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Diverse agricultural management practices are critical for agroecosystem sustainability, and cover crops provide opportunity for varied management and increased biodiversity. Understanding how cover crops fill open ecological niches underneath the trees, interact with weeds, and potentially provide ecosystem services to decrease pest pressure is essential for ecological agricultural management. The goal of this study was to test the weed suppression potential of two cover crop treatments with varied functional diversity compared to standard weed management practices in commercial almond orchards in California. Transect plant surveys were used to evaluate orchard plant communities under a functionally diverse seed mix including grasses, legumes, and brassicas, and a relatively uniform cover crop mix that included only brassica species. Winter annual orchard cover crops reduced bare ground from 39.3% of total land area to 15.9 or 11.4%, depending on treatment. Furthermore, winter cover crops displaced weeds with a negative correlation of 0.74. The presence of cover crops did not consistently affect weed community composition for low-richness weed communities found in California orchards. Diverse cover crop mixes more reliably resulted in increased ground cover across site years compared to uniform cover crop mixes, with coefficients of variation for ground cover at 49.6 and 91.5%, respectively. Cover crops with different levels of functional diversity can contribute to orchard weed management programs at commercial scales. Functional diversity supports cover crop establishment, abundance, and competitiveness across varied agroecological conditions, and cover crop mixes could be designed to address an assortment of orchard management concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Résumé: En oncologie, l'antalgie est un enjeu majeur de la prise en charge du patient. La « Patient-controlled analgesia » est une méthode permettant au patient de gérer lui-même sa douleur, mais elle n'est pas toujours applicable en cas de transfert des patients. L'objectif de ce travail a été de valider l'utilisation d'un dispositif portable d'intérêt permettant de mimer l'action de pompes électriques pour deux molécules : morphine et oxycodone. Des études de stabilités ainsi que la vérification de la conformité des spécificités vis-à-vis du débit ont été étudiées, en parallèle une réflexion sur le circuit de dispensation a été menée. Les deux molécules sont stables sur une durée d'au moins 30 heures. Une conformité de la valeur des débits a pu être montrée. Le circuit « prescription – dispensation – administration » a été définit et sécurisé. Ceci a pu permettre de valider et de mettre en place l'utilisation de ce dispositif. In oncology, analgesia is a major issue in patient management. "Patient-controlled analgesia" (PCA) is a method that allows patients to manage their own pain, but it is not always applicable when patients are transferred. The objective of this work was to validate the use of a portable device allowing to mimic the action of electric pumps use for PCA. For this purpose, two drugs were studied and analyzed. Stability studies, as well as the verification of the conformity of the specificities with regard to the flow rate were studied, in parallel a reflection on the dispensing circuit was carried out. Both molecules are stable for at least 30 hours. Compliance of the flow rates was demonstrated. The "prescription – dispensation – administration" circuit was defined and secured. These tests allowed us to "validate" this device and to use it in real life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Résumé: L'activité du département de pharmacie clinique de Gustave Roussy n'a cessé d'augmenter ces dernières années sans que les changements organisationnels nécessaires pour y répondre n'aient pu être entrepris. Le poste de préparateur d'étages a été petit à petit déconsidéré et se voyait confier des tâches sans valeur ajoutée, avec une formation imparfaite et insuffisante. Face à une équipe démotivée, nous avons entrepris de repenser ce poste et le rôle des préparateurs d'étages qui font la liaison directe avec les services de soins. Pour mener ce projet nous avons utilisé une méthode de réingénierie de processus métiers intégrant les étapes support de conduite de changement de la méthode EPEHo. Celle-ci nous a permis d'impliquer les acteurs dès le début du projet. Immersion avec les préparateurs et les services de soins, management de proximité, cartographie du circuit, ateliers d'intelligence collective, démarches de résolution de problème, management visuel sont les différents outils auxquels nous avons eu recours. Au final, 3 champs ont été repensés dans le cadre de ce projet. Nous avons développé l'accueil des nouveaux préparateurs d'étages en communicant par différents biais auprès des services et de la pharmacie avant une arrivée. La formation a également été structurée en co-construisant un plan de formation et une grille d'habilitation. Enfin, l'intégration dans les équipes de soin s'est accrue dans les services d'hématologie et de réanimation par la mise en place de flashs 10' animés