Les territoires de la métrologie environnementale. L'exemple de la qualité des rivières en France

La sociologie des sciences a montré que les perceptions sociales, les intérêts et les valeurs influençaient fortement le développement et l'utilisation des technologies. Cet article propose un cadre théorique pour évaluer comment les contextes sociaux agissent sur la façon dont les données environnementales sont collectées, et traitées pour établir de nouvelles modalités de suivi environnemental. En prenant appui sur la littérature je défends d'abord l'idée que l'environnement comprend toujours une part d'ambiguité selon la façon dont on le regarde. J'identifie ensuite trois sources d'ambiguité: le système considéré (l'échelle d'analyse); le grain pris en compte (fin ou grossier) et enfin les disciplines et l'expérience des personnes qualifiées pour lire le paysage. Le suivi environnemental consiste à choisir un système, un grain et des experts qui feront une sélection. Cette sélection agit par une géographie de la statistique en définissant des territoires dans lesquels des normes sont définies et des exceptions sont exclues. Cette géographie est partiellement négociée au moment de la mise au point de nouvelles techniques de mesures et partiellement héritée du passé. Puis je présente l'histoire sociale et environnementale de la qualité des rivières en France au vingtième siècle pour montrer que le cadre théorique éclaire cette histoire. Je m'intéresse aux revendications territoriales qui ont eu lieu lors de l'élaboration des réseaux de mesure de la qualité des rivières. Je conclus que ces revendications ont créé un centre et une périphérie dans la mesure qui sont à la fois scientifique et politique. / Social studies of science have shown that social perceptions, interests and values influenced the development and the use of technologies. This communication proposes a theoretical framework to assess how social context makes a difference in the way environmental data are collected and processed to make up new environmental monitoring programs. Using examples from the literature, I first contend that the environment is always somehow ambiguous depending on how we look at it. I identify three main sources of ambiguity: the system that is considered (scale of analysis); the granularity taken into account (fine or coarse-grained); and the disciplines and experiences people use for reading the landscape. Environmental monitoring consists in choosing a system, its grain and experts' translation. By doing so, experts make a selection. This selection, I argue, performs through a geography of statistics by defining territories in which standards are assessed and exceptions are ruled out. This geography is partly negotiated at the time of the making of new technologies of environmental measurement, partly inherited from the past. Secondly, I present the social and bio-physical history of the quality of rivers in the twentieth century to show how the theoretical framework I previously build can shed new light on environmental history. I focus on territorial claims that took place during the making of monitoring programs of river quality. I conclude that such claims resulted in the opposition of a center and a periphery that are both scientific and political.QUALITE DE L'EAU;METROLOGIE;ENVIRONNEMENT;HISTOIRE;COURS D'EAU;SOCIOLOGIE DES SCIENCES;FRANCE;ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY;ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING;SOCIAL STUDIES OF SCIENCE

Des indicateurs pour contrôler des équilibres

Tous les indicateurs n'ont pas la même structure. Certains sont des inventaires qui dressent la liste de choses à prendre en compte. D'autres permettent d'établir des tendances dans le temps en montrant une évolution souhaitable ou non. D'autres enfin s'appuient sur un modèle de système permettant faire le lien entre des activités et leurs effets sur ce système autour d'un point d'équilibre. Ces trois types d'indicateurs ont en commun de tous revendiquer des droits. Mais la modélisation de la nature sous forme d'équilibre masque les irréversibilités et la gestion sur la base de ces équilibres diminue la résilience des systèmes.SOCIOLOGIE;TYPOLOGIE;RESILIENCE ECOLOGIQUE;USAGE

The EU water framework directive twenty years on: Introducing the special issue

Twenty years ago, the European Union launched one of its flagship environmental regulations, the Water Framework Directive (WFD). Since its inception in 2000, the WFD has been a guiding light for water professionals within and beyond the EU; it has pioneered ecological standards for water quality, cycles of river basin management planning, participatory forms of water governance, novel economic instruments, and a recurrent assessment regime. At the same time, the WFD has-by virtue of the far-reaching nature of its interventions-aroused political resistance and encountered bureaucratic lethargy; together with many other factors, these have significantly limited its positive impact on the aquatic environment. This Special Issue looks back over the past 20 years to assess what the WFD has achieved, where it has fallen short of expectations, and why. In this introductory piece, the guest editors set the scene and summarise the key findings of the 12 subsequent papers in terms of 6 processes that are characteristic of the WFD''s trajectory: implementation, indication, incrementation, inspiration, imitation and insubordination

