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Estimating the temperature evolution of foodstuffs during freezing with a 3D meshless numerical method
2015
Abstract Freezing processes are characterised by sharp changes in specific heat capacity and thermal conductivity for temperatures close to the freezing point. This leads to strong nonlinearities in the governing PDE that may be difficult to resolve using traditional numerical methods. In this work we present a meshless numerical method, based on a local Hermite radial basis function collocation approach in finite differencing mode, to allow the solution of freezing problems. By introducing a Kirchhoff transformation and solving the governing equations in Kirchhoff space, the strength of nonlinearity is reduced while preserving the structure of the heat equation. In combination with the hig…
Thermo-hygrometry and IAQ Related Measurements of the Indoor Physical Conditions of Exhibition Halls for Complying International Rules and Standards
2018
Off-line methods for detecting the indoor physical parameters of museums are important tools in order of continuously monitoring the conditions at which works of art are exposed. These conditions, in fact, are mandatory established by several rules and technical standards aimed at preserving the specific artifacts. Moreover, indoor microclimate parameters must also take into account the comfort conditions for visiting people. Both the above-cited requirements suggest to perform the indoor monitoring with equipment visually low impacting. In this paper, some examples of visually low impacting off-line monitoring methods, applied to three artifacts displayed in the “Museo Regionale” of Palerm…
Le sens de l’écart : la narration déconstruite dans les vidéos de Willie Doherty
2011
International audience; In his video works, all tightly focused on the Northern-Irish conflict, Willie Doherty probes the perpetrator-victim dyad and denounces the truncated visual representation of the conflict by deconstructing the relation between image and sound. The texts uttered by the voice-over raise political issues relevant to post-conflict Ireland, whether it be victimhood, national trauma or the construction of collective memory. Multiple open-ended interwoven narratives accompany images without closing their interpretation.; Dans les œuvres vidéographiques de l’artiste nord-irlandais Willie Doherty, les éléments narratifs entretiennent une relation complexe avec les images film…
Food supplementation reveals constraints and adaptability of egg quality in the magpie Pica pica
2015
Differences in the deposition of limited maternal resources to eggs can reflect the optimal allocation to manipulate offspring phenotype, or constraints caused by maternal condition. We examined multiple maternal substances transferred to eggs in the magpie Pica pica to test the hypothesis that certain substances represent constraint and some optimal allocation. We did this by supplementary feeding magpies prior to egg-laying and then comparing the effect of food on maternal substances in conjunction with laying order relative to a control group. Certain substances such as carotenoids, immunoglobulins and avidin responded positively to food supplementation, whereas others, such as testoste…
Kinetic modelling of the Zymomonas mobilis Entner-Doudoroff pathway: insights into control and functionality.
2013
Zymomonas mobilis, an ethanol-producing bacterium, possesses the Entner-Doudoroff (E-D) pathway, pyruvate decarboxylase and two alcohol dehydrogenase isoenzymes for the fermentative production of ethanol and carbon dioxide from glucose. Using available kinetic parameters, we have developed a kinetic model that incorporates the enzymic reactions of the E-D pathway, both alcohol dehydrogenases, transport reactions and reactions related to ATP metabolism. After optimizing the reaction parameters within likely physiological limits, the resulting kinetic model was capable of simulating glycolysis in vivo and in cell-free extracts with good agreement with the fluxes and steady-state intermediate …
Speed-accuracy trade-off and its consequences in a scramble competition context.
2014
Abstract: Animals foraging in groups commonly respond to the presence of others by increasing their foraging rate, an increase that could come at the expense of prey detection accuracy. Yet the existence and consequences of such so-called 'speed-accuracy trade-offs' in group-foraging animals remain unexplored. We used group-feeding zebra finches, Taeniopygia guttata, to determine how search speed affects food detection accuracy and how a potential speed-accuracy trade-off influences feeding success. We found significant between-individual differences in hopping speed as well as evidence that faster individuals were more likely to overlook food, demonstrating the existence of a trade-off bet…
Dietary exposure in utero and during lactation to a mixture of genistein and an anti-androgen fungicide in a rat mammary carcinogenesis model
2015
Endocrine disruptors may play substantial roles in the high incidence of breast cancer. We previously described how early exposure to the mixture of phytoestrogen genistein (G) and the anti-androgen vinclozolin (V) affects peripubertal mammary development. This study evaluates the carcinogenic potential of exposure to V alone or associated with G from conception until weaning in Wistar rats. Dams were exposed to V, G or GV during pregnancy/lactation. At PND50 offspring were treated with DMBA[7,12-dimethylbenz(a)anthracene]. V or GV maternal exposure decreased number of DMBA-induced mammary tumors in the offspring, without significant modifications in tumor incidence, multiplicity and latenc…
Sex-specific transgenerational effects of early developmental conditions in a passerine.
2007
Most studies dealing with the trade-off between offspring number and quality have overlooked the long-term consequences for the progeny. High investment in offspring number usually results in an increased competition among nest mates. The deterioration of the early developmental conditions, due to this increased competition, can impair individual quality over the long term, and subsequently affect survival and lifetime fecundity. Moreover, the consequences of the allocation rule to offspring number vs. quality can extend across generations and give raise to grandparental effects. These transgenerational trade-offs have been explored rarely. In the present study, we manipulated the breeding …
Age, pathogen exposure, but not maternal care shape offspring immunity in an insect with facultative family life
2017
International audience; Background: To optimize their resistance against pathogen infection, individuals are expected to find the right balance between investing into the immune system and other life history traits. In vertebrates, several factors were shown to critically affect the direction of this balance, such as the developmental stage of an individual, its current risk of infection and/or its access to external help such as parental care. However, the independent and/or interactive effects of these factors on immunity remain poorly studied in insects.Results: Here, we manipulated maternal presence and pathogen exposure in families of the European earwig Forficula auricularia to measur…
Introduction. Ecological immunology.
2009
12 pages; International audience; An organism's fitness is critically reliant on its immune system to provide protection against parasites and pathogens. The structure of even simple immune systems is surprisingly complex and clearly will have been moulded by the organism's ecology. The aim of this review and the theme issue is to examine the role of different ecological factors on the evolution of immunity. Here, we will provide a general framework of the field by contextualizing the main ecological factors, including interactions with parasites, other types of biotic as well as abiotic interactions, intraspecific selective constraints (life-history trade-offs, sexual selection) and popula…