Collège de France

About: Collège de France is a education organization based out in Paris, France. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Dopamine. The organization has 6541 authors who have published 11983 publications receiving 648742 citations. The organization is also known as: College de France.

Measurement of a peak in the cosmic microwave background power spectrum from the North American test flight of Boomerang

Abstract: We describe a measurement of the angular power spectrum of anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) at scales of 0fdg3 to 5° from the North American test flight of the Boomerang experiment. Boomerang is a balloon-borne telescope with a bolometric receiver designed to map CMB anisotropies on a long-duration balloon flight. During a 6 hr test flight of a prototype system in 1997, we mapped more than 200 deg2 at high Galactic latitudes in two bands centered at 90 and 150 GHz with a resolution of 26' and 16farcm5 FWHM, respectively. Analysis of the maps gives a power spectrum with a peak at angular scales of 1° with an amplitude 70 μKCMB.

The Large Sieve

Abstract: Let A be a thin set in Z n , and A N the intersection of A with the ball of diameter N centred at the origin. When n = 1 we have seen in §9.7 (as a consequence of Siegel’s theorem) that |A N | = O(N 1/2) when N → ∞. To prove a similar result when n ≥ 2 one needs a different method, based on the large sieve inequality (cf. [Co]).

Reflective UV photocathodes with gas-phase electron extraction: solid, liquid, and adsorbed thin films

Abstract: The photoemission quantum efficiency of reflective photocathodes in methane gas has been investigated in the spectral range between 140 and 250 nm. The spectral response of solid metals and CsI, as well as of liquid and solid TMAE film, have been measured. The high quantum efficiency of CsI (35% at 170 nm) makes it attractive for BaF 2 or xenon scintillation detection. A BaF 2 crystal coupled to an ionization chamber with a reflective CsI photocathode has been successfully tested. Adsorbed TMAE films can significantly increase the quantum yields of metal and CsI (to 46% at 170 nm), making them suitable for fast RICH and other applications.

Effects of muscle shortening on the responses of cat tendon organs to unfused contractions

Abstract: 1. The discharges from individual Golgi tendon organs of peroneus tertius and brevis muscles were recorded in anesthetized cats. Responses to unfused isometric contractions of single motor units and combinations of motor units were compared with responses to contractions eliciting muscle shortening (i.e., shortening contractions). 2. In 75% of the examined instances, the effect of muscle shortening during unfused contractions was a slight decrease in tendon organ activation, in keeping with the reduction of contractile tension recorded at the muscle tendon. In other instances there was either no change in tendon organ response or, in less than 10% of instances, a slight increase For two motor units eliciting similar activation of a given tendon organ under isometric conditions, the effect of shortening contraction was not necessarily the same. 3. The reductions observed in tendon organ discharges upon muscle shortening were less than proportional to the reductions of contractile tension and difficult to correlate with the properties of motor units, as determined under isometric conditions. The present observations suggest three main reasons for this lack of relation. 4. The first reason depended on the properties of motor units, in that the relation between length changes and tension changes was not the same for all units. Two motor units developing similar isometric tensions did not necessarily produce the same degree of muscle shortening. Some units produced relatively significant shortening without much loss of tension. 5. Second, the dynamic sensitivity of tendon organs is known to exert a major influence on their responses to isometric unfused contractions, accounting for 1:1 driving of discharge during tension oscillations and high frequency bursts upon abrupt increase of tension. Although less tension was produced and the rate of tension development was slower in shortening contractions, similar manifestations of the dynamic sensitivity of tendon organs were observed. In such cases, the responses of tendon organs were the same whether or not the muscle shortened during contraction. 6. Third, when several motor units were stimulated in combination, the unloading influences of in-parallel units were facilitated by muscle shortening so that unloading effects, which were hardly visible under isometric conditions became evident during shortening contractions.

Functional cooperation between the non-paralogous genes Hoxa-10 and Hoxd-11 in the developing forelimb and axial skeleton

Abstract: The Abdominal B-related Hoxa-10 gene displays similar expression patterns in the differentiating forelimbs and hindlimbs of the mouse, with preferential expression around the humeral and femoral cartilages and more diffuse expression in distal regions. We found that a targeted disruption of Hoxa-10 has almost no effect in the forelimbs, while it affects the proximal hindlimb skeleton. The alterations were located along the dorsolateral side of the femur (labium laterale), with an enlargement and distal shift of the third trochanter, a misshapen lateral knee sesamoid, a supernumerary 'ligament' connecting these structures and an occasional duplication of the femoral trochlea. Some Hoxa-10-/- mutant mice developed severe degenerative alterations of the knee articulation upon ageing. Viable Hoxa-10/Hoxd-11 double mutant mice were produced by genetic intercrosses. The compound mutation resulted in synergistic forelimb phenotypic alterations, consisting of: (i) an exacerbation of Hoxd-11-/- phenotypic traits in the carpal and digital region, e.g. more pronounced truncations of the ulna styloid, pyramidal and pisiform bones and of some metacarpal and phalangeal bones and (ii) marked alterations in a more proximal region which is nearly unaffected in Hoxd-11-/- single mutants; the entire radius and ulna were truncated and thickened, with deformations of the ulna proximal extremity. Thus, functional redundancy can occur even between non-paralogous Abdominal B-related Hox genes. The double Hoxa-10/Hoxd-11 mutation also conferred full penetrance to the sacral and caudal vertebrae transformations which are approximately 50% penetrant in Hoxd-11-/- single mutants, revealing that functional cooperation can also occur between non-paralogous Hox gene products in axial skeleton patterning.