Preprints in times of COVID19: The time is ripe for agreeing on terminology and good practices

Over recent years, the research community has been increasingly using preprint servers to share manuscripts that are not yet peer-reviewed. Even if it enables quick dissemination of research findings, this practice raises several challenges in publication ethics and integrity. In particular, preprints have become an important source of information for stakeholders interested in COVID19 research developments, including traditional media, social media, and policy makers. Despite caveats about their nature, many users can still confuse pre-prints with peer-reviewed manuscripts. If unconfirmed but already widely shared first-draft results later prove wrong or misinterpreted, it can be very difficult to unlearn what we thought was true. Complexity further increases if unconfirmed findings have been used to inform guidelines. To help achieve a balance between early access to research findings and its negative consequences, we formulated five recommendations: (a) consensus should be sought on a term clearer than \u27pre-print\u27, such as \u27Unrefereed manuscript\u27, Manuscript awaiting peer review or \u27\u27Non-reviewed manuscript ; (b) Caveats about unrefereed manuscripts should be prominent on their first page, and each page should include a red watermark stating \u27Caution-Not Peer Reviewed\u27; (c) pre-print authors should certify that their manuscript will be submitted to a peer-review journal, and should regularly update the manuscript status; (d) high level consultations should be convened, to formulate clear principles and policies for the publication and dissemination of non-peer reviewed research results; (e) in the longer term, an international initiative to certify servers that comply with good practices could be envisaged

Innovative method for rapid detection of falsified COVID-19 vaccines through unopened vials using handheld Spatially Offset Raman Spectroscopy (SORS)

Preventing, detecting, and responding to substandard and falsified vaccines is of critical importance for ensuring the safety, efficacy, and public trust in vaccines. This is of heightened importance in context of public health crisis, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, in which extreme world-wide shortages of vaccines provided a fertile ground for exploitation by falsifiers. Here, a proof-of-concept study explored the feasibility of using a handheld Spatially Offset Raman Spectroscopy (SORS) device to authenticate COVID-19 vaccines through rapid analysis of unopened vaccine vials. The results show that SORS can verify the chemical identity of dominant excipients non-invasively through vaccine vial walls. The ability of SORS to identify potentially falsified COVID-19 vaccines was demonstrated by measurement of surrogates for falsified vaccines contained in vaccine vials. In all cases studied, the SORS technique was able to differentiate between surrogate samples from the genuine COVISHIELD™ vaccine. The genuine vaccines tested included samples from six batches across two manufacturing sites to account for any potential variations between batches or manufacturing sites. Batch and manufacturing site variations were insignificant. In conjunction with existing security features, for example on labels and packaging, SORS provided an intrinsic molecular fingerprint of the dominant excipients of the vaccines. The technique could be extended to other COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 vaccines, as well as other liquid medicines. As handheld and portable SORS devices are commercially available and widely used for other purposes, such as airport security, they are rapidly deployable non-invasive screening tools for vaccine authentication.</p

La formation des doctorants à l'information scientifique et technique

La formation des doctorants aux problématiques de l'information scientifique et technique représente un enjeu particulièrement sensible pour l'enseignement supérieur et la recherche en France. Doublement affectée par de profondes transformations institutionnelles ainsi que par l'évolution accélérée des technologies numériques, la culture de l'information scientifique demeure l'un des piliers fondamentaux de la recherche et un élément incontournable dans la mise en œuvre d'une politique éclairée. La plupart des domaines d'activité du chercheur sont concernés : l'investigation, la propriété intellectuelle, la recherche documentaire, l'écriture scientifique, la publication, la communication scientifique, l'évaluation, les évolutions et les opportunités offertes par les outils numériques, la vulgarisation scientifique… Cet ouvrage se propose de poser quelques jalons afin d'alimenter la réflexion des divers protagonistes, universitaires, documentalistes, bibliothécaires, qui interviennent auprès du doctorant pour l'informer ou le guider tout au long de son parcours : quels seraient les attentes des doctorants et les besoins du monde académique ? Quelles connaissances et compétences les formateurs ont-ils à mobiliser ? Quels enseignements tirer des expériences et dispositifs mis en place ? Autant de questions pour approcher une thématique à la morphologie complexe. Le débat qu'elles suscitent met en lumière un bilan riche en interrogations et fécond pour l'avenir

