A fibrous cellulose paste formulation to manufacture structural parts using 3D printing by extrusion.

An optimized paste based on short natural cellulose fibers combined with carboxymethyl cellulose at a high dry content (42 wt.%) was implemented as a bio-based material for 3D printing by extrusion. The homogeneous paste exhibited a pronounced thinning behavior and yield stress; it was extruded using a screw extrusion-based direct ink writing system and could easily flow through a small nozzle.

Integration of LaMnO films on platinized silicon substrates for resistive switching applications by PI-MOCVD.

The next generation of electronic devices requires faster operation velocity, higher storage capacity and reduction of the power consumption. In this context, resistive switching memory chips emerge as promising candidates for developing new non-volatile memory modules. Manganites have received increasing interest as memristive material as they exhibit a remarkable switching response.

Emergence of Shear Bands in Confined Granular Systems: Singularity of the -Statistics.

The statistics of grain displacements probability distribution function () during the shear of a granular medium displays an unusual dependence with the shear increment upscaling as recently evinced (see "experimental validation of a nonextensive scaling law in confined granular media"). Basically, the of grain displacements has clear nonextensive (-Gaussian) features at small scales, but approaches to Gaussian characteristics at large shear window scales-the ranulence effect. Here, we extend this analysis studying a larger system (more grains considered in the experimental setup), which exhibits a severe shear band fault during the macroscopic straining.

Estimating misreporting in condom use and its determinants among sex workers: Evidence from the list randomisation method.

Social desirability bias, which is the tendency to underreport socially undesirable health behaviours, significantly distorts information on sensitive behaviours gained from self-reports. We applied the list randomisation method to indirectly elicit condom use among female sex workers and tested it among 651 female sex workers in Senegal, a country where sex workers face high social stigma and where the AIDS epidemic is mainly concentrated among this population. On the basis of our list randomisation, we found that the condom use rate in the last sexual intercourse with a client was 78%, which is significantly lower than the 97% obtained when asked directly in the survey.

Generating conformational transition paths with low potential-energy barriers for proteins.

The knowledge of conformational transition paths in proteins can be useful for understanding protein mechanisms. Recently, we have introduced the As-Rigid-As-Possible (ARAP) interpolation method, for generating interpolation paths between two protein conformations. The method was shown to preserve well the rigidity of the initial conformation along the path.

A 1,2,3-triazolate lithium salt with ionic liquid properties at room temperature.

A triethylene glycol-based 1,2,3-triazolate lithium salt with ionic liquid properties at room temperature is synthesized in three steps including copper-catalysed cycloaddition between alkyne-functionalized monomethoxy-triethylene glycol and azidomethyl pivalate, followed by the deprotection of the methyl pivalate group and further lithiation of the 1H-1,2,3-triazole intermediate. The resulting lithium 1,2,3-triazolate is characterized by NMR spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, thermogravimetric analysis, broadband dielectric spectroscopy, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and cyclic voltamperometry. This approach provides new opportunities for the further development of highly functional molecular and macromolecular lithium salts.

Loter: A Software Package to Infer Local Ancestry for a Wide Range of Species.

Admixture between populations provides opportunity to study biological adaptation and phenotypic variation. Admixture studies rely on local ancestry inference for admixed individuals, which consists of computing at each locus the number of copies that originate from ancestral source populations. Existing software packages for local ancestry inference are tuned to provide accurate results on human data and recent admixture events.

Simulating aggregates of bivalents in 2n = 40 mouse meiotic spermatocytes through inhomogeneous site percolation processes.

We show that an inhomogeneous Bernoulli site percolation process running upon a fullerene's dual [Formula: see text] can be used for representing bivalents attached to the nuclear envelope in mouse Mus M. Domesticus 2n = 40 meiotic spermatocytes during pachytene. It is shown that the induced clustering generated by overlapping percolation domains correctly reproduces the probability distribution observed in the experiments (data) after fine tuning the parameters.

Underwater operational noise level emitted by a tidal current turbine and its potential impact on marine fauna.

Marine renewable energy development raised concerns over the impact of underwater noise. Here we assess the acoustic impacts of an operating tidal current turbine (Paimpol-Bréhat site, France) on marine fauna. Its source level (SL) has been measured in situ using 19 drifting transects at distances between 100 m to 2400 m from the turbine.

Quantitative PCR (qPCR) Detection of Mucorales DNA in Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid To Diagnose Pulmonary Mucormycosis.

Early diagnosis and treatment are essential to improving the outcome of mucormycosis. The aim of this retrospective study was to assess the contribution of quantitative PCR detection of Mucorales DNA in bronchoalveolar lavage fluids for early diagnosis of pulmonary mucormycosis. Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid samples ( = 450) from 374 patients with pneumonia and immunosuppressive conditions were analyzed using a combination of 3 quantitative PCR assays targeting the main genera involved in mucormycosis in France (, , and ).

A Review on Recent Developments and Prospects for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction on Hollow Pt-alloy Nanoparticles.

