A generic method for modelling the behavior of anisotropic metallic materials : application to recrystallized zirconium alloys

A simplified polycrystalline model (the so-called RL model) is proposed to simulate the anisotropic viscoplastic behavior of metallic materials. A generic method is presented that makes it possible to build a simplified anisotropic material texture, based on the principal features of the pole figures. The method is applied to a recrystallized zirconium alloy, used as clad material in the fuel rods of nuclear power plants. An important database consisting in mechanical tests performed on Zircaloy tubes is collected. Only a small number of tests (pure tension, pure shear) are used to identify the material parameters, and the texture parameters. It is shown that six crystallographic orientations (6 "grains") are sufficient to describe the large anisotropy of such hcp alloy. The identified crystallographic orientations match the experimental pole figures of the material, not used in the identification procedure. Special attention is paid to the predictive ability of the model, i.e., its ability to simulate correctly experimental tests not belonging to the identification database. These predictive results are good, thanks to an identification procedure that enables to consider the contribution of each slip system in each crystallographic orientation

Optimization of temperature programming in gas chromatography with respect to separation time. I. Temperature programme optimization fundamentals

The ranges of separbility of neighbouring component pairs in a given mixture, separated isothermally on a given chromatographic column, are defined. These ranges are calculated by approximation functions fitted to the measured values of the retention times and peak widths during isothermal analyses. The sequence of the most difficult to separate component pairs is determined within the temperature separability ranges of the component pairs of the mixture. This sequence determines the strategy for calculation of the optimum temperature programme, and every step of this sequence determines the substrategy. The purpose of the strategy is to find the optimum temeprature trajectory (programme) and the purpose of the substrategy is to find the optimum subtrajectory, i.e., a part of the optimum trajectory. The determination of the strategy and the corresponding substrategies is presented for mixtures of components that do not change their mutual position during isothermal separations within the whole temperature rang

Development of Lumped Element Kinetic Inductance Detectors for NIKA

Lumped-element kinetic inductance detectors(LEKIDs) have recently shown considerable promise as direct absorption mm-wavelength detectors for astronomical applications. One major research thrust within the N\'eel Iram Kids Array (NIKA) collaboration has been to investigate the suitability of these detectors for deployment at the 30-meter IRAM telescope located on Pico Veleta in Spain. Compared to microwave kinetic inductance detectors (MKID), using quarter wavelength resonators, the resonant circuit of a LEKID consists of a discrete inductance and capacitance coupled to a feedline. A high and constant current density distribution in the inductive part of these resonators makes them very sensitive. Due to only one metal layer on a silicon substrate, the fabrication is relatively easy. In order to optimize the LEKIDs for this application, we have recently probed a wide variety of individual resonator and array parameters through simulation and physical testing. This included determining the optimal feed-line coupling, pixel geometry, resonator distribution within an array (in order to minimize pixel cross-talk), and resonator frequency spacing. Based on these results, a 144-pixel Aluminum array was fabricated and tested in a dilution fridge with optical access, yielding an average optical NEP of ~2E-16 W/Hz^1/2 (best pixels showed NEP = 6E-17 W/Hz^1/2 under 4-8 pW loading per pixel). In October 2010 the second prototype of LEKIDs has been tested at the IRAM 30 m telescope. A new LEKID geometry for 2 polarizations will be presented. Also first optical measurements of a titanium nitride array will be discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 12 figures; ISSTT 2011 Worksho

Surface site density, silicic acid retention and transport properties of compacted magnetite powder

International audienc

Cerebral tumor or pseudotumor?

AbstractPseudotumoral lesions are uncommon but important to identity lesions. They can occur during inflammatory diseases (systemic diseases, vasculitis, demyelinating diseases), infectious, and vascular diseases. Also, in a patient with a treated tumor, pseudo-progression and radionecrosis must be differentiated from the tumoral development. Diagnosis can be difficult on an MRI scan, but some MRI aspects in conventional sequences, diffusion, perfusion and spectroscopy can suggest the pseudotumoral origin of a lesion. Imaging must be interpreted according to the context, the clinic and the biology. The presence of associated intracranial lesions can orientate towards a systemic or infectious disease. A T2 hyposignal lesion suggests granulomatosis or histiocytosis, especially if a meningeal or hypothalamic–pituitary involvement is associated. Non-tumoral lesions are generally not hyperperfused. In the absence of a definitive diagnosis, the evolution of these lesions, whether under treatment or spontaneous, is fundamental

