L’apport d’une perspective génétique à l’analyse des images scientifiques

À partir d’études ethnographiques menées dans des laboratoires appartenant à deux disciplines des sciences de la nature, la physique des matériaux et la pharmacologie, Catherine Allamel-Raffin élabore une classification des images produites dans ces domaines de recherche en les envisageant sous l’angle de leur production, c’est-à-dire en adoptant une perspective génétique. Cette démarche conduit notamment au constat suivant : certaines images massivement pré­sentes en pharmacologie (histogrammes), et peu présentes en physique des matériaux, soulèvent des problèmes sémiotiques particuliers qu’il est possible d’analyser à l’aide des travaux de E. Tufte. Le recours à une perspective génétique, dans un second temps, permet de relever les similitudes, mais également d’établir les distinctions qui s’imposent quant aux processus de réalisation de ces images : la présence potentielle d’artefacts, ceux-ci étant situés à des moments différents du cours de l’expérimentation, la non-existence d’une flexibilité interprétative dans le cas des images produites en pharmacologie à l’opposé de ce que l’on rencontre en physique des matériaux, l’évolution du statut épistémique de certaines images au cours de la recherche grâce au recours, couronné de succès, à des stratégies expérimentales déterminées.Catherine Allamel-Raffin proposes a classification of scientific images produced in two different fields of the natural sciences (pharmacology and surface sciences). This classification relies upon ethnographic studies. The point of view adopted here is a genetic one, in other words, these ethnographic studies especially focus on the processes which lead to the production of images in two different laboratories. In the first part of my contribution, I will show that certain types of images particularly well represented in pharmacology (but not in surface sciences) like histograms, generate some specific semiotic problems. These semiotic problems will be approached by referring to the E. Tufte’s work. In the second part of my contribution, I will show that this genetic point of view leads us to underline the similarities but also the differences which take place all along the production’s processes of the images: the possible existence of artifacts which are not situated, in the two laboratories, at the same levels of the experiment; the fact that there is no interpretative flexibility in pharmacology contrasting with the interpretative flexibility one can observe in surface sciences; the evolution of the epistemic status of some images based on the successful use of determined experimental strategies

De l’intersubjectivité à l’interinstrumentalité. L’exemple de la physique des surfaces

Notre visée, dans cet article, consiste à souligner que la prise en compte d’une stratégie couramment employée par les chercheurs au sein des sciences expérimentales, l’interinstrumentalité, permet de réduire l’impact des facteurs micro- et macrosociaux, privilégiés par les tenants du programme relativiste empirique de Harry Collins, lorsqu’il s’agit d’expliquer la clôture des débats sur la valeur à conférer aux données collectées. Deux études de cas, l’une portant sur l’histoire de l’invention du microscope à effet tunnel, l’autre sur une recherche déterminée au sein d’un laboratoire de physique des surfaces, nous permettent de préciser en quoi l’interinstrumentalité contribue à l’objectivité des résultats obtenus par les scientifiques, et en constitue une composante au même titre que l’intersubjectivité.Our aim in this article is to show how a strategy used in the experimental sciences, strategy that we named “inter-instrumentation”, can minimize the role of micro and macro-sociological factors when one tries to understand how the debates about the interpretation of the data come to an end. To defend our point of view, we will present two examples: an historical example – the invention, of the Scanning Tunneling Microscope – and an example collected during an ethnographic study in a surface science laboratory. We would like to emphasize that inter-instrumentation contributes to the objectivity of the experimental results and constitutes a part of it as well as intersubjectivity

The GenTree Dendroecological Collection, tree-ring and wood density data from seven tree species across Europe

The dataset presented here was collected by the GenTree project (EU-Horizon 2020), which aims to improve the use of forest genetic resources across Europe by better understanding how trees adapt to their local environment. This dataset of individual tree-core characteristics including ring-width series and whole-core wood density was collected for seven ecologically and economically important European tree species: silver birch (Betula pendula), European beech (Fagus sylvatica), Norway spruce (Picea abies), European black poplar (Populus nigra), maritime pine (Pinus pinaster), Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris), and sessile oak (Quercus petraea). Tree-ring width measurements were obtained from 3600 trees in 142 populations and whole-core wood density was measured for 3098 trees in 125 populations. This dataset covers most of the geographical and climatic range occupied by the selected species. The potential use of it will be highly valuable for assessing ecological and evolutionary responses to environmental conditions as well as for model development and parameterization, to predict adaptability under climate change scenarios

The GenTree Platform: growth traits and tree-level environmental data in 12 European forest tree species

