29 research outputs found
Effects of chilling on the expression of ethylene biosynthetic genes in Passe-Crassane pear (Pyrus communis L.) fruits
Passe-Crassane pears require a 3-month chilling treatment at 0 C to be able to produce ethylene and ripen
autonomously after subsequent rewarming. The chilling treatment strongly stimulated ACC oxidase activity, and
to a lesser extent ACC synthase activity. At the same time, the levels of mRNAs hybridizing to ACC synthase and
ACC oxidase probes increased dramatically. Fruit stored at 18 C immediately after harvest did not exhibit any
of these changes, while fruit that had been previously chilled exhibited a burst of ethylene production associated
with high activity of ACC oxidase and ACC synthase upon rewarming. ACC oxidase mRNA strongly accumulated
in rewarmed fruits, while ACC synthase mRNA level decreased. The chilling-induced accumulation of ACC
synthase and ACC oxidase transcripts was strongly reduced when ethylene action was blocked during chilling with
1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP). Upon rewarming ACC synthase and ACC oxidase transcripts rapidly disappeared
in 1-MCP-treated fruits. A five-week treatment of non-chilled fruits with the ethylene analog propylene led to
increased expression of ACC oxidase and to ripening. However, ethylene synthesis, ACC synthase activity and
ACC synthasemRNAs remained at very lowlevel. Our data indicate thatACC synthase gene expression is regulated
by ethylene only during, or after chilling treatment, while ACC oxidase gene expression can be induced separately
by either chilling or ethylene
UV photodesorption of methanol in pure and CO-rich ices: desorption rates of the intact molecule and of the photofragments
Wavelength dependent photodesorption rates have been determined using
synchrotron radiation, for condensed pure and mixed methanol ice in the 7 -- 14
eV range. The VUV photodesorption of intact methanol molecules from pure
methanol ices is found to be of the order of 10 molecules/photon, that
is two orders of magnitude below what is generally used in astrochemical
models. This rate gets even lower ( 10 molecules/photon) when the
methanol is mixed with CO molecules in the ices. This is consistent with a
picture in which photodissociation and recombination processes are at the
origin of intact methanol desorption from pure CHOH ices. Such low rates
are explained by the fact that the overall photodesorption process is dominated
by the desorption of the photofragments CO, CH, OH, HCO and
CHO/CHOH, whose photodesorption rates are given in this study. Our
results suggest that the role of the photodesorption as a mechanism to explain
the observed gas phase abundances of methanol in cold media is probably
overestimated. Nevertheless, the photodesorption of radicals from methanol-rich
ices may stand at the origin of the gas phase presence of radicals such as
CHO, therefore opening new gas phase chemical routes for the formation of
complex molecules.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figures, 1 tabl
Indirect ultraviolet photodesorption from CO:N2 binary ices - an efficient grain-gas process
UV ice photodesorption is an important non-thermal desorption pathway in many
interstellar environments that has been invoked to explain observations of cold
molecules in disks, clouds and cloud cores. Systematic laboratory studies of
the photodesorption rates, between 7 and 14 eV, from CO:N2 binary ices, have
been performed at the DESIRS vacuum UV beamline of the synchrotron facility
SOLEIL. The photodesorption spectral analysis demonstrates that the
photodesorption process is indirect, i.e. the desorption is induced by a photon
absorption in sub-surface molecular layers, while only surface molecules are
actually desorbing. The photodesorption spectra of CO and N2 in binary ices
therefore depend on the absorption spectra of the dominant species in the
subsurface ice layer, which implies that the photodesorption efficiency and
energy dependence are dramatically different for mixed and layered ices
compared to pure ices. In particular, a thin (1-2 ML) N2 ice layer on top of CO
will effectively quench CO photodesorption, while enhancing N2 photodesorption
by a factors of a few (compared to the pure ices) when the ice is exposed to a
typical dark cloud UV field, which may help to explain the different
distributions of CO and N2H+ in molecular cloud cores. This indirect
photodesorption mechanism may also explain observations of small amounts of
complex organics in cold interstellar environments.Comment: 21 pages 5 figure
Gate-Controlled Skyrmion Chirality
Magnetic skyrmions are localized chiral spin textures, which offer great
promise to store and process information at the nanoscale. In the presence of
asymmetric exchange interactions, their chirality, which governs their
dynamics, is generally considered as an intrinsic parameter set during the
sample deposition. In this work, we experimentally demonstrate that this key
parameter can be controlled by a gate voltage. We observed that the
current-induced skyrmion motion can be reversed by the application of a gate
voltage. This local and dynamical reversal of the skyrmion chirality is due to
a sign inversion of the interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction that we
attribute to ionic migration of oxygen under gate voltage. Micromagnetic
simulations show that the chirality reversal is a continuous transformation, in
which the skyrmion is conserved. This gate-controlled chirality provides a
local and dynamical degree of freedom, yielding new functionalities to
skyrmion-based logic devices.Comment: 4 figure
Indirect Ultraviolet Photodesorption from CO:N2 Binary Ices — An Efficient Grain-Gas Process
Ultraviolet (UV) ice photodesorption is an important non-thermal desorption pathway in many interstellar environments that has been invoked to explain observations of cold molecules in disks, clouds, and cloud cores. Systematic laboratory studies of the photodesorption rates, between 7 and 14 eV, from CO:N2 binary ices, have been performed at the DESIRS vacuum UV beamline of the synchrotron facility SOLEIL. The photodesorption spectral analysis demonstrates that the photodesorption process is indirect, i.e., the desorption is induced by a photon absorption in sub-surface molecular layers, while only surface molecules are actually desorbing. The photodesorption spectra of CO and N2 in binary ices therefore depend on the absorption spectra of the dominant species in the sub-surface ice layer, which implies that the photodesorption efficiency and energy dependence are dramatically different for mixed and layered ices compared with pure ices. In particular, a thin (1-2 ML) N2 ice layer on top of CO will effectively quench CO photodesorption, while enhancing N2 photodesorption by a factor of a few (compared with the pure ices) when the ice is exposed to a typical dark cloud UV field, which may help to explain the different distributions of CO and N2H+ in molecular cloud cores. This indirect photodesorption mechanism may also explain observations of small amounts of complex organics in cold interstellar environments.Astronom
