LISE 3: a magnetic spectrometer—Wien filter combination for secondary radioactive beam production

The doubly achromatic spectrometer LISE installed at GANIL has been running since six years for the study of exotic nuclei and the production of secondary beams obtained by the interaction of high energy heavy ions (E/A < 100 MeV) with thick targets (up to 1 g/cm²). Essentially it is composed of two dipole magnets selecting the nuclear reaction products according to A/Z at 0°. Combined with an achromatic degrader located in the intermediate focal plane, it provides a selection in A³/Z². Recently we have upgraded LISE by two major improvements:

i) The angle of entry of the primary beam with respect to the axis of the spectrometer has been made variable (0° to 3.5°). This allows the suppression of remaining incompletely stripped beam-charge-states in experiments with heavy beams (Z > 30).

ii) A velocity filter based on an electrostatic field crossed with a magnetic one has been installed. This filter provides a third selection which is powerful in suppressing contaminants. Furthermore, the flight path between the target and the final focus is now increased to 43 m, which allows easy time-of-flight measurements also for heavy species.

LISE 3 provides separated secondary beams of increased intensity and isotopic purity. We shall review the essential properties and present some recent experimental results for illustration.     

Three-dimensional reconstruction of the human central sulcus reveals a morphological correlate of the hand area

OBJECTIVE: To examine the impact of ethnic group on aspects of weight concern and to assess the role of family values in explaining this association. SUBJECTS AND MEASURES: 20 Asian and 20 white daughters gave a questionnaire to their mother, father and sibling closest in age, concerning their profile characteristics (age, education) values and beliefs and completed a matched questionnaire containing additional measures of aspects of their weight concern. RESULTS: The results showed no differences between the white and Asian daughters in terms of either their restrained eating or body dissatisfaction. However, the results showed consistent differences between the members of the two family groups in terms of the value placed on achievement, child/parent relationships, competition, the role of women, and some differences in terms of materialism, the value of appearance and their idea of the perfect female body. The results were then analysed to assess the best predictors of the daughter's weight concern. Whereas restrained eating was related to the mother's rating of the value of physical appearance and the sibling's ratings of competitiveness and a non-traditional role for women (40% of the variance), the results showed that body dissatisfaction was related to the daughter's rating of materialism, having a father who preferred a thinner female body, the siblings ratings of a non-traditional role for women, degree of concordance within the family concerning the value of competitiveness and the educational level of the 'head of the family' (49% of variance). CONCLUSION: Whereas a dichotomous model of ethnicity may be insufficient to explain differences in aspects of weight concern, an expanded model of cultural beliefs may be a more powerful construct. Accordingly, the absence or presence of differences in weight concern according to ethnic group may simply reflect the extent to which the different groups chosen for analysis are differentiated by these predictive values.     

Alternative patterns of the multidimensional Hilbert curve

Locality-preserving (distance preserving-mapping) is a useful property to manage multidimensional data. Close points in space remain -as much as possible- close after mapping on curve. That is why Hilbert space-filling curve is used in many domains and applications. Hilbert curve preserves well locality because from a construction aspect, it is guided by adajacency constraint on points ordering : the curve connects all points of a D-dimensional discrete space, without favoring any direction, under the constrainst that two successive points are separated by an unit distance. Originally defined in 2-D, all existing multidimensional extensions of the Hilbert curve satisfy adjacency by using the RBG pattern (based on Reflected Binary Gray code). The RBG pattern is then duplicated and arranged (geometrical transformations) to build the multidimensional Hilbert curve at a given order. In this paper, we emphasize that there are other patterns that can satisfy the adjacency. A formulation is given, an algorithm to find out solutions is provided and their respective level of locality preservation is estimated through a standard criterion. Results show that some new patterns can carry a comparable levels of locality and sometimes better than RBG. Moreover, selecting the best locality preserving pattern allows one to design, through orders, a new curve with a comparable overall locality preserving refer to Hilbert curve. The contribution of new patterns is experimented through a CBIR (Content-Based Image Retrieval) application. Large-scale image retrieval tests show that exploring the image feature space with an alternative way to the classical Hilbert curve can lead to improved image searching performances.

     

Experiments and simulations of cohesionless particles with varying roughness in a bladed mixer

The kinematics of granular flow of cohesionless particles in a bladed mixer was studied experimentally using particle image velocimetry and computationally using the discrete element method. The discrete element simulations were able to reproduce the surface velocities, granular temperature profiles, and mixing kinetics observed experimentally. Procedures for roughening of glass bead surfaces via coating were developed and the effect of surface roughness was studied experimentally and computationally. Increasing particle surface roughness led to the development of less uniform flows inside the mixer and to increased dilation of the particle bed. Systems composed of rougher particles experienced increased radial and vertical velocities as well as higher particle diffusivities. Cylinder wall roughness was also shown to significantly influence particle velocities in bladed mixers. Rough cylinder walls led to more pronounced particle velocity fluctuations near the top surface and to an increase in granular temperature. The effect of increasing blade speed was also studied. Two distinct flow regimes were observed as blade speed was increased. At low rotational speed, the flow occurs in the bumping regime where particle surface velocities are linearly proportional to the tip speed of the blades. In this regime, the rotational speed of the blades provides the time scale for momentum transfer and for the mixing process. At higher rotational speed, the roping regime is encountered where particle surface velocities are no longer proportional to the tip speed of the blades. This regime is characterized by enhanced radial and vertical particle velocities as well as faster mixing kinetics.     

