Methodology to Forecast Road Surface Temperature with Principal Components Analysis and Partial Least-Square Regression: Application to an Urban Configuration

A forecast road surface temperature (RST) helps winter services to optimize costs and to reduce the deicers environmental impacts. Data from road weather information systems (RWIS) and thermal mapping are considered inputs for forecasting physical numerical models. Statistical models include many meteorological parameters along routes and provide a spatial approach. It is based on typical combinations resulting from treatment and analysis of a database from measurements of road weather stations or thermal mapping, easy, reliable, and cost effective to monitor RST, and many meteorological parameters. A forecast dedicated to road networks should combine both spatial and time forecasts needs. This study contributed to building a reliable RST forecast based on principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least-square (PLS) regression. An urban stretch with various weather conditions and seasons was monitored over several months to generate an appropriate number of samples. The study first consisted of the identification of its optimum number to establish a reliable forecast. A second aspect is aimed at comparing RST forecasts from PLS model to measurements. Comparison indicated a forecast over an urban stretch with up to 94% of values within ±1°C and over 80% within ±3°C

Etude de la migration du trichloréthylène dans une colonne de sable : comparaison entre des résultats numériques et expérimentaux

Les solvants chlorés et les hydrocarbures, couramment utilisés dans les activités industrielles, agricoles, militaires ou domestiques, constituent des risques de pollution, à court et long termes, majeurs pour les sols et les eaux souterraines. Le comportement des solvants chlorés dans les sols dépend à la fois des propriétés physiques et chimiques des polluants mais également de celles du milieu poreux considéré (saturation en eau, teneur en matière organique...). La réactivité d'un polluant varie en fonction de la phase - liquide organique, dissoute ou volatile - et de l'état - libre, piégé ou adsorbé - dans lequel il se trouve dans son environnement. Malgré les nombreuses études réalisées sur ces phénomènes, seules quelques unes se sont focalisées sur le comportement de ces polluants dans la zone non saturée et sur l'évolution de leurs concentrations, quelle que soit leur forme, au cours de l'écoulement. Ainsi, nous nous sommes intéressés à la migration d'un solvant chloré (le Trichloroéthylène) dans un milieu poreux homogène à saturation en eau variable. Suite à des simulations numériques avec un code de calcul (SIMUSCOPP), nous avons mis au point et réalisé un dispositif expérimental en 2 dimensions permettant de suivre la migration d'un polluant dans un milieu poreux homogène à différentes saturations en eau. Les objectifs de cet article sont de : (i) analyser les expériences de caractérisation des milieux poreux utilisés, (ii) présenter le dispositif expérimental et le protocole associé et (iii) comparer les résultats numériques et expérimentaux

Assessment of neuroactive steroids in cerebrospinal fluid comparing acute relapse and stable disease in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis

Previous studies have reported an involvement of neuroactive steroids as neuroprotective and anti-inflammatory agents in neurological disorders such as multiple sclerosis (MS); an analysis of their profile during a specific clinical phase of MS is largely unknown. The pregnenolone (PREG), dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), and allopregnanolone (ALLO) profile was evaluated in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RR-MS) patients as well as those in patients affected by non-inflammatory neurological (control group I) and without neurological disorders (control group II). An increase of PREG and DHEA values was shown in CSF of male and female RR-MS patients compared to those observed in both control groups. The ALLO values were significantly lower in female RR-MS patients than those found in male RR-MS patients and in female without neurological disorder. During the clinical relapse, we observed female RR-MS patients showing significantly increased PREG values compared to female RR-MS patients in stable phase, while their ALLO values showed a significant decrease compared to male RR-MS patients of the same group. Male RR-MS patients with gadolinium-enhanced lesions showed PREG and DHEA values higher than those found in female RR-MS patients with gadolinium-enhanced lesions. Similary, male RR-MS patients with gadolinium-enhanced lesions showed PREG and DHEA values higher than male without gadolinium-enhanced lesions. Female RR-MS patients with gadolinium-enhanced lesions showed DHEA values higher than those found in female RR-MS patients with gadolinium-enhanced lesions. Male and female RR-MS patients with gadolinium-enhanced lesions showed ALLO values higher than those found in respective gender groups without gadolinium-enhanced lesions. ALLO values were lower in male than in female RR-MS patients without gadolinium-enhanced lesions. Considering the pharmacological properties of neuroactive steroids and the observation that neurological disorders influence their concentrations, these endogenous compounds may have an important role as prognostic factors of the disease and used as markers of MS activity such as relapses

Managing maize under pest species competition: is Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) maize the solution?

