La généticisation de l'agression Enjeux ontologiques, éthiques et juridiques

Portée par une génomique du crime s'attirant les faveurs d'une part croissante de la communauté criminologique, de plus en plus d'études tendent aujourd'hui à s'intéresser à la valeur possiblement prédictive de certaines configurations génétiques vis-à-vis des conduites agressives et antisociales. La thèse du gène de l'agression, faisant l'objet de vives discussions parmi les chercheurs de diverses disciplines, incarne à ce titre un certain renversement épistémologique vecteur d'une nouvelle appréhension de l'étiologie du crime. Or, le causalisme biologique qui sous-tend cette bifurcation presque paradigmatique ne manque pas d'interroger, voire peut-être de remettre en cause, certaines de nos conceptions ontologiques, éthiques, et juridiques les plus ancrées eu égard aux agirs violents. L'objet de la présente recension consiste ainsi à venir discuter les différents enjeux soulevés par ce discours déterministe faisant de l'agressivité, et plus largement de tout comportement délictuel ou criminel, le symptôme d'une anomalie génétique signant une prédisposition à la violence. Il s'agira plus spécifiquement de pointer en quoi cette généticisation de l'acte agressif réagence tout d'abord notre manière de penser l'agressivité, laquelle se trouvant progressivement soumise à une lecture pathomorphique questionnant inévitablement les traditionnelles notions d'intentionnalité, d'imputabilité morale et de responsabilité pénale. Nous évoquerons également, à l'aune des théorisations sur la nouvelle pénologie ainsi que les débats relatifs au concept de dangerosité, dans quelle mesure ce mouvement de naturalisation de nos comportements violents paraît s'insérer dans une logique probabiliste sécuritaire visant à anticiper, à l'aide de marqueurs objectifs, tout passage à l'acte criminel potentiel

Ecological host fitting of Trypanosoma cruzi TcI in Bolivia: mosaic population structure, hybridization and a role for humans in Andean parasite dispersal.

An improved understanding of how a parasite species exploits its genetic repertoire to colonize novel hosts and environmental niches is crucial to establish the epidemiological risk associated with emergent pathogenic genotypes. Trypanosoma cruzi, a genetically heterogeneous, multi-host zoonosis, provides an ideal system to examine the sylvatic diversification of parasitic protozoa. In Bolivia, T. cruzi I, the oldest and most widespread genetic lineage, is pervasive across a range of ecological clines. High-resolution nuclear (26 loci) and mitochondrial (10 loci) genotyping of 199 contemporaneous sylvatic TcI clones was undertaken to provide insights into the biogeographical basis of T. cruzi evolution. Three distinct sylvatic parasite transmission cycles were identified: one highland population among terrestrial rodent and triatomine species, composed of genetically homogenous strains (Ar = 2.95; PA/L = 0.61; DAS = 0.151), and two highly diverse, parasite assemblages circulating among predominantly arboreal mammals and vectors in the lowlands (Ar = 3.40 and 3.93; PA/L = 1.12 and 0.60; DAS = 0.425 and 0.311, respectively). Very limited gene flow between neighbouring terrestrial highland and arboreal lowland areas (distance ~220 km; FST = 0.42 and 0.35) but strong connectivity between ecologically similar but geographically disparate terrestrial highland ecotopes (distance >465 km; FST = 0.016-0.084) strongly supports ecological host fitting as the predominant mechanism of parasite diversification. Dissimilar heterozygosity estimates (excess in highlands, deficit in lowlands) and mitochondrial introgression among lowland strains may indicate fundamental differences in mating strategies between populations. Finally, accelerated parasite dissemination between densely populated, highland areas, compared to uninhabited lowland foci, likely reflects passive, long-range anthroponotic dispersal. The impact of humans on the risk of epizootic Chagas disease transmission in Bolivia is discussed

Flexible Differentiable Optimization via Model Transformations

We introduce DiffOpt.jl, a Julia library to differentiate through the solution of optimization problems with respect to arbitrary parameters present in the objective and/or constraints. The library builds upon MathOptInterface, thus leveraging the rich ecosystem of solvers and composing well with modeling languages like JuMP. DiffOpt offers both forward and reverse differentiation modes, enabling multiple use cases from hyperparameter optimization to backpropagation and sensitivity analysis, bridging constrained optimization with end-to-end differentiable programming. DiffOpt is built on two known rules for differentiating quadratic programming and conic programming standard forms. However, thanks ability to differentiate through model transformation, the user is not limited to these forms and can differentiate with respect to the parameters of any model that can be reformulated into these standard forms. This notably includes programs mixing affine conic constraints and convex quadratic constraints or objective function

