Design of an automatic multiple launcher for expendable probes

International audienceA main goal of a ships of opportunity program is the provision of near real time temperature profiles. The use of expandable probes allows the reduction of costs, in comparison to usual scientific cruises. A major cost effectiveness can be achieved by using an automated multiple launcher, that can be used with a minimum personnel effort. A multiple launcher, developed in the framework of the Mediterranean Forecasting System ? Toward Environmental Prediction, allows to collect eight temperature profiles, with a sampling strategy that can be monitored automatically by means of a software. The data acquisition system is controlled internally in all functionalities, and data can be transmitted by GSM or satellite telephone systems

Development of an automatic multiple launcher for expendable probes

International audienceA main goal of a Ship Of Opportunity Programme (SOOP) is the provision of temperature profiles in near real time. The use of commercial ships and expandable probes allows the reduction of costs, in comparison with research ship cruises. A major cost effectiveness is achieved using an automated multiple launcher, requiring minimum personnel effort. A multiple launcher, developed in the framework of the Mediterranean Forecasting System ? Toward Environmental Prediction Project (MFSTEP), allows for a sequential collection of eight temperature profiles, using a software-programmable sampling strategy. The data acquisition system can be remotely controlled in every functionality, and data can be transmitted by GSM-GPRS or satellite telephone systems

Factors affecting the quality of XBT data - results of analyses on profiles from the Western Mediterranean Sea

EXpendable BathyThermograph (XBT) temperature profiles collected in the framework of the Mediterranean Forecasting System - Toward Environmental Prediction (MFS-TEP) project have been compared with CTD measurements. New procedures for the quality control of recorded values have been developed and checked. Some sources of possible uncertainties and errors, such as the response time of the apparatus (XBT probe, thermistor and readout chain), or the influence of initial conditions are also analysed. To deal with the high homogeneity of Mediterranean waters, a new technique to compute the fall rate coefficients, that give a better reproduction of the depth of thermal structures, has been proposed, and new customized coefficients have been calculated. After the application of a temperature correction, the overall uncertainties in depth and in temperature measurements have been estimated

Improved quality check procedures of XBT profiles in MFS-VOS

International audienceSippican T4/DB XBT profiles, collected in the framework of Mediterranean Forecasting System ? Toward Environmental Prediction, are analysed, namely the possible influence of launching position height, ship speed and of probes' characteristics. Comparison of XBT vs CTD profiles have suggested some changes in quality control procedures and, more important, in the values of fall rate coefficients customised for the Mediterranean. The effects of these new procedures on the overall uncertainty on depth and on temperature measurements are estimated

Editorial "Earth and Space Science Informatics: informatics in oceanography"

A decade ago, information was discrete and disconnected, assembling data from many different sources was inherently time consuming, and was made for specific studies, such as evaluation of trends in ecosystems, climatology productions, etc. Most of the data were not directly accessible, but were sent by mail on CD-ROMs or floppy discs. The world is changed and the collection of digital data is growing at an exponential rate, making the access to data more difficult than before. During the last decade, with the advent of Internet-based system architectures a fundamental shift has occurred. The digitization of all kinds of data, the implementation of computer networks and the availability of broad band have posed the basis for the connection of a vast amount of data and information. Internet, Web, distributed information systems and computing infrastructures have been changing the working way in science, engineering, business, and education. Today, advances in all kind of application domains is often related with the possibilities to access heterogeneous information and the related tools to understand and use them. Different scientific and technological communities are today working together to develop federated information systems by applying interoperability solutions and recognising that: ‐ Data in the Earth sciences is being used by a far broader community than ever before. ‐ Information harvesting by selecting the appropriate, exchange metadata, the evolving interoperability standards, and the multi-disciplinary scenarios raises important and difficult challenges

Through-the-thickness response of hybrid 2D and 3D woven composites

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/106441/1/AIAA2013-1780.pd

Blood pressure and cardiac autonomic nervous system in obese type 2 diabetic patients: Effect of metformin administration

