Mémoire de licence Quand un paysage naît, un autre meurt : – Une analyse écocritique du roman Naissance d'un pont

Ce mémoire est constitué par une analyse écocritique du roman Naissance d'un pont, écrit par Maylis de Kerangal. Le but général du mémoire est d'examiner comment ce roman décrit la relation entre l'homme et la nature. Nous examinons surtout les stratégies narratives employées par l'auteure pour transmettre l'image de cette relation et en plus, nous discutons le rôle joué par les différents paysages se retrouvant dans le récit. Finalement, l'analyse comprend aussi une brève réflexion sur la capacité éventuelle du roman d'influencer l'attitude du lecteur envers l'écologie. L'analyse des stratégies narratives se concentre sur le rôle du narrateur, ainsi que sur la présence et la fonction des perspectives éthiques, des noms symboliques et des figures de style. Ces stratégies contribuent à dépeindre une variété d'idées par rapport aux modes de vie de la société humaine, alors que les descriptions des paysages démontrent la relation complexe entre cette société et les paysages naturels et construits respectivement. Naissance d'un pont semble promouvoir une attitude à l'égard de la nature qui est plus humble que celle dominant dans la société moderne. Afin de pouvoir juger la capacité du roman de transmettre ces valeurs au lecteur, il serait pourtant raisonnable de tenir compte de plusieurs facteurs, tels que la complexité du langage et le niveau de crédibilité de l'histoire.

Decisions with Impact on Energy Reduction Opportunities : Swedish manufacturers and buyers of new single-family houses

This article discusses some of the complexities of human decision-making. It aims, in particular, at relating the nature of decision-making to the illusory dichotomies of change and stability, individual actions and cultural sharing. Serving as an illustration to the discussion of the article is ongoing fieldwork in contexts of buying, selling and constructing pre-fabricated detached houses in the central Sweden, and the very specific question of how decisions to install one kind of heating-system rather than another come about. A common reductionism is to narrow down the understanding of decisions about heating systems and energy consumption to conscious choices made by individual householders. I have asked myself whether, on the contrary, anyone actually makes such decisions at all. Perhaps some of these decisions are merely outcomes of interaction between different individuals with their respective responsibilities and focuses of interest.

Combined solar and pellet heating systems for single-family houses : How to achieve decreased electricity usage, increased system efficiency and increased solar gains

In Sweden, there are about 0.5 million single-family houses that are heated by electricity alone, and rising electricity costs force the conversion to other heating sources such as heat pumps and wood pellet heating systems. Pellet heating systems for single-family houses are currently a strongly growing market. Future lack of wood fuels is possible even in Sweden, and combining wood pellet heating with solar heating will help to save the bio-fuel resources. The objectives of this thesis are to investigate how the electrically heated single-family houses can be converted to pellet and solar heating systems, and how the annual efficiency and solar gains can be increased in such systems. The possible reduction of CO-emissions by combining pellet heating with solar heating has also been investigated. Systems with pellet stoves (both with and without a water jacket), pellet boilers and solar heating have been simulated. Different system concepts have been compared in order to investigate the most promising solutions. Modifications in system design and control strategies have been carried out in order to increase the system efficiency and the solar gains. Possibilities for increasing the solar gains have been limited to investigation of DHW-units for hot water production and the use of hot water for heating of dishwashers and washing machines via a heat exchanger instead of electricity (heat-fed appliances). Computer models of pellet stoves, boilers, DHW-units and heat-fed appliances have been developed and the parameters for the models have been identified from measurements on real components. The conformity between the models and the measurements has been checked. The systems with wood pellet stoves have been simulated in three different multi-zone buildings, simulated in detail with heat distribution through door openings between the zones. For the other simulations, either a single-zone house model or a load file has been used. Simulations were carried out for Stockholm, Sweden, but for the simulations with heat-fed machines also for Miami, USA. The foremost result of this thesis is the increased understanding of the dynamic operation of combined pellet and solar heating systems for single-family houses. The results show that electricity savings and annual system efficiency is strongly affected by the system design and the control strategy. Large reductions in pellet consumption are possible by combining pellet boilers with solar heating (a reduction larger than the solar gains if the system is properly designed). In addition, large reductions in carbon monoxide emissions are possible. To achieve these reductions it is required that the hot water production and the connection of the radiator circuit is moved to a well insulated, solar heated buffer store so that the boiler can be turned off during the periods when the solar collectors cover the heating demand. The amount of electricity replaced using systems with pellet stoves is very dependant on the house plan, the system design, if internal doors are open or closed and the comfort requirements. Proper system design and control strategies are crucial to obtain high electricity savings and high comfort with pellet stove systems. The investigated technologies for increasing the solar gains (DHW-units and heat-fed appliances) significantly increase the solar gains, but for the heat-fed appliances the market introduction is difficult due to the limited financial savings and the need for a new heat distribution system. The applications closest to market introduction could be for communal laundries and for use in sunny climates where the dominating part of the heat can be covered by solar heating. The DHW-unit is economical but competes with the internal finned-tube heat exchanger which is the totally dominating technology for hot water preparation in solar combisystems for single-family houses.

