Capillary geochemistry in non-saturated zone of soils. Water content and geochemical signatures.

International audienceThe unsaturated zone (UZ) retains aqueous solutions against gravity by capillary forces. This suction state corresponds to a decreasing internal pressure of the water, which modifies its thermodynamic properties. Accordingly, the speciation of solutes and the solubility of solids and gases in such capillary solutions change. The volumetric capillary water content of the soil at high suction can be calculated extrapolating the water retention curves (WRC) with the Rossi–Nimmo model. Interestingly, several tens of liters per cubic meter of soil can be thus suctioned, a sufficiently large volume to support that: (1) capillary water is not restricted to nanosized pores, which means it disobeys the Young–Laplace law and is metastable with respect to vapor (superheating); and (2) the geochemistry of capillary solutions might significantly influence the subsurface mass transfer. Two field situations are here interpreted using the capillary thermodynamic properties: (1) the trapping of sand grains during the growth of desert roses (gypsum), and (2) the development of abnormal paragenetic sequences in some saprolites. The capillary approach is extended to the soil solids, so that the micro-mineralogy can be explicitly (though sketchily) integrated in the calculations. The key conclusion is that capillarity changes the saturation indexes (and so the reaction rates) at given solution composition, in a way consistent with the field observations. This perspective amounts to geochemically distinguishing the capillary and percolating solutions, which is interestingly analogous to the immobile and mobile water distinction already often integrated in UZ flow model

A model-based approach to assess the effectiveness of pest biocontrol by natural enemies

Main goal: The aim of this note is to propose a modeling approach for assessing the effectiveness of pest biocontrol by natural enemies in diversified agricultural landscapes including several pesticide-based management strategies. Our approach combines a stochastic landscape model with a spatially-explicit model of population dynamics. It enables us to analyze the effect of the landscape composition (proportion of semi-natural habitat, non-treated crops, slightly treated crops and conventionally treated crops) on the effectiveness of pest biocontrol. Effectiveness is measured through environmental and agronomical descriptors, measuring respectively the impact of the pesticides on the environment and the average agronomic productivity of the whole landscape taking into account losses caused by pests. Conclusions: The effectiveness of the pesticide, the intensity of the treatment and the pest intrinsic growth rate are found to be the main drivers of landscape productivity. The loss in productivity due to a reduced use of pesticide can be partly compensated by biocontrol. However, the model suggests that it is not possible to maintain a constant level of productivity while reducing the use of pesticides, even with highly efficient natural enemies. Fragmentation of the semi-natural habitats and increased crop rotation tend to slightly enhance the effectiveness of biocontrol but have a marginal effect compared to the predation rate by natural enemies. This note was written in the framework of the ANR project PEERLESS "Predictive Ecological Engineering for Landscape Ecosystem Services and Sustainability"(ANR-12-AGRO-0006)

Sentiment de non-reconnaissance au travail, déception et burnout : une exploration qualitative

