Université Catholique de Louvain

Organic cathode materials (OCMs) are promising sustainable alternatives to inorganic counterparts for next-generation batteries, yet their widespread application is largely hindered by intrinsically low electrical conductivity (below 10-6 S cm-1) and material dissolution. The vast chemical space for exploration complicates the discovery of optimal OCMs. In this work, we utilized a machine learning (ML)-based discovery process with a pretrained transformer model in ZINC organic molecules database, yielding a couple of potential high-performance OCMs candidates, including isoindigo-type redox units. The output of such efficient screening inspires the design of poly-benzodifurandione (PBFO) as a free-standing cathode material for high-performance Li-ion and Na-ion storage. The flexible PBFO film exhibits a breakthrough conductivity of 5.9×102 S cm-1, setting a new benchmark for additive-free organic cathodes. The neat PBFO cathodes achieve a reversible capacity of 262 mAh g-1 averaging at 2.5V versus Li+/Li at 25mA g-1, delivering a high electrode-level energy density of 655Wh kg-1, among the highest reported for OCMs. This work provides the first flexible, high-conductivity organic cathodes without conductive additives and binders, opening a new direction toward viable organic batteries.

Cet article propose une analyse réflexive et critique sur une recherche appliquée visant la conception d’outils de communication pro-climat, centrée sur la production d’une vidéo dédiée aux « bibliothèques d’objets ». L’étude articule quatre volets complémentaires : (1) une analyse des conditions de production et des discours d’intention (finalités, publics visés, cadrages) ; (2) une lecture sémiotique à orientation structurale de la vidéo en tant que texte ; (3) une évaluation de la réception par des publics réels, via questionnaires et discussions de groupe ; (4) une relecture critique de l’ensemble du projet, pour éclairer les potentialités et les limites d’une communication pro-climat qui poursuit une forme de syncrétisme axiologique.

Abstract Silent articulation influences the identification of ambiguous speech sounds. This effect has often been attributed to articulatory suppression – the idea that concurrent motor activity prevents the recruitment of motor resources that would normally support speech perception. However, silent articulation also generates motor, somatosensory, auditory, and phonological signals, any of which could potentially contribute to the effect. The objective of the three experiments reported here was to discriminate between articulatory suppression and these other potential origins of the silent-articulation effect on speech perception. To do so, we determined the minimal signal-to-noise ratio at which participants could discriminate between two pairs of syllables (labial/lingual and lingual/lingual) while repetitively moving the finger or performing a lip movement, either opening and closing the lips (Experiment 1), protruding and retracting the lips (Experiment 2) or both (Experiment 3). Categorization performance for the two pairs of syllables during finger movement provided the baseline against which a putative effect of the lip movements on the labial/lingual pair was tested. The two lip movements engaged similar motor resources (contraction of the orbicularis oris). Only lip opening engaged motor planning and somatosensory feedback similar to those associated with one of the syllables used in the task. Neither of them engaged auditory or phonological factors. Only lip opening differently influenced the two types of syllables in comparison to the baseline. These findings suggest that our own mouth movements shape what we hear only when they resemble articulatory gestures of possible speech sounds. This challenges explanations based solely on motor-resource depletion or on phonological or auditory imagery and helps clarify how the motor system interacts with, but is not necessarily required for, speech perception.

The Existential Quest Scale (EQS) is a brief instrument designed to assess individuals’ willingness to engage with existential quest in both religious and secular contexts. As the construct of existential quest becomes increasingly relevant for understanding psychological flexibility, identity development, and social attitudes in multicultural societies, ensuring the validity of its measurement is essential. Previous validations of the EQS have relied on Classical Test Theory (CTT), which limits comparability across groups and item-level precision. This study aims to evaluate the EQS using Rasch modeling, a robust item response theory (IRT) approach that overcomes such limitations. Drawing on a large, heterogeneous sample (N = 4,378), we assessed dimensionality, item functioning, and measurement invariance across sex, age, and religious affiliation. Results confirmed the unidimensional structure of the EQS, its ability to discriminate levels of existential quest, and its psychometric invariance across demographic groups. Findings also suggested revisions to item and response category functioning to enhance scale performance. By applying IRT to the EQS, this study advances the psychometric assessment of complex, culturally adaptive constructs and supports the EQS as a rigorous tool for research and applied settings.

