APC Communiqué

This is the archive of the summer 2012 APC Communiqué, a bi-annual newsletter, which features a special report entitled, "President Rupiah Banda defends democracy in Zambia and Africa". Banda was APC's eighth President-in-Residence

Sorties de Cadre(s): Le licenciement pour motif personnel, instrument de gestion de la firme mondialisée

Tandis que les médias se focalisent sur les licenciements économiques et sur les plans sociaux devenus « plans de sauvegarde de l’emploi », les licenciements pour motif personnel (LMP) représentent désormais 70 % des licenciements prononcés en France. Les cadres sont les premiers visés, le plus souvent dans les grandes entreprises et dans le secteur des nouvelles technologies. Les auteurs s’appuient sur soixante entretiens avec des DRH, des cadres touchés par le LMP, des représentants syndicaux et des experts – juristes, avocats, inspecteurs du travail, consultants –, pour montrer comment les puissantes logiques de globalisation et de financiarisation ont profondément transformé la relation d’emploi. L’adoption d’un management par le marché, d’origine anglo-saxonne, a donné au LMP une place de premier plan. Moins contraignant juridiquement pour l’entreprise, moins « délicat » en terme d’image, ce dernier se substitue alors à d’autres modalités de départ. En donnant la parole aux cadres, les auteurs mettent à jour des situations très contrastées. Rupture identitaire et risque de précarité pour les uns, séparation négociée et opportunité pour d’autres, les « sorties de cadres » ne se valent pas toutes. Selon qu’ils sont « juniors » ou « seniors », qu’ils appartiennent à l’élite transnationale ou opèrent au niveau local, les cadres sont très inégalement armés pour y faire face. Un livre édifiant sur une pratique de gestion de plus en plus répandue, qui s’inscrit, plus largement, dans les débats contemporains sur les mutations du capitalisme français

Jacquinot-Delaunay Geneviève & Fichez Élisabeth (dir.). L’université et les TIC. Chronique d’une innovation annoncée

Publié fin 2008, ce livre a de surcroît connu une longue genèse puisqu’il est fondé sur une recherche conduite entre 1999 et 2003 et portant sur un processus expérimental de grande ampleur en matière de ressources pour l’enseignement, une recherche menée par un groupe interuniversitaire et interdisciplinaire, associant des chercheurs en sciences dures et en sciences humaines rassemblés au sein du CODIF (Comité d’observation et d’orientation de dispositifs de formation). Il est donc légitime d..

Jacquinot-Delaunay Geneviève & Fichez Élisabeth (dir.). L’université et les TIC. Chronique d’une innovation annoncée

Publié fin 2008, ce livre a de surcroît connu une longue genèse puisqu’il est fondé sur une recherche conduite entre 1999 et 2003 et portant sur un processus expérimental de grande ampleur en matière de ressources pour l’enseignement, une recherche menée par un groupe interuniversitaire et interdisciplinaire, associant des chercheurs en sciences dures et en sciences humaines rassemblés au sein du CODIF (Comité d’observation et d’orientation de dispositifs de formation). Il est donc légitime d..

Inquiry into the interests of certain eighth-grade science pupils

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston University, 1946. This item was digitized by the Internet Archive

X-ray diffraction reveals the intrinsic difference in the physical properties of membrane and soluble proteins.

Membrane proteins are distinguished from soluble proteins by their insertion into biological membranes. This insertion is achieved via a noticeable arrangement of hydrophobic amino acids that are exposed at the surface of the protein, and renders the interaction with the aliphatic tails of lipids more energetically favorable. This important difference between these two categories of proteins is the source of the need for a specific handling of membrane proteins, which transpired in the creation of new tools for their recombinant expression, purification and even crystallization. Following this line, we show here that crystals of membrane proteins display systematically higher diffraction anisotropy than those of soluble proteins. This phenomenon dramatically hampers structure solution and refinement, and has a strong impact on the quality of electron-density maps. A farther search for origins of this phenomenon showed that the type of crystallization, and thus the crystal packing, has no impact on anisotropy, nor does the nature or function of the membrane protein. Membrane proteins fully embedded within the membrane display equal anisotropy compared to the ones with extra membranous domains or fusions with soluble proteins. Overall, these results overturn common beliefs and call for a specific handling of their diffraction data

Química aplicada a la agricultura por Chaptal ; Traducida del frances por Juan Plou

Con notas añadidas por el traducto

An Amphipathic α-Helix Directs Palmitoylation of the Large Intracellular Loop of the Sodium/Calcium Exchanger

The electrogenic sodium/calcium exchanger (NCX) mediates bidirectional calcium transport controlled by the transmembrane sodium gradient. NCX inactivation occurs in the absence of phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate and is facilitated by palmitoylation of a single cysteine at position 739 within the large intracellular loop of NCX. The aim of this investigation was to identify the structural determinants of NCX1 palmitoylation. Full-length NCX1 (FL-NCX1) and a YFP fusion protein of the NCX1 large intracellular loop (YFP-NCX1) were expressed in HEK cells. Single amino acid changes around Cys-739 in FL-NCX1 and deletions on the N-terminal side of Cys-739 in YFP-NCX1 did not affect NCX1 palmitoylation, with the exception of the rare human polymorphism S738F, which enhanced FL-NCX1 palmitoylation, and D741A, which modestly reduced it. In contrast, deletion of a 21-amino acid segment enriched in aromatic amino acids on the C-terminal side of Cys-739 abolished YFP-NCX1 palmitoylation. We hypothesized that this segment forms an amphipathic α-helix whose properties facilitate Cys-739 palmitoylation. Introduction of negatively charged amino acids to the hydrophobic face or of helix-breaking prolines impaired palmitoylation of both YFP-NCX1 and FL-NCX1. Alanine mutations on the hydrophilic face of the helix significantly reduced FL-NCX1 palmitoylation. Of note, when the helix-containing segment was introduced adjacent to cysteines that are not normally palmitoylated, they became palmitoylation sites. In conclusion, we have identified an amphipathic α-helix in the NCX1 large intracellular loop that controls NCX1 palmitoylation. NCX1 palmitoylation is governed by a distal secondary structure element rather than by local primary sequence

Spectroscopic analysis of Turkey red oil samples as a basis for understanding historical dyed textiles

Heritage conservation science is a valuable technique for improving understanding and the preservation of historical objects. Material analysis of heritage textiles and related materials provides information about polymer and colorant degradation, and contributes to improved conservation and display practices. The re‐creation of materials following historical processes is useful for testing analytical techniques in a field where ethical constraints often limit sampling, and to also identify potential age‐related changes relative to a fresh product. Despite the broad historical interest and industrial significance of Turkey red from the late eighteenth to the nineteenth century, little about the chemical complex of these unique textiles was understood in scientific terms. This study applied modern analysis with 1H and 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to investigate the conclusions reached by nineteenth century chemists, that fatty acids were a key component of the oil treatment, a unique and vital aspect of the Turkey red dyeing process. The results show that Turkey red oil samples are composed of fatty acids which tend to polymerise over time, and that modern commercial Turkey red oil has a similar composition to historical samples and a replica sample made following a nineteenth century method. This information was used to form a hypothesis for the overall Turkey red complex on the fibre, and confirmed that the experimental work of nineteenth century chemists was theoretically accurate despite their lack of precise analytical techniques. This indicates that a re‐creation and analysis approach is effective for studying heritage materials, provided the historical practice for making the original object is taken into consideration