A new C12 alcohol identified as a sex pheromone and a trail-following pheromone in termites: the diene (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Z</Emphasis>,<Emphasis Type="Italic">Z</Emphasis>)-dodeca-3,6-dien-1-ol

The diunsaturated C12 alcohol (Z,Z)-dodeca-3,6-dien-1-ol (dodecadienol) has been characterized by GC-MS and FTIR as a novel releaser pheromone in termites. This alcohol identified in Ancistrotermes pakistanicus (Termitidae, Macrotermitinae) possesses a double pheromonal function which again illustrates the chemical parsimony of termites compared with other social insects. In workers, dodecadienol elicits trail-following at a very low concentration (activity threshold at 0.1 pg/cm of trail); in male alates it induces trail-following at a low concentration (1–10 pg/cm) and sexual attraction at a higher concentration (about 1 ng). Traces of the monounsaturated C12 alcohol (Z)-dodec-3-en-1-ol (dodecenol), known as a trail pheromone of several Macrotermitinae, were also found in the sternal gland extracts of A. pakistanicus, although only dodecadienol was present at the surface of the sternal gland. Workers of A. pakistanicus are not sensitive to dodecenol, but they are as sensitive to dodecatrienol as to dodecadienol. However, in the study area (Vietnam), A. pakistanicus is living in sympatry only with those Macrotermitinae using dodecenol as a trail pheromone, the foraging populations therefore being well isolated through their respective trail pheromones. The presence of three types of unsaturated C12 alcohols as releaser pheromones in the only Macrotermitinae subfamily is discussed, and a possible biosynthetic pathway from linoleic acid is proposed for dodecadienol.     

Abdominopelvic injuries due to road traffic accidents: Characteristics in a registry of 162,695 victims

Objective: Road traffic accidents (RTAs) are the first cause of abdominopelvic injuries (APIs). The objective of this study was to describe the characteristics and severity of APIs due to traffic accidents in a large French trauma registry and to identify risk factors for API.

Methods: All victims from the French Rhône registry of victims of RTAs were analyzed from 1996 to 2013. This registry contained data that were issued over a 20-year period from 245 medical departments, from prehospital care until re-adaptation, and forensic medicine departments. All APIs, defined as an injury between the diaphragm and the pelvic bone, were extracted and studied.

Results: Among 162,695 victims, 10,165 had an API (6.7%). Accidents frequently involved young men and 2 cars. Mean Injury Severity Score (ISS) was 8.7. Mortality rate was 5.6%. Soft tissue injuries largely predominated (n = 6,388; 54.4% of patients). Overall, 2,322 victims had a pelvic bone injury. Internal abdominal organs were involved in 2,425 patients; the most frequent were the spleen, liver, and kidney. Wearing of the seat belt appeared to be a significant protective factor in API, including serious injuries. A partial analysis over the past 2 years among the most severe patients hospitalized in the intensive care unit indicated that nonoperative management was carried out in two thirds of the wounded. In uni- or multivariate analysis, sex, age, type of user, antagonist, time of occurrence, associated severe lesions, or wearing of the seat belt were statistically associated with the occurrence of API, highlighting a more dangerous user profile.

Conclusions: Abdominopelvic injuries concern a minority of road traffic injuries, but they are responsible for significant mortality. Large solid organs are the most frequently affected. Women drivers wearing a seat belt and driving in town during the day appear to be more protected against API.     

FMEA and consideration of real work situations for safer design of production systems

Production equipment designers must ensure the health and safety of future users; in this regard, they augment requirements for standardizing and controlling operator work. This contrasts with the ergonomic view of the activity, which recommends leaving operators leeway (margins for manoeuvre) in performing their task, while safeguarding their health. Following a brief analysis of design practices in the car industry, we detail how the Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) approach is implemented in this sector. We then suggest an adaptation that enables designers to consider real work situations. This new protocol, namely, work situation FMEA, allows experience feedback to be used to defend the health standpoint during designer project reviews, which usually only address quality and performance issues. We subsequently illustrate the advantage of this approach using two examples of work situations at car parts manufacturers: the first from the literature and the second from an in-company industrial project.     

Virucidal Efficacy of a Hydrogen Peroxide Nebulization Against Murine Norovirus and Feline Calicivirus,Two Surrogates of Human Norovirus

Human noroviruses (HuNoV) are amongst the leading causes of acute non-bacterial gastroenteritis in humans and can be transmitted via person-to-person contact, via contact with contaminated surfaces or by consumption of contaminated food. Contaminated surfaces in healthcare settings contribute to the transmission of viruses. No-touch automated room disinfection systems might prevent such a spread of contamination and thus their virucidal effect needs to be evaluated. The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy of a nebulization system spraying hydrogen peroxide on two main surrogates of HuNoV, namely murine norovirus (MNV) and feline calicivirus (FCV). The viruses were dried on cover glasses and on stainless steel discs and exposed to nebulization. The number of infectious viral particles and genomic copies before and after the nebulization was compared. The efficacy in reducing infectivity of both surrogates was demonstrated. For the infectious viral titre of MNV and FCV, a log₁₀ reduction factor ≥4.84 and 4.85 was observed after nebulization, respectively, for tests on cover glasses and ≥3.90 and 5.30, respectively, for tests on stainless steel discs. Only low reductions in genomic copy numbers were observed for both surrogates. The nebulization of hydrogen peroxide showed a clear virucidal effect on both HuNoV surrogates, MNV and FCV, on two different carriers and the use of nebulization should be promoted in complementarity with conventional disinfection methods in healthcare settings and food processing facilities to reduce viral load and spread of contamination.     

