Post-1995 French cinema: return of the social, return of the political?

A key trend in post-1995 French cinema has been the return of the social. Analysing this trend, this article seeks to evaluate its politic impact. Using Hervé Le Roux’s Reprise (1997) and Agnès Varda’s Les Glaneurs et la glaneuse (2000) as key meta-texts, it suggests that the current wave of politically engaged cinema needs to be approached in new ways that recognise how films trace the impact of a politically unmediated, ‘raw’ real on groups or individuals. It further suggests that the withdrawal of political mediation gives the films an essential ambiguity and a melodramatic quality that, rather than mere cliché, may be a privileged way to engage with the violence of the real. Film is now not so much in the van but dans le bain of a diverse socio-political stirring

Effect of antimicrobial use on the resistance of Escherichia coli in faecal flora of pigs

The antimicrobial use in veterinary medicine is of concern because of possible transmisston of resistant bacteria to humans. However the relation between use and occurrence of resistance is poorly documented in the field. Sixteen farrow-to-fimsh herds were selected and classified on the frequency of antimicrobial administrations (low (LU), medium (MU) and high (HU) users). lndtcative Eschenchia coli strains were tsolated from faeces of sows (5 per herd) and young pigs (3 per sow) at several ttmes during animals\u27 hfe and tested for reststance to amoxicillin, gentamicin, trimethoprim-sulfamids and tetracyclin. The percentages of resistant strams were compared between herd groups

Interval Slopes as Numerical Abstract Domain for Floating-Point Variables

The design of embedded control systems is mainly done with model-based tools such as Matlab/Simulink. Numerical simulation is the central technique of development and verification of such tools. Floating-point arithmetic, that is well-known to only provide approximated results, is omnipresent in this activity. In order to validate the behaviors of numerical simulations using abstract interpretation-based static analysis, we present, theoretically and with experiments, a new partially relational abstract domain dedicated to floating-point variables. It comes from interval expansion of non-linear functions using slopes and it is able to mimic all the behaviors of the floating-point arithmetic. Hence it is adapted to prove the absence of run-time errors or to analyze the numerical precision of embedded control systems

The secondary eclipses of WASP-19b as seen by the ASTEP 400 telescope from Antarctica

The ASTEP (Antarctica Search for Transiting ExoPlanets) program was originally aimed at probing the quality of the Dome C, Antarctica for the discovery and characterization of exoplanets by photometry. In the first year of operation of the 40 cm ASTEP 400 telescope (austral winter 2010), we targeted the known transiting planet WASP-19b in order to try to detect its secondary transits in the visible. This is made possible by the excellent sub-millimagnitude precision of the binned data. The WASP-19 system was observed during 24 nights in May 2010. The photometric variability level due to starspots is about 1.8% (peak-to-peak), in line with the SuperWASP data from 2007 (1.4%) and larger than in 2008 (0.07%). We find a rotation period of WASP-19 of 10.7 +/- 0.5 days, in agreement with the SuperWASP determination of 10.5 +/- 0.2 days. Theoretical models show that this can only be explained if tidal dissipation in the star is weak, i.e. the tidal dissipation factor Q'star > 3.10^7. Separately, we find evidence for a secondary eclipse of depth 390 +/- 190 ppm with a 2.0 sigma significance, a phase consistent with a circular orbit and a 3% false positive probability. Given the wavelength range of the observations (420 to 950 nm), the secondary transit depth translates into a day side brightness temperature of 2690(-220/+150) K, in line with measurements in the z' and K bands. The day side emission observed in the visible could be due either to thermal emission of an extremely hot day side with very little redistribution of heat to the night side, or to direct reflection of stellar light with a maximum geometrical albedo Ag=0.27 +/- 0.13. We also report a low-frequency oscillation well in phase at the planet orbital period, but with a lower-limit amplitude that could not be attributed to the planet phase alone, and possibly contaminated with residual lightcurve trends.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics, 13 pages, 13 figure

Interplay of Sugar, Light and Gibberellins in Expression of Rosa hybrida Vacuolar Invertase 1 Regulation

Our previous findings showed that the expression of the Rosa hybrida vacuolar invertase 1 gene (RhVI1) was tightly correlated with the ability of buds to grow out and was under sugar, gibberellin and light control. Here, we aimed to provide an insight into the mechanistic basis of this regulation. In situ hybridization showed that RhVI1 expression was localized in epidermal cells of young leaves of bursting buds. We then isolated a 895 bp fragment of the promoter of RhVI1. In silico analysis identified putative cis-elements involved in the response to sugars, light and gibberellins on its proximal part (595 bp). To carry out functional analysis of the RhVI1 promoter in a homologous system, we developed a direct method for stable transformation of rose cells. 5′ deletions of the proximal promoter fused to the uidA reporter gene were inserted into the rose cell genome to study the cell’s response to exogenous and endogenous stimuli. Deletion analysis revealed that the 468 bp promoter fragment is sufficient to trigger reporter gene activity in response to light, sugars and gibberellins. This region confers sucrose- and fructose-, but not glucose-, responsive activation in the dark. Inversely, the –595 to –468 bp region that carries the sugar-repressive element (SRE) is required to down-regulate the RhVI1 promoter in response to sucrose and fructose in the dark. We also demonstrate that sugar/light and gibberellin/light act synergistically to up-regulate β-glucuronidase (GUS) activity sharply under the control of the 595 bp pRhVI1 region. These results reveal that the 127 bp promoter fragment located between –595 and –468 bp is critical for light and sugar and light and gibberellins to act synergistically

