Usage des technologies et formation professionnelle des enseignants à l'université

International audienceAbstract This article studies the issue of teacher training and digital university pedagogy. We present two in-service teacher training devices, articulating face-to-face and distant training, which have been set up during several years in France. The first one, Pairform@nce, concerns primary and secondary school teachers ; the second, FoDESIT, addresses university teachers. Drawing on the study of these devices, we identify crucial facts, and questions, about the training of teachers at university, in particular : the possibility (or not) of up-scaling, using digital networking means ; the quality of resources designed for, and by, the trainings ; the link between educational research and training.Cet article concerne le lien entre formation des enseignants et pédagogie universitaire numérique. Nous présentons deux dispositifs de formation continue d'enseignants, articulant présence et distance, mis en place en France durant plusieurs années. L'un, Pairform@nce, concerne la formation d'enseignants du premier et du second degré ; l'autre, FoDESIT, visait la formation d'enseignants du supérieur. L'étude de ces dispositifs nous permet d'interroger des dimensions importantes de la formation des enseignants, notamment : la possibilité de former ou non à une échelle large, grâce au numérique ; la qualité des ressources conçues pour et par les formations ; le lien entre recherche en éducation et formation

Spatial patterns of bacteria show that members of higher taxa share ecological characteristics

Affiche, résuméWhether bacteria display spatial patterns of distribution and at which level of taxonomic organization such patterns can be observed are central questions in microbial ecology. Here we investigated how the total and relative abundances of eight bacterial taxa at the phylum or class level were spatially distributed in a pasture by using quantitative PCR and geostatistical modelling. The distributions of the relative abundance of most taxa varied by a factor of 2.520136.5 and displayed strong spatial patterns at the field scale. These spatial patterns were taxon-specific and correlated to soil properties, which indicates that members of a bacterial clade defined at high taxonomical levels shared specific ecological traits in the pasture. Ecologically meaningful assemblages of bacteria at the phylum or class level in the environment provides evidence that deep branching patterns of the 16S rRNA bacterial tree are actually mirrored in nature

High cadmium concentrations in Jurassic limestone as the cause for elevated cadmium levels in deriving soils: a case study in Lower Burgundy, France

Cadmium (Cd) is a highly toxic element and its presence in the environment needs to be closely monitored. Recent systematic surveys in French soils have revealed the existence of areas in eastern and central France, which show systematically high cadmium concentrations. It has been suggested that at least part of these anomalous levels are of natural origin. For the Lower Burgundy area in particular, a direct heritage from the Jurassic limestone bedrock is highly suspected. This potential relationship has been studied in several localities around Avallon and this study reports new evidence for a direct link between anomalously elevated cadmium contents of Bajocian and Oxfordian limestone and high cadmium concentrations in deriving soils. Soils in this area show cadmium concentrations generally above the average national population values, with contents frequently higher than the ‘upper whisker' value of 0.8μgg−1 determined by statistical evaluation. In parallel, limestone rocks studied in the same area exhibit cadmium concentrations frequently exceeding the mean value of 0.030-0.065μgg−1 previously given for similar rocks by one order of magnitude, with a maximum of 2.6μgg−1. Mean ratios between the cadmium concentrations of limestone bedrock and deriving soils (Cdsoil/Cdrock), calculated for different areas, range from 4.6 to 5.7. Calculations based on the analyses of both soils from a restricted area and fragments of bedrock sampled in the immediate vicinity of high-concentration soils are around 5.5-5.7. Cdsoil/Cdrock is useful in determining the potential of soils in Lower Burgundy to reflect and exacerbate the high concentrations of cadmium present in parent bedrock

Spatial patterns of bacteria show that members of higher taxa share ecological characteristics