Modelling spatial zero-inflated continuous data with an exponentially compound Poisson process

A parsimonious model is presented as an alternative to delta approaches to modelling zero-inflated continuous data. The data model relies on an exponentially compound Poisson process, also called the law of leaks (LOL). It represents the process of sampling resources that are spatially distributed as Poisson distributed patches, each containing a certain quantity of biomass drawn from an exponential distribution. In an application of the LOL, two latent structures are proposed to account for spatial dependencies between zero values at different scales within a hierarchical Bayesian framework. The LOL is compared to the delta-gamma (ΔΓ) distribution using bottom-trawl survey data. Results of this case study emphasize that the LOL provides slightly better fits to learning samples with a very high proportion of zero values and small strictly positive abundance data. Additionally, it offers better predictions of validation samples.     

Identifying fishing trip behaviour and estimating fishing effort from VMS data using Bayesian Hidden Markov Models

Recent advances in technologies have lead to a vast influx of data on movements, based on discrete recorded position of animals or fishing boats, opening new horizons for future analyses. However, most of the potential interest of tracking data depends on the ability to develop suitable modelling strategies to analyze trajectories from discrete recorded positions. A serious modelling challenge is to infer the evolution of the true position and the associated spatio-temporal distribution of behavioural states using discrete, error-prone and incomplete observations. In this paper, a Bayesian Hierarchical Model (HBM) using Hidden Markov Process (HMP) is proposed as a template for analyzing fishing boats trajectories based on data available from satellite-based vessel monitoring systems (VMS). The analysis seeks to enhance the definition of the fishing pressure exerted on fish stocks, by discriminating between the different behavioural states of a fishing trip, and also by quantifying the relative importance of each of these states during a fishing trip. The HBM approach is tested to analyse the behaviour of pelagic trawlers in the Bay of Biscay. A hidden Markov chain with a regular discrete time step is used to model transitions between successive behavioural states (e.g., fishing, steaming, stopping (at Port or at sea)) of each vessel. The parameters of the movement process (speed and turning angles) are defined conditionally upon the behavioural states. Bayesian methods are used to integrate the available data (typically VMS position recorded at discrete time) and to draw inferences on any unknown parameters of the model. The model is first tested on simulated data with different parameters structures. Results provide insights on the potential of HBM with HMP to analyze VMS data. They show that if VMS positions are recorded synchronously with the instants at which the process switch from one behavioural state to another, the estimation method provides unbiased and precise inferences on behavioural states and on associated movement parameters. However, if the observations are not gathered with a sufficiently high frequency, the performance of the estimation method could be drastically impacted when the discrete observations are not synchronous with the switching instants. The model is then applied to real pathways to estimate variables of interest such as the number of operations per trip, time and distance spent fishing or travelling.     

Estimating parameters of neutral communities: from one single large to several small samples

The neutral theory of S. P. Hubbell postulates a two-scale hierarchical framework consisting of a metacommunity following the speciation-drift equilibrium characterized by the "biodiversity number" theta, and local communities following the migration-drift equilibrium characterized by the "migration rate" m (or the "fundamental dispersal number" I). While Etienne's sampling formula allows simultaneous estimation of theta and m from a single sample of a local community, its applicability to a network of (rather small) samples is questionable. We define here an alternative two-stage approach estimating theta from an adequate subset of the individuals sampled in the field (using Ewens' sampling formula) and m from community samples (using Etienne's sampling formula). We compare its results with the simultaneous estimation of theta and m (one-stage estimation), for simulated neutral samples and for 50 1-ha plots of evergreen forest in South India. The one-stage approach exhibits problems of bias and of poor differentiability between high-theta, low-m and low-theta, high-m solution domains. Conversely, the two-stage approach yielded reasonable estimates and is to be preferred when several small, scattered plots are available instead of a single large one.     

Correction to: Assessing local climate vulnerability and winegrowers’ adaptive processes in the context of climate change

Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change - Section 3.4.2: Reference “Nicholas and Durham 2012” should have been cited in the last sentence. That is “Using a list of...     

Extra-pair paternity in the monogamous Alpine marmot revealed by nuclear DNA microsatellite analysis

The genetic parentage and pedigrees of 35 litters from 12 family groups of monogamous Alpine marmot (Marmota marmota) in the French Alps were analyzed using six hypervariable sequence repeat nuclear loci (microsatellites). All of the members of these family groups were sampled during a 5-year period. Hairs taken directly from animals served as a source of DNA for amplification of the loci. Our results indicate that the genetic mating system of the Alpine marmot is quite different from a strictly monogamous breeding system. Extra-pair paternity occurred in 11 of the 35 litters (31.4%). Of the 134 juveniles typed, 26 (19.4%) could be attributed to extra-pair copulation (EPC). We examine hypotheses which could explain the evolution of EPC and discuss the different patterns of extra-pair mating. Received: 11 July 1997 / Accepted after revision: 23 May 1998     

Synthesis and environmental degradation of polyesters based on poly (ε-caprolactone)

Poly (-caprolactone) (PCL), poly (-valerolactone) (PVL), poly (-caprolactone-co--valerolactone) [P(CL-co-VL)], and poly (-caprolactone-co-ethylene oxide-co--caprolactone) (PCL-PEO-PCL) were synthesized by ring-opening and diol-initiated polymerization of -caprolactone and -valerolactone. The degradation of the samples by chemical hydrolysis and in a soil burial test was evaluated. It was found that PCL, PVL, and P(CL-co-VL) degrade mainly enzymatically. The rate of degradation depends on their molecular weight, chemical structure, composition, and morphology. PCL-PEO-PCL block copolymers exhibit a repelling effect to the microorganisms in the soil, which depends on the molecular weight and relative amount of PEO block in the copolymer.