Institut Catholique d'Arts et Métiers

Abstract Global pollution by plastics derived from petroleum has fostered the development of carbon–neutral, biodegradable bioplastics synthesized from renewable resources such as modern biomass, yet knowledge on the impact of bioplastics on ecosystems is limited. Here we review the polylactic acid plastic with focus on synthesis, biodegradability tuning, environmental conversion to microplastics, and impact on microbes, algae, phytoplankton, zooplankton, annelids, mollusk and fish. Polylactic acid is a low weight semi-crystalline bioplastic used in agriculture, medicine, packaging and textile. Polylactic acid is one of the most widely used biopolymers, accounting for 33% of all bioplastics produced in 2021. Although biodegradable in vivo , polylactic acid is not completely degradable under natural environmental conditions, notably under aquatic conditions. Polylactic acid disintegrates into microplastics faster than petroleum-based plastics and may pose severe threats to the exposed biota.

BACKGROUND: Recently, a new enteropathy has been described: olmesartan-associated enteropathy. However, the association has been questioned: a phase 3 trial and a cohort study found no association between gastrointestinal events and olmesartan. AIM: To collect French cases of sartan-associated enteropathy to describe further this entity, confirm or refute causality, and determine if the association exists with other sartans. METHODS: French gastroenterologists were invited to report cases of sartan-associated enteropathy and collect clinical, biological and histological data. Patients with diarrhoea and histological duodenal abnormalities were included. RESULTS: Thirty-six patients with olmesartan-associated enteropathy were reported, including 32 with villous atrophy and four without. There was only one patient with irbesartan-associated enteropathy. None of the patients died. Patients with villous atrophy had diarrhoea, vomiting, renal failure, hypokalaemia, body weight loss and hypoalbuminaemia. Thirty-one patients were hospitalised; four required intensive care. Anti-transglutaminase and anti-enterocyte antibodies were negative; anti-nuclear antibodies were positive (9/11). Endoscopic duodenal biopsies showed villous atrophy (32/32) and polyclonal intra-epithelial CD3+CD8+ lymphocytosis (11/11). Exactly, 14/15 patients responded to steroids and/or immunosuppressants, prescribed because of suspected autoimmune enteropathy. Ten olmesartan interruptions were followed by reintroductions before steroids or immunosuppressants. Interruptions were followed by remissions (9/10), but reintroductions were followed by relapses (9/9). Twenty-nine patients were in remission since olmesartan interruption, including 26 without immunosuppressants. Patients with normal villi had similar clinical characteristics, but mild histological abnormalities (intra-epithelial lymphocytosis and lamina propria lymphocytic infiltration). CONCLUSIONS: Olmesartan causes a severe and immune-mediated enteropathy, with or without villous atrophy. Enteropathy associated with other sartans seems to be very rare.

Ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) of antioxidant polyphenols from chicory grounds was studied in order to propose a suitable valorization of this food industry by-product. The main parameters influencing the extraction process were identified. A new mathematical model for multi-criteria optimization of UAE was proposed. This kinetic model permitted the following and the prediction of the yield of extracted polyphenols, the antioxidant activity of the obtained extracts and the energy consumption during the extraction process in wide ranges of temperature (20-60°C), ethanol content in the solvent (0-60% (vol.) in ethanol-water mixtures) and ultrasound power (0-100W). After experimental validation of the model, several simulations at different technological restrictions were performed to illustrate the potentiality of the model to find the optimal conditions for obtaining a given yield within minimal process duration or with minimal energy consumption. The advantage of ultrasound assistance was clearly demonstrated both for the reduction of extraction duration and for the reduction of energy consumption.

