Alien marine species of Libya: first inventory and new records in El-Kouf National Park (Cyrenaica) and the neighbouring areas

The presence of marine alien species in El-Kouf National Park and the neighbouring areas was assessed using a compilation of available information and observations, a field survey conducted on October 2010 in the framework of the MedMPAnet project and results of further monitoring during June and September 2012. A total of 9 alien species were reported: the Rhodophyta Asparagopsis taxiformis (Delile) Trevisan de Saint-Léon, the Chlorophyta Caulerpa racemosa var. cylindracea (Sonder) Verlaque, Huisman & Boudouresque, the crab Percnon gibbesi (H. Milne-Edwards, 1853) and the fishes Fistularia commersonii Rüppell, 1838, Siganus luridus (Rüppell, 1829), Siganus rivulatus Forsskål, 1775, Pempheris vanicolensis Cuvier, 1831, Lagocephalus sceleratus (Gmelin, 1789) and Sphyraena flavicauda Rüppell, 1838. Several of them were until now unknown for the National Park. The list of alien marine species of Libya is updated and discussed. Until now 63 marine aliens species were recorded along the Libyan coasts. These include 3 Foraminifera, 3 Ochrophyta, 5 Rhodophyta, 5 Chlorophyta, 1 Magnoliophyta, 11 Arthropoda, 13 Mollusca, 1 Echinodermata and 21 Chordata. Among these Non Indigenous Species, 43 are known as established along the Libyan coast including 8 invasive, 11 casual, 6 questionable, 3 cryptogenic and 1 unknown. An in-depth study of the marine organisms would substantially increase the number of alien species occurring in Libya. Monitoring of marine assemblages of MPAs is a valuable opportunity to go further into the knowledge of native and introduced species

Arsenic concentrations in seagrass around the Mediterranean coast and seasonal variations

Arsenic’s occurrence in the environment could be due to human activities as well as to natural sources. In this study, Posidonia oceanica and Cymodocea nodosa are collected in 84 sites around the Mediterranean basin. In addition, both seagrass are collected monthly, in two sites (Calvi in Corsica and Salammbô in Tunisia). Arsenic concentrations in C. nodosa present seasonal variations in relation with spring phytoplankton blooms. For both species arsenic concentration is higher in the vicinity of geological sources (mining), lagoon outlets and industrial activities. Moreover, Mediterranean islands (Balearic, Sardinia, Corsica, Malta, Crete and Cyprus) and the Southern basin coastline exhibit lower concentrations in Arsenic than the rest of the Mediterranean basin. The wide spread distribution of these two species would encourage their use in a global monitoring network devoted to Arsenic contamination.peer-reviewe

Durye Pierre. — La généalogie

Henry Louis. Durye Pierre. — La généalogie. In: Population, 16ᵉ année, n°3, 1961. p. 563

Structure and electrical characterization of ZnO-Ag phosphate glasses

Silver zinc phosphate glasses with a composition (40 − x/2) P2O5 – (40 − x/2) Na2O–20ZnO–x AgNO3 (x = 5, 10 and 15 mol%) were prepared of the glasses via conventional melt-quenching technique. From the Raman spectrum, the structure of the glasses was analyzed. Conduction and relaxation mechanisms in these glasses were studied using impedance spectroscopy in a frequency range from 10 Hz to 13 MHz and a temperature range from 323 K to 623 K. The dependence of electrical data on frequency was analyzed in the framework of the Nyquist's plot and Jonscher’s power law. The semicircles observed in the plots indicate a double relaxation process. The studied materials exhibit a significant contribution of bulk and interfacial effect to electrical conduction and to non-Debye relaxation process. The dc conductivity (σdc) follows Arrhenius behavior with temperature. The ac and dc conductivities of the samples were found to increase with the increase in temperature. The conductivity variation for P2O5-Na2O-ZnO glasses doped with various concentrations of AgNO3 was explained by the presence of ionic contribution.The dielectric characterizations include measurements involving the variation of the dielectric constant as well as the dielectric loss with frequency. The dielectric studies show low values for the dielectric constant and loss at high frequencies. Dependence of the electrical modulus of the glasses on frequency and temperature presented a relaxation phenomenon. Keywords: Glasses, Impedance spectroscopy, Conduction, Dielectri

Introduction of a new potential invader into the Mediterranean Sea: the Indo-Pacific Avrainvillea amadelpha (Montagne) A. Gepp & E.S. Gepp (Dichotomosiphonaceae, Ulvophyceae)

International audienceThe Indo-Pacific species Avrainvillea amadelpha (Montagne) A. Gepp & E.S. Gepp is reported for the first time from the Mediterranean Sea (Kerkennah Islands, Tunisia). The species is considered as introduced and invasive in the Hawaiian Archipelago. The Mediterranean specimens are studied and the reproductive structures are described and illustrated here for the first time. The possible origins and vectors of this introduction and the risk of propagation of the species in the Mediterranean Sea are discussed.L’espèce Indo-Pacifique Avrainvillea amadelpha (Montagne) A. Gepp & E.S. Gepp, est signalée pour la première fois en Méditerranée (Iles Kerkennah, Tunisie). L’espèce est considérée comme introduite et invasive dans l’archipel Hawaiien. Les spécimens méditerranéens sont étudiés et les organes reproducteurs sont décrits et illustrés pour la première fois. Les origines et les vecteurs possibles de cette introduction sont discutés, ainsique les risques de propagation de l’espèce en Méditerranée

Q‐FCRA: QoS‐based OFDMA Femtocell Resource Allocation Algorithm

International audienceRecently, operators have resorted to femtocell networks in order to enhance indoor coverage and increase system capacity. Nevertheless, to successfully deploy such solution, efficient resource allocation algorithms and interference mitigation techniques should be deployed. The new applications delivered by operators require large amounts of network bandwidth. Whereas, some customers may want to pay more in exchange for a better quality of service (QoS), some others need less resources and can be charged accordingly. Hence, we consider an OFDMA femtocellnetwork serving both QoS constrained high-priority (HP) and besteffort (BE) users. Our objective is to satisfy a maximum number of HP users while serving BE users as well as possible. This optimization problem is multi-objective NP-hard. For this aim, we propose in this paper a new resource allocation and admission control algorithm, called Q-FCRA, based on clustering and taking into account QoS requirements. We show by extensive network simulation results that our proposal outperforms two state of the art schemes (Centralized-Dynamic Frequency Planning, C-DFP, and Distributed Random Access, DRA) as well as our previous proposal, FCRA, in both low and high density networks. The results concern the number of accepted users, the fairness, the throughput satisfaction rate and the spectrum spatial reuse

Combined mapping of DALP and AFLP markers in cultivated sunflower using F9 recombinant inbred lines

A genetic map was constructed with specific PCRs, DALPs and AFLPs using F8-generation sunflower recombinant inbred lines. RI lines generated from a F2 population of one cross between the two cultivated inbred lines HA89 (maintainer for Pet1 CMS) and LR4 (restorer for Pet1 CMS) were used. A total of 305 markers were located using seven sPCR, 64 DALP and 301 AFLP loci. They were generated with one, seven and 14 primer pairs, respectively. The map construction consisted of a two-step strategy using 6 and 3.1 LOD scores revealed by a simulation file. Mapped markers were assembled into 18 linkage groups covering 2,168.6 cM with an average of 6.1 cM. The distribution of DALPs and AFLPs revealed that both markers tagged different regions to enable covering most of the sunflower genome. This leads to the longest map published so far for sunflower