Competition policy, regulation and the institutional design of industry supervision

We study the welfare impact of enforcing a competitive behavior from an unregulated fringe competing with a regulated dominant operator with imperfectly differentiated goods. The fringe is potentially collusive but may be supervised by a competition authority. We show that the complementarity/substitutability between regulation and competition policy strongly depends on the nature of the market interaction. Forcing the fringe to adopt a competitive behavior always benefits consumers. However, it also affects the amount of subsidy that must be provided to the regulated firm for cost-reimbursement purposes, which has a social cost when public funds are costly. With complements, antitrust intervention is always welfare-improving. It is also preferable with weak substitutes but is detrimental to welfare for strong substitutes.Regulation, Competition policy

New insights on Cu origin and fate from combined chemical extraction and ᵟ⁶⁵Cu isotopic composition: Application to Cu transfers in a Mediterranean vineyard catchment

Repeated use of Cu based fungicides (Bordeaux mixture: Ca(OH)2+CuSO4) to control vine downy hasled to signi!cant increase of Cu in vineyard soils. In Mediterranean catchments, brief and intense flood events can multiply stream discharge by up to 10 and are responsible for important soil leaching and therefore for high "uxes of Cu exported at the outlet of the catchment. In order to assess the origin and fate of Cu measured in the Baillaury catchment (South of France, combined sequential extraction (SCE) and isotopic Cu compositions (δ65Cu) approaches are proposed in this study

Origin and fate of copper in a small Mediterranean vineyard catchment: New insights from combined chemical extraction and δ65Cu isotopic composition

For centuries, many Mediterranean catchments were covered with vineyards in which copper was widely applied to protect grapevines against fungus. In the Mediterranean-type flow regime, brief and intense flood events increase the stream water discharge by up to 10 times and cause soil leaching and storm runoff. Because vineyards are primarily cultivated on steep slopes, high Cu fluxes are discharged by surface water runoff into the rivers. The purpose of this work was to investigate the riverine behavior and transport of anthropogenic Cu by coupling a sequential chemical extraction (SCE) procedure, used to determine Cu partitioning between residual and non-residual fractions, with δ65Cu isotopic measurements in each fraction. In the Baillaury catchment, France, we sampled soils (cultivated and abandoned), river bed sediments (BS), suspended particulate matter (SPM), and river water during the flash flood event of February 2009. Copper partitioning using SCE show that most of Cu in abandoned vineyard soil was in the residual phase (>60%) whereas in cultivated soil, BS and SPM, Cu was mostly (>25%) in non-residual fractions, mainly adsorbed onto iron oxide fractions. A small fraction of Cu was associated with organic matter (5 to 10%). Calculated enrichment factors (EF) are higher than 2 and the anthropogenic contribution was estimated between 50 to 85%. Values for δ65Cu in bulk samples were similar to bedrock therefore; δ65Cu on SCE fractions of superficial soils and SPM allowed for discrimination between Cu origin and distribution. Copper in residual fractions was of natural mineral origin (δ65Cu close to local bedrock, +0.07‰). Copper in water soluble fraction of SPM (δ65Cu = +0.26‰) was similar to dissolved river Cu (δ65Cu = +0.31‰). Copper from fungicide treatment (δ65Cu = −0.35‰) was bound to organic matter (δ65Cu = −0.20‰) without or with slight isotopic fractioning. A preferential adsorption of 65Cu onto iron oxides (δ65Cu = +0.5‰) is shown

Les enduits de terre crue de deux fosses antiques

Une fouille réalisée à Prades (Pyrénées-Orientales) a mis au jour deux fosses antiques (ier siècle de notre ère) de forme quadrangulaire. Elles sont enduites d’un épais revêtement de terre crue. Des analyses physiques, chimiques et minéralogiques ont permis de déterminer la nature et les proportions des éléments présents dans le limon naturel ainsi que dans les enduits de revêtement des fosses. Ces analyses sont complétées par une recherche de phytolithes qui nous renseigne sur la présence de graminées et de taxons ligneux. La fonction initiale de ces creusements pourrait être la conservation de végétaux, peut-être du fourrage.Excavations undertaken at Prades (Pyrénées-Orientales) have revealed two quadrangular pits dated to the first century AD. They were lined with a thick layer of clay. Physical, chemical and mineralogical analyses have enabled us to identify the types and proportions of the elements present in the natural clay-silt and in the lining of the pits. In addition, an examination of the phytoliths indicates that grasses (gramineae) and ligneous taxa (tree species) were present. The pita may have originally been used to store vegetable matter, perhaps fodder.Una excavación llevada a cabo en Prades (departamento de Pirineos Orientales) dejó al descubierto dos fosas antiguas de forma cuadrangular del siglo I de nuestra era, mamposteadas con un espeso revestimiento de barro. Análisis físicos, químicos y mineralógicos han permitido determinar la naturaleza y las proporciones de los elementos presentes en el lodo natural, así como de las argamasas de revestimiento de las fosas. La búsqueda de fitolitos, que determina la presencia de gramíneas y de taxones leñosos, ha permitido completar los análisis. La función inicial de estas cavaduras puede haber sido la conservación de vegetales, presumiblemente de forraje

Transcriptional Profiling Shows Altered Expression of Wnt Pathway– and Lipid Metabolism–Related Genes as Well as Melanogenesis-Related Genes in Melasma

Melasma is a commonly acquired hyperpigmentary disorder of the face, but its pathogenesis is poorly understood and its treatment remains challenging. We conducted a comparative histological study on lesional and perilesional normal skin to clarify the histological nature of melasma. Significantly, higher amounts of melanin and of melanogenesis-associated proteins were observed in the epidermis of lesional skin, and the mRNA level of tyrosinase-related protein 1 was higher in lesional skin, indicating regulation at the mRNA level. However, melanocyte numbers were comparable between lesional and perilesional skin. A transcriptomic study was undertaken to identify genes involved in the pathology of melasma. A total of 279 genes were found to be differentially expressed in lesional and perilesional skin. As was expected, the mRNA levels of a number of known melanogenesis-associated genes, such as tyrosinase, were found to be elevated in lesional skin. Bioinformatics analysis revealed that the most lipid metabolism-associated genes were downregulated in lesional skin, and this finding was supported by an impaired barrier function in melasma. Interestingly, a subset of Wnt signaling modulators, including Wnt inhibitory factor 1, secreted frizzled-related protein 2, and Wnt5a, were also found to be upregulated in lesional skin. Immunohistochemistry confirmed the higher expression of these factors in melasma lesions