La signification au seuil du chaos : pour une sémiotique du savoir-fantastique dans Cosmos de Witold Gombrowicz

Ce mémoire entend démontrer que le roman Cosmos de Witold Gombrowicz, interprété à la lumière du concept de sémiosis chez Peirce, met en scène un processus d'acquisition du savoir qui doit s'opérer à l'intérieur d'un signe imaginaire, l'icône. De ce fait, en tant qu'il est la représentation d'un sens réalisé au coeur de l'irrationnel, hors des cadres logiques et naturels, le roman crée un effet fantastique en jouant avec le statut réel ou irréel du sens produit. C'est pourquoi ce mémoire se propose également d'établir que Cosmos appartient au récit fantastique, dont l'effet est tributaire du mouvement sémiotique de la pensée accomplie dans l' hypoicône. La sémiosis apparaît dans le texte sous la forme d'une quête de signification, selon laquelle le narrateur s'efforce de construire la réalité chaotique qui constitue son univers. Ce mouvement, entre le chaos et l'organisation des signes, s'inscrit dans l'écriture à la façon d'un musement, à partir duquel s'instaure une sémiosis dont le déplacement s'effectue dans le champ de tension entre le doute et la croyance. Immergé dans un monde marqué par la perte de la transcendance (que cette perte concerne Dieu, le signe ou la Forme), le personnage est incapable de fonder à partir des phénomènes une connaissance objective du réel. C'est en plongeant sa conscience au coeur d'un imaginaire subjectif et intime qu'il parvient à fabriquer une signification fantastique de son microcosme, laquelle consiste en l'expression d'un désir innommable et non communicable. Repliée dans une conscience privée, cette image du désir ne trouve pas de lieu de partage et ne parvient donc pas à signifier sur le plan social. Enfin, la sémiosis accomplie dans l'hypoicône génère un effet fantastique, puisque ses indéterminations sont à l'origine de l'ambiguïté propre aux sentiments d'angoisse et d'étrangeté. Dans Cosmos, ces sentiments, dépourvus de surnaturels, se manifestent dans l'homme et le réel quotidiens, c'est-à-dire à partir d'une réalité normale sur laquelle on ne peut plus porter avec certitude un regard objectif. Le désir intime du personnage et son univers, animés du démoniaque gombrowiczéen, ouvrent le roman à l'inhumain et au surnaturel (interprété ici comme un au-delà du langage). À l'issue de notre réflexion, nous pouvons conclure que Cosmos illustre l'interdépendance nécessaire du savoir et de l'imaginaire, qu'il oppose d'un même geste en interrogeant la validité d'une connaissance acquise au sein d'un espace fantastique. Le savoir repose sur une logique de l'irrationnel et sur un désir intime qu'il tend à neutraliser, lesquels à leur tour discréditent cet acquis. L'hypoicône et le fantastique sont étroitement liés en ce qu'ils soustendent\ud un dépassement et un décentrement, dans l'imaginaire, des codes et des symboles sociaux. Ainsi dégagé de toute censure, leur mouvement rend possible, sur la scène de la représentation, l'expression de l'innommable et de l'inédit, grâce à laquelle la pensée et le savoir collectifs peuvent se renouveler. Somme toute, le roman établit qu'il n'y a pas de connaissance exempte d'imaginaire et de sensualité. ______________________________________________________________________________ MOTS-CLÉS DE L’AUTEUR : Icône, Imaginaire, Fantastique, Gombrowicz, Sémiotique

A web app-based music intervention reduces experimental thermal pain: A randomized trial on preferred versus least-liked music style

Digital technologies are increasingly being used to strengthen national health systems. Music is used as a management technique for pain. The objective of this study is to demonstrate the effects of a web app-based music intervention on pain. The participants were healthy adults and underwent three conditions: Conditioned Pain Modulation (CPM), Most-Liked Music (MLM) and Least-Liked Music (LLM). The music used is MUSIC CARE©, a web app-based personalized musical intervention (“U” Sequence based on a musical composition algorithm). Thermal pain was measured before starting the 20-min music intervention and after three time points for each music condition: 2.20, 11.30, and 20 min. Mean pain perceptions were significantly reduced under both LLM and MLM conditions. Pain decrease was more important under MLM condition than LLM condition at 2.20 min with a mean difference between both conditions of 9.7 (±3.9) (p = 0.0195) and at 11.30 min [9.2 (±3.3), p = 0.0099]. LLM is correlated with CPM but not MLM, suggesting different mechanisms between LLM and MLM. Musical intervention, a simple method of application, fits perfectly into a multidisciplinary global approach and helps to treat the pain and anxiety disorders of participants.Clinical trial registration: [https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04862832], ClinicalTrials.gov [NCT04862832]

La question de l'unicité de l'équilibre général chez Gérard Debreu

Ce mémoire a pour but d'étudier l'aspect théorique et empirique de l'unicité de l'équilibre général dans un cadre particulier, celui présenté par Debreu

RIPOST: A River Pollution Simulation Tool To Anticipate The Consequence Of Accidental Spills

