Suburban areas favoring energy efficiency (SAFE) : Rapport scientifique et technique final.

Report (2012)

Rapport de recherches final présentant les résultats du projet de recherches SAFE (2009-2012). Le projet de recherches SAFE portait sur l'évaluation énergétique des quartiers périurbains existants dans le ... [more ▼]

Rapport de recherches final présentant les résultats du projet de recherches SAFE (2009-2012). Le projet de recherches SAFE portait sur l'évaluation énergétique des quartiers périurbains existants dans le but d'en améliorer l'efficience énergétique par le développement de nouveaux modes de conception et de planification des tissus périurbains. L'objectif concret de ce projet de recherche est d'offrir un outil informatique interactif, accessible sur le web (www.safe-energie.be), qui permette d'évaluer l'efficience énergétique des lotissements wallons existants et de comparer différentes stratégies de renouvellement périurbain. Cet outil est destiné à l'ensemble des acteurs du processus de conception, réalisation et rénovation du milieu urbain. L'outil informatique développé estl'aboutissement d'une recherche de pointe basée sur la modélisation énergétique de quartiers périurbains à l'aide de simulations du microclimat urbain (logiciel de CFD, etc), de simulations dynamiques des consommations énergétiques des bâtiments pendant leur utilisation et de simulations énergétiques des fragments urbains sur l'ensemble de leur cycle de vie (intégrant l'évaluation énergétique des bâtiments, du transport et des réseaux d'énergie). [less ▲]

A single ancient origin for prototypical SR splicing factors

in Plant Physiology (2012), 158(2), 546-560

Eukaryotic pre-mRNA splicing is a process involving a very complex RNA-protein edifice. Serine/arginine-rich (SR) proteins play essential roles in pre-mRNA constitutive and alternative splicing, and have ... [more ▼]

Eukaryotic pre-mRNA splicing is a process involving a very complex RNA-protein edifice. Serine/arginine-rich (SR) proteins play essential roles in pre-mRNA constitutive and alternative splicing, and have been suggested to be crucial in plant-specific forms of developmental regulation and environmental adaptation. Despite their functional importance, little is known about their origin and evolutionary history. SR splicing factors have a modular organization featuring at least one RRM domain and a C-terminal region enriched in Ser/Arg dipeptides. To investigate the evolution of SR proteins, we infer phylogenies for >12,000 RRM domains representing >200 broadly sampled organisms. Our analyses reveal that the RRM domain is not restricted to eukaryotes and that all prototypical SR proteins share a single ancient origin, including the plant-specific SR45 protein. Based on these findings, we propose a scenario for their diversification into four natural families, each corresponding to a main SR architecture, and a dozen subfamilies, of which we profile both sequence conservation and composition. Finally, using operational criteria for computational discovery and classification, we catalogue SR proteins in 20 model organisms, with a focus on green algae and land plants. Altogether, our study confirms the homogeneity and antiquity of SR splicing factors, while establishing robust phylogenetic relationships between animal and plant proteins, which should enable functional analyses of lesser characterized SR family members, especially in green plants. [less ▲]

A leader-follower game in competitive facility location

in Computers & Operations Research (2012), 39(2), 437-448

We address the problem of locating new facilities of a firm or franchise that enters a market where a competitor operates existing facilities. The goal of the new entrant firm is to decide the location ... [more ▼]

We address the problem of locating new facilities of a firm or franchise that enters a market where a competitor operates existing facilities. The goal of the new entrant firm is to decide the location and attractiveness of its new facilities that maximize its profit. The competitor can react by opening new facilities, closing existing ones, and adjusting the attractiveness levels of its existing facilities, with the aim of maximizing its own profit. The demand is assumed to be aggregated at certain points in the plane and the new facilities of both the firm and the competitor can be located at predetermined candidate sites. We employ the gravity-based rule in modeling the behavior of the customers where the probability that a customer visits a certain facility is proportional to the facility attractiveness and inversely proportional to the distance between the facility site and demand point. We formulate a bilevel mixed-integer nonlinear programming model where the firm entering the market is the leader and the competitor is the follower. We propose heuristics that combine tabu search with exact solution methods. [less ▲]

