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Good quality water is crucial to most developing nations' sustainability. However, there is a clear lack of affordable and reliable solutions to monitor water quality. According to the WHO 2022 Sustainable Development Goals report, about 3 billion people do not have information on their water quality. While off-line measurements are commonly practiced, the availability of in-situ monitoring solutions is considered critical to the generalization of water monitoring, but current technologies are bulky, expensive and usually do not target a sufficient number of quality parameters. [1]To meet this challenge, the LOTUS project (https://www.lotus-india.eu/) brings forward a low-cost, compact, versatile multiparametric chemical sensor aiming at real-time monitoring of chlorine, pH, temperature and conductivity in potable water. The proposed solution –a tube of 21.2 cm in length by 3.5 cm in diameter – is composed of a replaceable sensor head incorporating the sensing elements and a sensor body containing the acquisition and communication electronics. The sensor head integrates a 1cm² silicon chip with 2 temperature sensors (serpentine-shaped thermistors), 3 conductivity sensors (parallel electrodes in a 4-probe configuration) and a 10x2 sensor array of multi-walled carbon nanotube (CNT) chemistors. The CNT are arranged in random networks between interdigitated electrodes and are either non-functionalized or functionalized with a dedicated polymer. [1]We evaluated the performance of 7 units of this solution in Sense-city facility (located at University Gustave Eiffel, France - https://sense-city.ifsttar.fr/ ), exploiting its 44m potable water loop with 93.8-mm PVC pipes. The system was operated at 25 m3/h and 1 bar, at temperature ranging between 15°C and 20°C, conductivity between 870 µS/cm and 1270 µS/cm; and chlorine between 0 and 5 mg/L. Because of the high-level of electromagnetic interferences in Sense-City and limited shielding of the acquisition system, the sensor signal is severely noisy and various steps of denoising are required. From the initial dataset were extracted a small number of devices and time periods with both sufficient variations in the target parameters and manageable level of signal-over-noise ratio. For chip 141, over 150hours of testing, CNT-based chemistors showed sensitivity to pH and active chlorine (HClO) with differentiated response between functionalized and non-functionalized devices. However, pH and chlorine can only be estimated with MAE respectively 0.17 and 0.18mg/L due to the high noise level. Over 400h, with chip 141, the real-time temperature of the water can be estimated with an MAE of 0.4°C in flowing water and 0.1°C in static water. The chip 141 dataset did not feature enough conductivity variation to assess performances. This was achieved on chip AS001 with an MAE of 176.2 µS/cm over 80 hours.Overall, these results provide a preliminary proof of operation of the solution in realistic environment, with the high noise level being a major limitation. A new version of system is being designed to reduce the noise, to be tested in Sense-City in 2023.[1] Cousin, P. et al. (2022). Improving Water Quality and Security with Advanced Sensors and Indirect Water Sensing Methods. Springer Water. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-08262-7_

Internalization and intracellular trafficking of hormone receptors, like receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) and G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), play pivotal roles in cell responsiveness homeostasis. Dysregulation in receptor trafficking can lead to aberrant signaling and cell behavior, prevalent in cancer. Here, using an endosomal BRET-based assay in a high-throughput screen with the prototypical GPCR angiotensin II type 1 receptor (AT1R), we sought to identify inhibitors of receptor trafficking from a library of ~115,000 small molecules. We identified a novel dual Ras and ARF6 inhibitor that blocks agonist-mediated internalization of AT1R and other GPCRs, which we named Rasarfin. Rasarfin also potently inhibited agonist-induced ERK1/2 signaling by GPCRs, and MAPK and Akt signaling by EGFR, as well as prevented cancer cell proliferation. In silico modeling and in vitro studies revealed a unique binding modality of Rasarfin within the SOS-binding domain of Ras. Our findings unveil a new class of dual small G protein inhibitors for receptor trafficking and signaling, useful for the inhibition of oncogenic cellular responses.

In a context of growing electrification of road transport, Wireless Power Transfer (WPT) appears as an appealing alternative technology as it enables Electric Vehicles (EVs) to charge while driving and without any mechanical contact (with overhead cables or rails in the ground). Although the WPT technology background dates from the end of 20th century, recent advances in semiconductor technologies have enabled the first real demonstrations. Within the FABRIC European project, the French research Institute VEDECOM and its partners implemented a whole prototype wireless power transfer charging infrastructure. The first demonstrations of Inductive WPT in different real driving conditions (up to 20 kW, from 0 to 100 km/h, with one or two serial vehicles) were provided. This paper describes the prototype equipment and its instrumentation and provides the system characterization results. The future of the Inductive WPT technology is further discussed considering its different technical and economic challenges. In parallel, how this technology could be part of future generation road infrastructures is discussed. Future research and demonstration steps are presented in the conclusion.