Contagious effects of customer misbehavior in access-based services

Customer misbehavior in service settings is problematic for two reasons: (1) because of the direct damage it causes and (2) because of additional negative effects that arise from the contagion of such misbehavior. The authors extend existing theory of customer misbehavior by studying its contagious effect. The investigation focuses on access-based services, defined as transactions in which multiple consumers successively gain temporal, short-term access to a good, while legal ownership remains with the service provider (e.g., car sharing and fashion rentals). Due to the nature of these services, they are especially prone to indirect customer misbehavior, which is directed at the accessed product and occurs in the absence of others. Two online experiments provide the first empirical evidence for a contagiousness of misbehavior and reveal that this effect is driven by customers’ perceptions of the social norms among the customer group. Moreover, they indicate that greater strength of the accessed product’s brand as well as lower anonymity of the accessed product’s owner attenuate contagion. A field experiment shows that an increase in the communal identification among access-based service customers reverses the contagious effect, with customers more likely to remove signs of previous users’ misbehavior. The results suggest that access-based service providers should address customer misbehavior by (a) investing in the products they offer access to, (b) establishing more personal relationships with customers, and, foremost, (c) increasing communal identification among customers

Transformation kinetics and microstructures of Ti17 titanium alloy during continuous cooling

International audienceWe have investigated the microstructure evolutions in the Ti17 near Click to view the MathML source titanium alloy during heat treatments. The phase transformation has first been studied experimentally by combining X-ray diffraction analysis, electrical resistivity and microscopy observations. From a series of isothermal treatments, a IT diagram has been determined, which takes into account the different morphologies. Then, a Johnson–Mehl–Avrami–Kolmogorov (JMAK) model has been successfully used to describe the phase transformation kinetics during either isothermal or cooling treatments. Finally, the coupling of the JMAK model to the finite element software ZeBuLoN allowed us to investigate the evolution of the spatial distribution of the different morphologies during the cooling of an aircraft engine shaft disk after forging

Nature et suivi dans les sols des MOD d'origine anthropique à l'aide de la spectroscopie de fluorescence

Les matières organiques dissoutes (MOD) forment un ensemble complexe de molécules organiques diverses d'origine agronomique (matières de décomposition des plantes, lisiers) ou environnementale (déchêts agro-alimentaires, effluents divers, boues). Elles sont composées de familles de molécules de faible poids moléculaire, ionisées ou ionisables et sont caractérisées par une grande capacité de transfert dans les sols ainsi que par une forte réactivité tant géochimique que microbiologique. Ces molécules bio-organiques de part leur origine végétale (plantes, fruits) ou animale (déchêts) présentent une grande implication dans les différents métabolismes microbiens du sol, soit comme produit de ces métabolismes (petits acides organiques en conditions anaérobies), soit comme source de substrats (sucres). De plus, elles contribuent fortement à la géochimie notamment par le caractère acide faible de nombre de ces molécules (baisse du pH due à la présence d'acides organiques, d'acides aminés, de petits acides gras), par leur capacité d'adsorption sur des surfaces minérales (argiles, oxyhydroxydes métalliques) ou organiques (acides humiques particulaires, humine) et par leur capacité de complexation de cations métalliques ainsi que d'adsorption de polluants organiques. Les MOD présentent généralement la propriété d'émission de fluorescence. La spectroscopie de fluorescence représente donc une approche enrichissante pour qualifier et quantifier la nature du mélange complexe et diversifié que constitue la matière organique dissoute, afin d'enrichir sa descritption trop souvent limitée à la quantification du COD. Différentes signatures spectrofluorimétriques des MOD peuvent être utilisées telles que la matrice d'excitation-émission (EEM) ou les scans d'émission à partir desquels il est possible de quantifier notamment un indice d'humification, HIX ou encore un indice de fluorescence du mélange. En effet, plus une molécule est de taille importante, plus sa signature de fluorescence se trouvera dans les longueurs d'onde élevées (perte d'énergie plus importante). De plus, la présence de massifs spécifiques dans les EEM des échantillons aqueux de déchets organiques permet de suivre leurs transferts une fois déposés sur les sols. Des résultats de caractérisation et de suivi des MOD anthropiques dans les sols sont présentés. Ces résultats proviennent de différents projets collaboratifs et font appel à une panoplie large de déchets et de types de sols (boues de station d'épuration sur des colonnes de sols à La Réunion, vinasses de rhumerie et cendres de bagasse à Maurice, composts à Grignon, résidus de culture à Avignon). II en ressort deux types de MOD bien distincts qui encadrent de part et d'autre la diversité observée, nommés ici MOD biochimique et MOD géochimique. (Texte intégral

