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Air pollution is one of the greatest risks for the health of people. In recent years, platforms based on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for the monitoring of pollution in the air have been studied to deal with this problem, due to several advantages, such as low-costs, security, multitask and ease of deployment. However, due to the limitations in the flying time of the UAVs, these platforms could perform monitoring tasks poorly if the mission is not executed with an adequate strategy and algorithm. Their application can be improved if the UAVs have the ability to perform autonomous monitoring of the areas with a high concentration of the pollutant, or even to locate the pollutant source. This work proposes an algorithm to locate an air pollutant&rsquo, s source by using a UAV. The algorithm has two components: (i) a metaheuristic technique is used to trace the increasing gradient of the pollutant concentration, and (ii) a probabilistic component complements the method by concentrating the search in the most promising areas in the targeted environment. The metaheuristic technique has been selected from a simulation-based comparative analysis between some classical techniques. The probabilistic component uses the Bayesian methodology to build and update a probability map of the pollutant source location, with each new sensor information available, while the UAV navigates in the environment. The proposed solution was tested experimentally with a real quadrotor navigating in a virtual polluted environment. The results show the effectiveness and robustness of the algorithm.

We report on the neutrino mass measurement result from the first four-week science run of the Karlsruhe Tritium Neutrino experiment KATRIN in spring 2019. Beta-decay electrons from a high-purity gaseous molecular tritium source are energy analyzed by a high-resolution MAC-E filter. A fit of the integrated electron spectrum over a narrow interval around the kinematic end point at 18.57 keV gives an effective neutrino mass square value of (−1.0−1.1+0.9) eV2. From this, we derive an upper limit of 1.1 eV (90% confidence level) on the absolute mass scale of neutrinos. This value coincides with the KATRIN sensitivity. It improves upon previous mass limits from kinematic measurements by almost a factor of 2 and provides model-independent input to cosmological studies of structure formation.

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This work proposes an algorithm for air pollutant source localization using an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). The algorithm combines a gradient-based search with a probabilistic method to localize the pollutant source. The design of the gradient-based search component is based on the simulated annealing metaheuristic and allows to trace the plume of pollutant. The probabilistic component contributes to generate a heuristic position of the source location, which is used by the gradient-based metaheuristic to navigate towards the source position, reducing the searching region at each sampling time. The proposed algorithm was tested in a simulated polluted environment. The results showed high effectiveness and robustness of the proposed strategy.

As is the case for many skin diseases, cutaneous sarcoidosis does not currently have an objective measure of disease burden to establish disease severity and response to treatment. The disease has traditionally been assessed by visual skin changes, including induration and erythema; however, such assessments may fail to quantify the total skin granuloma burden, as the majority of the granulomatous inflammation may lie deep within the dermis and not be reliably detected by sight or palpation.The purpose of this pilot study is to evaluate the feasibility of high frequency ultrasound as an objective measure of granuloma burden in cutaneous sarcoidosis and to compare high frequency ultrasound to a previously validated clinical instrument (CSAMI) and histopathology evaluation.A strong correlation was observed between the mean brightness of high frequency ultrasound images and both the lesional CSAMI score (Spearman's rho: 0.9710, p = 0.0012) and percent of dermis with granulomas histopathology (Spearman's rho: 0.8407 p = 0.0361).These results confirm high frequency ultrasound is a valid, objective measure of granuloma burden in cutaneous sarcoidosis and represents a novel, non-invasive measure of disease severity that correlates to the previously validated CSAMI clinical severity score and histopathology evaluation.

Only 1% to 5% of HIV patients who develop a direct complications following. HIV infection can result in stroke via several mechanisms, including opportunistic infection, vasculopathy, cardioembolism, and coagulopathy. It is a rare association, here we report the case of a woman of 69 years immunocompromised who Stroke diagnosed without another etiology found despite an etiologic assessment of the most common causes in our context. The patient had received treatment with an overall favorable evolution. Before a stroke recurrent of unknown etiology should think of HIV as this will allow appropriate treatment. The mechanism can be related with syphilis (Vasculitis) or by direct action of the virus on the central nervous system.

