University of the Littoral Opal Coast

About: University of the Littoral Opal Coast is a education organization based out in Dunkirk, France. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Catalysis & Dielectric. The organization has 1242 authors who have published 2383 publications receiving 46230 citations. The organization is also known as: ULCO.

The importance of fungal pectinolytic enzymes in plant invasion, host adaptability and symptom type

Abstract: This review describes the extent to which recent works performed in the last decade have clarified the role of different pectinase activities in pathogenicity of fungi responsible for a wide array of diseases. Beyond physiological or biochemical investigations, strategies that have been used include gene cloning and expression studies as well as gene disruption or replacement. Pectinase involvement in fungal diseases has been considered according to the type of symptoms produced by the studied fungi. Although pectinolytic enzymes are clearly important for soft rot diseases, their role cannot be anticipated for other diseases as a whole. Each symptom type must therefore be investigated separately. Moreover, before antifungal strategies can be considered, several strains and/or mutants must be analysed.

Retrieving of particulate matter from optical measurements: A semiparametric approach

Abstract: [1] The fine particle abundance, i.e., particle matter (PM) concentration, is one of the indicators of air quality and is therefore subject to ground-based measurements. Complementary satellite aerosol remote sensing techniques provide one with maps of the aerosol optical thickness (AOT), which is sensitive to particle abundance. This paper investigates the problem of retrieving the PM concentration from the AOT, both on daily average values, on the basis of a large data set where data from the air quality networks are combined with ground-based measurements of the AOTs. It is found that a linear model fails at explaining the data well but that the performance may be significantly improved when such a linear relationship is conditioned on auxiliary parameters, mainly meteorological variables. The proposed model is expressed as an additive varying coefficient model (AVCM), which is defined as a linear model where the coefficients are additive functions of the auxiliary parameters. The model is represented using penalized smoothing splines, allowing for a proper control of the overall number of degrees of freedom via multiple smoothness parameters selection. The methodology is applied to data collected around Lille (France). The PM 10 concentrations are retrieved with an average uncertainty of less than 20%, leading to a correlation coefficient of 0.87 between fitted and expected PM 10 .

Optical, thermal, electrical, damage, and phase-matching properties of lithium selenoindate

Abstract: Lithium selenoindate (LiInSe2) is a new nonlinear chalcogenide biaxial crystal, related to LiInS2 and transparent from 0.54 to 10 μm at the 50% level (10 mm thickness), which has been successfully grown in large sizes and with good optical quality. We report on what we believe to be new physical properties that are relevant for laser and nonlinear optical applications and summarize all relevant characteristics, both from the literature and as measured in the present work. With respect to AgGaS(e)2 ternary chalcopyrite materials, LiInSe2 displays a nearly isotropic thermal expansion behavior with three- to five-times-larger thermal conductivities associated with high optical damage thresholds, and low intensity-dependent absorption, allowing direct high-power downconversion from the near-infrared, especially 1064 nm, to the deep mid-infrared. Continuous-wave difference-frequency generation (5.9–8.1 μm) of Ti:sapphire laser sources is reported for the first time as well as nanosecond optical parametric oscillation with a Nd:YAG laser as the pump source at 100 Hz and idler tuning between 4.7 and 8.7 μm.

Sub-Doppler Frequency Metrology in HD for Tests of Fundamental Physics.

Abstract: Weak transitions in the (2,0) overtone band of the hydrogen deuteride molecule at $\ensuremath{\lambda}=1.38\text{ }\text{ }\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{m}$ were measured in saturated absorption using the technique of noise-immune cavity-enhanced optical heterodyne molecular spectroscopy. Narrow Doppler-free lines were interrogated with a spectroscopy laser locked to a frequency comb laser referenced to an atomic clock to yield transition frequencies [$R(1)=217105181895(20)\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{kHz}$; $R(2)=219042856621(28)\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{kHz}$; $R(3)=220704304951(28)\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{kHz}$] at three orders of magnitude improved accuracy. These benchmark values provide a test of QED in the smallest neutral molecule, and they open up an avenue to resolve the proton radius puzzle, as well as constrain putative fifth forces and extra dimensions.