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L’objectif de cet article est d’analyser les rapports entre les sciences sociales et la montée en puissance de la cause animale. Retraçant la manière dont l’objet « relations humains-animaux » s’est constitué dans les contextes anglo-américain et français, je défends l’idée que l’évolution générale de ces recherches participe de la montée du zoocentrisme. Plus spécifiquement, j’analyse la manière dont les théories antispécistes et l’éthique animale, très influentes dans le monde anglo-américain, ont été reçues en France. Les critiques formulées à leur encontre par les universitaires en sciences sociales sont particulièrement étudiées. Je montre comment ces critiques contribuent – paradoxalement – à constituer l’éthique animale en point de passage obligé pour toute réflexion académique sur les rapports aux animaux, en lui offrant un nouvel espace éditorial, celui des sciences sociales.

In November 2022, the public release of ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence (AI)-based natural language model, was a groundbreaking point in many sectors of human life and education was not the exception. We describe how ChatGPT was integrated in an undergraduate course for an International Relations program in a private Mexican university. Under an action research methodology, we introduced this novel instrument in a course on Future Studies. Students were evaluated on their ability to explain to ChatGPT several discipline-specific methods and to make the AI implement these methods step by step. After six such activities, the outcomes evidenced that the students not only learned how to use the new AI tool and deepen their understanding of prospective methods, but also strengthened three soft or transversal competencies: communication, critical thinking, and logical and methodical reasoning. These results are promising in the framework of Skills for Industry 4.0 and Education for Sustainable Development; even more, they demonstrate how ChatGPT created an opportunity for the students to strengthen, and for the professor to assess, time-tested competencies. This is a call-to action for faculty and educational institutions to incorporate AI in their instructional design, not only to prepare our graduates for professional environments where they will collaborate with these technologies but also to enhance the quality and relevance of higher education in the digital age. Therefore, this work contributes to the growing body of research on how Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be used in higher education settings to enhance learning experiences and outcomes.

Background: Recent US proposals suggest defining Alzheimer's disease (AD) based on β‐amyloidosis alone. This sparked debates that echoed historical ones about the significance of brain lesions and clinical phenotype. Methods: This review covers debates on AD nosology through three key periods: AD's discovery in German‐speaking countries in the early 20th century, its redefinition in Anglo‐Saxon countries in the 1960s–1980s, and current debates on the biological or clinicobiological definitions of AD. Key players' opinions are focused on. Results: At the beginning of the 20th century, AD was defined as a clinicopathological entity. Debates arose around the pathological anchor, which included extended neurofibrillary tangles versus neuritic plaques (Alzheimer vs. Fischer) and its association with senile dementia (Kraepelin). In the 1960s–1980s, the debate shifted towards whether AD could be diagnosed using qualitative or quantitative neuropathological features and whether it was a unique process (Terry and Katzman) or had subtypes (Roth). The current definition proposed by the US Alzheimer's Association is based purely on biological β‐amyloid abnormalities and represents a double break: from the historical clinicopathological definition of AD and from the historical emphasis on tau or combined tau and β‐amyloid high levels of pathology. Conversely, the clinicobiological proposal of the International Working Group remains aligned with historical concepts of AD. Conclusions: This historical perspective illustrates the unresolved questions surrounding AD pathogenesis, role of lesions, and the clinical phenotype, especially for sporadic cases. The intense nosological debates throughout the history of AD also illustrate the diversity of theoretical frameworks for defining disease in medicine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analyzing memory B cell repertoires of the healthy elderly enabled Michalon et al. to develop a recombinant human antibody selective for transthyretin amyloid. This antibody removes cardiac amyloid through recruitment of phagocytic immune cells.

Arsenic is one of the most toxic elements present in the environment, especially in water. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends a maximum concentration of arsenic in drinkable water of 10 μg/l (10 ppb). Sensors implementing Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) can detect chemical species at low concentrations. The aim of this study is to compare two kinds of silver-coated SERS substrates for detection and speciation of trace, trivalent and pentavalent, inorganic arsenic compounds. One type of substrate was prepared by a classical thermal evaporation technique, and the second type by an electroless process. The thermally evaporated substrates allowed the detection of As(III) only, at a limit of detection (LOD) of approximately 50 mg/l, whereas As(V) could not be detected at any analyte concentration. The electroless substrates allow one to differentiate As(III) and As(V) with a LOD 1 μg/l (1 ppb) equal for each valency, below the WHO recommendation. The electroless substrates show a very large sensitivity across up to five orders of magnitude in terms of analyte concentration. Although the SERS intensity shows a nonlinear behavior over this range of concentrations, these preliminary results are encouraging in the framework of the demonstration of trace As SERS sensors in drinkable water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social science research on confinement relies heavily on the conduct of qualitative surveys within confinement institutions. This text provides a collective methodological analysis based on the investigations carried out in six national contexts (Cameroon, France, Germany, Qatar, Romania, Spain) by the members of the TerrFerme research team. The investigations are carried out in confinement settings (prisons, administrative detention centres for foreigners, closed accommodation for foreign workers). The theme of the openness/closedness of these places, central to their political treatment as well as to their scientific apprehension, quickly emerged as the common denominator of these investigations. Doing fieldwork within the walls of closed settings is now possible thanks to the relative openness of carceral institutions: negotiations with public authorities and with non-governmental actors have opened to some of us the doors of the places we wanted to investigate in, and have conditioned our positions inside. But the difficulties others encountered have shown the limits of this openness and have pushed us to also investigate outside those places: in these cases, the organisation of surveillance in a social and spatial continuum guided our fieldwork.

