Les négociations

Le projet d’ordonnance portant réforme du droit des contrats entend consacrer la première sous-section, composant la section sur « La conclusion du contrat », aux négociations. Si cet ajout au Code civil est pertinent au regard de la pratique contractuelle et de la jurisprudence, des modifications pourraient toutefois améliorer la cohérence d’ensemble de cette partie

La responsabilité civile du détenteur contractuel de la chose d'autrui en droit privé français

Etudier la responsabilité civile du détenteur contractuel de la chose d\u27autrui consiste à préciser son fondement et son régime. Or, une telle démarche se heurte à des obstacles majeurs. D\u27une part tout détenteur est tenu, en tant que débiteur d\u27un corps certain, de deux obligations : conserver et restituer. D\u27autre part, le détenteur est soumis à des régimes variés de responsabilité : responsabilité pour faute, pour faute présumée, sans faute. Confrontée à la dualité d\u27obligations du détenteur, nous avons tranché la difficulté en démontrant que si l\u27obligation de restitution est le fondement de la responsabilité en cas de retard et de refus injustifié de restituer, seule l\u27obligation de conservation doit servir de fondement à la responsabilité en cas de détérioration comme de perte de la chose. Confrontée à la diversité du droit positif, nous avons tout d\u27abord été obligée de constater qu\u27elle ne concerne que la responsabilité pour défaut de conservation, la responsabilité pour défaut de restitution pouvant être identiquement engagée de plein droit, quel que soit le contrat ayant conféré la détention. Ensuite, nous avons pris conscience que seule une classification des contrats selon leur finalité économique confère cohérence aux différents régimes de responsabilité pour défaut de conservation. Il s\u27agit alors d\u27accorder son attention à l\u27objet du contrat entendu comme l\u27opération économique recherchée par les parties et de distinguer entre les contrats conférant la détention dans le but d\u27utiliser la chose d\u27autrui et ceux conférant la détention dans le but d\u27organiser une prestation de service sur la chose d\u27autrui. Un tel regroupement des contrats spéciaux par familles permet d\u27expliquer le régime de responsabilité grâce aux particularités propres à chaque catégorie et de substituer à la qualification contractuelle une méthode de détermination du régime de responsabilité dans les contrats complexes ou innomés.

Variability and short-term determinants of walking capacity in patients with intermittent claudication

OBJECTIVE: Global positioning system (GPS) recordings can provide valid information on walking capacity in patients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD) and intermittent claudication (IC) during community-based outdoor walking. This study used GPS to determine the variability of the free-living walking distance between two stops (WDBS), induced by lower-limb pain, which may exist within a single stroll in PAD patients with IC and the potential associated parameters obtained from GPS analysis.METHODS: This cross-sectional study of 57 PAD patients with IC was conducted in a university hospital. The intervention was a 1-hour free-living walking in a flat public park with GPS recording at 0.5 Hz. GPS-computed parameters for each patient were WDBS, previous stop duration (PSD), cumulated time from the beginning of the stroll, and average walking speed for each walking bout. The coefficient of variation of each parameter was calculated for patients with the number of walking bouts (N(WB)) >or=5 during their stroll. A multivariate analysis was performed to correlate WDBS with the other parameters. RESULTS: Mean (SD) maximal individual WDBS was 1905 (1189) vs 550 (621) meters for patients with N(WB) <5 vs N(WB) >or= 5, respectively (P < .001). In the 36 patients with N(WB) >or= 5, the coefficient of variation for individual WDBS was 43%. Only PSD and cumulated time were statistically associated with WDBS in 16 and 5 patients, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: A wide short-term variability of WDBS exists and likely contributes to the difficulties experienced by patients with IC to estimate their maximal walking distance at leisurely pace. Incomplete recovery from a preceding walk, as estimated through PSD, seems to dominantly account for the WDBS in patients with IC

Economic factors influencing zoonotic disease dynamics: demand for poultry meat and seasonal transmission of avian influenza in Vietnam