The EU water framework directive twenty years on: Introducing the special issue

Twenty years ago, the European Union launched one of its flagship environmental regulations, the Water Framework Directive (WFD). Since its inception in 2000, the WFD has been a guiding light for water professionals within and beyond the EU; it has pioneered ecological standards for water quality, cycles of river basin management planning, participatory forms of water governance, novel economic instruments, and a recurrent assessment regime. At the same time, the WFD has-by virtue of the far-reaching nature of its interventions-aroused political resistance and encountered bureaucratic lethargy; together with many other factors, these have significantly limited its positive impact on the aquatic environment. This Special Issue looks back over the past 20 years to assess what the WFD has achieved, where it has fallen short of expectations, and why. In this introductory piece, the guest editors set the scene and summarise the key findings of the 12 subsequent papers in terms of 6 processes that are characteristic of the WFD''s trajectory: implementation, indication, incrementation, inspiration, imitation and insubordination

Damage by insects pests to the Djingarey Ber Mosque in Timbuktu: detection and control

The Djingarey Ber Mosque in Timbuktu (Mali) is one of the most significant earthen construction in West Africa. Originally constructed in 1327, it was included in 1988 on the World Heritage UNESCO List for its unique architecture and historical importance. During its restoration, recently undertaken by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, the wooden parts of the roof and architraves showed clear signs of threatening insect presence. In order to identify the pests responsible of the damage, evaluate its extent and suggest a proper control strategy, a detailed survey was performed inside the Mosque complex and in its immediate surroundings. The entomological inspection, performed in the dry-cold season, allowed to detect signs of insect damage in most of the wooden elements, even in the recently replaced beams, but also in walls, pillars and the precious decorated panels. Damages in the wood elements could be attributed to Amitermes evuncifer Silvestri (Termitidae), Bostrychoplites zycheli Marseuli (Bostrichidae) and Lyctus africanus Lesne (Lyctidae), which were collected alive on site. Injures in the walls and decorated panels appeared to be performed by hymenopterans such as \u201cplasterer bees\u201d (Colletidae) and Sphecidae. From the evaluation of the type and extent of damage in relation to the architecture and materials used in its construction and decoration, the most serious pest and the worse threat for the mosque is represented by termites. Control and preventive measures, in the view of a sustainable, long-lasting integrated management are suggested

Methodological pathways to improvements of evaluation approaches: the case of irrigated agriculture evaluation

Cette synthèse montre l'évolution des méthodes d'évaluation dans le champ de l'agriculture irriguée, vers une tendance à des méthodologies intégrées. Elle propose quelques outils méthodologiques pour améliorer le processus d'évaluation. / Background: Irrigated agriculture is often evaluated but few reviews of evaluation methodology adapted to this object are available in the literature. Besides, recommendations to improve evaluation in this field are lacking. Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to contribute filling this gap. Setting: Not applicable. Intervention: Not applicable. Research Design: Not applicable. Data Collection and Analysis: Desk review. Findings: This review shows the evolution of evaluation methodology in the field of irrigated agriculture pointing out a trend towards more comprehensive methodologies. The review also suggests some methodological tools to improve evaluation process

Comment l'approche écosystémique reconfigure l'interface science/politique dans la planification stratégique de l'eau sur l'estuaire de la Gironde

14ème congrès AFSP. Section thématique 16 : Savoirs et pouvoirs bureaucratiques dans le gouvernement de la nature, Montpellier, FRA, 10-/07/2017 - 12/07/2017National audienceThe Dublin conference on integrated water resource management and the French water law of 1992 promoted the ecosystem approach (EA) in water policies. The European water framework directive further reinforced it. EA differs from a utilitarian conception of water and conceptualizes water as a shared living system, which management objectives must be publicly defined, while preserving all ecological habitats, notably wetlands. We look at wetland boundary setting as both a political and scientific stake to assess whether EA induces changes in the government of nature. We focus our attention on four processes (4As) at the interface of science and policy: knowledge Acquisition, knowledge Aggregation in policy tools, knowledge Articulation in public decision and knowledge Accumulation. The case study of the Gironde estuary planning shows that new knowledge on soils were acquired and then politicized and discarded from the decision process. However this knowledge accumulated in bureaucracies and is recycled in risk policies.La préservation des écosystèmes a été mise à l'agenda des politiques de l'eau en 1992, avec la conférence internationale de Dublin sur la gestion intégrée des ressources en eau et l'adoption en France d'une nouvelle loi sur l'eau. Elle a été réaffirmée avec la directive cadre européenne (DCE) de 2000. L'approche écosystémique rompt avec une conception de l'eau qui ne serait qu'une ressource pour des usages socio-économiques. Elle aborde l'eau comme un milieu naturel et partagé, dont les objectifs de gestion doivent être définis de manière concertée tout en préservant les habitats écologiques, notamment les zones humides. La délimitation de ces zones est un enjeu à l'interface entre la science et la politique. Pour étudier les éventuels changements introduits par l'approche écosystémique dans la planification de la gestion de l'eau, nous étudions cette interface science/politique à travers quatre processus (4A) : l'Acquisition de connaissances, leur Agrégation dans des instruments d'action publique, leur mobilisation dans l'Argumentation et les processus d'Accumulation de ces connaissances. A travers l'exemple du SAGE de l'estuaire de la Gironde, nous montrons l'incorporation de savoirs pédologiques puis leur progressive exclusion sous l'effet de la politisation. Mais ces connaissances s'accumulent néanmoins et sont recyclées dans la politique de prévention des risques

