Towards an AI assistant for human grid operators

Power systems are becoming more complex to operate in the digital age. As a result, real-time decision-making is getting more challenging as the human operator has to deal with more information, more uncertainty, more applications and more coordination. While supervision has been primarily used to help them make decisions over the last decades, it cannot reasonably scale up anymore. There is a great need for rethinking the human-machine interface under more unified and interactive frameworks. Taking advantage of the latest developments in Human-machine Interactions and Artificial intelligence, we share the vision of a new assistant framework relying on an hypervision interface and greater bidirectional interactions. We review the known principles of decision-making that drives the assistant design and supporting assistance functions we present. We finally share some guidelines to make progress towards the development of such an assistant

Mesenchymal Stem Cells in Systemic Sclerosis: Allogenic or Autologous Approaches for Therapeutic Use?

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a rare autoimmune disease, which is potentially lethal. The physiopathology of the disease is still incompletely elucidated although the role of fibroblasts, endothelial cells (ECs), immune cells. and the environment (i.e., oxidative stress) has been demonstrated. This is an intractable disease with an urgent need to provide better therapeutic options to patients. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) represent a promising therapeutic approach thanks to the number of trophic and pleiotropic properties they exert. Among these, MSCs display anti-fibrotic, angiogenic, and immunomodulatory capacities that might be of interest in the treatment of SSc by acting on different processes that are dysregulated in the disease. In the recent years, the therapeutic effectiveness of MSCs has been demonstrated in different preclinical animal models and is being investigated in phase I clinical trials. Both allogenic and autologous transplantation of MSCs isolated from bone marrow or adipose tissue is being evaluated. The rationale for using allogenic MSCs in SSc, as well as in other autoimmune diseases, is based on the possibility that autologous MSCs might be altered in these diseases. In SSc, reports from the literature are controversial. Nevertheless, the role of the oxidative environment and of the crosstalk with neighboring cells (fibroblasts and ECs) on the functional properties of MSCs has been reported. Here, we review the preclinical and clinical data reporting the interest of MSC-based treatment in SSc and question the use of autologous or allogeneic MSCs in perspective of clinical applications

Towards an AI assistant for human grid operators

Power systems are becoming more complex to operate in the digital age. As a result, real-time decision-making is getting more challenging as the human operator has to deal with more information, more uncertainty, more applications and more coordination. While supervision has been primarily used to help them make decisions over the last decades, it cannot reasonably scale up anymore. There is a great need for rethinking the human-machine interface under more unified and interactive frameworks. Taking advantage of the latest developments in Human-machine Interactions and Artificial intelligence, we share the vision of a new assistant framework relying on an hypervision interface and greater bidirectional interactions. We review the known principles of decision-making that drives the assistant design and supporting assistance functions we present. We finally share some guidelines to make progress towards the development of such an assistant

On the strange case of divalent ions intercalation in V2O5

International audienceVanadium pentoxide has been investigated for multivalent ion battery technologies but the structural characterization of inserted phases is poor, and conflicting reports exist in the literature. This study presents a critical overview of controversial aspects related to Mg and Ca insertion in α-V2O5 under diverse conditions by combined electrochemical and ex-situ XRD experiments. Galvanostatic tests are carried out in dry and wet alkyl carbonate-based electrolytes at RT and 100 °C. The formation of protonated phases with negligible divalent ion content if any is evidenced by Rietveld refinements of the XRD data, unambiguously dismissing the presence of AV2O5 (A: Mg, Ca) as electrochemical reduction products. Furthermore, thermal instability of V2O5 at 100 °C in alkyl carbonate solvents is demonstrated by XRD and TEM analysis and the formation of an orthorhombic phase with increased a parameter, most likely due to degradation favored by both water and temperature, is observed for both Mg and Ca. In order to assess the feasibility of the reverse reaction, fully intercalated AV2O5 (A = Ca, Mg) phases were also prepared by solid state reaction and oxidation attempted both electrochemically and chemically without evidence of any significant amount of Mg2+ or Ca2+ extraction, further corroborating the sluggish diffusion kinetics of divalent cations in α-V2O5

Intriguing Relationships Between Cancer and Systemic Sclerosis: Role of the Immune System and Other Contributors

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is an autoimmune connective tissue disorder, characterized by multisystem involvement, vasculopathy, and fibrosis. An increased risk of malignancy is observed in SSc (including breast and lung cancers), and in a subgroup of patients with specific autoantibodies (i.e., anti-RNA polymerase III and related autoantibodies), SSc could be a paraneoplastic syndrome and might be directly related to an immune response against cancer. Herein, we reviewed the literature, focusing on the most recent articles, and shed light onto the potential relationship between cancer and scleroderma regarding temporal and immunological dimensions

