The BSW Impact Picture 30 Years After

Thirty years ago Bourrely-Soffer-Wu (BSW) investigated an impact picture description of $p-p$ and $\bar p -p$ elastic scattering with success. For this anniversary, a short review of the main features of this picture will be presented with its evolution over the years. The future experiments at the LHC collider will provide decisive tests for the impact picture at high energy.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, Contribution to Diffraction 2008, International Workshop on Diffraction in High Energy Physics, La Londe-les-Maures, September 9-14 200

Les nécessaires mutations du Contrôle de Gestion au travers du Management coût-qualité-délai : Vers le Pilotage des Performances ?

Résumé :Le Contrôle de Gestion, en tant que système d’évaluation et de calcul descoûts, fait face à des nécessaires mutations afin de s’adapter aux exigences desstructures interactives de réseaux d’entreprises. Cette communications’intéressera aux facteurs facilitant et/ou freinant cette mutation du Contrôle deGestion. Pour ce faire, nous prendrons le cas du Supply Chain Managementcomme cadre de ces évolutions du Contrôle de Gestion. Puis, nous tenteronsd’analyser la pertinence du passage du Contrôle de Gestion vers le Pilotage desPerformances, en posant la question de leur divergence et de leurcomplémentarité. Cette question portera notamment sur les impacts en matièrede comportements des acteurs ainsi que sur les outils utilisés.Mots clés : Contrôle de Gestion, Supply Chain Management, Pilotage desPerformances, Leviers d’actions, Tableaux de Bord.The necessary changes of The Management Control System through themanagement of cost-quality-delay : towards the Performance ManagementSystem.Abstract:The Management control, as system of evaluation and calculation of thecosts, faced necessary transformations to adapt itself to the requirements of theinteractive structures of networks of companies. This communication will beinterested in factors facilitating and/or slowing down this transformation of theManagement control. To do it, we shall take the case of the Supply ChainManagement as frame of these evolutions of the Management control. Then, weshall try to analyze the relevance of the passage from the Management controlsystem towards the Performance Management System, by raising the question of their difference and their complementarity. This question will concern inparticular the impacts regarding behavior of the actors as well as the used tools.Key words: Management Control System, Supply Chain Management,Performance Management System, Key Drivers, Dashboard

Pilotage des performances logistiques au moyen du Lean management : vers une répartition équitable de la valeur entre les différentes parties prenantes d’une Supply Chain.

:Dans un environnement fluctuant et sans cesse élargi, l’adoption d’unedémarche supply chain management, permet aux organisations de mieux piloterle triptyque coût-délai-qualité en gérant les flux, tant en amont qu’en aval, et avec les différents acteurs impliqués dans la chaîne. Lean management, tableau de bord inter-organisationnel, gestion comptable partagée, systèmes d’information inter-organisationnels…sont tous des outils et des modes de pilotage développés pour répondre aux exigences inter-organisationnelles des chaînes logistiques multi-acteurs et grâce au développement des stratégies logistiques collectives. A cet effet, l’objet de notre communication est à la fois de mettre en exergue les nouvelles pratiques d’améliorations continues au sein des Supply Chains, en vue de mieux piloter leurs activités, et d’identifier les conditions de succès de ces pratiques, notamment au moyen de l’émergence des systèmes de contrôle de gestion inter-organisationnels. Cela ouvrira la voie au développement de stratégies collaboratives au sein de ces Supply Chains fondées sur un meilleur partage de la valeur ajoutée entre les différents partenaires, ce que l’on peut dénommer sous le terme de « valeur partenariale ».Mots clés : Supply chain management, Lean management, système decontrôle de gestion inter-organisationnel.Abstract :In a fluctuating environment and continually expanded, adopting supplychain management approach, allows organizations to pilot better the triptychcost-time-quality by managing flows, both upstream than downstream, and withdifferent actors involved to the chain. Lean management, inter-organizationaldashboar, shared accounting, inter-organizational information systems... are alldeveloped tools and piloting methods for meeting the inter-organizational needsof a supply chain and through the development of collective logistics strategies.Therefore, the purpose of our communication is simultaneously to emphasize the new practices of continuous improvement within Supply Chains in order to pilot better their activities, and identify the circumstances of success to these practices especially on using the arrival development of inter-organizational management control systems. That will open the way for the development of collaborative strategies in these Supply Chains based on a better division of added value between the partners, and what we can named as « stakeholder value ».Key words: Supply chain management, Lean management, interorganizationalmanagement control system