Background: Hyperinsulinemia/insulin resistance and elevated plasma free fatty acids (FFA) levels are involved in the hypertension and cardiac sympathetic overactivity. Metformin improves insulin action and lower plasma FFA concentrations. We investigate the possible effect of metformin on arterial blood pressure (BP) and cardiac sympathetic nervous system. Methods: One hundred twenty overweight type 2 diabetic patients were treated by placebo (n = 60) + diet or metformin (850 mg twice daily) (n = 60) + diet for 4 months, to evaluate the effect of metformin treatment on the cardiac autonomic nervous system. Insulin resistance was measured by the Homeostasis Model Assessment (HOMA) index. Heart rate variability (HRV) assessed cardiac sympathovagal balance. Results: Metformin treatment, but not placebo treatment, was associated with a decrease in fasting plasma glucose (P < .05), insulin (P < .05), triglyceride (P < .05), and FFA (P < .03) concentrations and HOMA index (P < .03). Metformin treatment was also associated with a significant improvement in cardiac sympathovagal balance but not in mean arterial BP. Furthermore, in a multivariate analysis, delta change in sympathovagal balance index (LF/HF ratio) were associated with delta change in plasma FFA concentrations and HOMA index independently of gender and delta change in plasma triglyceride and HbA1c concentrations. Conclusions: Our study demonstrated that metformin treatment might be useful for improving cardiac sympathovagal balance in obese type 2 diabetic patients

BCR-ABL residues interacting with ponatinib are critical to preserve the tumorigenic potential of the oncoprotein

Patients with chronic myeloid leukemia in whom tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) fail often present mutations in the BCR-ABL catalytic domain. We noticed a lack of substitutions involving 4 amino acids (E286, M318, I360, and D381) that form hydrogen bonds with ponatinib. We therefore introduced mutations in each of these residues, either preserving or altering their physicochemical properties. We found that E286, M318, I360, and D381 are dispensable for ABL and BCR-ABL protein stability but are critical for preserving catalytic activity. Indeed, only a "conservative" I360T substitution retained kinase proficiency and transforming potential. Molecular dynamics simulations of BCR-ABLI360T revealed differences in both helix αC dynamics and protein-correlated motions, consistent with a modified ATP-binding pocket. Nevertheless, this mutant remained sensitive to ponatinib, imatinib, and dasatinib. These results suggest that changes in the 4 BCR-ABL residues described here would be selected against by a lack of kinase activity or by maintained responsiveness to TKIs. Notably, amino acids equivalent to those identified in BCR-ABL are conserved in 51% of human tyrosine kinases. Hence, these residues may represent an appealing target for the design of pharmacological compounds that would inhibit additional oncogenic tyrosine kinases while avoiding the emergence of resistance due to point mutations.This work was supported by an investigator grant to P.V. from Associazione Italiana per la Ricerca sul Cancro (AIRC) and by funding from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BB/I023291/1 and BB/H018409/1 to AP and FF). P.B. is the recipient of an AIRC - Marie Curie fellowship

Federated data bases for the development of an operational monitoring and forecasting system of the ocean: the THREDDS Dataset Merger

During the last decade, operational monitoring and forecasting systems have been developed in all the European seas. The exchange of data and products and the development of services for a wide community of users pose some fundamental issues, whose solution has become a priority in integrated and GMES referring projects, such as the MERSEA European project. These projects aim to develop a European system for operational monitoring and forecasting on global and regional scales of ocean physics, bio-chemistry and ecosystems. GMES system and its operational projects need to federate resources and expertise coming from diverse organizations working on different Earth Sciences fields (e.g. satellite data processing, in situ observing systems, data management, ocean and ecosystem modeling, etc.). Therefore, it is required a Marine Information Management (MIM) system capable of facilitating the regular real-time exchange of high quality information, data and products. Moreover, MIM system must provide appropriate information for a wide range of external users both in real-time and delayed mode. </p><p style=&quot;line-height: 20px;&quot;> In this paper an architecture based on the OPeNDAP/THREDDS technology is proposed as a solution for these operational systems. In this context, a catalog merging solution is introduced for the MIM system, which results in the design and development of the THREDDS Dataset Merger (TDM): a set of services meant to merge THREDDS Dataset Inventory Catalogs, so to achieve a unique catalog service for a whole database federation. TDM service merges distributed and autonomous THREDDS catalogs in order to work out a virtual merged catalog. The TDM service was extended in order to provide automatic catalogs synchronization. This service allows extending the pull-based TDM paradigm to support push-based applications. Some security issues are also considered