RobAFIS student competition actuality: Safety & Security interactions between Operators and with the System

International audienceThis paper presents the RobAFIS competition which is yearly organized since 2006, by AFIS, the French chapter of INCOSE. This competition, as well as its pedagogical objectives, have been presented in previous editions on Insight [1] [2] [3] [4]. RobAFIS enhances AFIS action, offering educational and research institutions an operation to better understand and develop the use of systems engineering best practices, as recommended and formalized by AFIS. Two reference documents are recommended for RobAFIS :-the book "To discover and understand Systems Engineering" [5].-the book "Thinking System" [6]. Since 2007, Students and their supervising teachers have the opportunity to exchange with the jury AFIS expert members, working in industry or teaching Systems Engineering. During development, these experts answer, via a FAQ page on a RobAFIS dedicated collaborative space [7], questions about technical or methodological issues related to stakeholder requirements or to the development document. The main objective of RobAFIS is to highlight the benefits of basing systems engineering education on a project life cycle realization: a full life cycle including the implementation of an operational system, deployed by a client, in a real environment

Analysis of the interaction products in U(Mo,X)/Al and U(Mo,X)/Al(Si) diffusion couples, with X = Cr, Ti, Zr

International audienceIn the framework of the development of a low 235U enriched nuclear fuel for material testing reactors, γ-U(Mo)/Al based materials are considered as the most interesting prospect. In the process to optimize their composition, addition to both γ-U(Mo) and Al have been proposed. In this paper, the crystallographic composition of Interaction Layers (ILs) in γ-U(Mo,X)/Al and γ-U(Mo,X)/AlSi7 diffusion couples, with X = Cr, Ti, Zr, heat-treated at 600 °C for 2 h, were studied by micro-X-ray diffraction (μ-XRD). When compared to the U(Mo)/Al and U(Mo)/Al(Si) reference systems, all investigated systems involving either Al or Al(Si) as counterparts show interaction products composed of similar phases and related sequences of phase formation. Only relative thicknesses of sub-layers and relative fractions of intermediate phases are correlated with the nature of the X element in the γ-U(Mo,X) alloy. More generally this work shows that γ-U(Mo)/Al and γ-U(Mo)/Al(Si) ILs are now robustly described down to the micrometer scale

Assessment of ovarian cancer tumors treated with intraperitoneal cisplatin therapy by nanoscopic X-ray fluorescence imaging

Ovarian cancer is amongst the most common types of cancer in women, with a relatively low overall cure rate of approximately 30%. This is therefore an important incentive to urge for further research in order to maximize the chances of survival for these patients. Intraperitoneal chemotherapy with Cisplatin is an effective treatement for ovarian cancer; however, many questions still remain concerning the ideal treatment protocol and tumor resistance towards the drug, which should be resolved for optimal application of this therapy. For the first time in-vivo grown tumors treated with both hyper- and normothermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy have been studied using nano-XRF spectroscopy to examine the platinum (Pt) distribution within the analyzed tissues. These measurements prove Pt resides predominantly outsides the cancer cells in the stroma of the tissue. These findings indicate the resistance mechanism of the cancer cells prevents Cisplatin from diffusing through their cell membranes. This is an important addition to the existing knowledge on the resistance mechanism providing insights which might help to overcome this effect. In our aim to find the optimal treatment protocol, no significant differences were found between the two examined procedures. A more extensive data set will be needed to draw definite conclusions

Analysis of the iron coatings formed during marcasite and arsenopyrite oxidation at neutral-alkaline conditions