Platelet function studies in myeloproliferative neoplasms patients with Calreticulin or JAK2V617F mutation

Background: JAK2V617F and Calreticulin (CALR) mutations are the most frequent molecular causes of Phi-negative myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN). Patients with CALR mutations are at lower risk of thrombosis than patients with JAK2V617F. We hypothesized that CALR-mutated blood platelets would have platelet function defects that might explain why these patients are at lower risk of thrombosis. Objectives: Our main objective was to explore and compare platelet function depending on the MPN molecular marker. Methods: We analyzed platelet function in 16 patients with MPN with CALR mutations and 17 patients with JAK2V617F mutation and compared them with healthy controls. None of these patients was taking antiplatelet therapy. We performed an extensive analysis of platelet function and measured plasmatic soluble P-selectin and CD40L levels. Results: We observed significant defects in platelet aggregation, surface glycoprotein expression, fibrinogen binding, and granule content in platelets from patients with MPN compared with that in controls. Moreover, soluble CD40L and P-selectin levels were elevated in patients with MPN compared with that in controls, suggesting an in vivo platelet preactivation. Comparison of platelet function between patients with CALR and JAK2V617F MPN revealed only minor differences in platelets from patients with CALR. However, these results need to be interpreted within the context of absence of an inflammatory environment that could impact platelet function during MPN. Conclusions: These results do not support the hypothesis that calreticulin-mutated platelets have platelet function defects that could explain the lower thrombotic risk of patients with CALR

First description of an IgM monoclonal antibody causing αIIb β3 integrin activation and acquired Glanzmann thrombasthenia associated with macrothrombocytopenia

BACKGROUND: Acquired Glanzmann thrombasthenia (GT) is a bleeding disorder generally caused by anti-αIIb β3 autoantibodies. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to characterize the molecular mechanism leading to a progressive GT-like phenotype in a patient with chronic immune thrombocytopenia. PATIENT, METHODS AND RESULTS: The patient suffered from repeated episodes of gastrointestinal bleedings and further studies indicated a moderate platelet aggregation defect. Few months later, platelet function showed abolished aggregation using all agonists, but normal agglutination with ristocetin. No platelet-bound antibodies were detected, but the presence of large amounts of an IgM type antibody detected together with αIIb β3 in the patient's permeabilized platelets suggested that this IgM was an autoantibody causing the internalization of the complex. This was confirmed by the fact that the patient's IgM bound to normal platelets but not to platelets from GT type I patients. Moreover, patient's plasma activated αIIb β3 on controls' platelets as evidenced by increased PAC-1 binding. We also demonstrated that the patient's plasma triggered αIIb β3 outside-in signaling, as β3 Tyr773 and FAK were phosphorylated, and increased the rate of actin polymerization in resting platelets reflecting an impairment of cytoskeletal reorganization. As different signs of dysmegakariopoiesis were also observed in our patient, we evaluated the ability of its serum to impair proplatelets formation and showed that it significantly decreased the number of proplatelet-bearing megakaryocytes in controls' bone marrow stem cells culture as compared to normal serum. CONCLUSIONS: We present the case of a patient with a progressive and severely perturbed platelet function associated with the presence of an IgM activating autoantibody directed against αIIb β3 . This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

