The thesis entitled “Variants of Complex Bismuth and Zirconium Oxides: Structure-Property Correlation Studies” consists of five chapters. A short introductory note outlines the synthetic procedures, characterization techniques and evaluated properties such as photocatalysis, second harmonic generation, ionic conductivity and thermal expansion in these materials. Chapter 1 deals with a new solid solution Pb3-xBi2x/3V2O8 (0.20 ≤ x ≤ 0.50), stabilizing the high temperature γ form of Pb3V2O8 in the system Pb3V2O8−BiVO4. Single-crystals of the composition x = 0.50 were grown and the structure is a new variant in palmierite structural type as determined by both single crystal X-ray and powder neutron diffraction. Several refinement strategies backed up by difference Fourier methods were used to arrive at the final crystal structure. ac impedance studies indicate conductivity of the order of 10-4 Ω-1 cm-1 for Pb2.5Bi1/3V2O8. Chapter 2 has two sections and describes the structure property correlation in bismuth based vanadate and phosphate eulytites. Section 2.1 discusses the crystal structure of Pb3Bi(VO4)3, the first eulytite compound containing [VO4]3- moieties. The compound displays incongruent melting behavior. Single-crystals were grown by melt-cool technique adding excess amount of BiVO4. The crystal structure has been characterized by both X-ray and neutron diffraction studies. Section 2.2 describes the crystal structures of four phosphate eulytites A3Bi(PO4)3 ( A = Ca, Cd, Sr, Pb). The crystals were grown from melt-cool technique with considerable difficulty as the compounds melt incongruently. While Pb3Bi(VO4)3 and Pb3Bi(PO4)3 have an unique position for one of the oxygen atoms, Sr3Bi(PO4)3, Ca3Bi(PO4)3, Cd3Bi(PO4)3 display split oxygen atomic sites. The SHG efficiencies measured on polycrystalline samples were 5.3, 3.8, 2.85, 1.21 and 0.64 times that of KDP (KH2PO4) for Pb3Bi(VO4)3, Cd3Bi(PO4)3, Sr3Bi(PO4)3, Pb3Bi(PO4)3 and Ca3Bi(PO4)3 respectively. Chapter 3 describes the isolation of the compound Sr2Bi2/3V2O8, a variant palmierite, in the phase diagram of SrO-Bi2O3-V2O5. The compound was synthesized by ceramic method and it is of interest to note that the Sr(1) site also accommodates Bi as found by single crystal X-ray studies unlike that found in the case described in chapter 1. Chapter 4 has two sections, dealing with synthesis, characterization and photocatalytic properties of trigonal and monoclinic polymorphs of ZrMo2O8, a negative thermal expansion material in its cubic form. Section 4.1 describes the synthesis of trigonal polymorph of ZrMo2O8 by both ceramic and combustion synthesis methods. SEM images show a particle size of 40-50 nm for combustion synthesized samples and 8-10 μm for solid state synthesized ZrMo2O8. The band gap obtained by UV-visible diffuse reflectance spectra for the combustion synthesized and solid state synthesized samples were 2.70 and 2.74 eV and the BET surface area were 1.0 m2/g and 10.0 m2/g. DFT electronic structure calculations reveal the indirect band gap nature of this polymorph. Photo-degradation studies performed on pollutant water show specific affinity to degrade dyes which do not possess anthraquinonic moieties. Section 4.2 describes the single-crystal structure determination and catalytic properties of monoclinic polymorph of ZrMo2O8. The band gap measured for the monoclinic form by UV-visible diffuse reflectance spectra was 2.57 eV. This polymorph was found to be specific towards the degradation of cationic dyes. Chapter 5 discusses a new solid solution ZrV2-xMo5x/6O7 (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.8) identified in the phase diagram of ZrO2−V2O5−MoO3. These compounds were synthesized via the solution combustion method. The resulting products were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction, solid-state UV-visible diffuse reflectance spectra, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The photo-catalytic activity shows specificity towards the degradation of non-azo dyes. Single-crystals were grown by melt-cool technique from the starting materials with twice the MoO3 quantity. Since, these crystals belong to a cubic system, space group Pa 3, they were tested for negative thermal expansion using variable temperature single-crystal XRD and indeed they exhibit this property above 370 K.

