Microsatellite Analysis of Trophy Largemouth Bass from Arkansas Reservoirs

The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission (AGFC) has introduced Florida largemouth bass (FLMB; Micropterus salmoides floridanus) to water bodies historically containing the northern largemouth bass (NLMB; Micropterus salmoides salmoides) subspecies since the late 1970s in an attempt to produce a trophy LMB fishery. Since 2006, the AGFC has been biannually sampling reservoirs stocked with FLMB to determine levels of admixture. Here, total sampling efforts between 2006 and 2011 have been combined, and LMB heavier than 2,268 g (5 lb) were analyzed in an effort to investigate distribution of bass by their genetic composition designated as trophy LMB by the AGFC. Of the 148 trophy LMB sampled, 123 possessed FLMB alleles (83.1%). Thirty-two of the heaviest 50 (64.0%) LMB sampled, including a potential state record that was nullified, were genetically confirmed to be FLMB. Distributions of trophy bass within reservoirs were preferentially represented by Fx-FLMB and FLMB

PEGylation as a novel tool to investigate the topology of Escherichia coli WecA, a membrane enzyme involved in lipopolysaccharide O antigen initiation

O-antigen, the most surface exposed moiety of bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS), plays several roles in pathogenicity. The biosynthesis of O-antigen starts by the formation of a phosphoanhydride bond linking a sugar phosphate with a membrane isoprenoid lipid phosphate. Two distinct families of integral membrane proteins catalyze this reaction. The protein WecA is the prototypic member of one of these families, termed the polyisoprenyl-phosphate N-acetylaminosugar-1-phosphate transferase (PNPT) family. Because the donor nucleotide sugar is only available in the cytosol, cytosolic exposed regions of WecA are expected to be critical for the catalytic activity of the enzyme. Therefore, elucidating an accurate topological map of WecA is essential to understand its function. While a topological model has been determined with some level of accuracy in certain regions of WecA, various protein-protein, protein-lipid, and protein-aqueous interfaces are not precisely mapped and we have also found inconsistencies between in silico prediction models and experimental data. We hypothesize that the borders between the transmembrane domains (TMs) and the cytosolic loops of WecA are critical for its function. In particular, this thesis focuses on cytoloops 1 and 4 (including the universally conserved VFMGD motif), and TMs IV and V (a putative interaction site for the lipid substrate). The locations of these border residues were identified by the topological accessibility of specific amino acids using the substituted cysteine accessibility method (SCAM) combined with PEGylation. This approach offers several advantages over other classical SCAM methods, especially by avoiding the need to purify the labeled protein after sulfhydryl chemistry. PEGylation involves the covalent mass labeling of accessible sulfhydryl groups with the large thiol reagent methoxy-polyethylene glycol-maleimide (PEG-Mal, 5 kDa), and detection using a gel shift assay. Orientation is differentiated by treatment of EDTA-permeablized cells compared to treatment in membrane preparations. This thesis describes the adaptation and use of PEGylation for the topological analysis of WecA. The results provide further refinement of the WecA topological map, and the method can be extended to other integral membrane proteins involved in O-antigen assembly

Symmetry group analysis of an ideal plastic flow

In this paper, we study the Lie point symmetry group of a system describing an ideal plastic plane flow in two dimensions in order to find analytical solutions. The infinitesimal generators that span the Lie algebra for this system are obtained. We completely classify the subalgebras of up to codimension two in conjugacy classes under the action of the symmetry group. Based on invariant forms, we use Ansatzes to compute symmetry reductions in such a way that the obtained solutions cover simultaneously many invariant and partially invariant solutions. We calculate solutions of the algebraic, trigonometric, inverse trigonometric and elliptic type. Some solutions depending on one or two arbitrary functions of one variable have also been found. In some cases, the shape of a potentially feasible extrusion die corresponding to the solution is deduced. These tools could be used to thin, curve, undulate or shape a ring in an ideal plastic material

Contribution of intensive rabbit breeding to sustainable development. A semi-quantitative analysis of the production in France

