Matériaux & Techniques Editorial - Matériaux désordonnés , verres et leur fonctionnalisation

International audienceDisordered materials, glasses and their functionalization. This Topical Issue presents articles which illustrate the diversity of the activities of research and development led on glasses in France, and reflects the way in which the GDR “Glass” and the Union for Glass Science and Technology (USTV)act to federate the scientific actions on glasses for the GDR and to insure the link between the academic and industrial communities.Ce numéro thématique présente des articles qui illustrent la diversité des activités de recherche et développement menées sur les verres en France , et refì etent bien l ' esprit avec lequel le GDR ((Verres)) et l ' Union pour la Science et la Technologie Verrì eres (USTV) agissent pour fédérer les actions scientifiques sur les verres pour le GDR et pour et assurer un lien entre les communautés académiques et industrielles

Risques d'effondrement de carrières souterraines en milieu urbain. De la prévention à la mise en sécurité. Exemple de l'îlot St-Julien à Laon (02)

National audienceSince the autumn 2001 the city of Laon has of a Plan of Prévention of the Predictable Natural Risks concerning potential ground instabilities. The risk of collapse is connected to the présence of abandoned underground cavities located in lutetian limestones constituting the upper hard level of Laon's hillock. In the "St - Julien" district, the historical town centre, the Municipal Service of the Careers noticed disorders with evolutionary character affecting the buildings at ground level and the corresponding underground works . A geotechnical analysis established that the origin of thèse disorders is directly linked with the failure of galleries excavated in the levels of glauconian sands situated at the base of the calcareous benches. In order to garanty the security of people and structures in surface, one has to proceed to the treatment of the subsoil by privileging the backfilling of the cavities at the origin of the disorders. However thèse works take on a particular technical character because of the urban environment, especially the présence in galleries to be treated of a thick layer of anthropological organic matter (these galleries having been used until recently as septic tanks) more or less solidified and probably very compressible. Several solutions were studied to operate a consolidation of galleries by concrète injection in several phases, by considering that the layer of excréments has a capacity of consolidation comparable to a peat. Then, the galleries of the upper levels can, according to their state of dégradation, either be backfilled with expansive resin foam, or Consolidated (masonries, hoopings ...), so as to be reused.La Ville de LAON (Département de l'Aisne) dispose depuis l'automne 2001 d'un Plan de Prévention des Risques naturels prévisibles (PPR) relatif aux mouvements de terrain. Le risque d'effondrement est lié à la présence de cavités souterraines abandonnées situées dans les calcaires lutétiens constituant l'entablement de la butte de LAON. Dans le quartier dit " Saint-Julien " situé en plein centre ville historique, le Service Municipal des Carrières a pu constater des désordres à caractère évolutif affectant les bâtiments de surface et les ouvrages souterrains correspondants. Une analyse géotechnique a établi que l'origine de ces désordres est directement imputable à la ruine de galeries creusées dans les niveaux de sables glauconieux constituant l'assise des bancs calcaires. Il convient donc, pour assurer la sécurité des personnes et des biens en surface, de procéder au traitement du sous-sol en privilégiant le remblayage de ces cavités à l'origine des désordres. Ces travaux présentent cependant un caractère technique particulier lié à l'environnement urbain mais surtout à l'existence dans les galeries à traiter d'une couche épaisse de matière organique anthropique (ces galeries ayant servi jusqu'à récemment de fosses septiques) plus ou moins solidifiée et probablement très compressible. Plusieurs solutions ont été étudiées pour mettre en oeuvre une consolidation des galeries par injection de béton en plusieurs phases, en considérant que la couche d'excréments possède une capacité de consolidation comparable à une tourbe. Dans un deuxième temps, les galeries des niveaux supérieurs pourront, en fonction de leur état de dégradation, soit être remblayées à l'aide de mousse de résine expansive, soit confortées (maçonneries, cerclages...), de façon à être réutilisées

Caspase-generated fragment of the Met receptor favors apoptosis via the intrinsic pathway independently of its tyrosine kinase activity

