Urban agriculture and sustainable urban landscape. An applied research on two case studies (Madagascar and Senegal)

In developing countries, like in Madagascar and Senegal facing high rates of urbanisation, urban agriculture is progressively taken into account in urban planning. To produce knowledge on this largely unknown activity and to help to design its place in urban landscape, two researches have been done with numerous surveys of farmers and of other stakeholders. We analysed the urban agriculture functions and its internal and external sustainability. With these tools and in straight relationships with urban planners and decision?makers, it was possible to discuss the types of production systems and zones where agriculture should be preserved to contribute to sustainable urban landscape. (Résumé d'auteur

Prévision de trajectoires de cyclones à l'aide de forêts aléatoires avec arbres de régression

International audienceNous présentons une étude pour la prédiction des trajectoires de cyclones dans l'océan Atlantique Nord à partir de données issues d'images satellites. On y extrait des mesures de vitesses de vent, de vorticité, d'humidité (base JRA-25)et des mesures de latitude, de longitude et de vitesse de vent instantanée des cyclones toutes les 6 heures (base IBTrACS). Les modèles de référence à ce jour ne tiennent pas compte des corrélations entre les données et les prévisions ce qui limite leur intérêt pour certains utilisateurs. Nous proposons ainsi de prédire le déplacement en latitude et le déplacement en longitude au même instant à un horizon de 120 h toutes les 6 h à l'aide de forêts aléatoires avec arbres de régression. Sur le long terme, à partir de 18 h, la méthode proposée donne de meilleurs résultats que les méthodes existantes

Relationships between density and Young’s modulus with microporosity and physico-chemical properties of Wistar rat cortical bone from growth to senescence

The aim of this study is to assess density and elastic properties of Wistar rat cortical bone from growth to senescence and to correlate them with morphological and physico-chemical properties of bone. During growth (from 1 to 9 months), bone density and Young’s modulus were found to increase from 1659±85 to 2083±13 kg m−3 and from 8±0.8 to 19.6±0.7 GPa respectively. Bone microporosity was found to decrease from 8.1±0.7% to 3.3±0.7%. Physico-chemical investigations exhibited a mineralization of bone matrix and a maturation of apatite crystals, as protein content decreased from 21.4±0.2% to 17.6±0.6% and apatite crystal size and carbonate content increased (c-axis length: from 151 to 173 Å and CO3W%: from 4.1±0.3% to 6.1±0.2%). At adult age, all properties stabilized. During senescence, a slow decrease of mechanical properties was first observed (from 12 to 18 months, ρ=2089±14 to 2042±30 kg m−3 and E3=19.8 ±1.3 to 14.8±1.5 GPa), followed by a stabilization. Physico-chemical properties stabilized while microporosity increased slightly (from 3.3% to 4%) but not significantly (p>0.05). A multiple regression analysis showed that morphological and physico-chemical properties had significant effects on density regression model. Microporosity had a greater effect on Young’s modulus regression model than physico-chemical properties. This study showed that bone structure, mineralization and apatite maturation should be considered to improve the understanding of bone mechanical behaviour

Microgreffage de quatre espèces ligneuses sahéliennes (Acacia senegal, Faidherbia albida, Tamarindus indica et Ziziphus mauritiana) en vue de leur rajeunissement

