96 research outputs found
Ymonville – Les Hyèbles
Situé à 30 km au sud-est de Chartres, le site d’Ymonville les Hyèbles a été fouillé sur près de 8 ha, mais s’étend bien au-delà des limites de l’emprise étudiée. Il a livré une quantité remarquable d’informations, révélant certains aspects d’une communauté celte prospère, de la fondation présumée du site autour des ve et ive s. av. J.-C., jusqu’à son abandon dans le courant du ier s. av. J.-C. Les premiers témoins d’occupation remontent au Hallstatt D2-D3, mais le site prend réellement son es..
Dépôt de truies en silos et fossés dans des sites gaulois de Beauce
Le porc (Sus scrofa domesticus) à la période de La Tène est connu principalement par ses restes osseux issus de dépotoirs domestiques. Même s’il a pu servir d’éboueur, sa fonction première a toujours été de fournir de la viande et d’autres produits dérivés (graisse, tendons…). C’est particulièrement manifeste dans les sociétés du nord de la Gaule où il tient une place importante dans l’alimentation carnée sur de nombreux sites découverts (Méniel, 2001). Si la gestion de ces troupeaux porcins ..
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The Marco Polo mission: a sample return from a low-albedo Near Earth Object in the ESA Cosmic Vision Program 2015-2025
Marco Polo is a sample return mission to a Near-Earth Object (NEO) which was originally proposed as a joint European-Japanese mission for the scientific program Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 of the European Space Agency (ESA) in June 2007 and selected for an assessment study until fall 2009. The main goal of this mission is to return a sample from a dark taxonomic type (low albedo) NEO for detailed laboratory analysis in order to answer questions related to planetary formation, evolution and the origin of Life. In addition, it will provide detailed information on the physical and chemical properties of a body belonging to the population of potential Earth impactors, and therefore it is also directly relevant to the problems of risk assessment and mitigation. We review basic information on NEOs, potential targets for a sample return mission and the Marco Polo mission, with emphasis on their relevance to impact risk assessment and mitigation. More details on the Marco Polo mission and scientific objectives can be found in [1]
Chaos, Consternation and CALIPSO Calibration: New Strategies for Calibrating the CALIOP 1064 nm Channel
The very low signal-to-noise ratios of the 1064 nm CALIOP molecular backscatter signal make it effectively impossible to employ the "clear air" normalization technique typically used to calibrate elastic back-scatter lidars. The CALIPSO mission has thus chosen to cross-calibrate their 1064 nm measurements with respect to the 532 nm data using the two-wavelength backscatter from cirrus clouds. In this paper we discuss several known issues in the version 3 CALIOP 1064 nm calibration procedure, and describe the strategies that will be employed in the version 4 data release to surmount these problems
A New Approach for Checking and Complementing CALIPSO Lidar Calibration
We have been studying the backscatter ratio of the two CALIPSO wavelengths for 3 different targets. We are showing the ratio of integrate attenuated backscatter coefficient for cirrus clouds, ocean surface and liquid. Water clouds for one month of nightime data (left:July,right:December), Only opaque cirrus classified as randomly oriented ice[1] are used. For ocean and water clouds, only the clearest shots, determined by a threshold on integrated attenuated backscatter are used. Two things can be immediately observed: 1. A similar trend (black dotted line) is visible using all targets, the color ratio shows a tendency to be higher north and lower south for those two months. 2. The water clouds average value is around 15% lower than ocean surface and cirrus clouds. This is due to the different multiple scattering at 532 nm and 1064 nm [2] which strongly impact the water cloud retrieval. Conclusion: Different targets can be used to improve CALIPSO 1064 nm calibration accuracy. All of them show the signature of an instrumental calibration shift. Multiple scattering introduce a bias in liquid water cloud signal but it still compares very well with all other methods and should not be overlooked. The effect of multiple scattering in liquid and ice clouds will be the subject of future research. If there really is a sampling issue. Combining all methods to increase the sampling, mapping the calibration coefficient or trying to reach an orbit per orbit calibration seems an appropriate way
Cross-hemispheric transport of Central African biomass burning pollutants: implications for downwind ozone production
Pollutant plumes with enhanced concentrations of trace gases and aerosols were observed over the southern coast of West Africa during August 2006 as part of the AMMA wet season field campaign. Plumes were observed both in the mid and upper troposphere. In this study we examined the origin of these pollutant plumes, and their potential to photochemically produce ozone (O3) downwind over the Atlantic Ocean. Their possible contribution to the Atlantic O3 maximum is also discussed. Runs using the BOLAM mesoscale model including biomass burning carbon monoxide (CO) tracers were used to confirm an origin from central African biomass burning fires. The plumes measured in the mid troposphere (MT) had significantly higher pollutant concentrations over West Africa compared to the upper tropospheric (UT) plume. The mesoscale model reproduces these differences and the two different pathways for the plumes at different altitudes: transport to the north-east of the fire region, moist convective uplift and transport to West Africa for the upper tropospheric plume versus north-west transport over the Gulf of Guinea for the mid-tropospheric plume. Lower concentrations in the upper troposphere are mainly due to enhanced mixing during upward transport. Model simulations suggest that MT and UT plumes are 16 and 14 days old respectively when measured over West Africa. The ratio of tracer concentrations at 600 hPa and 250 hPa was estimated for 14–15 August in the region of the observed plumes and compares well with the same ratio derived from observed carbon dioxide (CO2) enhancements in both plumes. It is estimated that, for the period 1–15 August, the ratio of Biomass Burning (BB) tracer concentration transported in the UT to the ones transported in the MT is 0.6 over West Africa and the equatorial South Atlantic.
