[Refinement of the French sociotropy-autonomy scale: Validation of a 20-item measure of social dependency among first-year students at the university]. / Révision de l'échelle française de mesure de la sociotropie et de l'autonomie : validation d'une échelle à 20 items mesurant de dépendance sociale de primo-entrants à l'université.

OBJECTIVE: Sociotropy and autonomy have been described as personality styles promoting the occurrence of stress in individuals. The SAS (for sociotropy-autonomy scale) corresponds to a 60-item instrument devoted to sociotropy and autonomy estimation in various populations. However, the different SAS versions display variations in item scoring, in scale structure and in factor composition. Furthermore, there is a lack of scale invariance analysis. Consistent with a larger work dedicated to understanding contributors of students' achievement during their trainings, the objective of this study was devoted to a refinement of French SAS item properties and to a measure of scale invariance in order to ensure that the French SAS be a trustable tool to measure sociotropy and autonomy among first- year students. Because a preliminary analysis invalidated several SAS items, a second objective has consisted of the definition and validation of a new scale estimating social dependency in students. METHODS: In all, 2365 students registered in first year of technological training (n=778) and health training (n=1587) were enrolled. They were asked to electronically answer the 60-item French SAS. The responses were collected between October and November 2017 for students registered in technological formation, and between March and April 2018 for health students. Item-score correlation coefficients (ritem-score) and anti-image correlation coefficients (AIC) were calculated for each item, and threshold values (ritem-score>0.3 ; AIC>0.6) were considered as acceptance criteria. Factor analyses were run in order to determine scale structure. Internal consistency was deduced from Cronbach's α, McDonald ω and Great Lower Bound (GLB) coefficients. Convergent and discriminant validities were analysed in considering construct reliability coefficient (CR>0.7), average variance extracted (AVE>0.4), mean shared variance and squared correlation coefficient calculated between two factors, as validity criteria. Configurational, metric and scalar levels of invariance were analysed prior to statistical comparisons of the scores obtained by different subgroups. RESULTS: In all, 1223 responses were collected and analysed. GLB and ω coefficients calculated for the full SAS indicated unacceptable internal consistency. Of the 60 items, 40 did not meet the acceptance criteria (i. e. ritem-score<0.3 and AIC<0.6). The remaining items had acceptable psychometric properties, and their composition defined a new scale reflecting the measure of social dependency. The overall scale internal consistency was good (ω=0.83, GLB=0.88). Factor analyses resulted in a replicable 5-factor structure including: need of affection (α=0.74, ω=0.74, GLB=0.77), fear of dropping out (α=0.67, ω=0.68, GLB=0.70), fear of loneliness (α=0.61, ω=0.61, GLB=0.67), attention to others (α=0.69, ω=0.69, GLB=0.71) and worry about the disapproval of others (α=0.71, ω=0.71, GLB=0.74). Discriminant validity was satisfied for all factors. Convergent validity was entirely satisfied for need of affection, fear of dropping out and for attention to others, but it was not optimal for fear of loneliness and worry about the disapproval of others. Invariance measurements identified non-invariant items that were discarded from score calculations. Following statistical comparison, it was observed that female students had higher social dependency and fear of dropping out than males. Furthermore, female students registered in health training had stronger attention to others than did their male equivalents. It was also observed that female health students scored better for social dependency, fear of dropping out, attention to others, and importance of others' gaze than their technology-educated counterparts. CONCLUSION: This work has invalidated the use of the overall 60-item French SAS to measure sociotropy and autonomy in first year students. By contrast, the refinement of the French SAS items led to a trustable 20-item instrument to investigate social dependency. Scale invariance characteristics allow confident statistical comparisons between sub-groups. This work shows that first-year female students registered in health or technological trainings exhibit a higher social dependency than males. Furthermore, first-year female health students show more social dependency than their technological counterparts. Because the conditions of recruitment of first-year students in heath formations in France are planned to change in September 2020, future studies will be warranted to analyse their social dependency.

Piezo-generator integrating a vertical array of GaN nanowires.

We demonstrate the first piezo-generator integrating a vertical array of GaN nanowires (NWs). We perform a systematic multi-scale analysis, going from single wire properties to macroscopic device fabrication and characterization, which allows us to establish for GaN NWs the relationship between the material properties and the piezo-generation, and to propose an efficient piezo-generator design. The piezo-conversion of individual MBE-grown p-doped GaN NWs in a dense array is assessed by atomic force microscopy (AFM) equipped with a Resiscope module yielding an average output voltage of 228 ± 120 mV and a maximum value of 350 mV generated per NW. In the case of p-doped GaN NWs, the piezo-generation is achieved when a positive piezo-potential is created inside the nanostructures, i.e. when the NWs are submitted to compressive deformation. The understanding of the piezo-generation mechanism in our GaN NWs, gained from AFM analyses, is applied to design a piezo-generator operated under compressive strain. The device consists of NW arrays of several square millimeters in size embedded into spin-on glass with a Schottky contact for rectification and collection of piezo-generated carriers. The generator delivers a maximum power density of ∼12.7 mW cm(-3). This value sets the new state of the art for piezo-generators based on GaN NWs and more generally on nitride NWs, and offers promising prospects for the use of GaN NWs as high-efficiency ultra-compact energy harvesters.

[Intervention of the police in France, in the family setting, in cases of child abuse]. / Intervention de la police en France, dans le milieu familial, en cas de mauvais traitements à enfants.

Intervention of Police Forces in France in the Family Setting When Child Abuse and Neglect are Noticed. French police forces, in charge of safety of persons and effects, are accustomed to intervening in family circles when child abuse occurs, and, also, each time a child's security and health are seriously threatened. They can intervene on their own, or respond to orders from an attorney or judge for children (Procureur de la République, Juge d'Instruction, Juge des Enfants). Their investigation is more easily accomplished when child abuse and neglect have just been discovered and traces of violence are still noticeable (Flagrant délit). They establish judicial procedures concerning offences committed against children, especially child abuse and neglect. But they also conduct inquiries of a social nature in order to inform a magistrate of a dangerous situation or behavior of young people under 18. This enables the judge for children to prescribe educative assistance measures. Doctors and social workers are still reluctant to notify policemen and judges, although they do not have to respect professional secrecy in any cases of injuries against children. In order to improve prevention and protection of victims of child abuse and neglect, it is truly necessary to coordinate activities of all those who intervene in pathologic family behavior: doctors, social workers, judges and policemen.