Social psychology:Predicting other people’s attention to understand their mind

Humans are highly social beings who are interested in what others are saying, thinking, and doing. A recent study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences finds that we can easily tell whether a person’s pattern of attention is natural or artificially manipulated

Sur les arthromyodysplasies chez le veau

Giroud A., Gueguen L. Sur les arthromyodysplasies chez le veau. In: Bulletin de l'Académie Vétérinaire de France tome 126 n°10, 1973. pp. 443-446

Comparison of spheroids formed by rat glioma stem cells and neural stem cells reveals differences in glucose metabolism and promising therapeutic applications

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are thought to be partially responsible for cancer resistance to current therapies and tumor recurrence. Dichloroacetate (DCA), a compound capable of shifting metabolism from glycolysis to glucose oxidation, via an inhibition of pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase was used. We show that DCA is able to shift the pyruvate metabolism in rat glioma CSCs but has no effect in rat neural stem cells. DCA forces CSCs into oxidative phosphorylation but does not trigger the production of reactive oxygen species and consecutive anti-cancer apoptosis. However, DCA, associated with etoposide or irradiation, induced a Bax-dependent apoptosis in CSCs in vitro and decreased their proliferation in vivo. The former phenomenon is related to DCA-induced Foxo3 and p53 expression, resulting in the overexpression of BH3-only proteins (Bad, Noxa, and Puma), which in turn facilitates Bax-dependent apoptosis. Our results demonstrate that a small drug available for clinical studies potentiates the induction of apoptosis in glioma CSCs

Use of multi-sources 10-years quantitative precipitation estimation re-analyses in a lumped rainfall-runoff model

International audienceL'objectif principal de ce projet est de produire une base de donnée de référence couvrant une période de 10 ans pour l'estimation quantitative de lames d'eaux précipitées (LEP). L'objectif est d'utiliser de façon optimale l'ensemble des informations disponibles (radars, pluviomètres horaires et journaliers, données atellite....) afin d'obtenir la meilleure estimation possible de la pluie précipitée. La base de données résultante sera une série de LPE horaire, de 1km2, associée a une estimation des incertitudes sur l'ensemble du territoire français. Cela sera une référence commune pour les hydrologues, permettant des applications telles que le calage des paramètres de modèles, l'evaluation de la valeur ajoutée d'une entrée spatio-temporelle haute résolution pour les modèles hydrologiques ect... / This project main objective is to produce a 10-year reference database of Quantitative Precipitation Estimations (QPE). The objective is to make use optimally at any time of all the available information (radars, hourly and daily rain gauges, satellite data, etc) to obtain the best possible surface precipitation estimation. The resulting data base, will consist of hourly, 1km² gridded QPE and associated estimation uncertainties over the entire French territory. This will represent a common reference for hydrologists useful for various applications such as the calibration of the hydrological model parameters, the assessment of the the added value of high space-time resolution input for hydrological models, etc

The XMM-LSS catalogue: X-ray sources and associated optical data. Version I

Following the presentation of the XMM-LSS X-ray source detection package by Pacaud et al., we provide the source lists for the first 5.5 surveyed square degrees. The catalogues pertain to the [0.5-2] and [2-10] keV bands and contain in total 3385 point-like or extended sources above a detection likelihood of 15 in either band. The agreement with deep logN-logS is excellent. The main parameters considered are position, countrate, source extent with associated likelihood values. A set of additional quantities such as astrometric corrections and fluxes are further calculated while errors on the position and countrate are deduced from simulations. We describe the construction of the band-merged catalogue allowing rapid sub-sample selection and easy cross-correlation with external multi-wavelength catalogues. A small optical CFHTLS multi-band subset of objects is associated wich each source along with an X-ray/optical overlay. We make the full X-ray images available in FITS format. The data are available at CDS and, in a more extended form, at the Milan XMM-LSS database.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures and 11 tables (fig. 1 and 6 are enclosed in reduced resolution), MNRAS Latex, accepted by MNRA

The XMM-LSS Survey: A well controlled X-ray cluster sample over the D1 CFHTLS area

