Cerveau, sexe et préjugés

En janvier 2005, Laurence Summers, président de la prestigieuse université d’Harvard, laissait clairement entendre que le faible nombre de femmes dans les disciplines scientifiques s’expliquait par leur incapacité innée à réussir dans ces domaines.Vérité politiquement incorrecte ou préjugé machiste, cette affirmation a soulevé un tollé dans les campus américains et dans les médias. À nouveau est réapparue cette interrogation récurrente : le cerveau a-t-il un sexe 

Numerical modelling of a high temperature power module technology with SiC devices for high density power electronics

This paper presents the development of a new packaging technology using silicon carbide (SiC) power devices. These devices will be used in the next power electronic converters. They will provide higher densities, switching frequencies and operating temperature than current Si technologies. Thus the new designed packaging has to take into account such new constraints. The presented work tries to demonstrate the importance of packaging designs for the performance and reliability of integrated SiC power modules. In order to increase the integrated density in power modules, packaging technologies consisting of two stacked substrates with power devices and copper bumps soldered between them were proposed into two configurations. Silver sintering technique is used as die-attach material solution. In order to assess the assembling process and robustness of these packaging designs, the thermo-mechanical behaviour is studied using FEM modelling. Finally, some recommendations are made in order to choose the suitable design for reliable power module

Le cerveau, le sexe et l’idéologie dans les neurosciences

Du 19e siècle à nos jours et malgré les progrès de la science, la thématique du cerveau et du sexe continue de susciter des dérives dans les interprétations qui dépassent largement le cadre scientifique. Les média sont loin d’être seuls en cause. Certains milieux scientifiques contribuent activement à promouvoir l’idée d’un déterminisme biologique des différences d’aptitudes entre les sexes. Qu’il s’agisse de tests cognitifs, d’études en imagerie cérébrale ou de la découverte de nouveaux gènes, les données expérimentales sont sans commune mesure avec leur exploitation idéologique. Vu l’ampleur des enjeux économiques des biotechnnologies et du « tout génétique », le débat sur l’inné et l’acquis est plus que jamais d’actualité et requiert la vigilance de tous.From the 19th century up to now, despite major advances in biological sciences, the topic of brain, sex and gender, has been and is still a matter of excessive interpretations beyond scientific thought process. The media are not the only ones to blame. Some researchers have actively contributed to promote the idea of a biological determinism of differences in intellectual skills between men and women. Their arguments are based upon modern approaches using brain imaging, cognitive tests and genetics. But experimental data are often distorted in order to comply with the ideology of biological determinism within the context of economic challenges, of biotechnologies and of all-in genetics, the debate, then, on nature and nurture is all the more up to date and requires our everyday viligance

Temperature-Pressure Profile of the hot Jupiter HD 189733b from HST Sodium Observations: Detection of Upper Atmospheric Heating

We present transmission spectra of the hot Jupiter HD 189733b taken with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph aboard HST. The spectra cover the wavelength range 5808-6380 Ang with a resolving power of R=5000. We detect absorption from the NaI doublet within the exoplanet's atmosphere at the 9 sigma confidence level within a 5 Ang band (absorption depth 0.09 +/- 0.01%) and use the data to measure the doublet's spectral absorption profile. We detect only the narrow cores of the doublet. The narrowness of the feature could be due to an obscuring high-altitude haze of an unknown composition or a significantly sub-solar NaI abundance hiding the line wings beneath a H2 Rayleigh signature. We compare the spectral absorption profile over 5.5 scale heights with model spectral absorption profiles and constrain the temperature at different atmospheric regions, allowing us to construct a vertical temperature profile. We identify two temperature regimes; a 1280 +/- 240 K region derived from the NaI doublet line wings corresponding to altitudes below ~ 500 km, and a 2800 +/- 400 K region derived from the NaI doublet line cores corresponding to altitudes from ~ 500-4000 km. The zero altitude is defined by the white-light radius of Rp/Rstar=0.15628 +/- 0.00009. The temperature rises with altitude, which is likely evidence of a thermosphere. The absolute pressure scale depends on the species responsible for the Rayleigh signature and its abundance. We discuss a plausible scenario for this species, a high-altitude silicate haze, and the atmospheric temperature-pressure profile that results. In this case, the high altitude temperature rise for HD 189733b occurs at pressures of 10^-5 to 10^-8 bar

El Suelo en la reutilización de aguas residuales : modelo lisimétrico de estudio

Tesi de Llicenciatura per a la obtenció del Grau de Farmàcia. Facultat de Farmàcia. Universitat de Barcelona. Director: José Cardús Aguilar. 1981

O sexo do cérebro: entre ciência e ideologia

Apesar dos avanços no conhecimento em neurociências, percebemos que os preconceitos e estereótipos sobre as diferenças de atitudes e comportamentos entre os sexos estão ainda presentes no espaço público. A mídia e a internet nos inundam de velhos clichês que consideram as mulheres naturalmente dotadas para a empatia, mas incapazes de ler um mapa rodoviário, enquanto os homens seriam essencialmente bons em matemática e competitivos. Estes discursos fazem crer que nossas aptidões e personalidades são programadas em nossos cérebros e imutáveis. As pesquisas recentes mostram o contrário. Graças a suas formidáveis propriedades de “plasticidade”, o cérebro fabrica constantemente novos circuitos neurais, dependendo das aprendizagens e experiências de vida. O conceito de plasticidade cerebral é primordial para abordar a questão da origem das diferenças e semelhanças entre ossexos. Ele traz uma explicação neurobiológica fundamental para entender os mecanismos que participam da construção das nossas identidades de mulheres e homens, reforçando e enriquecendo as pesquisas em ciências humanas sobre o gênero

Education and training in radioecology during the EU-COMET project-successes and suggestions for the future

The 2014 Strategic Research Agenda (SRA) for Radioecology identified the key challenge in education and training (E&T) as being 'to maintain and develop a skilled workforce in Europe and world-wide, through university candidates and professionals trained within radioecology' since 'scientific research in radioecology and application of that knowledge ... requires scientists and workers with adequate competence and appropriate skills.' Radioecology is a multidisciplinary science and E&T is needed by both students and professionals within research, industry and radiation protection. In order to address these needs, the EU COMET project has developed an E&T web platform and arranged a number of field courses, training courses, PhD and MSc courses, refresher courses and workshops, drawing on the COMET consortium to assemble relevant experts. In addition, COMET has been engaged in discussions with stakeholders for more long-term solutions to maintain the sustainability of radioecology E&T after the end of the project. Despite much progress in some areas, many of the challenges outlined in the 2014 SRA remain, mainly due to the lack of sustainable dedicated funding. Future plans within the ALLIANCE radioecology platform and the CONCERT-European Joint Programme for the Integration of Radiation Protection Research must urgently address this lack of sustainability if radioecological competence is to be maintained in Europe

Aléria – Lamajone

Un projet de construction immobilière individuelle sur la commune d’Aléria, au lieu-dit Lamajone (Haute-Corse), est à l’origine d’une opération de diagnostic archéologique. Cette intervention concerne une parcelle d’une surface de 55 866 m2, située 130 m à l’est de la ville antique d’Aléria et à côté d’un petit site archéologique de même époque recensé à la limite méridionale de la parcelle. Sur le rouleau du plan terrier de la Corse, daté des années 1779-1782, des « tombeaux » sont mentionné..

Designing for Risk Assessment Systems for Patient Triage in Primary Health Care:A Literature Review

Background: This literature review covers original journal papers published between 2011 and 2015. These papers review the current status of research on the application of human factors and ergonomics in risk assessment systems’ design to cope with the complexity, singularity, and danger in patient triage in primary health care. Objective: This paper presents a systematic literature review that aims to identify, analyze, and interpret the application of available evidence from human factors and ergonomics to the design of tools, devices, and work processes to support risk assessment in the context of health care. Methods: Electronic search was performed on 7 bibliographic databases of health sciences, engineering, and computer sciences disciplines. The quality and suitability of primary studies were evaluated, and selected papers were classified according to 4 classes of outcomes. Results: A total of 1845 papers were retrieved by the initial search, culminating in 16 selected for data extraction after the application of inclusion and exclusion criteria and quality and suitability evaluation. Conclusions: Results point out that the study of the implications of the lack of understanding about real work performance in designing for risk assessment in health care is very specific, little explored, and mostly focused on the development of tool