Low-Density Structures in the Local Universe. II. Nearby Cosmic Voids

in Astrophysical Bulletin (2012), 68

We present the results of the search for spherical volumes containing no galaxies with luminosities brighter than the Magellanic Clouds in the Local Supercluster and its vicinity. Within a distance of 40 ... [more ▼]

We present the results of the search for spherical volumes containing no galaxies with luminosities brighter than the Magellanic Clouds in the Local Supercluster and its vicinity. Within a distance of 40 Mpc from us, 89 cosmic voids were discovered with the diameters of 24 to 12 Mpc, containing no galaxies with absolute magnitudes brighter than M_K < -18.4. A list of these voids and the sky distribution maps are given. It was found that 93% of spherical voids overlap, forming three more extended percolated voids (hypervoids). The largest of them, HV1, has 56 initial spherical cells and extends in a horseshoe shape, enveloping the Local Volume and the Virgo cluster. The Local Void (Tully, 1988) in the Hercules-Aquila region is the closest part of the HV1. Another hypervoid, HV2, contains 22 spherical voids in the Eridanus constellation, and the third compact hypervoid (HV3) comprises 6 spherical cells in the Bootes. The total volume of these voids incorporates about 30% of the Local Universe. Among 2906 dwarf galaxies excluded from the original sample (n = 10502) in the search for spherical volumes, only 68 are located in the voids we have discovered. They are characterized by late morphological types (85% are Ir, Im, BCD, Sm), absolute magnitudes M_B ranging from -13.0 to -16.7, moderate star formation rates (log SSFR ~ -10 M_sun/(yr*L_sun) and gas reserves per luminosity unit twice to three times larger than in the other dwarf galaxies located in normal environments. The dwarf population of the voids shows a certain tendency to sit shallow near the surfaces of cosmic voids. [less ▲]

Towards a Dynamic Stakeholder Management framework for CSR Certifications

in International Journal of Business and Social Science (2012), 3(4),

Scales of spatial and temporal variations in Cryptosporidium and Giardia abundances and genetic diversity in a drinking water reservoir: implications for the risk assessment

Conference (2012, February)

A monitoring of Giardia lamblia and Cryptosporidium parvum occurrence was conducted for 2 years in the largest drinking water reservoir of Luxembourg (Esch-sur-Sûre reservoir) using microscopy and qPCR ... [more ▼]

A monitoring of Giardia lamblia and Cryptosporidium parvum occurrence was conducted for 2 years in the largest drinking water reservoir of Luxembourg (Esch-sur-Sûre reservoir) using microscopy and qPCR techniques. Parasite analyses were performed on water samples collected from three sites: site A located at the inlet of the reservoir, site B located 18 km downstream site A, at the inlet of the drinking water treatment plant near the dam of the reservoir and site C where the finished drinking water is injected in the distribution network. The communication presented the main results of the survey and the assessment of risk infection with parasites. [less ▲]

On the human pose recovery based on a single view

in International conference on pattern recognition applications and methods (ICPRAM) (2012, February)

Estimating the pose of the observed person is crucial for a large variety of applications including home entertainment, man-machine interaction, video surveillance, etc. Often, only a single side view is ... [more ▼]

Estimating the pose of the observed person is crucial for a large variety of applications including home entertainment, man-machine interaction, video surveillance, etc. Often, only a single side view is available, but authors claim that it is possible to derive the pose despite that humans evolve in a 3D environment. In addition, to decrease the sensitivity to color and texture, it is preferable to rely only on the silhouette to recover the pose. Under these conditions, we show that there is an intrinsic limitation: at least two poses correspond to the observed silhouette. We discuss this intrinsic limitation in details in this short paper. To our knowledge, this issue has been overlooked by authors in the past. We observe that this limitation has an impact on the way previous reported results should be interpreted, and it has clearly to be taken into account for designing new methods. [less ▲]