In order to study the nature of the precipitates formed on arsenopyrite and marcasite after reacting with neutral to alkaline solutions, a combination of techniques including Scanning Electron Microscope-Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and synchrotron-based techniques such as micro-X-Ray diffraction (µXRD) and Micro-X-ray Absorption Near Edge Structure (µXANES) have been used. The results showed that the oxidation of marcasite and arsenopyrite under neutral to alkaline conditions leads to the formation of an Fe rich coating which seems to prevent the oxidation of these sulphides. SEM observations confirmed the presence newly-formed phases after the sulphides reaction under the studied conditions. XPS analysis showed that iron, sulphur and arsenic in the case of the arsenopyrite are in oxidized states in the sulphide surfaces. The microscale analysis of the S and Fe speciation performed by µXANES suggested that due to the sulphide oxidation an increase in the oxidation state of those elements took place together with an increase of the sulphate content in the surface layer (grain boundary). Micro-X-ray diffraction results indicated that goethite (a-FeOOH) is the only crystalline newly-formed phase when the reaction occurs at pH 12 whereas at lower pH the products formed on the sulphide surfaces seem to be poorly crystalline and they do not contribute to the diffraction effects in the XRD diagrams

Adorym: A multi-platform generic x-ray image reconstruction framework based on automatic differentiation

We describe and demonstrate an optimization-based x-ray image reconstruction framework called Adorym. Our framework provides a generic forward model, allowing one code framework to be used for a wide range of imaging methods ranging from near-field holography to and fly-scan ptychographic tomography. By using automatic differentiation for optimization, Adorym has the flexibility to refine experimental parameters including probe positions, multiple hologram alignment, and object tilts. It is written with strong support for parallel processing, allowing large datasets to be processed on high-performance computing systems. We demonstrate its use on several experimental datasets to show improved image quality through parameter refinement

Bifeo3 Harmonic Nanoparticle (Bfo-Hnps) Use for the Stem Cell Tracking: Labeling Investigation by Non Linear Microscopy and X-Ray Fluorescence

Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy is the most common form of degenerative muscle disease; currently, there is no effective treatment. In 2011, our group showed that an adult stem cell population (MuStem) isolated from healthy dog skeletal muscle induces long-term muscle repair and striking clinical efficacy after its systemic delivery in clinically relevant dystrophic dog. During last years, our group isolated the human counterparts (hMuStem) [1]. To achieve the full therapeutic potential of the hMuStem cells, their homing process, survival and engraftment post-transplantation must be clearly understood. BiFeO3 harmonic nanoparticles (BFO-HNPs) were used as probes for the hMuStem cell tracking [2]. We demonstrate the possibility of identifying <100 nm BFO-HNPs in depth of muscle tissue at more than 1 mm from the surface by multiphoton microscopy. Based on this successful assessment, we monitor over 14 days any modification on proliferation and morphology features of the hMuStem cells upon exposure to BFO-HNPs revealing their high biocompatibility. To complete these studies, the stability of BFO-HNPs was followed in the labeled hMuStem cells by investigation of Bi and Fe X-ray fluorescence mapping on both Nanoscopium (Soleil, Gif-sur-Yvette, France) and ID16B (ESRF, Grenoble, France) beamlines. In this work, correlation between non-linear microscopy and X-Ray fluorescence was done. Bi and Fe X-Ray fluorescence allowed us to localize with high resolution the BFO-HNPs in the labeled hMuStem cells and the variation of Bi/Fe ratio was analyzed to detect possible dissociation of the nanoparticles in the labeled cells

Synchrotron-based nu-XRF mapping and mu-FTIR microscopy enable to look into the fate and effects of tattoo pigments in human skin

The increasing prevalence of tattoos provoked safety concerns with respect to particle distribution and effects inside the human body. We used skin and lymphatic tissues from human corpses to address local biokinetics by means of synchrotron X-ray fluorescence (XRF) techniques at both the micro (mu) and nano (nu) scale. Additional advanced mass spectrometry-based methodology enabled to demonstrate simultaneous transport of organic pigments, heavy metals and titanium dioxide from skin to regional lymph nodes. Among these compounds, organic pigments displayed the broadest size range with smallest species preferentially reaching the lymph nodes. Using synchrotron mu-FTIR analysis we were also able to detect ultrastructural changes of the tissue adjacent to tattoo particles through altered amide I alpha-helix to beta-sheet protein ratios and elevated lipid contents. Altogether we report strong evidence for both migration and long-term deposition of toxic elements and tattoo pigments as well as for conformational alterations of biomolecules that likely contribute to cutaneous inflammation and other adversities upon tattooing