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We used whole-genome sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 to identify variants circulating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and obtain molecular information useful for diagnosis, improving treatment, and general pandemic control strategies.A total of 74 SARS-CoV-2 isolates were sequenced using Oxford Nanopore platforms. Generated reads were processed to obtain consensus genome sequences. Sequences with more than 80% genome coverage were used for variant calling, phylogenetic analysis, and classification using Pangolin lineage annotation nomenclature.Phylogenetic analysis based on Pangolin classification clustered South Kivu sequences into seven lineages (A.23.1, B.1.1.6, B.1.214, B.1.617.2, B.1.351, C.16, and P.1). The Delta (B.1.617.2) variant was the most dominant and responsible for outbreaks during the third wave. Based on the Wuhan reference genome, 289 distinct mutations were detected, including 141 missenses, 123 synonymous, and 25 insertions/deletions when our isolates were mapped to the Wuhan reference strain. Most of these point mutations were located within the coding sequences of the SARS-CoV-2 genome that includes spike, ORF1ab, ORF3, and nucleocapsid protein genes. The most common mutation was D614G (1841AG) observed in 61 sequences, followed by L4715L (14143 CT) found in 60 sequences.Our findings highlight multiple introductions of SARS-CoV-2 into South Kivu through different sources and subsequent circulation of variants in the province. These results emphasize the importance of timely monitoring of genetic variation and its effect on disease severity. This work set a foundation for the use of genomic surveillance as a tool for future global pandemic management and control.

Layered transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) materials possess novel and unique semiconducting properties when exfoliated into thin sheets or individual layers. The exfoliation leads to effective sensing towards gas molecule due to the increase in surface-active sites and edge zone disorders. In this work, we present exfoliation of bulk WS2 sheets with liquid-based dispersion technique using facile bath sonication method for NO2 molecule sensing. The exfoliated WS2 nanosheets show reversible and selective response towards NO2 gas molecules operating at room temperature. The sensitive film shows p-type characteristics providing sensor response rate around 27% for 10 ppm NO2 with rapid response and recovery time around 45 s and 60 s, respectively. The sensitive response was further studied at high temperature of 150 °C showing a drastic increase in response rate as 45% with effective response and recovery time. This improvement in NO2 gas sensing was attributed to the facile exfoliation of WS2 nanosheets.

In recent times, the nanostructured materials of foreign metal ion doped ZnO photocatalysts acts as a hotspot in the research area of photocatalysis because of its non-toxic, cost-effective and environmental friendly behaviour. Sr-doped ZnO microspheres were synthesized by the hydrothermal method. In foreign metal ion-doped ZnO photocatalysts, Sr ions are uniformly distributed into ZnO lattice, which reflects the enhancement in the light absorption behaviour. Especially, 5% Sr-doped ZnO shifts the bandgap to visible region up to 422 nm. Sunlight-driven photocatalytic activity revealed that Sr (5%)-doped ZnO shows maximum degradation efficiency of 99%, 90%, and 93% on methylene blue, Rhodamine B, and ciprofloxacin, respectively. Further, the possible degradation mechanism was well-discussed with the help of the elemental trapping test.

The enantiopure Schiff bases (R or S)-N-1-(X-C6H4)ethyl-2-hydroxy-1-naphthaldimine {X = H [(R or S)-HL1], p-CH3O [(R or S)-HL2], and p-Br [(R- or S)-HL3]} react with cobalt(II) acetate to give bis[(R or S)-N-1-(X-C6H4)ethyl-2-oxo-1-naphthaldiminato-κ2N,O]-Λ/Δ-cobalt(II) {X = H [Λ/Δ-Co-(R or S)-L1], p-CH3O [Λ/Δ-Co-(R or S)-L2], and p-Br [Λ/Δ-Co-(R or S)-L3]} (1-3), respectively. Induced Λ and Δ chirality originates at the metal center of the C2-symmetric molecule in pseudotetrahedral geometry. Differential scanning calorimetry analyses explored the thermal stability of the complexes, which undergo reversible phase transformation from crystalline solid to isotropic liquid phase for 1 and 3 but irreversible phase transformation for 2. Like other cobalt(II) complexes, compounds 1-3 exhibit a continuous ensemble of absorption and circular dichroism bands, which span from the UV to IR region and can be collected into a superspectrum. Infrared vibrational circular dichroism (IR-VCD) spectra witness the coupling between Co2+-centered low-lying electronic states and ligand-centered vibrations. The coupling produces enhanced and almost monosignate VCD spectra, with both effects being mode-dependent in terms of the A or B symmetry (in the C2 point group) and distance from the Co2+ core.

