Abstract: A solar cell includes a support (6), a back electrode layer (5), at least a hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon photoelectric device (9), and a top electrode layer (11). The back electrode layer (5) has a rough surface. The solar cell includes, between the back electrode layer (5) and the hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon photoelectric device (9), an asymmetric intermediate layer (8), the intermediate layer (8) being adjacent to the hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon photoelectric device (9) and having a surface, on the side of the back electrode layer (5), having a roughness greater than the roughness of the surface of the intermediate layer (8) on the side of the hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon device (9). Such solar cells allow obtaining optimum Voc and FF parameters, while maintaining high current.

Abstract: A microchannel plate (1) having an array of channels (5),includes a substrate (2) and, deposited on the substrate, a hydrogenated amorphous silicon film (3) having a thickness ranging between 50 ?m and 200 ?m, preferably between 80 ?m and 120 ?m, the film including the array of channels (5). Preferably, the substrate (2) is an integrated circuit having an internal electronic readout circuit and pixilated collection electrodes (8), and the film (3) is integrated on the substrate (2). The channels (5) may be formed by a Deep Reactive Ion Etching (DRIE) process.

Abstract: The invention relates to new proteins called alkylcytosine transferases (ACTs) derived from O6-alkylguanine-DNA alkyltransferase, and to substrates for ACTs specifically transferring a label to these ACTs and to fusion proteins comprising these. The substrates according of the invention are substituted cytosines of formula (I) wherein R1 is an aromatic or a heteroaromatic group, or an optionally substituted unsaturated alkyl, cycloalkyl or heterocyclyl group with the double bond connected to OCH2—; R2 is a linker; and L is a label or a plurality of same or different labels. The invention further relates to methods of transferring label L from these substrates of formula (I) to ACTs and ACT fusion proteins. The system of ACT-compound of formula (I) is particularly suitable for double labelling studies together with the known system O6-alkylguanine-DNA alkyltransferase (AGT)-benzylguanines.

Abstract: A method for the dimensional characterization of a structured material, in which method: an excitation laser beam suitable for coherent nonlinear microscopy is generated, this excitation laser beam being focused in a focal volume within the structured material; signals emitted by the structured material are detected; a plurality of emission patterns, each corresponding to one particular shape of the focal volume, is produced, the particular shapes being obtained for various non-Gaussian spatial profiles of the excitation laser beam wavefront; and on the basis of the emission patterns thus produced, dimensional characteristics of the structured material are deduced therefrom.

Abstract: An ocular drainage system is provided for treating diseases that produce elevated intraocular pressures, such as glaucoma, wherein the system includes an implantable device and an external control unit. The implantable device includes a non-invasively adjustable valve featuring at least one deformable tube and a disk rotatably mounted within a housing, such that rotation of the disk using the external control unit causes the disk to apply a selected amount of compression to the deformable tube, thereby adjusting the fluidic resistance of the deformable tube and regulating the intraocular pressure.

Abstract: A device for endoscopic simulation includes an endoscopic interface with a guiding tube for guiding an endoscope. The tube is mounted on bearings for free rotation and includes windows for allowing a contact between the endoscope and friction rollers for tracking axial displacement of the endoscope and for imposing a linear force feedback on the endoscope. One friction roller is connected to a motor for transmission of torque generated by the motor. Another friction roller is connected to an encoder for tracking its axial displacement. The device further includes an axial brake for blocking axial movement of the endoscope while allowing rotation of the endoscope. The axial brake includes two pairs of brake rollers placed around the endoscope. One pair of brake rollers is movable relatively to another pair for realizing the axial blocking.

Abstract: An encoder/decoder for multi-channel audio data, and in particular for audio reproduction through wave field synthesis. The encoder comprises a two-dimensional filter-bank to the multi-channel signal, in which the channel index is treated as an independent variable as well as time, and and the resulting spectral coefficient are quantized according to a two-dimensional psychoacoustic model, including masking effect in the spatial frequency as well as in the temporal frequency. The coded spectral data are organized in a bitstream together with side information containing scale factors and Huffman codebook identifiers.