Solubilisation dans des micelles inverses et des vesicules : Influence des caractéristiques du film amphiphile

Non disponible/Not availableL'étude fondamentale du comportement du film amphiphile séparant phase dispersée et phase continue dans les systèmes moléculaires organises est essentielle a la maitrise de divers processus. Les propriétés de ces films, monocouches ou bicouches, contrôlent les phénomènes de coalescence et de transition de phase, le transport de solutés, la réactivité, etc. considérant qu'un film fluide favorisera les échanges a l'inverse d'un film rigide, l'objectif de ce travail était de corréler les cinétiques de solubilisation de solutés dans des micelles inverses ou de perméation dans des vésicules avec l'état de rigidité du film de tensioactifs. De manière originale, des mesures par stopped-flow de cinétiques d'incorporation de solutions aqueuses par des microémulsions inverses d'aot ont vise à relier les vitesses mesurées aux propriétés de rigidité du film en présence d'additifs susceptibles de les modifier (sels, polymères hydrophiles, Co-tensioactifs). L'incorporation d'eau dans les systèmes percolant à interfaces souples est plus rapide que dans les systèmes non-percolant proches de sphères dures. En parallèle, le transfert diphasique d'eau salée d'une phase aqueuse vers des micelles inverses a été étudié. L'évolution de la composition de la phase microémulsion a montre que la forte chute de conductivité correspond a une incorporation de sel accompagnée d'un rejet d'eau. Un mécanisme expliquant ces observations a été proposé. Les vesicules cationiques nous ont permis d'aborder des films bicouches particuliers associant des tensioactifs cationiques et anioniques. Les capacités d'encapsulation de sondes ont été déterminées en relation avec les caractéristiques moléculaires des tensioactifs : mélange de tensioactifs avec leurs contre-ions ou paires d'ions amphiphiles après élimination des contre-ions. L encapsulation est plus importante dans le second cas, bien que des expériences de perméation de la bicouche révèlent que la rétention de molécules encapsulées est faible

Solubilisation dans des micelles inverses et des vésicules (influence des caractéristiques du film amphiphile)

NANCY1-SCD Sciences & Techniques (545782101) / SudocSudocFranceF

Les abbayes cisterciennes de l'ancien diocèse de Bourges aux XIIe et XIIIe siècles

Les cisterciens se sont implantés dans de nombreux diocèses au cours des XIIe et XIIIe siècles. Celui de Bourges se singularise de ceux qui l'environnent par la quantité et la précocité de ses fondations. La première explication à ce phénomène se trouve dans l'évidente piété de l'époque, relayée, voire amplifiée, par des archevêques entretenant des relations importantes avec Bernard de Clairvaux. Mais il existe également une véritable "politique" d'implantations, certes gérée par ces derniers, mais sous-tendue par les luttes d'influences auxquelles se livrent les différentes "factions" qui se partagent ce territoire. Il apparaît ainsi nettement que les établissements tiennent un rôle politique aussi bien que religieux. C'est dans ce contexte que le diocèse de Bourges accueille quatorze établissements. Leur étude individuelle a fait surgir de l'ombre certains d'entre eux, totalement ignorés des chercheurs ou en grande partie méconnus. Ainsi, d'un point de vue historique, il a été possible d'affiner les dates de fondation et parfois de préciser l'identité des fondateurs ainsi que leurs motivations. L'étude architecturale, pour sa part, a engendré la restitution des plans des édifices ou tout au moins une hypothèse raisonnable de ceux-ci. Elle a également servi à recadrer les périodes de construction et à identifier l'introduction et l'utilisation de techniques nouvelles. Il en résulte un ensemble cohérent au sein duquel se transmettent les avancées des techniques architecturales et derrière lequel transparaît une influence de l'ordre, cette dernière étant plutôt structurelle que formelle.The Cistercians settled in numerous dioceses throughout the 12th and 13th centuries. The diocese of Bourges stands alone amongst those around il for the quantity and earliness of its foundations. The first explanation to this phenomenon can be found in the obvious piety during this era, transmitted, if not amplified, by archbishops maintaining links to Bernard de Clairvaux. There also exists, however, a true settlement "policy", managed, it is true, by the archbishops, but intensified by the struggle for influence between the various "factions" sharing this territory. It is therefore clearly apparent that these institutions hold a role as much political as religious. It is in this context that the diocese of Bourges hosts fourteen institutions. Individual study has shed light on some of them, which had been totally ignored by scholars, or had at best been unrecognised. Thus, from a historical point of view, it has been possible to pinpoint the founding dates and at times to reveal the identity of the founding members, as well as what motivated them. For it part, architectural study was the point of origin of the rediscovery of the buildings' plans, or at least a reasonable hypothesis for them. It also helped to establish new time brackets for the construction and to identify the dates of introduction and use of new techniques. A coherent whole therefore emerges, at the heart of which advances in architectural techniques are shared and behind which transpires the influence of the order, more structural than formal.NANTERRE-PARIS10-Bib. élec. (920509901) / SudocSudocFranceF

Exploratory study of infrared spectral signatures of a range of forest, agricultural and artificialized soils from the North-East of France

International audienceArtificialized soils encompass a large diversity depending both on the environmental conditions and the history of land uses. Their study requires to develop an approach to compare and classify them. Vibrational spectroscopies are used in soil science to collect rapid and cost-effective molecular information about inorganic and organic soil constituents [1]. Coupled with chemometrics approaches (e.g. [2]), they can be used to estimate some properties and/or to classify soils [3]. This study aims at exploring the potential of mid-infrared spectroscopy (i) to differentiate soils depending on past land uses, (ii) to propose a soil typology and (iii) to define markers of human activities.A set of 150 surface soil samples from the North-East of France was selected, including agricultural and forest soils developed on various bedrocks and soils impacted by iron and glass industry, mining, charcoal production or old human settlements. Mid-infrared analyses were run in diffuse reflectance mode. An exploratory study was performed on the preprocessed spectra using ascending hierarchical classification and principal component analysis. Studied soils can be distinguished based on their mineralogical composition (carbonates, clays) and, to a lesser extent, on the presence of organic compounds (Fig1). However, changes related to old settlements, mining or charcoal production were more difficult to discriminate. This could be improved by coupling several spectroscopic analyses providing complementary information on the samples

Acid-base properties of 2:1 clays: The role of electrostatics

International audienceWe present a theoretical and experimental investigation of the titratable charge of 2:1 clays with various structural charge ('b): pyrophyllite ('b = 0 e. nm(2), montmorillonite ('b = -0.7 e. nm(2) and illite ('b = -1.2 e. nm(2). The calculations were carried out using a Monte Carlo method in the Grand Canonical ensemble and in the framework of the primitive model. The clay particle was modeled as a hexagonal platelet, with an ‘ideal' crystal structure. The only fitting parameters used are the intrinsic equilibrium constants for the protonation/deprotonation reactions of the broken-bond sites on the lateral faces. Simulations are found to give a satisfactory description of the acid-base titration of 2:1 clays without any additional fitting parameter. In particular, combining the electrostatics from the crystal substitutions with the protonation constants, the simulations satisfactorily catch the shift in the point of zero net proton charge (PZNPC) of 2:1 clays according to the ionic strength, in good qualitative agreement with experimental observations following the sequence: pyrophyllite < montmorillonite < illite