Raman active modes in single-walled boron nitride nanotube bundles

We use the spectral moments method in the framework of the bond-polarization theory to calculate polarized nonresonant Raman spectra of chiral and achiral bundles of single walled boron nitride nanotubes (BWBNNTs) as a function of their diameter and chirality. The Spectra are computed for infinite size of BWBNNTs. We used a Lennard-Jones potential to describe the van der waals intertube interactions between tubes in a bundle. We show that the Raman active modes in the low wave number region are very sensitive to the nanotube diameter. We found that for infinite nanotube bundles, additional Radial Breathing Like mode appears in the low wave number region. These results are useful to interpret the experimental Raman spectra of BWBNNTs

Nonresonant Raman Spectrum Of Boron Doped Single Walled Carbon Nanotubes

In the present work, We use a force constant model to study the vibrationnel modes of boron doped single walled carbon nanotubes. This model is used to calculate the nonresonant Raman spectra of these nanomaterials in the framework of bond-polarisation theory by using either direct diagonalisation of the dynamical matrix or the spectral moments method. The effect of substitution of carbon by boron atoms shows that the higher Raman frequency region is dominated by a broad bond whereas the lower one is characterized by a shift of radial bonds.In the present work, We use a force constant model to study the vibrationnel modes of boron doped single walled carbon nanotubes. This model is used to calculate the nonresonant Raman spectra of these nanomaterials in the framework of bond-polarisation theory by using either direct diagonalisation of the dynamical matrix or the spectral moments method. The effect of substitution of carbon by boron atoms shows that the higher Raman frequency region is dominated by a broad bond whereas the lower one is characterized by a shift of radial bonds

Central African biomes and forest succession stages derived from modern pollen data and plant functional types

New detailed vegetation reconstructions are proposed in Atlantic Central Africa from a modern pollen data set derived from 199 sites (Cameroon, Gabon and Congo) including 131 new sites. In this study, the concept of plant functional classification is improved with new and more detailed plant functional types (PFTs) and new aggregations of pollen taxa. Using the biomisation method, we reconstructed (1) modern potential biomes and (2) potential succession stages of forest regeneration, a new approach in Atlantic Central African vegetation dynamics and ecosystem functioning reconstruction. When compared to local vegetation, potential biomes are correctly reconstructed (97.5% of the sites) and tropical rain forest (TRFO biome) is well identified from tropical seasonal forest (TSFO biome). When the potential biomes are superimposed on the White's vegetation map, only 76.4% of the sites are correctly reconstructed. But using botanical data, correspondence and cluster analyses, the 43 sites from Congo (Mayombe) evidence more affinities with those of central Gabon and so they can also be considered as correctly reconstructed as TRFO biome and White's map should be revised. In terms of potential succession stages of forest regeneration, the mature forest (TMFO) is well differentiated from the secondary forest (TSFE), but inside this latter group, the young and the pioneer stages are not clearly identified due probably to their low sampling representation. Moreover, linked to their progressive and mosaic character, the boundaries between two forest biomes or two forest stages are not clearly detected and need also a more intensive sampling in such transitions

Abord trans-symphysaire des ruptures posttramatiques de l’urètre postérieur chez l’adulte

Objectif: Etudier la place de la voie trans-symphysaire dans le traitement des ruptures posttraumatiques de l’urètre postérieur vues tardivement et en évaluer ses résultats. Patients et méthodes: Cinq malades ayant une rupture complète post-traumatique de l’urètre postérieur (> 2,5 cm et/ou échec d’un traitement antérieur) ont été traités dans notre service au stade de sténose urétrale. Tous les patients ont eu une urétrorraphie termino-terminale par voie trans-symphysaire seule. Une description technique et une évaluation clinique et paraclinique des résultats sur le plan mictionnel et sexuel ont été réalisées dans ce travail. Résultats: Les résultats ont été évalués avec un suivi médian de 19 mois. Aucune complication post-opératoire immédiate (saignement, fistule, douleur) n’a été rapportée. Sur le plan mictionnel, on a constaté dans tous les cas une miction satisfaisante, sans troubles de la continence et un cas de dysfonction érectile améliorée par le traitement médical. Aucun patient ne s’est plaint de troubles de la statique pelvienne. Conclusion: La voie trans-symphysaire constitue un excellent abord pour le traitement des lésions complexes de l’urètre postérieur vues tardivement. Cette technique permet d’avoir un abord direct sur l’urètre postérieur et de réaliser une suture termino-terminale sans tension. Les résultats sont satisfaisants et les inconvénients sont plus théoriques que réels.Mots clés : Rupture de l’urètre postérieur, sténose de l’urètre postérieur, urétrorraphie, voie transsymphysair

