Max Planck institute for Chemistry, Mainz, Germany2) Anhui Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei, China 3) BIRA-IASB, Brussels, Belgium 4) Laboratory of Atmospheric Physics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece From 2011 to 2014 a MAX-DOAS instrument developed by the Anhui Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics institute is operated in Wuxi, China, which is locatd about 100 km west of Shanghai. We determine the tropospheric vertical column densities (VCDs), near surface concentrations and vertical profiles of aerosols, NO2, SO2, HCHO from the MAX-DOAS observations using the optimal estimation profile retrieval algorithm (refered to as "PriAM"). We verified the results by comparing them with results from independent techniques, such as sun photometer (AERONET), a visibility meter and a long-path DOAS instrument. We acquire the cloud and aerosol conditions using a cloud classification scheme based on the MAX-DOAS observations (Wang et al., AMTD, 2015). Based on the obtained results, we characterize the effect of the clouds on the trace gas and aerosol profiles retrieved from MAX-DOAS. Then we characterize the diurnal, annual and weekly variations of the trace gases and aerosols and validate the tropospheric trace gas VCDs derived from the Ozone Monitoring instrument (OMI) on the Aura satellite platform as well as the model results from the IMAGES, CHIMERE and Lotos-Euros models and analyse the agreement depending on the cloud and aerosol conditions. Besides the direct comparison with the satellite data, we also use the trace gas and aerosol profiles derived from MAX-DOAS to recalculate the air mass factor (AMF) for the satellite observations and to evaluate the corresponding improvement of the satellite VCDs. In some periods with strong aerosol pollution, we evaluate the effect of the aerosols on the satellite cloud retrievals and the corresponding errors of the tropospheric AMF of the trace gases. Here should be noted that aerosol effects on the AMF is not yet considered in the published satellite products, which can cause appreciable errors of the tropospheric VCD of satellite products around polluted regions.

Recent marine deposits reconstruction of two depositional environments of the French Atlantic coast

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pouzet, Pierre; Maanan, Mohamed; Schmidt, Sabine; Athimon, Emmanuelle; Robin, Marc

2017-04-01

This work provides a 300-yr high-resolution record of past storm and/or tsunami events using a multi-proxy analysis (137Cs and 210Pb dating, chemical composition and grain size) of sedimentary deposits from two coastal depositional environments of the French Atlantic coast. We analyse two wetland areas situated just behind a narrow coastal sand strip: 1) the Mer Blanche and 2) the Turballe. Evidence for strong extratropical storms and /or tsunamis events can be identified in this central part of the Bay of Biscay from the XIXth to the XXth century. Nine short sediment cores were collected in August 2016 using gravity type corer of 10 inner diameter and 100 cm length. Each core was longitudinally sliced, each half section photographed and described. High-resolution elemental analyses of split sediment cores were done using an Avaatech XRF core scanner. Then sediment cores were sampled every 0.5 cm. Grain size analysis was done using a Malvern 2600 laser beam grain sizer; organic carbon was measured by Leco induction furnace. 137Cs, 210Pb and 226Ra activities were measured on about 2 g dried sediment using a low background, well-type γ spectrometer (Canberra). The 210Pb in excess, which is used for dating, was calculated as the difference of measured 210Pb and of its supported activities (226Ra). The history information is performed using historical documents including narrative sources, ancient maps, records of cities repairs, surveys conducted after a disaster, newspaper from different departmental and national archives, and meteorological data. Coastal depositional environments were affected hardest by extreme environmental and climatological events during the last century. In the Mer Blanche core, three extreme episodes can be observed: i) at 36 cm, sediment is characterized by coarser sand and higher Sr/Al ratio, this episode coincides with a high tidal wave in spring 1937; ii) at 55 cm, we observe the presence of many gravels, they dates back to the high tidal wave of 1924 and iii) at 65 cm, the presence of another coarse pebble layer is attributed to a series of severe storms associated with coastal flooding episodes between 1910 and 1913. Acknowledgements The authors gratefully acknowledge Isabelle Billy (EPOC, University of Bordeaux 1) for XRF spectrometric core scanner analysis. This work was supported by grants from the Fondation de France through the research program « Quels littoraux pour demain? » and OR2C PDL regional framework.

PREFACE: International Conference on Image Optimisation in Nuclear Medicine (OptiNM)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Christofides, Stelios; Parpottas, Yiannis

2011-09-01

Conference logo The International Conference on Image Optimisation in Nuclear Medicine was held at the Atlantica Aeneas Resort in Ayia Napa, Cyprus between 23-26 March 2011. It was organised in the framework of the research project "Optimising Diagnostic Value in SPECT Myocardial Perfusion Imaging" (YΓΕΙΑ/ΔYΓΕΙΑ/0308/11), funded by the Cyprus Research Promotion Foundation and the European Regional Development Fund, to present the highlights of the project, discuss the progress and results, and define future related goals. The aim of this International Conference was to concentrate on image optimization approaches in Nuclear Medicine. Experts in the field of nuclear medicine presented their latest research results, exchanged experiences and set future goals for image optimisation while balancing patient dose and diagnostic value. The conference was jointly organized by the Frederick Research Centre in Cyprus, the Department of Medical and Public Health Services of the Cyprus Ministry of Health, the Biomedical Research Foundation in Cyprus and the AGH University of Science and Technology in Poland. It was supported by the Cyprus Association of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, and the Cyprus Society of Nuclear Medicine. The conference was held under the auspices of the European Federation of Organisations for Medical Physics and the European Association of Nuclear Medicine. The conference scientific programme covered several important topics such as functional imaging; image optimization; quantification for diagnosis; justification; simulations; patient dosimetry, staff exposures and radiation risks; quality assurance and clinical audit; education, training and radiation protection culture; hybrid systems and image registration; and new and competing technologies. The programme consisted of 13 invited and keynote presentations as well as workshops, round table discussions and a number of scientific sessions. A total of 51 speakers presented their research and results to more than 150 participants from 14 countries. During the conference, exhibitors presented medical equipment used in nuclear medicine. We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Cyprus Research Promotion Foundation, the European Regional Development Fund and the Cyprus Biomedical Research Foundation. Also, we appreciate the support of the various local sponsors listed in the conference programme. We would like to express our sincere thanks and gratitude to the organising committee, the scientific committee and the supporting professional organizations for the success of the conference. We also thank all of speakers for their excellent contributions, all the participants for their input, and the exhibitors for their valuable presentations. Special thanks go to Demetris Kaolis, Maria Christofidou, Isabelle Chrysanthou, Charalambos Yiannakkaras, Ourania Demetriadou, and Elena Christofidou for their invaluable contribution to the conference. The conference volume consists of 26 selected proceedings papers. We would like to thank all of the authors for their time and genuine efforts and the reviewers for their fruitful comments. The Conference Chairpersons Stelios Christofides and Yiannis Parpottas

Integrating Electronic Patient-Reported Outcome Measures into Routine HIV Care and the ANRS CO3 Aquitaine Cohort's Data Capture and Visualization System (QuAliV): Protocol for a Formative Research Study.