Experimental Aspects of Synthesis

We discuss the problem of experimentally evaluating linear-time temporal logic (LTL) synthesis tools for reactive systems. We first survey previous such work for the currently publicly available synthesis tools, and then draw conclusions by deriving useful schemes for future such evaluations. In particular, we explain why previous tools have incompatible scopes and semantics and provide a framework that reduces the impact of this problem for future experimental comparisons of such tools. Furthermore, we discuss which difficulties the complex workflows that begin to appear in modern synthesis tools induce on experimental evaluations and give answers to the question how convincing such evaluations can still be performed in such a setting.Comment: In Proceedings iWIGP 2011, arXiv:1102.374

Entretien avec Olivier Zunz, La philanthropie en Amérique

In this interview, Olivier Zunz reflects on his work on philanthropy. Among the topics mentioned are his itinerary (starting with his first fieldwork experiences in the United States), the emergence of modern philanthropy in the United States at the time of the Second Industrial Revolution, the importance of the combination of elite philanthropy and mass philanthropy, the (dis)continuities between philanthropy in the late nineteenth century and contemporary philanthropy, the need to embed our understanding of American philanthropy in the national history of the United States. In sum, the interview is a guide to an historical view on the question of the democratic legitimacy of philanthropy.Dans cet entretien, l’historien Olivier Zunz revient sur son travail portant sur la philanthropie. Y sont ainsi successivement évoqués son parcours (à partir de ses premiers terrains états-uniens), le contexte de l’émergence de la philanthropie moderne aux États-Unis au moment de la seconde révolution industrielle, l’importance de la convergence entre une philanthropie des élites et une philanthropie de masse, les enjeux politiques de la démocratie, et les continuités et discontinuités entre la philanthropie de la fin du XIXe siècle et la philanthropie contemporaine. L’entretien, au final, réinscrit cette pratique sociale qu’est la philanthropie au centre de l’histoire américaine

Entretien avec Olivier Zunz, La philanthropie en Amérique

In this interview, Olivier Zunz reflects on his work on philanthropy. Among the topics mentioned are his itinerary (starting with his first fieldwork experiences in the United States), the emergence of modern philanthropy in the United States at the time of the Second Industrial Revolution, the importance of the combination of elite philanthropy and mass philanthropy, the (dis)continuities between philanthropy in the late nineteenth century and contemporary philanthropy, the need to embed our understanding of American philanthropy in the national history of the United States. In sum, the interview is a guide to an historical view on the question of the democratic legitimacy of philanthropy.Dans cet entretien, l’historien Olivier Zunz revient sur son travail portant sur la philanthropie. Y sont ainsi successivement évoqués son parcours (à partir de ses premiers terrains états-uniens), le contexte de l’émergence de la philanthropie moderne aux États-Unis au moment de la seconde révolution industrielle, l’importance de la convergence entre une philanthropie des élites et une philanthropie de masse, les enjeux politiques de la démocratie, et les continuités et discontinuités entre la philanthropie de la fin du XIXe siècle et la philanthropie contemporaine. L’entretien, au final, réinscrit cette pratique sociale qu’est la philanthropie au centre de l’histoire américaine

Entretien avec Olivier Zunz, La philanthropie en Amérique

In this interview, Olivier Zunz reflects on his work on philanthropy. Among the topics mentioned are his itinerary (starting with his first fieldwork experiences in the United States), the emergence of modern philanthropy in the United States at the time of the Second Industrial Revolution, the importance of the combination of elite philanthropy and mass philanthropy, the (dis)continuities between philanthropy in the late nineteenth century and contemporary philanthropy, the need to embed our understanding of American philanthropy in the national history of the United States. In sum, the interview is a guide to an historical view on the question of the democratic legitimacy of philanthropy.Dans cet entretien, l’historien Olivier Zunz revient sur son travail portant sur la philanthropie. Y sont ainsi successivement évoqués son parcours (à partir de ses premiers terrains états-uniens), le contexte de l’émergence de la philanthropie moderne aux États-Unis au moment de la seconde révolution industrielle, l’importance de la convergence entre une philanthropie des élites et une philanthropie de masse, les enjeux politiques de la démocratie, et les continuités et discontinuités entre la philanthropie de la fin du XIXe siècle et la philanthropie contemporaine. L’entretien, au final, réinscrit cette pratique sociale qu’est la philanthropie au centre de l’histoire américaine

Recherches sur la persistance du virus de la peste porcine classique dans les semi-conserves de jambon

Drieux Henri, Lucas A., Larenaudie Bertrand, Haag Jean, Rozier J. Recherches sur la persistance du virus de la peste porcine classique dans les semi-conserves de jambon. In: Bulletin de l'Académie Vétérinaire de France tome 118 n°9, 1965. pp. 423-434