Transgenic crops that contain Cry genes from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) have been adopted by farmers over the last 17 years. Unlike traditional broad spectrum chemical insecticides, Bt's toxicity spectrum is relatively narrow and selective, which may indirectly benefit secondary insects that may become important pests. The economic damage caused by the rise of secondary pests could offset some or all of the benefits associated with the use of Bt varieties. We develop a bioeconomic model to analyze the interactions between primary and secondary insect populations and the impact of different management options on insecticide use and economic impact over time. Results indicate that some of the benefits associated with the adoption of genetically engineered insect resistant crops may be eroded when taking into account ecological dynamics. It is suggested that secondary pests could easily become key insect pests requiring additional measures - such as insecticide applications or stacked traits – to keep their populations under the economic threshold

Electrical conductivity of plasmas of DB white dwarf atmospheres

The static electrical conductivity of non-ideal, dense, partially ionized helium plasma was calculated over a wide range of plasma parameters: temperatures $1\cdot 10^{4}\textrm{K} \lesssim T \lesssim 1\cdot 10^{5}\textrm{K}$ and mass density $1 \times 10^{-6} \textrm{g}/\textrm{cm}^{3} \lesssim \rho \lesssim 2 \textrm{g}/\textrm{cm}^{3}$. Calculations of electrical conductivity of plasma for the considered range of plasma parameters are of interest for DB white dwarf atmospheres with effective temperatures $1\cdot 10^{4}\textrm{K} \lesssim T_{eff} \lesssim 3\cdot 10^{4}\textrm{K}$. Electrical conductivity of plasma was calculated by using the modified random phase approximation and semiclassical method, adapted for the case of dense, partially ionized plasma. The results were compared with the unique existing experimental data, including the results related to the region of dense plasmas. In spite of low accuracy of the experimental data, the existing agreement with them indicates that results obtained in this paper are correct

Approche méthodologique de la modélisation du transport des HAP dans les sols et les eaux

Afin de préciser le cadre d'utilisation de codes de transport de polluants dans les sols et les eaux, un programme d'intercomparaison de méthodes et de codes a été mis en oeuvre avec la collaboration de huit équipes appartenant à des instituts de recherche ou des bureaux d'études. Parmi les types de polluants étudiés, les hydrocarbures aromatiques polycycliques (HAP) ont fait l'objet de simulations par deux groupes de travail. Le premier groupe, composé de cinq équipes, s'est intéressé à leur comportement en phase dissoute à partir d'un cas réel de pollution. Disposant des mêmes données d'étude, chaque équipe avait pour mission de concevoir un modèle conceptuel (description géologique, définition de la source, paramètres d'écoulement et de transport) et de simuler la pollution de la nappe avec le code de son choix. Les résultats obtenus montrent des différences significatives qui trouvent leur explication dans les paramètres des modèles conceptuels adoptés plus que dans les simulateurs choisis. Cet exercice a confirmé l'importance des paramètres suivants qui sont souvent incertains mais justifieraient d'être mieux appréciés lors de diagnostics : paramètres hydrodynamiques (détermination du champ de vitesse), coefficient de partition (pour chaque horizon géologique), temps de demi-vie du ou des polluants, extension de la source de pollution. Le second groupe a étudié les écoulements en phase libre (phase liquide non aqueuse) sur un cas théorique inspiré d'un cas réel de déversement massif de naphtalène. La modélisation a été conduite par trois équipes avec trois codes polyphasiques différents (SIMUSCOPP, TOUGH/T2VOC, UTCHEM). Cet exercice comprend le suivi du déversement et de la migration du naphtalène sous formes liquide et dissoute sur une distance de 300 m et une durée de 10 ans. Le naphtalène révèle un comportement d'hydrocarbure " lourd " avec une phase huile (partiellement miscible) qui tend à descendre à travers la nappe. Ce comportement a été reproduit par chacune des équipes, de manière plus ou moins complète en fonction des possibilités de modélisation offertes par les codes. Les résultats obtenus permettent de vérifier la cohérence des différentes approches polyphasiques entre elles. Bien que plus complexe (paramètres plus nombreux, difficulté numérique accrue), l'approche polyphasique se justifie pour mieux comprendre et déterminer la répartition spatiale de HAP en profondeur dans une nappe

