Search

This paper presents a variable speed direct drive generator optimization methodology for tidal current energy application based on double stator permanent magnet generator. Maximizing annua...

Provenance is information about entities, activities, and people involved in producing a piece of data or a thing, which can be used to form assessments about the data or the thing’s quality, reliability, or trustworthiness. PROV-DM is the conceptual data model that forms the basis for the W3C provenance (PROV) family of specifications. In this paper, we propose a new serialization for PROV in JSON called PROV-JSONLD. It provides a lightweight representation of PROV expressions in JSON, which is suitable to be processed by Web applications, while maintaining a natural encoding that is familiar with PROV practitioners. In addition, PROV-JSONLD exploits JSON-LD to define a semantic mapping that conforms to the PROV-O specification and, hence, the encoded PROV expressions can be readily processed as Linked Data. Finally, we show that the serialization is also efficiently processable in our evaluation. Overall, PROV-JSONLD is designed to be suitable for interchanging provenance information in Web and Linked Data applications, to offer a natural encoding of provenance for its targeted audience, and to allow for fast processing.

The paper is part of the development of a novel underwater isothermal Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) system. Compared to conventional CAES plant, the performances of this system only depend on the electrical energy required for a round-trip cycle; performances of each sub-system of the power conversion process takes part of the overall efficiency. Consequently, this work is focused on an optimal energy management of the electrical power conversion system driving the isothermal hydro-pneumatic mechanism enabling the air compression/expansion. After examining inherent characteristics of conversion components challenging the overall conversion efficiency, we propose an efficient platform layout based on the segmentation of the energy conversion multiplying power conversion systems with different power ranges. Then, we establish control laws required by the electrical multi-machines system in order to drive pumping systems closed to their best efficiency points. However, these laws subject the conversion platform to a transient and variable operating needing the design of robust controller structures. Finally, we develop a dynamic reversible modelling of the multi-physic conversion platform along with the control scheme. The layout is modelled on Matlab® Simulink® environment and the paper closes with simulation results. We evaluate the dynamic performances of the compressed air storage system in both storage and production mode. Moreover, the effectiveness of power segmentation for the grid integration of the proposed system is discussed.

prov-template is a declarative approach that enables designers and programmers to design and generate provenance compatible with the prov standard of the World Wide Web Consortium. Designers specify the topology of the provenance to be generated by composing templates, which are provenance graphs containing variables, acting as placeholders for values. Programmers write programs that log values and package them up in sets of bindings, a data structure associating variables and values. An expansion algorithm generates instantiated provenance from templates and sets of bindings in any of the serialisation formats supported by prov . A quantitative evaluation shows that sets of bindings have a size that is typically 40 percent of that of expanded provenance templates and that the expansion algorithm is suitably tractable, operating in fractions of milliseconds for the type of templates surveyed in the article. Furthermore, the approach shows four significant software engineering benefits: separation of responsibilities, provenance maintenance, potential runtime checks and static analysis, and provenance consumption. The article gathers quantitative data and qualitative benefits descriptions from four different applications making use of prov-template . The system is implemented and released in the open-source library ProvToolbox for provenance processing.

We present a canonical form for prov that is a normalized way of representing prov documents as mathematical expressions. As opposed to the normal form specified by the prov-constraints recommendation, the canonical form we present is defined for all prov documents, irrespective of their validity, and it can be serialized in a unique way. The article makes the case for a canonical form for prov and its potential uses, namely comparison of prov documents in different formats, validation, and signature of prov documents. A signature of a prov document allows the integrity and the author of provenance to be ascertained; since the signature is based on the canonical form, these checks are not tied to a particular encoding, but can be performed on any representation of prov .

This paper presents the impact results of the variation of the rotor and the stator tooth pitches (Vernier effect), on the waveform of the back-electromotive force (EMF) generated by the low speed Doubly Salient Permanent Magnet machine (DSPM). The rotating electrical machines with and without Vernier effect are designed and optimized using genetic algorithms combined with finite element method. The optimization of machines parameters is focused on the maximization of the mass to torque ratio. The results show that the machine with Vernier effect has better performances. The obtained Vernier slotted doubly salient permanent magnet generator is then integrated into an autonomous wind energy conversion system. Simulations tests are carried out through Matlab/Simulink. The results show that the proposed machine is a valid and inexpensive alternative for directly coupled wind turbines.

Epitaxial bilayer silicon oxide is a transferable two-dimensional material predicted to be a wide band gap semiconductor, with potential applications for deep UV optoelectronics, or as a building block of van der Waals heterostructures. The prerequisite to any sort of such applications is the knowledge of the electronic band structure, which we unveil using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and rationalize with the help of density functional theory (DFT) calculations. We discover dispersing bands related to electronic delocalization within the top and bottom planes of the material, with two linear crossings reminiscent of those predicted in bilayer AA-stacked graphene, and semi-flat bands stemming from the chemical bridges between the two planes. This band structure is robust against exposure to air, and can be controlled by exposure to oxygen. We provide an experimental lower-estimate of the band gap size of 5 eV and predict a full gap of 7.36 eV using DFT calculations.

Artificial intelligence ( ai ) is bringing radical change to our lives. Fostering trust in this technology requires the technology to be transparent, and one route to transparency is to make the decisions that are reached by ai s explainable to the humans that interact with them. This paper lays out an exploratory approach to developing explainability and trust, describing the specific technologies that we are adopting, the social and organizational context in which we are working, and some of the challenges that we are addressing.

