En dépit de ses succès, le modèle agricole fondé sur un recours massif aux intrants est mis à mal du fait de ses externalités négatives. L’agroécologie propose de substituer aux intrants le pilotage des processus écologiques naturels. La production cidricole est engagée dans cette démarche. Nous avons cherché à évaluer l’apport de deux types d’aménagements agro-écologiques : les haies et les mélanges fleuris. Nous avons caractérisé la faune entomologique présente dans 14 vergers cidricoles du nord-ouest de la France (Bretagne, Normandie) et son évolution au cours de la saison. L’analyse des données collectées a confirmé que les aménagements étaient attractifs pour les ennemis naturels des ravageurs des pommiers.L’étude des dynamiques d’abondance du puceron cendré (Dysaphis plantaginea) au cours de la saison permet de hiérarchiser les contributions des différents ennemis naturels à la régulation de ses populations et de montrer leur complémentarité temporelle. Les syrphes et les coccinelles jouent le rôle principal avec une action plus précoce des premiers. Le rôle favorable au puceron de la présence des fourmis est confirmé. Les mélanges fleuris réduisent les abondances du puceron et accroissent celles de la plupart des groupes d’ennemis naturels. Au contraire, la présence des haies est favorable au ravageur. Un dispositif d’exclusion des fourmis réduit significativement leurs abondances et celles des pucerons et augmente les abondances des syrphes et des coccinelles, confirmant l’effet délétère des fourmis sur les ennemis naturels. Enfin, le prototype d’un indicateur du / In spite of their successes, agricultural systems based on the massive use of inputs are questioned for their negative externalities. Agroecology offers to substitute inputs with natural ecological processes. Apple-cider production is engaged in the development of agroecology. Here, we aimed at assessing the benefits provided by two types of agroecological infrastructures: hedgerows and flower strips. We characterised the entomological fauna encountered in 14 cider-apple orchards in northwestern France (Bretagne, Normandy) and its evolution along the season. Data analysis confirmed agroecological infrastructure attractiveness to apple pest natural enemies. The observation of rosy apple aphid (Dysaphis plantaginea) population dynamics allows hierarchizing the contributions of several natural enemies to pest control and demonstrates their temporal complementaritySyrphids and coccinellids are the most effective with the firsts being the most precocious. The beneficial role to aphids of ant presence is confirmed. Flower strips reduce aphid abundances and increase the abundances of most natural enemy groups. Conversely, hedgerows are favourable to the pest. An ant-excluding device reduces significantly ant and aphid abundances and increases syrphid and coccinellid abundances, confirming the deleterious effect of ants on natural enemies. Finally, a prototype of an indicator of biological control potential against D. plantaginea was designed.

Forecasting the potential range of invasive species is a critical component for risk assessment, monitoring, and management. However, many of these invasive species are not yet at equilibrium which can be problematic for many modelling approaches. Using the climate matching method, MaxEnt, a series of species distribution models (SDMs) and risk analysis maps were created for select apple snail species in Florida: Pomacea canaliculata, P. diffusa, and P. maculata. Apple snails, freshwater gastropods in the family Ampullariidae, are native to South America and were introduced to the United States via the pet trade approximately 40 years ago. These highly invasive species have already been introduced in ten states and established in at least seven. The models and risk analysis in this study show the majority of Florida was at least moderately suitable for all apple snails modeled, with P. maculata posing the greatest threat.

In the African continent the mobile phones are already contributing theirshare in the development of the continent. Specially in Ethiopia, in onedirection, the users of mobile phones are increasing each year and mostimportantly the small scale farmers who contribute 85% of the country’spopulation are using these devices to trade their surplus products in anefficient manner and better deal thus earn good profit. In anotherdirection, Ethiopia has set up its own Commodity Exchange in 2008 sothat farmers and traders could buy and sell commodities in an efficientand transparent manner. Taking into consideration both of thesedevelopments carried out to encourage smooth trade and modernmarking strategies, this project has a target to come up with mobileapplications for the Android mobile platform and iPhone users in the firstphase of implementation. Accordingly, the app developed will help to getreal time Ethiopia commodity Exchange (ECX) market prices, commodityrelated headlines, weather forecasts and other relevant news. It willcontribute to standardize the way ECX is performing to link up differentparties specially farmers who make up majority of the country’spopulation and support the economy of the country in a great deal withthe traders. Although the mobile app developed does not have an aim tobring in significant change into the existing system at the currentpenetration of Smartphone in the country, it helps to disseminateinformation in standardized manner as in big commodity exchanges andbesides, we believe in the future it will be the convenient and widely usedmeans to reach the traders with necessary information.

