Can thin-lipped mullet directly exploit the primary and detritic production of European macrotidal salt marshes?

Juveniles and adults (>100 mm) of Liza ramada colonize macrotidal salt marsh creeks of Mont Saint-Michel bay (France)between March and November, during spring tide floods (43% of the tides) and return to coastal waters during the ebb. This fish species actively feeds during its short stay in the creek (from 1 to 2 h). On average, each fish swallows sediment including living and inert organic matter, which amounts to 8% of its fresh body weight. Their diet is dominated by small benthic items (especially diatoms and salt marsh plant detritus), that correspond to the primary and detritic production of this macrotidal salt marsh creek. Despite very short submersion periods, mullets filter and ingest large quantities of sediment and concentrated organic matter (on average organic matter in stomach content is 31%) produced by these coastal wetlands. European salt marshes are thus shown to act as trophic areas for mullets, which are well adapted to this constraining habitat which is only flooded for short periods during spring tides

Les documents scientifiques informels: un patrimoine peu exploré, témoin de la construction des savoirs

L'objectif du projet ECRITO était de contribuer à préserver et à valoriser les documents scientifiques produits quotidiennement par les chercheurs de Midi-Pyrénées, en amont des publications formelles : non seulement les articles, communications ou monographies, qui constituent la partie visible de la recherche, mais aussi tous les matériaux et informations accumulés par les chercheurs, et sur la base desquels se construit leur travail. Ces matériaux sont de types très divers : littérature " grise " (rapports, mémoires, documentation techniques...), documents textuels " informels " (carnets, notes, brouillons, correspondances, cahiers de laboratoires), corpus visuels, sonores ou multimédia (campagnes photographiques, campagnes d'enquêtes, enregistrements audio ou vidéo), données électroniques (bases de données, fichiers informatiques), etc. Le projet visait également à prolonger, de manière exploratoire, le questionnement sur le patrimoine scientifique à partir des traces matérielles produites quotidiennement par les chercheurs dans leurs activités de recherche. Ces traces représentent en effet une fenêtre irremplaçable sur la science en train de se construire : elles permettent de rendre visible et compréhensible le processus habituellement dissimulé de production de la science, ce qui constitue un enjeu scientifique et pédagogique fondamental

Effects of wastewater treatment plant pollution on in-stream ecosystems functions in an agricultural watershed

We studied the effect of point-source and non-point-source pollution on the retention capacity of the stream and its link with the metabolic state (primary production and respiration) and invertebrates assemblages in a third order Mediterranean stream. Two experimental sites were chosen: one in the upper part of the catchment (Monte´gut site) characterized by low concentrations in nitrate and phosphate and one in the lower part of the catchment (Le´zat site) characterized by high nitrate and phosphorus concentrations. Both experimental sites were located on reaches that included a Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP) point nutrient source allowing discussion of the relative effects of point-source and non-point-source nutrients loads on ecosystem function (respiration and uptake rates) and aquatic organism assemblages. NH4 +-N, and PO43x-P uptake rates were determined using solute additions conducted at constant rates (short-term nutrient addition procedure) and NO3 x-N uptake rates were determined using instantaneous solute addition (slug addition procedure). Rates of gross primary production (GPP) and ecosystem respiration were determined using the open system, two-stations diurnal oxygen change method. Benthic invertebrate communities were investigated for species and functional feeding groups diversities measurements. Results show that autotrophy in the river results from nutrients of two distinct origins: point sources for phosphorus (urban area and WWTP) and non-point sources for nitrogen (agricultural zones) with local additions from WWTP inputs. Comparison between the two sites shows that the WWTP did not affect uptake rates, respiration or primary production of the ecosystem in the low-nutrient Monte´gut reach despite increase of invertebrates communities biomass density. Inputs from the WWTP, in the high nitrate and phosphate Le´zat reach, increased respiration, lower benthic biomass and led to changes in the species composition and did not affect uptake rates

L'imaginaire urbain dans les régions ouvrières en reconversion: Le bassin stéphanois et le bassin minier du Nord Pas de Calais

