Approches d'homogénéisation numériques incrémentales pour le calcul des structures hétérogènes élasto-plastiques et élasto-visco-plastiques

In this work, computational homogenization methods for nonlinear materials with elasto-plastic and elasto-visco-plastic phases are developed, with application to the computation of heterogeneous structures made of these nonlinear materials under cyclic loading. The proposed techniques are based on incremental approaches. In a first part, we develop a methodology to determine the size of an RVE in the nonlinear case for the types of nonlinear behavior mentioned above. For this purpose, a convergence study of the parameters of a semi-analytical incremental constitutive law is carried out. This method allows reducing computational times related to the identification of these parameters and provides a better approximation of the effective constitutive relationship, which can then be used in a structure calculation once identified. In a second part, we propose an incremental computatioal homogenization method in which the originality is to compute directly the effective tangent tensor by superposition of numerical solutions computed by finite elements on an RVE, by taking advantage of the linearization of the problem at each increment. An alternative scheme to classical multilevel finite element techniques (FE2) is then developed, with the advantage of a reduced number of computations to perform on the RVE. The technique is applied to the computation of heterogeneous, nonlinear structures, for anisotropic microstructures or with complex morphologies and for phase with elastoplastic behavior with isotropic and kinematic hardeningCe travail porte sur le développement de méthodes d'homogénéisation numériques pour les matériaux non linéaires élastoplastiques et élasto-visco plastiques avec pour finalité le calcul de structures hétérogènes faite de ces matériaux sous chargements cycliques. Les techniques proposées se basent sur des approches incrémentales. Dans une première partie, nous développons une méthodologie pour déterminer la taille du VER dans le cas non linéaire pour les types de comportements cités précédemment. Pour cela, une étude de la convergence statistique de paramètres d'une loi semi-analytique incrémentale est menée. Cette méthode permet de diminuer les temps de calcul pour l'identification des paramètres et ainsi qu'une meilleure approximation de la loi de comportement effective, qui peut ensuite être utilisée dans un calcul de structure. Dans une deuxième partie, nous proposons une méthode d'homogénéisation numérique incrémentale dans laquelle l'originalité est de calculer le module tangent effectif par superposition de solutions numériques calculées par éléments finis sur le VER, en exploitant la linéarisation du problème à caque incrément. Un schéma alternatif aux techniques telles que la méthode Eléments finis multi niveaux (FE2) est ainsi développé, avec pour avantage un nombre réduit de calculs éléments finis à effectuer sur le VER. La technique est appliquée au calcul de structures hétérogènes non linéaires élastoplastiques, pour des microstructures anisotropes ou de morphologies complexes, et pour des lois de comportement locales élastoplastiques avec écrouissage isotrope et cinématiqu

The capability of organic matter decomposition and nutrient uptake in coastal waters of Ca Na bay, Ninh Thuan province

This paper focuses on the capability of organic matter decomposition and inorganic nutrient uptake in the coastal waters of Ca Na bay (Ninh Thuan province) in October, 2018 (the rainy season) and May, 2019 (the dry season).  The results of laboratory experiments on organic decomposition, photosynthesis and nutrient uptake showed that the BODgh and the average values of k- decay rate in coastal waters of the surveyed area are higher in the rainy season compared with the dry season, with the average BODgh values of 5.474 mgO2/l and 4.768 mgO2/l respectively, and the corresponding k-values of 0.183 day-1 and 0.143 day-1. Howver, the half-life decay of organic matter is lower in the rainy season than in the dry season, with the corresponding values of 5.110 days and 5.571 days. In the studied area, the photosynthesis of phytoplankton strongly absorbs nitrate (NO3-), followed by ammonium (NH4+) and phosphate (PO43-). The capability of nutrient uptake for nitrogen and phosphorus components was 9.17 mgN/m3/hour and 0.92 mgP/m3/hour, respectively in the dry season; and 7.31 mgN/m3/hour and 0.63 mgP/m3/hour in the rainy season. The results of the study are favorable condition for calculating the environmental capacity in the coastal waters of Ca Na bay in the future

Performance Analysis of Hybrid ALOHA/CDMA RFID Systems with Quasi-decorrelating Detector in Noisy Channels

In this paper we investigate the performance of a hybrid Aloha/CDMA radio frequency identification (RFID) system with quasi-decorrelating detector (QDD). Motivated by the fact that the QDD outperforms the conventional decorrelating detector (DD) in noisy network scenarios, we study and propose using QDD as one of the most promising candidates for the structure of RFID readers. Performance analysis in terms of bit error rate and the RFID system efficiency is considered considering CDMA code collision and detection error. Computer simulations are also performed, and the obtained results of QDD-based structure are compared with those of DD-based one to confirm the correctness of the design suggestion in different practical applications of tag identification and missing-tag detection

New primitives of controlled elements F2/4 for block ciphers

This paper develops the cipher design approach based on the use of data-dependent operations (DDOs). A new class of DDO based on the advanced controlled elements (CEs) is introduced, which is proven well suited to hardware implementations for FPGA devices. To increase the hardware implementation efficiency of block ciphers, while using contemporary FPGA devices there is proposed an approach to synthesis of fast block ciphers, which uses the substitution-permutation network constructed on the basis of the controlled elements F2/4 implementing the 2 x 2 substitutions under control of the four-bit vector. There are proposed criteria for selecting elements F2/4 and results on investigating their main cryptographic properties. It is designed a new fast 128-bit block cipher MM-128 that uses the elements F2/4 as elementary building block. The cipher possesses higher performance and requires less hardware resources for its implementation on the bases of FPGA devices than the known block ciphers. There are presented result on differential analysis of the cipher MM-12

A Novel Approach for Pill-Prescription Matching with GNN Assistance and Contrastive Learning

