Search

Background Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) down-regulates angiotensin-converting enzyme 2, potentially increasing angiotensin II. We hypothesized that losartan compared to usual care decreases mortality and is safe in patients hospitalized with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). We aimed to evaluate the effect of losartan versus usual care on 28-day mortality in patients hospitalized for acute COVID-19. Methods Eligibility criteria included adults admitted for acute COVID-19. Exclusion criteria were hypotension, hyperkalemia, acute kidney injury, and use of angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) or angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors within 7 days. Participants were randomized to losartan 25–100 mg/day orally for the hospital duration or 3 months or the control arm (usual care) in 29 hospitals in Canada and France. The primary outcome was 28-day mortality. Secondary outcomes were hospital mortality, organ support, and serious adverse events (SAEs). Results The trial was stopped early because of a serious safety concern with losartan. In 341 patients, any SAE and hypotension were significantly higher in the losartan versus usual care groups (any SAE: 39.8% vs 27.2%, respectively, P =.01; hypotension: 30.4% vs 15.3%, respectively, P <.001) in both ward and intensive care patients. The 28-day mortality did not differ between losartan (6.5%) versus usual care (5.9%) (odds ratio, 1.11 [95% confidence interval,.47–2.64]; P =.81), nor did organ dysfunction or secondary outcomes. Conclusions Caution is needed in deciding which patients to start or continue using ARBs in patients hospitalized with pneumonia to mitigate risk of hypotension, acute kidney injury, and other side effects. ARBs should not be added to care of patients hospitalized for acute COVID-19. Clinical Trials Registration NCT04606563. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: In 2021, French health authorities strongly promoted vaccination against COVID-19. The authors assumed that refusing this vaccine became a stigma, and they investigated potential public stigma toward unvaccinated people among the French population. Methods: A representative sample of the French adult population (N = 2,015) completed an online questionnaire in September 2021. The authors focused on participants who were already vaccinated against COVID-19 or intended to get vaccinated (N = 1,742). A cluster analysis was used to obtain contrasted attitudinal profiles, and the authors investigated associated factors with logistic regressions. Findings: Regarding attitudes toward unvaccinated people, a majority of respondents supported several pejorative statements, and a significant minority also endorsed social rejection attitudes. The authors found four contrasting attitudinal profiles: moral condemnation only (32% of respondents), full stigma (26%), no stigma (26%), and stigma rejection (16%). Early vaccination, civic motives for it, faith in science, rejection of political extremes, and being aged 65 or older were the main factors associated with stigmatizing attitudes toward unvaccinated people. Conclusions: The authors found some evidence of stigmatization toward unvaccinated people, but further research is needed, especially to investigate perceived stigmatization among them. The authors discuss their results with reference to the concept of "folk devils" and from a public health perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We describe an interactive collaborative environmental education project that makes advanced laboratory facilities at Brookhaven National Laboratory accessible for one-year or multi-year science projects for the high school level. Cyber-enabled Environmental Science (CEES) utilizes web conferencing software to bring multi-disciplinary, inquiry-based research opportunities to Districts who wish to participate. CEES serves as a model to show how students involved in distance learning and experimentation can engage in exciting, state-of-the-art research that enhances their skills for future Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) careers. High school research opportunities through CEES support all seven New York State Standards for mathematics, science and technology (MST), Common Core and 12 of the National Geography Standards.

