A new automated crystallographic orientation mapping tool in a transmission electron microscope technique, which is based on pattern matching between every acquired electron diffraction pattern and precalculated templates, has been used for the microstructural characterization of nondeformed and deformed aluminum thin films and twinning-induced plasticity steels. The increased spatial resolution and the use of electron diffraction patterns rather than Kikuchi lines make this tool very appropriate to characterize fine grained and deformed microstructures.

On 26 November 2010, an outbreak of scombroid fish poisoning occurred in the French Armed Forces in Dakar, Senegal. This chemical intoxication, due to high histamine concentration in fish, is often mistaken for an allergic reaction. A case-control study was undertaken including the 71 cases and 78 randomly selected controls among lunch attendees. The usual symptoms for scombroid fish poisoning were observed in cases, i.e. flushing (85·9%), headache (83·1%), rapid/weak pulse (59·1%) and diarrhoea (47·9%). Symptoms occurred from within a few minutes to up to 3 h following the meal. Most patients quickly recovered with antihistamine and/or symptomatic treatment. Tuna was the only food item positively associated with illness (odds ratio 36·3, 95% confidence interval 6·3–210·0), with the risk of illness increasing with the quantity of fish consumed. No bacterial contamination was found in leftover food, but histamine concentration in tuna was found to be 4900 mg/kg, almost 50-fold higher than the concentration allowed by European regulations. This report is unique because of the large size of the case series – to our knowledge, the largest event of scombroid fish poisoning ever reported – and the chemical and bacteriological analyses results obtained on leftover food.

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are immunomediated ailments affecting millions of individuals. Although diet is regarded as an important factor influencing IBD, there are no accepted dietary recommendations presently available. We administered 7·6 % lyophilised apples obtained from two cultivars (Golden Delicious and Marie Ménard, low and high in polyphenols, respectively) to HLA-B27 transgenic rats which develop spontaneous IBD. After 3 months feeding, rats fed Marie Ménard apples had reduced myeloperoxidase activity (3·6 (sem 0·3) v. 2·2 (sem 0·2) U/g tissue; P < 0·05) and reduced cyclo-oxygenase-2 (P < 0·05) and inducible NO synthase gene expression (P < 0·01) in the colon mucosa and significantly less diarrhoea (P < 0·05), compared with control rats. Cell proliferation in the colon mucosa was reduced significantly by feeding Golden Delicious apples, with a borderline effect of Marie Ménard apples. Gene expression profiling of the colon mucosa, analysed using the Whole Rat Genome 4 × 44 K Agilent Arrays, revealed a down-regulation of the pathways of PG synthesis, mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signalling and TNFα–NF-κB in Marie Ménard-fed rats. In the stools of the animals of this group we also measured a significant reduction of bacteria of the Bacteriodes fragilis group. In conclusion, the administration of Marie Ménard apples, rich in polyphenols and used at present only in the manufacturing of cider, ameliorates colon inflammation in transgenic rats developing spontaneous intestinal inflammation, suggesting the possible use of these and other apple varieties to control inflammation in IBD patients.

In developing countries, vaccination against highly pathogenic avian influenza subtype H5N1 (HPAI) in free-range poultry flocks is usually implemented as periodic campaigns and newborn chicks are generally not vaccinated by farmers between vaccination passes. The demographic population turnover leads to a continuous decrease in the population immunity rate (PIR) over time. We present a simple Leslie matrix model for estimating population turnover and PIR dynamics in a hypothetical small-size vaccinated free-range poultry population. Four different vaccination scenarios were identified assuming necessary procedures to achieve immunity. The results indicate that high levels of population immunity are difficult to sustain. Assuming an animal immunity response of 80% after vaccination and a constant population size, PIR 4 months after vaccination was ⩽30% in all the scenarios. Predictions averaged over time showed mean PIR between 36% and 48%, which is below the population immunity thresholds for eradication approximated from R0 estimates.

