HQE²R - an European assessment tool towards sustainable neighbourhoods

The Institute of Ecological and Regional Development (IOER) is the German contractor of "Sustainable Renovation of Buildings for Sustainable Neighbourhoods" (HQE²R - Haute Qualité Environnementale et Economique Réhabilitation), partially funded by the EC under the Fifth Framework Programme. The project started in July 2001 and will continue until December 2003. Coordinated by CSTB France (Centre Scientifique et Technique du Bâtiment) it combines research and demonstration aspects by cooperation of nine European partners in connection with 15 international case studies. The project's objective is to develop a new methodology and the necessary tools to promote sustainable development and quality of life on the crucial and likewise challenging level of urban neighbourhoods. HQE²R will be a decision support tool for municipalities and their local partners, focussing on the aims of inhabitants and users of neighbourhoods. In its integrated approach it is meant to be generally applicable in Europe. The project is using the case studies as model neighbourhoods for the methodology to be provided. In Germany the case study will be carried out in Dresden-Loebtau. Loebtau residential area is a traditional workers quarter, cut off from the city-centre by large roads, railroad infrastructure and extensive brownfield sites. Although renovation works have been supported by declaring districts as "rehabilitation areas", Loebtau is facing a high residential vacancy. The challenge is how the considerable success in renovations achieved on building scale can be extended into sustainable neighbourhood development. Main targets therefore are to identify urban development measures towards sustainable development, especially in socio-economic terms and to find an appropriate methodology to estimate or assess the environmental effects arising from different combinations of socio-economic, urban planning and urban infrastructure measures.At ERSA 2002 we would be glad to present the methodology of neighbourhood analysis developed within the HQE²R project. The approach will be demonstrated by the case study of Dresden-Loebtau, showing how the application of the instrument has been carried out in practice. Furthermore the assessment and decision support tool to improve the quality of measures towards a sustainable neighbourhood can be presented in its state of the art, at this time still being under development.

Optimal Control for Quasi-Static Evolution of Plasma Equilibrium in Tokamaks

We present a new approach to the optimization of plasma scenarios in tokamaks. We formulate this task as an optimal control problem and use numerical methods for optimization problems with partial differential equation (PDE) constraints. The latter are discretized by linear finite elements and implicit Euler time stepping. Due to the free-boundary setting, we have introduced a new linearization of the non-linear equations that is consistent with the discretization. It is only this consistency, overlooked in previous approaches for the even simpler static setting, that guarantees that the method converges to the optimum. We give various numerical tests and simulation that illustrate our new method

Optimal control of a coupled partial and ordinary differential equations system for the assimilation of polarimetry Stokes vector measurements in tokamak free-boundary equilibrium reconstruction with application to ITER

International audienceThe modelization of polarimetry Faraday rotation measurements commonly used in tokamak plasma equilibrium reconstruction codes is an approximation to the Stokes model. This approximation is not valid for the foreseen ITER scenarios where high current and electron density plasma regimes are expected. In this work a method enabling the consistent resolution of the inverse equilibrium reconstruction problem in the framework of non-linear free-boundary equilibrium coupled to the Stokes model equation for polarimetry is provided. Using optimal control theory we derive the optimality system for this inverse problem. A sequential quadratic programming (SQP) method is proposed for its numerical resolution. Numerical experiments with noisy synthetic measurements in the ITER tokamak configuration for two test cases, the second of which is an H-mode plasma, show that the method is efficient and that the accuracy of the identification of the unknown profile functions is improved compared to the use of classical Faraday measurements

Clinical and Dermoscopic Features of Melanocytic Lesions on the Face Versus the External Ear

Introduction Melanoma of the external ear is a rare condition accounting for 7-20% of all melanomas of the head and neck region. They present classical features of extra-facial melanomas clinically and dermoscopically. In contrast, facial melanomas show peculiar patterns in dermoscopy. Objectives To evaluate whether there are clinical and/or dermoscopic differences in melanocytic lesions located either at the external ear or on the face. Methods In this retrospective study we reviewed an image database for clinical and dermoscopic images of melanomas and nevi located either on the face or at the level of the external ear. Results 65 patients (37 men; 63.8%) with 65 lesions were included. We found no significant differences in comparing face melanomas with melanomas at the level of the external ear, neither clinically nor dermoscopically. However, we provided evidence for differences in some clinical and dermoscopic features of melanomas and nevi of the external ear. Conclusions In this study, we reported no significant differences in comparing melanomas on the face with melanomas of the external ear, both clinically and dermoscopically. Furthermore, we provided data on clinical and dermoscopic differences comparing nevi and melanoma of the external ear

Control methods for the optimization of plasma scenarios in a tokamak

International audienceThis paper presents the modelling of the evolution of plasma equilibrium in the presence of external poloidal field circuits and passive structures. The optimization of plasma scenarios is formulated as an optimal control problem where the equations for the evolution of the plasma equilibrium are the constraints. The procedure determines the voltages applied to the external circuits that minimize a certain cost-function representing the distance to a desired plasma augmented by an energetic cost of the electrical system. A sequential quadratic programming method is used to solve the minimization of the cost-function and an application to the optimization of a discharge for ITER is shown