Affiche, résuméWhether bacteria display spatial patterns of distribution and at which level of taxonomic organisation such patterns can be observed are central questions in microbial ecology. Here we investigated how the total and relative abundances of eight bacterial taxa at the phylum or class level were spatially distributed in a pasture by using quantitative PCR. Geostatistical modelling was used to analyse the spatial patterns of the taxa distributions. To test whether the spatial distributions of the different taxa were related to soil heterogeneity, we performed exploratory analyses of relationships between abundance of the bacterial taxa and key soil properties. The distributions of the relative abundance of most taxa varied by a factor of 2.5 to 6.5 and displayed strong spatial patterns at the field scale with autocorrelation ranging between 2 to 37 m. These spatial patterns were taxon-specific and correlated to soil properties, which indicates that members of a bacterial clade defined at high taxonomical levels shared specific ecological traits in the pasture. Overall, the present study showed spatial patterns of distribution of bacteria both at the meter scale and at high taxonomical levels of organisation. Such spatial patterns allow comprehensive observations and predictions of bacterial occurrence in nature, hence helping in the generation of hypotheses concerning the mechanisms generating and maintaining bacterial diversity. The taxa-specific spatial patterns observed here suggest that, in a given environment, ecological traits are shared at high taxonomic levels within the domain Bacteria. This is a piece of evidence that the 16S rRNA gene tree divisions are not only based on evolutionary theory, but also have an ecological reality

Impact of alley cropping agroforestry on stocks, forms and spatial distribution of soil organic carbon : a case study in a Mediterranean context

UMR SYTEM : Equipe AMPLUS : Analyse et Modélisation du champ cultivé PLUrispécifiqueAgroforestry systems, i.e., agroecosystems combining trees with farming practices, are of particular interest as they combine the potential to increase biomass and soil carbon (C) storage while maintaining an agricultural production. However, most present knowledge on the impact of agroforestry systems on soil organic carbon (SOC) storage comes from tropical systems. This study was conducted in southern France, in an 18-year-old agroforestry plot, where hybrid walnuts (Juglans regia × nigra L.) are intercropped with durum wheat (Triticum turgidum L. subsp. durum), and in an adjacent agricultural control plot, where durum wheat is the sole crop. We quantified SOC stocks to 2.0 m depth and their spatial variability in relation to the distance to the trees and to the tree rows. The distribution of additional SOC storage in different soil particle-size fractions was also characterized. SOC accumulation rates between the agroforestry and the agricultural plots were 248 ± 31 kg C ha− 1 yr− 1 for an equivalent soil mass (ESM) of 4000 Mg ha− 1 (to 26–29 cm depth) and 350 ± 41 kg C ha− 1 yr− 1 for an ESM of 15,700 Mg ha− 1 (to 93–98 cm depth). SOC stocks were higher in the tree rows where herbaceous vegetation grew and where the soil was not tilled, but no effect of the distance to the trees (0 to 10 m) on SOC stocks was observed. Most of the additional SOC storage was found in coarse organic fractions (50–200 and 200–2000 μm), which may be rather labile fractions. All together our study demonstrated the potential of alley cropping agroforestry systems under Mediterranean conditions to store SOC, and questioned the stability of this storage

