Frontier impedance effects and the growth of international exchanges: an empirical analysis for France

On the European Union scale, international traffic is growing faster than intra-national traffic. This phenomenon is often viewed as a consequence of the abatement of the frontier effect. In this article the frontier effect is analyzed, on the basis of data available for road traffic between France and its neighbors and of freight transport data available at the EU level. The concept is discussed in the light of this empirical analysis. The shortcomings of the static approach lead to a critical revaluation by means of a longitudinal approach. In the conclusion some potential directions for future research are discussed.Frontier ; frontier effect ; international flow ; passengers transport ; goods transport ; Europe

L'APPROCHE EN " COÛT CLIENT ", UNE MÉTHODOLOGIE DE CALCUL DES COÛTS PROPRE À L'ENTREPRISE ORIENTÉE " CLIENT "

Cet article explore, essentiellement dans une perspective conceptuelle, une méthodologie de calcul des coûts particulière qui fournit au contrôleur de gestion une vision analytique comptable spécifique sur laquelle fonder tant les décisions de gestion opérationnelles que stratégiques propres à l'entreprise orientée " client ". Un examen des premières étapes de son implémentation dans une PME transformatrice de bois est par ailleurs proposé.Méthode de comptabilisation des coûts; orientation " client "; création de valeur " client "; stratégie en PME

LE DESIGN DES SYSTÈMES DE CONTRÔLE DE GESTION ADOPTÉS AU SEIN DES SPINOFFS ACADÉMIQUES DE HAUTE TECHNOLOGIE : LE RÔLE DE L'INCERTITUDE PERÇUE PAR LES MANAGERS

Cet article présente les résultats d'une étude empirique qui montre que l'incertitude perçue par les managers intervient beaucoup plus pour expliquer l'adoption des mécanismes informels de contrôle de gestion ainsi que l'usage interactif des systèmes formels de contrôle que pour expliquer la nature de ces derniers.Système de contrôle de gestion; incertitude perçue; haute technologie; spin-off académique; “analyse quali-quantitative comparée”

Enhanced visualization of polysaccharides from aqueous suspensions

Aqueous suspensions of polysaccharides such as those prepared for domestic and industrial applications or present in natural waters, although difficult to visualize by conventional transmission electron microscopy (TEM) because of their poor electron density, can be characterized at the ultrastructural level by using milden bloc staining and contrast enhancement by energy-filtered TEM (EF-TEM). The advantages and drawbacks of the proposed method are discussed in relation to the different parameters controlling the quality of final images. It is shown, with synthetic polysaccharides, purified algal fibrils and lacustrine exocellular polymers as key examples, that optimizing specimen preparation and visualization parameters allows unbiased identification of organic substructures never revealed or strongly degraded by classical microscopic procedure

Bench-to-bedside review: Glucose and stress conditions in the intensive care unit

The physiological response to blood glucose elevation is the pancreatic release of insulin, which blocks hepatic glucose production and release, and stimulates glucose uptake and storage in insulin-dependent tissues. When this first regulatory level is overwhelmed (that is, by exogenous glucose supplementation), persistent hyperglycaemia occurs with intricate consequences related to the glucose acting as a metabolic substrate and as an intracellular mediator. It is thus very important to unravel the glucose metabolic pathways that come into play during stress as well as the consequences of these on cellular functions. During acute injuries, activation of serial hormonal and humoral responses inducing hyperglycaemia is called the 'stress response'. Central activation of the nervous system and of the neuroendocrine axes is involved, releasing hormones that in most cases act to worsen the hyperglycaemia. These hormones in turn induce profound modifications of the inflammatory response, such as cytokine and mediator profiles. The hallmarks of stress-induced hyperglycaemia include 'insulin resistance' associated with an increase in hepatic glucose output and insufficient release of insulin with regard to glycaemia. Although both acute and chronic hyperglycaemia may induce deleterious effects on cells and organs, the initial acute endogenous hyperglycaemia appears to be adaptive. This acute hyperglycaemia participates in the maintenance of an adequate inflammatory response and consequently should not be treated aggressively. Hyperglycaemia induced by an exogenous glucose supply may, in turn, amplify the inflammatory response such that it becomes a disproportionate response. Since chronic exposure to glucose metabolites, as encountered in diabetes, induces adverse effects, the proper roles of these metabolites during acute conditions need further elucidation

Etalement Urbain Et Tensions Foncieres Dans Les Villages Peripheriques De Daloa (Centre-Ouest, Cote d’Ivoire)

The city of Daloa, located in the Ivorian west-centre, is experiencing a rapid spatial growth in recent years due to the acceleration of urbanization. This phenomenon, which should logically constitute an opportunity, because of the consumer market that it represents for the peri-urban villages, is becoming one of the causes of the tensions, then weakening social cohesion. The current urban dynamics cause the problem of space occupation by buildings and the destruction of natural and land resources around the city. Faced with this urban sprawl, which is increasingly aggressive and capable of swallowing up all the surrounding rural areas, the village communities express their concern over the transformation of their regions. In this framework, where the fear of the future has settled in the countryside and where land has become a major issue, the resulting competition for land is more than ever strengthened. This has resulted in land tensions that undermine their resilience faced with the scale of urbanization. The study, which is based on the dual quantitative and qualitative approach, aims to understand both the link between land tensions and urban spread and the perception and strategies developed by rural populations faced with urban pressure

Measuring coherence of computer-assisted likelihood ratio methods

This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Forensic Science International. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Forensic Science International, 249 (2015): 123 – 132 DOI:10.1016/j.forsciint.2015.01.033Measuring the performance of forensic evaluation methods that compute likelihood ratios (LRs) is relevant for both the development and the validation of such methods. A framework of performance characteristics categorized as primary and secondary is introduced in this study to help achieve such development and validation. Ground-truth labelled fingerprint data is used to assess the performance of an example likelihood ratio method in terms of those performance characteristics. Discrimination, calibration, and especially the coherence of this LR method are assessed as a function of the quantity and quality of the trace fingerprint data. Assessment of the coherence revealed a weakness of the comparison algorithm in the computer-assisted likelihood ratio method used.This research was conducted in the scope of the BBfor2 – European Commission Marie Curie Initial Training Network (FP7-PEOPLE-ITN-2008 under Grant Agreement 238803) at the Netherlands Forensic Institute, and in collaboration with the ATVS Biometric Recognition Group at the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid and the National Police Services Agency of the Netherlands