La Polyarthrite Rhumatoïde (PR) est une maladie auto-immune inflammatoire complexe qui touche près de 0,3% de la population française. A ce jour, malgré l'identification d'un facteur génétique majeur (HLA-DRB1), et d'une centaine de facteurs de susceptibilité d'effet faible à modéré (majoritairement identifiés par des études d'associations pangénomiques - GWAS), on ne peut expliquer au plus que 50% de la composante génétique de la maladie. Les GWAS se focalisant sur les variants fréquents (fréquence de l'allèle mineure (MAF) ≥ 1%) et considérant l'effet de ces variants comme indépendants, nous avons cherché dans ces travaux à identifier de nouveaux facteurs génétiques de la PR via l'analyse de variants rares (variants d'un seul nucléotide (SNVs) ou petites insertions et délétions (InDels)) pour lesquels peu d'études sont référencées dans la littérature. Nous avons ensuite étudié les interactions gène/gène (GxG) dans des voies biologiques enrichies par les variants rares identifiés.Pour cela, nous avons travaillé sur deux jeux de données obtenus par séquençage d'exomes. Dans le premier échantillon (data1), nous avons cherché à évaluer la contribution des variants rares dans 1080 gènes candidats séquencés chez 240 cas et 240 témoins français. Dans le second échantillon (data2), notre objectif était d'identifier de nouveaux facteurs génétiques par l'analyse de variants rares chez 30 individus (dont 19 atteints) appartenant à 9 familles françaises à cas multiples de PR. Nous avons mis en place un workflow afin de réaliser toutes les étapes de traitement des séquences obtenues jusqu'à l'identification des variants (alignement des lectures sur la séquence de référence du génome humain GRCh37, nettoyage de l'alignement, identification des variants (SNV et Indels) et filtre qualité des variants identifiés).Avec data1, nous avons répliqué l'association entre la PR et le gène BTNL2 (p-value = 3,0E-6) et identifié trois nouveaux gènes à risque (p-value ≤ 4,0E-3), impliqués dans la différentiation et l'activation des cellules du système immunitaire, en combinant les multiples variants de fréquences faibles à modérées identifiés dans ces gènes (analyses d'association de type burden). Dans data2, nous avons effectué une étude d'association-liaison, par laquelle nous avons identifié 3 gènes - SUSD5, MNS1 et SMYD5 - présentant une agrégation de variants (rares et fréquents) associée à la PR (p-value < 0,04 après 10E6 permutations), et un gène nommé SUPT20H dont le signal d'association était porté par un seul variant rare à pénétrance complète dans une famille et sans phénocopie. Nous avons aussi mis en évidence, via une étude d'enrichissement, une agrégation de variants rares dans plusieurs voies biologiques dont l'adhésion focale. Dans cette voie, nous avons identifié 9 interactions candidates pour lesquelles plusieurs combinaisons génotypiques semblent conférer un risque supplémentaire de développer la PR (p-value ≤ 5,0E-5). / Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a complex inflammatory autoimmune disease affecting about 0.3% of French population. Today, despite the identification of a major genetic factor (HLA-DRB1), and more than one hundred susceptibility factors with low to moderate effect (mainly identified by Genome-Wide association studies - GWAS), we cannot explain more than 50% of RA genetic component. Knowing that GWAS only study frequent variants (minor allele frequency (MAF) ≥ 1%) and consider that all of them are independent, we tried to identify new RA genetic factors by focusing on rare variants (single nucleotide variants (SNVs) or small insertions and deletions (InDels)) for which, to date, only few studies has been conducted. In addition, we studied gene/gene interactions (GxG) in biological pathways enriched for rare susceptible variants.To this end, we worked on two datasets obtained by exome sequencing. With the first dataset (data1), we wanted to evaluate the contribution of rare variants to RA risk into 1080 candidate genes sequenced in 240 cases et 240 controls from French population. With the second dataset (data2), our aim was to identify new genetic factors by focusing on rare variants selected from 30 individuals (including 19 affected) belonging to 9 French multiplex families. We set up in the laboratory a workflow to process the produced sequences up to the identification of variants (read alignment on human reference genome GRCh37, alignment refinement, variant identification (SNV et Indels) and quality filters).In data1, we replicated the association between RA and BTNL2 gene (p-value = 3,0E-6) and identified 3 new RA risk genes (p-value ≤ 4,0E-3), involved in the differentiation and activation of immune system cells, by combining rare to low frequency variants (burden association analysis). In data2, with a linkage – association study, we identified 3 genes - SUSD5, MNS1 and SMYD5 – presenting an aggregation of rare and frequent variants associated with RA (p-value < 0.04 with 10E6 permutations), and another gene SUPT20H in which we identified one rare variant with complete penetrance in one of the family and without phenocopy. Finally, we identified, by enrichment analysis, several biological pathways presenting an aggregation of rare variants. In one of them (focal adhesion), we extracted 9 candidate GxG interactions for which multiple genotype combinations seem to increase RA risk (p-value ≤ 5,0E-5).

