National Scientific Research Center Research Articles

Value Chain in the Production of Sacha Inchi Oil (<i>Plukenetia volubilis</i> L.) in Cuba

The seeds of Sacha Inchi (<i>Plukenetia volubilis</i> L.) contain vitamins, tocopherols and fatty acids, and are a natural source of omegas 3, 6 and 9. The crop was introduced in Cuba in 2016, by the Research Center on Proteic Plants and Bionatural Products (CIPB) and has been extended to currently reach 120 ha. Since 2019, a group from CIPB has been working to extract the oil from the seeds, which has proven nutritional values, pharmacological effects and safety, and also on its marketing. The aim was analyze the results of application of manage model as value chain during the two first years to produce Sacha Inchi oil in Cuba. The management model with a value chain approach, as an organizational innovation, favored the development of completely new products and the use of wastes from the main process, which is extracting the oil. In the different links of the chain, known technologies and process and product innovations have been applied. In the productive and commercial activity, the co-innovation with the National Center for Scientific Research (CNIC) stands out, by achieving a productive chain, which guarantees the production of soft oil capsules, which offers greater reliability and attractive appearance compared to other pharmaceutical forms. Reference is made to the experimental evidence that supports the Standard Operating Procedures, to the economic benefits for national sales and exports, to the social impacts and the environmental perspective. All of the above constitutes a scientific novelty for Cuba, since it is the first time that Sacha Inchi is cultivated, industrial oil is obtained from its seeds and it is marketed in the country.

Fight Against the Mandatory COVID-19 Immunity Passport on Twitter: Natural Language Processing Study.

To contain and curb the spread of COVID-19, the governments of countries around the world have used different strategies (lockdown, mandatory vaccination, immunity passports, voluntary social distancing, etc). This study aims to examine the reactions produced by the public announcement of a binding political decision presented by the president of the French Republic, Emmanuel Macron, on July 12, 2021, which imposed vaccination on caregivers and an immunity passport on all French people to access restaurants, cinemas, bars, and so forth. To measure these announcement reactions, 901,908 unique tweets posted on Twitter (Twitter Inc) between July 12 and August 11, 2021, were extracted. A neural network was constructed to examine the arguments of the tweets and to identify the types of arguments used by Twitter users. This study shows that in the debate about mandatory vaccination and immunity passports, mostly "con" arguments (399,803/847,725, 47%; χ26=952.8; P<.001) and "scientific" arguments (317,156/803,583, 39%; χ26=5006.8; P<.001) were used. This study shows that during July and August 2021, social events permeating the public sphere and discussions about mandatory vaccination and immunity passports collided on Twitter. Moreover, a political decision based on scientific arguments led citizens to challenge it using pseudoscientific arguments contesting the effectiveness of vaccination and the validity of these political decisions.

Visualization and Analysis of the Data Mining Domain of Scientific Medical Publications in the Web of Science Database Using Co-word Analysis

Background: The present study aims at visualizing and analyzing the scientific productions of data mining in medical sciences in the Web of Science (WoS) database to identify knowledge structure in this field. Methods: The present study was carried out using co-word analysis, which is a scientometrics method. Also, the analysis of the WoS approach was used for the visualization and analysis of word co-occurrence networks in the data mining domain. The research population consisted of 14,430 records related to data mining published in WoS from 2008 to 2016. The data were analyzed after retrieval using VoSviewer scientometric software. Results: The research findings showed that the average annual growth rate of scientific productions in the data mining field had an upward trend and reached its peak in 2016. The findings also showed that the USA was the most productive country, with 8123 degrees, claiming the first rank by 27.4% of the total scientific production, and Iran was in the 13th rank with 678 degrees. Among universities and institutions, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (692 degrees), the University of California (621 degrees), and the National Center for Scientific Research (CNSR) (514 degrees) were ranked first to third globally. Among Iranian institutions and universities, Islamic Azad University (IAU), Tehran University, and Iran University of Technological Sciences were ranked 41st, 94th, and 200th in the world with 140, 105, and 66 degrees, respectively. The results of the current research also showed that the field of data mining was formed based on four vocabulary clusters with 108, 82, 73, and 42 words, respectively. Conclusions: The recognition of Iran as a successful country in the field of data mining should encourage researchers from other countries to communicate with Iranian scientists.