Integrated modelling of social-ecological systems: The MAELIA high-resolution multi-agent platform to deal with water scarcity problems

International audienceSustainable water resource management is typical of environmental management problems emerging from complex social-ecological systems. It deeply depends upon water user strategies, land use management and water governance systems. MAELIA, a "policy issue" modelling platform, allows performing integrated assessment at watershed level of a wide range of scenarios regarding water and land use management strategies in combination with global changes. It has been developed through a strong analysis of different French water management situations and an inductive modelling process. It allows representing dynamic interactions between human activities (farming practices), ecological processes (hydrology and crop growth), and governance systems (water regulations and releases from dams) at fine spatiotemporal resolutions in order to handle actual problems of water managers and issues of the main water users (farmers). MAELIA includes original farmer, dam manager and state services (software) agents

Complete Genome Sequence of the Piezophilic, Mesophilic, Sulfate-Reducing Bacterium Desulfovibrio hydrothermalis AM13(T.).

International audienceDesulfovibrio hydrothermalis AM13(T) is a piezophilic, mesophilic, hydrogenotrophic sulfate-reducing bacterium collected from a deep-sea hydrothermal chimney on the East Pacific Rise (2,600 m depth, 13°N). We report the genome sequence of this bacterium, which includes a 3,702,934-bp chromosome and a circular plasmid of 5,328 bp

The MAELIA multi-agent platform for integrated assessment of low-water management issues

International audienceThe MAELIA project is developing an agent-based modeling and simulation platform to study the environmental, economic and social impacts of various regulations regarding water use and water management in combination with climate change. It is applied to the case of the French Adour-Garonne Basin, which is the most concerned in France by water scarcity during the low-water period. An integrated approach has been chosen to model this social-ecological system: the model combines spatiotemporal models of ecologic (e.g. rainfall and temperature changes, water flow and plant growth) and socio-economic (e.g. farmer decision-making process, management of low-water flow, demography, land use and land cover changes) processes and sub-models of cognitive sharing among agents (e.g. weather forecast, normative constraints on behaviors

Impact Assessment Modeling of Low-Water Management Policy

International audienceWe briefly present the main steps involved in designing and developing a platform for the numerical simulation of environmental and social impacts of the implementation of new environmental norms related to low-water management in France (MAELIA Project: multi-agents for environmental norms impact assessment). Some results are highlighted concerning in particular the structure of the underlying low-water management model and the process and agents' activity modeling

Cartographier l’évolution du contenu de la revue Archives au moyen des techniques de fouille de textes et de bibliométrie

À l’occasion du 50e anniversaire de l’Association des archivistes du Québec (AAQ), cinq professionnels de l’archivistique ont réalisé une analyse du contenu de la revue Archives à partir d’une approche basée sur des techniques de fouille de textes, complétée par une analyse bibliométrique. Ces techniques facilitent le traitement de grandes quantités de données afin d’en extraire automatiquement certaines caractéristiques qui les ont renseignés tant sur l’évolution thématique de la revue que sur la place qu’occupe sa production dans l’espace archivistique scientifique et professionnel québécois et international. Leur article offre une occasion de revenir sur les principales thématiques abordées dans la revue depuis les vingt dernières années en rendant compte de l’évolution des objets de recherche étudiés et, plus généralement, de la profession archivistique. Il permet également de s’interroger sur les liens existants entre les auteurs et leurs institutions, et de faire le point sur l’académisation ou la professionnalisation de la revue

Genomic analysis of the necrotrophic fungal pathogens Sclerotinia sclerotiorum and Botrytis cinerea

