416 research outputs found
Does psychological Profile has something to do with satisfaction ? A French retailing Franchisees study
The main purpose of this study is to analyse the relationship between franchisee\u27s personality and franchisee\u27s satisfaction. A sample of 400 French franchisees concerning different sectors is analysed in detail. In the first part of the article, the methodology is presented. Then, theoretical framework concerning satisfaction and personality is developed. Different hypotheses are justified crossing the MSQ scale and the big four model. Conscientiousness seems to be the most predictive factor for satisfaction and results show that the other Big-Five traits are specific in several sectors
P18-01. Exquisite specificity of CTL response to the M184V mutation
International audiencen.
Substrate-controlled allotropic phases and growth orientation of TiO2 epitaxial thin films
International audienceTiO2 thin films were grown by pulsed laser deposition on a wide variety of oxide single-crystal substrates and characterized in detail by four-circle X-ray diffraction. Films grown at 873 K on (100)-oriented SrTiO3 and LaAlO3 were (001)-oriented anatase, while on (100) MgO they were (100)-oriented. On (110) SrTiO3 and MgO, (102) anatase was observed. On M-plane and R-plane sapphire, (001)- and (101)-oriented rutile films were obtained, respectively. On C-plane sapphire, the coexistence of (001) anatase, (112) anatase and (100) rutile was found; increasing the deposition temperature tended to increase the rutile proportion. Similarly, films grown at 973 K on (100) and (110) MgO showed the emergence, besides anatase, of (110) rutile. All these films were epitaxically grown, as shown by ' scans and/or pole figures, and the various observed orientations were explained on the basis of misfit considerations and interface arrangement
A birational mapping with a strange attractor: Post critical set and covariant curves
We consider some two-dimensional birational transformations. One of them is a
birational deformation of the H\'enon map. For some of these birational
mappings, the post critical set (i.e. the iterates of the critical set) is
infinite and we show that this gives straightforwardly the algebraic covariant
curves of the transformation when they exist. These covariant curves are used
to build the preserved meromorphic two-form. One may have also an infinite post
critical set yielding a covariant curve which is not algebraic (transcendent).
For two of the birational mappings considered, the post critical set is not
infinite and we claim that there is no algebraic covariant curve and no
preserved meromorphic two-form. For these two mappings with non infinite post
critical sets, attracting sets occur and we show that they pass the usual tests
(Lyapunov exponents and the fractal dimension) for being strange attractors.
The strange attractor of one of these two mappings is unbounded.Comment: 26 pages, 11 figure
fpocket: online tools for protein ensemble pocket detection and tracking
Computational small-molecule binding site detection has several important applications in the biomedical field. Notable interests are the identification of cavities for structure-based drug discovery or functional annotation of structures. fpocket is a small-molecule pocket detection program, relying on the geometric α-sphere theory. The fpocket web server allows: (i) candidate pocket detectionâfpocket; (ii) pocket tracking during molecular dynamics, in order to provide insights into pocket dynamicsâmdpocket; and (iii) a transposition of mdpocket to the combined analysis of homologous structuresâhpocket. These complementary online tools allow to tackle various questions related to the identification and annotation of functional and allosteric sites, transient pockets and pocket preservation within evolution of structural families. The server and documentation are freely available at http://bioserv.rpbs.univ-paris-diderot.fr/fpocket
Deep-water oyster cliffs at La Chapelle Bank (Celtic Margin)
The maiden voyage of Ghent Universityâs ROV GENESIS on-board R/V Belgica (13-20 June 2006) has succeeded in contributing to several objectives of the EU-projects HERMES and EURODOM, as well as of the ESF Euromargins project MoundForce. After several trials in the Bay of Douarnenez, GENESIS made its first deep-water survey dives off the Banc de la Chapelle, on the Celtic margin, down to 700 m. The French canyon system near the Banc de la Chapelle offered a perfect location for rigorous trials of GENESIS: reported cold-water coral finds, rugged topography and hydrodynamics in a setting linking the shelf seas to the deep marine realm. The area was first surveyed using R/V Belgicaâs multibeam echosounder, imaging deep canyons and thalweg channels between prominent spurs where corals had been reported. High resolution seismic sparker lines provided a geological context and linked in to the existing seismostratigraphy.Two successful dives revealed a sandy-muddy seabed with curious bedforms and erosion exposing consolidated sedimentary sequences, often cut by vertical cliffs up to 10m high. At the base of the cliffs, fallen blocks provided settlement sites for sessile organisms whilst the cliffs and protruding banks revealed dense communities of unidentified giant ostreidae (probably Neopycnodonte sp) forming 3D assemblage with occasional cold-water coral colonies (Lophelia pertusa). Though deep-water âoyster banksâ of Neopyncodonte cochlear had already been reported in the Bay of Biscay by ..Le Danois (1948) based on dredges, these dramatic seascapes had remained largely hidden to the human eye up to now
Online Monitoring of the Osiris Reactor with the Nucifer Neutrino Detector
Originally designed as a new nuclear reactor monitoring device, the Nucifer
detector has successfully detected its first neutrinos. We provide the second
shortest baseline measurement of the reactor neutrino flux. The detection of
electron antineutrinos emitted in the decay chains of the fission products,
combined with reactor core simulations, provides an new tool to assess both the
