"Advanced" data reduction for the AMBER instrument

The amdlib AMBER data reduction software is meant to produce AMBER data products from the raw data files that are sent to the PIs of different proposals or that can be found in the ESO data archive. The way defined by ESO to calibrate the data is to calibrate one science data file with a calibration one, observed as close in time as possible. Therefore, this scheme does not take into account instrumental drifts, atmospheric variations or visibility-loss corrections, in the current AMBER data processing software, amdlib. In this article, we present our approach to complement this default calibration scheme, to perform the final steps of data reduction, and to produce fully calibrated AMBER data products. These additional steps include: an overnight view of the data structure and data quality, the production of night transfer functions from the calibration stars observed during the night, the correction of additional effects not taken into account in the standard AMBER data reduction software such as the so-called "jitter" effect and the visibility spectral coherence loss, and finally, the production of fully calibrated data products. All these new features are beeing implemented in the modular pipeline script amdlibPipeline, written to complement the amdlib software.Comment: 10 pages, will be published in the proceeding of the SPIE conference "astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation: Optical and Infrared Interferometry", held in Marseille from 23 to 27 june 200

El triple duelo en "La Poncella de Francia"

La heroína de La Poncella de Francia, obra caballeresca del siglo xv, es presentada con la función y los atributos guerreros propios del varón. Esta representación, en apariencia novedosa y transgresora, toma como punto de partida una tradición histórica, literaria y social existente. La originalidad del personaje recae en su prestación guerrera en “El triple duelo”. Dicho episodio, que describe a la doncella protagonista en la liza de manera verosímil, constituye una representación sin precedentes de la práctica caballeresca femenina en este ámbito

« La bibliothèque est-elle soluble dans le réseau ? »

Des BDP aux bibliothèques intercommunales, des catalogues collectifs aux SICD, les bibliothécaires travaillent ensemble depuis très longtemps et échangent. Nous avons parlé mutualisation, fédération, économies, communauté : les réseaux, leurs bénéfices et leurs contraintes

Generative Adversarial Networks for X-Ray Computed Tomography

X-Ray computed tomography is a widely used, non-destructive imaging technique that produces cross-sectional images of bodies sensitive to X-Ray. Inter alia, it relies on exhaustive sampling of the attenuation properties of the scanned material and advanced reconstruction processes. However, acquisition can be toxic for humans or limiting for exotic geometries, as intense X-Ray exposure can lead to cancers during in-vivo diagnosis and experiments chambers have a fixed size that might limit the information gathering process for certain objects. Since sparse data from incomplete scans is yet to be compensated by adequate aftertreatment, we have decided to use deep-learning techniques to extract information on additional modalities to generate missing data in the acquisition.In many routine diagnoses, prior knowledge about the scanned object is often known. Whether it is computer-assisted design drawings or anatomical models, the availability of information regarding the shape of the test sample has led us to look for an acquisition process that minimises object sampling and maximises data harnessing on a known modality. After an introductory period of looking for the suitable architecture and publishing negative results, our exploration of deep generative models has led us to a unique design, one that combines unsupervised feature extraction with graphical models, use of these features for image generation with likelihood-free networks and a constrained optimisation problem to generate high-resolution acquisitions. This model translates our optimal understanding of the problem and an initial analysis suggests the feasibility of our process. Should the concept be promising, many challenges are yet to be addressed: accurate database constitution, efficient training items generation, thorough hyperparameters optimisation and delicate experimentations. As such, these are the next milestones in this investigation. Over the course of the next year, we are determined to deliver a method that is not only novel, but useful to many research fields.DSTL/DGA joint schem

Influence of geometry on the emitting properties of 2,3-naphthalimides

The luminescence properties of 2,3-naphthalimides have been studied using picosecond and nanosecond spectroscopies. In acetonitrile solution N-phenyl-2,3-naphthalimid(e3 ) is found to emit dual fluorescence with emission maxima at 385 and 490 nm, respectively. The short-wavelength emission corresponds to the known fluorescence of the naphthalimides and is demonstrated for 3 to originate from a molecular conformation in which the phenyl substituent and the naphthalimide skeleton are orthogonal to each other. The long-wavelength emission is assumed to originate from a singlet excited state formed by a ca. 90° rotation of the phenyl group so that the two moieties are coplanar. Only a small dipole moment change is found between this excited state and the ground state. Only short-wavelength emission is observed with a lifetime in the nanosecond range as in the case of 1 and 2 when phenyl rotation is blocked with a bulky ortho tert-butyl group (compound 4). Increasing the viscosity of a glycerol/ethanol medium enhances both the efficiency and the lifetime of the short-wavelength emission of 3. It appears that at 77 K the emission originates directly from the Franck-Condon state. At room temperature, the other two emitting species are shown to arise from the Franck-Condon state by competitive intramolecular geometrical relaxation processes. Structures 5 and 6 are tentatively put forward to explain the formation of naphthazepinedione 8 by a 2 \pi + 2 \pi photochemical cycloaddition reaction

