Daylight is the primary cue used by circadian clocks to entrain to the day/night cycle so as to synchronize physiological processes with periodic environmental changes induced by Earth rotation.However, the temporal daylight pattern is not the same every day due to erratic weather fluctuations or regular seasonal changes. Then, how do circadian clocks operate properly in varying weather and seasons? In this paper, we discuss the strategy unveiled by recent studies of the circadian clock of Ostreococcus tauri, the smallest free‐living (...) eukaryotic organism. It combines mechanisms controlling light inputs and clock sensitivity, shaping both the dynamics of the core circadian oscillator and its forcing by light so as to ensure stable and precise synchronization in all weather and seasons.Editor's suggested further reading in BioEssays: Another place, another timer: Marine species and the rhythms of life Abstract. (shrink)

The aim of this article is to show how the integration of new nursing assistants in nursing homes in Quebec can be analyzed as a process of “enablement” or identity construction of the recruits by peer group through two specific phases: experienced nursing assistants quickly judge the ability of the recruit to support the heavy workload during the phase known as “orientation”, selecting recruits by this criterion; and they will transmit some informal competences to recruits selected and considered able to (...) be part of the peer group. L’objectif de cet article est de montrer en quoi l’intégration de nouveaux préposés aux bénéficiaires dans les CHSLD au Québec peut être analysée comme un processus d’habilitation, c'est-à-dire de construction identitaire des recrues par le groupe de pairs, à travers deux phases spécifiques : les préposés expérimentés jugent rapidement la capacité de la recrue à supporter la lourde charge de travail durant la phase dite d’ « orientation », en sélectionnant les recrues selon ce critère ; puis ils transmettront certaines compétences informelles aux recrues sélectionnées et considérées comme capables de faire partie du groupe de pairs. (shrink)

The aim of this article is to show how the integration of new nursing assistants in nursing homes in Quebec can be analyzed as a process of “enablement” or identity construction of the recruits by peer group through two specific phases: experienced nursing assistants quickly judge the ability of the recruit to support the heavy workload during the phase known as “orientation”, selecting recruits by this criterion; and they will transmit some informal competences to recruits selected and considered able to (...) be part of the peer group. L’objectif de cet article est de montrer en quoi l’intégration de nouveaux préposés aux bénéficiaires dans les CHSLD au Québec peut être analysée comme un processus d’habilitation, c'est-à-dire de construction identitaire des recrues par le groupe de pairs, à travers deux phases spécifiques : les préposés expérimentés jugent rapidement la capacité de la recrue à supporter la lourde charge de travail durant la phase dite d’ « orientation », en sélectionnant les recrues selon ce critère ; puis ils transmettront certaines compétences informelles aux recrues sélectionnées et considérées comme capables de faire partie du groupe de pairs. (shrink)

Réexamen de l'inscription IG XII 8, 262 grâce à la découverte d'un nouveau fragment. Le texte, d'origine attique, a été rédigé au moment de la restauration démocratique intervenue à Thasos à la suite de la reconquête de l'île par Thrasybule en 407. Analyse du formulaire utilisé (intitulé, affichage, serments, double datation) et commentaire des mesures prises par Athènes à l'occasion de cette restauration (en particulier sanctions contre les oligarques, retour des exilés, appel aux contributions volontaires, nomination d'un archonte). Attribution à (...) la même année 407 des conventions de réconciliation entre Thasos et sa colonie Néapolis. Réflexions sur la politique menée par Athènes dans le règlement des affaires thasiennes. (shrink)

Yves Grandjean, Tony Kozelj and François Salviat The Zeus Gate on Thasos p. 175-268 The Gate of Zeus and Hera, offered by Pythippos son of Paiestratos, is one of the most remarkable features of the Thasian enceinte: to the sculptured reliefs that adorned it was added a particular architectural embellishment which has never been analysed in its entirety. The numerous blocks preserved in situ make it possible to reconstruct the elevation of the gate, which was in fact a gate (...) tower, and to detail the appearance of the latter with its architectural facing of superimposed orders — Doric and Ionic — on the town side and its Doric frieze integrated into the walls of the tower on the side facing the country. The influences of Macedonian, funerary and palatial architecture are manifest. According to the lists of theoroi and the amphora stamps discovered in the levels preceding its construction, the gate tower was erected in around 300 BC. It replaced an original opening going back to the time when the enceinte visible today was built, in other words after the raid on Thasos by Histiaios of Miletus in 494; the old excavations like the recent investigations confirm the account by Herodotus (VI 46), which there is no reason to doubt. (shrink)

Hippocrates and the sanctuary of the Delian at Thasos. Owing to various readings of several manuscripts, the address of one of Hippocrates’ patients mentioned in Epidemics III was until now considered uncertain. The recent discovery of the Delion guarantees henceforth that this patient lived near this sanctuary, in the most northern part of the town.

