We summarize a series of numerical experiments of collisional dynamics in dense stellar systems such as globular clusters (GCs) and in weakly collisional plasmas using a novel simulation technique, the so-calledMulti-particle collision (MPC) method, alternative to Fokker-Planck and Monte Carlo approaches. MPC is related to particle-mesh approaches for the computation of self consistent long-range fields, ensuring that simulation time scales with N log N in the number of particles, as opposed to N2 for direct N-body. The collisional relaxation effects are modelled by computing particle interactions based on a collision operator approach that ensures rigorous conservation of energy and momenta and depends only on particles velocities and cell-based integrated quantities.

Les approches centrées sur l’autorégulation ainsi que sur l’acceptation des émotions et des sensations désagréables inspirées des programme MBSR et MBCT, représentent une voie intéressante dans la prise en charge des troubles du comportement alimentaire dans lesquels le contrôle et l’évitement sont au premier plan. Ces programmes permettent de travailler les aspects obsessionnels (comme les ruminations) et compulsifs (sur l’alimentation, la réactivité avec perte de contrôle) associés à ces troubles alimentaires. La clinique des maladies mentales et de l’encéphale (CMME), hôpital Sainte-Anne a mis en place un protocole « MBCT Boulimie » en huit séances. Le programme MBCT a été modifié, notamment au niveau des outils cognitifs et de la durée des pratiques de méditation pour des patients présentant un TCA. La recherche s’est réalisée sur vingt-quatre sujets de l’hôpital de jour de la CMME et avait pour objet d’évaluer l’impact du programme MBCT dans une population de sujets souffrant de boulimie et de Binge Eating Disorder.

The reaction of a Wyoming-type bentonite with pH 13.5 solutions was investigated experimentally at 35 and 60°C for periods of 1 to 730 days. Some crystal properties of the starting montmorillonitic clay remain unchanged, i.e. stability of the octahedral sheet, total cation exchange capacity (CEC) and CEC after neutralization of the octahedral charge, full expandability in the Casaturated state, and size distribution. Other properties are changed, e.g. there is an increase in the expandability after octahedral charge neutralization; a slight increase in the average layer charge; a decrease of the total surface area; and a particle morphological change from flakes to hexagonal shape.

The composition and the structure of the smectite layers did not change significantly during the reaction. The increasing number of expandable layers after octahedral charge neutralization is attributed to modifications in the stacking sequence. The number of interlayers surrounded by two charged tetrahedral sheets increases with reaction time.

In order to assess the influence of tetrahedral sheet charge on the hydroxyl-stretching vibration in clay minerals, a series of synthetic Na-saponites, with increasing layer charge, was studied by infrared (IR) spectroscopy. When recorded after KBr dilution either in transmission or diffuse reflectance, the IR spectra exhibit a component at ~3710 cm-1, the intensity of which increases linearly with increasing layer charge. When experiments are carried out without any dilution of the samples, this component is not observed, suggesting a Na+/K+ exchange upon mixing of the sample with KBr. The spectra obtained for K-saponite confirm this exchange. This shows that the dilution procedure can lead to serious misinterpretations of IR spectra in the OH-stretching region.

Recent spectropolarimetric surveys of bright, hot stars have found that ~10% of OB-type stars contain strong (mostly dipolar) surface magnetic fields (~kG). The prominent paradigm describing the interaction between the stellar winds and the surface magnetic field is the magnetically confined wind shock (MCWS) model. In this model, the stellar wind plasma is forced to move along the closed field loops of the magnetic field, colliding at the magnetic equator, and creating a shock. As the shocked material cools radiatively it will emit X-rays. Therefore, X-ray spectroscopy is a key tool in detecting and characterizing the hot wind material confined by the magnetic fields of these stars. Some B-type stars are found to have very short rotational periods. The effects of the rapid rotation on the X-ray production within the magnetosphere have yet to be explored in detail. The added centrifugal force due to rapid rotation is predicted to cause faster wind outflows along the field lines, leading to higher shock temperatures and harder X-rays. However, this is not observed in all rapidly rotating magnetic B-type stars. In order to address this from a theoretical point of view, we use the X-ray Analytical Dynamical Magnetosphere (XADM) model, originally developed for slow rotators, with an implementation of new rapid rotational physics. Using X-ray spectroscopy from ESA’s XMM-Newton space telescope, we observed 5 rapidly rotating B-types stars to add to the previous list of observations. Comparing the observed X-ray luminosity and hardness ratio to that predicted by the XADM allows us to determine the role the added centrifugal force plays in the magnetospheric X-ray emission of these stars.

