Basic substances: a new opportunity for approval copper at EC phytopharmaceutical regulation 1107/2009

Bio control agents: BCA, promising for plant protection are the combination of macro organisms, microorganisms, chemical mediators (pheromones, semiochemicals), and natural substances (from mineral, animal, or vegetal origin). EC regulation: Following, the enter in vigour of the new phytochemical EC Regulation 1107/2009 on May 14th 2011, the opportunity of approval at EU level, for new categories, are now available. Together with regular active substances, as previously managed by Dir 91/414, two new categories were introduced “Basic Substances” described via Article 23 and “Low Risk Substances” defined in Art. 22. Further specific EU-Guidance documents, regarding data requirement, are available or in progress for BCAs sub-category: microorganisms (baculovirus), pheromones (sclp) or botanicals. a. Opportunity of testing the first category (basic substances) for plant extract and light compounds as agriculture aid was engaged by ITAB in 2011 and ended up with an EU-Guidance document, available as working document (SANCO/10363/2012 rev.7) managed by DGSanco in one hand, and Equisetum (Horsetail) BSA pilot project in the other hand. b. Implementation of the second category (Low Risk substances) is in progress in order to produce equivalent Guidance document for early 2014. Basic substances: As matter of fact, these approvals as basic substance are by derogation to general pesticide regulation. Opportunity of the use of plant water extract (Nettle) and food compounds (sugars) in agriculture was not previously attach to any regulation, except in organic farming although some were approved at EC Directive 91/414 (Garlic extract, acetic acid) but as phytopharmaceuticals. Among these alternative products used for crops protection, notably from plants, natural extracts used traditionally by gardeners or farmers, are deemed potentially interesting. The use of these natural extracts preparations can be done now in compliance with regulatory requirements as plant protection substitution product, or plant defense enhancer for agriculture, and especially organic farming

Proton electron elastic scattering and the proton charge radius

It is suggested that proton elastic scattering on atomic electrons allows a precise measurement of the proton charge radius. Very small values of transferred momenta (up to four order of magnitude smaller than the ones presently available) can be reached with high probability.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Student entrepreneurship: A research agenda

The purpose of this paper is to define the term “Studentpreneur” and stimulate research in the field of Student Entrepreneurship. A research agenda is proposed to further the knowledge of Student Entrepreneurship. The paper identifies Student Entrepreneurship as an emerging phenomenon that provides a dual opportunity. The first is the opportunity to zoom in on one category of entrepreneurs and observe if the traditional theories developed in the “meta category” of entrepreneurs apply to this subcategory; for example, Traits, Psychological tests and Dynamic Capabilities, in a goal to legitimate them further. The second opportunity is to study Studentpreneurs as an exemplary case. Two themes are suggested for the research agenda linked to the latter opportunity: Identity Construction and management of Multiple Identity

Un aspect peu connu de la francophonie canadienne de l'Ouest: le français hexagonal

L'un des aspects les moins connus de l'histoire de la francophonie de l'Ouest canadien est sa complexité, due en grande partie au fait qu'elle découle de trois souches distinctes: premièrement les Mitchifs, descendants des premiers coureurs des bois, suivis un siècle plus tard des colons venant soit directement du Bas-Canada soit des états américains où les Canadiens s'étaient déjà établis (les états de la Nouvelle-Angleterre et certains états du Midwest), troisièmement, la présence relativement importante, dans certaines communautés rurales, de colons francophones venus de France, de Belgique et de Suisse. Ces colons sont arrivés dans l'Ouest à partir des années 1880 et ont continué de s'y installer jusqu'aux années 1930. Ces agriculteurs, éleveurs ou simples ouvriers, ont fondé plusieurs communautés où ils étaient fortement majoritaires; ailleurs, ils se sont installés dans des communautés francophones en nombre suffisant pour représenter une influence certaine et durable sur le vernaculaire local. Dans cette étude, nous nous arrêterons brièvement à l'histoire de quelques-uns de ces villages et passerons en revue les études linguistiques peu nombreuses qui se sont intéressées à ce phénomène unique au Canada.One of the little known aspects of the history of "la francophonie" in Western Canada is its inherent complexity, due largely to the fact that it is based on three distinct sources: first, the Mitchifs, descendants of the early "coureurs des bois", followed nearly a century later by colonists coming either directly from Lower Canada or from the American states where the French-Canadians had already settled (the New England states and the Midwest), and third, the relatively important presence, in a number of rural communities, of colonists from France, Belgium and Switzerland. These French-speaking colonists began arriving in the West from the 1880s on and continued doing so until the 1930s. These immigrants were mostly farmers, stockbreeders or blue collar workers and they founded a number of communities where they constituted an important majority or they settled in already established French-speaking villages in sufficient num-bers to exert a noticeable and durable influence on the local vernacular speech. In this study, we briefly review the history of a number of these communities and describe the few linguistic descriptions that have been made of this unique phenomenon in Canada