Fiber-based flexible piezoelectric composites offer several advantages to use in energy harvesting and biomimetic locomotion. These advantages include ease of application, high power density, effective bending actuation, silent operation over a range of frequencies, and light weight. Piezoelectric materials exhibit the well-known direct and converse piezoelectric effects. The direct piezoelectric effect has received growing attention for low-power generation to use in wireless electronic applications while the converse piezoelectric effect constitutes an alternative to replace the conventional actuators used in biomimetic locomotion. In this paper, underwater thrust and electricity generation are investigated experimentally by focusing on biomimetic structures with macro-fiber composite piezoelectrics. Fish-like bimorph configurations with and without a passive caudal fin (tail) are fabricated and compared. The favorable effect of having a passive caudal fin on the frequency bandwidth is reported. The presence of a passive caudal fin is observed to bring the second bending mode close to the first one, yielding a wideband behavior in thrust generation. The same smart fish configuration is tested for underwater piezoelectric power generation in response to harmonic excitation from its head. Resonant piezohydroelastic actuation is reported to generate milli-newton level hydrodynamic thrust using milli-watt level actuation power input. The average actuation power requirement for generating a mean thrust of 19 mN at 6 Hz using a 10 g piezoelastic fish with a caudal fin is measured as 120 mW. This work also discusses the feasibility of thrust generation using the harvested energy toward enabling self-powered swimmer-sensor platforms with comparisons based on the capacity levels of structural thin-film battery layers as well as harvested solar and vibrational energy.

Collision accidents may lead to significant asset damage and human casualties. This paper introduces a direct analysis methodology that makes use of Automatic Identification System (AIS) data to estimate collision probability and generate scenarios for use in ship damage stability assessment. Potential collision scenarios are detected from AIS data by an avoidance behaviour-based collision detection model (ABCD-M) and the probability of collision is estimated in various routes pertaining to a specific area of operation. Damage extents are idealised by the Super – Element (SE) method accounting for the influence of surrounding water in way of contact. Results are presented for a Ro - Pax ship operating from 2018 to 2019 in the Gulf of Finland. It is confirmed that collision probability is extremely diverse among voyages and the damages obtained correlate well with those adopted by the UN IMO Regulatory Instrument SOLAS (2020). It is concluded that the method is by nature sensitive to traffic features in the selected case study area. Yet, it is useful for the evaluation of flooding risk for ships operating in real hydro-meteorological conditions.

In the context of a circular economy, one can observe that (i) recycling chains are not adapted enough to the end-of-life products they have to process and that (ii) products are not sufficiently well designed either to integrate at best their target recycling chain. Therefore, a synergy between product designers and recycling-chains stakeholders is lacking, mainly due to their weak communication and the time-lag between the product design phase and its end-of-life treatment. Many Design for Recycling approaches coexist in the literature. However, to fully develop a circular economy, Design from Recycling also has to be taken into account. Thus Re-Cycling, a complete circular design approach, is proposed. First, a design for recycling methodology linking recyclability assessment to product design guidelines is proposed. Then, a design from recycling methodology is developed to assess the convenience of using secondary raw materials in the design phase. The recyclability of a smartphone and the convenience of using recycled materials in a new cycle are both analyzed to demonstrate our proposal. The Fairphone 2® and its treatment by the WEEE French takeback scheme are used as a case study.

Currently, in the European Union (EU), e-waste chain performance is assessed by technical indicators that aim to ensure system compliance with collection and recovery targets set by the WEEE Directive. This study proposes indicators to improve WEEE flow monitoring beyond the current overall weight-based approach, including complementary flows and treatment performance. A case study focused on the screen category in France is presented. In 2017, the collection rate of cathode-ray tube screens (CRT) was 68%, while for flat panel display (FPD) generated only 14% was collected. CRT screens have less precious and critical materials than FDP. Thus, elements like cobalt and gold highly concentrated in FPD, have a collection rate two to four times lower than elements such as copper (37%) which represents a high proportion in CRTs. Recycling is the main treatment in France. Nevertheless, the recycling rate per element varies significantly due to the low collection, and also the lack of technology and/or secondary raw materials market. The elements with higher recycling rates are base metals such as copper (28%), followed by precious metals like silver (23%), and gold (13%). Except for palladium, the recycling rate of the critical raw materials targeted in the study ranged from 6% (cobalt) to 0% (e.g. neodymium and indium). The results stress the need for indicators to support the development of WEEE chain from waste management to secondary (critical) raw materials suppliers.

