La construction des discours sur les techniques de management. Etude exploratoire à partir d’une photographie des discours des consultants sur la méthode 5 steps.

La présente recherche est une contribution à l’analyse des processus de construction des discours des consultants sur les méthodes de gestion qu’ils inscrivent dans leur portefeuille de prestations. Il s’agit d’une étude exploratoire, à partir de la façon dont les consultants d’un cabinet expliquent la méthode 5 steps – méthode co-conçue par le directeur du cabinet et la Direction des Systèmes d’Information d’un grand groupe industriel – à trois interlocuteurs idéaux-types : la grand-mère, l’ami qui s’y connaît, le prospect. Ce recueil des discours est réalisé à un moment particulier du développement de la méthode : elle a été conçue et mise en œuvre avec et au sein d’une grande entreprise, mais elle n’est pas encore très connue ni diffusée à d’autres clients : les discours sur la méthode sont encore en formation. L’analyse montre que les discours tenus permettent d'esquisser une description minimale du contenu de la méthode et ses principales caractéristiques qui sont présentées comme des avantages. Les énoncés sont globalement expositifs. Le protocole nous permet également de mettre en évidence les spécificités des discours en fonction des figures d’interlocuteurs. Le discours à la figure de la grand-mère est général et descriptif ; sur un ton pédagogique. Le discours à la figure de l’ami devient plus précis avec un vocabulaire spécialisé sur les fondamentaux du management mais surtout sur les éléments techniques propres à la méthode. Le discours à la figure du prospect intègre une dimension dialogique. Il prend un ton pédagogique et promissif faisant référence davantage aux fondamentaux du management qu’au vocabulaire technique de la méthode. L'observation révèle une simplification du discours au prospect par rapport à l’ami, alors que l’on pouvait s’attendre à trouver un vocabulaire plus spécialisé face au prospect. L’ami pourrait ainsi apparaît comme l’interlocuteur implicite central dans la phase de développement d’une méthode.outils de gestion; conseil en management; discours;

Effect of acyl-acceptor stepwise addition strategy using alperujo oil as a substrate in enzymatic biodiesel synthesis

Background: using renewable feedstock sources for biodiesel production seems to be a promising strategy and even more so when enzymatic catalysis with lipases are used. However, it is well known that these enzymes could be inactivated by reaction conditions such as temperature or alcohol concentration. In this work, the effect of temperature and initial water activity (aw) value on immobilised recombinant Rhizopus oryzae lipase (rROL) were studied. Methanolysis and ethanolysis reactions using alperujo oil with three different stepwise addition strategies were employed. - Results: recombinant 1,3-positional selective rROL covalently immobilised on polymethacrylate amino-epoxy activated support showed maximum initial reaction rate at low aw value (0.093). It was found that 30 °C was the optimal temperature in terms of biocatalyst stability during transesterification reactions. Adding alcohol at once, ethanol was clearly a better acyl-acceptor in terms of stability than methanol. Productivity was found to be 2-fold higher when five pulses of ethanol were used instead of methanol. - Conclusions: alperujo oil has great potential as a low cost feedstock for biodiesel production through enzymatic catalysis using a nearly semi-continuous alcohol addition strategy

Lipase-catalysed transesterification : viewpoint of the mechanism and influence of free fatty acids

Grup de Recerca Enginyeria de Bioprocesos i Biocatàlisi AplicadaA series of lipase-catalysed transesterification experiments were carried out to study the effect of the presence of free fatty acids on synthesis reaction rate and the stability of the biocatalyst, and also to elucidate the underlying mechanism, which remains a subject of debate. Based on the results, the reaction rate and biocatalyst stability increased with increasing content in free fatty acids of the reaction mixture. Also, tests carried out with a mixture of triolein and linoleic acid revealed that the transesterification mechanism is a combination of direct alcoholysis of triacylglycerols and a twostep reaction involving hydrolysis of acylglycerols and further esterification of previously released free fatty acids. The time course of triacylglycerols and diacylglycerols revealed that the enzyme is similarly selective for both types of substrate

Effectiveness of a Multicomponent Training Program on Physical Performance and Muscle Quality in Older Adults: A Quasi-Experimental Study.

Aging is associated with a decrease in functional capacity, manifested by a loss of strength, physical performance and muscle quality. Multicomponent training (MCT), characterized by the combination of at least three types of training, could be a good strategy to counteract these changes. To date there are no studies evaluating the effectiveness of MCT in improving both physical performance and muscle quality simultaneously. The aim of this study is to evaluate the changes produced by an MCT program on both physical performance and muscle quality in a population of healthy older adults. Sixteen healthy older adults were recruited to perform a 15-session multicomponent training intervention. Physical performance was assessed by different functional tests, and muscle quality was assessed by tensiomyography and myotonometry. The main results of this study show some improvement in functional tests, but not in muscle quality parameters, except for vastus lateralis stiffness. MCT is able to generate improvements in the physical performance of older adults, but these improvements are not reflected in muscle quality parameters measured by tensiomyography and myotonometry

Mean-field analysis of the q-voter model on networks

We present a detailed investigation of the behavior of the nonlinear q-voter model for opinion dynamics. At the mean-field level we derive analytically, for any value of the number q of agents involved in the elementary update, the phase diagram, the exit probability and the consensus time at the transition point. The mean-field formalism is extended to the case that the interaction pattern is given by generic heterogeneous networks. We finally discuss the case of random regular networks and compare analytical results with simulations.Comment: 20 pages, 10 figure

Creació d'un sistema d'informació i una aplicació web per la visualització i consulta dels plans de Protecció Civil