A multi-model analysis of vertical ozone profiles

A multi-model study of the long-range transport of ozone and its precursors from major anthropogenic source regions was coordinated by the Task Force on Hemispheric Transport of Air Pollution (TF HTAP) under the Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (LRTAP). Vertical profiles of ozone at 12-h intervals from 2001 are available from twelve of the models contributing to this study and are compared here with observed profiles from ozonesondes. The contributions from each major source region are analysed for selected sondes, and this analysis is supplemented by retroplume calculations using the FLEXPART Lagrangian particle dispersion model to provide insight into the origin of ozone transport events and the cause of differences between the models and observations. In the boundary layer ozone levels are in general strongly affected by regional sources and sinks. With a considerably longer lifetime in the free troposphere, ozone here is to a much larger extent affected by processes on a larger scale such as intercontinental transport and exchange with the stratosphere. Such individual events are difficult to trace over several days or weeks of transport. This may explain why statistical relationships between models and ozonesonde measurements are far less satisfactory than shown in previous studies for surface measurements at all seasons. The lowest bias between model-calculated ozone profiles and the ozonesonde measurements is seen in the winter and autumn months. Following the increase in photochemical activity in the spring and summer months, the spread in model results increases, and the agreement between ozonesonde measurements and the individual models deteriorates further. At selected sites calculated contributions to ozone levels in the free troposphere from intercontinental transport are shown. Intercontinental transport is identified based on differences in model calculations with unperturbed emissions and emissions reduced by 20% by region. Intercontinental transport of ozone is finally determined based on differences in model ensemble calculations. With emissions perturbed by 20% per region, calculated intercontinental contributions to ozone in the free troposphere range from less than 1 ppb to 3 ppb, with small contributions in winter. The results are corroborated by the retroplume calculations. At several locations the seasonal contributions to ozone in the free troposphere from intercontinental transport differ from what was shown earlier at the surface using the same dataset. The large spread in model results points to a need of further evaluation of the chemical and physical processes in order to improve the credibility of global model results

Subgroup II PAK-mediated phosphorylation regulates Ran activity during mitosis

Phosphorylation of the Ran GTPase on Serine-135 by PAK4 changes Ran’s association with its regulatory proteins and its ability to induce microtubule asters

Sensory Experience Differentially Modulates the mRNA Expression of the Polysialyltransferases ST8SiaII and ST8SiaIV in Postnatal Mouse Visual Cortex

Polysialic acid (PSA) is a unique carbohydrate composed of a linear homopolymer of α-2,8 linked sialic acid, and is mainly attached to the fifth immunoglobulin-like domain of the neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM) in vertebrate neural system. In the brain, PSA is exclusively synthesized by the two polysialyltransferases ST8SiaII (also known as STX) and ST8SiaIV (also known as PST). By modulating adhesive property of NCAM, PSA plays a critical role in several neural development processes such as cell migration, neurite outgrowth, axon pathfinding, synaptogenesis and activity-dependent plasticity. The expression of PSA is temporally and spatially regulated during neural development and a tight regulation of PSA expression is essential to its biological function. In mouse visual cortex, PSA is downregulated following eye opening and its decrease allows the maturation of GABAergic synapses and the opening of the critical period for ocular dominance plasticity. Relatively little is known about how PSA levels are regulated by sensory experience and neuronal activity. Here, we demonstrate that while both ST8SiaII and ST8SiaIV mRNA levels decrease around the time of eye opening in mouse visual cortex, only ST8SiaII mRNA level reduction is regulated by sensory experience. Using an organotypic culture system from mouse visual cortex, we further show that ST8SiaII gene expression is regulated by spiking activity and NMDA-mediated excitation. Further, we show that both ST8SiaII and ST8SiaIV mRNA levels are positively regulated by PKC-mediated signaling. Therefore, sensory experience-dependent ST8SiaII gene expression regulates PSA levels in postnatal visual cortex, thus acting as molecular link between visual activity and PSA expression

Low loss coatings for the VIRGO large mirrors

présentée par L. PinardThe goal of the VIRGO program is to build a giant Michelson type interferometer (3 kilometer long arms) to detect gravitational waves. Large optical components (350 mm in diameter), having extremely low loss at 1064 nm, are needed. Today, the Ion beam Sputtering is the only deposition technique able to produce optical components with such performances. Consequently, a large ion beam sputtering deposition system was built to coat large optics up to 700 mm in diameter. The performances of this coater are described in term of layer uniformity on large scale and optical losses (absorption and scattering characterization). The VIRGO interferometer needs six main mirrors. The first set was ready in June 2002 and its installation is in progress on the VIRGO site (Italy). The optical performances of this first set are discussed. The requirements at 1064 nm are all satisfied. Indeed, the absorption level is close to 1 ppm (part per million), the scattering is lower than 5 ppm and the R.M.S. wavefront of these optics is lower than 8 nm on 150 mm in diameter. Finally, some solutions are proposed to further improve these performances, especially the absorption level (lower than 0.1 ppm) and the mechanical quality factor Q of the mirrors (thermal noise reduction)