Abstract: Endosseous implant to be applied to a human or animal bone, wherein the surface of the implant is made from titanium or a titanium alloy, said implant having a smooth or rough surface texture, which is characterized in that said surface has been treated with at least one selected organic phosphonate compound or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt or ester or an amide thereof; process for producing said implants.

Abstract: An electronic polarimetric imaging system for a colposcopy device designed for in vivo observation of a cervix, wherein the colposcopy device includes a light source for illuminating the observable cervix and at least visual elements for monitoring an image of the cervix, the illumination optical path towards the cervix and the image optical path coming back from the cervix being separated from one another over at least one portion of the paths thereof. The system includes a polarimetric adapter housing which is removable into the separated portion of the illumination and image optical paths, the polarimetric adapter housing including a polarisation state generator (PSG) on the illumination optical path and a polarisation analyser (PSA) on the image optical path, wherein the polarisation state generator (PSG) and the polarisation analyser (PSA) are controllable. Several levels of polarimetric characterisation are possible. An adaptor housing is also disclosed.

Abstract: The invention relates to a method for treating drops in a microfluid circuit, comprising at least one microchannel (12) through which the drops flow, characterized in that a laser (26) is brought to bear on the interface of said drops in the transport liquid (F3), or on the interface of drops in contact, in order to carry out a sorting of the drops, to form nanodrops from a larger drop or to fuse drops (60, 64) in contact and initiate reactions between the fluids contained in said drops.

Abstract: A method for fabricating a fluid container, wherein at least two half containers are mated in said fluid to be contained in said container. This method allows the incorporation of prefabricated devices into each half containers as well as the functional coupling of these devices after mating of the half containers, thus resulting in a functional hybrid MEMS fluid container.

Abstract: A method for cleaning the surface of a silicon substrate, covered by a layer of silicon oxide includes: a) exposing the surface for 60 to 900 seconds to a radiofrequency plasma, generated from a fluorinated gas, to strip the silicon oxide layer and induce the adsorption of fluorinated elements on the substrate surface, the power density generated using the plasma being 10 mW/cm2 to 350 mW/cm2, the fluorinated gas pressure being 10 mTorrs to 200 mTorrs, and the substrate temperature being lower than or equal to 300° C.; and b) exposing the surface including the fluorinated elements for 5 to 120 seconds to a hydrogen radiofrequency plasma, to remove the fluorinated elements from the substrate surface, the power density generated using the plasma being 10 mW/cm2 to 350 mW/cm2, the hydrogen pressure being 10 mTorrs to 1 Torr, and the substrate temperature being lower than or equal to 300° C.

Abstract: The invention relates to a method for texturing the surface of a gaseous phase silicon substrate, and to a textured silicon substrate for a solar cell. The method includes at least a step a) of exposing the surface to an SF6/O2 radiofrequency plasma for a duration of 2 to 30 minutes in order to produce a silicon substrate having a textured surface having pyramidal structures, the SF6/O2 ratio being 2 to 10. During step a) the power density generated using the radiofrequency plasma is greater than or equal to 2500 mW/cm2, and the SF6/O2 pressure in the reaction chamber is lower than or equal to 100 mTorrs, so as to produce a silicon substrate having a textured surface having inverted pyramidal structures.

