Adsorption in complex porous networks with geometrical and chemical heterogeneity

International audienceWe report here a simple algorithm to create 2D lattice-based models of porous deposits of preformed nano-metric particles, by mimicking to some extent the physics of the actual deposition/aggregation mechanism. The heterogeneous porous networks obtained exhibit anisotropic properties unlike lattice-based models of porous materials in the existing literature, such as those of porous Vycor glass. We have then used calculations based on the mean field kinetic theory, in order to study the thermodynamics and dynamics of fluid adsorption and desorption in these lattice based porous models. We showcase the influence of pore heterogeneity on the phase equilibrium of the confined fluid, studying both heterogeneity in pore size distribution and chemical heterogeneity of the internal surface

Safety and efficacy of fluoxetine on functional outcome after acute stroke (AFFINITY): a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial

Background Trials of fluoxetine for recovery after stroke report conflicting results. The Assessment oF FluoxetINe In sTroke recoverY (AFFINITY) trial aimed to show if daily oral fluoxetine for 6 months after stroke improves functional outcome in an ethnically diverse population. Methods AFFINITY was a randomised, parallel-group, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial done in 43 hospital stroke units in Australia (n=29), New Zealand (four), and Vietnam (ten). Eligible patients were adults (aged ≥18 years) with a clinical diagnosis of acute stroke in the previous 2–15 days, brain imaging consistent with ischaemic or haemorrhagic stroke, and a persisting neurological deficit that produced a modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score of 1 or more. Patients were randomly assigned 1:1 via a web-based system using a minimisation algorithm to once daily, oral fluoxetine 20 mg capsules or matching placebo for 6 months. Patients, carers, investigators, and outcome assessors were masked to the treatment allocation. The primary outcome was functional status, measured by the mRS, at 6 months. The primary analysis was an ordinal logistic regression of the mRS at 6 months, adjusted for minimisation variables. Primary and safety analyses were done according to the patient's treatment allocation. The trial is registered with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry, ACTRN12611000774921. Findings Between Jan 11, 2013, and June 30, 2019, 1280 patients were recruited in Australia (n=532), New Zealand (n=42), and Vietnam (n=706), of whom 642 were randomly assigned to fluoxetine and 638 were randomly assigned to placebo. Mean duration of trial treatment was 167 days (SD 48·1). At 6 months, mRS data were available in 624 (97%) patients in the fluoxetine group and 632 (99%) in the placebo group. The distribution of mRS categories was similar in the fluoxetine and placebo groups (adjusted common odds ratio 0·94, 95% CI 0·76–1·15; p=0·53). Compared with patients in the placebo group, patients in the fluoxetine group had more falls (20 [3%] vs seven [1%]; p=0·018), bone fractures (19 [3%] vs six [1%]; p=0·014), and epileptic seizures (ten [2%] vs two [<1%]; p=0·038) at 6 months. Interpretation Oral fluoxetine 20 mg daily for 6 months after acute stroke did not improve functional outcome and increased the risk of falls, bone fractures, and epileptic seizures. These results do not support the use of fluoxetine to improve functional outcome after stroke

Global, regional, and national burden of disorders affecting the nervous system, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

