Silicon Superconducting Quantum Interference Device

We have studied a Superconducting Quantum Interference SQUID device made from a single layer thin film of superconducting silicon. The superconducting layer is obtained by heavily doping a silicon wafer with boron atoms using the Gas Immersion Laser Doping (GILD) technique. The SQUID device is composed of two nano-bridges (Dayem bridges) in a loop and shows magnetic flux modulation at low temperature and low magnetic field. The overall behavior shows very good agreement with numerical simulations based on the Ginzburg-Landau equations.Comment: Published in Applied Physics Letters (August 2015

Sex-specific ultrasonic vocalization patterns and alcohol consumption in high alcohol-drinking (HAD-1) rats

Ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) have been established as an animal model of emotional status and are often utilized in drug abuse studies as motivational and emotional indices. Further USV functionality has been demonstrated in our recent work showing accurate identification of selectively-bred high versus low alcohol-consuming male rats ascertained exclusively from 22 to 28 kHz and 50–55 kHz FM USV acoustic parameters. With the hypothesis that alcohol-sensitive sex differences could be revealed through USV acoustic parameters, the present study examined USVs and alcohol consumption in male and female selectively bred high-alcohol drinking (HAD-1) rats. For the current study, we examined USV data collected during a 12-week experiment in male and female HAD-1 rats. Experimental phases included Baseline (2 weeks), 4-h EtOH Access (4 weeks), 24-h EtOH Access (4 weeks) and Abstinence (2 weeks). Findings showed that both male and female HAD-1 rats spontaneously emitted a large number of 22–28 kHz and 50–55 kHz FM USVs and that females drank significantly more alcohol compared to males over the entire course of the experiment. Analyses of USV acoustic characteristics (i.e. mean frequency, duration, bandwidth and power) revealed distinct sex-specific phenotypes in both 50–55 kHz FM and 22–28 kHz USV transmission that were modulated by ethanol exposure. Moreover, by using a linear combination of these acoustic characteristics, we were able to develop binomial logistic regression models able to discriminate between male and female HAD-1 rats with high accuracy. Together these results highlight unique emotional phenotypes in male and female HAD-1 rats that are differentially modulated by alcohol experience

Les céramiques d’importation méditerranéenne sur le site de Bragny-sur-Saône (71)

National audienc

Phytophthora infestans: des populations en évolution

National audienc

Evolution de la résistance de Phytophthora infestans aux phénylamides en France de 1981 à 1996

International audienc

Phytophthora infestans, agent du mildiou. Du nouveau dans les populations françaises

National audienc

Proximity-induced superconductivity in all-silicon superconductor /normal-metal junctions

International audienc

Effect of grain size on stability of X-ray diffraction patterns used for threat detection

International audienceEnergy Dispersive X-ray Diffraction (EDXRD) is well-suited to detecting narcotics and a wide range of explosives. The integrated intensity of an X-ray diffraction peak is proportional to the number of grains in the inspected object which are oriented such that they satisfy Bragg's condition. Several parameters have a significant influence on this number. Among them, we can list grain size and the fill rate for polycrystalline materials that both may significantly vary for a same material according to its way of production. Consequently, peak intensity may change significantly from one measurement to another one, thus increasing the risk of losing peaks. This instability is one of the many causes of false alarms. To help avoid these, we have developed a model to quantify the stability of the diffraction patterns measured. Two methods (extension of the detector in a direction perpendicular to the diffractometer plane and slow rotation of both source and detector) can be used to decrease the coefficient of variation, leading to a more stable spectral measurement. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved