La société des Amis de l’éléphant : protéger, réglementer, domestiquer (1905-1911)

À partir de sources inédites, cet article retrace l’existence éphémère d’une société parisienne, filiale de la Société d’acclimatation, au nom original : les Amis de l’éléphant. Edmond Perrier, alors directeur du Muséum national d’histoire naturelle, présidait l’une et l’autre. De 1905 à 1911, cette société recruta moins d’une centaine de membres pour tenter, en vain, d’obtenir des autorités publiques la protection, la réglementation et la domestication de l’éléphant d’Afrique, dans le but d’empêcher la disparition d’une espèce animale particulièrement utile à l’homme dans les colonies, alors en plein développement (aide au portage). C’est plutôt sur le terrain de la renommée que la bataille fut remportée grâce à l’organisation de dîners amicaux succédant aux assemblées générales, à l’édition de leurs menus illustrés par des artistes en vogue, à la parution d’un trimestriel et d’un livre, synthèse quasi exhaustive sur le sujet, et enfin, grâce à l’appui notable de la presse

Tight bounds for broadcasting in the linear cost model

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Positivistes et sociétés positivistes : réseaux et divisions (1830-1944)

À partir de l’étude prosopographique – en cours – des membres de cinq sociétés savantes positivistes : Société positiviste de Paris, Société positiviste d’enseignement populaire supérieur, Société positiviste d’enseignement populaire, Société d’enseignement populaire positiviste, Société positiviste internationale – dans l’ordre chronologique de leur création, de 1848 à 1906, grâce à des sources inédites, une description du réseau positiviste dans son développement et sa complexité est présentée ici. Sont esquissées la mise en valeur de son rayonnement en France sur plus d’un siècle (1830-1944), ainsi que les principales caractéristiques de sa diffusion et de son déclin, à travers leurs appartenances professionnelles et sociales

A method to calculate sediment fluxes from infrequent data: application to 65 rivers of the French river quality database

International audienceImproving knowledge of sediment exports represents one major challenge for environmental sciences considering their role in geochemical cycles and their link with Earth's surface processes. Because suspended sediment (SS) fluxes in rivers reflect the integration of combined erosion, transport and deposition processes that occur within the drained area, their calculation is thus essential in surface processes studies. Suspended sediment fluxes are estimated from discharge measurements and SS concentrations, either by averaging methods or by predicting sediment concentration values from continuous discharge data. In the latter case, a power function (or power law relation) is often defined between the observed SS concentrations and the corresponding discharge data. However it seems unrealistic to consider a single relation between SS concentrations and river discharges. The reason is hat sediment production processes are not homogeneous in time, showing local and seasonal effects for example in agricultural areas where land cover varies inside a year or in mountainous regions where snow melting has a strong influence. Moreover, these processes are also spatially heterogeneous, due to spatial patterns in landscape characteristics, meteorological phenomena and geomorphology. In addition, important gaps persist when calculating SS fluxes, mainly due to SS measurements are not always carried out with high frequency. Based on 65 river basins in France, with various sizes, geomorphologies and land uses, this study aims at testing methods for an estimation of annual sediment loads, based on infrequent SPM concentration data spanning over several decades

Cyclic Poly(α-peptoid)s by Lithium bis(trimethylsilyl)amide (LiHMDS)-Mediated Ring-Expansion Polymerization: Simple Access to Bioactive Backbones

Cyclic polymers display unique physicochemical and biological properties. However, their development is often limited by their challenging preparation. In this work, we present a simple route to cyclic poly(α-peptoids) from N-alkylated-N-carboxyanhydrides (NNCA) using LiHMDS promoted ring-expansion polymerization (REP) in DMF. This new method allows the unprecedented use of lysine-like monomers in REP to design bioactive macrocycles bearing pharmaceutical potential against Clostridioides difficile, a bacterium responsible for nosocomial infections

Radiometric characterization of type-II InAs/GaSb superlattice (t2sl) midwave infrared photodetectors and focal plane arrays