PubMed

Barger, Diana; Leleux, Olivier; Conte, Valérie; Sapparrart, Vincent; Gapillout, Marie; Crespel, Isabelle; Erramouspe, Marie; Delveaux, Sandrine; Dabis, Francois; Bonnet, Fabrice

2018-06-07

Effective antiretroviral therapy has greatly reduced HIV-related morbidity and mortality, dramatically changing the demographics of the population of people living with HIV. The majority of people living with HIV in France are well cared for insofar as their HIV infection is concerned but remain at risk for age-associated comorbidities. Their long-term, potentially complex, and growing care needs make the routine, longitudinal assessment of health-related quality of life and other patient-reported outcomes of relevance in the current treatment era. We aim to describe the development of a Web-based electronic patient-reported outcomes system for people living with HIV linked to the ANRS CO3 Aquitaine cohort's data capture and visualization system (ARPEGE) and designed to facilitate the electronic collection of patient-reported data and ultimately promote better patient-physician communication and quality of care (both patient satisfaction and health outcomes). Participants who meet the eligibility criteria will be invited to engage with the Web-based electronic patient-reported outcomes system and provided with the information necessary to create a personal patient account. They will then be able to access the electronic patient-reported outcomes system and complete a set of standardized validated questionnaires covering health-related quality of life (World Health Organization's Quality of Life Instrument in HIV infection, named WHOQOL-HIV BREF) and other patient-reported outcomes. The information provided via questionnaires will ultimately be presented in a summary format for clinicians, together with the patient's HIV care history. The prototype of the Web-based electronic patient-reported outcome system will be finalized and the first 2 formative research phases of the study (prototyping and usability testing) will be conducted from December 2017 to May 2018. We describe the sequential processes planned to ensure that the proposed electronic patient-reported outcome system is ready for formal pilot testing, referred to herein as phases 1a and 1b. We also describe the planned pilot-testing designed to evaluate the acceptability and use of the system from the patient's perspective (phase 2). As the underlying information technology solution, ARPEGE, has being developed in-house, should the feasibility study presented here yield promising results, the panel of services provided via the proposed portal could ultimately be expanded and used to experiment with health-promoting interventions in aging people living with HIV in hospital-based care or adapted for use in other patient populations. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03296202; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03296202 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6zgOBArps). RR1-10.2196/9439. ©Diana Barger, Olivier Leleux, Valérie Conte, Vincent Sapparrart, Marie Gapillout, Isabelle Crespel, Marie Erramouspe, Sandrine Delveaux, Francois Dabis, Fabrice Bonnet. Originally published in JMIR Research Protocols (http://www.researchprotocols.org), 07.06.2018.

"You were a star once, weren't you?": Nonlinear steps into the re-enchantment of science education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Laroche, Lyubov

This thesis opens rather than closes the black box, evokes rather than answers questions, and invites rather than leads. It invites the reader to imagine how science education could be, if defrosted from a disenchanting spell of the mechanistic worldview. The modern "Machine" has collapsed the entire world into static, sterile, and meaningless kingdom of plain passive matter, bringing the human race into a state far from ecological, political, social, educational, and spiritual equilibriums. According to the science of complexity, a state-far-from-equilibrium is the edge of chaos, the dynamic space of possibilities, from which a new world might be born. Departing from rigid certainties of modernity and entering the eclectic and vague bricollage of postmodern visions, we do not know yet which possibility might actualize and what kind of world might leap into existence. Will it be a technological paradise, the world of sophisticated scientific and technical rationality? Perhaps. Will it be a ruined, dead world where humanity committed ecological or military suicide? There exists a real omnipotent danger of this scenario. Or...will we eventually invent a better world that evolves not only along technological and virtual dimensions but also along our inner spiritual dimensions? Will it be a re-enchanted world where meaning, purpose, values, beauty, freedom, wisdom, divinity, compassion, awe, mystery, creativity, and the ultimate unity of everything---all qualities "stolen" by modernity---are restored? New developments in science open a space for such possibilities. State-of-the-art science provides us not only with technological miracles, but also with a conceptual framework for re-enchantment of our worldview and of education, respectively. In this manuscript I synthesize and articulate insights emerging from leading edge developments in science in a language accessible to individuals without science background. While attending to the voices of contemporary scientists, philosophers, and educators, such as Illia Prigogine, Isabelle Stengers, David Bohm, David Griffin, Gregory Bateson, Rupert Sheldrake, Alfred North Whitehead, Frijof Capra, Bill Doll, David Orr, Jack Miller, and Ken Wilber, I identify re-enchanting dimensions within new scientific visions, conceptualize holonomic inquiry for exploring these dimensions, and discuss possibilities for re-imagining school science curriculum by moving it deeper and deeper into the re-enchanted world, step by step, nonlinearly. The deeper is the re-enchantment, the more radically it will change the rationale, purpose, structure, content, skills, and metaphoric language of science education. I brought my visions of re-enchanted science curriculum to pedagogical practice, when teaching an elementary science education course. The reoccurring leitmotif throughout the entire manuscript, a soap opera "Days of Physical Science in an Elementary Schools Course," is the narrative describing and analyzing my attempts. The conclusion of my thesis is open-ended and as such, inconclusive. How could it be otherwise in the re-enchanted, creative, ever-evolving, and ever-becoming world?

Foreword

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boutron, Claude

2006-12-01

This book is the seventh volume in the series of books published within the framework of the European Research Course on Atmospheres (“ERCA"), the advanced international research course organized every year in Grenoble, France. This course was initiated in 1993 by the University Joseph Fourier of Grenoble, in order to provide PhD students and more senior scientists from Europe and the rest of the world with a multidisciplinary course which covers: the physics and chemistry of the Earth's atmosphere; the climate system and climate change; human dimensions of environmental change; and the physics and chemistry of other planets and satellites in the solar system and beyond. Since 1993, fourteen sessions have been attended by more than 700 participants from 50 countries, selected from a very large number of applications. The fifteenth session will take place from 8 January to 10 February 2007. Each session lasts five weeks, which is considerably longer than most other research courses at this level. The first four weeks are devoted to a comprehensive programme of lectures (about 120 hours), seminars, panel discussions, poster sessions and visits to research institutes. The fifth week takes place at Observatoire de Haute Provence, South of Grenoble, where the participants learn about various instruments used for atmospheric measurements and Astronomy, as well as visiting the Cadarache Research Center of the French Atomic Energy Commission (International Themonuclear Experimental Reactor programme). There are fifty lecturers per session, amongst them many renowned specialists from Europe and North America, including Nobel Laureate Paul Crutzen. This new volume contains twenty-six chapters dealing with a truly wide range of topics. After an introductory chapter on Earth System Science written by the Director of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme, Kevin Noone, the following subjects are covered: the exploration of Venus and the other planets of the solar system; water in the Earth's atmosphere; the West African monsoon; regional climate modelling; forcings and feedbacks by land ecosystem changes on climate change; atmospheric electricity and climate change; solar magnetic activity; the contribution of the Antarctic ice sheet to global sea level change; climate and atmospheric records from ice cores; biogeochemical processes in the ocean and at the ocean-atmosphere interface; novel organic pollutants in the marine environment; inorganic aerosol formation in the Earth's lower and upper atmosphere; Asian dust events; elemental speciation analysis; the use of aircraft for atmospheric measurements; Rayleigh temperature lidars; DIAL lidars for ozone measurements; optical telescopes; sustainable health in a globalised world; adaptation and mitigation to climate change in agriculture; and the communication of air pollution science to the public and politicians. I wish to thank again the authors for kindly agreeing to write the chapters of this new volume. I am also very grateful to Michele Poinsot for her major contribution to the success of ERCA, and Isabelle Houlbert for editing the ERCA book series (with the help of “éclairs au café, à la vanille et au chocolat"). Claude Boutron Professor at the University Joseph Fourier of Grenoble Director of ERCA