We present the XMM-LSS cluster catalogue corresponding to the CFHTLS D1 area. The list contains 13 spectroscopically confirmed, X-ray selected galaxy clusters over 0.8 deg2 to a redshift of unity and so constitutes the highest density sample of clusters to date. Cluster X-ray bolometric luminosities range from 0.03 to 5x10^{44} erg/s. In this study, we describe our catalogue construction procedure: from the detection of X-ray cluster candidates to the compilation of a spectroscopically confirmed cluster sample with an explicit selection function. The procedure further provides basic X-ray products such as cluster temperature, flux and luminosity. We detected slightly more clusters with a (0.5-2.0 keV) X-ray fluxes of >2x10^{-14} erg/s/cm^{-2} than we expected based on expectations from deep ROSAT surveys. We also present the Luminosity-Temperature relation for our 9 brightest objects possessing a reliable temperature determination. The slope is in good agreement with the local relation, yet compatible with a luminosity enhancement for the 0.15 < z< 0.35 objects having 1 < T < 2 keV, a population that the XMM-LSS is identifying systematically for the first time. The present study permits the compilation of cluster samples from XMM images whose selection biases are understood. This allows, in addition to studies of large-scale structure, the systematic investigation of cluster scaling law evolution, especially for low mass X-ray groups which constitute the bulk of our observed cluster population. All cluster ancillary data (images, profiles, spectra) are made available in electronic form via the XMM-LSS cluster database.Comment: 12 pages 5 figures, MNRAS accepted. The paper with full resolution cluster images is available at http://vela.astro.ulg.ac.be/themes/spatial/xmm/LSS/rel_pub_e.htm

On morphological hierarchical representations for image processing and spatial data clustering

Hierarchical data representations in the context of classi cation and data clustering were put forward during the fties. Recently, hierarchical image representations have gained renewed interest for segmentation purposes. In this paper, we briefly survey fundamental results on hierarchical clustering and then detail recent paradigms developed for the hierarchical representation of images in the framework of mathematical morphology: constrained connectivity and ultrametric watersheds. Constrained connectivity can be viewed as a way to constrain an initial hierarchy in such a way that a set of desired constraints are satis ed. The framework of ultrametric watersheds provides a generic scheme for computing any hierarchical connected clustering, in particular when such a hierarchy is constrained. The suitability of this framework for solving practical problems is illustrated with applications in remote sensing

Biodiesel production from jatropha seeds: Solvent extraction and in situ transesterification in a single step

The objective of this study was to investigate solvent extraction and in situ transesterification in a single step to allow direct production of biodiesel from jatropha seeds. Experiments were conducted using milled jatropha seeds, and n-hexane as extracting solvent. The influence of methanol to seed ratio (2:1–6:1), amount of alkali (KOH) catalyst (0.05–0.1 mol/L in methanol), stirring speed (700–900 rpm), temperature (40–60 °C) and reaction time (3–5 h) was examined to define optimum biodiesel yield and biodiesel quality after water washing and drying. When stirring speed, temperature and reaction time were fixed at 700 rpm, 60 °C and 4 h respectively, highest biodiesel yield (80% with a fatty acid methyl ester purity of 99.9%) and optimum biodiesel quality were obtained with a methanol to seed ratio of 6:1 and 0.075 mol/L KOH in methanol. Subsequently, the influence of stirring speed, temperature and reaction time on biodiesel yield and biodiesel quality was studied, by applying the randomized factorial experimental design with ANOVA (F-test at p = 0.05), and using the optimum values previously found for methanol to seed ratio and KOH catalyst level. Most experimental runs conducted at 50 °C resulted to high biodiesel yields, while stirring speed and reaction time did not give significantly effect. The highest biodiesel yield (87% with a fatty acid methyl ester purity of 99.7%) was obtained with a methanol to seed ratio of 6:1, KOH catalyst of 0.075 mol/L in methanol, a stirring speed of 800 rpm, a temperature of 50 °C, and a reaction time of 5 h. The effects of stirring speed, temperature and reaction time on biodiesel quality were not significant. Most of the biodiesel quality obtained in this study conformed to the Indonesian Biodiesel Standard

The XMM Large Scale Structure Survey: Properties and Two-Point Angular Correlations of Point-like Sources

We analyze X-ray sources detected over 4.2 pseudo-contiguous sq. deg. in the 0.5-2 keV and 2-10 keV bands down to fluxes of 2x10^{-15} and 8x10^{-15} erg/s/cm^2 respectively, as part of the XMM Large Scale Structure Survey. The logN-logS in both bands shows a steep slope at bright fluxes, but agrees well with other determinations below ~2x10^{-14} erg/s/cm^2. The detected sources resolve close to 30 per cent of the X-ray background in the 2-10 keV band. We study the two-point angular clustering of point sources using nearest neighbours and correlation function statistics and find a weak, positive signal for ~1130 sources in the 0.5-2 keV band, but no correlation for ~400 sources in the 2-10 keV band below scales of 100 arcsec. A sub-sample of ~200 faint sources with hard X-ray count ratios, that is likely to be dominated by obscured AGN, does show a positive signal with the data allowing for a large scaling of the angular correlation length, but only at the ~2 (3) sigma level, based on re-sampling (Poisson) statistics. We discuss possible implications and emphasize the importance of wider, complete surveys in order to fully understand the large scale structure of the X-ray sky.Comment: A&A in press; High resolution version at http://www-xray.ast.cam.ac.uk/~pg/publications.htm