Background: No published studies have specifically assessed whether treatment modifications to androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) for prostate cancer (PCa) are frequently carried out in routine clinical practice. The current study was conducted to determine what proportion of patients who had initiated hormone therapy with a gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) analogue then had their treatment regimen modified during the first 24 months. Methods: A prospective, noninterventional study was carried out in routine clinical practice in France. Patients with locally advanced or metastatic PCa were followed up for 2 years after treatment initiation with a GnRH analogue. The primary endpoint was the proportion of patients with a modification to their initial hormone therapy. Results: In total, 1301 patients were enrolled into the study by 204 physicians, and the primary endpoint could be evaluated for 891 patients. The GnRH analogue treatment was initiated for metastatic PCa (24.2%), locally advanced PCa without planned local treatment (20.6%), locally advanced PCa in association with radiotherapy (31.6%), and biochemical recurrence after local treatment (21.4%). Hormonal treatment was modified in 43.8% (390/891) of patients during the 24-month follow-up period after GnRH analogue initiation. In 61.3% of cases (239/390), the type of modification involved a change of GnRH analogue formulation or switch to another GnRH analogue. A total of five significant predictive factors for GnRH analogue treatment modification were identified: metastatic stage; physician sector; physician speciality; presence or absence of urinary symptoms; and intermittent versus continuous ADT. Conclusions: This study shows that in 43.8% of the patients with advanced PCa, ADT is modified in the first 2 years after initiation in routine clinical practice. Predictive factors for alteration of ADT were metastatic stage and the choice of an intermittent schedule.

The prov family of documents are the final output of the World Wide Web Consortium Provenance Working Group, chartered to specify a representation of provenance to facilitate its exchange over the Web. This article reflects upon the key requirements, guiding principles, and design decisions that influenced the prov family of documents. A broad range of requirements were found, relating to the key concepts necessary for describing provenance, such as resources, activities, agents and events, and to balancing prov’s ease of use with the facility to check its validity. By this retrospective requirement analysis, the article aims to provide some insights into how prov turned out as it did and why. Benefits of this insight include better inter-operability, a roadmap for alternate investigations and improvements, and solid foundations for future standardization activities.

UML2PROV is an approach to address the gap between application design, through UML diagrams, and provenance design, using PROV-Template. Its original design (i) provides a mapping strategy from UML behavioural diagrams to templates, (ii) defines a code generation technique based on Proxy pattern to deploy suitable artefacts for provenance generation in an application, (iii) is implemented in Java, using XSLT as a first attempt to implement our mapping patterns. In this paper, we complement and improve this original design in three different ways, providing a more complete and accurate solution for provenance generation. First, UML2PROV now supports UML structural diagrams (Class Diagrams), defining a mapping strategy from such diagrams to templates. Second, the UML2PROV prototype is improved by using a Model Driven Development-based approach which not only implements the overall mapping patterns, but also provides a fully automatic way to generate the artefacts for provenance collection, based on Aspect Oriented Programming as a more expressive and compact technique for capturing provenance than the Proxy pattern. Finally, there is an analysis of the potential benefits of our overall approach.

In this paper we present UML2PROV, an approach addressing the gap between application design, through UML diagrams, and provenance design, using PROV-Template. PROV-Template is a declarative approach that enables software engineers to develop programs that generate provenance following the PROV standard. The main contributions of this paper are: (i) a mapping strategy from UML diagrams (UML State Machine and Sequence diagrams) to templates, (ii) a code generation technique that creates libraries, which can be deployed in an application by creating suitable artefacts for provenance generation, and (iii) a demonstration of the feasibility of UML2PROV implemented with Java, and a preliminary quantitative evaluation that shows benefits regarding aspects such as design, development and provenance capture.

Resume Introduction La curietherapie des cancers de la prostate s’est progressivement implantee dans l’arsenal therapeutique comme une alternative a la prostatectomie radicale et a la radiotherapie externe. Dans le groupe des patients presentant un cancer de pronostic favorable, les survies specifiques depassent 95 % a 10 ans. L’objectif de cette etude est de decrire la place actuelle et les pratiques de la curietherapie en France. Materiel et methodes Un questionnaire realise en association avec l’Association francaise d’urologie (AFU) et la Societe francaise de radiotherapie oncologique (SFRO) et evaluant les differentes pratiques de la curietherapie en France a ete adresse a tous les urologues et radiotherapeutes qu’ils pratiquent ou non la curietherapie. Resultats Au total, 1417 questionnaires ont ete envoyes et 285 reponses ont ete recueillies provenant de 211 urologues (74 %) et 74 radiotherapeutes (26 %). Soixante (21 %) pratiquaient la curietherapie (31 urologues, 29 radiotherapeutes). La technique a faible debit de dose par implants permanents etait la plus frequemment utilisee (83,3 %). Quatre-vingt-dix pour cent des sondes recommandent la curietherapie pour les cancers de prostate a faible risque tandis que 73 % pratiquent dans les risques intermediaires favorables et seulement 13 % chez les hauts risques. Conclusion La curietherapie reste rarement realisee pour les cancers de prostate a faible risque. Une revision des recommandations est sans doute indispensable au vu des bons resultats dans ce groupe moyennant une selection rigoureuse des patients. Le binome urologue-radiotherapeute reste indispensable dans une prise en charge globale du patient. Niveau de preuve 4.