Goats are one of the oldest domesticated animal species widely distributed in the world playing an important role in the food production system in Sub-Saharan African Region (SSAR). Due to their multiple uses (milk production, meat, fiber and hides) and adaptation aptitudes to ecological conditions, goats produce and contribute positively to farmers’ socio-economy status in various production systems. This review aimed at giving a summary overview on the goat’s production systems characteristics, the genetic diversity and the candidate genes affecting reproductive and milk production performances in goat breeds in SSAR. It has been observed that traditional livestock production system with communal grazing system is the most used in goat keeping in SSAR. The geographical locations play an important role in the relationships between goat’s distributions in the region. At the same time, goats might have been differentiated and isolated one to others due to the wide geographic range, the diversify climate and the topography in the region. Among the six worldwide known haplogroups of goat (A, B, C, D, G and F), haplogroup A is the most representative in SSAR. However, haplogroup G and B can be found in some goat populations in some countries in east (Kenya and Ethiopia) and south parts of Africa. This review reveals that little is known on the candidate genes associated with prolificacy and milk production traits in indigenous goat breeds in the region. That observation suggests the importance of assessing candidate genes associated with economic traits in the populations of goat in SSAR.

The bifunctional linker 4-(3,5-dimethyl-1H-pyrazol-4-yl)benzoic acid (H2mpba) was used for the synthesis of new (square lattice) sql 2D metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) [Cu(Hmpba)2]·L (L = DMF or ACN) in a solvent-mixture of dimethylformamide/water and acetonitrile/water. These sql 2D MOFs are supramolecular isomers of the lvt 3D network [Cu(Hmpba)2]·4MeOH·1H2O (lvt-MeOH) that was synthesized previously by Richardson and co-workers. All these frameworks are potentially porous structures with solvent molecules included in the channels of the as synthesized materials. After activation all three materials showed good CO2 adsorption capacity, demonstrated here for lvt-MeOH for the first time, with a saturation uptake of 113 cm3 g−1 (lvt-MeOH-act.), 111 cm3 g−1 (sql-DMF-act.) and 90 cm3 g−1 (sql-ACN-act.) at 195 K. The flexibility of the lvt-MeOH-act. network is evidenced by a gate-opening effect seen in the CO2 measurement at 195 K and under gravimetric high-pressure CO2 adsorption. According to the water and ethanol sorption measurements the new sql frameworks can be categorized as hydrophobic materials in contrast to the hydrophilic lvt framework. In the lvt-MeOH structure the crystal solvent can be replaced with water to yield the structurally authenticated water-only network lvt-H2O containing 3D arrays of S4-symmetric (H2O)20 clusters.

Annexe à l'article Baptiste Coulmont, Patrick Simon. Quels prénoms les immigrés donnent-ils à leurs enfants en France ? Population et Sociétés, n° 565, avril 2019. Disponible en ligne : https://www.ined.fr/fr/publications/editions/population-et-societes/prenoms-immigres-enfants-france/

Urban innovation and development are a core driver for promoting the industrial, economic, and social development of cities. However, the factors that affect the innovation and development of cities lack systematic analysis as well as interaction analysis. Based on a multidimensional perspective, this study suggests that natural, economic, and social factors are three major factors conditioning urban innovation and development. A grounded theoretical qualitative method is further adopted to code relevant research literatures, news reports and interview materials, resulting in an onion factors model. We find that natural factors–including environmental quality, geographic location, and city scale–are prerequisite for conditioning urban innovation and development. Economic factors are also key, including economic level, industrial structure, industrial agglomeration, and technological innovation. Social factors are guarantee factors, including administrative hierarchy, cultural environment, population structure, and government management and services, i.e., they are essential for cities to become adaptable in the current dynamic situation. The study provides theoretical support and practical directions for the formulation of policies for urban innovation development.

