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International audience; Among the UAVs, quadrotors are now the most popular and studied drones. These drones are called upon to perform various tasks, particularly the transport of increasingly heavy instruments or parcels, while keeping a structure as light as possible. The arms will inevitably deform under these loads, altering the flying machine's dynamic behavior. Precise drone flight control systems require rigorous dynamic modeling, taking into account the effect of deformation. In this study, we propose and evaluate an original design of a flexible quadcopter that will optimize its maneuverability and controllability in tight and complex spaces, even when carrying relatively heavy loads. The principle is based on the Lagrange method. The introduction of deformation is done through additional degrees of freedom. The effects of elastic deformation, rigid body motion, and coupling between them are all included in the final model. Based on the dynamic model built, we propose a new non-linear controller, which takes into account the arms deformation. The proposed controller adapts well to disturbances due to the effect of deformation, improving the trajectory tracking capability of the system. We will demonstrate the exponential stability of a compensated tracking error.

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International audience; We consider a general equilibrium model with vertical preferences, where workers and consumers are differentiated respectively by their sensitivity to effort and their intensity of preference for quality. We consider a public monopoly, i.e. which is owned equally by all individuals. The question is under which conditions the firm will be privatized and at which rate/price. The decisions are taken through majority vote in a plurality system. When the firm is controlled by the State, the price is determined through a vote among all the population. Otherwise, the price is the one which maximizes the profit. We prove that, when the maximum disutility of working in the firm is higher than the maximum utility of consuming its output, privatization may emerge as a possible choice of the majority, even if no hypothesis is made on the efficiency of a private management relative to a public one.

Dicalcium silicate finds applications in different fields (cement, bio-ceramics, refractories). In the case of Portland cement, its interest is its lower sintering temperature compared to tricalcium silicate and therefore an interesting compound for low CO2 cements. Dicalcium silicate goes through different polymorphic forms, namely α, α'H, α'L, β and γ, as the temperature decreases. In theory, only the γ-phase is stable at room temperature. In a polycrystalline material, the different polymorphs can co-exist depending on several factors (sintering conditions, presence of impurities, grain size) and the interpretations given in the literature are sometimes contradictory. For cement applications, only the α, α' or β polymorphs react with water to give hydrates while γ does not. Therefore, this paper focuses specifically on the effect of grain size on the β to γ transformation. We also propose that the transformation is semi-reconstructive and not martensitic as suggested by some authors.

International audience; Facile and low cost syntheses of 3-mercaptopropionic acid-capped Ag:CdxZn1-xS and of core/shell Ag:CdxZn1-xS/ZnS quantum dots (QDs) are presented. The effects of the Ag+ doping concentration and of the Cd/Zn ratio on the structural and optical properties of the dots were investigated. Core Ag:CdxZn1-xS QDs have an average diameter of ca. 4.5 nm and their photoluminescence (PL) emission can be tuned from 478 to 610 nm by varying the dopant concentration or the composition of the CdxZn1-xS host material. The highest PL quantum yield (25%) is obtained when using 2 or 3.5% doping in Ag+. The PL quantum yield increased substantially (44%) after capping the Ag:CdxZn1-xS core with a ZnS shell. Due to their high photostability and long excited-state lifetimes (1–2 μs), Ag:CdxZn1-xS QDs are of high potential as nanophosphors or as fluorescent probes for bio-imaging.

An ω-limit set of a continuous self-mapping of a compact metric space X is said to be totally periodic if all of its points are periodic. In [3] Askri and Naghmouchi proved that if f is a one-to-one continuous self mapping of a regular curve, then every totally periodic ω-limit set of f is finite. This also holds whenever f is a monotone map of a local dendrite by Abdelli in [1] . In this paper we generalize these results to monotone maps on regular curves. On the other hand, we give some remarks related to expansivity and totally periodic ω-limit sets for every continuous map on compact metric space.

A series of phosphate-sulfate fluorapatites Ca 10−x Na x (PO 4 ) 6−x (SO 4 ) x F 2 :Eu 3+ (2%) (x = 0, 3, 6) has been synthesized by the solid-state reaction at high temperature. The samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction, Infrared spectroscopy and Raman scattering spectroscopy. Eu 3+ luminescence properties were investigated at 77 K using site selective and time-resolved spectroscopy. Lifetimes and the color points were calculated. The emission spectra and luminescence decays of Eu 3+ ions indicate that there is an energy transfer between different sites occupied by Eu 3+ .

International audience; In this work we focus on the study of the acoustic and mechanical behavior of compressed earth blocks (CEBs). The aim was to study the influence of compaction pressure on the compressive strength and intrinsic acoustic parameters influencing sound absorption of these materials (porosity, tortuosity, airflow resistivity, viscous characteristic length). Specimens made by varying the applied compaction pressure and therefore having various bulk densities were studied. Low bulk density CEBs where stabilized by adding 15% cement. The acoustic absorption coefficients of the different specimens were determined experimentally employing data obtained using the Kundt tube. The intrinsic acoustic parameters were identified by minimizing the discrepancies between the experimentally measured absorption coefficient (α) and the theoretical one modeling the CEBs using the equivalent fluid model. The results showed that the acoustic and mechanical behavior of CEBs were strongly influenced by the applied compaction pressure including, inter alia, the bulk density of the specimen and the added cement used as stabilizer.

The aim of this paper is to examine the effects of foreign direct investments (FDI) on food security for 55 developing countries in a panel framework over the period 1995-2009. There are various measures of food security that can be used. Our first contribution is to build a composite indicator that synthesizes the food indicators used by the Food and Agriculture Organization to measure the food availability and food utilization. Second, our empirical study is based on a model composed of a food security equation and an agricultural production equation. Our results show that sectoral FDI have different effects on food security. FDI in the agriculture sector improves food security and FDI in the secondary and tertiary sector increases the food insecurity. We found a significant FDI’s spillover through the agricultural production to food security. While the effect is positive with FDI in secondary sector, it is negative for FDI in the tertiary sector.

The growth of low temperature GaN (LT-GaN) layers on GaAs (0 0 1) substrate was performed by metal organic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE) at growth temperature range of 500–800 °C. Laser reflectometry (LR) was employed for in situ monitoring of all growth steps. The simulation of experimental time reflectance traces shows that at the first growth stage, the surface roughness increases to reach a limit value depending on growth temperature. Due to surface roughness profile the growth rate time-dependence was found non negligible at the first growth stage. The investigations of in situ reflectance give more precise measurement of growth rates that yields to thermal activation energy close to 0.12 eV. The ex-situ analyses by spectral reflectance (SR) and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) showed that the better surface morphology was obtained when the GaN buffer layer is grown at lower temperature, while three dimensional (3D) growth mode was observed at higher temperature. A series of high temperature (800 °C) GaN (HT-GaN) layers were grown on different thicknesses of low temperature (550 °C) GaN buffer layer. The results showed that high density of nucleation sites enhances the initial growth rate and improves the morphological quality of GaN active layer.

