Integrin α8β1 regulates adhesion, migration and proliferation of human intestinal crypt cells via a predominant RhoA/ROCK-dependent mechanism

Background. Integrins are transmembrane αβ heterodimer receptors that function as structural and functional bridges between the cytoskeleton and ECM (extracellular matrix) molecules. The RGD (arginine-glycine-aspartate tripeptide motif)-dependent integrin α8β1 has been shown to be involved in various cell functions in neuronal and mesenchymal-derived cell types. Its role in epithelial cells remains unknown

The seeds of divergence: the economy of French North America, 1688 to 1760

Generally, Canada has been ignored in the literature on the colonial origins of divergence with most of the attention going to the United States. Late nineteenth century estimates of income per capita show that Canada was relatively poorer than the United States and that within Canada, the French and Catholic population of Quebec was considerably poorer. Was this gap long standing? Some evidence has been advanced for earlier periods, but it is quite limited and not well-suited for comparison with other societies. This thesis aims to contribute both to Canadian economic history and to comparative work on inequality across nations during the early modern period. With the use of novel prices and wages from Quebec—which was then the largest settlement in Canada and under French rule—a price index, a series of real wages and a measurement of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) are constructed. They are used to shed light both on the course of economic development until the French were defeated by the British in 1760 and on standards of living in that colony relative to the mother country, France, as well as the American colonies. The work is divided into three components. The first component relates to the construction of a price index. The absence of such an index has been a thorn in the side of Canadian historians as it has limited the ability of historians to obtain real values of wages, output and living standards. This index shows that prices did not follow any trend and remained at a stable level. However, there were episodes of wide swings—mostly due to wars and the monetary experiment of playing card money. The creation of this index lays the foundation of the next component. The second component constructs a standardized real wage series in the form of welfare ratios (a consumption basket divided by nominal wage rate multiplied by length of work year) to compare Canada with France, England and Colonial America. Two measures are derived. The first relies on a “bare bones” definition of consumption with a large share of land-intensive goods. This measure indicates that Canada was poorer than England and Colonial America and not appreciably richer than France. However, this measure overestimates the relative position of Canada to the Old World because of the strong presence of land-intensive goods. A second measure is created using a “respectable” definition of consumption in which the basket includes a larger share of manufactured goods and capital-intensive goods. This second basket better reflects differences in living standards since the abundance of land in Canada (and Colonial America) made it easy to achieve bare subsistence, but the scarcity of capital and skilled labor made the consumption of luxuries and manufactured goods (clothing, lighting, imported goods) highly expensive. With this measure, the advantage of New France over France evaporates and turns slightly negative. In comparison with Britain and Colonial America, the gap widens appreciably. This element is the most important for future research. By showing a reversal because of a shift to a different type of basket, it shows that Old World and New World comparisons are very sensitive to how we measure the cost of living. Furthermore, there are no sustained improvements in living standards over the period regardless of the measure used. Gaps in living standards observed later in the nineteenth century existed as far back as the seventeenth century. In a wider American perspective that includes the Spanish colonies, Canada fares better. The third component computes a new series for Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This is to avoid problems associated with using real wages in the form of welfare ratios which assume a constant labor supply. This assumption is hard to defend in the case of Colonial Canada as there were many signs of increasing industriousness during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The GDP series suggest no long-run trend in living standards (from 1688 to circa 1765). The long peace era of 1713 to 1740 was marked by modest economic growth which offset a steady decline that had started in 1688, but by 1760 (as a result of constant warfare) living standards had sunk below their 1688 levels. These developments are accompanied by observations that suggest that other indicators of living standard declined. The flat-lining of incomes is accompanied by substantial increases in the amount of time worked, rising mortality and rising infant mortality. In addition, comparisons of incomes with the American colonies confirm the results obtained with wages— Canada was considerably poorer. At the end, a long conclusion is provides an exploratory discussion of why Canada would have diverged early on. In structural terms, it is argued that the French colony was plagued by the problem of a small population which prohibited the existence of scale effects. In combination with the fact that it was dispersed throughout the territory, the small population of New France limited the scope for specialization and economies of scale. However, this problem was in part created, and in part aggravated, by institutional factors like seigneurial tenure. The colonial origins of French America’s divergence from the rest of North America are thus partly institutional

Etude de l'hygroexpansion du carton plat par une méthode de corrélation d'images obtenues par MEB environnemental et microtomographie aux rayons X = Analysis of paperboard hygroexpansion by digital correlation of images obtained by ESEM and X-ray microtomography