An Overview of the French eDNA Data Landscape: Focus on a national technical repository of reference genetic sequences

Environmental DNA (eDNA) data enables biodiversity to be monitored at unprecedented resolution and scale. There is great potential in combining knowledge from traditional and innovative methods such as eDNA for biodiversity assessment. eDNA use cases are increasing in aquatic and marine environments, and studies on soils have been developed in recent years. PatriNat*1 (under the guardianship of the French Biodiversity Office (OFB), National Museum of Natural History (MNHN), National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), and Research Institute for Development (IRD)) is a French data and expertise center working with environmental and research stakeholders to develop data exchanges at all levels. We discuss what eDNA data is (Fig. 1), the different types of data, and the importance of their storage and accessibility. As the amount of eDNA data increases, public agencies need to propose FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) tools and methods to facilitate their use and foster the development of relevant scientific expertise. We give an overview of the French eDNA data landscape and links with existing standards SINP*2 (National Heritage Inventory Information System), Darwin Core*3(Wieczorek et al. 2012) and workflows (Fig. 2). A priority of eDNA data is to have reliable reference bases and FAIR metadata. PatriNat's new tool will provide access to expertly validated genetic sequence data on species present in France, and is urgently needed for research but also knowledge, monitoring, public policies, and potential law enforcement purposes. We therefore present this technical database built in conjunction with, among other initiatives, DiSSCo*4, iBOL*5 and TaxRef*6 (Gargominy et al. 2022). It will manage 3 data types: Intrinsic sequence data (marker, sequencing methods, etc.). Sequence management (organization, identifiers, URLs, etc.). Voucher data Intrinsic sequence data (marker, sequencing methods, etc.). Sequence management (organization, identifiers, URLs, etc.). Voucher data It will use the nomenclature of Chakrabarty et al. (2013) as well as: The Global Genome Biodiversity Network (GGBN) standard*7 (Droege et al. 2016) The Minimum information about any sequence (MIxS) standard (Yilmaz et al. 2011) The Biological Collection Data (ABCD) standard*8 (Holetschek et al. 2012) The Collections Descriptions terms*9 (Woodburn et al. 2021) The Global Genome Biodiversity Network (GGBN) standard*7 (Droege et al. 2016) The Minimum information about any sequence (MIxS) standard (Yilmaz et al. 2011) The Biological Collection Data (ABCD) standard*8 (Holetschek et al. 2012) The Collections Descriptions terms*9 (Woodburn et al. 2021) The DwC DNA extension*10 can be used for sharing parts of its contents to the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, but referencing sequences associated with specimens/vouchers will require other standards.

A New Calculation Strategy for Molten Salt Reactor Neutronic–Thermal-Hydraulic Analysis Implemented with APOLLO3® and TRUST/TrioCFD

Molten salt nuclear reactors (MSRs) constitute a promising technology to produce safe, reliable, abundant low-carbon energy. To design MSR systems and perform safety analyses on them, numerical simulation is a powerful tool. Here, we implemented a coupling between several solvers of the deterministic neutronics code APOLLO3® (the MINARET SN transport and the MINOS diffusion and SPn-simplified transport solvers) and the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code TRUST/TrioCFD, both developed at the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA). The code coupling is orchestrated using the dedicated C3PO library of the open-source SALOME platform. A new code-coupling strategy is employed whereby the delayed neutron precursor concentrations are computed by the CFD code, which eases the use of traditional deterministic neutronics codes. We verified the correctness of our implementation by performing a numerical benchmark dedicated to fast spectrum MSRs originally devised by the French National Center for Scientific Research. The numerical results we obtained are in excellent agreement with those obtained by recent MSR-dedicated multiphysics simulation tools. This study provides a new convenient neutronic–thermal-hydraulic coupling strategy for MSR core simulation.

Strengthening the health surveillance of marine mammals in the waters of metropolitan France by monitoring strandings

