The diagnosis of hemodynamics of microvessels may affect the early detection of the consequences of metabolic disorders such as diabetes or affections of the whole vascular system such as hypertension. In particular, the eye presents a showcase of microvascular network accessible to optical imaging methods. Complications of diabetes or hypertension can lead to microvascular remodeling which can manifest by occlusion or dilation of veins and capillaries and neoangiogenesis, and can cause partial or total blindness. It is estimated that 40% of diabetics are holders of retinopathy (more than one million people in France). Beyond the potential in medical imaging, mapping quantitatively microvascularisation presents a scientific interest. Many models of stroke, neurovascular coupling, or neoangiogenesis in the small animal could be judged in quantitative and reproducible manner. For these medical and biological challenges, no comprehensive method of blood microflow mapping in broad ranges of flow speed is available. We propose to develop robust biorheological Doppler imaging methods applied to the quantitative measurement of blood microflow, in vivo, in non-invasive conditions. This project takes place in an international context in which the imagery of the microcirculation throughout a whole system (the microvascular network of a tissue) is based on non quantitative and not reproducible methods. Currently, the most common medical assessment of the microcirculation in tissue is the assessment by direct imaging in white light or by an invasive method: the fluorescein angiography. The diagnostic by Doppler acoustic imaging schemes are rarely used because their speed resolution are not appropriate for microflow diagnosis. In practice, two instruments will be developed : an imaging method based on already validated Doppler interferometry with a laser source of long coherence length and an imager based on low temporal coherence interferometry. The first one will allow imaging of superficial vasculature and will mainly be used for experiments on the retina. The second one (based on low coherence interferometry) will be used for scattering tissue exploration in depth (about 1 mm) and will allow Doppler optical coherence tomography, with a resolution of the order of ten microns (the size of a typical cell).

Sparsely populated areas are an important stake in today’s world. They hold most of the available natural resources, deliver fundamental environmental services but also are more and more viewed as having an intrinsic value. Those areas are the object of an external governance since urban societies to which they are administratively and legally bound tend to rule on their exploration (being the markets which buy the natural resources) as well as on their protection (by voting environmental codes, rules or laws). This external governance and the reactions (positive and negative) that it generates must be analyzed in order to gain a better understanding of its mechanisms and outcomes. The GUYINT project aims at contributing to such an approach by focusing on the Guianas plateau, especially the department of French Guiana and the Amapá state in Brazil. Those areas are very sparsely populated and they host a vast array of natural resources, as well as high environmental stakes. Since the beginning of the 2000s, they are the object of an intense preservation policy, which conflicts with the practices and interests of local economic groups such as those linked with illegal mining. What’s more, the participation of Indigenous and traditional populations to the definition and enforcement of environmental rules is also an issue. Finally, opinions about the environment at a regional scale, for instance in Cayenne and in Macapá, may differ a lot form those in Paris or in Brasília, leading to conflicts about the environmental governance’s objectives. Hence, the Guianas plateau allows to approach the different scales, conflicts and interactions included inside the question of the governance of sparsely populated areas. The GUYINT project is structured around four thematic work packages which will each tackle a facet of the general question: 1. Production and use of geographical information, focusing especially on environmental information; 2. Definition and enforcement of environmental preservation policy; 3. Exploration of natural resources, with a focus on mining; 4. The strategies of local populations, especially Indigenous communities. All of them will provide feedback to a fifth work package which will elaborate a theory of the governance of sparsely populated areas and confront it with the case of the Pima county, in the US, where the same dynamics as the Guianas plateau were registered historically. Regarding the methodology, the GUYINT project will rely on a combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches based on primary data (gathered through interviews, questionnaires and field missions) and secondary data (especially GIS information produced by the stakeholders). Combining the methods and the final comparison with the case of Pima county, the GUYINT project expects to improve the initial conceptual framework laid out during the project’s elaboration. During the project’s execution, a strong emphasis will be given to fieldwork, to the interaction between researchers involved in the different work packages as well as to the exchange with stakeholders through ad hoc meeting and seminaries. The GUYINT project will be carried out by a number of researchers from several French and Brazilian universities and research centers. It will be coordinated by the Iglobes Research unit (UMI 3157). Several stakeholders are also partners, such as the Armed forces in French Guiana, the Parc Amazonien de Guyane ou the Tumucumaque National Park in Brazil. Thus, results will immediately be valorized among those institutions, giving a research-action dimension to the project. Papers will also be written and submitted to international journals by each thematic work package and also by the theoretical WP in order to reach the highest possible level of scientific dissemination.