LES "LOIS FONDAMENTALES DE L'ESTAT" DANS QUELQUES DÉLIBÉRATIONS CRUCIALES DU PARLEMENT DE PARIS

International audienceMars 1713. Le royaume des Lys sort, « étonné » d'un double traumatisme : la guerre et la grande mortalité. L'ère de la prépondérance française est éteinte. Depuis 1701, pendant onze années pleines, la succession d'Espagne a transformé l'Europe et les mers, mais spécialement le Nord de la France, en champs de mort et de souffrance : l'immense armée du roi, la fleur de la noblesse, militaire d'abord, sortent hachées, mutilées, entachées, parfois, du déshonneur et de la défaite. Depuis le Grand Hiver de 1709, les sols gelés, les récoltes insuffisantes, le bétail atteint d'épizootie, la population enterre ses pauvres et ses malheureux, morts de froid, de faim, de faiblesse. Depuis 1711, la « faucheuse » a frappé, au coeur même de l'État, les héritiers du trône et a ébranlé les fières certitudes de Louis XIV sur l'« éternité » du Sang de France. Concentré sur sa douleur de père, le roi n'a plus de pensée que pour l'avenir des Bourbons. Dans cette épreuve, par deux fois, la volonté royale – qui fait loi en France depuis si longtemps – se heurte à un obstacle de taille : les « Lois fondamentales du royaume ». Quelles furent la place et l'action du roi et du Parlement de Paris dans ce conflit d'intérêts ? Le duc de Saint-Simon, peu ami de l'un, soutien théorique de l'autre, en a laissé une mémoire désormais célèbre. Dans un échange original de points de vue, nous en proposons ici un autre témoignage, ignoré, mais significatif

Paris, Saint-Germain et Pontoise : le Parlement et le Roi à l'époque de la Fronde

International audienceHistoire pittoresque des relations entre la Monarchie et le Parlement de Paris autour de deux épisodes particuliers de la Fronde qui se produisent, l'un à Saint-Germain-en-Laye, l'autre à Pontoise, respectivement en 1649 et 1652. Le texte publié reproduit des documents, des estampes et des tableaux significatifs

Port-Royal et l'Histoire: Notes de lecture

Compte-rendu de "Port-Royal et l'histoire", Chroniques de Port-Royal, n° 46, 1997, 372 p. dans Histoire et archives, n° 5, janvier-juin 1999, ISNN : 1278-382XRecension préparatrice du compte rendu critique (qui a été résumé) donné à Histoire et Archives, n° 5, janvier-juin 1999

A Review on Miscanthus Biomass Production and Composition for Bioenergy Use: Genotypic and Environmental Variability and Implications for Breeding

International audienceThe lignocellulosic C4 perennial crop miscanthus and, more particularly, one of its species, Miscanthus x giganteus, are especially interesting for bioenergy production because they combine high biomass production with a low environmental impact. However, few varieties are available, which is risky due to disease susceptibility. Gathering worldwide references, this review shows a high genotypic and environmental variability for traits of interest related to miscanthus biomass production and composition, which may be useful in breeding programs for enhancing the availability of suitable clones for bioenergy production. The M. x giganteus species and certain clones in the Miscanthus sinensis species seem particularly interesting due to high biomass production per hectare. Although the industrial requirements for biomass composition have not been fully defined for the different bioenergy conversion processes, the M. x giganteus and Miscanthus sacchariflorus species, which show high lignin contents, appear more suitable for thermochemical conversion processes. In contrast, the M. sinensis species and certain M. x giganteus clones with low lignin contents were interesting for biochemical conversion processes. The M. sacchariflorus species is also interesting as a progenitor for breeding programs, due to its low ash content, which is suitable for the different bioenergy conversion processes. Moreover, mature miscanthus crops harvested in winter seem preferred by industry to enhance efficiency and reduce the expense of the processes. This investigation on miscanthus can be extrapolated to other monocotyledons and perennial crops, which may be proposed as feedstocks in addition to miscanthus

Breeding for increased nitrogen-use efficiency: a review for wheat (T. aestivum L.)