The classical problem of foam film rupture dynamics has been investigated when the film interfaces exhibit very high rigidity due to the presence of specific surfactants. Two new features are reported. First, a strong deviation from the well-known Taylor–Culick law is observed. Second, crack-like patterns can be visualized in the film; these patterns are shown to appear at a well-defined film shrinkage. The key role of surface-active material on these features is quantitatively investigated, pointing to the importance of surface elasticity to describe these fast dynamical processes and thus providing an alternative tool to characterize surface elasticity in conditions extremely far from equilibrium. The origin of the cracks and their consequences on film rupturing dynamics are also discussed.

T1 topological rearrangement, i.e. switching of neighbouring bubbles in a liquid foam, is the elementary process of foam dynamics, and it involves film disappearance and generation. It has been studied extensively as it is crucial in foam rheology or foam collapse. T1 dynamics depends mainly on the surfactants used to generate the foam, and several models taking into account surface viscosity and/or elasticity have been proposed. By performing experiments in a cubic assembly of films, we go a step forward in this global analysis and investigate experimentally the mechanism of formation of the new film. In particular, the flow velocity field is probed by particle tracking and the film thickness is measured by light absorption and interferometric measurements. Two limit behaviours for the film are reported: it may (i) undergo an homogeneous extension, or (ii) resist elongation and remain at rest, new film being created from liquid exchange with connecting meniscus. Both T1 dynamics and film thickness are shown to depend on the competition between these two behaviours. Interestingly, their balance is set by the surfactant solution used, but it is also shown to vary during a single T1 relaxation process.

The bacterium Francisella tularensis causes the vector-borne zoonotic disease tularemia, and may infect a wide range of hosts including invertebrates, mammals and birds. Transmission to humans occurs through contact with infected animals or contaminated environments, or through arthropod vectors. Tularemia has a broad geographical distribution, and there is evidence which suggests local emergence or re-emergence of this disease in Europe. This review was developed to provide an update on the geographical distribution of F. tularensis in humans, wildlife, domestic animals and vector species, to identify potential public health hazards, and to characterize the epidemiology of tularemia in Europe. Information was collated on cases in humans, domestic animals and wildlife, and on reports of detection of the bacterium in arthropod vectors, from 38 European countries for the period 1992–2012. Multiple international databases on human and animal health were consulted, as well as published reports in the literature. Tularemia is a disease of complex epidemiology that is challenging to understand and therefore to control. Many aspects of this disease remain poorly understood. Better understanding is needed of the epidemiological role of animal hosts, potential vectors, mechanisms of maintenance in the different ecosystems, and routes of transmission of the disease.

We surveyed 399 US acute care hospitals regarding availability of on-site Legionella testing; 300 (75.2%) did not offer Legionella testing on site. Availability varied according to hospital size and geographic location. On-site access to testing may improve detection of Legionnaires disease and inform patient management and prevention efforts.

Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2014;35(7):898–900

In this article, we reflect on the motives underlying the search for extraterrestrial intelligent life (SETI) with a view to show that far from turning away from humanity it is profoundly rooted in human aspirations. We suggest that those motives derive their driving force from the fact that they combine two powerful aspirations of humanity. On the one hand, there is the transcendental motive that drives history of science, the human enterprise that claims to escape any communitarian closure of horizon and brings our humanity to transcend itself toward the other, which was formerly referred to under the title Universal Reason. On the other hand, there is the anthropological motive by virtue of which the human being tends to project on the other and even in inanimate nature a double of himself. The mixture of both motives is deemed responsible for a remarkable bias in the current understanding of the SETI programme. Despite the fact that such a programme might well be aimed at any biological formation which could be arbitrarily different from all known forms, it is focused instead on a very special kind of being: beings that possess both the natural property of the type of mentality we identify with: intelligence, and the ideal one of being possible co-subjects for a Science of Nature.