We live in a world where a host of computer systems, distributed throughout our physical and information environments, are increasingly implicated in our everyday actions. Computer technologies impact all aspects of our lives and our relationship with the digital has fundamentally altered as computers have moved out of the workplace and away from the desktop. Networked computers, tablets, phones and personal devices are now commonplace, as are an increasingly diverse set of digital devices built into the world around us. Data and information is generated at unprecedented speeds and volumes from an increasingly diverse range of sources. It is then combined in unforeseen ways, limited only by human imagination. People’s activities and collaborations are becoming ever more dependent upon and intertwined with this ubiquitous information substrate. As these trends continue apace, it is becoming apparent that many endeavours involve the symbiotic interleaving of humans and computers. Moreover, the emergence of these close-knit partnerships is inducing profound change. Rather than issuing instructions to passive machines that wait until they are asked before doing anything, we will work in tandem with highly inter-connected computational components that act autonomously and intelligently (aka agents). As a consequence, greater attention needs to be given to the balance of control between people and machines. In many situations, humans will be in charge and agents will predominantly act in a supporting role. In other cases, however, the agents will be in control and humans will play the supporting role. We term this emerging class of systems human-agent collectives (HACs) to reflect the close partnership and the flexible social interactions between the humans and the computers. As well as exhibiting increased autonomy, such systems will be inherently open and social. This means the participants will need to continually and flexibly establish and manage a range of social relationships. Thus, depending on the task at hand, different constellations of people, resources, and information will need to come together, operate in a coordinated fashion, and then disband. The openness and presence of many distinct stakeholders means participation will be motivated by a broad range of incentives rather than diktat. This article outlines the key research challenges involved in developing a comprehensive understanding of HACs. To illuminate this agenda, a nascent application in the domain of disaster response is presented.

This French observational, longitudinal, prospective study described the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of elderly men (≥75 years old) with prostate cancer after initiating gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonist therapy. At baseline and 3-6 months after baseline, European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer quality of life questionnaire-core 30 (QLQ-C30) and prostate-specific (QLQ-PR25) questionnaires were completed by patients. Data from 1276 patients were analyzed. At baseline, mean (±SD) age was 80 (±4.1) years, 29.1% of patients had Gleason scores ≥8 and 24.9% had metastases. At baseline, increasing age, presence of metastasis and presence of comorbidity had a negative impact on QLQ-C30 and QLQ-PR25 scores. At follow-up, improvement in emotional-functioning (2.8; p 0.001), social-functioning (1.7; p = 0.011), global HRQoL (1.6; p = 0.029), sleep-disturbance (-2.1; p = 0.011), appetite-loss (-4.0; p 0.001) and pain (-4.1; p 0.001) QLQ-C30 scores were observed. In addition, there was a worsening in treatment-related symptom (8.6; p 0.001), sexual-activity (-5.5; p 0.001) and sexual-functioning (-22.6; p 0.001) QLQ-PR25 scores, and an improvement in urinary symptoms (-3.7; p 0.001) and incontinence aid (-2.9; p = 0.023) QLQ-PR25 scores. This study shows that, apart from the expected impact on sexual functioning domains, HRQoL is not adversely affected by 3-6 months of GnRH agonist therapy in older men with prostate cancer.

BCG therapy, which is the standard treatment for non-muscle invasive bladder tumours with high risk of recurrence and progression, has potential life-threatening adverse effects (AEs). Rapid deterioration of general condition in a patient with history of bladder tumour should question about an ongoing treatment with BCG and specify the date of the last instillation. Trauma during catheterization and untreated concomitant urinary infection upon instillations are risk factors of severe AEs. In emergency, the diagnosis of severe AEs of BCG therapy is only based on the medical questioning with the notion of current BCG treatment and risk-bearing event upon instillation. Management of AEs is related to their pathophysiological mechanisms and relies on a combination of antibiotics against BCG, the symptomatic treatment, and corticosteroid therapy which has shown to improve patient outcomes.

This paper presents the operation and characteristics of a doubly salient PM generator for tidal energy turbine. The behavior and the supply strategy of this unconventional machine is described. An energy ratio criterion is introduced and combined with a torque to mass ratio one for the design of such system taking into account both the generator compactness and the converter sizing. A simple method for the calculations of these two criterions is proposed. The influences of the main geometrical parameters which define the machine geometry are firstly studied. Then a multi-objective optimization process is used to optimize the two design criterions. From the calculations of these criterions for 20,000 set of geometrical parameters a Pareto front is highlighted. Several point of this Pareto front which corresponds to typical DSPM designs are presented and analyzed. The results highlight the interest of proposed method which optimize simultaneously the generator design and the converter size.

Provenance data can be expressed as a graph with links informing who and which activities created, used and modified entities. The semantics of these links and domain specific reasoning can support the inference of additional information about the elements in the graph. If such elements include personal identifiers and/or personal identifiable information, then inferences may reveal unexpected links between elements, thus exposing personal data beyond an individual's intentions. Provenance graphs often entangle data relating to multiple individuals. It is therefore a challenge to protect personal data from unintended disclosure in provenance graphs. In this paper, we provide a Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) template for identifying imminent privacy threats that arise from provenance graphs in an application-agnostic setting. The PIA template identifies privacy threats, lists potential countermeasures, helps to manage personal data protection risks, and maintains compliance with privacy data protection laws and regulations.

In this paper, we propose a representation for PROV in JSON-LD, the JSON format for Linked Data, called PROV-JSONLD. As a JSON-based format, this provenance representation can be readily consumed by Web applications currently supporting JSON. As a Linked Data format, at the same time, it also represents provenance data in RDF using the PROV ontology. Hence, it is suitable for usages in both the Web and the Semantic Web.

This paper investigates a double-stator permanent magnet synchronous generator. A new structure of the permanent magnet double-stator was designed for wind turbine. A precise model of the generator was built by FEMM software with finite element method to accurately calculate the equivalent the d and q synchronous reactance, rated current and voltage and other parameters. Compared with the calculations of traditional analysis method, the new method can obtain the results with a relatively small error. Then, the different control strategies for permanent magnet synchronous generator are researched. The maximum torque control strategy is used to minimize the armature current, and then copper loss of the generator.

