Retrograde mineral and fluid evolution in high-pressure metapelites (Schistes Lustres unit, Western Alps).

Fluid inclusions have been analysed in successive generations of syn-metamorphic segregations within low-grade, high-pressure, low-temperature (HP-LT) metapelites from the Western Alps. Fluid composition was then compared to mass transfer deduced from outcrop-scale retrograde mineral reactions. Two types of quartz segregations (veins) occur in the 'Schistes lustres' unit: early blueschist-facies carpholite-bearing veins (BS) and retrograde greenschist-facies chlorite-bearing veins (GS). Fluid inclusions in both types of segregations are aqueous (no trace of dissolved gases such as C

Investigating Collision Factors by Mining Microscopic Data of Vehicle Conflicts and Collisions

Road collisions represent deplorable human and financial costs to society. Although some progress has been made, a renewed effort is necessary to tackle this growing worldwide issue. This paper advocates the development of proactive methods for road safety analysis that do not depend on the occurrence of collisions. In particular, collecting and analyzing microscopic data (road users’ trajectories) about all traffic events with and without a collision is the only way to gain insight into collision factors and processes, i.e. the chains of events that lead to collisions. This paper reports on the first phase of a project relying on microscopic data extracted from video sensors and data mining techniques to identify patterns in the traffic event database. Decision trees, the k-means algorithm and a hierarchical agglomerative clustering method are used to analyze the relationship between interaction attributes and outcome (collision or not) and identify groups of interactions with similar attributes. This approach is demonstrated on a dataset collected in Kentucky of 295 traffic events, constituted of 213 conflicts and 82 collisions. The decision tree confirms the importance of the evasive action in the interaction outcome. Three clusters are found based on speed indicators extracted from the road users ’ trajectories: one cluster contains few collisions, with the lowest speeds among the three clusters. This result hints at the existence of conflicts that are dissimilar from most collisions and may therefore not be suitable for surrogate safety analysis. Saunier, Mourji and Agard

Facile Site-Specific Multiconjugation Strategies in Recombinant Proteins Produced in Bacteria.

For biomedical applications, proteins may require conjugation to small and large molecules. Typical examples are dyes for imaging, cytotoxic effector molecules for cell killing, or half-life extension modules for optimized pharmacokinetics. Although many conjugation strategies are straightforward to apply, most of them do not enable site-specific and orthogonal conjugation, and do not yield a defined stoichiometry. Moreover, techniques offering these desirable features often rely on complex expression procedures and suffer from low production yields. A more promising manufacturing strategy for flexible, site-specific and stoichiometrically defined payloading of proteins is the combination of click chemistry and thiol-maleimide conjugation, which even enables dual labeling when used consecutively. Here, we describe as an example the production of Designed Ankyrin Repeat Proteins (DARPins), a non-IgG binding scaffold, in a specific E. coli strain to obtain high yields of protein carrying both a thiol and an azide group. We provide straightforward protocols for strain-promoted azide-alkyne cycloaddition (SPAAC) and thiol-maleimide conjugation, and furthermore compare these conjugation chemistries with existing alternatives like copper-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC). Finally, detailed instructions for reactivity analysis and yield estimations of the reactions are provided