Les ZIEE - un nouveau moyen d'imposer des projets économiques dans les territoires

International audienceLes lois de décentralisation, suivies des lois Grenelle, avaient eu, semble-t-il, pour objectif d'inciter à un développement économique moins centralisé, adapté aux besoins et aux enjeux des territoires, en termes d'emploi, de capacités et de sensibilité environnementale. On assiste cependant aujourd'hui à une inversion de tendance : la reprise en main de l'Etat se manifeste dans une ambition qui consiste désormais à trouver des territoires d'accueil pour les projets économiques, quel que soit leur coût écologique, plutôt que développer des projets de territoires conçus localement et dans le respect de l'environnement. L'article 16 de la loi n° 2014-1 du 2 janvier 2014 habilitant le Gouvernement à simplifier et sécuriser la vie des entreprises, en autorisant i le Gouvernement à définir par ordonnance des « zones présentant un intérêt majeur pour l'implantation d'activités économiques identifiées [ZIEE], dans lesquelles les enjeux environnementaux font l'objet d'un traitement anticipé » et à en fixer le régime juridique dérogatoire est une manifestation évidente de cette évolution

Cropland Mapping over Sahelian and Sudanian Agrosystems: A Knowledge-Based Approach Using PROBA-V Time Series at 100-m

Early warning systems for food security require accurate and up-to-date information on the location of major crops in order to prevent hazards. A recent systematic analysis of existing cropland maps identified priority areas for cropland mapping and highlighted a major need for the Sahelian and Sudanian agrosystems. This paper proposes a knowledge-based approach to map cropland in the Sahelian and Sudanian agrosystems that benefits from the 100-m spatial resolution of the recent PROBA-V sensor. The methodology uses five temporal features characterizing crop development throughout the vegetative season to optimize cropland discrimination. A feature importance analysis validates the efficiency of using a diversity of temporal features. The fully-automated method offers the first cropland map at 100-m using the PROBA-V sensor with an overall accuracy of 84% and an F-score for the cropland class of 74%. The improvements observed compared to existing cropland products are related to the hectometric resolution, to the methodology and to the quality of the labeling layer from which reliable training samples were automatically extracted. Classification errors are mainly explained by data availability and landscape fragmentation. Further improvements are expected with the upcoming enhanced cloud screening of the PROBA-V sensor

VHR imagery to quantify crop response to fertilizer and develop business services for smallholders

Food needs arising from the demographic explosion of sub-Saharan Africa can only be met through agricultural intensification. Smallholder systems feature enormous yield gaps, which may be reduced through ISFM and other sustainable intensification practices. However, today’s huge variability in farming practices and returns on investments is likely to exacerbate in the future. Monitoring changes in productivity across scales is a significant challenge in heterogeneous systems, where overall low SOM and nutrient deficiencies prevail. Fortunately, remote sensing can help monitor crop performance at levels of granularity increasingly compatible with smallholder farming. This opens support applications for precision agriculture, allowing the exploitation – rather than the mitigation – of spatial heterogeneity, and the demonstration that enhanced productivity and livelihoods are possible in complex cropping systems

Les recherches avec les enfants et les jeunes en difficulté : spécificités éthiques et méthodologiques

Les réflexions autour de l’association à la recherche de personnes concernées ne sont pas nouvelles en anthropologie, en sociologie, en sciences de l’éducation. Elles émergent, à partir des années 1970-1980, face à des interrogations sur la capacité des chercheurs de rendre compte de terrains dits « difficiles », qui sont d’abord « difficiles à décrire et à penser ». Ces réflexions visent à réhabiliter les individus, comme des sujets pensants et réflexifs, et les chercheurs, comme des acteurs..