Abstract Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly shaping consumer purchasing decisions and transforming the informational environment in which brands operate. This development challenges both the trade mark law system in performing its essential function of indicating commercial origin and the human-centred model of the consumer. Key AI-mediated shopping use cases, such as recommender systems, chatbots and voice assistants, illustrate how varying degrees of technological involvement in the purchasing process reduce the relevance of trade marks as shorthand indicators of origin and quality. Although human perception remains important after purchase, AI’s growing role as an ‘intermediary filter’ in pre-purchase decisions creates new opportunities for unfair competition and risks undermining consumer welfare. In this context, adapting legal frameworks to AI-mediated commerce should involve going beyond general transparency requirements, clarifying how liability may arise, ensuring that trade marks remain visible and rethinking the consumer model so that the protection benchmark it sets remains aligned with market realities.

PurposeOlfactory dysfunction has emerged as a marker of neurodegeneration and frailty in older adults, yet its value for perioperative risk stratification remains underexplored. This prospective study aimed to assess the interplay between three olfactory modalities (Threshold, Discrimination, Identification: TDI), baseline frailty, and postoperative outcomes in older patients undergoing surgery.Patients and MethodsWe enrolled adults aged 65 years or older scheduled for elective aortic/lower limb vascular or orthopedic procedures under general anesthesia. The day before surgery, patients underwent olfactory testing using the Sniffin’ Sticks extended test (yielding a composite TDI score), and frailty evaluation with the Edmonton Frail Scale (EFS) and Clinical Frailty Scale. Postoperative moderate/severe complications or death occurring within one year were recorded. Statistical analyses included univariable and multivariable regression adjusted for age, sex, comorbidities, and surgical parameters.ResultsFrom 362 screened patients, a final cohort of 209 patients (160 orthopedic, 49 vascular) was included after accounting for ineligibility, 42 refusals, and 6 data access exclusions. Lower olfactory performance (TDI score ≤ the 25th percentile) was identified in 74 (35.4%) patients. Frailty (EFS ≥6/17) was present in 51 cases (24.4%). Frail patients had significantly lower TDI scores (median 25.25 vs 28.75, p<0.001), with all three modalities independently correlated with frailty after adjustment. Within one year, 54 (25.8%) experienced postoperative complications and 3 (1.4%) patients died. Reduced olfaction was associated with a higher risk of postoperative morbidity/mortality (39.2% vs 20.7%, p=0.004), and this association remained significant after accounting for age and gender, comorbidities, surgery type, and frailty. Lower olfactory performance, but not frailty, predicted poor outcomes in vascular patients (odds ratio 6.34, p=0.004), while only frailty was predictive in orthopedic patients.ConclusionGlobal poorer olfaction is closely associated with frailty and may serve as a robust indicator of adverse postoperative outcomes in older adults, beyond conventional frailty scales.