Thermomechanical behavior of C38LTT in the semi-solid state

Semisolid thixoforming is an intermediate process between casting and forging. This process presents several advantages, such as energy efficiency, production rates, smooth die filling, low shrinkage porosity, which together lead to near net shape capability and thus to fewer manufacturing steps than with classical methods. So far, there are only few applications of semisolid processing of higher melting point alloys. Steel is a particularly challenging material to semi-solid process because of the high temperatures involved (about 1410°C). At present, the ability to form steel components in semi-solid state depends on the control of the flow of material during the forming and defects conditions. Semi-solid alloys display thixotropy, which is characterized by time-dependent behavior which drastically changes from a solid like behavior at rest to a liquid like flow when submitted to shear. However, characterizing and modelling such a behaviour for steels is still challenging.   Ascometal has developed the C38LTT (Low Thixoforging Temperature) that is compatible with identified parameters [1] to be suitable for thixoforming: the solidus and liquidus temperatures (TS and TL) have to be as low as possible; the temperature at 50% liquid fraction (T50%) has to be as low as possible; the melting interval (TL-TS) has to be as large as possible; and the slope at 10% and 50% liquid fraction must be as low as possible to ensure a small sensitivity of liquid fraction to temperature.   The aim of the research work was to study the rheological properties of C38LTT. The high temperature range for semi-solid state makes the experiments particularly challenging. An experimental protocol was determined, geometries of specimens, minimize thermal gradients and optical system to improve the precision of measuring temperature (figure1) with a Gleeble simulator to characterize the thermomechanical behaviors.   Uniaxial tensile and compressive tests were carried out on semi-solid specimen having >0.8 solid fraction for different ram speeds and temperatures. The constitutive behavior appears greatly dependent on both fraction solid and strain rate. Furthermore, while the behavior is dominated by the solid phase, the variation in both ductility and stress with temperature has been identified to propose a brittle temperature range and the influence of the temperature on the thermomechanical behavior. Specifically, in tension, a drastic change in ductility with fraction solid/temperature was found in good agreement with some results for aluminum brittle temperature range in literature [2].

Development of an Agricultural Primary Productivity Decision Support Model: A Case Study in France

Agricultural soils provide society with several functions, one of which is primary productivity. This function is defined as the capacity of a soil to supply nutrients and water and to produce plant biomass for human use, providing food, feed, fiber, and fuel. For farmers, the productivity function delivers an economic basis and is a prerequisite for agricultural sustainability. Our study was designed to develop an agricultural primary productivity decision support model. To obtain a highly accurate decision support model that helps farmers and advisors to assess and manage the provision of the primary productivity soil function on their agricultural fields, we addressed the following specific objectives: (i) to construct a qualitative decision support model to assess the primary productivity soil function at the agricultural field level; (ii) to carry out verification, calibration, and sensitivity analysis of this model; and (iii) to validate the model based on empirical data. The result is a hierarchical qualitative model consisting of 25 input attributes describing soil properties, environmental conditions, cropping specifications, and management practices on each respective field. An extensive dataset from France containing data from 399 sites was used to calibrate and validate the model. The large amount of data enabled data mining to support model calibration. The accuracy of the decision support model prior to calibration supported by data mining was ~40%. The data mining approach improved the accuracy to 77%. The proposed methodology of combining decision modeling and data mining proved to be an important step forward. This iterative approach yielded an accurate, reliable, and useful decision support model for the assessment of the primary productivity soil function at the field level. This can assist farmers and advisors in selecting the most appropriate crop management practices. Embedding this decision support model in a set of complementary models for four adjacent soil functions, as endeavored in the H2020 LANDMARK project, will help take the integrated sustainability of arable cropping systems to a new level

Towards long-term standardised carbon and greenhouse gas observations for monitoring Europe's terrestrial ecosystems : a review

Research infrastructures play a key role in launching a new generation of integrated long-term, geographically distributed observation programmes designed to monitor climate change, better understand its impacts on global ecosystems, and evaluate possible mitigation and adaptation strategies. The pan-European Integrated Carbon Observation System combines carbon and greenhouse gas (GHG; CO2, CH4, N2O, H2O) observations within the atmosphere, terrestrial ecosystems and oceans. High-precision measurements are obtained using standardised methodologies, are centrally processed and openly available in a traceable and verifiable fashion in combination with detailed metadata. The Integrated Carbon Observation System ecosystem station network aims to sample climate and land-cover variability across Europe. In addition to GHG flux measurements, a large set of complementary data (including management practices, vegetation and soil characteristics) is collected to support the interpretation, spatial upscaling and modelling of observed ecosystem carbon and GHG dynamics. The applied sampling design was developed and formulated in protocols by the scientific community, representing a trade-off between an ideal dataset and practical feasibility. The use of open-access, high-quality and multi-level data products by different user communities is crucial for the Integrated Carbon Observation System in order to achieve its scientific potential and societal value.Peer reviewe