Information and Small and Medium sized Enterprises: the convergence of Shared-Time Work and Information and Communication Technologies

The subject of this communication is to analyze points of similarities of using Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and Shared Time Work (STW), for a special category of firms, whose place seems to be more and more important: Small and Middle sized Enterprises (SMEs). After several particularities (apart from the size), we will remind their difficulties in Human Resources Management, especially about ICT, then the opportunity in the using of STW, for research teachers, professionals and media. We will present different legal shapes, then precise points of similarities between TIC and STW, and finally, results among different kinds of players in this one, in an exploring research.human resources management, information and communication technologies, shared time work, small and middle sized enterprises

Faith-based voluntary action: a case study of a French charity

Following legal changes in the 1980s, the Voluntary and Community sector/économie sociale in France has become culturally diverse as faith-based organisations serving minority ethnic communities have developed, including charities inspired by religious and cultural principles of charitable giving. In this article, we use a case study of a social welfare charity established in a Parisian suburb with a culturally diverse population. Worldwide social welfare work is a priority; the charity responds to disasters, but it prioritises long-term development actions, encouraging the direct involvement of local communities. In recent years, its work has also embraced distressed communities within France

Cell models of prion infection

Abstract -Due to recent renewal of interest and concerns in prion diseases, a number of cell systems permissive to prion multiplication have been generated in the last years. These include established cell lines, neuronal stem cells and primary neuronal cultures. While most of these models are permissive to experimental, mouse-adapted strains of prions, the propagation of natural field isolates from sheep scrapie and chronic wasting disease has been recently achieved. These models have improved our knowledge on the molecular and cellular events controlling the conversion of the PrP C protein into abnormal isoforms and on the cell-to-cell spreading of prions. Infected cultured cells will also facilitate investigations on the molecular basis of strain identity and on the mechanisms that lead to neurodegeneration. The ongoing development of new cell models with improved characteristics will certainly be useful for a number of unanswered critical issues in the prion field

INFORMATION AND SMALL AND MEDIUM SIZED ENTERPRISES: THE CONVERGENCE OF SHAREDTIME WORK AND INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES

The subject of this communication is to analyze points of similarities of usingInformation and Communication Technologies (ICT) and Shared Time Work(STW), for a special category of firms, whose place seems to be more andmore important: Small and Middle sized Enterprises (SMEs). After severalparticularities (apart from the size), we will remind their difficulties in HumanResources Management, especially about ICT, then the opportunity in theusing of STW, for research teachers, professionals and media. We willpresent different legal shapes, then precise points of similarities between TICand STW, and finally, results among different kinds of players in this one, inan exploring research

Highly Efficient Prion Transmission by Blood Transfusion

It is now clearly established that the transfusion of blood from variant CJD (v-CJD) infected individuals can transmit the disease. Since the number of asymptomatic infected donors remains unresolved, inter-individual v-CJD transmission through blood and blood derived products is a major public health concern. Current risk assessments for transmission of v-CJD by blood and blood derived products by transfusion rely on infectious titers measured in rodent models of Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSE) using intra-cerebral (IC) inoculation of blood components. To address the biological relevance of this approach, we compared the efficiency of TSE transmission by blood and blood components when administrated either through transfusion in sheep or by intra-cerebral inoculation (IC) in transgenic mice (tg338) over-expressing ovine PrP. Transfusion of 200 µL of blood from asymptomatic infected donor sheep transmitted prion disease with 100% efficiency thereby displaying greater virulence than the transfusion of 200 mL of normal blood spiked with brain homogenate material containing 103ID50 as measured by intracerebral inoculation of tg338 mice (ID50 IC in tg338). This was consistent with a whole blood titer greater than 103.6 ID50 IC in tg338 per mL. However, when the same blood samples were assayed by IC inoculation into tg338 the infectious titers were less than 32 ID per mL. Whereas the transfusion of crude plasma to sheep transmitted the disease with limited efficacy, White Blood Cells (WBC) displayed a similar ability to whole blood to infect recipients. Strikingly, fixation of WBC with paraformaldehyde did not affect the infectivity titer as measured in tg338 but dramatically impaired disease transmission by transfusion in sheep. These results demonstrate that TSE transmission by blood transfusion can be highly efficient and that this efficiency is more dependent on the viability of transfused cells than the level of infectivity measured by IC inoculation

Formidable females redux: male social integration into female networks and the value of dynamic multilayer networks

