To fasten words again to visible – and invisible – things

In this extended introductory essay, Catherine Gander and Sarah Garland suggest new ways of looking at the correspondences between visual and verbal practices to consider their material and conceptual connections in a specifically American set of histories, contexts and interpretive traditions. Tracing a lineage of experiential philosophy that is grounded in the overturning of a Cartesian mind/body split, the authors argue for pluralistic perspectives on intermedial innovations that situate embodied and imaginative reader-viewer response as vital to the life of the artwork. Gander and Garland chart two main strands to this approach: the pragmatist strain of American aesthetics and social politics, rooted in the essays of transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson and emanating from the writings of John Dewey and William James; and the conceptualist strain of French-American Marcel Duchamp, whose ground-breaking ideas both positioned the artwork as a phenomenological construction and liberated the artist from established methods of practice and discourse. The ‘imagetext’ (after W. J. T. Mitchell) is therefore, argue Gander and Garland, a site consisting of far more than word and image – but a living assemblage of language, idea, thing, cognition, affect and shared experience.

French Autopathography

Reacting against the assumption that ill people ‘surrender’ their bodies to medicine, first-person illness narratives attempt to restore the patient’s voice to an often dehumanizing and bewildering medical experience. This special issue complements recent medical humanities scholarship on English-language illness narratives by investigating a distinctly rich tradition of French autopathography. Diverse approaches and methodologies will be used to consider first-person perspectives on a range of illnesses, disabilities and disorders, including AIDS, cancer, physical pain, mental health issues, anorexia, and locked-in syndrome. The issue aims to promote interdisciplinary dialogue across genres (literature, film, philosophy) and examine the creative potential that lies at the interface of medicine and the arts.

Essays on energy derivatives pricing and financial risk management

This thesis consists of an introductory chapter (essay I) and five more empirical essays on electricity markets and CO2 spot price behaviour, derivatives pricing analysis and hedging. Essay I presents the structure of the thesis and electricity markets functioning and characteristics, as well as the type of products traded, to be analyzed on the following essays. In the second essay we conduct an empirical study on co-movements in electricity markets resorting to wavelet analysis, discussing long-term dynamics and markets integration. Essay three is about hedging performance and multiscale relationships in the German electricity spot and futures markets, also using wavelet analysis. We concentrate the investigation on the relationship between coherence evolution and hedge ratio analysis, on a time-frequency-scale approach, between spot and futures which conditions the effectiveness of the hedging strategy. Essays four, five and six are interrelated between them and with the other two previous essays given the nature of the commodity analyzed, CO2 emission allowances, traded in electricity markets. Relationships between electricity prices, primary energy fuel prices and carbon dioxide permits are analyzed on essay four. The efficiency of the European market for allowances is examined taking into account markets heterogeneity. Essay five analyzes stylized statistical properties of the recent traded asset CO2 emission allowances, for spot and futures returns, examining also the relation linking convenience yield and risk premium, for the German European Energy Exchange (EEX) between October 2005 and October 2009. The study was conducted through empirical estimations of CO2 allowances risk premium, convenience yield, and their relation. Future prices from an ex-post perspective are examined to show evidence for significant negative risk premium, or else a positive forward premium. Finally, essay six analyzes emission allowances futures hedging effectiveness, providing evidence for utility gains increases with investor’s preference over risk. Deregulation of electricity markets has led to higher uncertainty in electricity prices and by presenting these essays we try to shed new lights about structuring, pricing and hedging in this type of markets.

