Foaming properties of protein/pectin electrostatic complexes and foam structure at the nanoscale

The foaming properties, foaming capacity and foam stability, of soluble complexes of pectin and a globular protein, napin, have been investigated with a "Foamscan" apparatus. Complementary, we also used SANS with a recent method consisting in an analogy between the SANS by foams and the neutron reflectivity of films to measure in situ film thickness of foams. The effect of ionic strength, of protein concentration and of charge density of the pectin has been analysed. Whereas the foam stability is improved for samples containing soluble complexes, no effect has been noticed on the foam film thickness, which is almost around 315 {\AA} whatever the samples. These results let us specify the role of each specie in the mixture: free proteins contribute to the foaming capacity, provided the initial free protein content in the bulk is sufficient to allow the foam formation, and soluble complexes slow down the drainage by their presence in the Plateau borders, which finally results in the stabilisation of foams

Eco-design of buildings and comparison of materials

International audienceSustainable building integrates many issues, for instance: reducing energy consumption while keeping a high level of thermal comfort (in winter as well as in summer conditions), global environmental problems such as global warming or ozone depletion, indoor air quality issues, relevant material resource and waste management. Such issues are highly related to the choice of building materials. Eco-design requires therefore a relevant integrated assessment for the building materials not only at the process stage but over the whole life cycle of the buildings including the dominant use phase. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) applied to buildings is enlarging the scope of material assessment. An innovative approach, EQUER (Evaluation of environmental quality of buildings), has been developed at Ecole des Mines for architects and consultants by linking a life cycle simulation tool with a building thermal simulation. The life cycle inventory database Ecoinvent is used to evaluate the environmental impacts of material fabrication and other processes (energy, transport,...). There are still many uncertainties and limits to the present state of the art of LCA. The uncertainties concern both the data (inventories) and impact indicators. For instance, the global warming potential (GWP) of other gases than CO2 is known with a high rate of uncertainty. Global indicators related to human or eco-toxicity are doubtful because the location of the emissions is not considered: in fact air pollution inside buildings do have a much larger effect than diluted external emissions and no indoor indicator has yet been elaborated. Also, the processes occurring at the end of the building life cycle are difficult to foresee, particularly because buildings are generally long lasting (though it may be assumed that mixing materials -concrete with polystyrene or wood for instance- will make the future waste management more difficult). Despite these limits, an attempt to convert these inventories data into a meaningful environmental profile is proposed in order to perform sensitivity studies for different building materials and derive environmental material performance according to a specific building use. We propose here a contribution concerning the evaluation of quantifiable environmental impacts of buildings for different material choices and end of life scenarios. The output of the software is an eco-profile including the different CML indicators (global warming, acidification, eutrophication potentials, smog, etc.), IMPACT2002+ indicators (human toxicity and ecosystem quality) plus some aggregated values like primary energy and water consumption, generation of radioactive and other waste. These indicators are given either for the different phases or for different alternatives or projects. The methodology is presented and illustrated by a comparative study on a single family house, concerning the comparison of three structural materials: concrete blocks, bricks, and timber. The results of this exercise are presented and its limits are discussed

Towards a full higher order AD-based continuation and bifurcation framework

International audienceSome of the theoretical aspects of continuation and bifurcation methods devoted to the solution for nonlinear parametric systems are presented in a higher-order automatic differentiation (HOAD) framework. Besides benefits in terms of generality and ease of use, HOAD is used to assess fold and simple bifurcations points. In particular, the formation of a geometric series in successive Taylor coefficients allows for the implementation of an efficient detection and branch switching method at simple bifurcation points. Some comparisons with the Auto and MatCont continuation software are proposed. Strengths are then exemplified on a classical case study in structural mechanics

A literature-based comparison of nutrient and contaminant contents between organic and conventional vegetables and potatoes

Purpose - The increasing demand for organic foods is explained mainly by consumers' concerns about the quality and safety of foods and their perception that organically produced foods are healthier and safer than conventional foods. Based on internationally available concentration data of organic and conventional vegetables (carrots, tomatoes, lettuce and spinach) and potatoes, the paper aims to investigate the scientific validity of nutrition claims as "no vegetable/potato has higher amounts of nutrient X than organic vegetables/potatoes" and "no vegetable/potato has lower amounts of contaminant Y than organic vegetables/potatoes". Design/methodology/approach - Detailed nutrient and contaminant databases were developed for organic and conventional vegetables separately. Non-parametric (Mann-Whitney test) methods were used to detect significant differences between both types of vegetables. A chi-square test was used to compare the incidence of pesticide residues in organic and conventional vegetables. Findings - From a nutritional and toxicological point of view, organic vegetables and potato in general are not significantly better than conventional vegetables and potatoes. For some nutrients and contaminants organic vegetables and potatoes score significantly better but for others they score significantly worse. Therefore, it becomes difficult to justify general claims indicating a surplus value of organic over conventional vegetables and potatoes. More data from controlled paired studies are needed to reconsider the use of claims for these organic plant foods in the future. Research limitations/implications - Only a limited number of studies comparing the nutrient and/or contaminant concentration of organic and conventional vegetables are available ("paired studies"). Additionally, the majority of the studies are of moderate or poor quality. The implication is that more of those paired studies are heavily needed. Another limitation of the study is the fact that most pesticide residue data originated from the USA, the EU and Australia. Originality/value - So far only few studies compared both nutrient and contaminant contents between organic and conventional plant foods. This paper covers therefore an important, not well-explored research sub area

Europeanization through its instrumentation:Benchmarking, mainstreaming and open method of coordination… Toolbox or Pandora’s nox ?

