Université du Québec

This work investigates the anti-ice performance of various superhydrophobic surfaces under different conditions. The adhesion strength of glaze ice (similar to that deposited during "freezing rain") is used as a measure of ice-releasing properties. The results show that the ice-repellent properties of the materials deteriorate during icing/deicing cycles, as surface asperities appear to be gradually damaged. It is also shown that the anti-icing efficiency of superhydrophobic surfaces is significantly lower in a humid atmosphere, as water condensation both on top of and between surface asperities takes place, leading to significantly larger values of ice adhesion strength. This work thus shows that superhydrophobic surfaces are not always ice-repellent and their use as anti-ice materials may therefore be limited.

With the goal of developing more accurate, efficient, non-invasive and fast diagnostic tools, the use of near-infrared (NIR) light in the range of the second and third biological windows (NIR-II: 1000-1350 nm, NIR-III: 1550-1870 nm) is growing remarkably as it provides the advantages of deeper penetration depth into biological tissues, better image contrast, reduced phototoxicity and photobleaching. Consequently, NIR-based bioimaging has become a quickly emerging field and manifold new NIR-emitting bioprobes have been reported. Classes of materials suggested as potential probes for NIR-to-NIR bioimaging (using NIR light for the excitation and emission) are quite diverse. These include rare-earth based nanoparticles, Group-IV nanostructures (single-walled carbon nanotubes, carbon nanoparticles and more recently Si- or Ge-based nanostructures) as well as Ag, In and Pb chalcogenide quantum dots. This review summarizes and discusses current trends, material merits, and latest developments in NIR-to-NIR bioimaging taking advantage of the region above 1000 nm (i.e. the second and third biological windows). Further consideration will be given to upcoming probe materials emitting in the NIR-I region (700-950 nm), thus do not possess emissions in these two windows, but have high expectations. Overall, the focus is placed on recent discussions concerning the optimal choice of excitation and emission wavelengths for deep-tissue high-resolution optical bioimaging and on fluorescent bioprobes that have successfully been implemented in in vitro and in vivo applications.

Rating-based collaborative filtering is the process of predicting how a user would rate a given item from other user ratings. We propose three related slope one schemes with predictors of the form f (x) = x + b, which precompute the average difference between the ratings of one item and another for users who rated both. Slope one algorithms are easy to implement, efficient to query, reasonably accurate, and they support both online queries and dynamic updates, which makes them good candidates for real-world systems. The basic slope one scheme is suggested as a new reference scheme for collaborative filtering. By factoring in items that a user liked separately from items that a user disliked, we achieve results competitive with slower memory-based schemes over the standard benchmark EachMovie and Movielens data sets while better fulfilling the desiderata of CF applications.

As the demand for wind energy continues to grow at exponential rates, reducing operation and maintenance (OM) costs and improving reliability have become top priorities in wind turbine (WT) maintenance strategies. In addition to the development of more highly evolved WT designs intended to improve availability, the application of reliable and cost-effective condition-monitoring (CM) techniques offers an efficient approach to achieve this goal. This paper provides a general review and classification of wind turbine condition monitoring (WTCM) methods and techniques with a focus on trends and future challenges. After highlighting the relevant CM, diagnosis, and maintenance analysis, this work outlines the relationship between these concepts and related theories, and examines new trends and future challenges in the WTCM industry. Interesting insights from this research are used to point out strengths and weaknesses in today’s WTCM industry and define research priorities needed for the industry to meet the challenges in wind industry technological evolution and market growth.

Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) is a key parameter in lakes that can affect numerous features, including microbial metabolism, light climate, acidity, and primary production. In an attempt to understand the factors that regulate DOC in lakes, we assembled a large database (7,514 lakes from 6 continents) of DOC concentrations and other parameters that characterize the conditions in the lakes, the catchment, the soil, and the climate. DOC concentrations were in the range 0.1–332 mg L −1 , and the median was 5.71 mg L −1 . A partial least squares regression explained 48% of the variability in lake DOC and showed that altitude, mean annual runoff, and precipitation were negatively correlated with lake DOC, while conductivity, soil carbon density, and soil C:N ratio were positively related with lake DOC. A multiple linear regression using altitude, mean annual runoff, and soil carbon density as predictors explained 40% of the variability in lake DOC. While lake area and drainage ratio (catchment : lake area) were not correlated to lake DOC in the global data set, these two factors explained significant variation of the residuals of the multiple linear regression model in several regional subsets of data. These results suggest a hierarchical regulation of DOC in lakes, where climatic and topographic characteristics set the possible range of DOC concentrations of a certain region, and catchment and lake properties then regulate the DOC concentration in each individual lake.

The purpose of this study was to propose and test a motivational model of high school dropout. The model posits that teachers, parents, and the school administration's behaviors towards students influence students' perceptions of competence and autonomy. The less autonomy supportive the social agents' behaviors are, the less positive the students' perceptions of competence and autonomy. In turn, the less positive students' perceptions are, the lower their level of self-determined school motivation are. Finally, low levels of self-determined motivation lead students to develop intentions to drop out of high school, which are later implemented, leading to actual dropout behavior. This model was tested with high school students (N = 4,537) by means of a prospective design. Results from analyses of variance and a structural equation modeling analysis (with LISREL) were found to support the model for all participants and for each gender separately.

Two different models for analyzing extreme hydrologic events, based on, respectively, partial duration series (PDS) and annual maximum series (AMS), are compared. The PDS model assumes a generalized Pareto distribution for modeling threshold exceedances corresponding to a generalized extreme value distribution for annual maxima. The performance of the two models in terms of the uncertainty of the T ‐year event estimator is evaluated in the cases of estimation with, respectively, the maximum likelihood (ML) method, the method of moments (MOM), and the method of probability weighted moments (PWM). In the case of ML estimation, the PDS model provides the most efficient T ‐year event estimator. In the cases of MOM and PWM estimation, the PDS model is generally preferable for negative shape parameters, whereas the AMS model yields the most efficient estimator for positive shape parameters. A comparison of the considered methods reveals that in general, one should use the PDS model with MOM estimation for negative shape parameters, the PDS model with exponentially distributed exceedances if the shape parameter is close to zero, the AMS model with MOM estimation for moderately positive shape parameters, and the PDS model with ML estimation for large positive shape parameters. Since heavy‐tailed distributions, corresponding to negative shape parameters, are far the most common in hydrology, the PDS model generally is to be preferred for at‐site quantile estimation.

Mammalian mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is a small, maternally inherited genome that codes for 13 essential proteins in the respiratory chain. Mature oocytes contain more than 150 000 copies of mtDNA, at least an order of magnitude greater than the number in most somatic cells, but sperm contain only approximately 100 copies. Mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation has been suggested to be an important determinant of oocyte quality and sperm motility; however, the functional significance of the high mtDNA copy number in oocytes, and of the low copy number in sperm, remains unclear. To investigate the effects of mtDNA copy number on fertility, we genetically manipulated mtDNA copy number in the mouse by deleting one copy of Tfam, an essential component of the mitochondrial nucleoid, at different stages of germline development. We show that males can tolerate at least a threefold reduction in mtDNA copy number in their sperm without impaired fertility, and in fact, they preferentially transmit a deleted Tfam allele. Surprisingly, oocytes with as few as 4000 copies of mtDNA can be fertilized and progress normally through preimplantation development to the blastocyst stage. The mature oocyte, however, has a critical postimplantation developmental threshold of 40 000-50 000 copies of mtDNA in the mature oocyte. These observations suggest that the high mtDNA copy number in the mature oocyte is a genetic device designed to distribute mitochondria and mtDNAs to the cells of the early postimplantation embryo before mitochondrial biogenesis and mtDNA replication resumes, whereas down-regulation of mtDNA copy number is important for normal sperm function.