Fisheries bycatch has been identified as the most serious threat to many seabird species and there is an increasing awareness of the responsibility of fisheries management bodies to include the impact on non‐target species in their management and regulatory frameworks.In 2022, an ecological risk assessment (ERA) for seabirds and fisheries was presented to the Scientific Committee of the Southern Indian Ocean Fisheries Agreement (SIOFA). This ERA identified 32 seabird species that regularly occurred in the SIOFA Area, of which 11 were determined as being at high risk. This high‐risk group included 10 albatross species that have the greatest likelihood of interacting with SIOFA managed fisheries in Subareas 1, 2 and 3b (west of 40° E) where they overlap with the pelagic longline fishery.Although the pelagic longline fishery for Ruvettus pretiosus is the largest fishery under the auspices of SIOFA, in terms of catch and number of vessels, the existing management measures of SIOFA focused on demersal fisheries and did not include any mitigation requirements for pelagic longlines. In response to the outcomes of the ERA, a proposed amendment to SIOFA's management measures was presented by France to the Meeting of Parties of SIOFA and led to the revision of SIOFA's seabird bycatch mitigation measures in respect of pelagic longlines, making them consistent with those agreed by the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission.Regulatory diffusion, the increased likelihood of adoption of regulation by one agency if that regulation has been adopted by another agency, contributed to the relatively rapid transition from the identification of the risk posed by pelagic longline vessels to the change in regulations to address those risks in SIOFA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to identify how upper secondary school French students (Grade 10-12) interpret chemical transformation with regards to the changes within molecules and atoms, and in terms of intramolecular and/or intermolecular bond breaking. In order to identify and describe the students' assimilated knowledge, four questions were asked to 930 students using a written questionnaire submitted a long time after the related teaching took place. There is much research into student learning in the concept areas discussed here (atoms and molecules, chemical change, chemical bonding), as reviewed in the paper. The present study presents data from an educational system where limited work has been reported in the international literature. The French system has its own unique curriculum, and is taught in the national language (where much of the existing research has concerned learning in Anglophile systems). The research reported here found that French secondary students experienced many similar difficulties in understanding these key scientific concepts to those that have been reported elsewhere, showing the cross-cultural nature of the key educational issues. For example, many have difficulties in understanding the changes undergone by atoms and molecules in the course of a chemical reaction; many are not able to justify explicitly the breaking of inter-molecular bonds and to interpret the breaking of intramolecular bonds in terms of reorganization of atoms, the target level of understanding in the curriculum from the end of Grade 9. However, it is also suggested that some of the specific characteristics identified here are linked to the ordering and language used in the French curriculum, and such cultural idiosyncrasies may offer useful insights into both problematic and valuable aspects of science pedagogy. (Contains 4 figures and 7 tables.)

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between self-determination and quality of life (QOL) of persons with intellectual disabilities (ID) living in four countries (Canada, United States, Belgium and France). Method: Participants were 182 adults with mild ID living in community settings (with families, living independently or in supported living environments). QOL was measured with the Quality of Life Questionnaire. Self-determination was measured using the Adult version of The Arc's Self-Determination Scale. Discriminant function and correlational analyses were conducted. Results: Discriminant function analysis indicated that essential characteristics of self-determination predicted membership in the high QOL group and that overall self-determination and QOL were significantly correlated, as were sub-scale scores. Conclusions: The study replicates findings from a previous study with an international sample and confirms the importance of self-determination to enhance QOL. Subsequent research should examine the direction of the relationship between self-determination and QOL and examine the relationship of essential characteristics of self-determined behaviour and core domains of QOL in greater detail.