Thermal energy storage in Swedish single family houses : a case study

In a Nordic climate, space heating (SH) and domestic hot water (DHW) used in buildings constitute a considerable part of the total energy use in the country. For 2010, energy used for SH and DHW amounted to almost 90 TWh in Sweden which corresponds to 60 % of the energy used in the residential and service sector, or almost 24 % of the total final energy use for the country. Storing heat and cold with the use of thermal energy storage (TES) can be one way of increasing the energy efficiency of a building by opening up possibilities for alternative sources of heat or cold through a reduced mismatch between supply and demand. Thermal energy storage without the use of specific control systems are said to be passive and different applications using passive TES have been shown to increase energy efficiency and/or reduce power peaks of systems supplying the heating and cooling needs of buildings, as well as having an effect on the indoor climate. Results are however not consistent between studies and focus tend to be on the reduction of cooling energy or cooling power peaks. In this paper, passive TES introduced through an increased thermal mass in the building envelope to two single family houses with different insulation standard is investigated with building energy simulations. A Nordic climate is used and the focus of this study is both on the reduction of space heating demand and space heating power, as well as on reduction of excess temperatures in residential single family houses without active cooling systems. Care is taken to keep the building envelope characteristics other than the thermal mass equal for all cases so that any observations made can be derived to the change in thermal mass. Results show that increasing the sensible thermal mass in a single family house can reduce the heating demand only slightly (1-4 %) and reduce excess temperatures (temperatures above 24 degrees C) by up to 20 %. Adding a layer of PCM (phase change materials) to the light building construction can give similar reduction in heating demand and excess temperatures, however the phase change temperature is important for the results.

Energy savings potential in existing houses : Energy simulation results for Dalarna's single-family housing stock

Vägar till en halverad energianvändning i Dalarnas byggnadsbestånd

Genetic heterogeneity of within-family variance of body weight in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar)

BACKGROUND: Canalization is defined as the stability of a genotype against minor variations in both environment and genetics. Genetic variation in degree of canalization causes heterogeneity of within-family variance. The aims of this study are twofold: (1) quantify genetic heterogeneity of (within-family) residual variance in Atlantic salmon and (2) test whether the observed heterogeneity of (within-family) residual variance can be explained by simple scaling effects. RESULTS: Analysis of body weight in Atlantic salmon using a double hierarchical generalized linear model (DHGLM) revealed substantial heterogeneity of within-family variance. The 95% prediction interval for within-family variance ranged from ~0.4 to 1.2 kg2, implying that the within-family variance of the most extreme high families is expected to be approximately three times larger than the extreme low families. For cross-sectional data, DHGLM with an animal mean sub-model resulted in severe bias, while a corresponding sire-dam model was appropriate. Heterogeneity of variance was not sensitive to Box-Cox transformations of phenotypes, which implies that heterogeneity of variance exists beyond what would be expected from simple scaling effects. CONCLUSIONS: Substantial heterogeneity of within-family variance was found for body weight in Atlantic salmon. A tendency towards higher variance with higher means (scaling effects) was observed, but heterogeneity of within-family variance existed beyond what could be explained by simple scaling effects. For cross-sectional data, using the animal mean sub-model in the DHGLM resulted in biased estimates of variance components, which differed substantially both from a standard linear mean animal model and a sire-dam DHGLM model. Although genetic differences in canalization were observed, selection for increased canalization is difficult, because there is limited individual information for the variance sub-model, especially when based on cross-sectional data. Furthermore, potential macro-environmental changes (diet, climatic region, etc.) may make genetic heterogeneity of variance a less stable trait over time and space.