Understanding Europeanization through its instrumentation raises the issue of the supposed neutrality of policy tools used as soft modes of action. The aim of this article is to assess how this ‘new governance’ tends to guide policy-making on a specific path. Indeed, European construction cannot be restricted to the direct impact of Community law or to the indirect effects of economic integration. A new form of non-constraining co-ordination has been developing since the mid-1990s. In order to explain how the cognitive mechanisms of Europeanization work, we open the ‘toolboxes’ that allow European institutions to have an effect on national representations and practices. The use of benchmarking for building the European Research Area, the elaboration of gender equality policy according to the principle of mainstreaming, and the open method of co-ordination (OMC) in the field of pension reforms, illustrate how such policy instruments lead national governments to meet the competitiveness requirements of the Lisbon strategy

Europeanization through its instrumentation:Benchmarking, mainstreaming and open method of coordination… Toolbox or Pandora’s nox ?

Understanding Europeanization through its instrumentation raises the issue of the supposed neutrality of policy tools used as soft modes of action. The aim of this article is to assess how this ‘new governance’ tends to guide policy-making on a specific path. Indeed, European construction cannot be restricted to the direct impact of Community law or to the indirect effects of economic integration. A new form of non-constraining co-ordination has been developing since the mid-1990s. In order to explain how the cognitive mechanisms of Europeanization work, we open the ‘toolboxes’ that allow European institutions to have an effect on national representations and practices. The use of benchmarking for building the European Research Area, the elaboration of gender equality policy according to the principle of mainstreaming, and the open method of co-ordination (OMC) in the field of pension reforms, illustrate how such policy instruments lead national governments to meet the competitiveness requirements of the Lisbon strategy

Statactivism: Forms of action between disclosure and affirmation

This article introduces the special issue on statactivism, a particular form of action within the repertoire used by contemporary social movements: the mobilization of statistics. Traditionally, statistics has been used by the worker movement within the class conflicts. But in the current configuration of state restructuring, new accumulation regimes, and changes in work organization in capitalists societies, the activist use of statistics is moving. This first article seeks to show the use of statistics and quantification in contentious performances connected with state restructuring, main transformations of the varieties of capitalisms, and changes in work organization regimes. The double role of statistics in representing as well as criticizing reality is considered. After showing how important statistical tools are in producing a shared reading of reality, we will discuss the two main dimensions of statactivism – disclosure and affirmation. In other words, we will see the role of stat-activists in denouncing a certain state of reality, and then the efforts to use statistics in creating equivalency among disparate conditions and in cementing emerging social categories. Finally, we present the main contributions of the various research papers in this special issue regarding the use of statistics as a form of action within a larger repertoire of contentious action. Six empirical papers focus on statactivism against the penal machinery in the early 1970s (Grégory Salle), on the mobilisation on the price index in Guadalupe in 2009 (Boris Samuel), and in Argentina in 2007 (Celia Lury and Ana Gross), on the mobilisations of experts to consolidate a link between working conditions and health issues (Marion Gilles), on the production of activity data for disability policy in France (Pierre-Yves Baudot), and on the use of statistics in social mobilizations for gender equality (Eugenia De Rosa). Alain Desrosières wrote the last paper, coping with mobilizations proposing innovations in the way of measuring inflation, unemployment, poverty, GDP, and climate change. This special issue is dedicated to him, in order to honor his everlasting intellectual legac

Measurements of hydrogen isotopes permeation in 316L stainless steel at low temperature

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Séparation des parents et contribution à l'entretien et l'éducation de l'enfant : une évaluation du barème pour la fixation du montant de la pension alimentaire

Disponible à l'adresse : http://www.caf.fr/sites/default/files/cnaf/Documents/Dser/PSF/107/psf107-1-bjeandidier_cbourreau_dubois_isayn.pdfDisponible sur Persée : https://www.persee.fr/doc/caf_2101-8081_2012_num_107_1_2666National audienceLe 12 avril 2010, le ministère de la justice diffusait une circulaire proposant une table de référence indicative pour la fixation de la contribution à l'entretien et l'éducation des enfants (CEEE) après la séparation des parents. Cet article propose une évaluation de cette table de référence (ou barème). Les logiques économiques et juridiques de cette table sont présentées, notamment les questions de la répartition de la contribution des parents, de la priorité de l'obligation alimentaire par rapport à d'autres charges de créances, de l'égalité entre les enfants du débiteur, de la prise en charge du temps d'hébergement, de l'incidence de la remise en couple et du lien entre prestations sociales et CEEE. Les logiques de la table de référence sont évaluées en étudiant, à l'aide d'un outil économétrique, des décisions rendues en appel et fixant une CEEE avant que la table ne soit diffusée. L'existence même d'un barème est validée par la mise en lumière d'iniquités résiduelles dans les décisions prises sans barème. L'analyse compare également les montants de CEEE fixés par ces décisions d'appel (avant diffusion du barème), avec les montants simulés à l'aide du barème. Elle montre, en particulier, que l'application du barème "profiterait" aux parents débiteurs à bas revenus (moindre CEEE) et "désavantagerait" les parents débiteurs à hauts revenus, mais que, en raison d'une certaine homogamie des ressources, elle "profiterait" aux parents créanciers à hauts revenus (CEEE plus élevée) et "désavantagerait" les parents créanciers à bas revenus