The new control system of the SPS injection kicker

The SPS accelerator will be used as injector for the LHC and has to be adapted to the LHC requirements. The tight specification on beam blow-up and bunch spacing in the SPS has required an upgrade program of the SPS injection kicker in order to obtain a reduction of the magnetic field ripple to less than ± 0.5% and of the magnet current rise time to less than 145 ns. In this context, the slow control part has been entirely rebuilt on the basis of off-the-shelf industrial components. A hierarchical architecture based on a SIEMENS S7-400 master programmable logic controller interconnected through PROFIBUS-DP to S7-300 deported and decentralised I/Os has been implemented. Integration of in-house specific G-64 hardware systems inside this industrial environment has been done through a PROFIBUS-DP to G-64 intelligent interface based on an OEM fieldbus mezzanine board on one side and an FPGA implementing the required functionality on the other. Simultaneously, the fast timing system has been completely reshuffled in order to provide the required SPS multi-cycling functionality and a synchronisation of the 16 magnets to 5ns. This modular architecture has been successfully integrated inside the new SPS accelerator control infrastructure and will be duplicated in the future for the control of the different SPS extraction channels

Not all digital word of mouth is created equal: Understanding the respective impact of consumer reviews and microblogs on new product success

The expansion of the Internet and social media have triggered a differentiation of the word-of-mouth (WOM) concept, with consumer communication about brands and products now taking place in various settings and forms. Two important digital WOM types are microblogs and consumer reviews. To clarify their differential roles for product success, this study offers a theoretical framework of the influence of these two types of WOM, drawing from consumer information search theory and diffusion theory. The tests of the proposed framework use a longitudinal data set of video game sales and weekly information gathered from microblogs (i.e., over 13 million tweets from Twitter) and consumer reviews (i.e., more than 17,000 Amazon consumer reviews). Analyzing a system of equations provides evidence that the influence of microblogs and consumer reviews on new product success changes over time. Prior to launch, the volumes of microblogs and consumer reviews, together with advertising, represent primary sales drivers. After launch, the volume of microblogs is initially influential, then loses impact, whereas the impact of the volume of consumer reviews continues to grow. The valence of consumer reviews gains significance only near the end of the observation period, but the valence of microblogging is never influential

Time-trends and treatment gaps in the antithrombotic management of patients with atrial fibrillation after percutaneous coronary intervention: Insights from the CHUM AF-STENT Registry.