Geriatric Patient Safety Indicators Based on Linked Administrative Health Data to Assess Anticoagulant-Related Thromboembolic and Hemorrhagic Adverse Events in Older Inpatients: A Study Proposal.

PubMed

Le Pogam, Marie-Annick; Quantin, Catherine; Reich, Oliver; Tuppin, Philippe; Fagot-Campagna, Anne; Paccaud, Fred; Peytremann-Bridevaux, Isabelle; Burnand, Bernard

2017-05-11

Frail older people with multiple interacting conditions, polypharmacy, and complex care needs are particularly exposed to health care-related adverse events. Among these, anticoagulant-related thromboembolic and hemorrhagic events are particularly frequent and serious in older inpatients. The growing use of anticoagulants in this population and their substantial risk of toxicity and inefficacy have therefore become an important patient safety and public health concern worldwide. Anticoagulant-related adverse events and the quality of anticoagulation management should thus be routinely assessed to improve patient safety in vulnerable older inpatients. This project aims to develop and validate a set of outcome and process indicators based on linked administrative health data (ie, insurance claims data linked to hospital discharge data) assessing older inpatient safety related to anticoagulation in both Switzerland and France, and enabling comparisons across time and among hospitals, health territories, and countries. Geriatric patient safety indicators (GPSIs) will assess anticoagulant-related adverse events. Geriatric quality indicators (GQIs) will evaluate the management of anticoagulants for the prevention and treatment of arterial or venous thromboembolism in older inpatients. GPSIs will measure cumulative incidences of thromboembolic and bleeding adverse events based on hospital discharge data linked to insurance claims data. Using linked administrative health data will improve GPSI risk adjustment on patients' conditions that are present at admission and will capture in-hospital and postdischarge adverse events. GQIs will estimate the proportion of index hospital stays resulting in recommended anticoagulation at discharge and up to various time frames based on the same electronic health data. The GPSI and GQI development and validation process will comprise 6 stages: (1) selection and specification of candidate indicators, (2) definition of administrative data-based algorithms, (3) empirical measurement of indicators using linked administrative health data, (4) validation of indicators, (5) analyses of geographic and temporal variations for reliable and valid indicators, and (6) data visualization. Study populations will consist of 166,670 Swiss and 5,902,037 French residents aged 65 years and older admitted to an acute care hospital at least once during the 2012-2014 period and insured for at least 1 year before admission and 1 year after discharge. We will extract Swiss data from the Helsana Group data warehouse and French data from the national health insurance information system (SNIIR-AM). The study has been approved by Swiss and French ethics committees and regulatory organizations for data protection. Validated GPSIs and GQIs should help support and drive quality and safety improvement in older inpatients, inform health care stakeholders, and enable international comparisons. We discuss several limitations relating to the representativeness of study populations, accuracy of administrative health data, methods used for GPSI criterion validity assessment, and potential confounding bias in comparisons based on GQIs, and we address these limitations to strengthen study feasibility and validity. ©Marie-Annick Le Pogam, Catherine Quantin, Oliver Reich, Philippe Tuppin, Anne Fagot-Campagna, Fred Paccaud, Isabelle Peytremann-Bridevaux, Bernard Burnand. Originally published in JMIR Research Protocols (http://www.researchprotocols.org), 11.05.2017.

Role of Psychosocial Factors and Health Literacy in Pregnant Women's Intention to Use a Decision Aid for Down Syndrome Screening: A Theory-Based Web Survey.

PubMed

Delanoë, Agathe; Lépine, Johanie; Turcotte, Stéphane; Leiva Portocarrero, Maria Esther; Robitaille, Hubert; Giguère, Anik Mc; Wilson, Brenda J; Witteman, Holly O; Lévesque, Isabelle; Guillaumie, Laurence; Légaré, France

2016-10-28

Deciding about undergoing prenatal screening is difficult, as it entails risks, potential loss and regrets, and challenges to personal values. Shared decision making and decision aids (DAs) can help pregnant women give informed and values-based consent or refusal to prenatal screening, but little is known about factors influencing the use of DAs. The objective of this study was to identify the influence of psychosocial factors on pregnant women's intention to use a DA for prenatal screening for Down syndrome (DS). We also added health literacy variables to explore their influence on pregnant women's intention. We conducted a survey of pregnant women in the province of Quebec (Canada) using a Web panel. Eligibility criteria included age >18 years, >16 weeks pregnant, low-risk pregnancy, and having decided about prenatal screening for the current pregnancy. We collected data based on an extended version of the Theory of Planned Behavior assessing 7 psychosocial constructs (intention, attitude, anticipated regret, subjective norm, descriptive norm, moral norm, and perceived control), 3 related sets of beliefs (behavioral, normative, and control beliefs), 4 health literacy variables, and sociodemographics. Eligible women watched a video depicting the behavior of interest before completing a Web-based questionnaire. We performed descriptive, bivariate, and ordinal logistic regression analyses. Of the 383 eligible pregnant women who agreed to participate, 350 pregnant women completed the Web-based questionnaire and 346 were retained for analysis (completion rate 350/383, 91.4%; mean age 30.1, SD 4.3, years). In order of importance, factors influencing intention to use a DA for prenatal screening for DS were attitude (odds ratio, OR, 9.16, 95% CI 4.02-20.85), moral norm (OR 7.97, 95% CI 4.49-14.14), descriptive norm (OR 2.83, 95% CI 1.63-4.92), and anticipated regret (OR 2.43, 95% CI 1.71-3.46). Specific attitudinal beliefs significantly related to intention were that using a DA would reassure them (OR 2.55, 95% CI 1.73-4.01), facilitate their reflections with their spouse (OR 1.55, 95% CI 1.05-2.29), and let them know about the advantages of doing or not doing the test (OR 1.53, 95% CI 1.05-2.24). Health literacy did not add to the predictive power of our model (P values range .43-.92). Implementation interventions targeting the use of a DA for prenatal screening for DS by pregnant women should address a number of modifiable factors, especially by introducing the advantages of using the DA (attitude), informing pregnant women that they might regret not using it (anticipated regret), and presenting the use of DAs as a common practice (descriptive norm). However, interventions on moral norms related to the use of DA should be treated with caution. Further studies that include populations with low health literacy are needed before decisive claims can be made. ©Agathe Delanoë, Johanie Lépine, Stéphane Turcotte, Maria Esther Leiva Portocarrero, Hubert Robitaille, Anik MC Giguère, Brenda J Wilson, Holly O Witteman, Isabelle Lévesque, Laurence Guillaumie, France Légaré. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (http://www.jmir.org), 28.10.2016.