[EN] This work was aimed at evaluating the contribution of intensive rabbit breeding to sustainable development using a semi-quantitative method. Nine sustainability indicators were defined for the environmental (energy use, antibiotic use, and biodiversity), economic (profit, specialisation rate, and transmissibility) and social scales of sustainable development. A score (-1, 0 or +1) was given for each indicator using data from French rabbit farms (12,000 farms for economic results and 100 farms for social and environmental data). Scores were added within each scale to obtain a final score. It was revealed from the data analysis that intensive rabbit breeding had some negative contributions to sustainable development, due to the high cost of indirect energy, high use of antibiotics, low biodiversity and little respect for animal welfare, in particular in the scale of environmental sustainability (total score: -2). But it also had positive contributions to sustainable development, particularly in the economic and social scales (total score: +1 each). Indeed, the mean profit, life and working conditions were good and the rabbit meat is of good quality. Therefore, the challenge for rabbit production will be to manage the lawful development and to face the market trends while preserving the maximum of its advantagesFortun-Lamothe, L.; Combes, S.; Gidenne, T. (2009). Contribution of intensive rabbit breeding to sustainable development. A semi-quantitative analysis of the production in France. World Rabbit Science. 17(2):79-85. doi:10.4995/wrs.2009.661798517

Adaptive capacity of female rabbits submitted to a change in breeding practices

[EN] The aim of this study was to test the consequences of a change in breeding practices on 219 multiparous rabbit does over 2 reproductive cycles (5th and 6th insemination). Three rabbit breeding systems were defined I: intensive, S: semi-intensive and E: extensive), which varied for the females in terms of reproductive rhythm (RR: 35, 42 and 49 d, respectively) and age at first insemination (20.6, 19.6 and 16.6 wk, respectively), and for kits in terms of age at weaning (32, 35 and 30 d, respectively) and age at slaughter (63, 70 and 70 d, respectively). Females were submitted to one of the 3 systems from the 1st to the 4th artificial insemination (AI), and to another system from the 5th to the 6th AI, before returning to the initial system at the 7th AI. Consequently, they were allocated to 4 groups: I-S-I, S-I-S, S-E-S and E-S-E. Because of poor reproductive performance in the I system and despite a high growth of kits before weaning due to a more energetic diet for does, a sudden change from an I system to an S system significantly increased productivity at 28 d, from 3.37 to 5.04 kg/AI. Conversely, in the S and E systems, the females were not very sensitive to an intensification (groups S-I-S and E-S-E) or an extensification (S-E-S) of the breeding system, leading to similar productivity at 63 d (14.4 and 14.3 kg/AI, 14.4 and 13.5 kg/AI, 16.5 and 16.2 kg/AI, respectively, for groups S-I-S, E-S-E and S-E-S). The consequences of a return to the initial system deserve to be tested over a longer period.This work was supported by the CAS DAR (Cunipalm n° 9023) and by the French rabbit Interprofessional Association (CLIPP).Theau.clément, M.; Galliot, P.; Souchet, C.; Bignon, L.; Fortun-Lamothe, L. (2016). Adaptive capacity of female rabbits submitted to a change in breeding practices. World Rabbit Science. 24(4):267-273. https://doi.org/10.4995/wrs.2016.5155SWORD267273244Blanc F., Dumont B., Brunschwig G., Bocquier F., Agabriel J. 2010. Extensive ruminant farming systems highlight animal coping processes based on robustness, flexibility and plasticity. In: Robustesse, rusticité, flexibilité, plasticité, résilience, les nouveaux critères de qualité des animaux et des systèmes d'élevage. Sauvant D., Perez J.M. (Eds). Dossier INRA Prod. Anim., 23, 65-80.Maertens, L., Perez, J.M., Villamide, M., Cervera, C., Gidenne, T., Xiccato, G., 2002. Nutritive value of raw materials for rabbits: EGRAN tables 2002. World Rabbit Sci., 10: 157-166.Theau-Clément M., Boiti C., Mercier P., Falières J. 2000. Description of the ovarian status and fertilising ability of primiparous rabbit does at different lactation stage, In Proc.: 7th World Rabbit Congress, 4-7 July 2000, Valencia, Spain, Vol A: 259-266