BACKGROUND: The management of atrial fibrillation and flutter (AF) patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has undergone a rapid recent evolution. In 2016, the Canadian Cardiovascular Society (CCS) published expert recommendations to help guide clinicians in balancing bleeding and thrombotic risks in these patients. HYPOTHESIS: Antithrombotic regimen prescriptions for AF patients undergoing PCI evolved after the publication of the 2016 CCS AF guidelines. METHODS: A prospective cohort of AF patients undergoing PCI with placement of a coronary stent from a single tertiary academic center was analyzed for the recommended antithrombotic regimen at discharge. Prescribing behavior was compared between three time periods (Cohort A [2010-2011]; Cohort B [2014-2015]; Cohort C [2017]) using the χ2 test. In addition, antithrombotic management in Cohorts B and C were compared to guideline-recommended therapy. RESULTS: A total of 459 patients with AF undergoing PCI were identified. Clinical and procedural characteristics were similar between cohorts, with the exception of an increase in drug-eluting stent (DES) use over time (P < .01). Overall, the rate of oral anticoagulation (OAC) increased over time (P < .01), associated with an increase in nonvitamin K OAC prescription (P < .01) and a concomitant decrease in vitamin K antagonist prescription (P < .01). Despite this, the overall rate of anticoagulation remains below what would be predicted with perfect guideline compliance (75% vs 94%, P < .01). CONCLUSION: There has been a dramatic shift in clinical practice for AF patients requiring PCI, with increases in prescription of OAC even in the context of an increase in the use of DES. However, room for further practice optimization still exists

Vision-based grasping of unknown objects to improve disabled people autonomy.

International audienceThis paper presents our contribution to vision based robotic assistance for people with disabilities. The rehabilitative robotic arms currently available on the market are directly controlled by adaptive devices, which lead to increasing strain on the user's disability. To reduce the need for user's actions, we propose here several vision-based solutions to automatize the grasping of unknown objects. Neither appearance data bases nor object models are considered. All the needed information is computed on line. This paper focuses on the positioning of the camera and the gripper approach. For each of those two steps, two alternative solutions are provided. All the methods have been tested and validated on robotics cells. Some have already been integrated into our mobile robot SAM

Sharp transition for single polarons in the one-dimensional Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model

We study a single polaron in the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH) model using four different techniques (three numerical and one analytical). Polarons show a smooth crossover from weak to strong coupling, as a function of the electron-phonon coupling strength $\lambda$, in all models where this coupling depends only on phonon momentum $q$. In the SSH model the coupling also depends on the electron momentum $k$; we find it has a sharp transition, at a critical coupling strength $\lambda_c$, between states with zero and nonzero momentum of the ground state. All other properties of the polaron are also singular at $\lambda = \lambda_c$, except the average number of phonons in the polaronic cloud. This result is representative of all polarons with coupling depending on $k$ and $q$, and will have important experimental consequences (eg., in ARPES and conductivity experiments)

Interethnic differences in pancreatic cancer incidence and risk factors: The Multiethnic Cohort.

While disparity in pancreatic cancer incidence between blacks and whites has been observed, few studies have examined disparity in other ethnic minorities. We evaluated variations in pancreatic cancer incidence and assessed the extent to which known risk factors account for differences in pancreatic cancer risk among African Americans, Native Hawaiians, Japanese Americans, Latino Americans, and European Americans in the Multiethnic Cohort Study. Risk factor data were obtained from the baseline questionnaire. Cox regression was used to estimate the relative risks (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for pancreatic cancer associated with risk factors and ethnicity. During an average 16.9-year follow-up, 1,532 incident pancreatic cancer cases were identified among 184,559 at-risk participants. Family history of pancreatic cancer (RR 1.97, 95% CI 1.50-2.58), diabetes (RR 1.32, 95% CI 1.14-1.54), body mass index ≥30&nbsp;kg/m2 (RR 1.25, 95% CI 1.08-1.46), current smoking (&lt;20 pack-years RR 1.43, 95% CI 1.19-1.73; ≥20 pack-years RR 1.76, 95% CI 1.46-2.12), and red meat intake (RR 1.17, 95% CI 1.00-1.36) were associated with pancreatic cancer. After adjustment for these risk factors, Native Hawaiians (RR 1.60, 95% CI 1.30-1.98), Japanese Americans (RR 1.33, 95% CI 1.15-1.54), and African Americans (RR 1.20, 95% CI 1.01-1.42), but not Latino Americans (RR 0.90, 95% CI 0.76-1.07), had a higher risk of pancreatic cancer compared to European Americans. Interethnic differences in pancreatic cancer risk are not fully explained by differences in the distribution of known risk factors. The greater risks in Native Hawaiians and Japanese Americans are new findings and elucidating the causes of these high rates may improve our understanding and prevention of pancreatic cancer