Ensuring reliable operation in tidal current renewable energy systems is an essential requirement to remove barriers to market penetration of these applications. The reported work investigates the open circuit fault tolerant performance of a Double Stator Permanent Magnet Generator (DSPMG) in tidal power generation systems. The conceptual advantages of this machine are used to show the possibility of uninterruptible operation under converter open phase fault. Concerning this technology, the total torque of the generator results from the superposition of the two stator torques, inner and outer stator. However, undesirable torque and speed oscillations occur if one stator has defect. To deal with this issue, the main idea of the proposed method is to compensate the faulty stator oscillating torque by using the healthy stator controller to produce the appropriate compensating torque. The proposed approach allows minimizing torque ripple through use of a simple high pass filter. Simulation results are given and demonstrate that the proposed method allows a reliable operation of the studied system under converter open phase fault.

Resume Introduction La BCG therapie avec traitement d’entretien est le traitement de reference des tumeurs de vessie n’infiltrant pas le muscle a haut risque de recidive et de progression. Dans la pratique, les effets indesirables (EI) de la BCG therapie ont pu restreindre sa prescription par les urologues. Cet article presente une revue de ces EI et leur prise en charge therapeutique. Materiels et methodes Une recherche bibliographique en langue francaise et anglaise par Medline ® et Embase ® en utilisant les mots cles BCG, bladder , complication , toxicity , adverse reaction , prevention et treatment a ete effectuee. Resultats Les mecanismes des principaux EI de la BCG therapie sont infectieux (cystite, fievre), immuno-allergiques (prostatite granulomateuse, orchi-epididymite, reactions granulomateuses) et auto-immuns (arthralgies, rash). La prise en charge des EI est fonction de leurs mecanismes physiopathologiques. La classification des EI de la BCG therapie basee sur la clinique permet d’adapter leur traitements. Conclusion L’association d’une polyantibiotherapie dirigee contre le BCG, d’anti-inflammatoires steroidien ou non steroidien et du traitement symptomatique constitue actuellement la triade sur laquelle repose la prise en charge adaptee des EI severes. La reduction des doses de BCG et l’administration d’ofloxacine apres l’instillation diminuent la frequence et la severite des EI mineurs et moderes. Les EI infectieux severes ou durant plus de sept jours, les EI immuno-allergiques ou les EI auto-immuns durant plus de sept jours imposent un arret definitif de la BCG therapie.

Because of the low mortality rates associated with prostate cancer, treatments long-term adverse effects constitute an important parameter in the management of patients. In particular, androgen deprivation has been shown to be linked to several metabolic disorders which are already frequent in men after age 60, such as weight and fat gain, insulin resistance likely to evolve into diabetes, and dyslipidemia. So far no consensus guidelines have been published regarding the screening and treatment of metabolic disorders in men with prostate cancer. It is essential to detect and manage these metabolic disorders, all the more so as they seem to be associated with an increased aggressiveness of prostate cancer. Here we report the development of a new questionnaire, which might contribute to the systematic management, and potentially the screening and treatment or the prevention of these metabolic disorders in patients with prostate cancer. In accordance with recent reviews and on the basis of experience, our French board of experts also recommends systematic screening and selective treatment for diabetes, regular follow-up of fasting glucose rates, lipid profile and blood pressure in all patients under long-term androgen deprivation treatment, as well as lifestyle changes (practice of exercise, nutritional habits).

Resume Objectifs Le bien-etre des medecins au travail est de plus en plus souvent etudie, mais jusqu’a present, peu d’etudes ont concerne la specialite urologique. L’objectif de l’enquete CAPURO a ete d’evaluer la qualite de vie des urologues francais, de recueillir la perception de leur vie professionnelle et leurs sentiments vis-a-vis des reformes en cours, d’identifier les activites pratiquees en dehors de l’urologie. Methodes Cette enquete a ete realisee en 2009 sur une periode d’un mois a l’aide d’un questionnaire de 25 questions disponible lors du congres de l’Association francaise d’urologie (AFU) et sur le site internet www.cap-uro.com . Resultats Deux cent quatre-vingt seize urologues ont repondu a cette enquete. Plus de deux urologues sur trois ont declare etre satisfaits ou tres satisfaits de leur mode d’exercice et ce sentiment a ete encore plus important chez les urologues liberaux. Avec une duree hebdomadaire moyenne de travail de 57 heures, les urologues ont souligne qu’ils passaient un temps important a des activites non directement liees au soin, mais neanmoins utiles pour la qualite des soins et l’evaluation des pratiques. Un sentiment d’insuffisance d’acces aux nouvelles techniques a ete exprime par 90 % des participants a l’enquete. Soixante pour cent d’entre eux etaient interesses par la recherche clinique, mais la plupart ne disposaient pas des moyens necessaires pour la developper. Les outils de formation medicale continue (FMC) leur paraissaient dans l’ensemble satisfaisants ; en revanche, l’aide qu’ils recevaient pour l’accreditation etait declaree insuffisante. Les trois surspecialites les plus pratiquees ont ete au travers de cette enquete la cancerologie, l’hypertrophie benigne de la prostate (HBP), la lithiase et l’endo-urologie. Pour leur avenir, les urologues paraissaient tres inquiets face aux differentes reformes en cours. Une minorite pratiquait des activites extra-urologiques, faute de temps disponible. Conclusion En 2009, les urologues francais ayant participe a l’enquete CAPURO etaient majoritairement satisfaits et tres satisfaits de leurs conditions d’exercice avec toutefois quelques motifs d’insatisfaction justifiant une veritable concertation entre les tutelles et les professionnels de sante.