Compared to wildfire, management practices reduced old-growth forest diversity and functionality in primary boreal landscapes of Eastern Canada

Large primary forest residuals can still be found in boreal landscapes. Their areas are however shrinking rapidly due to anthropogenic activities, in particular industrial-scale forestry. The impacts of logging activities on primary boreal forests may also strongly differ from those of wildfires, the dominant stand-replacing natural disturbance in these forests. Since industrial-scale forestry is driven by economic motives, there is a risk that stands of higher economic value will be primarily harvested, thus threatening habitats, and functions related to these forests. Hence, the objective of this study was to identify the main attributes differentiating burned and logged stands prior to disturbance in boreal forests. The study territory lies in the coniferous and closed-canopy boreal forest in Québec, Canada, where industrial-scale logging and wildfire are the two main stand-replacing disturbances. Based on Québec government inventories of primary forests, we identified 427 transects containing about 5.5 circular field plots/transect that were burned or logged shortly after being surveyed, between 1985 and 2016. Comparative analysis of the main structural and environmental attributes of these transects highlighted the strong divergence in the impact of fire and harvesting on primary boreal forests. Overall, logging activities mainly harvested forests with the highest economic value, while most burned stands were low to moderately productive or recently disturbed. These results raise concerns about the resistance and resilience of remnant primary forests within managed areas, particularly in a context of disturbance amplification due to climate change. Moreover, the majority of the stands studied were old-growth forests, characterized by a high ecological value but also highly threatened by anthropogenic disturbances. A loss in the diversity and functionality of primary forests, and particularly the old-growth forests, therefore adds to the current issues related to these ecosystems. Since 2013, the study area is under ecosystem-based management, which implies that there have been marked changes in forestry practices. Complementary research will be necessary to assess the capacity of ecosystem-based management to address the challenges identified in our study

Functional Simulation of the Uses of the Onboard Inter-Satellite Network in a Swarm

There are several network simulators (some on the shelves) that are very useful and helpful for network engineering. Nevertheless, none is efficient enough for simulating an onboard network spread among spacecrafts that are moving in space according to Kepler laws. Therefore, we tried to fill this gap by building our own tool based on the CNES expertise in space simulator benches. Our bench simulates the environment and the dynamics of each spacecraft, provides a model of the physical layer of the network layer (i.e. Radio Frequency transmission between moving vehicles) and offers an interface to run actual Flight Software. Embedding flight software allows us to perform functional demonstration of the network use at system level. As a first step, in order to characterize the network, we have implemented a routing policy based on the flooding principle

Hepatocellular Carcinoma Displays Distinct DNA Methylation Signatures with Potential as Clinical Predictors

BACKGROUND: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is characterized by late detection and fast progression, and it is believed that epigenetic disruption may be the cause of its molecular and clinicopathological heterogeneity. A better understanding of the global deregulation of methylation states and how they correlate with disease progression will aid in the design of strategies for earlier detection and better therapeutic decisions. METHODS AND FINDINGS: We characterized the changes in promoter methylation in a series of 30 HCC tumors and their respective surrounding tissue and identified methylation signatures associated with major risk factors and clinical correlates. A wide panel of cancer-related gene promoters was analyzed using Illumina bead array technology, and CpG sites were then selected according to their ability to classify clinicopathological parameters. An independent series of HCC tumors and matched surrounding tissue was used for validation of the signatures. We were able to develop and validate a signature of methylation in HCC. This signature distinguished HCC from surrounding tissue and from other tumor types, and was independent of risk factors. However, aberrant methylation of an independent subset of promoters was associated with tumor progression and etiological risk factors (HBV or HCV infection and alcohol consumption). Interestingly, distinct methylation of an independent panel of gene promoters was strongly correlated with survival after cancer therapy. CONCLUSION: Our study shows that HCC tumors exhibit specific DNA methylation signatures associated with major risk factors and tumor progression stage, with potential clinical applications in diagnosis and prognosis

Développement d’un outil de pilotage des patients oncologiques au CHU de Liège

peer reviewedLe nombre de cas de cancer est en augmentation constante, en Belgique comme partout dans le monde. Plusieurs services du CHU de Liège se sont regroupés au sein d’un Institut de Cancérologie, afin d’assurer une gestion intégrée multidisciplinaire de cette masse de patients. Cet article présente comment les données de l’entrepôt de données cliniques institutionnel ont été exploitées afin de développer un outil de pilotage transversal de l’activité des patients oncologiques