Supersymmetric exact sequence, heat kernel and super KdV hierarchy

We introduce the free N=1 supersymmetric derivation ring and prove the existence of an exact sequence of supersymmetric rings and linear transformations. We apply necessary and sufficient conditions arising from this exact supersymmetric sequence to obtain the essential relations between conserved quantities, gradients and the N=1 super KdV hierarchy. We combine this algebraic approach with an analytic analysis of the super heat operator.We obtain the explicit expression for the Green's function of the super heat operator in terms of a series expansion and discuss its properties. The expansion is convergent under the assumption of bounded bosonic and fermionic potentials. We show that the asymptotic expansion when $t\to0^+$ of the Green's function for the super heat operator evaluated over its diagonal generates all the members of the N=1 super KdV hierarchy.Comment: 20 pages, to be published in JM

L’Europe, territoire à construire

This article analyses the consequences of European mobility on social structures in Europe. After reviewing the academic literature available on the migration behavioural patterns of three social groups (students, professionals and pensioners), the article identifies two ideal-typical profiles of European migrants: those predisposed to mobility due to their social and human capital and those whose migration decisions are mediated by the existence of European opportunity structures. The following sections analyse the motivations of European migrants and the consequences of their mobility on host societies. The authors emphasise the importance of network socialisation and underline the increasing europeanisation of some of these networks. The article concludes that it is not possible to identify a “European mobile aristocracy” but rather that, by seizing personal mobility opportunities, migrants create a European territory, which may anticipate the emergence of a European society.Cet article analyse les conséquences des comportements migratoires de trois groupes sociaux (les étudiants, les actifs et les retraités) sur les structures sociales européennes. Après avoir passé en revue l’état de la recherche sociologique sur le sujet, l’article identifie deux profils idéal-typiques de migrants européens : d’une part, les personnes prédisposées à la mobilité par leur capital humain et relationnel et d’autre part, celles dont les décisions de migration dépendent de l’existence de structures d’opportunité au niveau européen. L’étude détaille ensuite, pour chaque groupe social, les motivations des décisions individuelles de migration et analyse les conséquences de la démarche migratoire sur les sociétés d’accueil. Les auteurs soulignent l’importance de la socialisation en réseau et notent l’européanisation accrue de certains de ces réseaux. Cette étude conclut qu’il n’est pas possible d’identifier une classe privilégiée d’Européens mobiles, puisque l’accès à la mobilité s’est considérablement démocratisé et ouvert à de nouvelles catégories socioprofessionnelles. En revanche, l’exercice du droit à la mobilité permet aux migrants européens de s’approprier la géographie européenne et de créer du territoire, ce qui pourrait anticiper l’émergence d’une société européenne

Enhancing Magnetic Light Emission with All-Dielectric Optical Nanoantennas

Electric and magnetic optical fields carry the same amount of energy. Nevertheless, the efficiency with which matter interacts with electric optical fields is commonly accepted to be at least 4 orders of magnitude higher than with magnetic optical fields. Here, we experimentally demonstrate that properly designed photonic nanoantennas can selectively manipulate the magnetic versus electric emission of luminescent nanocrystals. In particular, we show selective enhancement of magnetic emission from trivalent europium-doped nanoparticles in the vicinity of a nanoantenna tailored to exhibit a magnetic resonance. Specifically, by controlling the spatial coupling between emitters and an individual nanoresonator located at the edge of a near field optical scanning tip, we record with nanoscale precision local distributions of both magnetic and electric radiative local densities of states (LDOS). The map of the radiative LDOS reveals the modification of both the magnetic and electric quantum environments induced by the presence of the nanoantenna. This manipulation and enhancement of magnetic light-matter interaction by means of nanoantennas opens up new possibilities for the research fields of opto-electronics, chiral optics, nonlinear&nano-optics, spintronics and metamaterials, amongst others.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Broadband plasmonic nanoantennas for multi-color nanoscale dynamics in living cells

Recently, the implementation of plasmonic nanoantennas has opened new possibilities to investigate the nanoscale dynamics of individual biomolecules in living cell. However, studies have yet been restricted to single molecular species as the narrow wavelength resonance of gold-based nanostructures precludes the simultaneous interrogation of different fluorescently labeled molecules. Here we exploited broadband aluminum-based nanoantennas carved at the apex of near-field probes to resolve nanoscale-dynamic molecular interactions on intact living cell membranes. Through multicolor excitation, we simultaneously recorded fluorescence fluctuations of dual-color labeled transmembrane receptors known to form nanoclusters in living cells. Fluorescence cross-correlation studies revealed transient interactions between individual receptors in regions of ~60 nm. Moreover, the high signal-to-background ratio provided by the antenna illumination allowed us to directly detect fluorescent bursts arising from the passage of individual receptors underneath the antenna. Remarkably, by reducing the illumination volume below the characteristic receptor nanocluster sizes, we resolved molecular diffusion within nanoclusters and distinguished it from nanocluster diffusion. Spatiotemporal characterization of transient interactions between molecules is crucial to understand how they communicate with each other to regulate cell function. Our work demonstrates the potential of broadband photonic antennas to study multi-molecular events and interactions in living cell membranes with unprecedented spatiotemporal resolution