Monitoring the health status of marine mammals is a priority theme that France aims to develop with the other European Union Member States in the next two years, in the context of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive. With approximately 5,000 km of coastline and for nearly ten years, France has been recording an average of 2,000 strandings per year, which are monitored by the National Stranding Network, managed by Pelagis, the observatory for the conservation of marine mammals from La Rochelle University and the French National Center for Scientific Research. Since 1972, this network has successively evolved from spatial and temporal faunistic description to, nowadays, the detection of major causes of mortality. It now aims to carry out epidemiological studies on a population scale. Thus, a strategy to strengthen the monitoring of marine mammals’ health status based on stranding data has been developed. This strategy will allow for a more accurate detection of anthropogenic cause of death as well as those of natural origin. It will allow the monitoring of time trends and geographical differences of diseases associated with conservation and public health issues while ensuring the early detection of emerging and/or zoonotic diseases of importance. It will also allow a better assessment of the consequences of human activities on these animal populations and on the environment. Thus, this strategy is fully in line with the “One Health” approach which implies an integrated vision of public, animal and environmental health. It is broken down into four surveillance modalities: (1) general event-based surveillance (GES); (2) programmed surveillance (PS); (3) specific event-based surveillance (SES); (4) and in the longer term, syndromic surveillance (SyS). This article describes the French strategy as well as these different surveillance modalities, the levels of examinations and the associated sampling protocols and finally, the method of standardisation of the data collected. The objective is to present the strategy developed at the French level in order to integrate it into a future strategy shared at the European level to standardise practices and especially complementary analysis, necessary for a better evaluation of the health status of these mobile marine species.

People in Control [People in Control

In this issue of <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">IEEE Control Systems</i> , we speak with Sophie Tarbouriech, a senior researcher at the Laboratory for Analysis and Architecture of Systems (LAAS), French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), Toulouse, France; Azim Eskandarian, a professor in and the head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA; and Jamal Daafouz, a full professor at the University of Lorraine, Toulouse, France, and a member of the CNRSÐUniversity of Lorraine Research Center for Automatic Control (CRAN).

French National Center for Scientific Research faulted over chemistry lab misconduct probe

French National Center for Scientific Research faulted over chemistry lab misconduct probe

Ebrahim Raisi's Domestic Policy: Conservative, Pragmatic or Paralyzed?

The Muslim WorldEarly View Article Ebrahim Raisi's Domestic Policy: Conservative, Pragmatic or Paralyzed? Bernard Hourcade, Corresponding Author Bernard Hourcade [email protected] orcid.org/0000-0002-8499-6831 National Center for Scientific Research, ParisSearch for more papers by this author Bernard Hourcade, Corresponding Author Bernard Hourcade [email protected] orcid.org/0000-0002-8499-6831 National Center for Scientific Research, ParisSearch for more papers by this author First published: 27 February 2023 https://doi.org/10.1111/muwo.12463Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Early ViewOnline Version of Record before inclusion in an issue RelatedInformation

Design of a Fast Molten Salt Reactor for Space Nuclear Electric Propulsion

The French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) is carrying out design studies on a nuclear electric propulsion (NEP) engine based on a molten salt reactor (MSR). A NEP engine based on liquid nuclear fuel could allow developing a core design with relatively high power densities and temperatures while using simple reactivity control systems and keeping low pressure and temperature gradients in the fuel. Nevertheless, the design work of such an engine poses significant technical challenges and requires the use of advanced numerical simulation tools. Different MSRs for space are currently being studied. In this work, a MSR concept using a fast neutron spectrum is investigated using a multiphysics tool based on a numerical coupling between the OpenFOAM (computational fluid dynamics) and SERPENT 2 (Monte Carlo neutronics) codes. The analysis of this paper is focused on the reactor core coupled neutronic and thermal-hydraulic phenomena. Steady state full-power conditions are calculated for two different fast MSR designs using low-enriched uranium (LEU) and highly enriched uranium. The results show that the proposed core layout and materials allow obtaining a satisfactory temperature distribution in the core (maximal values and gradients) without significant penalization of the reactor operating conditions. A reactivity control strategy excluding the use of control rods is studied for the LEU concept. Transient and safety studies are also performed and show acceptable performance.

Cover Image

Evolutionary ApplicationsVolume 16, Issue 2 p. i-i COVER IMAGEOpen Access Cover Image First published: 13 February 2023 https://doi.org/10.1111/eva.13395AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Graphical Abstract Photo caption and photo credit Caption (upper left): View of the Tjärnö Marine Laboratory, host site for the Linnaeus Centre for Marine Evolutionary Biology. Photo credits: Anna-Lena Lundqvist, Göteborgs Universitet Caption (upper right): Tenellia gotlandica sp. nov. holotype (a species of nudibranch Molluscs new to science), described in this issue. Photo credit: Klas Malmberg Caption (middle left): Polymorphism of shell color in a population of the marine snail Littorina saxatilis (rough periwinkle). Photo credit: Juan Gefaell Caption (middle right): The Maroon Anemonefish (Amphiprion biaculeatus), on an Indo-Pacific reef. Photo credit: Leon Green Caption (lower left): Acropora tenuis (kenti). Photo credit: Dr. Tom Bridge, Queensland Museum/James Cook University Caption (lower right): Underwater picture showing a mixture of native and invasive species in on a port seawall. Photo credit: Wilfried Thomas, French National Center for Scientific Research, Biological Station of Roscoff Volume16, Issue2Special Issue: Marine Evolutionary BiologyFebruary 2023Pages i-i RelatedInformation

