Millet cultivation history in the French Alps as evidenced by a sedimentary molecule

International audienceWe report on the detection, in a sediment core drilled in Lake Le Bourget (French Alps), of a fossil molecule (miliacin) that was synthesized by broomcorn millet cultivated in the watershed, and then exported to the sediment. The variation in abundance of this molecule allows us reconstructing the history of millet cultivation around Lake Le Bourget. Our results support the introduction of millet around -1700 BC in the region. After an intensive cultivation during the Late Bronze Age, the failure of millet cropping during the Hallstatt period coincides with a phase of climatic deterioration. Millet cultivation recovers during the Roman and Mediaeval periods before falling most probably due to the introduction of more productive cereals. These pioneering results constitute the first continuous record of an agrarian activity for the last 6000 yrs and emphasize the close relationships between local hydrology, land use and agro-pastoral activities around Lake Le Bourget

Millet cultivation history in the alps during the last 6000 yrs as revealed by a sedimentary biomarker.

International audienceLacustrine sedimentary archives provide clue information on past Human-climate-environment interactions in order to predict the future responses of societies and ecosystems to global climate change. Within a multidisciplinary project aiming at documenting these interactions during the Holocene in the French Alps, we have examined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry the lipid content of a sedimentary series covering the last 6 ka, drilled in Lake le Bourget (core LDB04, Fig. 1A)

Diverse perspectives of parents, diverse concepts of parent involvement and participation: Contrasts between Italy and the United States

Diversity of experiences and perspectives, it is widely agreed, should be a source of strength in home-school partnerships, as in other aspects of educational endeavor. Yet often, in the literature, diversity is presented as a complication to be overcome. A limiting mindset often prevails, both in theory and practice, where diversity is regarded as an issue or barrier, even amidst the best of intentions to be inclusive. In this chapter, we argue that this limiting mindset on diversity may in fact derive in part from the conceptual frameworks with which we in the United States contemplate and conduct research on diversity issues in home-school relationships. We make this point by taking the discussion outside the framework of the American literature. First, we offer our summary and interpretation of several general principles that describe the purpose, nature, and value attached to parental involvement in the United States. Next, we turn to the field of Italian education, in particular, to conceptualizations about partecipazione, or participation, a term for the idealized way in which parents, teachers, and community members should take an active part in the life, culture, and decisions concerning children and the educational services created for them. We draw mainly from the writings of a network of early educational leaders from cities of northern and central Italy (e.g., Bologna, Milan, Modena, Pistoia, Reggio Emilia, and others)—places which have carried out the strongest experiments in creating and sustaining systems of home-school-community

Personalized pathology test for Cardio-vascular disease : approximate Bayesian computation with discriminative summary statistics learning

Cardio/cerebrovascular diseases (CVD) have become one of the major health issue in our societies. But recent studies show that the present pathology tests to detect CVD are ineffectual as they do not consider different stages of platelet activation or the molecular dynamics involved in platelet interactions and are incapable to consider inter-individual variability. Here we propose a stochastic platelet deposition model and an inferential scheme to estimate the biologically meaningful model parameters using approximate Bayesian computation with a summary statistic that maximally discriminates between different types of patients. Inferred parameters from data collected on healthy volunteers and different patient types help us to identify specific biological parameters and hence biological reasoning behind the dysfunction for each type of patients. This work opens up an unprecedented opportunity of personalized pathology test for CVD detection and medical treatment

Late-Holocene climatic variability south of the Alps as recorded by lake-level fluctuations at Lake Ledro, Trentino, Italy

International audienceA lake-level record for the late Holocene at Lake Ledro (Trentino, northeastern Italy) is presented. It is based on the sediment and pollen analysis of a 1.75 m high stratigraphic section observed on the southern shore (site Ledro I) and a 3.2 m long sediment core taken from a littoral mire on the southeastern shore (site Ledro II). The chronology is derived from 15 radiocarbon dates and pollen stratigraphy. The late-Holocene composite record established from these two sediment sequences gives evidence of centennial-scale fluctuations with highstands at c. 3400, 2600, 1700, 1200 and 400 cal. BP, in agreement with various palaeohydro-logical records established in central and northern Italy, as well as north of the Alps. In addition, high lake-level conditions at c. 2000 cal. BP may be the equivalent of stronger river discharge observed at the same time in Central Italy's rivers. In agreement with the lake-level record of Accesa (Tuscany), the Ledro record also suggests a relatively complex palaeohydrological pattern for the period around 4000 cal. BP. On a millennial scale, sediment hiatuses observed in the lower part of the Ledro I sediment sequence indicate that, except for a high-stand occurring just after 7500 cal. BP, lower lake levels generally prevailed rather before c. 4000 cal. BP than afterwards. Finally, the lake-level data obtained at Lake Ledro indicate that the relative continuity of settlements in humid areas of northern Italy during the Bronze Age (in contrast to their general abandonment north of the Alps between c. 3450 and 3150 cal. BP), does not reflect different regional patterns of climatic and palaeohy-drological conditions. In contrast, the rise in lake level dated to c. 3400 cal. BP at Ledro appears to coincide with a worldwide climate reversal, observed in both the hemispheres, while palaeoenvironmental and archaeological data collected at Lake Ledro may suggest, as a working hypothesis, a relative emancipation of proto-historic societies from climatic conditions

Cent scientifiques répliquent à SEA (Suppression des Expériences sur l’Animal vivant) et dénoncent sa désinformation

La lutte contre la maltraitance animale est sans conteste une cause moralement juste. Mais elle ne justifie en rien la désinformation à laquelle certaines associations qui s’en réclament ont recours pour remettre en question l’usage de l’expérimentation animale en recherche

Les psaumes et leurs harmonisations à Lyon au XVIe siècle

Ouvrage publié à l'occasion de l'exposition "Lyon1562,capitaleprotestante" organisée par les Archives municipales de Lyon du 13 octobre 2009 au 27 février 2010. Prix de la ville de LyonInternational audienceno abstrac

Speleothem organic matter content imaging. The use of a Fluorescence Index to characterise the maximum emission wavelength

The study of palaeoenvironments, especially pedologic and biologic environments, is fundamental to a complete understanding of continental climate changes. Many types of sediment contain organic molecules (OM) that were trapped during the depositional process, with the quantity and the nature of these organic molecules being strongly influenced by climate and other local factors. The quantity of organic matter in sediment can be measured by fluorescence intensity, but its nature is more difficult to determine. For this research, the organic molecules in stalagmites were analysed using emission fluorescence spectroscopy. The analysis of carbonated karst sediments was complemented by studies of clay, soil and seepage water samples. The main objective of this paper is to describe a method for the continuous imaging of the spectroscopic features of stalagmite organic molecules. Continuous imaging provides a means of circumventing the nonlinearity, both in space (of the sediment) and in time (of the sedimentation process), of the trapping of organic matter. This methodological report presents a protocol for calculating a Fluorescence Index (FI) that can be used in palaeoenvironmental studies of sediment. A similar approach to that used for determining E4/E6 ratios was used to determine the ratio of the fluorescence intensities of a sample at 514 nm and at 456 nm. This Fluorescence Index is strongly correlated to the wavelength of the maximum intensity of the organic matter spectrum. Due to the relatively stable chemical environment of calcite growth, changes in the Fluorescence Index can be interpreted as being due to changes in the nature of the organic molecules rather than to pH or quenching effects. As an illustration of how this index can be used, we present some examples of fluorescence indices for speleothem samples that show short-term and long-term environmental changes. To allow fuller palaeoenvironmental interpretations to be made, fluorescence indices need to be calibrated to environments and samples nee