Background: Progress in the field of evolutionary forest ecology has been hampered by the huge challenge of phenotyping trees across their ranges in their natural environments, and the limitation in high-resolution environmental information. Findings: The GenTree Platform contains phenotypic and environmental data from 4,959 trees from 12 ecologically and economically important European forest tree species: Abies alba Mill. (silver fir), Betula pendula Roth. (silver birch), Fagus sylvatica L. (European beech), Picea abies (L.) H. Karst (Norway spruce), Pinus cembra L. (Swiss stone pine), Pinus halepensis Mill. (Aleppo pine), Pinus nigra Arnold (European black pine), Pinus pinaster Aiton (maritime pine), Pinus sylvestris L. (Scots pine), Populus nigra L. (European black poplar), Taxus baccata L. (English yew), and Quercus petraea (Matt.) Liebl. (sessile oak). Phenotypic (height, diameter at breast height, crown size, bark thickness, biomass, straightness, forking, branch angle, fructification), regeneration, environmental in situ measurements (soil depth, vegetation cover, competition indices), and environmental modeling data extracted by using bilinear interpolation accounting for surrounding conditions of each tree (precipitation, temperature, insolation, drought indices) were obtained from trees in 194 sites covering the species’ geographic ranges and reflecting local environmental gradients. Conclusion: The GenTree Platform is a new resource for investigating ecological and evolutionary processes in forest trees. The coherent phenotyping and environmental characterization across 12 species in their European ranges allow for a wide range of analyses from forest ecologists, conservationists, and macro-ecologists. Also, the data here presented can be linked to the GenTree Dendroecological collection, the GenTree Leaf Trait collection, and the GenTree Genomic collection presented elsewhere, which together build the largest evolutionary forest ecology data collection available

Between but not within species variation in the distribution of fitness effects

New mutations provide the raw material for evolution and adaptation. The distribution of fitness effects (DFE) describes the spectrum of effects of new mutations that can occur along a genome, and is therefore of vital interest in evolutionary biology. Recent work has uncovered striking similarities in the DFE between closely related species, prompting us to ask whether there is variation in the DFE among populations of the same species, or among species with different degrees of divergence, i.e., whether there is variation in the DFE at different levels of evolution. Using exome capture data from six tree species sampled across Europe we characterised the DFE for multiple species, and for each species, multiple populations, and investigated the factors potentially influencing the DFE, such as demography, population divergence and genetic background. We find statistical support for there being variation in the DFE at the species level, even among relatively closely related species. However, we find very little difference at the population level, suggesting that differences in the DFE are primarily driven by deep features of species biology, and that evolutionarily recent events, such as demographic changes and local adaptation, have little impact

Synthese de derives acetyleniques #alpha#, #alpha#y difonctionnels, inhibiteurs de diverses enzymes mises en jeu dans le metabolisme de degradation de polyamines

SIGLEAvailable from INIST (FR), Document Supply Service, under shelf-number : T 78779 / INIST-CNRS - Institut de l'Information Scientifique et TechniqueFRFranc

Quel est l’apport de la sémiotique visuelle à la réflexion sur « l’objectivité » des images scientifiques ?

Les images produites par les chercheurs dans leurs laboratoires ou par les illustrateurs sur des supports divers doivent satisfaire un certain nombre d’exigences en vue d’être intégrées dans les publications scientifiques. Au premier chef, on trouve celle d’être considérées comme « objectives ». Mais qu’entend-on par-là ? Contrairement à ce que l’on pourrait croire de prime abord, la méta-norme que constitue l’objectivité est souvent assez mal définie. Ma contribution à la réflexion sur ce point se déclinera de la manière suivante : dans un premier temps, je tenterai de déterminer quelles sont les modalités objectivantes qui conditionnent la présence des images au sein des publications scientifiques. Dans un second temps, je m'attacherai à montrer comment la sémiotique visuelle permet de fournir un éclairage irremplaçable quant aux procédures à l’œuvre dans la production des images qui satisfont le réquisit de l’objectivité. L’ensemble de mon analyse reposera sur des données empiriques collectées au cours d’enquêtes de terrain déterminées. Celles-ci ont eu pour cadre différents domaines : la physique des surfaces et la chirurgie.Images produced by researchers in their laboratories or scientific illustrators have to fulfill a number of requirements to be included in scientific publications. First and foremost, they must be regarded as ”objective”. But what does that mean? Contrary to what one might think, the meta-norm of objectivity is often poorly defined. My contribution to the discussion on this point is structured as follows: first, I seek to identify the “objectifying modalities” that determine the presence of images in scientific publications. I then show how visual semiotics helps to shed irreplaceable light on procedures at work in the production of images that satisfy the requisite of “objectivity”. My entire analysis is based on empirical data collected during ethnographic surveys in different scientific fields: surface sciences and surgery

Interpréter une image dans les sciences et dans les arts : points communs et différences

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