Evaluation of the fungitest kit by using strains from human immunodeficiency virus-infected patients: study of azole drug susceptibility

One hundred eighteen Candida clinical isolates from human immunodeficiency virus-infected patients were tested for their susceptibilities to fluconazole and itraconazole by Fungitest and the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards MIC method. Fungitest results depended on both yeast species and antifungal agents. This test is able to detect sensitive strains (97% agreement with results of the MIC method in tests with fluconazole and 84% agreement in tests with itraconazole) but has a poor capacity to detect resistant strains (26% agreement in tests with fluconazole and 5% agreement in tests with itraconazole).     

Second-order wave interaction with a vertical plate

The second-order interaction of monochromatic water waves with a rigid vertical plate is investigated numerically and experimentally. The plate has a finite width and is projected from one of the side-walls of a wave-tank. This geometry reduces the wave cases to normal incidence but permits a semi-analytical resolution based on eigenfunction expansions. Obtained numerical results are shown to be insensitive to the width of the tank beyond some value, and to converge quickly with the truncation orders of the expansions, in spite of the second-order potential having a logarithmic singularity at the plate edge. Second-order free-surface elevations are compared with values derived from experimental measurements at the BGO-First offshore wave-tank. Good agreement is reported. It is with much pleasure and admiration for his achievements that we dedicate this work to Nick Newman.     

Oral Delivery of miR-320-3p with Lipidic Aminoglycoside Derivatives at Mid-Lactation Alters miR-320-3p Endogenous Levels in the Gut and Brain of Adult Rats According to Early or Regular Weaning

To investigate if the artificial delivery of microRNAs naturally present in the breastmilk can impact the gut and brain of young rats according to weaning. Animals from a new transgenic rat line expressing the green-fluorescent protein in the endocrine lineage (cholecystokinin expressing cells) received a single oral bolus of miR-320-3p or miR-375-3p embedded in DiOleyl-Succinyl-Paromomycin (DOSP) on D-12. The pups were weaned early (D-15), or regularly (D-30). The expression of relevant miRNA, mRNAs, chromatin complexes, and duodenal cell density were assessed at 8 h post-inoculation and on D-45. The miR-320-3p/DOSP induced immediate effects on H3K4me3 chromatin complexes with polr3d promoter (p < 0.05). On regular weaning, on D-45, miR-320-3p and 375-3p were found to be downregulated in the stomach and upregulated in the hypothalamus (p < 0.001), whereas miR-320-3p was upregulated in the duodenum. After early weaning, miR-320-3p and miR-375-3p were downregulated in the stomach and the duodenum, but upregulated in the hypothalamus and the hippocampus. Combination of miR-320-3p/DOSP with early weaning enhanced miR-320-3p and chromogranin A expression in the duodenum. In the female brain stem, miR-320-3p, miR-504, and miR-16-5p levels were all upregulated. Investigating the oral miRNA-320-3p loads in the duodenal cell lineage paved the way for designing new therapeutics to avoid unexpected long-term impacts on the brain.     

Observed maternal strategies and children's health locus of control in low-income Mexican Americans.

This study examined the relationship among mothers' health locus of control (HLOC) beliefs, their socialization strategies, and their children's HLOC beliefs in 80 low-income Mexican American families. Maternal socialization strategies were assessed from videotaped interactions of mothers and children engaged in a structured task. Factor analysis of the coded strategies yielded 4 factors: Tell Answer, Teaching, Clarify, and Reinforce. Findings indicated that maternal-health-internally scores negatively predicted mothers' use of the Tell Answer strategies and positively predicted their use of Teaching strategies. Mothers who believed that Powerful Others (e.g., health professionals) controlled their health were more likely to use the Tell Answer strategy. In contrast, mothers who believed that health was due to chance were less likely to use Teaching. Maternal use of Teaching strategies predicted children's internal HLOC, whereas maternal Tell Answer strategies predicted children's external HLOC. Findings suggest that mothers' HLOC beliefs influence the socialization strategies they use and that these strategies are associated with children's HLOC beliefs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ablative degradation of cryogenic thermal protection and fuel boil-off: Improvement of using graded density insulators

A simple modeling of the heat transfer through insulating bilayers of cryogenic reservoir subjected to surrounding environment or aerothermal flux is presented. The model permits to determine the instantaneous evolution of maximum fuel temperatures and the boil-off rate as well as the possible insulation ablation. To get a realistic estimation of the maximum fuel temperature and boil-off loss, the good knowledge of the internal convection coefficient, taking into account the possible fuel ebullition, is indispensable. The aerothermal flux provokes the insulation degradation and its ablation. Because of the ablation, the reservoir becomes less and less thermally protected, which may cause an important fuel boil-off. Compared to classical insulations with uniform density, those with spatially graded densities appear as potential insulations permitting to meet both light-weight and low boil-off requirements.