Cette note décrit une méthodologie de rajeunissement pour quatre ligneux sahéliens: Acacia senegal, Faidherbia albida, Tamarindus indica, Ziziphus mauritiana. Elle a consisté à prélever stérilement un expiant mesurant 5-10 mm et à le microgreffer sur un jeune plant élevé in vitro. Les principaux facteurs de réussite sont l'âge du porte-greffe (de deux à six semaines selon l'espèce), le niveau de greffage (sur hypocotyle plutôt que sur épicotyle) et la nature du greffon (les apex ont une meilleure réactivité que les noeuds axillaires). La méthode a été appliquée au rajeunissement d'arbres adultes. Le critère de rejuvénilisation retenu est l'aptitude à l'enracinement des microboutures prélevées sur le greffon. L'effet rajeunissant du microgreffage dépend de l'espèce, du mode de mobilisation des premières copies végétatives et du nombre de cycle de microgreffages. Chez F albida dont la mobilisation des sujets adultes est réalisée par bouturage de racines, un tiers des microboutures s'enracinent après un seul cycle et 75% après un second. Pour Z. mau ritiana mobilisé par greffage horticole, un quart des microboutures prélevées sur les greffons a réacquis l'aptitude à l'enracinement après deux cycles de microgreffage. Aucun enracinement n'est constaté pour A. senegal et T. indica mobilisés par bouturage horticole. (Résumé d'auteur

Decay resistance variability of European wood species thermally modified by industrial process

Thermal modification is now considered as a new ecofriendly industrial wood modification process improving mainly the material decay resistance and its dimensional stability. Most industrial thermal treatment processes use convection heat transfer which induces sometimes heterogeneous treatment temperature propagation within the oven and lead to the heterogeneity in treatment efficiency. Thus, it is common that treatment is not completely effective on several stack boards, in a same batch. The aim of this paper was to study the decay resistance variability of various European wood species thermally modified. Thermal modifications were performed around 240°C during 4h, on about 10 m3 of 27 x 152 x 2000 mm3 wood planks placed in an industrial oven having a volume of 20 m3, on the following wood species: spruce, ash, beech and poplar. All of the tests concerning the decay resistance were carried out in the laboratory using untreated beech and pine woods as reference materials. An agar block test was used to determine the resistance of thermally modified woods, leached beforehand according to EN 84 standard or not, to brown-rot and white-rot fungi, according to XP CEN/TS 15083-1. A large selection of treated wood samples was tested in order to estimate the variability of treatment efficiency. Thermal treatment increased the biological durability of all leached and un-leached modified wood samples, compared with native wood species. The treatment temperature of 240°C used in this study is sufficient to reach durability classes ''durable'' or ''very durable'' for the four wood species. However, the dispersion of weight loss values, due to the fungal attacks was very important and showed a large variability of the durability of wood which has been treated in a single batch. These results showed that there is a substantial need to develop process control and² indicator in order to insure that the quality of treated timber is properly evaluated with a view to putting this modified timber on the market under a chain of custody. (Résumé d'auteur

Central Asia and the globalisation of the contemporary legal consciousness

What is the logic which governs the processes of legal globalization? How does the transnational proliferation of legal forms operate in the contemporary geo-juridical space? What are the main defining characteristics of the currently dominant mode of transnational legal consciousness and how can the concept of legal consciousness help us understand better the historical ebb and flow of the Western-led projects of good governance promotion in regions like Central Asia after the fall of the Soviet Union? Using Duncan Kennedy’s seminal essay Three Globalizations of Law and Legal Thought as its starting platform, this essay seeks to explore these and a series of other related questions, while also drawing on the work of the Greek Marxist lawyer-philosopher Nicos Poulantzas to help elucidate some latent analytical stress-points in Kennedy’s broader theoretical framework. Reacting against the neo-Orientalist tone adopted across much of the contemporary field of Central Asian studies, it develops an alternative account of the internal history of the legal-globalizational encounter between the Western-based reform entrepreneurs and the national legal-political elites in Central Asia in the post-1991 period, complementing it with a detailed description of the general institutional and discursive structures within which this encounter took place

Why do people fail to turn good intentions into action? : The role of executive control processes in the translation of healthy eating intentions into action in young Scottish adults

Non peer reviewedPublisher PD

Cell-free (RNA) and cell-associated (DNA) HIV-1 and postnatal transmission through breastfeeding

