New biostratigraphic and chronostratigraphic data from the Sautou formation and adjacent strata (Cambrian, Givonne inlier, Revin group, Northern France) and some lithostratigraphic and tectonic implications

In the western part of the Givonne Inlier, the “Falizette” and the “Claire-Terne de la Borne” rivers exhibit sections described as belonging, in ascending order, to the La Chapelle (Rv2), Illy (Rv3) and Sautou (Rv4) Formations. The “Falizette” section yielded acritarchs of zone 4 (locally 4b) similar to assemblages observed earlier (Vanguestaine, 1978) in the “Givonne” and “ Hatrelle” valleys of the Givonne Inlier. In the “Terne de la Borne” section, the strata described as belonging to the Illy Formation and most part of the Sautou Formation, the latter in its type locality, provided acritarchs of zone 2 (and possibly 1) and do not correlate therefore with the Rv3 and the Rv4 of the Rocroi Inlier but with Rv2 (and possibly Rv1) of the same area. This correlation is reinforced by the observation in the sequence of a roo? ng slate seam, previously undescribed, a possible equivalent of the Peureux Member, characterizing the upper part of Rv1 in the Rocroi Inlier. Besides specimens pointing to an acritarch biozone 2 assemblage, the richest sample of the Sautou Formation also yielded rare examples of acritarch species which have not previously been recorded in Belgium or the surrounding areas. They are Adara alea, Celtiberium geminum, possibly Eliasum llaniscum, Multiplicisphaeridium martae and Retisphaeridium postae. The probable metazoan Ceratophyton vernicosum has also been observed. Compared to the well dated Newfoundland Cambrian succession, acritarch biozones 2 assemblages indicates a mid Middle Cambrian age. This new chronostratigraphic result not only allows a better calibration of the Belgian acritarch zonation with respect to the acritarch and trilobite international zonations but also con? rms our interpretation of the lithostratigraphic succession

Multiple Functionality in Nanotube Transistors

Calculations of quantum transport in a carbon nanotube transistor show that such a device offers unique functionality. It can operate as a ballistic field-effect transistor, with excellent characteristics even when scaled to 10 nm dimensions. At larger gate voltages, channel inversion leads to resonant tunneling through an electrostatically defined nanoscale quantum dot. Thus the transistor becomes a gated resonant tunelling device, with negative differential resistance at a tunable threshold. For the dimensions considered here, the device operates in the Coulomb blockade regime, even at room temperature.Comment: To appear in Phys. Rev. Let

'Circuits of Victory': How the First World War Shaped the Political Economy of the Telephone in the United States and France

This essay contends that the US Signal Corps’ wartime network had major consequences for the postwar development of the political economy of the telephone in the United States, France, and Europe. Our approach is transnational. In contrast to previous scholarship, which is mostly top-down, nation-centric, and preoccupied with the internal configuration of telephone networks that are typically studied inside the walls of discrete national containers, we widen the lens to explore a broad array of influences on network evolution, including those that originated from within individual operating companies and beyond national borders. Among the themes that we explore is transnational standard-setting. And among the agents of change that we emphasize is the influence of military conflict on personal networks, technical protocols, and international organizations. From such a vantage point, the First World War emerges as a constitutive moment in the making of the information infrastructure in the modern world

State of the art of plastic sorting and recycling : Feedback to vehicle design

Today car manufacturers are beginning to integrate recycling constraints in the first stages of the design of a new car due to their concern regarding the effects of car design on the recovery of material after End-of-Life Vehicle treatment. Improved understanding of the recycling process can help designers to avoid contaminants in the recycled product and improve the efficiency of current and new sorting methods. The main goal of this paper is to describe the state of the art of the technical efficiency of recovery channels for plastics in Europe in order to define requirements for automotive plastic part design. This paper will first present the results of a survey on industrial and innovative recycling technologies mainly originating from the mining sector, and secondly a simplified methodology for car design integrating plastic recycling constraints. This methodology concerns material association and compatibility, the type of assemblies favourable to better recycling, and better reuse of recycled products in cars.Renault Research Direction FR TCR LAB 1 13, Service 641000-Recycling Engineering, 1 avenue du Golf, 78288 Guyancourt Cedex, Franc