Various drug residues, pesticides and phthalates are ubiquitous in the environment. Their presence in the environment has attracted considerable attention due to their potential impacts on ecosystem functioning and on public health. In this work, 14 drug residues, 24 pesticides and 6 phthalates have been quantified in three matrices (in the dissolved phase, associated to suspended solid matter (SSM), and in sediment) collected from fifteen watercourses and rivers located in a highly industrialized zone at the cross-border area of Northern France and Belgium. The extractions have been carried out using accelerated solvent extraction (ASE) for solid matrices (SSM and sediment) and using solid phase extraction (SPE) for liquid matrix. The final extract was analyzed using GC-MS technique. Among the three classes of compounds, phthalates have been found at highest level compared to pesticides and drug residues. The Σ6PAE concentrations were ranging from 17.2±2.58 to 179.1±26.9μgL-1 in dissolved phase, from 2.9±0.4 to 21.1±3.2μgL-1 in SSM and from 1.1±0.2 to 11.9±1.8μg g-1dw in sediment. The Σ14drug residue concentrations were lower than 1.3μgL-1 in the dissolved phases, lower than 30ngL-1 associated to SSM and from nondetectable levels to 60.7±9.1ngg-1dw in sediment. For pesticides, all compounds were below the LOQ values in dissolved phase and in sediment, and only EPTC could be quantified in SSM.

International audience; Ain Allega and El Aguiba are among the largest barite-celestite deposits attributed to the Triassic period in Tunisia. They are located in the flysch zone on the eastern edge of the Triassic diapir of Jebel Hamra. The ore body consists of dolomite intensely brecciated and surrounded by marls, clay, gypsum and dolomite which forms the hanging wall of the deposit, and rimmed by Paleocene marls. The ore the surface structure, which in turn controls the mechanism of adsorption and incorporation of minor and trace elements into the growing crystal. For a solid solution, the transitional supersaturation for different growth mechanisms can be significantly different for the two end members. One of the most interesting and intriguing phenomena observed in natural crystals of the (Ba, Sr) SO4 solid solution from this study area is the development of compositional oscillatory zoning, consisting of alternating Ba-rich and Sr-rich layers. The sulfur isotope analyses show significant variability for barite and celestite (from 16.2 to 23 ‰). These values are interpreted as the result of the mixing of two sulfur end-members in the mineralizing fluids, corresponding to thermochemical sulfate reduction of Messinian seawater, together with Triassic sulfate, as sulfur sources. Fluid inclusion studies of celestite show that the BaSO4-SrSO4 solid-solution in both deposits was precipitated from hot saline solution (Th=190±20°C; 16.37 wt. % NaCl equivalent in Ain Allega and 8.2 wt. % NaCl equivalent in El Aguiba). Consequently, the precipitation could be from mixing of basinal brines with magmatic-meteoric fluid. minerals show a cap-rock type mineralization with various forms and types, in particular impregnation in dolomite, breccia cement, replacement of carbonate caprock and open space-filling in the dissolution cavities and fractures. Ore minerals include sphalerite, galena, marcasite and pyrite. Principal gangue minerals are barite, celestite, calcite, dolomite and quartz .The ore minerals are hosted by the Triassic carbonate rocks, which show hydrothermal alteration, dissolution and brecciation. The study of barite-celestite solid-solution shows a bimodal distribution in which the composition is not continuous. Some intermediate compositions are missing; 20-80% SrSO4 for El Aguiba ore deposit and 50-70% SrSO4 for the Ain Allega ore deposit. X-ray diffraction peaks in the BaSO4-SrSO4 series display considerable broadening at intermediate compositions. The unit cell volume varies from 346.97 Å3 in barite (100% BaSO4) to 308.29 Å3 in celestite (100% SrSO4). This variation in cell parameters is attributed to the degree of substitution of barium by strontium since there is less variation between ionic radii of these elements. Consequently, these substitutions caused variation in morphologies, position and d-spacing of peaks (200, 011, 113, 312,122, 112, and 111). Some barite crystals have small-scale, strontium compositional banding which suggests that the crystals responded to regular fluctuations in physiochemical conditions during deposition. The degree of supersaturation in Ba2+ and Sr2+ controls the growth mechanism and consequently

The current study was performed to assess the effects of inorganic mercury (mercuric chloride – HgCl2) on the development of offsprings from intoxicated-mother during pregnancy. In this respect, pregnant rats were chronically treated with HgCl2 at 50 ppm (Hg50) and 100 ppm (Hg100) in drinking water. After parturition, maternal behaviour was recorded during 30 min at 1st to 6th postnatal day (Pnd). The development of their offspring was studied during the first 17 days after birth. Sensorimotor development of pups was measured by different tests: rooting reflex, vibrissae placing response, righting reflex, negative geotaxis, suspension test and rotating grid. Two month after birth, the anxiety of offspring was tested using the elevated plus maze test. Our results indicate that mercury treatment significantly reduced the nursing and increased the time out the nest or drinking and eating. We also showed that prenatal exposure to HgCl2 decreased weight gain. Importantly, the rooting reflex, the development of the vibrissae placing response, the righting reflex, the grip strength and the negative geotaxis behaviour were delayed in the offspring of dams treated with Hg50, the delay being more severe with Hg100. We also found a decrease in anxiety in adulthood. Cross-fostering test support the direct toxic effects of mercury.

International audience; A new inorganic-organic compound [Cu(O2C-CH2-CO2H)2*2H2O] ([Cumal]) was hydrothermally synthesized and characterized by IR spectroscopy, thermal analysis and single crystal X-ray diffraction. [Cumal] is the first three-dimensional compound existing in the system Cu(II)-malonic acid-H2O. Its framework is built up through carboxyl bridged copper where CuO6 octahedra are elongated with an almost D4h symmetry (4+2) due to the Jahn-Teller effect. The magnetic properties were studied by measuring its magnetic susceptibility in the temperature range of 2-300 K indicating the existence of weak ferromagnetic interactions. The electronic structure of [Cumal] was calculated within the density functional theory (DFT) framework. Structural features are well reproduced using DFT structural optimizations and the optical spectra, calculated within the dielectric formalism, explain very well the light blue colour of the compound. It is shown that a GGA+U approach with a Ueff value of about 6 eV is necessary for a better correlation with the experiment.

We show that for a monotone dendrite map f : D → D , any ω-limit set is either finite or a minimal Cantor set. We also prove that UR ( f ) = R ( f ) = Λ ( f ) = P ( f ) ¯ where P ( f ) , UR ( f ) , R ( f ) and Λ ( f ) denote the sets of periodic points, uniformly recurrent points, recurrent points and the union of all ω-limit sets respectively. Moreover, we prove that the following properties are equivalent: (i) R ( f ) = D , (ii) R ( f ) ¯ = D and (iii) D ∖ End ( D ) ⊂ P ( f ) .

