Processing of functional fine scale ceramic structures by ink-jet printing

International audienceThis review illustrates the potentiality of ink-jet printing for the fabrication of functional fine scale ceramic structures corresponding to two different kinds of micro-pillar arrays i.e. (i) PZT skeletons, etc..

The SPARSE model for the prediction of water stress and evapotranspiration components from thermal infra-red data and its evaluation over irrigated and rainfed wheat

Evapotranspiration is an important component of the water cycle, especially in semi-arid lands. A way to quantify the spatial distribution of evapotranspiration and water stress from remote-sensing data is to exploit the available surface temperature as a signature of the surface energy balance. Remotely sensed energy balance models enable one to estimate stress levels and, in turn, the water status of continental surfaces. Dual-source models are particularly useful since they allow derivation of a rough estimate of the water stress of the vegetation instead of that of a soil–vegetation composite. They either assume that the soil and the vegetation interact almost independently with the atmosphere (patch approach corresponding to a parallel resistance scheme) or are tightly coupled (layer approach corresponding to a series resistance scheme). The water status of both sources is solved simultaneously from a single surface temperature observation based on a realistic underlying assumption which states that, in most cases, the vegetation is unstressed, and that if the vegetation is stressed, evaporation is negligible. In the latter case, if the vegetation stress is not properly accounted for, the resulting evaporation will decrease to unrealistic levels (negative fluxes) in order to maintain the same total surface temperature. This work assesses the retrieval performances of total and component evapotranspiration as well as surface and plant water stress levels by (1) proposing a new dual-source model named Soil Plant Atmosphere and Remote Sensing Evapotranspiration (SPARSE) in two versions (parallel and series resistance networks) based on the TSEB (Two-Source Energy Balance model, Norman et al., 1995) model rationale as well as state-of-the-art formulations of turbulent and radiative exchange, (2) challenging the limits of the underlying hypothesis for those two versions through a synthetic retrieval test and (3) testing the water stress retrievals (vegetation water stress and moisture-limited soil evaporation) against in situ data over contrasted test sites (irrigated and rainfed wheat). We demonstrated with those two data sets that the SPARSE series model is more robust to component stress retrieval for this cover type, that its performance increases by using bounding relationships based on potential conditions (root mean square error lowered by up to 11 W m−2 from values of the order of 50–80 W m−2), and that soil evaporation retrieval is generally consistent with an independent estimate from observed soil moisture evolution

Magnetic Resonance Thermometry at 7T for Real-Time Monitoring and Correction of Ultrasound Induced Mild Hyperthermia

While Magnetic Resonance Thermometry (MRT) has been extensively utilized for non-invasive temperature measurement, there is limited data on the use of high field (≥7T) scanners for this purpose. MR-guided Focused Ultrasound (MRgFUS) is a promising non-invasive method for localized hyperthermia and drug delivery. MRT based on the temperature sensitivity of the proton resonance frequency (PRF) has been implemented in both a tissue phantom and in vivo in a mouse Met-1 tumor model, using partial parallel imaging (PPI) to speed acquisition. An MRgFUS system capable of delivering a controlled 3D acoustic dose during real time MRT with proportional, integral, and derivative (PID) feedback control was developed and validated. Real-time MRT was validated in a tofu phantom with fluoroptic temperature measurements, and acoustic heating simulations were in good agreement with MR temperature maps. In an in vivo Met-1 mouse tumor, the real-time PID feedback control is capable of maintaining the desired temperature with high accuracy. We found that real time MR control of hyperthermia is feasible at high field, and k-space based PPI techniques may be implemented for increasing temporal resolution while maintaining temperature accuracy on the order of 1°C

Creating Sources of Inspiration through eCollage, the FEA Model, and a Future Visioning Concept Design Project

This article presents an approach to creating sources of inspiration through a collabora-tive concept design that was developed and observed during a future visioning concept design project concerning the theme of “performance wear,” which was conducted at the University of Helsinki for second-year textile student teachers. During the project, the stu-dents created future scenarios; used the functional, expressive, and aesthetic (FEA) con-sumer needs model for apparel design (Lamb and Kallal in Cloth Text Res J 10(2):42–47, 1992) when considering what performance wear could be like in a future scenario; and cre-ated digital collages (eCollages) to present their concepts. In the course that followed the concept design project, the students designed and made actual clothes using the concepts developed during the concept design project as one of their sources of inspiration. The outcomes of the process are described in this article through four research questions: (1) What type of future scenarios did the teams create, what types of eCollages did the teams make, and how did the teams use information and communication technologies (ICT) in their collages? (2) How did the use of eCollages enrich the concept presentations? (3) How were the three dimensions of the FEA model utilized and presented in the eCollages and team presentations? (4) How did the future visions of the concepts and the eCollages act as sources of inspiration in the students’ clothing designs? Five of the six teams studied created a global future scenario that envisioned the world as a dystopia. The high level of technical and visual executions of all the eCollages was surprising. The ECollages played an important role in every team presentation and enriched them considerably. The FEA model, on the other hand, both provided a supporting framework for the concepts and guided the students to direct their attention to apparel within their future scenarios, as well as to consider different dimensions of it. The concepts especially inspired students to create aesthetic elements to their design and to consider the expressiveness and functionality of the garments from the concept’s perspective. The students also challenged themselves to find technical solutions to design ideas they created through being inspired by the concepts. Furthermore, the students often described gaining inspiration from the story or atmosphere of the concept or other non-visual elements of it, and thereby it seems that our approach indeed succeeded in promoting multi-sensory inspiration.Peer reviewe

