Methodology to select the best part presentation in cobotics

The collaborative robot (cobot) is a technology contributing to the industrial revolution Industry 4.0. Indeed, cobots’ flexibility and their easy-to-use solutions fill a gap with traditional robots to robotize manufacturing of products with low volume and high mix profiles. Parts needed to manufacture a product must first be presented to the cobot, so that afterwards it can perform operations such as assembly. The paper classifies the current part presenters. Then, a methodology is proposed to select the best presenter based on the characteristics of the parts and the workstation. To be aligned with markets requiring a high mix of products frequently renewed, the development times for part presenter design and for cobot programming are new data to select the best presenter. Indeed, at every part redesign, the part presenter changes and the cobot is reprogrammed. These two times are depreciated based on the lifespan quantity of the part. Lifespan quantity is the number of the same parts, which are dropped-off on the part presenter during the part’s lifespan, i.e. until its redesign. A concrete industrial use case is explained to test the methodology. Results conclude that a tray pattern is the best part presenter, except for parts with low lifespan quantity. Lifespan quantity of the part appears to be a significant parameter when deciding the best part presenter

Sur l'analyse de réseaux de sociabilité de la société paysanne médiévale

National audienceL'histoire des sociétés rurales médiévales que nous connaissons a été construite à partir des traces qui nous sont parvenues, très souvent issues de la noblesse ou l'église de cette époque. De ce fait, le monde paysan, qui représente 90% de la population, est assez mal connu. L'étude d'une de ces sociétés, focalisée sur une zone géographique restreinte couverte par une documentation abondante, nous permet de reconstituer des réseaux de sociabilités. Nous analysons ces réseaux à l'aide d'outils de visualisation et nous montrons à la fois les changements structurels liés à des événements tels que les guerres et des analogies entre les graphes associés à ces réseaux et les graphes " petit monde "

Quantitative Characterization of the Growth of Deinococcus geothermalis DSM-11302: Effect of Inoculum Size, Growth Medium and Culture Conditions

Due to their remarkable resistance to extreme conditions, Deinococcaceae strains are of great interest to biotechnological prospects. However, the physiology of the extremophile strain Deinococcus geothermalis has scarcely been studied and is not well understood. The physiological behaviour was then studied in well-controlled conditions in flask and bioreactor cultures. The growth of D. geothermalis type strains was compared. Among the strains tested, the strain from the German Collection of Microorganisms (Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen DSM) DSM-11302 was found to give the highest biomass concentration and growth rate: in a complex medium with glucose, the growth rate reached 0.75 h−1 at 45 °C. Yeast extract concentration in the medium had significant constitutive and catalytic effects. Furthermore, the results showed that the physiological descriptors were not affected by the inoculum preparation steps. A batch culture of D. geothermalis DSM-11302 on defined medium was carried out: cells grew exponentially with a maximal growth rate of 0.28 h−1 and D. geothermalis DSM-11302 biomass reached 1.4 g•L −1 in 20 h. Then, 1.4 gDryCellWeight of biomass (X) was obtained from 5.6 g glucose (Glc) consumed as carbon source, corresponding to a yield of 0.3 CmolX•CmolGlc−1 ; cell specific oxygen uptake and carbon dioxide production rates reached 216 and 226 mmol.CmolX −1•h −1 , respectively, and the respiratory quotient (QR) value varied from 1.1 to 1.7. This is the first time that kinetic parameters and yields are reported for D. geothermalis DSM-11302 grown on a mineral medium in well-controlled batch cultur

Experimental and statistical analysis of nutritional requirements for the growth of the extremophile Deinococcus geothermalis DSM 11300

Few studies concerning the nutritional requirements of Deinococcus geothermalis DSM 11300 have been conducted to date. Three defined media compositions have been published for the growth of this strain but they were found to be inadequate to achieve growth without limitation. Furthermore, growth curves, biomass concentration and growth rates were generally not available. Analysis in Principal Components was used in this work to compare and consequently to highlight the main compounds which differ between published chemically defined media. When available, biomass concentration, and/or growth rate were superimposed to the PCA analysis. The formulations of the media were collected from existing literature; media compositions designed for the growth of several strains of Deinococcaceae or Micrococcaceae were included. The results showed that a defined medium adapted from Holland et al. (Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 72:1074–1082, 2006) was the best basal medium and was chosen for further studies. A growth rate of 0.03 h-1 and a final OD600nm of 0.55 were obtained, but the growth was linear. Then, the effects of several medium components on oxygen uptake and biomass production by Deinococcus geothermalis DSM 11300 were studied using a respirometry-based method, to search for the nutritional limitation. The results revealed that the whole yeast extract in the medium with glucose is necessary to obtain a non-limiting growth of Deinococcus geothermalis DSM 11300 at a maximum growth rate of 0.64 h-1 at 45 °C

