The equine business: the spectacularly growth of a new segment market in France

A social revolution in riding has created incredible growth in the equine-product market. This new equine economy is, in fact, characterized by the range of activities available (32 riding styles are listed by the FFE), by riders’ needs (equipment for both riders and their horses including fences, water troughs, horse-boxes etc.), by product ranges (from entry-level to luxury goods), but also by fashion which, thanks to the profile of today’s horse-riders (predominantly female and young) has become a key part of the market. This enthusiasm has led to the development of businesses, the majority of which have appeared in the last thirty years in France (Antarès, CWD, GPA, Cheval Shop, EquipHorse, Fautras etc.). While they have become key references in the sector, and account for nearly half of all jobs related to the equine sector in France (38,900 agricultural jobs compared to 32,800 non-agricultural jobs including business, veterinary care, farriers and public bodies - IFCE 2011), their characteristics remain largely unexplored

Moving Knowledge Acquisition From the Lecture Hall to the Student Home: A Prospective Intervention Study.

BACKGROUND: Podcasts are popular with medical students, but the impact of podcast use on learning outcomes in undergraduate medical education has not been studied in detail. OBJECTIVE: Our aim was to assess the impact of podcasts accompanied by quiz questions and lecture attendance on short- and medium-term knowledge retention. METHODS: Students enrolled for a cardio-respiratory teaching module were asked to prepare for 10 specific lectures by watching podcasts and submitting answers to related quiz questions before attending live lectures. Performance on the same questions was assessed in a surprise test and a retention test. RESULTS: Watching podcasts and submitting answers to quiz questions (versus no podcast/quiz use) was associated with significantly better test performance in all items in the surprise test and 7 items in the retention test. Lecture attendance (versus no attendance) was associated with higher test performance in 3 items and 1 item, respectively. In a linear regression analysis adjusted for age, gender, and overall performance levels, both podcast/quiz use and lecture attendance were significant predictors of student performance. However, the variance explained by podcast/quiz use was greater than the variance explained by lecture attendance in the surprise test (38.7% vs. 2.2%) and retention test (19.1% vs. 4.0%). CONCLUSIONS: When used in conjunction with quiz questions, podcasts have the potential to foster knowledge acquisition and retention over and above the effect of live lectures

Status of cosmic-ray antideuteron searches

The precise measurement of cosmic-ray antiparticles serves as important means for identifying the nature of dark matter. Recent years showed that identifying the nature of dark matter with cosmic-ray positrons and higher energy antiprotons is difficult, and has lead to a significantly increased interest in cosmic-ray antideuteron searches. Antideuterons may also be generated in dark matter annihilations or decays, offering a potential breakthrough in unexplored phase space for dark matter. Low-energy antideuterons are an important approach because the flux from dark matter interactions exceeds the background flux by more than two orders of magnitude in the low-energy range for a wide variety of models. This review is based on the "dbar14 - dedicated cosmic-ray antideuteron workshop", which brought together theorists and experimentalists in the field to discuss the current status, perspectives, and challenges for cosmic-ray antideuteron searches and discusses the motivation for antideuteron searches, the theoretical and experimental uncertainties of antideuteron production and propagation in our Galaxy, as well as give an experimental cosmic-ray antideuteron search status update. This report is a condensed summary of the article "Review of the theoretical and experimental status of dark matter identification with cosmic-ray antideuteron" (arXiv:1505.07785).Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, ICRC 2015 proceeding

Représentations et symbolismes du cheval. La révolution contemporaine interprétée à travers les arts populaires et enfantins

L’entrée de l’équitation dans la société des loisirs en Occident bouleverse les représentations et symbolismes du cheval, simultanément au double phénomène de féminisation et rajeunissement des pratiquants. L’objet de cet article est d’analyser cette transformation historique pour en comprendre les schèmes, en s’interrogeant sur l’influence des arts populaires et enfantins –littéraires, cinématographique et télévisuelles-, dans cette redéfinition affective et hédoniste du cheval. Leur analyse approfondie nous permettra d’avancer une typologie des imaginaires contemporains de la relation symbolique au cheval.

