Agrocampus Ouest

About: Agrocampus Ouest is a education organization based out in Rennes, France. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Soil water. The organization has 2160 authors who have published 3219 publications receiving 75606 citations. The organization is also known as: Institut supérieur des sciences agronomiques, agroalimentaires, horticoles et du paysage & Higher Institute for agricultural sciences, food industry, horticulture and landscape management.

An overview on preparation of emulsion-filled gels and emulsion particulate gels

Abstract: Background Emulsion gels are a class of soft solid-like materials. These composite materials are structurally either a polymeric gel matrix into which emulsion droplets are incorporated (emulsion-filled gels), or a network of aggregated emulsion droplets (emulsion particulate gels). Emulsion gels are increasingly used in pharmaceutics, cosmetics and food industries. Scope and approach This article reviews fabrication methods of emulsion gels, and describes factors that influence gel properties and functionality. Effect of polymer-surfactant interactions on the rheology of emulsion gel systems is explained. Then, irreversible and reversible clustering of oil droplets as the basis of making emulsion particulate gels is deliberated. Key Findings and Conclusions Oil droplets depending on their interfacial composition act as either active or inactive fillers in an emulsion-filled gel. Actively functioning oil droplets can increase gel modulus, whereas, inactive oil droplets typically weaken gel texture. Interactions between surfactants and polymers, which influences filler affinity to gel matrix, have significant consequences on emulsion gel rheology. For protein-based emulsion gels, surfactant may also influence proteins unfolding and aggregation. In situ gelation of an emulsion can be triggered by environmental factors such as temperature changes during processing and storage or by physiological stimuli such as acidic pH in the stomach. The clustering approach, which is used to form emulsion particulate gels may be utilized to control digestibility of lipids in the gastrointestinal tract. The capability of encapsulating two or more different lipophilic components within a single delivery system may be achieved via heteroaggregation technique.

Re-conceptualizing the Anthropocene: A call for collaboration

Abstract: Since it was first proposed in 2000, the concept of the Anthropocene has evolved in breadth and diversely. The concept encapsulates the new and unprecedented planetary-scale changes resulting from societal transformations and has brought to the fore the social drivers of global change. The concept has revealed tensions between generalized interpretations of humanity’s contribution to global change, and interpretations that are historically, politically and culturally situated. It motivates deep ethical questions about the politics and economics of global change, including diverse interpretations of past causes and future possibilities. As such, more than other concepts, the Anthropocene concept has brought front-and-center epistemological divides between and within the natural and social sciences, and the humanities. It has also brought new opportunities for collaboration. Here we explore the potential and challenges of the concept to encourage integrative understandings of global change and sustainability. Based on bibliometric analysis and literature review, we discuss the now wide acceptance of the term, its interpretive flexibility, the emerging narratives as well as the debates the concept has inspired. We argue that without truly collaborative and integrative research, many of the critical exchanges around the concept are likely to perpetuate fragmented research agendas and to reinforce disciplinary boundaries. This means appreciating the strengths and limitations of different knowledge domains, approaches and perspectives, with the concept of the Anthropocene serving as a bridge, which we encourage researchers and others to cross. This calls for institutional arrangements that facilitate collaborative research, training, and action, yet also depends on more robust and sustained funding for such activities. To illustrate, we briefly discuss three overarching global change problems where novel types of collaborative research could make a difference: (1) Emergent properties of socioecological systems; (2) Urbanization and resource nexus; and (3) Systemic risks and tipping points. Creative tensions around the Anthropocene concept can help the research community to move toward new conceptual syntheses and integrative action-oriented approaches that are needed to producing useful knowledge commensurable with the challenges of global change and sustainability.

Sociohydrology : Scientific Challenges in Addressing the Sustainable Development Goals

Abstract: The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations Agenda 2030 represent an ambitious blueprint to reduce inequalities globally and achieve a sustainable future for all mankind. Meeting the SDGs for water requires an integrated approach to managing and allocating water resources, by involving all actors and stakeholders, and considering how water resources link different sectors of society. To date, water management practice is dominated by technocratic, scenario-based approaches that may work well in the short term but can result in unintended consequences in the long term due to limited accounting of dynamic feedbacks between the natural, technical, and social dimensions of human-water systems. The discipline of sociohydrology has an important role to play in informing policy by developing a generalizable understanding of phenomena that arise from interactions between water and human systems. To explain these phenomena, sociohydrology must address several scientific challenges to strengthen the field and broaden its scope. These include engagement with social scientists to accommodate social heterogeneity, power relations, trust, cultural beliefs, and cognitive biases, which strongly influence the way in which people alter, and adapt to, changing hydrological regimes. It also requires development of new methods to formulate and test alternative hypotheses for the explanation of emergent phenomena generated by feedbacks between water and society. Advancing sociohydrology in these ways therefore represents a major contribution toward meeting the targets set by the SDGs, the societal grand challenge of our time.