While climate is often presented as a key factor influencing the seasonality of diseases, the importance of anthropogenic factors is less commonly evaluated. Using a combination of methods-wavelet analysis, economic analysis, statistical and disease transmission modelling-we aimed to explore the influence of climatic and economic factors on the seasonality of H5N1 Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in the domestic poultry population of Vietnam. We found that while climatic variables are associated with seasonal variation in the incidence of avian influenza outbreaks in the North of the country, this is not the case in the Centre and the South. In contrast, temporal patterns of H5N1 incidence are similar across these 3 regions: periods of high H5N1 incidence coincide with Lunar New Year festival, occurring in January-February, in the 3 climatic regions for 5 out of the 8 study years. Yet, daily poultry meat consumption drastically increases during Lunar New Year festival throughout the country. To meet this rise in demand, poultry production and trade are expected to peak around the festival period, promoting viral spread, which we demonstrated using a stochastic disease transmission model. This study illustrates the way in which economic factors may influence the dynamics of livestock pathogens

L’effectivité du droit français de la consommation

Le droit français de la consommation présente de nombreux avantages qui tiennent tant < son contenu normatif qu’à sa mise en oeuvre concrète, contribuant ainsi à son effectivité. Or, force est de constater que s’il existe de nombreux facteurs d’effectivité, le dispositif français révèle également quelques faiblesses que la France vise à réduire par différentes initiatives

Secretion of Clostridium difficile Toxins A and B Requires the Holin-like Protein TcdE

The pathogenesis of Clostridium difficile, the major cause of antibiotic-associated diarrhea, is mainly associated with the production and activities of two major toxins. In many bacteria, toxins are released into the extracellular environment via the general secretion pathways. C. difficile toxins A and B have no export signature and their secretion is not explainable by cell lysis, suggesting that they might be secreted by an unusual mechanism. The TcdE protein encoded within the C. difficile pathogenicity locus (PaLoc) has predicted structural features similar to those of bacteriophage holin proteins. During many types of phage infection, host lysis is driven by an endolysin that crosses the cytoplasmic membrane through a pore formed by holin oligomerization. We demonstrated that TcdE has a holin-like activity by functionally complementing a λ phage deprived of its holin. Similar to λ holin, TcdE expressed in Escherichia coli and C. difficile formed oligomers in the cytoplamic membrane. A C. difficile tcdE mutant strain grew at the same rate as the wild-type strain, but accumulated a dramatically reduced amount of toxin proteins in the medium. However, the complemented tcdE mutant released the toxins efficiently. There was no difference in the abundance of tcdA and tcdB transcripts or of several cytoplasmic proteins in the mutant and the wild-type strains. In addition, TcdE did not overtly affect membrane integrity of C. difficile in the presence of TcdA/TcdB. Thus, TcdE acts as a holin-like protein to facilitate the release of C. difficile toxins to the extracellular environment, but, unlike the phage holins, does not cause the non-specific release of cytosolic contents. TcdE appears to be the first example of a bacterial protein that releases toxins into the environment by a phage-like system

Horseplay, care and hands on hard work: gendered strategies of a project manager on a construction site

The discourse of managerial expertise favours rational analysis and masculine ideals but contemporary management literature also recognises the value of well-being and employee voice in the workplace. Drawing upon narrative analysis of interview data, we share unique insights into the lived experiences of Laura, one female project manager who recently managed a construction site in the Midlands in the UK. In contrast to previous research which indicates that female managers tend to conform to quite a traditional set of gender behaviours, Laura embraces a range of workplace appropriate gendered strategies, such as hard work and horseplay, together with sensitivity and caring. She draws from this mix of gendered strategies in negotiating between two different discourses of construction; one professional and one tough and practical. Her behaviour both reproduces the masculine ideals (through horseplay and heroic management) and opens up possibilities for modernising construction management (by caring). It is this combination of strategies that is at the heart of tacit expertise for Laura. Theoretically, the discussion adds to the development of a more nuanced understanding of management expertise as situated and person specific knowledge that draws on both the explicit and tacit. Specifically, the centrality of gendered strategies beyond the masculine ideals to success on site is highlighted

A Bayesian approach to quantifying the effects of mass poultry vaccination upon the spatial and temporal dynamics of H5N1 in Northern Vietnam.

Published versio