BackgroundCurrent Alzheimer's disease (AD) research and clinical trials generally assume a single trajectory of cortical amyloid beta (Aβ) accumulation, but amyloid positron emission tomography (PET) studies suggest multiple trajectories. We aimed to better characterize AD heterogeneity using independent spatial component analysis of amyloid‐PET.MethodsWe spatially decomposed amyloid‐PET scans obtained with two radiotracers [18F]Flutemetamol (n = 772) and [18F]Florbetaben (n = 568) from the AMYPAD Prognostic & Natural History Study, a pan‐European multi‐site study of non‐demented older individuals (CDR < 1, age ≥ 50). Using FSL MELODIC, we ran n‐dimensional spatial group‐level (rangen=1‐15) independent component analysis (gICA) on MNI152‐registered SUVR images (using the whole cerebellum as reference), independently for each radiotracer. The final gICA dimensionality was chosen by optimizing for the largest number of spatial cross‐correlations (R>0.6) between radiotracers. Component loading was estimated via spatial regression of the resulting components on the individual amyloid‐PET scans. We then investigated how the resulting components relate to each other (Pearson correlations), to global Aβ burden measure with Centiloid (linear models), and to regional GM volumes independently of age, sex and estimated intracranial volume (linear models).ResultsSubject characteristics at baseline can be found in Table 1. A 9‐dimensional gICA robustly identified five cortical components‐ frontal, parietal, occipital, unilateral left and right temporal cortices and additionally four non‐cortical components encompassing projection fibers, commissural fibers, lateral ventricular borders, and meninges (Figure 1). All components were largely independent of each other, only the meningeal component correlated to other components and the commissural component correlated to the temporal cortical components (Figure 2A). The strongest positive associations with Centiloid were found for the cortical components (R2range=0.46‐0.88), while non‐cortical components were only sparsely associated (R2range=0‐0.04; Figure 2B). GM volume was, independently of age, sex, and estimated intracranial volume, negatively associated to cortical component loading most prominently with left and right temporal loading, while wide‐scale positive associations with GM volume were found for the commissural component and the subcortical/ventricular component (Figure 2C).ConclusionsWe found five cortical and four non‐cortical independent components of amyloid‐PET signal with high consistency between two radiotracers and which related differentially to GM volumes. This method allowed us to quantify several features that could capture heterogeneous disease processes.

BackgroundAlzheimer’s disease (AD) cases often present with TDP‐43 inclusions at autopsy, suggesting comorbid Limbic‐predominant Age‐related TDP‐43 Encephalopathy (LATE). These patients show smaller hippocampal volume and more severe cognitive decline than ‘pure’ AD patients. Distinguishing the contributions of both pathologies to neurodegeneration is crucial for treatment development; but is challenging as both pathologies affect the medial temporal lobe (MTL), share similar clinical symptoms and there is no in‐vivo biomarker for TDP‐43. We aimed to disentangle the relative contribution of tau and TDP‐43 pathologies to the atrophy of MTL substructures in AD patients.MethodsWe conduced antemortem cross‐sectional and longitudinal MRI analyses in participants with neuropathological data obtained at post‐mortem. Participants were selected from the ADNI database (N = 85) and grouped according to Braak stages (Low tau [0‐III] or High Tau [IV‐VI]) and the presence of TDP‐43 in the MTL. Statistical analyses included cross‐sectional correlations, group analyses, and liner‐mixed models predicting volume changes before death. All models were adjusted for MRI‐death‐interval, age, sex and intracranial‐volume.ResultsTDP‐43 was mostly associated with the volume of the hippocampal head (R = ‐0.47; P < 0.01, Figure 1) while NFTs were associated with the thickness of the parahippocampal gryrus (PHG; R = ‐0.41; P < 0.01, Figure 1). Consistently, among individuals with low levels of tau, TDP‐43‐positivity was associated with atrophy in all MTL structures except the parahippocampal cortex (PHC, Figure 2). In contrast, in TDP‐43‐negative individuals, high tau was associated with atrophy in the hippocampal body (β = ‐137mm3, P < 0.05), entorhinal cortex (β = ‐0.49mm, P < 0.01) and PHC (β = ‐0.28mm, P < 0.01, Figure 2). Longitudinal analysis showed that the hippocampal head volume reduction over time was faster in the presence of TDP‐43 in the MTL (β = ‐6.71mm3/year, P < 0.001, Figure 3) while the PHG thickness reduction over time was faster with higher Braak stages (β = ‐0.02mm/year, P < 0.05, Figure 3).ConclusionWe observed an anterior‐posterior effect of TDP‐43 and tau on the MTL with TDP‐43 affecting anterior MTL volumes and tau posterior MTL volumes. Hippocampal head atrophy could help distinguish between AD patients with/without comorbid LATE.