The frequency response of the h.f. quadrupole probe is calculated to be used as a diagnostic tool for measurements of electron density and temperature. In §2 the magnetic field is assumed to be zero, and ion motions are neglected. For a Maxwellian plasma, the so-called ‘Landau wave approximation’ is compared with various more sophisticated treatments, such as numerical integration or super-Cauchy and multiple water-bag models. The range of validity of this approximation is shown to be large, and the results can be applied to the most interesting parts of the experimental observations. All results previously established are recovered with greater speed. Having studied various disturbances (collisions, inhomogeneity and relative motion of the probe with respect to the plasma), it is deduced that the best way to determine the electron temperature is to use the anti-resonances due to beating between the Landau wave and the cold plasma field. In § 3 we describe the quadrupole probe, launched in December 1971 as part of the CISASPE rocket experiment. To deduce the electron density and temperature from these measurements, it is necessary to consider the influence of a static magnetic field, such as the earth's magnetic field. The general case could be treated by numerical integration, though with great difficulty, but it is shown that in most ionospheric conditions, in the vicinity of the upper hybrid frequency ωT the above treatment is again possible, the plasma frequency simply being replaced by ωT, and the thermal velocity slightly modified. These assumptions are used to deduce the electron density and temperature profiles.

Good stability of the steel strip is essential in galvanizinglines, especially in the rapid cooling section before the zincbath, where the strip is cooled and excited by high-speedgas jets.
The process parameters and the design have beeninvestigated in order to characterize the strip vibrationsphenomena and to define optimized solutions for improvingthe cooling performances of present and future galvanizinglines while reducing the strip fluttering in the rapid coolingzone as well as in the cooling tower.

Pearl millet is a staple cereal cultivated mainly by subsistence farmers on 14 million ha of the West African semi-arid tropics. Increasing pressure on the land has reduced the length of the fallow periods, which are necessary to restore soil fertility, resulting in declining yields. To investigate ways of reversing this decline, three systems combining phosphorus fertilizer application, improved varieties of millet and cowpea, and improved agronomic practices were compared with the traditional millet–cowpea intercrop system in a three year experiment. The most productive system involved the rotation of fertilized millet and cowpea. Pre-sowing tillage increased hay and fodder yields in all the improved systems. The application of fertilizer increased the amount of available phosphorus in the soil. Soil pH declined somewhat in all treatments, although the initially low soil organic matter did not change.

The after effects of three years' continuous cropping with sole millet, sole cowpea or a traditional millet/cowpea intercrop were compared using five levels of nitrogen fertilizer. The continuous sole cowpea system had reduced the carbon to nitrogen ratio more than the continuous sole millet or the traditional intercrop. The test crop millet yielded much more, and its uptake of nitrogen and phosphorus was greater, when it followed sole cowpea than when it followed sole millet or the traditional millet/cowpea intercrop. The three years' continuous sole cowpea had an effect equivalent to the application of 205 kg N ha−1 on the test crop of millet. It also caused the greatest reduction in Striga infestation in the test crop. It is therefore recommended that cowpea cultivation be increased in the Sahel.

A multidisciplinary research programme was developed to get a scientific expertise for the quality assessment of products obtained from cloned livestock. Thirty-seven bovine Holstein female clones of five different genotypes and their products were analysed in comparison with 38 control animals obtained by conventional artificial insemination and raised under the same conditions at the same experimental farm. Animal evaluation included over 150 criteria and more than 10 000 measurements to check the physiological status and health over a 3-year period. All the parameters studied were in the normal range for age and breed, but some significant differences were detected between clone and control groups in terms of delayed onset of puberty in clones, higher neutrophil counts in haematology or lower biochemical plasma concentrations of gamma glutamyl transferase. Milk and meat analyses were conformable to expected values. We, however, found some differences in fatty acid (FA) composition of milk and muscle suggesting a possible deviation in lipid metabolism as assessed by higher delta-9 desaturase activity indexes in both milk and muscles from clones compared with controls. Repeated muscle biopsies in the semitendinosus muscle of the same animals demonstrated a higher oxidative activity in muscle of young clones (8 months of age) compared with controls, suggesting a delayed muscle maturation in clones. Nutritional evaluation of milk and meat using the rat feeding trials did not show any difference between clone and control products for food intake, growth rate, body composition of the rats, nor for possible allergenicity. Possible reactivation of bovine endogenous retroviruses (BERVs) was analysed and compared between normal and cloned cattle. As expected, these BERV sequences are not transcribed and no RNA was detected in the blood of clones, donor animals or controls; therefore, it may be assumed that the sanitary risk associated with BERV sequences is not higher in cattle derived from somatic nuclear transfer than in cattle born from conventional reproduction. Our results confirm that the quality and safety of products (milk and meat) from adult and clinically healthy cloned cattle is globally similar to normal animals. However, from a strictly biological point of view, the slightly delayed maturation we observed in the muscle of clones together with some marginal differences identified in FA composition of both muscle and milk, point to the need for more refined analysis to totally exclude any risks from the consumption of those products.