The bifunctional linker 4-(3,5-dimethyl-1H-pyrazol-4-yl)benzoic acid (H2mpba) was used for the synthesis of new (square lattice) sql 2D metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) [Cu(Hmpba)2]·L (L = DMF or ACN) in a solvent-mixture of dimethylformamide/water and acetonitrile/water. These sql 2D MOFs are supramolecular isomers of the lvt 3D network [Cu(Hmpba)2]·4MeOH·1H2O (lvt-MeOH) that was synthesized previously by Richardson and co-workers. All these frameworks are potentially porous structures with solvent molecules included in the channels of the as synthesized materials. After activation all three materials showed good CO2 adsorption capacity, demonstrated here for lvt-MeOH for the first time, with a saturation uptake of 113 cm3 g-1 (lvt-MeOH-act.), 111 cm3 g-1 (sql-DMF-act.) and 90 cm3 g-1 (sql-ACN-act.) at 195 K. The flexibility of the lvt-MeOH-act. network is evidenced by a gate-opening effect seen in the CO2 measurement at 195 K and under gravimetric high-pressure CO2 adsorption. According to the water and ethanol sorption measurements the new sql frameworks can be categorized as hydrophobic materials in contrast to the hydrophilic lvt framework. In the lvt-MeOH structure the crystal solvent can be replaced with water to yield the structurally authenticated water-only network lvt-H2O containing 3D arrays of S4-symmetric (H2O)20 clusters.

Air pollution is one of the prevailing issues in our atmosphere, which greatly affects humans and causes dangerous diseases. Toxic and green gases (NO2, CO2, NOx, H2S, CO, Sulphur dioxide, and CH4) are present in the ambient atmosphere arising from different industries, vehicles, and fossil fuel combustion. g-C3N4/ZnO nanocomposites were prepared via a facile hydrothermal method. The synthesized g-C3N4/ZnO samples were analyzed using FE-SEM for morphological analysis and structural parameters are confirmed by XRD. Further investigation is done on sensing films for toxic gases by varying temperature, resistance change, and gas type.

Organic 2D materials have gained extensive attraction in the field of the gas sensor. Because of their critical role in environmental monitoring, chemical manufacturing industries, and human health safety. In recent years most of the research groups have been interested, to fabricate the Graphene oxide-based chemi-resistive gas sensor, owing to its superior structural, mechanical, and electrical properties. Excellent mechanical strength (Young modulus ∼0.05 TPA), the potentiality of ultrafast electron transport (highest mobility ∼200,000 cm2/V s) along with the best surface to volume ratio. In this paper, we have prepared Graphene oxide nanosheets by the modified hummers method. Structural properties of the as-prepared sample were confirmed by XRD and RAMAN spectroscopy. morphological analyses were done by FE-SEM analysis.

Three new polyketides, cylindrocarpones A−C (1–3), two new pyridone alkaloids, cylindrocarpyridones A−B (5–6), a new pyrone cylindropyrone (7), together with seven know compounds were isolated from the endophytic fungus, Cylindrocarpon sp., obtained from the tropical plant Sapium ellipticum. The structures of the new compounds were elucidated by extensive analysis of their spectroscopic data (1D and 2D NMR, HRESIMS). The absolute configuration of 19-O-methyl-pyrrocidine B (13) was confirmed by X-ray analysis. All isolated compounds were screened for their cytotoxic and antibacterial activities. Pyrrocidine A (12) exhibited potent cytotoxicity against the human ovarian cancer cell line A2780 with an IC50 value of 1.7 μM. 19-O-Methyl-pyrrocidine B (13) showed moderate antibacterial activity against S. aureus ATCC25923 and ATCC700699 with MIC values of 50 and 25 μM, respectively.

The endophytic fungus Aspergillus aculeatus isolated from leaves of the papaya plant Carica papaya was fermented on solid rice medium, yielding a new L-tryptophan-L-phenyllactic acid conjugate (1) and thirteen known compounds (11, 14–25). In addition, an OSMAC approach was employed by adding eight different sodium or ammonium salts to the rice medium. Addition of 3.5% NaNO3 caused a significant change of the metabolite pattern of the fungus as indicated by HPLC analysis. Subsequent isolation yielded several new substituted L-tryptophan-L-phenyllactic acid conjugates (1–10) in addition to three known compounds (11–13), among which compounds 2–10, 12–13 were not detected in the rice control culture. All structures were unambiguously elucidated by one and two dimensional NMR spectroscopy and by mass spectrometry. The absolute configuration of the new compounds was determined by Marfey's reaction and X-ray single crystal diffraction. Compounds 19–22 showed cytotoxicity against the L5178Y mouse lymphoma cell line with IC50 values of 3.4, 1.4, 7.3 and 23.7 μM, respectively.

