La sécurité sociale en Belgique : entre régionalisation et européanisation

Cet article explore les évolutions de la politique de sécurité sociale en Belgique dans le cadre d’un fédéralisme en constante évolution et actuellement instable au chapitre des interactions qui se nouent entre les différents niveaux de pouvoir — national, régional, communautaire et même européen. Au fil des réformes institutionnelles qui ont conduit la Belgique à devenir un État fédéral, la sécurité sociale est restée dans les compétences de l’État central. Ceci dit, la question de la défédéralisation de la sécurité sociale fait l’objet d’une revendication de la plupart des partis politiques flamands, qui désirent que cette question soit mise à l’ordre du jour lors d’une prochaine réforme institutionnelle.This article details changes in social security policy in Belgium. Such changes are taking place within a constantly shifting and currently unstable federalism with respect to the issues that link different levels of power, whether at the national, community, or even European level. During the reform process that led Belgium to become a federation, social security was always considered a federal responsibility. Nevertheless, reassignment of social security to the sub-national level is a demand of most of the Flemish political parties and they hope to see it as an agenda item for future constitutional reform

COMPREENDER E BUSCAR CONCILIAR A TRANSIÇÃO CLIMÁTICA E A DIGITAL

This article focuses on the two main transitions in the current context: the climate and environmental transition and the digital one (digitization of the economy). It emphasizes that thinking and planning for the future is impossible without combining and integrating them. This is because, since the reflections on these transitions are still dispersed most of the time, they cannot show the full meaning of the changes, nor the specific impacts, such as those related to the world of work. Thus, from a more holistic point of view, we seek to analyze the two meta-changes, considering their possible articulations and hierarchies, the consensus and dissent between them, as well as the role of the different social actors in conducting these transitions.Cet article s’intéresse aux deux principales transitions dans le contexte actuel : la transition climatique et environnementale et la numérique (numérisation de l’économie). Il souligne qu’il est impossible de penser et de planifier l’avenir sans les combiner et les intégrer. En effet, comme la plupart du temps les réflexions sur ces transitions sont encore dispersées, elles ne permettent pas de montrer tout le sens des changements, ni les impacts spécifiques, comme ceux liés au monde du travail. Ainsi, d’un point de vue plus holistique, nous cherchons à analyser les deux méta-changements, en considérant leurs articulations et hiérarchies possibles, le consensus et la dissidence entre eux, ainsi que le rôle des différents acteurs sociaux dans la conduite de ces transitions. Este artigo se concentra nas duas principais transições no contexto atual: a transição climática e ambiental e a digital (digitalização da economia). Enfatiza-se que não é possível pensar e planejar o futuro sem combiná-las e integrá-las. Isso porque, como na maioria das vezes as reflexões sobre essas transições ainda são dispersas, elas não conseguem mostrar o sentido completo das mudanças nem, tampouco, os impactos específicos, como aqueles relacionados ao mundo do trabalho. Assim, a partir de uma visão mais holística, buscamos analisar as duas metamudanças, considerando suas possíveis articulações e hierarquizações, os consensos e dissensos entre elas, bem como o papel dos diferentes atores sociais na condução dessas transições

Degenerate epitaxy-driven defects in monolayer silicon oxide onto ruthenium

The structure of the ultimately-thin crystalline allotrope of silicon oxide, prepared onto a ruthenium surface, is unveiled down to atomic scale with chemical sensitivity, thanks to high resolution scanning tunneling microscopy and first principle calculations. An ordered oxygen lattice is imaged which coexists with the two-dimensional monolayer oxide. This coexistence signals a displacive transformation from an oxygen reconstructed-Ru(0001) to silicon oxide, along which latterally-shifted domains form, each with equivalent and degenerate epitaxial relationships with the substrate. The unavoidable character of defects at boundaries between these domains appeals for the development of alternative methods capable of producing single-crystalline two-dimensional oxides

The variation of fundamental constants and the role of A=5 and A=8 nuclei on primordial nucleosynthesis

We investigate the effect of a variation of fundamental constants on primordial element production in big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN). We focus on the effect of a possible change in the nucleon-nucleon interaction on nuclear reaction rates involving the A=5 (Li-5 and He-5) and A=8 (Be-8) unstable nuclei and complement earlier work on its effect on the binding energy of deuterium. The reaction rates for He3(d,p)He4 and H3(d,n)He4 are dominated by the properties of broad analog resonances in He-5 and Li-5 compound nuclei respectively. While the triple alpha process is normally not effective in BBN, its rate is very sensitive to the position of the "Hoyle state" and could in principle be drastically affected if Be-8 were stable during BBN. The nuclear properties (resonance energies in He-5 and Li-5 nuclei, and the binding energies of Be-8 and D) are all computed in a consistent way using a microscopic cluster model. The n(p,gamma)d, He3(d,p)He4 and H3(d,n)He4 and triple-alpha reaction rates are subsequently calculated as a function of the nucleon-nucleon interaction that can be related to the fundamental constants. We found that the effect of the variation of constants on the He3(d,p)He4 and H3(d,n)He4 and triple-alpha reaction rates is not sufficient to induce a significant effect on BBN, even if Be-8 was stable. In particular, no significant production of carbon by the triple alpha reaction is found when compared to standard BBN. We also update our previous analysis on the effect of a variation of constants on the n(p,gamma)d reaction rate.Comment: 14 pages, 12 figure