EDITORIAL: Theory of Quantum Gases and Quantum Coherence: The Cortona BEC Workshop, 29 October-2 November 2005

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Capuzzi, Pablo; Chitra, R.; Menotti, Chiara; Minguzz, Anna; Vignolo, Patrizia

2006-05-01

Nonlinear, or multiphoton, interaction of intense laser radiation with matter has been a key research subject for about four decades. Every three years, the International Conference on Multiphoton Processes (ICOMP) covers the latest advances in the field. Intense-field physics has seen phenomenal progress over the last decade. What looked like dreams in the mid-nineties have become routine today. Major theoretical, experimental and technological advances in fundamental science and applications of multiphoton processes cover such diverse areas as precision measurements, femtosecond and now attosecond metrology, quantum control of atomic and molecular dynamics, laser machining of solid state materials, laser acceleration of electrons and protons, and medical applications. This special issue of Journal of Physics B: Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics (J. Phys. B) contains a collection of articles originating from the Tenth International Conference on Multiphoton Processes (ICOMP 2005) held on 9-14 October 2005 in Orford, Quebec, Canada (general chair Lou DiMauro, Ohio State University, program co-chairs Paul Corkum and Misha Ivanov, National Research Council of Canada). The conference focused on atoms and molecules in strong fields, femtosecond and attosecond processes, propagation of intense pulses, and of course multiphoton processes which lie at the foundation of all these subjects. Articles presented in this issue cover several key areas of intense-field physics. These include strong field ionization of atoms, molecules and inside transparent dielectric materials, methods of generation and characterization of attosecond XUV pulses and pulse trains, and new approaches to using intense laser fields and/or attosecond pulses for studying entangled systems and imaging electronic and nuclear dynamics with sub-Ångstrom spatial and sub-femtosecond temporal resolution. We have tried to group the papers according to these general areas. We would like to use this opportunity to thank all the participants of ICOMP-X, and in particular the contributors to this issue, for the high quality of science presented at the conference and in this journal. The success of the conference would not have been possible without the program committee which included D Charalambidis, L Cocke, R Freeman, Y Fujimura, S Goreslavsky, A L'Huillier, F Krausz, R Levis, S H Lin, A Maquet, J Marangos, K Midorikawa, G Mourou, P Salieres, W Sandner, K Schafer, A Scrinzi, A M Sergeev, H Stapelfeldt, A Starace, J Ullrich, M Vrakking, and K Yamanouchi. A particularly lively atmosphere in the discussions was ensured by many students who were able to participate in the conference, in part due to generous support of the Canadian Institute for Photonic Innovations (CIPI) to the Canadian, and of the US Department of Energy Office of Basic Energy Sciences to the American students. Additional support to the conference was provided by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), the National Research Council of Canada (NRC), Pfeiffer Vacuum, Femtolasers Produktions GmbH, Roentdek Handels GmbH, Coherent Laser Products, and Amplitude Technologies. Last but not least, the guest editors of this special issue would like to acknowledge the tremendous amount of work done by the staff of J. Phys. B in handling all aspects of the publication process. In particular, we would like to thank Isabelle Auffret-Babak, Alice Malhador and Joanna Dingley from the editorial team, Katie Gerrard in production and the Editor-in-Chief, Professor J-M Rost.

Psychosocial Factors of Health Professionals' Intention to Use a Decision Aid for Down Syndrome Screening: Cross-Sectional Quantitative Study.

PubMed

Abbasgholizadeh Rahimi, Samira; Lépine, Johanie; Croteau, Jordie; Robitaille, Hubert; Giguere, Anik Mc; Wilson, Brenda J; Rousseau, François; Lévesque, Isabelle; Légaré, France

2018-04-25

Decisions about prenatal screening for Down syndrome are difficult for women, as they entail risk, potential loss, and regret. Shared decision making increases women's knowledge of their choices and better aligns decisions with their values. Patient decision aids foster shared decision making but are rarely used in this context. One of the most promising strategies for implementing shared decision making is distribution of decision aids by health professionals. We aimed to identify factors influencing their intention to use a DA during prenatal visit for decisions about Down syndrome screening. We conducted a cross-sectional quantitative study. Using a Web panel, we conducted a theory-based survey of health professionals in Quebec province (Canada). Eligibility criteria were as follows: (1) family physicians, midwives, obstetrician-gynecologists, or trainees in these professions; (2) involved in prenatal care; and (3) working in Quebec province. Participants watched a video depicting a health professional using a decision aid during a prenatal consultation with a woman and her partner, and then answered a questionnaire based on an extended version of the theory of planned behavior, including some of the constructs of the theoretical domains framework. The questionnaire assessed 8 psychosocial constructs (attitude, anticipated regret, subjective norm, self-identity, moral norm, descriptive norm, self-efficacy, and perceived control), 7 related sets of behavioral beliefs (advantages, disadvantages, emotions, sources of encouragement or discouragement, incentives, facilitators, and barriers), and sociodemographic data. We performed descriptive, bivariate, and multiple linear regression analyses to identify factors influencing health professionals' intention to use a decision aid. Among 330 health professionals who completed the survey, 310 met the inclusion criteria: family physicians, 55.2% (171/310); obstetrician-gynecologists, 33.8% (105/310); and midwives, 11.0% (34/310). Of these, 80.9% were female (251/310). Mean age was 39.6 (SD 11.5) years. Less than half were aware of any decision aids at all. In decreasing order of importance, factors influencing their intention to use a decision aid for Down syndrome prenatal screening were as follows: self-identity (beta=.325, P<.001), attitude (beta=.297, P<.001), moral norm (beta=.288, P<.001), descriptive norm (beta=.166, P<.001), and anticipated regret (beta=.099, P=.003). Underlying behavioral beliefs significantly related to intention were that the use of a decision aid would promote decision making (beta=.117, 95% CI 0.043-0.190), would reassure health professionals (beta=.100, 95% CI 0.024-0.175), and might require more time than planned for the consultation (beta=-.077, 95% CI -0.124 to -0.031). We identified psychosocial factors that could influence health professionals' intention to use a decision aid about Down syndrome screening. Strategies should remind them of the following: (1) using a decision aid for this purpose should be a common practice, (2) it would be expected of someone in their societal role, (3) the experience of using it will be satisfying and reassuring, and (4) it is likely to be compatible with their moral values. ©Samira Abbasgholizadeh Rahimi, Johanie Lépine, Jordie Croteau, Hubert Robitaille, Anik MC Giguere, Brenda J Wilson, François Rousseau, Isabelle Lévesque, France Légaré. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (http://www.jmir.org), 25.04.2018.