Background: In contrast to guidelines related to lipid therapy in other areas, 2012 Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) guidelines recommend conducting a lipid profile upon diagnosis of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and treating all patients older than 50 years without defining a target for lipid levels. We evaluated multinational practice patterns for lipid management in patients with advanced CKD under nephrology care. Methods: We analyzed lipid-lowering therapy (LLT), LDL- cholesterol (LDL-C) levels, and nephrologist-specified LDL-C goal upper limits in adult patients with eGFR < 60 ml/min from nephrology clinics in Brazil, France, Germany, and the United States (2014–2019). Models were adjusted for CKD stage, country, cardiovascular risk indicators, sex, and age. Results: LLT treatment differed significantly by country, from 51% in Germany to 61% in the US and France (p = 0.002) for statin monotherapy. For ezetimibe with or without statins, the prevalence was 0.3% in Brazil to 9% in France (< 0.001). Compared with patients not taking lipid-lowering therapy, LDL-C was lower among treated patients (p < 0.0001) and differed significantly by country (p < 0.0001). At the patient level, the LDL-C levels and statin prescription did not vary significantly by CKD stage (p = 0.09 LDL-C and p = 0.24 statin use). Between 7—23% of untreated patients in each country had LDL-C ≥ 160 mg/dL. Only 7–17% of nephrologists believed that LDL-C should be < 70 mg/dL. Conclusion: There is substantial variation in practice patterns regarding LLT across countries but not across CKD stages. Treated patients appear to benefit from LDL-C lowering, yet a significant proportion of hyperlipidemia patients under nephrologist care are not receiving treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the 1990s, scholars interested in French Rugby League have argued that the Fédération française de rugby, France's Rugby Union organisation, and especially its honorary president Paul Voivenel, collaborated with a cabal inside the Vichy government to destroy their League rivals who had 'rebelled against the authority of French rugby'. Although the Vichy regime absolutely attacked Rugby League, the evidence for a conspiracy between Rugby Union federation and the state remains unsupported by any evidence. A rereading of the sources on Vichy's engagement with French Rugby League shows that their despoliation fell in line with other reforms undertaken by the French state at the same time. The Vichy French state undermined French Rugby League in line with their efforts to rationalise sports and maximise the number of athletes and contests across the metropole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using video-recorded class activities, analyzes the teaching method used in a French grammar lesson given in Northern France to a class of 25 students of 6-7 years old. The "catechistic teaching style" employed involves an interactive question-and-answer format. Enumerates advantages and disadvantages of this style. (KS)

Concerns have been raised about early vs. later impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on suicidal behavior. However, data remain sparse to date. We investigated all calls for intentional drug or other toxic ingestions to the eight Poison Control Centers in France between 1st January 2018 and 31st May 2022. Data were extracted from the French National Database of Poisonings. Calls during the study period were analyzed using time trends and time series analyses with SARIMA models (based on the first two years). Breakpoints were determined using Chow test. These analyses were performed together with examination of age groups (≤ 11, 12–24, 25–64, ≥ 65 years) and gender effects when possible. Over the studied period, 66,589 calls for suicide attempts were received. Overall, there was a downward trend from 2018, which slowed down in October 2019 and was followed by an increase from November 2020. Number of calls observed during the COVID period were above what was expected. However, important differences were found according to age and gender. The increase in calls from mid-2020 was particularly observed in young females, while middle-aged adults showed a persisting decrease. An increase in older-aged people was observed from mid-2019 and persisted during the pandemic. The pandemic may therefore have exacerbated a pre-existing fragile situation in adolescents and old-aged people. This study emphasizes the rapidly evolving situation regarding suicidal behaviour during the pandemic, the possibility of age and gender differences in impact, and the value of having access to real-time information to monitor suicidal acts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Integrated patterns of energy balance-related behaviours of preschool children in Asia are sparse, with few comparative analyses. Purpose: Using cohorts in Singapore (GUSTO) and France (EDEN), we characterized lifestyle patterns of