BACKGROUND: Skin-to-skin care (SSC), often referred to as 'kangaroo care' (KC) due to its similarity with marsupial behaviour of ventral maternal-infant contact, is one non-pharmacological intervention for pain control in infants. OBJECTIVES: The primary objectives were to determine the effect of SSC alone on pain from medical or nursing procedures in neonates compared to no intervention, sucrose or other analgesics, or additions to simple SSC such as rocking; and to determine the effects of the amount of SSC (duration in minutes), method of administration (e.g. who provided the SSC) of SSC in reducing pain from medical or nursing procedures in neonatesThe secondary objectives were to determine the safety of SSC care for relieving procedural pain in infants; and to compare the SSC effect in different postmenstrual age subgroups of infants. SEARCH METHODS: For this update, we used the standard search strategy of the Cochrane Neonatal Review group to search the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL; 2016, Issue 1); MEDLINE via PubMed (1966 to 25 February 2016); Embase (1980 to 25 February 2016); and CINAHL (1982 to 25 February 2016). We also searched clinical trials' databases, conference proceedings, and the reference lists of retrieved articles for randomized controlled trials and quasi-randomized trials. SELECTION CRITERIA: Studies with randomisation or quasi-randomisation, double- or single-blinded, involving term infants (≥ 37 completed weeks' postmenstrual age (PMA) to a maximum of 44 weeks' PMA and preterm infants (< 37 completed weeks PMA) receiving SSC for painful procedures conducted by healthcare professionals. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: The main outcome measures were physiological or behavioural pain indicators and composite pain scores. A mean difference (MD) with 95% confidence interval (CI) using a fixed-effect model was reported for continuous outcome measures. We included variations on type of tissue-damaging procedure, provider of care, and duration of SSC. MAIN RESULTS: Twenty-five studies (n = 2001 infants) were included. Nineteen studies (n = 1065) used heel lance as the painful procedure, one study combined venepuncture and heel stick (n = 50), three used intramuscular injection (n = 776), one used 'vaccination' (n = 60), and one used tape removal (n = 50). The studies were generally strong and had low or uncertain risk of bias. Blinding of the intervention was not possible, making them subject to high risk, depending on the method of scoring outcomes.Seventeen studies (n = 810) compared SSC to a no-treatment control. Although 15 studies measured heart rate during painful procedures, data from only five studies (n = 161) could be combined for a mean difference (MD) of -10.78 beats per minute (95% CI -13.63 to -7.93) favouring SSC. Meta-analysis of four studies (n = 120) showed no difference in heart rate following the painful procedure (MD 0.08, 95% CI -4.39 to 4.55). Two studies (n = 38) reported heart rate variability with no significant differences. Two studies (n = 101) in a meta-analysis on oxygen saturation at 30 and 60 seconds following the painful procedure did not show a difference. Duration of crying meta-analysis was performed on four studies (n = 133): two (n = 33) investigated response to heel lance (MD = -34.16, 95% CI -42.86 to -25.45), and two (n = 100) following IM injection (MD = -8.83, 95% CI -14.63 to -3.02), favouring SSC. Five studies, one consisting of two substudies (n = 267), used the Premature Infant Pain Profile (PIPP) as a primary outcome, which favoured SCC at 30 seconds (MD -3.21, 95% CI -3.94 to -2.47), at 60 seconds (3 studies; n = 156) (MD -1.64, 95% CI -2.86 to -0.43), and at 90 seconds (n = 156) (MD -1.28, 95% CI -2.53 to -0.04); but at 120 seconds there was no difference (n = 156) (MD 0.07, 95% CI -1.11 to 1.25). No studies on return of heart rate to baseline level, cortisol levels, and facial actions could be combined for meta-analysis findings.Eight studies compared SSC to another intervention with or without a no-treatment control. Two cross-over studies (n = 80) compared mother versus other provider (father, another female) on PIPP scores at 30, 60, 90, and 120 seconds with no significant difference. When SSC was compared to other interventions, there were not enough similar studies to pool results in an analysis. One study compared SSC (n = 640) with and without dextrose and found that the combination was most effective and that SSC alone was more effective than dextrose alone. Similarly, in another study SSC was more effective than oral glucose for heart rate (n = 95). SSC either in combination with breastfeeding or alone was favoured over a no-treatment control, but not different to breastfeeding. One study compared SSC alone and in combination with both sucrose and breastfeeding on heart rate (HR), NIPS scores, and crying time (n = 127). The combinations were more effective than SSC alone for NIPS and crying. Expressed breast milk was compared to SSC in one study (n = 50) and found both equally effective on PIPP scores. There were not enough participants with similar outcomes and painful procedures to compare age groups or duration of SSC. No adverse events were reported in any of the studies. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: SSC appears to be effective as measured by composite pain indicators with both physiological and behavioural indicators and, independently, using heart rate and crying time; and safe for a single painful procedure. Purely behavioural indicators tended to favour SSC but with facial actions there is greater possibility of observers not being blinded. Physiological indicators were mixed although the common measure of heart rate favoured SSC. Two studies compared mother-providers to others, with non-significant results. There was more heterogeneity in the studies with behavioural or composite outcomes. There is a need for replication studies that use similar, clearly defined outcomes. Studies examining optimal duration of SSC, gestational age groups, repeated use, and long-term effects of SSC are needed. Of interest would be to study synergistic effects of SSC with other interventions.

