Profile of public laboratories, industrial partnerships and organisation of R & D: the dynamics of industrial relationships in a large research organisation

There is a paucity of papers dealing with the system characteristics of laboratories or, put in another way, the institutional character of research organisations. Neither R & D economics nor the sociology of science, as traditionally conceived, has made much headway in providing insight into sets of R & D laboratories and their evolution. Drawing upon an empirical study in the plant breeding and biochemical industry, this paper presents a typology of public research laboratories which is based on three dimensions: scientific production and visibility, type of funding (public or private) and homogeneity of research themes. Three types of public laboratory emerge: the first, called “research centres for the profession”, is composed essentially of laboratories with close ties with small and medium firms (SMEs) and industry associations. The second, called “designers of generic tools and methods”, is oriented towards basic research and themes of general interest to the industry as a whole. The third type, called “basic and specialised laboratories”, strives to develop its scientific visibility. Contracts between this type of laboratory and industry are mainly bilateral and demonstrate the complementarity between public and private research. Each type of laboratory develops specific types of relationship with private partners. The authors have identified three logics underlying these relationships: proximity, market and club. The main objective of contracts based on a proximity logic is to test a hypothesis, while the knowledge produced is mostly tacit and specific. By contrast, knowledge is entirely coded and specific in the market logic, where the aim of the contract is to implement expertise in order to relieve a scientific bottleneck. In a club logic, the aim of contracts is to produce a technical referent. In each kind of contract, the learning trajectories, modes of co-ordination, role of trust and degree to which contracts are complete or not, are different.

Les Américains ont-ils accepté les OGM ?: Analyse comparée de la construction des OGM comme problème public en France et aux Etats-Unis

How can one explain that the use of genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) in food and agriculture poses a problem in France, where they are hardly used, yet seems to be taken for granted in the US, where their use is widespread ? Many observers see this as a sign that American consumers have accepted transgenic foods, due to a different attitude to risks, food and nature. The present article rejects that explanation. It presents a comparative analysis of the trajectory of GMOs as a public problem in France and the US, showing that very similar arguments were put forward by opponents to GMOs on both sides of the Atlantic, and that conflicts between opponents and defenders have focussed on the same issues : (i) food labeling ; (ii) the link between the choice of a technique (GMOs) and that of an economic system (intensive agriculture, capitalism) ; and (iii) the appropriate framework for evaluating risks. But whereas in France (and more generally in Europe), opponents’ arguments crystallized during specific key controversies, and contributed towards the definition of the cognitive and normative dimensions of GMOs as a public problem, this did not occur in the US. Three factors seem to explain this difference : (i) very different regulatory choices made in the late 1980s (based on processes in Europe and on products in the US) ; (ii) the fact that the usefulness of transgenic plants is perceived negatively in France whereas their association with the intensive export agriculture project is perceived positively in the US ; and (iii) the growing influence of a broader, “constructive” framework for risk analysis in Europe, whereas in the US regulatory authorities continue to base their legitimacy on the ideology of “sound science

À la recherche d’une « démocratie technique ». Enseignements de la conférence citoyenne sur les OGM en France

This article presents an analysis of the consensus conference on GMO’s held in France in 1998. Centred on the experience of the citizen panel, it also discusses criticisms expressed by various actors in France about this conference, most of which related to the lack of representativeness of a panel of citizens with no prior knowledge or interest in the issue at stake. Our analysis of the deliberations and report of the panel reveals the reflexive endeavour undertaken by these citizens with respect to their own role and representativeness. We show how the members of the panel addressed, from the start, the issue of their role in relation to that of the experts and in the decision-making process; how they constructed their collective identity on the basis of their own definition of their role and how this in turn determined how they interacted with the experts and stakeholders invited to the public conference and the nature of their recommendations. We argue that the work conducted by the citizen panel inaugurates a new form of active representation, which is of a very different nature to representation by elected politicians and to “figurative” representation by professional institutions, trade unions and other non-governmental organisations. This novel form of representation enables the exploration of scientific and technical aspects together with social aspects, from the perspective of “ordinary citizens”. It is indeed the “ordinary” character of the panel members that is relevant, because the essence of the operation is to inform decision-makers about the views of those who do not speak out and who do not feel represented by political parties, trade unions, or environmental and consumer NGOs. The article demonstrates how these cognitive and political processes were intrinsically intermeshed in the activities of the panel. The extent and nature of this socio-technical exploration was, however, constrained by some aspects of the consensus conference method itself and we discuss ways in which these could be overcome. On the basis of this analysis, the article addresses two more general issues: the relationship between this type of participatory technology assessment initiative and NGO mobilisations and the link with decision-making processes