The Schiff-base ligand N-2-(pyridyl)salicylaldimine (HL) reacts with zinc(II) acetate or nitrate to obtain the enantiomorphous chiral-at-metal compound Δ/Λ-bis[N-2-(pyridyl)salicylaldiminato-κ2N,O]zinc(II), [Zn(L)2] (1), which crystallizes as a racemic conglomerate via spontaneous resolution. Two deprotonated N,O-chelate ligands form a pseudo-tetrahedral N2O2-coordination sphere with a Δ/Λ-configured zinc atom. The Δ- and Λ-configured molecular complexes in 1 assemble in P (right)- and M (left)-handed 41- and 43-helical chains in the chiral space groups P41212 and P43212, respectively, through weak C–H⋯O hydrogen bonding between neighbouring molecules along the chain axis. Only molecules of the same Δ- or Λ-configuration combine into a helical chain and only chains of the same P- or M-handedness combine to form homochiral crystals. According to the analyses of intermolecular interactions with the Hirshfeld surface, the supramolecular packing features C–H⋯O bonding as the most apparent significant contribution. This is a rare example of solely weak C–H⋯O hydrogen bonding interaction leading to spontaneous resolution to a racemic conglomerate. This case also supports the notion of less repulsive packing interactions between homochiral molecules because of spin polarization. Optimized structures and excited state properties by DFT/TD-DFT calculations are comparable to experimental results.

Two azaphilone pigments (1 and 2), two dihydrobenzofurans (3 and 4), two macrodiolides (5 and 6), and a dimeric alkyl aromatic constituent (7) were isolated from the goose dung-derived fungus Coniella fragariae. Compounds 1–3 proved to be new natural products. Coniellins H and I (1 and 2) feature a tetracyclic core and an aldehyde group at C-5, which is unusual for azaphilone derivatives. The X-ray structure of pyrenophorin (5) is reported for the first time. Pyrenophorin (5) showed strong cytotoxicity against several cancer cell lines with IC50 values ranging from 0.07 to 7.8 μM.

Three new lipodepsipeptides, fusaristatins D–F (1–3) and a new α-pyrone derivative, (7S,8R)-(−)-chlamydospordiol (5), together with eight known compounds (4, 6–12) were obtained from solid rice cultures of Fusarium sp. BZCB-CA, an endophyte of the Chinese medicinal plant, Bothriospermum chinense. The planar structures of the new metabolites (1–3, 5) were established by spectroscopic techniques (1D/2D NMR and HRESIMS). Marfey’s method was applied to determine the absolute configuration of 1, while the absolute configuration of 5 was determined by single-crystal X-ray crystallography analysis in addition to Mosher’s method. Crystallographic data of inflatin C (7) are also supplied here for the first time. In cytotoxicity assays, rubrofusarin (8) showed a moderate effect on the lymphoma cell lines L5178Y, Ramos and Jurkat, with IC50 values of 7.7, 6.2 and 6.3 μM, respectively, while the remaining compounds were inactive. When subjected to antibacterial assay, only lateropyrone (9) exhibited good to weak activity against a panel of Gram-positive bacteria including drug-resistant strains with MICs ranging from 3.1 to 25 μM.

