Showing papers by "University of Lorraine published in 2003"

What do Unions do to Productivity? A Meta-Analysis

Abstract: The impact of unions on productivity is explored using meta-analysis and meta-regression analysis. It is shown that most of the variation in published results is due to specification differences between studies. After controlling for differences between studies, a negative association between unions and productivity is established for the United Kingdom, whereas a positive association is established for the United States in general and for U.S. manufacturing.

What Do Unions Do to Productivity? A Meta‐Analysis

Abstract: The impact of unions on productivity is explored using meta-analysis and meta-regression analysis. It is shown that most of the variation in published results is due to specification differences between studies. After controlling for differences between studies, a negative association between unions and productivity is established for the United Kingdom, whereas a positive association is established for the United States in general and for U.S. manufacturing.

The social cost of alcohol, tobacco and illicit drugs in France, 1997.

Abstract: Aim, Design and Setting: The economic costs of alcohol, tobacco and illicit drugs to French society are estimated using a cost of illness framework. Measurements:

Supplétion et classes flexionnelles

Abstract: This article presents a detailed analysis of suppletion phenomena in French conjugation. The analysis rests on the postulation of a network of dependency relations between the various stems of a verb lexeme. We then discuss the relevance on inflectional classes to the description of French conjugation; we conclude that there is no compelling case in favor of inflectional classes of French verbs.

Kinetics of atrazine degradation by photocatalytic process in aqueous solution

Abstract: The photocatalytic degradation of the herbicide atrazine has been studied using suspended titanium dioxide as catalyst. The Langmuir-Hinshelwood model is satisfactorily obeyed at initial time and in the course of the reaction. The rate of degradation is found to be enhanced by the addition of persulphate ions. Competitive degradation between atrazine and other pollutants is satisfactorily interpreted as monitored by a competitive adsorption of the reactants. As a consequence, efficient reactants such as salicylic acid and phenol delay atrazine degradation until these compounds are degraded.

Regularity of Optimal Convex Shapes

Abstract: We consider shape optimisation problems in the class of convex sets. Assuming that the shape functional satisfies a Lipschitz like property with respect to a distance issued from the γ-convergence, we prove that the minimiser has the boundary of class C1. In particular, we prove that large classes of functionals depending on the eigenvalues of the Dirichlet Laplacian satisfy this property. The key point of the paper is the understanding of the asymptotic behaviour of the γ-convergence near the “angular” points of the convex set.

The evolution of textural properties of Na/Ca-bentonite following hydrothermal treatment at 80 and 300°C in the presence of Fe and/or Fe oxides

Abstract: The evolution of textural properties of Na/Ca-bentonite from Wyoming (MX-80) was studied by adsorption of nitrogen, water vapour, and ethylene glycol monoethyl ether. Clay suspensions were heated at 80 and 300°C for up to 9 months in the absence of or in the presence of Fe and/or Fe oxides. The treatment without Fe did not change the textural properties of the samples significantly. The treatment at 80°C in the presence of Fe resulted in a considerable increase in the external surface areas of the samples. The total and external surface areas and swelling capacities of the samples decreased following the treatment at 300°C in the presence of Fe and Fe oxides. In the case of larger additions of Fe, the treatment at 300°C resulted in a considerable decrease in the total and external surface areas and swelling capacity of the sample and in the formation of a network of large-size pores, in which all the pores were connected.

