A three-phase bidirectional variable speed drive: an experimental validation for a three-phase induction motor

This paper presents the implementation and subsequent experimental verification of an electronic variable speed drive (VSD) for driving an induction motor, which is composed by a three-phase ac-dc converter on the grid-side and by a three-phase dc-ac converter on the motor-side. With the proposed solution, besides driving the motor, it is possible to mitigate power quality problems on the grid-side (e.g., current harmonics and power factor) associated with the use of diode-bridge ac-dc converters in the conventional VSDs. Besides, with the proposed solution, a bidirectional operation is possible, allowing to deliver to the power grid the energy generated in motor braking processes. As demonstrated along the paper, with the proposed VSD, it is possible to control the motor speed (including the rotation direction), and the operation with sinusoidal currents and unitary power factor on the grid-side. A laboratory prototype was developed, permitting to perform an experimental validation and prove the main functionalities of the VSD.This work has been supported by FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the Project Scope: UID/CEC/00319/2019. This work has been supported by the FCT Project DAIPESEV PTDC/EEI-EEE/30382/2017, and by the FCT Project QUALITY4POWER PTDC/EEI-EEE/28813/2017

‘My language … I don’t know how to talk about it’: children’s views on language diversity in primary schools in France and England

This article investigates the ways in which children from immigrant backgrounds view the place of ‘other’ languages in primary schools in France and England. This article draws on findings from a cross-national ethnographic study, which investigated the experiences of 10- and 11-year-old children of immigrants in two primary schools, one in France and one in England. It shows how, in both schools, children had to negotiate the symbolic domination of a single legitimate language and viewed their other languages as inferior, undesirable or illicit. Building on the work of Pierre Bourdieu, findings in this paper contribute insights into the complex debates around language diversity, multilingualism and intercultural communication in schools in France and England

The role of regulatory and temporal context in the construction of diversity discourses: The case of the UK, France and Germany, European Journal of Industrial Relations

Despite growing interest in how the concept of diversity management is reinterpreted as it crosses national boundaries, there has been little study of this process in Europe. To bridge this knowledge gap, this article explores the construction of diversity discourses in the context of the UK, France and Germany. We use the discursive politics approach to investigate the ways in which the meaning of diversity is shrunk, bent and stretched. We demonstrate that the concept of diversity has no universal fixed meaning but is contextual, contested and temporal. Temporarily fixed definitions and frames of diversity are path-dependent and shaped by the regulatory context. Thus unique national histories and the context of regulation are key determinants of the ways in which the concept is redefined as it crosses national and regional borders

Who Counts in the Census? Racial and Ethnic Categories in France

The question of racial and ethnic statistics is part of a debate in France that has been going on for 20 years now: indeed France’s census (performed by the INSEE, Institut National de la Statistique et des etudes économiques or National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies) does not include racial or ethnic categories. Furthermore, it is illegal for French structures and institutions (schools, universities, employers, corporations and public administrations) to request and hold information that includes racial or ethnic categories. At the same time, over the years, there have been several attempts – mostly unsuccessful- by scholars, non-governmental organizations and also elected officials, to argue in favor of the inclusion of ethnic statistics, as it has come to be called. This chapter will first present a demographic profile and trends of France, and then expose the methodological and theoretical issues related to the seemingly color-blindness of the French census