Dynamics of the dense moist evergreen forests. Long term monitoring of an experimental station in Kodagu (Karnataka, India)

This working paper reviews the various research activities undertaken in a permanent experimental field station near Uppangala village at the foot of the western slope of the Western Ghats. Three forest compartments, all situated in a lowelevation moist evergreen dense forest type dominated by dipterocarps, are being monitored since the mid-80s and early 90s. Different types of research projects are being carried out in these compartments on: the impact of selective logging on forest composition, structure and dynamics; the forest structure and diversity and their local variation in relation to topography and silvigenesis; tree architecture and growth; phenology and litterfall; relationships between forest composition and pollen rain; impact of human activities on the vegetation around the village. This station thus provides a common field for new methodological developments and for various ecological and socio-ecological studies

TER: A Robot for Remote Ultrasonic Examination: Experimental Evaluations

This chapter: o Motivates the clinical use of robotic tele-echography o Introduces the TER system o Describes technical and clinical evaluations performed with TE

Pantropical variability in tree crown allometry

Aim Tree crowns determine light interception, carbon and water exchange. Thus, understanding the factors causing tree crown allometry to vary at the tree and stand level matters greatly for the development of future vegetation modelling and for the calibration of remote sensing products. Nevertheless, we know little about large‐scale variation and determinants in tropical tree crown allometry. In this study, we explored the continental variation in scaling exponents of site‐specific crown allometry and assessed their relationships with environmental and stand‐level variables in the tropics. Location Global tropics. Time period Early 21st century. Major taxa studied Woody plants. Methods Using a dataset of 87,737 trees distributed among 245 forest and savanna sites across the tropics, we fitted site‐specific allometric relationships between crown dimensions (crown depth, diameter and volume) and stem diameter using power‐law models. Stand‐level and environmental drivers of crown allometric relationships were assessed at pantropical and continental scales. Results The scaling exponents of allometric relationships between stem diameter and crown dimensions were higher in savannas than in forests. We identified that continental crown models were better than pantropical crown models and that continental differences in crown allometric relationships were driven by both stand‐level (wood density) and environmental (precipitation, cation exchange capacity and soil texture) variables for both tropical biomes. For a given diameter, forest trees from Asia and savanna trees from Australia had smaller crown dimensions than trees in Africa and America, with crown volumes for some Asian forest trees being smaller than those of trees in African forests. Main conclusions Our results provide new insight into geographical variability, with large continental differences in tropical tree crown allometry that were driven by stand‐level and environmental variables. They have implications for the assessment of ecosystem function and for the monitoring of woody biomass by remote sensing techniques in the global tropics

Structure and floristic composition of a tropical evergreen forest in south-west India

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La validation des procédés de fabrication des produits dermo-cosmétiques et OTC

AIX-MARSEILLE2-BU Pharmacie (130552105) / SudocSudocFranceF

Thermodynamique de la contre-utopie - éléments pour une lecture critique de l'économie des contre-utopies anglo-américaines, françaises, anglaises et japonaises au XXème siècle

La contre-utopie est une branche de la science-fiction qui, à l opposé de l utopie, s attache à décrire non plus des mondes idéaux mais des sociétés cauchemardesques. Bien qu ancien, le genre ne prend réellement son essor qu à la fin du XIXème et au XXème siècle et accompagne donc les développements de la société industrielle pour lui renvoyer l image de ses défauts.Cette thèse se propose de lire certaines des images forgées par contre-utopies à partir d un schème scientifique, celui de la thermodynamique, soit cette discipline qui, à partir de l étude de l économie des machines à vapeur, a servi de tremplin à la révolution industrielle au XIXème siècle. Parce qu elle a pour but de tracer une physique de la valeur économique, le recours à la thermodynamique va nous servir à analyser l économie des contre-utopies et à tracer par ce biais les contours d une théorie critique des sociétés décrites.S intéressant à la contre-utopie dans la perspective d une critique du monde industriel, les œuvres retenues pour le corpus, tant cinématographiques que littéraires, sont avant tout issues d Amérique du nord (États-Unis), d Europe (France, Grande-Bretagne) et du Japon et produites au cours du XXème siècle, siècle où les effets de l industrialisation des sociétés dévoilent leur caractère néfaste. En examinant avec de nombreux exemples à l appui comment la contre-utopie procède à une transposition politique de principes physiques, cette thèse a pour objectif de mettre en évidence les leçons de philosophie morale et politique que l on peut retirer du genre tout en envisageant sous un angle nouveau les rapports entre science et science-fiction.Counter-utopia is a branch of science-fiction which, contrary to utopia, describes either ideal worlds but nightmarish societies. Although ancient, the genre really takes off at the end of the nineteenth and during the twentieth century, accompanying the developments of the industrial society to send it back the image of their main defects.This thesis suggests to read some of the images made by counter-utopias from a scientific scheme, that of the thermodynamics, a discipline which, from the study of the economy of steam engines, was one of the main springboard to the industrial revolution in the nineteenth century. Because it aims at drawing a physics of the economic value, the recourse to thermodynamics is going to serve us to analyze the economy of counter-utopias and to draw by this way the outlines of a critical theory of the described societies.Being interested in counter-utopia in the perspective of a criticism of the industrial world, the works held for the corpus, films and literature (novel and short stories), belong to works produced in North America (United-States), Europe (France, Great-Britain) and Japan during the twentieth century, a century in which the effects of the industrialization of societies show their fatal aspect. By examining with numerous examples how counter-utopia proceed to a political transposition of physical principles, this thesis has for objective to enlighten the lessons of moral and political philosophy given by the whole genre and to consider under a new angle the links between science and science fiction.PARIS4-Bib. électronique (751059905) / SudocSudocFranceF

