Improving air traffic control: Proving new tools or approving the joint human-machine system?

From the description of a field problem (i.e., designing decision aids for air traffic controllers), this paper points out how a cognitive engineering approach provides the milestones for the evaluation of future joint human-machine systems

MEDITERRANEO (Mar). Cartas náuticas (1896)

El Atlas esta formado por 11 hojas todas ellas sueltas. Las tres primeras contiente el índice y unas advertencias sobre la biografía y descripicón de cada carta el resto de las hojas que son laminas de mapas en facsimil estan metidas de 2 en 2 carpetas de plásticoCopia digital. Madrid : Ministerio de Cultura. Dirección General del Libro, Archivos y Bibliotecas, 201

Pyrrole-Protected beta-Aminoalkylzinc Reagents for the Enantioselective Synthesis of Amino-Derivatives

Chiral beta-aminoalkylzinc halides were prepared starting from optically pure commercial beta-amino-alcohols. These amino-alcohols were converted to the correspondingN-pyrrolyl-protected alkyl iodides which undergo a zinc insertion in the presence of LiCl (THF, 25 degrees C, 10-90 min). Subsequent Negishi cross-coupling or acylation reactions with acid chlorides produced amino-derivatives with retention of chirality. Diastereoselective CBS-reductions of some preparedN-pyrrolyl-ketones provided 1,3-subsitutedN-pyrrolyl-alcohols with high diastereoselectivity. Additionally, a deprotection procedure involving an ozonolysis allowed the conversion of the pyrrole-ring into a formamide without loss of optical purity

Multilayer spintronic neural networks with radio-frequency connections

Spintronic nano-synapses and nano-neurons perform complex cognitive computations with high accuracy thanks to their rich, reproducible and controllable magnetization dynamics. These dynamical nanodevices could transform artificial intelligence hardware, provided that they implement state-of-the art deep neural networks. However, there is today no scalable way to connect them in multilayers. Here we show that the flagship nano-components of spintronics, magnetic tunnel junctions, can be connected into multilayer neural networks where they implement both synapses and neurons thanks to their magnetization dynamics, and communicate by processing, transmitting and receiving radio frequency (RF) signals. We build a hardware spintronic neural network composed of nine magnetic tunnel junctions connected in two layers, and show that it natively classifies nonlinearly-separable RF inputs with an accuracy of 97.7%. Using physical simulations, we demonstrate that a large network of nanoscale junctions can achieve state-of the-art identification of drones from their RF transmissions, without digitization, and consuming only a few milliwatts, which is a gain of more than four orders of magnitude in power consumption compared to currently used techniques. This study lays the foundation for deep, dynamical, spintronic neural networks

From boundary-work to boundary object: how biology left and re-entered the social sciences

In an archaeological spirit this paper comes back to a founding event in the construction of the twentieth-century episteme, the moment at which the life- and the social sciences parted ways and intense boundary-work was carried out on the biology/society border, with significant benefits for both sides. Galton and Weismann for biology, and Alfred Kroeber for anthropology delimit this founding moment and I argue, expanding on an existing body of historical scholarship, for an implicit convergence of their views. After this excavation, I look at recent developments in the life sciences, which I have named the ‘social turn’ in biology (Meloni, 2014), and in particular at epigenetics with its promise to destabilize the social/biological border. I claim here that today a different account of ‘the biological’ to that established during the Galton–Kroeber period is emerging. Rather than being used to support a form of boundary-work, biology has become a boundary object that crosses previously erected barriers, allowing different research communities to draw from it

Contemporary European practice in transcatheter aortic valve implantation: results from the 2022 European TAVI Pathway Registry

BackgroundA steep rise in the use of transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) for the management of symptomatic severe aortic stenosis occurred. Minimalist TAVI procedures and streamlined patient pathways within experienced Heart Valve Centres are designed to overcome the challenges of ever-increasing procedural volume.AimsThe 2022 European TAVI Pathway Survey aims to describe contemporary TAVI practice across Europe.Materials and methodsBetween October and December 2022, TAVI operators from 32 European countries were invited to complete an online questionnaire regarding their current practice.ResultsResponses were available from 147 TAVI centres in 26 countries. In 2021, the participating centres performed a total number of 27,223 TAVI procedures, with a mean of 185 TAVI cases per centre (median 138; IQR 77–194). Treatment strategies are usually (87%) discussed at a dedicated Heart Team meeting. Transfemoral TAVI is performed with local anaesthesia only (33%), with associated conscious sedation (60%), or under general anaesthesia (7%). Primary vascular access is percutaneous transfemoral (99%) with secondary radial access (52%). After uncomplicated TAVI, patients are transferred to a high-, medium-, or low-care unit in 28%, 52%, and 20% of cases, respectively. Time to discharge is day 1 (12%), day 2 (31%), day 3 (29%), or day 4 or more (28%).ConclusionReported adoption of minimalist TAVI techniques is common among European TAVI centres, but rates of next-day discharge remain low. This survey highlights the significant progress made in refining TAVI treatment and pathways in recent years and identifies possible areas for further improvement

Particulate matter exposure during pregnancy is associated with birth weight, but not gestational age, 1962-1992: a cohort study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Exposure to air pollutants is suggested to adversely affect fetal growth, but the evidence remains inconsistent in relation to specific outcomes and exposure windows.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Using birth records from the two major maternity hospitals in Newcastle upon Tyne in northern England between 1961 and 1992, we constructed a database of all births to mothers resident within the city. Weekly black smoke exposure levels from routine data recorded at 20 air pollution monitoring stations were obtained and individual exposures were estimated via a two-stage modeling strategy, incorporating temporally and spatially varying covariates. Regression analyses, including 88,679 births, assessed potential associations between exposure to black smoke and birth weight, gestational age and birth weight standardized for gestational age and sex.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Significant associations were seen between black smoke and both standardized and unstandardized birth weight, but not for gestational age when adjusted for potential confounders. Not all associations were linear. For an increase in whole pregnancy black smoke exposure, from the 1^st(7.4 μg/m³) to the 25^th(17.2 μg/m³), 50^th(33.8 μg/m³), 75^th(108.3 μg/m³), and 90^th(180.8 μg/m³) percentiles, the adjusted estimated decreases in birth weight were 33 g (SE 1.05), 62 g (1.63), 98 g (2.26) and 109 g (2.44) respectively. A significant interaction was observed between socio-economic deprivation and black smoke on both standardized and unstandardized birth weight with increasing effects of black smoke in reducing birth weight seen with increasing socio-economic disadvantage.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The findings of this study progress the hypothesis that the association between black smoke and birth weight may be mediated through intrauterine growth restriction. The associations between black smoke and birth weight were of the same order of magnitude as those reported for passive smoking. These findings add to the growing evidence of the harmful effects of air pollution on birth outcomes.</p

La dynamique des épisodes neigeux du 8 au 13 décembre 1990 dans la région Rhône-Alpes / The dynamics of the snowfall periods in the Rhône-Alpes region from the 8-13 December 1990

Despite the existence of an apparently normal meteorological situation, both in terms of the season and isobaric pattern, snowfall occur ed in lowland areas. Initially the snow was wet and damp. Snowfall was spread over five days, covering in fact two distinct periods. The first, and longest with the heaviest falls, concerned the 8th, 9th and 10th December. The day of the 11th was a transition to the second, shorter period covering the 12th and 13 th December. These events were the result of different forms of interference between the aerological factor chiefly represented by two Polar Mobile Highs, and the topographical conditions of the Rhône corridor.Une situation météorologique apparemment banale pour la saison, également ordinaire par les configurations isobariques, mais la neige tombe en plaine et en début d'épisode cette neige est collante. La séquence neigeuse s'étend sur cinq jours, mais elle comprend deux événements distincts : le premier, le plus long, avec les plus fortes chutes, concerne les 8,9 et 10 ; la journée du 11 est une transition vers le deuxième événement, plus court, les 12 et 13 décembre. Ces phénomènes résultent de l'interférence, selon des modalités différentes, entre le facteur aérologique principalement représenté par deux Anticyclones Mobiles Polaires, et les conditions topographiques du couloir rhodanien.Leroux Marcel. La dynamique des épisodes neigeux du 8 au 13 décembre 1990 dans la région Rhône-Alpes / The dynamics of the snowfall periods in the Rhône-Alpes region from the 8-13 December 1990. In: Revue de géographie de Lyon, vol. 66, n°3-4, 1991. A propos de la séquence neigeuse de décembre 1990 : Une approche des évènements externes. pp. 161-168