Notes on the Vicissitudes of Research Policy in France

This article aims to present the main stages in the organization of research policy in France since the beginning of the 20th century. It is centered on the history of the CNRS (National Center for Scientific Research) since it is around and from this organization that a research policy has been put in place. That being the case, I will also insist on the last decades when we have seen the democratic and republican framework in which the research policy was inserted weakened and correlatively on the stagnation of means and the deplorable policy of “over-project”; a set of elements which has resulted in the current downgrading of French research internationally.

Bianka Tchoubar: A Revolutionary in French Organic Chemistry

Virtually unknown in her homeland, Bianka Tchoubar, born in 1910 in Kharkiv, brought about a true paradigm shift in French organic chemistry of the 20th century. Originality of research ideas, scientific rigor and legendary perseverance earned her respect and recognition in the world scientific community. This eccentric Parisian of Ukrainian origin became the first woman to enter the French National Center for Scientific Research (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, CNRS) upon its creation in 1939. Bianka Tchoubar’s contribution to the study of reaction mechanisms and salt effects in organic chemistry were of paramount importance, and so were her efforts to present these novel scientific concepts to the audience of French organic chemists through the clear and concise expression of her books. The name of this great Ukrainian researcher may be found in the pages of French organic chemistry textbooks, where the Demjanov ring expansion reaction is called the Demjanov–Tiffeneau–Tchoubar rearrangement. This article aims at presenting the outstanding scientific legacy and turbulent life path of this researcher to the world scientific community.

The cave salamander Proteus anguinus in captivity in Moulis, France for the scientific research.

Proteus anguinus fascinated the most famous savants like Lamarck, Cuvier and Darwin. However, the knowledge about this species was improved little because very few specimens were available, even less alive. To face this situation, The French National Center for Scientific Research built in 1948 the cave-laboratory at Moulis and started to breed in P. anguinus. The first hatchings date from 1959 (Vandel and Bouillon 1959, Juberthie et al. 1991). Since then, more than 160 egg-layings producing more than 4,600 eggs has occurred. The availability of a certain number of specimens and the continuity of this breeding for more than 60 years have made possible to better understand the biology of this species, for instance, the development (sexual maturity reached at 15 years old, lifespan estimated from 68 to 100 years old, see Voituron et al. 2010). The aim of this presentation is to make a review of the latest and prospective research conducted with partners on captive P. anguinus in Moulis.

Science in your summer garden

Flowers that form fractals Romanesco cauliflower is mesmerizing. Unlike the boring old regular white cauliflower, romanesco’s buds spiral out in a distinctive fractal pattern. But how this pattern comes about is something biologists have been asking for a long time. A recent study suggests that the pattern may be related to the dynamics of how the florets grow ( Science 2021, DOI: 10.1126/science.abg5999 ). Through a combination of computer modeling and genetic experiments, Christophe Godin , a computational scientist at France’s National Institute for Research in Digital Science and Technology and the University of Lyon, and François Parcy , a plant geneticist at the French National Center for Scientific Research and Grenoble Alpes University, mutated the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana to grow in a romanesco-esque flowering pattern. The team found that this change in flowering shape was caused by only one genetic tweak to a cauliflower mutant of the Arabidopsis

Dig That Lick (DTL): Analyzing Large-Scale Data for Melodic Patterns in Jazz Performances

Dig That Lick (DTL): Analyzing Large-Scale Data for Melodic Patterns in Jazz Performances