Replication of hexitol oligonucleotides as a prelude to the propagation of a third type of nucleic acid in vivo

International audienceNo backbone motif other than phospho-ribose and phospho-deoxyribose has been found in natural nucleic acids, currently restricting the molecular types of replicable biopolymers to DNA and RNA. With the aim of propagating and expressing a third type of nucleic acid in vivo, we assessed the replicability of polynucleotides with a phospho-hexitol backbone (HNA) in vivo and in vitro. Faithful polymerisation of up to four deoxynucleotides templated by hexitol oligonucleotides was established in vitro using DNA polymerase from Escherichia coli (PolA Klenow exo-fragment) and Thermus aquaticus (Taq polymerase). Condensation of up to three successive hTTPs (hexitol thymidine triphosphate) in responses to a pentameric hexitol template (hA)5 could also be demonstrated in vitro. Such a marginal HNA-dependent HNA polymerase activity of natural polymerases may be evolved in the future to catalyse in vitro amplification of HNA. The transmission of a two-codon-long genetic message carried on a hexameric hexitol template was also established using a selection screen for restoring thymidylate synthase activity in E. coli. These results exemplify the potential that can be explored by converting artificial substrates with natural enzymes in the field of informational polymer synthesis

Iminodiacetic-phosphoramidates as metabolic prototypes for diversifying nucleic acid polymerization in vivo

Previous studies in our laboratory proved that certain functional groups are able to mimic the pyrophosphate moiety and act as leaving groups in the enzymatic polymerization of deoxyribonucleic acids by HIV-1 reverse transcriptase. When the potential leaving group possesses two carboxylic acid moieties linked to the nucleoside via a phosphoramidate bond, it is efficiently recognized by this error-prone enzyme, resulting in nucleotide incorporation into DNA. Here, we present a new efficient alternative leaving group, iminodiacetic acid, which displays enhanced kinetics and an enhanced elongation capacity compared to previous results obtained with amino acid deoxyadenosine phosphoramidates. Iminodiacetic acid phosphoramidate of deoxyadenosine monophosphate (IDA-dAMP) is processed by HIV-1 RT as a substrate for single nucleotide incorporation and displays a typical Michaelis–Menten kinetic profile. This novel substrate also proved to be successful in primer strand elongation of a seven-base template overhang. Modelling of this new substrate in the active site of the enzyme revealed that the interactions formed between the triphosphate moiety, magnesium ions and enzyme's residues could be different from those of the natural triphosphate substrate and is likely to involve additional amino acid residues. Preliminary testing for a potential metabolic accessibility lets us to envision its possible use in an orthogonal system for nucleic acid synthesis that would not influence or be influenced by genetic information from the outside

The farther, the safer: a manifesto for securely navigating synthetic species away from the old living world

Biotechnology has empirically established that it is easier to construct and evaluate variant genes and proteins than to account for the emergence and function of wild-type macromolecules. Systematizing this constructive approach, synthetic biology now promises to infer and assemble entirely novel genomes, cells and ecosystems. It is argued here that the theoretical and computational tools needed for this endeavor are missing altogether. However, such tools may not be required for diversifying organisms at the basic level of their chemical constitution by adding, substituting or removing elements and molecular components through directed evolution under selection. Most importantly, chemical diversification of life forms could be designed to block metabolic cross-feed and genetic cross-talk between synthetic and wild species and hence protect natural habitats and human health through novel types of containment

"Social Europe: Still binding regulations?"

We shall begin the paper with a quick reminder of the different steps of Social Europe to date, with an aim of placing the framework of the now-dominant discourse of the impossibility to adopt constraining legislation in Europe. Then, we shall corroborate this affirmation quantitatively and will demonstrate that we do not find this in figures. Then, we shall analyze three cases (revision of the regulation 1408/71, information/consultation at national level, anti-discrimination directives in terms of political process and content. The outcome is all of them - despite the requirement of unanimity for the anti-discrimination and the 1408/71 proposals – were adopted, and in all three cases bring substantial changes for some member States and cannot be considered as minimal directives