children and investigated their associations with family-focused contextual factors. Methods: Ten behavioural variables related to child's diet, walking, outdoor play and screen time were ascertained by parental questionnaires at age 5–6 years. Using principal component analysis, sex-specific lifestyle patterns were derived independently for 630 GUSTO and 989 EDEN children. Contextual variables were organised into distal (family socio-economics, demographics), intermediate (parental health, lifestyle habits) and proximal (parent-child interaction factors) levels of influence and analysed with hierarchical linear regression. Results: Three broadly similar lifestyle patterns were identified in both cohorts: "discretionary consumption and high screen time", "fruit, vegetables, and low screen time" and "high outdoor playtime and walking". The latter two patterns showed small differences between cohorts and sexes. The "discretionary consumption and high screen time" pattern was consistently similar in both cohorts; distal associated factors were lower maternal education (EDEN boys), no younger siblings (GUSTO boys) and Malay/Indian ethnicity (GUSTO), while intermediate and proximal associated factors in both cohorts and sexes were poor maternal diets during pregnancy, parents allowing high child control over food intake, snacking between meals and having television on while eating. Conclusions: Three similar lifestyle patterns were observed among preschool children in Singapore and France. There were more common associated proximal factors than distal ones. Cohort specific family-focused contextual factors likely reflect differences in social and cultural settings. Findings will aid development of strategies to improve child health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heaping is defined as a cognitive bias to round numbers even if precise results are desired. This article targets on dividends in four key European markets (Germany, France, the UK, and Switzerland) over the 1981–2019 period. We hypothesize and report that the change of currency in Germany and France (they both adopted the Euro in January 1999) significantly influenced the characteristics of heaping observed in the dividends both in the short and in the long run. We also report that consistent with the prior literature, the probability of rounding of dividends in each country is significantly related to both information uncertainty and dividend size. In the UK and Switzerland heaping increases over time for the full 1981–2019 period for all designated rounding intervals. For Germany and France heaping increases for all rounding intervals during the 1981–1998 period, but the adoption of the Euro leads to a drastic reduction of heaping that lasts several years in both markets. In the long run, after the adoption of the Euro, the likelihood of heaping recovers for small rounding intervals, but remains well below the previous levels for larger rounding intervals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Ornithology is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Cybium: International Journal of Ichthyology is the property of Societe Francaise d'Ichtyologie (SFI) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The hypothesis that similar processes govern interannual dynamics of green spruce aphid in the UK and France, is generally supported by the application of a general discrete model. A simple model based on relatively few parameters was able to closely characterise interannual population dynamics from completely independent aerial and arboreal samples of aphids. Long‐term field population estimates of the green spruce aphid Elatobium abietinum (Walker) in France have provided the opportunity to select and evaluate the generality of a model, which was developed in the UK to explain the year‐to‐year variations in peak abundance of the aphid. The objective was to observe the influence of the local climates and disturbing climate factors on the population densities of the insect in two regions of France. The model uses climate variables and aphid population data from regular samples in the two regions that were investigated. A general discrete model was used to predict aphid population densities. The model performed well in tracking the interannual patterns of population but was less likely to predict absolute population density. To improve predictions, further account would need to be taken of additional site‐specific climate variables and the strength of overcompensating density dependence. Nevertheless, it is clear that broadly similar processes are at work in the population dynamics of this insect across its biogeographical range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an analytical tool: a coding scheme designed to evaluate the degree and type of divergence between a dominant orthodox discourse and the discourse of heterodox actors who criticize this dominant position. The author draws inspiration from Boltanski's (2011) conception