International audience; This paper describes a general procedure to graft vinylic polymers by surface-initiating photopolymerization (SIPP) on diazonium-modified substrates. We have selected three surface-grafted aryl initiating systems (aryl = benzoyl phenyl (BP), dodecylphenyl (DDP), aminophenyl (AP)). The substrates were gold, stainless steel, glassy carbon and ITO. As previously found, surface-BP in the presence of dimethyl aniline (DMA. co-initiator) is very efficient on all substrates as judged by XPS. The surface-DDP/benzophenone system is extremely interesting as it provides a new method for coating vinylic polymers onto aryl-modified substrates. In this system the grafted DDP groups act as hydrogen donors. The simple gold-AP initiating system is interesting and needs further developments. All surfaces were characterized by XPS and surface compositions were correlated with wettability measurements for the Au-BP-polymethacrylate series. PM-IRRAS permitted to monitor the growth of poly(methacrylic acid) with SIPP time. Finally, adhesion aspects are covered in a preliminary study. We show here that polymer grafts resist complete delamination by the powerful swelling solvent methyl ethyl ketone, particularly when they are crosslinked. This adhesion test has never been applied to polymers bonded to surfaces through aryl diazonium coupling agents. This work constitutes a new step in designing well defined polymer grafts using aryl diazonium-derived photoinitiators. The method could be adapted on demand to a variety of substrates.

International audience; Recent investigations based on bed-by-bed sampling of the Beni Kleb Formation (Fm) of Northern Tunisia (Kimmeridgian-Middle Berriasian) provide new data on Tithonian chitinoidellid associations. Fourteen species from seven genera (Daciella Pop, Borziella Pop, Longicollaria Pop, Dobeniella Pop, Cubanella Pop, Popiella Rehakova and Chitinoidella Doben) are first documented in Tunisia. Their stratigraphic range fits the standards proposed for other Tethyan regions. In addition, three new species are described: Chitinoidella carthagensis sp. nov., Ch. hegarati sp. nov. and Ch. popi sp. nov. They are compared to the recently revised taxa from the southern Carpathian ranges where the chitinoidellid populations were observed at various levels and revealed to be well diversified. The established biozonation is discussed and a phyletic pattern is proposed.

International audience; Mixed convection during evaporation of a water falling film in a vertical concentric annulus was studied numerically. The water thin film falls on the inner tube and is subjected to a constant heat flux density, whereas the outer cylinder is assumed to be insulated and dry. An imposed air flow circulates within the gap between the two concentric tubes. The objective of this work is to understand the evaporation phenomenon in order to improve the average evaporated mass flux density and heat and mass transfer. Conservative equations governing the gas phase are solved numerically using the finite volume method. In the liquid phase, a method based on local heat and mass balances on each level is used. Thus, the following liquid film parameters, feed water mass flow, feed temperature and heat flux density, are taken into account. The obtained results are analyzed to emphasize and evaluate the influence of the previous operating parameters and the annulus curvature on the effective evaporation surface and on the mass flux density of evaporated water.

We estimate the rate of decay of the difference between a solution and its limiting equilibrium for the following abstract second order problem u ¨ ( t ) + g ( u ˙ ( t ) ) + M ( u ( t ) ) = 0 , t ∈ R + , where M is the gradient operator of a non-negative functional and g is a non-linear damping operator, under some conditions relating the Łojasiewicz exponent of the functional and the growth of the damping around the origin. The main result is applied to non-linear wave or plate equations, in some cases direct constructive proofs of the Łojasiewicz gradient inequality are given, applicable to some non-analytic functionals in presence of multiple critical points. At the end similar results are obtained when a fast decaying source term is added in the right-hand side.

International audience; This paper presents a new strategy for formation control of multiple mobile robots to capture a target including self organization. A decentralized formation control is proposed to make the system more reliable and fault-tolerant. Acting on a hostile environnement, each robot of the formation has to avoid an obstacle. For that, we propose a new technique that modifies the trajectory behavior while preserving the formation convergence. LaSalle's theorem is applied to construct the proposed smooth continuous feedback control, to surround the target. The validity of convergence and obstacle avoidance is supported by computer simulation.

International audience; The world-wide and rapidly growing use of mobile phones has raised serious concerns about the biological and health-related effects of radio frequency (RF) radiation, particularly concerns about the effects of RFs upon the nervous system. The goal of this study was conducted to measure cytochrome oxidase (CO) levels using histochemical methods in order to evaluate regional brain metabolic activity in rat brain after exposure to a GSM 900 MHz signal for 45 min/day at a brain-averaged specific absorption rate (SAR) of 1.5 W/Kg or for 15 min/day at a SAR of 6 W/Kg over seven days. Compared to the sham and control cage groups, rats exposed to a GSM signal at 6 W/Kg showed decreased CO activity in some areas of the prefrontal and frontal cortex (infralimbic cortex, prelimbic cortex, primary motor cortex, secondary motor cortex, anterior cingulate cortex areas 1 and 2 (Cg1 and Cg2)), the septum (dorsal and ventral parts of the lateral septal nucleus), the hippocampus (dorsal field CA1, CA2 and CA3 of the hippocampus and dental gyrus) and the posterior cortex (retrosplenial agranular cortex, primary and secondary visual cortex, perirhinal cortex and lateral entorhinal cortex). However, the exposure to GSM at 1.5 W/Kg did not affect brain activity. Our results indicate that 6 W/Kg GSM 900 MHz microwaves may affect brain metabolism and neuronal activity in rats.

International audience; In order to obtain acceptable performances in SOFC, relatively high operating temperatures (~850–1000 °C) are required. That is mainly due to the low ionic conductivity of YSZ electrolyte. These temperature conditions are at the origin of the cell degradation, which justify the search for alternative electrolytes presenting the same performances but at lower temperature (~800 °C). It is in this context that the oxyapatites of general formula La10−xSi6−yAlyO27−3x/2−y/2 (x = 0, 0.67; y = 0.25, 0.50, 0.75) are studied in this work. The solid solutions are prepared by sintering the oxide powders at 1600 °C. All samples have shown a hexagonal structure with an increase in the cell parameters with the aluminium content. Electrical properties are determined by impedance spectroscopy between 169 and 790 °C. The results are treated by separating the bulk and grain boundary conductivities between 169 and 500 °C and in the form of total (bulk + grain boundary) conductivity between 500 and 790 °C. The respective influences of the activation energy and the pre-exponential factor on conductivity are analyzed. Activation energies are about 0.65 eV suggesting an interstitial mechanism. No variation of conductivity is observed with the oxygen partial pressure. Finally, La10Si5.5Al0.5O26.75 shows conductivity higher than that of YSZ at intermediate temperature.

