A GIS-based on application of Monte Carlo and multi-criteria decision-making approach for site suitability analysis of solar-hydrogen production: Case of Cameroon.

This article analyzes and compares three methodologies for identifying suitable regions for solar hydrogen production using photovoltaic panels: AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process), FAHP (Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process), and MC-FAHP (Monte Carlo FAHP), integrated with GIS (Geographic Information Systems). The study employs ten criteria across technical (Global Horizontal Irradiance, temperature, slope, elevation, orientation), economic (distance from transportation and electrical networks), and social (population density, proximity to residential areas) factors. Environmental and exclusion criteria define restrictive zones.

Assessment of concentrated solar power (CSP) generation potential in Cameroon using a Multi-Criteria Analysis Method and Geographic Information System (GIS).

This research aims to identify wet-cooled CSP (Concentrated Solar Power) solar power plants connected to the existing electricity grid in Cameroon. This study uses a hybrid approach which combines an MDCM-AHP method (Multi-Criteria Analysis Method - Hierarchical Analysis Process) and a GIS (Geographic Information System). The elements studied are the climate (Direct Normal Irradiance (DNI), temperature), orography (slope and elevation) and location (proximity to the electricity network, proximity to roads and railways, proximity to homes), in order to determine the weight of these different factors and combine them to obtain the final map.

Monitoring of Cleaning Treatments for Paper Heritage with Raman Spectroscopy Mapping.

In the field of book heritage, it is important to develop cleaning/disinfecting treatments that can slow down the degradation of paper to prevent evident and irreversible damage. The objectives of the cleaning treatments are to remove external contaminants and oxidation and decomposition products of the paper, but these processes must not modify the unique characteristics of the book heritage resulting in irreversible changes in the structure of the paper. Recently, several innovative cleaning treatments were developed with the aim of being minimally invasive; however, to assess the effect of these treatments on paper, it is necessary to use a diagnostic non-destructive, rapid, and affordable process.

Interfacing Arduino Boards with Optical Sensor Arrays: Overview and Realization of an Accurate Solar Compass.

In this paper, an overview of the potentiality of Arduino boards is presented, together with a description of the Arduino interfacing with light multi-sensors. These sensors can be arranged in linear arrays or in a matrix configuration (CCD or CMOS type cameras) and are equipped with tens, hundreds, or even thousands of elements whose sizes range from a few microns to tens of microns. The use of these sensors requires electronics that have high time accuracy, since they work through regular pulses sent by an external source and, furthermore, have the ability to digitize and store voltage signals precisely and quickly.

Combined Use of Ionic Liquid-Based Aqueous Biphasic Systems and Microfluidic Devices for the Detection of Prostate-Specific Antigen.

Prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the cancer types that most affects males worldwide and is among the highest contributors to cancer mortality rates. Therefore, there is an urgent need to find strategies to improve the diagnosis of PCa. Microtechnologies have been gaining ground in biomedical devices, with microfluidics and lab-on-chip systems potentially revolutionizing medical diagnostics.

Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders in Patients with Rheumatic Heart Disease: Unveiling what is Beyond Cardiac Manifestations.

Background: Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) is the most serious manifestation of rheumatic fever, which may also affect the brain. The current study assessed the prevalence of neuropsychiatric manifestations in patients with RHD, including clinical features associated with basal ganglia motor dysfunction (BGMD).

Methods: We conducted neurologic and psychiatric assessments in consecutive patients with RHD referred to a tertiary center for heart valve diseases.

Early Experience with Ovation Alto Stent-Graft.

Background: Alto is the latest generation of the Ovation stent-graft platform for endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR). Its ultra-low profile and its proximal sealing zone close to the lowest renal artery (≥7 mm) increase standard EVAR eligibility. We report early clinical and technical outcomes with the Alto stent-graft in our University Hospital Center after CE Mark approval in August 2020.

Fibropapillomatosis Prevalence and Distribution in Immature Green Turtles (Chelonia mydas) in Martinique Island (Lesser Antilles).