L-Grassf: A New Model for Simulating the Genetic Environment Interactions on the Reproductive Phenology of Grasses

Predicting the reproductive phenology in perennial grasses is a major concern because it determines the quantity and quality of forage. It varies a lot depending on site, year and cultivar. Projections of future climates suggest significant changes in seasonal temperature pattern, with new combinations of temperature and photoperiod, whose consequences on the floral induction of perennial grasses are unknown. L-GrassF is a new Functional Structural Plant Model simulating genetic variability of the phenology of perennial ryegrass in order to better understand the perenniality of grasslands and better anticipate the effects of climate change. L-GrassF stems from a previous model (L-Grass) and now simulates the reproductive stages by integrating the interactions between vegetative growth, floral induction and reproductive organ development. The sensitivity analysis of a set of parameters was studied in the range of oceanic temperate climate conditions, on several European cultivars. It was further calibrated and validated on two independent datasets from the French Variety and Seed Study and Control Group (GEVES), which include the observations of heading dates for seven cultivars of Lolium perenne grown in six French locations between 2001 and 2017

Spin Glass Ordering in Diluted Magnetic Semiconductors: a Monte Carlo Study

We study the temperature-dilution phase diagram of a site-diluted Heisenberg antiferromagnet on a fcc lattice, with and without the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya anisotropic term, fixed to realistic microscopic parameters for $IIB_{1-x} Mn_x Te$ (IIB=Cd, Hg, Zn). We show that the dipolar Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya anisotropy induces a finite-temperature phase transition to a spin glass phase, at dilutions larger than 80%. The resulting probability distribution of the order parameter P(q) is similar to the one found in the cubic lattice Edwards-Anderson Ising model. The critical exponents undergo large finite size corrections, but tend to values similar to the ones of the Edwards-Anderson-Ising model.Comment: 4 pages plus 3 postscript figure

Parity violating vertices for spin-3 gauge fields

peer reviewedThe problem of constructing consistent parity-violating interactions for spin-3 gauge fields is considered in Minkowski space. Under the assumptions of locality, Poincaré invariance, and parity noninvariance, we classify all the nontrivial perturbative deformations of the Abelian gauge algebra. In space-time dimensions n=3 and n=5, deformations of the free theory are obtained which make the gauge algebra non-Abelian and give rise to nontrivial cubic vertices in the Lagrangian, at first order in the deformation parameter g. At second order in g, consistency conditions are obtained which the five-dimensional vertex obeys, but which rule out the n=3 candidate. Moreover, in the five-dimensional first-order deformation case, the gauge transformations are modified by a new term which involves the second de Wit-Freedman connection in a simple and suggestive way

Education of Murine NK Cells Requires Both cis and trans Recognition of MHC Class I Molecules.

Although NK cells use invariant receptors to identify diseased cells, they nevertheless adapt to their environment, including the presence of certain MHC class I (MHC-I) molecules. This NK cell education, which is mediated by inhibitory receptors specific for MHC-I molecules, changes the responsiveness of activating NK cell receptors (licensing) and modifies the repertoire of MHC-I receptors used by NK cells. The fact that certain MHC-I receptors have the unusual capacity to recognize MHC-I molecules expressed by other cells (trans) and by the NK cell itself (cis) has raised the question regarding possible contributions of the two types of interactions to NK cell education. Although the analysis of an MHC-I receptor variant suggested a role for cis interaction for NK cell licensing, adoptive NK cell transfer experiments supported a key role for trans recognition. To reconcile some of these findings, we have analyzed the impact of cell type-specific deletion of an MHC-I molecule and of a novel MHC-I receptor variant on the education of murine NK cells when these mature under steady-state conditions in vivo. We find that MHC-I expression by NK cells (cis) and by T cells (trans), and MHC-I recognition in cis and in trans, are both needed for NK cell licensing. Unexpectedly, modifications of the MHC-I receptor repertoire are chiefly dependent on cis binding, which provides additional support for an essential role for this unconventional type of interaction for NK cell education. These data suggest that two separate functions of MHC-I receptors are needed to adapt NK cells to self-MHC-I