ALBERT

Notes: Abstract The reproduction of Eurytemora velox, a brackish copepod from temporary lakes of the south of France, was studied in winter and spring 1978, under various temperature and salinity conditions, using Chlorella sp. and Amphidinium sp. as food. Maximum numbers of successive eggs sacs (9), eggs per sac (39.3) and total egg production per female (311) were recorded for the witner generation, only 4.8, 34.8 and 109, respectively, for the spring generation. In contrast, the number of eggs per female per day was highest (11.3) in the spring generation, which displayed a more rapid reproductive cycle. Despite strong individual variations in the rhythm of egg sac production and in abundance of eggs per sac, egg production was generally higher during the first third of adult life, attaining a maximum after production of the second or the third egg sac. The continuous presence of the males was necessary to assure complete fertilization of eggs throughout the whole life of adult females. Hatching rate displayed high individual variability, in particular for the spring generation, which had lower average hatching rates (between 0 and 26%, depending on salinity or temperature) than the winter generation (14 to 64%). These differences may be related to the ability of E. velox to produce resting eggs during spring, allowing the species to maintain itself in a temporary water milieu. Temperature significantly affected longevity and daily egg production of females; presence or absence of males did not affect these parameters. An increase in salinity from 20 to 30%. reduced longevity, number of egg sacs, and daily egg production in the winter generation, but not in the spring generation. The specific daily production of females during their adult life was calculated from the egg production:biomass ratio of females, in carbon units. In the winter generation, this ratio increased between 10° and 15°C compared to ratios between 15° and 20°C; the opposite was observed for the spring generation. The seasonal differences in the effects of temperature and salinity on reproduction could indicate an adaptation mechanism to the strongly thermal and haline seasonal fluctuations which characterize the habitat of Ex. velox (brackish waters, drying-up in summer). Larval mortality was high, except at 20%. S for the spring generation. The sex-ratio of the offspring was unaffected by variations in breeding conditions. Hatching time and development time of larvae could be described by two Bělehrádek equations displaying close b and (α) coefficients. We calculated the energy balance of adult females from data obtained in a previous study on feeding and respiration in E. velox, and this is discussed in context with the egg production results. Net growth efficiency varied with algal concentration according to an asymptotic curve, reaching a maximum of 0.43 with Tetraselmis maculata as food or 0.53 with Amphidinium sp. Actual egg production rate obtained in the present study was in good agreement with that calculated by the difference between assimilated food and respiration expenses.

Notes: Summary Photon emitted in the visible and near ultraviolet range by germinating soya seeds has been measured by means of a low-noise photomultiplier coupled to a data acquisition system. The photon energy spectrum, determined by means of a set of optical filters, shows two main contributions in the red and UV bands. Results show that both the radiation intensity and its spectrum change during germination according to seed physiological conditions. The photon emission of seeds at rest changes with their germinability. The UV component at the germination beginning is a factor 6 larger for living seeds than for the devitalized ones. This result can be interpreted as an experimental evidence of the existence of mitogenetic radiation.

Notes: The aim of this paper is to show the connections among uncertainty, information and human knowledge to develop methodologies able to support actions for measure and control of complex processes, and to propose new model to represent human hazard rate. The interest to human reliability analyses (HRA) arose for nuclear applications, observing that 50-70 per cent of reported failures on operating systems were human-induced. Since the middle of 1980, methods and tools of HRA have been transferred former to military weapons systems, latter to aviation designs and operations. At present, HRA, which consider human performance and human reliability knowledge, must be an integral element of complex system design and development. In this paper, system reliability function is carried out as a function of technological, information and human components, evidencing how human element affects the whole system reliability. On the basis of consideration that human errors are often the most unexpected and then the least protected, and subject to many random factors, an analytical model is proposed, based on a conditional Weibull hazard rate with a random scale parameter, for whose characterization the log-normal, gamma and the inverse Gaussian distributions are considered. The aim of this model is to take into account random variability of human performances by introducing a random hazard rate.