In the current study, artificial neural network (ANN) and modified Gompertz equation (MG) were applied to develop integrated based models for the prediction of cumulative biogas and methane yield (CBY and CMY) from anaerobic digestion (AD) of several organic wastes. Volatile solid to total solid ratio (VS/TS), carbon content (C), carbon-to-nitrogen ratio (C/N) and digestion time (DT) were selected as input features for the implementation of ANN approach. Genetic algorithm (GA) was employed in order to optimize the ANN architecture as well as the kinetic parameters of the MG to provide reliable and fast learning for better prediction performance. To evaluate model performances, determination coefficient (R2) and root mean square error (RMSE) were used. Both the approaches performed well in predicting CBY and CMY and showed a good agreement with the experimental data. However, GA-ANN models exhibit smaller deviation and higher predictive accuracy with satisfactory RMSE and R2 of about 0.0045 and 0.9996 for CBY, and 0.0046 and 0.9998 for CMY, compared with GA-MG models. This evinces the effectiveness of the developed approach to forecast CBY and CMY and can be an effective tool for the scale up of anaerobic digestion units and technico-economic studies.

Polyphenols exert a large range of beneficial effects in the prevention of age-related diseases. We sought to determine whether an extract of olive and grape seed standardized according to hydroxytyrosol (HT) and procyanidins (PCy) content, exerts preventive anti-osteoathritic effects. To this aim, we evaluated whether the HT/PCy mix could (i) have in vitro anti-inflammatory and chondroprotective actions, (ii) exert anti-osteoarthritis effects in two post-traumatic animal models and (iii) retain its bioactivity after oral administration. Anti-inflammatory and chondroprotective actions of HT/PCy were tested on primary cultured rabbit chondrocytes stimulated by interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β). The results showed that HT/PCy exerts anti-inflammatory and chondroprotective actions in vitro. The preventive effect of HT/PCy association was assessed in two animal models of post-traumatic OA in mice and rabbits. Diet supplementation with HT/PCy significantly decreased the severity of post-traumatic osteoarthritis in two complementary mice and rabbit models. The bioavailability and bioactivity was evaluated following gavage with HT/PCy in rabbits. Regular metabolites from HT/PCy extract were found in sera from rabbits following oral intake. Finally, sera from rabbits force-fed with HT/PCy conserved anti-IL-1β effect, suggesting the bioactivity of this extract. To conclude, HT/PCy extract may be of clinical significance for the preventive treatment of osteoarthritis.

Packed-bed thermocline tank with sensible fillers is a cost-effective option for thermal energy storage (TES). In real charging and discharging, the thermocline stability is disturbed and thermocline expansion occurs due to various factors, leading to the decreased global performances of storage tank. The purpose of this work is to experimentally and numerically study the impact of inlet configuration and insulation on the thermocline expansion in a lab-scale tank under various operating parameters. Firstly, a DC-3P model considering the wall effect and heat loss is developed and validated by experimental results, capable of precisely predicting the performance of storage tank under the tested conditions. Especially, the temperature difference between the fluid and solid filler center is detected both in experiments and in modeling, indicating the existence of temperature gradient inside large solid particles. Results also show that the injecting flow causes the radial temperature non-uniformity and thermocline expansion at the near-entrance region of the tank, but its effect on the global performance of the storage tank is rather limited. Good insulation of the tank could reduce the thermocline thickness by about 20%, and increase the energy efficiency and the capacity ratio by 5–7% and 3–5%, respectively.

This paper presents a user‐friendly rapid prediction tool of damage to struck and striking vessels in a ship collision event. To do this, the so‐called upper bound theorem is applied to calculate internal forces and energies of any substructure involved in the ships crushing process. At each increment of indentation, the total crushing force is transmitted to the external dynamics MCOL program, which calculates the global ship motion correction by solving the hydrodynamic force equilibrium equations. As a first step, the paper gives a brief description of the upper bound method originally developed for perpendicular collisions and recently enhanced for oblique ones. Then, the theory developed in MCOL program for large rotational ship movements is detailed. By comparing results obtained with and without MCOL, the importance of hydrodynamic effects is highlighted. Some simulation results are compared with results provided by classical nonlinear finite element calculations. Finally, by using the developed analytical tool, which mixes internal and external dynamics, different crushing scenarios including oblique collisions are investigated and the influence of some collision parameters like longitudinal and vertical impact location, impact angle, and struck ship velocity is studied.

