THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR A PRELIMINARY DESIGN OF A SOLAR CELL GENERATOR ON A SATELLITE

Solar cell generators for satellite power supply - design theor

Determination of the interactions in confined macroscopic Wigner islands: theory and experiments

Macroscopic Wigner islands present an interesting complementary approach to explore the properties of two-dimensional confined particles systems. In this work, we characterize theoretically and experimentally the interaction between their basic components, viz., conducting spheres lying on the bottom electrode of a plane condenser. We show that the interaction energy can be approximately described by a decaying exponential as well as by a modified Bessel function of the second kind. In particular, this implies that the interactions in this system, whose characteristics are easily controllable, are the same as those between vortices in type-II superconductors.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figure

Macroscopic 2D Wigner islands

In this paper we present new versatile "2D macroscopic Wigner islands" useful to investigate the various behaviors observed in mesoscopic confined systems. Our "Wigner islands" consist of electrostatically-interacting charged balls with millimetric size. We have experimentally determined the ground configurations for systems of N particles (N=1-30) confined in a parabolic potential and checked the influence of the confinement and interacting potentials. The results obtained are compared with the published numerical results.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure

Transport properties of quantum dots in the Wigner molecule regime

The transport properties of quantum dots with up to N=7 electrons ranging from the weak to the strong interacting regime are investigated via the projected Hartree-Fock technique. As interactions increase radial order develops in the dot, with the formation of ring and centered-ring structures. Subsequently, angular correlations appear, signalling the formation of a Wigner molecule state. We show striking signatures of the emergence of Wigner molecules, detected in transport. In the linear regime, conductance is exponentially suppressed as the interaction strength grows. A further suppression is observed when centered-ring structures develop, or peculiar spin textures appear. In the nonlinear regime, the formation of molecular states may even lead to a conductance enhancement.Comment: 26 pages, 14 figures, Accepted for publication on New Journal of Physic

Rapid cognitive decline, one-year institutional admission and one-year mortality: Analysis of the ability to predict and inter-tool agreement of four validated clinical frailty indexes in the safes cohort

Objectives: To evaluate the predictive ability of four clinical frailty indexes as regards one-year rapid cognitive decline (RCD — defined as the loss of at least 3 points on the MMSE score), and one-year institutional admission (IA) and mortality respectively; and to measure their agreement for identifying groups at risk of these severe outcomes. Design: One-year follow-up and multicentre study of old patients participating in the SAFEs cohort study. Setting: Nine university hospitals in France. Participants: 1,306 patients aged 75 or older (mean age 85±6 years; 65% female) hospitalized in medical divisions through an Emergency department. Measurements: Four frailty indexes (Winograd; Rockwood; Donini; and Schoevaerdts) reflecting the multidimensionality of the frailty concept, using an ordinal scoring system able to discriminate different grades of frailty, and constructed based on the accumulation of identified deficits after comprehensive geriatric assessment conducted during the first week of hospital stay, were used to categorize participants into three different grades of frailty: Gl — not frail; G2 — moderately frail; and G3 — severely frail. Comparisons between groups were performed using Fisher's exact test. Agreement between indexes was evaluated using Cohen's Kappa coefficient. Results: All patients were classified as frail by at least one of the four indexes. The Winograd and Rockwood indexes mainly classified subjects as G2 (85% and 96%), and the Donini and Schoevaerdts indexes mainly as G3 (71% and 67%). Among the SAFEs cohort population, 250, 1047 and 1,306 subjects were eligible for analyses of predictability for RCD, 1-year IA and 1-year mortality respectively. At 1 year, 84 subjects (34%) experienced RCD, 377 (36%) were admitted into an institutional setting, and 445 (34%) had died With the Rockwood index, all subjects who expenenced RCD were classified in G2; and in G2 and G3 when the Donini and Schoevaerdts indexes were used No significant difference was found between frailty grade and RCD, whereas frailty grade was significantly associated with an increased risk of IA and death, whatever the frailty index considered. Agreement between the different indexes of frailty was poor with Kappa coefficients ranging from −0.02 to 0.15. Conclusion: These findings confirm the poor clinimetric properties of these current indexes to measure frailty, underlining the fact that further work is needed to develop a better and more widely-accepted definition of frailty and therefore a better understanding of its pathophysiolog

Transition Between Ground State and Metastable States in Classical 2D Atoms

Structural and static properties of a classical two-dimensional (2D) system consisting of a finite number of charged particles which are laterally confined by a parabolic potential are investigated by Monte Carlo (MC) simulations and the Newton optimization technique. This system is the classical analog of the well-known quantum dot problem. The energies and configurations of the ground and all metastable states are obtained. In order to investigate the barriers and the transitions between the ground and all metastable states we first locate the saddle points between them, then by walking downhill from the saddle point to the different minima, we find the path in configurational space from the ground state to the metastable states, from which the geometric properties of the energy landscape are obtained. The sensitivity of the ground-state configuration on the functional form of the inter-particle interaction and on the confinement potential is also investigated