of critique and analytical sociologists' decomposition of social reality to shed light on actors' ontology. By summarizing the differences between orthodox and heterodox accounts of reality in simple tables, this method makes it possible to compare the discourses of a wide variety of actors. To show the heuristic nature of this tool, the author uses it to analyse the controversy that emerged in France in 2009-2010 over the safety of the pandemic flu vaccine. The author presents the social and medical ontologies on which these various critiques were grounded and their varying degrees of radicalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Invasive infections due to Haemophilus influenzae are infrequent following the implementation of vaccination against H. influenzae of serotype b. However, their changing epidemiology may not be clear due to a lack of appropriate genotyping methods combined with antibiotic susceptibility analyses which do not discriminate invasive and non-invasive isolates. We aimed to describe recent epidemiological trends of invasive H. influenzae infections in France and explore the microbiological characteristics of invasive versus non-invasive isolates.Methods: All culture- and PCR-confirmed cases due to H. influenzae isolated from a sterile site, that were received at the French national reference centre for H. influenzae during the year 2017 (n = 138) were characterized by whole genome sequencing (WGS), serotyping and antibiotic susceptibility testing. We also included 100 isolates that were received from non-invasive infections.Findings: Most of the non-invasive isolates were non-typeable (99%) and this proportion was significantly less among invasive isolates 75%, p < 0.0001). Serotype f was the most frequently observed but serotypes b and a were also present among invasive isolates. WGS analysis suggested a serotype b to a capsule switching event. Non-typeable isolates showed extensive heterogeneity. Antibiotic susceptibility testing indicated that 24% of the invasive isolates were resistant to ampicillin but this percentage was significantly higher (51%, p < 0.001) among the non-invasive isolates. Moreover, the proportion of beta-lactamase negative ampicillin resistant isolates (BLNAR) was significantly higher among non-invasive isolates compared to that of invasive isolates (24% versus 7%, p < 0.001). BLNAR isolates were linked to modification in the ftsI gene encoding the penicillin binding protein 3 (PBP3). In particular, ftsI alleles that harboured the mutations D350N, S357N, M377I and S385T were resistant to ampicillin and third generation cephalosporins. These isolates were more frequent among non-invasive isolates.Interpretation: Our data suggest that invasive H. influenzae isolates differed phenotypically and genotypically from non-invasive isolates. The high proportion of ampicillin resistance by mutation in ftsI among non-invasive isolates may suggest a biological cost of these mutations on the function of PBP3 that can lead to lower bacterial invasiveness. WGS should be used routinely for the characterization of H. influenzae isolates in order to reliably follow the emergence, spread and mechanism of antibiotic resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The British area bombing of Germany in the Second World War has provided for enduring ethical controversy. Eschewing conventional approaches, we present area bombing as a Dirty Hands leadership response to the Wicked Problem of Britain's wartime strategic predicament. Using historical methodology, we establish two distinct phases in area bombing: 1942–1944, when this was ethically contentious but politically necessary; and 1944–1945, which lacks a Dirty Hands legitimation. The second phase follows upon a six-month lull in area bombing during Bomber Command's assignment to Overlord (D-Day) duties. It is characterised by credible alternatives to area bombing, a waning sense of proportionality in Bomber Command activity, and intensifying death and destruction without justifiable purpose. We relate the breaching of the boundaries of Dirty Hands in Phase II to a precise date – September 1944. This coincides with the mutation of the strategic Wicked Problem into a Critical Problem, visible in the stalling of the Allied land campaign in France. Mistaking this for a Tame Problem, the C-in-C of Bomber Command, Arthur Harris, exploits the political context to escalate his commitment. Following Watters' alignment of Critical Problems with Virtue Ethics, we argue that Harris' leadership in Phase II is not consistent with Virtue Ethics (of which recognition of the boundaries of Dirty Hands is a function). Harris is the archetype of the leader who gets away with exploiting a Wicked Problem because his superiors have let down their guard. In the final instance, his failure of ethical leadership becomes their own. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a methodology for generating fractal fracture networks in one, two and three dimensions that respects the dual power-law model, in which the scaling characteristics are set by the two independent parameters: (1) the correlation dimension that pertains to separation of fracture centers, and (2) the length exponent that governs the distribution of fracture lengths. Synthetic fracture distributions were generated to evaluate the stereological relationships between the scaling parameters of 2D and 3D networks, and the scaling of fracture intersection points along a scanline through the network. The results showed that it is not possible to estimate the 2D and 3D fractal scaling parameters of the correlation dimension from the 1D correlation dimension of fracture spacing from scanlines through the network, even if the length exponent is known a priori. Synthetic 1D distributions of fracture spacing of known correlation dimension were used as a benchmark to test the consistency of estimates of fractal dimension derived from box-counting, two-point correlation, and power-law fitting. The results showed that the correlation dimension obtained from the two-point correlation method provided the most stable and reliable estimate of the fractal dimension of fractures on 1D scanlines or boreholes. Application of the two-point correlation function to the observed fracture distributions along three deep boreholes in crystalline rock at Basel, Switzerland and Soultz-sous-Forêts, France showed that the distribution was fractal over more than two orders of magnitude in scale, and in all cases the fractal dimensions was in the range 0.86–0.88. Similar results were obtained for fracture sets of common orientation within the wells, although the fractal dimension ranged between 0.65 and 0.75. This constitutes strong evidence that fracturing in rock masses penetrated by the wells follows a fractal organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Francis Poulenc's Histoire de Babar, le petit éléphant (1940–45) is among his most charming and least studied works. Based on the popular children's book by Jean de Brunhoff, the work was composed on the eve of World War II for solo piano and narrator, and later orchestrated by Jean Françaix in 1961. It is a potent example of Lynn Garafola's concept of "lifestyle modernism," an "art of the sophisticated commonplace" first associated with Satie's Sports et divertissements (1914) and Parade (1917), a style that most scholars have declared defunct post-Parade. Instead, Babar can be viewed as a reflection of the continuation and expansion of the trend through its glorification of the leisure activities of the French upper class. The music combines Les Six-era frivolity with previously unrecognized allusions to music by Chopin, Satie, and Stravinsky, reflecting the composer's longstanding approach to quotation and allusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Limited data are available from real-world practices in Europe describing prevailing treatment patterns and outcomes in relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM), particularly by cytogenetic risk. Methods. A retrospective medical record review was conducted in 200 RRMM patients in France. From first relapse, patients were assessed on second-/third-line treatments, progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), and healthcare utilization. Results. Fifty-five high risk and 113 standard risk patients were identified. Overall, 192 patients (96%) received second-line therapy after relapse. Lenalidomide-based regimens were most common (>50%) in second line. Hospitalization incidence in high risk patients was approximately twice that of standard risk patients. From Kaplan-Meier estimation, median (95% CI) second-line PFS was 21.4 (17.5, 25.0) months (by high versus standard risk: 10.6 [6.4, 17.0] versus 28.7 [22.1, 37.3] months). Among second-line recipients, 47.4% were deceased at data collection. Median second-line OS was 59.4 (38.8, NE) months (by high versus standard risk: 36.5 [17.4, 50.6] versus 73.6 [66.5, NE] months). Conclusions. The prognostic importance of cytogenetic risk in RRMM was apparent, whereby high (versus standard) risk patients had decidedly shorter PFS and OS. Frequent hospitalizations indicated potentially high costs associated with RRMM, particularly for high risk patients. These findings may inform economic evaluations of RRMM therapies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the Second World War, a small group of Vietnamese émigrés in Vichy France drew powerful inspiration from the ideological and material possibilities of the Nazi occupation. Their history reveals the colonial dimensions of a process of collaboration too often cast as solely European. It also sheds light on the transnational migrations and intellectual circulations that made European experiences an important part of Asian wartime political choices. Finally, their myriad trajectories after the war are a powerful example of the ideological reconfigurations and reversals of Asian politics during