DASHbed: a testbed framework for large scale empirical evaluation of real-time DASH in wireless scenarios

Recent years have witnessed an explosion of multimedia traffic carried over the Internet. Video-on-demand and live streaming services are the most dominant services. To ensure growth, many streaming providers have invested considerable time and effort to keep pace with ever-increasing users’ demand for better quality and stall abolition. HTTP adaptive streaming (HAS) algorithms are at the core of every major streaming provider service. Recent years have seen sustained development in HAS algorithms. Currently, to evaluate their proposed solutions, researchers need to create a framework and numerous state-of-the-art algorithms. Often, these frameworks lack flexibility and scalability, covering only a limited set of scenarios. To fill this gap, in this paper we propose DASHbed, a highly customizable real-time framework for testing HAS algorithms in a wireless environment. Due to its low memory requirement, DASHbed offers a means of running large-scale experiments with a hundred competing players. Finally, we supplement the proposed framework with a dataset consisting of results for five HAS algorithms tested in various evaluated scenarios. The dataset showcases the abilities of DASHbed and presents the adaptation metrics per segment in the generated content (such as switches, buffer-level, P.1203.1 values, delivery rate, stall duration, etc.), which can be used as a baseline when researchers compare the output of their proposed algorithm against the state-of-the-art algorithms

BBGDASH: A Max-Min Bounded Bitrate Guidance for SDN Enabled Adaptive Video Streaming.

The increase in video traffic and the end-user demands for high-quality videos have triggered academia and industry to find novel mechanisms for media distribution. Among the available streaming services, HTTP adaptive streaming (HAS) is being the de facto standard for multi-bitrate streaming. Recent studies show that the bitrate adaptation of client-driven HAS applications is challenging due to the fact that they are based on locally taken decisions for adapting the quality of the received video. Software-defined networking (SDN) has emerged as a new network paradigm to provide centralised management. The programmability and flexibility of SDN can be utilised to enhance the delivery of video over the Internet. In this paper, we present a novel and scalable network-assisted approach (denoted BBGDASH) that identifies the boundary range of the requested bitrate levels while preserving the final quality adaptation at the client. Experimental results demonstrate the potential of the proposed approach for delivering the video over SDN-enabled networks

An unusual plank-shaped nematogen with a graphene nanoribbon core

A [12]phenacene exclusively decorated with four lateral hexylester substituents self-assembles into a nematic liquid crystal glass on cooling after melting at high temperature. This uniaxial nematic organization of a plank-shaped nanographene is unprecedented and in strong contrast to the common design rules for liquid crystals. Highly birefringent samples emitting polarized fluorescence can be obtained in homogeneously planar or twisted waveguiding configurations that are stable against crystallization at and below room temperature and up to 100 °C

Global temperature calibration of the alkenone unsaturation index (UK′37) in surface waters and comparison with surface sediments

