L’implication de l’Union européenne dans la résolution des conflits au Caucase du Sud

L’Union européenne (ue) a joué un rôle premier comme médiateur dans la guerre qui a opposé en août 2008 la Géorgie et la Russie. Pourtant, l’ ue reste un acteur secondaire dans la région, peinant à s’immiscer dans les processus de résolution de conflit mis en place depuis la fin des différents conflits en Abkhazie, en Ossétie du Sud et au Nagorno-Karabakh. Cet article interroge l’échec relatif de l’ ue> à peser sur les processus de résolution des conflits gelés au Caucase du Sud. Il examine les logiques propres à l’ ue qui expliquent les impasses auxquelles elle doit faire face dans la région : les incertitudes et les ambiguïtés qui entourent la Politique européenne de voisinage (pev) et les autres instruments mobilisés au Caucase du Sud, les divisions et les concurrences intra-européennes.The European Union (eu) has played a central role in mediating the conflict between Georgia and Russia in August 2008. But the eu encounters difficulties and proves to be unable to define a set of strategies that gives it the role it would like to play in the different conflict resolution process in Abkhazia, South Ossetiya and Nagorno-Karabakh. This article intends to analyse the relative failure of the eu in this domain. It examines the logics particular to this supranational organization which could explain why the eu’s involvement in the South Caucasus’ conflict resolution could be considered to be a secondary one: the enp’s uncertainties and ambiguities; competitions between eu’s State-members, between the latter and the European institutions, or within institutions

Philippe Hamman, Les transformations de la notabilité entre France et Allemagne. L’industrie faïencière à Sarreguemines (1836-1918)

La Lorraine redécouvre aujourd’hui son riche passé industriel après avoir été durement frappée par les crises des années 80. La faïencerie de Sarreguemines, terrain d’étude de cet ouvrage très dense, est parmi les industries les plus florissantes de la région à la fin du XIXe siècle. Philippe Hamman, chercheur post-doctoral au Centre de recherches en sciences sociales de l’université Marc Bloch à Strasbourg, analyse les transformations de la notabilité à partir du personnel dirigeant de cette..

L’ethnicisation du champ politique en Crimée

Les Tatars de Crimée ont été déportés en mai 1944 et exclus du processus de réhabilitation de 1956. À partir de 1988, leur retour massif dans la péninsule de Crimée a engendré d’importants bouleversements socio-économiques et politiques. La création d’institutions tatares a contribué à une rapide ethnicisation des débats. Cet article analyse les usages politiques de la mémoire dans ce processus. Le jeu politique apparaît en effet fortement conditionné par une lecture différenciée du passé et par une appréhension divergente des réalités sociales et politiques présentes. L’opposition de deux systèmes de représentations alimente les affrontements politiques : d’un côté les Tatars érigent la déportation en moment tournant ; d’un autre côté populations russophones, qui n’ont gardé aucune mémoire de l’expulsion forcée, jugent leur retour infondé

Diverse perspectives on interdisciplinarity from Members of the College of the Royal Society of Canada

Various multiple-disciplinary terms and concepts (although most commonly interdisciplinarity, which is used herein) are used to frame education, scholarship, research, and interactions within and outside academia. In principle, the premise of interdisciplinarity may appear to have many strengths; yet, the extent to which interdisciplinarity is embraced by the current generation of academics, the benefits and risks for doing so, and the barriers and facilitators to achieving interdisciplinarity, represent inherent challenges. Much has been written on the topic of interdisciplinarity, but to our knowledge there have been few attempts to consider and present diverse perspectives from scholars, artists, and scientists in a cohesive manner. As a team of 57 members from the Canadian College of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists of the Royal Society of Canada (the College) who self-identify as being engaged or interested in interdisciplinarity, we provide diverse intellectual, cultural, and social perspectives. The goal of this paper is to share our collective wisdom on this topic with the broader community and to stimulate discourse and debate on the merits and challenges associated with interdisciplinarity. Perhaps the clearest message emerging from this exercise is that working across established boundaries of scholarly communities is rewarding, necessary, and is more likely to result in impact. However, there are barriers that limit the ease with which this can occur (e.g., lack of institutional structures and funding to facilitate cross-disciplinary exploration). Occasionally, there can be significant risk associated with doing interdisciplinary work (e.g., lack of adequate measurement or recognition of work by disciplinary peers). Solving many of the world\u27s complex and pressing problems (e.g., climate change, sustainable agriculture, the burden of chronic disease, and aging populations) demands thinking and working across long-standing, but in some ways restrictive, academic boundaries. Academic institutions and key support structures, especially funding bodies, will play an important role in helping to realize what is readily apparent to all who contributed to this paper-that interdisciplinarity is essential for solving complex problems; it is the new norm. Failure to empower and encourage those doing this research will serve as a great impediment to training, knowledge, and addressing societal issues

