Review on the characterisation of ancient stringed musical instruments varnishes and implementation of an analytical strategy

For the last 60 years, varnishes of ancient musical instruments, particularly stringed instruments of the violin family dating 17th and 18th centuries, have been analysed to establish their chemical composition and multi-layered structure. The objective was to rediscover the technology for making the varnish of esteemed Italian violins and to reconstitute it. This paper reviews the physico-chemical studies published on such varnishes and also focuses on a research project carried out since 2002 at the Musée de la musique in Paris. It aims to apply in a comprehensive way different non-destructive or micro destructive methods (Py-GC/MS, IR microscopy, SEM/EDX, EDXRF, synchrotron radiation-based techniques, …) to the study of a large and representative number of ancient varnished musical instruments from a museum collection.     

Materials Research in France: A Short-lived National Initiative (1982–1994)

This paper describes the French initiative in materials research against both a national and an international background, in an attempt to disentangle the local circumstances, which prompted this governmental initiative, and to characterize the specific profile of materials research in France. In presenting a biography of the interdisciplinary program in materials research (PIRMAT), we argue that: i) the PIRMAT denotes a failure of the French science policy in materials research; ii) the leadership of the CNRS led to a specific style of research, quite different from the engineering approach of Materials Science and Engineering, and characteristic of a French style in materials research.     

Training from cradle to grave? Social justice and training for people with learning difficulties

In this paper we question whether the radical change in the life situation of people with learning difficulties triggered by the closure of long‐stay hospitals does in fact represent an adequate inclusion into civil society or whether people with learning difficulties continue to experience strong exclusionary tendencies. We will explore the implications of a range of contemporary social justice theories for people with learning difficulties and examine the justice inherent in arrangements for training people with learning difficulties made by Local Enterprise Companies (LECs). We argue that training may be seen as a crucible of social values since its distribution transmits powerful messages about who is considered salvageable or unsalvageable, who is likely to become economically active and who is to be consigned to some special status of otherness. Finally, we consider what conceptualizations of social justice might hold out most hope for people with learning difficulties.     

CERN document server: Document management system for grey literature in a networked environment

Conclusion In this paper we briefly described the current status of research in the field of digital libraries interoperability, mainly with respect to federated data processing such as permitted within the Open Archive Initiative framework. We then presented the CERN Document Server Software suite that is a free software package main-tained by CERN providing an online digital library solution for mid- to large-sized document repositories. The set of CDSware modules was described and the differ-ences with other existing tools briefly mentioned. Finally we have mentioned a typical usage statistics illustrating the scope of grey literature and networked con-ditions of the CERN Document Server. We pointed out that the current trend in grey literature management goes toward institutional repositories build upon the distributed and federated model. Further research is going on within the CDS collaboration in this area, focused particularly on (i) semantic interoperability using ontologies in distributed and federated data processing and (ii) ranking technologies when searching grey literature in OAI compliant repositories.     

Reducing Children's Implicit Racial Bias Through Exposure to Positive Out‐Group Exemplars

Studies with adults suggest that implicit preferences favoring White versus Black individuals can be reduced through exposure to positive Black exemplars. However, it remains unclear whether developmental differences exist in the capacity for these biases to be changed. This study included 369 children and examined whether their implicit racial bias would be reduced following exposure to positive Black exemplars. Results showed that children's implicit pro‐White bias was reduced following exposure to positive Black exemplars, but only for older children (M_age = ~10 years). Younger children's (M_age = ~7 years) implicit bias was not affected by this intervention. These results suggest developmental differences in the malleability of implicit racial biases and point to possible age differences in intervention effectiveness.