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.

Gas‐phase reaction of hydroxyl radicals with m‐, o‐ and p‐cresol

Abstract: The gas-phase reaction of oxygenated aromatic compounds m-cresol, o-cresol, and p-cresol with hydroxyl radicals has been studied by GC-MS. Experiments have been performed in a large-volume photoreactor (8000 L) at 294 ± 2 K and atmospheric pressure. The relative kinetic method was used to determine the rate constants for these reactions, with 1,3,5-trimethylbenzene as a reference compound. The rate constants obtained are kOH(m-cresol) = (5.88 ± 0.92) × 10−11 cm3 molecule−1 s−1, kOH(o-cresol) = (4.32 ± 0.52) × 10−11 cm3 molecule−1 s−1, and kOH(p-cresol) = (4.96 ± 0.75) × 10−11 cm3 molecule−1 s−1. The degradation products observed and their respective molar yields were methyl-1,4-benzoquinone 12.4 ± 1.2%, 5-methyl-2-nitrophenol 1.5 ± 0.3%, and 3-methyl-2-nitrophenol 1.4 ± 0.3% from m-cresol, methyl-1,4-benzoquinone 5.6 ± 0.9%, and 6-methyl-2-nitrophenol 4.7 ± 0.8% from o-cresol, and 4-methyl-2-nitrophenol 17.2 ± 2.5% from p-cresol. This kinetic and product data are compared with the literature, and the reaction mechanisms are discussed. Our results are in accordance with the previous studies (Atkinson, J Phys Chem Ref Data 1989, Monograph (1), 1–246; Atkinson and Aschmann, Int J Chem Kinet 1990, 22, 59–67; Atkinson et al., Environ Sci Technol 1992, 26, 1397–1403; Atkinson et al., J Phys Chem 1978, 82, 2759–2805; Olariu et al., Atmos Environ 2002, 36, 3685–3697; Semadeni et al., Int J Chem Kinet 1995, 27, 287–304) and confirm the methyl-1,4-benzoquinone yields determined by a different experimental technique (long-path Fourier transform infrared FT-IR (Olariu et al., 2002)). © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Chem Kinet 38: 553–562, 2006

Characterization of smoke and dust episode over West Africa: comparison of MERRA-2 modeling with multiwavelength Mie–Raman lidar observations

Abstract: . Observations of multiwavelength Mie–Raman lidar taken during the SHADOW field campaign are used to analyze a smoke–dust episode over West Africa on 24–27 December 2015. For the case considered, the dust layer extended from the ground up to approximately 2000 m while the elevated smoke layer occurred in the 2500–4000 m range. The profiles of lidar measured backscattering, extinction coefficients, and depolarization ratios are compared with the vertical distribution of aerosol parameters provided by the Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications, version 2 (MERRA-2). The MERRA-2 model simulated the correct location of the near-surface dust and elevated smoke layers. The values of modeled and observed aerosol extinction coefficients at both 355 and 532 nm are also rather close. In particular, for the episode reported, the mean value of difference between the measured and modeled extinction coefficients at 355 nm is 0.01 km−1 with SD of 0.042 km−1. The model predicts significant concentration of dust particles inside the elevated smoke layer, which is supported by an increased depolarization ratio of 15 % observed in the center of this layer. The modeled at 355 nm the lidar ratio of 65 sr in the near-surface dust layer is close to the observed value (70 ± 10) sr. At 532 nm, however, the simulated lidar ratio (about 40 sr) is lower than measurements (55 ± 8 sr). The results presented demonstrate that the lidar and model data are complimentary and the synergy of observations and models is a key to improve the aerosols characterization.

Matrix Krylov subspace methods for linear systems with multiple right-hand sides

Abstract: In this paper, we first give a result which links any global Krylov method for solving linear systems with several right-hand sides to the corresponding classical Krylov method. Then, we propose a general framework for matrix Krylov subspace methods for linear systems with multiple right-hand sides. Our approach use global projection techniques, it is based on the Global Generalized Hessenberg Process (GGHP) – which use the Frobenius scalar product and construct a basis of a matrix Krylov subspace – and on the use of a Galerkin or a minimizing norm condition. To accelerate the convergence of global methods, we will introduce weighted global methods. In these methods, the GGHP uses a different scalar product at each restart. Experimental results are presented to show the good performances of the weighted global methods.

Carbohydrate‐containing components of biofilms produced in vitro by some staphylococcal strains related to orthopaedic prosthesis infections

Abstract: The capacity of coagulase-negative staphylococci to colonize implanted medical devices is generally attributed to their ability to produce biofilms. Biofilm of the model strain of Staphylococcus epidermidis RP62A was shown to contain two carbohydrate-containing moieties, a linear poly-β-(16)-N-acetyl-d-glucosamine (PNAG) and teichoic acid. In the present study, we investigated several biofilm-producing staphylococci isolated from infected orthopaedic implants and characterized the composition of the laboratory-grown biofilms using chemical analysis and 1H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Extracellular teichoic acid was produced by all strains studied. Some of the clinical strains were shown to produce biofilms with compositions similar to that of the model strain, containing a varying amount of PNAG. The chemical structure of PNAG of the clinical strains was similar to that previously described for the model strains S. epidermidis RP62A and Staphylococcus aureus MN8m, differing only in the amount of charged groups. Biofilms of the strains producing a substantial amount of PNAG were detached by dispersin B, a PNAG-degrading enzyme, while being unsusceptible to proteinase K treatment. On the other hand, some strains produced biofilms without any detectable amount of PNAG. The biofilms of these strains were dispersed by proteinase K, but not by dispersin B.