Foreword

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boutron, Claude; Ferrari, Christophe

2003-05-01

It is our pleasure to host the “12th International Conference on Heavy Metals in the Environment” in the city of Grenoble (France), in the heart of the Alps. This is the latest in this successful and popular series of conferences, which previously took place in Toronto (1975), London (1979), Amsterdam (1981), Heidelberg (1983), Athens (1985), New Orleans (1987), Geneva (1989), Edinburgh (1991), Hamburg (1995) and Ann Arbor (2000). Grenoble is one of the major research centres in Europe, with a very large number of researchers in various fields, especially Physics and Chemistry, Mathematics and Computer Sciences, Biology and Medicine, and Earth and Universe Sciences. There are two internationally recognized scientific Universities: Université Joseph Fourier (UJF), and Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble (INPG). There are also the main research laboratories of various French and European governmental organizations such as Commissariat à l'énergie Atomique (CEA), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut Laue Langevin (ILL), European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) and Institut de Radio-Astronomie Millimètrique (IRAM). Finally, there are various hi-tech companies such as Hewlett Packard, ST Microelectronics, Schneider Electric and SGS-Thomson. There is a long tradition of research in the field of heavy metals in the environment, especially at the Laboratoire de Glaciologie et Géophysique de l'Environnement and at the Laboratoire de Géophysique Interne et Tectonophysique. These two volumes contain papers presented both in oral and poster sessions. The papers are not organised in order of presentation, but according to the alphabetical order of the family name of the first author of each paper. It is our pleasure to thank the authors for the excellent level of their submissions. We are also particularly grateful to Isabelle Houlbert and Laurence Castagné for editorial assistance. We would like to take this opportunity to thank the members of the organising committee and Jerome Nriagu (chairman of the 11th Conference) for helping us to put together the program of this conference. Also, very special thanks are due to Christine Echevet for her continuous and expert efforts to make the Grenoble Conference a success, and to various members of the Laboratoire de Glaciologie et Géophysique de l'Environnement, especially Jocelyne Roquemora. Special thanks are also due to the President of Grenoble Alpes Métropole and the Mayor of the City of Grenoble. Finally, we are very grateful to the various co-sponsors of the conference, especially the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), the University Joseph Fourier of Grenoble, the Ministère des Affaires Étrangères, the Ministère de l'Écologie et du Développement Durable, the Agence de l'Environnement et de la Maîtrise de l'Énergie (ADEME), Grenoble Alpes Métropole (La Métro), the City of Grenoble, the Region Rhône-Alpes, the Conseil Général de l'Isère, the Association Minéraux, Métaux non ferreux, Santé, Environnement (AMSE), the University of Michigan and the Société Hydrotechnique de France (SHF). Claude BOUTRON and Christophe FERRARI - Conference Co-Chairmen 12th International Conference on Heavy Metals in the Environment, Grenoble, France, 26-30 May 2003 Préface C'est un grand plaisir pour nous d'accueillir la “12e Conférence Internationale sur les Métaux Lourds dans l'Environnement en France Grenoble, au coeur des Alpes. Cette conférence est la 12e du nom, après celles qui ont eu lieu avec beaucoup de succès à Toronto (1975), Londres (1979), Amsterdam (1981), Heidelberg (1983), Athènes (1985), La Nouvelle Orléans (1987), Genève (1989), Edimbourg (1991), Hambourg (1995) et Ann Arbor (2000). Grenoble est l'une des principales ville d'Europe pour la recherche scientifique avec un très grand nombre de chercheurs dans des domaines trés variés, notamment en Physique et Chimie, Mathématiques et Informatique, Biologie et Médecine, et Sciences de la Terre et de l'Univers. Il y a deux grandes Universités Scientifiques de renommée internationale: l'Université Joseph Fourier (UJF) et l'Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble (INPG). Il y a aussi d'importants laboratoires de différents organismes publics français et européen comme le Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique (CEA), le Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), l'Institut Laue Langevin (ILL), l'European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) et l'Institut de Radio-Astronomie Millimètrique (IRAM). C'est aussi le lieu d'implantation de nombreuses sociétés de haute technologie comme Hewlett Packard, ST Microelectronics, Schneider Electric and SGS-Thomson. Il a à Grenoble une longue tradition de recherches dans le domaine des métaux lourds dans l'environnement, notamment au Laboratoire de Glaciologie et Géophysique de l'Environnement et au Laboratoire de Géophysique Interne et Tectonophysique. Ces deux volumes regroupent les articles issus de communication présentées aussi bien au cours des sessions orales que des sessions posters. Ces articles sont classés selon l'ordre alphabétique du nom de famille du premier auteur. Nous remercions vivement les auteurs pour l'excellente qualité de ces articles. Nous remercions aussi tout particulièrement Isabelle Houlbert et Laurence Castagné pour leur collaboration. Nous aimerions aussi remercier les membres du comité d'organisation ainsi que Jerome Nriagu (organisateur de la 11e conférence) pour l'aide apportée à l'organisation de cette conférence. Nous remercions aussi tout spécialement Christine Echevet qui n'a pas ménagé ses efforts pour faire de cette conférence un succés, ainsi que de nombreux collègues du Laboratoire de Glaciologie et Géophysique de l'Environnement, en particulier Jocelyne Roquemora. Nous tenons également à remercier le Président de Grenoble Alpes Métropole et le Maire de la Ville de Grenoble pour leur soutien. Cette conférence n'aurait pas pu avoir lieu sans le soutien financier de nombreux organismes: le Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), l'Université Joseph Fourier de Grenoble, le Ministère des Affaires Étrangères, le Ministère de l'Écologie et du Développement Durable, l'Agence de l'Environnement et de la Maîtrise de l'Énergie (ADEME), Grenoble Alpes Métropole (La Métro), la Ville de Grenoble, La Région Rhône-Alpes, le Conseil Général de l'Isère, l'Association Minéraux, Métaux non ferreux, Santé, Environnement (AIMSE), l'Université du Michigan et la Société Hydrotechnique de France (SHF). Claude BOUTRON et Christophe FERRARI Co-organisateurs de la 12e Conférence Internationale sur les Métaux Lourds dans l'Environement, Grenoble, France, 26-30 Mai 2003

[Mortality of psychiatric inpatients in France during World War II: a demographic study].

