Les fleuves dans l'œuvre romanesque de Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio

Relying on Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology of perception and on Mircea Eliade's works on the Sacred and the Profane, this study explores the river as a perceptual space and as the sacred Center in a cosmic vision of the world in twelve of Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio's fictional works, from The Interrogation (1963) to Revolutions (2003). In the first chapter, after introducing the field of study, I discuss the relation between the radical subjectivity and the evasiveness of perceiving subjects in Le Clézio's fiction. Next are some thoughts on the relation between Merleau-Ponty's and Le Clézio's ideas. The second chapter studies the river as an experience in the text, first as a topographical space, then as a sound world. The investigations move on to its water as a visual and a tactile phenomenon. Then follows the human use of the river, the (absence of) baths, and the river as a traveling space. The chapter closes with the study of the metaphorical use of the word, occurring mainly in urban space and for phenomena in the sky. The third chapter is organized around the river as the Center of the world in a religious cosmogony, where the river represents the origin of the world and of the human race. The core analysis shows how the middle of the river is a symbolic space of a new beginning. As a sacred space, the river abolishes time as the object of contemplation and as relative immobility from the point of view of a person drifting downstream. The functions of a new beginning and of abolition of time are combined in the symbolic immersions in the water. Finally, the dissertation explores other symbolical spaces, such as the unknown destination of the drift, and the river as the Center of a utopia. The chapter closes with the existential agony as a result of the elimination of the Center in the urban environment. In the final chapter, the river is compared to other watercourses : the creek, the brook and the rapids. The river is more of a spatial entity, whereas the actual water is more important in the smaller watercourses. The river is more common than the other watercourses as a topographical element in the landscape, whereas the minor watercourses invite the characters to a closer contact with their element, in immersions and in drinking their water. Finally, the work situates the rivers in a broader context of different fictional spaces in Le Clézio's text.

The EC context for private forestry incentive evaluation.

XVIII IUFRO World Congress, Ljubljana 1986.

Texts "Con and Pro" : The Early Modern Medical Controversy over Tobacco

The habit of "drinking smoke" , meaning tobacco smoking, caused a true controversy in early modern England. The new substance was used both for its alleged therapeutic properties as well as its narcotic effects. The dispute over tobacco continues the line of written controversies which were an important means of communication in the sixteenth and seventeenth century Europe. The tobacco controversy is special among medical controversies because the recreational use of tobacco soon spread and outweighed its medicinal use, ultimately causing a social and cultural crisis in England. This study examines how language is used in polemic discourse and argumentation. The material consists of medical texts arguing for and against tobacco in early modern England. The texts were compiled into an electronic corpus of tobacco texts (1577 1670) representing different genres and styles of writing. With the help of the corpus, the tobacco controversy is described and analyzed in the context of early modern medicine. A variety of methods suitable for the study of conflict discourse were used to assess internal and external text variation. The linguistic features examined include personal pronouns, intertextuality, structural components, and statistically derived keywords. A common thread in the work is persuasive language use manifested, for example, in the form of emotive adjectives and the generic use of pronouns; the latter is especially pronounced in the dichotomy between us and them. Controversies have not been studied in this manner before but the methods applied have supplemented each other and proven their suitability in the study of conflictive discourse. These methods can also be applied to present-day materials.

Teachers' attitudes to and beliefs about web-based Collaborative Learning Environments in the context of an international implementation