Accidental pollutant spills are frequent and their impact on water uses downstream difficult to assess precisely in the framework of a crisis management. Therefore, a specific tool, named RIPOST, dedicated to drinking water treatment plant operators was developed to anticipate the consequence of a spill upstream the plant intake. As a decision support tool, RIPOST had to fulfil operational needs: ease of use for operators, quick calculation and providing key information for decision making. A new numerical pollutant spill and transport model has been developed by using integrated Eulerian method under the Telemac 2D software instead of the 1D model usually used. This model enables to simulate the main processes that act on the spilled pollution; in particular it can calculate the transfer time and the transverse concentration gradient evolution along the river whereas 1D model provide also the transfer time but only the mean concentration. That permits to have more relevant results on the transfer time of the pollution, on its maximal concentration, and on alert information based on thresholds at the water intake. In order to be used by non-modellers, the numerical pollutant spill simulation is controlled using a friendly Graphical User Interface (GUI). Using only few parameters (location, duration, volume, concentration of the pollution), and thanks to a simulation time compatible with crisis management, the tool will provide transfer time and pollutant concentration so that the stakeholder can make its decision. The GUI also allows easy integration of new river models by modellers, by facilitating, for example, the definition of points of interest (like dam, or water intake) and also the calculation of the river curvilinear abscissa (called PK: mileage points). In order to validate the simulation system and the GUI, some tracer experiments in real condition were simulated for five rivers in France

Douleurs et travail : aider le patient à garder un emploi

Introduction.— A significant part of the workers suffer from musculoskeletal pain (back pain,upper limb). Some of them are at risk to ose their job due to their health condition. Objective. — The aim of the article is to describe synthetically what actors and measure can be used in order to help a patient keep his/her job in spite of the pain. Results.— First place measures include a visit with the occupational physician before work resumption, part-time return to work and workplace accommodation.Second place measures require that a professional project is built by the patient supported by a knowledgeable person. These measures depend on the funding agency.They are devoted to compensate the work disability situation, and/or to provide the training required by the patient’s project. Discussion and conclusion. — Work disability prevention faces many challenges due to barriers between the stakeholders, scattering of the knowledge and the complexity of legislative issues.However, it remains possible provided the patient is committed and supported by a case manager in charge of coordinating the information and the stakeholders. Confidence and collaboration are key issues in the process.

PASSIVE RADIATIVE CONDENSERS TO EXTRACT WATER FROM AIR

Radiative cooling allows atmospheric vapor to be condensed on a surface without an energy source. Data on atmospheric dew water condensers are presented, with emphasis on their application to islands and deserts where drinking water can be scarce. The chemical and bacteriological quality of water is also reported upon. The areas presently under investigation are situated in a variety of regions: continental (Grenoble - in an alpine valley; Brivela-Gaillarde, Central Massif), coastal (Bordeaux - on the French Atlantic coast, and Zadar and Dubrovnik - on the eastern Adriatic coast), desert (Nizzana, NW Negev), the Mediterranean islands (Ajaccio on Corsica and Komiža on Vis in the Adriatic sea) and the Pacific Ocean (Tahiti, French Polynesia). In Ajaccio, two large 30 m2 condensers have been operating since 2000

SMARCB1/INI1 inactivation in renal medullary carcinoma

Aims: Renal medullary carcinoma (RMC), a rare and highly aggressive tumour which occurs in patients with sickle-cell disease, shares many clinicopathological features with collecting duct carcinoma (CDC). The molecular mechanisms underlying RMC and CDC are mainly unknown, and there is ongoing debate about their status as distinct entities. Loss of expression of SMARCB1/INI1, a chromatin remodelling regulator and repressor of cyclin D1 transcription, has been reported recently in RMC. The aim of our study was to investigate if such loss of expression is specific for RMC. SMARCB1/INI1 genetic alterations and cyclin D1 expression were also studied. Methods and results: Using immunochemistry, neoplastic cells showed complete loss of SMARCB1/INI1 expression in all six cases of RMC but in only one of 22 cases of CDC. In two RMC cases investigated, comparative genomic hybridization demonstrated complete loss of one SMARCB1/INI1 allele, with no other genomic imbalances, and no mutations were found on the remaining allele. Cyclin D1 was expressed in all RMCs, suggesting that SMARCB1/INI1 inactivation may result in increased cyclin D1 transcription. Conclusions: The specific SMARCB1/INI1 inactivation observed in RMCs suggests that RMC and CDC are different entities

Tumor Heterogeneity of Fibroblast Growth Factor Receptor 3 (FGFR3) Mutations in Invasive Bladder Cancer: Implications for Peri-Operative anti-FGFR3 Treatment

Background: Fibroblast growth factor receptor 3 (FGFR3) is an actionable target in bladder cancer. Preclinical studies show that anti-FGFR3 treatment slows down tumor growth, suggesting that this tyrosine kinase receptor is a candidate for personalized bladder cancer treatment, particularly in patients with mutated FGFR3. We addressed tumor heterogeneity in a large multicenter, multi-laboratory study, as this may have significant impact on therapeutic response. Patients: and methods We evaluated possible FGFR3 heterogeneity by the PCR-SNaPshot method in the superficial and deep compartments of tumors obtained by transurethral resection (TUR, n = 61) and in radical cystectomy (RC, n = 614) specimens and corresponding cancer-positive lymph nodes (LN+, n = 201).Results: We found FGFR3 mutations in 13/34 (38%) T1 and 8/27 (30%) ≥T2-TUR samples, with 100% concordance between superficial and deeper parts in T1-TUR samples. Of eight FGFR3 mutant ≥T2-TUR samples, only 4 (50%) displayed the mutation in the deeper part. We found 67/614 (11%) FGFR3 mutations in RC specimens. FGFR3 mutation was associated with pN0 (P < 0.001) at RC. In 10/201 (5%) LN+, an FGFR3 mutation was found, all concordant with the corresponding RC specimen. In the remaining 191 cases, RC and LN+ were both wild type.Conclusions: FGFR3 mutation status seems promising to guide decision-making on adjuvant anti-FGFR3 therapy as it appeared homogeneous in RC and LN+. Based on the results of TUR, the deep part of the tumor needs to be assessed if neoadjuvant anti-FGFR3 treatment is considered. We conclude that studies on the heterogeneity of actionable molecular targets should precede clinical trials with these drugs in the perioperative setting