Engagement scientifique et manipulation politique : les universitaires allemands et « l’encerclement » de l’Empire avant 1914

Cet article se propose d’étudier les notions de manipulation et de mensonge à travers les prises de position des universitaires allemands s’étant engagés publiquement face à la question de l’« encerclement » avant 1914. La plupart d’entre eux ont voulu convaincre l’opinion publique de soutenir la politique étrangère impériale du gouvernement. Ils ont ainsi contribué à renforcer le discours idéologique dominant qui présentait la guerre comme l’ultima ratio face à cet « encerclement ». Nous montrerons qu’il ne s’agissait pas pour eux de manipuler l’opinion dans le sens de la politique gouvernementale, mais de mettre leur savoir au service de la cause nationale.Dieser Artikel analysiert die Begriffe Manipulation und Lüge durch die Betrachtung von Stellungsnahmen von Professoren im Deutschen Reich vor 1914, die sich öffentlich zur « Einkreisung » äußerten. Die meisten wollten die Öffentlichkeit davon überzeugen, die Außenpolitik der Regierung zu unterstützen. Dabei bestärkten sie die herrschende Ideologie, laut der der Krieg die ultima ratio gegen die « Einkreisung » gewesen sei. Der Artikel will zeigen, dass es für die Professoren dabei nicht darum ging, die öffentliche Meinung im Sinne der Regierungspolitik zu manipulieren, sondern darum, sich als Wissenschaftler in den Dienst des nationalen Interesses zu stellen

The German Empire and the spectre of encirclement : diffusion, circulation and evolution of a notion in public sphere (1906-1914)

L’histoire culturelle de la Grande Guerre a pointé l’existence d’une phobie collective qui se serait développée en Allemagne au plus tard en 1906 et aurait conduit les Allemands à penser en 1914 qu’ils entraient dans une guerre de défense contre un « monde d’ennemis ». À partir de l’étude des discours produits et diffusés dans l’espace public et de leur circulation entre différents milieux de la société wilhelmienne, cette thèse se propose d’étudier dans quelle mesure et pour quelles raisons la notion d’encerclement prit corps dans les consciences collectives avant 1914. Il en ressort un constat ambivalent. D’un côté, il n’y eut jamais d’unanimité sur la réalité du danger, ni sur les solutions à apporter. De l’autre, cette notion se manifesta parfois de manière obsessionnelle et fut toujours présente au moins en toile de fond. Elle traduisait l’idée d’une malveillance de la part des autres puissances et était le miroir inversé des impératifs créés par l’idéologie de la puissance nationale. Si elle fut portée surtout par les groupes de droite, elle s’exprima au moins sous forme de traces dans de nombreux milieux de la société, y compris ceux qui étaient attachés à la paix. La porosité de cette notion ainsi que les luttes d’intérêt et de pouvoir incessantes qui se jouaient dans l’espace public furent des agents actifs de sa circulation. Le discours de victimisation qui lui était consubstantiel prépara largement l’idée d’une guerre de défense. Toutefois, ce ne fut qu’avec le déclenchement du conflit en 1914 que ses nombreuses composantes purent s’agréger pour former une grille d’interprétation univoque. Jusqu’alors, elle s’était toujours vu opposer de multiples contrepoids.The cultural history of the Great War revealed the existence of a collective phobia which would have developed in Germany by 1906 and would have led the Germans to think in 1914 that they were entering a defensive war against a “world of enemies”. Through the analysis of discourses delivered in the public sphere and the way they circulated among different circles of the Wilhelminian society, the aim of this thesis is to study to which extent the notion of encirclement took shape in collective consciousness before 1914 and the reasons behind it. The study leads to ambivalent results. On the one hand, neither the danger was unanimously considered to be real, nor was there an agreement as to the solutions to avoid it. On the other hand, this notion loomed constantly in the background and sometimes flared up to become an obsession. It reflected the idea of other powers being malevolent, and was understood as an obstacle to the essentials of the ideology of national power. While it was widespread mainly among right-wing groups, its traces were also present in many social circles, including those who favoured peace. The idea circulated widely due to it its highly adaptable nature and to the continual struggles over interests and power in the public sphere. Its consubstantial discourse of victimization largely prepared the idea of a war of defence. However, it was not until the outbreak of the conflict in 1914 that its many components added up to form a unambiguous interpretation grid. Until then, it had always faced multiple countervailing readings

