Top-Down Behavioral Modeling Methodology of a Piezoelectric Microgenerator For Integrated Power Harvesting Systems

In this study, we developed a top/down methodology for behavioral and structural modeling of multi-domain microsystems. Then, we validated this methodology through a study case : a piezoelectric microgenerator. We also proved the effectiveness of VHDL-AMS language not only for modeling in behavioral and structural levels but also in writing physical models that can predict the experimental results. Finally, we validated these models by presenting and discussing simulations results.Comment: Submitted on behalf of EDA Publishing Association (http://irevues.inist.fr/handle/2042/16838

A bare ground evaporation revision in the ECMWF land-surface scheme: evaluation of its impact using ground soil moisture and satellite microwave data

In situ soil moisture data from 122 stations across the United States are used to evaluate the impact of a new bare ground evaporation formulation at ECMWF. In November 2010, the bare ground evaporation used in ECMWF's operational Integrated Forecasting System (IFS) was enhanced by adopting a lower stress threshold than for the vegetation, allowing a higher evaporation. It results in more realistic soil moisture values when compared to in situ data, particularly over dry areas. Use was made of the operational IFS and offline experiments for the evaluation. The latter are based on a fixed version of the IFS and make it possible to assess the impact of a single modification, while the operational analysis is based on a continuous effort to improve the analysis and modelling systems, resulting in frequent updates (a few times a year). Considering the field sites with a fraction of bare ground greater than 0.2, the root mean square difference (RMSD) of soil moisture is shown to decrease from 0.118 m<sup>3</sup> m<sup>−3</sup> to 0.087 m<sup>3</sup> m<sup>−3</sup> when using the new formulation in offline experiments, and from 0.110 m<sup>3</sup> m<sup>−3</sup> to 0.088 m<sup>3</sup> m<sup>−3</sup> in operations. It also improves correlations. Additionally, the impact of the new formulation on the terrestrial microwave emission at a global scale is investigated. Realistic and dynamically consistent fields of brightness temperature as a function of the land surface conditions are required for the assimilation of the SMOS data. Brightness temperature simulated from surface fields from two offline experiments with the Community Microwave Emission Modelling (CMEM) platform present monthly mean differences up to 7 K. Offline experiments with the new formulation present drier soil moisture, hence simulated brightness temperature with its surface fields are larger. They are also closer to SMOS remotely sensed brightness temperature

Sensitivity of surface fluxes in the ECMWF land surface model to the remotely sensed leaf area index and root distribution: Evaluation with tower flux data

The surface-atmosphere turbulent exchanges couple the water, energy and carbon budgets in the Earth system. The biosphere plays an important role in the evaporation process, and vegetation related parameters such as the leaf area index (LAI), vertical root distribution and stomatal resistance are poorly constrained due to sparse observations at the spatio-temporal scales at which land surface models (LSMs) operate. In this study, we use the Carbon Hydrology Tiled European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) Scheme for Surface Exchanges over Land (CHTESSEL) model and investigate the sensitivity of the simulated turbulent fluxes to these vegetation related parameters. Observed data from 17 FLUXNET towers were used to force and evaluate model simulations with different vegetation parameter configurations. The replacement of the current LAI climatology used by CHTESSEL, by a new high-resolution climatology, representative of the station’s location, has a small impact on the simulated fluxes. Instead, a revision of the root profile considering a uniform root distribution reduces the underestimation of evaporation during water stress conditions. Despite the limitations of using only one model and a limited number of stations, our results highlight the relevance of root distribution in controlling soil moisture stress, which is likely to be applicable to other LSMs

Ecosystem photosynthesis in land-surface models: a first-principles approach

Vegetation regulates land-atmosphere water and energy exchanges and is an essential component of land-surface models (LSMs). However, LSMs have been handicapped by assumptions that equate acclimated photosynthetic responses to environment with fast responses observable in the laboratory. These time scales can be distinguished by including specific representations of acclimation, but at the cost of further increasing parameter requirements. Here we develop an alternative approach based on optimality principles that predict the acclimation of carboxylation and electron-transport capacities, and a variable controlling the response of leaf-level carbon dioxide drawdown to vapour pressure deficit (VPD), to variations in growth conditions on a weekly to monthly time scale. In the “P model”, an optimality-based light-use efficiency model for gross primary production (GPP) on this time scale, these acclimated responses are implicit. Here they are made explicit, allowing fast and slow response time-scales to be separated and GPP to be simulated at sub-daily timesteps. The resulting model mimics diurnal cycles of GPP recorded by eddy-covariance flux towers in a temperate grassland and boreal, temperate and tropical forests, with no parameter changes between biomes. Best performance is achieved when biochemical capacities are adjusted to match recent midday conditions. This model suggests a simple and parameter-sparse method to include both instantaneous and acclimated responses within an LSM framework, with many potential applications in weather, climate and carbon - cycle modelling