Runs using a photochemical trajectory model, CiTTyCAT, initialized with the observations, were used to estimate in-situ net photochemical O3 production rates in these plumes during transport downwind of West Africa. The mid-troposphere plume spreads over altitude between 1.5 and 6 km over the Atlantic Ocean. Even though the plume was old, it was still very photochemically active (mean net O3 production rates over 10 days of 2.6 ppbv/day and up to 7 ppbv/day during the first days) above 3 km especially during the first few days of transport westward. It is also shown that the impact of high aerosol loads in the MT plume on photolysis rates serves to delay the peak in modelled O3 concentrations. These results suggest that a significant fraction of enhanced O3 in mid-troposphere over the Atlantic comes from BB sources during the summer monsoon period. According to simulated occurrence of such transport, BB may be the main source for O3 enhancement in the equatorial south Atlantic MT, at least in August 2006. The upper tropospheric plume was also still photochemically active, although mean net O3 production rates were slower (1.3 ppbv/day). The results suggest that, whilst the transport of BB pollutants to the UT is variable (as shown by the mesoscale model simulations), pollution from biomass burning can make an important contribution to additional photochemical production of O3 in addition to other important sources such as nitrogen oxides (NOx) from lightning
Marco Polo - a mission to return a sample from a Near-Earth Object - science requirements and operational scenarios
Marco Polo is a mission to return a sample from a Near-Earth Object of primitive type (class C or D). It is foreseen as a collaborative effort between the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) and the European Space Agency (ESA). Marco Polo is currently in a Phase-A study. This paper focuses on the scientific requirements provided to the industrial study consortia in Europe as well as the possible mission scenario at the target object in order to achieve the overall mission science objectives.
The main scientific reasons for going to a Near-Earth Object are to understand the initial conditions and evolution history of the solar nebula, to understand how major events (e.g. agglomeration, heating) influence the history of planetesimals, whether primitive class objects contain presolar material, what the organics were in primitive materials, how organics could shed light on the origin of molecules necessary for life, and what the role of impacts by NEOs would be in the origin and evolution of life on Earth
Cost-effectiveness of HBV and HCV screening strategies:a systematic review of existing modelling techniques
Introduction:
Studies evaluating the cost-effectiveness of screening for Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) and Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) are generally heterogeneous in terms of risk groups, settings, screening intervention, outcomes and the economic modelling framework. It is therefore difficult to compare cost-effectiveness results between studies. This systematic review aims to summarise and critically assess existing economic models for HBV and HCV in order to identify the main methodological differences in modelling approaches.
Methods:
A structured search strategy was developed and a systematic review carried out. A critical assessment of the decision-analytic models was carried out according to the guidelines and framework developed for assessment of decision-analytic models in Health Technology Assessment of health care interventions.
Results:
The overall approach to analysing the cost-effectiveness of screening strategies was found to be broadly consistent for HBV and HCV. However, modelling parameters and related structure differed between models, producing different results. More recent publications performed better against a performance matrix, evaluating model components and methodology.
Conclusion:
When assessing screening strategies for HBV and HCV infection, the focus should be on more recent studies, which applied the latest treatment regimes, test methods and had better and more complete data on which to base their models. In addition to parameter selection and associated assumptions, careful consideration of dynamic versus static modelling is recommended. Future research may want to focus on these methodological issues. In addition, the ability to evaluate screening strategies for multiple infectious diseases, (HCV and HIV at the same time) might prove important for decision makers
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