Resume Objectifs Decrire et evaluer l’homogeneite des pratiques des urologues s’agissant de leurs prescriptions d’arrets de travail au decours de differentes interventions chirurgicales. Patients et methodes Entre janvier et avril 2006, une enquete basee sur internet a ete remplie par les chirurgiens urologues volontaires pour participer. Le questionnaire portait sur les caracteristiques des urologues et la duree moyenne des arrets de travail prescrits pour quinze interventions differentes et selon la penibilite estimee du travail du patient. Les analyses statistiques ont ete effectuees au moyen du logiciel SAS™ version 9.2. Des statistiques descriptives ont ete effectuees dans un premier temps, puis le test de Kruskal-Wallis a ete utilise pour rechercher des differences significatives entre variables ( p Resultats Cent quarante-huit urologues ont participe a l’enquete et 145 reponses ont pu etre analysees. Les urologues etaient âges en moyenne de 46,3 ± 9,4 ans avec un mode d’exercice dans le secteur public ( n = 73/140 ; 52 %), liberal ( n = 43/140 ; 31 %) ou mixte ( n = 24/140 ; 17 %). Le test de Kruskal-Wallis a montre dans tous les cas une difference significative avec des prescriptions d’arrets de travail plus longs lorsque le travail du patient etait considere comme penible. Les urologues plus jeunes (moins de 40 ans) avaient tendance a prescrire des arrets de travail plus courts que leurs confreres plus âges. Conclusion Les resultats ont mis en evidence des pratiques globalement homogenes chez les urologues ayant participe a cette enquete. Seule une minorite d’interventions a donne lieu a des prescriptions d’une duree significativement differente selon le mode d’exercice ou l’âge du chirurgien. Les variations de pratiques observees soulevent plusieurs hypotheses de recherche quant aux determinants a l’origine de ces ecarts. Les resultats obtenus peuvent constituer une premiere base de reference pour les differents acteurs interesses par l’evaluation et l’amelioration des pratiques.

International audience; A new generation of space-borne SAR sensors were launched in 2006-2007 with ALOS, TerraSAR-X, COSMO-Sky-Med and RadarSat-2 satellites. The data available in different bands (L, C and X bands), with High Resolution (HR) or multi-polarization modes offer new possibilities to monitor glacier displacement and surface evolution by SAR remote sensing. In this paper, the first results obtained with TerraSAR-X HR SAR image time series acquired over the temperate glaciers of the Chamonix Mont-Blanc test site are presented. This area involves well-known temperate glaciers which have been monitored and instrumented i.e. stakes for annual displacement/ablation, GPS for surface displacement and cavitometer for basal displacement, for more than 50 years. The potential of 11-day repeated X-band HR SAR data for Alpine glacier monitoring is investigated by a combined use of in situ measurements and multi-temporal images. Interpretations of HR images, analysis of interferometric pairs and performance assessments of target/texture tracking methods for glacier motion estimation are presented. The results obtained with four time series covering the Chamonix Mont-Blanc glaciers over one year show that the phase information is rarely preserved after 11 days on such glaciers, whereas the high resolution intensity information allows the main glacier features to be observed and displacement fields on the textured areas to be derived.

Resume La concordance des augmentations de l’esperance de vie a la naissance et de l’incidence globale des cancers laisse augurer d’une augmentation tres significative des cancers de la personne âgee. En particulier, l’augmentation de l’incidence du cancer de la prostate dans la population âgee (45 % des diagnostics sont poses apres 75 ans) contraste avec la pauvrete des connaissances scientifiques solides sur ce sujet. Parallelement, l’approche oncogeriatrique se developpe depuis plusieurs annees sous l’egide de la Societe internationale d’oncogeriatrie (SIOG). Cette demarche veut repondre a la prise en charge defectueuse des cancers chez la personne âgee. Les explications de cette prise en charge defectueuse sont a chercher tant dans les caracteristiques des patients âges que dans la formation des soignants. Les auteurs rappellent les principes de l’evaluation oncogeriatrique et de la classification des patients qui est maintenant proposee. Ils passent ensuite en revue les differentes options therapeutiques et leurs resultats dans la population âgee et ils decrivent le processus decisionnel therapeutique. Enfin, ils proposent une serie de recommandations sur le diagnostic du cancer de la prostate, l’evaluation des patients et le traitement de la maladie dans la population âgee. Le cancer de la prostate est un modele quasi ideal pour l’oncogeriatrie. Les urologues doivent rester a la pointe de sa prise en charge, quel que soit l’âge de leur patient.

The aim of this study was to validate continuous arterial spin labeling (CASL) as a quantitative imaging modality for pharmacological MRI (phMRI) based on local cerebral blood perfusion. Specifically, the capability of CASL to assess brain-activity signatures of pharmacological interventions in animal models was evaluated with respect to drug discovery in diseases of the central nervous system (CNS). Perfusion as a surrogate for neuronal activity was measured in various brain areas of the rat. The validation approach was threefold. First, perfusion was shown to reliably reflect differential effects of anesthesia on striatal activation. Different baseline levels and different temporal response profiles after amphetamine challenges under isoflurane, propofol, ketamine, and α-chloralose anesthesia were consistent with known properties of these anesthetics. Second, remarkable consistency of multi-area baseline perfusion patterns between independent groups of animals confirmed the notion that CASL is highly reproducible and thus particularly suitable for long-term longitudinal studies. Third, administration of the well-characterized psychotomimetic compounds amphetamine and phencyclidine (PCP) elicited dose-dependent activation patterns that were related to the drugs' particular interactions with the dopaminergic and glutamatergic systems, respectively. In conclusion, perfusion-based phMRI is a robust, reliable and valid quantitative technique suitable for evaluating brain-activation patterns in animal models of CNS diseases. Magn Reson Med, 2009. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