Evapotranspiration and evaporation/transpiration partitioning with dual source energy balance models in agricultural lands

EvapoTranspiration (ET) is an important component of the water cycle, especially in semi-arid lands. Its quantification is crucial for a sustainable management of scarce water resources. A way to quantify ET is to exploit the available surface temperature data from remote sensing as a signature of the surface energy balance, including the latent heat flux. Remotely sensed energy balance models enable to estimate stress levels and, in turn, the water status of most continental surfaces. The evaporation and transpiration components of ET are also just as important in agricultural water management and ecosystem health monitoring. Single temperatures can be used with dual source energy balance models but rely on specific assumptions on raw levels of plant water stress to get both components out of a single source of information. Additional information from remote sensing data are thus required, either something specifically related to evaporation (such as surface water content) or transpiration (such as PRI or fluorescence). This works evaluates the SPARSE dual source energy balance model ability to compute not only total ET, but also water stress and transpiration/evaporation components. First, the theoretical limits of the ET component retrieval are assessed through a simulation experiment using both retrieval and prescribed modes of SPARSE with the sole surface temperature. A similar work is performed with an additional constraint, the topsoil surface soil moisture level, showing the significant improvement on the retrieval. Then, a flux dataset acquired over rainfed wheat is used to check the robustness of both stress levels and ET retrievals. In particular, retrieval of the evaporation and transpiration components is assessed in both conditions (forcing by the sole temperature or the combination of temperature and soil moisture). In our example, there is no significant difference in the performance of the total ET retrieval, since the evaporation rate retrieved from the sole surface temperature is already fairly close to the one we can reconstruct from observed surface soil moisture time series, but current work is underway to test it over other plots.</p

A proposition for the diagnosis and treatment of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease in children: A report from a working group on gastro-oesophageal reflux disease

In this paper, a Working Group on Gastro-Oesophageal Reflux discusses recommendations for the first line diagnostic and therapeutic approach of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease in infants and children. All members of the Working Group agreed that infants with uncomplicated gastro-oesophageal reflux can be safely treated before performing (expensive and often unnecessary) complementary investigations. However, the latter are mandatory if symptoms persist despite appropriate treatment. Oesophageal pH monitoring of long duration (18-24 h) is recommended as the investigation technique of choice in infants and children with atypical presentations of gastro-oesophageal reflux. Upper gastro-intestinal endoscopy in a specialised centre is the technique of choice in infants and children presenting with symptoms suggestive of peptic oesophagitis. Prokinetics, still a relatively new drug family, have already obtained a definitive place in the treatment of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease in infants and children, especially if "non-drug" treatment (positional therapy, dietary recommendations, etc.) was unsuccessful. It was the aim of the Working Group to help the paediatrician with this consensus statement and guide-lines to establish a standardised management of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease in infants and children

Large-scale mass wasting in the western Indian Ocean constrains onset of East African rifting

Faulting and earthquakes occur extensively along the flanks of the East African Rift System, including an offshore branch in the western Indian Ocean, resulting in remobilization of sediment in the form of landslides. To date, constraints on the occurrence of submarine landslides at margin scale are lacking, leaving unanswered a link between rifting and slope instability. Here, we show the first overview of landslide deposits in the post-Eocene stratigraphy of the Tanzania margin and we present the discovery of one of the biggest landslides on Earth: the Mafia mega-slide. The emplacement of multiple landslides, including the Mafia mega-slide, during the early-mid Miocene is coeval with cratonic rifting in Tanzania, indicating that plateau uplift and rifting in East Africa triggered large and potentially tsunamigenic landslides likely through earthquake activity and enhanced sediment supply. This study is a first step to evaluate the risk associated with submarine landslides in the region

Metabolites of Purine Nucleoside Phosphorylase (NP) in Serum Have the Potential to Delineate Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma

Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma (PDAC), the fourth highest cause of cancer related deaths in the United States, has the most aggressive presentation resulting in a very short median survival time for the affected patients. Early detection of PDAC is confounded by lack of specific markers that has motivated the use of high throughput molecular approaches to delineate potential biomarkers. To pursue identification of a distinct marker, this study profiled the secretory proteome in 16 PDAC, 2 carcinoma in situ (CIS) and 7 benign patients using label-free mass spectrometry coupled to 1D-SDS-PAGE and Strong Cation-Exchange Chromatography (SCX). A total of 431 proteins were detected of which 56 were found to be significantly elevated in PDAC. Included in this differential set were Parkinson disease autosomal recessive, early onset 7 (PARK 7) and Alpha Synuclein (aSyn), both of which are known to be pathognomonic to Parkinson's disease as well as metabolic enzymes like Purine Nucleoside Phosphorylase (NP) which has been exploited as therapeutic target in cancers. Tissue Microarray analysis confirmed higher expression of aSyn and NP in ductal epithelia of pancreatic tumors compared to benign ducts. Furthermore, extent of both aSyn and NP staining positively correlated with tumor stage and perineural invasion while their intensity of staining correlated with the existence of metastatic lesions in the PDAC tissues. From the biomarker perspective, NP protein levels were higher in PDAC sera and furthermore serum levels of its downstream metabolites guanosine and adenosine were able to distinguish PDAC from benign in an unsupervised hierarchical classification model. Overall, this study for the first time describes elevated levels of aSyn in PDAC as well as highlights the potential of evaluating NP protein expression and levels of its downstream metabolites to develop a multiplex panel for non-invasive detection of PDAC