The particularity of emotional words. A grounded approach

This work focuses on emotional concepts. We define concepts as patterns of neural activation that re-enact a given external or internal experience, for example the interoceptive experience related to fear. Concepts are mediated and expressed through words. In the following, we will use “words” to refer to word meanings, assuming that words mediate underlying concepts. Since emotional concepts and the words that mediate them are less related to the physical environment than concrete ones, at first sight they might be depicted as abstract concepts. Evidence coming from several studies shows, instead, that the issue is more complex. In this work, we will briefly outline the debate and illustrate results from recent studies on comprehension of concrete, emotional and abstract words in children and adults. We will argue that emotional words can be accounted for from a grounded perspective and will contend that emotional words represent a particular set of words that differs from both the concrete and purely abstract ones

RF communication with implantable wireless device: effects of beating heart on performance of miniature antenna

The frequency response of an implantable antenna is key to the performance of a wireless implantable sensor. If the antenna detunes significantly, there are substantial power losses resulting in loss of accuracy. One reason for detuning is because of a change in the surrounding environment of an antenna. The pulsating anatomy of the human heart constitutes such a changing environment, so detuning is expected but this has not been quantified dynamically before. Four miniature implantable antennas are presented (two different geometries) along with which are placed within the heart of living swine the dynamic reflection coefficients. These antennas are designed to operate in the short range devices frequency band (863-870 MHz) and are compatible with a deeply implanted cardiovascular pressure sensor. The measurements recorded over 27 seconds capture the effects of the beating heart on the frequency tuning of the implantable antennas. When looked at in the time domain, these effects are clearly physiological and a combination of numerical study and posthumous autopsy proves this to be the case, while retrospective simulation confirms this hypothesis. The impact of pulsating anatomy on antenna design and the need for wideband implantable antennas is highlighted

Contribution à la modélisation de la pulvérisation d'un liquide phytosanitaire en vue de réduire les pollutions

National audienceLa contamination de l'air par les produits phytosanitaires constitue une nouvelle composante de la pollution atmosphérique. Les pesticides sont massivement pulvérisés sur les parcelles agricoles pour protéger les cultures et améliorer leur rendement. Or, lors de l'épandage, suivant les conditions météorologiques (température, hygrométrie, vitesse et orientation du vent, ...) et les modes d'applications, de 25% à 75% des produits phytosanitaires n'atteignent pas les surfaces traitées et se retrouvent par conséquent directement dans l'atmosphère : on parle de dérive. Les pesticides peuvent également se volatiliser plusieurs jours après leur dépôt ou encore se diffuser dans l'atmosphère par les phénomènes d'érosion. Outre les risques pour la santé que représentent les pesticides, de par leur nature, ils peuvent subir des dégradations physico-chimiques et participer au processus réactionnel atmosphérique en produisant des aérosols et des polluants secondaires comme l'ozone. Ces composés peuvent être transportés, grâce à la circulation des vents, très loin de leur zone d'application. Face à cette situation préoccupante, ces dernières années, diverses recherches ont été initiées afin de réduire les pollutions induites par les pesticides. C'est dans ce contexte que s'inscrit la présente étude dont l'objectif principal est de permettre d'optimiser les procédés de pulvérisation agricoles. Pour cela, on s'intéresse ici à la modélisation physique de l'atomisation des jets de pesticides. En effet, il est nécessaire de maîtriser les tailles et vitesses de gouttes produites à la sortie des buses car ces caractéristiques influencent fortement le devenir des produits pulvérisés. La démarche consiste à modéliser l'atomisation afin d'obtenir la dispersion liquide, et les caractéristiques du jet. Ces données pourront par la suite servir de conditions initiales aux modèles de transport ou de dépôt. Le modèle utilisé pour représenter l'écoulement à l'intérieur de la buse et à sa sortie est basé sur un modèle Eulérien développé dans le secteur automobile. Ce type d'approche est particulièrement adapté pour traiter la partie dense du spray, située près de la sortie des buses, et que les techniques Laser expérimentales ne permettent pas à ce jour d'investiguer. Le logiciel utilisé pour réaliser cette modélisation est Fluent, code très souvent employé en Mécanique des Fluides et qui permet de résoudre les équations de l'écoulement. Les résultats numériques délivrés par le modèle semblent montrer un bon accord avec les photographies des jets obtenues par ombroscopie. Ils indiquent la formation d'une nappe liquide creuse en sortie de buse et la présence de zones de recirculation ascendantes au sein de l'écoulement, soulignant l'existence d'un c½ur d'air. Pour ce qui est des tailles de gouttes, les résultats mettent en évidence la présence d'une couronne de gouttes relativement grosses et, au milieu, de gouttes plus fines, conformément aux expérimentations. L'influence des surfactants est également étudiée au travers du modèle. On s'aperçoit que ces produits permettent de produire plus de gouttes mais en contrepartie, ces gouttes sont plus petites et donc, davantage soumises à la dérive