Time-domain surface impedance boundary conditions enhanced by coarse volume finite-element discretisation

in IEEE Transactions on Magnetics (2012), 48(2), 631-634

In computational magnetodynamics, surface impedance boundary conditions allow to accurately account for high-frequency flux components while removing the massive conducting regions from the computation ... [more ▼]

In computational magnetodynamics, surface impedance boundary conditions allow to accurately account for high-frequency flux components while removing the massive conducting regions from the computation domain. The time-domain approach previously proposed by the authors relies on the spatial discretisation of a 1-D eddy-current problem by means of dedicated basis functions derived from the analytical frequency-domain solution. In this paper, these time-domain impedance conditions are combined with a coarse volume finite-element discretisation of the massive conductors to capture slowly varying flux components. The accuracy of the hybrid approach can further be improved by introducing a fictitious frequency-dependent conductivity. The method is illustrated and validated by means of 1-D and 2-D test cases in the frequency and time domain. [less ▲]

COMBINATION OF INDEPENDENT COMPONENT ANALYSIS, DESIGN OF EXPERIMENTS AND DESIGN SPACE FOR A NOVEL METHODOLOGY TO DEVELOP CHROMATOGRAPHIC METHODS

Poster (2012, February)

As defined by ICH [1] and FDA, Quality by Design (QbD) stands for “a systematic approach to development that begins with predefined objectives and emphasizes product and process understanding and process ... [more ▼]

As defined by ICH [1] and FDA, Quality by Design (QbD) stands for “a systematic approach to development that begins with predefined objectives and emphasizes product and process understanding and process control, based on sound science and quality risk management”. A risk–based QbD–compliant approach is proposed for the robust development of analytical methods. This methodology based on Design of Experiments (DoE) to study the experimental domain models the retention times at the beginning, the apex and the end of each peak corresponding to the compounds of a mixture and uses the separation criterion (S) rather than the resolution (RS) as a Critical Quality Attribute. Stepwise multiple linear regressions are used to create the models. The estimated error is propagated from the modelled responses to the separation criterion (S) using Monte Carlo simulations in order to estimate the predictive distribution of the separation criterion (S) over the whole experimental domain. This allows finding ranges of operating conditions that will guarantee a satisfactory quality of the method in its future use. These ranges define the Design Space (DS) of the method. In chromatographic terms, the chromatograms processed at operating conditions within the DS will assuredly show high quality, with well separated peaks and short run time, for instance. This Design Space can thus be defined as the subspace, necessarily encompassed in the experimental domain (i.e. the knowledge space), within which the probability for the criterion to be higher than an advisedly selected threshold is higher than a minimum quality level. Precisely, the DS is defined as “the multidimensional combination and interaction of input variables (e.g., material attributes) and process parameters that have been demonstrated to provide assurance of quality” [1]. Therefore, this DS defines a region of operating conditions that provide prediction of assurance of quality rather than only quality as obtained with traditional mean response surface optimisation strategies. For instance, in the liquid chromatography there is a great difference in e.g. predicting a resolution (RS) higher than 1.5 vs. predicting that the probability for RS to be higher than 1.5 (i.e. P(RS> 1.5)) is high. The presentation of this global methodology will be illustrated for the robust optimisation and DS definition of several liquid chromatographic methods dedicated to the separation of different mixtures: pharmaceutical formulations, API and impurities/degradation products, plant extracts, separation of enantiomers, … References [1] International Conference on Harmonisation (ICH) of Technical Requirements for Registration of Pharmaceuticals for Human Use, Topic Q8(R2): Pharmaceutical development, Geneva, 2009. [less ▲]

L'astronomie dans le monde

Article for general public (2012)

Survivantes; Kepler-20 et KOI-961;Êta Carinae; Exo-Saturne ? ; GRAIL; Tranquillityite; H1743-322; Matière noire; ACT-CL J0102-4915; Nébuleuse Oméga