New insights into phloem unloading and expression of sucrose transporters in vegetative sinks of the parasitic plant Phelipanche ramosa L. (Pomel)

The plant-parasitic plant interaction is a interesting model to study sink-source relationship and phloem unloading. The parasitic plants, such as the achlorophyllous plant Phelipanche ramosa, connect to the host phloem through the haustorium and act as supernumerary sinks for the host-derived photoassimilates, primarily sucrose. The application of the fluorescent symplastic tracer, carboxyfluorescein (CF) derived from carboxyfluorescein diacetate (CFDA), to the leaves of the host plant (Brassica napus) showed direct phloem connections at the host-parasite interface. These experiments also evidenced the dominant apoplastic pathway for phloem unloading in major vegetative sinks of the parasite, including tubercles and shoots, except the adventitious root apices. The CF experiments showed also the symplastic isolation of the phloem tissues from the sink tissues in tubercle and shoot of the parasite, then suggesting the pivotal role of sucrose transporters in sucrose unloading in P. ramosa sinks. Three cDNAs encoding sucrose transporters (PrSUT) were isolated from the parasitic plant. PrSUT1 transcripts accumulated at the same level in the tubercle throughout the parasite growth while a significant increase in transcript accumulation occurred after emergence in the flowering shoot, notably in the growing apical part. The in situ hybridization experiments revealed the PrSUT1 transcript accumulation in the mature phloem cells of both subterranean and flowering shoots, as well as in shoot terminal sinks corresponding to apical meristem, scale leaf primordia and immature vasculature. The transient expression experiments in Arabidopsis protoplasts showed that PrSUT1 was localized at the plasma membrane, suggesting its role in phloem functioning and sucrose uptake by the sink cells in P. ramosa. Conversely, the PrSUT2 transcript accumulation was constantly low in tubercles and shoots but PrSUT3 transcripts accumulated markedly in the subterranean and flowering shoots, in concordance with the PrSUT3 mRNA accumulation in multiple sink areas including apical meristem, scale-leaf primordia, immature vasculature and even storage parenchyma. However, the PrSUT3 transcripts did not accumulate in the mature phloem cells. The transient expression experiments in Arabidopsis protoplasts suggested a tonoplast localization of PrSUT3, for which nevertheless the involvement in intracellular sucrose transport needs clarification

Zinc-gallium oxynitride powders: effect of the oxide precursor synthesis route

International audienceZinc-gallium oxynitride powders (ZnGaON) were synthesized by nitridation of ZnGa2O4 oxide precursor obtained by polymeric precursors (PP) and solid state reaction (SSR) methods and the influence of the synthesis route of ZnGa2O4 on the final compound ZnGaON was investigated. Crystalline single phase ZnGa2O4 was obtained at 1100 oC / 12 h by SSR and at 600 oC / 2 h by PP with different grain sizes and specific surface areas according to the synthesis route. After nitridation, ZnGaON oxynitrides with a GaN würtzite-type structure were obtained in both cases, however at lower temperatures for PP samples. The microstructure and the specific surface area were strongly dependent on the oxide synthesis method and on the nitridation temperature (42 m2g-1 and 5 m2g-1 for PP and SSR oxides treated at 700 °C, respectively). The composition analyses showed a strong loss of Zn for the PP samples, favored by the increase of ammonolysis temperature and by the higher specific surface area

Interaction between dislocation and coherent twin boundary by quasicontinuum model

The interaction between lattice dislocations and Coherent Twin Boundary Σ3{111} of copper has been studied using Quasi-Continuum method. The coherent twin boundary provides high barrier to slip transmission. The dislocation pile-up modifies the stress field at its intersection with the grain boundary. A different reaction process compared with the case of single dislocations is noticed. One observes the nucleation of a Lomer-type dislocation with Burgers vector of ½ and its glide on the (100) cube plane in the adjacent grain. This phenomenon has been observed with Transmission Electron Microscopy at room temperature and in other Molecular Dynamics simulations. We also show a novel interaction mechanism between Lomer-type dislocation and Coherent Twin Boundary. This interaction process leaves a dislocation with a Burgers vector coincident with the complete lattice shift of the Coherent Twin Boundary. Quantitative estimation of critical stress for various transmission phenomena is performed by using irial stress. Such information can be used as input for Discrete Dislocation Dynamics model

Microstructure and mechanical behavior of superelastic Ti-24Nb-0.5O and Ti-24Nb-0.5N biomedical alloys

International audienceIn this study, the microstructure and the mechanical properties of two new biocompatible superelastic alloys, Ti-24Nb-0.5O and Ti-24Nb-0.5N (at.%), were investigated. Special attention was focused on the role of O and N addition on α″ formation, supereleastic recovery and mechanical strength by comparison with the Ti-24Nb and Ti-26Nb (at.%) alloy compositions taken as references. Microstructures were characterized by optical microscopy, X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy before and after deformation. The mechanical properties and the superelastic behavior were evaluated by conventional and cyclic tensile tests. High tensile strength, low Young's modulus, rather high superelastic recovery and excellent ductility were observed for both superelastic Ti-24Nb-0.5O and Ti-24Nb-0.5N alloys. Deformation twinning was shown to accommodate the plastic deformation in these alloys and only the {332}〈113〉 twinning system was observed to be activated by electron backscattered diffraction analyses