Apples datorer med operativsystemet OS X blir allt vanligare på arbetsplatserna. För att företagets IT-avdelning ska kunna upprätthålla en stabil och säker miljö strävar man efter att standardisera system och hårdvara. Verkligheten stämmer inte alltid överens med IT-avdelningens strävan och anställda vill i ökande grad använda sig av produkter de valt själva. Arbetet har undersökt möjligheterna och begränsningarna med att integrera Apple OS X i Microsofts Active Directory. För att kunna besvara de frågor som använts som avgränsning inleddes arbetet med att metodiskt studera litteratur och på internet publicerade artiklar. Därefter har laborationer med och utan tredjepartsmjukvarorna ADmitMac och Centrify genomförts med inriktning på arbetets avgränsningar. Parallellt med detta har intervjuer av organisationer med olika bakgrund genomförts. Intervjuer och laborationer gav ett resultat som sedan diskuterades i rapportens avslutande del. I analysen gjordes en jämförelse av resultaten från intervjuer samt laborationer. Från detta kunde bland annat följande slutsats dras; För att integrera en dator med Apple OS X i Active Directory fungerar det inbyggda stödet men med begränsad funktionalitet. Med hjälp av tredjepartsmjukvaror utökas stödet och fler funktioner i Active Directory kan användas.

The market for wearable devices is continuously growing and has seen an in- crease in interest and demand this past year, specifically smartwatch devices. With several big players entering and trying to take place in the market the number of devices and platforms grow. This leads to device and software fragmentation like the one seen in the world of smartphones. In this paper I discuss and compare the two smartwatch platforms Android Wear and Apple Watch in terms of possibilities, limitations and differences. Research is done to find cross-platform development possibilities for these platforms. Extensive theoretical background of both APIs is researched and presented. An app for both smartwatch platforms is developed with integration of the WebSocket protocol to function as a remote control for a Video-On-Demand web service. This is done to showcase the cross-platform possibilities and differences of the platforms. As a result the biggest differences are out- lined and a conclusion is made that cross-platform development for these platforms can be challenging but is possible on certain levels.

Canals surrounding the Everglades carry enriched and polluted water high in minerals and nutrients. These enriched waters impact adjacent marsh habitats, altering flora and fauna species and abundance. Multiple studies have found gradients in nutrient levels as a function of distance from canals and emphasize the sensitivity of some organisms to these changes in water chemistry. Florida apple snails, Pomacea paludosa Say, are just one of many Everglades species sensitive to changes in water chemistry. They serve as an important staple in the diets of many Everglades predators including turtles, crayfish, limpkins and most importantly the endangered snail kite, Rostrahamus sociabilis which feeds almost exclusively on the apple snail. To examine potential effects of water chemistry on apple snail breeding patterns, we observed snail egg size, egg number per clutch, and carbon and nitrogen contents along water chemistry gradients and among snail breeding months at the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge. Egg number per clutch and egg diameters were greatest in the most impacted zones and lowest in the pristine, interior zone. Carbon contents of eggs were highest in the interior and east side of the Refuge and lowest in the west side. Nitrogen contents of eggs were highest in the interior and west side of the Refuge, and lowest in the east side. Significant, albeit weak, positive trends were found between N content and egg diameter, C content and egg diameter, and between egg number per clutch and egg diameter, but only among specific zones and months. Results from this study suggest that snails in areas of the Refuge that are influenced by canal-water may produce greater numbers of apple snail offspring with greater egg diameters than those in less impacted areas. However, we do not know if this translates into higher hatchling success and survival.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / The domesticated apple (Malus x domestica Borkh), belonging to the Malusgenus of the Rosaceae family, is one of the edible pomaceous fruits. Since it is one of the important commercial fruit crops worldwide, the quality of the fruit is crucial to breeders and farmers as it ultimately determines acceptance of a cultivar for consumption. Fruit quality is also a critical determinant factor that is used to estimate the potential of apples to have a long shelf life / South Africa