Hot wire method for the thermal characterization of materials: inverse problem application

Abstract: An experimental set-up of the hot wire method is presented. The present design allows the measurement of the temperatures at two different points on the heating wire with an acquisition system that performs measurements at a frequency of 1kHz with a 12 bit numerical converter. An analytical solution for the direct model for the time dependent problem of heat transfer is employed. It is based on the quadrupole method which basically consists in a transfer matrix approach which is possible through the use of Laplace transforms. It extends the electrical analogy of heat transfer problems using the notion of impedance, and allows to take into account the thermal behavior of the wire, as well as contact resistance and heat loss effects in a very simple straightforward way. In the identification process carried on the temperature experimental data relies on a sampling of the data that is logarithmically spaced in time. The initial guesses for the thermal conductivity values are obtained applying the well known and ideal model of the linear temperature evolution versus the logarithm of the time. These values are used to start up the algorithms that are applied in the minimization of the cost functional of the squared residues between measured and calculated temperatures. The precision of the estimates is assessed with the calculated confidence bounds obtained by the variance-covariance matrix at the converged solution.

Cadres du Témoignage historique et médiatique, Frontières disciplinaires

Abstract: Partant du constat de la forte presence des temoignages historiques dans les medias – en l’espece ceux relatifs a la shoah – et de la necessite de depasser les frontieres disciplinaires pour en comprendre l’emergence et les enjeux, le propos consiste a explorer heuristiquement les possibles relations entre des theorisations du cadre et un emboitement de trois niveaux de cadrage. Mettant en evidence des phenomenes de coupures et de coutures entre des demarches scientifiques, l’auteur examine le macro-niveau des facteurs historiques comme explication de la montee des temoignages, le meso-niveau des polemiques entre experts comme cristallisation des enjeux testimoniaux, le micro-niveau des dispositifs mediatiques comme lieu de faconnage des temoignages. L’ensemble vise a esquisser un programme de recherche, integrant plusieurs courants disciplinaires, sur le cadre comme operateur de fabrication et d’analyse des temoignages.

Témoignages de femmes immigrantes et construction d'un problème public

Abstract: Cette etude a consiste a analyser les temoignages de femmes immigrantes et/ou issues de l’immigration, installees dans des quartiers dits sensibles. Celles-ci denoncent leurs conditions de vie difficiles, par le biais de differents relais associatifs et mediatiques, notamment dans un document dont elles sont les auteurs, Le Livre Blanc des Femmes de Quartier, et dans le quotidien Le Monde. Outre le fait d’avoir constate que ces femmes parlaient toutes d’un repli de type communautariste, au sein de leurs quartiers, ou de conflits a caractere culturel, et essayaient d’en apporter les preuves suffisantes, l’analyse demontre que leur implication dans le champ mediatique a contribue a construire un probleme et a ouvrir un reel debat dans un espace public large.

Personal Identity – Fortress of the Individual in a World of Performance? The Self, Law and Social Power

Abstract: The paper examines the issue of personal identity in terms of a philosophical, social, political and legal inquiry.

Pratiques managériales et représentations de la complexité : présentation d'une recherche ingénierique dans le domaine de l'investissement industriel

Abstract: The current challenge of the company is to create value in a context which becomes more and more complex. The capacity of the companies to take up this challenge depends on the professional practices which result from this. The objective of this research is double: - to bring conceptual references allowing to understand the difficulties of the companies of managing this complexity ; - to propose a step of conduit of change supporting not only the sharing of knowledge but also of cooperation in prospect of innovating actions. At the end, the engineering of our research was the subject of an experimentation in company.

Aspects diachroniques des constructions à détachement

Abstract: Le but de cet article est de montrer que deux des structures a detachement les plus frequentes en francais, les constructions detachees et les constituants topicalises, ont une origine et une evolution bien distinctes. En examinant plus particulierement la periode du moyen francais, on etudie comment les appositions sont le resultat d’une operation de detachement de la predication principale, alors que les syntagmes topicalises se trouvent progressivement integres a la structure de la proposition.

Propriete industrielle et choix de localisation. Une modelisation theorique

Abstract: Cet article etudie un choix de localisation entre deux pays parfaitement identiques a l’exception de la protection qu’ils garantissent aux detenteurs de droits de propriete industrielle. Nous montrons que, si l’investissement direct permet de dissuader l’entree des firmes imitatrices locales, l’entreprise multinationale choisit de s’implanter dans le pays a faible protection lorsque les marches concernes sont suffisamment importants par rapport aux couts d’exportation entre ces deux pays.