High plasmatic progesterone levels at insemination depress reproductive performances of rabbit does

The aim of this experiment was to quantify the frequency of the high progesterone syndrome at the moment of insemination and to study the influence of progesterone level (P4) on receptivity and reproductive performances of primiparous and secondiparous rabbit does. A total of 422 primiparous INRA 0067 were inseminated twice at an interval of 42 days. Prior to artificial insemination (AI), sexual receptivity of the does was tested in the presence of a vasectomised buck and, just after AI, blood samples were collected to determine progesterone concentration by RIA. The mean plasma progesterone concentration was 1.8\ub13.4 ng/ml and significantly depended on parity (primiparous: 2.2\ub13.7 ng/ml, secondiparous: 0.9\ub12.2 ng/ml, P<0.001). At the following AI, 78% of pseudopregnant rabbit does returned to the basal level of oestrous condition, demonstrating that the pseudopregnancy is a reversible process. The overall percentage of pseudopregnant does (P4 651 ng/ml) was 25.9%, but it was differently (P<0.001) distributed between primiparous (31.2%) and secondiparous does (12.2%). Moreover, primiparous lactating females were more frequently pseudopregnant than non-lactating ones (36.5 vs. 18.9% respectively, P<0.001). The progesterone level of primiparous does was related to the lactation status (2.5\ub13.8 vs. 1.5\ub13.2 ng/ml, respectively for lactating and non-lactating, P<0.001). The receptivity was highly related to the level of progesterone (P4<1: 74.1%, 1 64P4<6: 79.1% vs. P4>6: 56.3%, P=0.006). Also the kindling rate was significantly influenced by progesterone concentrations. Non-pseudopregnant does (P<1 ng/ml) had the highest fertility rate (79.0%) but when the progesterone concentration increased from 1 64P4<6 to P4>6 ng/ml, the fertility decreased from 68.1 to 37.4%, respectively (P<0.001). Consequently, the productivity at birth was highly depressed when the progesterone level was over 6 ng/ml (9.5 and 8.6 vs. 4.5 number of born alive rabbits/AI, for P4<1, 1 64P4<6 and P4>6 respectively, P<0.001). The productivity of pseudopregnant and nonreceptive females was very poor in comparison with pseudopregnant receptive does (0.4 vs. 9.5 born alive rabbits/AI). The productivity at birth was also highly (P<0.001) influenced by the physiological status of the does. Primiparous non-lactating does produced the highest number of born alive rabbits/AI, whereas primiparous lactating does had the lowest productivity at birth (9.9 vs. 5.6), secondiparous lactating being intermediate (7.1). In conclusion, the high progesterone syndrome evaluated at the moment of insemination occurred in 25.9% of females and had a strong negative impact on receptivity and reproductive performance of rabbit does

The effects of the complete replacement of barley and soybean meal with hard wheat by-products on diet digestibility, growth and slaughter traits of a local Algerian rabbit population

