School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences

About: School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences is a facility organization based out in Villejuif, France. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Politics & Context (language use). The organization has 1230 authors who have published 2084 publications receiving 57740 citations. The organization is also known as: Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales & EHESS.

Introduction: When Things Break Down

Abstract: The introduction co-authored by Philippe Sormani, Alain Bovet and Ignaz Strebel spells out the empirical and theoretical interest of studying repair work in situ against the background of recent developments in STS (its principal “materiality” foci), classic ethnographies of repair work (in both rural and urban settings), and “Broken World Thinking” (Jackson 2014) more broadly. Drawing upon phenomenological and pragmatist insights, the introduction argues for a broadened perspective on the actual unfolding of multiple situations of material disruption, whilst emphasizing the heuristic interest of breakdown(s) for re-examining repair, rethinking infrastructure maintenance, and relocating materiality. In so doing, the introduction makes explicit the rationale that articulates the three book sections—“Settings,” “Networks,” and “Politics”—and its successive ordering of chapters.

Modelling of the Poggendorff Illusion via Sub-Riemannian Geodesics in the Roto-Translation Group

Abstract: We present a neuro-mathematical model for the well-known Poggendorff illusion, where an illusory contour appears as a geodesic in some given metric, induced in the primary visual cortex V1 by a visual stimulus. Our model extends the cortical based model by Citti and Sarti of perceptual completion in the roto-translation space \({\text {SE(2)}}\), where the functional architecture and neural connectivity of V1 of mammalians is modelled as principal fiber bundle of \({\text {SE(2)}}\) equipped with a sub-Riemannian (SR) metric. We extend the model by taking into account a presence of a visual stimulus (data adaptivity), which is done by including an appropriate external cost modulating the SR-metric. Perceptual curves appear as geodesics, that we compute via SR-Fast Marching.

Prosodic Realizations of Information Focus in French

Abstract: In this chapter, we provide empirical evidence on the prosodic marking of information focus (IF) in French. We report results from an elicitation experiment and two perception experiments. Based on these experiments, we propose that phrases that resolve a question are set off by two types of intonational markers in French: they host the nuclear pitch accent (NPA) on their right edge and/or they are intonationally highlighted by an initial rise (IR). These intonational markers are very often realized conjointly but can also be applied separately thus leading to considerable variation in our elicitation data. We will propose that some of the variation can be explained by differences in the function of NPA and IR: NPA placement is sensitive to the informational/illocutionary partitioning of the content of utterances, while IRs are sensitive to different types of semantic or pragmatic salience. We also suggest that “question/answer” pairs provide a criterion to identify the IF only if the answer is congruent. Answers may, however, contribute to implicit questions resulting in different prosodic realizations.

Energy made in Northern Friesland: fair enough?

Abstract: Citizen wind parks in the German district of Northern Friesland are a well-known example of the citizen-funded development of wind power. This paper follows the careful (and successful) collective ...