PubMed

Chapireau, F

2009-04-01

In France, World War II lasted from 1939 to 1945. Under-nourishment was a national problem, and was more severe in mental hospitals. The mortality of psychiatric inpatients in France during World War II has long been a controversial issue in the country. Some authors wrote of the "soft extermination" of 40 000 mental patients, although this has been proven false. The historical study published in 2007 by Isabelle von Bueltzingsloewen provides in-depth description and analysis of starvation due to food restrictions in French mental hospitals. Although the French official statistic services published detailed data, no demographic study has been published so far. Such studies have been conducted in Norway and in Finland. "The influence of a period of under-nourishment upon mortality in mental hospitals can rarely be seen with a clarity equal to that in this work. The strict rationing was the same for everybody, but, extra muros, there was private initiative and ingenuity to help in alleviating the distress. Naturally, patients in institution had no ability to act on their own. The immense increase during the period of war from 1941 to 1945 appeared both as an increase in the exact death-risk and as an increase in the disproportion with normal mortality. The men reacted more strongly than women; which is readily comprehensible on physiological grounds, as the rations were virtually the same for all." Excess mortality continued after the war. Even though under-nourishment had ceased, death rates from tuberculosis remained high the following year. Both papers state that the poor hygiene and bad living conditions existing in mental hospitals before the war worsened the effects of food restrictions. DEMOGRAPHIC DATA: French data were published by the General Statistics of France (SGF) that became the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (Insee) in 1946. A series of datasets were published each year according to sex, diagnosis and type of psychiatric institution. In 1943, the outdated diagnostic classification was replaced by a more modern one, with reference to ICD. The same year, the age groups also changed (instead of 35-44, it became 30-39). Publication of data by type of institution was discontinued in 1943; from 1945 to 1948, the only available data concerned patients in hospital on 31st December, by age, sex and diagnosis. General population data were published by the National Institute of Demographic Studies (INED). The data referring to civilian population during the war are provided by the Human Mortality Database. This study covers number of people in hospital, mortality rates by sex, age, diagnosis and type of institution, and standardised mortality ratios. These refer to the civilian population which is more relevant since mental patients would not have been allowed to join the armed forces, even if they had not been in hospital. Finally, mortality trends in mental hospitals are compared with those in "hospices for old, disabled or incurable people", in order to ascertain whether all vulnerable populations in institutions suffered to the same extent. The results show that the number of inpatients in 1945 was about half the total recorded in 1940, due to fewer admissions and to a large increase in the number of deaths. However, the number of discharges increased in 1940, even though the number of admissions had begun to slow down: many patients were sent to places offering better food and hygiene. The number of deaths began to rise as from 1939. Mortality rates were high in 1940 and especially in 1941, when almost one man in three and more than one woman in five died. Global rates did not change in 1942. In December that year, a government order stated that mental patients should receive more food. Mortality rates went down in 1943 and 1944, but rates did not return to the prewar values until 1946. In 1939, mortality rates are high but only among patients of 70 years of age or more. In 1940, they were highest above 55; in 1941, rates between ages 15 and 54 were double those of the preceding year. Thus, even though excess mortality affected all ages, its strongest effects were felt from the older patients to the younger ones from 1939 to 1941. Trends according to diagnosis are difficult to interpret because of the change of classification in 1943. The patients suffered greatest hardship in public hospitals, which had no budget of their own and were run by the departments and lowest in private hospitals contributing to the public service, most of which were congregational and received religious funding. In 1941, standardised mortality ratios were more than three times higher than they were before the war. Comparison with people living in hospices shows that during the war mortality rates were 50% higher in these institutions, while they almost tripled in mental hospitals. The number of people who died of starvation and infectious diseases in mental hospitals from 1939 to 1945 can be estimated at about 45,500. However, mental patients were made specially vulnerable by circumstances that existed before the war in mental hospitals, in terms of food, hygiene and staffing, as suggested by an official document quoted in the paper.

PREFACE: Liquid-solid interfaces: structure and dynamics from spectroscopy and simulations Liquid-solid interfaces: structure and dynamics from spectroscopy and simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gaigeot, Marie-Pierre; Sulpizi, Marialore