decolonization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pierre de Bérulle, founder of the Oratoire de Jésus (commonly known as the Oratoire de France), is a leading figure in the renewal of the Catholic Church in France in the first half of the seventeenth century. He is generally regarded as the founder of the French School of Spirituality (École française de spiritualité), though this term has been much criticised in recent years. He is often described as a ‘reformer’ of the Church in France, but this is a half-truth which obscures his real originality; he certainly shared the aims of those striving to create a clergy which would be better educated, more morally upright and more pastorally sensitive and zealous; but above all else he was concerned with thespiritualrenewal of the clergy and with the Church in France generally. Lastly, he has often been accused of wishing to create chiefly, if not exclusively, a spirituality of the priesthood and to work for the ‘sanctification’ of the clergy. But his work and ideas must be seen here in a broader perspective, for Bérulle and his disciples shared with St Francis de Sales the aim, expressed in hisIntroduction à la vie devote(1608), of creating and promoting a spirituality available toallChristians. This article examines his conception of the Oratory, which he intended to be an intermediary between the religious orders and the secular clergy, his spiritual theology, what I have called his ‘spiritual pedagogy’, and his influence in France and elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The governments of Britain, France, and the United States are seeking to promote renewed investment in nuclear power through metagovernance. Metagovernance describes the way governments can leverage state power and resources to shape the behavior of networked actors to advance policy goals. To metagovern, governments use a variety of policy tools but the factors shaping the design of these policy tools remains unclear. Grid-group cultural theory is used to show that the design of the policy tools used in metagovernance reflects both an underlying cultural bias within government and prevailing institutional circumstances. The paper demonstrates the utility of cultural theory in the study of metagovernance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Neisseria meningitidis is a leading cause of meningitis and septicaemia. The hyperinvasive ST-11 clonal complex (cc11) caused serogroup C (MenC) outbreaks in the US military in the 1960s and UK universities in the 1990s, a global Hajj-associated serogroup W (MenW) outbreak in 2000-2001, and subsequent MenW epidemics in sub-Saharan Africa. More recently, endemic MenW disease has expanded in South Africa, South America and the UK, and MenC cases have been reported among European and North American men who have sex with men (MSM). Routine typing schemes poorly resolve cc11 so we established the population structure at genomic resolution.Methods: Representatives of these episodes and other geo-temporally diverse cc11 meningococci (n = 750) were compared across 1546 core genes and visualised on phylogenetic networks.Results: MenW isolates were confined to a distal portion of one of two main lineages with MenB and MenC isolates interspersed elsewhere. An expanding South American/UK MenW strain was distinct from the 'Hajj outbreak' strain and a closely related endemic South African strain. Recent MenC isolates from MSM in France and the UK were closely related but distinct.Conclusions: High resolution 'genomic' multilocus sequence typing is necessary to resolve and monitor the spread of diverse cc11 lineages globally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay examines “revolutionary vandalism” in France in the years, 1789–1794, situating it as both a complex site of negotiation and legitimation and a productive inscription of material with meaning and significance. Drawing on Walter Benjamin's formulation of the legalistic dimensions of violence, it argues for a new interpretation of vandalism as a site of legitimation and mythologisation at the very heart of Revolutionary culture. Alongside an exploration of the various modes and functions of violence against objects and buildings in this period, this essay takes up the emphasis on material signs in the construction of French Revolutionary culture to show how “positive” elements of this culture weredependentin significant ways on material acts of erasure, while, at the same time, the rhetoric of “vandalism” served to de-legitimate certain actors—and certain forms of spatial violence—from the narrative of the Revolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An essay is presented on the racial identities as symbiotic relationships in the play "Les Nègres" by Jean Genet. It examines the play's discourse on French African consciousness and the social psychological complexities of racial identities. It highlights assertions of racism in the white-centered racialized color of the play.