Coexistence of pyoderma gangrenosum and sweet’s syndrome in a patient with ulcerative colitis

Pyoderma gangrenosum (PG) and Sweet's Syndrome (SS) are inflammatory skin diseases caused by the accumulation of neutrophils in the skin and, rarely, in internal organs. These neutrophilic dermatosis (NDs) are distinguished by the existence of forms of transition or overlap. They are frequently associated to systemic diseases especially hematologic and gastrointestinal ones. We report a case of a patient with ulcerative colitis (UC) who successively developed two types of NDs: PG then SS. A 66 years old patient with a history of UC consulted in July 2012 for an erythematous swelling of the back of the right hand treated with antibiotics without improvement. At that time, bacteriological samples were negative. In October 2012, he was hospitalized for polyarthralgia and impaired general condition. In physical examination, he had vesiculobullous plaque of 10 cm long of the right hand and wrist, infiltrated erythematous plaque on the right leg and another topped with a large pustule at the left ankle. Skin biopsy showed at the back of the right hand an aspect of PG and at the infiltrated plaques of the ankle an aspect of SS. Prednisone was started with improvement of the skin lesions and a recovery condition. The combination of PG and SS has already been described in cases of hematologic malignancy and rarely in UC. There is also the notion of passage from a neutrophilic dermatosis to another. Indeed, a typical lesion initially of SS can evolve to a future PG. This case demonstrates that neutrophilic dermatoses form a continous spectrum of entities that may occur in UC

Poussée de maladie de Kaposi et élévation du CA 19-9: Penser à la tuberculose!

La maladie de Kaposi (MK) est une entité pathologique qui peut survenir chez les patients VIH positifs et dans le cadre d'une immunodépression, d'origine tuberculeuse très rarement. On décrit le cas d'une MK chez un patient VIH négatif au décours d'une tuberculose. Nous rapportons le cas d'un patient âgé de 81 ans, VIH négatif, ayant présenté deux nodules angiomateux de l'avant bras gauche dont la biopsie cutanée était en faveur d'une MK. L'évolution était marquée 2 mois plus tard, par  l'apparition de placards angiomateux extensifs des deux membres supérieurs et d'adénopathies cervicales jugulo-carotidiennes bilatérales. La biopsie ganglionnaire était en faveur d'une  tuberculose ganglionnaire. Par ailleurs, il avait un taux sérique élevé des CA 19-9. La régression de l'étendue des lésions au niveau des membres  supérieurs et la  normalisation du taux sérique des CA 19-9 ont été obtenues sous traitement anti-tuberculeux. Chez les patients atteints d'une MK avec une élévation des CA 19-9, il faut penser à la tuberculose

Insights into the Middle Eastern paternal genetic pool in Tunisia: high prevalence of T-M70 haplogroup in an Arab population

To obtain refreshed insights into the paternal lineages of Tunisian populations, Y-chromosome diversity was assessed in two populations belonging to an Arab genealogical lineage, Kairouan and Wesletia, as well as in four Tunisian Andalusian populations, Testour, Slouguia, Qalaat-El-Andalous and El Alia. The Arabs from Kairouan revealed 73.47% of E-M81 and close affinities with Berber groups, indicating they are likely arabized Berbers, clearly differentiated from the Arabs from Wesletia, who harbored the highest frequency (71.8%) of the Middle Eastern component ever observed in North Africa. In the Tunisian Andalusians, the North African component largely prevailed, followed by the Middle Eastern contribution. Global comparative analysis highlighted the heterogeneity of Tunisian populations, among which, as a whole, dominated a set of lineages ascribed to be of autochthonous Berber origin (71.67%), beside a component of essentially Middle Eastern extraction (18.35%), and signatures of Sub-Saharan (5.2%), European (3.45%) and Asiatic (1.33%) contributions. The remarkable frequency of T-M70 in Wesletia (17.4%) prompted to refine its phylogeographic analysis, allowing to confirm its Middle Eastern origin, though signs of local evolution in Northern Africa were also detected. Evidence was clear on the ancient introduction of T lineages into the region, probably since Neolithic times associated to spread of agriculture.This work was partially financed by FEDER-Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional funds through the COMPETE 2020-Operacional Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalisation (POCI), Portugal 2020, and by Portuguese funds through FCT-Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia/Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação in the framework of the projects “Institute for Research and Innovation in Health Sciences (i3S)” (POCI-01-0145-FEDER007274). IPATIMUP integrates the i3S research unit. VG is supported by FCT under the program contract provided in Decree-Law no.57/2016 of August 29