Politisation du pouvoir judiciaire et judiciarisation du pouvoir politique : la séparation traditionnelle des pouvoirs a-t-elle vécu ?

Emphasis has recently been placed on the danger of governmental agencies moving in the direction of what may be termed "judiciallisation", as a result of the growing tendency of the government to become involved in adjudication. Meanwhile, very little attention has been given to the independence of the judiciary, the watchdog over the governmental processes. On the one hand, professors Brun and Lemieux realize that the prerequisites of the independence of some governmental activities are just maintained and that the Courts have adapted different tests to different type functions. On the other hand, they realize that the independence of the judiciary is at the same time more and more endangered. Government designations of judges, interventions in, and associations with, the judiciary may convince many people that the latter is but a branch of the former. Moreover, the Courts themselves generally show too dormant an attitude in this area

About the relevance of roughness parameters used for characterizing worn femoral heads

This study aims to contribute to the definition of a methodology, which can help to select a relevant roughness parameter with a view to describing the topography of orthopaedic bearing surfaces. In this investigation, the surface topography of a retrieved titanium alloy (TA6V) femoral head was characterized using visual inspection, optical microscopy and three-dimensional contacting profilometry. A numerical analysis of roughness measurements was then undertaken to assess in a first step the values of different roughness parameters of interest found in papers dealing with the topography of orthopaedic bearing surfaces. In a second step, the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and the Computer-Based Bootstrap Method were combined to determine statistically, and without preconceived opinion, which of those parameters is the most relevant to describe the different investigated worn regions of the studied femoral head

O157:H7 and O104:H4 Vero/Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli outbreaks: respective role of cattle and humans

An enteroaggregative Verotoxin (Vtx)-producing Escherichia coli strain of serotype O104:H4 has recently been associated with an outbreak of haemolytic-uremic syndrome and bloody diarrhoea in humans mainly in Germany, but also in 14 other European countries, USA and Canada. This O104:H4 E. coli strain has often been described as an enterohaemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC), i.e. a Vtx-producing E. coli with attaching and effacing properties. Although both EHEC and the German O104:H4 E. coli strains indeed produce Vtx, they nevertheless differ in several other virulence traits, as well as in epidemiological characteristics. For instance, the primary sources and vehicles of typical EHEC infections in humans are ruminants, whereas no animal reservoir has been identified for enteroaggregative E. coli (EAggEC). The present article is introduced by a brief overview of the main characteristics of Vtx-producing E. coli and EAggEC. Thereafter, the O104:H4 E. coli outbreak is compared to typical EHEC outbreaks and the virulence factors and host specificity of EHEC and EAggEC are discussed. Finally, a renewed nomenclature of Vtx-producing E. coli is proposed to avoid more confusion in communication during future outbreaks and to replace the acronym EHEC that only refers to a clinical condition

Coordination in parental effort decreases with age in a long‐lived seabird

Biparental care is widespread in avian species. Individuals may match the contribution of their partner, resulting in equal parental effort, or may exploit their partner, to minimise their own investment. These two hypotheses have received much theoretical and empirical attention in short‐lived species, that change mates between seasons. However, in species with persistent pair bonds, where divorce is rare and costly, selective pressures are different, as partners share the value of future reproduction. In such species, coordination has been suggested to be adaptive and to increase early in life, as a consequence of the importance of mate familiarity. However, as birds age, an increase in re‐pairing probability occurs in parallel to a decline in their survival probability. At the point when partners no longer share future reproductive success, exploitation of a partner could become adaptive, reducing selection for coordinated effort. As such, we suggest that coordination in parental effort will decline with age in long‐lived species. Using incubation bout duration data, estimated from salt‐water immersion bio‐loggers, deployed on black‐browed albatrosses Thalassarche melanophris, we examined the correlation in incubation bout durations for sequential bouts, as a measure of coordination. Our results show that coordination is highest in inexperienced pairs (early in reproductive life) and declines throughout the lifetime of birds. This suggests that both cooperation, indicated by coordinated effort, and conflict over care occurs in this species. We find no change in individual bout duration with increasing breeding experience, and hence no support for the hypothesis that aging leads to changes in individual incubation behaviour. This is, to our knowledge, the first study to demonstrate strong coordination in parental care when pairs share future reproductive success, but a decline in coordination with age, as sexual conflict increases