Nitrogen fertilizer is the most used nutrient source in modern agriculture and represents significant environmental and production costs. In the meantime, the demand for grain increases and production per area has to increase as new cultivated areas are scarce. In this context, breeding for an efficient use of nitrogen became a major objective. In wheat, nitrogen is required to maintain a photosynthetically active canopy ensuring grain yield and to produce grain storage proteins that are generally needed to maintain a high end-use quality. This review presents current knowledge of physiological, metabolic and genetic factors influencing nitrogen uptake and utilization in the context of different nitrogen management systems. This includes the role of root system and its interactions with microorganisms, nitrate assimilation and its relationship with photosynthesis as postanthesis remobilization and nitrogen partitioning. Regarding nitrogen-use efficiency complexity, several physiological avenues for increasing it were discussed and their phenotyping methods were reviewed. Phenotypic and molecular breeding strategies were also reviewed and discussed regarding nitrogen regimes and genetic diversity

Normal Type Ia supernovae from violent mergers of white dwarf binaries

One of the most important questions regarding the progenitor systems of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) is whether mergers of two white dwarfs can lead to explosions that reproduce observations of normal events. Here we present a fully three-dimensional simulation of a violent merger of two carbon-oxygen white dwarfs with masses of $0.9 \mathrm{M_\odot}$ and $1.1 \mathrm{M_\odot}$ combining very high resolution and exact initial conditions. A well-tested combination of codes is used to study the system. We start with the dynamical inspiral phase and follow the subsequent thermonuclear explosion under the plausible assumption that a detonation forms in the process of merging. We then perform detailed nucleosynthesis calculations and radiative transfer simulations to predict synthetic observables from the homologously expanding supernova ejecta. We find that synthetic color lightcurves of our merger, which produces about $0.62 \mathrm{M_\odot}$ of $^{56}\mathrm{Ni}$, show good agreement with those observed for normal SNe Ia in all wave bands from U to K. Line velocities in synthetic spectra around maximum light also agree well with observations. We conclude, that violent mergers of massive white dwarfs can closely resemble normal SNe Ia. Therefore, depending on the number of such massive systems available these mergers may contribute at least a small fraction to the observed population of normal SNe Ia.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

Breeding progress in grain yield of winter wheat cultivars grown at different nitrogen levels in semiarid conditions

The objectives of this study were to estimate the progress in wheat genetic yield potential, associated with changes in some agronomic traits, under different N rates. Twenty-four cultivars of winter wheat (T. aestivtum L.) representing most of the cultivars released in Serbia from 1955 to 2006 were analyzed. The cultivars were grown for four years (2005-2008) in field trails with two levels of agronomic inputs (low nitrogen-N-45 and high nitrogen-N-110). Data were collected on 1000-kernel weight, kernels per spike, kernels per square meter, spikes per square meter, plant height, harvest index, heading time and grain yield. Mean difference between the two fertilization levels was 0.44 t ha(-1). The average rate of increase in yield potential per year of release, estimated from the slope, was 41 kg ha(-1) year(-1) and it was significantly different from zero (P lt = 0.01). It was 35 kg ha(-1) year(-1) or 0.55% at the low level of N input, and 46 kg ha(-1) year(-1) or 0.68% at the high level of N input. This suggests that modern cultivars are better adapted to high N input. Our results suggested that individual contribution of the most of analyzed traits may vary depending on the genotype as well as environmental conditions

Late Emergence and Rapid Growth Maximize the Plant Development of Miscanthus Clones

International audienceTo develop the perennial grass Miscanthus x giganteus as a highly productive crop for biomass production, new varieties need to be bred, and more knowledge about its growth behaviour has to be collected. Our aim was to identify an efficient function for assessing and comparing emergence date and canopy height growth (rate, duration, and final maximal height) of 21 clones of Miscanthus in Northern France. Flow cytometry made it possible to classify the clones into three clusters corresponding to 2x, 3x, and 4x ploidy levels. Three functions, 3- and 4-parameter logistic functions and Gompertz function, were tested to best describe the dynamics of crop emergence and of plant growth. The best functions were used to estimate emergence dynamics (Gompertz function), and growth dynamics (4-parameter logistic). All these traits showed a significant year, clone, and corresponding interaction effects (but not for harvest date). Species and ploidy level explained the clone and clone x year interaction effects. M. x giganteus and M. floridulus clones were among the latest to emerge, and the tallest. M. sinensis clones showed the lowest height and growth rates. Higher final canopy height was correlated to late emergence and high growth rate. These findings could help early selection of interesting clones within M. sinensis populations, in order to breed new inter-species hybrids of giganteus type