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Soil salinity is an important factor determining agriculture yield and productivity. Sensor technology can be used for monitoring the salinity of soil and this paper consolidates the research trends on the same. The research trends were visualized through VOS viewer and various types of sensors for measuring and monitoring soil salinity had been highlighted. The most active authors of this research domain were Kerr Y.H Camps A and Wigneron J.P; the most active country was the United States of America and the most productive research organization was found to be Centre d'Etudes Spatiales de la Biosphère, France. The recommendations for future research had been highlighted in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In modern agriculture, vegetables growth in greenhouses is valuable to adapt to customers preferences and climate changes. As most of the greenhouses are still heated by gas, the energy production from renewable sources is a axis of development in this field. The purpose of this study is to present the potentiality of an innovative heating system for greenhouse with photovoltaic-thermal solar PVT panels as a unique cold source for a brine/water heat pump. An analysis was made for the solar radiation in a typical winter day with the PolySun software for a 6,000 m² greenhouse in Angers, France. In this paper, the results show to interesting potential of this renewable coupling to cover a large part of the needs for this typical winter day, but also the difficulty to reach a autonomy as it is, which calls for optimizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Faced with the phenomenon of disaffection for scientific studies, numerous reports published at the international level generally propose to renew teaching methods. But how to teach physics in compulsory school? Would the teaching methods based on the physics problem (investigation, problem situation, problem-solving, etc.), which are very present in current curricula, be the solution? This article proposes to study the case of inquiry-based science teaching. A review of the literature shows that there is no consensus in curricula or in science didactics research on a precise definition of what this type of teaching would be. Moreover, there is considerable scientific controversy about the effectiveness of this type of teaching. Based on a French-speaking theoretical approach developed by Chevallard, we present our own vision for the case of physics teaching in secondary schools. Then, we discuss the distribution of possible roles between the teacher and his students in this type of classroom activity to allow learning. Indeed, learning physics implies a negotiation between the rationality of physics and that of common sense. As a result, teaching physics implies not only the mastery of disciplinary knowledge but also of the modes of transmission at stake and knowledge of epistemology in order to understand the questions (and answers) to which physics is attached. Based on research conducted in France, we finally discuss the types of [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Construction industry is one of the main sectors contributing for the growth of countries economy and also it is one of sector releasing huge amount of carbon emission in the atmosphere. Several measures are taken in this sector by adopting new trends in the construction industry with respect to the use of evolving material such as low carbon cement, fast setting concrete, Self-healing concrete and more, has left us with a high need for research in the area of sustainable materials. As most of the building material used in construction like concrete and cement are high carbon dioxide emitting material that can be a hazard (in a longer run) to the environment and people working in such buildings. To overcome this situation an alternative sustainable material has to be used for the construction of eco-friendly buildings. Hempcrete is a bio composite material and also it is one of the prospective materials to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It can be used in Construction and Insulation activities by Hemp hurds and lime. Hemp plant grows faster by nature and falls in the category of plants with strongest plant fibre and due to its fastest and rapid growing nature it can lock up more carbon in it. This has been used in France since the 1990s for construction of non-weight bearing insulating infill walls. A meter cube of hempcrete has the capability to absorb 165 kg of carbon dioxide and has excellent fire resistance. Resistance to crack under movement being the core property of hempcrete makes it most appropriate for use in earthquake-prone areas. In this research, an initiative was taken up to check the feasibility of hempcrete as an alternative to conventional concrete. Few feasibility studies were carried to highlight application and access the properties of the same. The main aim to suggest the application of hempcrete with admixture like fine aggregate and testing of its strength under Universal Testing Machine (AIMIL) make. Though, Hempcrete does not have adequate strength as par with the conventional concrete but can be used for the construction of substructure. It can be concluded that it can be highly beneficial for non-load bearing structures for its property like lightweight breathability, energy efficiency etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several French research entities, committees, and professional associations have jointly agreed to ask conference organizers to sign a “gender fairness” charter (charte de parité) when they apply for help from any of the participating organizations. These organizations are the Women and Physics Committee of SFP (the French Physical Society), CNRS (National Centre for Scientific Research, a large research entity in France), F&S (Women and Science Association), and SFO (the French Optical Society). This condition would apply to requests for funding, official endorsement, or help with publicity. We recommend that the women physicists’ committees in all national physics societies institute similar initiatives so that all physics conferences will soon become “gender fair.” [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For 3 years, CEA Gramat has been developing a new thermochemical code, called SIAME, funded by DGA to help French defense industry at conceiving new explosives compositions. It enables the calculation of CJ detonation and deflagration points and combustion of explosives. The accuracy of the code has been checked on several high explosives (HE) containing PETN, RDX, HMX, TNT, NTO. The discrepancy on the velocity of detonation is better than 5 %. To enlarge the domain of validity of the code, organic peroxides have been considered. It is known that thermochemical simulation is in failure regarding compounds as simple as hydrogen peroxide. The computed velocity of detonation is 5770 m/s when shock planar impact gives 6150 m/s. The same discrepancy is found for TATP, with a calculated value at 6230 m/s when 5290 has been measured. The detonation velocity of TATP has been measured at two different densities. These velocities agree with other published values. A closer look at the enthalpy of formation of TATP has revealed that it comes from an article of 1932. Ab initio computations have given a totally different value, leading to better agreement with experiment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The central focus of the research is on conducting a societal metabolism approach to the region of Pays de la Loire in France. For doing so, the Multi-Scale Integrated Analysis of Societal and Ecosystem Metabolism (MuSIASEM) methodology is used where fund variables such as human activity and land use are correlated over flow variables, such as energy and gross added value following the theoretical framework of Georgescu-Roegen [1]. Thereafter the feasibility, viability and desirability of current development patterns for the region are questioned to be able to transition into alternative scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]