International audience; Les communautés bactériennes associées aux racines dePanicum turgide, exposés à des conditions arides, ont été investis-associée à une combinaison d'approches culturelles et métataxonomiques. Technologie traditionnelle basée sur la culture-ont été utilisées et 32 ​​isolats de racines irradiées ont été identifiés comme appartenant àActinobactéries, Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes et Proteobacteria embranchements. Quatre souches actinobactériennes ont étéRésistant aux rayonnements ionisants (IR) :Microbactériesp. PT8 (4,8 kGy (kGy)),Microcoquesp.PT11 (4,4 kGy),Kocuria rhizophilaPT10 (2,9 kGy) etPromicromonospora paniciPT9T(2,6 kGy), basésur le Ddixdose nécessaire pour une réduction de 90 % des unités formant colonies (UFC). Concernant l'enquêtedes communautés microbiennesin situ, analyses métataxonomiques de la diversité des microorganismes résistants aux IRassociée aux racines irradiées a révélé une dominance marquée des Actinobactéries (46,6%) etProtéobactéries (31,5%) par rapport aux Bacteroidetes (4,6%) et Firmicutes (3,2%). Irradiation gamma nonn'ont fait que modifier la structure des communautés bactériennes, mais ont également affecté leurs propriétés fonctionnelles.Des analyses comparatives des profils métaboliques ont indiqué l'induction de plusieurs voies liées à l'adaptation.au stress oxydatif dans les racines irradiées, comme la réparation de l'ADN, la synthèse de métabolites secondaires, la réactionenzymes atténuant les espèces oxygénées (ROS),etc. P. turgidumest emblématique des plantes adaptées au désert.Jusqu'à présent, aucun autre travail n'a porté sur le profil microbien des racines irradiées de cexérophyte.

International audience; This paper addresses the problem of fixed-time stabilization for a class of fuzzy neutral-type inertial neural networks (FNTINNs) with time-varying delay. By using a novel fixed-time stability theorem for dynamical systems, two different feedback control laws are designed to ensure the fixed-time stabilization of FNTINNs with time-varying delay. The proposed theoretical results can lead to a better upper settling-time estimation compared to existing results. Finally, three simulation examples are provided to illustrate the validity of the proposed theoretical results.

International audience; The present research deals with the global challenge of managing industrial sludge with respect to sustainability and circular economy principles. It focuses on raw industrial sludge (IS-R) conversion into valuable biochars that can serve as efficient adsorbents for pharmaceuticals in industrial wastewater. Three biochars were produced through sludge pyrolysis at 750 degrees C either without modification (IS-R-B), or after pre-treatment with 1 M solution of ZnCl2 (IS-ZnCl2-B) or FeCl3 (IS-FeCl3-B). Compared to the pristine biochar, the modified sludge-derived biochars (SDBs) showed improved structural, textural, and surface chemical properties. As a result, ISZnCl2-B and IS-FeCl3-B had AMX adsorption capacities of 31.9 and 32.1 mg g-1 which were 41.2% and 42.0% higher than the non-modified biochar, respectively. Moreover, both modified SDBs effectively removed AMX under various experimental conditions, including the presence of competitive ions and over a wide pH range. The AMX removal was found to be spontaneous, endothermic, and primarily controlled by chemical reactions on a monolayer system. These findings suggest that biochars generated from pyrolysis of salt-modified industrial sludge can be used as effective materials for removing pharmaceuticals from water. Therefore, this study supports the concepts of circular economy and sustainable development by offering engineering solutions.

International audience; The 2-(3-pyridyl)oxazolo[5,4-f]quinoxalines CD-07 and FL-291 are ATP-competitive GSK-3 kinase inhibitors. Here, we investigated the impact of FL-291 on neuroblastoma cell viability and showed that treatment at 10 μM (i.e. ∼500 times the IC50 against the GSK-3 isoforms) has no significant effect on the viability of NSC-34 motoneuron-like cells. A study performed on primary neurons (non-cancer cells) led to similar results. The structures co-crystallized with GSK-3β revealed similar binding modes for FL-291 and CD-07, with their hinge-oriented planar tricyclic system. Both GSK isoforms show the same orientations for the amino acids at the binding pocket except for Phe130 (α) and Phe67 (β), leading to a larger pocket on the opposite side of the hinge region for the α isoform. Calculations of the thermodynamic properties of the binding pockets highlighted the required features of potential ligands; these should have a hydrophobic core (which could be larger in the case of GSK-3β) surrounded by polar areas (a little more polar in the case of GSK-3α). A library of 27 analogs of FL-291 and CD-07 was thus designed and synthesized by taking advantage of this hypothesis. While the introduction of substituents at different positions of the pyridine ring, the replacement of the pyridine by other heterocyclic moieties, or the replacement of the quinoxaline ring by a quinoline moiety did not lead to any improvement, the replacement of the N-(thio)morpholino of FL-291/CD-07 by a slightly more polar N-thiazolidino led to a significant result. Indeed, the new inhibitor MH-124 showed clear selectivity for the α isoform, with IC50 values of 17 nM and 239 nM on GSK-3α and GSK-3β, respectively. Finally, the efficacy of MH-124 was evaluated on two glioblastoma cell lines. Although MH-124 alone did not have a significant impact on cell survival, its addition to temozolomide (TMZ) significantly reduced the TMZ IC50 values on the cells tested. The use of the Bliss model allowed a synergy to be evidenced at certain concentrations.

The hybrid Strandberg complex materials have attracted intensive interest due to their multifunctional properties. In this work, we report the electronic, optical, and magnetocaloric properties of the novel material (C6H10N2)2[Co(H2O)4P2Mo5O23].6H2O. First principle calculations based on the density functional theory (DFT) have been performed using full-potential linearized augmented plane waves (FP-LAPW). The crystals of (C6H10N2)2[Co(H2O)4P2Mo5O23].6H2O with triclinic structure were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD). The profiles of the density of states (DOS), the optical spectra including the real and imaginary part of the dielectric function, and the measured magnetocaloric properties were presented and analyzed in detail. The results found are in agreement with experimental measurements. As pertinent results, the compound presents a high absorption coefficient in the visible range. A systematic analysis of the experimental and theoretical results shows a good bandgap, a high optical property, and a low magnetocaloric effect which reveals promising original material in optoelectronic, and photovoltaic applications.