National audienceLe carton plat est un matériau stratifié. Ses couches ont une structure anisotrope et sont formées par des fibres de bois issues de pâtes à papier de différents types. Au cours de sa transformation et de son utilisation, le carton plat est soumis à des variations d'humidité relative de l'air ambiant. Celles-ci peuvent occasionner des problèmes de stabilité dimensionnelle telles que des pertes de planéité du carton et une décohésion de ses couches. Ce phénomène est anisotrope. Assez bien décrit dans le plan, mais assez peu selon l'épaisseur du carton, il est ici étudié au moyen d'outils classiques donnant accès à des coefficients d'hygroexpansion macroscopiques selon les directions d'anisotropie du carton. Une analyse, plus fine, par méthode de corrélation d'images, obtenues par MEB environnemental ou microtomographie aux rayons X au cours desquels l'humidité relative a été contrôlée, a permis de déterminer les champs de déformation hygroscopiques au travers de l'épaisseur du carton. Ceux-ci présentent de fortes hétérogénéités qui peuvent être reliées à une évolution spécifique de la porosité de certaines couches. Par ailleurs, il est possible de distinguer un comportement différent des couches selon la nature de leurs fibres, fonction des caractéristiques des pâtes chimiques ou mécaniques dont elles proviennent

Surface stress and strain fields on compressed panels of corrugated board boxes. An experimental analysis by using Digital Image Stereocorrelation.

International audienceThe complex behaviour of corrugated board packages under compression loading is investigated in this work. Original experimental data are obtained by using a Digital Image Stereocorrelation technique for measuring the displacement and strain fields of the panels' outer liner of the tested boxes. The stress field is also estimated by accounting for the anisotropic mechanical behaviour of the outer liner, its residual stress state induced by the processing of the corrugated board and the effects of box manufacturing operations and compression. Results show that these fields are extremely heterogeneous on the panels' surface. Most stressed areas are located along the panels' edges. The elastic limit of the outer liner is reached quite soon during compression. Box geometry and panel flaps are of primary importance on the observed phenomena. This approach delivers useful information to improve kinematic and constitutive assumptions for buckling and post-buckling models of boxes or thin-walled sandwich structures

Analysis of the strain and stress fields of cardboard box during compression by 3D digital image correlation.

International audienceCorrugated boards with small flutes appear as good alternatives to replace packaging folding boards or plastic materials due their small thickness, possibility of easy recycling and biodegradability. Boxes made up of these materials have to withstand significant compressive loading conditions during transport and storage. In order to evaluate their structural performance, the box compression test is the most currently performed experiment. It consists in compressing an empty container between two parallel plates at constant velocity. Usually it is observed that buckling phenomena are localized in the box panels, which bulge out during compression [1]. At the maximum recorded compression force, the deformation localises around the box corners where creases nucleate and propagate. This maximum force is defined as the quasi-static compression strength of the box. The prediction of such strength is the main topic of interest of past and current research works. For example, the box compression behaviour of boxes was studied by Mc Kee et al. [2] and Urbanik [3], who defined semi-empirical formula to predict the box compression strength, as well as by Beldie et al. [4] and Biancolini et al. [5] by finite element simulations. But comparisons of these models with experimental results remain rather scarce and limited

Analysis of the hygroexpansion of a lignocellulosic fibrous material by digital correlation of images obtained by X-ray synchrotron microtomography: application to a folding box board.

International audienceThis study provides original experimental data on the microstructural mechanisms of the hygroexpansion of a material made up of lignocellulosic fibres. A paperboard made up of several layers was chosen and subjected to relative humidity variations during X-ray microtomography scanning. The 3D images of the evolving media were analysed using a digital image correlation technique to measure the displacement field within the studied material. This technique allowed the hygroexpansion of the studied material and of each layer of this latter to be analysed in the in-plane and out-of-plane directions. Results show that the hygroexpansion is highly anisotropic. The microstructural hygroexpansive mechanisms for the pore and fibre phases could also be revealed. They have been shown to depend strongly on the fibre content of the fibrous layers. This analysis provides also useful information concerning the size of the Representative Elementary Volume (REV) for the hygroexpansion phenomenon of dense lignocellulosic fibrous networks. In view of the obtained results, the relevancy of common theoretical models used to predict the hygroexpansion of materials such as papers and boards is also discussed

Discussion - "L'espace rural dans l'Antiquité et le Haut Moyen Âge".: Des Hommes aux champs - Pour une archéologie des espaces ruraux dans le Nord de la France, du Néolithique au Moyen Âge.