Shaping of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and tuning of their sorption properties is a very important and challenging aspect for the usage of MOFs for many applications. Both shaping and tuning can be addressed by composite preparation as an effective method. Herein, we present the shaping of the hydrothermally stable MOFs aluminum fumarate, MIL-160(Al) and MIL-101(Cr) using the freeze-casting method with the hydrophilic polymer binders polyacrylic acid (PAA), sodium polyacrylate (PAANa), polyethylene glycol (PEG), polyethylene imine (PEI), polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP). Furthermore, the effect of in-situ cross-linking below the freezing point (cryopolymerization) on the textural properties of monoliths was also investigated using MIL-101(Cr) and aluminum fumarate with the polymer PVA. The selected MOFs were chosen due to their outstanding stability, sorption properties and differing hydrophilicities. In the obtained mechanically stable monoliths, each MOF showed a different compatibility with the used polymers. From 21 different MOF@polymer composites with 80 wt% loading of MOF, 12 of them exhibited negligible pore blocking effects and very high nitrogen sorption properties in correspondence with the MOF mass fraction. On the other hand, water uptake is especially in cases of MOF@PVA and MOF@PVP in good agreement with the MOF fraction and can be enhanced by the contribution of the hydrophilic polymer to the composite. In particular, most MIL-101(Cr) composites showed a hydrophilic shift to lower relative pressure p·p0−1 compared to the rather hydrophobic neat MIL-101(Cr). IR spectroscopy indicated a clear interaction of PEI with the Al-MOFs aluminum fumarate and MIL-160(Al) resulting in MOF pore blocking. The molecular weight of the polymer is not significant for the freeze-casting method but plays an important role in the cryopolymerization.

The isatin-Schiff bases 3-(o/p-tolylimino)indolin-2-one (HL1 and HL2) undergo tautomerization from lactam (L)- to enol (E)-form in solution, which in turn reacts with zinc(II) nitrate to give bis[3-(o/p-tolylimino)indole-2-olato-κ2N,O]-Δ/Λ-zinc(II) (1 and 2). IR spectra for the Schiff bases suggest solely the lactam-form at solid state, while both the forms in solution. 1H NMR spectra show the peaks associated to both the lactam- and enol-forms in solution. Molecular structure for HL1 explores two symmetry independent molecules (A and B) in an asymmetric unit due to intermolecular O⋯H and N⋯H hydrogen bonding interactions. The molecule crystallises with monoclinic P21/n space group. Supramolecular analyses suggest that the packing in the crystals is organized, in addition to hydrogen bonds, by a few intra- and inter-molecular C–H…π contacts. Studies of Hirshfeld surfaces using CrystalExplorer strongly support the quantitative analyses by supramolecular packing in the crystals. 1H NMR spectra for 1 or 2 show two sets of peaks for each proton, correspond to the Δ-Zn and Λ-Zn configured isomers at a ratio of ca. 65:35, resulting from induced chirality at-metal centre. 1H NMR spectra taken at different time intervals rule out any possibility of interconversion between the isomers in solution, that is, the same ratio of the isomers exists at solid state. These results indicate preferential formation one isomer over another (i.e., Δ-Zn or Λ-Zn) both in solution and at solid state. Optimized structures and excited state properties by DFT/TDDFT correspond well to the experimental results.

Three new polyketides, phomopones A−C (1–3), one new cyclic tetrapeptide, 18-hydroxydihydrotentoxin (4), and a new amide, 6-hydroxyenamidin (5) together with a known derivative, enamindin (6) were obtained from the endophytic fungus Phomopsis sp. D15a2a isolated from the plant Alternanthera bettzickiana. The structures of the new compounds were elucidated by 1D, 2D NMR and HRMS data. The absolute configurations of the isolated metabolites were determined either by X-ray crystallography, Marfey’s method or by converting the compounds to Mosher esters.

The endophytic fungus

Even before it was a project, the Trajectories and Origins (TeO) survey was a clear necessity. France, a country of immigration throughout the twentieth century, has become a multicultural society, and the diversity of origins represented in its population is unprecedented. And yet little was known about the situation of populations with an immigrant background. In public debate, they are portrayed through false representations and stereotypes. The list of anxieties and fears is long; living in segregated neighbourhoods, failing at school, and lacking national identity, the children of immigrants, it was argued, would be tempted by communautarisme. What should we think about this? Does the problem ultimately lie in the behaviours and strategies of individuals with an immigrant background, or in the way that French society responds to its growing population diversity? This book brings to the reader the main findings of an unprecedent survey on the diversity of population in France, and offers new insights on the processes of integration and discrimination.

