The Coffee Microarray Project: a new tool to discover candidate genes correlated to quality traits

Coffee is a product of mass consumption, with worldwide consumption estimated at 2.2 billion cups per day. The annual turnover generated is approximately 25 billion Euros and so coffee is the third biggest source of international trade, after oil and cereals. Coffee trees have not, however, resulted in any significant seedling industry involvement, which is in sharp contrast with their economic importance. However, biotechnology tools used for improving other species with economic impact are gradually adapted to coffee trees and used for guiding and improving coffee trees performances. Over the past few years, Coffee research programs also include Functional Genomics studies for the discovery of the genes and biosynthesis pathways involved in characteristics of agricultural, industrial or qualitative interest. The Coffee Microarray Project is based on scientific collaboration between NESLTE and CIRAD/IRD granted by ANR (National Research Agency) via GENOPLANTE. PUCE CAFE project has two main objectives 1) Create the first Coffee 16 K oligo microarray and 2) validate and use this new tool to analyze gene expression patterns during coffee grain maturation in Coffea arabica and Coffea canephora (robusta). (Texte intégral

Turcs, Kurdes et Chypriotes devant la Cour européenne des droits de l'homme : une contestation judiciaire de questions politiques

Cet article examine la juridicisation de deux questions politiques internationales, à savoir la question des droits de l'homme en Turquie (incluant la question kurde) et la question chypriote. La Turquie, membre du Conseil de l'Europe et signataire de la Convention européenne des droits de l'homme, a reconnu en 1987 le droit de recours individuel devant la Cour européenne des droits de l'homme et, en 1990, la juridiction obligatoire de la Cour. Depuis, nous assistons à une croissance exponentielle du nombre de requêtes individuelles introduites devant la Cour contre la Turquie émanant de citoyens turcs, d'origine kurde pour nombre d'entre eux, et de Chypriotes grecs. Elles concernent les violations massives des droits de l'homme en Turquie (particulièrement en raison de la répression du séparatisme kurde) et la politique chypriote de la Turquie qui occupe ce qu'elle reconnaît comme la « République turque de Chypre-nord » dont l'accès est interdit aux Chypriotes grecs. La Turquie se trouve ainsi confrontée à la constitution d'un « espace international des droits de l'homme » dans lequel les individus parviennent à se faire entendre et à mettre en difficulté certains États qui, à l'instar de la Turquie, avaient repoussé jusque-là toute pression extérieure comme attentatoire à leur souveraineté. Les condamnations et le paiement de dommages et intérêts à des individus ordonnés par une instance supranationale remettent en cause les politiques de la Turquie et, dans le cas Loizidou, la contraindrait, si elle acceptait de payer, ce qu'elle n'a toujours pas fait, à dénier toute souveraineté à la « RTCN » et à endosser l'entière responsabilité de la situation actuelle à Chypre. Alors que le débat fait rage sur une éventuelle adhésion de la Turquie à l'Union européenne, les requêtes devant la CEDH donnent au problème une nouvelle dimension et montrent que les citoyens turcs et chypriotes expérimentent déjà leurs droits de citoyens européens.This paper considers the juridicization of two political problems, the human rights question in Turkey (including the Kurdish problem) and the Cyprus problem. Turkey, as a member of the Council of Europe and signatory of the European Convention on Human Rights, recognized in 1987 the individual right of application to the European Court of Human Rights and, in 1990, the binding jurisdiction of the Court. Since that, we observe an exponential growth of the number of applications v. Turkey introduced to the Court by Turkish citizens, some of Kurdish origin, andGreek Cypriots. They concern massive violations of human rights in Turkey (particularly because of the repression against Kurdish separatism) and Turkey's Cypriot policy, i. e. the occupation and recognition of the so-called « Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus » which access is denied to Greek Cypriots. Turkey is face to face with the constitution of an « international human rights area » in which the individuals succeed to make them selves heard and to make difficulties to states who, as Turkey, have refused all external pressures as a challenge to their sovereignty. The condemnations and payments of compensations and damages to individuals sentenced by a supranational institution are summoning the policies of Turkey and, in the Loizidou case, would force it, if it accepts to pay, that it has not done, to deny sovereignty to the « TRNC » and to accept the entire responsability of the current situation in Cyprus. At the time when the debate on Turkey's candidacy to the European Union is blazing, the applications to the ECHR give to the problem a new dimension and show that Turkish and Cypriot citizens are already using their European citizens' rights

