L'état chinois en action

La Chine est en train de changer la politique mondiale. Comprendre les formes de son gouvernement relève d’une impérieuse nécessité. Le 4e plénum du comité central du Parti communiste chinois (PCC), réuni à Pékin fin octobre 2014, a consacré ses travaux à la promotion de l’État de droit. Le document issu de cette réunion indique qu’il s’agit « d’accélérer l’édification d’un système de gouvernance par la loi », en réponse aux dérives attestées de celui-ci : inégalités sociales, corruption, abus de pouvoir et dénis de justice. [Premières lignes

Interpretation of electron-proton scattering at low Q^2

Low-Q^2 photons do not resolve partons in the proton, which gives problems when applying the deep inelastic scattering formalism, such as an unphysical, negative gluon density extracted from data. Considering instead hadronic fluctuations of the photon, we show that the generalised vector meson dominance model (GVDM) gives a good description of the measured cross section at low Q^2, i.e. reproduces F_2(x,Q^2), using only few parameters with essentially known values. Combining GVDM and parton density functions makes it possible to obtain a good description of F_2 data over the whole range of x and Q^2.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures. Discussion extended, references added, figures updated with additional results. Accepted for publication in Physics Letters

Förändring av en kunskapsintensiv försäljningsenhet

Vår studie syftar till att undersöka hur kunskap överförs inom en försäljningsenhet, med avsikt att etablera en gemensam förståelse för hur kundvärde kan skapas. Vidare vill vi öka förståelsen för vilka nyckelfaktorer som påverkar potentialen till förändring för att uppnå önskad arbetsprocedur. Metod: Vi har valt att utföra en fördjupad fallstudie med ett abduktivt förhållningsätt gentemot teoretiska och empririska data. Insamlingen av vårt empiriska material har skett genom semistrukturerade intervjuer. Teoretiska perspektiv: Studiens teoretiska ansats utgörs av Sales Management, Knowledge Management samt Change Management. Utifrån dessa teoretiska perspektiv har ett teoretiskt ramverk skapats med fokus på de faktorer som vi anser vara av stor betydelse för att uppnå en önskad arbetsprocedur. Empirisk forskning: Vår studie grundar sig i studier kring SCA- Packaging och deras försäljningsenheter belägna i Malmö samt Värnamo. Slutsats: För att en säljenhet ska förändras finner vi att inställningen till ny kunskap och att individerna lär sig av varandra genom integration av olika kunskapsspecifika avdelningar är viktiga faktorer. Vidare är det av betydelse att företaget kommunicerar behovet till förändringen för att säljarna genom vilja att förändras blir motiverade till att vara delaktiga i förändringsprocessen. Om företaget består utav olika försäljningsavdelningar som besitter generell kunskap om produkten och försäljning är organisationens struktur avgörande för att motverka att intern konkurrens skapas

Dissection of the Bradyrhizobium japonicum NifA+σ54 regulon, and identification of a ferredoxin gene ( fdxN ) for symbiotic nitrogen fixation

Hierarchically organized regulatory proteins form a complex network for expression control of symbiotic and accessory genes in the nitrogen-fixing soybean symbiont Bradyrhizobium japonicum. A genome-wide survey of regulatory interactions was made possible with the design of a custom-made gene chip. Here, we report the first use of the microarray in a comprehensive and complete characterization of the B. japonicum NifA+σ54 regulon which forms an important node in the entire network. Comparative transcript profiles of anaerobically grown wild-type, nifA, and rpoN 1/2 mutant cells were complemented with a position-specific frequency matrix-based search for NifA- and σ54-binding sites plus a simple operon definition. One of the newly identified NifA+σ54-dependent genes, fdxN, encodes a ferredoxin required for efficient symbiotic nitrogen fixation, which makes it a candidate for being a direct electron donor to nitrogenase. The fdxN gene has an unconventional, albeit functional σ54 promoter with the dinucleotide GA instead of the consensus GC motif at position −12. A GC-containing mutant promoter and the atypical GA-containing promoter of the wild type were disparately activated. Expression analyses were also carried out with two other NifA+σ54 targets (ectC; ahpC). Incidentally, the tiling-like design of the microarray has helped to arrive at completely revised annotations of the ectC- and ahpC-upstream DNA regions, which are now compatible with promoter locations. Taken together, the approaches used here led to a substantial expansion of the NifA+σ54 regulon size, culminating in a total of 65 genes for nitrogen fixation and diverse other processe

Human antimicrobial peptide, LL-37, induces non-inheritable reduced susceptibility to vancomycin in <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i>