Les pommes sont considérées comme bénéfiques pour la santé, de part leur teneur en polyphénols qui leur confèrent l’étiquette "d’aliment santé". Les procédés de transformation agroalimentaire des fruits et légumes génèrent des coproduits qui sont considérés comme sans valeur par les industriels. Or, au regard des volumes générés, ce sont des sources abondantes de nutriments.Une voie possible de valorisation de ces coproduits est la réintroduction dans des produits alimentaires en tant qu’ingrédient, de façon à proposer des aliments enrichis en molécules fonctionnelles. Pour ce faire, deux voies ont été explorées: l’utilisation de poudres d’épidermes de pommes pour stabiliser une émulsion et l’extraction des polyphénols au moyen de la technologie à base de CO2 supercritique. Ce travail examine également des solutions pour remédier au problème de brunissement enzymatique, comme le traitement thermique et l’addition de poudres de fruits naturellement riches en agents antibrunissement.Les phases de préparation des pommes sont de réelles étapes de transformation qu’il faut optimiser et maîtriser afin de préserver toutes les propriétés antioxydantes des coproduits végétaux. Nos travaux ont également permis de mettre en évidence des propriétés plus fonctionnelles des pelures de pommes, comme agent stabilisant d’émulsions. L’impact des paramètres d’extraction a été mis en évidence par l’exploration de plusieurs conditions telles que la masse chargée, le broyage, le protocole ainsi que la température et la composition du fluide extractant. / Apples are considered beneficial to health, because of their content of phenolic compounds that confer the label "health food". Fruits and vegetables food processes generate byproducts that are considered worthless by industrial. However, given the volumes generated, they are rich sources of nutrients.One possible way of valorization of these byproducts is the reintroduction of food as ingredient, to propose fortified foods with functional molecules. To do this, two approaches have been explored: the use of apple peels powders to stabilize an emulsion and the extraction of phenolic compounds by supercritical CO2+ethanol. This work also discusses solutions to remedy the enzymatic browning, such as heat treatment and the addition of naturally rich fruit powders as anti-browning agents.Apples preparation phases are real transformation steps which it’s necessary to optimize and master to preserve all the antioxidant properties of fruits and vegetables byproducts. Our works also highlight more functional properties of apple peels as a stabilizing emulsions agent. The impact of extraction parameters was demonstrated by the exploration of several conditions such as the loaded weight, the grinding, the protocol as well as the temperature and composition of supercritical fluids.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / The domesticated apple (Malus x domestica Borkh.) has been distributed into diverse climatic conditions worldwide for commercial production of fruit. Apple trees need exposure to cold temperatures, referred to as chill unit (CU) accumulation during winter, in order for budbreak to occur promptly and uniformly after winter. In warmer production areas the application of dormancy breaking chemicals has enabled successful production of high chilling requiring apple cultivars in suboptimal environmental conditions. In the Western Cape region of South Africa it is common orchard practice to apply dormancy breaking chemicals after winter in order to stimulate vegetative growth. If this is not done prolonged dormancy symptoms (PDS) are experienced which include extended rest, less synchronised breaking of buds and reduced branching. An increasing awareness of both global warming and the negative effects associated with the use of chemical sprays (for both pest and disease resistance and growth regulation) has resulted in the need to breed cultivars better adapted to current and future environmental conditions. The breeding of new cultivars using conventional breeding methods is a time consuming process, especially in perennial tree species with a long juvenile phase such as apple. The implementation of marker-assistedbreeding (MAB) and selection (MAS) will enable the selection of favourable genotypes at a very early seedling stage. Although markers linked to genes involved in disease resistance for a variety of known apple pathogens have been identified and are already in use in breeding programs, the genetic determinants of dormancy related characteristics residing within the bud itself iii (endodormancy) are poorly understood. This hampers the genetic improvement of such characters. Although this study focused on time of initial vegetative budbreak IVB, there are various other characteristics that can be associated with dormancy, such as position and number of budbreak and budbreak duration.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / The growth and development of apple (Malus x domestica Borkh.) fruit occurs over a period of about 150 days after anthesis to full ripeness. During this period morphological and physiological changes occur defining fruit quality. These changes are a result of spatial and temporal patterns of gene expression during fruit development as regulated by environmental, genetic and environmental-by-genetic factors. A number of previous studies partially characterised the transcriptomes of apple leaf, fruit pulp, whole fruit, and peel plus pulp tissues, using cDNA micro arrays and other PCR based technologies. These studies, however, remain limited in throughput and specificity for transcripts of low abundance. Hence, the aim of this project was to apply a high throughput technique to characterise the full mRNA transcriptome of the ‘Golden Delicious’ fruit peels and pulp tissues in order to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying the morphophysiological changes that occur during fruit development.