TKDetection: a software to detect and segment wood knots

TKDetection is a software proposing to segment the wood knots obtained from X-Ray Computed Tomography (CT) scanners. It implements algorithms combining tools of image analysis and discrete geometry, like connected component extraction, contour extraction or dominant point detection. TKDetection is the first free and open source software for the automatic knot segmentation. It is available on Github platform

Impact of N availability on heterotrophic microbial dynamic during decomposition of miscanthus x giganteus leaves in a soil. : S11.04-P -7

Carbon and N cycles are intimately associated during the residue decomposition process in soils. The overall N availability (residue + soil N) controls the rate of residue decomposition under N limiting conditions. Therefore studies have demonstrated low N availability reduced C mineralization rate on short term by reducing opportunist microbial biomass growth. However the effect of N availability on C mineralization and microbial biomass growth and composition on longer term, are still poorly understood. In the context of biofuel perennial plant production with Miscanthus, in which N amendments are limited, we investigated the effects of N availability on C and N dynamics, microbial dynamics and enzymatic functions on the short and long terms. Miscanthus leaves were incubated in an agricultural soil for > 500 days at two levels of soil N availability by adding inorganic N or not. C and N mineralization, microbial biomass C, ergosterol, xylanase and laccase activities and 18S-rRNA and 16S-rRNA were determined at several dates during the experiment. Results showed that a high N availability increased the rate of residue C mineralized in the short term (< 1 year) together with an increase in microbial C, fungal ergosterol, and enzymatic activities related to C degradation (xylanase). However, the high N availability suppressed laccase activity while it has no significant effect on 18S- and 16S r-RNA microbial communities. On longer term (> 1 year), high N availability slightly decreased C mineralization compared to low N treatment demonstrating the antagonist effect of N on residue decomposition. (Texte intégral

Twinning system selection in a metastable β-titanium alloy by Schmid factor analysis

International audienceElectron backscattering diffraction and Schmid factor analysis were used to study the twinning variant selection in a Ti-25Ta-24Nb (mass%) metastable β-titanium alloy. The two twinning systems {1 1 2}〈1 1 1〉 and {3 3 2}〈1 1 3〉 were observed. For each system the Schmid factor was shown to be a relevant parameter to determine the activated variant. Moreover, selection between the two twinning systems depends on the crystallographic orientation of the grain with respect to the tensile direction

Demandes et ressources de travail, stress, engagement et intention de quitter : comparaison entre les travailleurs âgés et les jeunes travailleurs

En Belgique, le taux d’emploi des travailleurs âgés est un des plus faibles de toute l’Europe. Cela constitue un problème tant au niveau économique que social (Griffiths, 1997 ; Kilbom, 1999). Cette nouvelle problématique est le point de départ de recherches visant à identifier ce qui pousse les travailleurs à quitter précocement le lieu de travail. Se basant sur le modèle ‘Job Demands Resources (JDR) Model’ (e.g. Demerouti, Bakker, Nachreiner & Schaufeli, 2001; Schaufeli & Bakker, 2004), une étude a été conduite afin d’identifier les raisons de départ (Griffeth, Hom & Gaertner, 2000). Il s’agit également d’étudier le rôle du stress et de l’engagement dans l’explication de ces retraits précoces. Le but est de comparer un modèle d’explication du turnover pour trois classes d’âges ; les jeunes travailleurs, les travailleurs d’âge moyen et les travailleurs âgés. Un questionnaire a été développé afin d’identifier les raisons de départ des travailleurs. Quatre facteurs de départ sont considérés dans cette dimension trans-générationnelle. Deux d’entre eux concernent les ressources de travail, soit le manque de ressources, le manque de développement personnel, et les deux autres concernent les demandes du travail, soit la pression et les changements organisationnels. Une mesure du stress, de l’engagement et de l’intention de quitter a aussi été inclue. Au total, 11 entreprises belges ont participé à cette enquête, ce qui correspond à 1772 questionnaires. Les résultats montrent que le manque de développement personnel et les changements expliquent directement l’intention de quitter pour les jeunes et les travailleurs d’âge moyen. Par contre, le manque de ressources explique directement l’intention de quitter pour les travailleurs âgés. Le stress et l’engagement jouent un rôle important dans l’explication de l’intention de quitter pour les trois groupes d’âges. La pression et le manque de ressources expliquent le stress. Le manque de ressources, le manque de développement personnel et la pression ont un impact sur l’engagement. Les changements organisationnels n’expliquent pas le stress. Pour les travailleurs âgés, le manque de ressources n’affecte pas l’engagement. En conclusion, le manque de développement personnel et les changements organisationnels ont plus d’impact au début de la carrière et le manque de ressources est un problème qui concerne davantage les travailleurs âgés. L’état psychologique et l’évaluation des conditions de travail sont très importants pour toutes les classes d’âge dans la décision du retrait.Peer reviewe

