Study of pollution at sea

There are no author-identified significant results in this report

First ERTS-1 results in southeastern France: Geology, sedimentology, pollution at sea

Results obtained by four ERTS projects in southeastern France are summarized. With regard to geology, ERTS photos of Western Alps are very useful for tectonic interpretation because large features are clearly visible on these photographs even though they are often hidden by small complicated structures if studied on large scale documents. The 18-day repetition coverage was not obtained, and time-varying sedimentological surveys were impossible. Nevertheless, it was possible to delineate the variations of the shorelines in the Rhone Delta for a period covering the least 8,000 years. Some instances of industries discharging pollutant products at sea were detected, as well as very large anomalies of unknown origin. Some examples of coherent optical processing have been made in order to bring out tectonic features in the Alps mountains

L'arbre fontaine

Dans certaines régions montagneuses régulièrement ventées, soumises à un climat océanique comme au Chili, en Afrique du Sud ou au Cap-Vert, une mer de brouillard règne en quasi permanence. Ces conditions météorologiques très singulières permettent à la végétation de prospérer malgré de faibles pluies. Arbres et arbustes captent l'eau des brouillards et des bruines, donnant naissance à de véritables forêts dites nébuleuses. Ces fontaines végétales sont exploitées par l'homme depuis la nuit des temps pour récupérer de l'eau potable et développer une vie agricole. Véritable don des dieux, l'arbre fontaine a parfois été élevé au rang d'arbre sacré comme dans l'île de Hierro aux Canaries, point de départ de la recherche des auteurs de cet article. (Résumé d'auteur

A spinal organ of proprioception for integrated motor action feedback

Proprioception is essential for behavior and provides a sense of our body movements in physical space. Proprioceptor organs are thought to be only in the periphery. Whether the central nervous system can intrinsically sense its own movement remains unclear. Here we identify a segmental organ of proprioception in the adult zebrafish spinal cord, which is embedded by intraspinal mechanosensory neurons expressing Piezo2 channels. These cells are late-born, inhibitory, commissural neurons with unique molecular and physiological profiles reflecting a dual sensory and motor function. The central proprioceptive organ locally detects lateral body movements during locomotion and provides direct inhibitory feedback onto rhythm-generating interneurons responsible for the central motor program. This dynamically aligns central pattern generation with movement outcome for efficient locomotion. Our results demonstrate that a central proprioceptive organ monitors self-movement using hybrid neurons that merge sensory and motor entities into a unified network

Radioactive Phosphorylation of Alcohols to Monitor Biocatalytic Diels-Alder Reactions

Nature has efficiently adopted phosphorylation for numerous biological key processes, spanning from cell signaling to energy storage and transmission. For the bioorganic chemist the number of possible ways to attach a single phosphate for radioactive labeling is surprisingly small. Here we describe a very simple and fast one-pot synthesis to phosphorylate an alcohol with phosphoric acid using trichloroacetonitrile as activating agent. Using this procedure, we efficiently attached the radioactive phosphorus isotope 32P to an anthracene diene, which is a substrate for the Diels-Alderase ribozyme—an RNA sequence that catalyzes the eponymous reaction. We used the 32P-substrate for the measurement of RNA-catalyzed reaction kinetics of several dye-labeled ribozyme variants for which precise optical activity determination (UV/vis, fluorescence) failed due to interference of the attached dyes. The reaction kinetics were analyzed by thin-layer chromatographic separation of the 32P-labeled reaction components and densitometric analysis of the substrate and product radioactivities, thereby allowing iterative optimization of the dye positions for future single-molecule studies. The phosphorylation strategy with trichloroacetonitrile may be applicable for labeling numerous other compounds that contain alcoholic hydroxyl groups

European stakeholders’ visions and needs for stormwater in future urban drainage systems

Transitioning urban drainage systems to serve water-smart societies requires the involvement of different disciplines and stakeholders. However, stakeholders have different visions and needs from the transitioning process (e.g in terms of financing, policy adaptation and system management) these also vary between regions and countries. Identifying such different needs for stakeholders is necessary to propose practical adaptation strategies. Therefore, evidence of needs as reflected in policy papers and legislation in seven European countries was collected. Knowledgeable individuals in the urban drainage community were asked about their visions. Results show that whilst there is consensus on the challenges, visions on how to transition are diverse, indicating that more interaction between the different stakeholder groups is required to develop consensus. Additionally, organisational and legislative structures often slow down the necessary change processes

Natural parenting : back to basics in infant care

Peer reviewe

Spot products and anticipated data distribution system results obtained from simulated data

Pages: 371-38

La substitution capital travail dans les dépenses militaires

International audienceThe choice between labour and capital arises for military expenditures necessary for national security. Economic constraints play a major role, because the military sector is highly technological and aims for the highest performance for its equipment, which has become very expensive. Should conscription be maintained? Is a highly capital-intensive defence function preferable? The countries that spend the most in military terms have higher per capita spending than other types of defence and the army is traditionally more "labour intensive".Le choix entre le travail et le capital se pose pour les dépenses militaires nécessaires à la sécurité nationale. Les contraintes économiques interviennent fortement, car le secteur militaire est hautement technologique et qu'il vise les plus hautes performances pour ses matériels devenus alors fort onéreux. Faut-il maintenir une conscription ? Peut-on préférer une fonction de défense fortement intensive en capital ? Les pays les plus dépensiers en termes militaires ont des dépenses par personne supérieures aux autres types de défense et l'armée de terre est traditionnellement plus « travail intensive »