Based on a sociohistorical description of the emergence of animal assisted care practices, this research note explores the link between professional dynamics and the recent evolution of human-animal relationships. A joint process of professionalization and subjectivation is observed: the more these practices are defined as “therapy,” involving healthcare professionals, the more animals are seen as singular beings, even persons. It is argued that looking at human-animal relationships can bring to light the ontological dimensions of professional dynamics, and, symmetrically, that looking at professions can be relevant to understand the evolution of human-animal relationships, and contribute to reflections on animal work.

Research Framework : The general challenge and originality of this thematic issue of the journal Enfances Familles Générations consists in jointly exploring two major social transformations brought about by the integration of animals into families : the first transformation being in human families and the second in human-animal relationships. Objectives : The purpose of this introduction to the thematic issue "The Place and Impact of Animals in Families" is to present the current state of knowledge on the subject, by characterizing the approaches taken and identifying blind spots and how to address them. Methodology : The article is based on a review of the literature and an analysis of approximately 100 English- and French-language publications in the social sciences and humanities that focus on the place and impact of animals in families. Results : The first part of the article is devoted to an analytical presentation of the literature. Three principal methods of integrating animals into families can be identified in the works studied : integration, assimilation and substitution. In addition, two types of approaches have been favoured to date on how to understand the family in its relationship with animals : "fixist" and flexible. The second part of the article develops a critical analysis of this research. We show that, taken as a whole, these studies generate a naturalization effect of the very specific zoological, sociological and spatio-temporal realities studied. We show that this naturalization is linked to the ill-considered use of certain semantic categories ("companion animal," "family pet" or simply "pet"). It is also linked to particular systems for the production of sociological knowledge on the place of animals in families (based in part on data provided by key players in the pet industry, or created on a pointedly moral foundation). Conclusions : The article underlines the need to develop and implement a genuine sociology of family/animal relationships that, on the one hand, more candidly assumes the implicit biases that have guided research to date (a clear positioning in relation to the three methods of integrating animals into families), and on the other hand seeks to denaturalize the categories it uses while questioning the knowledge systems within which it is embedded. Contribution : Beyond a critical and problematized interpretation of the literature, this article outlines several lines of research that aim to complete and rebalance the particular image that the current literature on the dynamics of integrating animals into the family provides. Five lines are identified : (1) the symbolic construction of the integration of animals into the family (artistic and media representations, construction of categories) ; (2) the physical conditions of this integration (role of technical objects, markets) ; (3) the role of animals in the construction of the identity and socialization of families ; (4) the uses of learned and secular discourses on animal families to define and legitimize a model of human families ; (5) a sociological redefinition of the family, taking into account the different types of animal integration.

Research Framework : The general challenge and originality of this thematic issue of the journal Enfances Familles Générations consists in jointly exploring two major social transformations brought about by the integration of animals into families : the first transformation being in human families and the second in human-animal relationships. Objectives : The purpose of this introduction to the thematic issue "The Place and Impact of Animals in Families" is to present the current state of knowledge on the subject, by characterizing the approaches taken and identifying blind spots and how to address them. Methodology : The article is based on a review of the literature and an analysis of approximately 100 English- and French-language publications in the social sciences and humanities that focus on the place and impact of animals in families. Results : The first part of the article is devoted to an analytical presentation of the literature. Three principal methods of integrating animals into families can be identified in the works studied : integration, assimilation and substitution. In addition, two types of approaches have been favoured to date on how to understand the family in its relationship with animals : "fixist" and flexible. The second part of the article develops a critical analysis of this research. We show that, taken as a whole, these studies generate a naturalization effect of the very specific zoological, sociological and spatio-temporal realities studied. We show that this naturalization is linked to the ill-considered use of certain semantic categories ("companion animal," "family pet" or simply "pet"). It is also linked to particular systems for the production of sociological knowledge on the place of animals in families (based in part on data provided by key players in the pet industry, or created on a pointedly moral foundation). Conclusions : The article underlines the need to develop and implement a genuine sociology of family/animal relationships that, on the one hand, more candidly assumes the implicit biases that have guided research to date (a clear positioning in relation to the three methods of integrating animals into families), and on the other hand seeks to denaturalize the categories it uses while questioning the knowledge systems within which it is embedded. Contribution : Beyond a critical and problematized interpretation of the literature, this article outlines several lines of research that aim to complete and rebalance the particular image that the current literature on the dynamics of integrating animals into the family provides. Five lines are identified : (1) the symbolic construction of the integration of animals into the family (artistic and media representations, construction of categories) ; (2) the physical conditions of this integration (role of technical objects, markets) ; (3) the role of animals in the construction of the identity and socialization of families ; (4) the uses of learned and secular discourses on animal families to define and legitimize a model of human families ; (5) a sociological redefinition of the family, taking into account the different types of animal integration.