"Fifty-six teachers, from four European countries, were interviewed to ascertain their attitudes to and beliefs about the Collaborative Learning Environments (CLEs) which were designed under the Innovative Technologies for Collaborative Learning Project. Their responses were analysed using categories based on a model from cultural-historical activity theory [Engestrom, Y. (1987). Learning by expanding.- An activity-theoretical approach to developmental research. Helsinki: Orienta-Konsultit; Engestrom, Y., Engestrom, R., & Suntio, A. (2002). Can a school community learn to master its own future? An activity-theoretical study of expansive learning among middle school teachers. In G. Wells & G. Claxton (Eds.), Learning for life in the 21st century. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers]. The teachers were positive about CLEs and their possible role in initiating pedagogical innovation and enhancing personal professional development. This positive perception held across cultures and national boundaries. Teachers were aware of the fact that demanding planning was needed for successful implementations of CLEs. However, the specific strategies through which the teachers can guide students' inquiries in CLEs and the assessment of new competencies that may characterize student performance in the CLEs were poorly represented in the teachers' reflections on CLEs. The attitudes and beliefs of the teachers from separate countries had many similarities, but there were also some clear differences, which are discussed in the article. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."

Implementing virtual collaborative inquiry practises in a middle-school context

The aim of the present study was to investigate the challenges that relate to the implementation of virtual inquiry practises in middle school. The case was a school course in which a group of Finnish students (N = 14) and teachers (N = 7) completed group inquiries through virtual collaboration, using a web-based learning environment. The task was to accomplish a cross-disciplinary inquiry into cultural issues. The students worked mainly at home and took much responsibility for their course achievements. The investigators analysed the pedagogical design of the course and the content of the participants' interaction patterns in the web-based environment, using qualitative content analysis and social network analysis. The findings suggest that the students succeeded in producing distinctive cultural products, and both the students and the teachers adopted novel roles during the inquiry. The web-based learning environment was used more as a coordination tool for organizing the collaborative work than as a forum for epistemic inquiry. The tension between the school curriculum and the inquiry practises was manifest in the participants' discussions of the assessment criteria of the course.

Work/Family Reconciliation: Corporate Management, Family Policies, and Gender Equality in the Finnish Context

Work/family reconciliation is a crucial question for both personal well-being and on societal level for productivity and re-production throughout the Western world. This thesis examines work/family reconciliation on societal and organisational level in the Finnish context. The study is based on an initial framework, developing it further and analysing the results with help of it. The methodology of the study is plural, including varying epistemological emphasis and both quantitative and qualitative methods. Policy analysis from two different sectors is followed by a survey answered by 113 HR-managers, and then, based on quantitative analyses, interviews in four chosen case companies. The central findings of the thesis are that there indeed are written corporate level policies for reconciling work and family in companies operating in Finland, in spite of the strong state level involvement in creating a policy context in work/family reconciliation. Also, the existing policies vary in accessibility and use. The most frequently used work/family policies still are the statutory state level policies for family leave, taking place when a baby is born and during his or her first years. Still, there are new policies arising, such as a nurse for an employee’s child who has fallen ill, that are based on company activity only, which shows in both accessibility and use of the policy. Reasons for developing corporate level work/family policies vary among the so-called pro-active and re-active companies. In general, family law has a substantial effect for developing corporate level policies. Also headquarter gender equality strategies as well as employee demands are important. In regression analyses, it was found that corporate image and importance in recruitment are the foremost reasons for companies to develop policies, not for example the amount of female employees in the company. The reasons for policy development can be summarized into normative pressures, coercive pressures and mimetic pressures, in line with findings from institutional theory. This research, however, includes awareness of different stakeholder interests and recognizes that institutional theory needs to be complemented with notions of gender and family, which seem to play a part in perceived work/family conflict and need for further work/family policies both in managers’ personal lives and on the organisational level. A very central finding, demanding more attention, is the by HR managers perceived change in values towards work and commitment towards organisation at the youngest working generation, Generation Y. This combined with the need for key personnel has brought new challenges to companies especially in knowledge business and will presumably lead to further development of flexible practices in organisations. The accessibility to this flexibility seems to, however, be even more dependent on the specific knowledge and skills of the employee. How this generation will change the organisations remains to be seen in further research.