[EN] Eighty one rabbits were used to study the utilisation of hard wheat by-products on the growth of rabbits from a local Algerian population. At weaning (28 d, 501±99 g), the animals were individually caged and received ad libitum one of the three experimental diets for 49 d. The control diet included 26% wheat bran (W26: control diet), alfalfa, bar- ley and soybean meal. The two other diets were formulated by substituting barley and soybean meal with hard wheat by-products, and contained 60% (W60) or 67% (W67) of these by-products (50 or 57% bran and 10% middling). On average, diets contained 11.8% crude fibre and crude protein decreased from 18.3 (W26) to 16.1% (W67). Growth traits and slaughter performances were recorded. Another group of thirty animals was used to determine dietary nutrient di- gestibility from 42 to 46 d of age. Dry matter digestibility and digestible energy content were lower in the W60 and W67 diets than in the control diet (W26) (71.3 and 71.5% vs. 74.9%, and 11.9 and 11.9 vs. 12.5 MJ/kg, respectively; P<0.01). In contrast, crude fibre digestibility was lower in W26 (21.9%) than in the other two diets (29.6 and 32.2% for W60 and W67, respectively; P<0.01). The growth rates were similar for all three groups (28.0, 27.1 and 26.0 g/d for W26, W60 and W67) as were the feed conversion ratios (3.14, 3.17 and 3.10, respectively). Dressing out percentage (66.4±2.0% on average for the cold carcass) was not affected by the amount of wheat by-products in the diet. The total mortality rate was high (23%), probably corresponding to the low crude fibre content of the three experimental diets, but was not connected to the amount of wheat by-products.Lakabi-Ioualitene, D.; Lounaouci-Ouyed, G.; Berchiche, M.; Lebas, F.; Fortun-Lamothe, L. (2010). The effects of the complete replacement of barley and soybean meal with hard wheat by-products on diet digestibility, growth and slaughter traits of a local Algerian rabbit population. World Rabbit Science. 16(2). doi:10.4995/wrs.2008.63216