In Memory of Christian Mayoux 1936–2020

Christian Mayoux passed away on the 29th of October, 2020, at the age of 84, in Muret, a small town near Toulouse in the south of France, where he used to live since ten years. Christian was born in Pamiers, France, in 1936. He received the Doctorate degree (PhD) in 1961 from the University of Toulouse from which Paul Sabatier University was established in 1969. From 1963 to 1966, he was lecturer at the University before joining the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and the new born “Laboratoire de Genie Electrique de Toulouse” (LGET). The new lab was under the supervision of Professor R. Lacoste and focused its research on dielectrics and electrical insulation in the context of Electrical Engineering. The LGET researchers were fighting within the French research landscape to launch and organize the new domain of “engineering sciences”. Christian Mayoux investigated the effects of electrical discharges on dielectric surfaces, trying to understand the chemical and physical processes at play at different stages of the interaction. Transformation of the surface for short interaction time with the emergence of specific surface properties, but also surface degradation for longer interaction time, with deleterious effects for the material withstanding were put forward. Following this, a new approach where the surface of a polymer was exposed to different species -electrons, ions, metastables, UV, etc. was brought about with the objective to understand the individual and synergetic effects of each of the energy sources present in a partial discharge. Christian was quickly recognized by the international community for this pioneering work then developed internationally. Later on, starting in 1976, he began to focus on electrical treeing phenomena, and later on water treeing, following at the same time the ideas that emerged from his initial work on partial discharges. On top of that, Christian Mayoux was at the origin of several research areas that are still very active in LAPLACE (the successor of LGET), among them the dielectric barrier discharges at atmospheric pressure that become homogeneous under given circumstances, the luminescence phenomena occurring when an electric field is applied to a dielectric, or the mechanical deformation of a polymer under high electric field. Christian Mayoux received many invitations for giving invited lectures either at international conferences or during seminars. He was awarded the Whitehead Memorial Lecture at the Conference on Electrical Insulation and Dielectric Phenomena (CEIDP) in 2000.

The National Center for Scientific Research as the basis for the fundamental science development in France: specificity and contemporary problems

The article is devoted to the analysis of the formation and development of the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) — a key state research organization in France, which stands among the world's leading national research centers in terms of its scale and effectiveness. The specifics and major problems the CNRS faced over the 80th period of its existence are shown, as well as the main reasons for its institutional viability. Special attention was paid to the advantages of CNRS and to the unsolved contemporary problems. The dynamics of the confrontation between the desire of researchers for scientific autonomy and the intention of the state to control scientific research is investigated. It was revealed that the problem of academic freedom remains one of the most acute and intractable problems for the scientific community of modern France.

Shaping High Efficiency, High Temperature Cavity Tubular Solar Central Receivers

High temperature solar receivers are developed in the context of the Gen3 solar thermal power plants, in order to power high efficiency heat-to-electricity cycles. Since particle technology collects and stores high temperature solar heat, CNRS (French National Center for Scientific Research) develops an original technology using fluidized particles as HTF (heat transfer fluid). The targeted particle temperature is around 750 °C, and the walls of the receiver tubes, reach high working temperatures, which impose the design of a cavity receiver to limit the radiative losses. Therefore, the objective of this work is to explore the cavity shape effect on the absorber performances. Geometrical parameters are defined to parametrize the design. The size and shape of the cavity, the aperture-to-absorber distance and its tilt angle. A thermal model of a 50 MW hemi-cylindrical tubular receiver, closed by refractory panels, is developed, which accounts for radiation and convection losses. Parameter ranges that reach a thermal efficiency of at least 85% are explored. This sensitivity analysis allows the definition of cavity shape and dimensions to reach the targeted efficiency. For an aperture-to-absorber distance of 9 m, the 85% efficiency is obtained for aperture areas equal or less than 20 m2 and 25 m2 for high, and low convection losses, respectively.

Measurement of the234U(n,f) cross section in the energy range between 14.8 and 17.8 MeV using Micromegas detectors

The234U(n,f) reaction cross section was measured for three neutron energies 14.8, 16.5 and 17.8 MeV, relative to the238U(n,f) reference reaction. The in-beam measurements were carried out by using a set-up based on Micromegas detectors, while the quasi-monoenergetic neutron beams were produced by means of the3H(d,n)4He reaction at the 5.5MV Tandem T11/25 Accelerator Laboratory of the National Center for Scientific Research "Demokritos" in Athens (Greece). Additionaly,α-spectroscopy measurements were performed in order to determine the active mass of the samples and the corresponding impurities. In order to estimate the fission-fragment detection efficiency, Monte Carlo simulations were carried out using the GEF and FLUKA codes. Furthermore, simulations were also performed by coupling the NeuSDesc and MCNP5 codes for the determination of the neutron energy distribution in all the irradiated samples and the results were used in order to correct for the contribution of low energy parasitic neutrons in the fission yield. The final cross section data are presented, along with the methodology adopted for the treatment of the parasitic neutrons.