Essays on supply chain's flexibility: a real options approach

A presente tese investiga o processo de tomada de decisão na gestão de cadeias de abastecimento, utilizando um quadro de análise de opções reais. Especificamente, estudamos tópicos como o nível de inventário ideal para protecção contra a incerteza da procura, o momento para implementação de capacidade flexível em mercados onde existe complexidade no mix de produtos, o tempo para o reforço do factor trabalho visando requisitos de serviço ao mercado, e as decisões entre integração e outsourcing num ambiente de incerteza. Foram usadas metodologias de tempo discreto e contínuo para identificar o valor ideal e o calendário das opções a adoptar, quando a procura é estocástica. Além disso, foram considerados os efeitos dos requisitos dos mercados, como a complexidade na oferta de produtos e o nível de serviço. A procura é representada recorrendo a diferentes processos estocásticos, o impacto de saltos inesperados também é explorado, reforçando a generalização dos modelos a diferentes condições de negócio. A aplicabilidade dos modelos que apresentamos permite a diversificação e o enriquecimento da literatura sobre a abordagem de opções reais, no âmbito das cadeias de abastecimento. Níveis de inventário flexíveis e capacidades flexíveis são característicos das cadeias de abastecimento e podem ser usados como resposta à incerteza do mercado. Esta tese é constituída por ensaios que suportam a aplicação dos modelos, e consiste num capítulo introdutório (designado por ensaio I) e mais seis ensaios sobre factores que discutem o uso de medidas de flexibilidade nas cadeias de abastecimento, em ambientes de incerteza, e um último ensaio sobre a extensão do conceito de flexibilidade ao tratamento da avaliação de planos de negócio. O segundo ensaio que apresentamos é sobre o valor do inventário num único estádio, enquanto medida de flexibilidade, sujeita ao crescente condicionalismo dos custos com posse de activos. Introduzimos uma nova classificação de artigos para suportar o indicador designado por overstock. No terceiro e quarto ensaio ampliamos a exploração do conceito de overstock, promovendo a interacção e o balanceamento entre vários estádios de uma cadeia de abastecimento, como forma de melhorar o desempenho global. Para sustentar a aplicação prática das abordagens, adaptamos o ensaio número três à gestão do desempenho, para suportar o estabelecimento de metas coordenadas e alinhadas; e adaptamos o quarto ensaio à coordenação das cadeias de abastecimento, como auxiliar ao planeamento integrado e sequencial dos níveis de inventário. No ensaio cinco analisamos o factor de produção “tecnologia”, em relação directa com a oferta de produtos de uma empresa, explorando o conceito de investimento, como medida de flexibilidade nas componentes de volume da procura e gama de produtos. Dedicamos o ensaio número seis à análise do factor de produção “Mão-de-Obra”, explorando as condicionantes para aumento do número de turnos na perspectiva económica e determinando o ponto crítico para a tomada de decisão em ambientes de incerteza. No ensaio número sete exploramos o conceito de internalização de operações, demarcando a nossa análise das demais pela definição do momento crítico que suporta a tomada de decisão em ambientes dinâmicos. Complementamos a análise com a introdução de factores temporais de perturbação, nomeadamente, o estádio de preparação necessário e anterior a uma eventual alteração de estratégia. Finalmente, no último ensaio, estendemos a análise da flexibilidade em ambientes de incerteza ao conceito de planos de negócio. Em concreto, exploramos a influência do número de pontos de decisão na flexibilidade de um plano, como resposta à crescente incerteza dos mercados. A título de exemplo, usamos o mecanismo de gestão sequencial do orçamento para suportar o nosso modelo. A crescente incerteza da procura obrigou a um aumento da agilidade e da flexibilidade das cadeias de abastecimento, limitando o uso de muitas das técnicas tradicionais de suporte à gestão, pela incapacidade de incorporarem os efeitos da incerteza. A flexibilidade é claramente uma vantagem competitiva das empresas que deve, por isso, ser quantificada. Com os modelos apresentados e com base nos resultados analisados, pretendemos demonstrar a utilidade da consideração da incerteza nos instrumentos de gestão, usando exemplos numéricos para suportar a aplicação dos modelos, o que claramente promove a aproximação dos desenvolvimentos aqui apresentados às práticas de negócio.

French-greek machine translation of imperative sentences: issues in aspect and mood from a controlled language perspective

The present dissertation examines how grammatical aspect and mood are handled by machine translation (MT) systems within the scope of imperative sentences (orders, recommendations) when dealing with the language pair French-Greek (unidirectional, towards Greek). As the grammatical category of aspect is not expressed in the same way in both languages, choosing the correct aspect value when translating a verb from French to Greek can pose problems. We are interested in describing the types of errors that occur and their frequency in a corpus taken from texts pertaining to the security domain and from technical manuals, where imperative sentences are very common. In order to further delimit our research, our sample consists of sentences that comply with the general principles of simplicity and readability provided by several controlled language guidelines and aimed at higher translatability when having MT in mind. In a second phase, this study aims at discovering how modifying some of the control rules would help (or not) the MT systems better decide upon the translation of aspect and mood.