The AMANDE facility produces mono-energetic neutron fields from 2 keV to 20 MeV with a metrological quality (Gressier et al. 2004). To be considered as a standard facility, fluence and energy distributions of neutron fields have to be mastered, i.e. measured by primary detector standards. For this purpose, a new gaseous Time Projection Chamber (μTPC) is being developed within the MIMAC project devoted to directional Dark Matter search (Billard et al. 2010). The μTPC is dedicated to measure neutron fields from 2 keV up to 1 MeV. The measurement strategy requires track reconstruction of recoiling nuclei down to a few keV, which can be achieved with low pressure gaseous detectors. Hence the energy must be measured precisely and the track of the recoiling nucleus must be 3D reconstructed. This is achieved with a low pressure micropattern gaseous detector (a pixelized bulk micromegas) equipped with a self triggered electronics able to perform the anode sampling at a 50 MHz frequency. Methods to measure fluence and neutron energy with the TPC have been described.

Non-Volatile Memories (NVM) integrating silicon nanodots (noted SDs) are considered as an emerging solution to extend Flash memories downscaling. In this alternative memory technology, silicon nanocrystals act as discrete traps for injected charges.

Si-dots were grown by Low Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition (LPCVD) on top of tunnel oxide. Depending on the pre-growth surface treatment, tunnel oxide surface may present either siloxane or silanol groups. SDs deposition relies on a 2–steps process: nucleation by SiH4 and selective growth with SiH2Cl2.

In a context of technological industrialization, it is of primary importance to develop in-line metrology tools dedicated to Si-dots growth process control. Hence, silicon-dots were observed in top view by using an in-line Critical Dimension Scanning Electron Microscopy CDSEM and their average size and density were extracted from image processing. In addition, Haze measurement, generally used for bare silicon surface characterization, was customized to quantify Si-dots deposition uniformity over the wafer. Finally, Haze value was correlated to Si nanodots density and size determined by CDSEM.

Magnetic fields of cool stars can be directly investigated through the study of the Zeeman effect on photospheric spectral lines using several approaches. With spectroscopic measurement in unpolarised light, the total magnetic flux averaged over the stellar disc can be derived but very little information on the field geometry is available. Spectropolarimetry provides a complementary information on the large-scale magnetic topology. With Zeeman-Doppler Imaging (ZDI), this information can be retrieved to produce a map of the vector magnetic field at the surface of the star, and in particular to assess the relative importance of the poloidal and toroidal components as well as the degree of axisymmetry of the field distribution.

The development of high-performance spectropolarimeters associated with multi-lines techniques and ZDI allows us to explore magnetic topologies throughout the Hertzsprung-Russel diagram, on stars spanning a wide range of mass, age and rotation period. These observations bring novel constraints on magnetic field generation by dynamo effect in cool stars. In particular, the study of solar twins brings new insight on the impact of rotation on the solar dynamo, whereas the detection of strong and stable dipolar magnetic fields on fully convective stars questions the precise role of the tachocline in this process.

The B0.2 V magnetic star τ Sco stands out from the larger population of massive magnetic OB stars due to its remarkable, superionized wind, apparently related to its peculiar magnetic field – a field which is far more complex than the mostly-dipolar fields usually observed in magnetic OB stars. τ Sco is therefore a puzzling outlier in the larger picture of stellar magnetism – a star that still defies interpretation in terms of a physically coherent model.

Recently, two early B-type stars were discovered as τ Sco analogues, identified by the striking similarity of their UV spectra to that of τ Sco, which was – until now – unique among OB stars. We present the recent detection of their magnetic fields by the MiMeS collaboration, reinforcing the connection between the presence of a magnetic field and a superionized wind. We will also present ongoing observational efforts undertaken to establish the precise magnetic topology, in order to provide additional constrains for existing models attempting to reproduce the unique wind structure of τ Sco-like stars.

I will review our recent analysis of the magnetic properties of the O9IV star HD 57682, using spectropolarimetric observations obtained with ESPaDOnS at the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope within the context of the Magnetism in Massive Stars (MiMeS) Large Program. I discuss our most recent determination of the rotational period from longitudinal magnetic field measurements and Hα variability - the latter obtained from over a decade's worth of professional and amateur spectroscopic observations. Lastly, I will report on our investigation of the magnetic field geometry and the effects of the field on the circumstellar environment.