An experimental study has been performed at CRM with impinging burners to heat quickly low carbon steels without oxidizing their surfaces. The thermal performances of various burners (maximum heat transfer of ~370 kW/m2 on impinged surface) were studied and compared to data collected from classical direct flame furnaces. Simulations permit to consider an interesting reduction of furnace size. The surface characterization indicates the possibility to heat steel strip without oxidizing up to 840°C. It would then be possible to anneal steel strips at higher temperature than it is actually performed in the direct flame furnaces.

This is the final report on the intensive survey at Kouphovouno, the prehistoric settlement just south of Sparta, in 1999–2000. As well as a total collection of the artefacts on the surface, there was a magnetometer survey of the site and a programme of environmental studies, for which a series of cores was taken. The site was first occupied in the 6th millennium and covered 4–5 ha in the Middle, Late/Final Neolithic and Early Helladic periods. Occupation continued in the Middle and Late Helladic periods and there is also evidence of Classical-Hellenistic and Roman activity. As well as pottery, the artefacts included chipped and polished stone tools. An analytical programme has investigated the source of the raw materials used for the latter.

The production of new steel grades - such as dual phase and TRIP steels - requires improvements to both process and equipment of continuous galvanizing lines. In particular, progress has to be obtained in cooling technology in order to get the desired mechanical properties. This paper presents a study of design parameters allowing the optimization of fast gas multi-jet cooling systems. The thermal study involves the application of infrared thermography and three-dimensional numerical simulations. Furthermore, a dynamic study is performed in order to reduce steel strip vibration.

Several lines of evidence have accumulated in recent years indicating that nuclear cytoplasmic interactions play an important role in the formation and fate of the developing mouse embryo. Early nuclear transplantation experiments indicated that the ability of nuclei to direct cleavage after transfer into enucleated zygotes falls abruptly with nuclei from more advanced preimplantation stages [1]. Transcriptional activation of the nuclei, which occurs during the second cell cycle probably precludes the reprogramming of nuclei from later cleavage stages [2]. Thus, when an 8-cell nucleus is transferred to an enucleated zygote, such a reconstituted zygote is blocked at the 2-cell stage. However, when identical 8-cell nuclei were transferred into both blastomeres of enucleated 2-cell embryos, they were able to support development to the blastocyst stage and even gave rise to live offspring [2-4]. This indicated the importance of the cytoplasmic environment for the ability of the incoming nucleus to support development. It should be noted that in these experiments, the nuclear cytoplasmic ratio was also an important factor in determining the development of the reconstituted embryos [2]. Similar observations were also made when monitoring the development of haploid embryos [5]. In another study, Latham and Solter [6] examined the ability of androgenones, obtained by replacing the female pronucleus of a zygote by the male pronucleus, to develop to the blastocyst stage. Androgenones generated from C57B1/6 eggs were found to be much more competent to give rise to blastocysts than were DBA/2 androgenones. However, when androgenones were constructed from (DBA/2×C57B1/6)F1, zygotes (genetic constitution of the embryos will hereafter be indicated with the female parent coming first followed by the male parent), by replacing the DBA/2 female pronucleus with a C57B1/6 pronucleus, they also developed poorly. This was not simply due to the lack of some component in DBA/2 cytoplasm, since the impaired development was also observed when C57B1/6 male pronuclei from pairs of (DBA/2×C57B1/6) F1, were transferred to an enucleated C57B1/6 egg.

the large field Lallemand electronographic camera has proved to be an ideal receptor for bidimensional photometry with the C.F.H. 3.6 m. Telescope. It permits to measure faint stars up to about B = 25. Plates of a large variety of objects have been obtained ; for example : crowded fields such as the nearby galaxy Messier 33 ; fields where one must recognize faint galaxies from stars; objects for which a high spatial resolution is needed, such as the optical jet of Messier 87 or gravitational lenses. It is possible to predict the limits of the receptor with a very large telescope.

This Epidote is found in the well-known quarries of quartziferous diorite at Quenast.

Without entering into any details regarding its crystalline form, it will suffice to mention that it here occurs in bacillary prisms, often elongated in the direction of the orthoaxis, and almost always macled parallel to the cleavage plane . It also occurs frequently in lamellar, fibrous and radiated masses of a pale green color, at times greyish or straw-colored ; these groups of crystals, which frequently occupy the geodes of the matrix, are capable of furnishing the mineral in a state of great purity, and well suited for chemical analysis.