Constructing and negotiating entrepreneurial agency : A social psychological approach to entrepreneurship discourse in the farm context

Entrepreneurship, understood as the autonomous, effective pursuit of opportunities regardless of resources, is currently subject to a multitude of interests, expectations, and facilitation efforts. On the one hand, such entrepreneurial agency has broad appeal to individuals in Western market democracies and resonates with their longing for an autonomous, personally tailored, meaningful, and materially rewarding way of life. On the other hand, entrepreneurship represents a tempting and increasingly popular means of governance and policy making, and thus a model for the re-organization of a variety of societal sectors. This study focuses on the diffusion and reception of entrepreneurship discourse in the context of farming and agriculture, where pressures to adopt entrepreneurial orientations have been increasingly pronounced while, on the other hand, the context of farming has historically enjoyed state protection and adhered to principles that seem at odds with aspects of individualistic entrepreneurship discourse . The study presents an interpretation of the psychologically and politically appealing uses of the notion of entrepreneurial agency , reviews the historical and political background of the current situation of farming and agriculture with regard to entrepreneurship, and examines their relationships in four empirical studies. The study follows and develops a social psychological, situated relational approach that guides the qualitative analyses and interpretations of the empirical studies. Interviews with agents from the farm sector aim to stimulate evaluative responses and comments on the idea of entrepreneurship on farms. Analysis of the interview talk, in turn, detects the variety of evaluative responses and argumentative contexts with which the interviewees relate themselves to the entrepreneurship discourse and adopt, use, resist, or reject it. The study shows that despite the pressures towards entrepreneurialism, the diffusion of entrepreneurship discourse and the construction of entrepreneurial agency in farm context encounter many obstacles. These obstacles can be variably related to aspects dealing with the individual agent, the action situation, the characteristics of the action itself, or to the broader social, institutional and cultural context. Many aspects of entrepreneurial agency, such as autonomy, personal initiative and achievement orientation, are nevertheless familiar to farmers and are eagerly related to one s own farming activities. The idea of entrepreneurship is thus rarely rejected outright. The findings highlight the relational and situational preconditions for the construction of entrepreneurial agency in the farm context: When agents demonstrate entrepreneurial agency, they do so by drawing on available and accessed relational resources characteristic of their action context. Likewise, when agents fail or are reluctant to demonstrate entrepreneurial agency, they nevertheless actively account for their situation and demonstrate personal agency by drawing on the relational resources available to them.

Strategic Sales Process Adaptation: Relationship Orientation of the Sales Process in a Business-to-Business Context

Although previous research has recognised adaptation as a central aspect in relationships, the adaptation of the sales process to the buying process has not been studied. Furthermore, the linking of relationship orientation as mindset with adaptation as a strategy and forming the means has not been elaborated upon in previous research. Adaptation in the context of relationships has mostly been studied in relationship marketing. In sales and sales management research, adaptation has been studied with reference to personal selling. This study focuses on adaptation of the sales process to strategically match it to the buyer’s mindset and buying process. The purpose of this study is to develop a framework for strategic adaptation of the seller’s sales process to match the buyer’s buying process in a business-to-business context to make sales processes more relationship oriented. In order to arrive at a holistic view of adaptation of the sales process during relationship initiation, both the seller and buyer are included in an extensive case analysed in the study. However, the selected perspective is primarily that of the seller, and the level focused on is that of the sales process. The epistemological perspective adopted is constructivism. The study is a qualitative one applying a retrospective case study, where the main sources of information are in-depth semi-structured interviews with key informants representing the counterparts at the seller and the buyer in the software development and telecommunications industries. The main theoretical contributions of this research involve targeting a new area in the crossroads of relationship marketing, sales and sales management, and buying and purchasing by studying adaptation in a business-to-business context from a new perspective. Primarily, this study contributes to research in sales and sales management with reference to relationship orientation and strategic sales process adaptation. This research fills three research gaps. Firstly, linking the relationship orientation mindset with adaptation as strategy. Secondly, extending adaptation in sales from adaptation in selling to strategic adaptation of the sales process. Thirdly, extending adaptation to include facilitation of adaptation. The approach applied in the study, systematic combining, is characterised by continuously moving back and forth between theory and empirical data. The framework that emerges, in which linking mindset with strategy with mindset and means forms a central aspect, includes three layers: purchasing portfolio, seller-buyer relationship orientation, and strategic sales process adaptation. Linking the three layers enables an analysis of where sales process adaptation can make a contribution. Furthermore, implications for managerial use are demonstrated, for example how sellers can avoid the ‘trap’ of ad-hoc adaptation. This includes involving the company, embracing the buyer’s purchasing portfolio, understanding the current position that the seller has in this portfolio, and possibly educating the buyer about advantages of adopting a relationship-oriented approach.