Cette recherche est une recherche sociologique et anthropologique coordonnée par Michel Rautenberg rassemblant le Centre Max Weber de Saint-Étienne, le Centre Lillois d'études et de recherches sociologiques et économiques (sous la responsabilité du professeur Licia Valladarès) et l' Université de Sofia (sous la responsabilité du professeur Ivaylo Ditchev). Démarrée en décembre 2007 elle s'est terminée en avril 2011 et a bénéficié d'une aide de l'ANR de 180 k€ pour un montant global de 250 k€ de subventions publiques (non comprise une allocation de recherche).The general hypothesis at the origin of this research is that urban transformations do not go without social representations and the field of the imagination. It is essential for each image, word or story to be related to concrete situations that the researcher can describe. The choice of cities is thus not negligible. In this research programme, it has focussed on cities which have a had a difficult economic history characterised by brutal de-industrialization - more in people's minds than by its suddenness. This has left a traumatic effect on individual and collective memories, an urban landscape of industrial wasteland and 3 decades later it continues to strongly influence urban renovation policies. The first issue of this research, which in its second phase was extended to include Bulgarian cities thanks to the support of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, was to establish a method making it possible to describe this imagination. So researchers agreed to work on imagination "operators", that is to say means (administrative, artistic or social) used by socially identified actors : artists, associations, inhabitants, former miners, municipal authorities. The second issue was to favour the imagination of cites which cannot be measured against communication strategies but which considers the "popular" social imagination which is sufficiently autonomous to exist outside municipal institutions - without asserting that it is completely independent. The third issue was to find common features in the comparison between situations close enough in their history to justify a pertinent comparison.L'hypothèse générale à l'origine de cette recherche est que les transformations urbaines ne font pas l'économie des représentations et des imaginaires sociaux. Il est donc nécessaire que chaque image, parole ou récit recueilli soit rapporté à des situations concrètes que le chercheur peut décrire. Le choix des villes n'est alors pas anodin. Dans ce programme de recherche, il s'est porté sur des villes qui ont eu une histoire économique difficile caractérisée par une désindustrialisation brutale -dans les esprits peut-être plus que par sa soudaineté. Celle ci a laissé des traumatismes dans les mémoires individuelles et collectives, un paysage urbain de friches industrielles, et continue après 3 décennies d'influencer fortement sur les politiques de rénovation urbaine

Creative Education

The aim of this study was to assess the efficiency of four learning conditions to develop phonological and musical processing skills through a set of 10 nursery rhymes. According to the analysis of the teachers' practices, eight kindergarten classes (n = 100 kindergarteners) were paired and assigned to one of the following conditions: 1) music; 2) language; 3) combined [music and language]; and 4) passive listening (control classes). Participants in conditions 1, 2, and 3 were met for 40 minutes per week over a ten-week period. In condition 1, the nursery rhymes were supplemented by musical activities and in condition 2 by language activities. Condition 3 was a combination of activities from conditions 1 and 2. In condition 4, children listened to a recording of the same nursery rhymes for 15 minutes daily during free exploration periods. No intervention was proposed for this control condition. All participants were evaluated using the same phonological and musical processing measures prior to and after the implementation of the program. Results indicated that children in conditions 1, 2 and 3 significantly improved their phonological awareness and their invented spelling skills at post-test. However, only the two conditions in which the music component was integrated enhanced significantly their results at the verbal memory task. Children in conditions 1, 3 and 4 enhanced tonal and rhythm perception skills. This study demonstrated that supplementing nursery rhymes with language activities is an efficient manner to develop emergent literacy skills, but the addition of musical activities could also boost phonological processing skills

The Saint-Jude landslide of May 10th, 2010, Quebec, Canada : investigation and characterisation of the landslide and its failure mechanism

