The financial and economic impact of the U.S. government shutdown of October 2013 on trade and the role of information in commodities trading

The role of information on the markets is crucial as its purpose is to make the trade more efficient and transparent. The data are released by different sources and each market participant has to be able to sort them out and chose the ones that are more relevant for their activities. For most of the professionals, the data coming from the U.S. Government are the original and most reliable source of information. The U.S. federal shutdown of October 2013 created some fear and uncertainty in the United States but also worldwide. There was no information on the length and on the potential consequences that the closing would have on the economy. The market participants in commodities trading have been impacted by this event, as the national entities delivering data reports to the markets were closed for a period of two weeks. As a result, some categories of players active on the commodities markets were basically 'flying blind' as they did not have access to the necessary information that they usually base their trading decisions on. This report contemplates the potential impact that the closing had on the trade of crude oil and corn in October 2013. The main objective is to determine whether the markets are too dependent on the release of information coming from the Government and what this may imply in terms of risks. The analysis of the West Texas Intermediate and Brent crude oil markets established that the shutdown created some volatility on the spot markets; however, not in a significant way. Additionally, according to the findings, the futures markets of WTI have been impacted as there was less volume traded during the month of October 2013. Unfortunately, the prices of October 2013 for the futures contracts of crude oil and corn were not publicly available. As a result, only the volume traded on the futures markets were analysed. On the other hand, the corn markets did not manifest a strong impact from the U.S. Government shutdown. The spot markets showed some volatility; however, compared to other years it was not of great meaning. Throughout the interviews held for this project, many professionals from the agricultural commodities trading businesses did mention that they noticed a decrease in the global volume of contracts traded during October 2013. Nevertheless, after analysis of the amount of corn futures contracts traded, there was no evidence that there was a decrease in the numbers of commitments at this period. It may have impacted other agricultural goods but the corn markets showed no significant differences

Occupational exposure of cashiers to Bisphenol A via thermal paper: urinary biomonitoring study

International audiencePurpose: As an essential component of polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins, Bisphenol A (BPA) is found in numerous industrial and consumer products. BPA may cause adverse health effects because of its endocrine activity. General population exposure to this compound mainly through diet is well documented. Thermal paper was also identified as a source of BPA through dermal intake. In this study, we investigated whether frequent contact with thermal paper is associated with an increase in urinary BPA excretion.Methods: We evaluated the exposure to BPA in cashiers and in non-occupationally exposed workers from several workplaces. Urinary BPA was quantified in free (unconjugated) and total (unconjugated plus conjugated) forms in 24-h and spot urine samples using LC–MS/MS. BPA concentration in thermal paper was also measured from each workplace. In addition, participants provided information on job, food and drink, tobacco consumption and hands wash during the sampling period through a questionnaire.Results: Urine samples were collected from 90 cashiers and 44 controls. Free and total BPA were detected in all samples. The median urinary total BPA concentration was 3.54 µg/L (2.89 µg/g creatinine) for controls and 8.92 µg/L (6.76 µg/g creatinine) for cashiers. For the free BPA, the median urinary concentration was 0.20 µg/L (0.21 µg/g creatinine) for controls and 0.28 µg/L (0.22 µg/g creatinine) for cashiers. Any correlation was found between the urinary concentration levels and the number of thermal receipts handled. Hand washes frequency, age, job length of service and tobacco consumption had also no effect on the BPA excretions.Conclusion:A significant increase in urinary total BPA concentration was observed for cashiers handling daily thermal paper receipts. However, no significant increase was observed in urinary free BPA concentration. These findings are particularly interesting for risk assessment since all available data on occupational exposure to BPA through thermal paper were obtained from models or from simulated experiments

Approche DFA et conception fonctionnelle de produits modulaires : le modèle FARD

International audienceCet article présente notre démarche de conception fonctionnelle de produits modulaires intégrant, dès les phases amont duprocessus de conception, les contraintes liées au métier de l’assemblage, à travers un modèle méthodologique baptiséFARD (Functional And Robust Design method). Le modèle FARD s’inscrit dans une démarche plus globale de conceptionroutinière et hautement productive de systèmes mécaniques, qui s’appuie sur les connaissances et savoir-faire métierproduit-process, et en particulier sur les contraintes liées au métier de l’assemblage, à travers la génération semi-automatique de séquences d’assemblage admissibles dès les phases amont de la conception. Cette démarche s’inscrit dansun contexte économique fortement concurrentiel, où la personnalisation de masse, la conception par plates-formes autourd’architecture produit-process prédéfinies et la conception fonctionnelle et modulaire à base de connaissances métier,représentent des axes stratégiques pour les entreprises qui veulent rester compétitives. Pour ce faire, nous proposons unnouvel algorithme de génération des séquences d’assemblage prenant en compte la structure modulaire d’un produit,calquée sur la décomposition fonctionnelle du besoin client. Suite à un état de l’art et à une description des différentesétapes de notre démarche, un cas d’application est présenté : le module vanne d’un marteau burineur pneumatique

