Variation in the structure and function of invertebrate-associated bacterial communities

Microorganisms are intricately involved in the ecology of many insects, often contributing to host fitness and forming evolutionarily stable associations. The interactions between hosts and microbes can significantly alter their evolutionary trajectories, enabling them to adapt to novel environmental conditions. In this thesis I have examined how host ecology can shape the interactions of bacteria with insects of agricultural and epidemiological importance. I have described the bacterial communities associated with Bactrocera oleae (the olive fruit fly) and generated draft genome sequences for several members of the gut microbiota, including the symbiotic bacterium “Candidatus Erwinia dacicola”. Comparative genomic analyses indicate that Ca. E. dacicola and a novel facultative bacterium Tatumella TA1 may perform key nutritional functions for the host, including the synthesis of essential amino acids and ammonia assimilation from host nitrogenous waste products. Tatumella TA1 is consistently associated with all life stages of populations collected in Israel and Crete at low relative abundance, and encodes large adhesion proteins that may assist in attachment to the host epithelium or other members of the microbiota in the B. oleae gut. I have also examined the variation in frequency and relative abundance of facultative microbes that infect several Glossina spp. (the tsetse fly): the sole vector of African trypanosomes in Sub-Saharan Africa. In addition to three vertically transmitted endosymbionts (Wigglesworthia, Sodalis, and Wolbachia), tsetse flies are infected with two additional potential reproductive manipulators: Spiroplasma and Rickettsia, and a novel strain of Klebsiella. The draft genomes generated for these taxa over the course of this thesis provide the opportunity for future studies in to their role in host biology and how community interactions can shape the transmission and evolutionary dynamics of host-associated microbes

Wnt Signaling Is Required for Early Development of Zebrafish Swimbladder

10.1371/journal.pone.0018431PLoS ONE63

Development of smooth muscle in zebrafish

Bibliography: p. 144-173Some pages are in colour.A copy of the thesis on CD-Rom is included

Taking into Account Motives in Comparative Contract Law : France, Serbia and the United Kingdom

Le comportement de tout être humain sain d’esprit s’explique par une multitude de raisons. Outre la science psychologique, le droit, y compris le droit des contrats, s’intéresse à ces raisons, appelés motifs. Cet intérêt résulte du fait que le comportement des contractants n’est pas abstrait ; il révèle toujours l’existence de divers motifs. Or, le droit objectif ne peut accorder une importance juridique à tous les motifs des parties, étant donné que les motifs représentent une catégorie psychologique et que leur prise en compte illimitée mettrait en péril la sécurité juridique. La présente thèse de doctorat a pour but de proposer une analyse critique de la prise en compte des motifs des parties à partir d’une comparaison des droits français, serbe et anglaisThe behaviour of every individual of sound mind is explained by a variety of reasons. Besides psychological science, Law, including contract law, is interested by those reasons, called motives. This interest results from the fact that the behaviour of contracting parties is not abstract; it always reveals the existence of a variety of motives. However, the legal rules of a given domestic system cannot attribute an importance to all motives of parties. This is so because motives represent a psychological category and taking into account in an unlimited way those motives would imperil security in law. This present doctoral thesis aims at proposing a critical analysis of the taking into account of parties’ motives through a comparative study of French, Serbian and English law

La réparation des préjudices par ricochet du concubin en droit mauricien

International audienceCompensation of unmarried partner as indirect victim for the detriment suffered is one of rare points that separate the civil case law of the Supreme Court of Mauritius and the civil case law of the French “Cour de cassation”. On one hand, the legal basis put forward by our Supreme Court in order to justify the refusal to compensate unmarried partner as indirect victim for the detriment suffered is not convincing, as far as unmarried partner is not married to a third party. In this case, it seems reasonable to compensate such unmarried partner for the detriment suffered when the other dies in an accident. On the other hand, the compensation of unmarried partner should be refused, in principle, when the surviving partner is married to a third person. It is only in very exceptional circumstances that the unmarried partner married to a third person will be compensated for his detriment.La réparation du préjudice par ricochet des concubins est l’une des quelques questions juridiques qui opposent la jurisprudence civile de la Cour suprême de Maurice à celle de la Cour de cassation française. D’une part, les fondements avancés par notre Cour suprême pour refuser la réparation de ce type de préjudice, à propos des concubinages simples, ne nous semblent pas convaincants. Il nous paraît donc judicieux d’accorder, dans cette hypothèse, la réparation du préjudice par ricochet, moral et matériel, que pourrait subir l’un des concubins en cas de décès de l’autre. D’autre part, la réparation du préjudice par ricochet des concubins devrait, a priori, être refusée pour ce qui est des concubins adultérins, et ce n’est que très exceptionnellement qu’une telle réparation peut être envisagé

L’entrepreneuriat, le développement durable et la responsabilité délictuelle – droit mauricien

Georgijevic Goran. L’entrepreneuriat, le développement durable et la responsabilité délictuelle – droit mauricien. In: Revue Juridique de l'Environnement, n°3, 2013. pp. 433-447

Civil Law Aspects of the Mauritian Children's Bill of 2019

The Mauritian Children’s Bill of 2019 addresses many issues pertaining to child protection, such as best interest of a child, prohibition of discrimination of children, marriage of children, ill-treatment of children, surrogacy and sale of children and child prostitution. However, we may observe that the Bill regulates mainly the criminal law aspects as well as the administrative measures aiming at protecting children. The Bill does not contain the rules on Civil law aspects of the issues addressed in the Bill. In this article, we will analyse those Civil law aspects