Bio-Optical Environmental Assessments of Marginal Seas - Progress Report2

Algal blooms in the Mediterranean Sea have been studied by means of SeaWiFS derived (1998-2003) data on chlorophyll-like pigment concentration. Statistics of blooming anomalies, as well as comparisons with analogous data collected in situ, were used to address the relationship between local and regional phytoplankton dynamics, in both the (mesotrophic, sometimes eutrophic) western basin and the (oligotrophic) eastern basin. Intense (coastal) blooming appeared to be linked to local factors, and only occasionally affected by mesoscale features such as eddies or meanders, suggesting that the forcing functions of local (harmful) algal blooms and regional blooms are different, or overlap only marginally.JRC.H.5-Rural, water and ecosystem resource

La consultation des 50 ans : Prévention et promotion de la santé en entreprise

[Table des matières] I. Objectifs de l'étude. II. Méthodes. III. Résultats. 1. Description de l'état de santé des participants. 2. Tabagisme. 3. Alimentation. 4. Exercice physique et sport. 5. Alcool - médicaments. 6. Situation de vie - dépression. 7. Autres risques. 8. Mesures somatiques. 9. Valeurs de laboratoire. 10. Vaccination antidiphtérique et antitétanique. 11. Information, évaluation. 12. Préoccupation associée à la mise en place de Novartis. 13. Evaluation qualitative du modèle de consultation préventive. 14. Lieu du déroulement. 15. Modalités du déroulement de la consultation des 50 ans. 16. Entretien-conseil : instruments et difficultés. 17. Evaluation : l'opinion des participants satisfaction vis-à-vis de la consultation des 50 ans. 18. Cadre. 19. Contenu. 20. Conséquences précoces de la consultation des 50 ans. 21. Evaluation des habitudes de vie et de l'opinion des non participants. 22. Evaluation de l'opinion des participants après 12-18 mois. 23. Habitudes de vie. 24. Alimentation. 25. Exercice physique et sport. 26. Sécurité sur la route. 27. Le tabac. 28. Rôle de la consultation. IV. Commentaires. 1. Profil de risque. 2. Evaluation. 3. Opinion des participants. 4. Les non participants. 5. Impact sur la prévention et la promotion de la santé chez les participants. 6. Développements futurs du projet. V. Annexes : Questionnaire d'anamnèse; Feuille de bilan pour le médecin de famille; Questionnaire d'évaluation pour les participants; Questionnaire d'évaluation pour les non participants; Questionnaire d'évaluation à 12/18 mois; Liste des positions tarifaires établies par la FMH (14.12.94)

Does developmental prosopagnosia impair identification of other-ethnicity faces?

Current approaches to the diagnosis of developmental prosopagnosia emphasise the perception and identification of same-ethnicity faces. This convention ensures that perceptual impairment arising from developmental prosopagnosia can be distinguished from problems arising from a lack of visual experience with particular facial ethnicities – the so-called ‘Other-Ethnicity Effect’. The present study sought to determine whether the perceptual difficulties seen in developmental prosopagnosia – diagnosed using same-ethnicity faces – extend to other-ethnicity faces. First, we sought to determine whether a group of Caucasian developmental prosopagnosics (N = 15) and typical Caucasian controls (N = 30) had similar experience with same- and other-ethnicity faces during development. All participants therefore completed a contact questionnaire that enquired about their experience of Caucasian, Black, and East Asian faces, at different developmental stages. Importantly, the two groups described very similar levels of visual experience with other-ethnicity faces. Second, we administered a sequential matching task to measure participants’ ability to discriminate same- (Caucasian) and other-ethnicity (Black, East Asian) faces. Relative to the experience-matched controls, the prosopagnosics were less accurate at discriminating both same- and other-ethnicity faces, and we found no evidence of disproportionate impairment for same-ethnicity faces. Given that the prosopagnosics and controls had similar opportunity to develop visual expertise for other-ethnicity faces, these results indicate that developmental prosopagnosia impairs recognition of both same- and other-ethnicity faces. The fact that developmental prosopagnosia affects the perception of both same- and other-ethnicity faces suggests that different facial ethnicities engage similar visual processing mechanisms. Our findings support the view that susceptibility to developmental prosopagnosia, and a lack of contact with other-ethnicity faces, contribute independently to the poor recognition of other-ethnicity faces

The ANTARES Optical Module

The ANTARES collaboration is building a deep sea neutrino telescope in the Mediterranean Sea. This detector will cover a sensitive area of typically 0.1 km-squared and will be equipped with about 1000 optical modules. Each of these optical modules consists of a large area photomultiplier and its associated electronics housed in a pressure resistant glass sphere. The design of the ANTARES optical module, which is a key element of the detector, has been finalized following extensive R & D studies and is reviewed here in detail.Comment: 26 pages, 15 figures, to be published in NI