Quadratic optimal functional quantization of stochastic processes and numerical applications

In this paper, we present an overview of the recent developments of functional quantization of stochastic processes, with an emphasis on the quadratic case. Functional quantization is a way to approximate a process, viewed as a Hilbert-valued random variable, using a nearest neighbour projection on a finite codebook. A special emphasis is made on the computational aspects and the numerical applications, in particular the pricing of some path-dependent European options.Comment: 41 page

Time separation as a hidden variable to the Copenhagen school of quantum mechanics

The Bohr radius is a space-like separation between the proton and electron in the hydrogen atom. According to the Copenhagen school of quantum mechanics, the proton is sitting in the absolute Lorentz frame. If this hydrogen atom is observed from a different Lorentz frame, there is a time-like separation linearly mixed with the Bohr radius. Indeed, the time-separation is one of the essential variables in high-energy hadronic physics where the hadron is a bound state of the quarks, while thoroughly hidden in the present form of quantum mechanics. It will be concluded that this variable is hidden in Feynman's rest of the universe. It is noted first that Feynman's Lorentz-invariant differential equation for the bound-state quarks has a set of solutions which describe all essential features of hadronic physics. These solutions explicitly depend on the time separation between the quarks. This set also forms the mathematical basis for two-mode squeezed states in quantum optics, where both photons are observable, but one of them can be treated a variable hidden in the rest of the universe. The physics of this two-mode state can then be translated into the time-separation variable in the quark model. As in the case of the un-observed photon, the hidden time-separation variable manifests itself as an increase in entropy and uncertainty.Comment: LaTex 10 pages with 5 figure. Invited paper presented at the Conference on Advances in Quantum Theory (Vaxjo, Sweden, June 2010), to be published in one of the AIP Conference Proceedings serie

Developmental Acquisition of a Rapid Calcium-Regulated Vesicle Supply Allows Sustained High Rates of Exocytosis in Auditory Hair Cells

Auditory hair cells (HCs) have the remarkable property to indefinitely sustain high rates of synaptic vesicle release during ongoing sound stimulation. The mechanisms of vesicle supply that allow such indefatigable exocytosis at the ribbon active zone remain largely unknown. To address this issue, we characterized the kinetics of vesicle recruitment and release in developing chick auditory HCs. Experiments were done using the intact chick basilar papilla from E10 (embryonic day 10) to P2 (two days post-hatch) by monitoring changes in membrane capacitance and Ca2+ currents during various voltage stimulations. Compared to immature pre-hearing HCs (E10-E12), mature post-hearing HCs (E18-P2) can steadily mobilize a larger readily releasable pool (RRP) of vesicles with faster kinetics and higher Ca2+ efficiency. As assessed by varying the inter-pulse interval of a 100 ms paired-pulse depolarization protocol, the kinetics of RRP replenishment were found much faster in mature HCs. Unlike mature HCs, exocytosis in immature HCs showed large depression during repetitive stimulations. Remarkably, when the intracellular concentration of EGTA was raised from 0.5 to 2 mM, the paired-pulse depression level remained unchanged in immature HCs but was drastically increased in mature HCs, indicating that the Ca2+ sensitivity of the vesicle replenishment process increases during maturation. Concomitantly, the immunoreactivity of the calcium sensor otoferlin and the number of ribbons at the HC plasma membrane largely increased, reaching a maximum level at E18-P2. Our results suggest that the efficient Ca2+-dependent vesicle release and supply in mature HCs essentially rely on the concomitant engagement of synaptic ribbons and otoferlin at the plasma membrane