Mounting evidence demonstrates that under certain conditions the rate of component partitioning between the gas- and particle-phase in atmospheric organic aerosol is limited by particle-phase diffusion. To date, however, particle-phase diffusion has not been incorporated to regional atmospheric models. An analytical rather than numerical solution to diffusion through organic particulate matter is desirable because of its comparatively small computational expense in regional models. Current analytical models assume diffusion to be independent of composition, and therefore use a constant diffusion coefficient. To realistically model diffusion, however, it should be composition-dependent (e.g. due to the partitioning of components that plasticise, vitrify or solidify). This study assesses the modelling capability of an analytical solution to diffusion corrected to account for composition dependence against a numerical solution. Results show reasonable agreement when the gas-phase saturation ratio of a partitioning component is constant and particle-phase diffusion limits partitioning rate (

Two new eremophilane-type sesquiterpenes, carperemophilanes A and B (1–2), three new maleimide-bearing compounds, carpesiumaleimides A–C (3–5), along with a known sesquiterpene, carabrol (6), were isolated from the ethanol extract of Carpesium abrotanoides L. Their structures were elucidated by analysis of their NMR and MS data as well as by comparison with the literature. The absolute configuration of carperemophilane A (1) was determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. All isolated compounds (1–6) were evaluated in vitro for cytotoxicity against two human cancer cell lines MDA-MB-231 and HGC-27 using the MTT method. Compounds 1, 2 and 6 showed cytotoxic activities with IC50 values ranging from 7.45 to 37.35 μM.

This paper concerns the differences in the development of the Algerian and Egyptian uprisings within the context of the Arab Spring revolts.

(2011). Article 23: Formal Validity, Material Validity or Both? Journal of Private International Law: Vol. 7, No. 2, pp. 297-320.

The landscape for wireless connectivity is changing rapidly, and with these changes come new challenges for delivering a high quality customer experience. Over the last few years there has been a massive growth in the volume of mobile data consumed by both laptops and smartphones. The latter, in particular, have seen a huge expansion in numbers with smartphones forecast to rise to 64 percent of all mobile phone sales in Western Europe by 2015. In parallel, public Wi-Fi networks have grown beyond expectations—in the UK, for example, BT (British Telecommunications plc) now has over 1.5 million public hotspots. This leaves the challenge of how best to exploit both cellular and Wi-Fi coverage while delivering a simple customer experience to the end users. In this paper, we describe a prototype connection management solution that makes use of network based session mobility, congestion detection, user movement modeling, and network-based handover control. We then present results of a small scale trial of the system and identify remaining issues. This work is the product of a collaborative research project between BT and Alcatel-Lucent.

Walter G, Byrne S, Griffiths O, Hunt G, Soh N, Cleary M, Duffy P, Crawford G, Krabman P, Concannon P, Malhi G. Can young people reliably rate side effects of low-dose antipsychotic medication using a self-report survey?

The Majnoon Field was discovered in 1976 and brought online in 2002 by the Iraq South Oil Company (SOC). In December 2009, during the Ministry of Oil's 2nd Petroleum Licensing Round, Shell won the right to develop the field under a Development and Production Services Contract. Shell Iraq Petroleum Development BV (SIPD) became operator for the Majnoon Field (45%), with partners Petronas Carigali (30%) and Missan Oil Company (25%). In September 2013, first oil from the combination of newly built and the refurbished existing facilities & wells, was established. In accordance with the terms of the contract, a minimum average flow rate of 175k bpd over a period of 90 days was achieved in order to meet the First Commercial Production (FCP) target and thus allow Shell to begin cost recovery. This paper will be based on Shell's experience executing the Majnoon field development in South Iraq. The project scope was completed in challenging circumstances, with very little subsurface information available to confirm design assumptions. As a result, a number of execution risks were transferred to the commissioning & initial start-up operations. The team ultimately relied on experience, planned contingencies and intelligent workarounds to achieve the FCP production target. The key startup challenges will be discussed in this paper that are relevant to the audience, particularly those involved in field start-up & operations. Conclusions will relate to how the team overcame flow instabilities (slugging) from daisy chained pipelines (linking the multiple wellpads), crude foaming in the process facilities, welding debris in the flare system, dealing with export curtailment (process stops and re-starts) and establishing custody transfer measurement with SOC. In addition, this paper will present a selected number of Majnoon lessons learned during the commissioning & startup period and how Shell improves Project Delivery in subsequent projects to achieve Flawless Startups to meet the original project premises of safe, reliable production under specified costs and schedule constraints.