Batch kernel SOM and related Laplacian methods for social network analysis

Large graphs are natural mathematical models for describing the structure of the data in a wide variety of fields, such as web mining, social networks, information retrieval, biological networks, etc. For all these applications, automatic tools are required to get a synthetic view of the graph and to reach a good understanding of the underlying problem. In particular, discovering groups of tightly connected vertices and understanding the relations between those groups is very important in practice. This paper shows how a kernel version of the batch Self Organizing Map can be used to achieve these goals via kernels derived from the Laplacian matrix of the graph, especially when it is used in conjunction with more classical methods based on the spectral analysis of the graph. The proposed method is used to explore the structure of a medieval social network modeled through a weighted graph that has been directly built from a large corpus of agrarian contracts

Specificities of exosome versus small ectosome secretion revealed by live intracellular tracking of CD63 and CD9.

Despite their roles in intercellular communications, the different populations of extracellular vesicles (EVs) and their secretion mechanisms are not fully characterized: how and to what extent EVs form as intraluminal vesicles of endocytic compartments (exosomes), or at the plasma membrane (PM) (ectosomes) remains unclear. Here we follow intracellular trafficking of the EV markers CD9 and CD63 from the endoplasmic reticulum to their residency compartment, respectively PM and late endosomes. We observe transient co-localization at both places, before they finally segregate. CD9 and a mutant CD63 stabilized at the PM are more abundantly released in EVs than CD63. Thus, in HeLa cells, ectosomes are more prominent than exosomes. By comparative proteomic analysis and differential response to neutralization of endosomal pH, we identify a few surface proteins likely specific of either exosomes (LAMP1) or ectosomes (BSG, SLC3A2). Our work sets the path for molecular and functional discrimination of exosomes and small ectosomes in any cell type

Increased serum levels of fractalkine and mobilisation of CD34+CD45− endothelial progenitor cells in systemic sclerosis

International audienceBackground: The disruption of endothelial homeostasis is a major determinant in the pathogenesis of systemic sclerosis (SSc) and is reflected by soluble and cellular markers of activation, injury and repair. We aimed to provide a combined assessment of endothelial markers to delineate specific profiles associated with SSc disease and its severity

Urban Climate, Human behavior & Energy consumption: from LCZ mapping to simulation and urban planning (the MapUCE project)

International audienceThe MApUCE project aims to integrate in urban policies and most relevant legal documents quantitative data from urban microclimate, climate and energy.The primary objective of this project is to obtain climate and energy quantitative data from numerical simulations, focusing on urban microclimate and building energy consumption in the residential and service sectors, which represents in France 41% of the final energy consumption. Both aspects are coupled as building energy consumption is highly meteorologically dependent (e.g. domestic heating, air-conditioning) and heat waste impact the Urban Heat Island. We propose to develop, using national databases, a generic and automated method for generating Local Climate Zones (LCZ) for all cities in France, including the urban architectural, geographical and sociological parameters necessary for energy and microclimate simulations.As will be presented, previous projects on adaptation of cities to climate change have shown that human behavior is a very potent level to address energy consumption reduction, as much as urban forms or architectural technologies. Therefore, in order to further refine the coupled urban climate and energy consumption calculations, we will develop within TEB (and its Building Energy Module) a model of energy consumer behavior.The second objective of the project is to propose a methodology to integrate quantitative data in urban policies. Lawyers analyze the potential levers in legal and planning documents. A few “best cases” are also studied, in order to evaluate their performances. Finally, based on urban planning agencies requirements, we will define vectors to include quantified energy-climate data to legal urban planning documents. These vectors have to be understandable by urban planners and contain the relevant information.To meet these challenges, the project is organized around strongly interdisciplinary partners in the following fields: law, urban climate, building energetics, architecture, sociology, geography and meteorology, as well as the national federation of urban planning agencies.In terms of results, the cross-analysis of input urban parameters and urban micro-climate-energy simulated data will be available on-line as standardized maps for each of the studied cities. The urban parameter production tool as well as the models will be available as open-source. LCZ and associated urban (and social!) indicators may be integrated within the WUDAPT database