Pregnancy-related low back pain and pelvic girdle pain approximately 14 months after pregnancy : pain status, self-rated health and family situation

Background: Pelvic girdle pain (PGP) in pregnancy is distinct from pregnancy-related low back pain (PLBP). However, women with combined PLBP and PGP report more serious consequences in terms of health and function. PGP has been estimated to affect about half of pregnant women, where 25% experience serious pain and 8% experience severe disability. To date there are relatively few studies regarding persistent PLBP/PGP postpartum of more than 3 months, thus the main objective was to identify the prevalence of persistent PLBP and PGP as well as the differences over time in regard to pain status, self-rated health (SRH) and family situation at 12 months postpartum. Methods: The study is a 12 month follow-up of a cohort of pregnant women developing PLBP and PGP during pregnancy, and who experienced persistent pain at 6 month follow-up after pregnancy. Women reporting PLBP/PGP (n = 639) during pregnancy were followed up with a second questionnaire at approximately six month after delivery. Women reporting recurrent or persistent LBP/PGP at the second questionnaire (n = 200) were sent a third questionnaire at 12 month postpartum. Results: A total of 176 women responded to the questionnaire. Thirty-four women (19.3%) reported remission of LBP/PGP, whereas 65.3% (n = 115) and 15.3% (n = 27), reported recurrent LBP/PGP or continuous LBP/PGP, respectively. The time between base line and the 12 months follow-up was in actuality 14 months. Women with previous LBP before pregnancy had an increased odds ratio (OR) of reporting 'recurrent pain' (OR = 2.47) or 'continuous pain' (OR = 3.35) postpartum compared to women who reported 'no pain' at the follow-up. Women with 'continuous pain' reported statistically significant higher level of pain at all measure points (0, 6 and 12 months postpartum). Non-responders were found to report a statistically significant less positive scoring regarding relationship satisfaction compared to responders. Conclusions: The results from this study demonstrate that persistent PLBP/PGP is a major individual and public health issue among women 14 months postpartum, negatively affecting their self-reported health. However, the perceived relationship satisfaction seems to be stable between the groups.

Perceptions of the role of the man in family planning, during pregnancy and childbirth : A qualitative study with fifteen Nepali men

Introduction: In Nepal, by tradition, family life and marriage are generally controlled by patriarchal norms, sanctions, values and gender differences. Women in Nepal have limited possibilities to make decisions regarding their sexual and reproductive health, as the husbands and other elders in the family make most of the decisions regarding family planning, pregnancy and childbirth. Aim: To describe the perceptions of Nepali men regarding the role of the man with respect to family planning, pregnancy and childbirth. Methods: A qualitative study was conducted with 15 Nepali men in both urban and rural areas. The material was analyzed through inductive content analysis. Findings: One main category and two generic categories were identified. One generic category contained six subcategories and the other five subcategories. The main category was labeled: “He leads – She follows” and the generic categories were labeled: “Supporting women in family planning, during pregnancy and childbirth” and “Withdrawal from supporting women in family planning, during pregnancy and childbirth”. Conclusion: The role of the Nepali men with respect to family planning, pregnancy and childbirth, was identified as a conflicted approach. This study highlights the importance of understanding the influence of culture and tradition when developing strategies for promoting sexual and reproductive health during family planning, pregnancy and childbirth among families in Nepal.