L’histone variante H2A.Z, histone de la famille H2A est enrichie dans certaines régions non transcrites de la chromatine, telles que la chromatine péricentromérique, centromérique et télomérique. Elle existe sous la forme de deux isoformes, H2A.Z-1 et H2A.Z-2, qui diffèrent par seulement 3 acides aminés et sont codés par deux gènes distincts, H2afz et H2afv. L’histone H2A.Z apparait impliquée dans divers évènements cellulaires tels que la transcription, la réparation de l’ADN ainsi que la prolifération et la différenciation cellulaire. La fonction de H2A.Z a été, jusqu’ici, analysée surtout grâce à la culture cellulaire in-vitro. Peu d’informations sont disponibles concernant le rôle de H2A.Z in-vivo dans différents organes, reflétant le manque de modèles animaux permettant l’invalidation génique de H2A.Z. Nous avons créé un modèle de souris transgénique permettant de réaliser in-vivo le double knock-out conditionnel (KI/cKO) des gènes H2afz et H2afv de manière tissu-spécifique dans les kératinocytes de la peau. Ce modèle d’étude in-vivo est unique car le seul à ce jour permettant d’éliminer complètement l’expression de H2A.Z. L’histone variante est physiologiquement présente dans toutes les cellules wild-type. Si les deux gènes codant pour H2A.Z sont délétés, la concentration de l’histone diminue au fur et à mesure des mitoses successives et finit par disparaître.L’épiderme en constante prolifération (tissu mitotique) mais aussi en constante différenciation (tissu post-mitotique), ainsi que le follicule pileux où ces deux processus intervenent de manière cyclique lors de la formation du poil, constituent un excellent modèle afin de disséquer le rôle spécifique de H2A.Z dans les processus de prolifération et de différenciation.L’induction par le tamoxifène du transgène K14CreERT2 invalidant les gènes H2A.Z (H2afz et H2afv) dans les kératinocytes, a tout d’abord été réalisée chez la souris adulte âgée de 6-8 mois. Elle entraine progressivement la perte totale de l’histone variante H2A.Z dans les cellules d’amplification transitoire (TA) qui se multiplient activement : au niveau du follicule pileux en phase de croissance (anagène) et au niveau des cellules situées de place en place au niveau de l’assise basale de l’épiderme. Le blocage en phase G2/M de ces cellules, perturbe l’homéostasie de la peau et appelle en retour une migration des cellules souches du follicule pileux vers l’épiderme, entrainant un épaississement de l’épiderme et une alopécie dans la région ventrale thoracique.Lors de la mise en place de la peau embryonnaire la délétion des deux gènes H2afz et H2afv, par l’induction du transgène K14CreERT2 suite à l’injection de tamoxifène ou l’utilisation du transgène K5Cre dont l’activité est constitutive, entraine la perte progressive de l’histone H2A.Z dans toutes les cellules épidermiques et les cellules des bourgeons pileux, qui toutes ont un fort indice de prolifération. La perte de H2A.Z entrainant le blocage des cellules en phase G2/M, ces cellules se différencient et s’accumulent dans la couche cornée.En conclusion, les différents phénotypes développés après le knock-out de H2A.Z dans les kératinocytes chez l’adulte ainsi qu’au cours de l’embryogénèse de la peau, nous ont permis de montrer l’implication de H2A.Z dans la progression de la mitose, et par la même directement son implication dans la régulation de l’homéostasie de l’épiderme. / Histone variant H2A.Z replaces the canonical histone H2A and is particularly enriched at non-transcribed chromatin regions as pericentromeric, centromeric and telomeric. Histone variant H2A.Z exists in two isoforms H2A.Z-1 and H2A.Z-2 coded by 2 distinct genes, H2afz and H2afv, that differ only by 3 amino acids. H2A.Z seems to be involved in several cellular events as transcription, DNA repair as well as proliferation and cellular differentiation. The function of H2A.Z has been, until now, mostly studied by the in-vitro cell culture. Few data are available concerning the role of H2A.Z in-vivo, regarding different organs, reflecting the lack of animal models to follow the genetic invalidation of H2A.Z. Histone variant H2A.Z is present in wild-type cells and when the 2 genes coding for H2A.Z are deleted, its concentration decreases progressively with succeeding mitosis until it disappeared.We have created a new and unique transgenic mouse model enabling to achieve, in-vivo, a double conditional knock-out of H2afz and H2afv genes, in a specific tissue, the skin epidermis. Constantly proliferating (mitotic tissue) and differentiating (post-mitotic tissue), the epidermis and hair follicles are excellent models to address the role of H2A.Z in cell proliferation and differentiation.In adult 6-8 months mice, the induction of the transgene K14CreERT2 by tamoxifen invalidates H2A.Z genes (H2afz and H2afv) and leads to the progressive loss of H2A.Z in transient amplifying cells (TA) that actively proliferate: in growing hair follicles (anagen) and in epidermal basal layer. The blocking of cells in G2/M phase, affects skin homeostasis calling in return the migration of stem cells from the hair follicle and epidermis, resulting in further epidermis thickening and alopecia of ventral thoracic regions.During skin embryogenesis, the deletion of both H2A.Z genes, activating K14CreERT2 transgene by tamoxifen or by using the constitutively activated K5Cre transgene, leads to a progressive loss of histone variant H2A.Z in all epidermal cells and hair bud cells, which both have a high proliferation index. The loss of H2A.Z results in cell block in G2/M phase, leads to cell differentiation and finally a build-up of dead skin cells in corneum layer.To conclude skin phenotypes obtained H2A.Z knock-out in the adult or during skin embryogenesis, show that H2A.Z plays an essential role in mitosis and appears directly involved in the regulation of epidermis homeostasis.

