LASERIX: An open facility for developments of EUV and soft X-ray lasers and applications—Developments of XUV sources using high power laser facilities: ILE, ELI

LASERIX is a high-power laser facility leading to High-repetition-rate XUV laser pumped by Titanium:Sapphire laser. The aim of this laser facility is to offer Soft XRLs in the 30-7 nm range and auxiliary IR beam, which could also be used to produce synchronized XUV sources. In this contribution, the main results concerning both the development of XUV sources and their use for applications (irradiation of DNA samples) are presented, as well the present status and some perspectives for LASERIX.     

Experimental and numerical study of interactions between sprinklers and natural smoke vents

Real scale experimentations have been conducted in order to investigate interactions that may occur in a compartment where sprinklers and Smoke and Heat Exhaust Vent Systems coexist. Fuel oil spray was used as fire source with steady heat release rate of 400 and 800 kW. Both sprinkler system and natural Smoke and Heat Exhaust Vent Systems were designed according to the French standards. Effect of vent on sprinkler activation time was studied. An analysis of the temperature field inside the compartment was conducted while vent was opened prior or after sprinkler activation. Simulations of the experiments were also carried out with Fire Dynamics Simulator v.6 for validation purpose and also to provide supplementary data regarding soot flow rate and energy extracted at the vent.     

Unpacking and Challenging Habitus: An Approach to Temporary Urbanism as a Socially Engaged Practice

Temporary urbanism is attracting worldwide attention and has been praised for its capacity to transform socio-political and physical spaces, while at the same time it has been criticized for its tacit instrumentality as vehicle for the progressive gentrification of the urban environment. A closer look at temporary urbanism reveals a myriad of practices, initiated by a great variety of actors with diverse ways of operating and taking place in a wide range of environments. Rooted in assemblage theory, we situate our design practice in the specificity of an underused space surrounding social housing blocks in Gateshead, explore manifestations of habitus and the capacity of temporary urbanism to reveal and engage with socio-spatial struggles.     

DNA adduct formation among workers in a Thai industrial estate and nearby residents

The genotoxic effects of air pollutant exposures have been studied in people living and working in Map Ta Phut, Rayong province, Thailand, a site where is located the Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate (MIE) one of the largest steel, refinery and petrochemical complex in the South-Eastern Asia. This was done by the conduction of a transversal study aimed to compare the prevalence of bulky DNA adducts in groups of subjects experiencing various degree of air pollution. DNA adduct analysis was performed in the leukocytes of 201 volunteers by the (32)P-postlabelling assay: 79 were workers in the MIE complex, including 24 refinery workers, 40 steel workers and 15 tinplate workers, 72 were people residing downwind in the MIE area and 50 were residents in a control district of the same Rayong province but without industrial exposures. The groups of workers were analyzed separately to evaluate if DNA adduct formation differs by the type of industry. The levels of bulky DNA adducts were 1.17+/-0.17 (SE) adducts/10(8) nucleotides in refinery workers, 1.19+/-0.19 (SE) in steel workers, 0.87+/-0.17 (SE) in tinplate workers, 0.85+/-0.07 (SE) in MIE residents and 0.53+/-0.05 (SE) in district controls. No effects of smoking habits on DNA adducts was found. The multivariate regression analysis shows that the levels of DNA adducts were significantly increased among the individuals living near the MIE industrial complex in respect to those resident in a control district (p<0.05). In the groups of occupationally exposed workers, the highest levels of DNA adducts were found among the workers experiencing an occupational exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, e.g. the steel factory and refinery workers. When we have evaluated if the levels of DNA adducts of the PAH exposed workers were different from those of the MIE residents, a statistical significantly difference was found (p<0.05). Our present study indicates that people living near point sources of industrial air pollution can experiment an excess of DNA adduct formation. The emissions from the MIE complex are the main source of air pollution in this area and can be the cause of such increment in the levels of DNA damage.     

The 2016 Thermal Spray Roadmap

Considerable progress has been made over the last decades in thermal spray technologies, practices and applications. However, like other technologies, they have to continuously evolve to meet new problems and market requirements. This article aims to identify the current challenges limiting the evolution of these technologies and to propose research directions and priorities to meet these challenges. It was prepared on the basis of a collection of short articles written by experts in thermal spray who were asked to present a snapshot of the current state of their specific field, give their views on current challenges faced by the field and provide some guidance as to the R&D required to meet these challenges. The article is divided in three sections that deal with the emerging thermal spray processes, coating properties and function, and biomedical, electronic, aerospace and energy generation applications.     

