SurVegE-logiciel pour le suivi de la végétation en parcelles permanentes

UniVegE, Clermont Auvergne University, conducts research relating to the characterization of natural and anthropized habitats, from plant bio-indicators, for the purpose of management and conservation. Since 2005, this work has been supplemented by research and expertise relating to the diagnosis and monitoring of natural areas on permanent plots and along transects, on behalf of environmental partners: Regional nature parks, Espaces Naturels Sensibles of the departement 63, Clermont-Auvergne metropole ... In this context 51 permanent plots have been set up in natural areas of the Massif central, territories of local authorities and/or protected areas. This experience made it possible to test new monitoring methods to concretely respond to managers’ questions and lead to the development of the SurVegE software.SurVegE (SURvey VEGetation Ecology) is an assistance software for the operator who manages natural areas. It allows, from floristic surveys carried out on bounded and geore­ferenced permanent plots, to characterize the floristic and ecological changes occurring between several years. The data analysis, integrated into the software and based on the values of benchmarks assigned to plant species, directly provides the comparative results quantified and illustrated, in the form of diagrams, figures and tables.We will present here some features of the software, taking as an example concrete cases of studies carried out in the field. The sites selected correspond to different types of habitats and have been the subject of either initial reports or comparative diachronic analyses.UniVegE, Université Clermont Auvergne, conduit des recherches qui ont trait à la caractérisation des habitats naturels et anthropisés, à partir des bio-indicateurs végétaux, dans une finalité de gestion et de conservation. Depuis 2005, ces travaux ont été complétés par des recherches et expertises portant sur le diagnostic et le suivi d’espaces naturels sur des parcelles permanentes et le long de transects, pour le compte de partenaires de l’environnement : Parcs naturels régionaux, Espaces Naturels Sensibles du département 63, Clermont-Auvergne métropole… Dans ce cadre 51 parcelles permanentes ont été mises en place dans des espaces naturels du Massif central, territoires de collectivités territoriales et/ou aires protégées. Cette expérience a permis de tester de nouvelles méthodes de suivi pour répondre concrètement aux questionnements des gestionnaires et déboucher sur l’élaboration du logiciel SurVegE.SurVegE (SURveillance VÉGétation Écologie) est un logiciel d’assistance à l’opérateur gestionnaire d’espaces naturels. Il permet, à partir de relevés floristiques effectués sur des parcelles permanentes bornées et géoréférencées, de caractériser les changements floristiques et écologiques intervenus entre plusieurs années. L’analyse des données, intégrée dans le logiciel et basée sur des valeurs d’indices de référence affectés aux espèces végétales, fournit directement les résultats comparatifs chiffrés et illustrés, sous forme de diagrammes, figures et tableaux.Nous allons présenter ici certaines fonctionnalités du logiciel en prenant comme exemple des cas concrets d’études menées sur le terrain. Les sites sélectionnés correspondent à différents types d’habitats et ont fait l’objet soit d’états initiaux, soit d’analyses diachroniques comparatives

Educational photocopying in French secondary schools: How does a technology adjust the content being taught to students' reading and writing skills?