In multicellular organisms, all the cells are genetically identical but turn genes on or off at the right time to promote differentiation into specific cell types. The regulation of higher-order chromatin structure is essential for genome-wide reprogramming and for tissue-specific patterns of gene expression. The complexity of the genome is regulated by epigenetic mechanisms, which act at the level of DNA, histones, and nucleosomes. Epigenetic machinery is involved in many biological processes, including genomic imprinting, X-chromosome inactivation, heterochromatin formation, and transcriptional regulation, as well as DNA damage repair. In this review, we summarize the recent understanding of DNA methylation, cytosine derivatives, active and passive demethylation pathways as well as histone variants. DNA methylation is one of the well-characterized epigenetic signaling tools. Cytosine methylation of promoter regions usually represses transcription but methylation in the gene body may have a positive correlation with gene expression. The attachment of a methyl group to cytosine residue in the DNA sequence is catalyzed by enzymes of the DNA methyltransferase family. Recent studies have shown that the Ten-Eleven translocation family enzymes are involved in stepwise oxidation of 5-methylcytosine, creating new cytosine derivatives including 5-hydroxymethylcytosine, 5-formylcytosine, and 5-carboxylcytosine. Additionally, histone variants into nucleosomes create another strategy to regulate the structure and function of chromatin. The replacement of canonical histones with specialized histone variants regulates accessibility of DNA, and thus may affect multiple biological processes, such as replication, transcription, DNA repair, and play a role in various disorders such as cancer.

Ce projet de recherche propose une loi de commande robuste à temps discret pour le vol en formation de satellites sur une orbite excentrique avec le modèle de Lawden. La loi de commande robuste utilisée pour reconfigurer et maintenir la cohésion d'une formation artificielle de satellites est un asservissement H[indice inférieur [infini]] à échelonnement des gains. Le compensateur est à temps discret, avec une stabilité garantie par la [mu]-analyse et un temps d'échantillonnage réaliste.Ce compensateur est obtenu par une bonne sélection des fonctions de pondération qui minimise l'erreur en position relative avec un effort de commande similaire et par un algorithme de synthèse H[indice inférieur [infini]] qui impose une contrainte stricte sur le placement des pôles en boucle fermée du système. De plus, le compensateur à échelonnement des gains est formé d'une interpolation de type spline qui permet de conserver l'optimalité de la synthèse des lois de commandes.

This study is based on a previous study made by Ivor Timmis (2002). It explores how important Swedish students find learning English to be and to what extent Swedish student want to conform to native speaker English now that it has become a global language with a multitude of common variants. (Sweden formerly allowed only British and/or American native speaker varieties in English education but have now allowed for other variants as well). The focus of this study was the attitudes and preferences of 69 university students from Västmanlands län and the data was collected using questionnaires. The results suggest that a clear majority of students prefer to learn native speaker English in areas of pronunciation, formal grammar and informal grammar.  Over half of the participants desire to master both formal and informal native speaker English grammar. The results also suggest that even though the students desire to learn informal native speaker English grammar, not all students understand what that means. Based on these results and Timmis’s, this study suggests that the majority of the Swedish university students that participated in the study would prefer to be taught native speaker English, but not all students. Some effort to teach more informal grammar might be wanted by the students since a great majority wish to learn it, but cannot identify it.