Changing patterns of first injection across key periods of the French Harm Reduction Policy: PrimInject, a cross sectional analysis

Background: Monitoring of emerging modes of drug consumption in France has identified new patterns of injection among youths with diverse social backgrounds, which may explain the persistence of high rates of hepatitis C virus infection. The circumstances surrounding the first injection have been poorly documented in the group of heavy drug users and in the context of the French opioid substitution treatment (OST) policy that provides expanded access to high-dosage buprenorphine (BHD). Methods: An Internet survey (Priminject) was conducted from October 2010 to March 2011 with French drug users. Four time periods were compared based on critical dates throughout the implementation of the Harm Reduction Policy in France. Results: Compared with drug users who injected for the first time prior to 1995, the aspects of drug use for users who recently injected for the first time were as follows: (1) experimentation with miscellaneous drugs before the first injection; (2) an older age at the time of first injection; (3) heroin as the drug of choice for an individual’s first injection, notwithstanding the increased usage of stimulant drugs; (4) BHD did not appear to be a pathway to injection; and (5) an increased number of users who injected their first time alone, without the help or presence of another individual. Conclusion: The PrimInject study showed that there is a group of injection drug users that is larger than the group of injection drug users observed in previous studies; therefore, it is necessary to diversify programs to reach the entire spectrum of high-risk users.

Kritik des Ökonomismus 2004 - 2006 : Drei Essays

Unter dem zusammenfassenden Titel „Kritik des Ökonomismus“ werden hier drei zeitkritische Essays vorgelegt: 1 „Das verkehrte Verhältnis zwischen Ökonomie und Kultur“ (2004) 2 „Innovation und Wachstum zwischen Ökonomie und Kultur“ (2005) 3 „Die Zukunft der Demokratie“ (2006) Die Texte sind in der angegebenen Reihenfolge im Februar der Jahre 2003, 2004 und 2005 geschrieben worden und sie sind dann im jeweiligen Folgejahr im Jahrbuch des Landkreises Hildesheim erschienen. Mit diesen drei Essays wird der Versuch unternommen, die krisenhafte gesellschaftliche Situation sowie die erkennbaren Zukunftstendenzen im Zusammenhang zu verstehen, zu kritisieren, einige Schlussfolgerungen zu ziehen und zur Diskussion zu stellen. Bestimmte wichtige Teilthemen konnten dabei leider noch nicht explizit berücksichtigt werden; dies gilt insbesondere für die Bedeutung der Weltmärkte und das internationale politische System. Die hier vorgestellten Überlegungen sind insoweit unabgeschlossen und bedürfen daher einer Weiterentwicklung. Der Titel dieser Veröffentlichung ergibt sich daraus, dass der „Ökonomismus“ kritisiert wird. Damit ist gemeint, und dies ist auch die Kernthese, dass der auf Grundlage mächtiger Interessen zunehmend durchgesetzte gesamtgesellschaftliche Geltungsanspruch und die tatsächliche Dominanz eines bloßen Teilsystems der Gesellschaft, nämlich der Wirtschaft, - über das gesellschaftliche Ganze sich für dieses geistig, wirtschaftlich und politisch verhängnisvoll auswirkt. Die Bedingung der Möglichkeit einer Lösung der sich daraus ergebenden gesellschaftlichen Probleme besteht in einer tiefgehenden Veränderung der realen Gewichtung der Interessen innerhalb der Gesellschaft. Erst wenn eine solche veränderte Gewichtung verwirklicht wäre, könnte die systemisch beschränkte „ökonomische Rationalität der Mittel“ einer offenen „politisch-kulturellen Rationalität der Zwecke“ untergeordnet werden, um dann - auf dieser Grundlage - das neue Feld von Handlungsoptionen demokratisch zu gestalten.

Essays on Applications of the Factor Model

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2013

Energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions of different supply chains: a comparison of French, UK and Belgian cases

Freight transportation system is critical to economic activity but it carries significant environmental costs, notably GHG emissions and climate change : energy use and corresponding CO2 emissions is increasing faster in freight transport than in other sectors and this increase is primarily the result of increased trade. This paper compares the transport activities, associated energy consumption and CO2 emissions of different supply chains for a range of products in three countries: Belgium, France and United Kingdom. Among the products considered are furniture and ‘fruits & vegetables’. For each of these products, different supply chains, involving more or less transport activity and associated energy consumption are analysed in each country. The comparison highlights some of the main factors that influence GHG emissions for different supply chains and illustrates how they vary according to product and country of final distribution. In more detail, the paper addresses the main differences between the supply chains of these products namely, the origin of their sourcing, the logistical organisation between production and retail and different types of retail outlet. The origin of the sourcing impact is mainly related to distance. The impact of the logistical organisation between raw material and retail on GHG emissions is linked to the mode and vehicle choice and to the load factor. As for retail, the consumer trip emissions, between his home and the retail outlet, are also an important part of the whole supply chain emissions. It is worthwhile to notice that our goal in this project is to consider the whole supply chain, from production to consumption. Therefore a particular focus is put on the mobility behaviours of consumers purchasing the studied products during their shopping and dropping back home activities related to these products. Especially a web based survey has been conducted and the gathered results offer an opportunity for drawing a more detailed picture of the associated CO2 emissions. This paper uses the results of an ongoing research on supply chain energy efficiency, funded by ADEME (the French Energy Agency) through the French program on transport research (PREDIT). This research is based on a comprehensive review of the various approaches to quantifying the environmental impacts of supply chains together with data collection from a range of organisations including manufacturers, retailers and transport companies. We will first present the developed methodologies, then the results corresponding to each studied product will be described. A discussion of the potential application of the research approach to the wider debate about the environmental impact of freight transport and the scope for GHG emissions reduction targets to be achieved will be included.

Energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions of different supply chains: a comparison of French, UK and Belgian cases

Freight transportation system is critical to economic activity but it carries significant environmental costs, notably GHG emissions and climate change : energy use and corresponding CO2 emissions is increasing faster in freight transport than in other sectors and this increase is primarily the result of increased trade. This paper compares the transport activities, associated energy consumption and CO2 emissions of different supply chains for a range of products in three countries: Belgium, France and United Kingdom. Among the products considered are furniture and fruits & vegetables. For each of these products, different supply chains, involving more or less transport activity and associated energy consumption are analysed in each country. The comparison highlights some of the main factors that influence GHG emissions for different supply chains and illustrates how they vary according to product and country of final distribution. In more detail, the paper addresses the main differences between the supply chains of these products namely, the origin of their sourcing, the logistical organisation between production and retail and different types of retail outlet. The origin of the sourcing impact is mainly related to distance. The impact of the logistical organisation between raw material and retail on GHG emissions is linked to the mode and vehicle choice and to the load factor. As for retail, the consumer trip emissions, between his home and the retail outlet, are also an important part of the whole supply chain emissions. It is worthwhile to notice that our goal in this project is to consider the whole supply chain, from production to consumption. Therefore a particular focus is put on the mobility behaviours of consumers purchasing the studied products during their shopping and dropping back home activities related to these products. Especially a web based survey has been conducted and the gathered results offer an opportunity for drawing a more detailed picture of the associated CO2 emissions. This paper uses the results of an ongoing research on supply chain energy efficiency, funded by ADEME (the French Energy Agency) through the French program on transport research (PREDIT). This research is based on a comprehensive review of the various approaches to quantifying the environmental impacts of supply chains together with data collection from a range of organisations including manufacturers, retailers and transport companies. We will first present the developed methodologies, then the results corresponding to each studied product will be described. A discussion of the potential application of the research approach to the wider debate about the environmental impact of freight transport and the scope for GHG emissions reduction targets to be achieved will be included.

A Migrant Culture on Display: The French Migrant and French Gastronomy in London (19th – 21st centuries)

The large contemporary French migrant population – estimated by the French Consulate at around 300,000–400,000 in the UK, the majority living in London and the South-East – remains ‘absent’ from studies on migration, and, in a study of migrant food history in Britain, is considered not to have left traces as a migrant community. Over the centuries, the presence of various French communities in London has varied significantly as far as numbers are concerned, but what does not change is their simultaneous ‘visibility’ and ‘invisibility’ in accounts of the history of the capital: even when relatively ‘visible’ at certain historical moments, they still often remain hidden in its histories. At times the French in London are described as a ‘sober, well-behaved […] and law-abiding community’; at other times they ‘appeared as a foreign body in the city’. This article reflects on the dynamics at play between a migrant culture associated with high cultural capital (so much so that is often emulated by those who are not French) and the host culture perception of and relationship to it, in order to consider what this may ‘mean’ for the French (and Francophone) migrant experience. French gastronomy and culinary knowledge is taken as an example of material culture and of cultural capital ‘on display’ specifically in the activity of dining out, especially in French restaurants, or in those influenced by French gastronomy. The social activity of dining out is replete with displays of knowledge (linguistic, culinary), of cultural literacy, of modes of behaviour, of public identity, and of rituals strictly codified in both migrant and host cultures. Dining out is also an emotional and politically-charged activity, fraught with feelings of suspicion (what is in the food? what does the chef get up to in the kitchen?) and of anxieties and tensions concerning status, class and gender distinctions. This article considers the ways in which the migrant French citizen of London may be considered as occupying an ambiguous position at different times in history, simultaneously possessing cultural capital and needing to negotiate complex cultural encounters in the connections between identity and the symbolic status of food in food production, food purveying and food consumption.