Deux nouvelles stations rupestres du «Camélin récent» dans le Faguibine et les Daounas (Sahel malien)

International audienc

Deux nouvelles stations rupestres du «Camélin récent» dans le Faguibine et les Daounas (Sahel malien)

International audienc

Deux nouvelles stations rupestres du «Camélin récent» dans le Faguibine et les Daounas (Sahel malien)

International audienc

Factors of the evolution of fatigue dimensions in patients with breast cancer during the 2 years after surgery

International audienc

International and EU legal frameworks of aviation security

Chapter 4 stresses the intrinsic international nature of air transport and travel and the consequent need to implement a common legal framework. The legal initiatives related to aviation security started to emerge in the 1960s as an answer to the first wave of hijackings and were substantiated in the Tokyo Convention in 1963. Subsequent terrorist related hijackings led to the Hague and Montreal Conventions. The consequent regulations were changed in the decade following the tragic events of September 11, 2001 by enhancing the security protocols within the aircrafts and at the airports. Such measures should be commensurate with the risks and should take into account cost-benefit ratio analyses. The chapter then considers the EU regulations for aviation security since the September 11 events. A further section of the chapter discusses the passenger name records that started as a commercial initiative and were converted to a security protocol since 2004

Sites de pêche dans la région du Lac Faguibine à la transition Néolithique-Protohistoire

Le lac Faguibine est lié au complexe hydrologique du Delta intérieur du Niger au Mali. Un ancien défluent du lac, connu sous le nom de « canal de Sonni Ali », se prolonge vers l'ouest. Sur les dunes de sa rive nord, il y a de nombreux sites néolithiques tardifs et protohistoriques. La région a été densément occupée au moment où les crues du Niger alimentaient régulièrement le lac. La céramique abondante montre des affinités avec les faciès culturels néolithiques du Mema au Mali. Les poissons dominent les restes fauniques et caractérisent les sites de pêche périodiques, bien que les activités de chasse et d’élevage soient également attestées.Lake Faguibine is linked to the complex watersystem of the Niger Inland Delta in Mali. A former outlet, the “Sonni Ali channel”, extends westwards to the lake depression. Late Neolithic and Protohistoric sites are established on the dune field of its northern shore. The region was densely occupied at the time when the floods of the Niger were feeding the watercourse. The abundant ceramic shows affinities with the Late Neolithic cultural facies of the Mema in Mali. The remains of fish as the dominating fauna characterize sites of periodic fishing, although hunting and breeding activities are also established

Mio-Plio-Pleistocene geology and palaeobiology of Etosha Pan, Namibia

International audienceEtosha Pan, northern Namibia, at nearly 5,000 km', is one of the largest in the world. A major hurdle to understanding the geological history of Etosha Pan has been the lack of dated horizons in the local stratigraphic record. We here report the discovery of fossil plants, invertebrates and vertebrates at several distinct horizons within the pan and its immediate vicinity, which reveal the presence of deposits ranging in age from Late Miocene to Late Pleistocene. Most of the floor of the pan consists of Late Miocene deposits whereas in islands and ridges within the pan and along its margins there occurs a discontinuous deposit of Pliocene, Pleistocene sediments up to 20 metres thick. Finally, there are discontinuous patches of green silts on Pelican Island at an altitude of ca 1093 metres, some 8-10 metres above the floor of the pan, which attest to a Late Pleistocene lacustrine episode. Similar aged deposits at the western end of Oshigambo Peninsula has yielded a rich and diverse mammalian fauna containing remains of the aquaphile bovid Tragelaphus spekei (the sitatunga). The discovery of Mio-Pliocene fossils in Elosha is important as it helps to fill whal used to be a large geographic gap in the African palaeonlological map of this epoch. Laie Miocene sites in particular, are poorly represented over much of the continent, being concentrated in the rift valleys of East Africa, the Chad basin, the Maghreb and north African littoral zone.

Advances in 3D imaging and volumetric reconstruction of fluid and melt inclusions by high resolution X-ray computed tomography

Fluid and melt inclusions are tiny pockets of fluid and melt trapped in natural and synthetic minerals. Characterizing the 3D distribution of fluid and melt inclusions within minerals, their shape and the volume fraction of their different phases is crucial for determining the conditions of crystal growth and paleostress analysis. However, their relatively small size (typically 5 to 100 μm), complex shape, heterogeneous content, the opaque nature of some host minerals and projection bias frequently hamper accurate imaging and volumetric reconstruction using conventional microscopic techniques. High resolution X-ray computed tomography (HRXCT) is a non-destructive method which uses contrasts of X-ray attenuation in a series of contiguous radiographs with different view angles to reconstruct the 3D distribution of areas of different densities within a large variety of materials. In this work, we show the capabilities of HRXCT for: (i) imaging the 3D distribution of aqueous and hydrocarbon-bearing fluid inclusions and silicate melt inclusions in a crystal; (ii) characterizing the shape of fluid and melt inclusions and (iii) reconstructing the total volume and the volume of the different phases (liquid, glass, crystal, vapor) of fluid and melt inclusions. We have used a variety of hand specimens and chips of transparent and opaque minerals (olivine, quartz, feldspar, garnet, emerald, wolframite), that we analyzed using three different HRXCT setups. When a resolution of ~1 μm3/voxel is achieved, HRXCT allows identifying >5 μm fluid inclusions, and the identification and volumetric reconstruction of the different phases can be carried out with reasonable confidence for relatively large (>25 μm) inclusions. Density contrasts are high enough to properly identify: (i) a silicate melt inclusion, and its different phases (glass, vapor and crystals such as clinopyroxene and spinel) in an olivine crystal; (ii) aqueous monophase (liquid) and two-phase (liquid + vapor) fluid inclusions in transparent and opaque minerals (quartz, garnet, emerald, wolframite). In the case of hydrocarbon-bearing fluid inclusions containing a vapor phase and two liquid phases (oil and aqueous solution), the two liquid phases could not be distinguished from each other. Volumetric reconstruction of liquid and vapor phases of aqueous and hydrocarbon-bearing fluid inclusions show compatible results with independent calculations using known pressure, temperature, molar volume and composition (P-T-V-x) conditions of trapping or imaging using confocal laser scanning microscopy respectively. Collectively, our results show that HRXCT is a promising tool for non-destructive characterization of fluid and melt inclusions

Large-Scale Modeling Approach Reveals Functional Metabolic Shifts during Hepatic Differentiation

International audienceBeing able to explore the metabolism of broad metabolizing cells is of critical importance in many research fields. This article presents an original modeling solution combining metabolic network and omics data to identify modulated metabolic pathways and changes in metabolic functions occurring during differentiation of a human hepatic cell line (HepaRG). Our results confirm the activation of hepato-specific functionalities and newly evidence modulation of other metabolic pathways, which could not be evidenced from transcriptomic data alone. Our method takes advantage of the network structure to detect changes in metabolic pathways that do not have gene annotations and exploits flux analyses techniques to identify activated metabolic functions. Compared to the usual cell-specific metabolic network reconstruction approaches, it limits false predictions by considering several possible network configurations to represent one phenotype rather than one arbitrarily selected network. Our approach significantly enhances the comprehensive and functional assessment of cell metabolism, opening further perspectives to investigate metabolic shifts occurring within various biological contexts