Dark Matter Searches with the ANTARES Neutrino Telescope

[EN] The MOSCAB experiment (Materia OSCura A Bolle) uses the Geyser technique for dark matter search. The results of the first 0.5 kg mass prototype detector using superheated C3F8 liquid were very encouraging, achieving a 5 keV nuclear recoil threshold with high insensitivity to gamma radiation. Additionally, the technique seems to be easily scalable to higher masses for both in terms of complexity and costs, resulting in a very competitive technique for direct dark matter search, especially for the spin dependent case. Here, we report as well in the construction and commissioning of the big detector of 40 kg at the Milano-Bicocca University. The detector, the calibration tests and the evaluation of the background will be presented. Once demonstrated the functionality of the detector, it will be operated at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory in 2015.We acknowledge the financial support of the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (MICINN) and Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO), Grants FPA2012-37528-C02-02, and Consolider MultiDark CSD2009-00064, and of the Generalitat Valenciana, Grants ACOMP/2014/153 and PrometeoII/2014/079.Ardid Ramírez, M. (2016). Dark Matter Searches with the ANTARES Neutrino Telescope. Nuclear and Particle Physics Proceedings. 273:378-382. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nuclphysbps.2015.09.054S37838227

A first update on mapping the human genetic architecture of COVID-19

peer reviewe

A non-linear approach to modelling motivation in the workplace using artificial neural networks

Includes bibliographical references.The standard business conception of the employee is as a blank slate machine motivated through a behaviourist system of reward and punishment. In contrast to this conception, studies of human evolution, neurology and cognition suggest that motivation emerges from the interaction of a complex and non-linear system of variables. This two-part study uses a conceptual model of work motivation based on systems and complexity theory to identify and interpret the significance of outlying variables in the motivations of groups of working professionals with different career orientations. In the first part of the fieldwork, fifty respondents from each of four career orientations (business managers, professional creative artists, entrepreneurs and students studying in creative fields) completed a self-assessment tool in which they indicated their strength of agreement or disagreement with the presence of fifteen motivation variables in their pursuit of a work goal. The responses of each career group were clustered using artificial neural network analysis and outlying motivation variables within clusters that differed significantly from the mean were identified. In the second part of the fieldwork, the meanings of outlying variables were interpreted by focus groups representing each of the four different career orientations. While on average, respondents agreed that all motivational variables were fulfilled in their pursuit of a work goal, unsupervised artificial neural network clustering identified between two and four clusters of respondents within each career group that showed responses differing significantly from the mean. These were mainly in the form of disagreement with fulfilment of one or more variables of motivation. Focus groups were able to identify with and provide context to these outlying responses

Analyse statistique de la variation verticale des descripteurs dans la formation de Vions (Berriasien supérieur, Jura méridional)

La variation verticale de cinq descripteurs numériques est étudiée par diverses méthodes sur sept coupes de la Formation de Vions (Berriasien supérieur, Jura méridional). Ces méthodes comprennent principalement l'adoucissage, le test de "runs", l'analyse de tendance verticale et l'analyse d'autocorrélation. Dans le cadre de cette dernière technique, on étudie plus particulièrement les processus stochastiques autorégressifs et ceux de moyennes mobiles, et par simulation, produit des séries et des corrélogrammes auxquels sont comparés ceux des descripteurs de la Formation de Vions. Deux modèles permettent d'approximer la variation verticale de ces descripteurs: le premier est autorégressif d'ordre 1-2, le second de moyennes mobiles d'ordre 1-6. La signification géologique de ces modèles mathématiques est ensuite discutée et un modèle conceptuel de l'évolution verticale de la Formation de Vions est proposé. Ce dernier invoque des mouvements transgressifs et régressifs de la mer, auxquels se superposent des arrivées terrigènes liées à des pulsations orogéniques qui peuvent être considérées comme purement aléatoires

Cartographie par un système d'information géoréférée de l'aléa d'érosion: application à des sols viticoles

Le but principal de cette étude était de développer une méthodologie basée sur l'utilisation de Systèmes d'Information Géoréférée (SIG), en vue de l'application de l'Equation Universelle de Perte des Sols (EUPS) de Wischmeier et Smith (1978) ajustée aux conditions spécifiques de la viticulture. Cette démarche est testée pour prédire les pertes du sol dues à l'érosion pluviale dans les vignobles de Machtum - Nittel (Haute-Moselle), aboutissant ainsi à une carte préliminaire d'aléa d'érosion qui peut être par la suite adaptée à l'ensemble des vignobles de la vallée de la Haute-Moselle. La calibration qualitative de la carte réalisée d'après les observations faites sur le terrain lors des pluies érosive de l'été 1992, atteste que les surfaces parcellaires susceptibles de provoquer les dégâts tels que l'obstruction des canalisatons et des chemins viticoles sont regroupées dans les deux classes à aléa d'érosion élevé. Un des résultats notables de ce travail révèle que les SIG peuvent être des outils bien adaptés à l'étude des phénomènes dynamiques tel que l'érosion viticole. Néanmoins, ces systèmes ont des limites liées à l'échelle utilisée, qu'il est nécessaire d'évaluer afin de palier ces carences par des études complémentaires sur le terrain