A first serum total PSA assay is recommended during the first three months after treatment. When PSA is detectable, PSA assay should be repeated three months later to confirm this elevation and to estimate the PSA doubling time (PSADT). In the absence of residual cancer, PSA becomes undetectable by the first month after total prostatectomy: less than 0.1 ng/ml (or less than 0.07 ng/ml) for the ultrasensitive assay method and less than 0.2 ng/ml for the other methods. In the presence of residual cancer, PSA either does not become undetectable or increases after an initial undetectable period. A consensus has been reached to define recurrence as PSA greater than 0.2 ng/ml confirmed on two successive assays. After external beam radiotherapy, PSA can decrease after a mean interval of one to two years to a value less than 1 ng/ml (predictive of recurrence-free survival). Biochemical recurrence after radiotherapy is defined by an increase of PSA by 2 ng or more above the PSA nadir, whether or not it is associated with endocrine therapy. After endocrine therapy, the PSA nadir is correlated with recurrence-free survival. PSA is decreased for a mean of 18 to 24 months followed by a rise in PSA, corresponding to hormone-independence. The time to recurrence or the time to reach the nadir and the PSA doubling time after local therapy with surgery or radiotherapy have a diagnostic value in terms of the site of recurrence, local or metastatic and a prognostic value for survival and response to complementary radiotherapy or endocrine therapy. A PSADT less than eight to 12 months is correlated with a high risk of metastatic recurrence and 10-year mortality. The histological and biochemical characteristics in favour of local recurrence are Gleason score less or equal to seven (3+4), elevation of PSA after a period greater than 12 months and PSADT greater than 10 months. In other cases, recurrence is predominantly metastatic. The risk of demonstrating metastasis in the case of biochemical recurrence after total prostatectomy and before endocrine therapy depends on the PSA level and the PSADT. No consensus has been reached concerning the indication for complementary investigations by bone scan and abdominopelvic CT in patients with biochemical recurrence after treatment of localized cancer without endocrine therapy. However, when PSADT greater than six months, the risk of metastasis is less than 3% even for PSA greater than 30 ng/ml. When PSADT less than six months and PSA greater than 10 ng/ml, the risk of metastasis is close to 50%.

As more systems become PROV-enabled, there will be a corresponding increase in the need to communicate provenance data directly to users. Whilst there are a number of existing methods for doing this -- formally, diagrammatically, and textually -- there are currently no application-generic techniques for generating linguistic explanations of provenance. The principal reason for this is that a certain amount of linguistic information is required to transform a provenance graph -- such as in PROV -- into a textual explanation, and if this information is not available as an annotation, this transformation is presently not possible. In this paper, we describe how we have adapted the common 'consensus' architecture from the field of natural language generation to achieve this graph transformation, resulting in the novel PROVglish architecture. We then present an approach to garnering the necessary linguistic information from a PROV dataset, which involves exploiting the linguistic information informally encoded in the URIs denoting provenance resources. We finish by detailing an evaluation undertaken to assess the effectiveness of this approach to lexicalisation, demonstrating a significant improvement in terms of fluency, comprehensibility, and grammatical correctness.

We present a technique to capture retrospective provenance across a number of tools in a statistical software suite. Our goal is to facilitate portability of processes between the tools to enhance usability and to support reproducibility. We describe an intermediate notation to aid runtime capture of provenance and demonstrate conversion to an executable and editable workflow. The notation is amenable to conversion to PROV via a template expansion mechanism. We discuss the impact on our system of recording this intermediate notation in terms of runtime performance and also the benefits it brings.

Resume Introduction L’information sur les pathologies de la prostate, incluant le cancer de la prostate, est soutenue par l’Association Francaise d’Urologie (AFU) depuis plusieurs annees mais se developpe lentement en France. En 2005, une premiere communication etait consacree au public masculin et avait identifie les raisons de son fatalisme, et paradoxalement, pourquoi la prostate incarne la vulnerabilite de son capital sexuel. Dans une seconde phase, cet article presente les resultats d’une etude complementaire conduite aupres de medecins generalistes ayant pour but d’identifier leurs attentes et les leviers les plus adaptes pour favoriser le depistage. Materiel et Methode La societe Ipsos a developpe un protocole qualitatif Krisis™ realisee en octobre 2005 (apres la premiere journee nationale de la prostate du 15 septembre 2005). Trois groupes de medecins generalistes ont ete constitues : des medecins tres actifs en matiere de depistage, des medecins mal a l’aise avec ce probleme ou des medecins s’en remettant systematiquement aux Urologues. Resultats Les pathologies prostatiques abordees en consultation dependaient de l’aisance du medecin ce qui est liee a sa formation et ses liens avec les urologues. Pour entamer la question du depistage, les generalistes impliques posaient des questions simples a propos de pratiques quotidiennes sans crainte d’etre ludiques ou de s’appuyer sur la mediatisation de la pathologie. Le toucher rectal apparaissait comme un des elements cliniques importants mais pas toujours facile a realiser. Le PSA apparaissait comme un examen pas toujours approprie et caracterise par un deficit d’informations sur les conditions de sa prescription, son utilite et sa pertinence par rapport au depistage. L’echographie pouvait etre une astuce pour alerter le patient sans dramatiser et faire faire le toucher rectal par un Urologue. Les medecins genera listes femmes prefeaient le PSA et l’echographie. Les medecins interroges attenaient une mediatisation des pathologies de la prostate, une grande interactivite avec les urologues et des documents, des brochures a mettre en salle d’attente pour relayer les messages. Conclusion Les Medecins generalistes avaient besoin que leurs instances, les specialistes et les institutions de sante publique developpent et mediatisent l’andrologie au meme titre que la gynecologie. Les Urologues ont un role majeur d’accompagnement par le biais de conferences, enseignements postuniversitaires ou par des invitations initiees par l’AFU.

