Compte-rendu atelier n°4 : «Valoriser le patrimoine grâce aux serious games »

Compte-rendu de l\u27atelier intitulé "Valoriser le patrimoine grâce aux serious games" animé par Christophe Monnet, directeur adjoint du centre Erasme

Globalizing the firm through projects : The Case of Renault

Over the past decade, the automotive industry has been the arena of concentration and globalization of firms. While strategies aiming to attain a critical mass through external growth and international expansion programs are not new in this sector, the magnitude and global extent of this movement have reached an unprecedented level during the 1990's. Although this trend would apparently seem homogeneous and guided by a kind of fashion phenomena, a fine-grained analysis of the dynamics of today's firms reveals, instead, a significant variety of patterns. Since the globalization of a firm is just one attribute of its complex identity associating different dimensions, it raises some important questions. How will the globalization issue be articulated with the other key dimensions of a firm? How will this development axis be integrated with the firm's own traditions? In the same way that typologies of organisations have been identified, is it possible to characterise both the diversity of globalization processes and the firm's globalization model? This paper aims to address these questions by analysing the Renault case. Firstly, we provide a conceptual framework based upon organisational learning theories to explain the dynamics of the firm. Secondly, we argue that four globalization trajectories should be distinguished: the traditional model based on the dominant market, globalization through projects, functional lines and platforms. Each trajectory will be described and compared. Finally, in the last section, we illustrate the globalization trajectory through projects with intermediate results of an ongoing research on the Renault and GME partnership for the joint development of a new light commercial vehicle. Using interactive-research methods, the aim of this research is to experiment several organisational devices in order to develop and promote collective competencies in the management of international co-operative projects, throughout the organisation. We conclude by giving some managerial implication of our findings and directions for further research

Growth and adaptation of microorganisms on the cheese surface

Cet article a été publié une nouvelle fois dans le numéro 362 http://femsle.oxfordjournals.org/content/362/1/1.20#sec-1Microbial communities living on cheese surfaces are composed of various bacteria, yeasts and molds that interact together, thus generating the typical sensory properties of a cheese. Physiological and genomic investigations have revealed important functions involved in the ability of microorganisms to establish themselves at the cheese surface. These functions include the ability to use the cheese's main energy sources, to acquire iron, to tolerate low pH at the beginning of ripening and to adapt to high salt concentrations and moisture levels. Horizontal gene transfer events involved in the adaptation to the cheese habitat have been described, both for bacteria and fungi. In the future, in situ microbial gene expression profiling and identification of genes that contribute to strain fitness by massive sequencing of transposon libraries will help us to better understand how cheese surface communities function

Assessment of the microbial diversity at the surface of Livarot cheese using culture-dependent and independent approaches

International audienceThe microbial diversity of the surface of a commercial red-smear cheese, Livarot cheese, sold on the retail market was studied using culture-dependent and independent approaches. Forty yeasts and 40 bacteria from the cheese surface were collected, dereplicated using single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) analysis and identified using rRNA gene sequencing for the culture-dependent approach. The cultureindependent approach involved cloning and sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene and SSCP analysis from total DNA extracted from the cheese. The most dominant bacteria were Microbacterium gubbeenense, Leucobacter komagatae and Gram-negative bacteria from the Gamma-Proteobacteria class. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis was also used to study the cheese microbial diversity with class-level and specific rRNAtargeted probes for bacteria and yeasts, respectively. FISH analysis confirmed that Gamma-Proteobacteria were important microorganisms in this cheese. Four specific FISH probes targeting the dominant yeasts present in the cheese, Candida catenulata, Candida intermedia, Geotrichum spp. and Yarrowia lipolytica, were also designed and evaluated. These probes allowed the detection of these yeasts directly in cheese. The use of the rRNA gene-based approach combined with FISH analysis was useful to investigate the diversity of a surface microbial consortium from cheese

Formation of nanosized hills on Ti3SiC2 oxide layer irradiated with swift heavy ions