Fonds audiovisuel du programme "ESCoM-AAR" (Equipe Sémiotique Cognitive et nouveaux Médias - Archives Audiovisuelles de la Recherche. Paris, France, 2000 - 2016).Objet d’étude complexe, à la croisée des disciplines, l’espace rural est défini par Georges Bertrand comme « le milieu naturel aménagé pour la production au sens large, animale ou végétale, par des groupes humains qui fondent sur lui la totalité, ou une partie, de leur vie économique et sociale ». Cette construction protéiforme se ma­nifeste notamment à travers les établissements ruraux et systèmes agro-paysagers au sujet desquels l’archéologie livre chaque jour de nouvelles données : fermes, chemins, parcellaires… Au cours de la dernière décennie, ces objets de recherche ont connu un large renouvellement imputable pour une bonne part aux fouilles conduites sur de grandes surfaces. Les dynamiques naturelles, sociales et territoriales ; les formes d’habitat et les modes de mise en valeur du sol ; l’interaction des sociétés et des milieux sont à présent au coeur d’une réflexion globale, positionnée sur la longue durée de l’histoire des terroirs et des systèmes agraires qui les sous-tendent, concernant tout autant les archéologues que les spécialistes des paysages et des paléoenvironnements

Discussion - "L'espace rural dans l'Antiquité et le Haut Moyen Âge".: Des Hommes aux champs - Pour une archéologie des espaces ruraux dans le Nord de la France, du Néolithique au Moyen Âge.

Fonds audiovisuel du programme "ESCoM-AAR" (Equipe Sémiotique Cognitive et nouveaux Médias - Archives Audiovisuelles de la Recherche. Paris, France, 2000 - 2016).Objet d’étude complexe, à la croisée des disciplines, l’espace rural est défini par Georges Bertrand comme « le milieu naturel aménagé pour la production au sens large, animale ou végétale, par des groupes humains qui fondent sur lui la totalité, ou une partie, de leur vie économique et sociale ». Cette construction protéiforme se ma­nifeste notamment à travers les établissements ruraux et systèmes agro-paysagers au sujet desquels l’archéologie livre chaque jour de nouvelles données : fermes, chemins, parcellaires… Au cours de la dernière décennie, ces objets de recherche ont connu un large renouvellement imputable pour une bonne part aux fouilles conduites sur de grandes surfaces. Les dynamiques naturelles, sociales et territoriales ; les formes d’habitat et les modes de mise en valeur du sol ; l’interaction des sociétés et des milieux sont à présent au coeur d’une réflexion globale, positionnée sur la longue durée de l’histoire des terroirs et des systèmes agraires qui les sous-tendent, concernant tout autant les archéologues que les spécialistes des paysages et des paléoenvironnements

Flaubert et Maupassant

FLAUBERT : « Plus tard, à cette heure où l’on regarde en soi et autour de soi, il a compris quelle était son originalité, il est devenu un grand romancier, un peintre implacable de la bêtise et de la vilénie humaines. Mais la dualité est restée en lui. Le lyrique n’est pas mort ; il est demeuré au contraire tout puissant, vivant côte à côte avec le romancier, réclamant parfois ses droits, assez sage cependant pour savoir parler à ses heures. C’est de cette double nature, de ce besoin d’ardente poésie et de froide observation qu’a jailli le talent original de Gustave Flaubert. Je le caractériserai en le définissant un poète qui a le sang-froid de voir juste. » (Zola) MAUPASSANT : « On le comprenait parce qu’il était la clarté, la simplicité, la mesure et la force. On l’aimait parce qu’il avait la bonté rieuse, la satire profonde, qui par un miracle n’est point méchante, la gaieté brave qui persiste quand même sous les larmes. Il était de la grande lignée que l’on peut suivre depuis les balbutiements de notre langue jusqu’à nos jours ; il avait pour aïeux Rabelais, Montaigne, Molière, La Fontaine, les forts et les clairs, ceux qui sont la raison et la lumière de notre littérature. Les lecteurs, les admirateurs ne s’y trompaient pas ; ils allaient d’instinct à cette source limpide et jaillissante, à cette belle humeur de la pensée et du style, qui contentait leur besoin. Et ils étaient reconnaissants à un écrivain même pessimiste de leur donner cette heureuse sensation d’équilibre et de vigueur dans la parfaite clarté des œuvres. » (Zola)FLAUBERT A MAUPASSANT — Avez-vous jamais cru à l’existence des choses ? Est-ce que tout n’est pas une illusion ? — Ce qui manque ce sont les principes. On a beau dire, il en faut ; reste à savoir lesquels. Pour un artiste il n’y en a qu’un : tout sacrifier à l’art. La vie doit être considérée par lui comme un moyen, rien de plus. — Prenez garde à la tristesse. C’est un vice. On prend plaisir à être chagrin et, quand le chagrin est passé, comme on y a usé des forces précieuses, on en reste abruti. Alors on a des regrets, mais il n’est plus temps. 15 août 1878 Il me tarde de vous dire que je considère Boule de suif comme un chef d’œuvre. Oui, jeune homme, ni plus, ni moins, cela est d’un maître. C’est bien original de conception, entièrement bien compris, et d’un excellent style. Le paysage et les personnages se voient, et la psychologie est forte. Bref je suis ravi. Deux ou trois fois j’ai ri tout haut... Ce petit conte restera, soyez en sûr. 1er février 188