Time resolved construction of a bimodal laccolith (Torres del Paine, Patagonia)

Granitic and mafic magma pulses were sequentially accreted in the spectacularly exposed shallow crustal Torres del Paine laccolith, in southern Patagonia. This 12.5 Ma pluton forms a composite intrusion with a subvertical feeding system in the west and a laccolith in the east. A key unknown in the formation of sill complexes is how individual magma pulses are assembled over time and the geometry and localization of their feeding system. High resolution zircon CA-ID-TIMS U-Pb dating shows that the laccolith grew first by under-accretion of granitic sills over 90 +/- 30 ka, linked to a `sheet-like' feeding system, followed by underplating of mafic sills after similar to 20 ka of quiescence. In the mafic sills complex, individual sills were injected by over-accretion during 41 +/- 11 ka. Our data show that successive granitic and mafic magmas emplacement generated a volume of similar to 88 km(3) in 162 +/- 11 ka. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Norme d'internalité ou biais de confirmation d'hypothèse? Une approche expérimentale de la construction des questionnaires d'internalité

Cette recherche teste l'hypothèse de l'intervention d'un biais de confirmation d'hypothèse dans la procédure actuelle de construction des questionnaires d'internalité. Dans une étude pilote, 18 étudiants ont produit des explications en vue de la construction d'un questionnaire d'internalité soit en ayant connaissance de l'existence d'une norme d'internalité vs d'une norme d'externalité, soit sans activation expérimentale de cette connaissance (condition "contrôle"). Dans une première étude, 32 étudiants ont évalué le lieu de causalité et la plausibilité des explications produites dans l'étude pilote. Dans une seconde étude, 113 étudiants ont évalué la valeur sociale de ces explications internes et externes dans une situation de recrutement. Les résultats indiquent tout d'abord que le biais de confirmation influence les individus lorsqu'ils sont amenés à produire des explications internes et externes. On observe ainsi que la différence en faveur des explications internes sur la plausibilité (étude 1) et sur la valeur sociale (étude 2) est plus marquée en condition "norme d'internalité" qu'en condition "contrôle", et plus dans cette dernière condition que dans la condition "norme d'externalité". De plus, les résultats obtenus dans la condition "contrôle" suggèrent que les explications internes sont plus plausibles (étude 1) et plus valorisées que les explications externes (étude 2). Ainsi, si cette recherche confirme l'impact du biais de confirmation d'hypothèse, elle suggère également l'existence d'une norme d'internalité dans la pensée sociale.

Perspectives on the green construction of the new European Energy Policy

The EU has been one of the main actors involved in the construction process of an international climate change regime, adopting it as an identity sign in the international arena. This activism has reverted in the European political agenda and in the one of its Members States. Therefore, climate change has become a driver for the EU growing participation in energy policy and for its governance evolution. In this context, much attention has been paid to the climate and energy policies integration agreed after the 2007 spring European Council. Apparently, this decision meant a decisive step towards the incorporation of the environmental variable in the energy policy-making. Moreover, the Action Plan [2007-2009] “Energy Policy for Europe” outlined priority actions in a variety of energy-related areas, implying the new European Energy Policy commencement. Against this background, there is still much left to understand about its formulation and its further development. Rooted on the Environmental Policy Integration approach, this paper traces the increasing proximity between environment and energy policies in order to understand the green contribution to the European Energy Policy construction.

Measurement with an automated oscillometric wrist device with position sensor leads to lower values than measurements obtained with an automated oscillometric arm device from the same manufacturer in elderly persons.

OBJECTIVE: Home blood pressure (BP) monitoring is recommended by several clinical guidelines and has been shown to be feasible in elderly persons. Wrist manometers have recently been proposed for such home BP measurement, but their accuracy has not been previously assessed in elderly patients. METHODS: Forty-eight participants (33 women and 15 men, mean age 81.3±8.0 years) had their BP measured with a wrist device with position sensor and an arm device in random order in a sitting position. RESULTS: Average BP measurements were consistently lower with the wrist than arm device for systolic BP (120.1±2.2 vs. 130.5±2.2 mmHg, P<0.001, means±SD) and diastolic BP (66.0±1.3 vs. 69.7±1.3 mmHg, P<0.001). Moreover, a 10 mmHg or greater difference between the arm and wrist device was observed in 54.2 and 18.8% of systolic and diastolic measures, respectively. CONCLUSION: Compared with the arm device, the wrist device with position sensor systematically underestimated systolic as well as diastolic BP. The magnitude of the difference is clinically significant and questions the use of the wrist device to monitor BP in elderly persons. This study points to the need to validate BP measuring devices in all age groups, including in elderly persons.

Plurilinguisme et construction des savoirs sous l'angle de diverses disciplines

The Plateforme Interdisciplinaire of the University of Lausanne is at the crossroad of soft and hard sciences. We question the place and the role of languages and scientific cultures in the construction and the transmission of knowledge. The examples - from the fields of law, health, mathematics, neurosciences and university education - exceed a conception of languages as transparent vehicles for ideas and discoveries. They enable to consider the diversity of languages and scientific cultures as a mean for a " thick standardization" of science, integrating and valuing the double need for conceptual depth and accessibility of scientific discourse.

Doppler ultrasound in the measurement of pulse wave velocity: agreement with the Complior method

Aortic stiffness is an independent predictor factor for cardiovascular risk. Different methods for determining pulse wave velocity (PWV) are used, among which the most common are mechanical methods such as SphygmoCor or Complior, which require specific devices and are limited by technical difficulty in obtaining measurements. Doppler guided by 2D ultrasound is a good alternative to these methods. We studied 40 patients (29 male, aged 21 to 82 years) comparing the Complior method with Doppler. Agreement of both devices was high (R = 0.91, 0.84-0.95, 95% CI). The reproducibility analysis revealed no intra-nor interobserver differences. Based on these results, we conclude that Doppler ultrasound is a reliable and reproducible alternative to other established methods for themeasurement of aortic PWV

RTM mould design and construction for a DN 50 PN 16 flansch

The objective of this project consists of designing and constructing a RTM mould for a loose flange of glass fibre reinforced plastic (GRP). The design phase has the mission to realise a quality and simple design of the RTM mould, with the objective to obtain an easy and economic phase of construction and the more possible great characteristics of the loose flange. In fact this RTM mould will be a mould prototype, which will be developed in the future to obtain an RTM mould able to support a loose flange production. Therefore when more steps are developed in this project, then the future objective will be near

Measurement of glomerular filtration rate in obese patients: pitfalls and potential consequences on drug therapy.

Epidemiological studies have shown that obesity is associated with chronic kidney disease and end stage renal disease. These studies have used creatinine derived equations to estimate glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and have indexed GFR to body surface area (BSA). However, the use of equations using creatinine as a surrogate marker of glomerular filtration and the indexation of GFR for BSA can be questioned in the obese population. First, these equations lack precision when they are compared to gold standard GFR measurements such as inulin clearances; secondly, the indexation of GFR for 1.73 m(2) of BSA leads to a systematic underestimation of GFR compared to absolute GFR in obese patients who have BSA that usually exceed 1.73 m(2). Obesity is also associated with pathophysiological changes that can affect the pharmacokinetics of drugs. The effect of obesity on both renal function and drug pharmacokinetics raises the issue of correct drug dosage in obese individuals. This may be particularly relevant for drugs known to have a narrow therapeutic range or excreted by the kidney.