A landslide occurred on May 10, 2010, along the Salvail River, in the municipality of Saint- Jude, Quebec. Debris of the landslide was formed of blocks clay having horst and graben shapes, typical of spreads in sensitive clays. A detailed investigation was carried out by the Ministère des Transports, de la Mobilité durable et de l’électrification des transports du Québec in collaboration with Université Laval, with the objective of characterizing this landslide, determining the causes and learning about its failure mechanism. The soil involved is a firm, grey, sensitive lightly overconsolidated clay with some silt. Data from piezometers installed near the landslide indicated artesian conditions underneath the Salvail River. Cone penetration tests allowed to location of two failure surface levels. The first one starting 2.5 m below the initial river bed and extending horizontally up to 125 m and a second one 10 m higher reaching the backscarp. Investigation of the debris with onsite measurements, light detector and ranging surveys, cone penetration tests, and boreholes allowed a detailed geotechnical and morphological analysis of the debris and reconstitution of the dislocation mechanism of this complex spread.Un glissement est survenu le 10 mai 2010 le long de la rivière Salvail, dans la municipalité de Saint-Jude au Québec. Les débris de ce glissement étaient formés de blocs d’argile ayant la forme de horst et de grabens, typique des étalements dans les argiles sensibles. Le Ministère des Transports, de la Mobilité durable et de l’électrification des transports du Québec et l’Université Laval ont réalisé l’investigation détaillée de ce glissement de terrain, dans le but de le caractériser, d’en déterminer les causes et d’en apprendre d’avantage sur le mécanisme de rupture. Le sol impliqué est une argile sensible grise avec un peu de silt, de consistance ferme, légèrement surconsolidée. Les piézomètres installés à proximité du glissement indiquent des conditions artésiennes sous la rivière Salvail. L’utilisation du piézocône a permis de localiser deux niveaux de surfaces de ruptures. L’un à 2,5 m sous la position initiale de la rivière, s’entendant horizontalement sur 125 m, et l’autre 10 m plus haut, allant jusqu’à l’escarpement arrière. L’investigation des débris par mesures prises sur le terrain, levées de télédétection par laser, piézocônes et forages a permis une analyse géotechnique et morphologique détaillée de ces derniers et la reconstitution du mécanisme de dislocation de ce glissement complexe

Realizing a Compact, High-Fidelity, Telecom-Wavelength Source of Multipartite Entangled Photons

Multipartite entangled states are an essential building block for advanced quantum networking applications. Realizing such tasks in practice puts stringent requirements on the characteristics of the states in terms of fidelity and generation rate, along with a desired compatibility with telecommunication network deployment. Here, we demonstrate a photonic platform design capable of producing high-fidelity Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) states, at telecom wavelength and in a compact and scalable configuration. Our source relies on spontaneous parametric down-conversion in a layered Sagnac interferometer, which only requires a single nonlinear crystal. This enables the generation of highly indistinguishable photon pairs, leading by entanglement fusion to four-qubit polarization-entangled GHZ states with fidelity up to $(94.73 \pm 0.21)\%$ with respect to the ideal state, at a rate of 1.7Hz. We provide a complete characterization of our source and highlight its suitability for practical quantum network applications

The carbon fraction in biomass and organic matter in boreal open woodlands of Eastern Canada

In Canada, boreal open woodlands (OWs) show interesting afforestation potential, but no detailed study is available regarding the carbon fraction (CF) of dry matter in biomass and litter reservoirs (tonne C/tonne dry mass). This study aimed at providing the very first specific CF values of C reservoirs and compartments in OWs, with the main hypothesis that given the particular stand characteristics of OWs, more precise CF values than IPCC’s default values would significantly change the calculation of C stocks in OWs. Results indicate that even though the CF values measured in this study were significantly different among the different C reservoirs and compartments in OWs, they matched the IPCC default CF values for the biomass (0.50) and humus (0.37) reservoirs. Therefore, the main hypothesis of this study – that more precise CF values than IPCC’s default values would significantly change the calculation of C stocks in OWs – was not supported by the results. Consequently, the IPCC default values of the CF in the biomass and litter (humus) reservoirs can be used to estimate C stocks in boreal OWs, for example when using OWs as the baseline scenario in afforestation projects. Les terrains dénudés secs (DS) boréaux du Canada montrent un potentiel de boisement intéressant, sauf qu’aucune étude détaillée n’est disponible à propos de la fraction carbonique (FC) de la matière sèche dans les réservoirs de la biomasse et de la litière (tonne de C par tonne de masse sèche). La présente étude visait à fournir les toutes premières valeurs spécifiques de FC des réservoirs et compartiments de C des DS, avec l’hypothèse principale que vu les caractéristiques particulières des DS, des valeurs de FC plus précises que les valeurs par défaut du GIEC changeraient significativement le calcul des stocks de C dans les DS. Les résultats indiquent que bien que les valeurs de FC étaient significativement différentes entre les réservoirs et compartiments des DS, elles étaient similaires aux valeurs par défaut du GIEC, tant pour les réservoirs de la biomasse (0.50) que de la litière (0.37). Ainsi, l’hypothèse principale de l’étude – que des valeurs de FC plus précises que les valeurs par défaut du GIEC changeraient significativement le calcul des stocks de C dans les DS – n’est pas soutenue par les résultats. Par conséquent, les valeurs de FC par défaut du GIEC pour les réservoirs de la biomasse et de la litière (humus) peuvent être utilisées pour estimer les stocks de C des DS boréaux, par exemple lorsque les DS font office de scénario de référence dans des projets de boisement