par la pharmacie. Cette approche « bottom-up » collaborative a permis de démarrer avec succès la transformation d'un poste confronté à une activité qui s'est dégradée au fil des mois et pour laquelle les acteurs étaient démotivés. The activity of the clinical pharmacy department has been increasing steadily over the last few years without the necessary organizational changes being undertaken. The position of clinical pharmacist technicians was gradually discredited and was given tasks without added value, with imperfect and insufficient training. Faced with a demotivated team, we undertook to rethink this position and the role of the clinical pharmacist technicians who are the direct liaison with the care services. To carry out this project, we used a business process reengineering method integrating the support steps of the EPEHo method. This method allowed us to involve the actors from the beginning of the project. Immersion with the clinical pharmacist technicians and the care services, local management, circuit mapping, collective intelligence workshops, problem-solving approaches, visual management are the different tools we used. In the end, 3 fields were rethought in the framework of this project. We developed the reception of new clinical pharmacist technicians by communicating with the departments and the pharmacy by different means before their arrival. Training was also structured by co-constructing a training plan and an accreditation grid. Finally, integration into the care teams has been increased in the hematology and intensive care units by setting up daily stand up meetings led by the pharmacy. This collaborative "bottom-up" approach enabled the successful start of the transformation of a clinical pharmacist technician faced with an activity that had deteriorated over the months and for which the stakeholders were demotivated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Root exploitation of soil heterogeneity and microbially mediated rhizosphere nutrient transformations play critical roles in plant resource uptake. However, how these processes change under water-saving irrigation technologies remains unclear, especially for organic systems where crops rely on soil ecological processes for plant nutrition and productivity. We conducted a field experiment and examined how water-saving subsurface drip irrigation (SDI) and concentrated organic fertilizer application altered root traits and rhizosphere processes compared to traditional furrow irrigation (FI) in an organic tomato system. We measured root distribution and morphology, the activities of C-, N-, and P-cycling enzymes in the rhizosphere, the abundance of rhizosphere microbial N-cycling genes, and root mycorrhizal colonization rate under two irrigation strategies. Tomato plants produced shorter and finer root systems with higher densities of roots around the drip line, lower activities of soil C-degrading enzymes, and shifts in the abundance of microbial N-cycling genes and mycorrhizal colonization rates in the rhizosphere of SDI plants compared to FI. SDI led to 66.4% higher irrigation water productivity than FI, but it also led to excessive vegetative growth and 28.3% lower tomato yield than FI. Our results suggest that roots and root-microbe interactions have a high potential for coordinated adaptation to water and nutrient spatial patterns to facilitate resource uptake under SDI. However, mismatches between plant needs and resource availability remain, highlighting the importance of assessing temporal dynamics of root–soil–microbe interactions to maximize their resource-mining potential for innovative irrigation systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: In Ontario, Canada, acreage of red clover (Trifolium pratense L.) intercropped with winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L. em. Thell) has declined, despite well-documented soil and yield benefits. The decline has resulted from increasing prevalence of stand non-uniformity, which has been attributed in part to soil moisture deficits. We examined whether there are genotypic differences in drought response between red clover varieties.Methods: A double-cut (Belle) and a single-cut variety (Altaswede) were grown under four different durations of drought (4, 8, 12 and 16 days below 15% relative soil water content, RSWC). Shoot dry weight, shoot relative water content (RWC), leaf area and crown water content were measured in control, drought and drought + recovery treatments.Results: Belle used significantly more water during soil moisture deficit and had greater leaf area, shoot dry weight and RWC compared to Altaswede. In contrast, Altaswede had significantly higher survival rates than Belle, attributed to maintenance of meristematic tissue viability in the crown where re-growth, after shoot tissue desiccation, can occur.Conclusions: By demonstrating genotypic variation in survival strategies of red clover, traits can be identified for the development of improved varieties. Varieties with higher survival rates during drought will result in more uniform stands and increased utilization of red clover for environmental and yield benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]