International audience; The paper reports the preparation and structural characterization of a novel hybrid complex (C9H15N3)[CuCl4(H2O)] grown by slow evaporation technique in aqueous solution at room temperature and characterized by X-ray diffraction, spectroscopy measurement, optical absorption, photoluminescence proprieties, Hirshfeld surface analysis, thermal and biological study. The title organic-inorganic material, (C9H15N3)[CuCl4(H2O)], crystallizes in monoclinic space group P21/n. The crystal arrangement consists of [CuCl4(H2O)]n 2n - chains spreading alone c axis at x = 1/2 and y = 1/2. To build the three-dimensionality of the structure, the organic cations are linked to the chains through hydrogen bond type N - H middotmiddotmiddotCl, OW1 - H middotmiddotmiddotCl and C - H middotmiddotmiddotCl. The new prepared compound was screened for its antioxidant activity. The Photoluminescence proprieties were also reported. The nature and proportion of contacts and the rapport of enrichment in the crystal packing were studied by the Hirshfeld surfaces. The vibrational properties FT-IR and UV-VIS spectral analyses of present compound have been researched by theoretical calcula-tions. Energy gap (Eg) of the molecule was found using LUMO and HOMO calculation. The local reactivity analyses (Fukui functions) were evaluated to identify the reactive sites in the protonated organic part. In-termolecular interactions were analyzed by molecular electrostatic potential surface (MEPS), the reduced density gradient (RDG), natural bond orbital (NBO) and topological AIM are reported. The thermal anal-ysis (ATD/TG) reveals the decomposition of title compound. The NBO analysis of title compound shows that the maximum energy is equal to 37.61 Kcal.mol -1 confirmed the charge transfer between organic and inorganic groups. The activation of thermodynamic parameters is calculated by DFT/ B3LYP/LanL2DZ. Photoluminescence measurements (PL) showed two peaks at around 331 and 393 nm. The biological ac-tivities of (C9H15N3)[CuCl4(H2O)] were investigated by DPPH and ABTS tests. Finally, docking studies have been conducted to predict 2PPCU anti-tubercular activity and as a potential therapeutic target for anti-cancer treatment against transaminase-Bio A and VEGFR-2 kinase inhibitor respectively type PDB's.(c) 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

International audience; We report in this study the influence of green solvents (water and DMSO) effect in structural parameters, frontier molecular orbital's (FMO's) and molecular electrostatic potential surface analysis (MEPS) of 1-ethylpiperazine-1,4-diium bis(hydrogenoxalate) (1EPBH) compound by means of DFT method. The compound has been examined by signal-crystal X-ray diffraction (XRD), infrared (IR) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. The theoretical calculations were carried out by density functional theory (DFT) method by using B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p) as the basis set. The Atom Centered Density Matrix propagation (ADMP) dynamic approach has been used. Based on the density functional theory calculation, a series of studies have been carried out to determine the noncovalent interactions in the 1EPBH compound. The types and strengths of interactions between hydrogen bonds have been established using the atoms in molecule method (AIM), electron localization function (ELF) and localization orbital locator (LOL). The average local ionization energy (ALIE) study has been carried out. The Hirsfeld surface analysis has been employed to examine the nature of intermolecular contacts in the crystal structure. The strong and weak attractive, repulsive, and van der Waals interactions in the 1EPBH molecule have been determined by the reduced density gradient method (RDG). The natural bonding orbital (NBO) and the Mulliken charges have been computed for the investigated molecule with the density functional theory. The 13C and 1H nuclear magnetic resonance has been applied to confirm the molecular structure. Fourier-transform (IR) and ultraviolet–visible spectra (UV–visible) of the 1EPBH compound has been recorded in the ranges of 4000–500 cm−1 and 250–400 nm, respectively. Finally, the biological activities of 1-Ethylpiperazine-1,4-diium bis(hydrogenoxalate) have been examined. It is shown that the investigated compound (chosen as a ligand) can serve as an important epilepsy and cancer inhibitor.

International audience; A series of novel ionic liquids (ILs) based on N-allyl-N,N-dimethylethylammonium (N112A+) are synthesized and characterized. Their physical properties and electrochemical stabilities are investigated and discussed toward the anion constituents. Herein, four anions are studied including one planar non-fluorinated anion (DCA−) and three fluorinated anions (TFSI−, OTf−, TFA−). The experimental properties are compared to those predicted by density functional theory (DFT) calculations. All salts are found to be low melting compounds while being liquid at room temperature. N112A-TFSI is the most thermally stable (Td = 329 °C) and N112A-TFA is the least stable (Td = 158 °C). The temperature effect on ILs transport properties is determined and discussed using the ionicity and Angell's fragility concepts. Among the good and fragile prepared ILs, N112A –DCA exhibits outstanding transport properties thanks to the low dynamic viscosity (19.97 mPa·s) and high ionic conductivity (19.20 mS·cm−1) reached at 298 K. These suitable properties are explained, from theoretical calculations, by the lower intermolecular interactions of ion-pairs in N112A –DCA and quantified by the decreased value of dispersion ion-pairs interaction energy (−6 kJ·mol−1). The electrochemical stability window (ESW) of selected ILs is strongly affected by the anion structure. The ESW values are found to decrease in the following order N112A-TFSI (4.40 V) > N112A-OTf (3.80 V) > N112A-DCA (3.00 V) > N112A-TFA (2.18 V). Taking into account the most likely oxidation and reduction reactions, the ESWs are discussed and validated by the density-based solvent model (SMD). The experimental values of ESWs are very close to the predicted ones.

International audience; The structure of bis(2-phenylethylammonium) chromate (VI) (2phCr) was determined from X-ray diffraction data. The compound crystallizes in the monoclinic system (space group C2/c) with the lattice parameters a = 38.136 (2) Å b = 11.2334 (6) Å c = 8.1643 (4) Å; β = 98.480 (2) V = 3459.3 (3) Å 3 and Z = 8. The structure was solved from 3358 independent reflections with R = 0.034 and Rw = 0.1089. The structure consists of discrete anions (CrO 4 2− ) stacked in layers parallel to (b, c) plane at x = 1/4 and 3/4. These anions are connected to the 2-phenylethylammonium cations through N–H⋯O and C–H⋯O hydrogen bonds, forming a two-dimensional arrangement. Crystal structure and spectroscopic studies are reported for the 2phCr. In addition, Hirshfeld surfaces and two-dimensional fingerprint plots estimate the intermolecular interactions accountable for the generation of crystal packing. Furthermore, the title compound was screened for antibacterial activities against five pathogenic strains namely Escherichia coli ATCC 8739, Salmonella typhimurium ATCC 14028, Staphylococus aureus ATCC 6538, Enterococcus feacium ATCC 19434 and Streptocoque B (Sreptococcus agalactiae) and antifungal activities against a clinical strain called Candida albicans ATCC 10231, corroborating significant activity. In silico investigation of bioactivity of 2phCr was performed via molecular docking analysis with four types of secreted aspartic proteinases (SAP, SAP1, SAP3, and SAP5) from Candida albicans to explore the antifungal properties in comparison to behavior of known antifungals used to treat Candida albicans, and with three types of β-ketoacyl acyl carrier protein synthase enzymes (KAS I (FabB), KAS II (FabF) and KAS III (FabH)) from Escherichia coli in comparison with that of aminothiazole, thilactomycin, and cerulerin antimicrobials. In addition, the complete assignments for 2phCr are reported considering monodentate coordination for the chromate group.