<p>Introduction - Transmission through breastfeeding remains important for mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) in resource-limited settings. We quantify the relationship between cell-free (RNA) and cell-associated (DNA) shedding of HIV-1 virus in breastmilk and the risk of postnatal HIV-1 transmission in the first 6 months postpartum.</p> <p>Materials and Methods - Thirty-six HIV-positive mothers who transmitted HIV-1 by breastfeeding were matched to 36 non-transmitting HIV-1 infected mothers in a case-control study nested in a cohort of HIV-infected women. RNA and DNA were quantified in the same breastmilk sample taken at 6 weeks and 6 months. Cox regression analysis assessed the association between cell-free and cell-associated virus levels and risk of postnatal HIV-1 transmission.</p> <p>Results - There were higher median levels of cell-free than cell-associated HIV-1 virus (per ml) in breastmilk at 6 weeks and 6 months. Multivariably, adjusting for antenatal CD4 count and maternal plasma viral load, at 6 weeks, each 10-fold increase in cell-free or cell-associated levels (per ml) was significantly associated with HIV-1 transmission but stronger for cell-associated than cell-free levels [2.47 (95% CI 1.33–4.59) vs. aHR 1.52 (95% CI, 1.17–1.96), respectively]. At 6 months, cell-free and cell-associated levels (per ml) in breastmilk remained significantly associated with HIV-1 transmission but was stronger for cell-free than cell-associated levels [aHR 2.53 (95% CI 1.64–3.92) vs. 1.73 (95% CI 0.94–3.19), respectively].</p> <p>Conclusions - The findings suggest that cell-associated virus level (per ml) is more important for early postpartum HIV-1 transmission (at 6 weeks) than cell-free virus. As cell-associated virus levels have been consistently detected in breastmilk despite antiretroviral therapy, this highlights a potential challenge for resource-limited settings to achieve the UNAIDS goal for 2015 of eliminating vertical transmission. More studies would further knowledge on mechanisms of HIV-1 transmission and help develop more effective drugs during lactation.</p&gt

Measurement of GEp/GMp in ep -> ep to Q2 = 5.6 GeV2

The ratio of the electric and magnetic form factors of the proton, GEp/GMp, was measured at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (JLab) using the recoil polarization technique. The ratio of the form factors is directly proportional to the ratio of the transverse to longitudinal components of the polarization of the recoil proton in the elastic $\vec ep \to e\vec p$ reaction. The new data presented in this article span the range 3.5 < Q2 < 5.6 GeV2 and are well described by a linear Q2 fit. Also, the ratio QF2p/F1p reaches a constant value above Q2=2 GeV2.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures Added two names to the main author lis

Seasonal changes in patterns of gene expression in avian song control brain regions.

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.Photoperiod and hormonal cues drive dramatic seasonal changes in structure and function of the avian song control system. Little is known, however, about the patterns of gene expression associated with seasonal changes. Here we address this issue by altering the hormonal and photoperiodic conditions in seasonally-breeding Gambel's white-crowned sparrows and extracting RNA from the telencephalic song control nuclei HVC and RA across multiple time points that capture different stages of growth and regression. We chose HVC and RA because while both nuclei change in volume across seasons, the cellular mechanisms underlying these changes differ. We thus hypothesized that different genes would be expressed between HVC and RA. We tested this by using the extracted RNA to perform a cDNA microarray hybridization developed by the SoNG initiative. We then validated these results using qRT-PCR. We found that 363 genes varied by more than 1.5 fold (>log(2) 0.585) in expression in HVC and/or RA. Supporting our hypothesis, only 59 of these 363 genes were found to vary in both nuclei, while 132 gene expression changes were HVC specific and 172 were RA specific. We then assigned many of these genes to functional categories relevant to the different mechanisms underlying seasonal change in HVC and RA, including neurogenesis, apoptosis, cell growth, dendrite arborization and axonal growth, angiogenesis, endocrinology, growth factors, and electrophysiology. This revealed categorical differences in the kinds of genes regulated in HVC and RA. These results show that different molecular programs underlie seasonal changes in HVC and RA, and that gene expression is time specific across different reproductive conditions. Our results provide insights into the complex molecular pathways that underlie adult neural plasticity