Comparative Biology of the Resistance to Vitamin K Antagonists: An Overview of the Resistance Mechanisms

Vitamin K antagonists (VKA) are used in human medicine as well as for the management of rodent populations. In both cases, we have to deal with inter-individual resistances. Many mechanisms of resistances are common in humans and rodents. Moreover, with the large use of vitamin K antagonist rodenticides, the resistant phenotype is overrepresented in some rodent populations. Consequently, some resistance mechanisms with a low prevalence in the human population have a higher prevalence in rodent population; thus, they can be more studied in rodents. The aim of this chapter is to cross knowledge coming from human medicine and rodent research in order to better understand each resistance mechanism. After an overview of the essential knowledge for the understanding of the VKA action, this chapter presents the different methods of VKA resistance studying and then it assesses the current knowledge on VKA resistance in humans and rodents

Professional Service Firms confronted with management challenges: can democracy be an organizational solution? A case-study in a democratic consulting firm

International audienceDue to the nature of their inputs, outputs and processes, professional service firms (PSFs) face three generic management challenges, namely strategic management, knowledge management and human-resource management. These three management issues are closely interrelated. They need to be managed in consistent whole patterns in relation to kinds of business activities. Following the typology of Lowendahl (2005 [1997]), 'client relation' and 'adapting solutions' kinds of PSF have consistent overall approaches to the three management issues. But, concerning 'creative problem-solving' ('CPS') PSFs, there is a lack of a consistent overall management approach, This latter can be neither hierarchical management nor self-management. We propose to investigate the democratic management approach as a potential consistent solution for 'CPS' PSFs. To this aim, we draw on a longitudinal in-depth case study in a French democratic consulting firm confronted with the need for managing differentiation between individuals and collective integration. In the last section we discuss the contributions of such a management perspective for PSFs, as well as the difficulties and the contingencies of the case-study

Entrepreneuring as emancipation in family business succession: a story of agony and ecstasy

Following Alistair Anderson’s legacy of entrepreneuring as a process of becoming, this paper engages with entrepreneuring as emancipation in a family business context. Over a period of seven years, we witnessed the journey of a family business successor engaged in a challenging process of power transfer, ultimately leading him to leave the succession process to engage with entrepreneuring outside the family business, due to power struggles. We theoretically elaborate on this realtime, multi-informant, multi-generational and longitudinal single-case study to offer a novel understanding of entrepreneuring as emancipation from and through power by revealing the intimate connections of entrepreneuring with power, liberation and liberty encompassing as much agony as ecstasy

Compatibility of the French white certificate program to fulfil the objective of energy savings claimed by the Energy Service Directive

International audienceThe Commission has proposed a Directive on the promotion of end-use efficiency and energy services (ESD) to enhance the cost-effective and efficient end-use of energy in Member States. According to the Directive, the Member States shall adopt and aim to achieve an overall national indicative energy savings target of 9% (or beyond) in 2016. This target is to be reached by way of energy services and other energy efficiency measures. The French National Energy Efficiency Action Plan to comply with the ESD includes a White Certificates scheme (or FWC) as one of the important measures to fulfil the target. As the accountings of energy savings in the FWC scheme and in the ESD are different (e.g. lifetime-cumulated and discounted kWh for FWC and annual kWh for ESD), an analysis of the compliance of both methodologies and a comparison of the assessed savings are necessary. In this paper, we evaluate the compliance with the ESD requirements of two different end-use actions (insulation, heating boiler) included in the FWC scheme. This is done through the concrete case of certificates filed by EDF. The main objective of this evaluation is to assess the contribution of the savings of these FWC actions to the target of the ESD. Finally, general conclusions are drawn about the use of a White Certificates scheme as a monitoring and evaluation tool for the ESD purpose

Assessment of Solute Transfer Between Static and Dynamic Water During Percolation Through a Solid Leach Bed in Dry Batch Anaerobic Digestion Processes

The aim of this work was to characterize solute transfer between static and dynamic water during percolation through a solid leach bed reactor. A new experimental procedure was set up to measure the solute exchange rate between macro-and micro-porosity. Tracer tests were performed in closed-circuit recirculation experiments. The water behavior was modeled by a multiphase flow model in a double porosity medium using a previously published methodology. The solute exchange rate between static and dynamic water was described by first-order kinetics. The methodology was applied to wheat straw and solid cow manure beds. The solute exchange rate (hs was 0.054 and 0.324 h−1) for wheat straw and solid cow manure, respectively. The measured data was used to improve the prediction capacity of a CFD tool. The results of this work could be used to develop appropriate leachate recirculation strategies to optimize full-scale dry batch anaerobic digestion processes

Subwavelength pulse focusing and perfect absorption in the Maxwell fisheye

Maxwell's fisheye is a paradigm for an absolute optical instrument with a refractive index deduced from the stereographic projection of a sphere on a plane. We investigate experimentally the dynamics of flexural waves in a thin plate with a thickness varying according to the Maxwell fisheye index profile and a clamped boundary. We demonstrate subwavelength focusing and temporal pulse compression at the image point. This is achieved by introducing a sink emitting a cancelling signal optimally shaped using a time-reversal procedure. Perfect absorption and outward going wave cancellation at the focus point are demonstrated. The time evolution of the kinetic energy stored inside the cavity reveals that the sink absorbs energy out of the plate ten times faster than the natural decay rate

Porphyrins fused to <i>N</i>-heterocyclic carbene palladium complexes as tunable precatalysts in Mizoroki–Heck reactions: How the porphyrin can modulate the apparent catalytic activity?

International audienc

Poisoning by Anticoagulant Rodenticides in Humans and Animals: Causes and Consequences

Anticoagulant rodenticides (ARs) are a keystone of the management of rodent populations in the world. The widespread use of these molecules raises questions on exposure and intoxication risks, which define the safety of these products. Exposures and intoxications can affect humans, domestic animals and wildlife. Consequences are different for each group, from the simple issue of intoxication in humans to public health concern if farm animals are exposed. After a rapid presentation of the mechanism of action and the use of anticoagulant rodenticides, this chapter assesses the prominence of poisoning by anticoagulant rodenticides in humans, domestic animals and wildlife

Les documents scientifiques informels: un patrimoine peu exploré, témoin de la construction des savoirs

L'objectif du projet ECRITO était de contribuer à préserver et à valoriser les documents scientifiques produits quotidiennement par les chercheurs de Midi-Pyrénées, en amont des publications formelles : non seulement les articles, communications ou monographies, qui constituent la partie visible de la recherche, mais aussi tous les matériaux et informations accumulés par les chercheurs, et sur la base desquels se construit leur travail. Ces matériaux sont de types très divers : littérature " grise " (rapports, mémoires, documentation techniques...), documents textuels " informels " (carnets, notes, brouillons, correspondances, cahiers de laboratoires), corpus visuels, sonores ou multimédia (campagnes photographiques, campagnes d'enquêtes, enregistrements audio ou vidéo), données électroniques (bases de données, fichiers informatiques), etc. Le projet visait également à prolonger, de manière exploratoire, le questionnement sur le patrimoine scientifique à partir des traces matérielles produites quotidiennement par les chercheurs dans leurs activités de recherche. Ces traces représentent en effet une fenêtre irremplaçable sur la science en train de se construire : elles permettent de rendre visible et compréhensible le processus habituellement dissimulé de production de la science, ce qui constitue un enjeu scientifique et pédagogique fondamental