thermal power and the fissile content of the whole nuclear core and could be
used by the Inter- national Agency for Atomic Energy (IAEA) to enhance the
Safeguards of civil nuclear reactors. Deployed at only 7.2m away from the
compact Osiris research reactor core (70MW) operating at the Saclay research
centre of the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA),
the experiment also exhibits a well-suited configuration to search for a new
short baseline oscillation. We report the first results of the Nucifer
experiment, describing the performances of the 0.85m3 detector remotely
operating at a shallow depth equivalent to 12m of water and under intense
background radiation conditions. Based on 145 (106) days of data with reactor
ON (OFF), leading to the detection of an estimated 40760 electron
antineutrinos, the mean number of detected antineutrinos is 281 +- 7(stat) +-
18(syst) electron antineutrinos/day, in agreement with the prediction 277(23)
electron antineutrinos/day. Due the the large background no conclusive results
on the existence of light sterile neutrinos could be derived, however. As a
first societal application we quantify how antineutrinos could be used for the
Plutonium Management and Disposition Agreement.Comment: 22 pages, 16 figures - Version
Meso-zooplankton structure and functioning in the western tropical South Pacific along the 20th parallel south during the OUTPACE survey (FebruaryâApril 2015)
The western tropical South Pacific (WTSP) is one of the most understudied
oceanic regions in terms of the planktonic food web, despite supporting some
of the largest tuna fisheries in the world. In this stratified oligotrophic
ocean, nitrogen fixation may play an important role in supporting the
plankton food web and higher trophic level production. In the austral summer
(FebruaryâApril) of 2015, the OUTPACE (Oligotrophy to UlTra-oligotrophy
PACific Experiment) project conducted a comprehensive survey of 4000 km
along 20â S, from New Caledonia to Tahiti, to determine the role of
N2 fixation on biogeochemical cycles and food web structure in this
region. Here, we characterize the zooplankton community and plankton food web
processes at 15 short-duration stations (8 h each) to describe the
large-scale variability across trophic gradients from oligotrophic waters
around Melanesian archipelagoes (MAs) to ultra-oligotrophic waters of the
South Pacific gyre (GY). Three long-duration stations (5Â days each) enabled a
more detailed analysis of processes and were positioned (1)Â in offshore
northern waters of New Caledonia (MA), (2)Â near Niue Island (MA), and (3)Â in
the subtropical Pacific gyre (GY) near the Cook Islands. At all stations,
meso-zooplankton was sampled with a bongo net with 120 ”m mesh size
to estimate abundance, biomass, community taxonomy and size structure, and
size fractionated ÎŽ15N. Subsequently, we estimated zooplankton
carbon demand, grazing impact, excretion rates, and the contribution of
diazotroph-derived nitrogen (DDN) to zooplankton biomass. The
meso-zooplankton community showed a general decreasing trend in abundance and
biomass from west to east, with a clear drop in the GY waters. Higher
abundance and biomass corresponded to higher primary production associated
with complex mesoscale circulation in the Coral Sea and between
170â180â W. The taxonomic structure showed a high degree of
similarity in terms of species richness and abundance distribution across the
whole region, with, however, a moderate difference in the GY region, where
the copepod contribution to meso-zooplankton increased. The calculated
ingestion and metabolic rates allowed us to estimate that the topâdown
(grazing) and bottomâup (excretion of nitrogen and phosphorous) impact of
zooplankton on phytoplankton was potentially high. Daily grazing pressure on
phytoplankton stocks was estimated to remove 19 % to 184 % of the
total daily primary production and 1.5 % to 22 % of fixed N2.
The topâdown impact of meso-zooplankton was higher in the eastern part of
the transect, including GY, than in the Coral Sea region and was mainly
exerted on nano- and micro-phytoplankton. The regeneration of nutrients by
zooplankton excretion was high, suggesting a strong contribution to
regenerated production, particularly in terms of N. Daily NH4+
excretion accounted for 14.5 % to 165 % of phytoplankton needs for N,
whereas PO43- excretion accounted for only 2.8 % to 34 %
of P needs. From zooplankton ÎŽ15N values, we estimated that
the DDN contributed to up to 67 % and 75 % to the zooplankton biomass
in the western and central parts of the MA regions, respectively, but
strongly decreased to an average of 22 % in the GY region and down to
7 % in the easternmost station. Thus, the highest contribution of
diazotrophic microorganisms to zooplankton biomass occurred in the region of
highest N2 fixation rates and when Trichodesmium dominated
the diazotrophs community (MA waters). Our estimations of the fluxes
associated with zooplankton were highly variable between stations and zones
but very high in most cases compared to literature data, partially due to the
high contribution of small forms. The highest values encountered were found
at the boundary between the oligotrophic (MA) and ultra-oligotrophic regions
(GY). Within the MA zone, the high variability of the topâdown and
bottomâup impact was related to the high mesoscale activity in the physical
environment. Estimated zooplankton respiration rates relative to primary
production were among the highest cited values at similar latitudes, inducing
a high contribution of migrant zooplankton respiration to carbon flux.
Despite the relatively low biomass values of planktonic components in
quasi-steady state, the availability of micro- and macronutrients related to
physical mesoscale patterns in the waters surrounding the MA, the fueling by
DDN, and the relatively high rates of plankton production and metabolism
estimated during OUTPACE may explain the productive food chain ending with
valuable fisheries in this region.</p
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