The inscription that is the subject of this article was discovered in October 2005 and enables us to identify a new sanctuary on Thasos that came to light in 2003 not far from the Thesmophorion, but which has hitherto remained anonymous. It is a Delion, dedicated to 'Delian' Apollo and Artemis. The text, which is dated fairly early in the first half of the 4th century BC, consists of two successive decrees: the first forbids women from entering the sanctuary during (...) the Thesmophoria, and the second forbids the grazing of cattle in it. The punishment for those who contravene is of a moral and religious order, the ενθυμιστόν, which, in this form, is attested epigraphically only on Thasos on two occasions. The study of the text affords an opportunity to draw up a list of the Delia known in the ancient Greek world and to touch upon the subject of the relations between Thasos, its mother city Paros, and the Delian sanctuary. The role played by the Delion on Thasos in the defensive system of the city in the Archaic period is also emphasised. (shrink)

In the literature on medical ethics, it is generally admitted that vulnerable persons or groups deserve special attention, care or protection. One can define vulnerable persons as those having a greater likelihood of being wronged – that is, of being denied adequate satisfaction of certain legitimate claims. The conjunction of these two points entails what we call the Special Protection Thesis. It asserts that persons with a greater likelihood of being denied adequate satisfaction of their legitimate claims deserve special attention, (...) care or protection. Such a thesis remains vague, however, as long as we do not know what legitimate claims are. This article aims at dispelling this vagueness by exploring what claims we have in relation to health care – thus fleshing out a claim-based conception of vulnerability. We argue that the Special Protection Thesis must be enriched as follows: If individual or group X has a greater likelihood of being denied adequate satisfaction of some of their legitimate claims to physical integrity, autonomy, freedom, social provision, impartial quality of government, social bases of self-respect or communal belonging, then X deserves special attention, care or protection. With this improved understanding of vulnerability, vulnerability talk in healthcare ethics can escape vagueness and serve as an adequate basis for practice. (shrink)

First the “frame problem” is sketched: The motion of an isolated particle obeys a simple law in Galilean frames, but how does the Galilean character of the frame manifest itself at the place of the particle? A description of vacuum as a system of virtual particles will help to answer this question. For future application to such a description, the notion of global particle is defined and studied. To this end, a systematic use of the Fourier transformation on the Poincaré (...) group is needed. The state of a system of n free particles is represented by a statistical operator W, which defines an operator-valued measure on ^Pn (^P is the dual of the Poincaré group). The inverse Fourier–Stieltjes transform of that measure is called the characteristic function of the system; it is a function on Pn. The main notion is that of global characteristic function: it is the restriction of the characteristic function to the diagonal subgroup of Pn; it represents the state of the system, considered as a single particle. The main properties of characteristic functions, and particularly of global characteristic functions, are studied. A mathematical Appendix defines two functional spaces involved. (shrink)

We describe vacuum as a system of virtual particles, some of which have negative energies. Any system of vacuum particles is a part of a keneme, i.e., of a system of n particles which can, without violating the conservation laws, annihilate in the strict sense of the word (transform into nothing). A keneme is a homogeneous system, i.e., its state is invariant by all transformations of the invariance group. But a homogeneous system is not necessarily a keneme. In the simple (...) case of a spin system, where the invariance group is SU(2), a homogeneous system is a system whose total spin is unpolarized; a keneme is a system whose total spin is zero. The state of a homogeneous system is described by a statistical operator with infinite trace (von Neumann), to which corresponds a characteristic distribution. The characteristic distributions of the homogeneous systems of vacuum are defined and studied. Finally it is shown how this description of vacuum can be used to solve the frame problem posed in paper (I). (shrink)

