Conventional EO Satellites vs. CubeSats; FDL - AI flood detection onboard a Nano Satellite

Scientific Conference (2019, December 11)

Cultivation and characterization of human midbrain organoids in sensor integrated microfluidic chips

E-print/Working paper (2019)

Tracking hurricanes Harvey and Irma using GPS tropospheric products

Poster (2019, December 10)

The 2017 Hurricanes season was one of the most powerful severe weather events producing catastrophic socio-economic and environmental effects on the east coast of the United States. Therefore, tracking ... [more ▼]

The 2017 Hurricanes season was one of the most powerful severe weather events producing catastrophic socio-economic and environmental effects on the east coast of the United States. Therefore, tracking their path accurately is extremely useful. Today Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) tropospheric products, such as Zenith Wet Delays (ZWD), and Integrated Water Vapor (IWV) are used as complementary data sets in Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) models. In this study, we employed GPS-derived IWV and horizontal tropospheric gradient information to monitor and investigate the complicated characteristics of hurricane events in their spatial and temporal distribution using a dense ground network of GPS stations. Our results show that a surge in GPS-derived IWV occurred several hours prior to the manifestation of the major hurricanes Harvey and Irma. We used the derived GPS-derived IWV information as input to spaghetti lines weather models, allowing us to predict the paths of Harvey and Irma hurricanes. As such, a parameter directly estimated from GPS can provide an additional resource for improving the monitoring of hurricane paths [less ▲]

Carrier Aggregation in Multi-Beam High Throughput Satellite Systems

in Carrier Aggregation in Multi-Beam High Throughput Satellite Systems (2019, December 10)

Carrier Aggregation (CA) is an integral part of current terrestrial networks. Its ability to enhance the peak data rate, to efficiently utilize the limited available spectrum resources and to satisfy the ... [more ▼]

Carrier Aggregation (CA) is an integral part of current terrestrial networks. Its ability to enhance the peak data rate, to efficiently utilize the limited available spectrum resources and to satisfy the demand for data-hungry applications has drawn large attention from different wireless network communities. Given the benefits of CA in the terrestrial wireless environment, it is of great interest to analyze and evaluate the potential impact of CA in the satellite domain. In this paper, we study CA in multi-beam high throughput satellite systems. We consider both inter-transponder and intra-transponder CA at the satellite payload level of the communication stack, and we address the problem of carrier-user assignment assuming that multiple users can be multiplexed in each carrier. The transmission parameters of different carriers are generated considering the transmission characteristics of carriers in different transponders. In particular, we propose a flexible carrier allocation approach for a CA enabled multi-beam satellite system targeting a proportionally fair user demand satisfaction. Simulation results and analysis shed some light on this rather unexplored scenario and demonstrate the feasibility of the CA in satellite communication systems. [less ▲]

Joint Scheduling and Precoding for Frame-Based Multigroup Multicasting in Satellite Communications

in Bandi, Ashok; Shankar, Bhavani; Chatzinotas, Symeon (Eds.) et al Joint Scheduling and Precoding for Frame-Based Multigroup Multicasting in Satellite Communications (2019, December 09)

Recent satellite standards enforce the coding of multiple users’ data in a frame. This transmission strategy mimics the well-known physical layer multigroup multicasting (MGMC). However, typical beam ... [more ▼]

Recent satellite standards enforce the coding of multiple users’ data in a frame. This transmission strategy mimics the well-known physical layer multigroup multicasting (MGMC). However, typical beam coverage with a large number of users and limited frame length lead to the scheduling of only a few users. Moreover, in emerging aggressive frequency reuse systems, scheduling is coupled with precoding. This is addressed in this work, through the joint design of scheduling and precoding for frame-based MGMC satellite systems. This aim is formulated as the maximization of the sum-rate under per beam power constraint and minimum SINR requirement of scheduled users. Further, a framework is proposed to transform the non-smooth SR objective with integer scheduling and nonconvex SINR constraints as a difference-of-convex problem that facilitates the joint update of scheduling and precoding. Therein, an efficient convex-concave procedure based algorithm is proposed. Finally, the gains (up to 50%) obtained by the jointed design over state-of-the-art methods is shown through Monte-Carlo simulations. [less ▲]

Luxembourg: A Country Survey

in Hartley, Cathy (Ed.) Western Europe 2020 (2019)

Beginning in the 20th century, Luxembourg experienced several periods of transition. The largely agriculture-based economy became industrialized, driven by a powerful steel industry which remained the ... [more ▼]

Beginning in the 20th century, Luxembourg experienced several periods of transition. The largely agriculture-based economy became industrialized, driven by a powerful steel industry which remained the dominant sector from the immediate post-Second World War years to the mid-1970s. The country had a considerable competitive advantage in this respect owing to iron ore deposits in Luxembourg itself and in the neighbouring French region of Lorraine. The industrial flagship was Aciéries Réunies de Burbach-Eich-Dudelange (ARBED), founded in 1911, which developed its production in Europe and established a global network of sales outlets. Between 1953 and 1968 the steel industry contributed approximately 25% of the country’s GDP growth, while steel production represented 50% of its added industrial value. Over the same period, the nominal wage grew by 29.3%. The improvement in living standards led to the emergence of the middle class and to an increase in urbanization. The Government improved the social security regime and extended it to all workers, thus helping to close the gap in social equality, raise living standards further and boost social cohesion in the country over the long term. [less ▲]