International audience; Purpose:We studied the effect of two interval training programs of varying intensities (100% vs. 110% of maximal aerobic velocity [MAV]) on hematocrit (Ht), hemoglobin (Hb), and plasma volume variations (PVV) in young men.Methods: Thirty-nine male volunteered were assigned to two control groups (CG100, n = 9 and CG110, n = 10), and two training groups (one with 100% MAV [EG100, n = 10] and one with 110% MAV [EG110, n = 10]). All participants performed a maximal graded exercise test and an intermittent exercise (IE) protocol. Blood was collected at rest, at the end of the IE and after 15 min of recovery, before and after 8-weeks-training. Interval training (IT) sessions consist of 30s IE run at 100% or 110% MAV with 30s recovery at 50% MAV.Results: After training, time to exhaustion (TTE) was improved in EG110 (+613.7) and EG100 (+397.5). This improvement was greater in EG110 than EG100 (p

International audience; We investigated the occurrence, origin, and potential ecological risk of dissolved polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyl (PCBs) and organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) in 27 surface water samples collected from a highly anthropized and industrialized area in the Gulf of Gabès (Tunisia, Southern Mediterranean Sea) in October–November 2017. The results demonstrated a wide range of concentrations (ng L−1) with the following decreasing order: Ʃ16 PAHs (17.6–71.2) > Ʃ20 PCBs (2.9–33.7) > Ʃ6 DDTs (1.1–12.1) > Ʃ4 HCHs (1.1–14.8). Selected diagnostic ratios indicated a mixture of both pyrolytic and petrogenic sources of PAHs, with a predominance of petrogenic sources. PCB compositions showed distinct contamination signatures for tetra- to hepta-chlorinated PCBs, characteristic of contamination by commercial (Aroclor) PCB mixtures. The dominant OCP congeners were γ-HCH, 2,4′-DDD and 2,4′-DDE, reflecting past use of Lindane and DDTs in the study area. Agricultural, industrial and domestic activities, as well as atmospheric transport are identified as potential sources of PAHs, PCBs and OCPs in surface waters of the Gulf of Gabès. Toxic equivalents (TEQs) suggested a low carcinogenic potential for PAHs in seawater samples (mean of 0.14 ng TEQ L−1). Evaluation of risk coefficients revealed low risk for PAHs and PCBs, and moderate to severe risk for OCPs.

The compound [TMA]2SnBr6 (TMA = Tetramethylammonium = N(CH3)4) has been synthesized by slow evaporation and its crystal structure was determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction. The [TMA]2SnBr6 crystallizes in the cubic system (Fm 3 ¯ m space group) with cell parameter a = 13.2554(15) A. It can be considered as derived from a perovskite structure in which half of the octahedral symmetry sites are occupied by [SnBr6]2- octahedra and half by vacancies. The purity of the compound was checked by EDS measurement and Rietveld refinements. The Raman and infrared spectra at room temperature are recorded in the wavenumber range 10–3600 cm−1 and 400-4000 cm−1, respectively. Ab-initio calculations have been performed using the Gaussian 98 program at room temperature. Hartree-Fock (HF) and B3LYP density functional theory (DFT) methods with 6-31G (d) and LanL2DZ basis sets were used to obtain equilibrium geometry and the fundamental vibrational frequencies and spectroscopic intensities of the free polyhedra [(N(CH3)4]+ and [SnBr6]2-. The overall results are consistent with the experimental ones and group theory analysis, but also clearly show extra features that suggest disorder of the methyl groups of TMA.

International audience; In this paper, we tackle the task of similar question retrieval (QR) which is essential for Community Question Answering (cQA) and aims to retrieve historical questions that are semantically equivalent to the new queries. Over time, with the sharp increase of community archives and the accumulation of duplicated questions, the QR problem has become increasingly challenging due to the shortness of the community questions as well as the word mismatch problem as users can formulate the same query using different wording. Although many efforts have been devoted to address this problem, existing methods mostly relied on supervised models which significantly depend on massive training data sets and manual feature engineering. Such methods are chiefly constrained by their specificities that ignore the word order and do not capture enough syntactic and semantic information in questions. In this paper, we rely on Neural Networks (NNs) which use a deep analysis of words and questions to take into consideration the semantics as well as the structure of questions to predict the semantic text similarity. We propose a deep learning approach based on a Siamese architecture with Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks, augmented with an attention mechanism to let the model give different words different attention while modeling questions. We also explore the use of Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) nested within the Siamese architecture to retrieve relevant questions. Different similarity measures were tested to predict the semantic similarity between the the pairs of questions. To evaluate the proposed approach, we conducted experiments on large-scale datasets in English and Arabic.

International audience; The antifungal agent 6-aminocholestanol targets the production of ergosterol, which is the principle sterol in many fungi and protozoans; ergosterol serves many of the same roles as cholesterol in animals. We found that it also is an effective inhibitor of the translation-initiation factor eIF4AI from mouse (eIF4AIMus) and the Trypanosomatid parasite Leishmania (LieIF4A). The eIF4A proteins belong to the DEAD-box family of RNA helicases, which are ATP-dependent RNA-binding proteins and RNA-dependent ATPases. DEAD-box proteins contain a commonly-shared core structure consisting of two linked domains with structural homology to that of recombinant protein A (RecA) and that contain conserved motifs that are involved in RNA and ATP binding, and in the enzymatic activity. The compound inhibits both the ATPase and helicase activities by perturbing ATP and RNA binding, and it is capable of binding other proteins containing nucleic acid-binding sites as well. We undertook kinetic analyses and found that the Leishmania LieIF4A protein binds 6-aminocholestanol with a higher apparent affinity than for ATP, although multiple binding sites were probably involved. Competition experiments with the individual RecA-like domains indicate that the primary binding sites are on RecA-like domain 1, and they include a cavity that we previously identified by molecular modeling of LieIF4A that involve conserved RNA-binding motifs. The compound affects the mammalian and Leishmania proteins differently, which indicates the binding sites and affinities are not the same. Thus, it is possible to develop drugs that target DEAD-box proteins from different organisms even when they are implicated in the same biological process.

The synthesis and the structure of (C10H15N2)4(Li)2(P6O18)(H2O)6 are described. This compound crystallizes in the triclinic system, with the centric space group P-1 and the following unit cell parameters: a = 9.7762(6), b = 10.2502(8), c = 15.2173(11) A, α = 92.588(4), β = 98.855(4), γ = 115.724(4)°, Z = 2 and V = 1346.62(17) A3. The crystal structure has been solved and refined to R = 0.0452 and Rw = 0.1121. [Li2(P6O18)(H2O)]4- entities are associated by strong O H⋯O hydrogen bonds to form inorganic layers lying in the (a, b) plane. These layers are interconnected with the organic entities via N H⋯O and C H⋯O hydrogen bonds. In this atomic arrangement, H bonds between the different species play an important role in the three-dimensional network. The contacts enrichment ratios derived from the Hirshfeld surface analysis show that the crystal packing is stabilized by ionic bridges Li+ … O, strong N/O H⋯O hydrogen bonds but also hydrophobic interactions between the two independant 1-phenylpiperazine-1,4-dium ligands. The Molecular Electrostatic Potential (MEP) maps and the HOMO and LUMO energy gaps of the new compound were computed. The title compound was further characterized by FT-IR and NMR spectroscopies. The crystal symmetry was confirmed by 31P and 7Li MAS NMR and the vibrational absorption bands were identified by infrared spectroscopy. The new compound was also characterized by thermal analysis to determine the thermal behavior.