This article contrasts two major debates in book form on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, so central to French political discussion today—the ‘quarrel’ between Alain Badiou(with Cécile Winter, inCirconstances 3: Portées du mot ‘juif’)and Éric Marty(Une querelle avec Alain Badiou, philosophe), and the debate between Régis Debray and Élie Barnavi(À un ami israélien, by Debray with a response from Barnavi). The Badiou/Marty exchange is hostile and polarised, Badiou arguing strongly against the existence of a separate Israeli state and Marty vehemently in its favour, whileÀ un ami israélienevidences what I describe as Debray's post-Zionism in dialogue with Barnavi's Left Zionism. What emerges from the two exchanges is, it is argued, a taxonomy of attitudes towards Israel substantially more complex than the traditional, and often misleading, polarity between ‘Zionist’ and ‘anti-Zionist’. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A crucial but elusive aspect of the effective conservation and management of migratory birds is the determination of which regions or habitats contribute to the recruitment of juvenile birds into the adult breeding population or, in the case of hunted species, the annual harvest. Although ring recoveries have provided important information for several game species, limitations of this approach include the bias to only marked populations and the tremendous scale of effort required to recover enough individuals. Here, we explored the use of an intrinsic marker, the stable hydrogen isotope composition of feathers ( δ2H f) of juvenile woodcock ( Scolopax rusticola), as a means of assigning birds to natal origin using a woodcock-specific δ2H f isoscape. We applied this approach to 987 juvenile woodcock during the winters of 2005–2006 and 2006–2007, and 1875 juvenile woodcock sampled during autumn migration of 2005 and 2006. We used a likelihood-based assignment approach to determine origins from four regions. Considering only the feather isotope data, the majority (50 %) were assigned to origins in the Baltic—Western European Russia region (including western Russia) and 44 % assigned to central European origins. Few (6 %) were considered residents in France and <1 % were assigned to northern Fennoscandia and northern European Russia. Using the amount of forest cover available within zones as a prior resulted in greater emphasis on origins in the Baltic and western European Russia (62 %) and less emphasis (29 %) on central Europe as a potential origin. We also depicted origins of birds on a continuous isoscape surface which emphasised more extant forests of central and eastern Europe and western Russia. Results were relatively similar regardless of whether we considered samples collected during migration versus those collected during the wintering period. Spatial assignment of 51 woodcock sampled in Switzerland was consistent with the Baltic and central Europe. Our results are in general agreement with ring-recovery data and emphasise the utility of an isotope approach to assignment of gamebirds to origin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The success of the experimental program at the Tevatron re-inforced the idea that precision physics at hadron colliders is desirable and, indeed, possible. The Tevatron data strongly suggests that one-loop computations in QCD describe hard scattering well. Extrapolating this observation to the LHC, we conclude that knowledge of many short-distance processes at next-to-leading order may be required to describe the physics of hard scattering. While the field of one-loop computations is quite mature, parton multiplicities in hard LHC events are so high that traditional computational techniques become inefficient. Recently, new approaches based on unitarity have been developed for calculating one-loop scattering amplitudes in quantum field theory. These methods are especially suitable for the description of multi-particle processes in QCD and are amenable to numerical implementations. We present a systematic pedagogical description of both conceptual and technical aspects of the new methods. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The British, Finnish and French governments are currently attempting to increase the share of electricity produced by nuclear power. We examine the diverse metagovernance responses in the three countries as their governments seek to manage complex networks to realize their policy goals. An expanded role for nuclear power in electricity generation cannot be called in existence by government fiat and challenges stem from the nature of nuclear technology itself, the institutional and physical configurations of the energy industries within each country and the political systems within which each government is embedded. It is shown that the ability of the British, Finnish and French governments to respond to a serious policy challenge in energy provision is limited by these factors and is complicated further by the 2011 nuclear accident in Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

It has been known for some time that the potential exists to construct a long daily series of surface pressure for the city of Paris because of the existence of various instrumental series that might be pieced together. The remarkable weather diary kept by the physician, Louis Morin, sets the start of the potential series to 1670, and various other series have now been digitized and corrected to allow the formation of a daily series of Mean Sea-Level Pressure (MSLP) that spans the greater part of 300 years. Unfortunately, a gap in the series still exists for the period 1726-1747, where it appears that no barometer observations have survived. This paper discusses the sources of the various pressure data used in the Paris daily MSLP series, and describes how these observations have been corrected and amalgamated to form a near-continuous, homogeneous series. The data are compared with a similar long daily series that has been independently constructed for the city of London (1692-2007). This comparison indicates that the two MSLP series are of a sufficient quality to provide useful information about the atmospheric circulation across western Europe over the last 300 years. Copyright © 2011 Royal Meteorological Society [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]