Digital technologies, legal design and the future of the legal profession

Legal Technology – or “Legal Tech” – is disrupting the traditional operations and self-understanding of the legal profession. This chapter introduces the central claim of this book, namely that these developments are having and will continue to have a disruptive effect on the work of lawyers and that adapting to this new operating environment is crucial for legal professionals remaining relevant in an increasingly technology-driven world. This introductory chapter outlines some of the main features of this on-going transformation process, introduces some of the pressures it is creating for lawyers, and provides short summaries of the chapters that comprise this collection.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Modelling small block aperture in an in-house developed GPU-accelerated Monte Carlo-based dose engine for pencil beam scanning proton therapy

Purpose: To enhance an in-house graphic-processing-unit (GPU) accelerated virtual particle (VP)-based Monte Carlo (MC) proton dose engine (VPMC) to model aperture blocks in both dose calculation and optimization for pencil beam scanning proton therapy (PBSPT)-based stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS). Methods and Materials: A block aperture module was integrated into VPMC. VPMC was validated by an opensource code, MCsquare, in eight water phantom simulations with 3cm thick brass apertures: four were with aperture openings of 1, 2, 3, and 4cm without a range shifter, while the other four were with same aperture opening configurations with a range shifter of 45mm water equivalent thickness. VPMC was benchmarked with MCsquare and RayStation MC for 10 patients with small targets (average volume 8.4 cc). Finally, 3 patients were selected for robust optimization with aperture blocks using VPMC. Results: In the water phantoms, 3D gamma passing rate (2%/2mm/10%) between VPMC and MCsquare were 99.71$\pm$0.23%. In the patient geometries, 3D gamma passing rates (3%/2mm/10%) between VPMC/MCsquare and RayStation MC were 97.79$\pm$2.21%/97.78$\pm$1.97%, respectively. The calculation time was greatly decreased from 112.45$\pm$114.08 seconds (MCsquare) to 8.20$\pm$6.42 seconds (VPMC), both having statistical uncertainties of about 0.5%. The robustly optimized plans met all the dose-volume-constraints (DVCs) for the targets and OARs per our institutional protocols. The mean calculation time for 13 influence matrices in robust optimization by VPMC was 41.6 seconds. Conclusion: VPMC has been successfully enhanced to model aperture blocks in dose calculation and optimization for the PBSPT-based SRS.Comment: 3 tables, 3 figure

Beam mask and sliding window-facilitated deep learning-based accurate and efficient dose prediction for pencil beam scanning proton therapy

Purpose: To develop a DL-based PBSPT dose prediction workflow with high accuracy and balanced complexity to support on-line adaptive proton therapy clinical decision and subsequent replanning. Methods: PBSPT plans of 103 prostate cancer patients and 83 lung cancer patients previously treated at our institution were included in the study, each with CTs, structure sets, and plan doses calculated by the in-house developed Monte-Carlo dose engine. For the ablation study, we designed three experiments corresponding to the following three methods: 1) Experiment 1, the conventional region of interest (ROI) method. 2) Experiment 2, the beam mask (generated by raytracing of proton beams) method to improve proton dose prediction. 3) Experiment 3, the sliding window method for the model to focus on local details to further improve proton dose prediction. A fully connected 3D-Unet was adopted as the backbone. Dose volume histogram (DVH) indices, 3D Gamma passing rates, and dice coefficients for the structures enclosed by the iso-dose lines between the predicted and the ground truth doses were used as the evaluation metrics. The calculation time for each proton dose prediction was recorded to evaluate the method's efficiency. Results: Compared to the conventional ROI method, the beam mask method improved the agreement of DVH indices for both targets and OARs and the sliding window method further improved the agreement of the DVH indices. For the 3D Gamma passing rates in the target, OARs, and BODY (outside target and OARs), the beam mask method can improve the passing rates in these regions and the sliding window method further improved them. A similar trend was also observed for the dice coefficients. In fact, this trend was especially remarkable for relatively low prescription isodose lines. The dose predictions for all the testing cases were completed within 0.25s