The Pioneer anomaly in the context of the braneworld scenario

We examine the Pioneer anomaly - a reported anomalous acceleration affecting the Pioneer 10/11, Galileo and Ulysses spacecrafts - in the context of a braneworld scenario. We show that effects due to the radion field cannot account for the anomaly, but that a scalar field with an appropriate potential is able to explain the phenomena. Implications and features of our solution are analyzed.Comment: Final version to appear at Classical & Quantum Gravity. Plainlatex 19 page

Trends in mortality from external causes in the Republic of Seychelles between 1989 and 2018.

Data on injury-related mortality are scarce in the African region. Mortality from external causes in the Seychelles was assessed, where all deaths are medically certified and the population is regularly enumerated. The four fields for underlying causes of death recorded were reviewed in the national vital statistics register. The age-standardised mortality rates were estimated (per 100,000 person-years) from external causes in 1989-1998, 1999-2008, and 2009-2018. Mortality rates per 100,000 person-years from external causes were 4-5 times higher among males than females, and decreased among males over the three 10-year periods (127.5, 101.4, 97.1) but not among females (26.9, 23.1, 26.9). The contribution of external causes to total mortality did not change markedly over time (males 11.6%, females 4.3% in 1989-2018). Apart from external deaths from undetermined causes (males 14.6, females 2.4) and "other unintentional injuries" (males 14.1, females 8.0), the leading external causes of death in 2009-2018 were drowning (25.9), road traffic injuries (18.0) and suicide (10.4) among males; and road traffic injuries (4.6), drowning (3.4) and poisoning (2.6) among females. Mortality from broad categories of external causes did not change consistently over time but rates of road traffic injuries increased among males. External causes contributed approximately 1 in 10 deaths among males and 1 in 20 among females, with no marked change in cause-specific rates over time, except for road traffic injuries. These findings emphasise the need for programs and policies in various sectors to address this large, but mostly avoidable health burden

Virtual sources and sinks during extracellular field shocks in cardiac cell cultures effects of source-sink interactions between adjacent tissue boundaries

Background— One mechanism by which extracellular field shocks (ECFSs) defibrillate the heart is by producing changes in membrane potential (V m ) at tissue discontinuities. Such virtual electrodes may produce new excitation waves or affect locally propagating action potentials. The rise time of V m determines the required duration of a single defibrillation pulse to reach a critical threshold for activation or for the modification of ion channel function, and depends on the electric and microstructural characteristics of the tissue. Methods and Results— We used optical mapping of V m in patterned cultures of neonatal rat ventricular myocytes to assess the relationship between cardiac structure and the early time course of V m during ECFSs. At monolayer boundaries, the time course of V m showed a close fit to the theoretical change predicted by theory, with a membrane time constant of 2.65±0.19 ms (n=13) and a length constant of 159±6 μm (n=10). Experiments in patterned strands, mimicking the resistive boundaries that occur naturally in the heart, explained the observation that the rate of rise and the maximal amplitudes of the V m changes are inversely related because of electrotonic interactions between structural boundaries. Interrupting ECFSs by very short intervals diminished V m , but did not cause major changes in its overall time course. Conclusions— Interaction between virtual sinks and sources decreases the magnitude of the changes in V m but accelerates its time course. For efficient defibrillation, short ECFSs are needed, with an amplitude adapted to match the boundary interaction. </jats:sec

Distribution du champ électrique sous haute tension continue et gradient de température dans le diélectrique des câbles extrudés

International audienc

Distribution du champ électrique sous haute tension continue et gradient de température dans le diélectrique des câbles extrudés

International audienc

Integrated high-resolution dataset of high-intensity European and Mediterranean flash floods [Data paper]

This paper describes an integrated, high-resolution dataset of hydro-meteorological variables (rainfall and discharge) concerning a number of high-intensity flash floods that occurred in Europe and in the Mediterranean region from 1991 to 2015. This type of dataset is rare in the scientific literature because flash floods are typically poorly observed hydrological extremes. Valuable features of the dataset (hereinafter referred to as the EuroMedeFF database) include (i) its coverage of varied hydro-climatic regions, ranging from Continental Europe through the Mediterranean to Arid climates, (ii) the high space-time resolution radar rainfall estimates, and (iii) the dense spatial sampling of the flood response, by observed hydrographs and/or flood peak estimates from post-flood surveys. Flash floods included in the database are selected based on the limited upstream catchment areas (up to 3000 km(2)), the limited storm durations (up to 2 days), and the unit peak flood magnitude. The EuroMedeFF database comprises 49 events that occurred in France, Israel, Italy, Romania, Germany and Slovenia, and constitutes a sample of rainfall and flood discharge extremes in different climates. The dataset may be of help to hydrologists as well as other scientific communities because it offers benchmark data for the identification and analysis of the hydro-meteorological causative processes, evaluation of flash flood hydrological models and for hydro-meteorological forecast systems. The dataset also provides a template for the analysis of the space-time variability of flash flood triggering rainfall fields and of the effects of their estimation on the flood response modelling

Integrated high-resolution dataset of high-intensity European and Mediterranean flash floods

International audienceThis paper describes an integrated, high-resolution dataset of hydro-meteorological variables (rainfall and discharge) concerning a number of high-intensity flash floods that occurred in Europe and in the Mediter-ranean region from 1991 to 2015. This type of dataset is rare in the scientific literature because flash floods are typically poorly observed hydrological extremes. Valuable features of the dataset (hereinafter referred to as the EuroMedeFF database) include (i) its coverage of varied hydro-climatic regions, ranging from Continental Europe through the Mediterranean to Arid climates, (ii) the high space-time resolution radar rainfall estimates, and (iii) the dense spatial sampling of the flood response, by observed hydrographs and/or flood peak estimates from post-flood surveys. Flash floods included in the database are selected based on the limited upstream catchment areas (up to 3000 km 2), the limited storm durations (up to 2 days), and the unit peak flood magnitude. The EuroMedeFF database comprises 49 events that occurred i