2012-03-01

Liquid-solid interfaces play an important role in a number of phenomena encountered in biological, chemical and physical processes. Surface-induced changes of the material properties are not only important for the solid support but also for the liquid itself. In particular, it is now well established that water at the interface is substantially different from bulk water, even in the proximity of apparently inert surfaces such as a simple metal. The complex chemistry at liquid-solid interfaces is typically fundamental to heterogeneous catalysis and electrochemistry, and has become especially topical in connection with the search for new materials for energy production. A quite remarkable example is the development of cheap yet efficient solar cells, whose basic components are dye molecules grafted to the surface of an oxide material and in contact with an electrolytic solution. In life science, the most important liquid-solid interfaces are the water-cell-membrane interfaces. Phenomena occurring at the surface of phospholipid bilayers control the docking of proteins, the transmission of signals as well as transport of molecules in and out of the cell. Recently the development of bio-compatible materials has lead to research on the interface between bio-compatible material and lipid/proteins in aqueous solution. Gaining a microscopic insight into the processes occurring at liquid-solid interfaces is therefore fundamental to a wide range of disciplines. This special section collects some contributions to the CECAM Workshop 'Liquid/Solid interfaces: Structure and Dynamics from Spectroscopy and Simulations' which took place in Lausanne, Switzerland in June 2011. Our main aim was to bring together knowledge and expertise from different communities in order to advance our microscopic understanding of the structure and dynamics of liquids at interfaces. In particular, one of our ambitions was to foster discussion between the experimental and theoretical/computational communities. On the experimental side, surface specific techniques, such as non-linear optical spectroscopy (sum frequency generation spectroscopy (SFG) and second harmonic generation (SHG)), surface sensitive x-ray scattering, in situ scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and infrared reflection absorption spectroscopy provide information on layers of nanometric thickness at the interface. On the other hand, it is quite clear that the experiments require theoretical modelling in order to dissect the experimental results and to rationalize the different factors that contribute to the interfacial properties. In this respect molecular dynamics simulations are a major tool. While many successes have already been achieved with molecular dynamics simulations based on empirical force fields, first principles molecular dynamics simulations are now emerging as the other major approach where structure and reactivity are treated in a consistent way. Recent progress within the past 3-5 years on efficient treatments of basis sets and long range interactions in density functional theory (DFT) indeed extend such simulation capabilities to hundreds and thousands of atoms, thus allowing realistic models for interfaces to be tackled, maintaining first principles quality. Most of these simulations bring information on the structural organization of the solvent in the interfacial region between the solid and the liquid, but very few investigate the supplementary challenge of extracting vibrational spectroscopic fingerprints of the interface and, in particular, the direct modeling of the vibrational sum frequency generation (VSFG) non-linear spectra. The present special section reports an interesting contribution from the group of R Y Shen who pioneered VSFG optical experiments. They show how VSFG measurements can be used to unravel the behavior of interfacial water on alumina Al2O3 as a function of pH. The groups of A Hodgson and C Busse respectively provide complementary experiments based on low energy electron diffraction (LEED), He atom scattering (HAS) and STM, to investigate the organization of water on metal, namely Pd(111) and Pt(111). Direct measurements of hyperpolarizabilities for non-linear spectroscopy can be made through hyper-Rayleigh scattering experiments, which are presented here by the group of P F Brevet on gold and silver nanoparticles. From the point of view of molecular dynamics simulations of interfaces, complementary levels of calculations are presented in this special section. The groups of K Leung, M-P Gaigeot, M Sulpizi and M Sprik provide theoretical investigations with DFT-based molecular dynamics simulations. Leung et al and Gaigeot et al address the hot topic issue of the reactivity of oxides surface sites and especially reliable methods to calculate pKas of these sites, with simulations taking into account both the solid and the liquid explicitly, and at the same first principles level of theory. Gaigeot, Sprik and Sulpizi furthermore combine the information on the structural organization of liquid water at the interface with quartz and alumina via pKa calculations and vibrational features (and their microscopic assignments). Mixed quantum/classical molecular dynamics (QM/MM) simulations are presented by Ishiyama and Morita for the investigation of another topical interface, i.e. the liquid-air interface. They provide the theoretical VSFG spectrum of the water-vapor interface and some understanding at the microscopic level of the experimental vibrational features. Molecular dynamics simulations based on empirical force fields have been applied to investigate hydrophobic interfaces by the groups of B Space and P Carloni. Carloni et al address salt effects at water-hydrophobic interfaces, investigating how the salts affect the structural organization of water at these interfaces. Space et al provide theoretical approximations to VSFG calculations in the special case of the carbon tetrachloride-water interface and the assignments of the experimental recorded signatures. 'More traditional' DFT static calculations can be applied to complex objects at interfaces, providing their vibrational spectra, and two papers in this special section illustrate such approaches. Ceccet et al extract first hyperpolarizability tensors from DFT calculations on aliphatic chains and simulate the related VSFG spectra. They also investigate the effect of different functionals on the final signatures. Liegeois et al investigate functionalized surfaces, mainly focusing on IR and Raman spectral features, and provide very precise vibrational assignments depending on chemisorption or physisorption of the adsorbed molecules. We are grateful to all the authors for their contributions to this special section and we hope that readers will enjoy this collection of papers and that they will find further motivation to investigate and understand the complex phenomena occurring at interfaces. Liquid-solid interfaces contents The interfacial structure of water/protonated α-Al2O3 (112¯0) as a function of pHJ Sung, Y R Shen and G A Waychunas Strain relief and disorder in commensurate water layers formed on Pd(111)F McBride, A Omer, C M Clay, L Cummings, G R Darling and A Hodgson H2O on Pt(111): structure and stability of the first wetting layer Sebastian Standop, Markus Morgenstern, Thomas Michely and Carsten Busse Effect of a thioalkane capping layer on the first hyperpolarizabilities of gold and silver nanoparticles Yara El Harfouch, Emmanuel Benichou, Franck Bertorelle, Isabelle Russier-Antoine, Christian Jonin, Noelle Lascoux and Pierre F Brevet Predicting the acidity constant of a goethite hydroxyl group from first principlesKevin Leung and Louise J Criscenti Oxide/water interfaces: how the surface chemistry modifies interfacial water properties Marie-Pierre Gaigeot, Michiel Sprik and Marialore Sulpizi Vibrational spectrum at a water surface: a hybrid quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics molecular dynamics approach Tatsuya Ishiyama, Hideaki Takahashi and Akihiro Morita A theoretical study of the sum frequency vibrational spectroscopy of the carbon tetrachloride/water interface Anthony J Green, Angela Perry, Preston B Moore and Brian Space Salt effects on water/hydrophobic liquid interfaces: a molecular dynamics study Chao Zhang and Paolo Carloni Density functional theory-based simulations of sum frequency generation spectra involving methyl stretching vibrations: effect of the molecular model on the deduced molecular orientation and comparison with an analytical approach F Cecchet, D Lis, Y Caudano, A A Mani, A Peremans, B Champagne and J Guthmuller Towards modelling the vibrational signatures of functionalized surfaces: carboxylic acids on H-Si(111) surfaces Conrard Giresse Tetsassi Feugmo, Benoît Champagne, Yves Caudano, Francesca Cecchet, Yves J Chabal and Vincent Liégeois