The receptor tyrosine kinase Met and its ligand, the hepatocyte growth factor, are essential to embryonic development, whereas the deregulation of Met signaling is associated with tumorigenesis. While ligand-activated Met promotes survival, caspase-dependent generation of the p40 Met fragment leads to apoptosis induction – hallmark of the dependence receptor. Although the survival signaling pathways induced by Met are well described, the pro-apoptotic signaling pathways are unknown. We show that, although p40 Met contains the entire kinase domain, it accelerates apoptosis independently of kinase activity. In cell cultures undergoing apoptosis, the fragment shows a mitochondrial localization, required for p40 Met-induced cell death. Fulminant hepatic failure induced in mice leads to the generation of p40 Met localized also in the mitochondria, demonstrating caspase cleavage of Met in vivo. According to its localization, the fragment induces mitochondrial permeabilization, which is inhibited by Bak silencing and Bcl-xL overexpression. Moreover, Met silencing delays mitochondrial permeabilization induced by an apoptotic treatment. Thus, the Met-dependence receptor in addition to its well-known role in survival signaling mediated by its kinase activity, also participates in the intrinsic apoptosis pathway through the generation of p40 Met – a caspase-dependent fragment of Met implicated in the mitochondrial permeabilization process

Frozen spatial chaos induced by boundaries

We show that rather simple but non-trivial boundary conditions could induce the appearance of spatial chaos (that is stationary, stable, but spatially disordered configurations) in extended dynamical systems with very simple dynamics. We exemplify the phenomenon with a nonlinear reaction-diffusion equation in a two-dimensional undulated domain. Concepts from the theory of dynamical systems, and a transverse-single-mode approximation are used to describe the spatially chaotic structures.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, submitted for publication; for related work visit http://www.imedea.uib.es/~victo

Forecasting the SST space-time variability of the Alboran Sea with genetic algorithms

We propose a nonlinear ocean forecasting technique based on a combination of genetic algorithms and empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis. The method is used to forecast the space-time variability of the sea surface temperature (SST) in the Alboran Sea. The genetic algorithm finds the equations that best describe the behaviour of the different temporal amplitude functions in the EOF decomposition and, therefore, enables global forecasting of the future time-variability.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figures; latex compiled with agums.st

Improvement of radiology requisition

AbstractPurposeInadequate or incomplete information on radiology requisitions may have a substantial impact on the radiological process. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of standardization and computerization of radiology requisitions on the quality of provided data, satisfaction of hospital staff and access time.MethodsThe impact of requisition support was assessed at each step of the improvement process for inpatients: before (Step 1), after standardization (Step 2) and after computerization of radiology requisition (Step 3). The quality of information provided was assessed by proportion of missing data on MRI and CT requisitions. Satisfaction was assessed by an anonymous auto-questionnaire filled by ordering physicians, radiologists and radiology technicians. Access time was prospectively assessed.ResultsStandardization of radiology requisition resulted in a significant drop in proportion of missing data. Computerization of radiology requisition, based on the single standardized radiology requisition, further improved the quality of information reported on radiology requisitions. The median access time was significantly improved (from 5 to 3days) for the largest provider of CT requisitions.ConclusionsStandardization and computerization have a synergistic effect on the overall quality improvement. Moreover, the computerized provider order entry enables traceability of information, makes communication between radiologists and ordering physicians easier and improves examination planning

Chaos induced coherence in two independent food chains

Coherence evolution of two food web models can be obtained under the stirring effect of chaotic advection. Each food web model sustains a three--level trophic system composed of interacting predators, consumers and vegetation. These populations compete for a common limiting resource in open flows with chaotic advection dynamics. Here we show that two species (the top--predators) of different colonies chaotically advected by a jet--like flow can synchronize their evolution even without migration interaction. The evolution is charaterized as a phase synchronization. The phase differences (determined through the Hilbert transform) of the variables representing those species show a coherent evolution.Comment: 5 pages, 5 eps figures. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.