A comprehensive analysis of the (R13xR13)R13.9{\deg} type II structure of silicene on Ag(111)

In this paper, using the same geometrical approach than for the (2R3x2R3) R30{\deg} structure (H. Jamgotchian et al., 2015, Journal of Physics. Condensed Matter 27 395002), for the (R13xR13)R13.9{\deg} type II structure, we propose an atomic model of the silicene layer based on a periodic relaxation of the strain epitaxy. This relaxation creates periodic arrangements of perfect areas of (R13xR13)R13.9{\deg} type II structure surrounded by defect areas. A detailed analysis of the main published experimental results, obtained by Scanning Tunneling Microscopy and by Low Energy Electron Diffraction, shows a good agreement with the geometrical model.Comment: 20 pages, 9 figure

An efficient implicit direct forcing immersed boundary method for incompressible flows

International audienceA novel efficient implicit direct forcing immersed boundary method for incompressible flows with complex boundaries is presented. In the previous work [1], the calculation is performed on the Cartesian grid regardless of the immersed object, with a fictitious force evaluated on the Lagrangian points to mimic the presence of the physical boundaries. However the explicit direct forcing method [1] fails to accurately impose the non-slip boundary condition on the immersed interface. In the present work, the calculation is based on the implicit treatment of the artificial force while in an effective way of system iteration. The accuracy is also improved by solving the Navier-Stokes equation with the rotational incremental pressure- correction projection method of Guermond and Shen [2]. Numerical simulations performed with the proposed method are in good agreement with those in the literature

L’accessibilité aérienne comme clé de compréhension de la dépendance économique au tourisme des espaces insulaires. Exemple des Maldives, des Seychelles, de l’île Maurice et de l’île de la Réunion

Très tôt, le tourisme est apparu comme la solution la plus pertinente pour instaurer une croissance dynamique et permettre le développement des petits espaces insulaires. Les études empiriques ont fait apparaître un lien positif significatif entre les recettes touristiques et la croissance du PIB pour les petites économies insulaires touristiques. De manière plus précise, « la stratégie touristique pourrait-elle être un facteur de développement durable pour les petites économies insulaires ?

Improving transferability of introduced species' distribution models: new tools to forecast the spread of a highly invasive seaweed

Extent: 13 p.The utility of species distribution models for applications in invasion and global change biology is critically dependent on their transferability between regions or points in time, respectively. We introduce two methods that aim to improve the transferability of presence-only models: density-based occurrence thinning and performance-based predictor selection. We evaluate the effect of these methods along with the impact of the choice of model complexity and geographic background on the transferability of a species distribution model between geographic regions. Our multifactorial experiment focuses on the notorious invasive seaweed Caulerpa cylindracea (previously Caulerpa racemosa var. cylindracea) and uses Maxent, a commonly used presence-only modeling technique. We show that model transferability is markedly improved by appropriate predictor selection, with occurrence thinning, model complexity and background choice having relatively minor effects. The data shows that, if available, occurrence records from the native and invaded regions should be combined as this leads to models with high predictive power while reducing the sensitivity to choices made in the modeling process. The inferred distribution model of Caulerpa cylindracea shows the potential for this species to further spread along the coasts of Western Europe, western Africa and the south coast of Australia.Heroen Verbruggen, Lennert Tyberghein, Gareth S. Belton, Frederic Mineur, Alexander Jueterbock, Galice Hoarau, C. Frederico D. Gurgel, Olivier De Clerc

Proteomic and transcriptomic patterns during lipid remodeling in nannochloropsis gaditana

Nutrient limited conditions are common in natural phytoplankton communities and are often used to increase the yield of lipids from industrial microalgae cultivations. Here we studied the effects of bioavailable nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) deprivation on the proteome and transcriptome of the oleaginous marine microalga Nannochloropsis gaditana. Turbidostat cultures were used to selectively apply either N or P deprivation, controlling for variables including the light intensity. Global (cell-wide) changes in the proteome were measured using Tandem Mass Tag (TMT) and LC-MS/MS, whilst gene transcript expression of the same samples was quantified by Illumina RNA-sequencing. We detected 3423 proteins, where 1543 and 113 proteins showed significant changes in abundance in N and P treatments, respectively. The analysis includes the global correlation between proteomic and transcriptomic data, the regulation of subcellular proteomes in different compartments, gene/protein functional groups, and metabolic pathways. The results show that triacylglycerol (TAG) accumulation under nitrogen deprivation was associated with substantial downregulation of protein synthesis and photosynthetic activity. Oil accumulation was also accompanied by a diverse set of responses including the upregulation of diacylglycerol acyltransferase (DGAT), lipase, and lipid body associated proteins. Deprivation of phosphorus had comparatively fewer, weaker effects, some of which were linked to the remodeling of respiratory metabolism.acceptedVersio

Microfabrication technology for large LEKID arrays : from NIKA2 to future applications