Assessing Dysferlinopathy Patients Over Three Years With a New Motor Scale

The Jain COS Consortium.[Objective] Dysferlinopathy is a muscular dystrophy with a highly variable clinical presentation and currently unpredictable progression. This variability and unpredictability presents difficulties for prognostication and clinical trial design. The Jain Clinical Outcomes Study of Dysferlinopathy aims to establish the validity of the North Star Assessment for Limb Girdle Type Muscular Dystrophies (NSAD) scale and identify factors that influence the rate of disease progression using NSAD.[Methods] We collected a longitudinal series of functional assessments from 187 patients with dysferlinopathy over 3 years. Rasch analysis was used to develop the NSAD, a motor performance scale suitable for ambulant and nonambulant patients. Generalized estimating equations were used to evaluate the impact of patient factors on outcome trajectories.[Results] The NSAD detected significant change in clinical progression over 1 year. The steepest functional decline occurred during the first 10 years after symptom onset, with more rapid decline noted in patients who developed symptoms at a younger age (p = 0.04). The most rapidly deteriorating group over the study was patients 3 to 8 years post symptom onset at baseline.[Interpretation] The NSAD is the first validated limb girdle specific scale of motor performance, suitable for use in clinical practice and clinical trials. Longitudinal analysis showed it may be possible to identify patient factors associated with greater functional decline both across the disease course and in the short-term for clinical trial preparation. Through further work and validation in this cohort, we anticipate that a disease model incorporating functional performance will allow for more accurate prognosis for patients with dysferlinopathy. ANN NEUROL 2021;89:967–978The estimated US $4 million needed to fund this study was provided by the Jain Foundation. (www.jain-foundation.org) The Jain COS consortium would like to thank the study participants and their families for their invaluable contribution. The John Walton Centre Muscular Dystrophy Research Centre is part of the MRC Centre for Neuromuscular Diseases (Grant number MR/K000608/1).Peer reviewe

Variation in Size and Growth of the Great Scallop Pecten maximus along a Latitudinal Gradient

Understanding the relationship between growth and temperature will aid in the evaluation of thermal stress and threats to ectotherms in the context of anticipated climate changes. Most Pecten maximus scallops living at high latitudes in the northern hemisphere have a larger maximum body size than individuals further south, a common pattern among many ectotherms. We investigated differences in daily shell growth among scallop populations along the Northeast Atlantic coast from Spain to Norway. This study design allowed us to address precisely whether the asymptotic size observed along a latitudinal gradient, mainly defined by a temperature gradient, results from differences in annual or daily growth rates, or a difference in the length of the growing season. We found that low annual growth rates in northern populations are not due to low daily growth values, but to the smaller number of days available each year to achieve growth compared to the south. We documented a decrease in the annual number of growth days with age regardless of latitude. However, despite initially lower annual growth performances in terms of growing season length and growth rate, differences in asymptotic size as a function of latitude resulted from persistent annual growth performances in the north and sharp declines in the south. Our measurements of daily growth rates throughout life in a long-lived ectothermic species provide new insight into spatio-temporal variations in growth dynamics and growing season length that cannot be accounted for by classical growth models that only address asymptotic size and annual growth rate

Table_2_Assessing the Relationship of Patient Reported Outcome Measures With Functional Status in Dysferlinopathy: A Rasch Analysis Approach.docx

Appendix B. Coinvestigators - The Jain COS Consortium.Dysferlinopathy is a muscular dystrophy with a highly variable functional disease progression in which the relationship of function to some patient reported outcome measures (PROMs) has not been previously reported. This analysis aims to identify the suitability of PROMs and their association with motor performance.Two-hundred and four patients with dysferlinopathy were identified in the Jain Foundation's Clinical Outcome Study in Dysferlinopathy from 14 sites in 8 countries. All patients completed the following PROMs: Individualized Neuromuscular Quality of Life Questionnaire (INQoL), International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), and activity limitations for patients with upper and/or lower limb impairments (ACTIVLIMs). In addition, nonambulant patients completed the Egen Klassifikation Scale (EK). Assessments were conducted annually at baseline, years 1, 2, 3, and 4. Data were also collected on the North Star Assessment for Limb Girdle Type Muscular Dystrophies (NSAD) and Performance of Upper Limb (PUL) at these time points from year 2. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Rasch analysis was conducted on ACTIVLIM, EK, INQoL. For associations, graphs (NSAD with ACTIVLIM, IPAQ and INQoL and EK with PUL) were generated from generalized estimating equations (GEE). The ACTIVLIM appeared robust psychometrically and was strongly associated with the NSAD total score (Pseudo R2 0.68). The INQoL performed less well and was poorly associated with the NSAD total score (Pseudo R2 0.18). EK scores were strongly associated with PUL (Pseudo R2 0.69). IPAQ was poorly associated with NSAD scores (Pseudo R2 0.09). This study showed that several of the chosen PROMs demonstrated change over time and a good association with functional outcomes. An alternative quality of life measure and method of collecting data on physical activity may need to be selected for assessing dysferlinopathy.Peer reviewe