The present work proposes to investigate the impact of a turbulent round jet on a disk. The disk diameter is one order of magnitude larger than the jet diameter but small enough to avoid the formation of a circular hydraulic jump. The case of a smooth disk is first studied as the reference case. We then report results obtained with a disk engraved along its circumference by a number N of radial grooves. The grooves are used to split the liquid sheet into multiple jets. According to the incoming flow rate Q and to the geometry of the groove, the number of jets n can be stable and corresponds to 2 N jets and N jets, or variable, i.e. merged jets (mixed zone). Phase diagrams ( Q , n ) are deduced from measurements for different lengths of the groove. Finally, the obtained droplets are characterized in terms of diameters and velocities.

Highlights • AIV and IBV co-infection led to decreased growth of both viruses. • During super-infection, the second virus decreased the growth of the first virus. • The level of secreted IL-1beta varies, depending on the experimental conditions., Background Low pathogenic avian influenza (LPAI) H9N2 and infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) are important pathogens of poultry, causing important economic losses for the sector. Replication interference between these two viruses was described using cell cultures (CC) and embryonated chicken eggs (ECE). Chicken embryo lung (CEL) and ECE were simultaneously or sequentially infected with IBV vaccine strain (H120) and LPAIV-H9N2 (A/Ck/TUN/145/2012) to evaluate viral interactionsin vitro and in ovo, respectively. Real-time RT-PCR was developed to specifically quantify both AIV and IBV genomes as well as viral gene copy numbers during mixed infections. The amount of IL-1 beta, in supernatants of co-infected cell cultures, was determined using an ELISA assay. Results Quantitative results of AIV and IBV co-infection showed that interferences between the two viruses yielded decreased viral growth. However, in the case of super-infection, the second virus, either AIV or IBV, induced a decrease in the growth of the first inoculated virus. Conclusion It appears that either AIV or IBV has a negative impact on the other virus growth when they are inoculated simultaneously or sequentially. The ELISA results showed that higher level of secreted IL-1beta varies, depending on the viral interference conditions between both viruses, during mixed infections.

A series of conjugated meso-porphyrin dendrimers containing conjugated fluorenyl dendrons, incorporating overall either four (3) or eight (4) fluorenyl units have been synthesized and characterized. These new molecular architectures are based on a central meso-tetra(thien-2-yl)porphyrin core (TThP). Their linear optical properties, absorption and photoluminescence, as well as selected nonlinear optical properties, were investigated and compared to those of the unsubstituted meso-(thien-2-yl)porphyrin core (5) and also to those of previously reported analogues featuring 1,4-phenylene groups (1 and 2) in place of 2,5-thienylene moieties. The positive role of these thienylene linkers over phenylene linkers on the two-photon absorption (2PA) cross-sections is clearly evidenced.

International audience; Electron transport properties and thermal stability of Ni33.3Zr66.7 metallic glass (MG) have been studied using an original device for simultaneous measurements of electrical resistivity and absolute thermoelectric power (ATP) controlled by a LabView software written by one of us. The electrical resistivity and absolute thermoelectric power were measured simultaneously and very accurately over a temperature range from 25 to 400 °C with a nominal heating rate of 0.5 K min− 1. The electronic thermal conductivity was also determined using the Wiedemann–Franz law in the same temperature range. Due to its high efficiency, this technique is more and more used because it is characterized by a high sensitivity to detection of the phase transitions related to electronic transport, which is the aim of this study. Analysis of the temperature dependence of the resistivity and ATP of the Ni33.3Zr66.7 glassy ribbons proves the potential of this characterization method to study the thermal behavior of metallic glasses. The crystal structure and the morphology of Ni33.3Zr66.7 metallic glass in the as-quenched state and after heat treatments were studied using X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscope (SEM).

International audience; Wide variety of salt structures –from typical diapirs to large allochthonous salt sheets– are recognized in the Northern Tunisian Atlas. In this study, we present for the first time the presence of a diapiric structure, Bir-El-Afou Salt Structure (BEASS), which has formed in response to strike-slip tectonics. Structural mapping, mesoscale field observations, fault kinematic analysis, and interpretation of gravity data are used to interpret BEASS, which is currently associated with a restraining bend. The present-day NNE– trending restraining stepover is formed as a result of E-W dextral fault system. We assume that the restraining stepover is a product of the inversion of a pre-existing pull-apart basin that formed during the Cretaceous South Tethyan extension. Tectono-sedimentary relationship is used to argue for an early Cretaceous NW-SE regional extension and local transtension. During the opening of the pull-apart basin, salt movement took place in the southwestern corner of the basin which must have thinned due to its extension facilitating diapiric emplacement. Diapir growth during Aptian was followed by brief salt flow from the diapir crest towards the basin forming a salt sheet. A period of Tertiary contraction resulted in the inversion of the pull-apart basin and consequently, squeezing of BEASS.

The drying of sewage sludge is a current environmental problem, not sufficiently described in the literature. Hence, the aim of this work is a numerical study of heat and mass transfers during solar drying of residual sludge. This sludge is assimilated to a porous medium and exposed to a forced convection laminar flow within a horizontal channel. The transfers in the channel and the porous medium are respectively described by the classic equations of forced convection and the Darcy-Brinkman-Forchheimer model. The implicit finite difference method is used to discretize the governing differential equation system. The algebraic systems obtained are solved using the Gauss, Thomas and Gauss-Seidel algorithms. To determine the drying rate, we associate a drying kinetics model. We particularly studied the effects of solar radiation intensity on the space-time evolution of temperature, velocity and mass fraction at the porous medium-fluid interface. Moreover, the evolutions of the Nusselt numbers are represented to characterize the transfers at the sludge surface. This work is completed by a drying kinetics study. Indeed, we represent the effect of solar radiation on the space-time evolution of the drying rate.

Recently, there is a growing interest in the spectral approximation by the Prolate Spheroidal Wave Functions (PSWFs) $��_{n, c},\, c>0.$ This is due to the promising new contributions of these functions in various classical as well as emerging applications from Signal Processing, Geophysics, Numerical Analysis, etc. The PSWFs form a basis with remarkable properties not only for the space of band-limited functions with bandwidth $c,$ but also for the Sobolev space $H^s([-1,1])$. The quality of the spectral approximation and the choice of the parameter $c$ when approximating a function in $H^s([-1,1])$ by its truncated PSWFs series expansion, are the main issues. By considering a function $f\in H^s([-1,1])$ as the restriction to $[-1,1]$ of an almost time-limited and band-limited function, we try to give satisfactory answers to these two issues. Also, we illustrate the different results of this work by some numerical examples., arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1012.3881