Stealth Acoustic Materials

[EN] We report the experimental design of a one-dimensional stealth acoustic material, namely a material that suppresses the acoustic scattering for a given set of incident wave vectors. The material consists of multiple scatterers, rigid diaphragms, located in an air-filled acoustic waveguide. The position of the scatterers has been chosen such that in the Born approximation a suppression of the scattering for a broad range of frequencies is achieved and thus a broadband transparency. Experimental results are found in excellent agreement with the theory despite the presence of losses and the finite size of the material, features that are not captured in the theory. This robustness as well as the generality of the results motivates realistic potential applications for the design of transparent materials in acoustics and other fields of wave physics.This work has been funded by RFI Le Mans Acoustique (Region Pays de la Loire) in the framework of the APA-MAS project, by the project HYPERMETA funded under the program Etoiles Montantes of the Region Pays de la Loire as well as by the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (Spain) and European Union FEDER through project FIS2015-65998-C2-2-P. V. Romero-Garcia and L. M. Garcia-Raffi acknowledge the short-term scientific mission (STSM) funded by the COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) Action DENORMS - CA15125.Romero-García, V.; Lamothe, N.; Theocharis, G.; Richoux, O.; García-Raffi, LM. (2019). Stealth Acoustic Materials. Physical Review Applied. 11(5):1-9. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.11.054076S19115Shen, C., Xu, J., Fang, N. X., & Jing, Y. (2014). Anisotropic Complementary Acoustic Metamaterial for Canceling out Aberrating Layers. Physical Review X, 4(4). doi:10.1103/physrevx.4.041033Jiménez, N., Cox, T. J., Romero-García, V., & Groby, J.-P. (2017). Metadiffusers: Deep-subwavelength sound diffusers. Scientific Reports, 7(1). doi:10.1038/s41598-017-05710-5Shen, H., Lu, D., VanSaders, B., Kan, J. J., Xu, H., Fullerton, E. E., & Liu, Z. (2015). Anomalously Weak Scattering in Metal-Semiconductor Multilayer Hyperbolic Metamaterials. Physical Review X, 5(2). doi:10.1103/physrevx.5.021021Asadchy, V. S., Faniayeu, I. A., Ra’di, Y., Khakhomov, S. A., Semchenko, I. V., & Tretyakov, S. A. (2015). Broadband Reflectionless Metasheets: Frequency-Selective Transmission and Perfect Absorption. Physical Review X, 5(3). doi:10.1103/physrevx.5.031005Martin, P. A. (2006). Multiple Scattering. doi:10.1017/cbo9780511735110Engheta, N., & Ziolkowski, R. W. (Eds.). (2006). Metamaterials. doi:10.1002/0471784192Alù, A., & Engheta, N. (2005). Achieving transparency with plasmonic and metamaterial coatings. Physical Review E, 72(1). doi:10.1103/physreve.72.016623Chen, P.-Y., Farhat, M., Guenneau, S., Enoch, S., & Alù, A. (2011). Acoustic scattering cancellation via ultrathin pseudo-surface. Applied Physics Letters, 99(19), 191913. doi:10.1063/1.3655141Yablonovitch, E. (1987). Inhibited Spontaneous Emission in Solid-State Physics and Electronics. Physical Review Letters, 58(20), 2059-2062. doi:10.1103/physrevlett.58.2059John, S. (1987). Strong localization of photons in certain disordered dielectric superlattices. Physical Review Letters, 58(23), 2486-2489. doi:10.1103/physrevlett.58.2486Sigalas, M. M., & Economou, E. N. (1992). Elastic and acoustic wave band structure. Journal of Sound and Vibration, 158(2), 377-382. doi:10.1016/0022-460x(92)90059-7Martínez-Sala, R., Sancho, J., Sánchez, J. V., Gómez, V., Llinares, J., & Meseguer, F. (1995). Sound attenuation by sculpture. Nature, 378(6554), 241-241. doi:10.1038/378241a0Deymier, P. A. (Ed.). (2013). Acoustic Metamaterials and Phononic Crystals. Springer Series in Solid-State Sciences. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-31232-8Sánchez-Pérez, J. V., Caballero, D., Mártinez-Sala, R., Rubio, C., Sánchez-Dehesa, J., Meseguer, F., … Gálvez, F. (1998). Sound Attenuation by a Two-Dimensional Array of Rigid Cylinders. Physical Review Letters, 80(24), 5325-5328. doi:10.1103/physrevlett.80.5325Romero-García, V., Sánchez-Pérez, J. V., & Garcia-Raffi, L. M. (2011). Tunable wideband bandstop acoustic filter based on two-dimensional multiphysical phenomena periodic systems. Journal of Applied Physics, 110(1), 014904. doi:10.1063/1.3599886Pérez-Arjona, I., Sánchez-Morcillo, V. J., Redondo, J., Espinosa, V., & Staliunas, K. (2007). Theoretical prediction of the nondiffractive propagation of sonic waves through periodic acoustic media. Physical Review B, 75(1). doi:10.1103/physrevb.75.014304Khelif, A., Wilm, M., Laude, V., Ballandras, S., & Djafari-Rouhani, B. (2004). Guided elastic waves along a rod defect of a two-dimensional phononic crystal. Physical Review E, 69(6). doi:10.1103/physreve.69.067601Sigalas, M. M. (1998). Defect states of acoustic waves in a two-dimensional lattice of solid cylinders. Journal of Applied Physics, 84(6), 3026-3030. doi:10.1063/1.368456Khelif, A., Choujaa, A., Djafari-Rouhani, B., Wilm, M., Ballandras, S., & Laude, V. (2003). Trapping and guiding of acoustic waves by defect modes in a full-band-gap ultrasonic crystal. Physical Review B, 68(21). doi:10.1103/physrevb.68.214301Romero-García, V., Sánchez-Pérez, J. V., Castiñeira-Ibáñez, S., & Garcia-Raffi, L. M. (2010). Evidences of evanescent Bloch waves in phononic crystals. Applied Physics Letters, 96(12), 124102. doi:10.1063/1.3367739Baba, T. (2008). Slow light in photonic crystals. Nature Photonics, 2(8), 465-473. doi:10.1038/nphoton.2008.146Kaya, O. A., Cicek, A., & Ulug, B. (2012). Self-collimated slow sound in sonic crystals. Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, 45(36), 365101. doi:10.1088/0022-3727/45/36/365101Theocharis, G., Richoux, O., García, V. R., Merkel, A., & Tournat, V. (2014). Limits of slow sound propagation and transparency in lossy, locally resonant periodic structures. New Journal of Physics, 16(9), 093017. doi:10.1088/1367-2630/16/9/093017Groby, J.-P., Pommier, R., & Aurégan, Y. (2016). Use of slow sound to design perfect and broadband passive sound absorbing materials. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 139(4), 1660-1671. doi:10.1121/1.4945101Wiersma, D. S. (2013). Disordered photonics. Nature Photonics, 7(3), 188-196. doi:10.1038/nphoton.2013.29Hu, H., Strybulevych, A., Page, J. H., Skipetrov, S. E., & van Tiggelen, B. A. (2008). Localization of ultrasound in a three-dimensional elastic network. Nature Physics, 4(12), 945-948. doi:10.1038/nphys1101Sperling, T., Bührer, W., Aegerter, C. M., & Maret, G. (2012). Direct determination of the transition to localization of light in three dimensions. Nature Photonics, 7(1), 48-52. doi:10.1038/nphoton.2012.313Fan, Y., Percus, J. K., Stillinger, D. K., & Stillinger, F. H. (1991). Constraints on collective density variables: One dimension. Physical Review A, 44(4), 2394-2402. doi:10.1103/physreva.44.2394Kuhl, U., Izrailev, F. M., Krokhin, A. A., & Stöckmann, H.-J. (2000). Experimental observation of the mobility edge in a waveguide with correlated disorder. Applied Physics Letters, 77(5), 633-635. doi:10.1063/1.127068Torquato, S. (2002). Random Heterogeneous Materials. Interdisciplinary Applied Mathematics. doi:10.1007/978-1-4757-6355-3Uche, O. U., Stillinger, F. H., & Torquato, S. (2004). Constraints on collective density variables: Two dimensions. Physical Review E, 70(4). doi:10.1103/physreve.70.046122Kuhl, U., Izrailev, F. M., & Krokhin, A. A. (2008). Enhancement of Localization in One-Dimensional Random Potentials with Long-Range Correlations. Physical Review Letters, 100(12). doi:10.1103/physrevlett.100.126402Batten, R. D., Stillinger, F. H., & Torquato, S. (2008). Classical disordered ground states: Super-ideal gases and stealth and equi-luminous materials. Journal of Applied Physics, 104(3), 033504. doi:10.1063/1.2961314Florescu, M., Torquato, S., & Steinhardt, P. J. (2009). Designer disordered materials with large, complete photonic band gaps. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106(49), 20658-20663. doi:10.1073/pnas.0907744106Dietz, O., Kuhl, U., Hernández-Herrejón, J. C., & Tessieri, L. (2012). Transmission in waveguides with compositional and structural disorder: experimental effects of disorder cross-correlations. New Journal of Physics, 14(1), 013048. doi:10.1088/1367-2630/14/1/013048Man, W., Florescu, M., Williamson, E. P., He, Y., Hashemizad, S. R., Leung, B. Y. C., … Steinhardt, P. J. (2013). Isotropic band gaps and freeform waveguides observed in hyperuniform disordered photonic solids. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110(40), 15886-15891. doi:10.1073/pnas.1307879110Man, W., Florescu, M., Matsuyama, K., Yadak, P., Nahal, G., Hashemizad, S., … Chaikin, P. (2013). Photonic band gap in isotropic hyperuniform disordered solids with low dielectric contrast. Optics Express, 21(17), 19972. doi:10.1364/oe.21.019972Torquato, S. (2016). Hyperuniformity and its generalizations. Physical Review E, 94(2). doi:10.1103/physreve.94.022122Torquato, S., Zhang, G., & Stillinger, F. H. (2015). Ensemble Theory for Stealthy Hyperuniform Disordered Ground States. Physical Review X, 5(2). doi:10.1103/physrevx.5.021020Leseur, O., Pierrat, R., & Carminati, R. (2016). High-density hyperuniform materials can be transparent. Optica, 3(7), 763. doi:10.1364/optica.3.000763Gkantzounis, G., Amoah, T., & Florescu, M. (2017). Hyperuniform disordered phononic structures. Physical Review B, 95(9). doi:10.1103/physrevb.95.094120Torquato, S., & Stillinger, F. H. (2003). Local density fluctuations, hyperuniformity, and order metrics. Physical Review E, 68(4). doi:10.1103/physreve.68.041113Song, B. H., & Bolton, J. S. (2000). A transfer-matrix approach for estimating the characteristic impedance and wave numbers of limp and rigid porous materials. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 107(3), 1131-1152. doi:10.1121/1.42840