Foam Drainage Control Using Thermocapillary Stress in a Two-Dimensional Microchamber

International audienceWe investigate the drainage of a 2D microfoam in a vertical Hele-Shaw cell, and show that the Marangoni stress at the air-water interface generated by a constant temperature gradient applied in situ can be tuned to control the drainage. The temperature gradient is applied in such a way that thermocapillarity and gravity have an antagonist e ect. We characterize the drainage over time by measuring the liquid volume fraction in the cell and find that thermocapillarity can overcome the e ect of gravity, e ectively draining the foam towards the top of the cell, or exactly compensate it, maintaining the liquid fraction at its initial value over at least 60 s. We quantify these results by solving the mass balance in the cell, and provide insight on the interplay between gravity, thermocapillarity and capillary pressure governing the drainage dynamics

Molecular characterization of Salmonella Enteritidis : comparison of an optimized multi-locus variable-number of tandem repeat analysis (MLVA) and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis

Salmonella Enteritidis (SE) is a genetically homogenous serovar, which makes optimal subtype discrimination crucial for epidemiological research. This study describes the development and evaluation of an optimized multiple-locus variable number tandem-repeat assay (MLVA) for characterization of SE. The typeability and discriminatory power of this MLVA was determined on a selected collection of 60 SE isolates and compared with pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) using restriction enzymes XbaI, NotI, or SfiI. In addition, the estimated Wallace coefficient (W) was calculated to assess the congruence of the typing methods. Selection of epidemiologically unrelated isolates and more related isolates (originating from layer farms) was also based on the given phage type (PT). When targeting six loci, MLVA generated 16 profiles, while PFGE produced 10, 9, and 16 pulsotypes using XbaI, NotI, and SfiI, respectively, for the entire strain collection. For the epidemiologically unrelated isolates, MLVA had the highest discriminatory power and showed good discrimination between isolates from different layer farms and among isolates from the same layer farm. MLVA performed together with PT showed higher discriminatory power compared to PFGE using one restriction enzyme together with PT. Results showed that combining PT with the optimized MLVA presented here provides a rapid typing tool with good discriminatory power for characterizing SE isolates of various origins and isolates originating from the same layer farm

Weighted-covariance factor fuzzy C-means clustering

In this paper, we propose a factor weighted fuzzy c-means clustering algorithm. Based on the inverse of a covariance factor, which assesses the collinearity between the centers and samples, this factor takes also into account the compactness of the samples within clusters. The proposed clustering algorithm allows to classify spherical and non-spherical structural clusters, contrary to classical fuzzy c-means algorithm that is only adapted for spherical structural clusters. Compared with other algorithms designed for non-spherical structural clusters, such as Gustafson-Kessel, Gath-Geva or adaptive Mahalanobis distance-based fuzzy c-means clustering algorithms, the proposed algorithm gives better numerical results on artificial and real well known data sets. Moreover, this algorithm can be used for high dimensional data, contrary to other algorithms that require the computation of determinants of large matrices. Application on Mid-Infrared spectra acquired on maize root and aerial parts of Miscanthus for the classification of vegetal biomass shows that this algorithm can successfully be applied on high dimensional data