Summary The flower of Brassica napus L. appears to be typically zoophilous (suited to animal pollination) because of its visually attractive petals, robust stigma and nectaries. Pollination by wind is feasible, however, and its likely effectiveness is not immediately foreseeable because of the complexity of interactions between objects and windborne particles. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and wind‐tunnel experiments were used to investigate the aerodynamic interactions between the flower and a windborne suspension of its pollen. The flower's petals handicapped wind pollination by reducing the target efficiency of the upwind‐facing stigma. For downwind‐facing flowers, pollen reception was negligible. Several aspects of the plant's architecture (floral structure, pollen cohesiveness, inflorescence structure) are uncompromisingly zoophilous. Estimates of the amount of wind pollination suggest that it is unlikely to be important for the long‐distance dispersal of B. napus genes such as those from genetically modified varieties. This study illustrates how CFD may become a powerful tool in future analyses of wind pollination.

This paper presents a literature review of analytical, numerical, and experimental methods for evaluating the structural response of Offshore Wind Turbines (OWT's) during ship collision events. The different energy transfer mechanisms involved throughout a collision against fixed or floating OWT substructures are examined, whilst documenting some of the most common procedures in the assessment of wind load effects, soil–structure interaction, mooring lines contribution and hydrodynamic coupling. A survey of internal mechanics and external dynamics approaches developed for ship-structures collision events is carried out with a discussion on their potential application in analyses involving different types of substructures. Moreover, different hydrodynamic coupling schemes found in the literature are studied, highlighting the importance of hydro-effects in the collision analysis. Common practices in the use of metallic and cementitious material constitutive models in ship-collision analysis are also presented, whereas the structural behaviour of reinforced concrete structures submitted to impact loads, which has been rarely studied outside high-velocity impact/blast applications, is discussed in the current context. Finally, some of the most important limitations of the analytical and numerical models used in ship-OWT collisions are identified, from which suggestions are provided for future research endeavors.

Summary 1. Under natural selection for sexual success, the reproductive organs of plants should evolve to become highly effective pollen receptors. Among wind‐pollinated plants, larger reproductive structures appear counter‐adapted to accumulate pollen by impaction on their windward surfaces, because airborne particles are less able to penetrate the thicker boundary layer of larger targets. Therefore, it has been proposed that wind‐pollinated plants with pollen receptors on relatively large structures, like some grasses (family Poaceae), are architecturally adapted to create downstream vortices in which airborne pollen recirculates before accumulating on leeward surfaces. From this basis, the striking diversity among the grasses in the architecture of their flowering stems has been attributed in part to the existence of these contrasting mechanisms for effecting pollen receipt, namely impact collection and recirculatory collection. 2. We investigated the relative importance of impact and recirculatory collection in grasses by analysing a model system in silico using Computational Fluid Dynamics and by conducting in vivo experiments, both in a wind tunnel and outdoors, using two grass species with compact inflorescences, Alopecurus pratensis and Anthoxanthum odoratum . 3. Irrespective of the experimental approach, we found that although pollen recirculated in the leeward eddies of inflorescences, over 95% of the accumulated pollen was collected by windward surfaces. 4. In A. pratensis , the collection efficiency (proportion of oncoming pollen collected) was between 5% and 20%, depending on wind speed in the range 0·5–1·9 m s −1 and these levels conform to those predicted by a mechanistic model of impact collection. 5. Our results demonstrate that grass species with larger inflorescences are, like those with smaller inflorescences, primarily impact collectors of airborne pollen, which suggests that dissimilar reproductive morphology among species cannot be attributed to differentiation in the mode of pollen capture and, instead, requires reference to other factors, such as the need to produce, protect and disperse seeds of different sizes in different environments.

BACKGROUND: Bone tissue engineering, based on three-dimensional (3D) printing technology, has emerged as a promising approach to treat bone defects using scaffolds. The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of porosity and internal structure on the mechanical properties of scaffolds. METHODS: We fabricated composite scaffolds (which aimed to replicate trabecular bone) from polycaprolactone (PCL) reinforced with 30% (wt.) nano-hydroxyapatite (nHAp) by extrusion printing. Scaffolds with various porosities were designed and fabricated with and without an interlayer offset, termed as staggered and lattice structure, respectively. Mechanical compressive testing was performed to determine scaffold elastic modulus and yield strength. Linear regression was used to evaluate mechanical properties as a function of scaffold porosity. RESULTS: Different relationships between mechanical properties and porosities were noted for the staggered and lattice structures. For elastic moduli, the two relationships intersected (porosity = 55%) such that the lattice structure exhibited higher moduli with porosity values greater than the intersection point; vice versa for the staggered structure. The lattice structure exhibited higher yield strength at all porosities. Mechanical testing results also indicated elastic moduli and yield strength properties comparable to trabecular bone (elastic moduli: 14-165 MPa; yield strength: 0.9-10 MPa). CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, this study demonstrates that scaffolds printed from PCL/30% (wt.) nHAp with lattice and staggered structure offer promise for treating trabecular bone defects. This study identified the effect of porosity and internal structure on scaffold mechanical properties and provided suggestions for developing scaffolds with mechanical properties for substituting trabecular bone.

Percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) is considered the gold standard for the treatment of patients with renal stones larger than 20 mm in diameter. The success and treatment outcomes of the surgery are very well known to be highly dependent on the precision and accuracy of the puncture step, since it must allow to reach the stone with a precise and direct path. Thus, performing the renal access during PCNL is the most crucial and challenging step of the procedure with the steepest learning curve. In this letter, we propose an innovative solution, based on an AR application combined with a robotic system, that can assist both an expert surgeon in improving the performance of the surgical operation and a novel surgeon in strongly reducing his/her learning curve. The proposed system is validated on a setup including a KUKA LWR 4+ robot and the Microsoft HoloLens as augmented reality headset, through experiments performed by a sample of 11 users.

SOLAS2020 damage stability regulations are based on probabilistic damage distributions. Those originate from the pooled analysis of collision accidents across a fleet with bias towards cargo ships. This paper introduces a method that accounts for collision-based crashworthiness on ship damage distributions. The method reshapes statistical SOLAS damage distributions for a given ship or structural details for a reference ship section and her reinforced version. Damage reductions may differ depending on ship characteristics and operational scenarios. To mitigate this, a high number of collision scenarios was simulated using the super-element method. It is shown that risk control in terms of damage reduction over the whole range of damages is possible by adding a double hull or by deck reinforcement. Damage reduction is quantified by damage stability analysis of a cruise vessel. It is concluded that installing a double hull on ship vulnerable zones leads to increased A-index.

The driving and charging patterns of battery electric vehicles can have a significant impact on the load profile of the distribution grid. Renewable resources and controlled charging can mitigate this effect by reducing the energy imported from the grid. The smart real-time electric vehicle charging scheduling proposed in this paper reduced grid peak demand through dynamic programming that uses future renewable supply and electric vehicle demand predictions to optimize the balance of energy in the electric grid. The large-scale driving, charging and parking availability patterns used in the simulations were synthesized from an actual experiment made up of a commercial fleet of battery electric vehicles. Numerical simulations showed that for commercial-use vehicles, solar photovoltaic and hybrid photovoltaic +wind technologies can reduce annual grid demand by 24%. Smart scheduling of electric vehicles and the integration of renewable energy resulted in lower peaks but no significant shift in the peak hour demand was observed.

This paper addresses the subject of electromagnetic wave scattering in layered media, thus covering the recent progress achieved with different approaches. Existing theories and models are analyzed, classified, and summarized on the basis of their characteristics. Emphasis is placed on both theoretical and practical application. Finally, patterns and trends in the current literature are identified and critically discussed.

Ultrasound‐assisted extraction (UAE) of antioxidant polyphenols from pomegranate peels (juice production by‐products) was studied in an agitated extractor with ultrasound generator and temperature regulation. A mathematical model for multi‐criteria optimization of UAE was proposed. This kinetic model permits the following and the prediction of polyphenols extraction yield, antioxidant activity of obtained extracts and energy consumption during extraction process in wide ranges of temperature (20–60 °C), ethanol content in the solvent (0–100% EtOH) and ultrasound power density (0–100 W/L). This model allows to visualize and understand the impacts of operating parameters on all three optimization criteria, as well as to find the operating conditions to attain a target extraction yield or antioxidant activity of the extract at minimum time or at minimum energy consumption. The advantage of ultrasound assistance was clearly demonstrated for the reduction of both extraction duration and energy consumption. The obtained high polyphenols yields and high antioxidant activity of the extracts confirmed the suitability of UAE for preparation of antioxidant‐rich plant extracts at reduced time and energy from food industry by‐products. © 2019 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 38:e13146, 2019