New concepts may prove necessary to profit from the avalanche of sequence data on the genome, transcriptome, proteome and interactome and to relate this information to cell physiology. Here, we focus on the concept of large activity-based structures, or hyperstructures, in which a variety of types of molecules are brought together to perform a function. We review the evidence for the existence of hyperstructures responsible for the initiation of DNA replication, the sequestration of newly replicated origins of replication, cell division (...) and for metabolism. The processes responsible for hyperstructure formation include changes in enzyme affinities due to metabolite-induction, lipid-protein affinities, elevated local concentrations of proteins and their binding sites on DNA and RNA, and transertion. Experimental techniques exist that can be used to study hyperstructures and we review some of the ones less familiar to biologists. Finally, we speculate on how a variety of in silico approaches involving cellular automata and multi-agent systems could be combined to develop new concepts in the form of an Integrated cell (I-cell) which would undergo selection for growth and survival in a world of artificial microbiology. (shrink)

Developing countries face numerous barriers to conducting effective and efficient ethics reviews of international collaborative research. In addition to potentially overlooking important scientific and ethical considerations, inadequate or insufficiently trained ethics committees may insist on unwarranted changes to protocols that can impair a study's scientific or ethical validity. Moreover, poorly functioning review systems can impose substantial delays on the commencement of research, which needlessly undermine the development of new interventions for urgent medical needs. In response to these concerns, the Drugs (...) for Neglected Diseases Initiative, an independent nonprofit organization founded by a coalition of public sector and international organizations, developed a mechanism to facilitate more effective and efficient host country ethics review for a study of the use of fexinidazole for the treatment of late stage African Trypanosomiasis. The project involved the implementation of a novel ‘pre-review’ process of ethical oversight, conducted by an ad hoc committee of ethics committee representatives from African and European countries, in collaboration with internationally recognized scientific experts. This article examines the process and outcomes of this collaborative process. (shrink)

Depuis Droit, mythe et raison (1980) écrit avec Jacques Lenoble jusqu’aux récents À quoi sert le droit? Usages, fonctions et finalités (2016) ou Le droit, objet de passions (2018), François Ost ne cesse de questionner les rapports de nos sociétés au droit et la place de celui-ci dans nos sociétés contemporaines. Avec Le droit malgré tout, il s’agit de rendre hommage à l’œuvre et à la carrière d’une figure centrale de la théorie du droit contemporaine et aussi au fondateur, avec (...) le regretté Michel van de Kerchove, de ce que l’on appelle parfois « l’école de Saint-Louis ». Abordant les deux pôles de la dialectique à laquelle François Ost est si attaché - la critique et la reconstruction -, l’ouvrage propose un regard interdisciplinaire sur le droit, à travers les principaux thèmes qui ont nourri la pensée de l’auteur. Du statut épistémologique de la science du droit à un questionnement sur les fondements et l’avenir du droit et de la justice, des liens qu’entretiennent le droit et la littérature jusqu’à l’environnement saisi par le droit en passant par les « communs », les approches de ses collègues et amis sont toutes réflexives et critiques. En ce qu’elles sont soucieuses de soumettre le droit au regard des sciences sociales et, inversement, les normativités extra-juridiques au regard du droit, elles sont fidèles à la démarche de François Ost. Ce Liber Amicorum propose aussi un retour réflexif sur son œuvre par l’auteur lui-même, dans un entretien avec Manuel Atienza. Contributeurs : Yves CARTUYVELS, Robert JACOB, Mark VAN HOECKE, Jacques COMMAILLE, Isabelle HACHEZ, Laurent VAN EYNDE, Jacques LENOBLE, Benoit FRYDMAN, Alain PAPAUX, Guillaume DE STEXHE, Diane BERNARD, Antoine GARAPON, Jacques CHEVALLIER, Alain SUPIOT, Paul MARTENS, Jérémie VAN MEERBEECK, Sébastien VAN DROOGHENBROECK, Nicolas BERNARD et Françoise TULKENS, Pierre LEGRAND, Annette RUELLE, Isabelle OST, Jeanne GAAKEER, Massimo VOGLIOTTI, Denis SALAS, Pauline BÉGASSE DE DHAEM et Marie-Sophie DE CLIPPELE, Xavier DELGRANGE, Delphine MISONNE, Benoît JADOT, Alain STROWEL, Hugues DUMONT, Jean-Guy BELLEY, Antoine BAILLEU. (shrink)