Patent Price Dynamics in the Context of Patent Age and Patent Latent Variables

The decision to patent a technology is a difficult one to make for the top management of any organization. The expected value that the patent might deliver in the market is an important factor that impacts this judgement. Earlier researchers have suggested that patent prices are better indicators of value of a patent and that auction prices are the best way of determining value. However, the lack of public data on pricing has prevented research on understanding the dynamics of patent pricing. Our paper uses singleton patent auction price data of Ocean Tomo LLC to study the prices of patents. We describe price characteristics of these patents. The price of these patents was correlated with their age, and a significant correlation was found. A price - age matrix was developed and we describe the price characteristics of patents using four quadrants of the matrix, namely young and old patents with low and high prices. We also found that patents owned by small firms get transacted more often and inventor owned patents attracted a better price than assignee owned patents.

Context based service discovery for ubiquitous applications

Service discovery is vital in ubiquitous applications, where a large number of devices and software components collaborate unobtrusively and provide numerous services without user intervention. Existing service discovery schemes use a service matching process in order to offer services of interest to the users. Potentially, the context information of the users and surrounding environment can be used to improve the quality of service matching. To make use of context information in service matching, a service discovery technique needs to address certain challenges. Firstly, it is required that the context information shall have unambiguous representation. Secondly, the devices in the environment shall be able to disseminate high level and low level context information seamlessly in the different networks. And thirdly, dynamic nature of the context information be taken into account. We propose a C-IOB(Context-Information, Observation and Belief) based service discovery model which deals with the above challenges by processing the context information and by formulating the beliefs based on the observations. With these formulated beliefs the required services will be provided to the users. The method has been tested with a typical ubiquitous museum guide application over different cases. The simulation results are time efficient and quite encouraging.

Scalable Context-Sensitive Points-To Analysis Using Multi-Dimensional Bloom Filters

Context-sensitive points-to analysis is critical for several program optimizations. However, as the number of contexts grows exponentially, storage requirements for the analysis increase tremendously for large programs, making the analysis non-scalable. We propose a scalable flow-insensitive context-sensitive inclusion-based points-to analysis that uses a specially designed multi-dimensional bloom filter to store the points-to information. Two key observations motivate our proposal: (i) points-to information (between pointer-object and between pointer-pointer) is sparse, and (ii) moving from an exact to an approximate representation of points-to information only leads to reduced precision without affecting correctness of the (may-points-to) analysis. By using an approximate representation a multi-dimensional bloom filter can significantly reduce the memory requirements with a probabilistic bound on loss in precision. Experimental evaluation on SPEC 2000 benchmarks and two large open source programs reveals that with an average storage requirement of 4MB, our approach achieves almost the same precision (98.6%) as the exact implementation. By increasing the average memory to 27MB, it achieves precision upto 99.7% for these benchmarks. Using Mod/Ref analysis as the client, we find that the client analysis is not affected that often even when there is some loss of precision in the points-to representation. We find that the NoModRef percentage is within 2% of the exact analysis while requiring 4MB (maximum 15MB) memory and less than 4 minutes on average for the points-to analysis. Another major advantage of our technique is that it allows to trade off precision for memory usage of the analysis.