Hydroxamic acids as potent inhibitors of Fe(II) and Mn(II) E. coli methionine aminopeptidase: biological activities and X-ray structures of oxazole hydroxamate-EcMetAP-Mn complexes

New series of acids and hydroxamic acids linked to five-membered heterocycles including furan, oxazole, 1,2,4- or 1,3,4-oxadiazole, and imidazole were synthesized and tested as inhibitors against the Fe(II) , Co(II) , and Mn(II) forms of E. coli methionine aminopeptidase (MetAP) and as antibacterial agents against wild-type and acrAB E. coli strains. 2-Aryloxazol-4-ylcarboxylic acids appeared as potent and selective inhibitors of the Co(II) MetAP form, with IC(50) values in the micromolar range, whereas 5-aryloxazol-2-ylcarboxylic acid regioisomers and 5-aryl-1,2,4-oxadiazol-3-ylcarboxylic acids were shown to be inefficient against all forms of EcMetAP. Regardless of the heterocycle, all the hydroxamic acids are highly potent inhibitors and are selective for the Mn(II) and Fe(II) forms, with IC(50) values between 1 and 2 μM. One indole hydroxamic acid that we previously reported as a potent inhibitor of E. coli peptide deformylase also demonstrated efficiency against EcMetAP. To gain insight into the positioning of the oxazole heterocycle with reversed substitutions at positions 2 and 5, X-ray crystal structures of EcMetAP-Mn complexed with two such oxazole hydroxamic acids were solved. Irrespective of the [metal]/[apo-MetAP] ratio, the active site consistently contains a dinuclear manganese center, with the hydroxamate as bridging ligand. Asp 97, which adopts a bidentate binding mode to the Mn2 site in the holoenzyme, is twisted in both structures toward the hydroxamate bridging ligand to favor the formation of a strong hydrogen bond. Most of the compounds show weak antibacterial activity against a wild-type E. coli strain. However, increased antibacterial activity was observed mainly for compounds with a 2-substituted phenyl group in the presence of the nonapeptide polymyxin B and phenylalanine-arginine-β-naphthylamide as permeabilizer and efflux pump blocker, respectively, which boost the intracellular uptake of the inhibitors.     

Electronic Structure and Solvation Effects from Core and Valence Photoelectron Spectroscopy of Serum Albumin

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy of bovine serum albumin (BSA) in a liquid jet is used to investigate the electronic structure of a solvated protein, yielding insight into charge transfer mechanisms in biological systems in their natural environment. No structural damage was observed in BSA following X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy in a liquid jet sample environment. Carbon and nitrogen atoms in different chemical environments were resolved in the X-ray photoelectron spectra of both solid and solvated BSA. The calculations of charge distributions demonstrate the difficulty of assigning chemical contributions in complex systems in an aqueous environment. The high-resolution X-ray core electron spectra recorded are unchanged upon solvation. A comparison of the valence bands of BSA in both phases is also presented. These bands display a higher sensitivity to solvation effects. The ionization energy of the solvated BSA is determined at 5.7 ± 0.3 eV. Experimental results are compared with theoretical calculations to distinguish the contributions of various molecular components to the electronic structure. This comparison points towards the role of water in hole delocalization in proteins.     

Filtre correcteur de phase pour égaliseurs sous-optimaux

We propose a receiver structure intended for high bit rate transmissions. In order to ensure a good compromise between performance and complexity, the receiver is composed of a transversal phase- corrective filter followed by an equaliser, which takes only partially the channel impulse response into account. We propose a non-iterative technique to adjust the filter tap coefficients, based on the cepstral properties of a minimum phase response. The performance of the filter is evaluated and shown by simulating a transmission system including a multipath mobile radio channel, the filter and a dfse equaliser (decision feedback sequence estimator).     

Mobilisation of arsenic from a mining soil in batch slurry experiments under bio-oxidative conditions

Laboratory investigations were performed to estimate the potential mobility of arsenic (As) from a highly contaminated gold-mining soil under bio-oxidative aerobic conditions as a potential remediation process. The selected soil was sampled from a gold-mining site in the South of France. It contained 27700 mg kg(-1) total As, with only 0.01% present under water-soluble forms. The nature of the immobilization mechanisms was identified by using complementary physical and chemical techniques. As was found to be strongly associated to iron (oxy)hydroxide solid phase by adsorption and/or co-precipitation. Determination of iron (Fe) and As mobility as a function of pH showed that the release of As was related with the dissolution of Fe (oxy)hydroxide at very low pH values. Bioleaching experiments were conducted with the objective to enhance the mobilization of As from the source material via biological oxidation of elemental sulfur (S degree) into sulfuric acid by autotrophic exogenous or indigenous bacteria naturally located in the soil (i.e. Acidithiobacillus species). Tests conducted at 30 degrees C in shaker flasks supplemented with S degree resulted in very acidic (pH < 1) and oxidative conditions (oxidation/reduction potential (ORP) around +800 mV vs. NHE) and induced the extraction of up to 35% of As over 84 days of incubation. Under the experimental conditions of the study (batch experiments), As mobilization was strongly correlated to the dissolution of Fe solid phases. As mobilization was probably limited by the saturation of the liquid phase. Chimiolithotrophic exogenous population appeared to have a minor effect on As bioleaching. Endogenous populations were shown to rapidly develop their capacity to oxidize S degree and mobilize As from the mining soil in the form of arsenate when elemental S degree was supplemented. The use of microbial population adapted to high As concentrations reduced significantly the lag period to reach optimal pH/ORP conditions, and increased As extraction rate to a maximum of 41% within 70 days of incubation. However, As reprecipitation was subsequently observed, suggesting that the solution should be periodically replaced in order to optimize the process.