Due to their interesting electrocatalytic properties for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), hollow Pt-alloy nanoparticles (NPs) supported on high-surface-area carbon attract growing interest. However, the suitable synthesis methods and associated mechanisms of formation, the reasons for their enhanced specific activity for the ORR, and the nature of adequate alloying elements and carbon supports for this type of nanocatalysts remain open questions. This Review aims at shedding light on these topics with a special emphasis on hollow PtNi NPs supported onto Vulcan C (PtNi/C).

An experimental model to investigate the biomechanical determinants of pharyngeal mucosa coating during swallowing.

The development of innovative experimental approaches is necessary to gain insights in the complex biomechanics of swallowing. In particular, unraveling the mechanisms of formation of the thin film of bolus coating the pharyngeal mucosa after the ingestion of liquid or semi-liquid food products is an important challenge, with implication in dysphagia treatment and sensory perceptions. The aim here is to propose an original experimental model of swallowing (i) to simulate the peristaltic motions driving the bolus from the oral cavity to the esophagus, (ii) to mimic and vary complex physiological variables of the pharyngeal mucosa (lubrication, deformability and velocity) and (iii) to measure the thickness and the composition of the coatings resulting from bolus flow.

Visible light-induced insulin aggregation on surfaces via photoexcitation of bound thioflavin T.

Insulin is known to form amyloid aggregates when agitated in a hydrophobic container. Amyloid aggregation is routinely measured by the fluorescence of the conformational dye thioflavin T, which, when incorporated into amyloid fibers, fluoresces at 480 nm. The kinetics of amyloid aggregation in general is characterized by an initial lag-phase, during which aggregative nuclei form on the hydrophobic surface.

How can water quality be improved when the urban waste water directive has been fulfilled? A case study of the Lot river (France).

The Lot river, a major tributary of the downstream Garonne river, the largest river on the Northern side of the Pyrenees Mountains, was intensively studied in the 1970s. A pioneering program called "Lot Rivière Claire" provided a diagnosis of water quality at the scale of the whole watershed and proposed an ambitious program to manage nutrient pollution and eutrophication largely caused by urban wastewater releases. Later on, the implementation of European directives from 1991 to 2000 resulted in the nearly complete treatment of point sources of pollution in spite of a doubling of the basin's population.

Enhanced Second-Order Nonlinearity for THz Generation by Resonant Interaction of Exciton-Polariton Rabi Oscillations with Optical Phonons.

Semiconductor microcavities in the strong-coupling regime exhibit an energy scale in the terahertz (THz) frequency range, which is fixed by the Rabi splitting between the upper and lower exciton-polariton states. While this range can be tuned by several orders of magnitude using different excitonic media, the transition between both polaritonic states is dipole forbidden. In this work, we show that, in cadmium telluride microcavities, the Rabi-oscillation-driven THz radiation is actually active without the need for any change in the microcavity design.

ART-RRT: As-Rigid-As-Possible exploration of ligand unbinding pathways.

This article proposes a method to efficiently generate approximate ligand unbinding pathways. It combines an efficient tree-based exploration method with a morphing technique from Computer Graphics for dimensionality reduction. This method is computationally cheap and, unlike many existing approaches, does not require a reaction coordinate to guide the search.

Impact of anthropogenic activities on water quality and plankton communities in the Day River (Red River Delta, Vietnam).

Planktons are a major component of food web structure in aquatic ecosystems. Their distribution and community structure are driven by the combination and interactions between physical, chemical, and biological factors within the environment. In the present study, water quality and the community structure of phytoplankton and zooplankton were monthly investigated from January to December 2015 at 11 sampling sites along the gradient course of the Day River (Red River Delta, northern Vietnam).

Magnesium Anthracene System-Based Electrolyte as a Promoter of High Electrochemical Performance Rechargeable Magnesium Batteries.

The development of efficient, inexpensive, and safe rechargeable batteries for large-scale environmentally benign cells is one of the key requirements to accommodate and satisfy various technological applications. To date, the development of magnesium battery as a promising candidate for next-generation battery systems has been hindered by the lack of high performance and stable electrolyte. In this work, we have developed an original, safe, and high-performance class of electrolytes based on a simple mixture of commercially available compounds, that is, Mg(TFSI), anthracene, MgCl, and diglyme solvent.

Sound levels in a neonatal intensive care unit significantly exceeded recommendations, especially inside incubators.

Aim: This study measured sound levels in a 2008 built French neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and compared them to the 2007 American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommendations. The ultimate aim was to identify factors that could influence noise levels.

Methods: The study measured sound in 17 single or double rooms in the NICU.

Frequency of extreme Sahelian storms tripled since 1982 in satellite observations.

The hydrological cycle is expected to intensify under global warming, with studies reporting more frequent extreme rain events in many regions of the world, and predicting increases in future flood frequency. Such early, predominantly mid-latitude observations are essential because of shortcomings within climate models in their depiction of convective rainfall. A globally important group of intense storms-mesoscale convective systems (MCSs)-poses a particular challenge, because they organize dynamically on spatial scales that cannot be resolved by conventional climate models.