A new chemistry-climate tropospheric and stratospheric model MOCAGE-Climat: evaluation of the present-day climatology and sensitivity to surface processes

International audienceWe present the chemistry-climate configuration of the Météo-France Chemistry and Transport Model, MOCAGE-Climat. MOCAGE-Climat is a state-of-the-art model that simulates the global distribution of ozone and its precursors (82 chemical species) both in the troposphere and the stratosphere, up to the mid-mesosphere (~70 km). Surface processes (emissions, dry deposition), convection, and scavenging are explicitly described in the model that has been driven by the ECMWF operational analyses of the period 2000–2005, on T21 and T42 horizontal grids and 60 hybrid vertical levels, with and without a procedure that reduces calculations in the boundary layer, and with on-line or climatological deposition velocities. Model outputs have been compared to available observations, both from satellites (TOMS, HALOE, SMR, SCIAMACHY, MOPITT) and in-situ instrument measurements (ozone sondes, MOZAIC and aircraft campaigns) at climatological timescales. The distribution of long-lived species is in fair agreement with observations in the stratosphere putting apart shortcomings linked to the large-scale circulation. The variability of the ozone column, both spatially and temporarily, is satisfactory. However, the too fast Brewer-Dobson circulation accumulates too much ozone in the lower to mid-stratosphere at the end of winter. Ozone in the UTLS region does not show any systematic bias. In the troposphere better agreement with ozone sonde measurements is obtained at mid and high latitudes than in the tropics and differences with observations are the lowest in summer. Simulations using a simplified boundary layer lead to ozone differences between the model and the observations up to the mid-troposphere. NOx in the lowest troposphere is in general overestimated, especially in the winter months over the northern hemisphere, which might result from a positive bias in OH. Dry deposition fluxes of O3 and nitrogen species are within the range of values reported by recent inter-comparison model exercises. The use of climatological deposition velocities versus deposition velocities calculated on-line had greatest impact on HNO3 and NO2 in the troposphere

Geographic and ecological eimensions of host plant-associated genetic differentiation and speciation in the Rhagoletis cingulata (Diptera: Tephritidae) sibling species group

Ascertaining the causes of adaptive radiation is central to understanding how new species arise and come to vary with their resources. The ecological theory posits adaptive radiation via divergent natural selection associated with novel resource use; an alternative suggests character displacement following speciation in allopatry and then secondary contact of reproductively isolated but ecologically similar species. Discriminating between hypotheses, therefore, requires the establishment of a key role for ecological diversification in initiating speciation versus a secondary role in facilitating co-existence. Here, we characterize patterns of genetic variation and postzygotic reproductive isolation for tephritid fruit flies in the Rhagoletis cingulata sibling species group to assess the significance of ecology, geography, and non-adaptive processes for their divergence. Our results support the ecological theory: no evidence for intrinsic postzygotic reproductive isolation was found between two populations of allopatric species, while nuclear-encoded microsatellites implied strong ecologically based reproductive isolation among sympatric species infesting different host plants. Analysis of mitochondrial DNA suggested, however, that cytoplasmic-related reproductive isolation may also exist between two geographically isolated populations within R cingulata. Thus, ecology associated with sympatric host shifts and cytoplasmic effects possiblyFil: Doellman, Meredith M.. University of Notre Dame-Indiana; Estados UnidosFil: Schuler, Hannes. University Of Bozen-bolzano; ItaliaFil: Saint Jean, Gilbert. University of Notre Dame-Indiana; Estados UnidosFil: Hood, Glenn R.. Wane State University; Estados UnidosFil: Egan, Scott P.. Rice University; Estados UnidosFil: Powell, Thomas H. Q.. University of Binghamton; Estados UnidosFil: Glover, Mary M.. University of Notre Dame-Indiana; Estados UnidosFil: Bruzzese, Daniel J.. University of Notre Dame-Indiana; Estados UnidosFil: Smith, James J.. Michigan State University; Estados UnidosFil: Yee, Wee L.. United States Department of Agriculture. Agricultural Research Service; ArgentinaFil: Goughnour, Robert B.. Washington State University; Estados UnidosFil: Rull Gabayet, Juan Antonio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán. Planta Piloto de Procesos Industriales Microbiológicos; ArgentinaFil: Aluja, Martín. Instituto de Ecología A.c.; MéxicoFil: Feder, Jeffrey L.. University of Notre Dame-Indiana; Estados Unido

The application of rules in morphology, syntax and number processing: a case of selective deficit of procedural or executive mechanisms?: Deficit of procedural or executive mechanisms

International audienceDeclarative memory is a long-term store for facts, concepts and words. Procedural memory subserves the learning and control of sensorimotor and cognitive skills, including the mental grammar. In this study, we report a single-case study of a mild aphasic patient who showed procedural deficits in the presence of preserved declarative memory abilities. We administered several experiments to explore rule application in morphology, syntax and number processing. Results partly support the differentiation between declarative and procedural memory. Moreover, the patient's performance varied according to the domain in which rules were to be applied, which underlines the need for more fine-grained distinctions in cognition between procedural rules