An enigma still: Poujadism fifty years on

Few names resonate more loudly from the French Fourth Republic than that of Pierre Poujade, and few terms exude such a sulfurous odour as le poujadisme. Between 1953 and 1958, the Poujadists secured their place in modern French history, winning 52 seats in the National Assembly and inscribing a lasting entry in the lexicon of political protest. Taking as its starting point the fiftieth anniversary of Poujade’s movement held in its birthplace of Saint-Céré in July 2003, this article reassesses Poujadism fifty years on from its heyday. It considers Poujadism as the first important anti-globalisation movement in post-war France, a locus for the conflict between ‘stalemate’ traditionalism and socio-economic modernisation. It examines the trajectory of the Poujadists from anti-tax movement to political party, arguing the difficulty of defining Poujadism in classic political terms. In particular, the article takes issue with the perception of Poujadism as an extreme-right ideology and interprets it instead as a form of populist protest lacking a solid doctrinal core and opportunistic in its exploitation of political issues and allies. As such, it is argued, Poujadism represents a complex synthesis of both right-wing and left-wing values and discourses, as impervious to definition today as it was fifty years ago. The article considers the brief alliance of convenience between Poujade and Le Pen, and locates in Le Pen’s early Poujadist experience some of the methods and even some of the arguments used by the FN today. It concludes by discussing Poujade’s political activities after 1958, tracing his long-term conversion from violent opposition to the State under the Fourth Republic to co-operation under the Fifth. The author draws here on correspondence with Pierre Poujade up until his death in August 2003.

The antimicrobial efficacy of copper alloy furnishing in the clinical environment:a crossover study

Objective. To determine whether copper incorporated into hospital ward furnishings and equipment can reduce their surface microbial load. Design. A crossover study. Setting. Acute care medical ward with 19 beds at a large university hospital. Methods. Fourteen types of frequent-touch items made of copper alloy were installed in various locations on an acute care medical ward. These included door handles and push plates, toilet seats and flush handles, grab rails, light switches and pull cord toggles, sockets, overbed tables, dressing trolleys, commodes, taps, and sink fittings. Their surfaces and those of equivalent standard items on the same ward were sampled once weekly for 24 weeks. The copper and standard items were switched over after 12 weeks of sampling to reduce bias in usage patterns. The total aerobic microbial counts and the presence of indicator microorganisms were determined. Results. Eight of the 14 copper item types had microbial counts on their surfaces that were significantly lower than counts on standard materials. The other 6 copper item types had reduced microbial numbers on their surfaces, compared with microbial counts on standard items, but the reduction did not reach statistical significance. Indicator microorganisms were recovered from both types of surfaces; however, significantly fewer copper surfaces were contaminated with vancomycin-resistant enterococci, methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus, and coliforms, compared with standard surfaces. Conclusions. Copper alloys (greater than or equal to 58% copper), when incorporated into various hospital furnishings and fittings, reduce the surface microorganisms. The use of copper in combination with optimal infection-prevention strategies may therefore further reduce the risk that patients will acquire infection in healthcare environments.

Efficiency improvement of non-uniformly-aged PV arrays

The utilization of solar energy by photovoltaic (PV) systems have received much research and development (R&D) attention across the globe. In the past decades, a large number of PV array have been installed. Since the installed PV arrays often operate in harsh environments, non-uniform aging can occur and impact adversely on the performance of PV systems, especially in the middle and late periods of their service life. Due to the high cost of replacing aged PV modules by new modules, it is appealing to improve energy efficiency of aged PV systems. For this purpose, this paper presents a PV module reconfiguration strategy to achieve the maximum power generation from non-uniformly aged PV arrays without significant investment. The proposed reconfiguration strategy is based on the cell-unit structure of PV modules, the operating voltage limit of gird-connected converter, and the resulted bucket-effect of the maximum short circuit current. The objectives are to analyze all the potential reorganization options of the PV modules, find the maximum power point and express it in a proposition. This proposition is further developed into a novel implementable algorithm to calculate the maximum power generation and the corresponding reconfiguration of the PV modules. The immediate benefits from this reconfiguration are the increased total power output and maximum power point voltage information for global maximum power point tracking (MPPT). A PV array simulation model is used to illustrate the proposed method under three different cases. Furthermore, an experimental rig is built to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. The proposed method will open an effective approach for condition-based maintenance of emerging aging PV arrays.