The Majnoon oilfield in Southern Iraq, one of the largest in the world, recommenced production in September 2013. The field was developed by the Iraqi South Oil Company in the 1980s and originally produced around 50,000 BOPD. As result of Iraq's second licensing round a consortium of Shell, Petronas and Missan Oil Company worked closely with SOC and redeveloped Majnoon to increase its daily production from 50,000 BOPD to more than 175,000 BOPD. Over a period of several days the production increased from 15,000 to 40,000 BOPD, when several plant trips occurred due to excessive liquid carry over from the separators into the flare system. At first this was attributed to unstable flow and tuning of the production facilities. However, more plant trips followed while ramping up to more than 100,000 BOPD as debris accumulated in the flare system which resulted in multiple blockages. A root-cause analysis was carried out by a team from production chemistry, operations and production support before piloting an anti-foam chemical solution which proved to be an immediate success and production stabilised within hours. After three days the pilot project was converted into a permanent solution and since the introduction of the anti-foam chemical Majnoon hasn't suffered any further plant trips due to liquid carry over. In fact, the chemical has allowed production to be increased by at least 15,000 BOPD through improved flow through the separators. This paper will explain the theory behind foaming and highlight the process of fluid testing. We will present the results of the plant trips root-cause analysis and describe in detail how the anti-foam trial developed. A novel monitoring program has been developed that allows for immediate correction in case of changes to production or chemical injection, which has greatly contributed to the safe and successful Majnoon start-up.

It is becoming apparent that caspases are essential mediators of the execution phase of apoptosis. A decrease in mitochondrial membrane potential (PsiM) is also thought to be an early event in apoptosis. In this study, we compare the effects of Bcl-2 over-expression against N-benzyloxycabonyl-Val-Ala-Asp-fluoromethylketone (ZVAD. FMK)-sensitive caspase blockade on dexamethasone (DEX) and etoposide (VP16)-induced apoptosis in CEM T lymphoid cells. We assessed changes in nuclear chromatin, cell size, fragmentation, cell membrane permeability and PsiM. We found Bcl-2 over-expression and ZVAD.FMK-sensitive caspase inhibition were able to prevent chromatin condensation and cellular fragmentation. However, ZVAD.FMK was neither able to prevent loss of plasma membrane integrity nor PsiM depolarization which occur in both VP16 and DEX-induced apoptosis. In VP16-induced apoptosis, the increase in cell membrane permeability was actually potentiated by caspase inhibition. Interestingly, ZVAD.FMK did prevent VP16-induced but not DEX-induced cell shrinkage. These results suggest that not all the actions of Bcl-2 can be explained by its ability to prevent caspase activation. Rather Bcl-2 must have other targets of action which include functions associated with mitochondria.

Dans le cadre familial, les immigrés pratiquent des formes relativement complexes de combinaisons linguistiques, qui varient selon les populations et les interlocuteurs (conjoint ou enfant). L’usage du français est cependant prépondérant. Contrairement aux enfants d’origine portugaise ou espagnole, les enfants d’Algériens abandonnent assez largement la pratique de la langue des parents et, en majorité, considèrent la langue française comme leur langue maternelle., Simon Patrick. L’ acculturation linguistique. Utilisation du français et transmission de la langue des immigrés à leurs enfants. In: Migrants formation, n°108, mars 1997. Questions de langue. pp. 53-66.

Loin des clichés contradictoires de l’échange pacifique ou de l’affrontement permanent, la cohabitation interethnique se déroule souvent dans l’indifférence. Devenu une donnée quotidienne pour des milliers d’habitants, le multiculturalisme n’est plus vécu comme un choix ou un enjeu, mais plutôt comme une réalité qui nécessite des aménagements. Ce sont précisément ces aménagements qu’on a observés dans le cadre d’un quartier populaire ancien de Paris., Simon Patrick. L’agencement de la mosaïque ethnique à Belleville. In: Migrants formation, n°109, juin 1997. Relations interethniques : complexité et ambiguïté. pp. 68-80.