Gestion et traduction : Un mariage de raison
This informative article entitled "Management and Translation : A Marriage of Convenience" describes how, in the day to day operations of the Translation Bureau as well as its future-oriented activities, management and translation have, over the years, formed an indissociable bond. Five fields - contracting services, terminology and documentation, recruitment and training, office automation and computer translation - are examined in some depth. Those wishing to obtain an English version of this article or more information should contact the author at the Planning, Management and Technology Branch, Translation Bureau, Secretary of State Department, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A OM5
Forms of territorial embeddedness in dairy value chains Case of the Chartreuse massif (French Alps): geographical and historical perspectives
The ending of milk quotas marks a breach in the mode of milk supply management. Farmers and actors of territorial development are concerned about the future of dairy farming since we can observe a loss of autonomy and sovereignty in front of agro-industries. In this context a group of dairy farmers in the Chartreuse massif (French Northern Alps) wished to conduct a reflection on their future. It consisted in better understanding the territorial embeddedness of dairy value chains, compared with what could be done elsewhere (geographical perspective), and what has been done in the history of the area (historical perspective). We used a same reading grid based on six criteria relative to the geographic embeddedness of the value chains, the ability of the producers to specify their resources, and to organize themselves and be autonomous. Of the 18 initiatives analyzed concerning dairy products, we identified four types of territorial embeddedness. The history of Chartreuse shows different trajectories of loss and gain of autonomy for the dairy producers and a loss of collective. We discuss the cross-reading of these geographical and historical perspectives and their meanings in terms of territorial embeddedness and for the Chartreuse producers
Vacuum UV photodesorption of organics in the interstellar medium: an experimental study of formic acid HCOOH and methyl formate HCOOCH 3 -containing ices
International audienceBeing a potential process that could explain gas phase abundances of so-called Complex Organic Molecules (COMs) in the cold interstellar medium (ISM), the UV photon-induced desorption from organics-containing molecular ices has been experimentally studied. In this work, we focused on theobservation of the photodesorbed products and the measurement of the associated photodesorption yields from pure and mixed molecular ices, each containing organic molecules whose detection has been achieved in the gas phase of the cold ISM, namely formic acid HCOOH and methyl formateHCOOCH3. Each molecule, in pure ice or in ice mixed with CO or water, was irradiated at 15 K with monochromatic vacuum UV photons in the 7-14 eV range using synchrotron radiation from the SOLEIL synchrotron facility, DESIRS beamline. Photodesorption yields of the intact molecules and of the photoproducts were derived as a function of the incident photon energy. Experiments have revealed that the desorbing species match the photodissociation pattern of each isolated molecule, with little influence of the kind of ice (pure or mixed in CO or H2O-rich environment). For bothspecies, the photodesorption of the intact organics is found negligible in our experimental conditions, resulting in yields typically below 10E-5 ejected molecules per incident photon. The results obtained on HCOOH and HCOOCH3-containing ices are similar to what has already been found for methanol-containing ices, but contrast with the case of another complex molecule, CH3CN, photodesorption of which has been recently studied. Such experimental results may be linked to the observation of COMs in protoplanetary disks, in which CH3CN is commonly observed whereas HCOOH or methanol are detected only in some sources, HCOOCH3 not being detected at all
Photodesorption of Acetonitrile CH3CN in UV-irradiated Regions of the Interstellar Medium: Experimental Evidence
International audiencePure acetonitrile (CH 3 CN) and mixed CO:CH 3 CN and H 2 O:CH 3 CN ices have been irradiated at 15 K with vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) photons in the 7-13.6 eV range using synchrotron radiation. VUV photodesorption yields of CH 3 CN and of photoproducts have been derived as a function of the incident photon energy. The coadsorption of CH 3 CN with CO and H 2 O molecules, which are expected to be among the main constituents of interstellar ices, is found to have no significant influence on the VUV photodesorption spectra of CH 3 CN, CHCN•, HCN, CN•, and CH 3 •. Contrary to what has generally been evidenced for most of the condensed molecules, these findings point toward a desorption process for which the CH 3 CN molecule that absorbs the VUV photon is the one desorbing. It can be ejected in the gas phase as intact CH 3 CN or in the form of its photodissociation fragments. Astrophysical VUV photodesorption yields, applicable to different locations, are derived and can be incorporated into astrochemical modeling. They vary from 0.67(± 0.33) × 10 −5 to 2.0(± 1.0) × 10 −5 molecule photon −1 for CH 3 CN depending on the region considered, which is high compared to other organic molecules such as methanol. These results could explain the multiple detections of gas-phase CH 3 CN in different regions of the interstellar medium and are well correlated to astrophysical observations of the Horsehead nebula and of protoplanetary disks (such as TW Hya and HD 163296). Unified Astronomy Thesaurus concepts: Astrochemistry (75); Interstellar dust processes (838); Interstellar molecules (849); Interstellar medium (847); Dense interstellar clouds (371