A striking correspondence between the dynamics generated by the vector fields and by the scalar parabolic equations

The purpose of this paper is to enhance a correspondence between the dynamics of the differential equations $\dot y(t)=g(y(t))$ on $\mathbb{R}^d$ and those of the parabolic equations $\dot u=\Delta u +f(x,u,\nabla u)$ on a bounded domain $\Omega$. We give details on the similarities of these dynamics in the cases $d=1$, $d=2$ and $d\geq 3$ and in the corresponding cases $\Omega=(0,1)$, $\Omega=\mathbb{T}^1$ and dim($\Omega$)$\geq 2$ respectively. In addition to the beauty of such a correspondence, this could serve as a guideline for future research on the dynamics of parabolic equations

L’experience francaise de l’evaluation technologique interactive des recherche sur les vignes transgeniques

Dans cet article, les auteurs présentent une réflexion sur les jugements de légitimité de l’organisation de la démocratie participative en relatant l’expérience originale qu’ils ont conduite en 2001 et 2002 en France, dans le domaine de la recherche agronomique. Mise sur pied par l’un des trois grands organismes publics de recherche nationaux (l’INRA) qui souhaitait ouvrir la délibération sur sa recherche à des acteurs extérieurs, cette expérience pilote de coconstruction d’un programme de recherche sur les vignes transgéniques permet d’interroger non seulement les conditions de la production, par un groupe hybride (chercheurs, professionnels de la vigne et du vin et citoyens ordinaires), d’un avis argumenté sur des questions technoscientifiques, mais aussi les modalités de sa réception dans l’espace public et dans les milieux concernés : en l’occurrence, le monde agricole et plus particulièrement vitivinicole, ainsi que le monde associatif de la lutte anti-OGM

Curvature tensors on distorted Killing horizons and their algebraic classification

We consider generic static spacetimes with Killing horizons and study properties of curvature tensors in the horizon limit. It is determined that the Weyl, Ricci, Riemann and Einstein tensors are algebraically special and mutually aligned on the horizon. It is also pointed out that results obtained in the tetrad adjusted to a static observer in general differ from those obtained in a free-falling frame. This is connected to the fact that a static observer becomes null on the horizon. It is also shown that finiteness of the Kretschmann scalar on the horizon is compatible with the divergence of the Weyl component $\Psi_{3}$ or $\Psi_{4}$ in the freely falling frame. Furthermore finiteness of $\Psi_{4}$ is compatible with divergence of curvature invariants constructed from second derivatives of the Riemann tensor. We call the objects with finite Krestschmann scalar but infinite $\Psi_{4}$ ``truly naked black holes''. In the (ultra)extremal versions of these objects the structure of the Einstein tensor on the horizon changes due to extra terms as compared to the usual horizons, the null energy condition being violated at some portions of the horizon surface. The demand to rule out such divergencies leads to the constancy of the factor that governs the leading term in the asymptotics of the lapse function and in this sense represents a formal analog of the zeroth law of mechanics of non-extremal black holes. In doing so, all extra terms in the Einstein tensor automatically vanish.Comment: 21 pages, To appear in Class. Quant. Gra

Doppler optical frequency domain reflectometry for remote fiber sensing

Coherent optical frequency domain reflectometry has been widely used to locate static reflectors with high spatial resolution. Here, we present a new type of Doppler optical frequency domain reflectometry that offers simultaneous measurement of the position and speed of moving objects. The system is exploited to track optically levitated "flying" particles inside a hollow-core photonic crystal fiber. As an example, we demonstrate distributed temperature sensing with sub-mm-scale spatial resolution and a standard deviation of similar to 10 degrees C up to 200 degrees C. (C) 2021 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreemen

Impact of improving glove using on the hand hygiene compliance

International audienc

Effector biology during biotrophic invasion of plant cells

Several obligate biotrophic phytopathogens, namely oomycetes and fungi, invade and feed on living plant cells through specialized structures known as haustoria. Deploying an arsenal of secreted proteins called effectors, these pathogens balance their parasitic propagation by subverting plant immunity without sacrificing host cells. Such secreted proteins, which are thought to be delivered by haustoria, conceivably reprogram host cells and instigate structural modifications, in addition to the modulation of various cellular processes. As effectors represent tools to assist disease resistance breeding, this short review provides a bird’s eye view on the relationship between the virulence function of effectors and their subcellular localization in host cells. © 2014 Landes Bioscience