Abstract Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are central components of the innate immune system providing protection against pathogens. Yet, serum and tissue concentrations vary between individuals and with disease conditions. We demonstrate that the human AMP LL-37 lowers the susceptibility to vancomycin in the community-associated methicillin-resistant S. aureus (CA-MRSA) strain FPR3757 (USA300). Vancomycin is used to treat serious MRSA infections, but treatment failures occur despite MRSA strains being tested susceptible according to standard susceptibility methods. Exposure to physiologically relevant concentrations of LL-37 increased the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of S. aureus towards vancomycin by 75%, and resulted in shortened lag-phase and increased colony formation at sub-inhibitory concentrations of vancomycin. Computer simulations using a mathematical antibiotic treatment model indicated that a small increase in MIC might decrease the efficacy of vancomycin in clearing a S. aureus infection. This prediction was supported in a Galleria mellonella infection model, where exposure of S. aureus to LL-37 abolished the antimicrobial effect of vancomycin. Thus, physiological relevant concentrations of LL-37 reduce susceptibility to vancomycin, indicating that tissue and host specific variations in LL-37 concentrations may influence vancomycin susceptibility in vivo

Electroproduction Cross Section of Large_Et Hadrons at NLO and Virtual Photon Structure Function

We calculate Higher Order corrections to the resolved component of the electroproduction cross section of large-Et hadrons. The parton distributions in the virtual photon are studied in detail and a NLO parametrization of the latter is proposed. The contribution of the resolved component to the forward production of large-Et hadrons is calculated and its connection with the BFKL cross section is discussed.Comment: Latex, 32 pages with 6 figure

Reproductive Consequences of Population Divergence through Sexual Conflict

AbstractSexual-selection research increasingly focuses on reproductive conflicts between the sexes [1–4]. Sexual conflict, divergent evolutionary interests of males and females [5], can cause rapid antagonistic coevolution of reproductive traits [6] and is a potentially powerful speciation engine [7–11]. This idea has theoretical and comparative support [10–12] but remains controversial [13–14]. Recent experimental evidence from Sepsis cynipsea indicates that populations with greater sexual conflict diverged more quickly; females were less likely to mate with males from other populations when flies had evolved under high levels of sexual conflict [15]. The consequences of this divergence have not been addressed, so here we assess two female fitness surrogates after 44 generations of evolving (and diverging) under three different levels of sexual conflict. Longevity after copulation was negatively associated with the degree of sexual conflict under which flies evolved, and housing females with males also reduced female longevity. Female lifetime reproductive success (LRS) also tended to decrease with increasing conflict. However, there was evidence of either sexual-selection fitness benefits at intermediate levels of sexual selection and conflict or inbreeding depression in the smallest populations (those with the lowest levels of conflict). Nevertheless, the results indicate that there can be a fitness load associated with sexual selection [2] and support claims that sexual conflict can lead to reproductive isolation [7–11, 15]

Imported inputs and invoicing currency choice: theory and evidence from UK transaction data

A significant proportion of international trade is in intermediate goods. This paper considers theoretically and empirically how exporters' dependence on imported inputs affects their choice of invoicing currency. The model predicts that exporters that depend more on foreign currency-denominated inputs are less likely to price in their home currency. I test this and other theoretical results using a novel dataset that covers UK trade transactions with non-EU countries. I find considerable support for the model's predictions. A 10 percentage point higher share of foreign currency-denominated inputs is associated with a 20 percentage point higher probability of pricing in the same foreign currency relative to the producer's currency

Exotic leptoquarks from superstring derived models

The H1 and ZEUS collaborations have recently reported a significant excess of events at high $Q^2$ in positron-proton collisions. While there exists insufficient data to conclusively determine the origin of this excess, one possibility is that it is due to a new leptoquark at mass scale around 200 GeV. We examine the type of leptoquark states that exist in superstring derived standard-like models, and show that, while these models may contain the standard leptoquark states which exist in Grand Unified Theories, they also generically contain new and exotic leptoquark states with fractional lepton number, $\pm1/2$. In contrast to the traditional GUT-type leptoquark states, the couplings of the exotic leptoquarks to the Standard Model states are generated after the breaking of $U(1)_{B-L}$. This important feature of the exotic leptoquark states may result in local discrete symmetries which forbid some of the undesired leptoquark couplings. We examine these couplings in several models and study the phenomenological implications. The flavor symmetries of the superstring models are found to naturally suppress leptoquark flavor changing processes.Comment: 28 pages. Standard Latex. Final version to appear in Nuclear Physics B. Minor changes. References adde