Teaching photonic integrated circuits with Jupyter notebooks : design, simulation, fabrication

At Ghent University, we have built a course curriculum on integrated photonics, and in particular silicon photonics, based on interactive Jupyter Notebooks. This has been used in short workshops, specialization courses at PhD level, as well as the M.Sc. Photonics Engineering program at Ghent University and the Free University of Brussels. The course material teaches the concepts of on-chip waveguides, basic building blocks, circuits, the design process, fabrication and measurements. The Jupyter notebook environment provides an interface where static didactic content (text, figures, movies, formulas) is mixed with Python code that the user can modify and execute, and interactive plots and widgets to explore the effect of changes in circuits or components. The Python environment supplies a host of scientific and engineering libraries, while the photonic capabilities are based on IPKISS, a commercial design framework for photonic integrated circuits by Luceda Photonics. The IPKISS framework allows scripting of layout and simulation directly from the Jupyter notebooks, so the teaching modules contain live circuit simulation, as well as integration with electromagnetic solvers. Because this is a complete design framework, students can also use it to tape out a small chip design which is fabricated through a rapid prototyping service and then measured, allowing the students to validate the actual performance of their design against the original simulation. The scripting in Jupyter notebooks also provides a self-documenting design flow, and the use of an established design tool guarantees that the acquired skills can be transferred to larger, real-world design projects

Haillicourt – Le Bois à Baudets

L’opération de fouilles préventives réalisée entre juin et septembre 2015 à Haillicourt au lieu-dit « Le Bois à Baudets » a concerné une emprise de 20 000 m2 recouvrant une partie de l’emprise d’un projet d’aménagement d’une zone pavillonnaire au centre du village. L’opération a conduit à mettre au jour des vestiges de la période antique et contemporaine. L’occupation antique est documentée par une occupation de La Tène D2/gallo-romaine Auguste-Tibère jusqu’au début du ive s. apr. J.‑C. La pr..

Moreuil – Les Hautes-Terres

Le projet d’aménagement de logements sociaux sur la commune de Moreuil (80) au lieu-dit « Les Hautes Terres » par La Maison du Cil de Saint-Quentin a donné lieu à la réalisation d’un diagnostic archéologique en janvier 2010. L’intervention a porté sur une surface de 16 907 m2, avec un taux d’ouverture de 11 %. L’emprise du projet est délimitée au sud-est par le chemin rural qui mène de Moreuil à Domart-sur-la-Luce et par une zone pavillonnaire à l’ouest. Au nord, la parcelle est délimitée par..

Longueil-Annel – Rue du Martellois

Le projet d’aménagement de logements sociaux sur la commune de Longueil-Annel, rue du Martellois, par Picardie Habitat, a donné lieu à la réalisation d’un diagnostic archéologique en février 2010. L’intervention a porté sur une surface de 1 852 m2, avec un taux d’ouverture de 16 %. L’emprise du projet est délimitée au sud par un bosquet, au nord et à l’est, la parcelle est entourée par une zone pavillonnaire. La rue « en cavée » du Martellois qui permet d’accéder au fond de vallée, délimite l..

Influence du contexte paysager sur les attaques de processionnaire du pin en ville. Quelles perspectives de méthodes de lutte alternatives ?

We conducted an inventory of all the potential host trees of this species and of its winter tents over an urban area of about 6500 ha. Here we present the preliminary results of a spatial ecology approach and of a neighbourhood analysis exploring relationships between the level of infestation on a given tree and the features of the other host trees occurring around it. The ultimate goal of this work is to help defining urban green infrastructures unfavourable to the spread of this pest.La processionnaire du pin est un insecte défoliateur et urticant inféodé à des résineux forestiers. Elle se propage dans les milieux non forestiers en utilisant les plantations ornementales de ses arbres-hôtes. Dans les zones urbanisées, sa présence pose des problèmes de santé publique auxquels les collectivités territoriales doivent faire face. Nous avons réalisé un inventaire de tous les pins, cèdres et Douglas, et des nids d’hiver qu’ils hébergent, sur le territoire de cinq communes de l’agglomération orléanaise. Nous avons commencé à conduire sur ce jeu de données des analyses d’écologie spatiale et des analyses de voisinage prenant en compte l’influence sur le niveau d’infestation d’un arbre des caractéristiques des autres arbres-hôtes présents dans son environnement. Nous présentons ici les résultats préliminaires de cette approche paysagère en milieu urbain. A terme, l’objectif de ce travail est d’explorer les possibilités de concevoir des infrastructures vertes qui, au lieu de fournir des corridors d’expansion à cette espèce, pourraient en réduire le niveau de nuisance

Anaplastic large cell lymphoma in paediatric and young adult patients.

Anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) is a heterogeneous disease of debateable origin that, in children, is largely anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) positive with aberrant ALK activity induced following the formation of chromosomal translocations. Whilst the survival rates for this disease are relatively high, a significant proportion (20-40%) of patients suffer disease relapse, in some cases on multiple occasions and therefore suffer the toxic side-effects of combination chemotherapy. Traditionally, patients are treated with a combination of agents although recent data from relapse patients have suggested that low risk patients might benefit from single agent vinblastine and, going forward, the addition of ALK inhibitors to the therapeutic regimen may have beneficial consequences. There are also a plethora of other drugs that might be advantageous to patients with ALCL and many of these have been identified through laboratory research although the decision as to which drugs to implement in trials will not be trivial.Supported in part by the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation and Fondazione Giacomo Ascoli. S.D.T. is supported with funding from BloodwiseThis is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier via http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/bjh.1395

Inhibition of Rac controls NPM–ALK-dependent lymphoma development and dissemination

Nucleophosmin-anaplastic lymphoma kinase (NPM–ALK) is a tyrosine kinase oncogene responsible for the pathogenesis of the majority of human ALK-positive lymphomas. We recently reported that it activated the Rac1 GTPase in anaplastic large-cell lymphoma (ALCL), leading to Rac-dependent formation of active invadopodia required for invasiveness. Herein, we went further into the study of this pathway and used the inhibitor of Rac, NSC23766, to validate its potential as a molecular target in ALCL in vitro and in vivo in a xenograft model and in a conditional model of NPM–ALK transgenic mice. Our data demonstrate that Rac regulates important effectors of NPM–ALK-induced transformation such as Erk1/2, p38 and Akt. Moreover, inhibition of Rac signaling abrogates NPM–ALK-elicited disease progression and metastasis in mice, highlighting the potential of small GTPases and their regulators as additional therapic targets in lymphomas

Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma in Children and Adolescents: Progress Through Effective Collaboration, Current Knowledge, and Challenges Ahead

Non-Hodgkin lymphoma is the fourth most common malignancy in children, has an even higher incidence in adolescents, and is primarily represented by only a few histologic subtypes. Dramatic progress has been achieved, with survival rates exceeding 80%, in large part because of a better understanding of the biology of the different subtypes and national and international collaborations. Most patients with Burkitt lymphoma and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma are cured with short intensive pulse chemotherapy containing cyclophosphamide, cytarabine, and high-dose methotrexate. The benefit of the addition of rituximab has not been established except in the case of primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma. Lymphoblastic lymphoma is treated with intensive, semi-continuous, longer leukemia-derived protocols. Relapses in B-cell and lymphoblastic lymphomas are rare and infrequently curable, even with intensive approaches. Event-free survival rates of approximately 75% have been achieved in anaplastic large-cell lymphomas with various regimens that generally include a short intensive B-like regimen. Immunity seems to play an important role in prognosis and needs further exploration to determine its therapeutic application. ALK inhibitor therapeutic approaches are currently under investigation. For all pediatric lymphomas, the intensity of induction/consolidation therapy correlates with acute toxicities, but because of low cumulative doses of anthracyclines and alkylating agents, minimal or no long-term toxicity is expected. Challenges that remain include defining the value of prognostic factors, such as early response on positron emission tomography/computed tomography and minimal disseminated and residual disease, using new biologic technologies to improve risk stratification, and developing innovative therapies, both in the first-line setting and for relapse

Actin binding proteins:their ups and downs in metastatic life

In order to metastasize away from the primary tumor site and migrate into adjacent tissues, cancer cells will stimulate cellular motility through the regulation of their cytoskeletal structures. Through the coordinated polymerization of actin filaments, these cells will control the geometry of distinct structures, namely lamella, lamellipodia and filopodia, as well as the more recently characterized invadopodia. Because actin binding proteins play fundamental functions in regulating the dynamics of actin polymerization, they have been at the forefront of cancer research. This review focuses on a subset of actin binding proteins involved in the regulation of these cellular structures and protrusions, and presents some general principles summarizing how these proteins may remodel the structure of actin. The main body of this review aims to provide new insights into how the expression of these actin binding proteins is regulated during carcinogenesis and highlights new mechanisms that may be initiated by the metastatic cells to induce aberrant expression of such proteins. © 2013 Landes Bioscience

LEKTI proteolytic processing in human primary keratinocytes, tissue distribution and defective expression in Netherton syndrome

SPINK5, encoding the putative multi-domain serine protease inhibitor LEKTI, was recently identified as the defective gene in the severe autosomal recessive ichthyosiform skin condition, Netherton syndrome (NS). Using monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies, we show that LEKTI is a marker of epithelial differentiation, strongly expressed in the granular and uppermost spinous layers of the epidermis, and in differentiated layers of stratified epithelia. LEKTI expression was also demonstrated in normal differentiated human primary keratinocytes (HK) through detection of a 145 kDa full-length protein and a shorter isoform of 125 kDa. Both proteins are N-glycosylated and rapidly processed in a post-endoplasmic reticulum compartment into at least three C-terminal fragments of 42, 65 and 68 kDa, also identified in conditioned media. Processing of the 145 and 125 kDa precursors was prevented in HK by treatment with a furin inhibitor. In addition, in vitro cleavage of the recombinant 145 kDa precursor by furin generated C-terminal fragments of 65 and 68 kDa, further supporting the involvement of furin in LEKTI processing. In contrast, LEKTI precursors and proteolytic fragments were not detected in differentiated HK from NS patients. Defective expression of LEKTI in skin sections was a constant feature in NS patients, whilst an extended reactivity pattern was observed in samples from other keratinizing disorders, demonstrating that loss of LEKTI expression in the epidermis is a diagnostic feature of NS. The identification of novel processed forms of LEKTI provides the basis for future functional and structural studies of fragments with physiological relevanc