Adsorption of Xe atoms on metal surfaces: New insights from first-principles calculations

The adsorption of rare gases on metal surfaces serve as the paradigm of weak adsorption where it is typically assumed that the adsorbate occupies maximally coordinated hollow sites. Density-functional theory calculations using the full-potential linearized augmented plane wave method for Xe adatoms on Mg(0001), Al(111), Ti(0001), Cu(111), Pd(111), and Pt(111), show, however, that Xe prefers low-coordination on-top sites in all cases. We identify the importance of polarization and a site-dependent Pauli repulsion in actuating the site preference and the principle nature of the rare-gas atom--metal surface interaction.Comment: 5 pages including 4 figure files. Related publications can be found at http://www.fhi-berlin.mpg.de/th/paper.htm

Designing and managing Organizational Interoperability with organizational capabilities and roadmaps

This paper discusses organizational interoperability issues in through the study of two cases. Then it presents a framework which can help to design and manage this interoperability, by driving the development of “organizational capabilities”.Organization learning, Functional interoperability

Heuristiques pour la composition d'un stock de produis semi-finis

International audienceLa mise en place d'un système de production de type assemblage à la commande nécessite une redéfinition tant des produits que des équipements. Le but de cet article est de montrer, via la simulation, que le problème de définition des produits semi-finis à stocker est un point crucial de cette démarche. Les résultats présentés montrent que les gains potentiels, en temps d'assemblage mais aussi en capacité de stockage sont très importants, et que des heuristiques permettent d'obtenir des performances intéressantes

Managing resource learning in distributed organisations with the organisational capability approach

International audienceOrganisational capability management is a recent approach; it enables global and coordinated management of resources and facilitates future synergies within extended organisations. This paper provides a state of the art of organisational capability approach and proposes a management framework. On the one hand, an overview of the theoretical principles and the practical solutions, especially methods for standardising and transferring firms' good practices, points out the limits of their sustainable functioning. On the other hand, the framework manages organisational capabilities by following the theoretical principles and overcoming identified barriers. This proposition is structured around three kinds of processes: primary (design and transfer), support (assessment and enhancement) and management (coordination and alignment)

Designing and managing Organizational Interoperability with organizational capabilities and roadmaps

International audienceThis paper discusses organizational interoperability issues in through the study of two cases. Then it presents a framework which can help to design and manage this interoperability, by driving the development of “organizational capabilities”

Le pilotage d'entreprise par les capacités organisationnelles : étude de l'approche roadmapping

La performance est aujourd'hui vue comme la maîtrise du potentiel de réalisation de l'organisation. Il devient donc nécessaire d'adapter les outils de pilotage pour qu'ils intègrent les problématiques du développement du progrès fonctionnel et de la maîtrise du savoir agir des entités de l'entreprise. Ce savoir agir, répondant aussi au nom de capacité organisationnelle, est depuis peu modélisé par des méthodes de roadmapping. Celles-ci mettent au centre du système de pilotage l'apprentissage fonctionnel, et permettent le déploiement et le contrôle des capacités sur l'ensemble de l'entreprise. Cet article cherche à identifier les atouts et les faiblesses d'une de ces solutions, en partant d'un cas d'étude dans une grande entreprise. Par la suite, des pistes d'amélioration du modèle existant seront proposées.Génie industriel, pilotage d'entreprise, gestion du progrès, apprentissage fonctionnel, capacités organisationnelles, roadmapping

Mutation écologique et transition énergétique . Vers la ville intelligente ?

Introduction du numéro 15 de la revue Urbia http://www.unil.ch/ouvdd/page46591.htmlNational audienceLe régime d'urbanisation actuel est arrivé à un tournant décisif. Celui de la limitation de l'étalement urbain et de la mutation écologique de son habitat, de son système de transports, et de son économie. Ce tournant s'inscrit dans le temps long des changements technologiques et économiques, comme des façons de penser notre relation à la nature et notre place dans ou sur la planète. Chaque période de l'évolution des sociétés a donné sa marque à la ville. Entre la ville médiévale et celle de l'âge industriel, il y a eu une révolution énergétique majeure : le passage à un approvisionnement fossile a démultiplié la carbonisation du métabolisme des villes européennes. La ville postindustrielle contient encore ce modèle énergétique, qu'elle doit impérativement dépasser. Elle en porte les stigmates. Son premier mérite est peut-être d'avoir, par l'ampleur de son " empreinte écologique ", suscité une réaction contre sa plus importante défaillance " génétique " : la dépendance de son fonctionnement aux ressources non renouvelables. La croissance de l'artifice urbain a remplacé la soumission à la nature proche, au prix d'une fragilisation extrême. La soif d'énergie des métropoles modernes dépasse de loin les capacités de l'offre de ses enveloppes spatiales immédiates. Cette défaillance atteindra certainement prochainement un point critique pouvant entraver de façon dramatique le fonctionnement de nos sociétés. Devenues des véritables gouffres énergétiques, les villes contemporaines nous révèlent ainsi l'ampleur des mutations que nous devons affronter. Le paradigme énergétique doit changer. Pouvons-nous imaginer et donner forme à des espaces et à des lieux mieux bâtis, mieux reliés, plus économes en ressources matérielles et dans lesquels les habitants se sentent mieux

