Synthesis process of nanowired Al/CuO thermite.

Al/CuO nanothermites were fabricated by thermal oxidation of copper layer at 4501C for 5 hand by aluminum thermal evaporation: thermal evaporation allows producing thin layer less than 2 mminsize. The copper has been deposited by electroplating or thermal evaporation depending on the required thickness. The obtained diameter of Al/CuO nanowiresis 150–250nm. Al/CuO nanowires composite were characterized by scanning electronmicroscopy (SEM), X-raydiffraction (XRD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and differential thermal analysis (DTA). Two distinct exothermicreactions occurred at 515 and 6671C and total energy release of this thermite is 10kJ/cm

Multimodal Kalman Filtering

International audienceA difficult aspect of multimodal estimation is the possible discrepancybetween the sampling rates and/or the noise levels of theconsidered data. Many algorithms cope with these dissimilaritiesempirically. In this paper, we propose a conceptual analysis ofmultimodality where we try to find the “optimal” way of combiningmodalities. More specifically, we consider a simple Kalman filteringframework where several noisy sensors with different samplingfrequences and noise variances regularly observe a hidden state.We experimentally underline some relationships between the samplinggrids and the asymptotic variance of the maximum a posteriori(MAP) estimator. However, the explicit study of the asymptoticvariance seems intractable even in the simplest cases. We describe apromising idea to circumvent this difficulty: exploiting a stochasticmeasurement model for which one can more easily study the averageasymptotic behavior

Matrix Isolation Infrared Spectroscopic and Theoretical Study of the Interaction of Water with Dimethyl Methylphosphonate

Matrix isolation infrared spectroscopy has been combined with theoretical calculations for the characterization of the 1:1 hydrogen-bonded complex between H2O and dimethyl methylphosphonate (DMMP). The symmetric O-H stretching mode was observed to shift 203 cm-1 to lower energy upon hydrogen bond formation, while a 32 cm-1 blue shift was noted for the H-O-H bending mode of the H2O subunit in the complex. These values compare extremely well with the (unscaled) shifts of -203 and +32 cm-1, respectively, that were calculated theoretically at the MP2/6-31+G** level. Additional perturbed modes of the DMMP subunit were observed, shifted relative to the parent band position. The greatest perturbation was to the P=O stretching mode near 1270 cm-1, where a shift of -17 cm-1 was observed (-21 cm-1 calculated theoretically). This suggests that the site of hydrogen bonding in the complex is at the P=O group, in agreement with theoretical calculations. The binding energy ΔE° for the 1:1 complex was calculated to be -7.7 kcal/mol

J Ultrasound Med

Chest CT is the reference test for assessing pulmonary injury in suspected or diagnosed COVID-19 with signs of clinical severity. This study aimed to evaluate the association of a lung ultrasonography score and unfavorable clinical evolution at 28 days. The eChoVid is a multicentric study based on routinely collected data that was conducted in 8 emergency units in France; patients were included between March 19, 2020 and April 28, 2020 and underwent lung ultrasonography, a short clinical assessment by 2 emergency physicians blinded to each other's assessment, and chest CT. Lung ultrasonography consisted of scoring lesions from 0 to 3 in 8 chest zones, thus defining a global score (GS) of severity from 0 to 24. The primary outcome was the association of lung damage severity as assessed by the GS at day 0 and patient status at 28 days. Secondary outcomes were comparing the performance between GS and CT scan and the performance between a new trainee physician and an ultrasonography expert in scores. For the 328 patients analyzed, the GS showed good performance in predicting clinical worsening at 28 days (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve [AUC] 0.83, sensitivity 84.2%, specificity 76.4%). The GS showed good performance in predicting the CT severity assessment (AUC 0.84, sensitivity 77.2%, specificity 83.7%). A lung ultrasonography GS is a simple tool that can be used in the emergency department to predict unfavorable assessment at 28 days in patients with COVID-19

The blameworthiness of health and safety rule violations

Man-made disasters usually lead to the tightening of safety regulations, because rule breaking is seen as a major cause of them. This reaction is based on the presumptions that the safety rules are good and that the rule-breakers are wrong. The reasons the personnel of a coke factory gave for breaking rules raise doubt about the tenability of these presumptions. It is unlikely that this result would have been achieved on the basis of a disaster evaluation or High-Reliability Theory. In both approaches, knowledge of the consequences of human conduct hinders an unprejudiced judgement about the blameworthiness of rule breaking

Estimation quantitative de l'aléa éboulement au Mont Saint-Eynard (Alpes françaises)

International audienceA methodology is proposed for quantitative assessment of impact frequency on an element at risk located on a slope under a rock cliff, from the volumetric retreat rate of the cliff, the distribution of the block volumes and the simulation of the block trajectories. The volumetric retreat rate is derived from diachronic terrestrial laser scanning and integration of a power law distribution of the rockfall volume. The frequency and the size of the falling blocks are determined from the power law distribution of the block volume, which is derived from a survey of the blocks fallen on the slope. Finally, the impact frequency is obtained from the simulation of block falls occurring during a given period, using the computer program Rockyfor3D. The method is applied to the Mont Saint-Eynard cliff, which overhangs the Grenoble urban area

Estimation quantitative de l'aléa éboulement au Mont Saint-Eynard (Alpes françaises)

International audienceA methodology is proposed for quantitative assessment of impact frequency on an element at risk located on a slope under a rock cliff, from the volumetric retreat rate of the cliff, the distribution of the block volumes and the simulation of the block trajectories. The volumetric retreat rate is derived from diachronic terrestrial laser scanning and integration of a power law distribution of the rockfall volume. The frequency and the size of the falling blocks are determined from the power law distribution of the block volume, which is derived from a survey of the blocks fallen on the slope. Finally, the impact frequency is obtained from the simulation of block falls occurring during a given period, using the computer program Rockyfor3D. The method is applied to the Mont Saint-Eynard cliff, which overhangs the Grenoble urban area