Multiple Eyes for the VLT

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2002-01-01

First System of Deployable Multi-Integral Field Units Ready Summary The ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT) at the Paranal Observatory is being equipped with many state-of-the-art astronomical instruments that will allow observations in a large number of different modes and wavebands. Soon to come is the Fibre Large Array Multi-Element Spectrograph (FLAMES) , a project co-ordinated by ESO. It incorporates several complex components, now being constructed at various research institutions in Europe and Australia. One of these, a true technological feat, is a unique system of 15 deployable fibre bundles, the so-called Integral Field Units (IFUs) . They can be accurately positioned within a sky field-of-view measuring no less that 25 arcmin in diameter, i.e., almost as large as the full Moon . Each of the IFUs looks like an insect's eye and images a small sky area (3 x 2 arcsec 2 ) with a multiple microlens. From each IFU, 20 narrow light beams are sent via optical fibres to an advanced spectrograph. All 300 spectra are recorded simultaneously by a sensitive digital camera. A major advantage of this technique is that, contrary usual spectroscopic observations in which spectral information is obtained along a (one-dimensional) line on the sky, it now allows (two-dimensional) area spectroscopy . This will permit extremely efficient spectral observations of many celestial objects, including faint galaxies, providing detailed information about their internal structure and motions. Such studies will have an important impact on our understanding, e.g., of the early evolution of galaxies , the main building blocks in the Universe. The IFUs have been developed by a team of astronomers and engineers [2] at the Observatoire de Paris-Meudon. All IFU components are now at the ESO Headquarters in Garching (Germany) where they are being checked and integrated into the instrument [3]. PR Photo 03a/02 : The GIRAFFE spectrograph in the ESO Assembly Hall (Garching, Germany) . PR Photo 03b/02 : Example of a future IFU observation in a sky field with galaxies. PR Photo 03c/02 : An illustration of how the IFUs function . PR Photo 03d/02 : The IFU design . PR Photo 03e/02 : Computer simulation of the motions in a galaxy , as deduced from IFU observations. The FLAMES instrument and its many parts ESO PR Photo 03a/02 ESO PR Photo 03a/02 [Preview - JPEG: 560 x 400 pix - 62k] [Normal - JPEG: 1120 x 800 pix - 544k] [Hi-Res - JPEG: 2885 x 2061 pix - 5.3M] Caption : PR Photo 03a/02 : The GIRAFFE spectrograph, a major component of the VLT Fibre Large Array Multi-Element Spectrograph (FLAMES) , during the present assembly at the ESO Headquarters in Garching (Germany). Late last year, the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT) at the Paranal Observatory received its newest instrument, NAOS-CONICA . The first tests were very successful, cf. PR 25/01. But this is far from the last. Work is now underway at several European and overseas research institutes to complete the many other large astronomical instruments planned for the VLT. Over the next years, these new facilities will enter into operation one by one, further enhancing the capabilities of this true flagship of European science. One of these instruments is the Fibre Large Array Multi-Element Spectrograph (FLAMES) , to be installed at the 8.2-m VLT KUEYEN Unit Telescope. It will be able to observe the spectra of a large number of individual, faint objects (or small sky areas) simultaneously and incorporates several highly complex components, e.g., * a Nasmyth Corrector - an optical system to focus the light that is received from the telescope over a sky field of no less than 25 arcmin in diameter, i.e., almost as large as the full Moon . It was installed on KUEYEN in September 2001 * a Fibre Positioner (known as "OzPoz"). It is now being built by the AUSTRALIS Consortium, lead by the Anglo Australian Observatory (AAO) , cf. ESO PR 07/98 * a high- and intermediate-resolution optical spectrograph, GIRAFFE , with its own fibre system, developed by the Observatoire de Paris-Meudon in close collaboration with ESO . It is now in the process of being assembled in the ESO laboratories in Garching, cf. PR Photo 03a/01 . Work at the FLAMES facility will be supported by specialized data reduction software developed by Observatoire de Genève-Lausanne in collaboration with Observatoire de Paris-Meudon , and specialized observing software developed at ESO . There will also be a fibre link to the UVES high-dispersion spectrograph and there are plans for incorporating an intermediate resolution IR spectrograph in the future; the ITAL-FLAMES consortium is now preparing the associated instrument control and data reduction software packages. The Integral Field Units (IFUs) for FLAMES ESO PR Photo 03b/02 ESO PR Photo 03b/02 [Preview - JPEG: 573 x 400 pix - 94k] [Normal - JPEG: 1145 x 800 pix - 592k] ESO PR Photo 03c/02 ESO PR Photo 03c/02 [Preview - JPEG: 538 x 400 pix - 63k] [Normal - JPEG: 1076 x 800 pix - 256k] Caption : PR Photo 03b/02 : An example of observations with Integral Field Units (IFUs) at FLAMES (only 4 of the 15 units are shown here). Each IFU is placed so that it records the light from 20 small adjacent sky areas (each measuring about 3 x 2 arcsec 2 ). In this way, it is possible to register simultaneously the spectrum of as many different regions of a (distant) galaxy. PR Photo 03c/02 : How the IFUs work: each IFU consists of a microlens that guides the light from a small sky area, normally centred on a celestial object (e.g., a distant galaxy) and sends it on to the entry of the spectrograph (inside the dotted box). When it enters into operation later this year [3], GIRAFFE will become the most efficient instrument of its kind available at the world's large optical/infrared telescopes. It will be especially suited for the study of the dynamical properties of distant galaxies - their motion in space, as well as the internal motions of their stars and gas clouds. Indeed, observations of the velocity fields in a large variety of galaxies in the early Universe (when its age was only one third to one half of its current age) will be essential for a better understanding of those major building blocks of the Universe. This is first of all due to the unique system of 15 deployable fibre bundles, the Integral Field Units (IFUs) , that can be accurately positioned within a field-of-view measuring no less than 25 arcmin across, cf. PR Photo 03b/02 . Each IFU is a microscopic, state-of-the-art two-dimensional lens array with an aperture of 3 x 2 arcsec 2 on the sky. It contains twenty micro-lenses coupled with optical fibres leading the light recorded at each point in the field to the entry slit of the spectrograph, cf. PR Photo 03c/02 . A great advantage of this technique is that, contrary to usual spectroscopic observations in which spectral information is obtained along a (one-dimensional) line on the sky, it now allows (two-dimensional) area spectroscopy . It is therefore possible to obtain spectra of larger areas of a celestial object simultaneously, and not just along one particular diameter. With 15 IFUs at their disposal, the astronomers will be able to observe many galaxies at the same time - this will represent a tremendous gain of efficiency with many more astrophysical data collected within the available observation time! The IFU design ESO PR Photo 03d/02 ESO PR Photo 03d/02 [Preview - JPEG: 400 x 469 pix - 86k] [Normal - JPEG: 800 x 937 pix - 232k] Caption : PR Photo 03d/02 : Mechanical design of an IFU "button". Upper right: photo of an "IFU entrance" with the 20 square microlenses, each measuring 1.8 x 1.8 mm 2. PR Photo 03d/02 shows the mechanical design of the entrance of one IFU. An array of 20 square microlenses, each measuring 1.8 x 1.8 mm 2 is used to concentrate the light in the corresponding, small sky field onto a prism that passes the light on to 20 fibres. These are inserted and cemented into a mechanical holder and the entire assembly is then mounted in an IFU "button" that will be positioned in the focal plane by the OzPoz Positioner. A magnet is incorporated at the base of the button to ensure a stable position (a firm hold) on the focal plate during the observation. The optical cementing is ensured with an UV curing and the fibre bundle is cemented into the button with an epoxy glue in order to ensure excellent stiffness of the complete assembly. The external diameter of the button is about 6 mm, corresponding to about 11 arcsec on the sky, allowing quite close positioning of the buttons on the focal plate. An example of astronomical observations with IFUs ESO PR Photo 03e/02 ESO PR Photo 03e/02 [Preview - JPEG: 467 x 400 pix - 51k] [Normal - JPEG: 933 x 800 pix - 264k] Caption : PR Photo 03e/02 is a computer simulation of the velocity field in a galaxy , as deduced on the basis of IFU spectra. The blue area has negative velocities and is thus the approaching side of the galaxy, while the red area is receding. In this way, the direction of rotation can be determined. The velocity unit is km/s. During the astronomical observation with the IFUs , the spectrograph slit receives light from 15 sky areas simultaneously, each with 21 fibres (20 from the IFU and 1 that collects the light from the night sky in an adjacent sky field) or 22 fibres (with the addition of 1 fibre with light from a calibration lamp). Altogether, about 300 spectra are recorded simultaneously. By means of such observations, the astronomers can perform many different studies, e.g., of the dynamics of star clusters and motions of stars and interstellar clouds in galaxies. PR Photo 03e/02 provides an example of a computer simulation of a resulting diagramme in which the internal rotation of a distant spiral galaxy is clearly visible. Red and yellow areas have positive velocities that are approaching while the blue areas are receding). Of special interest will be the study of the often violent motions when two or more galaxies interact gravitationally. Notes [1]: This is a joint Press Release of ESO and the Observatoire de Paris (cf. http://www.obspm.fr/actual/nouvelle/jan02/flames.shtml ). [2]:The GIRAFFE team at the Observatoire de Paris that has developed the Integral Field Units (IFUs) discussed in this Press Release includes Jean-Pierre Aoustin, Sebastien Baratchart, Patrice Barroso, Veronique Cayatte, Laurent Chemin, Florence Cornu, Jean Cretenet, Jean-Paul Danton, Hector Flores, Francoise Gex, Fabien Guillon, Isabelle Guinouard, Francois Hammer, Jacques Hammes, David Horville, Jean-Michel Huet, Laurent Jocou, Pierre Kerlirzin, Serge Lebourg, Hugo Lenoir, Claude Lesqueren, Regis Marichal, Michel Marteaud, Thierry Melse, Fabrice Peltier, Francois Rigaud, Frederic Sayede and Pascal Vola . [3]: It is expected to ship the various components of the FLAMES instrument to the VLT Observatory at Paranal (Chile) during the next month. "First Light" is scheduled to take place some weeks thereafter, following installation at the telescope and extensive system tests. ESO will issue another Press Release with more details on that occasion.