BackgroundDisorders affecting the nervous system are diverse and include neurodevelopmental disorders, late-life neurodegeneration, and newly emergent conditions, such as cognitive impairment following COVID-19. Previous publications from the Global Burden of Disease, Injuries, and Risk Factor Study estimated the burden of 15 neurological conditions in 2015 and 2016, but these analyses did not include neurodevelopmental disorders, as defined by the International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-11, or a subset of cases of congenital, neonatal, and infectious conditions that cause neurological damage. Here, we estimate nervous system health loss caused by 37 unique conditions and their associated risk factors globally, regionally, and nationally from 1990 to 2021.MethodsWe estimated mortality, prevalence, years lived with disability (YLDs), years of life lost (YLLs), and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), with corresponding 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs), by age and sex in 204 countries and territories, from 1990 to 2021. We included morbidity and deaths due to neurological conditions, for which health loss is directly due to damage to the CNS or peripheral nervous system. We also isolated neurological health loss from conditions for which nervous system morbidity is a consequence, but not the primary feature, including a subset of congenital conditions (ie, chromosomal anomalies and congenital birth defects), neonatal conditions (ie, jaundice, preterm birth, and sepsis), infectious diseases (ie, COVID-19, cystic echinococcosis, malaria, syphilis, and Zika virus disease), and diabetic neuropathy. By conducting a sequela-level analysis of the health outcomes for these conditions, only cases where nervous system damage occurred were included, and YLDs were recalculated to isolate the non-fatal burden directly attributable to nervous system health loss. A comorbidity correction was used to calculate total prevalence of all conditions that affect the nervous system combined.FindingsGlobally, the 37 conditions affecting the nervous system were collectively ranked as the leading group cause of DALYs in 2021 (443 million, 95% UI 378–521), affecting 3·40 billion (3·20–3·62) individuals (43·1%, 40·5–45·9 of the global population); global DALY counts attributed to these conditions increased by 18·2% (8·7–26·7) between 1990 and 2021. Age-standardised rates of deaths per 100 000 people attributed to these conditions decreased from 1990 to 2021 by 33·6% (27·6–38·8), and age-standardised rates of DALYs attributed to these conditions decreased by 27·0% (21·5–32·4). Age-standardised prevalence was almost stable, with a change of 1·5% (0·7–2·4). The ten conditions with the highest age-standardised DALYs in 2021 were stroke, neonatal encephalopathy, migraine, Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, diabetic neuropathy, meningitis, epilepsy, neurological complications due to preterm birth, autism spectrum disorder, and nervous system cancer.InterpretationAs the leading cause of overall disease burden in the world, with increasing global DALY counts, effective prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation strategies for disorders affecting the nervous system are needed

Determination by nano-EBIC and Monte-Carlo simulation of the diffusion length of minority carriers : application to structures containing Ge nanocrystals

L’objectif de ce travail de thèse est d’étudier certaines propriétés locales de structures contenant des nanocristaux de Ge sur leur surface par utilisation de la technique nano-EBIC(courant induit par bombardement électronique et collecté par un nano-contact). La particularité de cette technique qui utilise le même principe que la technique EBIC classique est l’utilisation d’une pointe conductrice d’un AFM (microscope à force atomique) à la place d’une électrode standard. Nous nous sommes intéressés à la détermination de la longueur de diffusion effective (Leff) et l’étude de sa variation en fonction de paramètres tels que l’énergie primaire et la taille des nanocristaux. Leff augmente pour les faibles énergies primaires, passe par un maximum qui dépend de la taille des nanocristaux, puis diminue pour les énergies élevées. Ce comportement de l’évolution de Leff a été expliqué en chapitre 2. Cependant, ce résultat n’a jamais été observé auparavant. C’est pourquoi, nous avons complété ce travail par une étude basée sur la simulation Monte-Carlo, où l’effet de plusieurs paramètres a été analysé. Parmi les paramètres étudiés, on cite la taille et la forme du nano-contact (ou plus précisément la taille de la nano-zone de déplétion qui se forme sous le contact), la vitesse de recombinaison en surface et l’énergie primaire. La simulation donne le même comportement de variation de Leff que dans le cas expérimental.The objective of this work is to study certain local properties of structures containing on their surface Ge nanocrystals by using the nano-EBIC (Electron beam induced current collected by a nano-contact). The peculiarity of this technique which uses the same principle as the classical EBIC technique is the use of a conductive AFM (atomic force microscope) tip instead of a standard electrode. We were interested in the determination of the effective diffusion length (Leff) and the study of its variation according to parameters such as the primary energy and the size of nanocrystals. Leff increases for weak energies, reaches a maximum which depends on the nanocrystal size, then decreases for high energies. This behavior of the evolution of Leff was explained in chapter 2. However, this result has never been reported previously. That is why we completed this work by a study based on the Monte-Carlo simulation, where the effect of several parameters was analyzed. Among the parameters studied, we quote the size and the shape of the nano-contact (or more exactly the size of the depletion nano-zone formed under the contact), the surface recombination velocity and the primary energy. The simulation gives the same behavior of Leff variation than the experimental case

Détermination par nano-EBIC et par simulation de Monte-Carlo de la longueur de diffusion des porteurs minoritaires (application à des structures contenant des nanocristaux de germanium)