Among the documents consulted, adapted and produced by teachers, pedagogical photocopies are particular objects. First, because they are documents most often created by teachers. Then, because they are primarily destined for their students. These documents are part of a complex process that is strongly linked to contextual elements such as curriculum, textbooks, classroom dynamics and school set-up. In the framework of the ReVEA project (www.anr-revea.fr), inspired by Horsley (2012) and Horsley & Walker (2011), a quantitative study on pedagogical photocopying was conducted (Boelaert & Khaneboubi, 2016), in which 46 French upper secondary school teachers were interviewed about how they conceive of and use photocopying for their students. In what part of their teaching strategies are photocopies used? Why is it impossible to avoid using photocopies? How flexible are photocopies in the classroom? What types of documents and documentary techniques are used? According to the teachers, the content of a photocopy is based on sample textbooks and documents found by using Google search. Analysis of the interviews suggests that photocopies are hand-crafted, tailor-made, modifiable and ephemeral textbooks. The most important criterion that guides the teaching strategy and best explains the importance and nature of photocopies is students’ reading and writing skills. Depending on whether students need to practice reading, writing or being ‘active’, teachers implement a teaching strategy based on the production of a document. When students are good readers/writers, support becomes invisible and teaching is dedicated only on content. Moreover, these documents are a way of managing the class and the activities of the students.Entre los documentos consultados, adaptados y producidos por los profesores, las fotocopias pedagógicas son objetos particulares. En primer lugar, porque son los documentos creados por mayor frecuencia por los profesores. Tambien porque están destinadas principalmente a sus alumnos. Estos documentos forman parte de un proceso complejo que está fuertemente ligado a elementos contextuales como el currículo, los libros de texto, la dinámica del aula y la organización de la escuela. En el marco del proyecto ReVEA (www.anr-revea.fr), inspirado en Horsley (2012) y Horsley & Walker (2011), se realizó un estudio cuantitativo sobre la fotocopia pedagógica (Boelaert & Khaneboubi, 2016), en el que se entrevistó a 46 profesores franceses de enseñanza secundaria superior sobre cómo conciben y utilizan la fotocopia para sus alumnos. ¿En qué parte de sus estrategias pedagógicas se utilizan las fotocopias? ¿Por qué es imposible evitar el uso de las fotocopias? ¿Qué tan flexibles son las fotocopias en el salón de clases? ¿Qué tipo de documentos y técnicas documentales se utilizan? De acuerdo con los profesores, el contenido de una fotocopia se basa en ejemplos de libros de texto y documentos encontrados mediante la búsqueda en Google. El análisis de las entrevistas sugiere que las fotocopias son libros de texto artesanales, hechos a medida, modificables y efímeros. El criterio más importante que guía la estrategia de enseñanza y que mejor explica la importancia y la naturaleza de las fotocopias es la capacidad de la lectura y escritura de los estudiantes. Dependiendo de la necesidad de los estudiantes de practicar la lectura, la escritura o ser "activos", los maestros implementan una estrategia de enseñanza basada en la producción de un documento. Cuando los estudiantes son buenos lectores/escritores, el apoyo se vuelve invisible y la enseñanza se dedica sólo al contenido. Además, estos documentos son una forma de gestionar la clase y las actividades de los estudiantes

Recent and Ancient Signature of Balancing Selection around the S-Locus in Arabidopsis halleri and A. lyrata

Balancing selection can maintain different alleles over long evolutionary times. Beyond this direct effect on the molecular targets of selection, balancing selection is also expected to increase neutral polymorphism in linked genome regions, in inverse proportion to their genetic map distances from the selected sites. The genes controlling plant self-incompatibility are subject to one of the strongest forms of balancing selection, and they show clear signatures of balancing selection. The genome region containing those genes (the S-locus) is generally described as nonrecombining, and the physical size of the region with low recombination has recently been established in a few species. However, the size of the region showing the indirect footprints of selection due to linkage to the S-locus is only roughly known. Here, we improved estimates of this region by surveying synonymous polymorphism and estimating recombination rates at 12 flanking region loci at known physical distances from the S-locus region boundary, in two closely related self-incompatible plants Arabidopsis halleri and A. lyrata. In addition to studying more loci than previous studies and using known physical distances, we simulated an explicit demographic scenario for the divergence between the two species, to evaluate the extent of the genomic region whose diversity departs significantly from neutral expectations. At the closest flanking loci, we detected signatures of both recent and ancient indirect effects of selection on the S-locus flanking genes, finding ancestral polymorphisms shared by both species, as well as an excess of derived mutations private to either species. However, these effects are detected only in a physically small region, suggesting that recombination in the flanking regions is sufficient to quickly break up linkage disequilibrium with the S-locus. Our approach may be useful for distinguishing cases of ancient versus recently evolved balancing selection in other systems

Twenty years of evolution in French secondary school science textbooks

Textbooks are highly structured objects, which are easily distinguished from other types of publications such as popular science books or academic works. This recognisable shape results from section-specific formatting, and layout standardisation. Yet these structures change over time and differ according to school disciplines.Our aim is to understand textbooks (specific resources) in themselves and grasp their evolution dynamics. Our approach here is to examine textbooks in both descriptive and analytical ways, using a comparative approach, and focusing on science high school textbooks, over a period of 20 years. The main questions steering our analysis are: What are the basic components of these textbooks? How to identify elements that are common to various school subjects or stable over time? What trends seem to be emerging? We have sought to highlight – via an analysis of school programme changes – some shared features that shed light on the directions that these school subjects and their supporting resources seem to take

Clathrin Heavy Chain subunits coordinate endo- and exocytic traffic and affect stomatal movement