Fibropapillomatosis (FP) threatens the survival of green turtle (Chelonia mydas) populations at a global scale, and human activities are regularly pointed as causes of high FP prevalence. However, the association of ecological factors with the disease's severity in complex coastal systems has not been well established and requires further studies. Based on a set of 405 individuals caught over ten years, this preliminary study provides the first insight of FP in Martinique Island, which is a critical development area for immature green turtles.

Converting a smartphone into an accurate solar compass.

We have developed an app, named Sunpass, that is able to convert every smartphone into a solar compass. Sunpass uses input data from the smartphone sensors, calculates the Sun position, and elaborates data to give the desired information. The azimuth values measured by a smartphone equipped with Sunpass show a typical accuracy of 0.

A Polymer Physics Model to Dissect Genome Organization in Healthy and Pathological Phenotypes.

Novel technologies revealed a nontrivial spatial organization of the chromosomes within the cell nucleus, which includes different levels of compartmentalization and architectural patterns. Notably, such complex three-dimensional structure plays a crucial role in vital biological functions and its alterations can produce extensive rewiring of genomic regulatory regions, thus leading to gene misexpression and disease. Here, we show that theoretical and computational approaches, based on polymer physics, can be employed to dissect chromatin contacts in three-dimensional space and to predict the effects of pathogenic structural variants on the genome architecture.

Incidence and predictors of stroke in patients with rheumatic heart disease.

Objective: Ischaemic stroke is a severe complication of rheumatic heart disease (RHD), which may result in permanent disability and death. This study aimed to assess the incidence and predictors of stroke in patients with RHD in the current era of evidence-based recommendations for prevention.

Methods: Consecutive patients with RHD diagnosed by clinical and echocardiographic criteria were selected.

Fine scale geographic residence and annual primary production drive body condition of wild immature green turtles () in Martinique Island (Lesser Antilles).

The change of animal biometrics (body mass and body size) can reveal important information about their living environment as well as determine the survival potential and reproductive success of individuals and thus the persistence of populations. However, weighing individuals like marine turtles in the field presents important logistical difficulties. In this context, estimating body mass (BM) based on body size is a crucial issue.

Elongation of the styloid processes in kidney-transplanted patients: The role of ectopic calcification as possible cause of Eagle syndrome.

: To investigate the relationship between the presence of ectopic calcification in the elongation of the styloid process (SP) and its possible clinical manifestation (Eagle syndrome) in a population of kidney-transplant patients previously treated with hemodialysis.: Digital orthopantomography of 92 kidney-transplanted patients and 68 control subjects were analyzed to measure the length of SPs. Calcium, phosphate, alkaline phosphatase, and parathyroid hormone (PTH) blood levels were also available for comparison.

Connecting paths between juvenile and adult habitats in the Atlantic green turtle using genetics and satellite tracking.

Although it is commonly assumed that female sea turtles always return to the beach they hatched, the pathways they use during the years preceding their first reproduction and their natal origins are most often unknown, as it is the case for juvenile green turtles found in Martinique waters in the Caribbean. Given the oceanic circulation of the Guiana current flowing toward Martinique and the presence of important nesting sites for this species in Suriname and French Guiana, we may assume that a large proportion of the juvenile green turtles found in Martinique are originating from the Suriname-French Guiana beaches. To confirm this hypothesis, we performed mixed stock analysis (MSA) on 40 green turtles sampled in Martinique Island and satellite tracked 31 juvenile green turtles tagged in Martinique to (a) assess their natal origin and (b) identify their destination.

Performance of an electro-optical solar compass in partially obscured Sun conditions.

Solar compasses are designed to accurately find true North on sunny days. However, no data on their performance are available when sunlight is partially blocked, e.g.

Electro-optical sun compass with a very high degree of accuracy.

We present a novel electro-optical solar compass that is able to determine the true North direction with an accuracy better than 1/100 of degree, superior to that of any other magnetic or electronic compass that does not resort to differential GPS. The compass has an electronic sensor to determine the line of sight of the Sun and a simple but effective algorithm to calculate the position of the Sun. The excellent results obtained during the experimental tests demonstrate the advantages of this compass, which is also compact and not expensive.