Sclerotinia sclerotiorum and Botrytis cinerea are closely related necrotrophic plant pathogenic fungi notable for their wide host ranges and environmental persistence. These attributes have made these species models for understanding the complexity of necrotrophic, broad host-range pathogenicity. Despite their similarities, the two species differ in mating behaviour and the ability to produce asexual spores. We have sequenced the genomes of one strain of S. sclerotiorum and two strains of B. cinerea. The comparative analysis of these genomes relative to one another and to other sequenced fungal genomes is provided here. Their 38–39 Mb genomes include 11,860–14,270 predicted genes, which share 83% amino acid identity on average between the two species. We have mapped the S. sclerotiorum assembly to 16 chromosomes and found large-scale co-linearity with the B. cinerea genomes. Seven percent of the S. sclerotiorum genome comprises transposable elements compared to <1% of B. cinerea. The arsenal of genes associated with necrotrophic processes is similar between the species, including genes involved in plant cell wall degradation and oxalic acid production. Analysis of secondary metabolism gene clusters revealed an expansion in number and diversity of B. cinerea–specific secondary metabolites relative to S. sclerotiorum. The potential diversity in secondary metabolism might be involved in adaptation to specific ecological niches. Comparative genome analysis revealed the basis of differing sexual mating compatibility systems between S. sclerotiorum and B. cinerea. The organization of the mating-type loci differs, and their structures provide evidence for the evolution of heterothallism from homothallism. These data shed light on the evolutionary and mechanistic bases of the genetically complex traits of necrotrophic pathogenicity and sexual mating. This resource should facilitate the functional studies designed to better understand what makes these fungi such successful and persistent pathogens of agronomic crops.Fil: Ten Have, Arjen. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas; ArgentinaFil: Amselem, Joelle. Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique; FranciaFil: Cuomo, Christina A.. Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard; Estados UnidosFil: Jan, A. L. van Kan. Wageningen University; Países BajosFil: Viaud, Muriel. Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique; FranciaFil: Benito, Ernesto P.. Universidad de Salamanca; EspañaFil: Couloux, Arnaud. Centre National de Séquençage. Genoscope; FranciaFil: Coutinho, Pedro M.. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique; FranciaFil: Vries, Ronald P. de. Microbiology and Kluyver Centre for Genomics of Industrial Fermentations; Países Bajos. Fungal Biodiversity Centre; Países BajosFil: Dyer, Paul S.. The University Of Nottingham; Reino UnidoFil: Fillinger, Sabine. Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique; FranciaFil: Fournier, Elisabeth. Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique; Francia. Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement; FranciaFil: Gout, Lilian. Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique; FranciaFil: Hahn, Matthias. University Of Kaiserlautern; AlemaniaFil: Kohn, Linda. University Of Toronto; CanadáFil: Lapalu, Nicolas. Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique; FranciaFil: Plummer, Kim M.. la Trobe University; AustraliaFil: Pradier, Jean-Marc. Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique; FranciaFil: Quévillon, Emmanuel. Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique; Francia. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique; FranciaFil: Sharon, Amir. Tel Aviv University. Department of Molecular Biology and Ecology of Plants; IsraelFil: Simon, Adeline. Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique; FranciaFil: Tudzynski, Bettina. Institut für Biologie und Biotechnologie der Pflanzen; AlemaniaFil: Tudzynski, Paul. Institut für Biologie und Biotechnologie der Pflanzen; AlemaniaFil: Wincker, Patrick. Centre National de Séquençage. Genoscope; FranciaFil: Andrew, Marion. University Of Toronto; CanadáFil: Anthouard, Véronique. Centre National de Séquençage. Genoscope; FranciaFil: Beever, Ross E.. Landcare Research; Nueva ZelandaFil: Beffa, Rolland. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique; FranciaFil: Benoit, Isabelle . Microbiology and Kluyver Centre for Genomics of Industrial Fermentations; Países BajosFil: Bouzid, Ourdia. Microbiology and Kluyver Centre for Genomics of Industrial Fermentations; Países Bajo