Paris West University Nanterre La Défense

About: Paris West University Nanterre La Défense is a education organization based out in Paris, France. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Finite element method. The organization has 895 authors who have published 1430 publications receiving 21712 citations.

Deconstructive and/or “plastic” readings of Hegel

Abstract: L'Avenir de Hegel [Hegel's Future] is the title of the book I published in 1996 and which bears the subtitle: “Plasticite, Temporalite, Dialectique” [Plasticity, Temporality, Dialectics]. I intend to examine here the kind of reading of Hegel put to work in that book. I must add that l'Avenir de Hegel, before becoming a book, was the title of my doctoral thesis undertaken under the supervision of Jacques Derrida with whom I have been working for many years now. A question emerged recently which I had never considered until now, at least not so directly, so simply: can the interpretation of Hegel that I attempt to elaborate be qualified, immediately and without reservation, as a “deconstructive reading”? This presupposes, of course, that one can define what a deconstructive reading is. Although Derrida, as we know, refuses to consider deconstruction as a constituted theory from which one could extract axioms and formalize the method, it is nonetheless possible, as I shall attempt to do here, to describe the process of a deconstructive reading. In writing l'Avenir de Hegel, I had present in my mind the exegetical imperative set out in Of Grammatology under the heading of a “task of reading”: Derrida asserts, “The reading must always aim at a certain relationship, unperceived by the writer, between what he commands and what he does not command of the patterns of the language that he uses. This relationship is not a certain quantitative distribution of shadow and light, of weakness or of force, but a signifying structure that critical reading should produce” (De la Grammatologie, p. 227; tr. Spivak, p. 158). I will ask precisely: what does it mean to produce or open a reading, a reading which protects the text in order better to expose or endanger it? In making “plasticity” (Plastizitat) play a major role in Hegel's thought, I undertook to respond to the demands of this “task of reading”. In doing so, I nonetheless discovered, under the very title of plasticity itself, a resistance of the Hegelian text to its own deconstruction. I shall thus have to specify this resistance at the same time as I develop the program of the task of reading.

Robust low-rank covariance matrix estimation with a general pattern of missing values

Abstract: This paper tackles the problem of robust covariance matrix estimation when the data is incomplete. Classical statistical estimation methodologies are usually built upon the Gaussian assumption, whereas existing robust estimation ones assume unstructured signal models. The former can be inaccurate in real-world data sets in which heterogeneity causes heavy-tail distributions, while the latter does not profit from the usual low-rank structure of the signal. Taking advantage of both worlds, a covariance matrix estimation procedure is designed on a robust (compound Gaussian) low-rank model by leveraging the observed-data likelihood function within an expectation-maximization algorithm. It is also designed to handle general pattern of missing values. The proposed procedure is first validated on simulated data sets. Then, its interest for classification and clustering applications is assessed on two real data sets with missing values, which include multispectral and hyperspectral time series.

Silver phiale said to be from al-Juba (al-Wusṭa Governorate) — an archaeological puzzle

Abstract: In March 2014, while recording finds in the Ministry of Heritage and Culture in al-Khuwair, artefacts unexpectedly came to light reportedly from al-Juba in Oman's Bar al-Ḥikmān, in al-Wusṭa Governorate, until recently an archaeologically little-researched part of the Sultanate. Some of the pieces could be attributed to the Samad LIA or perhaps the PIR, both from the centuries at the turning point of the ages from BCE to CE. Such finds have never before come to light in this part of Oman. Samad LIA sites are generally located some 220 km to the north on the southern flank of the al-Ḥajjar mountains in a zone c.160 x 105 km in area. Diagnostic pottery finds spread from Wadi Bānī Ruwāhah (UTM 40Q 620570 m E, 2561848 m N) eastwards to the coast, a smaller area than previously believed.

Intertemporal Emissions Trading and Allocation Rules: Gainers, Losers and the Spectre of Market Power

Abstract: Stemming from politically given market imperfections in a tradeable permits system, we develop a Stackelberg game model to describe how a large agent may exercise market power at the expense of a competitive fringe. In a dynamic framework with banking and borrowing, we explore how to restore the market equilibrium with an optimal allocation of permits. Overall, these results yield a better understanding of market mechanisms - and their potential for failure - to deliver CO2 emissions reductions needded to fight against climate change, and may be of interest for a wider audience composed of academic researchers and policy makers in the climate change policy arena.