Contact X-ray microscopy of living cells by using LiF crystal as imaging detector.

In this paper, the use of lithium fluoride (LiF) as imaging radiation detector to analyse living cells by single-shot soft X-ray contact microscopy is presented. High resolved X-ray images on LiF of cyanobacterium Leptolyngbya VRUC135, two unicellular microalgae of the genus Chlamydomonas and mouse macrophage cells (line RAW 264.7) have been obtained utilizing X-ray radiation in the water window energy range from a laser plasma source.

MCP-1 in psoriatic patients: effect of biological therapy.

Background: Monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) is a chemokine locally and systemically augmented in psoriasis. A single nucleotide polymorphism in MCP-1 promoter region -2518A→G is associated with higher gene expression.

Objective: The aim was to evaluate MCP-1 plasma level in psoriatic patients and to relate any association in plasmatic and cutaneous MCP-1 with clinical improvement due to biological drugs.

Abnormal isoaspartyl residues in erythrocyte membranes from psoriatic patients.

Spontaneous protein deamidation of labile asparagines (Asn), generating abnormal isoaspartyl residues (IsoAsp), is associated with cell aging and enhanced by an oxidative microenvironment. The presence of isopeptide bonds impairs protein structure/function and can trigger autoimmune responses. To minimize the damage, IsoAsp can be "repaired" by a specific L-isoaspartate-(D-aspartate)-protein-O-methyltransferase.

Detection of lead in Zea mays by dual-energy X-ray microtomography at the SYRMEP beamline of the ELETTRA synchrotron and by atomic absorption spectroscopy.

This study is related to the application of the X-ray dual-energy microradiography technique together with the atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) for the detection of lead on Zea mays stem, ear, root, and leaf samples. To highlight the places with lead intake, the planar radiographs taken with monochromatic X-ray radiation in absorption regime with photon energy below and above the absorption edge of a given chemical element, respectively, are analyzed and processed. To recognize the biological structures involved in the intake, the dual-energy images with the lead signal have been compared with the optical images of the same Z.

X-ray microscopy of plant cells by using LiF crystal as a detector.

A lithium fluoride (LiF) crystal has been utilized as a new soft X-ray detector to image different biological samples at a high spatial resolution. This new type of image detector for X-ray microscopy has many interesting properties: high resolution (nanometer scale), permanent storage of images, the ability to clear the image and reuse the LiF crystal, and high contrast with greater dynamic range. Cells of the unicellular green algae Chlamydomonas dysosmos and Chlorella sorokiniana, and pollen grains of Olea europea have been used as biological materials for imaging.

Diffraction of x rays in capillary optics.

Propagation of x rays generated by a small-diameter incoherent source through the capillary waveguide that satisfies the multimode condition is studied with the Fresnel-Kirchhoff diffraction theory. The strong influence of diffraction on the propagation is demonstrated. The diffraction phenomenon is manifested by the appearance of diffraction fringes in both the guide channel and the far-field zone of the capillary output.

SNOM images of X-ray radiographs at nano-scale stored in a thin layer of lithium fluoride.

In this work, we report a method to observe soft X-ray radiographs at nanoscale of various kind of samples, biological and metallic, stored in a thin layer of lithium fluoride, employing scanning near-field optical microscopy with an optical resolution that reaches 50 nm. Lithium fluoride material works as a novel image detector for X-ray nano-radiographs, due to the fact that extreme ultraviolet radiation and soft X-rays efficiently produce stable point defects emitting optically stimulated visible luminescence in a thin surface layer. The bi-dimensional distribution of the so-created defects depends on the local nanostructure of the investigated sample.

Qualitative detection of Mg content in a leaf of Hedera helix by using X-ray radiation from a laser plasma source.

In this article, a method to reveal the presence of Mg content inside the different parts of leaves of Hedera helix is presented. In fact a sample of a Hedera helix's leaf, commonly characterized by a green and a white side, is analyzed under X-ray radiation. The presence of two zones with different colors in the Hedera helix's leaf has not been explained.