L objectif de ce travail de thèse est d étudier certaines propriétés locales de structures contenant des nanocristaux de Ge sur leur surface par utilisation de la technique nano-EBIC(courant induit par bombardement électronique et collecté par un nano-contact). La particularité de cette technique qui utilise le même principe que la technique EBIC classique est l utilisation d une pointe conductrice d un AFM (microscope à force atomique) à la place d une électrode standard. Nous nous sommes intéressés à la détermination de la longueur de diffusion effective (Leff) et l étude de sa variation en fonction de paramètres tels que l énergie primaire et la taille des nanocristaux. Leff augmente pour les faibles énergies primaires, passe par un maximum qui dépend de la taille des nanocristaux, puis diminue pour les énergies élevées. Ce comportement de l évolution de Leff a été expliqué en chapitre 2. Cependant, ce résultat n a jamais été observé auparavant. C est pourquoi, nous avons complété ce travail par une étude basée sur la simulation Monte-Carlo, où l effet de plusieurs paramètres a été analysé. Parmi les paramètres étudiés, on cite la taille et la forme du nano-contact (ou plus précisément la taille de la nano-zone de déplétion qui se forme sous le contact), la vitesse de recombinaison en surface et l énergie primaire. La simulation donne le même comportement de variation de Leff que dans le cas expérimental.The objective of this work is to study certain local properties of structures containing on their surface Ge nanocrystals by using the nano-EBIC (Electron beam induced current collected by a nano-contact). The peculiarity of this technique which uses the same principle as the classical EBIC technique is the use of a conductive AFM (atomic force microscope) tip instead of a standard electrode. We were interested in the determination of the effective diffusion length (Leff) and the study of its variation according to parameters such as the primary energy and the size of nanocrystals. Leff increases for weak energies, reaches a maximum which depends on the nanocrystal size, then decreases for high energies. This behavior of the evolution of Leff was explained in chapter 2. However, this result has never been reported previously. That is why we completed this work by a study based on the Monte-Carlo simulation, where the effect of several parameters was analyzed. Among the parameters studied, we quote the size and the shape of the nano-contact (or more exactly the size of the depletion nano-zone formed under the contact), the surface recombination velocity and the primary energy. The simulation gives the same behavior of Leff variation than the experimental case.REIMS-SCD-Bib. electronique (514549901) / SudocSudocFranceF

Surface recombination velocity effects on simulated electron beam induced current collected by a nanoscale electrode

International audienc

Application of Meteorological and Hydrological Drought Indices to Establish Drought Classification Maps of the Ba River Basin in Vietnam

The objective of this study was to establish drought classification maps to simulate and calculate the lack of discharge in the Ba River basin in Vietnam. The maps were established using three meteorological drought indices (the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), the Drought Index (J), and the Ped Index (Ped)), the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model, and the hydrological drought index (KDrought). The results from the calculation of the SPI, Aridity Index (AI), and Ped at three stations (An Khe, Ayunpa, and MDrak) showed that the J index was suitable for the study area. Based on the J index, an extreme drought was predicted to occur at the Ayunpa, An Khe, and MDrak stations. During the calibration process, the SWAT Calibration Uncertainties Program (SWAT-CUP) model, with automatic algorithms, was used to select the parameters to optimize the SWAT model. For the calibration and validation, the observed discharge at two hydrology stations, An Khe and Cung Son, from the periods 1981&ndash;1991 and 1992&ndash;2002, respectively, were used. The simulated discharge was found to be acceptable, with the Nash&ndash;Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE), Percent bias (PBIAS), and R2 reaching good levels in both calibration and validation. The results from the calculation of the drought index (KDrought), and the established drought classification maps in 2016, showed that the most affected areas were the communes of the Gia Lai and Dak Lak provinces. The results from the simulation and calculations were found to be consistent with the situation that occurred in practice. The application of meteorological and hydrological drought indices, as well as the hydrological model, to support impact assessments of drought classification in space and time, as well as the establishment of forecasting and warning maps, will help managers to effectively plan policy responses to drought

Effects of combined growth of biogenic and xenobiotic substrates on degradation of xenobiotic by activated sludge

The purpose of this study was to research about supplementation of different concentrations of the substrate on the degradation rate of xenobiotic and to determine the optimal concentrations of the auxiliary substrates that are most beneficial of xenobiotic degradation rate. 2,4-dichlorophenol acid (2,4-D) was used representative xenobiotic organic compounds, while peptone and sugar used for auxiliary substrates. The activated sludge was completely break down 100 mg/l of 2,4-D for three consecutive times. The different concentrations between biogenic substracts of sucrose and peptone were fed separately or combined into the medium containing 200 mg/l of 2,4-D and 140 mg SS/l of activated sludge. The results showed that sugar and peptone could affect 2,4-D degradation rate to several different degree at different concentrations. In separate supplementation, 2,4-D degradation completed within 25 hours, 40 mg/l sugar and 150 mg/l peptone concentration