The development of multilayer network techniques is a boon for researchers who wish to understand how different interaction layers might influence each other, and how these in turn might influence group dynamics. Here, we investigate how integration between male and female grooming and aggression interaction networks influences male power trajectories in vervet monkeys Chlorocebus pygerythrus. Our previous analyses of this phenomenon used a monolayer approach, and our aim here is to extend these analyses using a dynamic multilayer approach. To do so, we constructed a temporal series of male and female interaction layers. We then used a multivariate multilevel autoregression model to compare cross-lagged associations between a male’s centrality in the female grooming layer and changes in male Elo ratings. Our results confirmed our original findings: changes in male centrality within the female grooming network were weakly but positively tied to changes in their Elo ratings. However, the multilayer network approach offered additional insights into this social process, identifying how changes in a male’s centrality cascade through the other network layers. This dynamic view indicates that the changes in Elo ratings are likely to be short-lived, but that male centrality within the female network had a much stronger impact throughout the multilayer network as a whole, especially on reducing intermale aggression (i.e., aggression directed by males toward other males). We suggest that multilayer social network approaches can take advantage of increased amounts of social data that are more commonly collected these days, using a variety of methods. Such data are inherently multilevel and multilayered, and thus offer the ability to quantify more precisely the dynamics of animal social behaviors

The study of social dynamics in juvenile vervet monkeys

Using a longitudinal approach, I sought to deepen my understanding on social integration in wild juvenile vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus). First, I focused on the analytical tools used to capture the social and temporal dynamics within my data, which led me to provide my own flexible and reliable methods. Second, I used these methods to address theoretical questions regarding the development of social networks as well as the emergence of sex-specific social behaviours in male and female juveniles, throughout social development. Overall, my findings showed that juveniles develop social networks composed of few strong and many weak ties, through social niche construction. Taking a closer look at these strong ties, in turn, demonstrated that the value of sociality not only lies in the formation of a subset of strong ties, but also in the formation of a more extended social network, where the offspring’s mother grooming partners were found.National Research Foundation (South Africa) and Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC

Antihypertensive Drug Guanabenz Is Active In Vivo against both Yeast and Mammalian Prions

Background: Prion-based diseases are incurable transmissible neurodegenerative disorders affecting animals and humans. [br/] Methodology/Principal Findings: Here we report the discovery of the in vivo antiprion activity of Guanabenz (GA), an agonist of a2-adrenergic receptors routinely used in human medicine as an antihypertensive drug. We isolated GA in a screen for drugs active in vivo against two different yeast prions using a previously described yeast-based two steps assay. GA was then shown to promote ovine PrPSc clearance in a cell-based assay. These effects are very specific as evidenced by the lack of activity of some GA analogues that we generated. GA antiprion activity does not involve its agonist activity on a2-adrenergic receptors as other chemically close anti-hypertensive agents possessing related mechanism of action were found inactive against prions. Finally, GA showed activity in a transgenic mouse-based in vivo assay for ovine prion propagation, prolonging slightly but significantly the survival of treated animals. [br/] Conclusion/Significance: GA thus adds to the short list of compounds active in vivo in animal models for the treatment of prion-based diseases. Because it has been administrated for many years to treat hypertension on a daily basis, without major side-effects, our results suggest that it could be evaluated in human as a potential treatment for prion-based diseases

Le cadre de vie des hommes du Paléolithique moyen (stades isotopiques 6 et 5) dans le site de Payre (Rompon, Ardèche) : d'une grotte à un abri sous roche effondré

The Middle Palaeolithic site of Payre is located in the south-east of France, in the Middle Rhone Valey. Since 1990, excavations have yielded a sequence dating from isotopic stages 7 to 5 (6 to 5 for the human occupation levels). The evidence points to a collapsed cave, inhabited several times by human beings ; the last occupation was in a rock shelter. The sequence and the mammal assemblages allow the site morphology during the different settlements to be reconstructed. The also give an idea of the environment chosen by the Neanderthal population for what were probably short periods of occupation.Le gisement paléolithique moyen de Payre est situé dans le sud-est de la France, dans la moyenne vallée du Rhône. Les fouilles, qui s'y déroulent depuis 1990, livrent une séquence datée des stades isotopiques 7 à 5, 6 à 5 pour les occupations humaines. Les observations à la fouille permettent de visualiser les limites d'une cavité aujourd'hui effondrée. les hommes seraient venus à plusieurs reprises dans cette cavité et auraient occupé en dernier lieu un abri sous roche. Les données du remplissage, associées à celles livrées par l'assemblage osseux, aboutissent à proposer aujourd'hui une reconstitution de la morphologie du site aux différents moments de occupations humaines et à donner une idée du cadre de vie choisi par les hommes, en particulier pour des occupations sans doute de courte durée