How long is co-operation in genomics sustainable?

Publications on the 16 yeast chromosome sequences group together over 400 different authors from Europe, Japan, Australia and the USA. When research is not organised in networks, it is carried out in large sequencing centres such as the Sanger Centre in Britain, the Helix Institute in Japan or Saint Louis University in the USA. Both cases illustrate the collective nature of knowledge creation. Other examples of co-operation between numerous researchers in various countries, more closely related to innovation, might also be mentioned, such as the development of software for comparing proteins or DNA sequences. Collective publications reveal the collective nature of research, whether it is carried out by major consortia (the case of yeast) or around large research facilities (such as the synchrotron or major genome sequencing centres). This collective nature stems from two factors: (1) the advantages of co-ordinating efforts on major projects (e.g. economies of scale and of collection) and (2) very strong interdependency in the creation and utilisation of knowledge (related to cumulativeness).

First record of Curius chemsaki Nearns and Ray, 2006 (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Cerambycinae: Curiini) in Colombia

Curius chemsaki Nearns and Ray, 2006 (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Cerambycinae: Curiini), is reported from Colombia for the first time. In addition, the range of this taxon within Venezuela is extended to the Andean Province of Táchira

Profile of public laboratories, industrial partnerships and organisation of R & D: the dynamics of industrial relationships in a large research organisation

There is a paucity of papers dealing with the system characteristics of laboratories or, put in another way, the institutional character of research organisations. Neither R & D economics nor the sociology of science, as traditionally conceived, has made much headway in providing insight into sets of R & D laboratories and their evolution. Drawing upon an empirical study in the plant breeding and biochemical industry, this paper presents a typology of public research laboratories which is based on three dimensions: scientific production and visibility, type of funding (public or private) and homogeneity of research themes. Three types of public laboratory emerge: the first, called “research centres for the profession”, is composed essentially of laboratories with close ties with small and medium firms (SMEs) and industry associations. The second, called “designers of generic tools and methods”, is oriented towards basic research and themes of general interest to the industry as a whole. The third type, called “basic and specialised laboratories”, strives to develop its scientific visibility. Contracts between this type of laboratory and industry are mainly bilateral and demonstrate the complementarity between public and private research. Each type of laboratory develops specific types of relationship with private partners. The authors have identified three logics underlying these relationships: proximity, market and club. The main objective of contracts based on a proximity logic is to test a hypothesis, while the knowledge produced is mostly tacit and specific. By contrast, knowledge is entirely coded and specific in the market logic, where the aim of the contract is to implement expertise in order to relieve a scientific bottleneck. In a club logic, the aim of contracts is to produce a technical referent. In each kind of contract, the learning trajectories, modes of co-ordination, role of trust and degree to which contracts are complete or not, are different.

La représentation sociale du football chez des jeunes adultes issus d’un milieu social défavorisé

Soccer is a team sport, practiced as a recreational physical activity by amateurs or professionally with elite players. This popular sport has several advantages such as integration of diverse styles and simple rules (Defrance, 1995). A psycho-sociological perspective is adopted in this article, exploring soccer as an object of social representation (Moscovici, 1961/76) with young, adult amateurs from a disadvantaged social background. The results obtained using the free association method and the characterization questionnaire show that there is a social representation of soccer. If, for young amateurs, this representation is based on the values of team sport, the one given to parents is rooted in the professional world. In addition, this study adds to an original phenomenon of the hidden” area of social representations. Between amateurism and professionalism, the reference to “Zinedine Zidane” adds to the controversial nature of this representation for young people

Resonant inelastic x-ray scattering probes the electron-phonon coupling in the spin-liquid kappa-(BEDT-TTF)2Cu2(CN)3

Resonant inelastic x-ray scattering at the N K edge reveals clearly resolved harmonics of the anion plane vibrations in the kappa-(BEDT-TTF)2Cu2(CN)3 spin-liquid insulator. Tuning the incoming light energy at the K edge of two distinct N sites permits to excite different sets of phonon modes. Cyanide CN stretching mode is selected at the edge of the ordered N sites which are more strongly connected to the BEDT-TTF molecules, while positionally disordered N sites show multi-mode excitation. Combining measurements with calculations on an anion plane cluster permits to estimate the sitedependent electron-phonon coupling of the modes related to nitrogen excitation

Nonlinear optics in Xe-filled hollow-core PCF in high pressure and supercritical regimes

Supercritical Xe at 293 K offers a Kerr nonlinearity that can exceed that of fused silica while being free of Raman scattering. It also has a much higher optical damage threshold and a transparency window that extends from the UV to the infrared. We report the observation of nonlinear phenomena, such as self-phase modulation, in hollow-core photonic crystal fiber filled with supercritical Xe. In the subcritical regime, intermodal four-wave-mixing resulted in the generation of UV light in the HE12 mode. The normal dispersion of the fiber at high pressures means that spectral broadening can clearly obtained without influence from soliton effects or material damage

Correlation between glove use practices and compliance with hand hygiene in a multicenter study with elderly patients

In a study conducted in 11 health care settings for elderly patients, we demonstrated a significant negative correlation between the proportion of glove use outside any risk of exposure to body fluids and compliance with hand hygiene (P < .02). This result underscores a major limitation of strategies for controlling the spread of multidrug-resistant bacteria that recommend systematic glove use for each contact with carriers or their environment

Geometric optics and instability for semi-classical Schrodinger equations

We prove some instability phenomena for semi-classical (linear or) nonlinear Schrodinger equations. For some perturbations of the data, we show that for very small times, we can neglect the Laplacian, and the mechanism is the same as for the corresponding ordinary differential equation. Our approach allows smaller perturbations of the data, where the instability occurs for times such that the problem cannot be reduced to the study of an o.d.e.Comment: 22 pages. Corollary 1.7 adde

On Quasar Masses and Quasar Host Galaxies

The mass of massive black holes in quasar cores can be deduced using the typical velocities of Hb-emitting clouds in the Broad Line Region (BLR) and the size of this region. However, this estimate depends on various assumptions and is susceptible to large systematic errors. The Hb-deduced black hole mass in a sample of 14 bright quasars is found here to correlate with the quasar host galaxy luminosity, as determined with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). This correlation is similar to the black hole mass vs. bulge luminosity correlation found by Magorrian et al. in a sample of 32 nearby normal galaxies. The similarity of the two correlations is remarkable since the two samples involve apparently different types of objects and since the black hole mass estimates in quasars and in nearby galaxies are based on very different methods. This similarity provides a ``calibration'' of the Hb-deduced black hole mass estimate, suggesting it is accurate to +-0.5 on log scale. The similarity of the two correlations also suggests that quasars reside in otherwise normal galaxies, and that the luminosity of quasar hosts can be estimated to +-0.5 mag based on the quasar continuum luminosity and the Hb line width. Future imaging observations of additional broad-line active galaxies with the HST are required in order to explore the extent, slope, and scatter of the black hole mass vs. host bulge luminosity correlation in active galaxies.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ Letters, 7 pages, aas2pp4.st