E-science experiments typically involve many distributed services maintained by different organisations. After an experiment has been executed, it is useful for a scientist to verify that the execution was performed correctly or is compatible with some existing experimental criteria or standards, not necessarily anticipated prior to execution. Scientists may also want to review and verify experiments performed by their colleagues. There are no existing frameworks for validating such experiments in today?s e-science systems. Users therefore have to rely on error checking performed by the services, or adopt other ad hoc methods. This paper introduces a platform-independent framework for validating workflow executions. The validation relies on reasoning over the documented provenance of experiment results and semantic descriptions of services advertised in a registry. This validation process ensures experiments are performed correctly, and thus results generated are meaningful. The framework is tested in a bioinformatics application that performs protein compressibility analysis.

In e-Science experiments, it is vital to record the experimental process for later use such as in interpreting results, verifying that the correct process took place or tracing where data came from. The process that led to some data is called the provenance of that data, and a provenance architecture is the software architecture for a system that will provide the necessary functionality to record, store and use process documentation to determine the provenance of data items. However, there has been little principled analysis of what is actually required of a provenance architecture, so it is impossible to determine the functionality they would ideally support. In this paper, we present use cases for a provenance architecture from current experiments in biology, chemistry, physics and computer science, and analyse the use cases to determine the technical requirements of a generic, technology and application-independent architecture. We propose an architecture that meets these requirements, analyse its features compared with other approaches and evaluate a preliminary implementation by attempting to realise two of the use cases.

This article describes the design of a low speed slotted switched reluctance machine (SSRM) for wind turbine applications. The modeling and the dimensioning of the machine structure are investigated. Teeth shapes are studied by maximizing the produced torque, and then the global design is analyzed by optimizing the mass to torque ratio. The influence of the number of poles per phase is investigated, and finally a comparison with other high torque machines is carried out. Dimensions are obtained thanks to a genetic algorithm (GA) associated to the finite element method for the resolution of the electromagnetic equations.

Recommender systems have been widely advocated as a way of coping with the problem of information overload for knowledge workers. Given this, multiple recommendation methods have been developed. However, it has been shown that no one technique is best for all users in all situations. Thus we believe that effective recommender systems should incorporate a wide variety of such techniques and that some form of overarching framework should be put in place to coordinate the various recommendations so that only the best of them (from whatever source) are presented to the user. To this end, we show that a marketplace, in which the various recommendation methods compete to offer their recommendations to the user, can be used in this role. Specifically, this article presents the principled design of such a marketplace (including the auction protocol, the reward mechanism, and the bidding strategies of the individual recommendation agents) and evaluates the market's capability to effectively coordinate multiple methods. Through analysis and simulation, we show that our market is capable of shortlisting recommendations in decreasing order of user perceived quality and of correlating the individual agent's internal quality rating to the user's perceived quality.

The paper considers the long-standing open problem of static output feedback stabilization with periodic output feedback. Extending the tools from vibrational control theory, we are able to derive some original results for this problem. We provide some sufficient conditions for stabilization with periodic output feedback. The proposed approach is constructive, and for some low dimensional cases, the sufficient conditions that we present are also necessary.

The present paper studies a feedback regulation problem that arises in at least two different biological applications. The feedback regulation problem under consideration may be interpreted as an adaptive control problem for tuning bifurcation parameters, and it has not been studied in the control literature. The goal of the paper is to formulate this problem and to present some preliminary results.

We introduce the concept of keylets, which are mobile code used to control the propagation of keys in a system, as well as a technique for mobile agent code security that involves encryption of partitioned code components. Keylets are used to support this technique by directing the distribution of keys that decrypt the encrypted components. Formalisation for keylet operations is presented, and a scenario illustrating the use of keylets to implement the technique for mobile agent code security is detailed.

International audience; Sustainable energy-based generation systems, such as photovoltaic and wind turbinegeneration systems, normally adopt inverters to connect to the grid. These power electronic interfacespossess the characteristics of small inertia and small output impedance, which create difficultiesto stabilize the voltage and frequency of a distributed power source. To deal with this problem, aVirtual Synchronous Generator (VSG)-based inverter control method is presented in this paper byintroducing virtual inertia and damping coefficient into the control loop to emulate the dynamicbehavior of a traditional synchronous generator. Based on this VSG control method, a three-layerhierarchical control scheme is further proposed to increase the control accuracy of the voltage andfrequency in a VSG-based distributed generation system with parallel inverters. The principle ofthe VSG control method, the system stability analysis, the design process of the hierarchical controlstructure, and the frequency/voltage secondary regulation processes are all specified in this paper.Finally, some numerical simulations are carried out and the effectiveness of proposed control schemeis verified by the simulation results analysis.