Le commerce lié à l’équitation révolutionné ? Un secteur bouleversé, entre traditions et innovations (l’exemple français)

La révolution sociétale de l’équitation permet un formidable essor du commerce des produits équins, éperonné par la pluralité des pratiques et des besoins (équipements du cavalier et du cheval, allant jusqu’aux clôtures, abreuvoir, vans, etc.) en partie orchestrés par la mode qui a largement investi le marché. La pluralité de l’offre est aussi accentuée par la diversification des catégories socio-professionnelles des cavaliers, favorisant un élargissement de l’éventail des produits, depuis les entrées de gammes jusqu’au luxe. Cet engouement a donc permis un développement des entreprises spécialisées, dont la majorité est apparue depuis moins de trente ans en France. Le secteur du commerce et des services équins est, aujourd’hui, devenu incontournable, en représentant près de la moitié des emplois de la filière équine en France. Ce chapitre a donc pour dessein de le découvrir davantage en s’interrogeant sur les mécanismes d’adaptation et les stratégies mises en œuvre par les entrepreneurs afin de répondre à l’évolution des besoins. Nous essayerons d’envisager comment elles parviennent à satisfaire l’essor et la diversification sans précédent de la demande, devenue certes beaucoup plus importante, mais aussi en partie volatile. Nous tenterons de proposer une analyse de la façon dont les entreprises s’inscrivent dans un marché désormais marqué par la mondialisation et la concurrence exacerbée. La question est de savoir si finalement ces dernières empruntent dans leurs objectifs et fonctionnements aux logiques entrepreneuriales issues des autres secteurs (ceci sans doute par isomorphisme organisationnel) ou si elles parviennent à définir, maintenir et/ou développer une culture d’entreprise propre à leur filière, par syncrétisme

Naissance d’un cluster touristique équin ? L’exemple de Saumur (France)

The equine sector benefits from a well-developed industry in France, with which it encourages the dynamics of endogenous growth in specific areas, by strengthening their attractiveness. In this context we will look at the emergence of an equine cluster, and its ability to generate an equine tourism cluster, by analyzing the case of the town of Saumur. This town is in fact both nationally and internationally renowned as a “riding capital” due to a solid network of private companies linked to the sector, as well as specific public institutions. It is also listed as being part of an international tourism hub. These characteristics will most likely contribute to the emergence of a Saumur equestrian tourism cluster. To find out, we will firstly look at the definition of such clusters, to examine the ability of the Saumur area to fit this model thanks to its activities linked to equestrian training, leisure and competitions. To conclude, we will study the ability of this concentrated economy to create for itself a “horsy” image, so allowing the common development of an equestrian tourism cluster

Constraining Very Heavy Dark Matter Using Diffuse Backgrounds of Neutrinos and Cascaded Gamma Rays

We consider multi-messenger constraints on very heavy dark matter (VHDM) from recent Fermi gamma-ray and IceCube neutrino observations of isotropic background radiation. Fermi data on the diffuse gamma-ray background (DGB) shows a possible unexplained feature at very high energies (VHE), which we have called the "VHE Excess" relative to expectations for an attenuated power law extrapolated from lower energies. We show that VHDM could explain this excess, and that neutrino observations will be an important tool for testing this scenario. More conservatively, we derive new constraints on the properties of VHDM for masses of 10^3-10^10 GeV. These generic bounds follow from cosmic energy budget constraints for gamma rays and neutrinos that we developed elsewhere, based on detailed calculations of cosmic electromagnetic cascades and also neutrino detection rates. We show that combining both gamma-ray and neutrino data is essential for making the constraints on VHDM properties both strong and robust. In the lower mass range, our constraints on VHDM annihilation and decay are comparable to other results; however, our constraints continue to much higher masses, where they become relatively stronger.Comment: 33 pages, 21 figures, accepted for publication in JCA