The current model for vesicular traffic to and from the plasma membrane is accepted but the molecular requirements for this coordination are not well defined. We have identified the has1 mutant, which has a stomatal function defect, as a clathrin heavy chain 1 (CHC1) mutant allele and show that it has a decreased rate of endocytosis and growth defects that are shared with other chc1 mutant alleles. We used chc1 alleles and the related chc2 mutant as tools to investigate the effects clathrin defects have on secretion pathways and plant growth. We show that secretion and endocytosis at the plasma membrane is sensitive to CHC1 and CHC2 function in seedling roots, and that chc mutants have physiological defects in stomatal function and plant growth that have not been previously described. These findings suggest that clathrin supports specific functions of multiple cell types. Stomata movement and gas exchange is altered in chc mutants, indicating clathrin is important for stomatal regulation. The aberrant function of chc mutant stomata is consistent with the growth phenotypes observed under different water and light conditions, which are also similar to those of the secretory SNARE mutant, syp121. The syp121 and chc mutants have impaired endo- and exocytosis compared to wild type, indicating a link between SYP121-dependent secretion and clathrin-dependent endocytosis at the plasma membrane. Our findings provide evidence that clathrin and SYP121 functions are important for the coordination of endo- and exocytosis, and have an impact on stomatal function, gas exchange, and vegetative growth in Arabidopsis

Payments for Water Ecosystem Services in Latin America: Evidence from Reported Experience

27 p.Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) schemes are attracting increasing interest as policy mechanisms to improve conservation and sustainable development outcomes. PES initiatives aim to reach mutually beneficial agreements between providers and users of ecosystem services. In Latin America, with Costa Rica as the frontrunner, there are now more than two decades of experience in the implementation of PES schemes, which potentially represent a valuable source of knowledge for the improvement of the efficacy of conservation programs. Reviews and special issues dedicated to the study of PES exist, but they remain to most of their extent descriptive and qualitative. This paper presents the first study that systematically analyses the PES experience on the basis of a descriptive analysis of existing programs. The objective is twofold: (i) understanding the key features of existing PES mechanisms based on reported evidence; and (ii) identifying information needs for evidence-based policy design and implementation. We focus on water-related services since this type of service is involved in the majority of schemes. A database was constructed with 287 observations from 39 studies, from 1984 to 2011 in 10 Latin American countries. We find evidence confirming some known facts, such as deforestation and forest management as the main drivers of PES establishment, and revealing new ones, such as that average income for sellers is 60% larger than average buyers’ payment for the service

Building and Using Home Automation Systems: A Field Study

International audienceThese last years, several new home automation boxes appeared on the market, the new radio-based protocols facilitating their deployment with respect to previously wired solutions. Coupled with the wider availability of connected objects, these protocols have allowed new users to set up home automation systems by themselves. In this paper, we relate an in situ observational study of these builders in order to understand why and how the smart habitats were developed and used. We led 10 semi-structured interviews in households composed of at least 2 adults and equipped for at least 1 year, and 47 home automation builders answered an online questionnaire at the end of the study. Our study confirms, specifies and exhibits additional insights about usages and means of end-user development in the context of home automation

Analyse et créativité pour la conception d'interaction avec l'habitat intelligent

International audienceConcevoir des interactions pour des systèmes innovants implique une première étape dans laquelle se mêlent découverte du domaine et des contraintes, créativité et mise en situation des idées sélectionnées. Cette étape a pour objectif de s'engager avec plus de confiance dans le processus de conception. Nous exposons ici une partie de notre démarche sur de nouvelles interactions avec l'habitat intelligent. Nous avons cherché à répondre le plus efficacement à nos différents objectifs par l'association de pratiques complémentaires que nous présentons succinctement avec un retour d'expérience sur leur mise en application et leur enchaînement

Design and evaluation of a smart home voice interface for the elderly ― Acceptability and objection aspects

Impact-F=1.13 estim. in 2012International audienceSmart homes equipped with ambient intelligence technology constitute a promising direction to enable the growing number of elderly to continue to live in their own home as long as possible. However, this calls for technological solutions that suit their specific needs and capabilities. The SWEET-HOME project aims at developing a new user friendly technology for home automation based on voice command. This paper reports a user evaluation assessing the acceptance and fear of this new technology. Eight healthy persons between 71 and 88 years old, 7 relatives (child, grandchild or friend) and 3 professional carers participated in a user evaluation. During about 45 min, the persons were questioned in co-discovery in the DOMUS smart home alternating between interview and wizard of Oz periods followed by a debriefing. The experience aimed at testing four important aspects of the project: voice command, communication with the outside world, domotics system interrupting a person's activity, and electronic agenda. Voice interface appeared to have a great potential to ease daily living for elderly and frail persons and would be better accepted than more intrusive solutions. By considering still healthy and independent elderly people in the user evaluation, an interesting finding that came up is their overall acceptance provided the system does not drive them to a lazy lifestyle by taking control of everything. This particular fear must be addressed for the development of smart homes that support daily living by giving them more ability to control rather than putting them away from the daily routine

Metadata Deep Dive: Results from a Detailed Quality Assessment of NASA's Earth Observation Metadata

No abstract availabl