Le fauteuil roulant.

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Mécanismes de la redistribution post-mortem des xénobiotiques : le point sur l'état actuel des connaissances

Les concentrations des molécules obtenues à partir d'échantillons post-mortem ne sont pas forcément le reflet des concentrations au moment du décès. Ces concentrations post-mortem peuvent varier soit en fonction des différents sites de prélèvement, soit en fonction du délai entre le décès et la réalisation des prélèvements. Ces phénomènes ont été regroupés sous le terme de redistribution post-mortem. Les mécanismes présidant à ces phénomènes de redistribution sont complexes et multifactoriels. Ils dépendent en premier lieu de l'évolution des phénomènes cadavériques. En période post-mortem précoce, certains organes, qualifiés “d'organes réservoirs” peuvent relarguer les xénobiotiques concentrés avant le décès. Il s'agit essentiellement du tractus gastro-intestinal, du foie, des poumons ou du myocarde. La lyse cellulaire et plus tardivement la putréfaction favorisent également les phénomènes de redistribution. Le profil physico-chimique et pharmacocinétique des xénobiotiques semble être également un facteur déterminant, mais ces aspects sont moins bien connus. La seule certitude actuelle repose sur le fait que les molécules lipophiles à large volume de distribution subissent d'importants phénomènes de redistribution. L'étude de la littérature montre cependant que cette explication est largement insuffisante pour de nombreuses molécules. D'autre part, l'éventualité de la poursuite du métabolisme de certaines molécules en période postmortem immédiate doit être envisagée. D'un point de vue pratique, il est impératif de pouvoir disposer de prélèvements autopsiques multiples afin de limiter les difficultés d'interprétation et d'approcher les mécanismes présidant à ces phénomènes de redistribution. Enfin, nous pensons qu 'il est nécessaire de quantifier les variations observées, vraisemblablement sous forme de pourcentage, afin d'harmoniser l'interprétation de ces phénomènes

Le cannabidiol (CBD) : aspects analytiques et toxicologiques

International audienceCannabidiol (CBD) is a phytocannabinoid present in cannabis, obtained either by extraction from the plant or by synthesis. The latter has the advantage of being pure and contains few impurities, unlike CBD of plant origin. It is used by inhalation, ingestion or skin application. In France, the law stipulates that specialties containing CBD may contain up to 0.3% of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive principle of cannabis. From an analytical point of view, it is therefore important to be able to quantify the two compounds as well as their metabolites in the various matrices that can be used clinically or forensically, in particular saliva and blood. The transformation of CBD into THC, which has long been suggested, appears to be an analytical artifact under certain conditions. CBD is not without toxicity, whether acute or chronic, as seems to attest to the serious adverse effects recorded by pharmacovigilance during the experiment currently being conducted in France by the Agence Nationale de Sécurité du Médicament et des Produits de Santé. Although CBD does not seem to modify driving abilities, driving a vehicle after consuming CBD containing up to 0.3% THC, and sometimes much more in products bought on the internet, can lead to a positive result in screening and confirmation tests by law enforcement agencies, whether salivary or blood tests, and therefore lead to a legal sanction

Embedded multi-processor system-on-programmable chip for smart camera pose estimation using nonlinear optimization methods

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