A CRITICAL ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS OF STRATEGIC MATERIALS TOWARDS ENERGY TRANSITION

Global consumption of materials is rising rapidly leading to an increase in environmental impacts associated with the supply chain. Similar issues also affect a set of materials strategic for the transition towards a sustainable energy production and distribution system: i.e. materials employed in renewable energy (wind turbines and photovoltaic panels), energy storage, electrolysers, electricity distribution networks and electric vehicle charging infrastructure. The analysis identifies, maps and de-fines a priority hierarchy for the environmental risks generated along the life-cycle of strategic raw materials. Standard construction material such as iron, steel and concrete showed the lowest environmental risks whereas platinum and iridium presented by far the highest impacts (respectively about 24.100 and 14.700 kg CO2 eq, 354.000 and 216.000 MJ, and 140 and 83 m3 of water for 1 kg of raw material). Recycled materials have shown to enable the lowering of the environmental risk associated with some raw material production processes (i.e. copper, lead, aluminium, nickel, manganese), whereas specific materials (i.e. platinum, iridium, indium, dysprosium) and related applications will need to be monitored to guarantee a sustainable transition towards renewable energies

low dose acitretin in treatment of plaque type psoriasis descriptive study of efficacy and safety

n/

Characterisation of Hybrid Pixel Detectors with capacitive charge division

In order to fully exploit the physics potential of the future high energy e+ e- linear collider, a Vertex Tracker providing high resolution track reconstruction is required. Hybrid pixel sensors are an attractive technology due to their fast read-out capabilities and radiation hardness. A novel pixel detector layout with interleaved cells between the readout nodes has been developed to improve the single point resolution. The results of the characterisation of the first processed prototypes are reported.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, presented at LCWS2000, Linear Collider Workshop, October 24-28 2000, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Batavia, Illinois, U.S.A. Proceedings to be published by the American Institute of Physic

Hybrid Pixel Detector Development for the Linear Collider Vertex Tracker

In order to fully exploit the physics potential of the future high energy e+e- linear collider, a Vertex Tracker able to provide particle track extrapolation with very high resolution is needed. Hybrid Si pixel sensors are an attractive technology due to their fast read-out capabilities and radiation hardness. A novel pixel detector layout with interleaved cells has been developed to improve the single point resolution. Results of the characterisation of the first processed prototypes by electrostatic measurements and charge collection studies are discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, to appear in the Proceedings of the 9th Int. Workshop on Vertex Detectors, Lake Michigan MI (USA), September~200

Novel antidiabetic drugs and cardiovascular risk: Primum non nocere

Aims Diabetes treatments aim at preventing undesirable metabolic effects of hyperglycemia and at preventing/reducing tissue damage, including cardiovascular (CV) events. For approval, novel diabetes drugs undergo early systematic investigation to assess CV safety. This review provides an updated analysis of the results of recent studies examining novel diabetes medications and CV outcomes. Data synthesis The new regulatory guidelines enforce adjudication of all CV events when testing novel diabetes drugs. Endpoints of CV mortality, myocardial infarction (MI), stroke and hospitalization for heart failure (HF) were included in the most recent clinical studies on novel antihyperglycemics. These are: the incretin mimetics glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists (GLP1-RA), the incretin enhancers dipeptidylpeptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitors (DPP4-I or gliptins), and the sodium-glucose cotransporter (SGLT2) inhibitors (SGLT2-I or gliflozins). The studies ELIXA and EXAMINE, testing lixisenatide and alogliptin, respectively, revealed non-inferiority versus placebo in terms of CV safety. The SAVOR-TIMI 53 results confirmed overall CV safety of saxagliptin, but raised a warning related to the increase in the risk of hospitalization for HF in the saxagliptin group. Recently, TECOS revealed a particularly favorable CV profile for sitagliptin while EMPA-REG showed a significant CV risk reduction in empagliflozin treated subjects. Ongoing studies will provide additional data on CV safety for other GLP1-RAs, DPP4-I and SGLT2-I. Conclusions Results of safety outcome studies focused on CV events, including HF and mortality for CV causes, are not homogeneous. A critical analysis of these studies may help cardiologists and diabetes specialists to adapt their therapeutic choices to individual patients