In recent years, Type-II InAs/GaSb superlattice (T2SL) has emerged as a new material technology suitable for high performance infrared (IR) detectors operating from Near InfraRed (NIR, 2-3μm) to Very Long Wavelength InfraRed (LWIR, λ > 15μm) wavelength domains. To compare their performances with well-established IR technologies such as MCT, InSb or QWIP cooled detectors, specific electrical and radiometric characterizations are needed: dark current, spectral response, quantum efficiency, temporal and spatial noises, stability… In this paper, we first present quantum efficiency measurements performed on T2SL MWIR (3-5μm) photodiodes and on one focal plane array (320x256 pixels with 30μm pitch, realized in the scope of a french collaboration ). Different T2SL structures (InAs-rich versus GaSb-rich) with the same cutoff wavelength (λc= 5μm at 80K) were studied. Results are analysed in term of carrier diffusion length in order to define the optimum thickness and type of doping of the absorbing zone. We then focus on the stability over time of a commercial T2SL FPA (320x256 pixels with 30μm pitch), measuring the commonly used residual fixed pattern noise (RFPN) figure of merit. Results are excellent, with a very stable behaviour over more than 3 weeks, and less than 10 flickering pixels, possibly giving access to long-term stability of IR absolute calibration

The SLOOP project: Simulations, Parallel Object-Oriented Languages, Interconnection Networks

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Transcriptomic Analysis of Host Immune and Cell Death Responses Associated with the Influenza A Virus PB1-F2 Protein

Airway inflammation plays a major role in the pathogenesis of influenza viruses and can lead to a fatal outcome. One of the challenging objectives in the field of influenza research is the identification of the molecular bases associated to the immunopathological disorders developed during infection. While its precise function in the virus cycle is still unclear, the viral protein PB1-F2 is proposed to exert a deleterious activity within the infected host. Using an engineered recombinant virus unable to express PB1-F2 and its wild-type homolog, we analyzed and compared the pathogenicity and host response developed by the two viruses in a mouse model. We confirmed that the deletion of PB1-F2 renders the virus less virulent. The global transcriptomic analyses of the infected lungs revealed a potent impact of PB1-F2 on the response developed by the host. Thus, after two days post-infection, PB1-F2 invalidation severely decreased the number of genes activated by the host. PB1-F2 expression induced an increase in the number and level of expression of activated genes linked to cell death, inflammatory response and neutrophil chemotaxis. When generating interactive gene networks specific to PB1-F2, we identified IFN-γ as a central regulator of PB1-F2-regulated genes. The enhanced cell death of airway-recruited leukocytes was evidenced using an apoptosis assay, confirming the pro-apoptotic properties of PB1-F2. Using a NF-kB luciferase adenoviral vector, we were able to quantify in vivo the implication of NF-kB in the inflammation mediated by the influenza virus infection; we found that PB1-F2 expression intensifies the NF-kB activity. Finally, we quantified the neutrophil recruitment within the airways, and showed that this type of leukocyte is more abundant during the infection of the wild-type virus. Collectively, these data demonstrate that PB1-F2 strongly influences the early host response during IAV infection and provides new insights into the mechanisms by which PB1-F2 mediates virulence

Beta-blocker management in patients admitted for acute heart failure and reduced ejection fraction: a review and expert consensus opinion

The role of the beta-adrenergic signaling pathway in heart failure (HF) is pivotal. Early blockade of this pathway with beta-blocker (BB) therapy is recommended as the first-line medication for patients with HF and reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). Conversely, in patients with severe acute HF (AHF), including those with resolved cardiogenic shock (CS), BB initiation can be hazardous. There are very few data on the management of BB in these situations. The present expert consensus aims to review all published data on the use of BB in patients with severe decompensated AHF, with or without hemodynamic compromise, and proposes an expert-recommended practical algorithm for the prescription and monitoring of BB therapy in critical settings

L’animal : un objet d’étude

Homo animal est : l’être humain appartient lui-même au règne animal, mais il est le seul à projeter sur les autres membres de ce vaste ensemble un regard analytique. Prendre l’animal comme objet d’étude, c’est le propre de l’homme. « Chez absolument tous il y a quelque chose de naturel, c’est-à-dire de beau » : Aristote, s’apprêtant à détailler les Parties des animaux, prévient son lecteur que les animaux les plus répugnants méritent eux aussi l’attention du scientifique, car ils témoignent des règles auxquelles se conforme la nature, que le philosophe a à cœur de percer. Cette longue tradition d’étude du monde animal, renouvelée aujourd’hui par les découvertes sur le génome, a pris de multiples formes au travers des âges ; mais elle a toujours suscité d’amples questionnements, non seulement sur la nature des animaux eux-mêmes, mais aussi, plus largement, sur leur place dans le monde et, en retour, sur celle de l’homme lui-même. Le Congrès national des sociétés historiques et scientifiques rassemble chaque année universitaires, membres de sociétés savantes et jeunes chercheurs. Ce recueil est issu de travaux présentés lors du 141e Congrès sur le thème « L’animal et l’homme »