Bottom trawling impacts on diversity and composition of habitat-forming benthic communities in Hecate Strait, British Columbia

Quantitative estimates of fishing gear impacts on vulnerable seafloor habitats are an important component of an ecosystem approach to fisheries management. Currently, procedures do not exist for assessing the regional-scale impact of bottom trawling on benthic ecosystems on Canada\u27s west coast. In this study, I used metrics of diversity and composition to evaluate the response of habitat-forming benthic communities in Hecate Strait, B.C. to varying intensities of bottom trawling. Results demonstrated that trawling effort and substrate are important factors associated with the diversity and composition of habitat-forming species in Hecate Strait. Rockier habitats with less sand/mud substrate and minimal trawling effort displayed the highest abundance and diversity of habitat-forming species. Results will help managers to identify habitats most sensitive to bottom trawling in Hecate Strait and subsequently inform management decisions regarding conservation and protection of these areas

Executive control performance and foreign-language proficiency associated with immersion education in French-speaking Belgium

A large sample study (n = 513) was conducted to investigate executive control performance in pupils following an immersion education program. We recruited 10-year-old children (n=128) and 16-year-old adolescents (n=127) who were enrolled in English or Dutch immersion education in French-speaking Belgium for at least 4 school years. They were com- pared to non-immersed children (n = 102) and adolescents (n = 156) on a number of execu- tive control tasks assessing inhibitory control, monitoring, switching and attentional abilities. Several control variables such as receptive vocabulary, nonverbal intelligence, socioeconomic status and other potentially relevant background variables were also considered. Our results show significant gains in foreign-language proficiency for the immersed compared to the non-immersed participants. These gains were however not associated with any measurable benefits on executive control. Our findings make a unique contribution to understanding how language and cognition develop through formal education methods that promote bilingualism

Rare predicted loss-of-function variants of type I IFN immunity genes are associated with life-threatening COVID-19

BackgroundWe previously reported that impaired type I IFN activity, due to inborn errors of TLR3- and TLR7-dependent type I interferon (IFN) immunity or to autoantibodies against type I IFN, account for 15-20% of cases of life-threatening COVID-19 in unvaccinated patients. Therefore, the determinants of life-threatening COVID-19 remain to be identified in similar to 80% of cases.MethodsWe report here a genome-wide rare variant burden association analysis in 3269 unvaccinated patients with life-threatening COVID-19, and 1373 unvaccinated SARS-CoV-2-infected individuals without pneumonia. Among the 928 patients tested for autoantibodies against type I IFN, a quarter (234) were positive and were excluded.ResultsNo gene reached genome-wide significance. Under a recessive model, the most significant gene with at-risk variants was TLR7, with an OR of 27.68 (95%CI 1.5-528.7, P=1.1x10(-4)) for biochemically loss-of-function (bLOF) variants. We replicated the enrichment in rare predicted LOF (pLOF) variants at 13 influenza susceptibility loci involved in TLR3-dependent type I IFN immunity (OR=3.70[95%CI 1.3-8.2], P=2.1x10(-4)). This enrichment was further strengthened by (1) adding the recently reported TYK2 and TLR7 COVID-19 loci, particularly under a recessive model (OR=19.65[95%CI 2.1-2635.4], P=3.4x10(-3)), and (2) considering as pLOF branchpoint variants with potentially strong impacts on splicing among the 15 loci (OR=4.40[9%CI 2.3-8.4], P=7.7x10(-8)). Finally, the patients with pLOF/bLOF variants at these 15 loci were significantly younger (mean age [SD]=43.3 [20.3] years) than the other patients (56.0 [17.3] years; P=1.68x10(-5)).ConclusionsRare variants of TLR3- and TLR7-dependent type I IFN immunity genes can underlie life-threatening COVID-19, particularly with recessive inheritance, in patients under 60 years old