Abstract: A method of detecting substances or reactions of substances in a sample, comprising: (i) providing a layer (CS) based on hydrogenated or unhydrogenated amorphous silicon with attached probes, (ii) bringing the layer (CS) in contact with the sample that may contain the substances that bind specifically to or reacts specifically with the probes, under appropriate conditions for the substances to bind to or react with the probes; (iii) optionally removing non-specifically bound or non-specifically reactive substances; and (iv) detecting the presence or amount of the specifically bound or reactive substances in the sample by surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and/or fluorescence, is described.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a novel organometallic compound based on a divalent metal belonging to the 2nd column of the Periodic Table that can be used as an alkylating agent in a catalytic system based on a rare-earth metal. This novel compound corresponds to the formula: in which, M is a metal belonging to the 2nd column of the Periodic Table, chosen from Be, Mg, Sr, Ba, and Ra; R1, R2, R3 and R4 are hydrogen atoms or alkyl or aryl substituents, optionally bonded together to form at least one ring or at least one aromatic ring; R and R? denote alkyl or aryl substituents; L is a Lewis base; x is an integer from 0 to 4; m is an integer greater than or equal to 0; and n is an integer greater than or equal to 1.

Abstract: A method of forming an optoelectronic device comprising growing a first multi-layer 2 representing a reflector on a first substrate and a second multilayer 4 representing an active region on a second substrate, the first and second substrates being lattice mismatched, fusing the first multi-layer 2 to a third substrate 3, wherein the material of the third substrate 3 is lattice matched with respect to the material of the second multi-layer 4, removing the first substrate to expose the first multi-layer 2, and fusing the first multi-layer to the second multi-layer 4.

Abstract: A device for generating a secondary source from a primary optical source emitting a first optical beam focused onto a surface in movement, with which said first beam interacts so as to generate a secondary beam, includes an optical device for controlling the orientation and position of said surface to determine the orientation and position of the emission point of said secondary source on said surface. The device comprises: a control laser beam split into two branches, a fixed reference beam and a mobile analysis beam reflected by the surface in movement; means for making said reference and analysis beams interfere to generate interference fringes; means for imaging the interference fringes carrying information about the orientation and position of said surface; means for analyzing said interference images; and means for generating a feedback loop for controlling the orientation and position of said surface in movement based on the analysis.

Abstract: Reconfigurable Systems-an-Chip (RSoCs) on the market consist of full-fledged processors and large Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs). The latter can be used to implement the system glue logic, various peripherals, and application-specific coprocessors. Using FPGAs for application-specific coprocessors has certain speedup potentials, but it is less present in practice because of the complexity of interfacing the software application with the coprocessor. In the present application, we present a virtualisation layer consisting of an operating system extension and a hardware component. It lowers the complexity of interfacing and increases portability potentials, while it also allows the coprocessor to access the user virtual memory through a virtual memory window. The burden of moving data between processor and coprocessor is shifted from the programmer to the operating system.

Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for encoding and decoding information. In one aspect, methods of encoding information in an encoder include the actions of receiving a signal representing information using a collection of discrete digits, converting, by an encoder, the received signal into a time-based code, and outputting the time-based code. The time-based code is divided into time intervals. Each of the time intervals of the time-based code corresponds to a digit in the received signal. Each digit of a first state of the received signal is expressed as a event occurring at a first time within the corresponding time interval of the time-based code. Each digit of a second state of the received signal is expressed as a event occurring at a second time within the corresponding time intervals of the time-based code, the first time is distinguishable from the second time.

Abstract: A method for fabricating a tunable Fabry-Perot cavity comprises etching a substrate to form two reflectors separated by an air gap and an electrostatic mechanism. One of the two reflectors is mobile and connected to the electrostatic mechanism. Therefore, operation of the electrostatic mechanism moves the mobile reflector to change the thickness of the air gap and thereby tune the Fabry-Perot cavity. A tunable Fabry-Perot cavity fabricated with the above method comprises: a substrate; two reflectors formed in the substrate and separated by an air gap having a thickness, wherein one of the two reflectors is mobile; and an electrostatic mechanism formed in the substrate and connected to the mobile reflector. The mobile reflector connected to the electrostatic mechanism is moved upon operation of the electrostatic mechanism to change the thickness of the air gap and thereby tune the Fabry-Perot cavity.