Undoped diamond, a remarkable bulk electrical insulator, exhibits a high surface conductivity in air when the surface is hydrogen-terminated. Although theoretical models have claimed that a two-dimensional hole gas is established as a result of surface energy band bending, no definitive experimental demonstration has been reported so far. Here, we prove the two-dimensional character of the surface conductivity by low temperature characterization of diamond in-plane gated field-effect transistors that enable the lateral confinement of the transistor's drain-source channel to nanometer dimensions. In these devices, we observe Coulomb blockade effects of multiple quantum islands varying in size with the gate voltage. The charging energy and thus the size of these zero-dimensional islands exhibits a gate voltage dependence which is the direct result of the two-dimensional character of the conductive channel formed at hydrogen-terminated diamond surfaces.

We present the first lensing mass measurements of Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) selected clusters. Using optical imaging from the Southern Cosmology Survey (SCS), we present weak lensing masses for three clusters selected by their SZ emission in the South Pole Telescope survey (SPT). We confirm that the SZ selection procedure is successful in detecting mass concentrations. We also study the weak lensing signals from 38 optically-selected clusters in ~8 square degrees of the SCS survey. We fit Navarro, Frenk and White (NFW) profiles and find that the SZ clusters have amongst the largest masses, as high as 5x10^14 Msun. Using the best fit masses for all the clusters, we analytically calculate the expected SZ integrated Y parameter, which we find to be consistent with the SPT observations., Comment: Minor changes to match accepted version, 5 pages, 3 figures

Combining redshift and galaxy shape information offers new exciting ways of exploiting the gravitational lensing effect for studying the large scales of the cosmos. One application is the three-dimensional reconstruction of the matter density distribution which is explored in this paper. We give a generalisation of an already known minimum-variance estimator of the 3-D matter density distribution that facilitates the combination of thin redshift slices of sources with samples of broad redshift distributions for an optimal reconstruction. We show how, in principle, intrinsic alignments of source ellipticities or shear/intrinsic alignment correlations can be accommodated, albeit these effects are not the focus of this paper. We describe an efficient and fast way to implement the estimator on a contemporary desktop computer. Analytic estimates for the noise and biases in the reconstruction are given. The bias -- a spread and shift of structures in radial direction -- can be expressed in terms of a radial PSF, comprising the limitations of the reconstruction due to source shot-noise and the unavoidably broad lensing kernel. We conclude that a 3-D mass-density reconstruction on galaxy cluster scales is feasible but, for foreseeable surveys, a map with a S/N>~3 threshold is limited to structures with M200>~10^14 Msol/h, or 7x10^14 Msol/h, at low to moderate redshifts (z=0.1 or 0.6). However, we find that a heavily smoothed full-sky map of the very large-scale density field may also be possible as the S/N of reconstructed modes increases towards larger scales. Future improvements of the method can be obtained by including higher-order lensing information (flexion) which could also be implemented into our algorithm. [ABRIDGED], 22 pages, 13 figures, accepted by MNRAS

4.1. Unternehmensinformation und Wettbewerbsschutz – Problemeinschatzung deutscher borsennotierter Unternehmen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 529 4.1.1. Problemstellung . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 529 4.1.2. Literatur zum Gegenstand der Untersuchung . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 530 4.1.3. Untersuchungsdesign . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 533 4.1.4. Umfrageergebnisse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 534 4.1.4.1. Respondenten . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 534 4.1.4.1.1. Unternehmensangaben . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 535 4.1.4.1.1.1 Unternehmen und Marktposition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 535 4.1.4.1.1.2 Rechnungslegung . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539 4.1.4.1.2. Antwortende Person . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 540 4.1.4.2. Competitive Disadvantage durch Pflichtangaben in der Rechnungslegung . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 541 4.1.4.2.1. Ausmas und Auspragungen des Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 541 4.1.4.2.2. Kritische Veroffentlichungen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 547 4.1.4.2.3. Schadenspotential . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 551 4.1.4.2.4. Vermeidung von Wettbewerbsnachteilen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 552 4.1.4.3. Nutzung von Pflichtveroffentlichungen zur Wettbewerbsanalyse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 554 4.1.4.3.1. Aktivitaten zur Wettbewerbsanalyse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 554 4.1.4.3.2. Wert der Angaben der Wettbewerber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 554 4.1.4.3.3. Nutzungsmoglichkeiten der Informationen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 558 4.1.5. Zusammenfassung . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 559 Literatur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 560