The LHC Logging Service : Handling terabytes of on-line data

Based on previous experience with LEP, a long-term data logging service for the LHC was developed and put in place in 2003, several years before beam operation. The scope of the logging service covers the evolution over time of data acquisitions on accelerator equipment and beam related parameters. The intention is to keep all this time-series data on-line for the lifetime of LHC, allowing easy data comparisons with previous years. The LHC hardware commissioning has used this service extensively prior to the first beams in 2008 and even more so in 2009. Current data writing rates exceed 15TB/year and continue to increase. The high data volumes and throughput rates, in writing as well as in reading, require special arrangements on data organization and data access methods

Counter-current chromatography for the separation of terpenoids: A comprehensive review with respect to the solvent systems employed

Copyright @ 2014 The Authors.This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits any use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and the source are credited.Natural products extracts are commonly highly complex mixtures of active compounds and consequently their purification becomes a particularly challenging task. The development of a purification protocol to extract a single active component from the many hundreds that are often present in the mixture is something that can take months or even years to achieve, thus it is important for the natural product chemist to have, at their disposal, a broad range of diverse purification techniques. Counter-current chromatography (CCC) is one such separation technique utilising two immiscible phases, one as the stationary phase (retained in a spinning coil by centrifugal forces) and the second as the mobile phase. The method benefits from a number of advantages when compared with the more traditional liquid-solid separation methods, such as no irreversible adsorption, total recovery of the injected sample, minimal tailing of peaks, low risk of sample denaturation, the ability to accept particulates, and a low solvent consumption. The selection of an appropriate two-phase solvent system is critical to the running of CCC since this is both the mobile and the stationary phase of the system. However, this is also by far the most time consuming aspect of the technique and the one that most inhibits its general take-up. In recent years, numerous natural product purifications have been published using CCC from almost every country across the globe. Many of these papers are devoted to terpenoids-one of the most diverse groups. Naturally occurring terpenoids provide opportunities to discover new drugs but many of them are available at very low levels in nature and a huge number of them still remain unexplored. The collective knowledge on performing successful CCC separations of terpenoids has been gathered and reviewed by the authors, in order to create a comprehensive document that will be of great assistance in performing future purifications. © 2014 The Author(s)

Optimisation of Biochemical Condition and Substrates In Vitro for Tissue Engineering of Ligament

In this work, we analysed the effect of growth factors on in vitro cell proliferation and collagens synthesis by fibroblasts cultured for 72 h on different substrates (silicon sheet with or without 1% gelatin, and glass as control surface) for ligament tissue engineering. A human fibroblast cell line (CRL-2703) was used. The synthesis of type I and type III collagens were evaluated qualitatively and quantitatively by RT-PCR and confocal microscopy, respectively. Cell proliferation was evaluated by two methods: (1) MTT assay (2) cell cycle analysis. It was found that PDGF-AB stimulate the proliferation of fibroblast cultured on gelatin coated silicon sheet in dose dependant manner with a maximum effect at 10 ng ml(−1). The exogenous TGF-β1 induced the expression of type I and type III collagens in a dose and substrate-dependant manner. We deduce from this work that biochemical conditions and substrates have an important impact for optimisation of the tissue neo synthesis

Contribution of dendrogeomorphology in the field of avalanche hazard assessment in the French Alps

International audienceOn forested paths, dendrogeomorphology has been demonstrated to represent a powerful tool to reconstruct past activity of avalanches with annual resolution and for periods covering past decades to centuries. Here, we present a new semi-quantitative approach for the identification of past snow avalanche events, which relies on the assessment of the number and position of disturbed trees within avalanche path as well as on the intensity of reactions in trees. Based on a statistical evaluation of the approach, we point to the consistency and replicability of the procedure. In a subsequent step, we demonstrate how dendrogeomorpic records can contribute to the specification of expected runout distances and related return periods of extreme events, an indispensable step in avalanche hazard assessment. Based on the reconstructed distribution of runout distances of 25 events and mean event frequencies at two paths in the French Alps, we successfully derive runout values for events with return periods of ≤300 yr. Furthermore, comparison of relations between runout distance and return periods between dendrogeomorphic data and predictions of a locally calibrated statistical-dynamical model show very reasonable agreement. Within the classical intervals used in hazard zoning (i.e. 10-300 yr), mean and mean square errors amounted to 19.7 m and 28.2 m, respectively, in the first path, and to 23.5 m and 45.8 m, respectively, in the second path. Despite some level of uncertainty related to the limits of both approaches, results suggest that dendrogeomorphic time series can yield valuable information to anticipate future extreme events

Excrétion urinaire des sulfates : effet du régime

International audienc

Excrétion urinaire des sulfates : effet du régime

International audienc