Le sentiment de non reconnaissance au travail, fréquemment rapporté, n’est guère interrogé en soi. Il apparaît au fil du suivi d’un groupe de paroles à l’hôpital durant six années, comme paravent à des dimensions plus personnelles, peu explicites pour les sujets et guère réfléchies en tant que telles. Reflétant un positionnement subjectif autant existentiel qu’institutionnel ou professionnel, il conduit à interroger le système de représentations des soignants, ainsi que leurs capacités à être satisfaits. Cette plainte prend le statut d’un symptôme chez les sujets épuisés. Il colore leurs discours d’une déception profonde, et connote un sentiment d’inutilité, des attentes professionnelles probablement trop fortes pour être assouvies. De fait, il perturbe le rapport du sujet à son travail, à son milieu professionnel voire aux patients, et mériterait dès lors une écoute plus attentive.The feeling of not being acknowledged at work, though frequently reported, is rarely addressed in itself. As the reflection of a subjective position that is as much existential as it is institutional or professional, it emerges through the monitoring of a hospital-based closed discussion group for a period of six years as a screen masking more personal dimensions that are anything but clear to the subjects and rarely thought about in themselves. This leads us to question the system of representations adopted by caregivers and their ability to be satisfied. It imbues the speech of people with burnout syndrome with a tone of profound disappointment and translates a feeling of uselessness, of professional expectations that were probably too high to be satisfied. In effect, it disrupts subjects' relationship to their work, to their professional environment and even to their patients. It consequently deserves to be listened to more attentively.El sentimiento de falta de reconocimiento en el trabajo, reportado frecuentemente, no es nunca cuestionado en sí mismo. Aparece durante el seguimiento de un grupo de palabra del hospital, en un lapso de seis años, como cubierta de las dimensiones más personales, poco explícitas para los sujetos y poco reflexionadas en tanto que ellas mismas. Al reflejar una posición subjetiva, tanto existencial como institucional o profesional, conduce a interrogarse sobre el sistema de representaciones del personal de salud, así como su capacidad de ser satisfecho. Esta queja adquiere el estatus de síntoma en los sujetos agotados. Colorea sus discursos de una decepción profunda y connota un sentimiento de inutilidad, de expectativas profesionales probablemente muy altas para ser satisfechas. De hecho, perturba la relación del sujeto con su trabajo, en su medio profesional, es decir, con los pacientes, y ameritaría por tanto ser escuchada con atención.O sentimento de falta de reconhecimento no trabalho, freqüentemente registrado, não é mais questionado em si. Ele apareceu, durante o acompanhamento de um grupo de discussão no hospital durante seis anos, como uma proteção das dimensões mais pessoais, pouco explícitas para as pessoas e pouco repensadas como tal. Refletindo um posicionamento subjetivo tanto existencial quanto institucional ou profissional, ele leva a questionar o sistema de representação dos auxiliares de enfermagem, assim como sua capacidade de realizar-se. Esta queixa torna-se um sintoma nas pessoas estressadas. Ele marca seus discursos com uma decepção profunda e conota um sentimento de inutilidade, os objetivos profissionais provavelmente são fortes demais para serem realizados. Assim, ele perturba a relação da pessoa com seu trabalho, com seu meio profissional ou mesmo com pacientes e mereceria, desde agora, uma maior atenção

Management of Student Records: Data Access Right Matrix and Data Sharing

AbstractThis work proposes a procedure to implement a Data Access Policy to ensure the protection of privacy rights of students’ records within higher educational systems. First it reviews the general legal constraints applicable to higher Institutional Data management. Second it reviews the principles of a Coordinated Model. The procedure is based on an Access Right Matrix that assigns data access privileges to Data Users. The first purpose is to handle the common and regular access by rightful users to data needed in their daily routine job through operational interface. The main purpose of the procedure is to handle ad-hoc requests that come from outside the university or from some services which do not have formal access to the data. Data access right matrix is used to grant or reject ad hoc requests based on the following criteria: the degree of sensitivity of the data requested, the number of records requested the purpose of the usage, and finally the privileges and trustworthiness of the requester

Automatic Optimization Techniques Applied to a Large Range of Industrial Test Cases

International audienceThe use of material processing numerical simulation has spread widely in recent years in the engineering industry. It allows a strategy of trial and error to improve virtual processes without incurring material costs or interrupting production and therefore save a lot of money. On the other hand, it requires user time to analyze the results, adjust the operating conditions and restart the simulation. Automatic optimization seems the perfect complement to simulation. Evolutionary Algorithm coupled with metamodelling makes it possible to obtain industrially relevant results on a very large range of applications within a few tens of simulations and without any specific automatic optimization technique knowledge. In the frame of the LOGIC ANR French project, ten industrial partners have been selected to cover the different area of the mechanical forging industry and provide different examples of the forming simulation tools. An optimization module, fully embedded within the Forge2009 IHM, makes possible to cover all the defined examples, and the use of new multicore hardware to compute several simulations at the same time reduces the needed time dramatically. The presented examples demonstrate the method versatility. They include billet shape optimization of a common rail and the cogging of a bar

Sous-typage coercitif en présence de réductions non-standards dans un système aux types dépendants