Scheduling independent stochastic tasks under deadline and budget constraints

International audienceThis paper discusses scheduling strategies for the problem of maximizing the expected number of tasks that can be executed on a cloud platform within a given budget and under a deadline constraint. The execution times of tasks follow IID probability laws. The main questions are how many processors to enroll and whether and when to interrupt tasks that have been executing for some time. We provide complexity results and an asymptotically optimal strategy for the problem instance with discrete probability distributions and without deadline. We extend the latter strategy for the general case with continuous distributions and a deadline and we design an efficient heuristic which is shown to outperform standard approaches when running simulations for a variety of useful distribution laws

Coastal Urbanization and Land Planning in Southern France

International audienceUrban sprawl is one of the main pressures affecting coastal areas in the Mediterranean. To assist spatial planning and coastal management policies, the study of urbanization and the characterization of the evolution of built-up areas along the coast are essential prerequisites. In this perspective, the production of land use data sets at a large-scale is necessary. They allow spatio-temporal analysis and, simultaneously, may be used to assess the efficiency of city planning and land planning documents. In France, where the political concern for the protection of the coasts and the limitation of urbanized areas started in the seventies, many tools and planning documents exist and can be put into force at several levels of territorial administration. However, urban sprawl is still a critical issue. It is therefore necessary to analyze how far national policies as well as local spatial planning practices are adapted. Taking as case studies two Mediterranean coastal zones of France (the Côte bleue, close to Marseilles, and the area of the Biguglia Lagoon, next to Bastia in Corsica), this article aims at analyzing jointly the evolution of urban areas along with the process of land planning

Systemic root signalling in a belowground, volatile-mediated tritrophic interaction

Plants attacked by leaf herbivores release volatile organic compounds (VOCs) both locally from the wounded site and systemically from non-attacked tissues. These volatiles serve as attractants for predators and parasitoids. This phenomenon is well described for plant leaves, but systemic induction of VOCs in the roots has remained unstudied. We assessed the spatial and temporal activation of the synthesis and release of (E)-β-caryophyllene (EβC) in maize roots upon feeding by larvae of Diabrotica virgifera virgifera, as well as the importance of systemically produced EβC for the attraction of the entomopathogenic nematode Heterorhabditis megidis. The production of EβC was found to be significantly stronger at the site of attack than in non-attacked tissues. A weak, but significant, increase in transcriptional activity of the EβC synthase gene tps23 and a corresponding increase in EβC content were observed in the roots above the feeding site and in adjacent roots, demonstrating for the first time that herbivory triggers systemic production of a volatile within root systems. In belowground olfactometers, the nematodes were significantly more attracted towards local feeding sites than systemically induced roots. The possible advantages and disadvantages of systemic volatile signalling in roots are discussed

Electroplated Ni mask for plasma etching of submicron-sized features in LiNbO3

International audienceWe here report on the fabrication of electroplated nickel (Ni) masks for dry etching of sub-micron patterns in lithium niobate (LiNbO3). This process allows obtaining 350-nm thick Ni masks defining high air filling fraction holey arrays (e.g. openings of 1800 nm in diameter with inter-hole spacing of 300 nm, or 330 nm diameter holes spaced by 440 nm). The mask profile is perfectly vertical (angle ≈ 90°). The obtained metallic masks are used to realise photonic and phononic crystals. High aspect ratio and dense arrays of holey patterns were defined and transferred into LiNbO3 through RIE (Reactive Ionic Etching) in sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) chemistry. Nanometric holes exhibiting sidewall slope angles of the order of 60° have in this way been etched in LiNbO3. The LiNbO3/Ni selectivity is close to 6 and the etch rate around 6 nm/min

Antimicrobial efficacy against Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm formation in a three-dimensional lung epithelial model and the influence of fetal bovine serum

In vitro models that mimic in vivo host-pathogen interactions are needed to evaluate candidate drugs that inhibit bacterial virulence traits. We established a new approach to study Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm susceptibility on biotic surfaces, using a three-dimensional (3-D) lung epithelial cell model. P. aeruginosa formed antibiotic resistant biofilms on 3-D cells without affecting cell viability. The biofilm-inhibitory activity of antibiotics and/or the anti-biofilm peptide DJK-5 were evaluated on 3-D cells compared to a plastic surface, in medium with and without fetal bovine serum (FBS). In both media, aminoglycosides were more efficacious in the 3-D cell model. In serum-free medium, most antibiotics (except polymyxins) showed enhanced efficacy when 3-D cells were present. In medium with FBS, colistin was less efficacious in the 3-D cell model. DJK-5 exerted potent inhibition of P. aeruginosa association with both substrates, only in serum-free medium. DJK-5 showed stronger inhibitory activity against P. aeruginosa associated with plastic compared to 3-D cells. The combined addition of tobramycin and DJK-5 exhibited more potent ability to inhibit P. aeruginosa association with both substrates. In conclusion, lung epithelial cells influence the efficacy of most antimicrobials against P. aeruginosa biofilm formation, which in turn depends on the presence or absence of FBS