Actin-microtubule cytoskeletal interplay mediated by MRTF-A/SRF signaling promotes dilated cardiomyopathy caused by LMNA mutations

Publisher Copyright: © 2022, The Author(s).Mutations in the lamin A/C gene (LMNA) cause dilated cardiomyopathy associated with increased activity of ERK1/2 in the heart. We recently showed that ERK1/2 phosphorylates cofilin-1 on threonine 25 (phospho(T25)-cofilin-1) that in turn disassembles the actin cytoskeleton. Here, we show that in muscle cells carrying a cardiomyopathy-causing LMNA mutation, phospho(T25)-cofilin-1 binds to myocardin-related transcription factor A (MRTF-A) in the cytoplasm, thus preventing the stimulation of serum response factor (SRF) in the nucleus. Inhibiting the MRTF-A/SRF axis leads to decreased α-tubulin acetylation by reducing the expression of ATAT1 gene encoding α-tubulin acetyltransferase 1. Hence, tubulin acetylation is decreased in cardiomyocytes derived from male patients with LMNA mutations and in heart and isolated cardiomyocytes from Lmnap.H222P/H222P male mice. In Atat1 knockout mice, deficient for acetylated α-tubulin, we observe left ventricular dilation and mislocalization of Connexin 43 (Cx43) in heart. Increasing α-tubulin acetylation levels in Lmnap.H222P/H222P mice with tubastatin A treatment restores the proper localization of Cx43 and improves cardiac function. In summary, we show for the first time an actin-microtubule cytoskeletal interplay mediated by cofilin-1 and MRTF-A/SRF, promoting the dilated cardiomyopathy caused by LMNA mutations. Our findings suggest that modulating α-tubulin acetylation levels is a feasible strategy for improving cardiac function.Peer reviewe

Optical Methods and Their Limitation to Characterize the Morphology and Granulometry of Complex Shape Biological Materials

Background and aim: Particle size and morphology of biomass (microorganism, lignocellulosic substrates) stand out as the major determinants of the bioprocess efficiency. Through its impact on rheology, it affects momentum, heat and and mass transfers within the bioreactor. Various techniques are available to characterize in-situ and ex-situ size and shape of particles. The most common methods are classified into three groups: (i) analysis of microscopic images; (ii) laser light diffraction and (iii) settling kinetics. In present work, five techniques are compared and discussed with model particles, microorganisms and lignocellulosic substrates. Methods: The used techniques aim to characterize size and shape (0.1 to 2000µm). In-situ and ex-situ measurements were used: chord length measurement (FBRM), diffraction light scattering (DLS), morpho-granulometry (MG), cytometry (CYT) and settling velocity (TUL). A set of height polystyrene microspheres (1.0 to 15.0µm) and microbeads (40 and 80µm) were used as reference. Yarrowia lipolytica is strictly aerobic yeast, belonging to the family of hemiascomycetes. Cells are subjected to mycelial transition induced by pH changes. Its morphology evolves from ovoid shape (5-7µm) up to filament. It was used to appreciate the ability to qualify and quantify filamentous shape (width, length). Finally, two cellulosic matrices, microcrystalline cellulose and coniferous paper pulp were selected to investigate complex fiber morphologies. Results: Specifications and limits of instruments are scrutinized. Sampling methods and preparation should be carefully considered. Optical measurements provide raw data (light intensity, frequency, images) from which morphological parameters will be straightly extracted or calculated based on assumptions (optical properties, particles geometry, theory). Considering diameters and associated number and volume distribution functions, techniques are compared with model calibrated microspheres. The mean values appear consistent between techniques but the magnitude of standard deviation extensively varies. Few instruments (MG, CYT) provide access to additional morphological criteria (length, width, aspect ratio). Mycelial kinetics and magnitude is accurately described by fiber length (MG). However a poor reliability of width (time of flight, CYT) is noticeable. Considering more complex lignocellulosic particles, the relative diameter values usually indicate similar trends whatever the techniques is. However, absolute values should be carefully considered and may deviated in large extend (5-10 times)