Study of the scientific potential of a three 40 cm Telescopes Interferometer at Dome C

Recent site testing (see: http://www-luan.unice.fr/Concordiastro/indexantartic.html) has shown that Dome C in Antarctica might have a high potential for stellar interferometry if some solutions related to the surface atmospheric layer are found. A demonstrator interferometer could be envisioned in order to fully qualify the site and prepare the future development of a large array. We analyse the performances of a prototype interferometer for Dome C made with 3 telescopes of 40 cm diameter. It assumes classical Michelson recombination. The most recent atmospheric and environmental conditions measured at Dome C are considered (see K. Agabi "First whole atmosphere night-time seeing measurements at Dome C, Antarctica"). We also study the possible science reachable with such a demonstrator. Especially we evaluate that even such small aperture interferometer could allow the detection and low resolution spectroscopy of the most favourable pegaside planets.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, conferences SPIE, 0rlando, 200

DataFrames.jl: Flexible and Fast Tabular Data in Julia

DataFrames.jl is a package written for and in the Julia language offering flexible and efficient handling of tabular data sets in memory. Thanks to Julia's unique strengths, it provides an appealing set of features: Rich support for standard data processing tasks and excellent flexibility and efficiency for more advanced and non-standard operations. We present the fundamental design of the package and how it compares with implementations of data frames in other languages, its main features, performance, and possible extensions. We conclude with a practical illustration of typical data processing operations

Ion pair formation via photoinduced proton transfer in excited hydroxynaphthalimide-N-methylimidazole hydrogen bonded complex: effect of temperature and viscosity on dual fluorescence

The kinetics of photoinduced processes in the hydrogen bonded complex between N-methyl-3- hydroxynaphthalimide and 1-methylimidazole was studied in a wide temperature range in ethyl acetate and glycerol triacetate. The proton transfer within the excited complex was found to be very fast because of its negligible activation energy. The fairly intense dual Ñuorescence was assigned to hydrogen bonded and solvent separated ion pairs. Kinetic parameters for the various deactivation pathways of these excited species were derived from the combined analysis of the steady-state and the time-resolved Ñuorescence results. The Arrhenius pre-exponential factor of the transition from the solvent separated into the hydrogen bonded ion pair proved to be more than two orders of magnitude larger in glycerol triacetate compared with that in ethyl acetate, whereas the other processes showed less viscosity dependence. The radiationless energy dissipation rate of the hydrogen bonded ion pair was insensitive to the experimental conditions. However, thermal enhanced internal conversion was observed for the solvent separated ion pair

Effect of molecular structure and hydrogen bonding on the fluorescence of hydroxy-substituted naphthalimides

Fluorescence properties of hydroxy-naphthalimides were studied in methylene chloride in the absence and the presence of hydrogen-bonding additives. The position of the HO-substituent only slightly affects the radiative rate, however, the triplet yield and the rate of the radiationless processes are considerably higher for the 3-hydroxy derivative. Addition of nitrogen-heterocyclic compounds leads not only to hydrogen-bonding in the ground state but also Ñuorescence quenching. The parallel change throughout the series of the hydrogen-bond acceptors between the proton affinity and the rate constants of dynamic quenching indicates that proton displacement plays a crucial role in the excited hydrogen-bonded complexes. Interaction of hydroxy-naphthalimides with pyridine and benzoxazole results in rapid radiationless deactivation from the singlet excited state, whereas intense emission as well as long Ñuorescence lifetime characterize imidazole and pyrazole complexes. The dual emission of the imidazole complexes observed in solvents of medium polarity is assigned to two conformers which differ in the extent of the proton shift along the hydrogen-bond

Celani's wire excess heat effect replication

This paper presents the results obtained during the replications of Francesco Celani's experiments made by the Martin Fleischmann Memorial Project (MFMP). In his experiments Celani saw consistent and reproducible excess heat generation results coming from treated constantan wires using different protocols. The design of the cell, which is based closely on the original experimental apparatus demonstrated at ICCF 17 is described in detail, with attention to the material choices and design geometry and its operating conditions. Differences between the original experiment and later replications that improved credibility are explored. Using this processed material, two different protocols similar to Celani's work are shown in various apparatus in multiple geographic locations. The first protocol shown is similar to that presented at ICCF 17; whereas a second improved protocol is shown that was later defined by Celani et al. Additionally researchers at MFMP utilized another identical dummy cell in order to keep the calculation baseline consistent with real-time changes of the labs environment. Characterization of the wires is made before and after the experiment using scanning electron microscopy and electron dispersive spectrometry. Multiple calculations of the excess power are presented. The first one is derived by comparing active cell output to a baseline extracted from steady state calibrations. The second one uses Stefan-Boltzmann black-body calculation in the same way that Pr. Celani is doing. A last one uses the unactivated cell as a reference. The presentation that will be made during the conference will explore these results and discuss the validity of this type of experiment, calorimetry and wire treatment for the production of excess energy