Type Theory lies on the crossroad of Logics, Mathematics and Computer Science. It may be used to develop the "zero-error" programs. The aim of this thesis is to study an extension of a system with dependent types called UTT (including inductive types) that is obtained by adding to the rewrite relation of UTT new rewrite rules concerning finite types. We check that Strong Normalization, Church-Rosser property and Subject Reduction are preserved. We consider another extension by Coercive Subtyping that is seen as an abbreviation mechanism and give a conservativity proof for the system enriched by Coercive Subtyping with respect to underlying UTT (with an without new rewrite rules). The interest of such a system is that it will improve the efficiency of proof assistants and provides a general framework for treatment of the problems involving finite types (combinatorics, graphs etc).La théorie des types est une discipline au croisement de la logique, des mathématiques et de l'informatique. Elle peut servir de support au développement de programme "zéro faute". L'objet de cette thèse est d'étudier l'extension d'un système aux types dépendants UTT (comprenant notamment des types inductifs) par une relation de récriture concernant un fragment du calcul, à savoir les types finis. Nous nous assurons d'abord que les propriétés de normalisation forte, de confluence et de préservation du type sont toujours préservées malgré l'ajout de la réduction. Ensuite nous enrichissons ce système par la notion de sous-typage coercitif vue comme un mécanisme d'abréviation et effectuons la preuve de conservativité pour le système enrichi du sous-typage par rapport au système de base. L'intérêt d'un tel système est qu'il améliora l'efficacité des assistants à la preuve et offrira un bon cadre pour l'étude des problèmes faisant intervenir des ensembles finis (combinatoire, manipulation de graphe etc)

Kim SICHEL, Germaine Krull. Photographer of modernity (cat. exp.), Cambridge (Mass.), The MIT Press, l999, 390 p., l06 ill. NB, bibl., ind., 540 F.

Ce très volumineux catalogue, paru en allemand puis en anglais, s'est donné pour but d'étudier en détails la vie et l'oeuvre de Germaine Krull (l897-l985) dont il est demeuré jusqu'à aujourd'hui difficile d'évaluer la contribution exacte à l'histoire de la photographie. Le flou qui subsistait autour de l'artiste tenait essentiellement au fait que ses images s'avéraient très rares, qu'une partie de ses négatifs avaient été perdus au moment de la guerre de l939-l945 et que ses archives a..

The effect of health care expenditures on survival in locally advanced and metastatic Non Small Cell Lung Cancer

Context: The significant survival benefit of chemotherapy over best supportive care for locally advanced and metastatic NSCLC has been amply demonstrated in the literature. However, there is no clear evidence of the impact of the type of chemotherapy or of a superiority of combination chemotherapy over single-agent chemotherapy.Objective: The present study empirically examines, in real-life practise and using multiple proxies, the impact of health care expenditures on overall survival in locally advanced and metastatic NSCLC in order to guide medical decision-making.Methods: Disease characteristics, the resources used, the costs of treatment and survival data were retrospectively collected from the records of 175 patients treated between 2000 and 2004 at Léon Bérard Regional Cancer Center (Lyon, France). Survival data were modelled using multivariate Cox models and controlled for endogeneity with the instrumental variable method.Results: The median survival for the whole cohort was 289 days. The average total cost of treatment reached €35,160. Survival was significantly shorter for patients with stage IV disease, poor performance status, and past or concomitant cardiovascular disease and/or diabetes, for current smokers, and for patients with adenocarcinoma compared to large cell carcinoma. Survival duration was not significantly associated with the total cost of treatment per day of hospitalisation, the number of chemotherapy drugs administered, nor inpatient length of stay.Conclusion: Higher care expenditures do not appear to improve survival for patients with locally advanced or metastatic NSCLC. Hence, maintaining patient quality of life and tailoring therapy to stage, histology and comorbidities appears to be the less bad choice.Cost; NSCLC; Oncology; Survival

Une démarche com\u27 efficace : la copy party de la Roche-sur-Yon

Officiellement annoncée sur le portail Nantilus de l’Université de Nantes, la première Copy Party a eu lieu le 7 mars dernier, « en exclusivité mondiale » à la BU de La Roche-sur-Yon, comme une manière de prendre au mot près la loi n° 2011-1898 du 20 décembre 2011 relative à la rémunération pour copie privée. Cette loi a introduit le principe que les copies privées, pour être légales, devaient être effectuées à partir d’une source licite