FFREE: a Fresnel-FRee Experiment for EPICS, the EELT planets imager

The purpose of FFREE - the new optical bench devoted to experiments on high-contrast imaging at LAOG - consists in the validation of algorithms based on off-line calibration techniques and adaptive optics (AO) respectively for the wavefront measurement and its compensation. The aim is the rejection of the static speckles pattern arising in a focal plane after a diffraction suppression system (based on apodization or coronagraphy) by wavefront pre-compensation. To this aim, FFREE has been optimized to minimize Fresnel propagation over a large near infrared (NIR) bandwidth in a way allowing efficient rejection up to the AO control radius, it stands then as a demonstrator for the future implementation of the optics that will be common to the scientific instrumentation installed on EPICS.Comment: 12 pages, 15 figures, Proceeding 7736120 of the SPIE Conference "Adaptive Optics Systems II", monday 28 June 2010, San Diego, California, US

Experimental and theoretical study of CVV Auger peaks of selected aluminium and carbon compounds

The Auger valence peak of Al2O3, Al and carbon compounds (graphite, fullerene, carbides) has been studied experimentally and theoretically. It is demonstrated, from a comparison of the experimental spectrum with the self-convolution of the valence band, that the Al CVV transition in Al2O3 is an intra-atomic transition. The behaviour of the C KVV Auger peak is shown to be intermediate between atomic and band-like transitions. The different experimental carbide peaks could be reconstructed by a self-convolution of the valence band and the introduction of a hole-hole repulsion term extracted from the Cini-Sawatzki equation. A non-expected behaviour of the satellite peak at 280 eV for tungsten and chromium carbide is shown and interpreted, with a comparison with the Ramaker approach. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.SCOPUS: cp.jFLWINinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Bibliotherapeutic tools: An adjunct to promote our patients’ sexual health?

peer reviewedIt’s known that sexual health of people with psychiatric and psychological disorders is often highly impoverished. Mental health professionals may feel helpless against these sexual difficulties, because of being poorly trained to treat them and lacking the means to do it. In this context, it seems important to inform patients about sexual difficulties and treatment options. Although it’s impossible to assign a sex therapist to each mental health service, it could be very useful to use bibliotherapeutic documentation to guide people with sexual difficulties in finding solutions. This mode of treatment which consists in putting information and therapeutic guidelines on writing is called « bibliotherapy ». Some bibliotherapies have already been developed and tested in the field of sexual disorders. Others, experimental, are nowadays under clinical evaluation, notably by three of the authors of the present paper. Bibliotherapy could be a helpful adjunct in improving the sexual health of dayhospital patients.Il est connu que la santé sexuelle des personnes souffrant d’affections psychiatriques et psychologiques est souvent fortement appauvrie. Les intervenants en santé mentale se sentent parfois désarmés face à ces difficultés sexuelles, peu formés qu’ils sont pour les prendre en charge, manquant de moyens pour y répondre. Dans ce contexte, l’information des patients sur les difficultés sexuelles et leurs possibilités de traitement semble indispensable. S’il est inenvisageable d’affecter un sexologue à chaque service de santé mentale, il pourrait être en revanche bien utile de recourir à des documents bibliothérapeutiques afin d’aiguiller les personnes en souffrance à ce niveau dans la recherche de solutions. On appelle « bibliothérapie » ce mode de traitement qui consiste à diffuser par écrit des informations et des consignes thérapeutiques. Certaines bibliothérapies ont déjà été élaborées et testées dans le domaine des troubles sexuels ; d’autres, expérimentales, sont en cours d’évaluation clinique notamment par les soins de trois des auteurs du présent article. Il pourrait s’agir d’adjuvants appréciables s’agissant d’améliorer la santé sexuelle des patients des hôpitaux de jour

Chemical Effects in the Auger Spectrum of Copper-Oxygen compounds

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Assessing the long-term reactivity of solid polymer electrolytes at the negative electrode-electrolyte interface using first-principle calculations.

Designing compatible electrode-electrolyte interfaces is critical in order to achieve a high and consistent performance and lifespan in next-generation rechargeable lithium batteries. In the study of nanoscopic interfaces, ab-initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) simulations allow for a highly accurate description of interface dynamics and reactions. However, due to the high computational cost, simulations are limited in the size and time domains and therefore merit the need for a new interpretational approach which can deduce the long-term reactivity from such short yet highly accurate simulations. In this work we introduce a new way to assess this reactivity by performing a total trajectory analysis on the bond length variation for key solid polymer electrolyte functional groups and illustrate the influence of electrode material types and environmental factors such as the temperature and electric field strength on the reactivity

AES analysis of nitride layers on steel with target factor analysis

Industrially nitrided steel samples are analysed with AES. The aim of this work is to optimize the quantification of nitrogen and to extract the chemical information hidden in the shape of the measured Auger peaks with Target Factor Analysis (TFA). To optimize the use of TFA, reference samples of pure components are necessary. These components are made in a laboratory reactor in which pure iron is nitrided. The resulting nitride layer is identified with X-Ray Diffraction (XRD). Afterwards their AES spectra are takers as input for the TFA of the industrial layers. In this paper, the preparation and the characterization of a γ′ -Fe4N standard is discussed, as well as the correction of the sensitivity factors used for the quantification of nitrogen. Finally, the application of TFA on art industrial nitride layer is discussed. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.SCOPUS: cp.jFLWINinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe