EFFECT ON VISCOELASTICITY MEASUREMENT OF WOOD PEST CONTROL : APPLICATION TO MUSICAL

Some of our museum collection musical instruments belong to the strings instrument family and are made of wood. The aim of this study is to measure the viscoelasticity properties of wood under a strain field in the audio frequency range knowing that viscoelasticity seems to be deeply involved in the quality of sound and structure stability. We want to evaluate the effect on the viscoelasticity of the freezing and the microwave using for wood pest control

Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry analysis of organic pollutants in French soils irrigated with agro-industrial wastewater

The use of agro-industrial wastewater in the agricultural sector is an interesting practice to save resources but it can bring various contaminants to the receiving soils. In this study 19 organic pollutants [8 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), 6 BTEX, 4-tert-octylphenol, 4-octylphenol, 4-n-nonylphenol, tributyltin and diethylphtalate] were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) in soils irrigated with agro-industrial wastewater from sugar refinery. The soils were sampled at five different locations to evaluate the contamination heterogeneity. Microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) was performed using methanol and hexane and extraction yields ranged from 44% to 96%. The detection limits of the method were between 1.6 and 64 μg·L−1 for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, 0.42 μg·L−1 for diethylphthalate, 0.77 μg·L−1 for tributyltin and until 9.8 μg·L−1 for phenol compounds. The highest contaminant concentrations measured in the soil samples, between 0.4 and 1.2 ng·g−1, were monitored for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons molecules, including napthalene, anthracene, fluoranthene, indeno(1,2,3-c,d)pyrene, benzo[a]pyrene, benzo[b]fluoranthene, benzo[k]fluoranthene, and benzo[ghi]perylene. Toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene isomers accounted from 21 to 66 ng·g−1 (mostly toluene). Benzene, 4-tert-octylphenol, 4-octylphenol, 4-n-nonylphenol, tributyltin and diethylphtalate were not detected in soils. The proposed method enables analysis of a wide variety of regulated compounds in a unique preparation step and a unique analytical method. The mean amounts of pollutants were in agreement with measurements or estimates performed in similar contexts

Cosmic Ray production of Beryllium and Boron at high redshift

Recently, new observations of Li6 in Pop II stars of the galactic halo have shown a surprisingly high abundance of this isotope, about a thousand times higher than its predicted primordial value. In previous papers, a cosmological model for the cosmic ray-induced production of this isotope in the IGM has been developed to explain the observed abundance at low metallicity. In this paper, given this constraint on the Li6, we calculate the non-thermal evolution with redshift of D, Be, and B in the IGM. In addition to cosmological cosmic ray interactions in the IGM, we include additional processes driven by SN explosions: neutrino spallation and a low energy component in the structures ejected by outflows to the IGM. We take into account CNO CRs impinging on the intergalactic gas. Although subdominant in the galactic disk, this process is shown to produce the bulk of Be and B in the IGM, due to the differential metal enrichment between structures (where CRs originate) and the IGM. We also consider the resulting extragalactic gamma-ray background which we find to be well below existing data. The computation is performed in the framework of hierarchical structure formation considering several star formation histories including Pop III stars. We find that D production is negligible and that a potentially detectable Be and B plateau is produced by these processes at the time of the formation of the Galaxy (z ~ 3).Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure

Analyse et modélisation du processus de rupture des assemblages bois par goujons collés

La technique d’assemblage par goujons collés est souvent utilisée en réhabilitation des structures bois et présente un avantage esthétique certain, dans la mesure où ce type d’assemblages est quasi-invisible. Dans le but de définir des règles de dimensionnement de ce type d’assemblages, une large campagne expérimentale est menée pour évaluer la résistance mécanique de 70 éprouvettes, confectionnées avec des tiges filetées en acier insérées au centre de cubes en épicéa. Le collage est réalisé avec un adhésif époxyde structural. La configuration et l’instrumentation permettent d’évaluer avec précision la résistance et la rigidité de l’assemblage, selon la longueur de scellement de la tige dans le bois. Sur la base de ces essais, une modélisation par éléments finis (Castem 2009) est réalisée afin de reproduire en détail la configuration expérimentale. La première étape consiste en une calibration du modèle élastique, de sorte que les rigidités numériques correspondent aux rigidités expérimentales. La distribution des contraintes à l’interface bois/colle (lieu de rupture des assemblages) révèle des contraintes de traction transverse 5 à 7 fois plus élevées que les contraintes de cisaillement en tête de collage. Cette tendance s’inverse à partir d’une profondeur de collage de 2 millimètres, quelque soit la longueur de scellement étudiée. La modélisation met en évidence une présence importante du mode d’ouverture (mode I) en début de fissuration et la nécessité d’utiliser un critère de mode mixte (mode I + mode II) afin de décrire précisément le processus complet de rupture de ces assemblages. L’approche utilisée est basée sur la Mécanique Linéaire Elastique de la Rupture équivalente. Ainsi, à partir des données expérimentales (courbes force-déplacement), il est possible d’estimer la résistance à la propagation de fissure des assemblages, ainsi que les parts respectives du mode I et du mode II dans cette résistance. Sur la base de ces résistances expérimentales, un critère de rupture en mode mixte est proposé. Il conduit à l’expression d’une formulation analytique, permettant l’estimation de la résistance effective à la propagation, ainsi que la longueur de fissure et la force au pic de charge de ces assemblages

Cell migration and antigen capture are antagonistic processes coupled by myosin II in dendritic cells

The immune response relies on the migration of leukocytes and on their ability to stop in precise anatomical locations to fulfil their task. How leukocyte migration and function are coordinated is unknown. Here we show that in immature dendritic cells, which patrol their environment by engulfing extracellular material, cell migration and antigen capture are antagonistic. This antagonism results from transient enrichment of myosin IIA at the cell front, which disrupts the back-to-front gradient of the motor protein, slowing down locomotion but promoting antigen capture. We further highlight that myosin IIA enrichment at the cell front requires the MHC class II-associated invariant chain (Ii). Thus, by controlling myosin IIA localization, Ii imposes on dendritic cells an intermittent antigen capture behaviour that might facilitate environment patrolling. We propose that the requirement for myosin II in both cell migration and specific cell functions may provide a general mechanism for their coordination in time and space

Keep an ear out for Francisella tularensis: otomastoiditis Cases after Canyoneering

We report here three unusual cases of otomastoiditis due to Francisella tularensis, complicated by cervical abscesses and persistent hearing loss, plus facial paralysis for one patient. Intriguingly, the three patients had practiced canyoneering independently in the same French river, between 2009 and 2014, several days before clinical symptoms onset. The results point out that fresh water exposure may be a potential contamination route for tularemia. Besides, due to the frequent complications and sequelae, we believe that F. tularensis should be considered as a possible etiology in case of otitis media, failure of the conventional antibiotic treatment, and suspicious exposure of the bacteria

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: Two-Season ACTPol Spectra and Parameters

We present the temperature and polarization angular power spectra measured by the Atacama Cosmology Telescope Polarimeter (ACTPol). We analyze night-time data collected during 2013-14 using two detector arrays at 149 GHz, from 548 deg$^2$ of sky on the celestial equator. We use these spectra, and the spectra measured with the MBAC camera on ACT from 2008-10, in combination with Planck and WMAP data to estimate cosmological parameters from the temperature, polarization, and temperature-polarization cross-correlations. We find the new ACTPol data to be consistent with the LCDM model. The ACTPol temperature-polarization cross-spectrum now provides stronger constraints on multiple parameters than the ACTPol temperature spectrum, including the baryon density, the acoustic peak angular scale, and the derived Hubble constant. Adding the new data to planck temperature data tightens the limits on damping tail parameters, for example reducing the joint uncertainty on the number of neutrino species and the primordial helium fraction by 20%.Comment: 23 pages, 25 figure

Atacama Cosmology Telescope: Component-separated maps of CMB temperature and the thermal Sunyaev-Zel’dovich effect

Optimal analyses of many signals in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) require map-level extraction of individual components in the microwave sky, rather than measurements at the power spectrum level alone. To date, nearly all map-level component separation in CMB analyses has been performed exclusively using satellite data. In this paper, we implement a component separation method based on the internal linear combination (ILC) approach which we have designed to optimally account for the anisotropic noise (in the 2D Fourier domain) often found in ground-based CMB experiments. Using this method, we combine multifrequency data from the Planck satellite and the Atacama Cosmology Telescope Polarimeter (ACTPol) to construct the first wide-area (≈2100 sq. deg.), arcminute-resolution component-separated maps of the CMB temperature anisotropy and the thermal Sunyaev-Zel’dovich (tSZ) effect sourced by the inverse-Compton scattering of CMB photons off hot, ionized gas. Our ILC pipeline allows for explicit deprojection of various contaminating signals, including a modified blackbody approximation of the cosmic infrared background (CIB) spectral energy distribution. The cleaned CMB maps will be a useful resource for CMB lensing reconstruction, kinematic SZ cross-correlations, and primordial non-Gaussianity studies. The tSZ maps will be used to study the pressure profiles of galaxies, groups, and clusters through cross-correlations with halo catalogs, with dust contamination controlled via CIB deprojection. The data products described in this paper are available on LAMBDA

Reuse of medical face masks in domestic and community settings without sacrificing safety: Ecological and economical lessons from the Covid-19 pandemic

The need for personal protective equipment increased exponentially in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. To cope with the mask shortage during springtime 2020, a French consortium was created to find ways to reuse medical and respiratory masks in healthcare departments. The consortium addressed the complex context of the balance between cleaning medical masks in a way that maintains their safety and functionality for reuse, with the environmental advantage to manage medical disposable waste despite the current mask designation as single-use by the regulatory frameworks. We report a Workflow that provides a quantitative basis to determine the safety and efficacy of a medical mask that is decontaminated for reuse. The type IIR polypropylene medical masks can be washed up to 10 times, washed 5 times and autoclaved 5 times, or washed then sterilized with radiations or ethylene oxide, without any degradation of their filtration or breathability properties. There is loss of the antiprojection properties. The Workflow rendered the medical masks to comply to the AFNOR S76-001 standard as “type 1 non-sanitory usage masks”. This qualification gives a legal status to the Workflow-treated masks and allows recommendation for the reuse of washed medical masks by the general population, with the significant public health advantage of providing better protection than cloth-tissue masks. Additionally, such a legal status provides a basis to perform a clinical trial to test the masks in real conditions, with full compliance with EN 14683 norm, for collective reuse. The rational reuse of medical mask and their end-of-life management is critical, particularly in pandemic periods when decisive turns can be taken. The reuse of masks in the general population, in industries, or in hospitals (but not for surgery) has significant advantages for the management of waste without degrading the safety of individuals wearing reused masks