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2006. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems 7 (2006): Q02005, doi:10.1029/2005GC001054.In this paper, we compile the current surface seawater C37 alkenone unsaturation (UK′37) measurements (n=629, −1 to 30°C temperature range) to derive a global, field-based calibration of UK′37 with alkenone production temperature. A single nonlinear “global” surface water calibration of UK′37 accurately predicts alkenone production temperatures over the diversity of modern-day oceanic environments and alkenone-synthesizing populations (T=−0.957 + 54.293(UK′37) − 52.894(UK′37)2 + 28.321(UK′37)3, r2=0.97, n=567). The mean standard error of estimation is 1.2°C with insignificant bias in estimated production temperature among the different ocean regions sampled. An exception to these trends is regions characterized by strong lateral advection and extreme productivity and temperature gradients (e.g., the Brazil-Malvinas Confluence). In contrast to the surface water data, the calibration of UK′37 in surface sediments with overlying annual mean sea surface temperature (AnnO) is best fit by a linear model (AnnO=29.876(UK′37) − 1.334, r2=0.97, n=592). The standard error of estimation (1.1°C) is similar to that of the surface water production calibration, but a higher degree of bias is observed among the regional data sets. The sediment calibration differs significantly from the surface water calibration. UK′37 in surface sediments is consistently higher than that predicted from AnnO and the surface water production temperature calibration, and the magnitude of the offset increases as the surface water AnnO decreases. We apply the global production temperature calibration to the coretop UK′37 data to estimate the coretop alkenone integrated production temperature (coretop IPT) and compare this with the overlying annual mean sea surface temperature (AnnO). We use simple models to explore the possible causes of the deviation observed between the coretop temperature signal, as estimated by UK′37, and AnnO. Our results indicate that the deviation can best be explained if seasonality in production and/or thermocline production as well as differential degradation of 37:3 and 37:2 alkenones both affect the sedimentary alkenone signal.C.R. acknowledges funding from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)

Climatic and cultural changes in the west Congo Basin forests over the past 5000 years

Central Africa includes the world's second largest rainforest block. The ecology of the region remains poorly understood, as does its vegetation and archaeological history. However, over the past 20 years, multidisciplinary scientific programmes have enhanced knowledge of old human presence and palaeoenvironments in the forestry block of Central Africa. This first regional synthesis documents significant cultural changes over the past five millennia and describes how they are linked to climate. It is now well documented that climatic conditions in the African tropics underwent significant changes throughout this period and here we demonstrate that corresponding shifts in human demography have had a strong influence on the forests. The most influential event was the decline of the strong African monsoon in the Late Holocene, resulting in serious disturbance of the forest block around 3500 BP. During the same period, populations from the north settled in the forest zone; they mastered new technologies such as pottery and fabrication of polished stone tools, and seem to have practised agriculture. The opening up of forests from 2500 BP favoured the arrival of metallurgist populations that impacted the forest. During this long period (2500–1400 BP), a remarkable increase of archaeological sites is an indication of a demographic explosion of metallurgist populations. Paradoxically, we have found evidence of pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) cultivation in the forest around 2200 BP, implying a more arid context. While Early Iron Age sites (prior to 1400 BP) and recent pre-colonial sites (two to eight centuries BP) are abundant, the period between 1600 and 1000 BP is characterized by a sharp decrease in human settlements, with a population crash between 1300 and 1000 BP over a large part of Central Africa. It is only in the eleventh century that new populations of metallurgists settled into the forest block. In this paper, we analyse the spatial and temporal distribution of 328 archaeological sites that have been reliably radiocarbon dated. The results allow us to piece together changes in the relationships between human populations and the environments in which they lived. On this basis, we discuss interactions between humans, climate and vegetation during the past five millennia and the implications of the absence of people from the landscape over three centuries. We go on to discuss modern vegetation patterns and African forest conservation in the light of these events.Peer reviewe

Foraging Fidelity as a Recipe for a Long Life: Foraging Strategy and Longevity in Male Southern Elephant Seals

Identifying individual factors affecting life-span has long been of interest for biologists and demographers: how do some individuals manage to dodge the forces of mortality when the vast majority does not? Answering this question is not straightforward, partly because of the arduous task of accurately estimating longevity in wild animals, and of the statistical difficulties in correlating time-varying ecological covariables with a single number (time-to-event). Here we investigated the relationship between foraging strategy and life-span in an elusive and large marine predator: the Southern Elephant Seal (Mirounga leonina). Using teeth recovered from dead males on îles Kerguelen, Southern Ocean, we first aged specimens. Then we used stable isotopic measurements of carbon () in dentin to study the effect of foraging location on individual life-span. Using a joint change-point/survival modelling approach which enabled us to describe the ontogenetic trajectory of foraging, we unveiled how a stable foraging strategy developed early in life positively covaried with longevity in male Southern Elephant Seals. Coupled with an appropriate statistical analysis, stable isotopes have the potential to tackle ecological questions of long standing interest but whose answer has been hampered by logistic constraints