Seven Keys for Practical Understanding and Use of CGNS

We present key features of the CGNS standard, focusing on its two main elements, the data model (CGNS/SIDS) and its implementations (CGNS/HDF5 and CGNS/Python). The data model is detailed to emphasize how the topological user oriented information, such as families, are separated from the actual meshing that could be split or modified during the CFD work flow, and how this topological information is traced during the meshing process. We also explain why the same information can be described in multiple ways and how to handle such alternatives in an application. Two implementations, using HDF5 and Python, are illustrated in several use examples, both for archival and interoperability purposes. The CPEX extension formalized process is explained to show how to add new features to the standard in a consensual way; we present some of the next extensions to come. Finally we conclude by showing how powerful a consensual public approach like CGNS can be, as opposed to a stand-alone private one. All throughout the paper, we demonstrate how the use of CGNS could be of great benefit for both the meshing and CFD solver communities

Recent Updates to the CFD General Notation System (CGNS)

The CFD General Notation System (CGNS) - a general, portable, and extensible standard for the storage and retrieval of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis data has been in existence for more than a decade (Version 1.0 was released in May 1998). Both structured and unstructured CFD data are covered by the standard, and CGNS can be easily extended to cover any sort of data imaginable, while retaining backward compatibility with existing CGNS data files and software. Although originally designed for CFD, it is readily extendable to any field of computational analysis. In early 2011, CGNS Version 3.1 was released, which added significant capabilities. This paper describes these recent enhancements and highlights the continued usefulness of the CGNS methodology

Fostering Energy Efficiency in manufacturing plants through economical breakthroughs in power and flow rate measurement

International audienceThe ability to measure, monitor and control energy consumption at several key locations in a manufacturing plant is a major prerequisite for any efficient energy management program. To identify and evaluate energy savings, one must get a clear view of how the energy is used. Furthermore, measuring energy flows is one of the necessary conditions for long lasting energy-efficient solutions. Most of the time energy managers are reluctant to put in place power and flow rate measuring devices either because of their cost or because this implies disrupting production. To find acceptable and economical solutions for long lasting energy measurements in Industry, EDF R&D launched a 3-year collaborative research project called CHIC. This project is funded by the French National Research Agency (ANR) and involves 7 partners. Its total budget amounts to 2.55 M€. Because energy measuring devices acceptability relies mostly on their ability to be installed without disrupting production as well as on their installation and maintenance costs, two non intrusive and low cost technologies will be explored within the project: A physical approach is being used to build a clamp-on power meter that could be installed around multi-conductors power cables without interrupting power supply, A software based approach is being used to build power and flow meters that derive the sought-for variable from models and from simple and easy to collect other physical measurements (e.g. command signals, etc...). Introductio

Between but not within species variation in the distribution of fitness effects

New mutations provide the raw material for evolution and adaptation. The distribution of fitness effects (DFE) describes the spectrum of effects of new mutations that can occur along a genome, and is therefore of vital interest in evolutionary biology. Recent work has uncovered striking similarities in the DFE between closely related species, prompting us to ask whether there is variation in the DFE among populations of the same species, or among species with different degrees of divergence, i.e., whether there is variation in the DFE at different levels of evolution. Using exome capture data from six tree species sampled across Europe we characterised the DFE for multiple species, and for each species, multiple populations, and investigated the factors potentially influencing the DFE, such as demography, population divergence and genetic background. We find statistical support for there being variation in the DFE at the species level, even among relatively closely related species. However, we find very little difference at the population level, suggesting that differences in the DFE are primarily driven by deep features of species biology, and that evolutionarily recent events, such as demographic changes and local adaptation, have little impact

The GenTree Platform: growth traits and tree-level environmental data in 12 European forest tree species

Background: Progress in the field of evolutionary forest ecology has been hampered by the huge challenge of phenotyping trees across their ranges in their natural environments, and the limitation in high-resolution environmental information. Findings: The GenTree Platform contains phenotypic and environmental data from 4,959 trees from 12 ecologically and economically important European forest tree species: Abies alba Mill. (silver fir), Betula pendula Roth. (silver birch), Fagus sylvatica L. (European beech), Picea abies (L.) H. Karst (Norway spruce), Pinus cembra L. (Swiss stone pine), Pinus halepensis Mill. (Aleppo pine), Pinus nigra Arnold (European black pine), Pinus pinaster Aiton (maritime pine), Pinus sylvestris L. (Scots pine), Populus nigra L. (European black poplar), Taxus baccata L. (English yew), and Quercus petraea (Matt.) Liebl. (sessile oak). Phenotypic (height, diameter at breast height, crown size, bark thickness, biomass, straightness, forking, branch angle, fructification), regeneration, environmental in situ measurements (soil depth, vegetation cover, competition indices), and environmental modeling data extracted by using bilinear interpolation accounting for surrounding conditions of each tree (precipitation, temperature, insolation, drought indices) were obtained from trees in 194 sites covering the species’ geographic ranges and reflecting local environmental gradients. Conclusion: The GenTree Platform is a new resource for investigating ecological and evolutionary processes in forest trees. The coherent phenotyping and environmental characterization across 12 species in their European ranges allow for a wide range of analyses from forest ecologists, conservationists, and macro-ecologists. Also, the data here presented can be linked to the GenTree Dendroecological collection, the GenTree Leaf Trait collection, and the GenTree Genomic collection presented elsewhere, which together build the largest evolutionary forest ecology data collection available

Primary Step Towards In Situ Detection of Chemical Biomarkers in the UNIVERSE via Liquid-Based Analytical System: Development of an Automated Online Trapping/Liquid Chromatography System

The search for biomarkers in our solar system is a fundamental challenge for the space research community. It encompasses major difficulties linked to their very low concentration levels, their ambiguous origins (biotic or abiotic), as well as their diversity and complexity. Even if, in 40 years’ time, great improvements in sample pre-treatment, chromatographic separation and mass spectrometry detection have been achieved, there is still a need for new in situ scientific instrumentation. This work presents an original liquid chromatographic system with a trapping unit dedicated to the one-pot detection of a large set of non-volatile extra-terrestrial compounds. It is composed of two units, monitored by a single pump. The first unit is an online trapping unit able to trap polar, apolar, monomeric and polymeric organics. The second unit is an online analytical unit with a high-resolution Q-Orbitrap mass spectrometer. The designed single pump system was as efficient as a laboratory dual-trap LC system for the analysis of amino acids, nucleobases and oligopeptides. The overall setup significantly improves sensitivity, providing limits of detection ranging from ppb to ppt levels, thus meeting with in situ enquiries

Utility of hyposmia and hypogeusia for the diagnosis of COVID-19

International audience[No abstract available

The GenTree Leaf Collection: Inter‐ and intraspecific leaf variation in seven forest tree species in Europe

Trait variation within species can reveal plastic and/or genetic responses to environmental gradients, and may indicate where local adaptation has occurred. Here, we present a dataset of rangewide variation in leaf traits from seven of the most ecologically and economically important tree species in Europe. Sample collection and trait assessment are embedded in the GenTree project (EU-Horizon 2020), which aims at characterizing the genetic and phenotypic variability of forest tree species to optimize the management and sustainable use of forest genetic resources. Our dataset captures substantial intra- and interspecific leaf phenotypic variability, and provides valuable information for studying the relationship between ecosystem functioning and trait variability of individuals, and the response and resilience of species to environmental changes.Optimising the management and sustainable use of forest genetic resources in Europ