Almost harmonic spinors

We show that any closed spin manifold not diffeomorphic to the two-sphere admits a sequence of volume-one-Riemannian metrics for which the smallest non-zero Dirac eigenvalue tends to zero. As an application, we compare the Dirac spectrum with the conformal volume.Comment: minor modifications of the published versio

Toxicokinetics of fumonisin B1 in turkey poults and tissue persistence after exposure to a diet containing the maximum European tolerance for fumonisins in avian feeds

The kinetic of fumonisin B1 (FB1) after a single IV and oral dose, and FB1 persistence in tissue were investigated in turkey poults by HPLC after purification of samples on columns. After IV administration (single-dose: 10 mg FB1/kg bw), serum concentration–time curves were best described by a three-compartment open model. Elimination half-life and mean residence time of FB1 were 85 and 52 min, respectively. After oral administration (single-dose: 100 mg FB1/kg bw) bioavailability was 3.2%; elimination half-life and mean residence time were 214 and 408 min, respectively. Clearance of FB1 was 7.6 and 7.5 ml/min/kg for IV and oral administration respectively. Twenty four hours after the administration of FB1 by the intravenous route, liver and kidney contained the highest levels of FB1 in tissues, level in muscle was low or below the limit of detection (LD, 13 µg/kg). The persistence of FB1 in tissue was also studied after administration for nine weeks of a feed that contained 5, 10 and 20 mg FB1+FB2/kg diet. Eight hours after the last intake of 20 mg FB1+FB2/kg feed (maximum recommended concentration of fumonisins established by the EU for avian feed), hepatic and renal FB1 concentrations were 119 and 22 µg/kg, level in muscles was below the LD

Couplage analyse thermogravimétrique et émission acoustique pour l'étude de la corrosion haute température

National audienceAfin d'améliorer les connaissances du comportement à haute température des matériaux, le couplage de plusieurs techniques d'analyse physique in situ est une voie prometteuse. Dans ce but, des thermobalances ont été équipées d'un appareil spécifi que de mesure des signaux acoustiques émis par les échantillons dont la variation de masse est continûment mesurée sous diverses atmosphères représentatives de conditions industrielles. Les corrosions de surface à haute température sont à l'origine d'émission d'ondes acoustiques générées lors de la croissance ou de la fi ssuration de couches formées. Des mesures simultanées in situ des variations de masse et des signaux acoustiques apportent donc des informations sur ces mécanismes de corrosion haute température. L'application de cette méthodologie aux mécanismes d'oxydation, réduction ou attaque par les atmosphères carbonées (cokage) est présentée dans ce document. Une perspective de ces études est de pouvoir établir des référentiels pour une éventuelle utilisation de l'émission acoustique pour l'étude de la corrosion des équipements fonctionnant à haute température. // In order to improve the knowledge on the high temperature behaviour of materials, the coupling of in situ physical analysis is a promising way. For this purpose, thermobalances have been equipped with specific devices to measure the acoustic signals emitted by samples for which the mass variation is continuously recorded under simulated industrial atmospheres. The high temperature corrosion of materials surfaces generates acoustic emission signals associated to the growth or the cracking of the formed layers. In situ simultaneous measurements of the mass variation and the acoustic signals give information on the high temperature corrosion mechanisms involved. In this document, this methodology has been applied to the study of oxidation, reduction or attacks under carbon-rich atmosphere (coke deposition). These studies could lead to reference data for a possible application of acoustic emission for the corrosion monitoring of high temperature equipments

Substitution of Carbon Steels for ASME SA-533 Type E for Lightweight Equipment

International audienceThe use of MnMo(Ni) alloys ASME SA-533 type B or type C in lieu of carbon manganese steels (SA-516 Grade 65 or Grade 70) started about 30 years ago to produce lightweight pressure vessels. But the development of these low alloy steels for the fabrication of equipment for wet H2S service ("sour service") remains limited due to their weldability considered as challenging. This paper aims at introducing newly developed material ASME SA-533 type E class 2, and provides results obtained in base metal and welded joints, especially with respect to NACE standard MR0175 / ISO 15156-2. Finally, a case study on an absorber for amine gas treating units (AGRU) will be described to illustrate the mass savings that can be achieved with SA-533 type E class 2

Thermogravimetric experiments coupled with acoustic emission analysis dedicated to high-temperature corrosion studies on metallic alloys

International audienceHigh temperature corrosion of metallic alloys in industrial equipments, such as refinery and petrochemical equipments concerns several phenomena: oxidation, carburization... These phenomena can create stresses in the materials, the relaxation of which mostly produces transient elastic waves. Several methods enable the recording and analyzing of these transient elastic waves. Piezoelectric sensors fixed directly on the sample can record elastic waves with a low decrease in energy and frequency at ambient temperature. In case of high temperature environments, a waveguide can also be used to transmit waves from sample to sensors. For this purpose, alumina or platinum are mainly used as waveguide materials because these materials conserve the waveform. The goal of this study is to assign the elastic waves to the corrosion phenomena. This data base will then be useful for the monitoring of industrial equipment using acoustic emission methods. For this purpose, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) has been coupled with acoustic emission (AE) devices. Simultaneous measurements of the mass variation and of the acoustic signals emitted during the corrosion of samples of the Zirconium based alloy Zircaloy 4 at high temperatures in the range of 400 °C to 900 °C can provide complementary information to increase the level of understanding of high temperature corrosion mechanisms. Our work focuses on a specific waveguide (WG) conception and on the transmission of elastic waves (acoustic signals) through the waveguide at high temperature. Results on experiments concerning the corrosion of zirconium alloy plates under oxygen atmosphere are presented

Imaging bilinguals: When the neurosciences meet the languange sciences

The starting point of our investigation was the longstanding notion that bilingual individuals need effective mechanisms to prevent interference from one language while processing material in the other (e.g. Penfield and Roberts, 1959). To demonstrate how the prevention of interference is implemented in the brain we employed event-related brain potentials (ERPs; see Munte, Urbach, ¨ Duzel and Kutas, 2000, for an introductory review) ¨ and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) techniques, thus pursuing a combined temporal and spatial imaging approach. In contrast to previous investigations using neuroimaging techniques in bilinguals, which had been mainly concerned with the localization of the primary and secondary languages (e.g. Perani, Paulesu, Galles, Dupoux, Dehaene, Bettinardi, Cappa, Fazio and Mehler, 1998; Chee, Caplan, Soon, Sriram, Tan, Thiel and Weekes, 1999), our study addressed the dynamic aspects of bilingual language processing