BACKGROUND: Since mobility and social participation are key determinants of health and quality of life, it is important to identify factors associated with them. Although several investigations have been conducted on the neighborhood environment, mobility and social participation, there is no clear integration of the results. This study aimed to provide a comprehensive understanding regarding how the neighborhood environment is associated with mobility and social participation in older adults. METHODS: A rigorous methodological scoping study framework was used to search nine databases from different fields with fifty-one keywords. Data were exhaustively analyzed, organized and synthesized according to the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) by two research assistants following PRISMA guidelines, and results were validated with knowledge users. RESULTS: The majority of the 50 selected articles report results of cross-sectional studies (29; 58%), mainly conducted in the US (24; 48%) or Canada (15; 30%). Studies mostly focused on neighborhood environment associations with mobility (39; 78%), social participation (19; 38%), and occasionally both (11; 22%). Neighborhood attributes considered were mainly 'Pro ducts and technology' (43; 86) and 'Services, systems and policies' (37; 74%), but also 'Natural and human-made changes' (27; 54%) and 'Support and relationships' (21; 42%). Mobility and social participation were both positively associated with Proximity to resources and recreational facilities, Social support, Having a car or driver's license, Public transportation and Neighborhood security, and negatively associated with Poor user-friendliness of the walking environment and Neighborhood insecurity. Attributes of the neighborhood environment not covered by previous research on mobility and social participation mainly concerned 'Attitudes', and 'Services, systems and policies'. CONCLUSION: Results from this comprehensive synthesis of empirical studies on associations of the neighborhood environment with mobility and social participation will ultimately support best practices, decisions and the development of innovative inclusive public health interventions including clear guidelines for the creation of age-supportive environments. To foster mobility and social participation, these interventions must consider Proximity to resources and to recreational facilities, Social support, Transportation, Neighborhood security and User-friendliness of the walking environment. Future studies should include both mobility and social participation, and investigate how they are associated with 'Attitudes', and 'Services, systems and policies' in older adults, including disadvantaged older adults.