e599 Background: Data are limited showing changes in patients’ use of androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) in routine clinical practice. Methods: In this non-interventional, longitudinal cohort study, we assessed the number and type of modifications of ADT during the first 24 months of treatment in France. At baseline and every 6 months, we collected clinical, biological and therapeutic data and any changes of ADT modality. Results: Between July 2011 and January 2015, 891 pts were evaluable at 24 months. Mean age was 74.1±8.7 years. Indications for ADT were: biochemical relapse after local treatment (21.4%), adjuvant to radiotherapy (RT) (31.6%), metastases (24.2%) and locally advanced tumor without local treatment (20.6%). Gleason score was > 7, 7(4+3), 7 (3+4) and < 7 in 33.6%, 23.1%, 26% and 17.3%, respectively. At 24 months, modification of ADT was reported in 390 pts (43.8%). Modifications of ADT according to indications are summarized in table below. The main types of modification concerned the formulation (molecule or duration of action) (61.3%), duration of ADT (10.5%), switch to intermittent treatment (10.0%), addition of chemotherapy (5.6%) or second line hormonal manipulation (9.0%). Clear explanation for adaptations was given for only 110 patients: disease progression: 55.5% ; patient request: 26.4%, tolerance: 12.7% and failure of castration: 7.3%. Conclusions: Change of initial modality of ADT is frequent in the first 24 months of treatment (43.8%) and numerically more frequent in presence of metastases or biochemical relapse than when ADT is added to RT. Surprisingly, the main type of modification is formulation. The main reason for modification is disease progression. [Table: see text]

Objectives: To define the profile of patients with prostate cancer (PCa) receiving a 3-month or 6-month formulation of luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) agonist in France and the reasons for choosing between formulations. Methods: This prospective 1-year observational study included patients with PCa starting LHRH agonist therapy in everyday practice. Reasons for prescription and patient preference were recorded at inclusion, 3 or 6 months, and 12 months. The percentage of patients with a renewed initial prescription was recorded during follow up. Results: A total of 1438 patients with PCa were included. Hormonotherapy was initiated more frequently with a 6-month ( n = 903; 62.8%) than with a 3-month formulation ( n = 535; 37.2%). The initial prescription was renewed in most patients after 3 or 6 months (86.1%) and 12 months (71%); 170 patients switched from a 3-month to a 6-month formulation during follow up. Presence of metastases influenced initial prescription (odds ratio 0.439; 95% confidence interval 1.095–1.892), with a 3-month formulation more often prescribed than a 6-month formulation to men with metastatic PCa at diagnosis (21.3% versus 15.8%, respectively). The most frequent reasons given by physicians for choosing the 6-month formulation were ‘simplification of therapeutic regimen’ (86.9%) or ‘fewer unnecessary visits’ (46.8%). Similar reasons were given for switching from a 3-month to a 6-month formulation during follow up. The most frequent reasons given by physicians to initiate therapy with a 3-month formulation were ‘usual practice/habit’ (55.5%) or ‘closer patient management’ (46.2%). ‘Closer patient management’ and ‘reassuring effect upon patient’ were the main reasons for switching from a 6-month to a 3-month formulation during follow up. Approximately 80% of patients were satisfied with the formulation they were prescribed and patients’ reasons for preferring one formulation over another were similar to the physicians’ reasons for prescribing these formulations. Conclusions: Slow-release formulations of LHRH agonists are useful therapies for physicians treating patients with PCa and there may be a preference for the 6-month formulation.

This paper focuses on the currents supply waveforms of a non-conventional electrical machine - Doubly Salient Permanent Magnet Generator (DSPMG) (10 kW, 50 tr/min), which is dedicated to marine tidal current applications. A dynamical dq model is firstly developed. Then, classical sinusoidal and quasi sinusoidal current waveforms are all applied for DSPMG to minimize the torque ripples and to analyze the generator performances. Simulation results are presented to validate the proposed model.

In this paper, we focus on a wide speed range operating of a doubly salient permanent magnet generator (DSPM). A flux weakening strategy is presented. The flux weakening ability of the DSPM is then compared to conventional synchronous machines.

This paper discusses low speed double stator permanent magnet generator design combined with control strategies. The study is based on analytical model. The results indicate that generator structure design is a compromise between torque volume density, power efficiency and control strategy. The reactance value presents an important factor for the system power efficiency and selection of control strategy. The work will focus on the tidal speed below its rated value. The rotational speed of turbine is proportional with tidal speed to maximize the power coefficient. For the same rotational speed, the generator power loss is different when it is controlled by different control strategy. An optimal control strategy can be chosen for special turbine rotational speed or tidal current speed.

The potential of electric power generation from tidal currents is enormous. Tidal currents are being recognized as a resource to be exploited for the sustainable generation of electrical power. The high ocean water density leads to that tidal current turbine blades size are much smaller than wind turbine blades for the same power level. Additionally, tidal source is highly predictable for long time. Those characteristics make tidal current extremely promising and advantageous for power generation when compared to other renewable energy resources. The technology used for harnessing tidal current energy mainly based on the relevant work which has been carried out on ships propellers, wind turbines and on hydro turbines. This paper reports tidal power fundamental concepts and two currently used source modeling methods. The most promising tidal turbine projects worldwide are classified depending on the structure of turbine and some brief notes are given. Furthermore, it will also discuss the possible generator choices and system topologies.

We have recently defined a new algorithm for distributed garbage collection based on reference-counting (Luc Moreau, in Proceedings of the Third International Conference of Functional Programming (ICFP'98), Sept. 1998, pp. 204–215s Luc Moreau and J. Duprat, Technical Report RR1999-18, Ecole Normale Superieure, Lyon, March 1999). At the heart of the algorithm, we find tree rerooting, a mechanism able to reduce third-party dependencies by reorganising diffusion trees. In reality, the algorithm describes a spectrum of algorithms according to the policy used to manage messages. In this paper, we present the implementation of the algorithm and evaluate its performance. We have implemented two policies, which are extremes of the spectrum, respectively using and not using tree rerooting. In addition, two different strategies for managing action queues have been implemented. The conclusions of our experimentations are the following. Tree rerooting offers more parallelism during distributed GC activitys we explain this phenomenon by the length reduction of causality chains in the distributed GC. Grouping messages per destination dramatically reduces the number of messages, but requires a more complex implementation as messages have to be sorted per destination. Speed up of 100% has been observed on some benchmarks.