En aquest document es mostra el treball realitzat com a projecte final del Màster en Tecnologies de la Informació Geogràfica de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB).El projecte final s'ha realitzat per i amb la col·laboració de la Direcció General de Protecció Civil (DGPC) del Departament d'Interior de la Generalitat de Catalunya. L'objectiu del projecte ha estat l'elaboració d'un sistema d'informació geogràfica de la Direcció General de Protecció Civil i un visualitzador sobre plataforma web que permetrà que els diferents tècnics puguin consultar i visualitzar els diferents plans de Protecció Civil.Es descriuen les fases de definició del projecte, disseny i implementació del sistema d'informació, i disseny i desenvolupament de l'aplicació web. Finalment es mostren els resultats obtinguts amb l'aplicació web i unes conclusions finals dels objectius i coneixements assolits amb el treball de projecte final de màster

Biodiesel production from crude Jatropa oil catalyzed by non-conventional immobilized heterologous Rhizopus oryzae and Carica papaya lipases

The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of biodiesel production by transesterification of Jatropha oil with methanol, catalyzed by non-commercial sn-1,3-regioselective lipases. Using these lipases, fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) and monoacylglycerols are produced, avoiding the formation of glycerol as byproduct. Heterologous Rhizopus oryzae lipase (rROL) immobilized on different synthetic resins and Carica papaya lipase (rCPL) immobilized on Lewatit VP OC 1600 were tested. Reactions were performed at 30°C, with seven stepwise methanol additions. For all biocatalysts, 51-65% FAME (theoretical maximum=67%, w/w) was obtained after 4h transesterification. Stability tests were performed in 8 or 10 successive 4h-batches, either with or without rehydration of the biocatalyst between each two consecutive batches. Activity loss was much faster when biocatalysts were rehydrated. For rROL, half-life times varied from 16 to 579h. rROL on Lewatit VPOC 1600 was more stable than for rCPL on the same support

Biochemical diversity of carboxyl esterases and lipases from Lake Arreo (Spain): a metagenomic approach

The esterases and lipases from the α/β hydrolase superfamily exhibit an enormous sequence diversity, fold plasticity, and activities. Here, we present the comprehensive sequence and biochemical analyses of seven distinct esterases and lipases from the metagenome of Lake Arreo, an evaporite karstic lake in Spain (42°46=N, 2°59=W; altitude, 655 m). Together with oligonucleotide usage patterns and BLASTP analysis, our study of esterases/lipases mined from Lake Arreo suggests that its sediment contains moderately halophilic and cold-adapted proteobacteria containing DNA fragments of distantly related plasmids or chromosomal genomic islands of plasmid and phage origins. This metagenome encodes esterases/lipases with broad substrate profiles (tested over a set of 101 structurally diverse esters) and habitat-specific characteristics, as they exhibit maximal activity at alkaline pH (8.0 to 8.5) and temperature of 16 to 40°C, and they are stimulated (1.5 to 2.2 times) by chloride ions (0.1 to 1.2 M), reflecting an adaptation to environmental conditions. Our work provides further insights into the potential significance of the Lake Arreo esterases/lipases for biotechnology processes (i.e., production of enantiomers and sugar esters), because these enzymes are salt tolerant and are active at low temperatures and against a broad range of substrates. As an example, the ability of a single protein to hydrolyze triacylglycerols, (non)halogenated alkyl and aryl esters, cinnamoyl and carbohydrate esters, lactones, and chiral epoxides to a similar extent was demonstrated.We gratefully acknowledge the financial support provided by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (project CSD2007-00005), the European Community project MAGICPAH (FP7-KBBE-2009-245226), the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), and the Government of Canada through Genome Canada, Ontario Genomics Institute, and Ontario Research Fund (2009-OGI-ABC-1405 and ORF-GL2-01-004). M.-E.G. thanks the CSIC for a JAE fellowship.Peer Reviewe

Biochemical diversity of carboxyl Esterases and Lipases from Lake Arreo (Spain) : a metagenomic approach

The esterases and lipases from the / hydrolase superfamily exhibit an enormous sequence diversity, fold plasticity, and activities. Here, we present the comprehensive sequence and biochemical analyses of seven distinct esterases and lipases from the metagenome of Lake Arreo, an evaporite karstic lake in Spain (42°46=N, 2°59=W; altitude, 655 m). Together with oligonucleotide usage patterns and BLASTP analysis, our study of esterases/lipases mined from Lake Arreo suggests that its sediment contains moderately halophilic and cold-adapted proteobacteria containing DNA fragments of distantly related plasmids or chromosomal genomic islands of plasmid and phage origins. This metagenome encodes esterases/lipases with broad substrate profiles (tested over a set of 101 structurally diverse esters) and habitat-specific characteristics, as they exhibit maximal activity at alkaline pH (8.0 to 8.5) and temperature of 16 to 40°C, and they are stimulated (1.5 to 2.2 times) by chloride ions (0.1 to 1.2 M), reflecting an adaptation to environmental conditions. Our work provides further insights into the potential significance of the Lake Arreo esterases/lipases for biotechnology processes (i.e., production of enantiomers and sugar esters), because these enzymes are salt tolerant and are active at low temperatures and against a broad range of substrates. As an example, the ability of a single protein to hydrolyze triacylglycerols, (non)halogenated alkyl and aryl esters, cinnamoyl and carbohydrate esters, lactones, and chiral epoxides to a similar extent was demonstrated.The Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (project CSD2007-00005), the European Community project MAGICPAH (FP7-KBBE-2009-245226), the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), and the Government of Canada through Genome Canada, Ontario Genomics Institute, and Ontario Research Fund (2009-OGI-ABC-1405 and ORF-GL2-01-004). M.-E.G. thanks the CSIC for a JAE fellowship.http://aem.asm.org/am201