Quelques tendances actuelles des sciences du sol

1º Centenário da instituição em Portugal do Ensino Superior Agrícolainfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Mechanical Design of the SMC (Short Model Coil) Dipole Magnet

The Short Model Coil (SMC) working group was set in February 2007 within the Next European Dipole (NED) program, in order to develop a short-scale model of a Nb$_{3}$Sn dipole magnet. The SMC group comprises four laboratories: CERN/TE-MSC group (CH), CEA/IRFU (FR), RAL (UK) and LBNL (US). The SMC magnet was originally conceived to reach a peak field of about 13 T on conductor, using a 2500 A/mm2 Powder-In-Tube (PIT) strand. The aim of this magnet device is to study the degradation of the magnetic properties of the Nb$_{3}$Sn cable, by applying different level of pre-stress. To fully satisfy this purpose, a versatile and easy-to-assemble structure has to be realized. The design of the SMC magnet has been developed from an existing dipole magnet, the SD01, designed, built and tested at LBNL with support from CEA. In this paper we will describe the mechanical optimization of the dipole, starting from a conceptual configuration based on a former magnetic analysis. Two and three-dimensional Finite Element Method (FEM) models have been implemented in ANSYS™ and in CAST3M, aiming at setting the mechanical parameters of the dipole magnet structure, thus fulfilling the design constraints imposed by the materials

Measurement of the charged pion mass using X-ray spectroscopy of exotic atoms

The $5g-4f$ transitions in pionic nitrogen and muonic oxygen were measured simultaneously by using a gaseous nitrogen-oxygen mixture at 1.4\,bar. Due to the precise knowledge of the muon mass the muonic line provides the energy calibration for the pionic transition. A value of (139.57077\,$\pm$\,0.00018)\,MeV/c$^{2}$ ($\pm$\,1.3ppm) is derived for the mass of the negatively charged pion, which is 4.2ppm larger than the present world average

Artificially decreasing cortical tension generates aneuploidy in mouse oocytes

Human and mouse oocytes’ developmental potential can be predicted by their mechanical properties. Their development into blastocysts requires a specific stiffness window. In this study, we combine live-cell and computational imaging, laser ablation, and biophysical measurements to investigate how deregulation of cortex tension in the oocyte contributes to early developmental failure. We focus on extra-soft cells, the most common defect in a natural population. Using two independent tools to artificially decrease cortical tension, we show that chromosome alignment is impaired in extra-soft mouse oocytes, despite normal spindle morphogenesis and dynamics, inducing aneuploidy. The main cause is a cytoplasmic increase in myosin-II activity that could sterically hinder chromosome capture. We describe here an original mode of generation of aneuploidies that could be very common in oocytes and could contribute to the high aneuploidy rate observed during female meiosis, a leading cause of infertility and congenital disorders

Development and Coil Fabrication Test of the Nb3Sn Dipole Magnet PRESCA2

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Factors Associated with Negative Direct Sputum Examination in Asian and African HIV-Infected Patients with Tuberculosis (ANRS 1260)

OBJECTIVE: To identify factors associated with negative direct sputum examination among African and Cambodian patients co-infected by Mycobacterium tuberculosis and HIV. DESIGN: Prospective multicenter study (ANRS1260) conducted in Cambodia, Senegal and Central African Republic. METHODS: Univariate and multivariate analyses (logistic regression) were used to identify clinical and radiological features associated with negative direct sputum examination in HIV-infected patients with positive M. tuberculosis culture on Lowenstein-Jensen medium. RESULTS: Between September 2002 and December 2005, 175 co-infected patients were hospitalized with at least one respiratory symptom and pulmonary radiographic anomaly. Acid-fast bacillus (AFB) examination was positive in sputum samples from 110 subjects (63%) and negative in 65 patients (37%). Most patients were at an advanced stage of HIV disease (92% at stage III or IV of the WHO classification) with a median CD4 cell count of 36/mm³. In this context, we found that sputum AFB negativity was more frequent in co-infected subjects with associated respiratory tract infections (OR = 2.8 [95%CI:1.1-7.0]), dyspnea (OR = 2.5 [95%CI:1.1-5.6]), and localized interstitial opacities (OR = 3.1 [95%CI:1.3-7.6]), but was less frequent with CD4 ≤ 50/mm³ (OR = 0.4 [95%CI:0.2-0.90), adenopathies (OR = 0.4 [95%CI:0.2-0.93]) and cavitation (OR = 0.1 [95%CI:0.03-0.6]). CONCLUSIONS: One novel finding of this study is the association between concomitant respiratory tract infection and negative sputum AFB, particularly in Cambodia. This finding suggests that repeating AFB testing in AFB-negative patients should be conducted when broad spectrum antibiotic treatment does not lead to complete recovery from respiratory symptoms. In HIV-infected patients with a CD4 cell count below 50/mm3 without an identified cause of pneumonia, systematic AFB direct sputum examination is justified because of atypical clinical features (without cavitation) and high pulmonary mycobacterial burden

DMLR: Data-centric Machine Learning Research -- Past, Present and Future

Drawing from discussions at the inaugural DMLR workshop at ICML 2023 and meetings prior, in this report we outline the relevance of community engagement and infrastructure development for the creation of next-generation public datasets that will advance machine learning science. We chart a path forward as a collective effort to sustain the creation and maintenance of these datasets and methods towards positive scientific, societal and business impact.Comment: This editorial report accompanies the inaugural Data-centric Machine Learning Research (DMLR) Workshop that took place at ICML 2023 https://dmlr.ai

Pig α₁-Acid Glycoprotein: Characterization and First Description in Any Species as a Negative Acute Phase Protein.

The serum protein α1-acid glycoprotein (AGP), also known as orosomucoid, is generally described as an archetypical positive acute phase protein. Here, porcine AGP was identified, purified and characterized from pooled pig serum. It was found to circulate as a single chain glycoprotein having an apparent molecular weight of 43 kDa by SDS-PAGE under reducing conditions, of which approximately 17 kDa were accounted for by N-bound oligosaccharides. Those data correspond well with the properties of the protein predicted from the single porcine AGP gene (ORM1, Q29014 (UniProt)), containing 5 putative glycosylation sites. A monoclonal antibody (MAb) was produced and shown to quantitatively and specifically react with all microheterogenous forms of pig AGP as analyzed by 2-D electrophoresis. This MAb was used to develop an immunoassay (ELISA) for quantification of AGP in pig serum samples. The adult serum concentrations of pig AGP were in the range of 1-3 mg/ml in a number of conventional pig breeds while it was lower in Göttingen and Ossabaw minipigs (in the 0.3 to 0.6 mg/ml range) and higher in young (2-5 days old) conventional pigs (mean: 6.6 mg/ml). Surprisingly, pig AGP was found to behave as a negative acute phase protein during a range of experimental infections and aseptic inflammation with significant decreases in serum concentration and in hepatic ORM1 expression during the acute phase response. To our knowledge this is the first description in any species of AGP being a negative acute phase protein