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.

Is increased public spending for the preservation of historic monuments inevitable? The French case.

Abstract: There is a permanent expansion of the number of sites or properties listed as historic monuments in France. This expansion and the lack of productivity gains in the sector of restoration lead, within a stable economy, to an ever greater proportion of the national income being earmarked for upkeep and restoration. Hence the number of monuments to be subsidized grows. The policy does not include any mechanism of regulation. Ironically, laws governing this area have the effect of precipitating cost increases. Three possible alternatives are considered: appeals for sponsorship, merchandising, delisting.

The Nature and Contradictions of Neoliberalism

Abstract: This essay concerns neoliberalism, neoliberalism under US hegemony: its place in the history of capitalism, the social significance of the new rules that it imposes, its social costs and associated risks, its future. We have already discussed elsewhere the costs and benefits of neoliberalism. Its resilience is certainly the most difficult issue to tackle. Can we detect within neoliberalism internal contradictions that cast doubt on its ability to survive, both economically and politically? In other words, what is the nature of the new order of capitalism: a mere transition made possible by the crisis and the defeat of the labour movement, or a new era? These questions raise the issue of the interpretation of Keynesianism. Were the Keynesian years an exception following the Great Depression, or did they suggest the possible contours of another capitalism, or even a first step of capitalism beyond its own rules? Thus the definitions of capitalism, of Keynesianism and of neoliberalism are all at stake in this discussion.

Predicting the outcome of grade II glioma treated with temozolomide using proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy

Abstract: BACKGROUND: This study was designed to evaluate proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy ((1)H-MRS) for monitoring the WHO grade II glioma (low-grade glioma (LGG)) treated with temozolomide (TMZ). METHODS: This prospective study included adult patients with progressive LGG that was confirmed by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Temozolomide was administered at every 28 days. Response to TMZ was evaluated by monthly MRI examinations that included MRI with volumetric calculations and (1)H-MRS for assessing Cho/Cr and Cho/NAA ratios. Univariate, multivariate and receiver-operating characteristic statistical analyses were performed on the results. RESULTS: A total of 21 LGGs from 31 patients were included in the study, and followed for at least n=14 months during treatment. A total of 18 (86%) patients experienced a decrease in tumour volume with a greater decrease of metabolic ratios. Subsequently, five (28%) of these tumours resumed growth despite the continuation of TMZ administration with an earlier increase of metabolic ratios of 2 months. Three (14%) patients did not show any volume or metabolic change. The evolutions of the metabolic ratios, mean(Cho/Cr)(n) and mean(Cho/NAA)(n), were significantly correlated over time (Spearman ρ=+0.95) and followed a logarithmic regression (P>0.001). The evolutions over time of metabolic ratios, mean(Cho/Cr)(n) and mean(Cho/NAA)(n), were significantly correlated with the evolution of the mean relative decrease of tumour volume, mean(ΔV(n)/V(o)), according to a linear regression (P<0.001) in the 'response/no relapse' patient group, and with the evolution of the mean tumour volume (meanV(n)), according to an exponential regression (P<0.001) in the 'response/relapse' patient group. The mean relative decrease of metabolic ratio, mean(Δ(Cho/Cr)(n)/(Cho/Cr)(o)), at n=3 months was predictive of tumour response over the 14 months of follow-up. The mean relative change between metabolic ratios, mean((Cho/NAA)(n)-(Cho/Cr)(n))/(Cho/NAA)(n), at n=4 months was predictive of tumour relapse with a significant cutoff of 0.046, a sensitivity of 60% and a specificity of 100% (P=0.004). CONCLUSIONS: The (1)H-MRS profile changes more widely and rapidly than tumour volume during the response and relapse phases, and represents an early predictive factor of outcome over 14 months of follow-up. Thus, (1)H-MRS may be a promising, non-invasive tool for predicting and monitoring the clinical response to TMZ.

The origins of French experimental psychology: experiment and experimentalism

Abstract: light of a history of French psychology which has still to be written. Taine, Ribot, Janet and Binet can be considered the founders in France of a psychology with scientific aspirations; the foundation can be dated roughly to the period 1870-1900. In 1870 there appeared two manifestos in favour of positive psychology, the prefaces to Taine’s De l’intelligence and Ribot’s La psychologie anglaise contemporaine. The new discipline was institutionalized by the creation in 1887 of a chair in Experimental and Comparative Psychology at the College de France to which Ribot was appointed in 1888 and by the establishment in 1889 of the Laboratory of Physiological Psychology at the Sorbonne. Beaunis, a physiologist from Nancy, was appointed director of the laboratory; three years later Binet became assistant director, and succeeded Beaunis in 1894. In the same year Binet published an Introduction à la psychologie exp6rimentale. In 1890, Charcot established a small psychological laboratory at the Salpetriere for his student Janet, whose thèse de lettres, a work

Interactions Between Risk Taking, Capital, and Reinsurance for Property–Liability Insurance Firms

Abstract: Financial theory has long recognized the structural relationship between capital and risk. This article posits reinsurance usage as a new endogenous decision variable and analyzes its effect on this decision mix from a sample of U.S. property–liability insurance firms. Empirical results obtained from a simultaneous equation model confirm the mutual interactions among capital, reinsurance and risk taking. Risk taking is positively related to capital, which highlights the effectiveness of regulatory mechanisms and the relevance of the capital buffer hypothesis. Reinsurance is negatively associated with capital, for which it displays a substitutive effect. These results seem to vary with the insurers’ level of capitalization, affiliation with a group, size, and organizational form. Unlike other decision variables, the capital ratio is adjusted to its target level.