Local food systems in Walloon Region (Belgium): definition and trends in supply and demand

Local food systems are one solution to promote local products in different ways and particularly by bringing together producers and consumers. This paper follows different purposes. The term “local food systems†will be defined as systems mobilizing not more than one intermediate person in a local area, where the exchanges must be monetized and where a relationship between the producer and the consumer is established. Then, a classification of the various initiatives of local food systems will be proposed. Thereafter the results of two studies conducted in the Walloon Region will be presented. The first study was conducted in Wallonia and Brussels in 2010 by the CRIOC to assess consumers’ perceptions and expectations of local products marketing using local food systems. The second one was conducted in 2010 to establish an inventory of local food systems in the Province of Namur. It had four main objectives: to describe categories of local food systems used, to give an overview of products supply, to understand main difficulties encountered by producers and to give benchmarks for the installation. The paper concludes that local food systems provide a wide diversity of selling networks which can be used. However, it is not easy for producers to meet consumers’ needs for local agricultural produce. The paper also puts emphasis on the necessity of including many fields of action to develop local food systems.

Local food systems in Walloon Region (Belgium): definition and trends in supply and demand

Local food systems are one solution to promote local products in different ways and particularly by bringing together producers and consumers. This paper follows different purposes. The term “local food systems” will be defined as systems mobilizing not more than one intermediate person in a local area, where the exchanges must be monetized and where a relationship between the producer and the consumer is established. Then, a classification of the various initiatives of local food systems will be proposed. Thereafter the results of two studies conducted in the Walloon Region will be presented. The first study was conducted in Wallonia and Brussels in 2010 by the CRIOC to assess consumers’ perceptions and expectations of local products marketing using local food systems. The second one was conducted in 2010 to establish an inventory of local food systems in the Province of Namur. It had four main objectives: to describe categories of local food systems used, to give an overview of products supply, to understand main difficulties encountered by producers and to give benchmarks for the installation. The paper concludes that local food systems provide a wide diversity of selling networks which can be used. However, it is not easy for producers to meet consumers’ needs for local agricultural produce. The paper also puts emphasis on the necessity of including many fields of action to develop local food systems.Peer reviewe

Conditions d’émergence du projet personnel de l’étudiant au sein de situations d’apprentissage formel

Le projet personnel de l’étudiant a déjà fait l’objet, par le passé, de beaucoup de travaux, mais peu de ceux-ci ont posé la question de l’émergence de ce projet personnel dans un contexte d’apprentissage formel. La recherche empirique, référée ici au champ des théories socio-cognitives de la motivation, a utilisé la technique des incidents critiques pour mettre en évidence les conditions d’émergence ou d’inhibition des projets personnels des étudiants dans un tel contexte. L’analyse des résultats obtenus montre que les situations d’apprentissage formel dans l’enseignement supérieur donnent, mais à certaines conditions, la possibilité aux étudiants de justifier leurs projets personnels en termes d’autonomie, de maîtrise, d’intérêt relationnel et d’intérêt situationnel.In the past, numerous studies have been carried out on the student’s personal project. Few of them, however, have examined the emergence of the student’s personal project in a context of formal learning. The present empirical research, referring to socio-cognitive theories of motivation, has applied the method of critical incidents to highlight conditions that facilitate or inhibit the emergence of the student’s personal project. The results shows that formal learning situations in higher education support, albeit under particular conditions, students in expliciting their personal project in terms of autonomy, mastery, relational and situational interest

Conditions d’émergence du projet personnel de l’étudiant au sein de situations d’apprentissage formel

Le projet personnel de l’étudiant a déjà fait l’objet, par le passé, de beaucoup de travaux, mais peu de ceux-ci ont posé la question de l’émergence de ce projet personnel dans un contexte d’apprentissage formel. La recherche empirique, référée ici au champ des théories socio-cognitives de la motivation, a utilisé la technique des incidents critiques pour mettre en évidence les conditions d’émergence ou d’inhibition des projets personnels des étudiants dans un tel contexte. L’analyse des résultats obtenus montre que les situations d’apprentissage formel dans l’enseignement supérieur donnent, mais à certaines conditions, la possibilité aux étudiants de justifier leurs projets personnels en termes d’autonomie, de maîtrise, d’intérêt relationnel et d’intérêt situationnel.In the past, numerous studies have been carried out on the student’s personal project. Few of them, however, have examined the emergence of the student’s personal project in a context of formal learning. The present empirical research, referring to socio-cognitive theories of motivation, has applied the method of critical incidents to highlight conditions that facilitate or inhibit the emergence of the student’s personal project. The results shows that formal learning situations in higher education support, albeit under particular conditions, students in expliciting their personal project in terms of autonomy, mastery, relational and situational interest

A Flexible Framework for Studying Trace-Based Just-In-Time Compilation

Just-in-time compilation has proven an effective, though effort-intensive, choice for realizing performant language runtimes. Recently introduced JIT compilation frameworks advocate applying meta-compilation techniques such as partial evaluation or meta-tracing on simple interpreters to reduce the implementation effort. However, such frameworks are few and far between. Designed and highly optimized for performance, they are difficult to experiment with. We therefore present STRAF, a minimalistic yet flexible Scala framework for studying trace-based JIT compilation. STRAF is sufficiently general to support a diverse set of language interpreters, but also sufficiently extensible to enable experiments with trace recording and optimization. We demonstrate the former by plugging two different interpreters into STRAF. We demonstrate the latter by extending STRAF with e.g., constant folding and type-specialization optimizations, which are commonly found in dedicated trace-based JIT compilers. The evaluation shows that STRAF is suitable for prototyping new techniques and formalisms in the domain of trace-based JIT compilation

The P446L variant in GCKR associated with fasting plasma glucose and triglyceride levels exerts its effect through increased glucokinase activity in liver

Genome-wide association studies have identified a number of signals for both Type 2 Diabetes and related quantitative traits. For the majority of loci, the transition from association signal to mutational mechanism has been difficult to establish. Glucokinase (GCK) regulates glucose storage and disposal in the liver where its activity is regulated by glucokinase regulatory protein (GKRP; gene name GCKR). Fructose-6 and fructose-1 phosphate (F6P and F1P) enhance or reduce GKRP-mediated inhibition, respectively. A common GCKR variant (P446L) is reproducibly associated with triglyceride and fasting plasma glucose levels in the general population. The aim of this study was to determine the mutational mechanism responsible for this genetic association. Recombinant human GCK and both human wild-type (WT) and P446L-GKRP proteins were generated. GCK kinetic activity was observed spectrophotometrically using an NADP+-coupled assay. WT and P446L-GKRP-mediated inhibition of GCK activity and subsequent regulation by phosphate esters were determined. Assays matched for GKRP activity demonstrated no difference in dose-dependent inhibition of GCK activity or F1P-mediated regulation. However, the response to physiologically relevant F6P levels was significantly attenuated with P446L-GKRP (n = 18; P ≤ 0.03). Experiments using equimolar concentrations of both regulatory proteins confirmed these findings (n = 9; P < 0.001). In conclusion, P446L-GKRP has reduced regulation by physiological concentrations of F6P, resulting indirectly in increased GCK activity. Altered GCK regulation in liver is predicted to enhance glycolytic flux, promoting hepatic glucose metabolism and elevating concentrations of malonyl-CoA, a substrate for de novo lipogenesis, providing a mutational mechanism for the reported association of this variant with raised triglycerides and lower glucose levels