The purpose of this study was to establish that anterior hip impingement, secondary to an anterior femoral offset deficiency from a pistol-grip deformity, was a common etiology of hip disorders. This impingement results in a spectrum of injury ranging from anterior hip pain, labral tears, damage to the acetabular articular cartilage and idiopathic arthritis. This was accomplished through three separate but closely related studies: (1) an arthroscopic labral tear study of 38 patients who had hip arthroscopy for a labral tear (2) a hip cheilectomy study of 10 patients who had a cheilectomy for anterior femoroacetabular impingement and (3) an idiopathic arthritis study of 200 consecutive patients having THA. In all three studies, a common etiology was identified. Repetitive anterior femoroacetabular impingement resulted in anterior groin pain, labral tears, chondral damage and eventually arthritis. This impingement was caused by a pistol-grip deformity of the proximal femur in 97% of the cases in the arthroscopic labral study and 100% of the cases in the idiopathic arthritis study. The identification of anterior hip impingement as a cause of labral tears and idiopathic arthritis may allow surgeons to correct it early in its natural history and delay or prevent end-stage arthritis.

While N-glycan synthesis in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is relatively well conserved in eukaryotes, N-glycan processing and O-glycan biosynthesis in the Golgi apparatus are kingdom specific and result in different oligosaccharide structures attached to glycoproteins in plants and mammals. With the prospect of using plants as alternative hosts to mammalian cell lines for the production of therapeutic glycoproteins, significant progress has been made towards the humanization of protein N-glycosylation in plant cells. To date, successful efforts in this direction have mainly focused on the targeted expression of therapeutic proteins, the knockout of plant-specific N-glycan-processing genes, and/or the introduction of the enzymatic machinery catalyzing the synthesis, transport and addition of human sugars. By contrast, very little attention has been paid until now to the O-glycosylation status of plant-made therapeutic proteins, which is surprising considering that hundreds of human proteins represent good candidates for Hyp-O glycosylation when produced in a plant expression system. This review describes protein N- and O-linked glycosylation in plants and highlights the limitations and advantages of plant-specific glycosylation on plant-made biopharmaceuticals.

Trends in parental time invested in children since the 1960s are examined in 16 industrialized countries using time‐use survey data. Despite the time pressures that confront today's families, parents appear to be devoting more time to children than they did 40 years ago. Results also suggest that mothers continue to devote more time to childcare than fathers, but the gender gap has been reduced. The consistency of these results across countries suggests a global trend toward an increase in parental time investment in children. Multivariate analysis of trends in parental time by type of activity was undertaken for Canada. It revealed a significant increase in parental time even after controlling for changes in the demographic composition of the population during the past few decades.

In this work, we measured the adhesion strength of artificially created glaze ice (similar to accreted in nature) on rough fluoropolymer-based hydrophobic surfaces with different contact angle (CA) and wetting hysteresis. The previously reported direct correlation between ice repellency and CA on superhydrophobic surfaces is shown to be only valid for surfaces with low wetting hysteresis. Another correlation was found between wetting hysteresis and ice adhesion strength on rough surfaces with similar chemistry.

The rapidly diversified market demands have presented a huge challenge to the conventional mobile broadband network architecture. On one hand, the limited machine room space and insufficient power supply make it impossible to accommodate exponentially growing amount of network equipment of operators. On the other hand, net heterogeneity caused by different specifications of wireless access equipment causes costly trouble related to management and optimization. This article, correspondingly, proposes a holistic solution involving different technologies, i.e. network function virtualization (NFV), software defined radio (SDR), and software defined network (SDN). In particular, we investigate both existing standards and possible extensions for 4G/5G mobile networks, followed by a few open issues for future research.

To successfully accomplish a behavioral goal such as reaching for an object, an animal must solve two related problems: to decide which object to reach and to plan the specific parameters of the movement. Traditionally, these two problems have been viewed as separate, and theories of decision making and motor planning have been developed primarily independently. However, neural data suggests that these processes involve the same brain regions and are performed in an integrated manner. Here, a computational model is described that addresses both the question of how different potential actions are specified and how the brain decides between them. In the model, multiple potential actions are simultaneously represented as continuous regions of activity within populations of cells in frontoparietal cortex. These representations engage in a competition for overt execution that is biased by modulatory influences from prefrontal cortex. The model neural populations exhibit activity patterns that correlate with both the spatial metrics of potential actions and their associated decision variables, in a manner similar to activities in parietal, prefrontal, and premotor cortex. The model therefore suggests an explanation for neural data that have been hard to account for in terms of serial theories that propose that decision making occurs before action planning. In addition to simulating the activity of individual neurons during decision tasks, the model also reproduces key aspects of the spatial and temporal statistics of human choices and makes a number of testable predictions.