[Departement_IRSTEA]Territoires [TR1_IRSTEA]SYNERGIE [Axe_IRSTEA]TETIS-ATTOS; International audience; The present study highlights the potential of multi-temporal X-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) moisture products to be used for the calibration of a model reproducing soil moisture (SM) variations. We propose the MHYSAN model (Modèle de bilan HYdrique des Sols Agricoles Nus) for simulating soil water balance of bare soils. This model was used to simulate surface evaporation fluxes and SM content at daily time scale over a semi-arid, bare agricultural site in Tunisia (North Africa). Two main approaches are considered in this study. Firstly, the MHYSAN model was successfully calibrated for seven sites using continuous thetaprobe measurements at two depths. Then the possibility to extrapolate local SM simulations at distant sites, based on soil texture similarity only, was tested. This extrapolation was assessed using SAR estimates and manual thetaprobe measurements of SM recorded at these distant sites. The results reveal a bias of approximately 0.63% and 3.04%, and an RMSE equal to 6.11% and 4.5%, for the SAR volumetric SM and manual thetaprobe measurements, respectively. In a second approach, the MHYSAN model was calibrated using seven very high resolution SAR (TerraSAR-X) SM outputs ranging over only two months. The simulated SM were validated using continuous thetaprobe measurements during 15 months. Although the SM was measured on only seven different dates for the purposes of calibration, satisfactory results 30 were obtained as a result of the wide range of SM values recorded in these seven images. This led to good overall calibration of the soil parameters, thus demonstrating the considerable potential of Sentinel-1 images for daily soil moisture monitoring using simple models.

International audience; Photoluminescence (PL) and time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL) measurement techniques are used to characterize the size and the density of In 1-x Al x As/Ga 0.67 Al 0.33 As quantum dots (QDs) for different QD aluminium compositions. The integrated photoluminescence intensity (IPL) depends on an excitation light power, decreases with increasing the aluminium proportion emphasizing the QDs surface density decreasing. In TRPL experiments, the influence of QD lateral coupling is evidence in high QD density sample, the radiative lifetime increases with increasing temperatures for sample with a low aluminium proportion, instead, the observed radiative lifetime keep constant for samples with a high aluminium proportions in agreement with the QD zero-dimensional confinement.

International audience; In a previous study, we reported the identification of Hemilipin, the first secreted heterodimeric phospholipase A2 (sPLA2) from Hemiscorpius lepturus scorpion venom and demonstrated its effective inhibition of all angiogenesis key steps in vitro and in vivo. Here, we aimed to characterize a second sPLA2, Hemilipin2, from the same venom and to elucidate its antiangiogenic effect. The protein was purified by chromatography separation and analyzed by MALDI/TOF mass spectrometry. Its N terminal amino acid sequence was determined by Edman degradation method and the enzymatic activity by fatty acids release assay. Hemilipin2 antiangiogenic activity was investigated by studying its effect in vitro on adhesion, migration and capillary like tube formation of Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells (HUVECs) and Human Pulmonary Artery Endothelial Cells (HPAECs); and in vivo on the chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) assay. Data to be presented show that Hemilipin2 is heterodimeric composed by two subunits: the large one has a molecular weight of 12,866 and the small one of 2461 a.m.u. It has a strong calcium-dependent PLA2 activity and impacts angiogenesis in vitro and in vivo without showing any cytotoxic or apoptotic signs. Its chemical modification with p-Bromophenacyl Bromide abolishes the enzymatic activity without affecting the antiangiogenic effect. Furthermore, it has been proved that Hemilipin2 small subunit was able to inhibit blood vessel formation both in vitro and in vivo. These findings may serve as a starting point for the designing of a new generation of specific inhibitor of human angiogenesis at different steps. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

International audience; Two new V-substituted polytungstates of piperazinium derivatives, (H(2)pip)(2)[V2W4O19].4H(2)O (1) and (H(2)pipEtOH)(2)[V2W4O19].4H(2)O(2), (H(2)pip = piperazin-1,4-dium; H(2)pipEtOH = 1-ethylhydroxy-piperazin-1,4-dium), were synthesized in aqueous solution and characterized by ICP and elemental analysis, X-ray diffraction, IR, Raman, UVeVisible, luminescence, DSC and conductivity measurements. X-ray structural and Hirshfeld surface analysis of 1 and 2 with fingerprint plots evidenced polymeric-3Dhydrogen bonded networks of porous extended polyanionic frameworks filled by H2pip and H(2)pipE-tOH dications. Inspection of intermolecular interactions in crystal packing of 1 and 2, via Hirshfeld surface analysis reveals that about two-thirds of the close contacts are associated with O...H/H...O intermolecular interactions. The conductivity and dielectric behavior of both compounds have been studied as a function of temperature and frequency. The electrical analysis shows that the Nyquist plots (Z '' versus Z') are well fitted to an equivalent circuit model which consists of a parallel combination of a bulk resistance R and constant phase elements CPE. Besides, the dielectric constants epsilon', epsilon '' and loss tangent (tan(delta)) versus frequency, at several temperatures, show a distribution of relaxation times. Furthermore, the activation energy responsible for relaxation has been evaluated and found to be close to the conductivity. Moreover, the biological properties of both compounds were investigated showing promising antibacterial and antifungal activities. (C) 2016 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.

International audience; Barbary red deer (Cervus elaphus barbarus) is a protected rare subspecies of red deer. The study of its Protostrongylidae fauna based only on sporadic necropsy of naturally dead animals is difficult. Therefore diagnosis of lungworms rely mainly on the identification of the first stage larvae (L1). The L1 of the different species are not readily diagnosed on morphological basis since much variation is recorded within and among dorsal-spined larvae belonging to various species. The aim of this study was to identify the dorsal-spined lungworm larvae of the Barbary red deer. A discriminant function was established, using the measurements of L1 lungworms recorded from red deer in the literature, then applied to identify 220 dorsal-spined larvae extracted from 25 Tunisian Barbary red deer fresh fecal samples. Also the ITS2 region of rDNA of four pools of larvae (n = 25-60) were amplified, sequenced and analyzed. Using discriminant analysis of morphological traits, Elaphostrongylus cervi and Varestongylus sagittatus were identified. Molecular identification confirmed the presence of E. cervi which is the most prevalent species. This study represents the first identification of V. sagittatus and E. cervi in North Africa.

International audience; Hybrid Metal Organic-Frameworks (MOF)/polymer materials have gathered many researcher's consideration thanks to their varied functionalities and high processability. Herein, Metal Organic Frameworks (MOFs) have been successfully incorporated into an acrylate polymer network by photopolymerization upon mild visible light irradiation at 405 nm. The synthesized MOF/polymer composites were very efficient for Acid Black removal from water reaching 96% of decomposition after 30 and 45 min of UV-Lamp irradiation in the presence of MIL-53(Cr)/polymer and HKUSTI-1(Cu)/polymer composites, respectively. Probing further, the photo-composites were characterized by several techniques including Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA), Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Energy-dispersive X-ray 2 analyses (EDX), X-Ray Diffraction analysis (DRX), Brunauer, Emmett and Teller (BET) specific surface area, Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA) and UV-Visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. The different methods used to characterized the MOF-containing polymers revealed these polymers to exhibit a high rigidity, an excellent thermal stability, an interesting band gap energy as well as an exceptional stability after their reuse for many photocatalytic treatment cycles.