The Lumped Element Kinetic Inductance Detectors (LEKID)demonstrated full maturity in the NIKA (New IRAM KID Arrays)instrument. These results allow directly comparing LEKID performance with other competing technologies (TES, doped silicon) in the mm and sub-mm range. A continuing effort is ongoing to improve the microfabrication technologies and concepts in order to satisfy the requirements of new instruments. More precisely, future satellites dedicated to CMB (Cosmic Microwave Background) studies will require the same focal plane technology to cover, at least, the frequency range of 60 to 600 GHz. Aluminium LEKID developed for NIKA have so far demonstrated, under real telescope conditions, performance approaching photon-noise limitation in the band 120-300 GHz. By implementing superconducting bi-layers we recently demonstrated LEKID arrays working in the range 80-120 GHz and with sensitivities approaching the goals for CMB missions. NIKA itself (350 pixels) is followed by a more ambitious project requiring several thousands (3000-5000) pixels. NIKA2 has been installed in October 2015 at the IRAM 30-m telescope. We will describe in detail the technological improvements that allowed a relatively harmless 10-fold up-scaling in pixels count without degrading the initial sensitivity. In particular we will briefly describe a solution to simplify the difficult fabrication step linked to the slot-line propagation mode in coplanar waveguide

A human coronavirus responsible for the common cold massively kills dendritic cells but not monocytes

Copyright @ 2012, American Society for Microbiology.Human coronaviruses are associated with upper respiratory tract infections that occasionally spread to the lungs and other organs. Although airway epithelial cells represent an important target for infection, the respiratory epithelium is also composed of an elaborate network of dendritic cells (DCs) that are essential sentinels of the immune system, sensing pathogens and presenting foreign antigens to T lymphocytes. In this report, we show that in vitro infection by human coronavirus 229E (HCoV-229E) induces massive cytopathic effects in DCs, including the formation of large syncytia and cell death within only few hours. In contrast, monocytes are much more resistant to infection and cytopathic effects despite similar expression levels of CD13, the membrane receptor for HCoV-229E. While the differentiation of monocytes into DCs in the presence of granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor and interleukin-4 requires 5 days, only 24 h are sufficient for these cytokines to sensitize monocytes to cell death and cytopathic effects when infected by HCoV-229E. Cell death induced by HCoV-229E is independent of TRAIL, FasL, tumor necrosis factor alpha, and caspase activity, indicating that viral replication is directly responsible for the observed cytopathic effects. The consequence of DC death at the early stage of HCoV-229E infection may have an impact on the early control of viral dissemination and on the establishment of long-lasting immune memory, since people can be reinfected multiple times by HCoV-229E

Supernatant from Bifidobacterium Differentially Modulates Transduction Signaling Pathways for Biological Functions of Human Dendritic Cells

International audienceBACKGROUND:Probiotic bacteria have been shown to modulate immune responses and could have therapeutic effects in allergic and inflammatory disorders. However, the signaling pathways engaged by probiotics are poorly understood. We have previously reported that a fermentation product from Bifidobacterium breve C50 (BbC50sn) could induce maturation, high IL-10 production and prolonged survival of DCs via a TLR2 pathway. We therefore studied the roles of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK), glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK3) and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) pathways on biological functions of human monocyte-derived DCs treated with BbC50sn.METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:DCs were differentiated from human monocytes with IL-4 and GM-CSF for 5 days and cultured with BbC50sn, lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or Zymosan, with or without specific inhibitors of p38MAPK (SB203580), ERK (PD98059), PI3K (LY294002) and GSK3 (SB216763). We found that 1) the PI3K pathway was positively involved in the prolonged DC survival induced by BbC50sn, LPS and Zymosan in contrast to p38MAPK and GSK3 which negatively regulated DC survival; 2) p38MAPK and PI3K were positively involved in DC maturation, in contrast to ERK and GSK3 which negatively regulated DC maturation; 3) ERK and PI3K were positively involved in DC-IL-10 production, in contrast to GSK3 that was positively involved in DC-IL-12 production whereas p38MAPK was positively involved in both; 4) BbC50sn induced a PI3K/Akt phosphorylation similar to Zymosan and a p38MAPK phosphorylation similar to LPS.CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE:We report for the first time that a fermentation product of a bifidobacteria can differentially activate MAPK, GSK3 and PI3K in order to modulate DC biological functions. These results give new insights on the fine-tuned balance between the maintenance of normal mucosal homeostasis to commensal and probiotic bacteria and the specific inflammatory immune responses to pathogen bacteria

Dispersal similarly shapes both population genetics and community patterns in the marine realm.

Dispersal plays a key role to connect populations and, if limited, is one of the main processes to maintain and generate regional biodiversity. According to neutral theories of molecular evolution and biodiversity, dispersal limitation of propagules and population stochasticity are integral to shaping both genetic and community structure. We conducted a parallel analysis of biological connectivity at genetic and community levels in marine groups with different dispersal traits. We compiled large data sets of population genetic structure (98 benthic macroinvertebrate and 35 planktonic species) and biogeographic data (2193 benthic macroinvertebrate and 734 planktonic species). We estimated dispersal distances from population genetic data (i.e., FST vs. geographic distance) and from β-diversity at the community level. Dispersal distances ranked the biological groups in the same order at both genetic and community levels, as predicted by organism dispersal ability and seascape connectivity: macrozoobenthic species without dispersing larvae, followed by macrozoobenthic species with dispersing larvae and plankton (phyto- and zooplankton). This ranking order is associated with constraints to the movement of macrozoobenthos within the seabed compared with the pelagic habitat. We showed that dispersal limitation similarly determines the connectivity degree of communities and populations, supporting the predictions of neutral theories in marine biodiversity patterns.RADIALES (IEO)Versión del edito