Warfarin is the most widely prescribed oral anticoagulant used for the long-term treatment and prevention of thromboembolic events. Its administration is challenging as it may result in bleeding-related deaths, inadequate anticoagulation and fetal teratogenesis, including fetal warfarin syndrome. A number of environmental and genetic factors contribute to interindividual warfarin dosage variability. The CYP2C9 and VKORC1 genes explain 40- 50% of this variability. The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of known and any new variants in these genes in the SA black population, and correlate these variants and a small subset of environmental factors to dosage variability and pregnancy outcomes. I sequenced the exons and intron/exon boundaries of the CYP2C9 and VKORC1 genes in 100 random black control and 113 patient samples that had at least one pregnancy on warfarin. I observed six previously described CYP2C9 variants, 27 novel CYP2C9 variants, and three previously described VKORC1 variants. 14 of these variants were observed at an allele frequency of 0.02. Of these 14, six appear to decrease (all of which are CYP2C9 variants) and four increase (2 CYP2C9 variants and two VKORC1 variants) warfarin dosage requirement. These 14 CYP2C9 and VKORC1 variants along with a small subset of environmental factors account for 45.3% of warfarin dosage variability in the SA population. I observed an increase in the number of poor pregnancy outcomes in patients on high doses of warfarin. These results allow us to predict the maintenance dose of warfarin in SA black patients better, thereby reducing the risk of adverse effects, and identify those at risk of having a poor pregnancy outcome.

Cotton is a crop with a large global economic impact as well as a large, complex genome. Most industrial cotton production is from two tetraploid species (Gossypium hirsutum L. and Gossypium barbadense L.) which contain two subgenomes, specifically the AT and DT subgenomes. The DT subgenome is nearly half the size of the AT subgenome in tetraploid cotton and is closely related to an extant D-genome Gossypium species, G. raimondii Ulbr. Characterization of the structural variants present in diploid D-genome should provide greater insight into the evolution of the DT subgenome in the tetraploid cotton. Bionano (BNG) optical mapping uses patterns of fluorescent labels inserted at specific endonuclease sites to create physical maps of the genomes which can then be examined for structural variation. To develop optical maps in G. raimondii, we first developed a de novo PacBio long read sequence assembly of G. raimondii. This sequence assembly consisted of 2,379 contigs, an average contig length of 413 Kb and a contig N50 of 4.9 Mb. Using BNG technology, we developed two optical maps of the diploid D genome of G. raimondii. One was created using the Nt.BssSI endonuclease and one with the Nt.BspQI endonuclease. Using the BNG optical maps, the PacBio assembly was hybrid scaffolded into 100 scaffolds (+ 5 unscaffolded contigs) with an average scaffold length of 7.5 Mb and a scaffold N50 of 13.1 Mb. A comparison between the Nt. BssSI BNG optical map and the two sequence assemblies identified 3,195 structural variants. These were used to validate the accuracy of the reference sequence of G. raimondii and structural variants were used to create a new phylogeny of nine major cotton species.

Copy Number Variants (CNVs) are defined as DNA segments of 1kb or more in length and present in a variable number of copies in the human genome. It has been recently shown that many human genetic diseases including organ malformations are caused by CNVs in a patient's genome. However, the genetic and molecular basis for Renal Agenesis (RA), which is a medical condition whereby unilateral or bilateral fetal kidneys fail to develop, has not yet been extended to CNV studies. By using array-based Comparative Genomic Hybridization, we are analyzing DNA from patients who have RA in order to identify CNVs that are causative for RA; genes within the CNVs will then be assessed for their potential involvement in RA by altering their dose in Xenopus embryos.

Antisocial behaviors (AB), which place an enormous burden on society, are committed by a heterogeneous population, including psychopaths (Poythress et al., 2010). Psychopathy denotes a more serious and entrenched pattern of AB (Hare, 1996) and appears to be a heterogeneous construct as well. In fact, Primary and Secondary psychopathic variants are consistently identified in a variety of samples using person-centered analysis (Drislane et al., 2014; Gill & Stickle, 2016). Both Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory (Gray & McNaughton, 2000) and the Triarchic Model of Psychopathy (Patrick, Fowles, & Krueger, 2009) provide useful frameworks to understand the etiology of the psychopathic variants. The current study identified Primary and Secondary Trait groups in a sample of criminally justice involved adults (N = 377), which differed on measures of negative emotionality. However, the Psychopathic trait groups did not differ on the boldness or meanness domains of the Triarchic Model (Patrick, Fowles & Kreuger). The disinhibition domain of the Triarchic model was significantly associated with aggression, and this association was partially mediated by levels of anxiety. Anxiety is an important dimension to assess in research, evaluation, and treatment of individuals with high levels of antisocial behavior. Keywords: Psychopathy, variants, Triarchic, measurement, antisocial behavior