International audienceThe Ti3SiC2 refractory compound that combines properties of both metals and ceramics is a fuel cladding candidate under investigation for Gas-cooled Fast Reactor. Its behavior under swift heavy ion irradiation (Xe ions, 92 MeV, 1019 m−2) was investigated. Significant and unexpected surface changes have been highlighted: hills have been observed by AFM on the surface of Ti3SiC2. Such a topographic modification has never been observed in other materials irradiated in similar conditions. The characterization of these hills by both XPS and X-TEM has highlighted that the surface modifications do not appear in Ti3SiC2 but in the amorphous oxide layer located on the sample surface before irradiation. Moreover, the thickness of this oxide layer grew under irradiation dose. The comparison with previous irradiations has led to the conclusion that this surface modification stems from electronic interactions in this amorphous layer, and that there is a threshold in the electronic stopping power to overcome to form hills

Investigation of the adaptation of Lactococcus lactis to isoleucine starvation integrating dynamic transcriptome and proteome information

Background: Amino acid assimilation is crucial for bacteria and this is particularly true for Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB) that are generally auxotroph for amino acids. The global response of the Lmodel Lactococcus lactis ssp. lactis was characterized during progressive isoleucine starvation in batch culture using a chemically defined medium in which isoleucine concentration was fixed so as to become the sole limiting nutriment. Dynamic analyses were performed using transcriptomic and proteomic approaches and the results were analysed conjointly with fermentation kinetic data. Results: The response was first deduced from transcriptomic analysis and corroborated by proteomic results. It occurred progressively and could be divided into three major mechanisms: (i) a global down-regulation of processes linked to bacterial growth and catabolism (transcription, translation, carbon metabolism and transport, pyrimidine and fatty acid metabolism), (ii) a specific positive response related to the limiting nutrient (activation of pathways of carbon or nitrogen metabolism and leading to isoleucine supply) and (iii) an unexpected oxidative stress response (positive regulation of aerobic metabolism, electron transport, thioredoxin metabolism and pyruvate dehydrogenase). The involvement of various regulatory mechanisms during this adaptation was analysed on the basis of transcriptomic data comparisons. The global regulator CodY seemed specifically dedicated to the regulation of isoleucine supply. Other regulations were massively related to growth rate and stringent response. Conclusion: This integrative biology approach provided an overview of the metabolic pathways involved during isoleucine starvation and their regulations. It has extended significantly the physiological understanding of the metabolism of L. lactis ssp. lactis. The approach can be generalised to other conditions and will contribute significantly to the identification of the biological processes involved in complex regulatory networks of micro-organisms

Damages induced by heavy ions in titanium silicon carbide: effects of nuclear and electronic interactions at room temperature

International audienceThanks to their refractoriness, carbides are sensed as fuel coating for the IVth generation of reactors. Among those studied, the Ti3SiC2 ternary compound can be distinguished for its noteworthy mechanical properties: the nanolamellar structure imparts to this material some softness as well as better toughness than other classical carbides such as SiC or TiC. However, under irradiation, its behaviour is still unknown. In order to understand this behaviour, specimens were irradiated with heavy ions of different energies, then characterised. The choice of energies used allowed separation of the effects of nuclear interactions from those of electronic ones

Electron and electron-ion sequential irradiation of borosilicate glasses: Impact of the pre-existing defects

A three-oxide sodium borosilicate glass was irradiated with 2.3 MeV electrons up to 0.15 GGy and 4.6 GGy, and subsequently with 96 MeV Xe ions. The irradiated samples were characterised using Raman spectroscopy, ToF-SIMS, microhardness and surface profilometry. Electron irradiation of the pristine glasses resulted in different structural modifications at the sample surface and in the bulk of the glass, whereas, ion irradiation of either the pristine or bulk of the electron pre-irradiated glasses induced same structural, physical and mechanical property changes. Furthermore, sample surfaces showed a different behaviour than that of the bulk upon subsequent ion irradiation. These results show that the radiation sensitivity of surfaces can significantly vary depending on the type of the irradiation. Therefore, detailed studies aimed at understanding the response of the surfaces to mono and electron-ion double-beam irradiations should be undertaken to address the long-term evolution of the nuclear waste glass matrix surfaces