Europa’s interaction with the jovian plasma from hybrid simulation

<p>Galilean moons are embedded in Jupiter’s giant magnetosphere. The jovian plasma particles interact with the atmosphere of the moons, exchanging momentum and energy, and generate different phenoma such as aurora, electric current, etc.</p> <p>The exploration of the Galilean moons, and in particular Ganymede and Europa considered as potential habitats, are listed among the main objectives of the ESA JUpiter ICy moon Explorer mission. In preparation of future observations, a simulation effort is conducted to describe the Europa moon-magnetosphere system as well as a study of radio wave propagation in the environments of Ganymede and Europa using a ray tracing code.</p> <p>LatHyS is a hybrid 3D, multi-species and parallel simulation model which is based on a kinetic description of ions and a fluid description of electrons. The model is based on the CAM-CL algorithm that Alan Matthews¹ outlined in 1994. It allows to describe the interaction between the jovian plasma and the moon environments. As Ganymede's environment has already been implemented, we propose to enrich the model by completing it with Europa's – jovian plasma interaction and to optimize it in order to improve the accuracy of the results.</p> <p>Artemis-P, developed by Gautier² in 2013, is a ray tracing code that calculates the trajectory of waves through a given environment. Planetary environments are anisotropic and inhomogeneous, so that radio waves can undergo refraction, reflection, scattering, diffraction, interference, etc. between the source and the detector. The ray tracing methods allow to treat the refraction and reflection phenomena at large scales compared to the wavelength. The proposed work is to adjust this program to the environments of Ganymede and Europa using data from LatHyS simulations.</p> <p> </p> <p align="left">Références :</p> <p align="left"><sup>1</sup> Alan P. Matthews, Current Advance Method and Cyclic Leapfrog for 2D Multispecies Hybrid Plasma Simulations, Journal of Computational Physics, Volume 112, Issue 1, 1994, Pages 102-116, ISSN 0021-9991, https://doi.org/10.1006/jcph.1994.1084.</p> <p align="left">² Anne-Lise Gautier. Étude de la propagation des ondes radio dans les environnements planétaires. Planétologie et astrophysique de la terre [astro-ph.EP]. Observatoire de Paris, 2013. Français. tel-01145651v2</p>

Review on structural damage rehabilitation and performance assessment of asphalt pavements

Asphalt pavements have been extensively used in highway system. However, a great number of asphalt pavements suffer from early distresses after servicing for about 2–3 years, which leads to frequent rehabilitation and increased maintenance cost. To understand the damage propagation principle and the correlated rehabilitation measure, the progress of pavement distress rehabilitation, structural performance, and damage assessment of asphalt pavements has been explored in the perspectives of materials and structures. The current advance on the parameters for describing the cracking and rutting of asphalt pavements has been introduced. The development tendency for the damage self-healing and rehabilitation, and structural assessment has also been discussed. The study can provide a scientific guidance for understanding the generally used structural damage rehabilitation measure and performance assessment methods of asphalt pavements.

Stingless Bees Fed on Fermented Soybean-extract-based Diet Had Reduced Lifespan than Pollen-Fed Workers

Nectar and pollen are the basic food resources of stingless bees. The current advance of meliponiculture led to the search for supplementary feeding. Despite little is known about native bee supplementation, several alternative foods have been tested as protein substitutes, with soy being one of the most commonly used. In this study, we compared the effect of a semiartificial soy-based diet versus a natural diet on the longevity of adult worker of Melipona flavolineata Friese and Scaptotrigona aff. postica (Latreille). A total of 200 workers of each species (40 from each colony) were used, of which 100 comprised the control group (consumed honey and pollen) and 100 the experimental group (honey and a semiartificial food based on soybean extract). The workers were divided into groups of 20 individuals confined in MDF boxes not completely enclosed, without a queen, and kept in BOD incubators. Dead bees were counted and removed daily. Kaplan-Meier survival curves were plotted for each species. We found greater longevity in workers who consumed only natural pollen (71 days for M. flavolineata, 78 days for S. aff. postica, in average) compared to those consuming the soy-based diet (62 days for M. flavolineata, 61 days for S. aff. postica, in average). Workers of M. flavolineata that consumed pollen lived nine days more (21.8%) than those fed on the soy-based diet, while S. aff. postica workers lived seven days more (12.7%). As longevity was only slightly reduced, we can recommend a soy-based diet for stingless bees during dearth periods or for supplemental feeding of newly formed colonies.

Multi-Agent Systems

With the current advance of technology, agent-based applications are becoming a standard in a great variety of domains such as e-commerce, logistics, supply chain management, telecommunications, healthcare, and manufacturing. Another reason for the widespread interest in multi-agent systems is that these systems are seen as a technology and a tool that helps in the analysis and development of new models and theories in large-scale distributed systems or in human-centered systems. This last aspect is currently of great interest due to the need for democratization in the use of technology that allows people without technical preparation to interact with the devices in a simple and coherent way. In this Special Issue, different interesting approaches that advance this research discipline have been selected and presented.

Current Advance in Thrombopoietin Receptor Agonists in the Management of Thrombocytopenia Associated With Chronic Liver Disease: Focus on Avatrombopag

Chronic liver disease (CLD) is a condition that progresses over time toward advanced disease state which is known as liver cirrhosis. Liver cirrhosis leads to dangerous health problems among people living across the world. One such problem that observed in about 75% of cirrhotic patients is thrombocytopenia; which in turn associated with poor prognosis and recovery from CLD. Beyond these, thrombocytopenia in cirrhotic patients led to impairment of coagulation cascade and significantly influenced the utilization of effective mechanism in the management of CLD. By nature, treatment of CLD involves invasive diagnostic and treatment procedures; therefore, in the presence of thrombocytopenia implementing these methods put the lives of patients in a critical health problem due to increased risk of bleeding and mortality. Because of these reasons, prophylactic transfusion of platelets is considered to be one of the most effective options that reduce the risk of bleeding in patients with CLD that required to undergo an invasive procedure. Although platelet transfusion presented with significant advantages in facilitating the invasive procedure in patients with CLD, refractoriness with repeated use and various problems associated with its transfusion limit the continuous utilization of this important option. With these challenges and current advance in the knowledge of thrombopoiesis, the development of relatively safe and alternative drugs that enhance the production of platelets by interacting with thrombopoietin receptor agonists provides a promising option to platelet transfusion. The discovery and approval of romiplostim and eltrombopag in August 2008 and November 2008, respectively, for the treatment of chronic immune thrombocytopenia paved a way and followed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of 2 potentially advantageous drugs, lusutrombopag, and avatrombopag, in 2018 for the treatment of thrombocytopenia in patients with CLD that required to undergo elective surgery. Therefore, this review aims to assess pathogenesis of thrombocytopenia and its challenges in the management of liver-related issues and, more importantly, gives emphasis to address the potential use of avatrombopag in the treatment of thrombocytopenia underlying CLD, its pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, as well as its toxicological profiles by presenting the most commonly reported adverse events in various trials.