Mechanical parameters identification of keloid and surrounding healthy skin using Digital Image Correlation measurements in vivo

Scientific Conference (2019, December 09)

The human skin behaves as an elastic membrane initially prestressed but not uniformly. The presence of anatomical sites favorable to the appearance of some tumors, a keloid in our case, while other sites ... [more ▼]

The human skin behaves as an elastic membrane initially prestressed but not uniformly. The presence of anatomical sites favorable to the appearance of some tumors, a keloid in our case, while other sites never develop them attests to the importance of the mechanical environment of the tissue. Thus, a mechanical characterization of the tumored skin is necessary to understand the keloid expansion from a mechanical point of view. Our case study consists in modeling a bi-material structure composed of a keloid skin surrounded by healthy skin located on upper left arm of a young female. From the experimental measurements in vivo, by combining force sensor, displacement sensor and Digital Image Correlation techniques, we perform a mechanical analysis to characterize the mechanical stress fields over the entire area and on the interface ‘healthy skin/keloid skin’. Since the mechanical behavior of the tumorous skin is unknown, many physical models can be implemented and assessed very easily inside the specific digital software to fit with the real data. Once a set of mechanical parameters for both the healthy skin and the keloid skin are identified, the stress fields around the keloid are calculated. Next steps consist in determining matching preferential directions in order to define as precisely as possible the specifications of a device for preventing the growth of keloids. [less ▲]

Roméo et Juliette de William Shakespeare à la Comédie-Française (2015-2016) : Quand une tragédie mythique devient une tragi-comédie

in Shakespeare en devenir (2019), 14(2019),

How does the production of Romeo and Juliet designed and directed by Éric Ruf, the administrator of the Comédie-Française since 2014, figure out William Shakespeare’s tragedy in an unexpected way? And how ... [more ▼]

How does the production of Romeo and Juliet designed and directed by Éric Ruf, the administrator of the Comédie-Française since 2014, figure out William Shakespeare’s tragedy in an unexpected way? And how does it transform the tragedy into a tragi-comedy? These are questions that the following article tries to answer. The first and major part of the study focuses on Éric Ruf’s parti pris concerning the myth that Romeo and Juliet has become over time. What is the stage-director’s position vis-à-vis the Shakespearean text and what is the interpretation he shares with his audience? What is the gap between the original script – here in François-Victor Hugo’s translation – and the audio-visual adaptations of the play? Furthermore, how does Juliette (Suliane Brahim) seem to be the heroine of a family vendetta while Roméo (Jérémy Lopez) has more of the anti-hero? Finally how does Éric Ruf compose the mythic balcony scene and thwart the stereotypes about it? The last part of the article deals with the music partition that is omnipresent in the performance. How does it account for Éric Ruf’s dramaturgical vision and contribute to overturn the myth? [less ▲]

Le Luxembourg, raciste?

Article for general public (2019)

Version luxembourgeoise disponible sur https://www.forum.lu/2019/12/04/letzebuerg-rassistesch/

Psychiatric knowledge dissimination at international conferences (1860-1914): 'those who have the interest of science at heart, don't distinguish between nationalities'

Scientific Conference (2019, December 06)

The amount of international conferences that were organised over the nineteenth century increased rapidly, and formed an ideal environment for discussions amongst peers and establishing knowledge ... [more ▼]

The amount of international conferences that were organised over the nineteenth century increased rapidly, and formed an ideal environment for discussions amongst peers and establishing knowledge transfers. Medical and psychiatric conferences were no exception. However, a study into psychiatric conferences on a larger scale has not yet been conducted. Adopting a transnational perspective is essential, and while this approach is gaining more attention from historians more generally, it is only slowly reaching the history of psychiatry. To gain insights into the (inter)national knowledge dissemination that happened within psychiatry, we will examine different organisational aspects such as the locations where conferences were held, its organisation and the subjects and questions that were included in the conference program, as well as studying the mutual connections between congresses and the connections between the participants. This will help to discover the key players and whether it was well-known psychiatrists that were most involved in these international conferences. These interwoven sub-questions will help to establish in how far an international community existed within psychiatry and thus if such international congresses were an epicentre of transnational knowledge dissemination or if they were rather a manifestation of national encounters. This research is based on the minutes and membership lists found within conference proceedings of the “Congrès internationale médecine mentale”, “Congrès international de neurologie, psychiatrie et de physiologie”, “Congrès international de l’assistance aux aliéné” and the “Congrès international de médecine” that also often included a section dedicated to psychiatry. These all took place between the 1860’s and the first decade of the twentieth century. [less ▲]