Relative humidity impact on aerosol parameters in a Paris suburban area

Measurements of relative humidity (RH) and aerosol parameters (scattering cross section, size distributions and chemical composition), performed in ambient atmospheric conditions, have been used to study the influence of relative humidity on aerosol properties. The data were acquired in a suburban area south of Paris, between 18 and 24 July 2000, in the framework of the 'Etude et Simulation de la Qualit&#233; de l'air en Ile-de-France' (ESQUIF) program. According to the origin of the air masses arriving over the Paris area, the aerosol hygroscopicity is more or less pronounced. The aerosol chemical composition data were used as input of a thermodynamic model to simulate the variation of the aerosol water mass content with ambient <i>RH</i> and to determine the main inorganic salt compounds. The coupling of observations and modelling reveals the presence of deliquescence processes with hysteresis phenomenon in the hygroscopic growth cycle. Based on the H&#228;nel model, parameterisations of the scattering cross section, the modal radius of the accumulation mode of the size distribution and the aerosol water mass content, as a function of increasing RH, have been assessed. For the first time, a crosscheck of these parameterisations has been performed and shows that the hygroscopic behaviour of the accumulation mode can be coherently characterized by combined optical, size distribution and chemical measurements

Therapeutic and educational objectives in robot assisted play for children with autism

“This material is presented to ensure timely dissemination of scholarly and technical work. Copyright and all rights therein are retained by authors or by other copyright holders. All persons copying this information are expected to adhere to the terms and constraints invoked by each author's copyright. In most cases, these works may not be reposted without the explicit permission of the copyright holder." “Copyright IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or to reuse any copyrighted component of this work in other works must be obtained from the IEEE.” DOI: 10.1109/ROMAN.2009.5326251This article is a methodological paper that describes the therapeutic and educational objectives that were identified during the design process of a robot aimed at robot assisted play. The work described in this paper is part of the IROMEC project (Interactive Robotic Social Mediators as Companions) that recognizes the important role of play in child development and targets children who are prevented from or inhibited in playing. The project investigates the role of an interactive, autonomous robotic toy in therapy and education for children with special needs. This paper specifically addresses the therapeutic and educational objectives related to children with autism. In recent years, robots have already been used to teach basic social interaction skills to children with autism. The added value of the IROMEC robot is that play scenarios have been developed taking children's specific strengths and needs into consideration and covering a wide range of objectives in children's development areas (sensory, communicational and interaction, motor, cognitive and social and emotional). The paper describes children's developmental areas and illustrates how different experiences and interactions with the IROMEC robot are designed to target objectives in these areas.Final Published versio

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Description of the long-term ozone data series obtained from different instrumental techniques at a single location: the Observatoire de Haute-Provence (43.9°N, 5.7°E)

A description of the long-term data series of stratospheric ozone at the Observatoire de Haute-Provence is presented. At this station, data sets with temporal length of a decade or more are provided in the framework of the Network for Detection of Stratospheric Change by ground-based experiments: Dobson spectrophotometer (in both column and Umkehr mode), lidar and ozonesondes. The data time series obtained from these various instruments operated simultaneously at a single site and complemented by SAGE II space-borne measurements are first described with respect to instrumental uncertainties, sampling rate and time evolution. These data series are then compared to each other in terms of sampling rate and average vertical profiles. The difference between the mean ozone profiles of the data sets can partly be explained by the different sampling rate of the instruments. Using the overlap and the complementarity of the various data sets, a preliminary estimate of the long-term evolution of ozone over the last decade over Southern France is conducted. Trend values for both total column and vertical profiles are derived using the multi-regression statistical model AMOUNTS O3. In the 25–40 km altitude range, a similar ozone decrease from –4% to –10% is observed from lidar, Umkehr and SAGE II data series in good agreement with previous estimates. In the lower stratosphere (15–25 km), large negative trends in the ozone vertical profile are observed. In addition, the negative trend of –5.4% in total ozone inferred from the Dobson measurements over the period 1983–1995 is in good agreement with the integrated trend profile.Key words: Atmospheric composition and structure (evolution of the atmosphere; middle atmosphere – composition and chemistry; instruments and techniques)</p

Relative humidity impact on aerosol parameters in a Paris suburban area

International audienceMeasurements of relative humidity (RH) and aerosol parameters (scattering cross section, size distributions and chemical composition), performed in ambient atmospheric conditions, have been used to study the influence of relative humidity on aerosol properties. The data were acquired in a suburban area south of Paris, between 18 and 24 July 2000, in the framework of the "Etude et Simulation de la Qualité de l'air en Ile-de-France" (ESQUIF) program. According to the origin of the air masses arriving over the Paris area, the aerosol hygroscopicity is more or less pronounced. The aerosol chemical composition data were used as input of a thermodynamic model to simulate the variation of the aerosol water mass content with ambient RH and to determine the main inorganic salt compounds. The coupling of observations and modelling reveals the presence of deliquescence processes with hysteresis phenomenon in the hygroscopic growth cycle. Based on the Hänel model, parameterisations of the scattering cross section, the modal radius of the accumulation mode of the size distribution and the aerosol water mass content, as a function of increasing RH, have been assessed. For the first time, a crosscheck of these parameterisations has been performed and shows that the hygroscopic behaviour of the accumulation mode can be coherently characterized by combined optical, size distribution and chemical measurements