Medication mistaking is one of the risks that can result in unpredictable consequences for patients. To mitigate this risk, we develop an automatic system that correctly identifies pill-prescription from mobile images. Specifically, we define a so-called pill-prescription matching task, which attempts to match the images of the pills taken with the pills' names in the prescription. We then propose PIMA, a novel approach using Graph Neural Network (GNN) and contrastive learning to address the targeted problem. In particular, GNN is used to learn the spatial correlation between the text boxes in the prescription and thereby highlight the text boxes carrying the pill names. In addition, contrastive learning is employed to facilitate the modeling of cross-modal similarity between textual representations of pill names and visual representations of pill images. We conducted extensive experiments and demonstrated that PIMA outperforms baseline models on a real-world dataset of pill and prescription images that we constructed. Specifically, PIMA improves the accuracy from 19.09% to 46.95% compared to other baselines. We believe our work can open up new opportunities to build new clinical applications and improve medication safety and patient care.Comment: Accepted for publication and presentation at the 19th Pacific Rim International Conference on Artificial Intelligence (PRICAI 2022

An in-situ thermoelectric measurement apparatus inside a thermal-evaporator

At the ultra-thin limit below 20 nm, a film's electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, or thermoelectricity depends heavily on its thickness. In most studies, each sample is fabricated one at a time, potentially leading to considerable uncertainty in later characterizations. We design and build an in-situ apparatus to measure thermoelectricity during their deposition inside a thermal evaporator. A temperature difference of up to 2 K is generated by a current passing through an on-chip resistor patterned using photolithography. The Seebeck voltage is measured on a Hall bar structure of a film deposited through a shadow mask. The measurement system is calibrated carefully before loading into the thermal evaporator. This in-situ thermoelectricity measurement system has been thoroughly tested on various materials, including Bi, Te, and Bi$_2$Te$_3$, at high temperatures up to 500 K

SCREENING ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITY OF VIETNAMESE PLANT EXTRACTS AGAINST HUMAN PATHOGENIC BACTERIA

Objectives: Infectious diseases caused by bacteria are a leading cause of death worldwide. Hence, the objectives of the study are aimed to evaluate the antibacterial activity against five human pathogenic bacteria of methanolic extracts from 66 plants collected from Vietnam. Methods: The broth microdilution method was used to determine the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of methanol extracts of 66 plant species against five bacterial strains. Results: In this study, all the plant extracts were active against at least one train with MIC values ranging from 24 to 2048 μg/mL. Twenty-five plant extracts were active against all three Gram-positive bacteria (Bacillus cereus, Bacillus subtilis, and Staphylococcus aureus). Of these, the extracts of Macaranga trichocarpa (Rchb. f. and Zoll.) Mull. Arg. (Euphorbiaceae), Calophyllum inophyllum L. (Clusiaceae) and Caryodaphnopsis baviensis (Lecomte) Airy Shaw (Lauraceae) exhibited the highest antibacterial activity (MIC =24–128 μg/mL), followed by extracts of Betula alnoides Buch.- Ham. e × . D. Don (Betulaceae), Acronychia pedunculata (L.) Miq. (Rutaceae), Croton alpinus A. Chev. ex Gagnep. (Euphorbiaceae) (MIC =64–256 μg/mL). Furthermore, the extract of Rhus chinensis Mill. (Anacardiaceae) and Annona reticulata L. (Annonaceae) exhibited potent antibacterial activity against the two Bacillus species (MIC =32–64 μg/mL). Conclusion: Results of this study reveal that plant extracts from Vietnam have highly antibacterial activity against Gram-positive bacteria. These results suggest that Vietnamese plant extracts may be a rich source of antibacterial drugs

Deficiency of the RIβ subunit of protein kinase A causes body tremor and impaired fear conditioning memory in rats

The RIβ subunit of cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA), encoded by Prkar1b, is a neuronal isoform of the type I regulatory subunit of PKA. Mice lacking the RIβ subunit exhibit normal long-term potentiation (LTP) in the Schaffer collateral pathway of the hippocampus and normal behavior in the open-field and fear conditioning tests. Here, we combined genetic, electrophysiological, and behavioral approaches to demonstrate that the RIβ subunit was involved in body tremor, LTP in the Schaffer collateral pathway, and fear conditioning memory in rats. Genetic analysis of WTC-furue, a mutant strain with spontaneous tremors, revealed a deletion in the Prkar1b gene of the WTC-furue genome. Prkar1b-deficient rats created by the CRISPR/Cas9 system exhibited body tremor. Hippocampal slices from mutant rats showed deficient LTP in the Schaffer collateral–CA1 synapse. Mutant rats also exhibited decreased freezing time following contextual and cued fear conditioning, as well as increased exploratory behavior in the open field. These findings indicate the roles of the RIβ subunit in tremor pathogenesis and contextual and cued fear memory, and suggest that the hippocampal and amygdala roles of this subunit differ between mice and rats and that rats are therefore beneficial for exploring RIβ function

APPFLx: Providing Privacy-Preserving Cross-Silo Federated Learning as a Service

Cross-silo privacy-preserving federated learning (PPFL) is a powerful tool to collaboratively train robust and generalized machine learning (ML) models without sharing sensitive (e.g., healthcare of financial) local data. To ease and accelerate the adoption of PPFL, we introduce APPFLx, a ready-to-use platform that provides privacy-preserving cross-silo federated learning as a service. APPFLx employs Globus authentication to allow users to easily and securely invite trustworthy collaborators for PPFL, implements several synchronous and asynchronous FL algorithms, streamlines the FL experiment launch process, and enables tracking and visualizing the life cycle of FL experiments, allowing domain experts and ML practitioners to easily orchestrate and evaluate cross-silo FL under one platform. APPFLx is available online at https://appflx.lin