Université de Sherbrooke

About: Université de Sherbrooke is a education organization based out in Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Receptor. The organization has 14922 authors who have published 28783 publications receiving 792511 citations. The organization is also known as: Universite de Sherbrooke & Sherbrooke University.

High performance concrete—An overview

Abstract: It is suggested that high performance concrete is not fundamentally different from the concrete used in the past, although it usually contains fly ash, ground granulated blastfurnace slag and silica fume, as well as superplasticizer. The cost aspects of the use of silica fume are considered. The content of cementitious material is high and the water/cement ratio is low; the maximum size of aggregate is small. Although ordinary Portland cement is used, it must be compatible with a given superplasticizer; the causes of incompatibility are discussed. The distinct shrinkage behaviour of high performance concrete is considered and the reasons for an absolute necessity of wet curing are given. Some uses of high performance concrete are mentioned. A ‘prediction’ of the future of high performance concrete and of concrete in general is offered.

Identification of alternative splicing markers for breast cancer.

Abstract: Breast cancer is the most common cause of cancer death among women under age 50 years, so it is imperative to identify molecular markers to improve diagnosis and prognosis of this disease. Here, we present a new approach for the identification of breast cancer markers that does not measure gene expression but instead uses the ratio of alternatively spliced mRNAs as its indicator. Using a high-throughput reverse transcription-PCR-based system for splicing annotation, we monitored the alternative splicing profiles of 600 cancer-associated genes in a panel of 21 normal and 26 cancerous breast tissues. We validated 41 alternative splicing events that significantly differed in breast tumors relative to normal breast tissues. Most cancer-specific changes in splicing that disrupt known protein domains support an increase in cell proliferation or survival consistent with a functional role for alternative splicing in cancer. In a blind screen, a classifier based on the 12 best cancer-associated splicing events correctly identified cancer tissues with 96% accuracy. Moreover, a subset of these alternative splicing events could order tissues according to histopathologic grade, and 5 markers were validated in a further blind set of 19 grade 1 and 19 grade 3 tumor samples. These results provide a simple alternative for the classification of normal and cancerous breast tumor tissues and underscore the putative role of alternative splicing in the biology of cancer.

Quantifying temporal change in biodiversity: challenges and opportunities

Abstract: Growing concern about biodiversity loss underscores the need to quantify and understand temporal change. Here, we review the opportunities presented by biodiversity time series, and address three related issues: (i) recognizing the characteristics of temporal data; (ii) selecting appropriate statistical procedures for analysing temporal data; and (iii) inferring and forecasting biodiversity change. With regard to the first issue, we draw attention to defining characteristics of biodiversity time series—lack of physical boundaries, uni-dimensionality, autocorrelation and directionality—that inform the choice of analytic methods. Second, we explore methods of quantifying change in biodiversity at different timescales, noting that autocorrelation can be viewed as a feature that sheds light on the underlying structure of temporal change. Finally, we address the transition from inferring to forecasting biodiversity change, highlighting potential pitfalls associated with phase-shifts and novel conditions.

Cross sections for low-energy (1-100 eV) electron elastic and inelastic scattering in amorphous ice

Abstract: Michaud, M., Wen, A. and Sanche, L. Cross Sections for Low-Energy (1–100 eV) Electron Elastic and Inelastic Scattering in Amorphous Ice. Radiat. Res. 159, 3–22 (2003). We report the integral cross sections per scatterer (i.e. elastic collision, phonon excitations, vibrational excitations, electronic excitations and ionization) for 1–100 eV electron scattering in an amorphous film of ice condensed at a temperature of 14 K. The integral cross sections are determined relative to the total from a two-stream multiple-scattering analysis of the electron energy distribution backscattered from the film. Their energy dependence is obtained from both the analysis of the elastic electron reflectivity as a function of the film thickness and the vibrational electron energy-loss spectra measured for several incident energies and large film thickness. The magnitude and various features found in the energy dependence of the cross sections are discussed, whenever possible, by comparison with data and with scatter...