PREFERENCE BASED SYSTEM: AN ASSISTANCE FOR CHOOSING A COMIC

International audienceThis paper presents a contribution to design an online preference based system. The objective of the system is to assist a customer in the products selection process. The product considered here to describe the application is the comic. Current e-commerce recommendation systems assist customers in this process. Nevertheless, quality of the recommendations produced remains a real challenge. There are products that are not recommended to customers though they would appreciate them and others recommended to them though they do not appreciate them. Quality and relevance of recommendations is addressed in this paper. The customer's choice is not only based on product characteristics but also on his/her perceptive expectations. Therefore, products recommendations are considered relevant since they meet customer's expectations and particularly perceptive ones. The suggested algorithm aims to recommend spontaneously comics to an active customer. It is mainly based on collaborative filtering and neighbourhood formation. Cluster of neighbours is formed. Neighbours share common perceptive preferences with the active customer. Favourite comics of the neighbours may interest the latter. Selection of the appropriate comics is based on the product characteristics expected by the active customer. The algorithm produces relevant comics which meet the active customer's expectations and particularly perceptive ones

Atomic-scale grain boundary engineering to overcome hot-cracking in additively-manufactured superalloys

There are still debates regarding the mechanisms that lead to hot cracking in parts build by additive manufacturing (AM) of non-weldable Ni-based superalloys. This lack of in-depth understanding of the root causes of hot cracking is an impediment to designing engineering parts for safety-critical applications. Here, we deploy a near-atomic-scale approach to investigate the details of the compositional decoration of grain boundaries in the coarse-grained, columnar microstructure in parts built from a non-weldable Ni-based superalloy by selective electron-beam melting. The progressive enrichment in Cr, Mo and B at grain boundaries over the course of the AM-typical successive solidification and remelting events, accompanied by solid-state diffusion, causes grain boundary segregation induced liquation. This observation is consistent with thermodynamic calculations. We demonstrate that by adjusting build parameters to obtain a fine-grained equiaxed or a columnar microstructure with grain width smaller than 100 $\mu$m enables to avoid cracking, despite strong grain boundary segregation. We find that the spread of critical solutes to a higher total interfacial area, combined with lower thermal stresses, helps to suppress interfacial liquation.Comment: Accepted version at Acta Materiali

Programas internacionais de capacitação em pesquisa para enfermeiros no estudo do fenómeno das drogas na América Latina: desafios e perspectivas

The First International Research Capacity-Building Program for Nurses to Study the Drug Phenomenon in the Americas is a result of a partnership between the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD) of the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Faculty of Nursing in the University of Alberta, with financial support from the Government of Canada. The program was divided into two parts. The first part of the program was held at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It involved capacity-building in research methodologies at the Faculty of Nursing, which lead to the preparation of four multi-centric research proposals for drug demand reduction in the home countries of the eleven participants in the program. The second part of the program was related to the implementation of multi-centric research proposals in seven countries in Latin America and in Canada. This program presented expertise in research methodology to members of Latin American Schools of Nursing and introduced Latin American expertise to members of a Canadian Faculty of Nursing. The International Research Capacity-Building Program for Nurses to Study the Drug Phenomenon in the Americas has fostered the kind of inter-cultural respect and mutual appreciation necessary to confront the global health problem of the abuse of both licit and illicit drugs.El Primer Programa Internacional de Capacitación en Investigación para Enfermeros en el Estudio del Fenómeno de las Drogas en las Américas resultó de una colaboración entre la Comisión Interamericana para el Control del Abuso de Drogas (CICAD) de la Organización de los Estados Americanos (OEA) y la Facultad de Enfermería en la Universidad de Alberta, con apoyo financiero del Gobierno de Canadá. El programa fue dividido en dos partes. La primera parte del programa se organizó en la Universidad de Alberta en Edmonton, Alberta, Canadá. Abarcó la capacitación en metodologías de investigación en la Facultad de Enfermería, que llevó a la preparación de cuatro propuestas de investigación multicéntrica con vistas a la reducción de la demanda de drogas en los países de origen de los once participantes en el programa. La segunda parte del programa estaba relacionada a la implementación de propuestas de investigación multicéntrica en siete países de América Latina y en Canadá. Este programa presentó conocimientos especializados en metodologías de investigación a miembros de Escuelas de Enfermería latinoamericanas e introdujo los conocimientos especializados latinoamericanos a miembros de una Facultad de Enfermería canadiense. El Programa Internacional de Capacitación en Investigación para Enfermeros en el Estudio del Fenómeno de las Drogas en las Américas estimuló el tipo de respecto intercultural y apreciación mutua necesario para confrontar el problema de salud global del abuso de drogas lícitas e ilícitas.O Primeiro Programa Internacional de Capacitação para Enfermeiros no Estudo do Fenômeno das Drogas nas Américas é resultado de uma parceria entre a Comissão Interamericana para o Controle do Abuso das Drogas (CICAD) da Organização dos Estados Americanos (OEA) e a Faculdade de Enfermagem da Universidade de Alberta, com apoio financeiro do Governo do Canadá. O programa foi dividido em duas partes. A primeira parte do programa foi realizada na Universidade de Alberta em Edmonton, Alberta, Canadá. Compreendeu a capacitação em metodologias de pesquisa na Faculdade de Enfermagem, que levou à preparação de quatro propostas de pesquisas multicêntricas para a redução da demanda de drogas nos países de origem dos onze participantes no programa. A segunda parte do programa estava relacionada à implementação de propostas de pesquisa multicêntricas em sete países da América Latina e no Canadá. Este programa apresentou expertise em metodologias de pesquisa a membros de Escolas de Enfermagem latino-americanas e introduziu expertise latino-americana a membros de uma Faculdade de Enfermagem canadense. O Primeiro Programa Internacional de Capacitação para Enfermeiros no Estudo do Fenômeno das Drogas nas Américas estimulou o tipo de respeito intercultural e apreço mútuo necessário para confrontar o problema de saúde global do abuso das drogas lícitas e ilícitas