Phase ordering and roughening on growing films

We study the interplay between surface roughening and phase separation during the growth of binary films. Already in 1+1 dimension, we find a variety of different scaling behaviors depending on how the two phenomena are coupled. In the most interesting case, related to the advection of a passive scalar in a velocity field, nontrivial scaling exponents are obtained in simulations.Comment: 4 pages latex, 6 figure

Following microscopic motion in a two dimensional glass-forming binary fluid

The dynamics of a binary mixture of large and small discs are studied at temperatures approaching the glass transition using an analysis based on the topology of the Voronoi polygon surrounding each atom. At higher temperatures we find that dynamics is dominated by fluid-like motion that involves particles entering and exiting the nearest-neighbour shells of nearby particles. As the temperature is lowered, the rate of topological moves decreases and motion becomes localised to regions of mixed pentagons and heptagons. In addition we find that in the low temperature state particles may translate significant distances without undergoing changes in their nearest neig hbour shell. These results have implications for dynamical heterogeneities in glass forming liquids.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figure

Nanoscale periodicity in stripe-forming systems at high temperature: Au/W(110)

We observe using low-energy electron microscopy the self-assembly of monolayer-thick stripes of Au on W(110) near the transition temperature between stripes and the non-patterned (homogeneous) phase. We demonstrate that the amplitude of this Au stripe phase decreases with increasing temperature and vanishes at the order-disorder transition (ODT). The wavelength varies much more slowly with temperature and coverage than theories of stress-domain patterns with sharp phase boundaries would predict, and maintains a finite value of about 100 nm at the ODT. We argue that such nanometer-scale stripes should often appear near the ODT.Comment: 5 page

Impact of Cognitive Impairment on Functional Outcome in Stroke

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of the cognitive impairment on functional status in patients with subacute stroke. Fifty-two patients with subacute stroke were included in the study. Mini mental state examination (MMSE) test was used for the evaluation of cognitive status. Patients were separated into two groups according to their cognitive functions. Functional follow-up parameters were activities of daily living (ADL), global recovery and ambulation status. All patients were evaluated on admission to rehabilitation unit, at discharge and 6 months after discharge. Forty-four patients were completed the study. Mean age was 66 and 57 years; disease duration on admission was 4,8 and 3,5 months in the cognitively impaired and normal groups, respectively. Significant improvement was found in terms of functional follow-up parameters in both groups at discharge (P < .05). Functional follow-up parameters did not show statistically significant difference between the groups. But community ambulation rate was higher in cognitively normal group at the sixth month visit. As a result of this study, inpatient rehabilitation was effective both cognitively normal and impaired subacute stroke patients

Epitaxial growth in dislocation-free strained alloy films: Morphological and compositional instabilities

The mechanisms of stability or instability in the strained alloy film growth are of intense current interest to both theorists and experimentalists. We consider dislocation-free, coherent, growing alloy films which could exhibit a morphological instability without nucleation. We investigate such strained films by developing a nonequilibrium, continuum model and by performing a linear stability analysis. The couplings of film-substrate misfit strain, compositional stress, deposition rate, and growth temperature determine the stability of film morphology as well as the surface spinodal decomposition. We consider some realistic factors of epitaxial growth, in particular the composition dependence of elastic moduli and the coupling between top surface and underlying bulk of the film. The interplay of these factors leads to new stability results. In addition to the stability diagrams both above and below the coherent spinodal temperature, we also calculate the kinetic critical thickness for the onset of instability as well as its scaling behavior with respect to misfit strain and deposition rate. We apply our results to some real growth systems and discuss the implications related to some recent experimental observations.Comment: 26 pages, 13 eps figure