Political Cycles : The Opposition Advantage

We propose a two dimensional infinite horizon model of public consumption in which investments are decided by a winner-take-all election. Investments in the two public goods create a linkage across periods and parties have different specialities. We show that the incumbent party vote share decreases the longer it stays in power. Parties chances of winning do not converge and, when the median voter is moderate enough, no party can maintain itself in power for ever. Finally, the more parties are specialized and the more public policies have long-term effects, the more political cycles are likely to occur.Cycles, Alternation, Public goods, Advantage, Opposition

Development and assignment of bovine-specific PCR systems for the Texas nomenclature marker genes and isolation of homologous BAC probes

In 1996, Popescu et al. published the Texas standard nomenclature of the bovine karyotype in which 31 marker genes, already mapped in man, were chosen to permit unambiguous identification and numbering of each bovine chromosome. However, specific PCR systems were not available for each marker gene thus preventing the assignment of part of these markers by somatic cell hybrid analysis. In addition, some difficulties remained with the nomenclature of BTA25, BTA27 and BTA29. In this work, specific PCR systems were developed for each of the marker genes except VIL1 (see results), from either existing bovine or human sequences, and a bovine BAC library was screened to obtain the corresponding BAC clones. These PCR systems were used successfully to confirm the assignment of each marker gene (except for LDHA, see results) by analysis on the INRA hamster-bovine somatic cell hybrid panel. The difficulties observed for LDHA and VIL1 are probably due to the fact that these genes belong to large gene families and therefore suggest that they may not be the most appropriate markers for a standardisation effort. This panel of BACs is available to the scientific community and has served as a basis for the establishment of a revised standard nomenclature of bovine chromosomes

Les obstacles à l’apprentissage organisationnel au sein de la sécurité civile : une mise en perspective en termes de gestion des ressources humaines

L’objet de cette contribution est d’identifier un certain nombre de facteurs « humains » qui font obstacle à l’apprentissage organisationnel au sein de la sécurité civile. Notre intérêt se porte sur la première étape du processus d’apprentissage à savoir la perception d’une erreur par au moins un acteur en situation (Argyris, Schön, Senge). A partir de l’observation in situ d’une opération d’un Service Secours Incendie suite à un départ de feu dans le Sud de la France, nous avons pu identifier quatre registres qui peuvent constituer autant d’obstacles à l’apprentissage organisationnel. Le premier est relatif au décalage entre l’activité exercée par un acteur et son projet de vie, le second s’intéresse au décalage entre la nature du projet et le style de l’acteur, le troisième se situe en rapport avec les écarts en terme de savoir-faire entre ce que nécessite la situation et ce que possède l’acteur en situation et le quatrième est relatif au contexte collectif non propre à permettre l’échange et le dialogue vis-à-vis de la situation. En conclusion nous proposerons quelques pistes en matière de gestion des ressources humaines pour tenter de pallier ces obstacles.This contribution identifies several human factors which represent some limits for an organizational learning in a fire and rescue services. We are interested in the first stage of organizational learning process with the perception of error by an actor in situation (Argyris, Schön, Senge). This research is based on an observation “in situ” (inside a group) of a fire forest operation in French Riviera. We identify four registers which represent limits of an organizational learning. The first register is concerning differences between actor’s activity and his own life project. We want to study the motivation and the implication of an actor within his activity. The second one is interested in relation between actor’s culture and the kind of project. The third one is concerning the know-how to act in situation. We want study differences between the know-how required to act and the human skills in situation. The fourth register is interested in the community’s environment and the collective context. There are some specific conditions which improve organizational learning as social interactions (communication) and common culture. To finish, we present some tracks for a management in specific situations and we try to mitigate these limits for a better organizational learning in risk organizations

Primary total knee arthroplasty in hemophilic arthropathy

Advanced hemophilic knee arthropathy is a frequent and devastating manifestation of severe hemophilia with significant implications for activities of daily living. Hemophilic arthropathy is caused by repeated bleeding, resulting in joint degeneration, pain, deformity and disability. In patients with hemophilia and advanced disease, total knee arthroplasty (TKA) has proven to be the most successful intervention, improves physical function and reduces knee pain. Hemophilic patients carry additional risks for complications and required specific pre/ postoperative considerations. Expert treatment center should be used to improve patient outcome. Hemophilic patients present significant surgical challenges such as joint destruction, bone loss, severe ankylosis and oligoarticular involvement. The surgeon performing the arthroplasty must be experienced to manage such problems

Construction and characterization of a bovine BAC library with four genome-equivalent coverage

A bovine artificial chromosome (BAC) library of 105 984 clones has been constructed in the vector pBeloBAC11 and organized in 3-dimension pools and high density membranes for screening by PCR and hybridization. The average insert size, determined after analysis of 388 clones, was estimated at 120 kb corresponding to a four genome coverage. Given the fact that a male was used to construct the library, the probability of finding any given autosomal and X or Y locus is respectively 0.98 and 0.86. The library was screened for 164 microsatellite markers and an average of 3.9 superpools was positive for each PCR system. None of the 50 or so BAC clones analysed by FISH was chimeric. This BAC library increases the international genome coverage for cattle to around 28 genome equivalents and extends the coverage of the ruminant genomes available at the Inra resource center to 15 genome equivalents

Numerical modelling of long flexible fibers in homogeneous isotropic turbulence

We numerically investigated the transport, deformation and buckling events of an isolated elastic fiber in Taylor-Green vortices and studied the dynamics of long filaments in homogeneous isotropic turbulence. The fiber is modelled by an assembly of spherical beads. The contact between beads enforces the inextensibility of the filament while bending is accounted for by the Gears Bead Model (GBM) proposed by Delmotte et al. (2015). In the cellular Taylor-Green flow, the buckling probability is a function of a dimensionless number, called Sperm number, which is a balance between the compression rate of the flow and the elastic response of the filament. The shapes of the filament and its ability to buckle have been successfully validated through comparisons with experiments from the work by Quennouz et al. (2015). The deformation statistics of long flexible fibers in sustained homogeneous isotropic turbulence were analyzed for various flow and fiber material conditions. Two regimes have been identified depending on the ratio of fiber length to persistence length which is a measure of turbulent forcing to flexibility. The numerical results are in good agreement with existing experimental data (C. Brouzet et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 074501 (2014)) validating the assumptions of our model for the configurations we investigated

Intercomparison exercise on difficult to measure radionuclides in activated steel : statistical analysis of radioanalytical results and activation calculations

This paper reports the results obtained during an intercomparison exercise for the determination of difficult to measure radionuclides in activated reactor pressure vessel (RPV) steel samples. In total, eight laboratories participated analysing 14C, 55Fe and 63Ni activity concentrations in RPV steel. In addition, some laboratories also analysed 60Co activity concentrations. Corresponding activity concentrations were also determined using activation calculations. Robust statistical techniques were utilised for the analysis of the results according to ISO 13528 standard. The results showed good agreement for 55Fe and 63Ni results whereas 14C results had significant differences. 60Co results were in quite good agreement.Peer reviewe