Rapid identification and quantification of Campylobacter coli and Campylobacter jejuni by real-time PCR in pure cultures and in complex samples

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Campylobacter </it>spp., especially <it>Campylobacter jejuni </it>(<it>C. jejuni</it>) and <it>Campylobacter coli </it>(<it>C. coli</it>), are recognized as the leading human foodborne pathogens in developed countries. Livestock animals carrying <it>Campylobacter </it>pose an important risk for human contamination. Pigs are known to be frequently colonized with <it>Campylobacter</it>, especially <it>C. coli</it>, and to excrete high numbers of this pathogen in their faeces. Molecular tools, notably real-time PCR, provide an effective, rapid, and sensitive alternative to culture-based methods for the detection of <it>C. coli </it>and <it>C. jejuni </it>in various substrates. In order to serve as a diagnostic tool supporting <it>Campylobacter </it>epidemiology, we developed a quantitative real-time PCR method for species-specific detection and quantification of <it>C. coli </it>and <it>C. jejuni </it>directly in faecal, feed, and environmental samples.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>With a sensitivity of 10 genome copies and a linear range of seven to eight orders of magnitude, the <it>C. coli </it>and <it>C. jejuni </it>real-time PCR assays allowed a precise quantification of purified DNA from <it>C. coli </it>and <it>C. jejuni</it>. The assays were highly specific and showed a 6-log-linear dynamic range of quantification with a quantitative detection limit of approximately 2.5 × 10²CFU/g of faeces, 1.3 × 10²CFU/g of feed, and 1.0 × 10³CFU/m²for the environmental samples. Compared to the results obtained by culture, both <it>C. coli </it>and <it>C. jejuni </it>real-time PCR assays exhibited a specificity of 96.2% with a kappa of 0.94 and 0.89 respectively. For faecal samples of experimentally infected pigs, the coefficients of correlation between the <it>C. coli </it>or <it>C. jejuni </it>real-time PCR assay and culture enumeration were R²= 0.90 and R²= 0.93 respectively.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The <it>C. coli </it>and <it>C. jejuni </it>real-time quantitative PCR assays developed in this study provide a method capable of directly detecting and quantifying <it>C. coli </it>and <it>C. jejuni </it>in faeces, feed, and environmental samples. These assays represent a new diagnostic tool for studying the epidemiology of <it>Campylobacter </it>by, for instance, investigating the carriage and excretion of <it>C. coli </it>and <it>C. jejuni </it>by pigs from conventional herds.</p

A 2D Markov chain for modelling powder mixing in alternately revolving static mixers of Sysmix (R) type

International audienceA two-dimensional model of the flow and mixing of particulate solids has been developed on the basis of the Markov chain theory for an alternately revolving static mixer of Sysmix (R) type. In such a system, mixing occurs in both vertical and horizontal directions. Simulations are presented here to investigate the effect of the initial loading of the components, as well as the effect of the values of the transition probabilities that constitute the main parameters of the model. It is shown that a horizontal arrangement of the components always leads to better mixture quality and improved mixing kinetics. This research is presented for non-segregating mixtures, as well as potentially segregating mixtures. for which the empirically well-known oscillations in variance are represented by the model. Results suggest that there is a rational way of approaching a static-mixing problem with regard to the initial loading of the component and the optimal number of revolutions. Comparison of model results with experimental data published previously for a Sysmix (R) apparatus contributes to validating the viability of the model

Verified Multiple-Time Signature Scheme from One-Time Signatures and Timestamping

Buldas, Laanoja, and Truu designed a family of server-assisted digital signature schemes (BLT signatures) built around cryptographic timestamping and forward-resistant tag systems. The original constructions had either expensive key generation phase or stateful client-side computations. In this paper, we construct a stateless tag system with efficient key generation from one-time signature schemes. We prove that the proposed tag system is forward-resistant and when combined with cryptographic timestamping, it induces a secure (existentially unforgeable) multiple-time signature scheme. Our constructions are developed and verified using the EasyCrypt framework