The present study concerned the influence ofthe presence of others on facial expressions of emotion. The proposition that facial expressive displays are better predicted by the social context than by emotional state (A. J. Fridlund, 1991) was tested in an experiment varying both the sociality of the context and the intensity of the emotion elicitor as well as the relationship between expressor and audience. The results indicate that the intensity of expressive displays cannot be satisfactorily predicted by either of these factors alone but is influenced by a complex interplay of all 3 factors.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the role of human parechoviruses (HPeVs) as a cause of neonatal cerebral infection and to report neuroimaging findings of newborn infants with encephalitis caused by HPeVs. METHODS: Clinical presentation, cranial ultrasonography, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings, and neurodevelopmental outcome of 10 infants admitted to a neonatal intensive care unit and diagnosed with encephalitis caused by HPeVs are reported. RESULTS: Nine of 10 infants, with a gestational age of 29 to 41 weeks, presented at 36 to 41 weeks postmenstrual age with clinical seizures. Seven had a fever and six had a rash. Clinical presentation was similar to that of infants with enterovirus infection. Cranial ultrasonography showed increased echogenicity in the periventricular white matter in all infants. Neonatal MRI confirmed white matter changes in nine infants, which changed to gliosis on later MRI. Outcome was variable with cerebral palsy in one, a suspect outcome at 18 months in one, learning disabilities at 7 years of age in one, epilepsy in one, and normal neurodevelopmental outcome in five children. Follow-up of one infant was only 9 months. INTERPRETATION: HPeVs should be added to the list of neurotropic viruses that may cause severe central nervous system infection in the neonatal period. White matter injury can be visualized with cranial ultrasonography, but more detailed information is obtained with MRI and especially diffusion-weighted imaging. Because clinical presentation of HPeV encephalitis is similar to that of enterovirus, real-time polymerase chain reaction for both viruses should be performed in atypical presentation of neonatal seizures.

One biceps muscle of 8 patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy was injected at 55 sites with a total of 55 million viable, purified, and contamination-free normal myoblasts (myoblast transfer). The other biceps of each patient was injected with a placebo to serve as a control. The procedure was blinded to the patients, parents, and investigators. Myoblasts derived from a biopsy specimen of the fathers were cultured and purified under strict conditions and carefully screened for microbial contamination. All patients received cyclophosphamide for immunosuppression for 6 or 12 months. No serious complications were observed after myoblast transfer, indicating that the procedure is safe. The overall therapeutic efficiency of myoblast transfer was poor as judged by the results in maximal voluntary force generation, dystrophin content of the muscle, magnetic resonance imaging of the muscle, and the lack of donor-derived DNA and dystrophin messenger RNA in the injected muscle. An improved efficiency of the take of myoblasts might be achieved by using younger cells and injecting the myoblasts with a myonecrotic agent (to increase the prevalence of regeneration) and a basal laminal fenestrating agent.

Scalability and flexibility are widely considered as two major design goals for 5G networks. Aiming at these goals, this article first identifies a promising architecture based on the heterogeneous cloud radio access network (H-CRAN), reviews the challenges in MIMO precoding for H-CRAN, and then proposes a scalable and flexible massive MIMO precoding scheme by exploiting the null-space of user signals. Specifically, the system can accomplish effective radio resource management and flexible spatial coordination by distinguishing the intended and victim users' CSI, and avoid the interference by precoding within the null-space for the CSI of victim users. Simulation results indicate that the proposed scheme is capable to effectively alleviate the interference to victim users and support high QoS as well as spectral efficiency.