Cascade stochastic differential systems: Asymptotic stabilization via a Jurdjevic-Quinn approach

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to apply the stochastic version of La Salle's invariance principle in order to obtain sufficient conditions for the asymptotic stabilization in probability of cascade nonlinear stochastic differential systems. This result extends the one obtained in Florchinger [4] for partially linear stochastic cascade differential systems.

C-tetrachlorodibenzo-para-dioxin: approaches with the Caco-2 cell line and with portal absorption measurements in growing pigs

Abstract: The aim of this work was to study the transfer through the intestinal barrier of two polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) (benzo(a)pyrene and phenanthrene) and a dioxin (2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-para-dioxin) which differed in their physicochemical properties. Both in vitro and in vivo assays were performed. For the in vitro study, Caco-2 cells, cultivated on perme- able filters, permitted to measure the transepithelial permeability of the studied 14 C-labelled mole- cules. For the in vivo study, portal absorption kinetics were evaluated in pigs fed contamined milk. The results showed that all the molecules were absorbed and demonstrated a differential intestinal absorption for the studied molecules. Phenanthrene appeared to be the fastest and most uptaken compound, followed by benzo(a)pyrene and finally 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-para-dioxin. Their absorption levels were respectively 9.5, 5.2 and 1.4% after a 6 h-exposure in vitro and 86.1, 30.5 and 8.3% in vivo for the 24 h following ingestion. These findings suggest that the physicochemical prop- erties of the xenobiotics and intestinal epithelium play key roles in the selective permeability and in the bioavailability of the tested micropollutants. intestinal transfer / PAHs / dioxin / Caco-2 / portal absorption

For a sustainable MOT education - Proposal for the integration of individual ethics development in the curriculum of a French Engineering School

Abstract: Through a practical example of individual ethics development based on reflective learning, this paper aims to show how it is possible to help students studying in a French engineering school specialized in MOT and Innovation to define and manage their own professional objectives. While training requires students to develop new approaches to tasks and new modes of behavior, it also necessitates new approaches to the concept of self. Whereas training contributes to the development of the two former requirements through methods and tools that are specific to engineering sciences, it rarely contributes to an awareness of and a conscious construction of the self. Learning to develop reflective modes of thinking may be a condition for building self-awareness and for generating new attitudes towards professional life. For the students this entails becoming conscious of the values conveyed by the system (the given), the values that they have received (the transmitted) and the values that they wish to adopt (the created). We propose to demonstrate how creating a dynamic interaction between this aspect of learning and a pedagogical approach that centers around in-company project-based training can lead students to build appropriate professional skills, to say who they are, to express how they have internalized their training and to better meet corporate needs.

Ambivalent and Abstract: State-Organised Identification

Abstract: This paper is a substantial review and comment of a book by scholars from the US, Canada, the UK, France, German-speaking Europe and The Netherlands, working on identification issues in a broad variety of disciplines, namely history and sociology, but also criminology, history of science, political science and bioethics; not in law, however.

Analyse des trajectoires des sortantes de l'api

Abstract: A partir de donnees longitudinales provenant d’un panel d’allocataires de Meurthe-et-Moselle, on s’interesse au devenir des sortantes de l’allocation de parent isole (api). L’etude est menee en distinguant le cas des meres ayant percu une api courte et celui des ex-beneficiaires d’une api longue. Trois aspects sont envisages : l’activite, la perception du rmi et le retour dans l’api. A l’aide d’un modele logit polytomique non ordonne, on analyse les effets des caracteristiques individuelles sur la probabilite de connaitre, au sortir de l’api, tel type de trajectoire plutot que tel autre. Les resultats des estimations font notamment ressortir le role du statut d’activite durant l’episode d’api.