El bajo rendimiento escolar que se ha observado en los estudiantes del área de química, durante los últimos años, permite plantear la hipótesis de que algunos de los factores que inciden pueden estar relacionados con los hábitos y actitudes de estudio de los alumnos

In dieser Arbeit wurden die Trends in der Stabilität von topologisch dichtest gepackten Phasen hinsichtlich atomarer Größendifferenz und Bandbesetzung in Fe-Übergangsmetallsystemen mithilfe von Dichtefunktionaltheorieberechnungen von Bildungsenergien untersucht. Magnetische Ordnung und Druck beeinflussen stark die Stabilität von Laves-Phasen im Fe-Nb-System. Die berechneten Lösungsenergien von leichten Elementen in Fe2Nb-C14-Laves-Phasen zeigen eine große Tendenz von H und N sich im Bulk zu lösen im Gegensatz zu C. Ein Bond-order Potential für das Fe-Nb-System wurde entwickelt und ist in der Lage die Phasenstabilität der topologisch dichtest gepackten Phasen aus den Dichtefunktionaltheorieberechnungen zu reproduzieren.

International audience

International audience

Superconductivity has found many attractive applications in medicine, science, power systems, engineering, transport and electronics. One of the most prominent applications of superconductivity are superconducting magnets e.g. MRI magnets, NMR magnets, accelerator magnets, and magnets for fusion; most applications still use low temperature superconductors. Since the discovery of high temperature superconductivity (HTS) in 1986 there has been a tremendous progress in R&D of HTS material, wires and applications. Especially for power system applications, HTS offers considerable economic benefits. Many HTS demonstrator or prototype applications have been built and successfully tested, and some HTS applications like cables and superconducting fault current limiters seem very close to commercialisation. This paper gives an overview about the present and future HTS applications in power applications, high field magnets and current leads. In addition results of the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe program to develop HTS technology for magnet applications are presented. A special focus is set on the development of HTS magnets for fusion application.

Signaling through vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) receptors (VEGFRs) is a key pathway initiating endothelial cell proliferation and migration resulting in angiogenesis, a requirement for human tumor growth and metastasis. Abrogation of signaling through VEGFR by a variety of approaches has been demonstrated to inhibit angiogenesis and tumor growth. Small molecule inhibitors of VEGFR tyrosine kinase have been shown to inhibit angiogenesis, inhibit tumor growth, and prevent metastases. Our goal was to discover and characterize an p.o. active VEGFR-2 small molecule inhibitor. A novel isothiazole, CP-547,632, was identified as a potent inhibitor of the VEGFR-2 and basic fibroblast growth factor (FGF) kinases (IC(50) = 11 and 9 nM, respectively). It is selective relative to epidermal growth factor receptor, platelet-derived growth factor beta, and other related TKs. It also inhibits VEGF-stimulated autophosphorylation of VEGFR-2 in a whole cell assay with an IC(50) value of 6 nM. After oral administration of CP-547,632 to mice bearing NIH3T3/H-ras tumors, VEGFR-2 phosphorylation in tumors was inhibited in a dose-dependent fashion (EC(50) = 590 ng/ml). These plasma concentrations correlated well with the observed concentrations of the compound necessary to inhibit VEGF-induced corneal angiogenesis in BALB/c mice. A sponge angiogenesis assay was used to directly compare the inhibitory activities of CP-547,632 against FGF receptor 2 or VEGFR-2; this compound potently inhibits both basic FGF and VEGF-induced angiogenesis in vivo. The antitumor efficacy of this agent was evaluated after once daily p.o. administration to athymic mice bearing human xenografts and resulted in as much as 85% tumor growth inhibition. CP-547,632 is a well-tolerated, orally-bioavailable inhibitor presently under clinical investigation for the treatment of human malignancies.

97 patients (25 per cent males, ages ranging from 14 to 73 years, median 38 years) with complaints of chronic fatigue (chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia or/and spasmophilia) have been enrolled in a prospective study to evaluate the Mg status and the dietary intake of Mg. An IV loading test (performed following the Ryzen protocol) showed a Mg deficit in 44 patients. After Mg supplementation in 24 patients, the loading test showed a significant decrease (p = 0.0018) in Mg retention. Mean values of serum Mg, red blood cell Mg and magnesuria showed no significant difference between patients with or without Mg deficiency. No association was found between Mg deficiency, CFS or FM. However serum Mg level was significantly lower in the patients with spasmophilia than in the other patients.