Simulation and experiment of gas diffusion in a granular bed

The diffusion of gas through porous material is important to understand the physical processes underlying cometary activity. We study the diffusion of a rarefied gas (Knudsen regime) through a packed bed of monodisperse spheres via experiments and numerical modelling, providing an absolute value of the diffusion coefficient and compare it to published analytical models. The experiments are designed to be directly comparable to numerical simulations, by using precision steel beads, simple geometries, and a trade-off of the sample size between small boundary effects and efficient computation. For direct comparison, the diffusion coefficient is determined in Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) simulations, yielding a good match with experiments. This model is further-on used on a microscopic scale, which cannot be studied in experiments, to determine the mean path of gas molecules and its distribution, and compare it against an analytical model. Scaling with sample properties (particle size, porosity) and gas properties (molecular mass, temperature) is consistent with analytical models. As predicted by these, results are very sensitive on sample porosity and we find that a tortuosity $q(\varepsilon)$ depending linearly on the porosity $\varepsilon$ can well reconcile the analytical model with experiments and simulations. Mean paths of molecules are close to those described in the literature, but their distribution deviates from the expectation for small path lengths. The provided diffusion coefficients and scaling laws are directly applicable to thermophysical models of idealised cometary material.Comment: accepted by MNRA

Effects of broccoli extract and various essential oils on intestinal and faecal microflora and on xenobiotic enzymes and the antioxidant system of piglets

Objective: Since the ban of antibiotics as growth promoting feed additives in the EU in 2006 research in alternatives has gained importance. Phytogenic feed additives represent a heterogenous class of different plant derived substances that are discussed to improve the health of farm animals by direct and indirect antioxidant effects and by influencing microbial eubiosis in the gastrointestinal tract. Consequently our study aimed to investigate the influence of broccoli extract and the essential oils of tur- meric, oregano, thyme and rosemary, as selected individual additives, on intestinal and faecal microflora, on xenobiotic enzymes, and on the antioxidant system of piglets. Methods: 48 four weeks old male weaned piglets were assigned to 6 groups of 8. The piglets were housed individually in stainless steel pens with slatted floor. The control group (Con) was fed a diet without an additive for 4 weeks. The diet of group BE contained 0.15 g/kg sulforaphane in form of a broccoli extract. 535, 282, 373 and 476 mg/kg of the essential oils of turmeric (Cuo), oregano (Oo), thyme (To) and rosemary (Ro) were added to the diets of the remaining 4 groups to stan-dardise supplementation to 150 mg/kg of the oils’ key terpene compounds ar-turmerone, carvacrol, thymol and 1,8-cineole. The composition of bacterial microflora was examined by cultivating samples of jejeunal and colonic mucosa and of faeces under specific conditions. The mRNA expression of xenobiotic and antioxidant enzymes was determined by reversing transcrip- tase real time detection PCR (RT-PCR). Total antioxidant status was assayed using the Trolox Equivalent Antioxidant Capacity (TEAC), and lipid peroxidation was determined by measuring thiobarbioturic acid reactive substances (TBA- RS). Results: Compared to Con piglets all additives positively influenced weight gain and feed conversion in week 1. Over the whole trial period no significant differences in performance parameters existed between the experimental groups. Compared to group Con performance of Ro piglets was, however, slightly impaired. Com- pared to Con piglets Cuo, Oo and To increased the ratio of Lactobacilli:E. coli attached to the jejunal mucosa, whereas BE and Ro impaired this ratio slightly. In contrast in colonic mucosa Ro improved Lactobacilli:E. coli ratio. In faecal samples an improvement of Lactobacilli:E. coli ratio could be analysed for To and Ro. Ro was the only additive that reduced the incidence rate of piglets tested positive for enterotoxic E. coli (ETEC). All additives significantly increased jejunal TEAC and reduced TBA-RS. In the liver BE, Cuo, Oo and To increased TEAC in tendency and Ro significantly. Liver TBA-RS were slightly reduced by all additives compared to Con piglets. Whereas the influence of BE, To and Ro on jejunal TEAC mainly was derived from the induction of xenobiotic and antioxidant enzymes (indirect antioxidant effects), Cuo and Oo influenced TEAC by direct antioxidant effects. Discussion and Conclusions: Our results have shown: That within the labiatae oils Oo and To have the potential to improve performance slightly. That phytogenic substances have a small but not sig- nificant influence on intestinal microflora. That phytogenic feed additives up-regulate the anti- oxidant system of piglets either by direct or by indirect antioxidant effects and that they may thereby improve health status. That within the labiatae oils Oo has a high direct antioxidant potential whereas Ro potently induces xenobiotic and antioxidant enzymes. That broccoli extract is an attractive new phytogenic additive, improving antioxidant status by indirect antioxidant effects. That defined combinations of selected phytogenic substances may produce additive effects. That health promoting effects of phytogenic additives in the future should be studied systematically under the challenge with pathogenic microorganisms or food derived to-xins

Quasi-static Free-Boundary Equilibrium of Toroidal Plasma with CEDRES++: Computational Methods and Applications

International audienceWe present a comprehensive survey of the various computational methods in CEDRES++ for finding equilibria of toroidal plasma. Our focus is on free-boundary plasma equilib-ria, where either poloidal field coil currents or the temporal evolution of voltages in poloidal field circuit systems are given data. Centered around a piecewise linear finite element representation of the poloidal flux map, our approach allows in large parts the use of established numerical schemes. The coupling of a finite element method and a boundary element method gives consistent numerical solutions for equilibrium problems in unbounded domains. We formulate a new Newton method for the discretized non-linear problem to tackle the various non-linearities, including the free plasma boundary. The Newton method guarantees fast convergence and is the main building block for the inverse equilibrium problems that we can handle in CEDRES++ as well. The inverse problems aim at finding either poloidal field coil currents that ensure a desired shape and position of the plasma or at finding the evolution of the voltages in the poloidal field circuit systems that ensure a prescribed evolution of the plasma shape and position. We provide equilibrium simulations for the tokamaks ITER and WEST to illustrate the performance of CEDRES++ and its application areas